mention the Blasphemies for Twenty two Years and the New of Montross his Armies with which they were wont to run their Glasses if their Prayers but since the late Revolution within the City of Edinburgh and the Places next Adjacent to it were but Printed and exposed to Publick View all the Protestant Churches would abhor their way as the ready means to introduce and strengthen Atheism and Irreligion among the People The Pulpit Blasphemies that have lately been belched out against Heaven in this Nation cannot be related without Horrour and Indignation Nor was God ever so much dishonoured by the Vanities of the Pagan Idolatry as by the pretended Inspiration of our new Reformers every little trifling occurrence that 's suggested to their Fancy or casually tumbles in their Memory is immediately cramb'd into their Prayers But I have digressed too far now then to return to my particular Theme The Visitors put themselves indeed to extraordinary toll in examining the Masters of the Colledge of Edinburgh And yet the Particulars they insisted upon were such as they themselves knew neither to be material nor possible to be proved They could not but think that the most remarkable steps they made in this Affair would readily come to light and yet they were not so wise as to temper their Proceedings with the least Discretion so difficult a thing it is to hide what has got the Ascendant over all their Passions A Calmer Method and Temperament would have served the Design of their Government to better purposes If their Discipline may be called a Government that 't every where attended with so many Complaints so much Confusion and Anarchy But I am not to teach them how to strengthen and propagate their Party for none can deny them the two principal Supporters of Faction and Schism Impudence and Industry They may think this Language something course and severe but it is hard to change the Propriety of words If we must speak of them and of their actings the keenest Satyrs come short of their Oppressions and Falshoods They had the Confidence at London to deny that some of the People of Aberdene had their Ears nail'd to the Pillory lately at Edinburgh because they testified their respect to their own Episcopal Ministers and would not suffer the Inquisitors to deprive them of the Blessing of their Doctrine and Presence As also they deny boldly That the Ministers in the West were drove out by the Rabble which they hounded out or that any Ministers were deprived in Scotland who were willing to Comply with the State They might have even as well said that the Sun has not shined in that Kingdom since the Covenant was abandoned by it for these other things they assert are as universally known to be false as that is There is no fear that ever their Party shall prevail where Men retain the love of Liberty and Humanity for tho' that poor Nation be at present run down by the most Arbitrary and licentious Practices of the Kirk yet the Common concern of Liberty Morality and Society may awaken Men at length to fix and again to Establish something that may become the civilized part of Mankind and upon which the Superstructure of Religion may be happily raised When our Feaver is abated and the Nation calmly considers its true Interest and Advantage It 's not to be thought that they will suffer an inconsiderable Company of Pedants to continue Dictators either to the Church or the Universities In their late Books they promise to disprove the just but lame account given to the World of the Cruelties and Oppressions the Episcopal Clergy hath met with in the Western Shires of Scotland But this amounts to no more than that they are resolved to employ some of their Emissaries to make contrary Stories and to varnish them over with all the little shifts and artificial Disguises they can invent when their Barbarities are already known over the greatest part of Christendom and when the Reform'd Churches are all ashamed of them and scandalized by them If the Gentry and Nobility who were Commissionated to Visit the Universities had come alone without their Chaplains the Masters had not met with so much rudeness for there are but very few of them so deeply sowred with the leaven of Presbytery And if some may have forgot their Character it is because they have nothing to recommend them but the implicit Faith they pay to the Consistory And now I have nothing more in order to the following Memoirs to advertise the Reader of but only that the Method of them is Natural Easie and Distinct For first the Author sets down the unsubscribed Libel as it was prepared and given in to the Court and to which the Masters were made to Answer upon the first hearing of it without the least delay Secondly The Answers made by particular Masters to those Libels Thirdly In their own very words is set down the Report of the Committee to the Commission concerning the Masters Fourthly The Animadversions