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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61639	Naphtali, or, The wrestlings of the Church of Scotland for the kingdom of Christ contained in a true and short deduction thereof, from the beginning of the reformation of religion, until the year 1667 : together with the last speeches and testimonies of some who have died for the truth since the year 1660 : whereunto are also subjoyned, a relation of the sufferings and death of Mr. Hew McKail ...	Stewart, James, Sir, 1635-1713.; Stirling, James, 1631-1672?	1667 (1667)	Wing S5683; ESTC R3435	226,444	388

the dangerous Method of some who the better to enforce the obligation of the Oath of God do suppose the Matter thereof especially as to that article against Prelacy to be antecedently Indifferent and not determined either by the Word of God or any other Moral Precept Justly apprehending how easily in this light and backsliding time such suppositions may become positions and that the obligation of the Oath of God now so much violated and little regarded may be found too weak to secure mens stedfastness As we are therefore persuaded and would have all to consider and fix it in their hearts that this wicked Prelacy and it's Hierarchy are not only contrary to the Word of God to the Practice of the Holy Apostles to sound Doctrine and the Power of Godliness under which express consideration we are also sworn to endeavour it's extirpation but by the sad experience of all Ages in the Christian Church especially in these our later times had been found most pernicious to all Truth and Righteousness and the main Engine and Device whereby the Devil hath alwayes laboured to advance his Kingdom of Darkness and therefore hath been the great butt and aime for the overthrow whereof the great Work of God in this Land hath been so Powerfully and Gloriously manifested so do we most constantly hold that as wel this Article against Prelacy as all the rest contained in this Holy Covenant were and are antecedently oblidging both to King and People without the supervention of either Oath or Promise and that the rooting out of Prelacy the wicked Hierarchy therein so obviously described is the main duty in the endeavour whereof as most advantageous unto all these great and holy Ends proposed by the Covenant all the Zeal of the faithful ought to be concentred As for such profane Jugglers who neither considering this Oath and Covenant as a special Ordinance and blessing of God whereby we are more effectually stirred up and enabled to the performance of all the duties of Religion and Righteousness therein contained nor knowing that this Covenant made with God and accepted by Him is also the Lords Covenant with us for the securing and establishing unto us all the great Blessings and Priviledges therein expressed that as we therein do avouch the Lord to be our God so doth He avouch us to be His People Do from the Righteousness and Necessity of it's matter vainly argue the superfluity of any accessory Obligation and would thence infer that the same may be the more easily dispensed with or renounced We de only remit them to that Solemn Covenant Deut. 29.10 c. made there betwixt the Lord and His People and thereafter so often renewed only for their greater Engagement to the most necessary duties of God's express commands We come in the next place unto the Manner and Form of this League and Covenant wherein not purposing to resume the many debates that have been raised anent it we shall only take notice that these old Acts and Laws viz. Act. 43. Parl. 6. of Mary 1555. and Act. 12. Parl. 10. Iam. 6.1585 made against Leagues and Bands contracted without the Kings consent are now obtruded with the force and lustre of a new Act. cap. 4. of the last Parliament to condemn the Covenant as from the beginning Unlawfull and Rebellious But as these old Acts at the time of the entering into this League and Covenant did then stand explained by the 29. Act. Parl. 2. Charl. 1. ratifyed and authorized by the King himself in a sense most consistent with the Covenant and could no wayes render the same from the beginning unlawful much less could the revival thereof in their greatest rigour or the superveniency of any other Act thereanent dissolve the Sacred Obligation of this Oath once lawfully contracted so the reason of the former answer made ro this objection and the Justice and Equity of that Act. 29. P. 2. C. 1. whereby the same was declared remaineth in ful force viz. that no League nor Bond made by the Subjects for maintenance of Religion Liberty and the Publick good of Church or State was or can be understood to be prohibited by these old Acts and Laws objected Because as the makers of such Bonds cannot be reputed to be movers of Sedition to the breach of the publick peace which is the express