for her Self and Family she would have a Mass in Private But the Preachers decrying that Toleration in their Pulpits produced a Dangerous Tumult against the Freedom of her own Chappel After several Riots and Open Rebellions which were still promoted and seconded by the Presbytery In July 1564. the Queen was Marri'd to the Lord Dainly And June 19. 1566. brought to bed of a Son afterward James VI. in the Castle of Edinburgh In 1567. they sent the Queen Prisoner to Lochlevin and pass'd an Act of Assembly for the Securing and Disposing of the Person of the Infant-Prince with Direction to move the Queen to a Resignation of her Government and the Appointing of a Regent during his Minority which by Force and Menaces her Majesty was compell'd to do and her Renunciation and Commission Publish'd at the Market-Cross at Edinburgh the Prince being Crown'd and Anointed King in the Church of Striveling the Third day after the Publication being July 29. On the 20th of August the Earl of Murray was Elected Regent King James being as yet but Thirteen Months old At the Beginning of the Spring in 1568. the Queen made her Escape and was convey'd to Hamilton where several Lords meeting in Council her Resignation was declar'd Void as Extorted by Fear and Proclamation issu'd against the Rebels that had Usurped her Authority The Dispute in short was brought to a Battle May 13. the Queens Army Defeated and She her self fled into England for Protection where the Faction never left the Persute of her till they brought her to the Scaffold But here you 'l say there was a Foreign Interest and Popery in the Case If That were All how came it that they handled the Young King at as Course a rate every jot as they had treated his Mother tho' their Natural Prince and afterward the Celebrated Champion of the Protestant Cause The Government of Scotland had been Administer'd by Four Regents when upon the Earl of Morton's desire to be Discharg'd of his Regency the King not twelve years old as yet accepted of it and his Acceptation thereof was Proclaim'd at Edinburgh March 12. 1577. where the Regent himself was Assisting As an Earnest of the Respect they bare to his Majesties Authority Andrew Melvil presented a Form of Church Government to the Parliament at Striveling in 1578. which they referr'd to certain Commissioners who agreed to such General Heads as did not touch the Authority of the King nor prejudg the Liberty of the State But this did not content Them so that they resolv'd to put their Conclusions in Practice the next Assembly without staying for a Ratification Spotswood's Hist. Fol. 302. In Glasgow the next Spring the Ministers put the Magistrates of the City upon Demolishing the Cathedral but the Tradesmen Interpos'd and Defended it In 1582. Montgomery was Process'd for Preaching at Glasgow The King by his Warrant commanded the Assembly to desist which the Moderatour peremptorily refus'd and thereupon the Officer pull'd him from his Seat and Clap'd him up in the Tolbuyth for which they Decreed him to be Excommunicate tho' the King himself earnestly perswaded them to the Contrary After this Contempt of the Kings Authority they made a Violent Seizure of his Person and carri'd him Prisoner to the Castle of Ruthen where they kept him Close Nine Months forcing him by a Writing under his hand to command the Duke of Lenox to Depart the Kingdom and Imposing upon him what Servants they pleas'd under pretence of Zeal to Religion and Care of his Person They did also Petition the next General Assembly at Edinburgh to give their sence of the Action Who made themselves Judges and did so highly approve of it that they appointed all Ministers to recommend the Actors of it as good Christians and Patriots pretending that there was no other way to preserve their Religion and Freedoms And yet this Duke dy'd soon after in France of the Reformed Communion For the Countenance of this Proceeding they force the King being but Seventeen years of Age to emit a Proclamation commanding all those that had Levy'd any Forces upon Pretence of his Restraint to Disband within Six hours upon Pain of Death and Declaring that he was at Liberty and had only his Friends about him In the Summer following under Colour of Viewing the Castle of St. Andrews It was contriv'd that the Gates should be shut upon his Followers and so he deliver'd himself from his Guard It would be but the same thing over again to Enumerate the Repeated Usurpations of their Government and the Contumacy of their Ministers their Rebellious Practises at Striveling Glasgow c. and that Horrid Outrage against the Octavians in Edinburgh Decemb. 