on that their Report And now to conclude this Preface let not the Reader forget That tho' Hundreds of Witnesses have been Summoned and Examined against those Masters whose Trials are hereafter related yet nothing was proved of the least Consequence against any of them only such things as they avowedly owned themselves and for which they were rather to be commended than reproved I heartily pray God the Nation may enjoy more Peace Religion Order and Unity than can reasonably be expected from its present Model of Presbytery and that our Country be no more imposed upon by such open and bare-faced Injustice and Oppression under the Pretence of Reformation Presbyterian Inquisition AS It was Practised by the Visitors of the Colledge at Edinburgh in Their Proceedings against some of the Masters there in August and September 1690. THE Act of Parliament for Visitation of Universities Colledges and Schools passes the Vote of the House July 4. 1690. And by the said Act the Visitours were appointed to meet at Edinburgh the 23d of July for the first Dyer that they might divide themselves into several Committees and lay down common Rules for Regulating the manner of Trying the several Universities within the Nation according to the Instructions and Injunctions then agreed upon as you may see more at length in the Act it self Accordingly a sufficient Quorum of them met upon the 23d of July 1690. and divided themselves into several Committees as follows For the University of St. Andrews Earl Crawford Earl Morton Earl Cassels Earl Kintâ—â— Master of Burley Sir Thomas Burnet Sir Francis Montgomery Mr. James Melvil Laird of Balconie Laird of Nungtown Laird of Meggins Mr. Henry Rymer Mr. William Tullidaff Mr. David Blair Mr. James M'gill Mr. James Rymer For the University of Glascow Duke Hamilton E. Argile V. Stairs L. Carmichael Sir George Campbel Sir Robert St. Clare Sir John Maxwell Laird of Craiggenns John Anderson of Dowhill Mr. James Smalleâ— Laird
of Lewchatt Mr. Gabriel Cuninghame Mr. George Meldrum Mr. William Violent Mr. George Campbell Mr. John Oliphant For the University of Aberdeen E. of Marshall V. Arbuthnet L. Cardros L. Elphingsston Master of Forbes Sir George Monro Laird of Brodie Laird of Grant Laird of Grange Moncrife of Rydie Mr. Alex. Pitcairn Mr. Hugh Anderson Mr. Alex. Forbes Mr. William Mitchel Mr. Robert Willie For the University of Edinburgh E. of Louthian L. Reath L. Ruthven Master of Stair L. Mersington L. Crosrig Sir Patrick Hume L. Hall Craig Laird of Pitlivier Sir John Hall Sir William Hamilton Mr. Edward Jamison Mr. Hew Kennedy Mr. John Law Mr. James Kirton Mr. Gilbert Rule When they had thus divided themselves into Committees they agreed upon the following Rules by which they were to Regulate their Tryal At Edinburgh the Twenty Fifth Day of July 1690. Instructions from the Commissioners appointed by Act of Parliament to Visit Universities Colledges and Schools to the Committees Delegate for that effect Imprimis That the Committee enquire and take exact Tryal of the Masters Professours Principals Regents c. If any of them be Erroneous in Doctrine and as to Popish Arminian and Socinian Principles which is to be searched from their Dictates or to receive Information from other Persons who have been Conversant with them or have Heard them 2 o. To Enquire and take Tryal if any of the Masters c. be Scandalous or Guilty of Imoralities in their Life and Conversation 3 o. To Try if any of the Masters be Negligent and to enquire how many Conveniendums they keep in the day and what time they Meet and how long they continue these Meetings and how the Masters attend and keep them and what Discipline they Exercise upon the Scholars for their Immoralities and none Attendance and particularly to enquire at the Masters Anent the Office of Hebdomodaries and how faithfully that is Exercised and how oft they Examine the Scholars on their Notes And to take Tryal what pains they take to Instruct their Scholars in the Principles of Christianity and what Books they Teach thereanent for the Subject of these Sacred Lessons and what care they take of the Scholars keeping the Kirk and Examining them thereafter 4 o. To Enquire into their Sufficiency and that their Dictates be searched and if they be suspect of Insufficiency to ask Questions and Examine them as the Committee shall think fit 5 o. To Enquire and take Tryal what has been the Carriage of the Masters since the late Happy Revolutions as to Their Majesties Government and Their Coming to the Crown and to Enquire into their Dictates or Papers Emitted by them what are their Principles as to the Constitution of the Government by King and Parliament 6 o. Likewaies to call for the Foundations and Laws of the Universities and to consider how they are observed and to Try how they have managed their Revenues and especially Anent the Money given for buying Books to their Libraries and any