those parts I do not remember I know there are not a few in that place of the Country who may be in the Judgment of Charity thought to fear the Lord And there are also many yea a far greater number of whom the Assertion he mentioneth is true The truth is this Author hath inured himself to the foulest Lies and Calumnies that he can hardly speak or write Truth A further instance of this is p. 39. That when before Voting it was desired that the Moderator might pray not for drowning the Noise of the Assembly but for direction from the Lord in a case that was doubtful and of moment to the Church Mr. Kirtoun should have said What needs all this fool praying Mr. Kirtoun useth not to speak of prayer with such contempt and if he had so said it had not past in the Assembly without a check and indeed he is in this beâ—…ed § 14. The account he giveth of Mr. Campbels transportation from Drumfries to be Minister at Edinburgh and Professor of Divinity in the Colledge there needeth little Animadversion save that by giving so lame an account of the Debate about the Inward Call he would represent us as having little knowledge in these things The Inward Call was not said to consist in the things he mentioneth but in being qualified by a sufficiency of gifts for the Work and in the inclination of the Mind to serve God in that Work both which are from the Lord. It was said that the Church was Judge of the former and that when one had these qualifications and also the Outward Call from the Church if he pretended aversion or want of the other part of the Inward Call viz. Inclination he must give some reason for that aversion For the Lord useth not to work Inclinations or Aversions in men which are without reason And of these Reasons the Church is also Judge For the Spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets It will now appear that either the Author or his Informers did not understand what was spoken on this Subject Or that they did prevaricate in representing it About the Earl of Crawford's receiving a Commission from the Town of St. Andrews to represent them as Ruling Elder in the Assembly I have said enough above to stop his mouth and to refel what he here saith only he addeth that Joy might be seen in my Lords Countenance when be received it which none could perceive except such as can fancy any thing that their ill-will suggesteth to them For my Lords seeking time of Deliberation till Lammas as Mr. Campbel had it was not intended as what he sought with expectation but as an expression of his wish and of his dislike of allowing so much time to Mr. Camphel to the great detriment of the Colledge at which others also were dissatisfied tho' they quietly acquiesced in the determination of the Assembly For the Petition from Dundie it was not said They had not the Gospel for they had one Minister What is recorded of that passage is that the Presbyterian Congregation in Dundie made Application to the Assembly complaining that they wanted two Ministers and desiring that the Assembly would take care to supply those Vacancies But that the Moderator or any else said that there was no true Minister in Angus is a falsehood like most of his other Assertions For none of us deny the Episcopal Ministers to be truly Ministers tho' we think a Bishop alone should not Ordain It is also false that any such expression was used by the Assembly as offering the Gospel to the people of Angus The words are that they should go to Angus and travel in the Work of the Gospel in Vacant Churches and where they should be called This is far from supposing that the Gospel was not in that County or that there were no Ministers there It is of the same stamp that he maketh the Moderator tell two young men who had been preaching in Angus and had ill reception there That as they had offered the Gospel to that people in the name of the General Meeting so they should now offer it in the name of the Assembly We offer the Gospel to all whom we preach to in the name of Christ and not in the name of men Another Imputation of the same kind is that the Moderator said We will plant Ministers in Dundie whether the Town-Council will or not I do not remember that such words were spoken or words to that effect But if they were what the Moderator saith is not always the mind of the Assembly but only when a thing is proposed and assented to either by Vote or by Silence He tells us p. 34. Of Mr. William Spence who conformed but fell off from the Bishops because denied an Augmentation of Stipend He spread Papers against them they deposed and excommunicated him This man was sent by the Assembly to preach in Angus Ans That Mr. William Spence fell off from the Episcopal party on the account mentioned is utterly false But it is the way of these men when any fall from their way from conviction of Conscience as many have done to ascribe it to some other Cause And it is but suitable to their temper who know not what it is to concern their own Consciences in such matters Their Deposing and Excommunicating him was for his breaking off from their Communion and his expressing his Reasons and for speaking against some of their practices which galled them And therefore the General Meeting Octob. 11. 1687. After exact search into the grounds of his Sentence did find and declare it to be void and this was ratified by the General Assembly Nov. 12. 1690. § 15. He telleth us of a Letter from Aberdeen Desiring Ministers to be sent to them and complaining that the Gospel had not been preached among them for thirty years And Mr. Meldrum heard this read in the Assembly and did not Contradict it which the Author heavily agggravateth This is another Gross mis-representation like the former Neither they who desired Ministers nor they who sent them did any way suppose that Aberdeen had not the Gospel or Ministers bur that the Presbyterians there wanted a Minister and desired to be supplied Which was accordingly taken care of That Mr. Meldrum was not sent to Aberdeen was no neglect of him the Church of Scotland intending him for other Work For the City of Edinburgh and Colledge of Glasgow are Competitors for him before the Commission of the Assembly The former malevolent Representation he reneweth p. 36. in the second numbring for from p. 33. to 40. the pages are twice numbred viz. That some were sent to the North to offer the Gospel to the Northern Shires The words are as the former That they should travel in the Work of the Gospel in Vacant Churches or where they should be called So that it is an Impudent Assertion which followeth that It was proposed stated voted and determined in these terms