17. 1596. When the King appoints a Feast they Indict a Fast the Council Orders the Ministers of Edinburgh to give Thanks for his Majesties Deliverance from Gowry's Conspiracy Their Answer was That they were not acquainted with the Business And when it was urg'd that they were only to affect the People with the Sence of his Majesties having scap'd a great Danger they Reply'd That nothing should be Vtter'd in the Pulpit but That whereof the Truth was known Nay they would not so much as pray for the Kings Mother when her Death was Resolv'd upon tho' the very Form was prescrib'd in the most Innocent Terms Imaginable viz. That it might please God to Illuminate her with the Light of his Truth and save her from the apparent Danger wherein she was cast And This would have been the Issue too of the English Project under Queen Elizabeth as appears by the Insolence of their Demands and the Virulence of their Writings if the Conspiracy had not been nipp'd in the Bud. The Scottish Insurrection in 1637. was only their Old Method Reviv'd Of which in a few Words Out of the Kings Declaration upon That Subject Upon occasion of a Seditious Uproar at Edinburgh Octob. 18. 1637. his Late Majesty order'd the Discharge of all such Meetings upon Pain of Death And his Proclamation being Publish'd at Sterling Lithgow and Edinburgh was encounter'd with a Protestation against it at the same Times and Places and with the same Solemnity as if they had been Both by the same Authority Immediately upon this Affront the Protestors erect Publique Tables of Council for Ordering the Affairs of the Kingdom without the Consent of the King and in Contempt of his Majesty and Council At These Tables having First agreed upon their Covenant they conclude upon Certain Propositions of Instruction to the Party No Answer must be made to State-Questions without Advice All Proclamations to be Protested against and to take nothing for Satisfaction Less than their Whole Demand This way of Anti-Protesting they made use of from first to last Upon his Majesties Proclamation for Dissolving the Assembly at Glasgow 1638. they did not only Protest and Refuse to Depart but Cited the Kings Council that Sign'd the Proclamation to appear before the King and
remove from Honour and Punish such as God has Condemn'd of what Estate Condition or Degree soever It is not Birth-Right only nor Nearness of Bloud that maketh a King Lawfully to Reign over a People professing Christ Jesus but Princes for Just Causes may be Depos'd Kings Princes and Governours have their Authority of the People and upon Occasion the People may take it away again Thus far Knox Now for Buchanan The People says he have the same Power over the King which He has over any One Man They are Better than the King and of Greater Authority and may bestow the Crown at Pleasure The making of Laws belongs to Them They may Arraign their Prince The Ministers may Excommunicate him and He that by Excommunication is cast into Hell is not worthy to Enjoy any Life upon Earth It were Good says he that Rewards were appointed by the People for such as should Kill Tyrants as there are for those that Kill Wolves or Bears or take their Whelps The Seizing and Emprisoning of King James in Aug. 1582. being Adjudg'd Treason by the Three Estates in Decemb. 18. 1583. and some of the Criminals Executed an Assembly of Ministers and Elders at Edinburgh in 1585. did not only Authorize and Avow the Action but also ordain'd all people to be Excommunicated that would not Subscribe to their Judgment And Andrew Melvil being Cited to Answer for Treason deliver'd in a Sermon declin'd the King's Authority Affirming that what was spoken in the Pulpit ought first to be try'd by the Presbytery and that neither King nor Council might in the first Instance meddle therewith although the Speech were Treasonable Upon King James his Coming to the Crown of England he order'd the Proroguing of the Assembly at Aberdeen which was to have met in 1604. to a longer day But thirteen or fourteen of them for all this met formally at the day appointed The Lords of Council discharg'd their Meeting Whereupon they Protested That in