Mortifications Stents and Collections and vacant Stipends and other Moneys given on any Account to the said Colledges and if the Mortifications for the several Professions be rightly applyed 7 o. To Enquire and Try the Professours of Divinity what Subjects of Divinity they Teach what Books they recommend to the Theologues and if they be remiss and careless in causing their Theologues have their Homilies and Exercises and frequently Disputes on points of Divinity as it is required 8 o. To Enquire at the said Hail Masters c. If they will Subscribe the Confession of Faith and Sware and take the Oath of Allegiance to Their Majesties King William and Queen Mary and to Subscribe the Certificate and Assurance Ordained to be taken by an Act of Parliament in July 1690. And if they will Declare that they do submit to the Church Government as now Established by Law 9 o. That the Committee appoint such of the Masters as they shall find Cause to attend the next General Meeting of the Commission which Order shall be equivalent as if a Citation should be given to them for that effect Having agreed to those Rules of Tryal they appointed the several Committees to meet at the Respective Universities on the 20th of August thereafter Accordingly the Committee appointed to Visit the University of Edinburgh met in the upper Hall and Sir John Hall was Chosen Praeses The Masters met in the Library and waited there about an hour and a half till they were called to Appear and upon their Appearance the Praeses told the Principal that they would delay the Tryal of the Masters till that day Seven-night because they were in the first place to dispatch the Schoolmasters who were at some distance from the Town and could not therefore so conveniently give their Attendance But the true Reason was That the Libels against the Masters and Professours were not then so fully ready as they designed them Upon the 27th of August the Committee met and spent some time in Reading the Libels before the Masters were called to appear A little after they were pleased to call in the Principal Dr. Monro upon his Appearance Sir John Hall desired him to Answer to the several Articles contained in his Indictment which he commanded their Clerk then to read openly in the face of the Court and Spectators Accordingly The Clerk read the First and Second Articles to which the Dr. answered ut infra but finding that the Paper contained a great many Articles He pleaded That he was not obliged to Answer an unsubcribed Libel that He should know his Accuser And that this Method of Tryal was New Unjust and Illegal That Men should be obliged to Answer so many Questions ex tempore A certain Member of the Committee told the Dr. that it was no Libel but an Information The Principal answered That a Slanderous Information containing so many Calumnies to the ruine of a Man's Reputation and good Name was to him the self-same thing with a Libel at least that he was not Lawyer enough so nicely to distinguish them but that he was sure the one had the same Effects with the other and since the thing was the same he was not concerned by what Name it was called The Committee-Man told him It was to have no Effect till it was proved a Favour which they do not always grant The Principal replied That there was a double Effect That of Deprivation and the loss of his Good Name and tho' the first was not Attained without Proof yet the last was sure to follow upon such a malicious Charge since the People were but too apt to believe what was publickly informed tho' it were not proved and so that which He called an Information would have the Effect of a Libel even in the worst sense that it could be taken The Principal wearied with Jangling about a word and Conscious of his own Innocency was willing to hear the worst they could say and so
Presbyterian Inquisition As it was lately Practised against the PROFESSORS OF THE COLLEDGE OF EDINBURGH August and September 1690. In which the Spirit of Presbytery and their present Method of Procedure is plainly discovered Matter of Fact by undeniable Instances cleared and Libels against particular Persons Discussed For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me they have spoken against me with a lying tongue They compassed me about also with words of hatred and fought against me without a Cause Ps 109. v. 23. LICENSED Nov. 12. 