it agreed to by the Presbyterians or presented to his Highness We did indeed present an Address if he hath any thing to say against that we shall consider the strength of what he shall say But for this paper it is not only not our Address but hardly can two papers aiming at the same thing and on the same subject have less agreement in matter or words than it hath with our Address What he saith to fix this paper on us p. 23. Is a heap of lies viz. That this Address was agreed to and subscribed in our publick Meeting at Edinburgh That hearing that the Prince had Communicated with the Church of England we demurred sending of it Not one word of all this is true These men have taught their tongues and their pens too to speak and write Lies Whence this Paper came I cannot conjecture unless it was drawn by some member of the Meeting and presented to them but not approved For I know that several Draughts were privately made and out of them was that taken which was sent and which we own Upon this consideration I shall wholly pass over all that he saith on that pretended Address and suffer him to fight with his own shaddow Another most impudent untruth he asserteth also p. 23. that at London our Commissioners desired some Persons of Quality to subscribe our Address and would not allow them to read it till they should Sacredly promise to subscribe and this he saith some of these Persons themselves told him We were so far from that that we never refused a reading of it to any who desired it Yea we gave it to be read by several Persons of quality of whose subscribing it we had no hope § 8. He next giveth the Presbyterians a few good Words He would not be Cruel to them but pitty them as deluded He shall have a meeting from us in both these He would allow them Indulgence but yet he requireth That they should let other Protestants live too That they should yield to such Accommodation as the Learned Protestants abroad are not against That they should not abhor the Communion and practices of the other Reformed Churches That they think themselves not bound to Persecute those of the Church of England We can easily yield to all these postulata sano Sensu For the 1 st We not only let other Protestants live but the People we admit to our Communion in all Ordinances the Ministers we suffer to Preach and enjoy their livings where there are no personal Scandals to hinder it Yea such of the Ministers as will secure the Church Government we admit to manage it with us and to all Ministerial Communion For the second we know there are Learned Protestants abroad who are for toleration to Arminians Socinians and what not We cannot be for such Accommodation but we differ not from the Generality of the Churches and Learned Men abroad in this Matter For the third We do not abhor the Communion of any of the Churches abroad in their Administrating the Ordinances of Christ But we know that some Reformed Churches have practices that we cannot approve and in these practices we can have no Communion with them For the fourth we look on our selves under no tie nor Capacity neither to persecute those of the Church of England Nor do we persecute any of them We leave them to stand or fall to their own Master He now p. 26. cometh very magisterially to require security from us that we will not by our Sentences counter-act the Decrees of the Supreme Civil Judicatories and that we disclaim that absolute Supremacy or Papacy that the Kirk hath always claimed over Kings and Civil Power Ans Tho we owe no such subjection to this Author as to give him Security in this Yet when ever our Rulers shall demand it of us we are willing to give all Security And we disown any power to counteract the Decrees of our Rulers And all Supremacy or Papacy over Kings further than that the Church and every Minister in Her hath a Ministerial power to declare the Laws of Christ not to make new ones of their own and that all men High and Low ought to submit to these Laws and obey them And whoever will not obey them fall under the Displeasure of our great Lord and Master Yet that we do not withdraw Subjection nor due respect nor obedience in all things Lawful from these Rulers who do break the Laws of Christ According to our Confession of Faith Chap. 23. Sect. 4. For the instance he giveth of a sad difference that fell in between the King and the Church It was in a time when the People and their Representatives did also contend with the King And that in a Bloody War And things run to an undue height on all hands The Presbyterians maintain no such Principle as he alledgeth of the Infallibility of the General Assembly as he saith p. 29. Nor of a Supremacy over Kings Charity will Bury what is past but spite and malice endeavoureth to dig it out of its Grave and present it in the most odious dress and every one should for time to come Labour to serve God in the Station that he hath set him in The outrages against his Party that he chargeth us with cannot be made out except what was done by the Rabble in an Interregnum and the Actors were none of our Communion If he had mentioned in particular the Libels against the Government which he blameth in General we could have enquired into them and told our thoughts of them But I may adventure to say that nothing ever came out from among us that contained either so heavy or so unjust complaints against the Government in the late Reigns nor did so tend to raise the very Foundations of that settlement as the multiplied Libels of his Party do by the Government which now is What remains is so pure Railing that it admitteth of no other answer but to brand the whole of it with this motto that it is void of Truth and Honesty And to his hopes that he expresseth of the Worlds judging and the Princes Acting we oppose our confidence of the contrary of both and our Experience of the Latter to the Immortal Praise of the wisdom and goodness of our Gracious Monarch whose heart God hath inclined to favour our righteous Cause An Examination of the Historical Relation of the late General Assembly holden at Edinburgh from October 16th to November 13th 1690. SEveral wise men who have Read this Pamphlet think that the most fit refutation of it were as I said of another such piece to write on the Margin of every page Lies and Calumnies It is mafestly so unanswerable to its Title that no man can have a true Idea of that Venerable Assembly by Reading this Pamphlet The Author confesseth that he was not Eye or Ear Witness to what passed and all that he hath is at second Hand And that as it seemeth from