Conscience and in Duty to Almighty God they were bound to preserve the Churches Right and neither Could nor Would give way to that Power the King had Sacrilegiously Vsurp'd over it Hereupon they were Convented and Appeal'd from the King's Council to the next General Assembly I had almost forgotten the Determination of Wilcock and Knox who Positively gave their Judgments That it was Lawful to Depose the Queen Regent Whereupon she was solemnly Process'd Sentenc'd and Depriv'd The Positions of the Presbyterians under Queen Elizabeth THe Church sayes Cartwright wherein any Magistrate King or Emperour is a Member is Divided into some that are to Govern as Pastors Doctors and Elders and into such as are to Obey as Magistrates of all sorts and the People The Admonitour holds it sit That he and his Companions may be deliver'd by Act of Parliament from the Authority of the Civil Magistrates As Justices and Others from their Indictings and Finings Every Fault says Cartwright that tendeth either to the Hurt of a Man's Neighbour or to the Hindrance of the Glory of God is to be Examin'd and Dealt in by the Order of the Holy Church Nay the very Suspicion of Avarice Pride Superfluities in Meat or Clothing falls under their Lash All men says Goodman are bound to see the Laws of God kept and to Suppress and Resist Idolatry by Force Nor is it sufficient for Subjects not to Obey the Wicked Commands of Princes but they must Resist them and Deliver the Children of God out of the hands of their Enemies as we would deliver a Sheep that is in danger to be devour'd by a Wolf If the Magistrate shall refuse to put Mass-Mongers and false Preachers to Death the People in seeing it perform'd shew that Zeal of God which was commended in Phineas Subjects do promise Obedidience that the Magistrate might Help them which if he does not they are discharg'd of their Obedience If Magistrates without Fear transgress God's Laws themselves and Command others to do the like they are no more to be taken for Migistrates but to be Examin'd Accus'd Condemn'd and Punish'd as Private Transgressors Evil Princes ought by the Law of God to be Depos'd and Inferiour Magistrates ought chiefly to do it And now hear Gilby to the same Tune Kings Princes and Governours have their Authority of the People and upon Occasion the People may take it away again as men may revoke their Proxyes and Letters of Atturney It is Lawful sayes he to kill wicked Kings and Tyrants the Subjects did kill the Queen's Highness Athalia Jehu kill'd the Queens Majesty Jesabel Elias being no Magistrate kill'd the Queen's Majesty's Chaplains Baal's Priests These Examples are left for our Instruction where Justice is not Executed the State is most Corrupt If neither the Inferiour Magistrates says he nor the greatest part of the People will do their Offices in Punishing Deposing or Killing of Princes then the Ministers must Excommunicate such a King It would be Endless to follow these Instances as far as they would carry me so that I 'le back now again into Scotland and you will find them much of the same Opinion under Charles I. as they had been under his Royal Father The Positions of the Kirk under the Late King IN their Protestation of September 22. 1638. against the King's Declaration they say First That what Subjects do of their own heads is much better than what they do in Obedience to Authority the One Savouring of Constraint but the Other being Voluntary and Chearful Obedience Secondly That the Parliaments Power does no more reach to the Placing of Officers Originally in the Church than the Church has Power to make States-men in the Common-wealth Thirdly The Parliament can make no Law at all concerning the Church but only Ratifie what the Church Decrees And after it has Ratify'd it yet if the Assembly of the Church shall Prohibit it and Repeal that Decree of the Church all the Subjects are discharg'd from yielding Obedience to the Act of Parliament Fourthly The Assembly has Power to discharge all Subscriptions to the Confession of Faith commanded to be Subscrib'd by his Majesty and as it is Interpreted by Him or his Commissioner Fifthly The Assembly without the King is the Church and the only Judge Competent fit to Interpret and Explain all Doubts arising upon the Confession of Faith Commanded by his Majesty Sixthly Tho' the Law be Interpreted yet if the Interpretation be dislik'd by Most of the Kingdom the Body of the Kingdom for whose Good the Law was made may crave the lawful Redress of Grievances sustained by that Law Take Notice here that they had already Actually trangress'd the Law without staying for Leave and Justifi'd the Doing of it Seaventhly The Assembly is Independent either from King or Parliament in Matters Ecclesiastical Eighthly That the King is to Receive all the Determinations of an Assembly as a Son of the Church tho' they be not matters of Faith but only of Government and concluded by