reason and certification of these old Acts objected so both the King and his Government being appointed for the preservation of these great ends and Interests and He himself principally oblidged both by the Command and Oath of God upon him to authorize all such bonds Covenants and other means which may advance the same It were a gross Paradox both in Reason and Religion that the King's neglect of his duty and perverting of his Office to the overthrow of these ends for which he is ordained should therefore oblige the People to a sinful Complyance and stupid connivance to the high Dishonour of the Great God and King of Kings and the utter ruine of the souls bodies and fortuns of themselves and their Posterity It 's true it may be and is replyed that this answer and reasoning doth proceed from an unjust jealousy of Kings and is founded upon an intollerable presumption in the Subject to censure and judge their actings But seeing the entering into this Covenant and into all others which we allow was so far from proceeding upon an unjust jealousy that on the contrary it was in a manner extorted by the force of the most palpable and rational necessity that can be imagined and seeing the feeling and discerning thereof is so far from that criminal presumption alleadged that to disprove it is in effect to deny both sense and reason unless our adversaries can prove that notwithstanding thereof the King is by God the Lord vested with such an uncontrollable Dominion and Soveraignty that whatever Violence Outrage or Cruelty he commit the People are obliged by a patience or rather stupidity greater then that of Beasts to endure without gain saying it is impossible for them to establish the Tyranny that they contend for But that the World may see that such objections are only the wicked flattery of selfish men and how little they do therein either use or regard Reason in the late Act abovementioned made against Leagues and Conventions it is declared that the explication contained in the Act 1640. viz. That such Leagues and Conventions as are made by Subjects for the preservation of the King Religion and the Laws are not prohibited by these old Acts is false and disloyall and contrary to the true and genuine meaning thereof which Declaration is not only a naked Assertion and contrary to the express reason and certification of these old Acts which is before sett down but so blind and irrational that in case of an Interregnum or the incapacity of the King to give His consent to any Bond Meeting or Convention which in such a case may be

NAPHTALI OR The Wrestlings of the Church of SCOTLAND For the KINGDOM of CHRIST Contained in A true and short Deduction thereof from the beginning of the Reformation of Religion until the Year 1667. Together with The last Speeches and Testimonies of some who have died for the Truth since the Year 1660. Whereunto are also subjoined A Relation of the Sufferings and Death of M R HEW M C KAIL and some Instances of the Sufferings of Galloway and Nithisdale LAM 1 12. Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger MIC 7 8. Rejoice not against me O mine Enemy When I fall I shall arise When I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a Light unto me ISAI 14 32. What shall one then answere the Messengers of the Nation That the Lord hath founded Zion and the poor of the People shall trust in it Printed in the Year 1667. AD LECTOREM NOn hîc Herculeae sunt cum sudore palestrae Nullus Olympiaco in pulvere Ludus iners Pro sadore cruor Christi de Corpore manat Ardua pro ludo est lucta rapina neces Scotica bis denis luctata Ecclesia Lustris Penè dedit victas lassa labore manus Duros passa Patres dudum velut ame Novercas Vi premitur Stygia fraude subacta gemit Constitit effraenes contra tumidasque procellas Proque Fide steterat dum stetit ulla fides Nusquam cana fides nunc est jurataque Coeli Numina mortales vinc'la nec ulla ligant Credula dum nimis est fida haec Ecclesia vanà Spe lusâ rupto Foedere strata jacet Strata tamen non tota jacet de pulvere surgit Auricomum tollet mox supra astra caput Ipsa triumphalem currum Crux saeva ministrat Sanctorum sanguis fertile semen erit Ecce Sacerdotum turmam Regumque Coronam Pendentem infami de trabe Lector habes Cerne oculo Heroum facies corpora cernas Verba audi videas pectora plena Deo Hîc loquitur Princeps magno cum Judice Vates Et Juvenes Vatum spes animosa senum Hîc Generosa cohors Miles Mercator agelli Cultor Arte rudis spirat ab ore Deum Disce immortalem hinc Animam vitamque futuram Nulla est pro Christo mors male grata pio Pro Christi Crux est diademate Laurea restis Faedere pro Sancto est vitta monile decus READER THE LORD in great mercy having wonderfully and with an outstretched arm notwithstanding all the opposition of Sathan and earthly Principalities redeemed Scotland from the Power and darkness