Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
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Pages |
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A50970
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The case of the afflicted clergy
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G. M.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing M22; ESTC R217340
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91,229
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99
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told us who are Enemies to Mr. Gregory whom we as he doth do esteem the Learned Professor of the Mathematicks in Edinburgh They of Edinburgh are so far from being his Enemies that they have adventured to keep him in his place which some think to be against Law Who they are that say the Mathematical Sciences are useless or dangerous I know not If I shall meet with any such I will contradict him to his Face It is another Calumny that we slight the Hebrew and other Oriental Tongues We do highly prize them and wish they were much more common than they are both among his party and ours For thrusting out Mr. Douglass the Professour of them Himself and others can bear witness that the Commission of Parliament for visitation of Colledges did with much reluctancy remove him from his place and were earnest that he should have qualified himself He knoweth also that the Magistrates of Edinburgh who are Patrons of the Colledge have offered to readmit him to that Office If he will qualifie himself as the Law requireth and that some of the Masters of that Colledge who are Presbyterian have often and earnestly dealt with him that he would not refuse the proffer that the City hath made to him and that the place hath been now a year kept Vacant and a door left open for him to return So much do we value men of Learning But Presbyterians have no dispensing power And the Law is plain The Favourable aspect that the Jewish Synagogue casteth on Episcopacy we deny not But it looketh as broadly toward a Papacy That the Trade of Books is fallen on the occasion of this Revolution is his groundless Fancy For in Edinburgh there are of late more Booksellers than were before but I am sure in 1661. and 1662. I have heard Booksellers sadly complain of it The Books that he mentioneth as The standard of Presbyterian Learning We do not despise But it is known that there are no Books truely valuable among his Party but such as we use and that diligently when many who Brag of their Books are worse Imployed The Sermons of Presbyterians he taketh some pains to disparage The Sermons that were Printed here were so appointed by Authority and are able to endure the Censure of rational Men not of railing Scriblers who resolve to Censure and to condemn all on that side without Wit or Discretion the Collection of Sermon Notes that he speaketh of if it be of what was indeed spoken and candidly represented we fear it not tho' neither his Party nor ours can answer for all that is spoken if it be of the strain of this Pamphlet that is a heap of Lyes and Railing We will dispise it Mr. Clerks Sermon that he speaketh of I have not Read He is able to answer for himself His speaking with contempt of Mr. Gray's Sermons sheweth his skill in the things that concern the Actings of Grace in the Soul Ye know of whom it is said that they cannot discern the things of the Spirit of God § 18. He had thus far digressed wanting matter to fill up his History He now returneth to the Assembly p. 51. A Debate about an Act against private Administration of the Sacraments he representeth as he useth to do that is falsly and without Ingenuity That the private Administration of Baptism was by Mr. Rule or any else called Sorcery and Charming is grosly false He professeth he never said nor thought so and I who heard all that he said on that Subject heard no such Words nor Words to that effect But here is an Evidence of the Learning and Judiciousness of this Pretender to Learning or of his Wife Informers May be he might say that many who were bent for private Baptism are so ignorant as to look on Baptism to have its effects ex opere operato or as a Charm and this is taken for saying that private Baptism is a Charm He doth falsly represent Mr. Kirtons Words He did indeed plead against that Act but his Discourse was neither so unpolished nor so peremptory as our Author maketh it It is false that Baptism in the Countrey cannot be had but on Sundays A Minister may Baptize every day of the Week if notice be given to the Congregation to meet for hearing the Word If any Minister do refuse to Baptize a Week day so as in no case he will do it he hath no Countenance from this Act. I know not why a Minister may not call the Congregation together to hear the Word on occasion of Baptism to be Administred If few come it is their own blame and needs not hinder that Ordinance We did not scruple to Baptize in private when we with all the Ordinances Administred by us were driven into corners but we always held that this Solemn Ordinance of God should be as publick as the other Ordinances are it being a Seal of that Covenant which is held forth by Preaching of the Gospel we think it should not be done in a Corner when the other is publickly dispensed But I shall not now fully dispute this point If any of our Opponents please to let us hear their Arguments against it we shall consider them The Story that he telleth of a Child sent away from the Church unbaptized because it was not brought to Church till about the close of the Sermon This Story I say is not true nothing is more ordinary with us than that the Children come late even when the Sermon is almost ended Yea some of us have Baptized Children whom we knew not of till the other Children were already Baptized The Child that he speaketh of was not presented to be Baptized till after Prayer and Psalms and the Blessing and the People were dismissed and the Minister was gone out of the Pulpit It is false that the People are Displeased with this It is but some of them and these either the less Intelligent or such as are inclined to the Episcopal way That Mr. Kirtoun did Preach against the Superstition of the Ceremony viz. of Baptism is not only false but so consistent with his way and Principles that it is a wonder that this Author could alledge such a thing or be so forgetful of what Mr. Kirtoun had said as himself relateth it but in the former page The Assembly appointed a List of Acts to be drawn which were fit to be observed And this Authors malevolent pen representeth this as if They durst not approve of some Acts and yet would not censure them Whereas they intended no more but that there being many Acts suted to the time when they were made but might be inconvenient for this time Others that were fit for our Circumstances might be distinguished from these and is not this a common practice in Parliaments without having such malicious Reflections made on it That We receive all the Acts of Assemblies as if they were Scripture and pay no less regard to them Is an Assertion as false as