TYRANNY AND POPERY Lording it Over THE CONSCIENCES Lives Liberties AND ESTATES BOTH OF KING AND PEOPLE LONDON Printed for Henry Brome at the Gun at the West End of St. Paul's Church-Yard 1678. TYRANNY AND POPERY Lording it over the Consciences Liberties and Estates both of King and People To all those that Love either their Religion their Prince their Country or Themselves THis and no less than All This is the Import of the Matter in Question The Government is charg'd by a Faction to be Tyrannically and Popishly Affected and This Pamphlet is to Prove that the very Faction which charges This upon the Government is in all Matters Ecclesiastical and Civil Publique and Particular the great Imposer and Usurper it self But before I enter upon the Subject I do here previously Swear by the Hopes of a Christian that I am not mov'd to this Discourse by any Biass either of Partiality or Faction That I have no Aversion to the Party any further than as I find them the Mortal Enemies of our Government Laws and Freedoms and that in the Prosecution of this Argument I will not Press one Syllable according to the best of my Skill and Knowledge beyond the strict Limits of Truth and Reason My Purpose being only to Vncover the Pit that the Vnwary may not a second time run Headlong into the same Precipice I shall begin with the Platform of the Scottish Presbytery and shew you the Sovereign and Unaccomptable Power which that Judicatory claims to it self My next work will be to observe the Harmony betwixt Simeon and Levi Their Consistorians and Ours in the Frame and Scope of their Discipline In the next place we 'll Compare their Positions and then conclude with a View of their Usurpations Arbitrary Practises and Proceedings and all This extracted from the Vndeniable Memorials and Records of the Times and Actions whereof we are about to Treat and in as few words as may be to speak Home to it and Clear The Platform of the Scottish Presbytery THe Presbyterial Government has Four Judicatories A Parochial Session A Presbyterial Consistory A Provincial Synode And A General Assembly The Parochial Session is constituted of One Minister or More with a Competent Number of Lay-Elders their Presbyteri non Docentes and Deacons It meets once a Week or oftner if there be Occasion and takes Cognizance of all Parochial Cases concerning External Order and Censure If there be but One Minister in the Parish he is Constant Moderatour If More they take their Turns as they can agree upon 't and they are all of them Equal in Honour and Jurisdiction There passes no Act without the Joynt Consent of the Minister Lay-Elders and Deacons or Plurality of Votes and Note that the Minister has no Casting Voice The Power of Binding or Loosing of Censures Ecclesiastical and of External Order and Worship is Radically and Equally in All So that the Lay-Elders and Deacons have as much the Power of the Keys as the Ministers To support this Jurisdiction they have their Four Sacred Orders which they challenge to be of Divine Right First Their Preaching Elders whom they call Ministers Secondly Doctors or University Professors Thirdly Lay or Ruling-Elders who have as much Authority in the Debate and Decision of Matters of Faith Worship Polity Ecclesiastical Censures as the Preaching-Elders Fourthly Deacons Take notice that their Lay-Elders and Deacons are Annual and Consequently one Year Sacred and Another Profane This Session meddles only with things Parochial as the Ordering of the Parish-Church and Peculiar Service the Censure of Lesser Scandals as Fornication Drunkenness Scolding Sabboth-breaking c. And in Difficult Cases they apply themselves to the Presbytery In their Censures they impose Civil Punishments and Fines they Emprison Offenders at pleasure Cart them through the Town set them in Pillories Shave one Half of their Heads Cut off their Beards