false For it was for praying for King James as the account which he himself giveth doth make manifest All that he observeth on the Proclamation ordering to whom the Bishops Rents should be paid they being now laid aside is That Alexander Hamiltoun of Kinkel who was imployed as receiver for St. Andrews was at Bothwel Bridge and by the Clemency of the then Government had his Life spared If all this were true what doth it make against the Presbyterians He is known to be a faithful Man and why might not the Government imploy him seeing the former Government had spared him But in truth it was not so much the Clemency of the former Government as no Crime could be proved against him that saved his Life His last Paper for it seemeth that he is now at a Close and can say no more is a draught of an Act for the Establishment of the Government of the Church given in to the Parliament by the Kings Commissioner which he saith that the Presbyterians would not admit of because it restrained them from medling in State Affairs Ans Many other Acts as well as this were given in being drawn by private hands to be considered by the Parliament and were rejected or amended That the Parliament rejected any of them it was because they saw them or somewhat in them to be inconvenient but that he will fix on the particular cause and lay this on the Presbyterians is saucy boldness Not only medling with the designs of the Legislators which is not fit for a private Person but with the secret thoughts of Men which is fit for no Creature § 15. The conclusion of his Book consisting of five or six pages I shall not much be concerned with he there more than before which was needless venteth his Spleen against the present Government of the State And that in very undecent terms He dealeth in most of it with the Observator whom I leave to plead his own cause Though I have above Asserted and Vindicated the Truth of most things for which he challengeth the Observator His note about the Earl of Crafurd's Letter is a groundless Cavil His Lordship doth not own that the Council took probation of Crimes of another Nature beside not Reading and Praying but on the contrary said that though they who framed the Libels against the Episcopal Ministers did ignorantly in their Libels accuse them either for their Opinion about Church Government or Immoralities in their Conversation yet no regard was had to these nor any question made about them He next taketh to task a Book Intituled A brief and true account of the sufferings of the Church of Scotland from the Episcopalians since the year 1660. which he saith is written by a true-paced Presbyterian And imputeth all the Assertions and severity of Stile in that Book to the Presbyterians This is an unfair and injurious and false imputation Presbyterians disown both the Stile and many Principles vented in that Book it was written by a Cameronian while that party stood at a distance from the sober Presbyterians and from the Generality of them who bear that Name as much as from the Prelatists Though on the other hand we know that there are many undeniable truths in it as to the matter of Fact concerning these Sufferings which I wish he or any of his party would undertake to disprove But it is strange that this Gentleman should quarrel the stile of that Book seeing it is exactly conform to his own in the bitterness and ill nature that appeareth in it Only things are not there so foully mis-represented as in his Paper The Queries with which he shutteth up this his Work we are the less concerned in because most of them are built upon the principles of that Book which we do not own And others of them on some Actings of this Church in a time when both contending parties run a little too high in the heat of debate Of which I have spoken what is sufficient in my Former Vindication Only a few things not met with in that Paper I now take notice of That the presbyterians have risen twice in Arms in King William ' s time is an impudent and false Assertion For the first time that he mentioneth it was a Rabble of Cameronians not in a Body but here and there to throw out some of the Clergy who had severely oppressed them Of which I have told my Sentiment above The other A formidable number in an Hostile manner making an Address to the Council telling them That they would not lay down their Arms till the Council had discharged all Judicatories to pronounce any Sentence in Favour of Episcopal Ministers This was never heard of before and certainly this Gentleman hath either Dreamed it or Invented it Page 107. He hath amassed a heap of gross Lies viz. That they had Voted King William out of the Supremacy That they have Vâ—urped it to themselves having without his leave Convened at Edinburgh and Voted themselves into a free General Assembly That they daily draw up Instructions for regulating the Parliament That they Meet and Adjourn at their pleasure For the first of these it was not the Ministers but the Parliament to which the King gave his Royal Assent which Voted away the Supremacy And that not any Supremacy that is due to any Man on Earth but such a one as the Pope had usurped over the Church of God and which some of our Kings had assumed and under the former Government had been scrued up to that height that the King might overturn our Religion at his pleasure And it is highly to the Commendation of our Gracious King that he was pleased to give to God that which was his and to reserve only to himself what was Caesars For the second the Presbyterians usurp no Supremacy no Legislative nor Coercive Power They pretend to no more but a Ministerial Power in declaring the Laws of Christ by his Authority and in executing the Censures which he hath appointed for the breakers of these Laws Thirdly It is most false that they convened in the General Assembly without his leave they had an express Act of Parliament for it neither did the Assembly Meet or Adjourn without the Kings Commissioner at any time other Judicatories are by Law allowed to Meet and Adjourn as they think fit and therefore their so doing is not without the Kings leave We think it no small mercy to have the Magistrates Countenance to our Meetings tho' we think to deny any Intrinsick Power in the Church to meet about the Affairs of Religion were to condemn the Apostles and to allow Rulers if they should be either open or secret Enemies to the Truth a power to Ruin all at their pleasure Fourthly That they either daily or at all draw up Instructions for Regulating the Parliament is an Assertion so false and malicious as none but a Man of this Authors Temper could be capable of Nor can I imagine
