of England e. g. Friar Alexander Seaton when he was forced to flee in King Iames the 5th's time went to England and became the Duke of Suffolk's Chaplain and died in that service Alexander Aless was in great favour with King Henry and called the King's Schollar He was a Member of the English Convocation and disputed against Stokesly Bishop of London and maintain'd there were but two Sacraments Baptism and the Eucharist Anno 1536 or 37 And he it was that first turn'd the English Liturgy into Latin for Bucer's use Anno 1549 as both Heylin and Burnet in their Histories of the English Reformation tell us Iohn Fife and one M' Dowdal stayed as long in England as Aless did And 't is not to be doubted that they were of the same principles Iohn M' Bee during his abode in England was liberally entertained by Nicol. Saxton Bishop of Salisbury who made much account of him which is no argument I think that he was a Presbyterian Sir Iohn Borthwick was charged with Heresie Anno 1640 for maintaining That the Heresies commonly called the Heresies of England and their New Liturgy was Commendable and to be embraced of all Christians And That the Church of Scotland ought to be govern'd after the manner of the Church of England i. e. under the King and not the Pope as Supreme Governor Friar Thomas Guillam the first publick Preacher of the Reformed Religion in Scotland He by whose Sermons Iohn Knox got the first lively impressions of the Truth This Guillam I say after Arran the Regent Apostatized withdrew and went into England and we hear no more of him From which 't is reasonable to conclude That he kept the Common Course with the other Reformers there Iohn Rough was the Regents other Chaplain while he was Protestant He likewise fled to England tho sometime after Guillam He preached some years in the Towns of Carlisle Berwick and Newcastle and was afterwards provided to a Benefice by the Archbishop of York where he lived till the Death of King Edward When Mary's Persecution turn'd warm he fled and lived some time in Freesland He came to London about some business Anno 1557. was apprehended and brought before Bonner Questioned if he had preached any since he came to England Answered he had preached none But in some places where godly people were Assembled He had read the Prayers of the Communion Book set forth in the Reign of King Ed. VI. Question'd again what his Judgment was of that Book Answered He approved it as agreeing in all points with the word of God And so suffered Martyrdom I think this man was neither for Parity nor against Liturgies But to proceed The excellent Mr. Wishart as he had spent some time in England as was told before so it seems he returned to Scotland of English I am confident not of Presbyterian Principles For he was not only for the Lawfulness of Private Communion as appeared by his practice but Knox gives us fair intimations that he ministred it by a Set-form I know King Edward's Liturgy was not then composed But it is not to be imagined That the Reformers in England in Wishart's time administred the Sacrament without a Set-form The Extemporary Spirit was not then in vogue And why else could Sir Iohn Borthwick have been charged with the Great Heresy of Commending the English Liturgy However I shall not be peremptory because I have not the opportunity of enquiring at present what Forms the English Reformers had then All I shall say is if they had a Liturgy 't is very probable Wishart used it For as Knox tells us when he celebrated the Eucharist before his Execution After he had blessed the Bread and Wine he took the Bread and Brake it and gave to every one of it bidding each of them Remember that Christ had died for them and feed on it spiritually so taking the Cup he bade them Remember that Christs Blood was shed for them c. So Knox word for word which account I think seems fairly to intimate that Wishart used a Form but if he did what other could it be than such as he had learned in England I have accounted already how Iohn Willock and William Harlaw had served in the English Church before they came to Scotland I might perhaps make a fuller Collection But what needs more Even Knox himself lived in Communion with the Church of England all the time he was in that Kingdom He went not there to keep Conventicles to erect Altar against Altar to gather Churches out of the Church of England to set up separate and schismatical Churches as some of our present Parity-men have sometimes done No he preached in the publick Churches and in subordination to the Bishops and he preached before King Edward himself as he himself tell us in his Admonition to the Professors of the Truth in England which it is very improbable he would have been allowed to have done if he had Condemned the Communion of the Church of England as it was then established For who knows not that in King Edwards time all Schism and Non-Conformity were sufficiently discouraged And through that whole Admonition he still speaks of himself as One of the Ministers of the Church of England Nay If it be Reasonable to Collect mens Sentiments from their Reasonings I am sure in that same Admonition I have enough for my purpose For he reasons upon suppositions and from Principles which clearly condemned Separation from the Church of England as then established For when he gives his thoughts of that fatal Discord which happened between the two great men Somerset and the Admiral as I take it He discourses thus God compelled my tongue says he openly to declare That the Devil and his Ministers the Papists Intended only the Subversion of Gods true Religion by that Mortal Hatred amongst those who ought to have been most assuredly Knit together by Christian Charity And especially that the wicked and envious Papists by that ungodly Breach of Charity diligently minded the overthrow of him Somerset that to his own Destruction procured the Death of his innocent friend and Brother All this trouble was devised by the Devil and his instruments to stop and lett Christ's Disciples and their poor Boat i. e. the Church What can be more plain I say than that Knox here proceeds on suppositions and reasons from Principles which condemned Separation from the Church of England as then established Doth he not suppose that the Church of England as then established was Christ's Boat his Church And that the Sons of the Church of England were Christ's Disciples Doth he not suppose that these two Brothers as Sons of the Church of England ought to have been assuredly knit together by Christian Charity That the Breach between them was ane ungodly Breach of that Charity by which Members of that same Church ought to have been assuredly knit together And
the world knows to be true and what cannot be denied If we could contend with them for Virtue and Integrity for Honour and Gallantry for Civility and Loyalty for Glories that are truely manly 'T were for the Credit of our Nation And it were our own fault if we were inferiour to them in such Competitions But 't is Arrant Vanity to contend with them for Wealth or Strength or Multitude Now to bring this home to my purpose God had so ordered in his wife Providence that for many Ages before Scotland had not been so free of foreign influence as a little before and all the time our Church was a reforming The French were the only foreign Influences which were wont to find Entertainment in Scotland And in those times the French had treated us very basely and dishonourably I shall deduce the matter with all convenient brevity King Henry the Eighth of England had resolved upon a War with France Anno 1512. The French King perceiving this applyed to Iames the Fourth of Scotland his old Confederate to engage him in ane Alliance against Henry His Application was successful a private League was made betwixt them in November that year Two of the Articles were That if England should invade Scotland France should wage War with all its might against England Scotland should do the like if England invaded France And neither of the two should take Truce with England without the other gave his Consent and were comprehended therein if he pleased In pursuance of this League Iames raised a potent Army invaded England incurred the Popes Displeasure to the very Sentence of Excommunication fought the fatal Battle of Flowdon Sept. 9. 1513 Lost his Life and the Flower of all the Scottish Nobility and Gentry and left behind him Iames the Fifth ane Infant exposed with his whole State to the not very tender Mercies of King Henry Here was serving the French interests with a witness Well! How did Lewis requite this The next year he patcht up a Peace with Henry without comprehending Scotland without Respect to his Faith and Promise without Pity to those who were reduced to such Extremities on his account If this was not what can be called Disobliging But this was not all The Scots reduced to these difficulties and sensible that it was not possible for the Nation to subsist under ane infant King without a Regent became humble Suppliants to the French King that he would send them Iohn Duke of Albany then in the French Service a Man of great Abilities and next by Blood to the Scottish Crown that he might be their Governour during their Kings Minority But Henry's Threats for a long time prevailed more with the French King than Scotlands Necessities or his Obligations to it For Albany came not to Scotland till May 1515. so that for near two years thro the French Coldness and Indifferency towards Scottish affairs the Kingdom had no setled Government The War brake out again betwixt France and England Anno ..... and a new Peace was concluded Anno 1518. And Albany our Scottish Regent was present in person when it was concluded but the English Obstinacy not to comprehend Scotland was more effectual with Francis the First who had then got upon the Throne than all the Intercessions of Albany or the Merits of our Nation Nay if we may believe Herbert It was one of the main Articles of that Treaty that Albany should not return to Scotland Nor did he return till Octob. 