Rebellion committed by Presbyterians you see All were EXTRAORDINARY ACTINGS In short Presbyterians are beyond reproaches in the Consciences of all that know them and do not hate them 2. Vind. p. 37 Now 'T was none of my designs to render the Presbyterians peculiarly odious by adducing these instances I know these Crimes are not peculiar to them I doubt not many of them are not violently inclined to Persecution or Rebellion I doubt as little many of them will be ready to acknowledge they are peccable as other men and things have been done by many of their party which such as are Ingenuous will not offer to Apologize for That which I was mainly concern'd for was our Authors Impudence For who ever saw greater Impudence than there is in these Ridiculous Defences he has been pleased to publish in Vindication of his party 4. Another instance might be his making his party so frequently the only Protestants in the Nation The only men that resisted or could resist or were willing to resist Popery Thus the Author of the Ten Questions had said and said truly That the Presbyterians accepted and gave thanks for ane Indulgince notwithstanding that they knew that all the Designs of the Court were for advancing Popery How our Author Justifies their Thankful Addressing to K. J. for such a favour shall be considered by and by That which I take notice of at present is his Apology for their accepting of that Indulgence It had been a strange thing says he 1 Vind. ad Quest. 8. § 2. if they should have been backward to Preach and hear the Gospel when a door was opened for it because some men had a design against the Gospel in their opening of it The Gospel you know was neither Preached nor heard in Scotland before a door was opened for it by that Indulgence But this by the way Surely their silence and peevish refusing on that occasion had been much to the hurt of the Gospel For then Papists who would not fail to use the Liberty for their part should have had the fairest occasion imaginable to mislead People without ANY TO OPPOSE THEM On the contrary their using that Liberty was the great mean by which with the blessing of the Lord so very few during that time of Liberty were perverted to Popery in the Nation Now who should doubt after this that all the Prelatists were silent Encouragers of Popery And that the Presbyterians were the only People who Preached against it zealously and opposed it boldly Here is such a Master-piece of our Authors main talent as I am confident no other Presbyterian in the nation will offer to extenuate far less justify He insists on the same Theme in his 2 Vind. p. 91. where he tells That wise men thought that the best way to keep out Popery was to make use of the Liberty for setting the People in the right way c. As if there had been no possibility of keeping them from turning Papists but by making them Presbyterians 5. Near of kin to this is that other Common Head he sometimes insists on viz. That all are Papists or Popishly affected who were not for the late Revolution Thus in his 1 Vind. ad Quest. 9. § 4. in Answer to that Allegation that the Presbyterians denyed the Kings prerogative of making Peace and War c. He tells the world If this his Argument can cast any blame on Presbyterians 't is this that there are Cases in which they allow the States and Body of the Nation to resist the King so far as to hinder him to root out the Religion that is by Law Established among them And one should think that he might have been by this time convinced that this is not peculiar to Prebyterians But that all the Protestants in Britain are engaged in the same thing And in his True Represent ad Ob. 2 He has these plain words what was done in removing K. J. from his Throne was not by us alone but by all the TRUE PROTESTANTS in the Nation who were indeed Concerned for the safety of that Holy Religion Now 'T is none of my present business to justify or Apologize for such as were or are against the late Revolution Let Iacobitism be as great ane Heresie as our Author pleases to call it Let him rank it with Platonism or Socinianism if he will Only I dare be bold to say that it was ane odd stretch of Impudence to make it Popery I mentioned a little above his Apologizing for his party's Addressing so thankfully to K. I. for his Toleration And truly his performances that way may pass 6. For another instance of his having a good Dose of Brow as himself commonly calls his own prime Accomplishment For it was such ane Arrant mixture of Flattery and Hypocrisy especially when enlightened by their subsequent practice that no Sophistry can palliate it so as to make it seem innocent But it has been so frequently tossed already that I need not to insist upon it Far less am I at leisure to examine all the ridiculous stuff our Author has vented about it Only one thing I shall propose to the world to be farther considered Whoso has Read any of our Authors Vindications of his Church of Scotland cannot but have observed that even to loathsomeness he was precise in pursuing his Adversaries foot for foot on all occasions when Impudence it self could afford him any thing to say Yet one thing of very great consequence was alledged by the Author of the Second Letter to which he has Answered nothing What else could move our Author to this sinful and unseasonable silence but the Conscience that it was not fit to meddle with it The Matter is this The Author of that Letter having Discoursed how amazed the Presbyterians themselves were at the Dispensing Power upon the publication of K. I.'s first Proclamation for the Toleration How little forward they were at first to accept of it And how they complyed not with its designs till they got a Second Edition of it c. Offered at conjecturing about the Reasons which might have induced them afterwards to embrace it so thankfully and unanimously as they did Amongst the rest I find he insisted on this as one viz. That they had got secret instructions from Holland to comply with the Dispensing Power in subserviency to the ensuing Revolution And he added that for this he knew there were very strong Presumptions Now G. R. I say passed this over in a profound silence which to me seems a considerable presumption that there was some truth in the matter and the Epistler had guesâ—ed right But if it was so I think the Presbyterian Address to K. I. for the Toleration may now appear in blacker colours than ever I am earnest not to be mistaken I do not Condemn their keeping a Correspondence with the Court at the Hague on that occasion Let that have been done dutifully or undutifully as it might All I am
found successful For Secretary Cecil no sooner heard of their intention than he sent them word That their Enterprize misliked not the English Council Upon the sight of this great Ministers Letter which brought them so comfortable news they instantly return'd ane Answer Knox has it word for word I shall only take ane Abstract of what is proper for my present purpose In short then They perceive their Messenger Master Kircaldie of Grange hath found Cecil ane unfeigned favourer of Christ's true Religion As touching the Assurance of a perpetual Amity to stand betwixt the two Realms as no earthly thing is more desired by them so they crave of God to be made the Instruments by which the Unnatural Debate which hath so long continued between the Nations may be composed To the Praise of Gods Name and the Comfort of the Faithful in both Realms If the English Wisdom can foresee and devise how the same may be brought to pass they may perswade themselves not only of the Scottish Consent and Assistance but of their Constancy as Men can promise to their lives end And of Charge and Commandment to be left by them to their posterity that the Amity between the Nations IN GOD contracted and begun may be by them kept inviolate for Ever Their Confederacy Amity and League shall not be like the pactions made by worldly men for worldly profit but as they Require it FOR GODS CAUSE so they will call upon his Name for the Observation of it As this their Confederacy requires Secresy so they doubt not the English Wisdom will communicate it only to such as they know to be favourers of such A GODLY CONJUNCTION And in their opinion it would much help if the Preachers both in perswasion and in publick prayers as theirs in Scotland do would commend the same unto the people And thus after their most humble Commendation to the Queen's Majesty whose Reign they wish may be prosperous and long to the Glory of God and Comfort of his Church they heartily commit him to the Protection of the Omnipotent Given at Edenburgh Iuly 17. Anno 1559. Before I proceed further I must tell my Reader that all our Historians are extreamly defective as to this great Transaction between Scotland and England I am now accounting for None of them neither Buchanan nor Lesly nor Spotswood hath this Letter except Knox and he calls it the first Letter to Sir William Cecil from the Lords of the Congregation which imports there were more as no doubt there were many and yet he hath not so much as a second Besides I find by Knox Buchanan and Spotswood that in November 1559 Secretary Maitland was sent by the Lords of the Congregation to treat with the Queen of England I find likewise that he managed the matter so and brought it to such maturity that immediately upon his return the League between the Queen of England and the Scottish Lords was transacted and finished and yet I can no where find what Commission he had nor what Instructions how he manag'd his business nor upon what terms the Queen of England and He came to an Agreement and several other such lamentable defects I find so that it is not possible for me to give so exact a Deduction of such ane important Matter as were to be wished Tho I doubt not if it had been clearly and fully deduced it might have brought great Light to many things about our Reformation which now so far as I know are buried in Obscurity Any man may readily imagine how