no ease of Burden or redress of Laws And this obliged them to send up an Address to K. William subscrib'd by the greatest part of the Members of Parliament of Scotland representing to him the Grievances which they wanted to be redress'd in the present Parliament This Address was deliver'd to him by the Earl of Annandale the Lord Rosse and Sir James Montgomery of Skelmurly at Hampton Court the 15th day of October 1689. They were much dissatisfy'd with the Ministers of State whom King William had received into his Councils and Service alledging that he had made choice of those very Men who had been the Instruments of K. James ' Miseries and Ruine by advising him to these Courses that had robb'd him of the Hearts of his Subjects It was these Ministers whom they blam'd as the Authors of all the Differences that had arisen betwixt K. William and his Parliament in Scotland they thought his delaying to gratifie their Desires proceeded merely from the sinister Misrepresentations given him of their Demands as illegal and as Encroachments upon the Royal Authority And therefore to justifie their Actions they publish'd this Treatise and their Address to King William to shew that what they desired therein was agreeable to all the Rules of Law Religion and Policy The Author has inserted at large the several contested Votes of Parliament to which K. William had refused his assent and he endeavours to demonstrate the Legality Reasonableness and Necessity of them by proving them to be in all Points agreeable to the antient Laws and Customs of that Nation This has produced us another Discourse on the same Subject in answer to the former It is call'd An Account of the Affairs of Scotland in relation to their Religious and Civil Rights Here our Author undertakes to satisfie the World that K. William had offer'd to the Parliament in Scotland all the Satisfaction and Redress of their Grievances that reasonable Men could expect and that the true Source and Fountain whence proceeded all the Complaints of the discontented Party was that some of their Number were not advanc'd to such honourable and advantageous Posts of the State as they thought they had merited by their Zeal for K. William and the eminent Services they had done him in advancing his Interest in that Kingdom And to evince what he undertakes he has set down at length the Grievances themselves and the Redress offer'd them by King William in his Instructions to his Commissioner and makes some Reflections on both If you encline to search any further into the History of these Debates betwixt K. William and his Parliament you may consult the Treatises themselves to which I refer you I suppose you may have heard how active and diligent the Presbyterians in Scotland have been ever since this late Revolution to exclaim against the Injustice and Severity of the former Reigns and particularly that of K. Charles II. under whose Administration we enjoyed so much Peace and Tranquillity whom they charge with Tyranny and Oppression Cruelty and Persecution against them and their Adherents and reproach his Ministers of State as Subverters of the Laws of the Kingdom and Betrayers of the Liberties and Property of the Subject The bad Impression which these Clamours made upon Strangers that were ignorant of these Transactions obliged Sir Geo. Mackenzie who had been Advocate to K. Charles II. and was principally aim'd at in many of the Reflections cast upon the Government and its Ministers to vindicate his Majesty K. Charles and his Ministers of State from these Calumnies and Aspersions so unjustly thrown upon them And this he has very fully and satisfactorily done in a Discourse publish'd after his Death and called A Vindication of the Government in Scotland during the Reign of K. Charles II against Misrepresentations made in several scandalous Pamphlets To which is added The Method of proceeding against Criminals as also some of the Phanatical Covenants as they were printed and published by themselves in that Reign By Sir George Maekenzie late Lord Advocate there In this Treatise we have a short Narrative of the Proceedings of that Government in relation to the Presbyterian Dissenters which alone is sufficient to undeceive Persons that have been imposed upon by Misrepresentations and to confute all the malicious Calumnies raised against the Government For when we consider the frequent Rebellions and Commotions which the Presbyterians raised during the Reign of King Charles II. we shall soon find that those Acts of the Government which they tax with the greatest Severity savour of nothing but Mildness and Lenity and that the Government proceeded by the slowest steps imaginable to punish those who openly own'd their Designs of subverting the Monarchy The Authour has collected all the Objections and Instances of pretended Cruelty against the Government which the Malice of its Enemies could contrive and has answer'd them beyond the possibility of a Reply The Publisher has subjoyned a Collection of original Papers publish'd by themselves which contain an Account of their avowed Principles and Practices and from thence you may easily judg how consistent