Church after that he is well tryed and found qualified It ennumerates Fasting Prayer and imposition of hands of the Eldership as the Ceremonies of Ordination § 11 12. Now the whole Nation knows no such thing as either Tryal Fasting or imposition of hands are used by our present Presbyterians in the Ordination of Ruling Elders The Sixth Chapter is particularly concerning Ruling Elders as contra-distinct from Pastors or Teaching Elders And it determines thus concerning them § 3. Elders once Lawfully called to the Office and having Gifts of God fit to exercise the same may not leave it again Yet nothing more ordinary with our present Presbyterians than laying aside Ruling Elders and reducing them to a state of Laicks So that Sure I am if ever they were Presbyters they come under Tertullians Censure De Praescrip Hodie Presbyter qui cras Laicus A Presbyter to day and a Porter to morrow By the 9 th § of that same Chapter It pertains to them these Ruling Elders to assist the Pastor in examining those that come to the Lords Table and in visiting the Sick This Canon is not much in use I think as to the last part of it as to the first it is intirely indesuetude Indeed some of them would be wondrously qualified for such ane Office The Seventh Chapter is about Elderships and Assemblies By § 2. Assemblies are of four sorts viz. either of a particular Congregation or of a Province or a whole Nation or all Christian Nations Now of all these indefinitely it is affirmed § 5. In all Assemblies a Moderator should be chosen by common consent of the whole Brethren conveened Yet no such thing observed in our Kirk-Sessions which are the Congregational Assemblies spoken of § 2. But Ma◠Iohn takes the Chair without Election and would not be a little grated if the best Laird in the Parish should be his Competitor Crawford himself the First Earl of the Kingdome had never the Honour to be Moderator in the Kirk Session of Ceres The 14 th Canon in the same 7 th Chapter is this When we speak of Elders of particular Congregations we mean not that every particular Parish Church can or MAY have their particular Elderships especially to Landward but we think three or four more or fewer particular Churches may have a common Eldership to them all to judge their Ecclesiastical Causes And Chapter 12. Canon 5. As to Elders there would be in every Congregation one or more appointed for censuring of manners but not ane Assembly of Elders except in Towns and Famous Places where men of Iudgement and Ability may be had And these to have a common Eldership placed amongst them to treat of all things that concern the Congregations of whom they have the Oversight But as the world goes now every Parish even in the Country must have its own Eldership and this Eldership must consist of such a number of the Sincerer sort as may be able to out-vote all the Malignant Heritors upon occasion as when a Minister is to be chosen c. So long as there is a precise Plough-man or a well-affected Webster or a covenanted Cobbler or so to be found in the Parish such a number must not be wanting The standing of the Sect is the Supreme Law The good cause must not suffer tho' all the Canons of the Kirk should be put to shift for themselves IV. The last thing I named as that wherein our present Presbyterians have forsaken the principles and sentiments of our Reformers was the Government of the Church But I have treated so fully of this already that 't is needless to pursue it any farther I shall only therefore as ane Appendage to this represent one very considerable Right of the Church adhered to by our Reformers but disclaim'd by our present Presbyterians It is her being the First of the three Estates of Parliament and having vote in that great Council of the Nation It is evident from the most Ancient Records and all the Authentick Monuments of the Nation That the Church made still the First of the Three Estates in Scottish Parliaments since there were Parliaments in Scotland This had obtained time out of mind and was lookt upon as Fundamental in the Constitution of Parliaments in the days of the Reformation Our Reformers never so much as once dream'd that this was a Popish Corruption What Sophistry can make it such They dream'd as little of its being unseemly or scandalous or incongruous or inconvenient or whatever now adays men are pleas'd to call it On the contrary they were clear for its continuance as a very important Right of the Church The First Book if Discipline Head 8 th allowed Clergy-men to Assist the Parliament when the same is called 'T is true Calderwood both Corrupts the Text here and gives it a false Gloss. Instead of these words when the same is called he puts these if he be called and his Gloss is Meaning with advice says he not by voice or sitting as a Member of that Court I say this is a false Gloss. Indeed it runs quite counter to all the principles and practices of these times For not only did the Ecclesiastical Estate sit actually in the Reforming Parliament Anno 1560 and all Parliaments thereafter for very many years But such stress in these times was laid on this Estate that it was generally thought that nothing of publick concern could be Legally done without it The Counsel of the Ecclesiastick Peers was judged necessary in all matters of National Importance Thus Anno 1567. when the Match was on foot between the Queen and Bothwell that it might seem to be concluded with the greater Authority pains were taken to get the consent of the principal Nobility by their susbcriptions But this was not all that all might be made as sure as could be All the Bishops who were in the City were also Convocated and their subscriptions required as Buchanan tells us And Anno 1568. when the Accusation was intented against the Queen of Scotland before the Queen of England's Arbitrators that it might be done with the greater appearance of the Consent of the Nation That it might have the greater semblance of a National Deed as being a matter wherein all Estates were concerned the Bishop of Orkney and the Abbot of Dunfermline were appointed to represent the Spiritual Estate Again Anno 1571. when the two Counter Parliaments were holden at Edenburg those of the Queens Faction as few as they were had the Votes of two Bishops in their Session holden Iuly 12 as is clear from Buchanan and Spotswood compared together In their next Session which was holden at Edenburg August 22 that same year tho' they were in all but five Members yet two of them were Bishops as Spotswood tells But Buchanan's account is more considerable For he says one of these two was there unwillingly so that it seems he was forced by the rest to be there out
