none and could not pretend to any so they were never troubled for that but for their opposition and conspiracy against the common Cause However it went through at that time And that the Covenanted Reformation in a nearer Conjunction betwixt the united Churches might be promoted the Parliament of England called an Assembly of Divines at Westminster And desired the Assembly of Scotland to send thither their Commissioners and they accordingly nominated and elected Mr. Alexander Henderson Mr. Robert Douglas Mr. Samuel Rutherford Mr. Robert Baille Mr. George Gillespie Ministers and Iohn Earl of Capils Iohn Lord Maitland and Sir Archbald Iohnstone of Warristown Ruling Elderâ— to Propone Consult Treat and Conclude in all such things as might conduce to the extirpation of Prelacy c. and for the settling of the so much desired Union of the whole Island in one Form of Church Government one Confession of Faith one common Catechism and one Directory for the Worship of God Forces were also sent to assist the Parliament of England Which were favoured with great success in their Enterprizes till that War was ended by the total overthrow of the King and all his upholders But that Prelatical and Malignant Faction being brought much under in England attempted to try the Fortune of War in Scotland under the Conduct of Montrose Who tho' he prevailed for a time yet at length was defeat at Philliphaugh in the Year 1645. yet certain it is that they had Commission and Warrant from the King as the Assembly that Year Feb. 13. remonstrates it to himself Warning him in the Name of their Master the Lord Iesus Christ that the Guilt which cleaved to his Throne was such as if not timely repented could not but involve himself and his Posterity under the Wrath of the Everliving God for his being Guilty of the shedding of the Blood of many Thousands of his best Subjects c. At the same time also the Assembly did zealously incite the Parliament to a speedy Course of Justice against these Incendiaries and Murderers as the only mean of cleansing the Land from that deluge of Blood then Current and of appeasing the Wrath of God And solemnly and seasonably warned all Ranks to search to understand the Language of that Dispensation wherein many publick Sins and Breaches of Covenant are pointed at and the Covenant it self is there very Encomiastically vindicated We are so far from repenting of it say they that we cannot mention it without great joy for no sooner was the Covenant begun to be taken in England but sensibly the condition of affairs there was changed to the better and our Forces sent into that Kingdom in pursuance of that Covenant have been so manifestly and mercifully assisted from Heaven that we have what to answer the Enemy that reproacheth us concerning that business These following Acts were made thus Feb. 14. 1645. Sess. 18. Vnless Men will blot out of their Hearts the fear of Religion and Cause of God they must now or never appear actively each one stretching himself to yea beyond his power It is no time to dally or to go about the business by halves nor be almost but altogether zealous Cursed is he that doth the work of the Lord negligently If we have been forward to assist our Neighbour Kingdoms shall we neglect to defend our own Or shall the Enemies of God be more active against his Cause than his People for it God forbid And among the Enormities and Corruptions of the Ministry in their Callings this is one § 4. 5. Silence in the publick Cause some accounting it a point of Wisdom to speak ambiguously whereof the remedy is § 15. That beside all other scandals silence and ambiguous speaking in the publick Cause be seasonably Censured Gen. Ass. Edin June 13. 1646. Act for Censuring the Complyers with the publick Enemies of this Church and Kingdom Gen. Ass. Edin Jun. 17. 1646. Sess. 4. Where they judge it a great and scandalous Provocation and grievous defection from the publick Cause to comply with these Malignants in any degree even to procure Protections from them or to have invited them to their Houses or to be Guilty of any such Gross degrees of Complyance Censured to be suspended from the Communion and while they acknowledge their Offence And Gen. Ass. Aug. 24. 1647. Sess. 19. Ministers are charged us they have occasion from the Text of Scripture to reprove the Sins and Errors and press the Duties of the Time and in all these to observe the Rules prescribed by the Acts of Assembly wherein if they be negligent they are to be Censured And July ult 1648. Sess. 2. in their Declaration concerning the unlawful Engagement they say Suppose the Ends of that Engagement be good as they are not yet the means and ways of Prosecution are unlawful because there is not an equal avoiding of Rocks on both hands but a joyning with Malignants to suppress Sectaries a joining hands with a black Devil to beat a white Devil And Aug. 3. 1648. All Ministers that do not apply their Doctrine to the Corruptions of the Time which is the Pastoral Gift and that are cold or wanting of Spiritual zeal Dissembling of Publick Sins are appointed to be Censured even to Deprivation for forbearing or passing in silence the Errors and Exorbitances of Sectaries in England or the Defections current at home the Plots and Practices of Malignants the Principles and Tenets of Erastianism And if they be found too sparing General or Ambiguous in their Applications or Reproofs they are to be deposed for being pleasers of Men rather than servers of Christ for giving themselves to a detestable indifferency or neutrality in the Cause of God for defrauding the South of People yea for being Guâ—lty of the Blood of Souls in not giving them warning See also their seasonable and necessary Warning Iuly 27. 1649. Thus did these famous Fathers give us a perfect Pattern of purity and strictness in opposition to all degrees of Coâ—formity and Complyance with the Corruptions of the Time In the mean while the Malignants in England being crushed in all their Projects the King renders himself to the Scots in Newcastle By whom because by Covenant they were not obliged to defend him but only in defence of Religion and Liberty which he had been destroying and they defending because in this War he did directly oppose and oppugn these Conditions under which they were only to defend him and therefore they had all along carried towards him as an Enemy as he to them And because by the same Covenant they were obliged to discover and render to condign Punishment all Malignants of whom he was the chief and to assist mutually all entred into that Covenant he was delivered up unto the English and kept under restraint in the Isle of Wight until he was Condemned and Executed Ian 30 164â—â— Which Fact tho' it was protested against both before and after by the Assembly of the Church of Scotland
the Book of God and ordained all that brooked the Office to demit Simpliciter and to desist and cease from Preaching while they received de novo admission from the General Assembly under the Pain of Excommunication In pursuance whereof the Assemblies from that time until the Year 1681. did with much painfulness and faithfulness attend the work until by perfecting of the second Book of Discipline they compleated their work in the exact Model of Presbyterial Government Which was confirmed and covenanted to be kept inviolate in the National Covenant Subscribed that Year by the King his Court and Council and afterwards by all Ranks of People in the Land Whence it may be doubted whether the Impudence of the succeeding Prelates that denyed this or their Perjury in breaking of it be greater This was but the first brush A brisker Assault follows Wherein for the better establishment of Prelacy and not only Diocesan but also Erastian Prelacy might be set up the Earl of Arran and his wicked Complices move the King contrary both to the Word and Oath of God to usurp the Prerogative of Jesus Christ and assume to himself a Blasphemous Monster of Supremacy over all Persons and in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Civil But this also the Faithful Servants of God did worthily and valiantly resist And at the very first appearance of it gave in a Grievance to the King Anno 1582. That he had taken upon him a Spiritual Power which properly belongs to Christ as only King and Head of the Church the Ministry and Execution whereof is only given to such as bear Office in the Ecclesiastical Government in the same So that in the King's Person some Men press to erect a new Popedome as though he would not be full King of this Common-wealth unless as well the Spiritual as Temporal Sword be put in his hand unless Christ be rest of his Authority and the