1691. LONDON Printed for J. Hindmarsh at the Golden-Ball in Cornhill 1691. ADVERTISEMENT WHen the Reader considers what 's said in the following Sheets he will find the Title exactly agreeable to the Book and if that seem odious it 's not to be Imputed to the Author of this Narrative but to one of the Visitors who in the face of the Court Declared That their Method of Procedure was an Inquisition and the plain Truth is he was so Happy in the choice of the Word that it would have been unreasonable to have chang'd it The Reader is also desired to take Notice that by the Witnesses mentioned in the last Paragraph of the Preface are to be understood only such as were Examined against those Masters of the Colledge whose Tryals are not yet Published for all the Art and Industry of the Party could not so much as procure one Witness to Appear against the two Doctors whose Libels Answers and Sentences are here Related THE PREFACE I Was present at Edinburgh when the University there was lately Visited by the Presbyterian Party and was Witness to all that past at the Tryals of the Principal and other Masters and the Accounts of it having since fallen into my hands and I knowing them to contain nothing but Matter of Fact and down right Truth thought fit now to Publish them not to Continue or Excite Faction or Revenge but to Vindicate Innocent Men from the Calumnies and Slanders that have been of late Charged upon them If the Presbyterians had not Industriously propagated abroad the Idle and Impertinent Stories they invented at home these Papers had never seen the Light It is indeed with great Reluctancy that I give the Transactions of that late Visitation any room in my Memory but since the Clamours of a Factious Party constrain Men to defend themselves It is but just to return such Answers as may undeceive well meaning People and expose the Injustice of that Inquisition It being so easie a thing to make it appear That the Masters of that Universities greatest Crimes were their Places and Preferments Because in the following Papers mention is often made of a New Test that the Parliament appointed for all University Men it may not be improper once for all here in the beginning to tell what that Test was for this then let it be remembered That the 17 Act Parl. 1. Sess 2. July 4. 1690. Earl Melvil Commissioner appoints That no Master or Professor in any Colledge or School shall be allowed to continue in the Exercise of his Function but such as do Acknowledge and Profess and shall Subscribe the Confession of Faith Ratified and Approved by this present Parliament and also shall Swear the Oath of Allegiance to their Majesties and withal shall be found to be of Pious Loyal and Peaceable Conversation and of good and sufficient Literature and Abilities for their Respective Employments and submitting to the Government of the Church now setled by Law and are well Affected to their Majesties c. Again by Act 38. Sess 2. Parliament 1. Gulielm Mari. July 22. 1690. Melvil Commissioner all persons who are bound to Swear the Oath of Allegiance are also obliged to Subscribe this Assurance as they call it I A. B. Do in the Sincerity of my Heart Acknowledge and Declare that their Majesties King William and Queen Mary are the only Lawful Undoubted Soveraings King and Queen of Scotland as well de jure as de facto and in the Exercise of the Government And therefore I do sincerely and faithfully promise and ingage that I will with Heart and Hand Life and Goods Maintain and Defend Their Majesties Title and Government against the Late King James his Adherents and all other Enemies who either by open or secret Attempts shall Disturb or Disquiet Their Majesties in the Exercise thereof These were the Instructions which the Parliament by their Acts gave to the Visitors and a considerable number of them being Presbyterian Ministers were not wanting in their Diligence to screw up every thing to the greatest height against the Episcopal Masters and to make them feel the severe effects of Presbyterian Power and Malice as appeared by a Printed Warrant or rather Proclamation in their own Names in which they Require and Command Messengers to pass to the Mercat Cross of Edinburgh upon a Mercet day betwixt Ten and Twelve a Clock in the Forenoon and immediately thereafter to the most patent Gate of the University of Edinburgh and sicklike to pass to the Mercat Crosses of Edinburgh Hadingtoun Duns Green-Law and Lawder Jedburgh Selkirk Peebles Linlithgow and Stirling and there at after open Proclamation c. To Summon Warn and Charge the Principal Professors Regents and all Others Masters of the University of Edinburgh and Schoolmasters Teaching Latin in the said Town c. To Compear before the Committee of the said Visitors c. The 20 day of August next to come at Ten a Clock in the Forenoon to Answer and Satisfie the said Committee c. And likewise the said Commissioners do hereby Require the said Messengers at the same time and place and in the same manner to Summon and Warn all the Leidges who have any thing to object against the said Principal Professors Regents Masters of the said Universities and School-Masters To Compear before the said Committee the said day and place to give in Objections against the Principal Professors Regents and others aforesaid Requiring in like manner the Messengers Executors of this present Warrant not only to Read Publickly the same and the Citation to be given them at the said Mercat Crosses and Colledge Gate but also to leave Printed Copies thereof affixt upon the Mercat Crosses of the Head Burghs and upon the most patent Gates of the said Colledge Lastly Requiring the said Messengers to Return the same with formal Executions and Indorsations thereof duely Subscrib'd by them before Subscribing Witnesses For doing of all which these Presents shall be their sufficient Warrant Given at Edinburgh July 25. 