dayly look for our final Deliverance by the coming again of our Lord Iesus c. Thus it was prayed I say in great Solemnity at that time and every Petition is a Confirmation of Buchanan's Fidelity and my Assertion Further yet 3. In the Old Scottish Liturgy compiled in these times and afterwards used publickly in all the Churches There is a Thanksgiving unto God after our Deliverance from the Tyranny of the Frenchmen with Prayers made for the Continuance of the Peace betwixt the Realms of Scotland and England wherein we have these Petitions offered Grant unto us O Lord that with such Reverence we may remember thy Benefits received that after this in our Default we never enter into Hostility against the Realm and Nation of England Suffer us never O Lord to fall to that Ingratitude and detestable Vnthankfulness that we should seek the Destruction and Death of those whom thou hast made instruments to Deliver us from the Tyranny of Merciless Strangers Dissipate thou the Counsels of such as Deceitfully travel to stir the hearts of the inhabitants of either Realm against the other Let their malicious practices be their own confusion and grant thou of thy Mercy that Love Concord and Tranquillity may continue and increase amongst the Inhabitants of this Isle even to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ by whose glorious Gospel thou of thy Mercy dost CALL US BOTH TO UNITY PEACE AND CHRISTIAN CONCORD the full PERFECTION whereof we shall possess in the fullness of thy Kingdom c. Here is a set of Demonstrations to the same purpose also And now let any man lay all these things together The Letter to Cecil The Confederacy betwixt Scotland and England Buchanan's Testimony and these Thanksgivings and Prayers and then let him judge impartially whither or not there is reason to believe that in those days there was a good Agreement between the Scottish and English Protestants as to Religion and Church Matters Thus I think I have sufficiently cleared that our Reformers Generally if not Vnanimously lookt upon the Church of England as so well constituted that they acknowledged her Communion to be a Lawful Communion But before I proceed to other things I must try if I can make any more advantage of what has been said And I reason thus Was there not here truely and really a Confederacy ane Oath A Solemn League and Covenant betwixt the Scottish and the English Protestants Were not these English Protestants then united in that Society which at that time was and ever since hath been called The Church of England And was not the Church of England of that same very constitution then that it was of in King Charles the First his time for example Anno 1642 But if so then I ask again was not this Solemn League and Covenant made thus by our Reformers with their Brethren in England as much designed for the Security the Defence the Maintainance of the Church of England as then by Law established as for the Establishment of our Reformation Did not our Reformers promise Mutual Faith to the English as well as the English promised to them Would it have been consistent with the mutual bonds and obligations of this Confederacy this Solemn League and Covenant for the Scottish Reformers to have raised ane Army at that time against Queen Elizabeth to invade her Dominions in order to ruine the Church of England I cannot imagine any sober person can grudge to grant me this much also But if this be granted then I ask in the third place Did not that Solemn League and Covenant made by our Reformers with those of the Church of England run in a direct opposition to the Solemn League and Covenant made by our Scottish Presbyterians with a Factious Party in England for destroying the Church of England in King Charles the First 's time Nay did not our Scottish Presbyterians in that King's time by entering into that Solemn League and Covenant directly and effrontedly break through the Charge and Commandment which our Reformers left to their Posterity That the Amity betwixt the Nations in God contracted and begun might by them be kept inviolate for ever Nay further yet did not our Reformers solemnly pray against those who made the Solemn League and Covenant in the days of King Charles the First Did they not address to God that he would dissipate their Counsels and let their Malicious Practices be their own Confusion And now let the world judge what rational pretences these Presbyterians in that Holy Martyrs time and by consequence our present Presbyterians can make for their being the only true and genuine Successors of our First Reformers Expecting solid and serious Answers to these Questions I shall now advance in the prosecution of my main undertaking on this Head which was to shew how our Reformers agreed with the Church of England in several momentous matters Relative to the Constitution and Communion the Government and Polity of the Church c. But because I have insisted so long on this general one which I have just now taken leave of I shall only instance in two or three more and dispatch them as speedily as I can 2. Then it is evident and undeniable that our Scottish Protestants for some years used the Liturgy of the Church of England in their publick Devotions Indeed The very first publick step towards our Reformation made by the Lords of the Congregation was to appoint this Liturgy to be used It was ordered upon the third day of December 1557. as both Knox and Calderwood have it Take the Ordinance in Knox his words The Lords and Barons professing Christ Iesus conveened frequently in Councel in the which these Heads were concluded First It is thought expedient advised and ordained That in all Parishes of this Realm the Common Prayer be read weekly on Sunday and other Festival days publickly in the Parish Churches with the Lessons of the Old and New Testament conformable to the Book of Common Prayers And if the Curates of the Parishes be qualified that they read the same And if they be not or if they refuse that the most qualified in the Parish use and read the same c. Spotswood and Petrie give the same account But such is the Genius of Mr. Calderwood that you are to expect few things which may make against the Presbyterian Interest candidly and sincerely represented by him For instance in his overly account of this matter he quite omits the mention of other Holy days besides Sundays These consistent Testimonies of all those four Historians are so full and plain a Demonstration of the Matter of Fact that I cannot foresee so much as one Objection that can be made or one Evasion that can be thought on unless it be That it is not said by any of them that it was the Book of the Common Prayers of the Church of England But this difficulty is soon removed For 1. It was either the Book