first of Gentilism and then of Antichristianism by raising of some burning and shining Lights and other Instruments fitted for that Work Whereby the Light of the Glorious Gospel from a very small beginning did increase more and more untill at length shining with brightness and heat as the Sun in his strength it filled the Land with knowledge in so much that the name thereof became Jehouah Shammah the Lord is there And having built to Himself a house upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles not only sufficiently instructed with righteous Laws and Judgments for Doctrine and Worship But also provided with all Ordinary Officers necessary in the Christian Church and with a form of Church-Government of his own Institution distinct from and without any prejudice unto the Civil Government of the Kingdom Whereby the Church of Scotland for Soundness of Faith Purity of Worship Excellency of Government Freedom and Power of the Gospel beautiful Order and Unity was not inferior to any if not preferable to most of the Reformed Churches and therefore was deservedly famous and esteemed amongst them Having also for an hundred Years from it's first National Establishment preserved the same from utter overthrow notwithstanding the many various and renewed endeavours of men by force and fraud to reduce it unto the same Errors Ignorance and Superstitions wherein it self at first lay buried and under which others groaned And several times revived and restored it when by it's own Impurity Indifferency and Formality it began to decline or by the Treachery Subtilty or Violence of others it was oppressed Thereby not only disappointing confounding and many times ruining the Adversaries and comforting and strengthening the faithful But also alwayes rebuilding to Himself a Temple the glory whereof did far excell and darken the glory of the former And having many times engaged the whole Land to Himself by several most solemn Obligations of voluntary Surrender and Resignation by frequently renewed Oaths and Covenants So that within these few Years past there were not many persons of age of whatever degree and not so much as one Preaching Minister in all the Land who not only did not make publick profession of the true Reformed Religion but also subject themselves unto the Presbyterial Form of Church Government and Discipline who did not which we desire to be noted for that effect in their own persons swear and subscribe with the hand unto the Lord in the National Covenant and Solemn League and Covenant In so much that as to the publick Profession of the Truth and almost as to the number of persons the Church of Scotland was of equal extent with the Nation and in that respect of all other National Churches did most resemble the old Church of the Iewes The Lord I say having to the conviction and acknowledgement of our selves and others done such great things for us whereof we are glad the present Apostacy whereby Scotland's Bethel is become Bethaven and the Land that was sometimes Holiness unto the Lord is become alas too Edom-like the border of wickedness an Aceldama a Tragical Theatre of blood persecution ought to be unto us no less matter of Sorrow Shame and Fear then it is Sin in itself Wonder and Amazement unto others Who can hear our Covenanted and Kindest Lord who hateth putting away and defieth us to shew the bill of our Mothers divorcement who groaneth under our Backslidings being pressed therewith as a cart full of sheaves complaining that He is broken with our whorish hearts and therefore declaring that He will be no more our Husband nor we His Wife and that His heart cannot be toward us But that He will drive us out of His house and love us no more and not cover the lip for Shame And in consequence thereof who can behold the Fathers house not only defiled by turning it into a house of Marchandise and den of theeves but the Temple casten down to the ground and the Adversary in the midst thereof insultingly and scornfully set up their ensignes for signes of Triumph And furder behold the blood of the Saints shed like water and their flesh given to be meat to the fowles of the heaven and beasts of the Earth and