two Iurisdictions confounded which God hath divided which directly tendeth to the Wrack of all true Religion Which being presented by the Commissioners of the General Assembly the Earl of Arran asked with a Frowning Countenance who dare Subscribe these Treasonable Articles Mr. Andrew Melvil answered we dare and will Subscribe and render our Lives in the Cause And afterward that same Assembly presented Articles shewing that seeing the Spiritual Iurisdiction of the Church is granted by Christ and given only to them that by Preaching Teaching and Overseeing bear Office within the same to be exercised not by the Injunctions of Men but by the only Rule of God's Word hereafter no other of whatsoever degree or under whatsoever pretence have any colour to ascribe or to take upon them any part thereof either in placing or displacing of Ministers without the Churches admission or in stopping the Mouths of Preachers or putting them to silence or take upon them the Iudgement of Tryal of Doctrine c. But in contempt and Contradiction to this and to Prosecute and Exert this new usurped Power Mr. Andrew Melvil was sommoned before the Secret Council for a Sermon of his applying his Doctrine to the Times Corruptions Whereupon he gave in his Declinature against them as incompetent Judges and told them They were too bold in a Constitute Christian Church to pass by the Pastors Prophets and Doctors and to take upon them to judge the Doctrine and to controul the Ambassadours of a greater than was there which they neither ought nor can do There are saith he loosing a little Hebrew Bible from his Girdle my Instructions and Warrant see if any of you can controul me that I have past my Injunctions For this he was decerned to be warded in the Castle of Edinburgh But he conveyed himself secretly out of the Countrey When as also a Convention in Faulkand was consulting to call home the Papist Lords Mr. Andrew Melvil went thither uncalled and when found fault with by the King for his Boldness he answered Sir I have a Call to come here from Christ and his Church who have special Interest in this Turn and against whom this Convention is Assembled directly I charge you and your Estates in the Name of Christ and his Church that ye favour not his Enemies whom he hateth nor go about to call home nor make Citizens of these c. And further challenged them of Treason against Christ his Church and Countrey in that purpose they were about About the same time in a private Conference with the King he called the King Gods silly Vassal and taking him by the Sleeve told him Sir I must tell you there are two Kings and two Kingdoms There is Christ and his Kingdom whose Subject King James the 6th is and of whose Kingdom he is not a King nor a Head nor a Lord but a Member And they whom Christ hath called to Watch over and Govern his Church have sufficient Authority and Power from him which no Christian King should controul but assist otherwise they are not Faithful Subjects to Christ. Sir when you were in your Swadling-Clouts Christ Reigned freely in this Land in spight of all his Enemies but now the Wisdom of your Council is Devilish and Pernicious c. To the like effect Mr. Robert Bruce in a Sermon upon Psal. 51. gives faithful warning of the Danger of the Times It is not we sayes he that are Partie in this Cause no the Quarrel is betwixt a greater Prince and them What are we but silly Men Yet it has pleased him to set us in this Office that we should oppone to the manifest Vsurpations that is made upon his Spiritual Kingdom Is there a more forcible means to draw down the Wrath of God than to let Barrabas that nobilitate Malefactour pass free and to begin the War against Christ and his Ministry It putteth on the Copestone that so many of our Brethren should not be so faithful as their calling and this Cause craveth Fie upon false Brethren to see them dumb so faint hearted when it comes to the Chock not only are they as ashamed to speak the thing they think which is a shame in a Pastor but speak directly against their former Doctrine They will speak the Truth a while till they be put at but incontinent they will turn and make their Gifts Weapons to fight against Christ c. Hereafter when the Parliament 1584. had Enacted this Supremacy and Submission to Prelacy to be Subscribed by all Ministers the faithful first directed Mr. David Lindsay to the King desiring that nothing be done in Parliament prejudicial to the Churches Liberty Who got the Prison of Blackness for his pains And then when they could not get access for shut doors to Protest before the Parliament yet when the Acts were Proclaimed at the Cross of Edinburgh they took publick Documents in name of the Church of Scotland tho' they were but two that they protested against the said Acts And fled to England leaving behind them Reasons that moved them to do
so And Mr Iames Melvil wrote against the Subscribers at that time proving That they had not only set up a new Pope and so become Traitours to Christ and condescended to that chief Error of Papistry whereupon all the rest depend but further in so doing they had granted more to the King than ever the Popes of Rome peaceably obtained c. After this it is known what bickerings the faithful Witnesses of Christ had in their Conflicts with this Supremacy upon the account of Mr. David Blacks Declinature which they both advised him to and approved when he gave it in against the King and Council as Judges of his Doctrine And the Commissioners of the General Assembly ordained all to deal mightily with the power of the Word against the Councils Excroachments For which they were charged to depart forth of Edinburgh After which he added a second Declinature Declaring There are two Iurisdictions in this Realm the one Spiritual the other Civil the one respecting the Conscience the other Externals Therefore in so far as he was one of the Spiritual Office-bearers and had discharged his Spiritual calling in some measure of Grace and Sincerity should not nor could not be Lawfully judged for Preaching and applying the Word by any Civil Power he being an Ambassadour and Messenger of the Lord Iesus having his Commission from the King of Kings and all his Instructions set down and limited in the Book of God that cannot be extended abridged or altered by any mortal Wight King or Emperor And seeing he was sent to all sorts his Commission and Discharge of it should not nor cannot be Lawfully judged by them to whom he was sent they being Sheep and not Pastours to be judged by the Word and not to be judges thereof in a judicial way The Interloquutor being past against him for this the Brethren thought it Duty that the Doctrine of the Preachers should be directed against the said Interloquutor as against a strong hold set up against the Lord Jesus and the freedom of the Gospel and Praised God for the Force and Unity of the Spirit that was among themselves And being charged to depart out of Town they leave a faithful Declaration at large shewing how the Liberties of the Church were invaded and robbed And when the Ministers were troubled upon Mr. Blacks business and there was an intention to pull them out of their Pulpits the General Assembly advised them to stand to the Discharge of their Calling if their Flocks would save them from Violence and yet this Violence was expected from the King and his Emissaries And when Mr. Black had a Remission offered to him refus'd it altogether lest so doing he should condemn himself and approve the Courts Proceedings And the Brethren conferring with the Counsellors craving that some penalty should be condescended unto for satisfying his Majesty in his Honour would not condescend to any how light soever lest thereby they should seem to approve the Judicatory and their proceeding The imprisoned Ministers for declining the Council had it in their offer that if they would without any confession of offence only submit themselves to his Majesty pro scandalo accepto non dato they should be restored to their places But they could not do it without betraying the Cause of Christ. The Ministers of Edinburgh were committed to Ward for refusing to pray for the Queen before her Execution in Fothringam Castle 1586. they refused not simply to pray for her but for the Preservation of her Life as if she had been innocent of the Crimes laid to her charge which had imported a Condemnation of the Proceedings against her Afterwards in the Year 1600. the Ministers of Edinburgh would not Praise God for the Delivery of the King from a Conspiracy of the Earl of Gowrie at that time of which they had no Credit nor assurance and would not crave Pardon for it neither For this Mr. Robert Bruce