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authority_n	great_a	king_n	people_n	5,724	5	4.8029	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51154	An apology for the clergy of Scotland chiefly oppos'd to the censures, calumnies, and accusations of a late Presbyterian vindicator, in a letter to a friend : wherein his vanity, partiality and sophistry are modestly reproved, and the legal establishment of episcopacy in that kingdom, from the beginning of the Reformation, is made evident from history and the records of Parliament : together with a postscript, relating to a scandalous pamphlet intituled, An answer to The Scotch Presbyterian eloquence.	Monro, Alexander, d. 1715?	1693 (1693)	Wing M2437; ESTC R20155	87,009	107

God unto a Reprobate mind And indeed if I had any Books by me I could easily prove especially from their own Calderwood that the Presbyterians did nothing towards the Clergy in the West of Scotland upon the late Revolution but what they ought to have done upon their Principles and former Practises It is very pleasant to observe what different Batteries the Presbyterians in Scotland and the Dissenters in England raise against Episcopacy The Presbyterians in Scotland plead for their National Classical Spiritual Power independent upon Kings the Dissenters in England plead that such a Spiritual Union amongst Clergy-Men is too powerful a Faction and may easily endanger the Safety and Peace of the Nation The Reason is the Presbyterians are in possession of such an Union in Scotland and the Dissenters in England have no legal Cement to unite them together And therefore every thing that they are not in Possession of at present is wicked and dangerous but if they could grasp it it might become a very useful Engine to Propogate the Covenant all Europe over For they find that men are naturally averse to the Power and Authority of their Discipline and therefore it were necessary to support it by all the strength of Laws and Edicts and by the Inquisition it self if the Eyes of Princes could be so far opened as to see that there is no true Reformation wrought but by the Conduct and direction of Presbyterians I have insisted the longer upon this general Topick because most of his Book is built upon this Subterfuge alone that Cameronians are no Presbyterians though they can be reduced to no other Schismaticks and that what they did was disowned by the Presbyterians though he himself knows the contrary and the whole Party magnified these Heroes and when it was doing it was said to be nothing less than the Cause and Work of God But I leave this general Head when I give you an account of one remarkable piece of Sophistry and tergiversation that he makes use of to palliate the Crimes of his Party and it is so much the more material since if he fails in this he shakes the Foundation of all his Apologies by which he would make us believe that the wise and leading Men of his Party had no hand in any Tumults no not in that at Edinburgh in December 1688. His words are For the Tumults at Edenburgh we know of none but what was made by the Students at the College there in burning the Pope in Effigy And a little alter That any Presbyterians who then or since had Authority in the State or Church did assist in contrivance or management of this matter we do utterly deny I have faithfully transcribed his own words because this is a considerable passage which flies in the Face of all Evidence and contradicts the Conviction of all the Inhabitants at Edenburgh Then if the barbarous Tumult at Edenburgh was managed and contrived by the Leading Men of his Party who then and since have had Authority in the State in that case all his Apologies for the Presbyterians fall to the ground And from this one single Instance his Book is ruin'd and his Authority baffled and the next General Assembly will order him to be more cautious and quietly tell him it had been better he had not ventured upon this unfortunate Sally against his Adversaries For there is nothing more easily made out than that the Leading Men of the Presbyterians were the sole Actors and Contrivers of this hideous Tumult To make you sensible of this let me observe first That he shussles and confounds two very different Stories into one viz. The Tumultuous desaceing of the Kings Chappel and the burning of the Pope in Effigy for the last was near a fortnight after the other without any Tumult or disorder The Students had made a mock Effigies of the Pope and carryed it from the place that it was made to the Colledge and from thence to the Cross at Edenburgh All of them in the mean time walking orderly in their Ranks and the Colledge Mace carryed before them by one of the Publick Servants this could not be obtained without the Masters Permission So there was no Tumult nor no disorder intended A great many of the Nobility and most of the Citizens of best quality were looking on and when this foolish Ceremony was over they retired to their Lodgings without any Tumult or Extravagance But the defacing the Chappel at Holyrude House was a Tumult indeed and a very tragical one too in all its beginnings and Consequences This fell out upon the 10. day of December 1688. The Presbyterian Faction in Edenburgh had sometime before determined to Rifle the Kings House particularly my Lord Chancelor's Lodgings to deface the Chappel and to force the Guards and in a word to make the most terrible and the most numerous shew that they were able to make In order to this they gave out that the Papists intended a Massacre of the Protestants though there was not a Papist in Edenburgh to two thousand Protestants And in the Confusion that Men were then in a great many unwary people were frighted and the Presbyterians concerted their Measures and slew to their Arms and the City for that night become a dismal habitation carrying all the marks of Hell and Confusion nothing was to be heard but screeches lamentable howlings and shootings and this was not managed by the Body of the People who were very a verse to such treacherous and unmanly adventures but by some of the Leading Presbyterians who then and now have Authority in the State and might be known by their large Buff-Belt and a Halbard upon their Shoulder running up and down in great fury to excite the People to this Reformation In this Scuffle before they entred the Chappel there were some killed and several wounded by the Guards that kept the King's House and in the mean time the Governours