Bishops Reformed as Dr. Gordon of Galloway and Adam Bishop of Orkney he bringeth no proof for the former but for the latter he was Excommunicated for Marrying the Queen to the Earl of Bothwel which had been Incongruous if he had not been of the Protestant Communion Answ 1. That two who had been Bishops joyned in the Reformation is but a small evidence that the Reformation was not managed by Presbyters but by Bishops 2. That the one of these complyed with the Reformation he barely asserteth and his proof for the other is insufficient Such things have been done Protestants have Excommunicated Papists as Papists daily Excommunicate Protestants How congruous this is I need not now debate 3. If these Bishops had any hand in the Reformation it is nothing to his purpose unless he can prove that they exercised Episcopal Jurisdiction in the Protestant Church which no History can Countenance if they Acted as Church-men at all they Acted as Presbyters for it is certain that in the beginning of our Reformation none exercised any Jurisdiction among the Reformed above that of Presbyter He saith That where there had been Popish Bishops there Protestant â—ishops were appointed in their places under the Name of Superintendents Here is a double mistake One that the Super intendent were Bishops Another that they were put into the Places and Revenues of the Popish Bishops The falshood of both which I have shewed in my Former Vindication upon Query 1. page 10. That the Revenues of the Popish Bishops were setled on the Superintendents is an Assertion that proveth either that this Author is a Stranger to our History or that he regardeth not the truth or falshood of what he affirmeth What followeth page 29. Of the late bringing in of Presbytery into the Reformed Church of Scotland I have fully disproved in the place last cited page 3. After the most spiteful Venom spued out that could lodge in a humane Breast against the Presbyteriaâ—… which it is fit to despise rather than Answer he concludeth his Letter with an Assertion no less false than the rest of his Allegations are viz. That his party suffer neither for Breach of Divine nor Humane Laws but only for Episcopacy If any honesty remain with him it would oblige him to give some instance or proof that the Presbyterian Church of Scotland for he ascribeth their sufferings to their opposition to the Fanaticks of the Kirk did ever trouble any of them either for their Opinion about Church Government or meerly for their compliance with Episcopacy when it had the Law on its side on the contrary we can shew to the conviction of all unbyassed Men that such as have suffered by the State did suffer for their Breach of the Law of the Nation in not owning the King and Queen as the Law required And that such as were Censured by the Church except two or three whose Sentences were taken off by Superior Judicatories of the Church suffered for the Breach of Divine Laws viz. For gross Immortalities One Instance I shall give Ex re praesenti out of the Presbytery of Stranrawer about which his whole Letter is Conversant Mr. Ramsay late Minister at Stranrawer was by the Synod of Wigtoun put from his place on these Grounds Frequent Drunkenness on the Sabbath day proved by the Oaths of Baily Vause and Andrew Mackennel Beating his Wife on the Sabbath before he went to preach sworn by Andrew Mackennel and Robert Gordon the said Robert Gordon's Wife deponed that she saw at that time Mrs. Ramsay Bleeding Frequent Swearing proved by the Oaths of Provost Row Baily Vause and Robert Gordon I should not thus have exposed Men who once bare the Character of Ministers but the Impudent Accusations of this Scribler and the obligation that lyeth on Persons and Churches to necessary self defence do constrain me ANIMADVERSIONS On a PAMPHLET called A Memorial for His Highness the Prince of Orange in Relation to the Affairs of Scotland HAving proceeded thus far in contributing my poor Mite for Vindicating the Presbyterian Church of Scotland and meeting with this Print of the same strain with these others above-answered that is full of bitter and unreasonable invectives against Presbyterial Government I could not shun making some Observations on it whereby Truth and Innocence may be vindicated against Lies and Railing The design of this Print is manifest to be to dispose His Majesty to preserve Episcopacy in Scotland and to hinder the Setling of Presbytery And it is a real and effectual refutation that our Wise and Gracious King hath not found such weight of reason in it as to be moved by it but hath acted quite contrary to the malicious Insinuations of this Author This Paper is nothing short of the rest for most gross Falsehoods in matters of Fact and most injurious Mis-representations of our Way and Principles It is said to be done by two Persons of Quality One Wit might by a little labour have brought forth a more perfect Birth What is the Quality of the Author or Authors for worldly Dignity I enquire not but his or their Moral Qualities