was deprived of the Exercise of his Ministry and never obtained it again at Edinburgh But all this was nothing in Comparison of their wrestlings for the Royalties of their Princely Master and Priviledges of his Kingdome against that Tyrants Insolencies after he obtained the Crown of England For then he would not suffer the Church to indict her own Assemblies And when the faithful thought themselves obliged to counteract his Encroachments and therefore convened in an Assembly at Aberdeen Anno 1605. they were forced to dissolve And thereafter the most eminent of the Ministers there Assembled were Transported Prisoners to Blackness Whence being cited before the Council they decline their Judicatory And one of their Brethren Mr. Robert Youngson who had formerly succumbed being mov'd in Conscience returned And when the rest were standing before the Council desired to be heard and acknowledged his Fault and Subscribed the Declinature with the rest And for this they were Arraigned and Condemned as Guilty of Treason and Banished Before the Execution of which Sentence Mr. Welsh wrote to the Lady Fleeming to this effect What am I that he should first have called me and then Constituted me a Minister of glad things of the Gospel of Salvation these fifteen Years already and now last of all to be a sufferer for his Cause and Kingdom To witness that good Confession that Iesus Christ is the King of Saints and that his Church is a most free Kingdom yea as free as any Kingdom under Heaven not only to Convocate Hold and keep her Meetings Conventions and Assemblies But also to judge of all her Affairs in all her Meetings and Conventions among his Members and Subjects These two points 1 That Christ is the Head of his Church 2 That she is free in her Government from all other Iurisdiction except Christ's are the special Cause of our Imprisonment being now convict as Traytors for maintaining thereof We have now been waiting with joyfulness to give the last Testimony of our Blood in Confirmation thereof If it would please our God to be so favourable as to Honour us with that Dignity After this the King resolving by Parliament to advance the Estate of Bishops again as in the time of Popery without Cautions as before and further to establish not only that Antichristian Hierarchy but an Erastian Supremacy The faithful Ministers of Christ thought themselves bound in Conscience to protest And accordingly they offered a faithful Protestation to the Parliament Iuly 1606. obtesting That they would reserve into the Lords own hands that Glory which he will communicate neither with Man nor Angel to wit to prescribe from his Holy Mountain a lively Pattern according to which his own Tabernacle should be formed Remembring always that there is no absolute and undoubted Authority in this World except the Soveraign Authority of Christ the King to whom it belongeth as properly to rule the Church according to the good Pleasure of his own Will as it belongeth to save his Church by the Merit of his own Sufferings
All other Authority is so entrenched within the Marches of Divine Command that the least overpassing of the Bounds set by God himself bring Men under the fearful expectation of Temporal and Eternal Iudgements c. Yet notwithstanding of all opposition Prelacy was again restored in Parliament And to bring all to a complyance with the same Presbyteries and Synods universally charged under highest pains to admit a Constant Moderator without change which many refused resolutely as being the first step of Prelacy Upon this followed a great Persecution of the faithful for their Nonconformity managed by that Mongrel and Monstrous kind of Court made up of Clergy-men and States-men called the High Commission Court erected anno 1570. whereby many honest Men were put violently from their Charges and Habitations the Generality were involved in a great and fearful Defection But the Copestone of the wickedness of that Period was the Ratification of the five Articles of Perth kneeling at the Communion private Communion to be given to the Sick private Baptism and Confirmation of Children by the Bishop and Observation of Festival Days Which were much opposed and testified against by the faithful from their first hatching Anno 1618. to the Year 1621. when they were ratified in Parliament And against this the Testimony of the faithful continued till the Revolution Anno 1638. The following Period from the Year 1638 to 1660 continues and advances the Testimony to the greatest heighth of purity and power that either this Church or any other did ever arrive unto We shall give a short deduction of the rise progress and end of the Contendings of that Period In the midst of the forementioned Miseries and Mischiefs that the Pride of Prelacy and Tyrannical Supremacy had multiplied beyond measure upon this Church and Nation and at the heighth of all their haughtiness when they were setting up their Dagon and erecting Altars for him imposing the Service Book and Book of Cannons c. The Lords People were surprized with a sudden unexpected Deliverance by very despicable means even the opposition of a few weak Women which afterwards was followed out with more Masculine fervor accosting King and Council with Pititions Remonstrances Protestations and Testimonies against the Innovations and resolving upon a mutual Conjunction to defend Religion Lives and Liberties against all that would innovate or invade them To fortifie which all the Friends to the Liberty of the Nation did solemnly renew the National Covenant which though in it self obligeing to the Condemnation of Prelatical Hierarchy and clearly enough confirming Presbyterial Government yet they engaged unto it with an enlargement to suspend the Practice of Novations already introduced and the approbation of the Corruptions of the present Government with the late places and Power of Church Men till they be tryed in a free General Assembly Which was obtained that same Year and indicted at Glasgow And there notwithstanding all the opposition that the King's Commissioner could make by Protestations and Proclamations to dissolve it the six preceding Assemblies establishing Prelacy were annulled the Service Book and High Commission were condemned all the Bishops were deposed and their Government declared to be abjured in that National Covenant tho' many had through the Commissioners perswasions subscribed it in another Sense without that application As also the five Articles of Perth were there discovered to have been inconsistent with that Covenant and Confession and the Civil places and power of Church Men were disproved and rejected On the other hand Presbyterial Government was justified and approved and an Act was passed for keeping Yearly General Assemblies This was a bold beginning out-braving all difficulties Which in the following Year were much encreased by the Prelates and their partakers Rendezvouzing their Forces under the Kings personal Standard and menacing nothing but Misery to the zealous Covenanters Yet when they found them prepared to resist were forced to yield to a Ratification concluding that an Assembly and Parliament should be held for healing all Grievances of Church and State In which Assembly at Edinburgh the Covenant is ratified and subscribed by the Earl of Traquaire Commissioner and enjoyned to be subscribed by the Body of the whole Land with an explication expresly concerning the five Articles of Perth the Government of Bishops the Civil places and power of Church Men. But the Year following King and Prelates with their Abettors go to Arms again but were fain to accommodate the matter by a new Pacification whereby all Civil and Religious Rights were ratified And in the following Year 1641 by Laws Oaths Promises Subscriptions of King and Parliament fully confirmed the King Charles the First being present and consenting to all But the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus being thus advanced the Glory of the Lord did shine upon us with such Splendor that it awaked England and animated the Lords People there to aspire to the like Reformation For advice in which because tho' all agreed to cast off Prelacy yet sundry Forms of Church Government were projected to be set up in the room thereof chiefly the Independent Order Therefore the Brethren in England wrote to the Assembly then sitting at Edinburgh who gave them answer in behalf of the Presbyterial Government So from henceforth the Assembly did incessantly urge Vniformity in Reformation with their Brethren in England as the chiefest of their Desires Prayers and Cares And in the Year 1643 prevailed so far that the English Parliament did first desire that