Trusts and Offices as the Clergy did then and they are satisfied And now if these Reformers who thus petitioned and in their Petition thus reasoned and agreed to such a Rule of Reformation were for the divine institution of Parity and the sacred Rights of Presbytery nay if they were not not only for the Lawfulness but the Continuance of Prelacy I must confess my ignorance to be very gross and so I refuse not Correction For this Evidence as I said we are beholden to Knox and to Knox only 'T is true indeed Calderwood gives us the Abstract of this Petition but he conceals and suppresses the whole pith and marrow of this Article summing it up in these few ill-complexion'd words That the slanderous and detestable life of the Prelates and the State Ecclesiastical may be reformed which at first view one would imagin lookt kindly towards Presbytery but I am not surprized to find him thus at his Tricks 't is but according to his Custom To have set down the full Article or to have abridged it so as that its force and purpose might have been seen had been to disserve his Cause and do ane ill Office to his Idol Parity And Petrie as I have said was so wise as not to touch it at all lest it had burnt his Fingers but that Archbishop Spotswood should have overlookt it both in his History and in his Refutatio Libelli c. seems very strange For my part I should rather think we have not his History intire and as he design'd it for the Press for which I have heard other very pregnant presumptions than that so great a man was guilty of so great ane Oscitancy But whatever be of this Knox has it and that is enough and Calderwood has abridged it and that 's more than enough for my Presbyterian Brethren The Third Petition which I promised to adduce is that which was presented to the Parliament which established the Reformation Anno 1560. for which we are obliged to Knox alone also at least so far as the present Argument is concerned For tho both Spotswood and Petrie make mention of the Petition or Supplication yet neither of them has recorded that which I take notice of and Calderwood is so accurate ane Historian as to take no notice of the Petition That which I take notice of in it as it is in Knox is That when our Reformers came to crave the Reformation of the Ecclesiastical State they bespoke the Parliament thus And lest that your Honours should doubt in any of the premisses they had affirmed before That the Doctrine of the Roman Church contained many pestiferous errors that the Sacraments of Jesus Christ were most shamefully abused and profaned by the Roman Harlot that the true Discipline of the antient Church amongst that Sect was utterly extinguisht and that the Clergy of all men within the Realm were most corrupt in life and manners c. we offer our selves evidently to prove that in all the Rabble of the Clergy there is not one Lawful Minister IF GODS WORD THE PRACTICES OF THE APOSTLES THE SINCERITY OF THE PRIMITIVE CHVRCH AND THEIR OWN ANCIENT LAWS SHALL IVDGE OF THE ELECTION Here I say our Reformers insist on that same very Rule for finding if there be Corruptions in and by consequence for reforming of the Church on which they insisted in the aforementioned Petition from which 't is evident they persisted of the same sentiments and 't is easy to draw the same inferences Such were the sentiments of our Scottish Reformers before the Reformed Religion had the countenance of the Civil Government and Acts of Parliament on its side and was made the National Religion Let us try next what kind of Government they did establish when they had got Law for them Whither they established a Government that was to be managed by Ministers acting in Parity or in Imparity And here I think the Controversy might very soon be brought to a very fair issue The First Book of Discipline the Acts of many General Assemblies the Acts of many Parliaments Both without interruption the unanimous Consent of Historians and the uncontroverted Practice of the Church for many years all concurring to this Assertion That the first Establishment was of a Government which was to be managed by Superintendents and Parochial Ministers Elders and Deacons acting in Subordination not in a State of Parity with but in a State of inferiority in Power and Iurisdiction to these Superintendents This Establishment I say is so clear and undoubted from all these fountains That no more needed be said upon the whole Argument But because our Presbyterian Historians and Antiquaries tho they cannot deny the thing do yet endeavor with all their Might and Cunning to intricate it and obscure it I shall further undertake two things I. I shall give the world a fair prospect of the power of Superintendents as they were then established and of the Disparities betwixt them and Parish Ministers II. I shall endeavour to dissipate these Mists whereby our Presbyterian Brethren are so very earnest to involve and darken this Matter As for the I. The world may competently see that Superintendents as established in Scotland at the Reformation had a considerable stock of Prerogatives or Preheminencies call them as ye will which raised them far above other Churchmen far above the allowances of that Parity our Presbyterian Brethren contend for so eagerly from the following Enumeration 1. They had Districts or Diocesses of far larger extent than other Churchmen Private Ministers had only their private Parishes and might have been as many as there were Churches in the Kingdom But according to the Scheme laid down by our Reformers in the First Book of Discipline Head 5. only ten or twelve Superintendents were design'd to have the Chief Care as it is worded in the Prayer at the Admission of a Superintendent of all the Churches within the Kingdom Indeed ten are only there design'd but it was because of the scarcity of qualified men as we shall learn hereafter 2. As they had larger Districts than Parish Ministers so there were correspondent Specialities in their Election Parish Ministers were to enter to such Churches as had Benefices by presentation from the Patron and Collation from the Superintendent as is evident from Act 7. Parl. 1. Iam. 6. and many Acts of Assemblies as shall be fully proven afterward If they were to serve where the Benefice was actually possessed by a Papist they were to be chosen by the People of the Congregation by the appointment of the First Book of Discipline Head 4. But the Election of Superintendents was quite different they were to be nominated by the Council and elected by the Nobility and Gentry c. within their Dioceses as hath been already considered 3. There was as great a difference in the matter of Deposition if they deserved it Parish Ministers by the First Book of Discipline Head 8.