1521. And returning then Henry reckoned it a Main Breach of Treaty nay and plain Perjury in Francis that he gave way to it Thus were we treated then by France Let us now consider if Henry was at any pains all this while to make ane Interest in Scotland And if we may believe the unanimous voice of our own Historians or my Lord Herbert in the History of his Life never was man more earnest for any thing than he in that pursuit and he had brave occasions for it For not only were the Scots highly and justly irritated by the degenerous and undervaluing slights France had put upon them as I have just now made appear But Henry had surprized them with ane Unexpected and Unaccustomed Generosity after the Battel of Flowdon He had not pursued his Victory but had listned gently to their Addresses for Peace and told them that tho he might yet he would not take advantage of their circumstances He would treat them frankly if they were for Peace so was he if for War they should have it A Response so full of true Honour and Gallantry as could not but work on their affections Besides His Sister Margaret the Queen of Scots a Lady of rare Endowments was all alongst working to his hand and making a Party for him Iames the 4 th by his Testament before he went to Flowdon had nominated her Governess of the Realm during her Widowhood This gave her once the principal hand in affairs 'T is true she was young and lively and married within a year after the King's Death and so lost her Title to the Regency But then she married the Earl of Angus the choice of all the Scottish Nobility and one who was in great Repute with all Ranks of People so that however her Marriage annulled her Title it did not so much weaken her Interest but that she had still a great Party in the Nation So great That tho Albany was advanced to the Regency she was for the most part able to over-ballance him in point of power and following In short Such was Henry's and his Sisters influence That all the time Albany was Regent the Nation was divided into two Factions The one French headed by Albany the other English headed by the Queen Dowager and hers was generally the more prevalent so much that tho Albany was perhaps one of the bravest Gentlemen that ever was honoured with the Scottish Regency he was never able to prosecute to purpose any project he undertook for the French Service Thus Anno 1522. He raised ane Army to invade England But with what success Why The Scottish Nobility waited upon him to the Border indeed but they would go no further They told him plainly they would hazard lives and fortunes in defence of their Country but it was another thing to invade England And Lesly plainly attributes all this Refractoriness in these Nobles to the Queens influence Nay 't is evident from the same Lesly that the Baseness and Ingratitude of the French in the forementioned Treaties was one of the principal Arguments that moved them to such Backwardness And Albany was sensible of it and therefore went to France and told the French King so much and asked a swinging Army of Frenchmen five thousand Horse and ten thousand Foot with such a force he promised to Act something against England but from the Scots by themselves nothing was
a New Meeting of the States is called and Cassils is return'd to England with Commission to tell Henry That the Scottish Lords are content to Relinquish the French on Condition the Match with the Princess Mary were secured 'T is true nothing followed upon this Treaty but a Truce for three years for what reason I know not But from the Deduction I have briefly made it may sufficiently appear how weak the French and how strong the English interest was then in Scotland so very strong as clearly to overcome and almost quite extirpate the other Well! did Francis nothing to recover the Scottish amity Alas at that time he had greater matters to imploy his thoughts He lost his Liberty at the Battel of Pavia Anno 1525 and became the King of Spain's Prisoner and was not Restored to his Freedom till Henry interposed with a powerful Mediation For which He entered into another League with Henry 1527 without minding the Scots or being concern'd for their security This was a third slight put upon the Scots by the French in their Treaties with England 'T is true indeed Francis did not enter into this League with Henry over-awed by his Threats but constrain'd by his Kindness and Good Offices in his Liberation from his Spanish Captivity But it was all one to the Seâ—ts for what reason it was if they were Deserted 'T is true indeed When Iames came to full age he had strong inclinations for renewing the Old Amity with France and no wonder considering how much he was manag'd by the Clergy who abhorred Henry for shaking off the Popes Authority and thought themselves concern'd with all their Might to guard against Henry's contagious influences as they deem'd them But however the King and Clergy were inclined 't is evident the Body of the Nation continued constant in their so frequently provoked Coldness to the French interests and in their good Affection towards England so much that they would never thereafter at least all the time our Reformation was a carrying on follow either King or Regent to invade England Thus When Iames the Fifth Anno 1542. was very earnest for it the Nobility generally declined it and he was forced to dismiss them And when shortly after that his Earnestness that way it seems increasing he ordered ane Army to meet at Carlaverock intending therewith to enter England so soon as Oliver Sinclare was declared Chief Commander and the Kings intentions were made known all threw away their Arms and suffered themselves to be taken prisoners And When the Earl of Arran Regent Anno ..... went with a goodly Army to besiege the Church of Coldingham which the English for the time had fortified he was forced to run for it abruptly fearing as Buchanan says his friends pretended lest his Army should betray him into the hands of the English And Anno 1557 when the Queen Regent Mary of Lorrain was most earnest to have had England invaded thereby to have made a Diversion and eased France of the English Force which was assisting Philip the Second of Spain against Henry the Second of France the Nobility could by no means be gain'd to do it as all our Historians tell us I could have insisted on this Deduction far more largely but I think what I have said may be sufficient for my purpose which was to shew how much Scotland was disengaged of Foreign Influences and by consequence how much it was disposed to receive English impressions from the very Dawning of our Reformation till its Legal Establishment 1560. Let us next try if according to these Dispositions the English influences were Communicated and made suitable impressions And I think in the 1st place No man can reasonably doubt but that 't is fairly credible they did For no man can deny that the Reformation made a considerable figure in England more early than it did in Scotland When Light was thus arising in the Isle it was natural for it to overspread both Nations And it was as Natural that the more and sooner Enlightned Nation should be the fountain of Communication that is in plain terms that Scotland should derive it under God from England Especially considering how at that time they were mutually disposed towards one another Indeed 2. 'T is certain Books deserve to be reckoned amongst the prime Vehicles of such Light as we are now considering and 't is as certain That the first Books which enlightned Scotland were brought from England Tindal translated the New Testament into English Anno 1531. And Copies of it were dispersed here in considerable plenty and other useful Books were then written also in the Vulgar Language which was common to both Nations which coming from England had great success in Scotland as is evident even from Knox's History But this is not all The truth of all this will appear more fully if 3. We consider That King Henry had no sooner begun his Reformation such as it was in England than he Endeavoured to transmit it into Scotland He shook off the Popes Supremacy Anno 1534. And he sent the Bishop of St. Davids to his Nephew Iames of Scotland Anno 1535. with Books written in English containing the substance of Christian Religion Earnestly desiring him to read them and joyn with him in carrying on the Reformation And Herbert says Henry was vastly sollicitous To draw James on his side as knowing of what Consequence it was to keep his Kingdom safe on that part And therefore Laboured still to induce him to abrogate the Papal Iurisdiction in his Dominions And tho this Embassy of St. Davids had not success yet Henry gave not over but continued to write Letters to Iames insisting still upon the same Requests Petrie has transcribed one from Fox wherein Henry Premonishes requires and most heartily prays Iames to consider the Supremacy granted by the Holy Scriptures to Princes in Church matters To weigh what Gods word calleth a Church To consider what Superstitions Idolatries and blind abuses have crept into all Realms to the high Displeasure of God and what is to be understood by the Censures of the Church and Excommunication for the Pope had then Excommunicated Henry and how no such Censure can be in the power of the Bishop of Rome or of any other man against him or any other Prince having so iust ground to avoid from the Root and to abolish such ane execrable Authority as the Bishop of Rome hath usurped and usurps upon all Princes to their Great Damage Requesting him for these Reasons to ponder of what hazard it might be to Iames himself if he agreed to such Censures and by such example gave upper-hand over himself and other Princes to that Vsurper of Rome to scourge all who will not Kiss and Adore the foot of that Corrupt Holiness which desires nothing but Pride and the universal Thrall of Christendom c. Here was Earnestness for Reformation in Scotland with a witness And
consequence of this their frankness the Earl of Argyle and the Prior of St. Andrews two first-rate Protestants were the persons nominated to pass into France to honour the Dauphine with that complement And they undertook it cordially But in the very instant almost they were informed that Mary of England was dead and Elizabeth on the Throne and withal professing Protestancy This altered their whole Scheme They presently considered The English Influences so long stopt in their Courses might now begin to Drop again And there were hopes of Assistance from that Female Soveraign So these two Lords no doubt with the advice of the rest of the fraternity gave over thoughts of their French Voyage The Dauphine might purchase a Crown for himself or wait till his Father dyed if he could not do better They resolved to carry him no Matrimonial Crowns from Scotland Indeed their hopes of Assistance from England to carry on the Reformation of Religion were better grounded then than ever For Upon the Death of Queen Mary of England by French advice our Queen as Next Heir to that Crown had assumed the English Titles 'T is not to be thought Elizabeth lik'd this well and resolving to continue Queen of England she had no reason For who knows not that her Title was Questionable But our Queens Descent was Vncontroverted What wonder then if Elizabeth thought herself concerned to secure herself as well as she could And what more feasible and proper way for her security than to have the Affections and by consequence the Power of Scotland on her side And what measure so natural for obtaining that as to cherish the Reformation of Religion in Scotland and weaken the Popish and by consequence the French