that in England the King whether from Light or Interest I do not judge begun a half Reformation And Royal Authority enlightned the Minds of the people I speak not of all but of the Multitude but in Scotland Light from the Word of God did move first the People then the Great Ones and they prevailed with the King at last Zealously to own the Truth of God Yea and to defend it in Print 3. That the Government of the Church of England was suited to the Monarchy that is as I suppose he meaneth framed by a suitableness to the Monarchy as the Standard of it is not its commendation For that is to make it a humane Contrivance or worldly Policy brought into the Church of Christ over which he is the Head and which is to be governed by his Laws Whereas the Government of the Church of Scotland was contrived by the Word of God as the Standard of it yet was it as much suited to the Monarchy as that of England could be That is it gave and giveth to the King all that power in the State that our Laws gave him And all that Authority over the Church that is due to any Man on Earth The Abettors of it preach and practise as much Obedience and Subjection to Kings as others do and can vie in Loyalty with their Accusers as shall after be observed 4. I do not understand how our present Animosities about Church Government should depend on the one way being suited to the Monarchy and the other not seeing this Author as well as his opposites really are doth highly pretend to be not only for the Monarchy but for the present Monarch King William But either he hath a latent Meaning which hath much Truth in it or he hath hit on the Truth by guess as Cajaphas did viz. That our Animosities about Church Government arise mainly from the different Inclinations that are in the two parties toward the Monarchy as now established in the Persons of our Gracious King William and Queen Mary The strain both of their Writings and Actings make it evident that with him the Interest of King James and that of Prelacy are linked together And their Zeal for the one filleth them with Spite and Animosity against what is opposite to the other And whoso considereth the strain of this Pamphlet will find that the Zeal that this Scribler pretendeth to for King William is expressed usually under the general Notion of the Monarchy which may be understood of either of two Monarchies What he saith that Buchannan and others wrote Books that were condemned for Treason is no Argument For that which by one party is condemned for Treason by another party when they have got the Ascendent hath been absolved as not guilty of that Crime That the Puritans vexed King James VI. is no further true than that they could not yield to the endeavours of some evil Counsellers about him for overturning the Setled Government of the Church and encroaching on its Rights It is true He at last got Episcopacy setled by the help of some both in State and Church who were either none of the best Protestants or had their worldly Designs in promoting that way but still our Author owneth on the matter that the Word of God was not consulted in this weighty Concernment of the Church But only his fancied suitableness to the Monarchy and Conformity to England The account he giveth of putting down Episcopacy afterwards and setting up of Presbytery is neither like a Christian nor like a Historian It is perfect railing while he calleth the Nobles that had a hand in it Ambitious and Factious the Gentry Priest-ridden and blind Zealots the Preachers Enthusiasticks The War that he mentioneth is by all Posterity to be lamented but Men as able to discern as he have laid the blame of it on Episcopal Tyranny and Usurpation and their making many steps toward Popish Doctrine as well as Discipline He next giveth account of the Solemn League and Covenant entered into without the Royal Authority calling Parliaments c. These things were done by the Body of the Nation met in the most orderly representative that the time and case could permit And I deny not but that they were extraordinary Actings not to consider now the Morality of them But let this Gentleman freely tell us whether his Episcopal party be capable of Courses parallel to these which he so exposeth The Presbyterians under the conduct of the Primores Regni arose against their King in defence of their Religion and Laws did not the Prelatick party the same and on the same account They were indeed all for Loyalty and Non-resistance while the Royal Authority supported their greatness and power over their Brethren but when seven of their Bishops were touched it proved another case like that in Ployden if we be guilty in this they are not the Men who should cast the first Stone at us For Barbarities committed by the Presbyterians in these times I know of none but what are the necessary consequents of a War But this Man and his Associates have no other Dialect whereby to express their dislike of the Actings of the opposite party He accuseth them with a Bloody Mouth of what hath been a thousand times refuted as a horrid Lie That the Scots Presbyterians did persidiously give up their King to the English who Murdered him He was the King of the English as well as theirs and they could not withhold him from them And gave him into their hands on as good security as could be for his safety and if others dealt perfidiously with him they are not to be blamed for it He hath a hint as if Episcopacy had been setled by King Charles the Second because the Presbyterians refused all conditions of peace and pardon And for the Monarchies sake The former of these is a great untruth they never refused peace nor pardon but would gladly have imbraced both Only they could not buy them at the rate of Perjury Tho' they never refused to disown any Principles that were indeed Rebellious Their preaching up Rebellion in their Conventicles is false They both preached and practised Loyalty Only after many grievous and insupportable hardships suffered for their Conscience some few of them were prevailed upon by that Temptation to vent some Principles that the more Sober and Intelligent were not satisfied with That punishing them who were taken in Rebellion is all the severity complained of is a Notorious Falshood as all the Nation know and I have above disproved it § 3. From these so well laid Foundations he proceedeth p. 5. to give His Highness some Advices if they may not more properly be called Directions The first That the Prince being come to support our Laws is in Honour bound to support Episcopacy which is confirmed by twenty Parliaments This is Saucy enough As if His Majesty had Acted against his Honour now that Episcopacy is not supported That Episcopacy is