the two Nations might be strictly united for their mutual defence against the Prelatical Faction and their Adherents in both Kingdoms and not to lay down Arms till these implacable Enemies should be brought in Subjection and did instantly urge for help and assistance from Scotland Which being sent did return with an Olive-branch of Peace and not without some beginning of a Reformation in England And afterwards a Bloody War beginning between the King and Parliament with great success on the Kings side Commissioners were sent from both Houses to Scotland earnestly inviting to a nearer Union of the Kingdoms and desiring assistance from this Nation to their Brethren in that their great distress And this produced the Solemn League and Covenant of the three Kingdoms first drawn up in Scotland and approved in the Assembly at Edinburgh and afterward embraced in England This is that Covenant comprehending the purpose of all Prior and the Pattern of all Posterior Covenants which the Representative of Church and State in the three Nations did solemnly Subscribe and Swear for themselves and Posterity and of which the Obligation cannot be Disannull'd Disabled or Dispensed by any Power on Earth And this Covenant was rigorously imposed upon all Recusants who were wicked Enemies to God and Church and Nation and for their Malignancy were then to be Prosecuted not for their Scrupling at a Covenant but for their contumacious contempt of a Law This was no violence done to their Conscience for as they had
acknowledging of the Sin of his House and former ways and satisfaction to Gods People in both Kingdoms A. Ker. And that same day The Committee of Estates having seen and considered a Declaration of the Commission of the General Assembly anent the stating the Quarrel wherein the Army is to fight do approve the same and heartily concur therein Tho. Henderson Whereupon thereafter he encites that Declaration at Drumfermling Wherein Professing and appearing in the full perswasion and Love of the Truth he repenteth as having to do with and in the sight of God his Fathers opposition to the Covenant and Work of God and his own Reluctances against the same hoping for Mercy through the Blood of Iesus Christ and obtesting the Prayers of the Faithful to God for his stedfastness and then Protesting his Truth and Sincerity in entring into the Oath of God resolving to prosecute the Ends of the Covenant to his utmost and to have with it the same common Friends and Enemies exhorting all to lay down their Enmity against the Cause of God and not to prefer Mans Interest to Gods which will prove an Idol of Iealousie to Provoke the Lord and he himself accounteth to be but selfish Flatteries Then at his Coronation the Action commenceth with his most solemn renewing of the National and Solemn League and Covenant Thereafter in the Year 1651. followed the Ratification of all these preceding Treaties Transactions and Engagements concluded and enacted by the King and the Parliament whereby the same did Pass into a Perpetual Law And this Covenant which from the beginning was and is the most sure and indispensible Oath of God became at length the very Fundamental Law of the Kingdom whereon all the Rights or Priviledges either of King or People are principally bottomed and secured After this it came to pass that zeal for the cause rightly stated was suddenly contracted to a few whereby a plain defection was violently carried on by the Publick Resolutioners who relapsing into that most Sinful Conjunction with the Malignants did bring them into places of Power and Trust in Judicatories and Armies in a more Politick than Pious way requiring of them a constrained and dissembled Repentance which Reflection did cause the first Division of that kind and most permanent of any that ever was in the Church of Scotland by reason of the surcease of General Assemblies stopped and hindered by the Yoke of the Sectarian Usurpers And it has been the spring and source of all our Reflections since Upon this our Land was invaded by Oliver Cromwell who defeated our Army at Dunbar Next an Army being raised according to these unhallowed Resolutions was totally routed at Worcester And the King forced to hide himself in the Oak and thence to transport himself beyond Sea where he continued in Exile till the Year 1660. Yet there was still a faithful Remnant of Ministers and Professors zealous for the Cause keeping their Integrity who in their Remonstrances and Testimonies witnessed against both their Malignant Enemies and their backsliding Brethren the Resolutioners And also against the Sectarians their Invaders whose vast Toleration and Liberty of Conscience which they brought in to invade our Religion as they invaded our Land and infect it with their Multifarious Errors was particularly by the Synod of Fife and other Brethren in the Ministry that joyned themselves to them testified against and demonstrated to be wicked and intollerable But in the mean time the Sectarian Army here prevailed till after the Usurper Cromwell his Death Monk then General with a Combination of Malignants and publick Resolutioners did bring home the King to England from his Banishment Now comes the last Catastrophe of the Deformation of the Church of Scotland which in a retrograde motion hath gradually been growing these 27 Years going back through all the steps by which the Reformation ascended till now she is reduced to the very Border of that Babilon from whence she took her departure Through all which steps notwithstanding to this day Scotland hath never wanted a Witness for Christ against all the various steps of the Enemies advancings and of professed Friends declinings Though the Testimony hath had some Singularities in that it hath been attended with more disadvantages by reason of the Enemies greater prevalency and Friends deficiency and greater want of significant Assertors than any formerly in that it hath been intangled in more multifarious Intricacies of questions and debates and Divisions among the Assertors themselves In that it hath been intended and extended to a greater measure both as to matter and manner of contendings against the Adversaries and stated upon nicer points more earnestly Prosecuted and tenaciously maintain'd than any formerly to that it hath had more opposition and contradiction and less Countenance from professed Friends to the Reformation either at home or abroad than any formerly And yet it hath been both Active and Passive both against Enemies and Friends and in Cumulo stated against Atheism Popery Prelacy and Erastian Supremacy and extended in a particular manner against Tyranny And not only against the substance and essence of these in the Abstract but against Substance and Circumstance Abstract and Concrete Root and Branch Head and Tail of them and all complying with them conforming to them or countenancing of them or any thing conductive for them or deduced from them any manner of way directly or indirectly formally or interpretatively This is that extensive and very comprehensive Testimony which in all its parts points and particles is most directly relative and dilucidly reducible to a complex Witness for the Declarative Glory of Christs Kingship and Headship over All as he is God and as he is Mediator The management of this Testimony was thus King Charles the Second upon his Return directed a Letter to the Presbytery of Edinburgh declaring he was resolved to protect and preserve the Government of the Church of Scotland as it is settled by Law without Violation Wherein it was observed he spake never 8 word of the Covenant our Magna Charta of Religion and Righteousness but only of Law by which he meant the Prelatical Church as it was settled by the Law of his Father since which time he reckoned there was no Law but Rebellion This was a piece and prelude of our base Defection that we were so far from withstanding that we did not so much as witness against the Readmission and Restauration of the Head and Tail of Malignants but let them come in peaceably to the Throne without any Security to the Covenanted Cause and by piece-meal at their own ease leisure and pleasure to overturn all the Work of God and reintroduce the Old Antichristian Yoke of abjured Prelacy and Blasphemous Sacrilegious Supremacy and absolute Arbitrary Tyranny with all their abominations Which he and with him the Generality of our Nobility Gentry Clergy and Commonality did promote and propagate untill the Nation was involved in the greatest Revolt from and