sensible one that would perform my present task must needs be of so great a disadvantage However when we cannot have what we would we must satisfy our selves the best way we can And so I return to my purpose which tho I cannot dispatch so punctually as might be desired yet I hope to do it sufficiently and to the satisfaction of all sober tho not nicely critical Enquirers To go on then By the aforementioned Letter you see The Lords of the Congregation referr'd it to the Wisdom of the English Council to foresee and devise the Means and Assurances they are the very words of the Letter how ane effectual Confederacy might be made between them for Gods Cause Now let us reason a little upon the common principles of prudence where Matter of Fact is so defective What was more natural for the English Council to Require than that now that the English Reformation was perfected and legally established and the Scottish was only in forming the Scots should engage to transcribe the English Copy and establish their Reformation upon that same foot i. e. receive the Doctrine Worship Rites and Government of the Church of England so that there might be no difference between the two Churches but both might be of the same Constitution so far as the necessary distinction of the two States would allow The point in Agitation was a Confederacy in opposition to Popery and for the security of the Reformed Religion in both Kingdoms It was obvious therefore to foresee that it would be the stronger and every way the better suited to that great End if both Churches stood on one bottom For who sees not that Different Constitutions are apt to be attended with Different Customs which in process of time may introduce Different Sentiments and Inclinations Who sees not that the smallest Differences are apt to create jealousies divisions cross-interests And that there 's nothing more necessary than Vniformity for preserving Vnity Besides Queen Elizabeth was peculiarly concerned to crave this There 's nothing more necessary to support a State especially a Monarchy than Vnity of Religion It was for the Support of her State the Security of her Monarchy that she was to enter into this Confederacy She was affraid of the Queen of Scotland's pretensions to the Crown of England For this cause she was confederating with the Queen of Scotland's Subjects that she might have them of her side It was her concern therefore to have them as much secured to her interests as possibly she could they were then at a great Bay without her succour and had referred it to her and her Council to foresee and devise the terms on which she would grant it And now laying all these things together what was more natural I say than that she should demand that they should be of the same Religion and their Church of the same Constitution with the Church of England This politick was so very obvious that 't is not to be imagined she and her wise Council could overlook it And tho it had been no where upon Record that she craved it yet the common sense of mankind would stand for its Credibility what shall we say then if we find it recorded by ane Historian whose Honesty is not to be questioned in this matter And such ane one we have even Buchanan himself tho he misplaces it and narrates it a long time after it
am not now to enter into the Controversie concerning the Dependence or Independence of the Church upon the State that falls not within the compass of my present Undertaking Neither will I say that our Presbyterians are in the wrong as to the true substantial Matter agitated in that Controversie All I am concerned for at present is that in these times those of the Church of England own'd a great Dependence of the Church upon the State and that our Reformers agreed with them in that Principle and I think I may make short work of it For That that was the Principle of the Church of England in these times I think no man can readily deny who knows any thing about her at and a good many years after her Reformation All my business is to shew that our Reformers were of that same Principle And I think that shall be easily made to appear For As to the Civil Magistrates power to reform the Church what can be more clear than the Petition presented to the Queen Regent in November 1558 There our Reformers tell her Majesty that Knowing no Order placed in this Realm but her Majesty and her grave Council set to amend as well the Disorder Ecclesiastical as the Defaults in the Temporal Regiment they do most humbly prostrate themselves before her Feet asking Iustice and her Gracious Help against such as falsely traduced and accused them as Hereticks and Schismaticks c. In which Address we have these two things very clear and evident 1. That they own'd that the Civil Magistrate had power to amend Ecclesiastical Disorders as well as Temporal 2. That in consequence of this they applied to the Civil Magistrate for protection against the pursuits of the Church And in their Protestation given in to the Parliament about that same time They most humbly beseech the sacred Authority to think of them as faithful and obedient Subjects and take them into its Protection keeping that Indifferency which becometh Gods Lieutenants to use towards those who in his Name do call for Defence against Cruel Oppressors c. Meaning the then Church-men Indeed None clearer for this than Knox himself as is to be seen fully in his Appellation from the cruel and most unjust Sentence pronounced against him by the False Bishops and Clergy of Scotland as he himself names it For there He lays down and endeavours to prove this Assertion That it is lawful to Gods prophets and to Preachers of Christ Iesus to appeal from the Sentence and Iudgment of the visible Church to the Knowledge of the temporal Magistrate who by Gods Law is bound to hear their Causes and to defend them from Tyranny And in that same Appellation he largerly asserts and maintains the Dependance of the Church upon the State The Ordering and Reformation of Religion with the instruction of Subjects he says doth appertain especially to the Civil Magistrate For why Moses had great power in the Matters of Religion God revealed nothing particularly to Aaron the Church-man but commanded him to depend from the Mouth of Moses the Civil Magistrate Moses was impowered to separate Aaron and his Sons for the Priesthood Aaron and his Sons were subject to Moses Moses was so far preferred to Aaron that the one commanded the other obeyed The Kings of Israel were commanded to read the Book of the Law all the days of their Lives not only for their own private Edification but for the publick preservation of Religion so David Solomon Asa Iehosophat Hezekiah Iosiah understood it and interested themselves in the Matters of the Church accordingly From which it is evident saith he That the Reformation of Religion in all points together with the Punishment of false Teachers doth appertain to the power of the Civil Magistrate For what God required of them his justice must require of others having the like Charge and Authority what he did approve in them he cannot but approve in all others who with like Zeal and Sincerity do enterprize to purge the Lords Temple and Sanctuary Thus Knox I say in that Appellation I do not concern my self with the truth or falshood of his positions neither am I to justify or condemn his Arguments All I am to make of it is to ask my Presbyterian Brethren whither these Principles of Knox's suit well with declining the Civil Magistrate as ane incompetent Iudge in Ecclesiastical matters with refusing to appear before him prima instantia for the tryal of Doctrines preacht in the Pulpit with the famous distinction of the Kings having power about Church matters Cumulative but not Privative c. I am affraid it shall be hard enough to reconcile them I shall only instance in one principle more which seems to have been common to our and the English Reformers but it is one of very weighty consequence and importance to my main design It is Fourthly That Excellent Rule of Reformation viz. That it be done according to the word of God interpreted by the Monuments and Writings of the Primitive Church That antient solid approven Rule That Rule so much commended by that excellent Writer Vincentius Lirinensis That Rule which the common sense of mankind cannot but justify when it is considered soberly and seriously without partiality or prejudice A Rule indeed which had the Reformers of the several Churches followed unitedly and conscientiously in those times when the Churches in the Western parts of Europe were a Reforming we had not had so many different Faiths so many different Modes of Worship so many different Governments and Disciplines as Alas this day divide the Protestant Churches and by consequence weaken the Protestant Interest A Rule which had the pretenders to Reformed Religion in Scotland still stood by we had not possibly had so many horrid Rebellions so many unchristian Divisions so many unaccountable Revolutions both in Church and State as to our sad Experience have in the Result so unhing'd all the Principles of natural justice and honesty and disabled nay eaten out the principles of Christianity amongst us that now we are not disposed so much for any thing as downright Atheism But were our Reformers indeed for this Rule That shall be demonstrated by and by when we shall have occasion to bring it in again as naturally to which opportunity I now refer it in the mean time let us briefly sum up all that hath been hitherto said and try to what it amounts I have I think made it appear that while our Reformation was a carrying on and when it was established Anno 156â— there was no such Controversie agitated in the Churches as that concerning the indispensible necessity of Presbytery and the Vnlawfulness of Prelacy concerning the Divine Right of Parity or the Vnallowableness of imparity amongst the Governors of the Church I have said enough to make it credible that our Scottish Reformers had no peculiar occasions opportunities provocations abilities for falling on that Controversie or determining of it more