1690. And Ordains these Presents to be Printed Extracted forth of the Records by me Tho. Burnet 1. Here you see a vast deal of Pomp and Parad to Usher in this INQUISITION open Proclamation was made at Mercat places a sufficient indication of what might be expected afterwards from them Alt the Leidges are Warned and Summoned to come in and make what Objections they can against
the Masters sure if the Visitors want Men to Accuse these Masters it cannot be ascribed to their want of Industry to procure them 2dly The great Zeal these Commissioners had to purge the Universities from Malignants made them upon all occasions stretch the words of their Instructions far beyond their ordinary and usual signification When some enquired whether by that part of the Test which requires to submit to Presbytery were meant only a quiet and peaceable living under that Government or if it imported any thing farther Some of the Commissioners plainly told that by that Clause of the Test was also meant That every Master should tbereby Declare the Presbyterian Government to be preferable to any other whatsoever and the only Government left by Christ and his Apostles in the Church and warranted by Scripture By the same Spirit of Prebyterian Moderation some of the Commission Declared that by the Acknowledging and Subscribing the Westminster Confession of Faith is not only meant an owning of it in so far as it is a System of Theologie conform to the Holy Scriptures and one of the best designed for distinguishing the Reformed Church from these Hereticks and Schismaticks that now disturb it but that it also imports an absolute owning of every particular Article thereof as the only and most perfect Confession that hath been or can yet be composed and that therefore it was to be Acknowledged Professed and Subscribed without any Limitation Restriction or Reservation whatsoever The Visitors might have been well assured That no Master or Professor of any Conscience who had been Episcopally Ordained or acquainted with the Primitive Constitution of the Church could any ways comply with Conditions so Rigid and Severe It had been soon enough then for the Presbyterians to have fled to their old Experimented way of Libelling when the Masters had stood their ground against that New Test which Originally had no end but to make vacant places But the Preachers of that Party Members of the Visitation judged it more convenient Boldly and Indefatigably to Calumniate the Professors lest if they had been turned out for mere and just Scruples of Conscience the People should have murmmured and complained The Body of Mankind often believe the first and loudest Reports few of the People being capable willing or at leisure to Examine the Truth of things and since now the Faction had got the uppermost and had Power in their hand they enquire into all things that might make the Professours odious to the City or Nation and thought fit to let them feel the effects of their Rashness if in all their Life time they had been once spoke against the Imposture or Enthusiasme of that Sect. The Presbyterian Preachers who earnestly wished to be Employed in the Toyl and Drudgery of this Affair made it their Business to search into all the Actions of the Professors Lives especially such as were capable to be Transformed into a Libel and having the Assistance and Zeal of some of the New Magistrates of Edinburgh to second their Endeavours it was easie to foresee what Quarter they might expect who differed from them And this was no difficult Province for Presbyterians to mannage considering the Nature of their Discipline and their present Constitution The most innocent things have two handles and some Men industriously seize the worst But because they pretended to be most Accurate Reformers they would therefore do their work thorowly and strip their Opposers as bare of their Reputation and Good Name as of their Livelyhoods and Preferments and having now got the Church's Jurisdiction and Revenues into their hands it was not safe for them to want the Government and Psssession of the Seminaries of Learning And therefore the Presbyterians that Preached before the Parliament never forgot to Exhort such as were in Power speedily to Reform the Universities which is no less in their Language than to plant them with Presbyterians To accomplish this it was necessary to Represent the Masters of Universities under the Episcopal Constitution as very Ill Men Enemies to the Godly Socinians Papists now the