Country without distinction of Free and Unfree they gather about Fifty four Horsemen march to Dumfreâ—â— take Sir Iames Turner Prisoner and disarm the Souldiers without any more violence Being thus by Providence engag'd without any hope of retreat and getting some Concurrence of their Brethren in the same condition they come to Lanerk where they renew the Covenant and thence to Pentland-Hills where by the Holy disposal of God they were routed many killed and 130 taken Prisoners of which 35 were afterwards hanged who had much of the Lords Presence at their deaths and assurance of his Love strengthening them to Seal a noble Testimony After this conflict many were forefaulted of their Estates and Intercommuned Souldiers are permitted to take free Quarter in the Country to Examine Men by Tortures to strip them who did so much as resist the Fugitives and thrust them into Prisons c. Hence we may see the Righteousness of God how justly at that time he left us in such a damp that like Asses we couched under all Burdens and few came out to the help of the Lord against the Mighty drawing on them Meroz's Curse and the Blood of their butchered Brethren But the King having now brought his only opposites the few Faithful Witnesses of Christ to a low pass he went on by Craft as well as Cruelty to advance his own in promoting Antichrist's Interest And therefore having gotten the Supremacy devolved upon him by Law he would now exert that usurped Power and work by insnaring Policy to effeâ—tuate the End which he could not do by other means Therefore seeing he was not able to suppress the Meetings of the Lord's People for Gospel-Ordinances in Houses and Fields but that the more he laboured by violent courses the greater and more frequent they grew hâ— fell upon a more crafty Device not only to overthrow the Gospel and suppress the Meetings but to break the Faithful and to divide between the Mad-cap and the Moderate Fanaticks as they phrased it that he might the more easily destroy both to confirm the Usurpation and to settle People in a sinful silence and stupid submission to all the Incroachments made on Christ's Prerogatives and more effectually to overturn what remained of the work of God And knowing that nothing could more fortifie the Supremacy than Ministers their homologating and acknowledging it Therefore he offered the first Indulgence Anno 1669 signifying in a Letter dated that Year Iune 7. His gracious Pleasure was To appoint so many of the outed Ministers as have lived peaceably and orderly to return to Preach and exercise other Functions of the Ministry in the Parish-Churches where they formerly served provided they be vacant to allow Patrons to present to other vacant Churches such others of them as the Council should approve That all who are so indulged be enjoyned to keep Presbyteries and the Refusers to be confined within the bounds of their Parishes and that they be enjoyned not to admit any of their neighbour Parishes unto their Communions nor Baptize their Children nor marry any of them without the allowance of the Minister of the Parish and if they Countenance the People deserting their own Parishes they are to be silenced for shorter and longer time or altogether turned out as the Council shall see causeâ— And upon complaint made and verified of any Seditious Discourse or Expressions in the Pulpit uttered by any of the Ministers they are immediately to be turned out and further punished according to Law And seeing by these Orders all pretences for Conventicles were taken away if any should be found hereafter to preach without Authority or keep Conventicles His Pleasure is to proceed with all severity against them as Seditious Persons and Contemners of Auhtority To salve this in point of Law and to make the Kings Letter the Supreme Law afterwards and a valid ground in Law whereupon the Council might proceed and enact and execute what the King pleased in matters Ecclesiastick He therefore caused frame a formal Statutory Act of Supremacy of this Tenor That his Majesty hath the Supreme Authority and Supremacy over all Persons and in all Causes Ecclesiastick within his Dominions and that by vertue thereof the ordering and disposal of the External Government of the Church did properly belong to him and his Successors as an inherent right to the Crown and that he may Settle Enact and Emit such Constitutions Acts and Orders concerning the Administrating thereof and Persons employed in the same and concerning all Ecclesiastical Meetings and Matters to be proposed and determined therein as He in His Royal Wisdom shall think fit which Acts Orders and Constitutions are to be observed and obeyed by all His Majesties Subjects any Law Act or Custom to the Contrary notwithstanding Whereupon accordingly the Council in their Act Iuly 27. 1669 do nominate several Ministers and appoint them to Preach and exercise the other Functions of the Ministry at their respective Churches there specified with consent of the Patrons The same day also they Conclude and Enact the forementioned Restrictions conform to the King's Letter and ordain them to be intimate to every person who is by Authority foresaid allowed the exercise of the Ministry These indulged Ministers having that Indulgence given only upon these terms that they should accept these Injunctions and having received it up these terms also as ane Essential part of the Bargain and Condition on which the Indulgence was granted and accepted as many following Proclamations did expresly declare do appoint Mr. Hutcheson one of the number to declare so much In acknowledging His Majesties Favour and Clemeâ—cy in granting that Liberty after so long a restraint and howevâ—â— they had received their Ministry from Iesus Christ with full Preâ—â—â—â— from him for regulating them therein yet nothing could be more refâ—eshing on Earth to them thâ—â— to have free liberty for the exercise of their Mâ—nistry under the Protection of Lawful Authority In the mean time tho cruel Acts and Edicts were made against the meeting of the Lord's People in Houses and the Fields after all these Midianitish Wiles to suppress them such was the Presence of the Lord in these Meetings and so powerful was his Countenance and Concurrence with the Labours of a few who laid out themselves to hold up the Standard of Christ that the number of Converts multiplied daily to the great encouragement of the few Hands that wrestled in that work through all humane discouragement Therefore King and Council was put to a new shift which they supposed would prove more effectual to wit Because there was a great number of Nonconformed Ministers not yet Indulged who either did or might hereafter hold Conventicles therefore to remede or prevent this in time coming they appoint and ordain them to such places where Indulged Ministers were settled there to be confined with Allowance to Preach as the Indulged should employ them thinking by this means to incapacitate many to hold Meetings
there or elsewhere And to these also they give Injunctions and Restrictions to regulate them in the exercise of their Ministry And to the end that all the outed Ministers might be brought under restraint and the Word of God be kept under Bonds by another Act of Council they Command that all other Ministers not disposed of as is said were either to repair to the Parish-Church where they were or to some other Parishes where they may be ordinary hearers and to declare and condescend upon the Parishes where they intend to have their Residence After this they assumed a Power to dispose of these their Curates as they pleased and transport them from place to place whereof the only ground was a simple Act of Council the Instructions always going along with them as the constant companion of the Indulgence By all which it is apparent whatever these Ministers Alledge viz. That it was but the removal of the Civil Restraint and that they entred into their places by the Call of the People a meer mock-pretence for a prelimited Imposition whereby that Ordinance of Christ was basely prostituted and abused and that their Testimony and Protestation was a Salvo for their Consciences a meer Utopian fancy that the Indulgers with whom they bargained never heard of otherwise as they did with some who were faithful in notifying against their Encroachments they would soon have given them a Bill of ease It cannot be denied that that doleful Indulgence both in its Rise Contrivance Conveyance Grant and Acceptance End and Effects was a grievous Encroachment upon the Princely Prerâ—gative of Jesus Christ the only Head of the Church whereby the Usurpers Supremacy was Homologated bowed to complyed with strengthened the Cause and Kingdom of Christ betrayed his Churches Privileges Surrendred his Enemies hardened his Friends stumbled and the Remnant rent and ruined