Majesty to suppress such as fight against his Glory Albeit that both NATURE and GODS MOST PERFECT ORDINANCE REPUGNE to such Regiment More plainly to speak If Queen Elizabeth shall Confess that the EXTRAORDINARY DISPENSATION of Gods great Mercy makes that LAWFUL unto HER which both NATURE and GODS LAW do DENY unto all Women Then shall none in England be more willing to maintain her Lawful Authority than I shall be But if GODS WONDROUS WORK set aside She ground as God forbid the justness of her Title upon Consuetude Laws and Ordinances of Men then I am assured that as such foolish presumption doth highly offend Gods Supreme Majesty so I greatly fear that her Ingratitude shall not long lack punishment This was pretty fair but it was not enough He thought it proper to write to that Queen her self and give her a Dish of that same Doctrine His Letter is dated at Edenburg Iuly 29. 1559. In which having told her He never intended by his Book to assert any thing that might be prejudicial to her Iust Regiment providing she were no◠found Unfaithful to God he bespeaks her thus Ingrate you will be found in the presence of his Throne if you transfer the Glory of that Honour in which you now stand to any other thing than the DISPENSATION of his Mercy which ONLY maketh that Lawful to your Majesty which NATURE and LAW denyeth to all Women to command and bear Rule over Men In Conscience I am compelled to say that neither the consent of People the Process of time nor Multitude of Men can Establish a Law which God shall approve but whatsoever he approveth by his Eternal word that shall be approved and stay constantly firm And whatsoever he Condemneth shall be Condemned tho' all Men on Earth should travel for the justification of the same And therefore Madam The only way to retain and keep the Benefits of God abundantly of late days poured upon you and your Realm is unfeignedly to render unto God to his Mercy and undeserved Grace the whole Glory of all this your Exaltation Forget your BIRTH and all TITLE which thereupon doth hang It pertaineth to you to ground the JUSTICE of your Authority not on that LAW which from year to year doth change but upon the ETERNAL PROVIDENCE of him who CONTRARY to the ORDINARY course of NATURE and without your deserving hath exalted your Head If thus in Gods presence you humble your self I will with Tongue and Pen justify your Authority and Regiment as the Holy Ghost hath justified the same in Deborah that Blessed Mother in Israel But if you neglect as God forbid these things and shall begin to Brag of your Birth and to Build your Authority and your Regiment upon your own Law flatter you who so listeth your Felicity shall be short c. Let Contentious People put what Glosses they please on Bishop Overal's Convocation Book sure I am here is the Providential Right so plainly taught that no Glosses can obscure it Here it is maintain'd in plain terms and Resolutely in opposition to all the Laws not only of Men but of God and Nature Thus I have given a taste of such principles as the Prelatists in Scotland profess they disown tho' maintain'd by our Reformers It had been easy to have instanced in many more But these may be sufficient for my purpose which was not in the least to throw dirt on our Reformers to whom I am as willing as any man to pay a due reverence but to stop the mouth of impertinent clamour and 〈◊〉 the world have occasion to consider if it is such a scandalous thing to think otherwise than our Reformers thought as our Brethren endeavour on all occasions to perswade the populace For these principles of our Reformers which I have mentioned in Relation to Civil Governments are the principles in which we have most forsaken them And let the world judge which set of principles has most of Scandal in it Let the world judge I say whither their principles or ours participate most of the Faith the Patience the Self-denyal c. of Christians Whither principles have least of the love of the world and most of the image of Christ in them Whither principles have greatest affinity with the principles and practices of the Apostles and their immediate successors in the most afflicted and by consequence the most incorrupted times of Christianity Whither principles have a more natural tendency towards the security of Governments and the peace of Societies and seem most effectual for advancing the power of Godliness and propagating the Profession and the life of Christianity I further subjoyn these two things 1. I challenge our Presbyterian Brethren to convict us of the Scandal of receding from our Reformers in any one principle which they maintain'd in Common with the Primitive Church the Universal Church of Christ before she was tainted with the Corruptions of Popery And if we have not done it as I am Confident our Brethren shall never be able to prove we have our receding from our Reformers as I take it ought to be no prejudice against us I think the Authority of the Catholick Church in the days of her indisputed Purity and Orthodoxy ought in all Reason to be deem'd preferable to the Authority of our Reformers especially considering that they themselves professed to own the Sentiments of the Primitive Church as a part at least of the Complexe Rule of Reformation as I have already proved 2. I challenge our Presbyterian Brethren to instance in so much as one principle in which we have Deserted our Reformers wherein our Deserting them can by any Reasonable by any Colourable construction be interpreted ane approach towards Popery I think no Man who understands any thing of the Popish Controversies can readily allow himself the Impudence to say that to dislike Tumultuary Reformations and deposing Sovereign Princes and subverting Civil Governments c. upon the score of Religion is to be for Popery Or that the Doctrine of Submission to Civil Authority the Doctrine of Passive Obedience or Non-resistance or which I take to be much about one in the present case the Doctrine of the Cross are Popish Doctrines Or that to Condemn the Traiterous Distinction between the Person and the Authority of the Civil Magistrate as it is commonly made use of by some People and as it is Condemned by the Laws of both Kingdoms is to turn either Papistical or Iesuitical Let our Brethren if they can Purge their own Doctrines in these matters of all Consanguinity with Popery And now after all this 3. I would desire my Readers to remember that this Artifice of Prejudicating against principles because different from or inconsistent with the principles of our Reformers is none of our Contrivance Our Presbyterian Brethren not we were the First who set on foot this Popular tho' very pitiful way of Arguing By all the Analogies then of equitable and just Reasoning they ought to
Parity or the Vnlawfulness of Prelacy in all these controversies He was warm enough then and eager enough to have found faults in the English Constitution yet he never charged her with the horrid guilt of Prelacy Not so much as one word of that in any Account I have seen of these Troubles How suitable had it been for him to have declared himself in this matter in his Appelation from the cruel and most unjust sentence pronounced against him by the false Bishops and Clergy of Scotland as he calls them published by himself Anno 1558 yet in all that Appellation not one syllable to this purpose On the contrary he plainly supposes the Lawfulness of the Episcopal Office all alongst throughout it He appeals to a Lawful General Council Such a Council as the most Ancient Laws and Canons do approve And who knows not that the most Ancient Laws and Canons made Bishops the Chief if not the only Members of such Councils He says if the Popish Clergy his Adversaries are for it He is content that Matters in Controversie between him and them be determined by the Testimonies and Authorities of Doctors and Councils Three things being granted him whereof these are two 1. That the most Ancient Councils nearest to the Primitive Church in which the Learned and Godly Fathers examined all matters by Gods word may be holden of most Authority 2. That no Determinations of Councils nor Men be admitted against the plain verity of Gods word nor against the Determinations of the four chief Councils Would he if he had been Presbyterian have agreed so frankly to have stood by the Determination of these 4 Chief Councils Could he have expected they would have favoured the Divine Right of Presbyterian Parity Will any Scottish Presbyterian now adays stand to the Decision of these 4 Councils Farther In that same Appelation he requires of the Nobility that the Bishops be compelled to make answer for the neglecting their Office which plainly supposes the Lawfulness of the Office and charges Guilt only on the Officers When had it been more seasonable than in his Admonition to the Commonalty of Scotland published also Anno 1558 His great design in it was to excite them to a Reformation by loading the Papistical Clergy with every thing that was abominable Yet not a Syllable of it here neither nothing but a farther and a clearer Supposition of the Lawfulness of Prelacy You may says he in a peaceable manner without Sedition withhold the fruits and profits which your false Bishops and Clergy most unjustly receive of you until such time as they shall faithfully do their Charge and Duties which is To preach unto you Christ Jesus truly Rightly to minister the Sacraments according to his Institution And so to watch for your Souls as is commanded by Christ c. If this supposes not the Innocency of the Episcopal Office in it self I know not what can Had he been for the Divine Right of Parity how unfaithful had he been in his Faithful Admonition to the true Professors of the Gospel of Christ within the Kingdom of England written Anno 1554 His great work there was to ennumerate the Causes which in Gods righteous judgment