this part of his Satyr but lightly Mr. Camphel he saith nothing against and indeed his praise is in the Churches And our Author had met with him before page 15. And had told only of him That to please his Brethren he had been more severe against the Episcopal Clergy than was his Wont Nothing can be more false He is no Man-pleaser and he always had a true Zeal against that way and against the Immoralities of some of them And now sheweth no more of Zeal than is consistent with Wisdom and Moderation Mr. Rule cometh next on the Stage He is called Doctor Rule because he did practise Medicine and took the Degree of Doctor in it likewise when he had no other way to maintain his Family yet never giving over the Work of the Ministry but preaching frequently He was once Independent That is absolutely false At Aberdeen he withstood the Temptation when he had great Offers to take the Charge of an Independent Congregation And in Northumberland where he had his first Charge he suffered no small Loss because he would not fall in with that way His want of Latine and spâ—aking false Latine is false He is ready as he hath done to give proof to the contrary and to compete with this Pretender when he will For His Prayers in Latine they are longer or shorter as the occasion requireth but never so short as he alledgeth neither doth he use to pray very long in publick even in English For the Ignorance discovered in the things he hath written I wish this Sciolist would make it appear by a solid Refutation The passage that he bringeth for instance he is ready to defend with all the probability the subject Matter is capable of And if it were a mistake it is no proof of Ignorance to have a different Notion about a passage in an Author from them who follow as they lead who have gone before them If this Momus will make his Censure on the True Representation of Presbyterian Government it is like Mr. Rule or some for him will give him a fair Answer But lest all this be not enough to disparage him and his Ministry He often venteth himself bitterly against the Episcopal Party Others think quite contrary few Presbyterians do more seldom mention them and an Argumentative way rather than bitterness is his strain If it can be made appear that he hath done otherwise none shall blame him more than I shall do The many particulars he is accused of have obliged me to say more in his Vindication than I intended In the next place he giveth a Character of Mr. Meldrum He spendeth a great many words about him But the whole matter is in short That once he complyed with Episcopacy took the Oath of Canonical Obedience which our Author is told That he denyeth That going out for the Test he left the Episcopal Party because when the Test was taken away he was not permitted to return to his Ministry at Aberdeen The Worth and Integrity of this Man is known to all in Scotland and acknowledged by all except them who prize no Man but for being like themselves That he complyed once was a Token of Humane Infirmity That he hath now left that way is commendable tho' it stir the Choler of this Scribler His fourth Man is Mr. Kennedy who was chosen Moderator he is called Mr. Kennedy by his own party and if any familiarly call him Father Kennedy his Age may bear such a Designation but they who call him Bitter-Beard do mistake his Temper That he was with the Army at Newcastle or received 6000 Marks is most false He was never in England till 1690. when he was sent with others to London with an Address to the King The Causes of his Deposition 1660. are foully mis-represented It was only for his Opinion in the matters that then divided the Church That his Deposition was never taken off till the Penult day of the Assembly is not the least of the Lies that this Paper is loaden with It with others was taken off several years before and this was ratified by the General Meeting some Months before the Assembly and all that had been done in this matter was confirmed by the Assembly a day before it was dissolved § 12. The Moderator being chosen He telleth of a Competition for the Clerkship It may be some of these persons that he nameth might be mentioned in private Discourses but never any such competition appeared before the Assembly And most of them were so far from either petition or competition that they rather declined it when it was mentioned to them by their Friends He accuseth the Assembly as insufficient to represent the Church of Scotland as that of Trent was to represent the Catholick Church But he cannot deny that it represented the Presbyterian Church and was all that could be had of a Presbyterian Assembly And we deny not that the Council of Trent represented the Popish tho' not the Catholick Christian Church as was pretended And indeed there were some from all parts of the Nation even from the Northern Counties of Ross Murray Aberdeen That there wanted from one or two Counties maketh nothing against the Authority of the Assembly For there are places in the Highlands from which seldom or never there have been Commissioners at any Church Assembly What Spirit ruled in this Assembly he determineth with the same malice that hath hitherto appeared in his Book and mocketh at the Prayers that were put up for another Spirit By this and such like passages it appeareth what Spirit acteth this Scribler It is false That the Presbyterians in Scotland have always contested with their Kings about the Power of Calling Assemblies Their Kings never denied their Intrinsick Power in this except when they were influenced by a Prelatical Erastian Crew about them But on the contrary have setled it by their Laws as the Churches priviledge As in the Act 1592. which is ratified by an Act of this current Parliament neither did they deny to the King a Power of Calling Assemblies nor have ever refused to meet when called by him We think it most desirable when the King and the Church agree about this and it moveth this Mans spite that Affairs were so managed in this Assembly The ridiculous Expression in Prayer that he imputeth to Mr. Cunningham calling it a pleasant passage is a meer Forgery That Reverend and Wise Man understood well what he said He is not ashamed to tell Lies in the Face of the Sun and to impose upon our Senses when he not only denieth the Kings Letter and the Assemblies Answer to it to be published both which are extant in the printed Acts of the General Assembly but he falsifieth the Kings Letter most palpably in making the King say That he setled the Government because it was agreeable to the Inclinations of the People Whereas it is That Government which was judged to be so And that He would have them do