may by the Book be seen to be none of the best We have First a parcel of False and Malicious History as ever was written in so few Lines Next some Counsels to his Highness 3. He refuteth a Paper that he falsly calleth An Address from the Presbyterians to the Prince of Orange And then concludeth as he began with Lies and Railing § 2. The first passage in his Historical Account is a foul mistake to call it no worse viz. That the rise of our Animosities and why they are Warmer here than in England is England was Reformed by the Royal Authority and therefore their Church was suted to the Monarchy But Scotland was Reformed by Force and Violence and some of the Reformers coming from Geneva and Switzerland inspired many of their Converts with an Aversion to Monarchy A Man who taketh Liberty to slander at this rate of Impudence deserveth rather Chastisement than an Answer For 1. With what Brow can he say that our Reformers were averse from Monarchy or that the Antimonarchical Principle did ever get much footing in Scotland as we know it did in England for all their being Reformed by Royal Authority Did ever Scotland set up a Commonwealth as England once did It is known what they Adventured and Suffered for the Monarchy when England abjured it And what yielding there was in Scotland to the Antimonarchical way was by Force from England And it is known to all who lived in those days that the Presbyterians did cleave more firmly to their banished King and prayed for him with more Constancy and Resolution than that party did who after appeared for Episcopacy 2. That Scotland was Reformed by Force and Violence is false it was by the States of the Nation and at last confirmed by King and Parliament The chief difference as to the Original of the two Reformations lay in this
Council as Episcopal Assemblies are to the Bishop We do then maintain that there is such a difference between them and us as may justifie our not owning of the Bishops Authority nor the Authority of the Meetings that is derived from it and dependeth on it We never used such an Argument to justifie Rebellions It was not the exercising Episcopal power that caused what he so calleth but their forcing the Consciences of Men and Barbarous Persecutions whereby people were put to the utmost extremities If the Consciences of his party could plead not guilty of the Murthers and Butcheries that have happened as well as the Sober Presbyterians can who had no interest in them but to Lament them and the occasions of them it were well for them If Barbarities be committed now against them we defend them not nor are they chargeable on the Presbyterians but on some few whom their Persecution hath enraged He telleth us of more Histories of the Clergies Sufferings to come out Our Work is to Examine these that now he is pleased to offer If he prove by his Collection of passages all that in his Preface he proposeth to make out by them we shall succumb in the Debate But I am sure some of them cannot be proved other things cannot infer the Consequents that he draweth from them But I will not anticipate What remains of his Preface is a renewing of his begging Address to the Church of England What they get that way we do not envy We wish indeed the Change of Episcopacy though we will take no unwarrantable course to effect even that but not the Ruine of Episcopal Men. § 3. The Book it self is odly methodized We have two leaves called the first Collection of Papers Next a Letter under the Title of the whole Book Then the first Collection of Papers begun again And so to the second third and fourth Collections But we must follow whither he thinketh fit to lead I must here refer the Reader to what I have said in Answer to the first Book and the second Letter Sect. 6. Where it is made appear that the Presbyterians are not accountable for the disorders that are said to have been acted Tho all the Stories that are told were true But because in this Pamphlet we have Attestations added to the Narratives that are brought which is not done in the other somewhat must be observed concerning that Which is that mostly they are teste meipso the Complainant is the witness which is not fair And often one of these Ministers witnesses for another and he doth him the like kindness for requital Which derogateth much from the Credibility of such Testimonies Further all of his Witnesses are the sworn Enemies of Presbyterians and in a Combination to defame them And we have from the Pamphlets now under consideration a taste of the veracity of the Men whom we have to do with If his Witnesses make no more Conscience of speaking truth than the Author or Authors of these Pamphlets do few thinking Men will be moved with what they say I come now to consider his particular Stories He beginneth with the Minister of Cumnock with whom he joineth the Minister of Auchinleck Whom ninety Armed Men forced into the Church-yard discharged them to Preach and tore their Gowns And declared that this they did not as Statesmen nor as Churchmen but by Violence and in a Military way of Reformation Ans It is Attested under the hands of George Logan of Logan William Crawfurd of Dalegles John Camphel of Horsecleugh George Camphel of Glaisknock John Beg of Dornal John Mitchel of Whetstonburn all of the two Parishes mentioned That they who did this were not of either of these Parishes nor was it known who they were Only that they were Cameronians who had suffered severely and were now gathered together on occasion of an Alarum that then was in the Countrey Nor had any in these Parishes any Accession to that practice And it is to be observed that many of these Ministers entred by a Military Force as they were so put out particularly the Minister of Auchinleck had his Edict served with three Troops of Dragoons And that People never submitted to