Homer or Ovid's Metamorphosis For my part I never so much as once heard of it and I was at Edenburgh for the most part the whole year 1689 till I found it asserted by G.R. in his Second Vindication i. e. toward the end of the year 1691. And let the world judge of its Credibility Poets themselves should be careful to feign things Plausibly But it seems our Author has never Read so much as the first ten lines of Horace De Arte Poeticâ That Convocation of the Rabble from the West which was at Edenburgh when the Convention of Estates met would not have amounted to above 6 or 700 men I saw them actually drawn up between the Tolbooth and the Weigh-house of Edenburgh upon the 18 th day of March 1689. I am confident they were not 800 yet tho' they were but a Rabble raw and untrain'd men they chased Dundee out of Edenburgh tho' he had 2000 Train'd and Disciplin'd men under his command and yet the same Dundee with scrace 2000 Vntrainâ—d Vndisciplin'd Highlanders routed near to 4000 Train'd and Disciplin'd men at Gillichranky But this is not all You may observe he says it was not to Defend the Ministers of Edenburgh that the Colledge of Iustice Arm'd but in pursuance of that same Design with Dundee viz. the surprizing and seizing of the Convention Now be it know to all men that the Convocation of the Rabble which occasioned the Arming of the Colledge of Justice was quite different from that Convocation which was made when the Estates met The Western Rabble met first at Edenburgh with a Design to have insulted the Ministers of that City about the 24 th of Ianuary and their numbers were daily increasing The Colledge of Justice Arm'd and kept Guard about the 25 or 26 th of that month About the middle of February there was a Proclamation over the Cross of Edenburgh Commanding all in Arms except the Garrisons c. to Disband Upon this the Colledge of Justice Disarmed immediately All this while Dundee was so far from having got together 2000 to surprize the Convention that neither was the Convention so much as indicted for the Letters by which it was indicted bear date no sooner than Feb. 5. at St. Iames's and some six or eight or ten days I think were gone before they were delivered to all persons concern'd in Scotland Nor was Dundee as yet come from England to Scotland Wellâ— Was not the Western Rabble which was in Edenburgh in the time of the Convention called by the Meeting of Estates for Counterplotting Dundee's Plot Pure Poesie still For did not our Author himself say p. 11 That Dundee's having got together 2000 men c. occasioned those in the West to gather as many into Edenburgh to oppose him Now if they were only occasionally Gathered by those in the West how could they be called by the Authority of the Estates Were those in the West who Gathered them the Estates Besides I would only ask G. R. if he can as readily produce the Order of the Estates for leavying these men for Defending the Convention against Dundee as I can produce their Act for returning thanks to them Let him search all the Records and try if he can find such ane Order In short Who knows not that that Rabble was in Edenburgh as early as the Estates themselves The Estates as all Britain knows met on the 14 th day of March The Rabble threatned Dundee on the 15 th or 16 th He represented it to the Estates on Moonday's morning being the 18 th He could find no security for his person He departed therefore from Edenburgh with some 28 or 30 persons in his retinue that same day and never saw it again All this was done before Levin got his Commission from the Estates to Command the Rabble or form them into Regular Troops Besides Let the world consider if it required not even Poetick Expedition to have got that Rabble leavied by Order of the Meeting of Estates There could not be ane Order of the Estates for leavying them before the Estates met as I take it The Estates met on Thursday 14 th afternoon on Moonday the 18 th These men were in Rank and File on the street of Edenburgh And many most of them lived at 50 60 70 miles distance from the City This one would think was no ordinary Expedition And now let any man judge if G. R. was not inspired with a goodly dose of Poetick Fire shall I call it Or Fury when he laid this foundation of Dundee's Plot and raised so many pretty structures upon it And so much of his modesty in narrating Matter of meer Fact But is he as modest at mixt Matters where both Right and Fact are concerned Consider him but in one instance for brevity The Author of the Second Letter had given ane Account of Doctor Strachan's Defence when he appeared before the Committee of Estates and was Challenged for not praying for W. and M. as K. and Q. of Scotland c. This for substance That the Estates had found in their Claim of Right that none could be K. and Q. of Scotland till they had sworn the Coronation Oath For this Reason they had Declared that James by Assuming the Regal Power and Acting as King without having taken the Oath required