He saith also that some of them suffered the loss of Children which is above made appear to be false in the only instance that was brought That they suffered without any Authority is not denied because then there was no Authority in the Nation It was in a state of Anarchy For the right that he saith they have to their by-past Stipends we shall not grudge that they get what was legally due to them But if the Authority of the Nation in the Convention or Parliament have determined otherwise I know not where their Legal right can be founded but this I leave to Lawyers to consider § 7. The fulsome and flattering Expressions in the Presbyterian Address to King James for their Liberty their approving of the Dispensing Power which he taxeth page 9. are his own imaginations other Men can see no such thing in that Address That they never preached against the disorders of the Rabble is false Though we thought not fit to make that our constant Theme And if but few did it it was because they who were Actors in that Scene little regarded the preaching of the sober Presbyterians And they should have lost their sweet Words These practices of the Rabble were publickly spoken against by Ministers both before they were acted for preventing them and after for reproving them and preventing the like That the Presbyterians possessed their places when called to them it was their Right both by their standing Relation to their people from whom they had been thrust away in Anno 1662. And also by the Act of Parliament giving all Ministers then put out regress to their Charges And indeed they who had been by the Bishops put into their places were Intruders and if any entered to other places on the Call of the people to which they had not such former Relation there was no blame because there being no probable regress for the former Incumbents it was not reasonable that the people should continue destitute of the Gospel Beside that there was never a Relation of Pastor and people between them and these Flocks they never having consented to such a Relation For what he saith of the Right of Patrons I think there were but few Ministers Fixed before it was legally made void And if they were we think that Right was only founded on the Law but was contrary to Christs Institution And it was known to be about expiring and therefore it was not contrary to a good Conscience to accept of a Call to a people without the Patron It is true in that Case they could have no Right to the Stipend But the Consent of Minister and people the Authority of a competent Church Judicatory being interposed could well fix a Relation between Minister and People without the Patron He doth next fall heavily on the Convention of Estates for these Men hide not their Treasonable Speeches against the present Government of the State That it is no wonder that many thought that the Design of some who were zealous for the Revolution was more to destroy the Episcopal Clergy than to settle the Nation or preserve our Religion Liberties and Properties This I leave to them to Answer who have power to correct such petulancy He further lasheth the Convention and the Council for their Acts with respect to the Ministers cast out in the Western Shires Neither shall I meddle with him on this Head He hath not yet done with our Rulers But blameth them for the Proclamation for Praying for King William and Queen Mary And punishing Men for not obeying it so suddenly This I have answered on Letter 2. Sect. 17. All that followeth to page 14. is already answered in the forecited place Only he hath a new Argument in Defence of them who did not read or pray viz. That the Proclamation was not sent to them from the Bishops As if the Estates could not imploy what Officers they pleased to Authorize for signifying their Mind to the Ministers page 14. Even the King shall not escape his Censure because while he extended Clemency to Criminals he did not so to the Clergy Who were neither willing to obey his Commands nor pray for him nor so much as own Him for their King And it is indeed an Act of Clemency which few Kings ever shewed to allow such to be in publick Churches and to have the conduct of the Consciences of his Subjects I am sure this is not the way to have the people principled with Loyalty though that was the main Theme that these Men insisted on in the former Reigns What followeth is his observation on a Debate in Parliament about imposing the Oath of Allegiance and why it was not imposed on the Clergy He saith It was out of respect to the Presbyterian Preachers lest they should scruple it They being unwilling to come under Allegiance to King William till first he had setled their Church Government And he thinks some will not take it till the Covenant be renewed Here is bold judging and censuring the secret thoughts and purposes of the Estates As also most calumnious Imputations on the Presbyterians Did ever any of them refuse the Oath of Allegiance Have not many of them even as many as were required on any occasion chearfully taken it And that though the Covenant be not renewed Did ever any of them move such a scruple about it Yea it is manifest that it is not their principle so to bargain with their Kings about Allegiance For they were ready to swear it and did when called to Kings who unsetled their Church Government and who enacted the abjuring of the Covenant What followeth page 15 16. about Ministers being deprived for not reading and praying is answered in Letter 2. Sect. 17. He odiously compareth the States dealing with the Clergy with that of the French with the Protestants there who saved their Life and Fortune if they change their Religion but Compliers here are turned out by the Rabble Ans If he can shew that this is done here by Authority as in France the Persecution is acted or that the Protestants in France suffered in a time of Anarchy by a people that had been so barbarously injured and enraged by them Then should he speak to the purpose otherways his parallel doth no ways hold They had made themselves justly loathsom and a burden to the people who took their opportunity to be rid of them without such Barbarous usage of them as they had suffered from them And the Estates thought it not fit to impose that burden again on a people who had been so crush'd by it what is there here that hath any Affinity with the Case of the Sufferings in France § 8. He pretendeth page 16 and 17. to remove a Mis-information given to them of England That the Clergy were not deprived by the Council for not reading and praying unless they were Immoral in their Conversation And from this he laboureth to vindicate them Much of which is answered above