Nay they take upon them by their own Authority to Banish whom they please out of the Bounds of the Parish which is a Direct Usurpation of Sovereign Power In Case of a Pecuniary Mulct inflicted or of a Child born in Fornication they will not allow the Infant to be Baptiz'd if either of the Parents have not paid the Fine or secur'd it or satisfi'd the Church The Presbytery is next and it is made up in some places of More in others of Fewer Parishes and the King himself is not Exempt from the Power and Jurisdiction of this Consistory nor in Effect from the Authority of the very Parochial Session living within the Precinct either of the One or of the Other This Judicatory is Compos'd of all the Parochial Ministers within its Compass and a Lay-Elder for Each Parish so that the Lay-Elders are Equal to the Preaching Elders both in Number and Power and a Botchers Vote goes as far under that Capacity in Divine Matters as the Voice of the most Reverend and Learned of the Clergy only a Lay-Elder cannot properly be a Moderatour tho' in several Cases they have dispens'd with that Scruple This Court takes Cognizance First Of what is Referr'd or Presented to them from every Individual Parish 2. Of all Capital Crimes and Scandals of the Highest Degree 3. Of such Offences as fall under the Censure of Excommunication 4. Of all Appeals from Sessions 5. Of all Differences that cannot be Compos'd or Determin'd in the Parochial Conclave 6. Of the Visitation and Censure of what 's amiss in Every Parish either in Preacher or Other 7. Of the appointing of Readers and School-masters They meet commonly once a Week or a Fortnight at which Meetings all the Ministers in their Turns Exercise as they call it in the expounding and applying of Texts of Scripture In these Exercises they have a sort of People which they call Expectants of such or such a Presbytery who are Licensed to Preach in any Parish-Church within its Bounds These Expectants have usually some smattering in Divinity as Country-School-Masters or the like and they are Authoriz'd to do all Ministerial Acts except Baptizing or Administring the Lord's Supper without Holy Orders Imposition of Hands or any Qualification for the Sacred Function There are more or fewer Presbyteries in a Country according to the Number of Parishes but all of them Independent One from Another If the King himself be Cited he must Appear or be Excommunicate for Contempt and submit his Earthly Scepter to their Scepter of Christ as they term it and from thence receive Christ's Laws and Ordinances As no Person is Exempt so neither is any Crime whatsoever that is either Committed or suspected to be Committed within the Limits of their Jurisdiction but they hook it in as scandalous to a Christian Profession A Provincial Synode is an Associate Body of the Commissioners chosen out of all the Individual Presbyteries within the Precinct of the Province they meet twice or thrice a year and Exercise an Over-ruling Power over all the Presbyteries within that Province in such manner
all Governments The King in his Declaration before-Mention'd Fol. 404. among other of their Vnchristian Extravagances takes Notice of their Refusal to Pray for Sir William Nesbett upon his Death-bed because he had not Subscrib'd the Covenant and that they did Formally bar non-Covenanters from the Communion in Express terms with Blasphemers and Adulterers refusing Baptism in the Churches of Ministers that had not taken the Covenant even to Children that were born in the same Parish The Unchristian Rigour of this Discipline is such says the Authour of Toleration Discuss'd Pag. 334. that It Crucifies weak Consciences with Needless Infinite and Incurable Scruples that Haunt Dog and Torment us in the most Necessary and Ordinary Actions of Humane Life At the Church at the Table at the Market at Home and Abroad At all Times in all Places and upon all Occasions in our Thoughts Words and Deeds As to Excess in Eating It is Censurable either in the Quantity or in the Quality So that in the first place the Eldership is to provide one Common Gage for the Stomachs of the Whole Parish for fear of a Mouthful too much And in the Second Place It is made a matter of Salvation or Damnation whether a man Eats Beef or Venison And so for Excess in APPAREL one Inch more than to cover your Shame is a Superfluity and One Peny more in the Pound than the Allowance