which is extant in Print before the Psalm Book i. e. the old Liturgy according to which as I have always done so now I Minister that Sacrament In short It continued to be in use even after the beginning of the Horrid Revolution in the days of King Charles the First and many old People yet alive remember well to have seen it used indifferently both by Presbyterians and Prelatists But it is not so now Our Modern Presbyterians do not only Condemn the Liturgie of the Church of England used as I say by our Reformers calling it a Dry lifeless service a spiritless powerless service ane unwarrantable service ane ill-mumbled mass a farce of Popish Dregs and Reliques a Rag of Romish Superstition and Idolatry and God knows how many ill things But they Generally Condemn all Liturgies all set-forms of publick worship and devotion They will admit of none All to them are alike odious and intolerable Herein I think there is a palpable Recession from the principles of our Reformers about the publick and solemn worship of the Church and that in a most weighty and material instance But this is not all They have not only deserted our Reformers and Condemn'd them as to Forms But they have made very considerable and important Recessions from them as to the matter both in the substance and circumstances of Liturgical Offices and here I must descend to particulars 1. Then our present Presbyterians observe no Forms in their publick Prayers either before or after Sermon For the most part they observe no Rules They Pray by no Standard Nay they do not stick by their own Directory All must be Extemporary work and the newer the odder the more surprizing both as to matter and manner the better If any Brother has not that fire in his temper that heat in his blood that warmth in his Animal-spirits that sprightlyness and fervour in his fancy or that readiness of elocution c. If he wants any one or two of these many Graces which must concur for accomplishing one with the ready Gift and shall adventure to digest his thought and provide himself with a Premeditated Form of his own making He shall be concerned likewise to be so wise and wary as to provide himself either with a variety of such Forms or many disguises for his one form or he shall run the hazard of the success of his Ministery and his Reputation to boot He is a Gone-man if the Zealots of the gang smell it out that he prayed by Premiditation Fore-thought Prayers are little less Criminal than fore-thought Felony He wants the spirit and deserves to be ranked amongst the Anti-Christian Crue of Formalists Nay so much are they against set-forms that 't is Popery for any thing I know to say the Lords Prayer Our Reformers never met for publick worship but they used it once or oftner And they used it as in obedience to our Saviours Commandment Take for a taste these instances which I have collected from the old Liturgy The Prayer for the whole Estate of Christs Church appointed to be said after Sermon is Concluded thus In whose name we make our humble petitions unto thee even as he hath taught us saying Our Father c. Another Prayer to be said after Sermon has the Lords Prayer in the very bosom of it The Prayer to be used when God threatens his Iudgements concludes thus Praying unto thee with all humility and submission of minds as we are taught and commanded to Pray saying Our Father c. The Prayer to be used in time of Affliction thus Our only Saviour and Mediator in whose name we Pray unto thee as we are taught saying Our Father c. The Prayer at the Admission of a Superintendent or a Minister thus Of whom the perpetual increase of thy Grace we crave as by thee our Lord King and only Bishop we are taught to Pray Our Father c. The Prayer for the Obstinate in the order for Excommunication thus These thy Graces O Heavenly Father and farther as thou knowest to be expedient for us and for thy Church Vniversal we call for unto thee even as we are taught by our Lord and Master Christ Iesus saying Our Father c. The last Prayer before Excommunication thus This we ask of thee O Heavenly Father in the boldness of our Head and Mediator Iesus Christ praying as he hath taught us Our Father c. The Confession of sins c. in time of publick Easts thus We flee to the obedience and perfect Iustice of Iesus Christ our only Mediator Praying as he hath taught us saying Our Father c. The Prayer of Consecration in Baptism thus May be brought as a lively Member of his Body unto the full fruition of thy joys in the Heavens where thy Son our Saviour Christ Reigneth world without end In whose name we Pray as he hath taught us saying Our Father c. So many of the Prayers used by our Reformers were concluded with the Lords Prayer And it is obvious to any body that sometimes 3 or 4 of them were to be said at one Assembly And still when the Lords Prayer is brought in you see 't is plainly in Obedience to our Saviours Command from which 't is clear our Reformers lookt on the using it as not only Lawful but Necessary Our present Presbyterians will not only not use it but they Condemn and writ against the using of it Indeed They have not retained so much as one Form except that of Blessed use by Saint Paul 2 Cor. 13.14 This indeed they commonly say tho' I am not sure they say it in the Form of a Blessing before the Dissolution of the Assembly But why they have kept this and rejected all other Forms or how they can reconcile the retaining of this with the rejection of all other Forms I confess I am not able to tell Let themselves answer for that as well as for retaining set-forms of Praise while they Condemn set forms of Prayer 2. Our Reformers in their publick Assemblies never omitted to make a solemn and publick Confession of their Faith by rehearsing that which is commonly called the Apostles Creed It was said after the Prayer for the whole Estate of Christs Chruch and it was introduced thus Almighty and Everliving God vouchsafe we beseech thee to grant us perfect continuance in thy lively Faith augmenting the same in us dayly till we grow to the full measure of our perfection in Christ whereof we make our Confession saying I believe in God the Father c. Herein they are intirely deserted by our present Presbyterians also 3. The Preaching of the word may be performed two ways By the publick Reading of the Scriptures and by Sermons c. founded on the Scriptures Our present Presbyterians in both these have Receded from our Reâ—â—â—mers 1. As for the Reading of the Scriptures our Reformers delivered themselves thus in the