together with the former Acknowledgment of Sins and Engagement to duties should be read publickly to the People upon the day of the Intimation and the last Fast day when the Covenant was to be sworn This resolution of the Commission upon the same grounds was unanimously approven by the Committee of Estats then sitting and by their Act October 14. Ordained to be put in Execution in all things according to the directions of the Commission And accordingly in the moneth of December it was for the second time sworn in all the Congregations of the Kingdome upon the same day except where vacancy or the Ministers being under scandal or process did occasion a delay till another day that the place was supplyed by another Minister with great Solemnity and such mixture of Joy Sorrow as became people entering in Covenant with the Lord And was thereafter Subscribed by all the Swearers After ward the Parliament Conveening in January 1649 by their very first Act except the Election of their President upon the same grounds Resolved to keep a Fast by themselves for the Causes contained in the Acknowlegment and to Renew the Covenant according to the Order of the Commission which was also most solemnly done And last of all the Generall Assembly 1649. by their Act July 7. did unanimously and expresly Ratify the Proceedings of the Commission as to the Acknowledgment of Sins Engagement to dueties the Fasts and Renewing of the Covenant by Swearing and Subscribing thereof Hence as the Covenant it self so the Solemn Acknowledgment of Sins Engagement to duties became National Authorised by the Supream Judicatures of Church and State and are still obliging by Oath Oh! that the Lord had kept these things in the Imagination of the thought of our hearts for ever ERRATA WHilst this was upon the Press some Errors which escaped in some sheets were corrected in others so that thou must not stumble though some Copies be more correct then others Besides other literal escapes which will not marr the sense before thou read the Book correct with thy pen th●se following Pag. 3. lin 4. for other as read as other p. 4. l. 32. r. witnesses p. 5. l. 3. r. solemn p. 6. l. 12. r strong p. 8. l. 15. r. sufficiently p. 15. l 29. for or r on ●b l. 16. r. opportunity p. 24. l. 14. for of r. or p. 25. l. 4. r. resolution Ib. l. 32. for● are r. are a lb. 33. r. worthies p. 30. l. 21. for 27. r. 17. lb. 23. for 10. r. 8. p. 35. l. 8. r. 1560. Ib. l. 30. r. 1571. p. 38. l. 16. r. 1584. p 67. l. 27. for hoth r. both p. 70. l. 12. for he r. the. p. 81. l. 12. r. during p. 88. l. 18. r. slain p. 100. l. 11. de e the. Ib. l. 12. r. generally Ib. 19. for the r. that p. 103 l. 14. for out r. ought p. 120. l. 16. for what r. that p 129. l 12. r. rageth in p. 154. l. 23. for where r. were p. 188 l. 6. r. his p 281. l. 27. r. it is p. 282. l. 13. r. Advocats A True and short DEDUCTION Of the WRESTLINGS of the CHURCH of SCOTLAND For the KINGDOM of JESUS CHRIST From the beginning of the Reformation of Religion unto the Year 1667. AFter all these great glorious things which the Lord in his Love Mercy and Faithfulness hath wrought for this Land and in his Holiness and Righteousness hath declared amongst us these clear and powerfull Manifestations of his blessed Truth which have so brightly shined forth to the Glory Beauty and Praise of this whole Nation After these many sacred and most solemn Engagements whereby in the evidence and power of the same Truth all Ranks and degrees from the King even to the meanest became and are still bound and devoted to the Most High and Holy Our Covenanted God and to our blessed Lord Jesus Christ who alone is King in Zion and of all Saints and whose are all the Kings and Kingdomes of the Earth for the advancement of his Glory and Kingdome and for the owning and maintaining of his glorious Work and precious Truth which is all our Felicity and Joy And after all this horrid Apostacy and Rebellion whereby the same wretched Nation in the same Generation and almost in the same Persons neither from the conviction of any pretended Reason or Conscience nor from any solid persuasion of the very Advantage designed but in the manifest Spirit of Wickedness and violence have forgotten despised and blasphemed the former power and Glory Rebelled against God by breaking the Holy Covenant Rejected our Lord and Saviour Overturned the Work of his own blessed Spirit and Arme Abrogated and rescinded all these righteous Lawes and Ordinances whereby it was established And by most Unjust Arbitrary and Cruel Lawes and Practises have endeavoured the rebuilding and promoving of the Kingdome of Darkness and Antichrist and precipitating of all men either into the same condemnation with themselves or utter ruine and Extermination After we say all these things which the Lord hath thus wrought and permitted in the midst of us neither the Discouragement and Fainting of some nor the Unsuccesfulness of the more honest and Zealous endeavours of others nor yet our Silence hithertil is greatly to be wondered at For whose eyes can behold all these things without Dimnes and affecting of the heart And whose heart can consider them without Astonishment and Horrour if not Stupefaction or Discouragement How little wonder is it that every visage suppose of the fairest Nazarit be blacker then a coale That every eye run down with waters that the souls of many refuse to be comforted neither do nor dare rejoice as other people When not only by their going a whoreing from the Lord their dayly bread