of this Tumult finding that the People were not so forward to Pillage the King's House went up and down and told them that their own Children were killed when those very Children were as Home and safe in their Lodgings And though many were wounded and severals killed yet not a Student belonging to the College was hurt for there were but very few of them whose Youth and Levity had engaged them to be witnesses of this Tumult I believe the Ringleaders of the Presbyterians at Edenburgh will give the Vindicator but little thanks for mentioning this Tumult that is openly avowed by themselves And he may ask not only the forementioned Gentleman but also the Master of F and several others whose names are concealed and may continue so unless the Vindicator or some of his Associates by their indiscretions oblige me to be more particular whether they were there and what a glorious Figure they made If it be unpleasant to name particular Gentlemen they may thank their Vindicator who obtrudes such fulsome Lies upon

into a higher ferment they are Successors of Judas Iscariot and Rabshakes No doubt the Sisters will think that the Vindicator is a precious convincing man he tramples upon the Episcopal Clergy as if they were below his notice there is no grapling with a Giant of so much strength and reason We must be taught better manners than to venture upon this man of Oak and Forehead poor Creatures Have not we been taught better than to make publick the Secrets of the Faction if this man write once again he will ruin us for ever Is not the World well mended by this Reformation But I had rather prove the Vindicator a Lyar than call him so and therefore you may ask him who gave him information that my Lord Dundee had gathered together at Edenburgh two thousand men of the Kings disbanded Forces that with them he might surprize the Convention when all the Nation knows that when he retir'd from Edenburgh he had not above thirty or forty to attend his Person Who saw the two thousand And how comes the Vindicator to six upon that precise number twice Where were they Mustered And is it likely that my Lord Dundee at the Head of two thousand well trained old Soldiers could be forced to retire from Edenburgh by all the Vagabond Russians that came from the West Let the Vindicator recollect himself a little and enquire where he had this information What my Lord Dundee intended is not the Subject of our present enquiry but I am very sure that if he had had the fourth part of that number the Vindicator alledges he could have quickly made the Convention at that time retire and this I confidently think though the Vindicator Confutes this probability by telling Mr. Morer that the Presbyterian Confidence is built on a better foundation than such as Dundee was and here I must take notice of this Gentlemans Charitable Temper and Condescention Mr. Morer one of the Prebendaries of Sarum wrote that none doubted but that if my Lord Dundee had lived he would have changed at that time the Face of Affairs in Scotland From this the Vindicator concludes that the Episcopal Party in Scotland placed their Confidence in none higher than my Lord Dundee how is it possible to shun those venomous darts of spite and ill nature So when ever you speak to a Presbyterian I advise you to take good heed what you say and how if you do not say every thing that may be said they are sure to conclude that what was left unsaid was not at all believed by you so when Mr. Morer writes again he must tell his Patron that though such a change was probable according to the situation of Affairs at that time yet the Episcopal Party placed their Confidence in God For if his words are not thus guarded the Presbyterians will immediately conclude that the Episcopal Party are but a pack of Atheists that place no Confidence in God but lean on the Arm of Flesh I return from this Digression to that that I lately mention'd viz. The Vindicators story of two thousand disbanded Soldiers which carries with it all the marks by which a willful and deliberate lye may be known from modest and ingenuous Truth and the reason why I instance in this particular is because the Vindicator was at Edenburgh or not far from it about that time and therefore it is not probable but that he might have known the truth and from this I conclude that either he lies deliberately and willfully or his Informers are Lyars and idle talkers or at best he himself is guilty of supine negligence in gathering true Informations For to do him Justice I promise to retract this publickly if he get five or six men of any note even amongst the Presbyterians in Edenburgh who will declare it under their hands that they knew that my Lord Dundee had gathered together two thousand Disbanded Soldiers at Edenburgh before he retired from the Convention And the Vindicator himself cannot deny but that this is an extraordinary piece of Condescension that I should leave it to be decided by the Testimony of Presbyterians themselves since he rejects all Episcopal Witnesses The next thing I instance as to his Candour and Integrity is this that in the third page of his Preface he writes that there was Advice writen by Dr. Canaries to Mr. Lisk to be communicated to the Episcopal Party That they should yield feigned Obedience to the Presbyterians at present and these words he caused to be Printed in a different Character that every one might conclude they were the words of Dr. Canaries Letter whereas the Doctor never wrote such a thing nor any thing that can yield any such Consequence And 't is yet more pleasant to read his Letter that justifies this disingenuous usage because forsooth feigned Obedience was a Scriptural Phrase and though the Doctor wrote no such thing yet he thinks he was allowed to Print this Relation of him so as all the World might conclude these words were the express words of Dr. Canarie's Letter and this Lie is more unpardonable than the former because it is deliberate and unrepented off I shall mention one Instance more of his Candour and Integrity and it relates to Mr. Macmath whom he injures most atrociously And because he raises all his Batteries against Mr. Macmath the Minister of Leswade we need no other proof of the Vindicators ingenuity nor no other Character of his genius than to read that part of his Libel that relates to Mr. Macmath First he charges him with Drunkenness but the Vindicator knew no such thing only the barbarous Villains who wounded him upon the Road as he