after both Covenants were sworn The National I mean and the Solemn League and Covenant It was not turn'd Authoritatively I intend no more than the Equivocal Authority which Schismatical Assemblies pretend to into disuse till the General Assembly 1645. Even then it was not Condemned as either superstitious or indecent It was laid aside only in complyance with the English Presbyterians By that Assembly a Committee was appointed to give their opinion about keeping a greater Vniformity in this Kirk in the practice and observation of the Directory in some points of publick worship And the fourth Article to which they Agreed was this word for word It is also the Iudgment of the Committee that the Ministers bowing in the Pulpit tho' a Lawful Custome in this Kirk be hereafter laid aside for satisfaction of the desires of the Reverend Divines in the Synod of England and Vniformity with that Kirk so much endeared to us And then followeth the Assembly's approbation of all the Articles digested by the Committee Here 't is evident this Assembly own'd it to be a Lawful Custome A former Assembly called it Laudible And yet it is Scandalous if not Superstitions to our present Presbyterians Let me add as ane Appendage to this 6. Another in my opinion very decent and commendable Custome which obtain'd in Scotland generally till the latter times of Presbytery This when People entered the Church they commonly uncovered their Heads as entering into the House of God And generally they put up a short Prayer to God some kneeling some standing as their conveniency allowed them deeming it very becoming to do so when they came thus into the place of Gods special presence and his publick worship This custom was so universal that the vestiges of it may be even yet observed amongst old People educated before the Donatism of the Covenant who continue to retain it Now adays 't is plain Superstition to a Presbyterian not to enter the Church with his Head covered Mas Iohn himself doth it as mannerly as the coursest Cobbler in the Parish In he steps uncovers not till in the Pulpit claps streight on his Breech and within a little falls to work as the Spirit moves him All the Congregation must sit close in the time of Prayer Clap on their Bonnets in the time of Sermon c. This is the way and it brings me in mind of ane observe ane old Gentleman has frequently repeated to me which was that he found it impossible to perform Divine worship without Ceremonies For said he the Presbyterians themselves who pretend to be against all Ceremonies seem even to Superstition precise in observing the Ceremonies of the Breech c. But Thus I have represented in some instances how our Presbyterian Brethren have deserted our Reformers in the ordinary stated parts of publick worship I proceed now to the Sacraments 7. Then our Reformers had not only a set form for Administring the Sacrament of Baptism But beside the Father of the Child they allowed of Sureties or Sponsors This is plain from the conclusion of the discourse concerning the nature and necessity of Baptism in the Old Liturgy For the Minister there addressed to the Father and the Sponsors thus Finally to the intent that we may be assured that you the Father and the Sureties consent to the performance hereof of the conditions mentioned before Declare here before the Face of this Congregation the sum of the Faith wherein you believe and will instruct this Child After this there is this Rubrick Then the Father or in his absence the God-Father shall rehearse the Articles of his Faith which done the Minister expoundeth the same as followeth That which followeth is a large explanation of the Apostles Creed c. Thus it was appointed in the old Liturgie and thus it was practiced Universally for some scores of years But our Modern Presbyterians do not only abhor all Set-forms as I have said but to name Sponsors or Godfathers to them is to incur the Scandal of Popery The Apostles Creed is no agreeable Standard of the Christian Faith into which one is initiated by Baptism They cannot endure to hear of it in this Office Whoso presents a Child to them to be Baptized must promise to bring up the Child in the Faith as it is contained in the Westminster Confession and the larger and shorter Catechisms This they Require Generally Not a few Require that the Child be educated in the Faith of the Solemn League and Covenant 7. About the Sacrament of the Lords Supper I find many considerable alterations Take these for a Taste 1. It was Administred by our Reformers by a set-form contained in the Old Liturgie It continued to be so Administred for more than 60 years by Presbyterians themselves as I have observed already in the instance of Scrimgeour 2. As for the frequency of this most Christian Office The First Book of Discipline Head 9th Determined thus Four times in the year we think sufficient for Administration of the Lords Table Albeit we deny not but every Church for Reasonable causes may change the time and Minister the same oftner The General Assembly holden at Edenburgh Decemb. 25. 1562 Ordained the Communion to be Ministred four times in the year in Burghs and twice in Landward The First Rubrick in the Office for the Lords Supper in the Old Liturgy intimates it was oftner administred for thus it runs Vpon the day that the Lords Supper is Ministred which commonly is used once a Month or as often as the Congregation shall think expedient c. 3. Our Reformers had no preparation Sermons on the Saturndays immediately before the Adminstration of the Sacrament No vestige of any such Sermons in the Old Liturgy nor in the Acts of the Old Assemblies nor in any of our Histories It is plain such Sermons were not required by the Authority of any even Presbyterian Assembly till the year 1645. Then indeed amongst the Articles prepared by the Committee mentioned before I find this the seventh Branch of the Third Article which was about the Lords Supper That there be one Sermon of Preparation delivered in the ordinary place of publick worship upon the day immediately preceeding And it is clear from the stile of these Articles that this was new and had not been practiced at least generally before 4. Our Reformers thought as little on Thanksgiving Sermons on the immediately succeeding Moondays Indeed such were not required no not by that Innovating Assembly 1645. All it has about Thanksgiving Sermons is in the 8 th Branch of the aforesaid Article which is this That before the serving of the Tables there be only one Sermon delivered to those who are to Communicate and that in the Kirk where the service is to be performed And that in the same Kirk there be one Sermon of Thanksgiving after the Communion is ended 5. No Vestige of Assistant Ministers at the Administration of this Sacrament in the practice of