by Law had forfeited the Right to the Crown That all the Estates had yet done was only the Nomination of W. and M. as the Persons to whom the Crown should be offered But they had not yet actually made the offer Far less had W. and M. accepted of it It was possible they might refuse it But tho' they should not yet they could not be K. and Q. of Scotland till they had solemnly sworn the Oath This was not yet done And therefore he could not see how he could Pray for them as K. and Q. of Scotland nor how the Estates in Reason or in Consequence to their own principles could require it of him One would think there was some force in this Defence Yet Our Author had such a Force of Impudence as prompted him to offer at confuting it But how It is known says he that the Exercise of the Government had been long before tendered to the Prince and that his Highness had Accepted and Exercised it True It was tendered to him on the tenth of Ianuary 168 8 and he accepted of it upon the 14 th But what was this to M. Was the Exercise of the Government Tendered to Her also Or did this Tender made to W. and his Accepting of it make him King Was he King ever after the 14 th of Ianuary Observe here by the way when our Author had the Rabble to Defend and the Estates to justify for not restoring the Rabbled Ministers and the Nation knows hundreds were Rabbled after that 14 th of Ianuary He could tell it twenty times over that that was ane Interregnum a State of Anarchy c. So that if I
plain than that they receive the substance of the Articles and only protest against the Scandalousness of the Names used in them What reason they had for that besides the over-zealous Principle I mentioned before let the curious enquire That 's none of my present business But They protest that they receive these Articles only for ane Interim True But how doth it appear that they received them only for ane Interim out of a Dislike to Episcopacy Had they believed the Divine Right of Parity how could they have received them so much as for ane Interim How could they have received them at all The Truth is there were many things in the Articles which required amendment even tho the Gen. Ass. had believed the Divine Right of Episcopacy And that they did not receive them for ane Interim upon the account of any Dislike they had to Episcopacy shall be made evident by and by In the mean time we have gained one point even That they were received by this Assembly unless receiving for an Interim be not receiving But if they were received I hope it is not true that they were never allowed by a General Assembly And if Episcopacy was not protested against at all and if there was no such word or phrase in the Act as had the least Tendency to import that they judged it a Corruption I hope it may consist well enough with the Laws of Civility to say that G. R. was talking without Book when he said It was protested against as a Corruption by this General Assembly I doubt if he had found any of the Prelatists talking with so much Confidence where they had so little ground he would have been at his beloved Lies and Calumnies But enough of this proceed we in our Series By the Vniversal Order so it is worded in the Mss. of the General Ass. holden at Eden March 6. 157â— 3. It was Statuted and Ordained that all Bishops Superintendents c. present themselves in every Gen. Ass. that hereafter shall be holden the first day of the Assembly before Noon c. Again It is thought most reasonable and expedient That Bishops c. purchase General Letters without any delay commanding all Men to frequent Preaching and Prayers according to the Order received in the Congregations c. In the Ass. holden at Eden Aug. 6. 1573. The Visitation Books of Bishops c. were produced and certain Ministers appointed to examin their Diligence in Visitation In that same Assembly Patoun Bishop of Dunkeld was accused that he had accepted the Name but had not exercised the Office of a Bishop not having proceeded against Papists within his bounds He was also suspected of Simony and Perjury in that contrary to his Oath at the receiving of the Bishoprick he gave Acquittances and the Earl of Argyle received the Profits If these things were true he was a foolish as well as a bad Bishop But then it was evident that this Assembly fairly own'd Episcopacy Further that by the Agreement at Leith express provisions were made against Simony and Dilapidation of Benefices and that Bishops should swear to that purpose c. which I think is not well consistent with the Plea insisted on before viz. That the Agreement at Leith was forced on the Clergy by the Court out of a design it had upon the Revenues of the Church I find these further Acts made by this Assembly in the Mss. Touching them that receive Excommunicates the whole Kirk presently assembled ordains all Bishops c. to proceed to Excommunication against all Receivers of Excommunicate persons if after due Admonition the Receivers rebel and be disobedient The Kirk ordains