these Mens Ministry but by the force that was put on them by Armed Men And they suffered very hard things and yet the people of these Parishes bore it patiently In the business of Machlin he grosly belyeth them They used no violence to the Ministers Wife only gravely reproved her for Cursing and Swearing which she used He passeth page 4. to the Presbytery of Dumbartoun where first he telleth us What Mr. Walter Stirling Minister at Badernock met with by a Company of Dissenters This is a gross Lie These five Armed Men who assaulted his House having done the like to a Gentlemans House and a Countrey-mans House the same Night seeking Arms or Plunder were no Dissenters of any sort or way but Debauched Men horrid Swearers and Cursers who were of broken desperate Fortunes their Names are John Momillan Patrick Motarged George Tomoch Archibald Ferguson Archibald Shinning This one passage duely considered might discredit all that is asserted in his Book and expose the Author as a malicious Calumniator designing to fix all the Thefts Robberies and other Villanies that are committed in the Country not only on some Presbyterian or other but on the whole party It is also witnessed that Mr. Stirling's Parish gave him all the help and succour they could in this his trouble This Mr. Stirling was afterwards deprived by the State for not Reading nor Praying after which time he behoved to remove from the Church and Dwelling-house but to this day liveth peaceably in the Parish Yea Mr. Stirling himself disowned that account of his Case which is in the Pamphlet as what he had no hand in For the two following Mr. Duncan of Kilpatrick Easter and the Minister that was to preach at Boiall In the Narration of what concerneth Kilpatrick Easter there is a gross Lie None touched Mr. Duncan nor did any personal hurt to him Which is affirmed by them who know that Matter And may be confirmed by considering that that parties Zeal led them no farther than to rid themselves of these Ministers who had been such a burden to them For that Man who was to preach at Boiall the Truth of the Story is A great many came with a Burial to the Church-yard among them not above six or seven had Arms who did always bear Arms None of them made any Opposition Only they sent to the Minister of the Parish to desire him to give them the Keys of the Church seeing he himself could not Preach He promised to do it if the Heritors should demand them which several of them did and offered to suffer him to stay in the house forty days if he would give up the Keys He contrary to his promise refused to give them up but went away that day and carried away his Furniture except some Lumber
Bigot was admitted Is no further true than that they considered it but what was found to be irrelevant as many things were was rejected And no man was Censured for it The Libels of Mr. Graham and Mr. Cooper ought not to have been mentioned by him for the one had never any effect nor was the man Censured The other is before the Commission and the Sentence will be taken off if it be found to be unjust And I hope Presbyterians are not to be blamed because some less Intelligent people do sometimes complain of men where there is little Cause It is next to ridiculous that our Author having no more that he can devise against us blotteth Paper with what was designed to be Libelled against some when it was not done And with some frivolous Accusations that he saith were made when he cannot tell by whom or against whom I am weary of Transcribing these impertinent Recitals of irrelevant Libels that were not used by Judicatories as the ground of Sentences About which he spendeth also pag. 11 and part of 12. Besides what I have said let it be considered that some of the Processes on the Libels that he mentioneth are yet depending and not discussed As that of Mr. Crawford and Mr. Wood Others of them are discussed and the Sentence revoked by the Commission of the General Assembly as that of Mr. Bowes of Abotshall § 9. He taketh notice pag. 12. That in their Libels they would never give any of the Episcopal Clergy the Title of Minister but only of Incumbent If this be true which I much doubt it is but what they do to us in all these Pamphlets that I have under consideration and on all occasions But I know no Presbyterian Minister who denieth them to be Ministers The Story that he telleth of what past between Mr. Graham and an unnamed person I neither know nor do believe it to be true And if any said so we disown it That the Ministers always had a hand in drawing the Libels That they were all of the same strain or that all was concerted among them to disgrace the Clergy are Assertions as remote from Truth as any thing can be if this were true how came it that some Libels were wholly rejected in others some things were judged not Relevant If what he alledgeth was done sometimes by some one Minister it is not chargeable on the Presbytery Far less doth it follow that it was always practised He complaineth likewise of the manner of Processes against the Clergy That seldom the Accuser was mentioned to the Accused They always received the Libel and sustained the Validity of it before the Accused was heard nor was he suffered to be present at the Examination of the Witnesses and the Witnesses were all allowed to be present at the Examination of every one of them And the most profess'd Enemies were received as Witnesses Ans For the former two It is questionable whether these things be required in a Process about Scandal before an Ecclesiastick Judicatory but whether it be so or not I am sure it was otherwise done for the most part than he affirmeth For the other two it is so far from being always so as he saith that if any â—…ocess was found to be so managed and if Complaint was made the Sentence was declared void and null