within the Church is dissolved which is not for the most part till much of the day is spent indeed cannot readily be considering what work there is of it The Congregation dissolved there is a little breathing time Then the Bell rings again and the work is renewed Some other Brother than the Parish Minister mounts the Pulpit in the Church in the afternoon and Preaches a Thanksgiving Sermon and the rest are as busy in the Church yard as ever And then on Moondays morning the Preaching work is fallen to a fresh and pursued vigorously one Preaching in the Church another in the Church yard as formerly I am sure I am just in all this Account I could prove it by many instances if it were needful but I shall only name two Thus Last year when this Sacrament was Celebrated at St. Cuthberts where the renown'd Mr. David Williamsone Exercises on the three dayes viz. Saturday Sunday and Moonday in the Church and Church-yard there were no fewer than 12 or 13 formal Sermons besides all the Incidental Harrangues and all the Exhortations at the Tables c. And when the Sacrament was given in the New Church in the Canon-gate in September or the beginning of October 1692 there was much about the same number I my self overheard parts of some three or four which were Preached in the Church-yard And that which made me have the deeper impressions of the unaccountableness of this their Method was that all who were in the Church-yard on Sunday at least and four times as many might that day have had room enough in the Churches of Edenburgh which were at no great distance But it seems the solemnity of Church-yard Sermons is now become necessary on such occasions I have narrated nothing in this strange account I say but what is Notorious Matter of Fact All this Parade they have ordinarily even in the Countrey and tho' there are but some scores or at most but some hundreds to Communicate yet the Communion is not Solemn enough there 's a Cloud upon the Ministers reputation something or other is wrong if there are not some thousands of Spectators I doubt not when strangers Read this account they will think it a very surprizing one And no wonder for not to insist how much they have receded not only from the Rules and Practices of our Reformers but even from the Determinations of their own General Assembly 1645 not only receded from them but almost in every particular run quite Counter to them not to insist on what occasions may be given to much scandal and many wickednesses by such indigested disorderly confused and mixt Convocations For who knows not that hundreds generally strangers to one another who have no sense of no concern for no care about serious Religion may meet on such occasions for Novelty for Curiosity for Intrigues not to be named for a thousand such sinister ends Not to insist on these things I say tho' they are of no small consequence What a vast difference is there between such Communions and the Orderly and Devout Communions of the Primitive Church What would the Ancient Lights and Guides of the Christian Church who would suffer none to stay in the Church but such as were to Participate say if they saw such promiscuous Routs assembled and mostly for no other end than making a Spectacle of such a Venerable Mystery Is not such unaccountable Parade much liker to the Popish Processions than the Devout Performances of the purer times of Genuine Christianity How impossible were it at this rate to Celebrate the Sacrament once a Month in every Parish Church How much more impossible to restore it to its due and proper frequency How far is this from looking on this Holy Sacrament as ane ordinary tho' a very signal part of Divine worship Or rather is it not to make a Prodigie of this Divine Mystery Certainly when People observe how seldome and withal with what strange Pomp with what ordinarily impracticable solemnity such ane holy ordinance is gone about it cannot but work differently upon their different dispositions It stands fair to be a Scare-crow to the weak Christian He dares not approach where there is so much frightening Address It stands as fair for being a scandal to the strong and understanding Christian when he sees so much vain shew so much needless ostentation so much odd external tricking about it And the Hypocrite can hardly wish any thing more useful for him For who should doubt of his being a Saint when he approaches amidst so much solemnity Besides Every body may easily see what is aim'd at by all this It is as they think a proper Method for catching the Populace It is to make them admire the Devotion the Religion the Abilities of the Party How Glorious and August are their Communions What singular preparations have they How many Powerful Prayers How many Soul-searching Sermons Who can compare with them for fervour and zeal for Graces and Gifts for special marks of Gods peculiar favour and assistance Must not their way be Gods way Must not those of their way be the true the only People of God! I ask God and my Presbyterian Brethren pardon if this is not at the bottom of the Matter But if it is I wish they would consider from what principles it proceeds How easy is it to discern in such Arts and Methods the clear Symptomes the lively Signatures of a Schismatical temper How easy to perceive the plain features of Faction and the Lineaments of a preposterous Fondness to have their way and party had in Admiration How easy were it more fully to expose such dangerous and dreadful Methods But I am affraid I have digressed too much already There is 8. Another very considerable instance of their Deserting the principles of our Reformers in the Matter of this Sacrament Such ane instance as may make another strange Figure when seriously considered Our Reformers having once Established the Confession of Faith as the Standard for this National Church required no more for qualifying private Persons for the Sacrament of the Eucharist than that they could say the Lords Prayer the Articles of the Belief and the summ of the Law and understand the use and Vertue of this Holy Sacrament So it is expressly delivered in the ninth Head of the First Book of Discipline Supposing the Person free from scandal this was certainly a Genuine Measure and agreeable to the Rules and Principles of Catholick Vnity For However expedient it may be upon some Emergent Occasions or Necessities to require suitable Obligations of Office-bearers in the Church yet no man I think who loves Christian Simplicity and Vnity but will acknowledge 't is proper and prudent to make the terms of Communion as Catholick and Comprehensive as Christs institutions will allow them to be made Now not to insist on our Brethrens separating from the Communion of those who keep by the terms of Communion required by our Reformers