all Bishops c. in their Synodal Conventions to take a List of the Names of the Excommunicates within their Iurisdictions and bring them to the General Assemblies to be published to other Bishops and Superintendents c. That they by their Ministers in their Provinces may divulgate the same in the whole Countries where Excommunicates haunt The Kirk presently assembled ordains all Bishops and Superintendents c. to conveen before them all such persons as shall be found suspected of consulting with Witches and finding them guilty to cause them make publick Repentance c. That Vniformity may be observed in processes of Excommunication It is ordained that Bishops and Superintendents c. shall direct their Letters to Ministers where the persons that are to be Excommunicated dwell commanding the said Ministers to admonish accordingly and in Case of Disobedience to proceed to Excommunication and pronounce the Sentence thereof upon a Sunday in time of Preaching and thereafter the Ministers to indorse the said Letters making mention of the days of their Admonitions and Excommunication for Disobedience aforesaid and to report to the said Bishops c. according to the Direction contained in the said Letters Petrie has the substance of most of these Acts but has been at pains to obscure them And no wonder for here are so many Branches of true Episcopal power established in the persons of these Bishops that it could not but have appeared very strange that a General Assembly should have conferred them on them if there was such ane aversion then to the Order as he and his Fellows are willing to have the world believe there was But Honest Calderwood was wiser for he hath not so much as ane intimation of any one of them And Calderwood having thus concealed them nay generally all alongst whatever might make against his Cause as much as he could what wonder if G. R. who knows nothing in the matter but what Calderwood told him stumbled upon such a notable piece of Ignorance in his first Vindication as to tell the world That Nothing was restored at Leith but the Image of Prelacy That these Tulchan Bishops had only the Name of Bishops while Noblemen and others had the Revenue and the Church all the power Nay That notwithstanding of all was done at Leith The real Exercise of Presbytery in all its Meetings lesser and greater continued and was allowed But of this more hereafter The Assembly holden at Eden March 6. 1574. Concluded concerning the Iurisdiction of Bishops in their Ecclesiastical Function that it should not exceed the Iurisdiction of Superintendents which heretofore they have had and presently have And that they should be subject to the Discipline of the General Ass. as Members thereof as Superintendents had been heretofore in all sorts And again This Assembly Ordains That no Bishop give Collation of any Benefice within the bounds of Superintendents within his Diocess without their Consent and Testimonials subscribed with their hands And that Bishops within their Diocesses visit by themselves where no Superintendent is and give no Collation of Benefices without the Consent of three well qualified Ministers Here indeed both Calderwood and Petrie appear briskly and transcribe the Mss. word for word Here was something like limiting the power of
First Book of Discipline Head 9. We think necessary that every Church have a Bible in English and that the People conveen to hear the Scriptures Read and Interpreted that by frequent Reading and Hearing the gross ignorance of the People may be removed And we judge it most expedient that the Scriptures be read in order that is that some one Book of the Old and New Testament be begun and followed forth to the end For a good many years after the Reformation there was ane order of men called Readers who supplyed the want of Ministers in many Parishes Their Office was to Read the Scriptures and the Common Prayers The Scriptures continued to be Read in Churches for more than eighty years after the Reformation In many Parishes the old Bibles are still extant from which the Scriptures were Read Even the Directory it self introduced not before the year 1645. appointed the Scriptures to be Read publickly in Churches one Chapter out of each Testament at least every Sunday before Sermon as being part of the publick worship of God and one meanâ— Sanctified by him for the Edifying of his People Yet now what a Scandal would it be to have the Scriptures Read in the Presbyterian Churches The last days Sermons taken from the mouth of the powerful Preacher by the inspired singers of Godly George or Gracious Barbara in some Churches of no mean Note have been Deem'd more Edifying than the Divine Oracles The Scriptures must not be touched but by the Man of God who can interpret them And he must Read no more than he is just then to interpret What shall I say Let Protestant Divines Cant as they please about the Perspicuity of the Scriptures 't is a dangerous thing to have them Read publickly without