interests there and get the Rule of that Kingdom put in the hands of Protestants The politick was obviously solid all the work was to set it a going But that difficulty was soon over for no sooner did she employ some private instruments to try the Scottish pulses than they smelt the matter and relisht it immediately The least intimation that she was so inclined was to them as a spark of fire amongst Gun-powder it kindled them in a thought They addrest her quickly beg'd her protection and plighted their Faith that they would depend upon her and stand by her and to the outmost of their power secure her interests if she would grant them suitable assistances Thus the bargain was readily agreed to on both sides and both perform'd their parts successfully For who knows not that our Reformation was carried on by Elizabeths Auspices by English Arms and Counsels and Money in the year 1560 And who knows not that by the Treaty at Leith in Iuly that same year after the French were expelled Scotland when our Reformers by her help had got the upper hand her Crown was secured as far as the Scottish Protestants could secure it Who knows not I say that it was one of the Articles of that Treaty That the Queen of Scotland and King of France should not thereafter usurp the Titles of England and Ireland and should delete the Arms of England and Ireland out of their Scutchions and whole Houshold-stuff By this time I think it may competently appear how much our Scottish Reformation under God depended on English influences But I have two things more to add 10. Then It is considerable that some of our Chief Luminaries of those who had a principal hand in preaching and planting the Gospel in Purity among us had drunk in these principles in England and brought them thence to Scotland with them Thus the excellent Martyr Mr. George Wishart of whom in part before as Spotswood tells us had spent his time in Cambridge and return'd to his own Country to promote the Truth in it Anno 1544. And Mr. Iohn Spotswood that worthy man who was so long Superintendent of Lothian after our Reformation was one of Cranmers Disciples as you may see in the beginning of the Life of Archbishop Spotswood his Son and also in his History And Iohn Willock and William Harlaw had both lived in England before they preacht in Scotland as I have already accounted and perhaps a strict Enquiry might discover some others 11. and lastly On the other hand except so far as Iohn Knox was Calvinist and a Lover of the Forms of Geneva for which perhaps I shall account hereafter none of our Historians give so much as one particular instance of a Scottish Reformer who had his Education in any other foreign Church except Mr. Patrick Hamilton who I think cannot be proven to have been a Presbyterian and tho it could be done it could amount to no more than the Authority of a very young man considering he was but 23 years of age when he died Neither do they mention any Foreigner who came here to Scotland to assist us in our Reformation Lesly indeed says that the Scottish Protestants sent Letters and Messengers to Germany to call thence Sacramentarian Ministers as being very dexterous at fostering Sedition and subverting Religion but no other Historian says so and he himself says not that ever any such came to Scotland Thus I think I have accounted competently for the first thing proposed viz. That our Reformation under God was principally Cherished and Encouraged by English Influences I proceed to the 2. Which was That in Correspondence to these Influences our Reformers were generally of the same Mind with the Church of England in several momentous instances relating to the Constitution and Communion the Government and Polity of the Church wherein our present Presbyterian principles stand in direct opposition and contradiction to her That our Reformers agreed with those of the Church of England in the Common Articles of the Christian Faith in their Creed was never called in Question But it is not my present purpose to consider the sentiments of our Reformers in relation to the Church as it is a Sect but as it is a Society neither shall I be curious to amuse many particulars I shall content my self with two or three of considerable weight and importance And 1. Our Reformers generally or rather unanimously lookt on the Church of England as a Church so well constituted that her Communion was a Lawful Communion For this we have two as good Evidences as the nature of the thing is capable of viz. The constant and uniform practice of our Reformers joining in the Communion of the Church of England when they had occasion as those of the Church of England did with the Church of Scotland and their open profession in their publick deeds that they thought it Lawful 1. I say it was the constant practice of our Reformers to joyn in the Communion of the Church of England when they had occasion as those of the Church of England did with the Church of Scotland Thus we find all such of our Reformers as in times of Persecution fled into England still joyning with the Church
Articles about the Thirds in Execution yet the Ministers were forced to wait long enough before they found the effects of it In short they continued in the same straits they had been in before for full two years thereafter that is till Iuly 1569. at which time I find by the Mss. and Mr. Petrie the Church was put in possession of the Thirds for which their Necessities made them very thankful as appears from the Narrative of ane Act of their Assembly at that time which runs thus as I find it in the Mss. For asmuch as this long time by gone the Ministers have been universally defrauded and postponed of their Stipends and now at last it hath pleased God to move the hearts of the superiour power and the Estates of this Realm c. A Narrative which it is probable they would not have used when the Thirds were at first projected for their Maintainance Sure I am of a quite different strain from Knox's Resentment which I mentioned before But by this time Experience had taught them to thank God for little and that it was even Good to be getting something However All this while they continued still to have the same sentiments concerning the Patrimony of the Church that unless God by immediate Revolution should dispense with her Right it belong'd to her unalienably that it was abominable Sacriledge to defraud her of it and that neither Church nor State could be happy so long as it was so much in the hands of Laicks And as they had still these sentiments and no wonder so long as they had any sense of Religion so they were still using their best endeavours trying all experiments and watching all opportunities to bring the Nobility and Gentry to a reasonable Temper and to put the Church in possession of her undoubted Revenues but all in vain On the contrary these Leeches having once tasted of her Blood were thirsting still for more and daily making farther Encroachments For A Parliament met in August 1571 and made ane Act obliging all the Subjects who in former times had held their Land and Possessions of Priors Prioresses Convents of Friers and Nuns c. thereafter to hold them of the Crown This was ane awakening ane allaruming Act. These who heretofore had possest themselves of the Churches Patrimony had done it by force or by connivance without Law and without Title so there were still hopes of recovering what was possest so illegally But this was to give them Law on their side As things stood then it would be easy to obtain Gifts now that the King was made immediate Superiour and then there was no recovering of what was thus colourably possessed So I say it was ane awakening Act of Parliament and indeed it rouzed the Spirits of the Clergy and put them in a quicker motion Now they began to see the Error of Drawing the New Scheme of Polity in the First Book of Discipline and receding from the Old one Now they perceived sensibly that that making of a New one had unhinged all the Churches Interests and exposed her Patrimony and made it a Prey to the Ravenous Laity and that it was therefore time high time for them to bethink themselves and try their strength and skill if possibly a stop could be put to such notorious Robbery And so I am fairly introduced to THE SECOND MODEL into which the Government of the Church was cast after the publick Establishment of the Reformation For The General Assembly of the Church meeting at Stirling in that same month of August 1571. Gave Commission to certain Brethren to go to the Lord Regent his Grace and to the Parliament humbly to request and desire in Name of the Kirk the granting of such Heads and Articles and redress of such Complaints as should be given to them by the Kirk c. So it is in the Mss. and so Spotswood and Petrie have it Before I proceed there is one seeming difficulty which must be removed it is that this General Assembly met before the Parliament How then could it be that Act of Parliament which so awakened them But the Solution is easy In those times Parliaments did not sit so long as they are in use to do now but all things were prepared and in readiness before the Parliament met Proclamation was made a month or so before the Parliament was to meet requiring all Bills to be given in to the Register which were to be presented in the succeeding Session of Parliament that they might be brought to the King or Regent to be perused and considered by them and only such as they allowed were to be put into the Chancellors hands to be proponed to the Parliament and none other c. Whoso pleases may see this account given by King Iames the Sixth of Scotland and First of England to his English Parliament in his Speech dated 1607. Indeed the thing is notorious and Calderwood himself gives a remarkable instance of this method for he tells how in the end of April or beginning of May 1621. A Charge was published by Proclamation commanding all that had Suits Articles or Petitions to propone to the Parliament to give them into the Clerk of the Register before the twentieth day of May that by him they might be presented to so many of the Council who were appointed by his Majesty to meet some days before the Parliament and to consider the said Bills Petitions and Articles with Certification that the same should not be received read nor voted in Parliament except they were passed under his Highness hand And yet the same Calderwood tells us That the Parliament was not appointed to meet till the Twentieth and Third of Iuly so that here were two full months between the giving in of the Bills c. and the Meeting of the Parliament This being the Custom in those times it is easy to consider how the General Assembly tho it met some days before the Parliament might know very well what was to be done in Parliament for if this Bill was allowed by the then Regent to be presented there was no doubt of its passing And that it was very well known what the Parliament was to do in that matter may be further evident from Iohn Knox's Letter directed at that time to the General Assembly wherein he is earnest with them that with all Vprightness and Strength in God they gainst and the mercyless Devourers of the Patrimony of the Church telling them that if Men will spoil let them do it to their own Peril and Damnation but it was their Duty to beware of communicating with their sins but by publick protestation to make it known to the world That they were innocent of Robbery which would e're long provoke Gods Vengeance upon the Committers c. From which nothing can be clearer than that he had a special eye to that which was then in agitation and to be done by the Parliament