brought Queen Mary's Persecution on them But he quite forgot to name the Sin of Prelacy as one Assuredly he had not done so had he been of the same sentiments with our Famous General Assembly 1690. How unfaithfully was it done of him I say thus to conceal one of the most Crimson Guilts of the Nation But this is not the worst of it In that same Admonition he has a most scandalous Expression sure he was not then sufficiently purg'd of Popish Corruption God gave says he such strength to that REVEREND FATHER IN GOD Thomas Cranmer to cut the Knots of Devilish Sophistry c. To call an Archbishop a Reverend Father in God what was it else but the plain Language of the Beast How Rankly did it smell of the Whore How seasonable had it been in his Letter to the Queen Regent of Scotland written Anno 1556 and published by himself with additions Anno 1558 He talked very freely about the Popish Bishops in it but never a Tittle of the Vnlawfulness of the Office It is plain from that Letter he never dream'd of the Doughty Argument so much insisted on since against Prelacy viz. That it is a Branch of Popery and Bishops are Limbs of Antichrist For having stated it as one of the Popish Arguments That their Religion was ancient and it was not possible that that Religion could be false which so long time so many Councils and so great a Multitude of Men had authorized and confirmed He gives his answer thus If Antiquity of time shall be considered in such Cases Then shall not only the Idolatry of the Gentiles but also the False Religion of Mahomet be preferred to the Papistry For both the one and the other is more ancient than is the Papistical Religion Yea Mahomet had Established his Alcoran before any Pope of Rome was crowned with a Triple Crown c. Can any man think Iohn Knox was so very unlearned as to imagine that Episcopacy was not much older than Mahomet or knowing it to be older that yet he could have been so Ridiculous as to have thought it a Relict of Popery which he himself affirmed to be younger than Mahometism whoso pleases may see more of his sentiment about the Novelty of Popery in his conference with Queen Mary recorded in his History One other Testimony to this purpose I cannot forbear to transcribe All that know any thing of the History of our Reformation must be presum'd to know That Superintendency was Erected by Mr. Knox's his special advice and counsel That it was in its very height Anno 1566 is as indubitable Now we are told that Knox wrote the 4 th Book of his History that year Hear him therefore in his Introduction to it We can speak the Truth whomsoever we offend There is no Realm that hath the Sacraments in like Purity For all others how sincere that ever the Doctrine be that by some is taught Retain in their Churches and in the Ministers thereof some Footsteps of Antichrist and Dregs of Popery But we all Praise to God alone have Nothing within our Churches that ever flowed from that Man of Sin Let any man judge now if Mr. Knox lookt upon imparity as a Dreg of Popery Thus we have found Knox when he had the fairest occasions the strongest temptations the most awakening calls when it was most seasonable for him to have declared for the Divine Right of Parity and the Vnlawfulness of Prelacy still silent in the matter or rather on all occasions proceeding on suppositions and reasoning from principles fairly allowing the Lawfulness of Prelacy But is there no more to be said Yes More with a witness In his Exhortation to England for the speedy Embracing of Christs Gospel
can it be imagined that Henry who was so serious with the King of Scots was at no pains at all with his Subjects with the Nobility and Gentry with such as might had influence either at the Court or in the Country No certainly as may be evident if we consider 4. That when in the year 1540 or 1541 Henry was earnest for a Congress with Iames to try no doubt if meeting face to face and personal and familiar Converse and Conference might prevail with him All our Scottish Protestants were mighty zealous that the Interview might take effect and both time and place which was York might be punctually observed Is not this a Demonstration that they understood Henry's project and approved his designs and that they were in the same Bottom with him in pursuance of a Reformation 'T is true Iames followed other Counsels and disappointed the Interview and therefore Henry turn'd angry and raised War against him But then 't is as true that Iames found his Subjects so backward as I shewed and was so unsuccessful in the management of that War that he contracted Melancholy and soon after died Add to this 5. That after Iames's Death Henry persisted in his Concern to advance the Reformation in Scotland as well as in England To this end He was careful that those of the Scottish Nobility and Gentry who were taken Prisoners at Solway-moss might be lodged with such persons as could instruct them in the Reforming Principles And so soon as he heard that Iames was dead and had left a Daughter some few days old yet Heiress of the Crown He dispatched them for Scotland to promote his interests in the Matter of the Match he was zealous to have made betwixt his Son Prince Edward and our Infant Soveraign Indeed they were as diligent as he could have desired They got it carried in Parliament and that they did it from a prospect of carrying on the Reformation of Religion by that conjunction cannot be doubted if we may believe Dr. Burnet in his Abridgment of the History of the Reformation of the Church of England For there he not only tells That Cassils had got these seeds of Knowledge at Lambeth under Cranmer ' s influences which produced afterwards a Great Harvest in Scotland But also That the other Prisoners were instructed to such a degree that they came to have very different thoughts of the Changes that had been made in England from what the Scottish Clergy had possessed them with who had encouraged their King to engage in the War by the assurance of Victory since he fought against ane Heretical Prince c. And a little after They were sent home and went away much pleased both with the Splendor of the Kings Court and with the way of Religion which they had seen in England And that we have reason to believe this Author in this matter is evident because he is justified herein by all our Historians especially Buchanan as my appear by the sequel Here was Success of the English influences Seven of the Supreme Order i. e. Noblemen and 24 of inferior Quality considerable Gentlemen all enlightned in England for so Buchanan numbers them And here by the way it will not be amiss to consider the strength of the Protestant Party in Scotland when in this Parliament wherein the Match by the influence of the English Converts was agreed to They were so strong that they carried the Regency for the Earl of Arran prompted thereto chiefly by the perswasion they had of his affection to the Reformation as is evident from the consentient Accounts of Buchanan Knox and Spotswood They carried it for the Match with England in opposition to all the Popish Party as I have just now represented Nay which is more because more immediately concerning the Reformation of Religion they procured ane Act to be made That it should be Lawful to every Man to take the Benefit of the Translation which they then had of the Bible and other Treatises containing wholsome Doctrine c. Indeed at that time the Reformation was so far advanced That the Regent kept his two Protestant Chaplains Guillam and Rough both Church of England men as we shall hear who preached publickly to the Court and declaim'd boldly against the Roman Corruptions So far advanced that it stood fair within a short space to have got the publick establishment if Arran the Regent to keep the Popes Cover on his Title to the Succession wherein without it there were a Couple of sad Chasms and for other worldly ends had not play'd the Iade by renouncing his Profession and returning to the Popes Obedience Observe further by the way That this first Parliament of Queen Mary's was holden in her name and by her Authority upon the 13th of March 1542 3 as is clear not only from our Historians but the printed Acts of Parliament and she was not crowned till the 20th of August thereafter if we may believe both Lesly and Buchanan And yet there was not so much as the least objection made then against the Legality of the Parliament no such thing was thought on So that 't is no new nor illegal thing for Scottish Monarchs to hold Parliaments before their Coronations But this as I said by the way Such was the strength of the Reforming Party then and this strength under God advanced so far principally by English influences And all this will appear more convincing still when it is considered in the 6th place That all alongst the Popish Clergy were very sensible of it and very much offended with it and were at all imaginable pains to disappoint it and oppose it Thus When Henry sent the Bishop of St. Davids as we have heard Anno 1535. to treat with Iames about Reforming the Clergy were in a dreadful pother how to keep off the Interview and used all imaginable Arguments with the King to disswade him from listening to it Telling him it would ruine Religion and that would ruine his Soul his State his Kingdom c. Nay The Pope himself was extreamly solicitous how to prevent so great a mischief as he deem'd it For as Lesly tells us His Holiness finding that Henry had cast off his Yoke and fearing lest Iames should transcribe his Uncles Copy sent his Legates to Scotland to confirm him in the Faith and fortify him against Henry's impressions And Buchanan says He allowed him the Tenths of all the Benefices within the Kingdom for three years time to keep him right Again When Henry Anno 1540. insisted the second time for ane Interview the Clergy were in a whole Sea of troubles They used all arts and tried all Methods to impede it At last they sell upon the true Knack and a true Demonstration of their Concern seeing it was a Knack that lookt so unkindly on their Pockets which was to promise him Money largely no less than 30000 Crowns yearly says Buchanan Knox