it is with the Security of any Government to suffer the Propagation of such wicked and seditious Principles But I think you cannot have a more impartial and true Account of their Principles nor a fuller Vindication of the Proceedings of the Government against this rebellious Party than from a Book lately publish'd under this Title The History of Scotch Presbytery being an Epitome of the Hind let loose by Mr. Shields With a Preface by a Presbyter of the Church of Scotland It is Epitome of a larger Book published by Mr. Alexander Shields one of their most eminent Preachers and a zealous Defender of the good old Cause Here we have a true Description of the Temper and Genius of the whole Party and it discovers the true Spirit of the Presbyterian Gospel There is none of them that bâ—tter understands the true Tenets of the Presbyterians nor is more consequential to their Principles for he fairly sets down their Doctrines and Opinions and disowns none of the most absurd and pernicious Consequences that naturally flow from them He gives us an Historical Account of their many Insurrections and Rebellions against the Civil Government and very frankly owns and justifies them all together with several of their barbarous Murders committed upon the Archbishop of S. Andrews and some others so that by a slight view of this Book you may easily judg whether any Government of whatever species can subsist where such Principles and Doctrines are suffer'd to be propagated among the Subjects And now Sir I have satisfied your desire as fully as possibly I could I have given you an exact Account of the most if not all the considerable Treatises that have been Printed with respect to the present Persecution of the Church of Scotland and that you may be the better able to judge of the truth and certainty of it I have set down the
A LETTER To a FRIEND Giving an Account of all the Treatises that have been publish'd With Relation to the Present Persecution Against the Church of SCOTLAND Lam. I. iv The ways of Zion do mourn because none come to the solemn feasts all her gates are desolate her Priests sigh her virgins are afflicted and she is in bitterness And verse xii Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by LONDON Printed for Joseph Hindmarsh at the Golden Ball over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1692. A LETTER To a FRIEND c. SIR I Don't much wonder that the present State of the Church of Scotland should be a little surprising to you at your return from your Travels beyond Seas it being so very much changed from what it was some Years ago when you were last in Scotland that the bare reflection upon it must needs occasion Grief and Sadness to any who are endued with the least sense of Religion or Morality The Church was then in a flourishing condition her Authority and Discipline in such force and vigour that a Sentence of Excommunication was even terrible to the most wicked and prophane her Pastors were Men of Judgment Learning and Prudence and of such unblameable Lives and Conversations that they quite stopt the Mouths of their calumniating and malicious Enemies Whereas now the Scene of Affairs is so much altered that the Church is made level with the ground and her Adversaries take pleasure in the rubbish thereof the Apostolical Order of Bishops totally subverted and the greatest part of the Episcopal Clergy barbarously driven from their respective Churches many of which are at present void and destitute of Pastor and their Flocks left desolate like Sheep wandring without a Sheepherd others of their Churches are invaded by Men who can lay no claim to that sacred Function of the holy Ministry having never received Ordination from those Persons who are duly authorized to confer it and their pretences for Learning and the other Qualifications necessary for that Office are so very little that the greatest part of them have never had occasion to apply themselves to those Studies but have been all along trained up in Mechanick Employments and have now leapt directly from the Shop into th Pulpit where they exercise their Gifts at such a rate and entertain theâ—â— Auditors with such nauseous Stuff sometimes intermixt with blasphemous Sentences that instead of advancing the Christian Religion 't is to be feared they have propagated more Atheism and Irreligion in the Nation than many Years will be able to root out And since your Curiosity prompts you to a strict enquiry into the Ways and Methods by which this surprising Revolution was brought about I shall in order to your satisfaction direct you to all those Treatises that have been published on this occasion where you may find an exact and impartial account of the present Persecution raised against the Church of Scotland how it was at first contrived and set on foot after the landing of the Prince of Orange here in England in the Year 1688 and how it has been managed and carried on even till this time with all the Fury and Violence imaginable by the Presbyterian Faction in that Kingdom The first Discourse I think which was published on this Subject was A Memorial for his Highness the Prince of Orange in relation to the