Reformers were more prying in such matters than the Reformers of other Churches I have made it appear that there is not so much as a syllable a shew a shadow of ane Indication That any of those who Merited the Name of our Reformers entertain'd any such Principle or maintain'd any such Article I have made it appear that our Reformation was carryed on much very much by the Influences and upon the principles of the English Reformers amongst whom that principle of parity had no imaginable footing These are at least great presumptions of the Credibility of this That our Reformers maintain'd no such principle Agreeably to these presumptions I have made it appear that our Reformers proceeded de Facto upon the principles of Imparity They formed their petitions for the Reformation of our Church according to these principles The first Scheme of Church Government they erected was Established upon these principles Our Superintendents were notoriously and undeniably Prelates The next Establishment in which the Prelates resumed the old Names and Titles of Archbishops and Bishops was the same for substance with the first At least they did not differ as to the point of Imparity I have made it appear that this second Establishment was agreed to by the Church unanimously and submitted to calmly and peaceably and that it was received as ane Establishment which was intended to continue in the Church At least no Objections made against it no appearances in opposition to it no indications of its being accepted only for ane Interim upon the account of Imparity's being in its constitution I have made it appear that Imparity was received practised owned and submitted to and that Prelates were suitably honoured and dutifully obeyed without reluctancy and without interruption for full fifteen years after the Reformation and I have made it appear that after it was called in Question its Adversaries found many Repulses and mighty difficulties and spent much travel and much time no less than full five years before they could get it Abolished and if the Deduction I have made puts not this beyond all doubt it may be further confirmed by the Testimonies of two very intelligent Authors The first is that ingenious and judicious Author who wrote the accurate piece called Episcopacy not Abjured in Scotland published Anno 1640. Who affirms positively That it was by Reason of opposition made to the Presbyterians by many wise learned and Godly Brethren who stood firmly for the Ancient Discipline of the Church that Episcopacy was so long a condemning It appears from his Elaborate work that he was ane ingenuous as well as ane Ingenious Person and living then and having been at so much pains to inform himself concerning not only the Transactions but the Intrigues of former times it is to be presumed he did not affirm such a proposition without sufficient ground But whatever dust may be raised about his Credit and Authority Sure I am my other witness is unexceptionable He is King Iames the Sixth of Scotland and the First of England This Great and Wise Prince lived in these times in which Presbytery was first introduced and I think it is scarcely to be Questioned That he understood and could give a just account of what passed then as well as any man then living and he in his Basilion Doron affirms plainly That the Learned Grave and Honest Men of the Ministery were ever ashamed of and offended with the Temerity and Presumption of the Democratical and Presbyterian party All these things I say I think I have made appear sufficiently and so I am not affraid to leave it to the world to judge Whither our Reformers were of the present Presbyterian principles Only one thing more before I proceed to the next Enquiry Our Presbyterian Brethren Calderwood Petrie and G. R. as I have already observed are very earnest and careful to have their Readers advert that when Episcopacy was Established by the Agreement at Leith Anno 1572. the Bishops were to have no more Power than the Superintendents had before and indeed it is true they had no more as I have already acknowledged But I would advise our Brethren to be more Cautious in insisting on such a dangerous point or Glorying in such a Discovery hereafter For thus I Argue The Episcopacy Agreed to at Leith Anno 1572 as to its Essentials its Power and Authority was the same with the Superintendency Established at the Reformation Anno 1560. But the General Assembly holden at Dundee Anno 1580. Condemned the Power and Authority of the Episcopacy Agreed to at Leith Anno 1572. Ergo they condemnd the Power and Authority of the Superintendency Established by our Reformers Anno 1560. Ergo the Assembly 1580. not only forsook but Condemned the principles of our Reformers But if this Reasoning holds I think our present Presbyterian Brethren have no Reason to Claim the Title of Successors to our Reformers They must not ascend so high as the year 1560 They must stand at the year 1580 For if I mistake not the Laws of Heraldry will not allow them to call themselves the True Posterity of those whom they Condemn and whose principles they Declare Erroneous In such Moral Cognations I take Oneness of principle to be the foundation of the Relation as Oneness of Blood is in Physical Cognations Let them not therefore go farther up than the year 1580. Let them date the Reformation from this Assembly at Dundee and Own Master Andrew Melvil and Iohn Durie c. for their First Parents When they have fixed there I shall perchance allow them to affirm that the Church of Scotland was Reformed in their sence of Reformation by Presbyters that is Presbyterians Proceed we now to The Third Enquiry Whether Prelacy and the Superiority of any Office in the Church above Presbyters was a great and insupportable Grievance and trouble to this Nation and contrary to the inclinations of the Generality of the People EVER since the Reformation Considering what hath been Discoursed so fully on the former Enquiry this may be very soon dispatched For If Prelacy and the Superiority of other Officers in the Church above Presbyters was so unanimously consented to and Established at the Reformation If it continued to be Owned Revered and Submitted to by Pastors and People without interruption without being ever called in Question for full fifteen years after the Reformation If after it was called in Question its Adversaries found it so hard a task to subvert it that they spent five years more before they could get it subverted and declared Vnlawful even as it was then in Scotland If these things are true I say I think it is not very Credible that it was a great and insupportable Grievance and trouble to this Nation and contrary to the Inclinations of the Generality of the People EVER since the Reformation This Collection I take to be as clear a Demonstration as the subject is capable of But beside this we
THE Fundamental Charter OF Presbytery As it hath been lately Established IN THE Kingdom of SCOTLAND Examin'd and Disprov'd By the History Records and Publick Transactions of our Nation Together with a PREFACE Wherein the Vindicator of the Kirk is freely put in mind of his Habitual Infirmities LONDON Printed for C. Brome at the Gun at the West End of St. Paul's Church-yard 1695. THE PREFACE THis Article which I have now examined was no sooner Established in our Scottish Claim of Right than I turn'd serious to satisfy my self about it I thought it concern'd me as a Scottish man to understand as well as I could That which made such a Figure in the Original Contract between King and People I thought I was no less concern'd as a Christian to be Resolv'd about its Merits I perceiv'd it might readily affect my practice And tho I abhor as heartily as any man all breaking of the Churches peace for Rattles or Nutshels Yet I could not but reckon of it as a matter of Conscience to me to Endeavour to be sure that I built neither my Faith nor my Obedience in a matter of such Consequence as I take the Government of the Church to be on a Deceitful bottom Perhaps I was bound to be inquisitive by some other Reduplications not needful to be Named I had not spent much Application about it when I was satisfied and thought I had Ground to hope the Wisdom of the Nation after more Deliberate Researches might find it Reasonable either to Restore to the Church Her Ancient and Iust Government or settle the New One on some at least more Specious Basis. But I was Disappointed For Three Sessions of Parliament are now over And the Article is so far from being either Retracted or Corrected that on the Contrary It hath been still insisted on and Deem'd sufficient to support very weighty Superstructures Each Session hath Erected some new thing or other upon it This with the importunity of some Friends at last Determin'd me to Enquire more fully and minutely into the value of the Article And the Work hath swell'd to such a bulk as you see I confess I cannot Apologize sufficiently for my adventuring to Expose such ane ill Composure to the publick view Especially Considering how Nice and Critical if not Picq't and Humorsome an Age we live in I ever thought that much of the Beauty as well as of the Vtility of Books lay in Good Method and a distinct Range of Thoughts And I cannot promise that I have observed That so punctually as Clearer Heads might have done I have less Reason to be Confident of the Stile 'T is hard for most Scottish men to arrive at any tolerable Degree of English Purity Our greatest Caution cannot prevent the Stealing of our own Words and Idioms into our Pens and their dropping thence into our writings All things considered I have as little Reason to think I have Guarded or could Guard against them as any Scottish man For not only have mine opportunities all my life been none of the best But for finding Materials for the following Papers I was obliged to Read so many Books written in Right Broad Scotch and take so many Citations from them that 't is little to be wondered if my Book abounds with Scotticisms I thought my self bound to be faithful in my Citations and I can promise