calls them 50000 out of their Benefices besides a vast sum which might arise out of the confiscated Estates of Hereticks 50000 Crowns was a good round summ in those days in Scotland Further How were they alarm'd what fears were they under what shapes did they turn themselves in what tricks did they play when the Match betwixt Edward and Mary spoken of before was in Agitation The Cardinal forged a Will in the Kings Name nominating himself the principal of four Conjunct Regents for managing the Government during the Queen's Minority intending thereby to secure the Popish interests and prevent the coming of the Nobility from England who he knew would lay out themselves with all their Might to oppose him being his Enemies upon the account of Religion and advance the Designs of England This not succeeding for the forgery was manifest His next Care was that all the Popish Party should tumultuate bawl and clamour confound and disturb the Parliament all they could which indeed was done so successfully that nothing could be done to purpose till he was committed to Custody Neither did this put an end to these practices of the Party but so soon as the Parliament having concluded the Match was over and he set at Liberty with the Queen Dowagers advice who was all over French and Papist He convenes the Clergy represents to them the impossibility of their standing the certain Ruine of the Catholick Religion every thing that could be frightful to them unless that Confederacy with England were broken obliges them therefore to tax themselves and raise great Sums of Money for Bribing some of the Nobility that were not proof against its Charms and Beauties And to use all their Rhetorick with others to the same purpose And lastly it was concluded in that Religious Meeting That the Match and Alliance should be preacht against from the Pulpits and that all possible pains should be taken to excite the Populace to Tumults and Rabbles and treat the English Ambassador with all affronting Tricks and Rudenesses In short the Faction never gave over till they had cajol'd the weak Regent into ane Abjuration of Protestancy as was told before and reconciled him to the French which then in Scotland was all one with the Popish Interest Nay His Holiness himself again interrested himself in this juncture as Lesly tells us sending Petrus Franciscus Contarenus Patriarch of Venice his Legate into Scotland to treat with the Regent and the Nobility in the Popes Name and promise them large assistances against the English if they would break the Contract of Marriage betwixt Edward and Mary which had so fatal ane aspect towards the Catholick Religion By this Taste 't is easy to discern how much the Popish Party were perswaded of the great influence England had on Scotland in order to a Reformation of Religion And laying all together that hath been said 't is as easy to perceive they wanted not reason for such a perswasion Having thus given a brief Deduction of the State of our Reformation in King Henry's time and made it apparent that it was much encouraged and quickened by English Influences then I think I need not insist much on the succeeding Reigns Briefly then 7. As Edward the Sixth had the same reasons for interesting himself in our Scottish affairs which his Father Henry had before him so we find his Counsels were suited accordingly No sooner was Henry dead and Somerset warm'd in his Protectoral Chair than the Demands about the Match were renewed And being rejected by the Popish Party here who had our weak Regent at their Beck and were then the governing Party the Matter ended in a Bloody War Somerset raised a great Army and entered Scotland But before it came to fighting he sent a Letter to the Scots written in such ane obliging stile and containing so kind and so fair so equitable propositions That the Regent advis'd by some Papists about him thought fit not to publish it to his Army but to give out that it tended to quite contrary purposes than it really contained That it contain'd Threats that the English were come to carry off the Queen by force and Ruine and Enslave the Nation c. Dreading no doubt that if he had dealt candidly and shewed the Letter to such men of interest in the Nation as were there it would have taken so with them that they would have laid aside thoughts of Fighting Indeed this was no groundless jealousie the matter was above-board For as Buchanan tells us In the next Convention of Estates which was holden shortly after that fatal Battel of Pinkie those who were for the Reformation being of the same Religion with England were zealous for the English Alliance and against sending the Queen into France and that they were the Papists only who were for sending her thither 8. When Edward died and his Sister Mary ascended the Throne a heavy Cloud indeed did hang over both Nations and threatned a dreadful storm to the Reformation of Religion Mary according to her surly humour fell to downright Persecution in England And our Q. Dowager having shouldered out Arran and possest herself of the Scottish Regency in her subtle way was as zealous to maintain the Superstitions of Popery using less Cruelty indeed than Mary but more policy and to the same purposes And now the purgation of Christianity seem'd to be brought to a lamentable stand in both Kingdoms and the hopes of those to be quite dasht who were breathing for the profession of that Holy Religion in its purity Yet God in his kind providence did otherwise dispose of things and made that a means to advance Religion amongst us which men thought should have utterly extinguisht it For some of those who fled from Mary's persecution in England taking their Refuge into this Kingdom did not only help to keep the light which had begun to shine but made the Sun to break up more clear than before as Spotswood hath it from Knox. For then came into Scotland William Harlaw Iohn Willock Iohn Knox c. of whom more hereafter Thus we were still deriving more light and heat from England 9. Mary died and Elizabeth succeeded in November 1588. our Queen was then in France It was morally impossible to recover her thence The English influences which in Henry and Edwards time had cherished our Reformation except so far as God sent us Harlaw Willock and Knox by his special providence as I told just now were quite cut off all the time of Mary's Government Our Reformers therefore to make the best of a bad hand were earnest to be amongst the foremost Courtiers with the Queen Regent They were ready to serve her design with all possible frankness particularly they were amongst the most forward for carrying on the Match with the Dauphine of France and voted chearfully that he should have the Matrimonial Crown conferred upon him after the solemnization of the Marriage In
that it was a contrivance of the wicked and envious Papists thereby to Ruine the Church of England Doth he not suppose all these as unundoubted Truths I say Or rather doth he not positively or expresly assert them And now if Separation from the Church of England and condemning her Communion as ane Vnlawful Communion can consist with these principles and suppositions or if he who reasons on these suppositions and from these principles can be deem'd at the same time to have been for the Vnlawfulness of the Communion of the Church of England I must confess I know not what it is to collect mens sentiments from their Principles and Reasonings Whoso pleases may find more of Knox's sentiments to this purpose in his Exhortation to England for the speedy receiving of Christs Gospel Dated from Geneva Ianuary 12. 1559. For there he calls England happy In that God by the power of his verity of late years i. e. in King Edward's time had broken and destroyed the intolerable yoke of her spiritual Captivity and brought her forth as it had been from the bottom of Hell and from the Thraldom of Satan in which she had been holden blinded by Idolatry and Superstition to the fellowship of his Angels and the possession of that rich Inheritance prepared to his Dearest Children with Christ Iesus his Son And a little after he says of the Church of England that in that same King Edward's days she was a Delectable Garden planted by the Lords own hand And in his Letter to Secretary Cecil from Diep April 10 1559. he tells him He expects that same favour from him which it becometh one Member of Christs Body to have for another And in his Letter to Q. Elizabeth from Edenburgh 28 Iuly 1559. He renders thanks unfeignedly to God That it hath pleased him of his eternal Goodness to exalt her Head to the Manifestation of his Glory and the Extirpation of Idolatry Is this like the Clamour which has been ordinary with our Presbyterians about the Idolatry of the Church of England And in the conclusion of that Letter he prays that the Spirit of the Lord Iesus may so rule her in all her Actions and Enterprizes that in her God may be Glorified his Kirk Edified and she as a lively Member of the same may be ane Example of Virtue and Godliness of Life to all others Are these like the sayings of one who in the mean time judged the Communion of the Church of England ane Unlawful Communion 'T is true indeed Iohn Knox was displeased with some things in the English Liturgy He thought she had some Modes and Ceremonies there which were scandalous as symbolizing too much with the Papists and it cannot be denied that he disturbed the peace of the English Church at Francfort But if I mistake not he did so not that he thought the terms of her Communion truly sinful but that he judged his own or rather the Genevian Model purer For 't is reasonable to think he proceeded on the same principles and was of the same sentiments with his Master Calvin And nothing can be clearer than that Calvin did not condemn the things scrupled at as impious or unlawful but as not agreeable