Affairs of Scotland together with the Address of the Presbyterian Party in that Kingdom to his Highness and some Observations on that Address By two Persons of Quality This Memorial was wrote sometime before the Prince of Orange was proclaimed King of England and the Author's design in it was to inform the Prince how seditiously and rebelliously the Presbyterians in Scotland had behaved themselves under the Reigns of K. James VI. K. Charles I. and K. Charles II. how in the Reign of K. Charles I. they overturned not only the Government of the Church but usurped likewise that of the State rescinded all the Royal Prerogatives and murthered Thousands of the King 's best Subjects besides the many other Barbarities which they committed under the pretence of Religion And from hence the Author takes occasion to shew the Prince how much his Interest obliged him to suppress that insolent Party whose Principles and Practices were not only inconsistent with the Monarchy but even destructive of all human Society and that on the contrary Episcopacy being necessary for the support of the Monarchy he ought to make it his chief care and concern to maintain and support it and the rather because he had so solemnly engaged his Honor for the Defence thereof for having published in his Declaration That his design of coming over was to support the Laws of the Nation he tells him That he was therefore in Honor bound to support Episcopacy it being confirmed by Twenty Seven Parliaments of that Kingdom The Observations upon the Presbyterians Address to the Prince of Orange are done by another Pen They sufficiently expose the Contradiction and Inconsistency that always appears in the Actions of that Party In their Address to the P. of Orange they complain heavily of their Oppression and Suffering under K. James's Government that They were lying in the Mouth of the Lyon while Refuge failed and when they looked on their right and left Hands there was no Man found to pity them till the Lord raised up his Highness for their Deliverance And yet notwithstanding these heavy and grievous Complaints we find that in their Address to K. James they render him their humble and hearty Thanks for putting a stop to their long and sad Sufferings for Nonconformity and they acknowledg the receipt of Favors from him valuable above all earthly Comforts Nay so little reason have they to complain of Persecution from him that it 's known how the leading Men of that Faction were only caressed and cajoled by the then Ministers of State to a very high degree and preferr'd to Places of great Trust in the Nation And they themselves were then so sensible of these Obligations that out of Gratitude they offered to use their Interest for carrying on the Designs at that time set on foot by the Papists for promoting of Popery in these Dominions It is very well known to any who were then in Scotland how eminently they comply'd with the Dispensing Power in taking an Indulgence from the Papists how they magnifi'd K. James upon that account as the best of Kings that ever reigned and how active some of the most pragmatical Men of that Party were in engaging all of their own persuasion to promote a Relaxation of the Penal Laws and in persuading such Members of Parliament as they could influence to go along with the Designs of the Court therein And this is so notorious that one of their own Preachers was severely checked and rebuked by the Party because much about that time in a Sermon preached before their Provincial Assembly at Edinburgh he
signified his dislike of these Proceedings and laid before them the dangerous Consequences of the same how fatal such Methods would at last prove to the Protestant Religion in these Nations I could here entertain you with a great many Instances of their Behaviour under K. James's Government and of their ready complyances with all the Popish Designs then set on foot but that I think it altogether superfluous since one of their own Party has sufficiently exposed them to the World upon this account and shewn how their Practices at that time were directly contrary to their former Principles and that their Behaviour was such as did rather become Sycophants and Court Parasites than those who assumed the Title of Ministers of the Gospel And his Accusation is so very true that they have never as yet attempted to answer him or to vindicate themselves from those many Scandals and Reproaches wherewith he so justly charges them nay on the contrary they are so conscious of their own Guilt that in their Address to the P. of Orange they very very frankly own it and make a long Apology to his Highness for it The next thing that appear'd abroad with relation to our Scotch Affairs was a short Letter entituled The present State and Condition of the Clergy and Church of Scotland It gave us but a very short and brief tho a true account of the many Affronts and Indignities that were done to the Episcopal Clergy of that Kingdom by the Presbyterians there but after having enumerated some few Instances of their atrocious Cruelties such as the killing of one Minister the daubing of anothers Face with Excrements and the inhumane