And yet a great part of the Ministers took that Indulgence and another part did instead of Remonstrating the Wickedness of that deed Palliate and Plaister and Patronize it in keeping up the Credit of the King and Councils Curâ—tes Yet the Lord had some Witnesses who pretty early did give significations of their Resentment of this dishonour done to Christ as Mr. William Wâ—er who having got the Legal Call of the People and discharging his Duty honestly was turned out And Mr. Iohn Burnet who wrote a Testimony directed to the Council shewing why he could not submit to that Indulgence inserted at large in the History of Indulgence where also we have the Testimony of other Ten Ministers who drew up their Reasons of Non-complyance with such a Snare And Mr. Alex Blaire who upon occasion of Citation before the Council for not observing the 29 th of May told the Council That he could receive no Instructions from them in the Exercise of his Ministry otherwise he should not be Christ's Ambassador but theirs But afterwards the Lord raised up some more explicit Witnesses against that defection While the King thought he had by that Device utterly suppressed the Gospel in House and Field-Meetings he was so far disappointed that these very Means and Machins by which he thought to bury it did chiefly contribute to its revival For when by Persecution many Ministers had been chased away by illegal Law-Sentences many had been banished away and by their ensnaring Indulgences many had been drawn away from their Duty and others were now Sentenced with Confinements and Restraints if they should not choose and fix their Residence where they could not keep their Christ and Conscience both they were forced to wander and disperse through the Country by whose Endeavours the Word of God grew exceedingly and went at least through the Southern Borders of the Kingdom like Lightning O! who can remember the Glory of that day without a melting Heart A day of such Power that it made the People willing to come out and venture upon the greatest of hardships and the greatest of hazards in pursuing after the Gospel even when they could not have a probable expectation of escaping the Sword of the Wilderness and the barbarous fury of bloody Burrio's raging for their Prey sent out with Orders to take and kill them it being now made Criminal by Law especially to the Preachers and Convocaters of these Meetings I will make bold to say I doubt if ever there were greater days of the Son of Man upon the Earth since the Apostolick times than we enjoyed for the space of Seven Years at that time Now when Christ is gaining ground by the Preached Gospel in Plenty Purity and Power the Usurpers Supremacy was like to stagger and Prelacy came under contempt Hence to secure what he had possessed himself of by Law and to prevent a dangerous Paroxism which he thought would ensue upon these Commotions the King returned to exert his innate Tyranny and to emit terrible Orders and more terrible Executioners and bloody Emissaries against all Field-Meetings which after long Patience the People at length could not endure but being first chased to the Fields where they would have been content to have the Gospel with all the Inconveniencies of it and also expelled from the Fields being resolute to maintain the Gospel they resolved to defend it and themselves by Arms To which unavoidable necessity in unsupportable extremity did constrain them as the only remaining Remedy It is known for several Years they met without any Arms where frequently they were disturbed and dispersed with Souldiers some killed others wounded which they patiently endured withou Resistance At length the Ministers that were most in hazard having a Price set upon their Heads to be brought in dead or alive with some attending them in their wandrings understanding they were thus appointed for death judged it their duty to provide for the necessary defence of their Lives from the Violence of their armed Assaulters And as Meetings encreased divers others came under the same hazard which enforced them to endeavour the same Remedy without the least intention of of prejudice to any Thus the number of Sufferers increasing as they joyned in the Ordinances at these persecuted Meetings found themselves in some probable capacity to defend themselves and these much endeared Gospel-Priviledges and to preserve the Memory of the Lord 's great Work in the Land which to transmit to Posterity was their great design Wherefore in these Circumstances being redacted to that strait either to be deprived of the Gospel or to defend themselves in their Meetings for it and thinking their turning their Backs upon it for hazard was a cowardly deserting duty and palpable breach of Covenant-Engagements abandoning their greatest Interest they thought it expedient yea necessary to carry defensive Arms with them it being an indissoluble obligation in their Covenants to maintain and defend the true Religion and one another in promoting the same And hereunto they were encouraged by the constant experience of the Lord 's countenancing their Endeavours in that posture which always
proved successful for several Years their Enemies either turning their backs without disturbance when they observed them resolve Defence or in their Assaultings repulsed so that there was never a Meeting which stood to their Defence got any considerable harm thereby Thus the Lord was with us while we were with him but when we forsook him he forsook us and left us in the hands of our Enemies However while Meetings for Gospel-Ordinances did continue the Wicked Rulers did not cease from time to time to encrease their numerous Bands of Barbarous Souldiers for suppressing the Gospel in these Field-meetings But all this is nothing to what followed when thinking these Blood-Hounds were too favourable they brought down from the wild Highlands a Host of Salvages upon the Western Shires more terrible than Turks or Tartars Men who feared not God nor regarded Man to wast and destroy a plentiful Country which they resolved before they left it to make as bare as their own This Hellish Crew was adduced to work a Reformation like the French Conversions to press a Bond of Conformity wherein every one Subscribed was bound for himself and all under him Wife Children Servants Tenants to frequent their Parish Churches and never to go to these Meetings nor reset nor entertain any that went but to Inform against Pursue and Deliver up all vagrant Preachers as they called them to Tryal and Judgment Then for the maintenance of the Souldiers there were imposed new wicked and arbitrary Cesses and Taxations professedly required for suppressing Religion and Liberty banishing the Gospel out of the Land and preserving and promoting the King's Absoluteness over all Matters and Persons Sacred and Civil which under that tentation of great Sufferings threatned to Refusers and under the disadvantage of the silence and unfaithfulness of many Ministers who either did not condemn it or pleaded for the peaceable payment of it many did comply with it then and far more since Yet at that time there were far more Recusants in some places especially in the Western shires than Complyers And there were many of the Ministers that did faithfully declare to the People the Sin of it not only from the illegality of its Imposition by a Convention of over-awed and prelimited States but from the nature of that imposed Compliance that it was a sinful Transaction with Christ's declared Enemies a strengthning the hands of the wicked an obedience to a wicked Law a consenting to Christ's expulsion out of the Land and not only that but far worse than the Sin of the Gadarens a formal Concurrence to assist his Expellers by maintaining their force a hiring our Oppressors to destroy Religion and Liberty and from the declared end of it expressed in the very Narrative of the Act viz. To Levy and Maintain Forces for suppressing and dispersing Meetings of the Lord's People and to shew unanimous affections for maintaining the King's Supremacy as now Established by Law Yet all this time Ministers and Professors were unite and with one Soul and Shoulder followed the work of the Lord 'till the Indulged being dissatisfied with the Meetings in the Fields whose Glory was like to over-cloud and obscure their Beds of ease and especially being offended at the freedom and faithfulness of some who set the Trumpet to their Mouth and shewed Iacob his Sins and Israel his Transgressions impartially without Cloak or Cover they began to make a Faction among the Ministers and to devise how to quench the fervour of their Zeal who were faithful for God But the more they sought to extinguish it the more it brake out and blazed into a flame For several of Christ's Ambassadours touched and affected with the affronts done to their Princely Master by the Supremacy and the Indulgence of its Bastard-Brood and Brat began after long silence to discover its iniquity and to acquaint the People how the Usurper had invaded the Mediator's Chair in taking upon him to Depose Suspend Silence Plant and Transplant his Ministers where and when and how he pleased c. Yet others and the greater number of Dissenting Ministers were not only deficient herein but defended them joyned with them and pretending Prudence and prevention of Schism in effect homologated that deed and the Practice of these Priests Ezek 22. 