to his Standard of Purity as appears from the Citation on the Margin and might easily be made appear more fully if one were put to it but 't is needless now considering that all I aim at is that it cannot be inferred from what Knox did at Francfort That he judged the Communion of the Church of England ane Vnlawful Communion tho I must confess in making these stirs he proceeded not according to the true Catholick Principles of Christian Communion But enough of him at present To proceed As our Reformers thus generally looke upon the Church of England as a true Church and her Communion as a Lawful Communion so after our Reformation was established those of the Church of England had the same sentiments of the Church of Scotland The Ambassadors who at any time for many years came from England to the Scottish Court made no scruple to live in the Communion of the Church of Scotland and joyn in her publick Worship Thus the Earl of Bedford who came to assist at the Solemnization of the Princes afterwards K. Iames the Sixth's Baptism Anno 1566. went daily to Sermon i. e. by a Synecdoche very familiar in Scotland to the publick Worship Neither did I ever observe the least intimation in any monument of these times I have seen of these two Churches having opposite Communions till many years after the Reformation But I have insisted long enough on this Consideration The sum whereof is briefly this Our Reformers so far as can appear from their private sentiments and practices lookt upon the Church of England as a true Christian Church They lived in her Communion when they had occasion to be within her Bounds not one of them condemned her Communion as ane Vnlawful Communion not one of them set up Conventicles in England when they were there nor erected separate Churches c. From all which it seems to follow at least very probably That they reformed generally upon the same Principles intirely upon the same as to Church Communion The reason why I have insisted so long on this argument is that it smooths the way for the next which is 2. That our Reformers in their publick deeds openly and solemnly profest that they were of one Religion one Communion with the Church of England This as I take it is a point of considerable importance and therefore I shall endeavour to set it at least in a competent Light 1. Then Unity of Religion and by good Consequence I think Oneness of Communion between the Scottish and the English Protestants was the great Argument insisted on by the Scots in their Addresses to England for Assistance to turn out the French and establish the Reformation in Scotland Anno 1559 And it was one of the main Grounds on which all that great Revolution was transacted that year and the next viz. 1560. Take the account as I have it from that which is commonly called Knox his History When the Lords of the Congregation found it would be necessary for them to implore foreign Assistance for driving out the French then the great Obstacles to the Reformation They resolved in the first place to apply to England and the Reason given for this Resolution was That ENGLAND WAS OF THE SAME RELIGION Or if ye please take it in the Authors own words We thought good to seek aid and support of all Christian Princes against her the Queen Regents Tyranny in case we should be more sharply persued AND BECAUSE THAT ENGLAND WAS OF THE SAME RELIGION and lay next unto us it was thought expedient first to prove them c. It was rational enough to try there first indeed considering what I have already observed concerning Queen Elizabeth And Tryed it was and
may be as proper for them But I desire the Reader again to consider this Answer and judge if it keeps not a pretty good distance from the Epistlers position Is any thing said here that contradicts that looks like contradicting the Matter of Fact What new fashion of Answering is this to talk whatever comes in ones head without ever offering to attack the strength of the reasoning he undertakes to discuss By this Taste the judicious Reader may competently judge which is the right side of the present Controversie and withal if I mistake not he may guess if the Presbyterian Kirk in Scotland was not well provided when it got G. R. for its Vindicator Shall he furnish thee O patient Reader with any more divertisement If thou canst promise for thy patience I can promise for G. R. This Learned Gentleman found himself to puzzled it seems about this part of the Article that he was forced to put on the Fools-cap and turn Ridiculous to mankind However it was even better to be that than to yeild in so weighty a Controversie than to part with the Inclinations of the People that Articulus Stantis Cadentis Ecclesiae But is there a Play to succeed worthy of all this Prologue Consider and judge He has so limited and restricted the Generality of the People to make his cause some way defensible that for any thing I know he has confin'd them all within his own doublet At least he may do it before he shall need to yeild any more in his Argument He is at this trade of limiting in both his Vindications I shall cast them together that the world may consider the Product 1. There are many ten thousands who are inconcerned about Religion both in the greater and the lesser truths of it And it is most irrational to consider them in this Question 2. There are not a few who are of opinion that Church-Government as to the species of it is indifferent These ought not to be brought into the reckoning 3. There are not a few whose light and conscience do not incline them to Episcopacy who are yet zealous for it and against Presbytery Because under the one they are not censured for their immoralities as under the other These ought to be excluded also So ought all 4. Who had a Dependance on the Court And 5. All who had a Dependance on the Prelates 6. All Popishly Affected and who are but Protestants in Masquerade 7. All Enemies to K. W. and the present Government I am just to him all these Exclusions out of the reckoning he has if he has not more And give him these and he dares affirm That they who are Conscientiously for Prelacy are so few in Scotland that not one of many hundreds or Thousands is to be found 1 Vind. They who are for Episcopacy are not one of a Thousand in Scotland 2 Vind. Now not to fall on examining his Limitations singly because that were to be sick of his own disease In the first place one would think if he had been allowed his Limitations he might in all Conscience have satisfied himself without begging the Question to boot Yet even that he has most covetously done For I think the Question was not who were Conscientiously for Prelacy or inclined for Episcopacy But whither Prelacy and the Superiority of any Office in the Church above Presbyters was a great and insupportable Grievance and Trouble to the Nation and contrary to the inclinations of the Generality of the People And there is some difference as I take it between these Questions But let him take the State of the Question if he must needs have it I can spare it to him Nay if it can do him service I can grant him yet more When the Matter comes to be tryed by this his Standard I shall be satisfied that it fall to his share to be judge He should understand his own Rule best and so may be fittest for such Nice Decisions as a point so tender must needs require Tho' I think He may take the short cut as we say and give his own judgment without more ado For thither it must recur at last Only I cannot guess why he excluded all Popishly affected c. Was it to let a friend go with a fee I think he might have learned from History if not from Experience that Papists have been amongst the best friends to his Interest and very ready to do his party service upon occasion which it is not to be thought they would have done for nothing But however this is Having granted him so much I think he is bound to grant me one little thing I ask it of him only for peace I can force it from him if I please It is that all his Limitations Restrictions Exclusions Castings-out Settings-aside or what ever he pleases to call them were adduced by him for setting the Article in its Native and proper light and as it ought to be understood But if so I cannot think he himself can repute it unfair dealing to give the world a fair view of the Article as thus explained and enlightened And so digested it must run to this purpose as I take it That Prelacy and the Superiority of any Office in the Church above Presbyters is and hath been a great and insupportable Grievance and Trouble to this Nation and contrary to the inclinations of the Generality of the People Excluding from this Generality of the People 1. All these many ten thousands of the People who are unconcerned about Religion both in the greater and lesser truths of it 2. All these many of the People who are of opinion that Church-Government as to the species of it is indifferent 3. All these other many of the People whose Light and Conscience do not incline them to Episcopacy who are yet zealous for it and against Presbytery because under the one they are not censured for their immoralities as under the other 4. All such of the People as had any dependance on the Court. 5. Or on the Prelates 6. Or are Popishly affected and Protestants only in Masquerade And 7. All such as are Enemies to K. W. and the present Civil Government Ever since the Reformation They i. e. such of the People as are not excluded from the Generality of the People by any of the aforesaid Exceptions having Reformed from Popery by Presbyters and therefore it ought to be Abolished So the Article must run I say when duely Englightned by our Authors Glosses and when a New Meeting of Estates shall settle another New Government and put such ane Article in another New Claim of Right I do hereby give my word I shall not be the first that shall move Controversies about it But till that is done G. R. must allow me the use of a certain sort of Liberty I have of Thinking at least that his wits were a wool-gathering to use him as mannerly as can be done by one of his own