is become the bread or Adversity and the waters of Affliction and when their famine of the Word of the Lord is such that though they wander from sea to sea seeking it they cannot find it Bot also the Comforter that should releeve their souls is far from them and either covereth Himself with a cloud that their prayers cannot pass through or then answereth them only by terrible things in Righteousness How can they who by their Vanities have moved the Holy God to Jealousy and thereby have provoked their Rock to fell them stand before their Enemies or chase a thousand put ten thousand to flight al●hough that we should plead with our Mother with our Rulers with all other ranks of persons within the Land that they would put away their whoredomes out of their sight their Adulteries from betwen their breasts yet what hope is there that Words shall prevaill where the Power and Glory of the most High is contemned Or that Reason shall be heard where the Counsell of God is rejected Here indeed is matter of Wonder and Praise even the Longsuffering of the Lord which is Salvation and the Mercy and

and what is premised do warrand an just extention thereof in favours of the People against backsliden Rulers both supream and subordinat or even in favours of a part of the People with the caution subjoyned against the greater part wickedly backsliden let the World judge Oh! did the wrath of God for the hidden and secret sin of one poor acursed Achan suddenly and fearfully overtake the whole People and ALL THE CONGREGATION of Israel so that that man perished not ALONE in his iniquity and had not our Reformers great reason to fear and tremble least the Manifest Tolleration of proud cruel and flattering Prelats who had perverted the lawful Powers into bloody Persecuters and of Idolatours Priests whose wickedness and Idolatry had corrupted the whole Land might involve not only themselves but the whole Nation in destroying and overflowing indignation We are not ignorant of the no less wicked then ground less cavils of some as if we would make or have every man to be a Phinehas And what then Would God if wishes yea prayers and teares could make it that all his Servants were as Phinehas and that he would pour upon every one of them the same Spirit of Holy Zeall which was in him that by removall of the cause his fierce anger against this poor consuming Land might cease But as for that Act of Phinehas the termes following being generall and ambigous admitting of severall distinctions and subdistinctions as it is not easy without distinguishing in thesi to define an Action and Call Extraordinary and an Action and Call thereunto only Heroicall and to state the true specificall Difference and just limits betwen an Action and Call Extraordinary and an Action and Call Heroicall as they are strickly taken and contradistinguished and clearly and convincingly to demonstrat what and how much more is required in an Extraordinary Call to an Extraordinary Action then is required in a sufficient Call unto an Heroicall Action and whether an eminent measure of Holy Zeal Magnanimity and Fortitude do constitut a sufficient Call unto an Heroicall Action or do only Dispose and fit the person for the right and better performance thereof as a Call unto the Action and the Fitness of the Person for doing of the same are contradictinguished or may not both Dispose and fit the person for performance of the Action and also include and give a Call unto the Action it self So when the matter is fully considered it will be more difficult then perhaps is apprehended to prove that the Act of Phinehas was Extraordinary strickly taken and in contradistinction to that which is only Heroical or that his Call thereunto was Extraordinary in contradistinction to that which is a sufficient Call unto an Heroicall Action and more difficult to determine otherwise then by naked assertion what that Extraordinary Call was Wherein it did consist Wherein it did differ from Exceed or Excell a Call unto an Heroick Action And therefore it will be also hard convincingly to demonstrat that it might not have been lawfully done by another of the Children of Israel whom the Lord had animated thereunto by the same Holy Zeall and Resolution And this is the more considerable because as we very rarely if at all find the Lord commending and rewarding persons for Extraordinary Actions whereunto they had Extraordinary Calls so much and so highly as here He Commendeth and Rewardeth Phinehas So the Text it self Numb 25. doth lay the great if not the only weight and ground of his Commendation and Reward upon his ZEALL and not upon any Extraordinary Call whereof there is not the least hint or insinuation For vers 11. the Lord saith He turned my wrath away from the Children of ●srael while he was ZEALOUS for my sake among them and therefore vers 12 