this part of his Satyr but lightly Mr. Camphel he saith nothing against and indeed his praise is in the Churches And our Author had met with him before page 15. And had told only of him That to please his Brethren he had been more severe against the Episcopal Clergy than was his Wont Nothing can be more false He is no Man-pleaser and he always had a true Zeal against that way and against the Immoralities of some of them And now sheweth no more of Zeal than is consistent with Wisdom and Moderation Mr. Rule cometh next on the Stage He is called Doctor Rule because he did practise Medicine and took the Degree of Doctor in it likewise when he had no other way to maintain his Family yet never giving over the Work of the Ministry but preaching frequently He was once Independent That is absolutely false At Aberdeen he withstood the Temptation when he had great Offers to take the Charge of an Independent Congregation And in Northumberland where he had his first Charge he suffered no small Loss because he would not fall in with that way His want of Latine and spâ—aking false Latine is false He is ready as he hath done to give proof to the contrary and to compete with this Pretender when he will For His Prayers in Latine they are longer or shorter as the occasion requireth but never so short as he alledgeth neither doth he use to pray very long in publick even in English For the Ignorance discovered in the things he hath written I wish this Sciolist would make it appear by a solid Refutation The passage that he bringeth for instance he is ready to defend with all the probability the subject Matter is capable of And if it were a mistake it is no proof of Ignorance to have a different Notion about a passage in an Author from them who follow as they lead who have gone before them If this Momus will make his Censure on the True Representation of Presbyterian Government it is like Mr. Rule or some for him will give him a fair Answer But lest all this be not enough to disparage him and his Ministry He often venteth himself bitterly against the Episcopal Party Others think quite contrary few Presbyterians do more seldom mention them and an Argumentative way rather than bitterness is his strain If it can be made appear that he hath done otherwise none shall blame him more than I shall do The many particulars he is accused of have obliged me to say more in his Vindication than I intended In the next place he giveth a Character of Mr. Meldrum He spendeth a great many words about him But the whole matter is in short That once he complyed with Episcopacy took the Oath of Canonical Obedience which our Author is told That he denyeth That going out for the Test he left the Episcopal Party because when the Test was taken away he was not permitted to return to his Ministry at Aberdeen The Worth and Integrity of this Man is known to all in Scotland and acknowledged by all except them who prize no Man but for being like themselves That he complyed once was a Token of Humane Infirmity That he hath now left that way is commendable tho' it stir the Choler of this Scribler His fourth Man is Mr. Kennedy who was chosen Moderator he is called Mr. Kennedy by his own party and if any familiarly call him Father Kennedy his Age may bear such a Designation but they who call him Bitter-Beard do mistake his Temper That he was with the Army at Newcastle or received 6000 Marks is most false He was never in England till 1690. when he was sent with others to London with an Address to the King The Causes of his Deposition 1660. are foully mis-represented It was only for his Opinion in the matters that then divided the Church That his Deposition was never taken off till the Penult day of the Assembly is not the least of the Lies that this Paper is loaden with It with others was taken off several years before and this was ratified by the General Meeting some Months before the Assembly and all that had been done in this matter was confirmed by the Assembly a day before it was dissolved § 12. The Moderator being chosen He telleth of a Competition for the Clerkship It may be some of these persons that he nameth might be mentioned in private Discourses but never any such competition appeared before the Assembly And most of them were so far from either petition or competition that they rather declined it when it was mentioned to them by their Friends He accuseth the Assembly as insufficient to represent the Church of Scotland as that of Trent was to represent the Catholick Church But he cannot deny that it represented the Presbyterian Church and was all that could be had of a Presbyterian Assembly And we deny not that the Council of Trent represented the Popish tho' not the Catholick Christian Church as was pretended And indeed there were some from all parts of the Nation even from the Northern Counties of Ross Murray Aberdeen That there wanted from one or two Counties maketh nothing against the Authority of the Assembly For there are places in the Highlands from which seldom or never there have been Commissioners at any Church Assembly What Spirit ruled in this Assembly he determineth with the same malice that hath hitherto appeared in his Book and mocketh at the Prayers that were put up for another Spirit By this and such like passages it appeareth what Spirit acteth this Scribler It is false That the Presbyterians in Scotland have always contested with their Kings about the Power of Calling Assemblies Their Kings never denied their Intrinsick Power in this except when they were influenced by a Prelatical Erastian Crew about them But on the contrary have setled it by their Laws as the Churches priviledge As in the Act 1592. which is ratified by an Act of this current Parliament neither did they deny to the King a Power of Calling Assemblies nor have ever refused to meet when called by him We think it most desirable when the King and the Church agree about this and it moveth this Mans spite that Affairs were so managed in this Assembly The ridiculous Expression in Prayer that he imputeth to Mr. Cunningham calling it a pleasant passage is a meer Forgery That Reverend and Wise Man understood well what he said He is not ashamed to tell Lies in the Face of the Sun and to impose upon our Senses when he not only denieth the Kings Letter and the Assemblies Answer to it to be published both which are extant in the printed Acts of the General Assembly but he falsifieth the Kings Letter most palpably in making the King say That he setled the Government because it was agreeable to the Inclinations of the People Whereas it is That Government which was judged to be so And that He would have them do