the late Revolution should be lookt upon as undone and that the settlement of the Church should again depend upon a new free unclogg'd unprelimited unover awed Meeting of Estates I am very much perswaded that a plain candid impartial and ingenuous Resolution of these few Questions might go very far in the Decision of this present Controversie And yet after all this labour spent about it I must confess I do not reckon it was in true value worth threeteen sentences As perchance may appear in part within a little And so I proceed to The Fifth Enquiry Whither supposing the Affirmatives in the proceeding Enquiries had been true they would have been of sufficient force to infer the Conclusion advanced in the Articles viz. that Prelacy c. ought to be Abolished THe Affirmatives are these two 1. That Prelacy was a great and Insupportable Grievance c. 2. That this Church was Reformed by Presbyters The purpose of this Enquiry is to try if these were good Reasons for the Abolition of Prelacy without further Address I think they were not Not the First viz. Prelacy's being a great and insupportable Grievance and Trouble to this Nation and contrary to the Inclinations of the Generality of the People Sure I am 1. Our Presbyterian Brethren had not this way of Reasoning from our Reformers For I remember Iohn Knox in his Letter to the Queen Regent of Scotland rejected it with sufficient appearances of Keenness and Contempt He called it a Fetch of the Devils to blind Peoples eyes with such a Sophism To make them look on that Religion as most perfect which the Multitude by wrong custom have embraced or to insinuate that it is impossible that that Religion should be false which so long time so many Councils and so great a Multitude of men have Authorized and confirmed c. For says he if the opinion of the Multitude ought always to be preferred then did God injury to the Original world For they were all of one mind to wit conjured against God except Noah and his family And I have shewed already that the Body of our Reformers in all their Petitions for Reformation made the word of God the Practices of the Apostles the Catholick Sentiments and Principles of the Primitive Church c. and not the inclinations of the People the Rule of Reformation Nay 2. G. R. himself is not pleased with this Standard He not only tells the world That Presbyterians wished and endeavoured that that Phrase might not have been used as it was But he ridicules it in his first Vindication in Answer to the tenth Question thoâ— he made himself ridiculous by doing it as he did it The Matter is this The Author of the ten Questions finding that this Topick of the inclinations of the People was insisted on in the Article as ane Argument for Abolishing Prelacy undertook to Demonstrate that tho' it were a good Argument it would not be found to conclude as the Formers of the Article intended Aiming unquestionably at no more than that it was not true that Prelacy was such a great and insupportable Grievance c. and to make good his undertaking He formed his Demonstration as I have already accounted Now hear G. R. It is a new Topick says he not often used before that such a way of Religion is best because c. This his Discourse will equally prove that Popery is preferable to Protestantism For in France Italy Spain c. not the Multitude only but all the Churchmen c. are of that way Thus I say G. R. ridiculed the Argument tho' he most ridiculously fancied he was ridiculing his Adversary who never dream'd that it was a good Argument But could have been as ready to ridicule it as another However I must confess G. R. did indeed treat the Argument justly For 3. Supposing the Argument good I cannot see how any Church could ever have Reformed from Popery For I think when Luther began in Germany or Mr. Patrick Hamilton in Scotland or Zuinglius or Oecolompadius or Calvin c. in their respective Countreys and Churches they had the inclinations of the People generally against them Nay if I mistake not our Saviour and his Apostles found it so too when they at first undertook to propagate our Holy Religion and perchance tho' the Christian Religion is now Generally Professed in most Nations in Europe some of them might be soon Rid of it if this Standard were allowed to take place I have heard of some who have not been well pleased with Saint Paul for having the word Bishop so frequently in his Language and I remember to have been told that one not ane Vnlearn'd one in a Conference being prest with a Testimony of Irenaeus's in his 3 Cap. 3 Lib. Adversus Her for ane uninterrupted Succession of Bishops in the Church of Rome from the Apostles times at first denyed confidently that any such thing was to be found in Irenaeus and when the Book was produced and he was convinced by ane ocular Demonstration that Irenaeus had the Testimony which was alleged he delivered himself to this purpose I see it is there Brother but would to God it had not been there Now had these People who were thus offended with St. Paul and Irenaeus been at the writing of their Books is it probable we should have had them with their Imprimatur as we have them Indeed for my part I shall never consent that the Bible especially the New Testament be Reformed according to some Peoples inclinations For if that should be allowed I should be very much affraid there would be strange cutting and carving I should be very much affraid that the Doctrine of self-preservation should justle out the Doctrine of the Cross That Might should find more favour than Right that the Force and Power should possess themselves of the places of the Faith and Patience of the Saints and that beside many other places we might soon see our last of at least the first seven verses of the 13 th Chapter to the Romans I shall only add one thing more which G. R.'s naming of France gave me occasion to think on It is that the French King and his Ministers as much as some People talk of their Abilities must for all that be but of the ordinary Size of Mankind For if they had been as wise and thinking men as some of their Neighbours they might have easily stopt all the mouths that were opened against them some years ago for their Persecuting the Protestants in that Kingdom For if they had but narrated in ane Edict that the Religion of the Hugonots was and had still been a great and insupportable Grievance and Trouble to their Nation and contrary to the Inclinations of the Generality of the People ever since it was Professed amongst them their work was done I believe G. R. himself would not have called the Truth of the Proposition in Question How easy were it to
First Book of Discipline Head 9. We think necessary that every Church have a Bible in English and that the People conveen to hear the Scriptures Read and Interpreted that by frequent Reading and Hearing the gross ignorance of the People may be removed And we judge it most expedient that the Scriptures be read in order that is that some one Book of the Old and New Testament be begun and followed forth to the end For a good many years after the Reformation there was ane order of men called Readers who supplyed the want of Ministers in many Parishes Their Office was to Read the Scriptures and the Common Prayers The Scriptures continued to be Read in Churches for more than eighty years after the Reformation In many Parishes the old Bibles are still extant from which the Scriptures were Read Even the Directory it self introduced not before the year 1645. appointed the Scriptures to be Read publickly in Churches one Chapter out of each Testament at least every Sunday before Sermon as being part of the publick worship of God and one meanâ— Sanctified by him for the Edifying of his People Yet now what a Scandal would it be to have the Scriptures Read in the Presbyterian Churches The last days Sermons taken from the mouth of the powerful Preacher by the inspired singers of Godly George or Gracious Barbara in some Churches of no mean Note have been Deem'd more Edifying than the Divine Oracles The Scriptures must not be touched but by the Man of God who can interpret them And he must Read no more than he is just then to interpret What shall I say Let Protestant Divines Cant as they please about the Perspicuity of the Scriptures 't is a dangerous thing to have them Read publickly without Orthodox Glosses to keep them close and true to the principles of the Godly And who knows but it might be expedient to wrap them up again in the unknown tongue But enough of this 2. As for Sermons c. The First Book of Discipline gives us the sentiment of our Reformers thus The Sunday in all Towns must precisely be observed before and after noon before noon the word must be Preached Sacraments Administred c. After noon the Catechism must be taught and the young Children examined thereupon in audience of all the People This continued the manner of the Church of Scotland for full twenty years after the Reformation For I find no mention of afternoons Sermons till the year 1580 that it was enacted by that same General Assembly which Condemned Episcopacy That all Pastors or Ministers should Diligently travel with their Flocks to conveen unto Sermon after noon on Sunday Both they that are in Landward and in Burgh as they will answer unto God The whole Kingdom knows Lectures before the forenoons Sermon were not introduced till the days of the Covenant and Directory Yet now a mighty stress is laid upon them and I my self have been told that they were one good Reason for forsaking the Episcopal Communion where they were not used and going over to the Presbyterians where they were to be had I am not to condemn a diligent instruction of the People But to speak freely I am very much perswaded the Method of our Reformers in having but one Sermon and Catechising after noon was every way as effectual for Instructing the People in the substantial knowledge of our Holy Religion and