Princes maintain'd by our Reformers yet even herein there is difference Considerable difference Our Reformers as much as they were inclined to Rebel against Kings did yet maintain that they held their Crowns immediately of God Iohn Knox in his Sermon preached on the 19 th of August 1565 and afterwards published hath this plain position That it is neither birth Influence of Stars ELECTION OF PEOPLE Force of Arms nor finally whatsoever can be comprehended under the Power of nature that maketh the distinction between the Superiour Power and the Inferior or that doth Establish the Royal Throne of Kings But it is the only and perfect Ordinance of God who willeth his Terror Power and Majesty in a part to shine in the Thrones of Kings and in the Faces of Iudges c. Neither was this only his private sentiment The 24 th Article of the Confession of Faith compiled by our Reformers and Ratified by Act of Parliament is every whit as plain and Decretory For there They Profess to believe that Empires Kingdoms Dominions and Cities are Distincted and Ordained by God That the Powers and Authorities therein are Gods Holy Ordinance That Persons placed in Authority are to be Loved Honoured Feared and holden in most Reverend Estimation because they are Gods Lieutenants in whose Session God sits as Iudge to whom by God is given the Sword c. That therefore whosoever deny unto Kings their Aid Counsel or Comfort while they vigilantly travel in the executing of their Office they deny their help support and Counsel to God who by the presence of his Lieutenant craveth it of them So it was professed by our Reformers How this principle could consist with their practices is none of my present concerns That is no more than to shew how our Presbyterian Brethren have deserted them in this matter Now Our Presbyterian Brethren make Kings as such not Gods but the Peoples creatures by consequence not Gods but the Peoples Lieutenants The People sets them on their Thrones They have their Power from the People They are the Peoples Trustees They are accountable to the People So that whosoever denys his Aid Counsel or Comfort to them while they vigilantly travel in executing their Office in true Logick can be said to deny them only to the People Even here then there is this great difference our Reformers maintain'd one good principle in Relation to Soveraign Powers Our present Presbyterians have even rejected that one good principle 'T is true indeed our Reformers seem to have been inconsequential in substituting Rebellious practices in the retinue of ane Orthodox principle And our Presbyterian Brethren seem to be consequential in having their principle and their practice of a piece But doth this mend the matter Nothing as I take it for all ends here That our Reformers believed Right tho they practiced Wrong But our Presbyterian Brethren are altogether Wrong They neither believe nor practice Right Thus I say it had been no difficult task to have instanced in many more of our Presbyterian Innovations But the taste I have given I think is sufficient for my purpose For laying together so many undeniable Innovations so many palpable and notorious Recessions from the principles and practices of our Reformers as I have adduced and these in so weighty and important matters as the Doctrine Worship Discipline Government and Rights of the Church I may fairly leave it to the world to judge if our Brethren have just reason to insist so much upon the principles of our Reformation or to entitle themselves as on all occasions they are so sollicitous and forward to do the only Real and Genuine Successors of our Reformers Neither is this all that may justly pinch them They have not only Receded from our Scottish Reformers but from all other Reformed Churches What Reformed Church in Christendom maintains all the Articles of the Westminster Confession What Reformed Church requires the profession of so many Articles not mainly for Peace and Vnity but as a Test of Orthodoxy What Reformed Church except our Kirk maintains the Divine Institution of Parity among the Pastors of the Church so as to make all kind of Prelacy simply unlawful What Reformed Church except the Scottish wants a Liturgy What Party in Europe that assumes the name of a National Church Condemns Liturgies set Forms of Prayer c. as Vnlawful except Scottish Presbyterians What Transmarine Reformed Church that is not Lutheran Condemns the Communion of the Church of England What Reformed Church maintains the Divine institution and the Indispensible Necessity of Ruling Elders in contradistinction to Pastors What Reformed Church maintains the Divine institution and the unalienable Right of Popular Elections of Pastors What Reformed Church ever offered to maintain that the Government of the Church by Bishops or a publick Liturgy or want of Ruling Elders distinct from Pastors or choosing Pastors otherwise than by the voices of the People or using some innocent and unforbidden Ceremonies as circumstances or Appendages of Divine worship or observing some days besides Sundays were sufficient grounds for breaking the Peace of a Church and dividing her Unity and setting up Altar against Altar What Reformed Church was ever Bound by her Rules and Canons to require of all such as she admitted to the participation of the Lords Supper the Subscription of such terms as are contained in the Solemn League and Covenant What Reformed Church doth not satisfy her self with the Profession of the Faith contain'd in the Apostles Creed at Baptism What Reformed Church requires the Profession of such a vast such a numberless number of Articles and Propositions as are contained in the Westminster Confession and the larger and shorter Catechisms of all those whom they receive into the Catholick Church What is this less than to make all these Propositions Necessary terms of their Communion And how impossible is it at this Rate ever to think of a Catholick Communion among Christians Is not this needlessly and by consequence very Criminally and Vnchristianly to lay a Fund for unavoidable unextinguishable and everlasting Schisms Neither yet is this all the Misery For Considering the Measures our Brethren steer by there is little ground to hope that they shall ever turn weary of Innovating The first Brood of Presbyterians the old Melvilians inverted as I have told almost the whole Scheme of our Reformers The next Birth the thirty-eight-men made innumerable Recessions from their Progenitors the Melvilians The present Production have forsaken most of the Measures of the thirty-eight-men And what hopes of their fixing When shall it be proper for them to say we have done innovating Hitherto we have innovated but we will innovate no farther How dreadful a thing is it for men to give loose Reins to the Spirit of Innovation But I shall not pursue this farther I know the temper of our Brethren 't is but too too probable they may impute it to Malice or Revenge or ane imbittered Spirit to some ill