People could not discern when they spoke Contradictions for tho' Socinianism and Popery be two opposite Points of the Compass yet some of their Emissaries scrupled not among the Gossoping Sisters and at other more Publick Meetings to Accuse one and the same Person of both When the Government of the City of Edinburgh was lodged in the hands of the first and best order of Citizens and Gentlemen the Masters of the Colledge had all the Encouragement that they themselves could wish They lived in all Tranquility and Freedome during the Administration of Sir Magnus Prince and his Predecessour Sir Thomas Kennedy They made it both of them their Business to preserve the Order Fabrick and Revenues of that House they omitted no occasion of Supporting the Honour and Reputation of its Masters as well as of discouraging what ought to be reproved and timously amended whenever there was the least ground for it The Masters of the College in that Period had nothing to do but carefully to look after the Manners and Proficiency of their Students for the Countenance of the Magistrates and their generous Inclinations to Propagate Learning did so secure and guard the Professors against the little efforts of censorious and talkative Fanaticks that they could not contrive how to be more happy in their Stations For these Gentlemen knew what an Ornament their University was to the City and whole Kingdom how necessary Freedom Contentment and Retirement are to the attainment of Learning and therefore they were so far from vexing and disturbing them that they heaped upon them all marks of Honour and Regard Others shuffling themselves into the Magistracy under the Covert of such Commotions as necessarily attend all great Revolutions had not the same view of things They thought their Business was to Reform tho' they knew not what and this Reformation was regulated by such Oracles as managed their Councils and the Responses were always given by Interest Hence they seemed to mind nothing so much as the disturbance of that Seminary Sometimes they thought that they might manage the Discipline of the House without considering the Masters sometimes they thought they might by themselves without the King or any formality of Tryal remove and displace them at their Pleasure sometimes they pick'd Quarrels with the Students of purpose to accuse their Masters sometimes they would contrive odd and phantastick Schemes of Discipline and it is not easie to imagine into what freakish Humours silly Conceits and little Tricks this Fancy metamorphosed it self in the space of two Years But those Attempts served only to make Citizens of the best Sense and Quality some of them to Laugh and others to Lament that the Professors of the Liberal Sciences should be so treated by such illiterate Busie-bodies For generally the Citizens of Edinburgh are not only Affable Kind and Courteous to the Masters of that
a most remarkable and undeniable instance of the Partiality and Injustice of the Presbyterian Party and that they were fully determined right or wrong to find such of the Masters Guilty as were not of their way a plain Evidence of this is the Report they made to the General Commission of the Visitation in which the Reader will see their affected Mistakes and Malicious Method of Arguing particularly in their Report concerning Dr. Strachan Professour of Divinity in the Colledge of Edinburgh They insinuate that the Doctor did either believe Transubstantiation or Consubstantiation both which determine positively the manner of our Saviour's Presence in the Holy Eucharist because the Doctor had sometimes said with Durandus praesentiam oredo modum nescio but of this more in its proper place It had been a much more Creditable Compendious and Ingenuous Method to have turned out the Masters of the Episcopal Perswasion by one General Act it being once determined that they should be Ejected than by so much Noise and Ceremony first to bring them upon the Stage then to kick them off with all the Affronts and Indignities they could heap upon them for Malice it self could have done no more as you may easily see by some of the Malicious Triffling and False Things objected against the Masters I cannot guess why the Masters of the Colledge of Edinburgh should be Treated otherwise than the Professours of other Colledges were It 's true that City is the Centre of the Nation and the Schools there are most frequented and if they had not at first apply'd their utmost force against that place they could not so easily have removed them afterwards at least such a delay would have put them to the pains of gathering new Libels therefore they were to push their Business with all Diligence and Vigour nothing else but the force of Interest and Malice could have made Reasonable Men venture upon such Scurrilous Methods as they used and here are Narrated Long Libels formed against the Professours but no Informer or Accuser