of the Presbytery is made as much a mans Soul is Worth It is the same thing for VAIN WORDS A Nurse shall not dare to still her Child but with a Psalm and you must not presume so much as to ask What a Clock it is without a Text to prove that the Question tends to Edification Nay they have drawn CHIDING within the Compass of Ecclesiastical Censure So that Masters shall not reprove their Servants nor Parents their Children without Leave of the Eldership And they have taken in BRAWLING too and made every Billingsgate Quarrel a Subject of Consistorial Cognizance Vnder LEWD CUSTOMES are Censur'd all sorts of Publique Sports Exercises and Recreations that have been long in Vse as having their Original from the Times of Paganism or Popery As Comedies Interludes Wrastlings Foot-Ball-Play May-Games Whitson-Ales Morrice-Dances Bear-Batings c. All GAMES that bring Loss are also Prohibited as Tennis Bowls Billyards c. And so are UNCOMELY GESTURES So that a man may be given to the Devil for Lolling upon his Elbow or Sitting upon his Back-side before the Deacon of the Parish Nay our very THOUGHTS are Censurable and 't is enough to be suspected He that sues to recover a Debt shall be suspected of Avarice and he that refuses to Crouch like the Ass under the Burthen shall be suspected of Pride To pass now from their Rigours to their Scruples There goes a Story of some of them that made it a Matter of Religion to Piss a Bed and Ride Hobby-Horses because it is said Except you become as little Children you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven But Bancroft in his Holy Discipline Pag. 368. tells you of those that made Hawking and Hunting and Womens laying out of Hair to be Cases of Conscience and Walker consults Field particularly whether it be in any respect Tolerable for Women that profess Religion and the Reformation to wear Doublets Little Hats with Feathers Great Gowns after the French and Outlandish Fashion Great Ruffs and Hair either Curl'd or Frizl'd or set out upon Wyres c. And Cholmlye desires to be resolv'd whether the strict Prohibition of not Kindling of fire on the Sabboth be of the substance of the Moral Precept Among all these Scruples I find no Difficulty made in the Cases of Dethroning Kings Demolishing Churches Killing and taking Possession c. But to conclude with the Treatise aforesaid From the Triple-Crown'd Consistory that Lords it over Souls Bodies and Estates over Kings Nobles and Commons over Laws Magistrates and all Sorts and Ranks of Men and Interests That Turns Gospel into Law Communities into Deserts Men into Beasts Good LORD DELIVER VS THE END Covenanting is the Method of the Party Al Leagues without Authority are Seditious The Pretended Ends of the Covenant The steps by which the Holy Discipline Advanc'd into a Direct Rebellion They persecuted the Queen Regent into her Grave The Daughter had no better Quarter than the Mother They treated King James as ill as they had done his Mother The Conspiracy under Queen Elizabeth was nipp'd in the Bud. The Scotch Rebellion of 1637. The Rise Method and Progress of it They Levy Arms against the King for the Glory of God The Practises of the Scotch and English compar'd The Usurpations of the Two Houses The Rigours of the Covenant The Kirk Betray'd and Sold the King in his Distress Lowdon's Second Speech at a Conference Oct. 6. 1646. Answer to the Vote of Sept. 24. 1646. * Lowdon's Speech to his Majesty 1646. The Covenanters Barbarous Propositions to his Late Majesty The Two Houses as bad as the Scotch It was the Faction of Scotland not the Nation that Ruin'd the King Their dealing with the King at Holdenby Their Rigour at the Isle of Wight and the Horrid Murther of Montross The Covenanters Justifie the Murther of the Late King upon the Restauration of This. Presbytery is Inconsistent with any other Government The Presbyterians Will is their Law The Tyranny of the Pretended Parliament in 1641. The Tyranny Cruelty and Profaneness of the English Covenanters They Disposed of our Estates and Persons at Pleasure Their Scandalous and Uncharitable Censures The Scottish General Table was the Pattern of the English Close Committee Their Private Instructions The Medly of their Assembly The General Assembly is but the Embryo of a Common-wealth Presbyterial Tyranny Excess in Eating Censurable In Apparel Vain Words Chiding Lewd Customes Rediculous Scruples