I have been that I could not Reason from the Authority of these Citations without using the Terms and Phrases which are in them This no doubt makes the Scotticisms Numerous And I shall not deny that my familiar acquaintance with these Books together with the prejudices of Education Custom and Constant Converse in the plain Scottish Dialect may have occasioned many more Neither shall I be over Confident that where I have adventured to Reason any point I have done it to every mans Conviction I may have been as other men apt to impose on my self and think I have advanced just propositions and drawn fair Consequences when I have not done it No doubt most men have such a Kindness for themselves as too commonly inclines them to applaud their own thoughts and judge their own Reasonings Just and Solid when they are but Coarse enough And others may very easily discover where the mistake lies Yet this I can say for my self I have done what I could to Guard against all such prejudice and partial Byass Sensible of these infirmities I intreat the Readers favourable and benign Censures This I can tell him ingenuously If I could have done better I should not have Grudgâ—d him the pleasure of it But perchance that which I am more concern'd to account for is what Assistances I had for what I have advanced in the following Sheets And here I must Confess I had not all the Advantages I could have wished Such are my present Circumstances That I could not Rationally propose to my self to have Access to the publick Records either of Church or State And no doubt in this I was at a Considerable loss For he who Transcribes from Authentick Records Doth it more Securely than he who has things only from Second hands Yet I don't think this Disadvantage was such as should have intirely Discouraged me from the Attempt I have made For some of my Authors had Access to the publick Registers And I am apt to believe there was not much to be found there Relating to the Controversies I have managed which they have not published So that tho 't is possible I might have been better yet I cannot think I was ill provided of Helps I cannot think any of my Presbyterian Brethren can be provided much better The principal Authors from which I have collected my Materials are these Buchanan's History published at Frankfort Anno 1594 Ieslie's History at Edenburgh 1675. King Iames the Sixth's Works in English at London 1616. Archbishop Spotswood's History of the Reformation of the Church of Scotland at London Anno 1655. His Refutatio Libelli c. Lond. An. 1620. The True History of the Church of Scotland c. said to be written by Mr. David Calderwood published An. 1678. Mr. Petrie's History of the Catholick Church c. Tom. 2. printed at the Hague Anno 1â—62 Sir Iames Melvil's Memoirs The Old Scottish Liturgy The Lord Herbert's History of the Life of King Henry 8. Doctor Heylin and Doctor Burnet's Histories of the Reformation of the Church of England Calvin's Epistles printed at Geneva Anno 1617. Beza's Epistles till the year 1573. Acts and Monuments by Fox c. I have likewise considered our printed Acts of Parliaments The printed Acts of the General Assemblies from the year 1638. And as many Pamphlets as I could find Relating to the Matters on which I insist 'T is needless to Name them here You may find them named as Occasion required in my Book There are two Books which I must insist on a little One is A Manuscript Copy of the Acts of our Scottish Assemblies from
Petrie adds He was now Archbishop Rector of the Vniversity and Provost of the New College of St. Andrews From this I say it is plain That Knox did not resent Douglas his advancement from any opinion of the Vnlawfulness of Episcopacy for no such word so much as once mutter'd by him but from a perswasion he had that no one man was fit for such a Multitude of Offices And I shall readily grant that Knox was not for Largo Diocesses such as St. Andrews was then as we shall learn by and by tho I am afraid little to the comfort of my Presbyterian Brethren But I have not yet dispatched the whole Argument 'T is said He refused to inaugurate the Bishop Be it so but may not the grounds I have laid down already make it reasonable for him to have done so tho he had no quarrel with imparity What ane Argument is this Iohn Knox a Presbyter refused to consecrate a Bishop Ergo he was a Presbyterian This is upon the supposition that Calderwood and Mr. Petrie have told us true Matter of Fact And yet I must confess I see not the probability of its being true That Knox was desired to inaugurate him For how is it imaginable that he would be desired to perform that Office when there was a Bishop and a Superintendent at hand to do it and who actually did it as both Authors acknowledge But that is not all There is another Argument insisted on by both Authors viz. That Mr. Iohn Ruther-foord Provost of the Old College alledged that Mr. Knox 's repining proceeded from Male-Contentment And Knox purged himself next Sunday saying I have refused a greater Bishoprick than ever it was which I might have had with the favour of greater men than he hath his I did and do Repine for Discharge of my Conscience Now what more is there in all this than That Knox his Conscience would not have allowed him to take a Bishoprick with so much prejudice to the Rights of the Church for any mans feud or favour as he suspected Douglas had done in compliance with the Earl of Morton Can the world see any thing here that lookt like the Divine Right of Parity But Calderwood has yet a more wonderful Argument to prove Mr. Knox one of his party Mr. Beza forsooth being informed by Mr. Knox as appeareth of the Intention of the Court to introduce Bishops wrote a Letter to him wherein he told him That as Bishops brought in the Papacy so false Bishops the Relicks of Popery would bring in Epicurism to the world and therefore prayed him that Episcopacy might never be re-admitted into Scotland c. Petrie indeed mentions the same Letter but he had not the courage it seems to say that it appeared to have been occasioned by a Letter of Knox's to Beza concerning the intentions of the Court to introduce Episcopacy Indeed no such thing appeareth from any sentence phrase or syllable in all Mr. Beza's Letter How it came to appear to Mr. Calderwood whether by some certain or uncertain Manuscript I know not but however it was make the supposition That Knox did write so to Beza where is the consequence of the Argument And if he wrote not and 't is impossible to make it appear from Mr. Beza's Letter that he did Why was Calderwood at such pains to give the world a citation out of Beza's Letter against Episcopacy was that a good proof that Knox was Presbyterian that Beza sent him such a Letter The truth is if any thing can be collected from that Letter concerning Knox's sentiments it seems rather that he was for Prelacy For Beza seems clearly to import that Knox needed to be caution'd against it For thus he writes One thing I would have you my dear Knox and your Brethren to advert to as being very obvious it is That as Bishops brought forth the Papacy c. But if Knox needed this Commonitory I think 't is no great Argument that he was Presbyterian so much at least as Beza would have had him But to do Mr. Calderwood justice he seems to have laid no great stress on this Argument and so I leave it So much for the Arguments insisted on to prove that Mr. Knox was for Parity I come now to the Arguments which incline me to think he was not When we are enquiring after ones sentiments about a point in controversie It is not reasonable to build much on far fetcht consequences or refine upon incidental sayings which may be very frequently the Results of Negligence or Inadvertency It is not proper to fasten on indirect propositions or snatch at this or that indeliberated phrase or expression which might have dropt unwarily from his tongue or pen. Following such measures we may easily strain mens words beyond their meaning and make them speak Nonsense or innumerable Contradictions when we have a mind for it The solid measure is to weigh a mans deliberate and serious thoughts if any where he has exprest them To consider his Reasonings when he treated directly on the controverted Subjects or any thing that stands so nearly related to it that one cannot readily discourse the one without reflecting on the other To trace him through his life if the controverted point is Relative to Practice and try what was his Behaviour when he had occasion to declare his mind concerning the matter in question This as I take it is the true Rule Now allowing this Rule to take place I am very much mistaken if Knox shall be found to have been for the Divine Institution of Parity and the Vnlawfulness of Prelacy Had he been so perswaded how seasonable had it been for him to have spoken out so much when he was brought before King Edwards Council The question was then put to him Whether he thought that no Christian might serve in the Ecclesiastical Ministration according to the Rites and Laws of the Realm of England Here was a proper opportunity for him to have declared himself against Prelacy if he had been really against it How natural had it been for a sincere Parity man on that occasion to have told that Council That no Christian could theâ— serve with a safe Conscience as a Pastor of the Church of England because according to the Laws of that Realm he behoved to serve as a Member of ane Vnlawful Hierarchy yet he answered nothing but that No Minister in England had Authority to separate the Lepers from the whole which was a Chief Part of his Office Plainly founding all the Vnlawfulness of being a Pastor of the Church of England not on the Vnlawfulness of the Hierarchy which he spoke nor one word about but on the Kings Retaining in his own hands the Chief Power of Ecclesiastical Discipline as it is known he did When was it more opportune for him to have expressed these sentiments if he had had them than when he was at Frankfort Yet not one word of the Divine Right of