26. teaching and advising the People to hear them both by Precept and going along with them in their Erastian Course And not only so but Condemned and Censured such who Preached against the sinfulness thereof especially in the first place worthy Mr. Walwood who was among the first Witnesses against that Defection and Mr. Kid Mr. King Mr. Cameron Mr. Donald Cargil c. who Sealed their Testimony afterwards by their blood yet then even by their Brethren were loaden with the reproachful Nick-names of Schismaticks Blind Zealots Jesuites c. But it was always observed as long as Ministers were faithful in following the Lord in the way of their Duty Professors were fervent and under all their Conflicts with Persecutors the Courage and Zeal of the Lovers of Christ was blazing and never outbraved by all the Enemies boastings to undertake brisk Exploits which from time to time they were now and then essaying 'till defection destroyed and division diverted their Zeal against the Enemies of God who before were always the Object against which they whetted the edge of their jusâ— indignation Especially the Arch-Prelate Sharp was judged intollerable by ingenuous Spirits Therefore in Iuly 1668. Mr Iames Mitchel thought it his duty to save himself deliver his Brethren and attempted to cut him off which failing he then escaped but afterwards was Apprehended Tortured Condemned and Executed But Justice would not suffer the Arch-Prelate to escape Remarkable Punishment the severity whereof did sufficiently compensate sate its delay after Ten Years respite For upon the 3 d of May 167 several worthy Gentlemen with some other Men of Courage and Zeal for the Cause of God executed Righteous Judgment upon him in Magus Moore near St. Andrews And that same Month on the Anniversary Day May 29th the Testimony at Rutherglen was Published against that Abomination Celebrating an Anniversary-Day kept every year for giving thanks for the setting up an Vsurped Power destroying the interest of Christ in the Land and against all sinful and unlawful Acts emitted and executed published and prosecuted against our Covenanted Reformation Where also they burnâ— the Acts of Supremacy the Declaration the Act Recissory c. in way of retalition for the burning of the Covenants On the Sabbath following Iune 1. A Field-Meeting near to Lowden-Hill was assaulted by Claverhouse and with him three Troops of Horse and Dragoons who had that Morning taken an honest Minster and about 14 Countrymen out of their Beds and carried them along with them but they were repulsed at Drumclogg and put to flight the Prisoners relieved about 30 of the Souldiers killed on the place and three of the Meeting and several wounded on both sides Thereafter the People
Yea not so much as to say God save the King which was offered at the price of their Life but they would not accept Deliverance on these Terms Now remained Mr. Donald Cargil deprived of his faithful Collegue destitute of his Brethrens Concurrence who prosecuted the Testimony against the Universal Apostasie of the Church and Nation Tyranny of Enemies Backsliding of Friends and all the wrongs done to his Master on all hands And considering in the Zeal of God and Sense of his holy Jealousie provoked and threatning Wrath against the Land for the Sins especially of Rulers that notwithstanding of all their Testimonies given against them by publick Preachings Protestations and Declarations remonstrating their Tyranny and disowning their Authority yet not only did they persist in their Sins and Scandals but were owned also by Professours not only as Magistrates but as Members of the Christian and Protestant Church and that however both the Defensive Arms of Men had been used against them and the Christian Arms of Prayers and the Ministerial Weapon of Preaching yet that of Ecclesiastical Censure had not been Authoritatively exerted against them Therefore that no Weapon which Christ allows his Servants under his Standard to manage against his Enemies might be wanting tho' he could not obtain the Concurrence of his Brethren to strengthen the Solemnity and Formality of the Action yet he did not judge that Defect in this broken Case of the Church could disable his Authority nor demur the Duty but that he might and ought to proceed to Excommunication And accordingly in Sept. 1680. at the Torwood he Excommunicated some of the most scandalous and principal Promoters and Abettors of this Conspiracy against Christ as formally as the present Case could admit After Sermon upon Ezek 21. 25 26 27. And thou profane wicked Prince of Israel whose Day is come c. The Persons Excommunicated and the Sentence against them was given forth as follows I being a Minister of Iesus Christ and having Authority and Power from him do in his Name and by his Spirit Excommunicate cast out of the Church and deliver up to Satan Charles the Second King c. The Sentence was founded on these Grounds For 〈◊〉 great Perjury in breaking and burning the Covenant for his rescinding all Laws for establishing the Reformation end enacting Laws contrary thereunto For commanding of Arms to destroy the Lords People For his granting Remissions and Pardons for Murderers which is in the power of no King to do c. Next by the same Authority and in the same Name he Excommunicated James Duke of York for his Idolatry and setting up in Scotland to defile the Land and enticing and encouraging others to do 〈◊〉 With several other rotten Malignant Enemies But about this time when some in zeal for the Cause were endeavouring to keep up the Testimony of the day in an abstraction from Complying Ministers others were left to fall into fearful extravagancies and delirious and damnable Delusions being overdriven with ignorant and blind Zeal into untroden Paths which led them into a Labyrinth of Darkness When as they were stumbled at many Ministers their unfaithfulness so they came to be offended at Mr Cargill his Faithfulness who spared neither left-hand Declensions nor-right hand Extreams and left him and all the Ministers not only disowning all Communion with those that were not of their way but Execrating and Cursing them and kept themselves in desart places from all Company where they persisted prodigiously in Fastings and singing Psalms pretending to wonderful Raptures and Enthusiasms And in fine Iohn Gib with 4 more of them came to that height of Blasphemy that they burnt the Bible and Confession of Faith These were the Sweet Singers as they were called led away into these Delusions by that Impostor and Sorcerer Iohn Gib of which destructive way the approached Remnant adhering to the foresaid Testimony had always an Abhorrence of Wherefore that ignorant and impudent Calumny of their Consortship with Gibs Followers is only the vent of viperous Envy For they were the first that discovered them and reclaimed them and were always so far from partaking with them that to this day these that have come off from that way and have offered the Confession of their Scandal do still complain of their over-rigid Severity in not admitting them to their select Fellowships Shortly after this Mr. Donald Cargill finished his Testimony being apprehended with other two faithful and zealous Witnesses of Christ Mr. William Smith and Mr. Iames Beeg who with two more were altogether at Edinburgh 27 Iuly 1681. Crowned with the Glory of Martyrdom Then came the Day of the Remnants vexation the Persecution vaxing on the one hand and a violent Spirit of defection carrying down the most part of Ministers and Professours before it driving them to Courses of sinful and scandalous Conformings with the Times Corruptions Compearings before their Courts Complyings with their Commands paying of their Cesses and other Exactions taking of their Oaths and Bonds and countenancing their Prelatical Church-Services which they were ashamed to do before And thereupon on the other hand the Divisions and Confusions were augmented and poor People