of which after He bringeth two instances of such Irregular Proceedings viz. Against Mr. Heriot of Dalkeith whose Case is extant in Print And an Answer to it daily expected for it is now in the Press to which I refer the Reader And against Mr. Purvess of Glencorse who accused the Witnesses of Malice as having assaulted him in the Pulpit and that they were admitted to give Evidence against him And he mentioneth what Mr. Selkirk Minister at Crightoun said in Defence of that Conduct This were certainly blame-worthy if it were true but indeed there is no truth in it for neither did they ever pull him out of the Pulpit nor take him by the Throat as is alledged only he having promised them to Preach no more among them and yet attempting to falfify his Promise they did without such Violence hinder him Neither were such words or words to that effect spoken by Mr. Selkirk And some of the Witnesses were rejected and they who were admitted were purged from Malice or partial Counsel by their Solemn Oath Another mismanagement he mentioneth is That if one part of the Deposition of the Witnesses seemed to prove the Libel tho the other did exculpate the Minister or extenuate his fault the one part was marked and the other not And he telleth us of an Instance of this in one who is since dead But doth not tell who did so nor against whom and therefore not being able to enquire into it we pass it as one of his many Forgeries However such practices we disown as far from our way I am sure it was not so done but the contrary in any Judicatory where I have been a Member He saith Accusing Witnesses were incouraged and clearing Witnesses not noticed But giveth no Instances wherefore I give the same reply to it as to the former He also accuseth us That when a Sentence was read against a Minister at his own Church the whole Libel was read tho some Articles were frivolous and others not proved This also is but his Assertion and no way proved It is our way to read the Sentences and to put no Article of the Libel in the Sentence But such as are of weight to bear such a Sentence and are sufficiently proved § 10. After all this I do not deny that some of the Presbyteries passed Sentence on some Incumbents on slender grounds but I have already shewed Ans to the late letter Sect 5. That the Church did what they could to have prevented this And I must now tell you that instances of this were very few most of the sentences and proceedings will abide the most rigorous examination of unbyassed men who have zeal against gross immoralities And I must further inform the Reader that where complaint hath been made the General Assembly hath referred to their Commission to examine such processes and to take off all Sentences that were ill grounded which the Commission hath done to three of them which are all that have as yet come before them Wherefore such proceedings are not to be imputed to the Presbyterians but to some few among them who through want of experience in Church Discipline have mistaken and are ready to learn more Skill and Warriness P. 14. He giveth account of the carriage of the Episcopal Clergy towards the Presbyterians who dealt with them as is above mentioned But because he maketh no remarks on it neither shall I. But what followeth I must not pass It is a malicious reproach of Presbyterians as men of Little Sense or Learning Tho he hath the impudence to assert this when ever it shall be tryed he will be found unable to
a civil Penalty The contest about the Printer to the Assembly he cannot let pass tho' he can get no advantage there against the Presbyterians But that they must have a Printer distinct from the Kings Printer It hath always been the Custom and our Kings never disallowed it We are far from contending with the King about it nor do we plead a Divine Right for it The Debate between the two Printers before the Council we are not concerned in Only I observe his Malicious Lye That the Earl of Crawford maintained that the King should yield to the Assembly His Lordship is far from so owning the Church as to deny to the King any respect that is due § 21. After Apology for the length he should have rather excused the Dishonesty and Impertinency of this Epistle He ventureth yet upon two or three things The 1 st is the Assemblies appointing an answer to be made to these Pamphlets of the opposite Party which this Paper containeth where he is much misinformed Mr. Meldrum was never enjoyned this task Mr. Pitcarne had it laid on him but after many Months it was not done And so they laid it on another Not on him with the Assistance of others as this Author saith That Mr. Meldrum justified the Rable in a Sermon is so far from his Temper and Inclination that none will Affirm it but such an one as this Historian He saith we will never prove any material Circumstance in matter of Fact to be false I affirm and have made it appear that few if any of them are true His next particular is the most Notorious falshood that can be expressed by Tongue or Pen. viz. That the taking off the Sentence of Deposition against some Ministers especially Remonstrators was proposed but laid aside in the General meeting and now done in the end of the Assembly It was done in a meeting of the Brethren of the Synod of Lothian for them within that bounds and in the General Meeting for them and all others in Scotland And what the Assembly did was a Ratification of what had already been effectually done What he alledged Mr. Gilbert Rule to have said in the Assembly on this head is a wide mistake he only pleaded that the Act should not be so General as to comprehend all who were censured in the times of these differences because some might at that time be censured for uncontroverted Scandals tho' he did not pretend to give Instances of any who were so Censured but that the Act