can it be imagined that Henry who was so serious with the King of Scots was at no pains at all with his Subjects with the Nobility and Gentry with such as might had influence either at the Court or in the Country No certainly as may be evident if we consider 4. That when in the year 1540 or 1541 Henry was earnest for a Congress with Iames to try no doubt if meeting face to face and personal and familiar Converse and Conference might prevail with him All our Scottish Protestants were mighty zealous that the Interview might take effect and both time and place which was York might be punctually observed Is not this a Demonstration that they understood Henry's project and approved his designs and that they were in the same Bottom with him in pursuance of a Reformation 'T is true Iames followed other Counsels and disappointed the Interview and therefore Henry turn'd angry and raised War against him But then 't is as true that Iames found his Subjects so backward as I shewed and was so unsuccessful in the management of that War that he contracted Melancholy and soon after died Add to this 5. That after Iames's Death Henry persisted in his Concern to advance the Reformation in Scotland as well as in England To this end He was careful that those of the Scottish Nobility and Gentry who were taken Prisoners at Solway-moss might be lodged with such persons as could instruct them in the Reforming Principles And so soon as he heard that Iames was dead and had left a Daughter some few days old yet Heiress of the Crown He dispatched them for Scotland to promote his interests in the Matter of the Match he was zealous to have made betwixt his Son Prince Edward and our Infant Soveraign Indeed they were as diligent as he could have desired They got it carried in Parliament and that they did it from a prospect of carrying on the Reformation of Religion by that conjunction cannot be doubted if we may believe Dr. Burnet in his Abridgment of the History of the Reformation of the Church of England For there he not only tells That Cassils had got these seeds of Knowledge at Lambeth under Cranmer ' s influences which produced afterwards a Great Harvest in Scotland But also That the other Prisoners were instructed to such a degree that they came to have very different thoughts of the Changes that had been made in England from what the Scottish Clergy had possessed them with who had encouraged their King to engage in the War by the assurance of Victory since he fought against ane Heretical Prince c. And a little after They were sent home and went away much pleased both with the Splendor of the Kings Court and with the way of Religion which they had seen in England And that we have reason to believe this Author in this matter is evident because he is justified herein by all our Historians especially Buchanan as my appear by the sequel Here was Success of the English influences Seven of the Supreme Order i. e. Noblemen and 24 of inferior Quality considerable Gentlemen all enlightned in England for so Buchanan numbers them And here by the way it will not be amiss to consider the strength of the Protestant Party in Scotland when in this Parliament wherein the Match by the influence of the English Converts was agreed to They were so strong that they carried the Regency for the Earl of Arran prompted thereto chiefly by the perswasion they had of his affection to the Reformation as is evident from the consentient Accounts of Buchanan Knox and Spotswood They carried it for the Match with England in opposition to all the Popish Party as I have just now represented Nay which is more because more immediately concerning the Reformation of Religion they procured ane Act to be made That it should be Lawful to every Man to take the Benefit of the Translation which they then had of the Bible and other Treatises containing wholsome Doctrine c. Indeed at that time the Reformation was so far advanced That the Regent kept his two Protestant Chaplains Guillam and Rough both Church of England men as we shall hear who preached publickly to the Court and declaim'd boldly against the Roman Corruptions So far advanced that it stood fair within a short space to have got the publick establishment if Arran the Regent to keep the Popes Cover on his Title to the Succession wherein without it there were a Couple of sad Chasms and for other worldly ends had not play'd the Iade by renouncing his Profession and returning to the Popes Obedience Observe further by the way That this first Parliament of Queen Mary's was holden in her name and by her Authority upon the 13th of March 1542 3 as is clear not only from our Historians but the printed Acts of Parliament and she was not crowned till the 20th of August thereafter if we may believe both Lesly and Buchanan And yet there was not so much as the least objection made then against the Legality of the Parliament no such thing was thought on So that 't is no new nor illegal thing for Scottish Monarchs to hold Parliaments before their Coronations But this as I said by the way Such was the strength of the Reforming Party then and this strength under God advanced so far principally by English influences And all this will appear more convincing still when it is considered in the 6th place That all alongst the Popish Clergy were very sensible of it and very much offended with it and were at all imaginable pains to disappoint it and oppose it Thus When Henry sent the Bishop of St. Davids as we have heard Anno 1535. to treat with Iames about Reforming the Clergy were in a dreadful pother how to keep off the Interview and used all imaginable Arguments with the King to disswade him from listening to it Telling him it would ruine Religion and that would ruine his Soul his State his Kingdom c. Nay The Pope himself was extreamly solicitous how to prevent so great a mischief as he deem'd it For as Lesly tells us His Holiness finding that Henry had cast off his Yoke and fearing lest Iames should transcribe his Uncles Copy sent his Legates to Scotland to confirm him in the Faith and fortify him against Henry's impressions And Buchanan says He allowed him the Tenths of all the Benefices within the Kingdom for three years time to keep him right Again When Henry Anno 1540. insisted the second time for ane Interview the Clergy were in a whole Sea of troubles They used all arts and tried all Methods to impede it At last they sell upon the true Knack and a true Demonstration of their Concern seeing it was a Knack that lookt so unkindly on their Pockets which was to promise him Money largely no less than 30000 Crowns yearly says Buchanan Knox
calls them 50000 out of their Benefices besides a vast sum which might arise out of the confiscated Estates of Hereticks 50000 Crowns was a good round summ in those days in Scotland Further How were they alarm'd what fears were they under what shapes did they turn themselves in what tricks did they play when the Match betwixt Edward and Mary spoken of before was in Agitation The Cardinal forged a Will in the Kings Name nominating himself the principal of four Conjunct Regents for managing the Government during the Queen's Minority intending thereby to secure the Popish interests and prevent the coming of the Nobility from England who he knew would lay out themselves with all their Might to oppose him being his Enemies upon the account of Religion and advance the Designs of England This not succeeding for the forgery was manifest His next Care was that all the Popish Party should tumultuate bawl and clamour confound and disturb the Parliament all they could which indeed was done so successfully that nothing could be done to purpose till he was committed to Custody Neither did this put an end to these practices of the Party but so soon as the Parliament having concluded the Match was over and he set at Liberty with the Queen Dowagers advice who was all over French and Papist He convenes the Clergy represents to them the impossibility of their standing the certain Ruine of the Catholick Religion every thing that could be frightful to them unless that Confederacy with England were broken obliges them therefore to tax themselves and raise great Sums of Money for Bribing some of the Nobility that were not proof against its Charms and Beauties And to use all their Rhetorick with others to the same purpose And lastly it was concluded in that Religious Meeting That the Match and Alliance should be preacht against from the Pulpits and that all possible pains should be taken to excite the Populace to Tumults and Rabbles and treat the English Ambassador with all affronting Tricks and Rudenesses In short the Faction never gave over till they had cajol'd the weak Regent into ane Abjuration of Protestancy as was told before and reconciled him to the French which then in Scotland was all one with the Popish Interest Nay His Holiness himself again interrested himself in this juncture as Lesly tells us sending Petrus Franciscus Contarenus Patriarch of Venice his Legate into Scotland to treat with the Regent and the Nobility in the Popes Name and promise them large assistances against the English if they would break the Contract of Marriage betwixt Edward and Mary which had so fatal ane aspect towards the Catholick Religion By this Taste 't is easy to discern how much the Popish Party were perswaded of the great influence England had on Scotland in order to a Reformation of Religion And laying all together that hath been said 't is as easy to perceive they wanted not reason for such a perswasion Having thus given a brief Deduction of the State of our Reformation in King Henry's time and made it apparent that it was much encouraged and quickened by English Influences then I think I need not insist much on the succeeding Reigns Briefly then 7. As Edward the Sixth had the same reasons for interesting himself in our Scottish affairs which his Father Henry had before him so we find his Counsels were suited accordingly No sooner was Henry dead and Somerset warm'd in his Protectoral Chair than the Demands about the Match were renewed And being rejected by the Popish Party here who had our weak Regent at their Beck and were then the governing Party the Matter ended in a Bloody War Somerset raised a great Army and entered Scotland But before it came to fighting he sent a Letter to the Scots written in such ane obliging stile and containing so kind and so fair so equitable propositions That the Regent advis'd by some Papists about him thought fit not to publish it to his Army but to give out that it tended to quite contrary purposes than it really contained That it contain'd Threats that the English were come to carry off the Queen by force and Ruine and Enslave the Nation c. Dreading no doubt that if he had dealt candidly and shewed the Letter to such men of interest in the Nation as were there it would have taken so with them that they would have laid aside thoughts of Fighting Indeed this was no groundless jealousie the matter was above-board For as Buchanan tells us In the next Convention of Estates which was holden shortly after that fatal Battel of Pinkie those who were for the Reformation being of the same Religion with England were zealous for the English Alliance and against sending the Queen into France and that they were the Papists only who were for sending her thither 8. When Edward died and his Sister Mary ascended the Throne a heavy Cloud indeed did hang over both Nations and threatned a dreadful storm to the Reformation of Religion Mary according to her surly humour fell to downright Persecution in England And our Q. Dowager having shouldered out Arran and possest herself of the Scottish Regency