Orthodox Glosses to keep them close and true to the principles of the Godly And who knows but it might be expedient to wrap them up again in the unknown tongue But enough of this 2. As for Sermons c. The First Book of Discipline gives us the sentiment of our Reformers thus The Sunday in all Towns must precisely be observed before and after noon before noon the word must be Preached Sacraments Administred c. After noon the Catechism must be taught and the young Children examined thereupon in audience of all the People This continued the manner of the Church of Scotland for full twenty years after the Reformation For I find no mention of afternoons Sermons till the year 1580 that it was enacted by that same General Assembly which Condemned Episcopacy That all Pastors or Ministers should Diligently travel with their Flocks to conveen unto Sermon after noon on Sunday Both they that are in Landward and in Burgh as they will answer unto God The whole Kingdom knows Lectures before the forenoons Sermon were not introduced till the days of the Covenant and Directory Yet now a mighty stress is laid upon them and I my self have been told that they were one good Reason for forsaking the Episcopal Communion where they were not used and going over to the Presbyterians where they were to be had I am not to condemn a diligent instruction of the People But to speak freely I am very much perswaded the Method of our Reformers in having but one Sermon and Catechising after noon was every way as effectual for Instructing the People in the substantial knowledge of our Holy Religion and pressing the practice of it as any method has been in use since Much more might be said on this subject But from what I have said 't is plain there is a great Dissimilitude between our Modern Presbyterian and our Reformers even in this point and that is enough for my purpose 4. They have as little stuck by the Pattern of our Reformers in the Office of Praise Our Reformers beside the Psalms of David had and used several other Hymns in Metre They had the Ten Commandments the Lords Prayer the Creed Veni Creator the humble suit of a sinner the Lamentation of a sinner the Complaint of a sinner the Magnificat the Nunc Dimittis c. They never used to conclude their Psalms without some Christian Doxology The Gloria Patri was most generally used In the old Psalm Book it is turn'd into all the different kinds of Measures into which the Psalms of David are put that it might still succeed in the conclusion without changing the Tune It was so generally used that as Doctor Burnet in his Second Conference tells us even a Presbyterian General took it in very ill part when it begun to be disused Yet now nothing in use with our present Presbyterians but the Psalms of David and these too for the most part without Discrimination The Gloria Patri recovered from Desuetude at the last Restitution of Episcopacy and generally used in the Episcopal Assemblies these thirty years past was a Mighty Scandal to them So great that even such as came to Church hang'd their Heads and sate silent generally when it came to that part of the Office Having mentioned Doctor Burnet's Conferences I will transcribe his whole Period because some other things than the Gloria Patri are concerned in it When some Designers says he for popularity in the Western Parts of that Kirk did begin to disuse the Lord Prayer in worship and the singing the conclusion or Doxologie after the Psalm and the Ministers kneeling for Private Devotion when he entered the Pulpit the General Assembly took this in very ill part And in the Letter they wrote to the Presbyteries complained sadly of a Spirit of Innovation was beginning to get into the Kirk and to throw these Laudible practices out of it mentioning the three I named which are commanded still to be practiced and such as refused Obedience are appointed to be conferred with in order to the giving of them satisfaction And if they continued untractable the Presbyteries were to proceed against them as they should be answerable to the next General Assembly Thus he and this Letter he said he could produce Authentically Attested I doubt not he found it amongst his Uncle Waristown's Papers who was Scribe to the Rampant Assemblies from the year 1638 and downward I wish the Doctor had been at pains to have published more of them If he had imployed himself that way I am apt to think he had done his Native Countrey better service than he has done her Sister Kingdom by publishing Pastoral Letters to be used he knows how But even from what he has given us We may see how much the disusing of the Lords Prayer and the Doxologie is a late Innovation as well as a Recession from the Pattern of our Reformers And as for the decent and Laudable custom of kneeling for private Devotion used by the Minister when he entered the Pulpit It may be reckoned 5. Another Presbyterian late Recession It is certain it was used by our Reformers It is as certain it continued in use till