should only reach them who were Censured on account of the Differences Hinc inde That this revocation of these Sentences was not proposed in any of their avowed meetings till the general Meetings is not strange for indeed they had no avowed meetings before Tho' we think their meetings might be avowed before God but not so before his party who were their cruel Persecutors It was done as is above expressed and confirmed by the General Meeting And Ex abundanti Ratified by the Assembly Whence it is evident that no derogation could be inferred thence either from the Ministry of any who sat in the Assembly or on the Assembly it self as he malevolently suggesteth His last particular is about the two Commissioners whom the Assembly sent to the King Where he hath some Malign Reflections both on them who were not sent and on them who were sent That any were Jealous of Mr. Carstairs is a base Calumny His Integrity and Skill in the conduct of such Affairs is known and valued by all his Brethren who know him It is as foul a Calumny that they who were sent were gratified by it or had designs of their own nothing but Malice could suggest such a thought For what could they expect Or what could they obtain by it Had they Ambition one of them being past 60. to ride post to London in the beginning of December they could expect no higher Post in the Church than they now are in He will Characterize them also One of them he had before exposed as far as his Malice and VVit could invent The other he can find nothing against and therefore his spite prompteth him to reproach his reverend and worthy Father whose praise is in the Gospel whose name is precious in the Church and is above the snarling of such a Curr Nor one word of what he saith in that matter is true And the contrary is declared by some of the Courtiers that attended the King when he went to visit Mr. Blair when he was sick and on his Bed VVhen his Majesty came into the Room they who were present told that though they had been long about Court they never heard a more Handsom Complement then Mr. Blair gave unto the King nor more becoming a Divine A Chair was set at the Bed side for the King in which his Majesty sat down after he had talked a little with Mr. Blair his Majesty drew the Chair nearer while he sat on it But that such words were spoken by Mr. Blair as is alledged is most false I should not have stayed so much on this but that the Reader may take notice what a Spirit of Lying hath possessed this Phamphleteer and what ill will he bears to the Living and to the Dead who have born the name of Presbyterians He is now at last come to the Dissolution of this Assembly VVhere he would have it thought that the Assembly did design to call another without the Kings Commissioner who was sitting among them which was never thought nor designed As his Book is full of Lies and Slanders so his Epilogue is an abridgment of them all doth amass them in one while he saith That no material Falshood can be charged upon him The Reader will easily judge of this assertion by what hath been said of his Ingenuity also and of his hating to tell a Lie I leave what hath been said on both sides to the Candid Judgment of the Impartial Reader and to his Judgment who is a God of truth and hateth the Lying Lips and do joyn with him in his concluding Prayer as I could do with little that he hath hitherto said That the Lord would pour out his Spirit on us and on the other party too That our Land may have peace that the Divisions of our Church may be healed and our Confusions may be wholly removed and Order and Government may continue among us POSTSCRIPT AFter these Sheets were Printed some Informations were sent me which could not be inserted in their proper places and therefore are here subjoyned Concerning Mr. Ferguson of Kilpatrick who is mentioned Case of Afflicted Clergy c. Sect. 12. is no further true than that five Men and fix Women came to his House being provoked by his continuing to Preach and Pray for King James after he had been discharged so to do by the people and when he refused to come out to them they beat him on the Head and on the Legs and tore his
Pique Interest and Popularity that moved me The Falshood of his Assertions will appear by a true Narrative of the things to which he seemeth to relate which I shall give with due Candor and Simplicity not being afraid humbly to Appeal not only to the Judgment of all Men who know the things but to the All-seeing God of Truth to judge betwixt Him and Me in this Matter I was Ordained Minister of the Gospel in the Honourable City of Aberdeen Anno 1659. by the laying one of the Hands of the Presbytery And when Prelacy was reintroduced in this Land Anno 1662. I was stopt in the Exercise of my Ministry before the first of October by that same Act of Council which laid aside divers Hundreds of worthy Ministers of this Church and obliged us to retire twenty Miles distant from our own Parishes because we had not received Presentation from the Patron and Collation from the Bishop The condition of which was the Oath of Canonical Obedience It 's false which this Author saith and may be reckoned as the twelfth of his Lies that Mr. Meinzies and I did only hesitate at first upon the Oath of Canonical Obedience for we never had any hesitation or doubt upon it but were clear and positive in our Judgment against it and exprest it as we had occasion It 's true we did at the first offer Submission and to join in Presbyteries and Synods thinking this was but the same which worthy men had done before the year 1638. Not discerning as others who suffered did the difference betwixt the State of things Anno 1662. And before the year 1638. Tho this stop in the exercise of my Ministry was fourteen days before the Bishops Synod yet at that Synod when he did pass Sentence of