in her subtle way was as zealous to maintain the Superstitions of Popery using less Cruelty indeed than Mary but more policy and to the same purposes And now the purgation of Christianity seem'd to be brought to a lamentable stand in both Kingdoms and the hopes of those to be quite dasht who were breathing for the profession of that Holy Religion in its purity Yet God in his kind providence did otherwise dispose of things and made that a means to advance Religion amongst us which men thought should have utterly extinguisht it For some of those who fled from Mary's persecution in England taking their Refuge into this Kingdom did not only help to keep the light which had begun to shine but made the Sun to break up more clear than before as Spotswood hath it from Knox. For then came into Scotland William Harlaw Iohn Willock Iohn Knox c. of whom more hereafter Thus we were still deriving more light and heat from England 9. Mary died and Elizabeth succeeded in November 1588. our Queen was then in France It was morally impossible to recover her thence The English influences which in Henry and Edwards time had cherished our Reformation except so far as God sent us Harlaw Willock and Knox by his special providence as I told just now were quite cut off all the time of Mary's Government Our Reformers therefore to make the best of a bad hand were earnest to be amongst the foremost Courtiers with the Queen Regent They were ready to serve her design with all possible frankness particularly they were amongst the most forward for carrying on the Match with the Dauphine of France and voted chearfully that he should have the Matrimonial Crown conferred upon him after the solemnization of the Marriage In
dayly look for our final Deliverance by the coming again of our Lord Iesus c. Thus it was prayed I say in great Solemnity at that time and every Petition is a Confirmation of Buchanan's Fidelity and my Assertion Further yet 3. In the Old Scottish Liturgy compiled in these times and afterwards used publickly in all the Churches There is a Thanksgiving unto God after our Deliverance from the Tyranny of the Frenchmen with Prayers made for the Continuance of the Peace betwixt the Realms of Scotland and England wherein we have these Petitions offered Grant unto us O Lord that with such Reverence we may remember thy Benefits received that after this in our Default we never enter into Hostility against the Realm and Nation of England Suffer us never O Lord to fall to that Ingratitude and detestable Vnthankfulness that we should seek the Destruction and Death of those whom thou hast made instruments to Deliver us from the Tyranny of Merciless Strangers Dissipate thou the Counsels of such as Deceitfully travel to stir the hearts of the inhabitants of either Realm against the other Let their malicious practices be their own confusion and grant thou of thy Mercy that Love Concord and Tranquillity may continue and increase amongst the Inhabitants of this Isle even to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ by whose glorious Gospel thou of thy Mercy dost CALL US BOTH TO UNITY PEACE AND CHRISTIAN CONCORD the full PERFECTION whereof we shall possess in the fullness of thy Kingdom c. Here is a set of Demonstrations to the same purpose also And now let any man lay all these things together The Letter to Cecil The Confederacy betwixt Scotland and England Buchanan's Testimony and these Thanksgivings and Prayers and then let him judge impartially whither or not there is reason to believe that in those days there was a good Agreement between the Scottish and English Protestants as to Religion and Church Matters Thus I think I have sufficiently cleared that our Reformers Generally if not Vnanimously lookt upon the Church of England as so well constituted that they acknowledged her Communion to be a Lawful Communion But before I proceed to other things I must try if I can make any more advantage of what has been said And I reason thus Was there not here truely and really a Confederacy ane Oath A Solemn League and Covenant betwixt the Scottish and the English Protestants Were not these English Protestants then united in that Society which at that time was and ever since hath been called The Church of England And was not the Church of England of that same very constitution then that it was of in King Charles the First his time for example Anno 1642 But if so then I ask again was not this Solemn League and Covenant made thus by our Reformers with their Brethren in England as much designed for the Security the Defence the Maintainance of the Church of England as then by Law established as for the Establishment of our Reformation Did not our Reformers promise Mutual Faith to the English as well as the English promised to them Would it have been consistent with the mutual bonds and obligations of this Confederacy this Solemn League and Covenant for the Scottish Reformers to have raised ane Army at that time against Queen Elizabeth to invade her Dominions in order to ruine the Church of England I cannot imagine any sober person can grudge to grant me this much also But if this be granted then I ask in the third place Did not that Solemn League and Covenant made by our Reformers with those of the Church of England run in a direct opposition to the Solemn League and Covenant made by our Scottish Presbyterians with a Factious Party in England for destroying the Church of England in King Charles the First 's time Nay did not our Scottish Presbyterians in that King's time by entering into that Solemn League and Covenant directly and effrontedly break through the Charge and Commandment which our Reformers left to their Posterity That the Amity betwixt the Nations in God contracted and begun might by them be kept inviolate for ever Nay further yet did not our Reformers solemnly pray against those who made the Solemn League and Covenant in the days of King Charles the First Did they not address to God that he would dissipate their Counsels and let their Malicious Practices be their own Confusion And now let the world judge what rational pretences these Presbyterians in that Holy Martyrs time and by consequence our present Presbyterians can make for their being the only true and genuine Successors of our First Reformers Expecting solid and serious Answers to these Questions I shall now advance in the prosecution of my main undertaking on this Head which was to shew how our Reformers agreed with the Church of England in several momentous matters Relative to the Constitution and Communion the Government and Polity of the Church c. But because I have insisted so long on this general one which I have just now taken leave of I shall only instance in two or three more and dispatch them as speedily as I can 2. Then it is evident and undeniable that our Scottish Protestants for some years used the Liturgy of the Church of England in their publick Devotions Indeed The very first publick step towards our Reformation made by the Lords of the Congregation was to appoint this Liturgy to be used It was ordered upon the third day of December 1557. as both Knox and Calderwood have it Take the Ordinance in Knox his words The Lords and Barons professing Christ Iesus conveened frequently in Councel in the which these Heads were concluded First It is thought expedient advised and ordained That in all Parishes of this Realm the Common Prayer be read weekly on Sunday and other Festival days publickly in the Parish Churches with the Lessons of the Old and New Testament conformable to the Book of Common Prayers And if the Curates of the Parishes be qualified that they read the same And if they be not or if they refuse that the most qualified in the Parish use and read the same c. Spotswood and Petrie give the same account But such is the Genius of Mr. Calderwood that you are to expect few things which may make against the Presbyterian Interest candidly and sincerely represented by him For instance in his overly account of this matter he quite omits the mention of other Holy days besides Sundays These consistent Testimonies of all those four Historians are so full and plain a Demonstration of the Matter of Fact that I cannot foresee so much as one Objection that can be made or one Evasion that can be thought on unless it be That it is not said by any of them that it was the Book of the Common Prayers of the Church of England But this difficulty is soon removed For 1. It was either the Book
forced to return to England Mr. Henry Kellegrew succeeding in his stead in Scotland that this Killegrew at a private meeting told himself plainly that he was come to Scotland with a Commission contrary to his inclinations which was to encourage Faction c. Thus practiced Queen Elizabeth and such were her Arts and influences in Scotland before she had the opportunity of improving the Presbyterian humour to her purposes And can it be imagined she would not encourage it when once it got sooting Certainly she understood it better than so The Sect had set up a Presbytery at Wandsworth in Surrey in the year 1572 four years before Morton made this Proposition seven years before a Presbytery was so much as heard of in Scotland No doubt she knew the Spirit well enough and how apt and well suited it was for keeping a State in disorder and trouble Nay I have heard from knowing Persons that to this very day the Treasury Books of England if I remember right sure I am some English record or other bear the Names of such Scottish Noblemen and Ministers as were that Queens Pensioners and what allowances they got for their Services in fostering and cherishing seditions and confusions in their Native Countrey From this sample I think it is easy to collect at least that it is highly probable that Queen Elizabeth was very willing that the Presbyterian humour should be encouraged in Scotland Let us try 2. If Morton depended so much on her as may make it credible that he was subservient to her Designs in this Politick And here the work is easy For he was her very Creature he stood by her and he stood for her Randolf and he were still in one bottom The whole Countrey was abused by Randolf and Morton Morton and Randolf contrived the Parliament 1571. Mentioned before When Lennox the Regent was killed Randolf was earnest to have Morton succeed him Randolf had no Credit but with Morton Killegrew told Sir James Melvil at the Private Meeting mentioned before That the Queen of England and her Council built their course neither on the late Regent Lennox nor the present Mar but intirely on the Earl of Morton as only true to their interests Morton after Mar's death was made Regent England helping it with all their Might And again in that same page Sir Iames tells that those who were in the Castle of Edenburgh and stood for Queen Mary's Title were so sensible of all this that