sufferings of Mr. David Spence followeth That He was discharged to Preach in January 1689. by Strangers yet continuing till April he was forcibly hindred to Preach and to Read the Proclamation on the day appointed for it though he was willing to do it On complaint he had protection from the Committee of Estates yet in September he was deprived for not Reading Ans In the Records of Council I find him deprived for that he confessed he had neither Read nor Prayed But not a word of the Plea he used for his Omission So that this is to be look'd on as a gross prevarication and malicious design to defame the Government For the Rabble hindering him to Preach before he was deprived We do not approve it nor was it done by any of our Communion What is said of some Ministers in the Presbytery of Stranrawer we shall meet with it in a Pamphlet that peculiarly insisteth on their sufferings wherefore I now pass over it Mr. Francis Scot of Tweed-mure was cast out by the Rabble This we do not defend nor are obliged to Answer for it Mr. Alison of Rilbucho was cast out after he had been cleared by the Council having given all Obedience and his Goods were destroyed by some Women and a Presbyterian possesseth his Church neither can he get any redress What application he hath made for redress and who hath been faulty in denying it to him we cannot enquire for our Author is not particular but thought it safest to Reproach the Presbyterians in general Terms All that remains in this third Collection of Papers is some Letters sent to London to my Lord Elphingston complaining of the injustice done to Mr. Paul Gelly Minister of Airth In that he was deprived by the Council on the Testimony of two perjured Persons whereas he had given all Obedience and he hath a good Testimony from most of the Parish Ans They that testifie for him are of his own party They did not testifie any thing before the Council in his Vindication The Witnesses against him were neither accused before any Court nor convicted of any thing that should derogate from the Credibility of their Testimony They testified not only that he did not Read and Pray but that he prayed for the Restoration of King James and exhorted the people to pray so in private And said That he expected a Reformation but they had got a wicked Tyranny and Ungodly Rulers And that people were not secure of Life and Fortune all this is attested by the Records of the Council § 14. In his fourth and last Collection of Papers he hath the Proclamations Acts of Convention and Council Addresses c. That he thinketh may bespatter the Presbyterians These Papers need none of my Apology for them Wherefore I shall only take notice of his little Remarks on them whereby he doth most petulantly reproach the Government as well as the Presbyterians Some Observations he maketh on the Proclamation of the Estates for praying for King William and Queen Mary which are above answered One I now take notice of which is That the Presbyterian Preachers were not questioned for neglecting to read the Proclamation and to pray according to it though others were Ans I know not that any of them were guilty of this neglect And if any were there was no Information against them and therefore no punishment could follow He next dealeth with the Addresses of the Presbyterians to King James for the Liberty granted them by him and taketh notice that they were ready to comply with a Popish Prince and did not keep their promise of Duty and Allegiance to him I take no notice of his profane mocking in the strain of what he saith But to the thing I answer They no farther complied with a Popish Prince than to live peaceably under him and to use the Gospel-priviledge that they had been violently deprived of which was now restored to them and had not his party their Liberty also secured to them by the same King Yea they concurred to set him up and to advance his Supremacy and Arbitrary Power by which he was put in Capacity to destroy our Religion which we never did For promises of Duty and Allegiance we keeped them so long as he was King but when the Nation laid him aside and chused another the obligation of our Allegiance was changed and we bestowed it where the Nation had placed it As also did the Church of England their great Patrons But this Man and his Complices declare their dislike of our King and Civil Government on all occasions as much as they do against our Church way His next effort against the Convention and Government is from a Letter written by the Viscount of Dundee whom he calleth The Great which is on the Matter an owning of that Rebellion that he was the Head of the Letter and this Authors remark on it tend to condemn the Convention of Estates of Injustice This matter I have above touched It is false that he was living in peace and that he was in hazard of his Life by the Rabble He had gathered a formidable party to destroy the Convention of Estates and they gathered a force for their security And on this he and others went away in Arms and gathered a party in the Highlands But on these things I insist not my business being mainly to vindicate the Presbyterian Church of Scotland in her Principles and Actings The Act of Council December 24. 1689. I have vindicated on Letter 2. He is pleased and reckoneth it modesty so to do to call it a great stretch of Justice Some Mens Necks have been made to stretch for a less Crime than thus to reproach the Government He saith page 85. That the Ministers outed by the Rabble are cast out of the protection of the State That is no further true than that they were not reponed The Reasons of which are given on Letter 2. It is maliciously represented That the Rabble and all their Enemies were invited to be Witnesses against them who yet were in place For all were invited but none were admitted but such as were unexceptionable Witnesses Boni legales homines Would he have none but his own party to be Witnesses against them who despised the Government He would fain say something against the Prince of Orange's Declaration page 90. but can find nothing but that the Rabble grew strong by it and they who had taken Arms who were indeed King James's party were forced to Disband This is that which grieveth him What followeth of the Conventions thanks to them that had Guarded them against Dundee's Plot and his observations on it is discussed above on Letter 2. He observeth nothing on the Proclamation for the Fast Aug. 24. 1689. But that he calleth it a Canting Proclamation A word of contempt that these Men use for any thing that looketh like serious Religion And that Mr. Ramsay and Doctor Gardine were deprived for not Reading it Which is