Deposition against Learned and Pious Mr. Meinzies for not Subscribing the Oath of Canonical Obedience tho he offered Submission The Bishop was pleased to join me in the Sentence tho neither present nor cited to be present Whether Bishop Mitchel did Vindicate this his Illegalk and Unjust procedure by that lovely Proverb our Author mentioneth Fides sit penes Authorem But I was nothing moved with this Sentence Sometime after this I retired to the Country twenty eight Miles beyond Aberdeen yet in the beginning of December there cometh to me a Summons before the secret Council as was said by the procurement of the Bishop of Aberdeen alledging he could not appear on the Streets of that City for fear of the People Irritated as was alledged by their Pastors whom they had lost At that time were cited also the famous and worthy old Mr. Cant and his Son Mr. Alexander and Mr. Meinzies The good old man got a Testificat that he was not able to Travel The rest of us went South with no less hazard than our Lives it beign a grievous Storm and Tempest Mr. Alexander Cant falling unwell compeared not When Mr. Meinzes and I compeared the Earl of Midletoun then Lord Commissioner and the Earl of Glencarn Lord Chancellor and others of the Council finding that there was nothing to lay to our charge and hearing from us that we were willing to join in Presbyteries and Synods did by Act of secret Council recommend us to the Bishop of St. Andrews to be restored to our places When this was presented to the Bishop of St. Andrews he readily promised to obey it but never spoke to us one word of the Oath of Canonical Obedience Yea I would ask any judicious Person if it was probable that knowing our peremptory declared Resolutions against it either the Bishop of St. Andrews would have insisted to require or we consented to Subscribe that Oath when we had an Act of Council in our Favours and at the same time they had published a Treatise entituled a Plea for Submission to the present Government wherein they made offer of diverse Concessions to them who would submit But the Bishop of St. Andrews being then ready to go from Edinburgh to St. Andrews desired us in our return for Aberdeen to call for his Letter which he promised should be ready for us But neither when we came to St. Andrews did he speak to us of Subscribing the Oath of Canonical Obedience nor did we subscribe any Paper to him nor stay with him one quarter of an hour it being late and he studying his Christmass Sermon and we to go over the Ferry Nor did his Letter to the Bishop of Aberdeen bear any thing of our Subscribing that Oath neither would I have been the bearer of so mauifest an untruth Yea when in his Letter he had written that we were willing to own the Government I refused to receive it unless he added this Qualification so far as to join in Presbyteries and Synods to which he agreed when we would take it on no other terms Neither did Bishop Mitchel after our Return insist any more on our Subscribing the Oath of Canonical Obedience but having called together some Ministers there was a paper drawn out of the words of the above-mentioned Letter which Paper indeed we did Subscribe and I hear some of that Party whether out of Curiosity or ill will at me have searched for it among Bishop Mitchel's Papers But I value not what use they make of it That Paper the Bishop ordered Doctor Keith to read publickly in Aberdeen Thinking thereby to lessen our esteem among the People but that design failed none of us were present at the reading of it But the next Lords day when I appeared first to Preach I told publickly Mr. J. P. then Bishop of Ross being present that I conceived that I had yielded to nothing but what I first offered But seeing this Author is not only injurious to me but to learned and Pious Mr. Meinzies whose memory is precious to me beside all that I have said for his Honour I add that not only the Test but the Subscribing of this Paper was grievous to that good man before his death and although I was then at South I had it afterward from a worthy Person and Friend of his who had it from himself And I can say of my self I did lament because of it several years before that and altho this Author design me no favour yet as sometimes we are more obliged to our Enemies than to our friends so here he giveth me opportunity to tell the World that I repent for the Subscribing of that Paper Altho I never Subscribed the Oath of Canonical Obedience But being then young and paying too much deference and respect to a friend who drew it I did the less seriously consider either the Words or matter of it I confess I afterwards was in Friendship with Bishop Scougal who was a Learned and moderate Man I did also sit in Presbyteries and Synods thinking my self free to join in these Duties to which I was Authorized by my office altho there had been no Bishop in the World nor do I think that by this
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