when Morton sent the same Sir Iames to propose ane accommodation to them He found it very hard to bring on ane Agreement between them and Morton for the evil opinion that was then conceived of him and the hurtful marks they supposed by proofs and appearances that he would shoot at being by Nature Covetous and too great with England And to make all this plainer yet Sir Iames tells us that Morton entertaind a Secret Grudge against his Pupil the Young King He was ever jealous that the King would be his Ruine And England gave greater Assistances to Morton than to any former Regents for they believed he aim'd at the same mark with themselves viz. to intricate the Kings affairs out of old jealousies between the Stuarts and the Douglases Now Let all these things be laid together and then let the judicious consider if it is not more than probable That as England had a main hand in the advancement of our Reformation so it was not wanting to contribute for the encouragement of Presbytery also and that Morton playing England's game which was so much interwâ—â—eâ— with his own made this ill favoured Proposition to this Gen. Ass. But however this was â—lâ—â—her he had such a Plot or not It is cleaâ— that his making this proposition had all the effects he could have projected by being on such a Plot. For No sooner had he made this Proposition than it was greedily entertain'd It Answered the Melvilian wishes and it was easy for them to find colourable Topicks for obtaining the consent of the rest of the Assembly For most part of them were ready to acknowledge that there were Defects and things to be mended in the Agreement at Leith And it had been received by the General Assembly in August 1572. for ane Interim only The revising of that Agreement might end some Controversies and the Regent having made this Proposition it was not to be doubted but he would Ratify what they should Unanimously agree to c. These and the like Arguments I say might 't is clear some Arguments did prevail with the Assembly to entertain the Proposition For A commission was forthwith drawn to nineteen or twenty Persons to Compose a Second Book of Discipline a step by which at that time the Presbyterian got a wonderful advantage over the other Party For not only were Melvil and Lawson the two first Rate Presbyterians nominated amongst these Commissioners But they had their business much prâ—meditated They had spent much thinking about it and it is not to be doubted they had Mr. Beza bespoken to provide them with all the Assistance he and his Colleagues at Geneva could afford them Whereas the rest were Generally very ignorant in Controversies of that Nature They had all alongst before that imployed themselves mainly in the Popish Controversies and had not troubled their heads much about the Niceties of Government They had taken the Ancient Government so far at least as it subsisted by imparity upon trust as they found it had been Practiced in all ages of the Church perceiving a great deal of Order and Beauty in it and nothing that naturally tended to have a bad influence on either the principles or the life of serious Christianity And with that they were satisfied Indeed even the best of them seem to have had very little skill in the true fountains whence the solid subsistence of the Episcopal Order was to be derived The Scriptures I mean not as Glossed by the Private Spirit of every Modern Novelist but as interpreted and understood by the First ages as sensed by the constant and universal practice of Genuine Primitive and Catholick Antiquity This charge of Ignorance in the Controversies about the Government of the Church which I have brought against the Scottish Clergy in these times will certainly leave a blot upon my self if I cannot prove it But if I can prove it it is clear it is of considerable importance in the present disquisition and helps much for coming by a just comprehension to understand how Presbytery was introduced into Scotland And therefore I must again beg my Readers patience till I adduce some evidences for it And First The truth of this charge may be obviously collected from the whole train of their proceedings and management about the Government of the Church from the very first Establishment of the Reformation For however they Established a Government which clearly subsisted by imparity as I
which is extant in Print before the Psalm Book i. e. the old Liturgy according to which as I have always done so now I Minister that Sacrament In short It continued to be in use even after the beginning of the Horrid Revolution in the days of King Charles the First and many old People yet alive remember well to have seen it used indifferently both by Presbyterians and Prelatists But it is not so now Our Modern Presbyterians do not only Condemn the Liturgie of the Church of England used as I say by our Reformers calling it a Dry lifeless service a spiritless powerless service ane unwarrantable service ane ill-mumbled mass a farce of Popish Dregs and Reliques a Rag of Romish Superstition and Idolatry and God knows how many ill things But they Generally Condemn all Liturgies all set-forms of publick worship and devotion They will admit of none All to them are alike odious and intolerable Herein I think there is a palpable Recession from the principles of our Reformers about the publick and solemn worship of the Church and that in a most weighty and material instance But this is not all They have not only deserted our Reformers and Condemn'd them as to Forms But they have made very considerable and important Recessions from them as to the matter both in the substance and circumstances of Liturgical Offices and here I must descend to particulars 1. Then our present Presbyterians observe no Forms in their publick Prayers either before or after Sermon For the most part they observe no Rules They Pray by no Standard Nay they do not stick by their own Directory All must be Extemporary work and the newer the odder the more surprizing both as to matter and manner the better If any Brother has not that fire in his temper that heat in his blood that warmth in his Animal-spirits that sprightlyness and fervour in his fancy or that readiness of elocution c. If he wants any one or two of these many Graces which must concur for accomplishing one with the ready Gift and shall adventure to digest his thought and provide himself with a Premeditated Form of his own making He shall be concerned likewise to be so wise and wary as to provide himself either with a variety of such Forms or many disguises for his one form or he shall run the hazard of the success of his Ministery and his Reputation to boot He is a Gone-man if the Zealots of the gang smell it out that he prayed by Premiditation Fore-thought Prayers are little less Criminal than fore-thought Felony He wants the spirit and deserves to be ranked amongst the Anti-Christian Crue of Formalists Nay so much are they against set-forms that 't is Popery for any thing I know to say the Lords Prayer Our Reformers never met for publick worship but they used it once or oftner And they used it as in obedience to our Saviours Commandment Take for a taste these instances which I have collected from the old Liturgy The Prayer for the whole Estate of Christs Church appointed to be said after Sermon is Concluded thus In whose name we make our humble petitions unto thee even as he hath taught us saying Our Father c. Another Prayer to be said after Sermon has the Lords Prayer in the very bosom of it The Prayer to be used when God threatens his Iudgements concludes thus Praying unto thee with all humility and submission of minds as we are taught and commanded to Pray saying Our Father c. The Prayer to be used in time of Affliction thus Our only Saviour and Mediator in whose name we Pray unto thee as we are taught saying Our Father c. The Prayer at the Admission of a Superintendent or a Minister thus Of whom the perpetual increase of thy Grace we crave as by thee our Lord King and only Bishop we are taught to Pray Our Father c. The Prayer for the Obstinate in the order for Excommunication thus These thy Graces O Heavenly Father and farther as thou knowest to be expedient for us and for thy Church Vniversal we call for unto thee even as we are taught by our Lord and Master Christ Iesus saying Our Father c. The last Prayer before Excommunication thus This we ask of thee O Heavenly Father in the boldness of our Head and Mediator Iesus Christ praying as he hath taught us Our Father c. The Confession of sins c. in time of publick Easts thus We flee to the obedience and perfect Iustice of Iesus Christ our only Mediator Praying as he hath taught us saying Our Father c. The Prayer of Consecration in Baptism thus May be brought as a lively Member of his Body unto the full fruition of thy joys in the Heavens where thy Son our Saviour Christ Reigneth world without end In whose name we Pray as he hath taught us saying Our Father c. So many of the Prayers used by our Reformers were concluded with the Lords Prayer And it is obvious to any body that sometimes 3 or 4 of them were to be said at one Assembly And still when the Lords Prayer is brought in you see 't is plainly in Obedience to our Saviours Command from which 't is clear our Reformers lookt on the using it as not only Lawful but Necessary Our present Presbyterians will not only not use it but they Condemn and writ against the using of it Indeed They have not retained so much as one Form except that of Blessed use by Saint Paul 2 Cor. 13.14 This indeed they commonly say tho' I am not sure they say it in the Form of a Blessing before the Dissolution of the Assembly But why they have kept this and rejected all other Forms or how they can reconcile the retaining of this with the rejection of all other Forms I confess I am not able to tell Let themselves answer for that as well as for retaining set-forms of Praise while they Condemn set forms of Prayer 2. Our Reformers in their publick Assemblies never omitted to make a solemn and publick Confession of their Faith by rehearsing that which is commonly called the Apostles Creed It was said after the Prayer for the whole Estate of Christs Chruch and it was introduced thus Almighty and Everliving God vouchsafe we beseech thee to grant us perfect continuance in thy lively Faith augmenting the same in us dayly till we grow to the full measure of our perfection in Christ whereof we make our Confession saying I believe in God the Father c. Herein they are intirely deserted by our present Presbyterians also 3. The Preaching of the word may be performed two ways By the publick Reading of the Scriptures and by Sermons c. founded on the Scriptures Our present Presbyterians in both these have Receded from our Reâ—â—â—mers 1. As for the Reading of the Scriptures our Reformers delivered themselves thus in the