confirmed by so many Parliaments I much doubt But am not at leisure to cast up the account But if this Argument be good Presbytery should be supported as being confirmed by many Parliaments and now by this Current Parliament Besides its Authority from Scripture which he doth not pretend to for Prelacy His second Inference from his Historical Narrative or rather Railing Accusation is That Episcopacy is necessary for support of the Government And that they oppose Scots Presbytery only as it hath in it many horrid Principles Both these are denied and cannot be proved unless we take malicious railing for proof His 3 d. That what the late Rulers did was done by Law And that these Laws were made for preserving the Protestant Religion Monarchy Humane Society and Self Defence It is an easie thing to make Sanguinary Laws and then Murder and Destroy Mankind according to these Laws But I have shewed in my former Vindication in answer to Query 5. That they exceeded the bounds even of their own Laws In the Horrid Murthers that were in cold Blood committed by Souldiers with allowance on Persons living in peace But that these Laws were made on such necessary grounds as he affirmeth is an Assertion beyond what Jesuitical impudence it self hath as yet arrived at But I shall not wonder if he should assert that the world could not subsist except Laws be made for extirpating out of it all who own the Christian Religion Cannot the Protestant Religion Monarchy c. be safe unless People be forced to wound their Consciences by hearing men who had invaded the Pulpits of their Faithful Pastors Unless Families be ruined who live in peace and pray for their Rulers who hear a Sermon in a Chamber and not in the Church He affirmeth also under this head that we value our Church Government more than the Protestant Religion A most false Imputation But he proveth it by three notable Lies One is That we complied with the Papists upon getting an Indulgence We neither sought it nor approved the Papists being Indulged nor did we join with them in any thing We indeed had our Meetings at the same time when they had theirs and so had the Episcopal men The other is the Church of England and their Party hazarded all rather than comply I gladly would know wherein did we comply and they did not They had the exercise of their Religion under the same Government with us A third is We magnifie the dispensing power which they opposed All this I have touched before This Assertion is false and injurious We never approved it we made use of the Liberty granted because it was our due But never approved of the power that the Giver of it did acclaim How they opposed it may be judged by considering whether the Contrivers and Promoters of these courses who were about the King were Presbyterians or Prelatists § 4. The fourth thing he is now falling from his Inferences and Counsels to the King to proofs of his Accusations against the Presbyterians that their Principles prove what he would say And their Principles he proveth in that he is informed that many of them own that Subjects may force their King to do justice that they are his Judges and may Dethrone him that they approve of former Rebellions that the Monarch being forfeited Kings have no more Power than the People will give them I observe first That all the Grounds that he hath for these Accusations is He hath heard it but from whom or what cause his Informers had to say so we must not know If this be a sufficient Ground to move a Prince against his People as this man designeth let any Judge 2. That he and they who have whispered this to him do not impute those to the Presbyterians as the Principles of the Party but to many of them And no body knoweth how many It may be there are or have been some who call themselves Presbyterians who hold these or as bad things But the Presbyterians did never approve of all that had gone from among them 3. What he saith about forfeiting of the Monarchy tho I do not meddle with things so far above me hath obtained with the Church of England as well as Scotland And his quarrelling at this hath a further tendency against the present Establishment than may be he is willing that every one should observe His fifth effort against us is He taketh notice of Peoples threatning Ministers he addeth also Magistrates which I never heard of before and thrusting them from their places This was the practice of the Rabble in some places I have in answer to the above mentioned Pamphlets sufficiently vindicated the Presbyterians both from abetting and from approving of these practices And therefore they ought not to be charged with them In the sixth place he would perswade the Prince that our numbers are not so great as theirs this I have also above Discoursed but I shall a little consider his proofs one is 27 Parliaments under four Kings have condemned Presbytery Ans If that prove that they were the greatest number the like Argument will prove that we are more numerous now For the Parliament hath very unanimously condemned their way Next he will prove it because they were always easily overcome in their Rebellions Sure it was not so in King Charles the I. time And in King Charles the II. time it was not the Presbyterians but a few of them that appeared He saith that the reason why they appear more numerous here at London 1689 is they are all here That is manifestly false neither all the Nobility nor the Tenth man of the Gentry beside the Vulgar who are the greatest number were then at London His judging of their designs of being there is his groundless Fancy suggested by his hatred and ill will His party forsooth are so modest that they trusted to the Laws the interest of the Monarchy and his Highnesses just sense of things But others thought that they trusted more to King James's Interest and were more moved by their aversion from his Highness Let the Reader judge whether of the two conjectures hath the more probable Foundation He alledgeth that the Presbyterians have raised tumults to fright Honestmen This is denied his party raised or endeavoured it at least more fearful Tumults And hence he would move the Prince to send down Forces under well Principled Officers That is Jacobites But the Prince was wiser than to Listen to such Counsel § 5. He next would represent us as Persons who would submit to no Laws inconsistent with Presbytery on the account of the Divine right of Presbytery and our obligation to it by Oaths Whereas his Party are readier to comply with any thing that his Highness and a Parliament shall think fit for the good of the Kingdom and so pleadeth for a hearing before his Highness or any to be named by Him This last we shall never decline On the former part of this