13. promiseth him His Covenant of peace a seed after him and the Covenant of an Everlasting Priesthood BECAUS he was ZEALOUS for his God And if any shall as it is like some will alleadge that Heroicall Actions are not more Imitable then these which are Extraordinary It is humbly offered to be considered anent Heroicall Actions in generall Whether when the matter of an Action is not only Ordinary that is neither Preternaturall nor Supernaturall though not very Frequent but also Just and Lawfull yea and Necessary both by Divine Precept as a Mean to a good and Necessary End and when either there is not or doth not appear any other to do the work whether I say in that case a Spirit of Holy Zeall Magnanimity and Courage wrought and excited by the Lord in his Servants and People moe or fewer being otherwise in a Rationall and probable Capacity be not for that time a sufficient Call unto the performance of these Actions which are commonly called Heroicall and especially when and where the Action is not unnecessarily irrationally nor in vanity attempted but may be and is performed not only without prejudice of the True Necessary and Chief Good of the Church and Common-wealth or of any particular person's just Right and security but also in the case of the Magistrat and others their wilfull and perverse neglecting of their duty is necessarly undertaken and is not only formally intended by the Actor but also natively and really doth conduce to the Glory of God the Good of Religion the preservation and establishment of Church and Common-wealth and of every particular person's Just Rights and Security by suppressing of Impiety promoving of Truth and Holiness doing of Justice Turning away of wrath and removing of present and preventing of future Jugdments And as for the particular instance of Phinehas if the Lord did not only raise him up to that particular Act of Justice but also warrant and accept him therein and reward him therefore upon the accompt of his Zeall when there was a Godly and Zealous Magistrat able whom we cannot without breach of charity presume but also willing to Execute Justice How much more may it be pleaded that the Lord who is the same yesterday to day and for ever will not only pour out of that same Spirit upon others but also when he gives it both Allow them though they be but private persons and also Call them being otherwise in a Physical and probable Capacity to do these things in an Extremely necessitous and otherwise irrecoverable State of the Church to which in a more intire condition thereof he doth not Call them and particularly when there is not only the like or worse provocations the like Necessity of the Execution of justice and of Reformation for the turning away of Wrath and Removall of Judgments that was in Phinehas case but also when the Supreme Civil Magistrat the Primores Regni and other inferior Rulers are not only unwilling to do their duty but so far corrupted and perverted that they are become the Authors and patronizers of these abominations Which is also the more considerable because if upon the fear or suspicion of

all things but loss and dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ MY LORD for whom I now suffer the loss of all things that I may win Him and be found in Him and that I may not only know the fellowship of His sufferings but the power of His resurrection and attain unto the resurrection of the dead And as for yow my dear Friends as I pray for you that the God of all grace who hath called us unto His eternall glory by Christ Jesus after ye have suffered a while may make yow perfect stablish strengthen and settle yow so I recommend to you the same truth that you be not soon shaken in mind but that ye hold fast the profession of your faith without wavering And as you have receaved the Lord so walk in Him Warning and obtesting you by all manner of obligations and by the hope and joy of that crown which I wait for that ye keep your selves unspotted with the abominable courses and practices of these times whereunto ye may be tempted by the extremity of suffering and particularly that ye beware of unlawfull Oaths and Declarations against the Cause and Covenant of God that ye have no complyance with nor give consent unto this Prelacy which ye have abjured And that you be afraid and aware of Popery which by Connivance doth so visibly abound and dayly increase But by fighting the good fight and keeping of the faith you may finish your course as I do in the assurance of the crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge hath laid up and shall give unto me and not to me only but to all them that love His appearance ALEXANDER ROBERTSON The Testimony of JOHN NILSON of Corsack who died at Edinburgh Dec. 14. 