pressing the practice of it as any method has been in use since Much more might be said on this subject But from what I have said 't is plain there is a great Dissimilitude between our Modern Presbyterian and our Reformers even in this point and that is enough for my purpose 4. They have as little stuck by the Pattern of our Reformers in the Office of Praise Our Reformers beside the Psalms of David had and used several other Hymns in Metre They had the Ten Commandments the Lords Prayer the Creed Veni Creator the humble suit of a sinner the Lamentation of a sinner the Complaint of a sinner the Magnificat the Nunc Dimittis c. They never used to conclude their Psalms without some Christian Doxology The Gloria Patri was most generally used In the old Psalm Book it is turn'd into all the different kinds of Measures into which the Psalms of David are put that it might still succeed in the conclusion without changing the Tune It was so generally used that as Doctor Burnet in his Second Conference tells us even a Presbyterian General took it in very ill part when it begun to be disused Yet now nothing in use with our present Presbyterians but the Psalms of David and these too for the most part without Discrimination The Gloria Patri recovered from Desuetude at the last Restitution of Episcopacy and generally used in the Episcopal Assemblies these thirty years past was a Mighty Scandal to them So great that even such as came to Church hang'd their Heads and sate silent generally when it came to that part of the Office Having mentioned Doctor Burnet's Conferences I will transcribe his whole Period because some other things than the Gloria Patri are concerned in it When some Designers says he for popularity in the Western Parts of that Kirk did begin to disuse the Lord Prayer in worship and the singing the conclusion or Doxologie after the Psalm and the Ministers kneeling for Private Devotion when he entered the Pulpit the General Assembly took this in very ill part And in the Letter they wrote to the Presbyteries complained sadly of a Spirit of Innovation was beginning to get into the Kirk and to throw these Laudible practices out of it mentioning the three I named which are commanded still to be practiced and such as refused Obedience are appointed to be conferred with in order to the giving of them satisfaction And if they continued untractable the Presbyteries were to proceed against them as they should be answerable to the next General Assembly Thus he and this Letter he said he could produce Authentically Attested I doubt not he found it amongst his Uncle Waristown's Papers who was Scribe to the Rampant Assemblies from the year 1638 and downward I wish the Doctor had been at pains to have published more of them If he had imployed himself that way I am apt to think he had done his Native Countrey better service than he has done her Sister Kingdom by publishing Pastoral Letters to be used he knows how But even from what he has given us We may see how much the disusing of the Lords Prayer and the Doxologie is a late Innovation as well as a Recession from the Pattern of our Reformers And as for the decent and Laudable custom of kneeling for private Devotion used by the Minister when he entered the Pulpit It may be reckoned 5. Another Presbyterian late Recession It is certain it was used by our Reformers It is as certain it continued in use till
thing or another that I have pursued this matter so far But if they shall I pray God forgive them for they are injurious to me The principle which prompted me to represent these things was truly that of Fraternal Correption My main Design was to soften not irritate them not to exasperate them but to bring them to a more Manageable and Considering temper For I can and do sincerely protest that it is daily the earnest desire of my Soul that all men may be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth I wish all Men Christians and I wish all Christians Christians Indeed In a special manner I wish our Presbyterian Brethren and we may yet be so much Honoured and blessed of God that in the sincerity of Brotherly kindness we may be all Vnited in one Holy Communion I wish we may all earnestly contend with all Christian forbearance fellow-feeling and Charity as becometh the members of the one Church whereof Christ Iesus is the Head to have the poor divided desolated Church of Scotland restored to that Peace Purity and Unity That Order Government and Stability which our Blessed Master hath instituted and commanded May Almighty God inspire us all with the Spirit of his Son that our hearts being purified by ane Humble and a Lively Faith the Faith that worketh by Love and our Lives Reformed according to the Laws and great purposes of our Holy Religion we may be all unanimously and dutifully disposed for so Great so Glorious so Desireable a Mercy And with this I end this Fifth Enquiry And now I think I have competently answered the ends of my undertaking which was to Examine this Article of our new Claim of Right and try its firmness and solidity I think I have comprized in these five Enquiries every thing that is material in it considered either in it self or as it supports the great alterations have been lately made in the Church of Scotland It might have been more narrowly sifted and sifted more narrowly it might have been found lyable to many more exceptions For instance 1. It may seem somewhat surprizing that such ane Article should have been put into a Scottish Claim of Right That it should have been made so seemingly Fundamental at least in the Constitution of the Scottish Monarchy which is so famous and has been so much renowned for its Antiquity Was ever such ane Article in a Scottish Claim of Right before No Man I think will say it was in the Original Contract made with Fergus the First if any Original Contract was made with him for if he was he was advanced to the Throne 330 years before our Saviours Birth if we may believe our Historians And I think it was not ane Article in the Original Contract then that the Christian Church should be so or so Governed Few men I think will say it was part of the Original Contract made with any Scottish King before the Reformation No man can produce any such Article in any Original Contract made with King Iames the Sixth King Charles the First or King Charles the Second unless it was the Solemn League and Covenant or the Act of the West Kirk It cannot be said that it was in any Original Contract made with King Iames the Seventh for all the Nation knows it was Declared by the Meeting of Estates that he forfeited his Right to the Crown for having made no Original Contracts These are all the real or pretended Kings we have had since the Reformation till the late Revolution Is not this Article therefore a New Fundamental added to the Constitution of the Ancient Scottish Monarchy This is all upon the supposition that it is truly a part of our new Claim of Right Tho' indeed 2. It may be made a Question whither it can be justly called a part of the Claim of Right It is very possible for one thing to be in another without being part of that other And one would think this Article lookt very unlike a part of a Claim of Right It seems not to run in the stile that is proper for Claims of Right 'T is certain it runs not in the stile of the rest of the Articles All the rest of the Articles tell us either what is contrary to Law or what are the undoubted Rights of the People This Article imports nothing like either the one or the other It only Declares Prelacy to be a Grievance c. This doth not say that it was contrary to Law For Laws themselves may be and actually were Declared to be Grievances by the Meeting of Estates in another paper And the Articles Declaring that Prelacy ought to be Abolished is ane Argument that it subsisted by Law and it was abolished as subsisting by Law for the Act which abolished it Repealed the Laws by which it subsisted Neither is Prelacy declared by the Article to be contrary to the Rights but only to the Inclinations of the People and I think it requires no Depth of Metaphysical precision to distinguish between Rights and Inclinations Indeed it seems obvious to any body that this Article had had its situation more properly and naturally amongst the Grievances which were digested in another paper and therefore I say being only praeternaturally and by apparent force thrust into the Claim of Right it may be made a Question whither its being so there be enough to make it part of the Claim of Right Or whither its nature should not be regarded rather than its post And it should be constructed to have no more weight than if it had been Regularly ranked in its own Category But such Questions are too hard for me and more proper for Lawyers to determine Neither shall I meddle 3. With many other obvious difficulties which must necessarily result from this Article being made truly a part of the Original Contract between King and People Such as its making the settlement of the Crown to depend not on Right of Inheritance or Proximity of Blood or any such Ancient Legal Solid Hereditary Title but on the every day changeable Inclinations of the People for these are the main fund of the Article and by the supposition the Article is intrinsecal and fundamental to the present settlement This I say and many more such which might be easily named seems a very considerable difficulty that might be urged on such a supposition But I shall not insist on them Farther 4. Besides all these Awkward exceptions whither it is or is not a part of the Claim of Right the stile of it might deserve to be considered Particularly that Phrase of Prelacy's being a great and insupportable Grievance and Trouble to the Nation 'T is true I have in my Third Enquiry guessed at its meaning But I do sincerely acknowledge it was but guessing and even yet I can do no more but guess about it Doth it not at first sight appear a little too big and swelling Is it not hard to find for it