usage of the Wife of a third tho in Childbed he at last concludes That it was beyond the power of words to express their Misery to that degree as they suffered it This Letter had not been very long publish'd when there comes out a scurrilous Pamphlet under pretence of an Answer to it it was call'd A brief and true account of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland occasion'd by the Episcopalians since the Year 1660. being a Vindication of their Majesties Government in that Kingdom relating to the Proceedings against the Bishops and Clergy there With some Animadversions upon a Libel entituled The present State and Condition of the Clergy and Church of Scotland The Author of this Pamphlet instead of answering the Letter as he pretends summs up and highly aggravates the Punishments that were justly inflicted upon the Presbyterian Dissenters by the Civil Government for their frequent Insurrections and Rebellions against it and charges the Episcopal Clergy as the Authors of all their Sufferings upon that account The Proceedings of the Civil Magistrate against this rebellious Crew are sufficiently vindicated by a learned Pen as I shall afterwards inform you And as for the Behaviour of the Episcopal Clergy with relation to the Sufferings of these Men they were so far from being any ways the Authors of them that there may be many Instances given where the Clergy have interceeded for their Pardon and actually saved many of them from the Gallows which they could not have escaped had they been left to the due course of Law And yet these Men did afterwards prove so ungrateful that they were the chief Instruments of all the Sufferings and Persecution which those Clergy-Men to whom they owed their Lives and Fortunes met with in this late unhappy Revolution of our Church Affairs And this is plain in the Case of Sir John Riddel and Mr. Chisholm Minister at Lisly whom he was then prosecuting for his Non-complyance and yet at the same time ingenuously confessed to him before a good many Witnesses that he had been very much obliged to him and protested he would never have treated him at that rate if it had not been Matter of Conscience to him This Answer is all over stuff'd with so many groundless Reflections and Aspersions upon the Clergy and fill'd with such obscene and scurrillous Language without the least semblance of Reason or Argument that the true way of answering it had been to publish to the World a true and impartial History of the Author's Life and Actions that by comparing it with his Writings they might easily perceive what Credit and Authority they ought to have among all serious and sober Men. I must confess I 'm a great Enemy to all personal Reflections in whatever kind of Writings as knowing how prejudicial they ofâ—en are to the Merit of the Cause and how antichristian it isâ— for us to publish to the World the personal Infirmities of our Brethren when the Laws of Religion oblige us rather to cover and conceal them and to endeavour to reclaim them by a private and brotherly Admonition yet when Men do thus divest themselves of all Morality and Religion as at this rate without the least restraint of Modesty or good Manners to bespatter the sacred Persons of Princes and Prelates I know no other way to deal with them but either to oblige them publickly to recant their Calumnies and Aspersions or at least to fight them with their own Weapons and to expose them to the World in their true Colours that the unwary and undiscerning Multitude may not be bubbled into a belief of their malicious Lies and Calumnies There was indeed a Reply very soon returned to this Answer which I suppose did not a little discompose our Author it giving him a small tast of what Treatment he might expect if he should still continue to write at this extravagant and scurrilous rate The Title of it is The Prelatical Church-Man against the Phanatical Kirk-Man or a Vindication of the Author of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland This is a short Vindication of such of the Clergy as our Author had attempted to wound in their Reputation by his groundless and malicious Aspersions But much about this time or a little before there was a Discourse publish'd which tho it was not design'd as an Answer to this scurrilous Pamphlet it having been publish'd before it came abroad yet contains such Matters of Fact as do fully answer all the Calumnies of this Accuser and it relates the History of the Persecution so impartially as that it defies the Contradiction of the most effronted Adversary It is called An Account of the present Persecution of the Church of Scotland in several Letters The occasion and design of this undertaking was this When the Presbyterian Parâ—y had barbarously and inhumanly treated the Episcopal Clergy of that Kingdom when their Rabble had turn'd out of their Churches by Force and Violence above 300 Ministers in the Southern and Western Countries and had driven them in the midst of Winter with their Wives and tender Children from their Houses and places of abode and when they had got such Ministers as their Rabble could not reach deprived of their Livings by a Sentence of their Civil Judicatories and by this means had expos'd them to all