1666. BEing made a spectacle to the World to Angels and to Men I found it necessary for vindication of the Truth of my self for undeceaving of some encouraging of others to leave this line behind me which with my innocent blood may speak when I am gone I am condemned I shall not say how unjustly as a Rebell against Man but the Lord God of Gods He knoweth all Israel shall know that it is not for Rebellion against God but for endeavouring to recover the blessed work of Reformation and particularly for endeavouring to extirpate Prelacy which hath been the cause of so much sin and suffering within this Land and for renewing of the Covenant from the obligation whereof seing I made my Vow and Promise to the Lord neither I my self nor any humane Authority can absolve me And if any account this Rebellion I do plainly confess that after the way which they call Heresy I worship the God of my fathers Although the insupportable oppression under which I and many others did groan were enough to justify our Preserving and Defending of our selves by Armes yet know that the Cause was not Ours but the Lord's for we suffered all our grievous Oppressions not for evill-doing but because we could not in conscience acknowledge comply with and obey Prelacy and submit unto the Ministery of Ignorant Light and Profane men who were irregularly and violently thurst upon us Neither did we only or mainly designe our civil Liberties but the Liberty of the Gospel the Extirpation of Prelacy the Restauration of our faithful Pastors the Suppression of Profanity Promoving of Piety the saving of ourselves from unjust violence untill we had presented our Grievances and Desires And in a word the Recovering of the once glorious but now ruined Work of Reformation in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government according to the Nationall Covenant and Solemn League and Covenant to which I declare my adherence and through grace shall seal the same with my blood My Advocate drew up a Supplication for me wherein was acknowledged that I had been with the Rebels but let none offend thereat for ● do hereby declare that I was so far from accounting that course Rebellion that I judged and still do judge it was my duty to joyn therein and my honor to suffer therefore Otherwise I should have counted my self accessary to the blood of the Lord's People which is shed And cannot but regret that others of the Lord's People when they heard of us did not come forth with speed to help the Lord against the Mighty much more let all mourn that not only many have appeared as Enemies but also conjured themselves against the Lord the same Covenant which they so solemnly sware And as for the Petition it self I knew not that expression was in it Being conscious to my self of so much weakness so many hainous sins which predomine in me of unfruitfulness under the Gospel and unsutable walking thereto I confess my self the vilest of sinners and desire to mourn for the same and pray that the Lord for Christ's sake may freely forgive me as I have forgiven them that have wronged me and hope through the righteousness of Jesus Christ to obtain the same And I do exhort all and every one of my friends to more holiness Prayer and stedfastness alwayes abounding in the Work of the Lord And above all things to detest shun that wicked Declaration against the Covenant the apparant temptation of the time and the very mark of Antichristian Prelacy All that I have is but little but if I had many Worlds I would lay them all down as now I do my life for Christ and His Cause nothing doubting but the Lord will abundantly provide for my Wife and my six Children whom I commit to the Lord's care and recommend to the Kindness and Prayers of the faithful And do lay an express charge on my Wife that she shew all my Children that I have bound them all to the Covenant for which now I lay down my life and that She lay it upon them as my last command that they adhere to every Article thereof The Work and People of God are brought very low It may be because they were not ripe for a deliverance And for the greater triall and filling up of the cup of the Adversaries Or because there was litle or less prayer then should have been amongst these who appeared at this time that the Lord hath made this late breach But dear Friends be not therefore tempted to call in question the Work of Reformation or to think the worse of Christ and His Cause because of sufferings Nor be discouraged because these few who took their lives in their hands fell before the Adversary For as sufferings are often sweetned by the Spirit of God and Glory that resteth upon the sufferers and afterward bring forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby So the Lord will arise in due time and have mercy upon Zion and plead the cause which is his own And this Testimony as I am this day to seal with my blood so I subscribe with my hand JOHN NILSON OF CORSACK The Testimony