made known a Practice peculiar only to Courts of Inquisition And which the Pagan Emperour Trajan thought so Inhumane and Barbarous that he forbid this Method of Tryal against the Christians whom yet the Persecuted and therefore he Ordered Plinius Secundus the Proconsul to admit no such Unsubscribed Libels against the Christians because that this was a Custome of the worst Example unaggrecable to the Reign of Trajan and to the common forms of Justice received in all Nations for the Accused ought certainly to know his Accuser lest he or his Malicious Associates should shift the Scene and turn Witnesses The Accuser ought also to be obliged to prove his Libel under a Penalty It is very hard to leave Men of Credit and Reputation to the Mercy of every little Informer who can slip his Collar when he pleases I know nothing that can so Disjoint and Embroil Humane Societies as this unworthy sneaking Practice for this kind of Inquisition is much more Grievous than that of the Romanists this only great difference being Remarkable That the Severity of the Popish Inquisition is tempered with Canons and this of Ours only Regulated by the boundless Humour of a few Imperious Rabbies Whose Actions know no Law but the Covenant and that no other end but their Ecclesiastical Tyranny It was easie to guess what the Sentence would be when some of those Presbyterian Ministers who were Judges drudged so much to procure Libels It is true the Committee for the Colledge of Edinburgh was for the most part more deeply engaged to the Interest of Presbytery than they who were sent to Visit other Universities yet some of them did so abhor this harsh and preposterous Violence that Persons of Honour and Integrity amongst them soon perceiving their Assessors upon this Committee were not to be guided by common Forms of Justice left their Meetings and seldome or never again appeared such were the Earl of Louthian Lord Secretary Dulrimple L. Raith Sir John Dempster c. When once they retired the Masters were left to wrestle with all the Chicane and affected Mistakes and Prejudices of then Sworn Enemies and because some of them did insist upon the same Arguments afterwards at London which they had made use of at Edinburgh therefore those Objections are Represented in their own words and their most plausible and successful Topicks fairly Examined And since the Masters were not allowed sufficient time to make their Defences but forced to precipitate their Answers to many particulars which were jumbled together against them and which they never heard of until they were sisted before these Tribunals I will therefore take care to pick up all the Exceptions that came to my hand and now since the Answers must be made Publick where I judge them defective or obscure to Strangers I will Enlarge and Explain them and that so much the rather because they thought these Libels of such weight as to keep them upon Record in their Publick Registers Indced if the Reputation of Innocent Men had been Assaulted only by spreading Reports and scattering idle Stories among the People no Man needed to have been at the pains to answer such whispers as flie only the in dark Innocence and the good Nature of the Citizens of Edinburgh would have sufficiently defended the Masters against secret Reproaches and Calumny but now that they are allowed a place in the Publick Records it is but a piece of Innocent Self-Defence to expose the Weakness of those Arguments they laid such stress upon when the Presbyterian Preachers who alone were most Active in such Libels practised such an Arbitrary Inquisition upon the Theatre of the Nation what is to be expected from them in the remote Corners of the Country where their Meetings are not overawed with the Presence of Persons of Quality where there is no check upon them nor any Witnesses of their Extravagance but the Lay Elders those Grave Noddies of their own Erection a new set of Presbyters of their special invention without Mission or Ordination If the Presbyterian Government in our Nation had been Tempered by a Modest Dependance upon the State there had been less place for such unreasonable Oppressions and irremediable Confusions as are now too visible Nor is it possible to preserve the Peace of the Nation if there lie no Appeal from the Ecclesiastical Consistory This was the most insufferable piece of Popery that Christian Princes Groaned under before the Reformation and therefore they shook off this Yoke too Grievous to Them and to Their Ancestours This Independent Discipline as it is managed by our Innovatours is founded upon such Ambition and Arrogance as is inconsistent with Reason and the Innocent Freedome of Humane Life and the Prerogative Royal of Kings and instead of promoting Piety and Peace among Christians increases only mutual Censurings Factions Hatred and Division and what else is most opposite to the Spiritual Tendency Charity and Purity of