and the Elders and such Ministers and Elders as they had received or should receive Another mistake is That the Meeting that preceded the forementioned Assembly was called to lay down methods how a General Assembly should be called and constituted because one could not be had according to their minds after the old manner and standing Rules of General Assemblies Ans This Meeting was not called for that end nor did act any thing to that purpose nor needed they do so For the Act of Parliament had excluded all the Episcopal Ministers from sitting in the General Assembly unless they were taken in by the Presbyterians All that they did that could any way concern the Constitution of the Assembly was that Presbyteries should send three or four of their number to the Assembly where they had sent but two when there were more Ministers in each Presbytery which could no way alter the Constitution of the Assembly He giveth a false account of the Act of Parliament by which Presbyterian Government was setled when he saith That by it none had a share of the Government but such Ministers as had been removed by the restoration of Episcopacy For both Ruling Elders are expresly mentioned and such Ministers as the Presbyterians had received or should receive Hence followeth another mistake viz. That they were over-seen when they admitted others into the Government and were by that means over-voted None were admitted but such as the Act of Parliament reached nor was there any over-voting in the Case for both they who had been turned out by the Bishops and they who were after taken in did generally agree in the same Votes He would revive the old forgotten and Fatal Division that rent and ruined this Church about the Protestation and Remonstrance But through the Mercy of God it is not so much as mentioned among us That some of the Remonstrators who had been under that woful Schism in the Church deposed by the opposite party sate among us is true and we know no reason why it should not be so for their Sentences were taken off long before And what was moved and done in that meeting was that the revoking of these Sentences should be now confirmed by this Meeting as being of more extensive Authority than these which had recalled them That any of them who sate there were deposed for scandalous and gross Crimes Or for any thing but their Opinion in that controverted point and their practice according to it is more than we know and unless he can make it appear he ought to be reputed a Slanderer if he or any else shall prove it we shall acknowledge our Errour at least our Ignorance and shall rectifie what we have done amiss What he saith of Mr. Pitcairn's protesting against their sitting there is a gross mistake That Reverend Brother was dissatisfied with the way of wording the Determination of the Meeting in that Affair which some proposed and was a little hot about it but he was soon satisfied Neither did he enter any Protestation tho' he spoke of it Nor did he object against the recalling of their Sentences In all this our Author giveth his Readers a most false and unfair Idea of our Affairs § 6. Which he doth yet more in what followeth he telleth us of a Debate betwixt the old and the young Men which of the two should Rule A Controversie that never was so much as named in any of our meetings nor for what I know in private Discourse Nothing can be more false than the story that he telleth for instance in this matter of a Contest between Mr. Rule and Mr. Webster No such words were ever spoken And if they had there had been no truth in them For what he talketh in his Marginal Note of the Contribution of the Sisters savoureth more of Spite than Wit Some of the Nonconformists lived on their own Estates others by their Industry in Lawful Callings yet diligently preaching the Gospel others by the Charity of good Women and good Men too as our Lord and his Apostles did And his own party are now brought to that Mortification that I suppose the Contributions of the Sisters are not despised by them He quarrelleth with the Name of the General Meeting that preceded the Assembly as being none of the Names of the Church Judicatories known since the Reformation What if we should say it was an extraordinary Meeting such as that extraordinary Case of the Church did allow And yet it wanted not Authority neither from God it being made up of the Officers that Christ hath appointed to Rule his Church Nor from Man we have then a Liberty granted fot the exercise of our Ministry in all the parts of it We may also defend it to be a General Assembly of this Presbyterian Church which differed in nothing from that which followed but that the one had the countenance of the King and Parliament this other only that of the King directly and of the Parliament indirectly The Parliament having allowed the King a power of granting Indulgence to Dissenters â—…om the Established way as was noted on Letter 2. Sect. 16. In his account of the Work done by this meeting he doth grosly prevaricate while he saith They prescribed Rules for trying Episcopal Ministers They did indeed suppose that Presbyteries have an Intrinsick power of judging the Life and Doctrine of all the Ministers within their bounds and of excluding the unfit and receiving them that are qualified but considering the present paucity of Presbyterian Ministers which yet was not such as he would have us believe They were so far from directing them to try these men that they did wisely caution them and some way restrain them in this Tryal For their appointment was that if in trying these men the Presbyteries should meet with any Libel the Relevancy of which was doubtful or if the sufficiency of the proof were not clear in such Cases they should not proceed to a Sentence but refer the Case to the General Assembly which was soon after to sit What could they do more to prevent Injury to these Men without denying that power of Presbyteries which is their due He instanceth in some Presbyteries where were very few Ministers we deny it not but that was but in some few places and at first There are more now even in these places and in other parts of the Countrey there were even then a competent number in Presbyteries and in some places few or none wanting As in all the Presbyteries of the Synod of Glasgow That there were so few is not to be wondered at The whole Nation being but t'other day under Episcopacy The Youth having been generally so bred and the Presbyterians being almost worn out by a long tract of time and heavy Persecution There were fewer Protestant Ministers in the beginning of the Reformation from Popery and yet it was not thought fit that either the Church should be without all Government or that it should