of the Common Prayers of the Church of England or the Genevian Liturgy For we no where read of a Third ever pretended to have been used in those times in Scotland Now that it was not the Liturgy of Geneva is plain for besides that it is utterly incredible that there could have been so many Copies of the Genevian Form in the vulgar Language then in Scotland as might serve so many Parish Churches Nay that 't is highly probable there was not so much as one Besides this I say in the Genevian Form which was afterwards used in Scotland there is no Order for no footstep of the observation of other Holy-days besides Sunday Neither is there any Order in it for Reading of Lessons of the Old and New Testament except in the Treatise of Fasting which was not compiled till the year 1565. There indeed Lessons are appointed such and such Psalms and such and such Histories in the Old but not so much as one Tittle of the New Testament In all the rest of the Book a deep Silence about Lessons than which there cannot be a clearer Demonstration that the Book appointed to be used in December 1557 was not that of Geneva Indeed 2. None of our Presbyterian Historians neither Petrie nor Calderwood have the confidence to pretend nay to insinuate the possibility of its being the Common Order of Geneva which 't is very probable they would have done if they had had the smallest hopes of making it feasible On the contrary Calderwood seems fairly to acknowledge that it was the English Liturgy but then this acknowledgement lies at such a distance from the year 1557. that no doubt he thought himself pretty secure that few Readers would reflect upon it as ane acknowledgment he doth not make it till he comes to the year 1623 when he had occasion to tell how the use of the English Liturgy was brought into the New Colledge of St. Andrews Take it in his own words Upon the 15 th of January Master Robert Howie Principal of the New College of St. Andrews Doctor Wedderburn and Doctor Melvin were directed by a Letter from Doctor Young in the Kings Name to use the English Liturgy Morning and Evening in the New College where all the Students were present at Morning and Evening Prayers Which was presently put in execution notwithstanding they wanted the warrant of any General Assembly or of any CONTINVED PRACTICE OF THE FORM in time by-past since the Reformation Where you see he lays the stress of his Argument against it on its nor having had a continued Practice since the Reformation which is a clear concession that at the Reformation it was in practice tho that practice was not continued But whither he acknowledged this or not is no great matter we have sufficient Evidence for the point in hand without it For 3. Buchanan's Testimony which was adduced before about the Scots subscriving to the Worship and Rites of the Church of England is unexceptionable And yet it is not all For 4. The Order as you see it appointed by the Lords of the Congregation Decem. 3d 1557. is That the Book there authorised be used in all Churches from that very date but we find by the First Book of Discipline That the Order of Geneva was only coming in to be used then in some of the Churches i. e. 1560. And it had nothing like a public Establishment till the General Assembly holden at Edenburgh Dec. 25 1652. For then and not till then It was concluded that ane Vniform Order should be kept in the Ministration of the Sacraments Solemnization of Marriages and Burial of the Dead according to the Kirk of Geneva So it is in the Mss. and so Petrie hath it But Nature works again with Calderwood For he has no more but this It was ordained that ane Vniform Order be kept in the Ministration of the Sacraments according to the Book of Geneva Omitting Marriage and the Burial of the Dead Marriage I believe to bear the other Company for the Burial of the Dead was the Dead Flee Why The Book of Geneva allowed of Funeral Sermons as he himself acknowledgeth A mighty Superstition in the opinion of Prerbyterians so that it would have been offensive to the sincerer sort as he commonly calls those of his own Gang and inconsistent with the Exigences of the Good Cause to have let the world know that A General Assembly had ratified the Order of that Book about Burials and thereby had justified the Superstition of Funeral Sermons Nay 5. It seems this Act of the General Assembly Decem. 1562. has not been strong enough for turning out the English Liturgy and introducing the form of Geneva For if we may believe Calderwood himself The General Assembly holden at Edenburgh Decem. 25. 1564. found themselves concerned to make another Act ordaining Every Minister Exhorter and Reader to have one of the Psalm books lately printed at Edenburgh and use the Order contained therein in Prayers Marriage and Administration of the Sacraments Where observe further that Prayers not mentioned in the Act 1562. are now put in from which it may be probably conjectured that as much as Knox was against the English Liturgy he found many difficulties to get it laid aside so many that it has not only been used by some few or many I cannot tell in the Ministration of the Sacraments c. after the Act 1562. But the Clergy have not found themselves obliged to forbear the use of it in the publick prayers so that it was needful in this Assembly 1564 to make a New Act restricting them both as to Prayers and other Ministrations to the Order of Geneva And if this holds we have the English Liturgy at least seven Years in continued practice in Scotland But it is enough for my main purpose that it was once universally in use which I think cannot be denied by any who impartially considers what hath been said And now 6. May not I adduce one Testimony more 'T is true it is of a latter date But it is very plain and positive and what I have adduced already is security enough for its Credibility It is the Testimony of the Compilers of our Scottish Liturgy which made the great Stir in the year 1637. And was made one of the main pretences for the first Eruptions of that execrable Rebellion which ensued The Compilers of that Liturgy I say in their Preface to it tell us That it was then known that diverse years after the Reformation we had no other Order for Common Prayer but the English Liturgy A Third Principle wherein our Reformers agreed with the Church of England and which stands in direct contradiction to the Principles of our Presbyterians is that they own'd the Church had a great Dependance on the State That it belong'd to the Civil Magistrate to reform the Church That People might appeal from the Church to the Civil Magistrate c. I