that desired to cleave to the Testimony were more and more offended and troubled at the Ministers who either left the Land or lurked in their own retirements But the remaining Contenders fell upon the expedient of corresponding in General Meetings to consult inform and confirm one another about common Duties in common Dangers Laying down this General Conclusion for a foundation of Order to be observed among them in incident doubtful Cases and emergent Controversies that nothing relative to the publick and which concerns the whole of their Community be done by any of them without harmonious consent sought after and rationally waited for and sufficient deliberation about the best means and manner In the mean time the Duke of York as Commissioner from his Brother held a Parliament in which he is declared legal and lineal Successour and a Test is framed for a Pest to Consciences which turned out of all Places of Trust any that had any remaining measure of common Honesty And to all the Cruel Acts then and before made against the People of God there was one superadded regulating the Execution of all the rest whereby at one dash all Civil and Criminal Justice was overthrown That the Right of Iurisdiction both in Civil and Criminal Matters is so inherent in the Crown that his Majesty may judge all Causes by himself or any other he thinks fit to Commissionate Here was a Law for Commissionating Souldiers to take away the Lives of Innocents as was frequently exemplified afterwards Against which encroachments on Religion and Liberty the faithful thought themselves obliged to emit a Testimony And therefore published a Declaration at Lanerk Ian. 12. 1682. Confirming the proceeding at Sanquhair and adding reasons of their Revolt from the Government of Charles the Second For his arrogantly arrogated
prejudice They could only bind to that Government which they esteemed the best for common good which reason ceasing we are free to chuse another if we find it more conducible for that end 2 Of the Covenant binding to defend the King That that Obligation is only in his maintenance of the true Covenanted Religion which Homage they cannot now require upon the account of the Covenant which they have renounced and disclaimed and upon no other ground we are bound to them the Crown not being an Inheritance that passeth from Father to Son without the consent of Tenants 3 Of the hope of returning from these Courses That suppose they should dissemble a repentance yet the Land cannot be cleansed from their Guiltness but by executing Gods Righteous Iudgments upon them Vpon these accounts they reject that King and those associate with him in the Government and declare them henceforth no lawful Rulers as they had declared them to be no lawful Subjects they having destroyed the established Religion taken away Christs Church Government c. And declare they shall God giving power set up Government and Governours according to the word of God and the qualifications required Exod. 18. v. 20. And shall not commit the Government to any single Person or lineal succession And moreover that these Men set over them shall be engaged to govern Principally by that Civil and judicial Law not that which is any way typical given by God to his People of Israel especially in matters of Life and Death and other things so far as they reach and are consistent with Christian Liberty exempting Divorce and Poligamy And seeing that the greatest part of Ministers not only were defective in Preaching against the Acts of the Rulers for overthrowing Religion c. they declare they neither can nor will hear them They are for a standing Gospel-Ministry rightly chosen and rightly ordained and that noâ— shall take upon them the Preaching of the Word c. unless called and ordained thereunto And whereas separation might be imputed to them they refell both the Malice and the Ignorance of the Calumny For if there be a Separation it must be where the change is and that was not to be found in them who were not separating from the Communion of the true Church not setting up a new Ministry but cleaving to the same Ministers and Ordinances that formerly they followed when others have fled to new ways and a new Authority which is like the new piece in the Old Garment And that they shall defend themselves in their Civil Natural and Divine Rights and Liberties And if any assault them they shall took on it as a declaring a War and take all advantages that one Enemy does of another but trouble and injure none but those that injure them This is the Compend of that Paper which the Enemies seized and published while it was only in a rude Draught and not polished digested nor consulted by the rest of the Community That poor Party continued together in a posture of defence without the Concurrence or countenance of their Covenanted Brethren until the 22 th of Iuly 1680. Upon the which day they were attacqued at Airsemoss by a strong party of about 120 Horse well armed while they were but 23 Horse and 40 foot at most And so fighting valiantly were at length routed Several of Sions precious Mourners and faithful Witnesses of Christ were killed and among the rest that faithful Minister of Christ Mr. Richard Cameron sealed and fulfilled his Testimony with his Blood And with others the valiant and much Honoured Gentleman David Hackston of Rathillet was after many received Wounds apprehended brought in to Edinburgh and there resolutely adhering to the Testimony and disowning the Authority of King and Council and all their Tyrannical Judicatories head and tail and for being accessory to executing judgment upon the Arch-bishop of St. Andrews was tortured alive with the cutting off of his hands and then Hanged and before he was Dead Ripped up his Heart taken our carried about upon the point of a Knife and thrown into a Fâ—re and afterwards his Body Quartered Then not only such as were with that little handful at Airsemoss were Cruelly Murdered but others against whom they could charge no matter of Fact were questioned if they owned the Kings Authority which if any did not answer affirmatively and positively he was to look for nothing but exquisite Torments and Death And if any declared their judgment that they could not in Conscience own such Authority as was then exercised or if they declined to give their thoughts of it as judging thoughts to be under no humane Jurisdiction or if they answered with such innocent Specifications as these that they owned all Authority in the Lord or for the Lord or according to the word of God or all just and lawful Authority these underwent and suffered the Capital Punishment of Treason And yet both declining and declaring their extorted Answers about this they were Condemned as unsufferable Maintainers of Principles inconsistent with Government But chiefly they laboured to Murder the Soul defile the Conscience and only consult to cast a Man down from his excellency which is his integrity either by Hectoring or Flattering from the Testimony which they endeavoured by proposing many offers with many threatnings in subtile Terms And pretending a great deal of tenderness protesting they would be as tender of their Blood as of their own Soul and purging themselves as Pilate did and charging it upon their own Head They would be very easie in their Accomodations where they found the poor Man beginning to faint and hearken to their overtures wherein they would grant him his life yeilding to him as cunning Anglers do with Fishes And to perswade him to some length in complying they would offer Conference sometimes or reasoning upon the Point to satisfie and inform his Conscience as they pretended but really to catch him with their busked Hook If they had any hope of prevailing they would change a Mans Prison and take him out from among the more strict and fervent in the Cause that might sharpen and strengthen his Zeal and put him among the more cool and remiss Sometimes they would stage several together whereof they knew some would Comply to tantalize the rest with the sight of the others Liberty and make them bite the more eagerly at their Bait to catch the Conscience But when they had done all they could Christ had many Witnesses who did retain the Crown of their Testimony in the smallest points till they obtained the Crown of Martyrdom But here as in Egypt the more they were afflicted the more they grew So that many were reclaimed from their Courses of Complyance and others were daily more and more confirmed in the ways of the Lord and so strengthned that they chose rather to endure all Torture and embrace Death in its most terrible aspect than to give the Tyrant and his Complices any acknowledgment