Treatises published by both Parties and likewise that you may the more easily procure any of them you are desirous to read I have subjoyned to this Letter a Catalogue of them all with the names of the Booksellers by whom they are to be sold I think it is sufficiently evident from the foregoing Collection what Sufferings the Orthodox Clergy in Scotland have endured and how unaccountable the Proceedings of the Presbyterians are towards them and which is most to be lamented the present miserable state and condition of the whole National Church and the great prejudice that Religion sustains by the overthrow thereof is no less apparent How much it concerns all Sober and Religious Men to contribute their endeavours for delivering that Oppressed Church from the Miseries and Calamities under which it at present Groans I hope we are all sensible and therefore I shall give you no further trouble but of this one request which is That you would be careful to inform all persons with whom you may chance to converse of the present deplorable state of Affairs in Scotland that every one may lend their assistance for rescuing the Revered Clergy of that Kingdom from under their present Sufferings and Oppressions that the Rod of the wicked may lye no longer upon the back of the Righteous least they stretch forth their hand unto Iniquity and likewise that our National Church may be restored to its Primitive Order and Beauty This is the earnest desire of June 1â— 1692. Sir Your most affectionate and humble Servant A Catalogue of Books mention'd in the foregoing Letter A Memorial for his Highness the Prince of Orange in relation to the Affairs of Scotland c. London Printed for Randal Taylor near Stationers-Hall 1689. The present State and Condition of the Clergy and Church of Scotland London Printed A brief and true Account of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland occasioned by the Episcopalians since the year 1660. c. London Printed Anno 1690. The Prelatical Church-man against the Phanatical Kirk-man c. London Printed Anno 1690. An account of the present Persecution of the Church of Scotland in several Letters London Printed for S. Cook Anno 1690. The Case of the present afflicted Clergy in Scotland truly represented London Printed for J. Hindmarsh at the Golden Ball over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1690. A late Letter concerning the Sufferings of the Episcopal Clergy in Scotland London Printed for Robert Clavel at the Peacock in St. Paul 's Church-Yard 1691. Some Questions resolved concerning Episcopal and Presbyterian Government in Scotland London Printed and are to be sold by Randal Taylor near Stationers-Hall 1690. The Danger of the Church of England from a General Assembly of Covenanters in Scotland London Printed for Tho. Bennet at the Half-Moon in St. Paul 's Church-Yard and John Hovell Bookseller in Oxon. 1690. A Vindication of the Church of Scotland being an Answer to a Paper Intituled Some Questions concerning Episcopal and Presbyterian Government in Scotland c. London Printed for Tho. Salusbury at the Sign of the Temple near Temple-Bar in Fleetstreet 1691. An Historical Relation of the late General Assembly held at Edinburgh c. London Printed for J. Hindmarsh at the Golden Ball in Cornhill near the Royal Exchange 1691. A Continuation of the Historical Relation of the late General Assembly in Scotland London Printed for Sam. Keeble at the Great Turks head in Fleetstreet over against Fetter-lane-end 1691. A Vindication of the Church of Scotland being an Answer to five Pamphlets Printed at Edinburgh and reprinted at London for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns near Mercers Chappel in Cheapside 1691. Presbyterian Inquisition as it was lately practised against the Professors of the Colledge of Edinburgh London Printed for J. Hindmarsh at the Golden Ball in Cornhill 1691. The Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence or the foolishness of their Teaching discovered from their Books Sermons and Prayers London Printed for Randal Taylor near Stationers-Hall 1692. The late Proceedings and Votes of the Parliament of Scotland contained in an Address delivered to the King Glasgow Printed by Andrew Hepburn 1689. An Account of the Affairs of Scotland in relation to their Religious and Civil Rights London Printed and are to be sold by Richard Baldâ—in in the Great Old Baily near the Black Bull. 1690. A Vindication of the Government in Scotland during the Reign of King Charles II. By Sir George Mackenzie late Lord Advocate there London Printed for J. Hindmarsh at the Golden Ball in Cornhill The History of Scotch Presbytery being an Epitome of the Hind let loose by Mr. Shields London Printed for J. Hindmarsh at the Golden Ball in Cornhill 1692. FINIS * Vid. The Presbyterian Eloquence lately printed * Dr. Hardy at Edinburgh * Mr. Shields in his Remarks upon the Presbyterian Addresses to K. James at the end of his Hind let loose * Mr. Alexander Pitcairn †Mr. Gilbert Rule * Or Pasonage-House †Shrove-Tuesday * And refused when legally required