any thing can be said § 19. He giveth account of the Commission of the General Assembly pag. 53. but as he doth of other things that is without Truth or Honesty About the manner of Election he prevaricateth but it is not worth the while to examine these Circumstances It is a gross untruth that They were to have full and supreme Power to Act in all things that relate to the Church The contrary is evident from the Instructions given to them by the Assembly which himself setteth down For the seventh and eighth Articles of them are 7ly That this Commission do not meddle in publick Affairs or in any thing not expressed in their Commission Which is hereby declared to be given them in Hunc finem only And pro praesenti Ecclesiae Statu 8ly They shall be answerable to and censurable by the next General Assembly and shall continue till November next If there be no General Assembly before that time Is it not evident from this That our Author either understandeth not the meaning of plain words or that he is not careful to speak Truth Their Moderation or Rigidity which he very positively and confidently determineth about must be judged of by their Actings I am sure the plurality of them are look'd upon as Men of very Moderate Principles But no Presbyterian can be moderate in this mans Opinion In the List of them he also mistaketh for many were on both Commissions Whereas he maketh the two to consist wholly of different persons but that is not material His account of the Debate about the Instructions to the Commission I need not examine What was concluded is that which we are concerned in His Account of the Instructions is most false and absurd It is strange prevarication so to corrupt and falsify a Paper in the Transcribing of it Take for example the 2 d Article which he maketh the first He hath it That they shall take into their Cognizance all References and Appeals not discussed in the Assembly and such matters as have been tabled before the Assembly Where he maketh two sorts of things to fall under their consideration Whereas in the true Copy nothing but what is expresly referred to them is mentioned It is thus To take into their Cognizance all References and Appeals and other things which being stated before this Assembly shall by them be specially referred to the said Commission to determine the same The Debate that was in the Assembly about the sixth Article about taking in the late Conformists to Ministerial Communion he doth also Misrepresent it is false that it was said That by these Instructions Repentance for Conformity is required as a Condition For that ws debated in the Committee and it was determined to be left out because the worst of them would be readiest to profess Repentance Which they who acted from a Principle could not do He observeth from the Instructions page 57. That the Commission was mainly designed against the Episcopal Clergy I deny not that it was designed against such of them as were unqualified for the Ministry to cast them out And against such of them as were Enemies to the Established Church Government to keep them from a Capacity to overturn it But it was rather designed for them who fall not under these Characters to take them in among us That Presbyterians had Malice agaenst them or such Designs to ruine them as he alledgeth is evil surmising And in this he judgeth of others by the temper of his own mind § 20. He looketh on all the Facts appointed by Presbyterians as designed to ensnare the Episcopal Men and saith that they Fasted for Strife and Debate Their Witness is on high who knoweth that other Motives engaged them to Fast and Pray Even such things as are of common concernment to all who have true Zeal for Religion But this Gentleman and others of his Stamp did not use to keep Solemn Fasts for the concernments of the Gospel Only sometimes they had Fasts with the respect to the Weather or when there was like to be a bad Harvest which we condemn not But think there are greater things that should move us to such Duties It seems he knoweth no other ground of Fasting but either averting of some outward Judgment or some politick design He mainly challengeth the Fast appointed by the Assembly because in the causes of it mention is made of Episcopacy the setting up of which is complained of on account that it was always grievous to this Nation and that it was done without the Churches consent and contrary to Acts of National Assemblies As also that a great decay of Piety was visible under it This is all that was said of Episcopacy in these causes of the Fast This Fast he saith Episcopal Men could not observe without looking on Episcopacy as unlawful As the cause of much Impiety as defection from God and his truth Nor without blameing the Church of England and other Protestant Churches yea the Catholick Churches from the Apostles to Calvin ' s time Ans 1 st What ever be our Sentiments about Episcopacy nothing is here expressed that needeth to stumble them who think it a lawful Government in the Church and there are some of that Principle who will say as much as is here said Norhing is here said of its unlawfulness nothing of its influence on Impiety But only of its observed unsutableness to this Nation and of ungodliness having been de facto its concomitant 2. If any did conscientiously scruple the Observation of the Fast on the grounds mentioned I ask who of them have been Punished by the State or Censured by the Church for this omission The Church thought fit to lay Peoples duty before them yet using all lenity toward them who cannot see their duty It was quite otherwise in former times when his party had the Rule 3. The setting up of Episcopacy was more sinful in this Nation than it could be elsewhere because of the Oath of God that the Nation is under against it Not in later times only but in the time of King James the 6th who caused the whole Nation swear the Shorter Confession of Faith called also the National Covenant where it is Abjured 4. All this sheweth that we do not meddle with the Church of England in this matter but keep within our own bounds And therefore she hath no cause to be offended with us more than we have to blame her for setting up Episcopacy 5. His big words of other Protestant Churches and the Catholick Church to Calvin ' s time are the Dialect of his Party Whose confidence of Assertion and strength of Argument in this matter bear no proportion Which we are ready to try with him when he pleaseth The Councils Act for Observation of this Fast he doth also most causelesly and petulantly ridicule What is more congruous than when the fear of God doth not perswade men to their Duty that a civil Court should deal with them by