was Travelling from Edenburgh to his own House they would take care to transmit to the Vindicator such stories as were most convenient for him to propagate but Mr. Macmath was that very night before he came from Edenburgh in the company of two Gentlemen of Honor and Integrity and appeals to them whether they could perceive in him either the first beginnings or the least appearance of any excess or disorder and their Testimony is of greater authority than all the stories that the Vindicacor can patch together from such Villains as made an attempt upon his life Next he charges him with amorous wanton and lascivious behaviour and I am glad the Vindicator mentions it because in this very story we have a notorious instance of their Villany and Hypocrisie there was a poor woman hired by the Presbyterians to say that Mr. Macmath once made Love to her and she was prevailed with by her Brother a Presbyterian to say so and when she was encouraged by them again to adhere to what she said she declined it and told them that she had said enough for any thing she had gotten Her Brother who had taught her thus to accuse an innocent man was smitten with such a remorse when he came to consider more narrowly what he had done

hath been worshipped such Constitutions and Solemnities have been derived from the Apostles or Apostolick times When the World was enlightened by the knowledge of the Son of God he did not extinguish the light of Reason but he supposes it and reasons from it and strengthens it and there is nothing more strongly enclined towards God and the Communications of his Spirit than true and unbiassed Reason Therefore such Constitutions as the reason of all Mankind is agreed in have nothing in them contrary to the purity of our Religion If Anniversary days and Festivals have been profaned among the Pagans to the worship of Idols why may they not be sanctified by the true Object of Worship and the honour of Jesus Christ Publick Solemnities have nothing in their own nature that is reproveable no more than the motion of the Sun or the vicissitude of Seasons if any part of our time be abused to excess or riot or the worship of an Idol we are liable to the Justice of God But when we return from Idols to the true God when we change our excess into fasting and prayer and when the whole Scene is become pure what is there in all this that can be blamed Do not we see all Nations agree in this that publick Solemnities and anniversary Festivals and Fasts are necessary to the being and beauty of Religion even those Nations that are at the greatest distance from our Customs our Language our Laws and way of living upon the Conversion of Nations to the Christian Religion some of the places where they worshipped their Idols have been dedicated to the true God and was it not a happy Victory over the Kingdom of Darkness when the publick Solemnities of Idolatry times and places have changed their Objects their Exercises and their End It is true the great Anniversaries of the Jewish Religion were appointed immediately by divine Authority But had not they other Anniversaries not immediately appointed by God and do you read that ever the Prophets did reprove the Jews for such Anniversaries They did indeed reprove their negligence and indevotion in them but the thing it self was acknowledged reasonable and prudent and a very powerful instrument of true Religion when managed with Contrition true Simplicity and Piety Zach. Did ye at all fast unto me saith the Lord. The Fasts mentioned here are of humane appointment and yet anniversary Our Saviour was present at the Feast of the Dedication for which there was not any immediate Divine Institution and though he had not been present if it had been superstitious he had certainly reproved it and given directions against such usages in the general To shake off all the externals of Religion is as dangerous as the multiplying of them the one is the Error of the Romanists and the other the superstition of the Dissenters It is certain that nothing preserves Knowledge of Christian Religion amongst the Body of the People more than the Festivals of the Church for it is not left to the Arbitrary or Extemporary Fits of Devotion but the Church by her excellent Discipline orders the matter so that it is not possible to forget the Faith unto which we have been once Baptized but amongst the Presbyterians in Scotland the People are taught by their Leaders to despise all Forms such great souls ought not to be fettered to the Rules and Methods of the Universal Church and therefore it is very rare to find a Child in the West of Scotland that can repeat the Commandments or the Creed I mean the Children of Presbyterian Parents and by such Enthusiastick pretences Atheism is insensibly promoted and the Body of the People alienated from the simplicity of Christian Religion and scarcely will they allow any man to be acquainted with true Religion that mentions those first Principles of it It is not possible to tell how much their opposition to Forms and Festivals of the Church has infatuated their People there is nothing can make a Clown in the West of Scotland laugh so heartily as when the Curate recommends to their Children the Creed the Lords Prayer and Ten Commandments and therefore they have no opinion of any Mans understanding unless he entertain them with Discourses of Gods unsearchable decrees of Justification before Conversion and how the Convictions of natural Conscience may be distnguished from the Convictions that proceed from the Spirt of God to observe the Festivals of the Church is but a piece of antiquated Superstition But we ought to remember that the stated Festivals and Fasts of the Church do preserve and increase true Devotion and Mortification Fasting is acknowledged a necessary Instrument of Religion by all Nations who profess any Religion at all It is not enjoyned but suposed by our Saviour why may not then the Church regulate and direct the Publick Solemnities of Fasting as well as of Prayer There is nothing so proper to fix our attention as Fasting it delivers the Soul from the oppressions of the Body and restores it to its true and native Sovereignty over our Lusts and Passions The stated Periods of Fasting oblige the most stubborn and impenitent to think of his Soul and the visible Practice of the Church Preach Repentance more effectually and make more lasting Impressions than the loose and indefinite Homilies of self-conceited men The External Solemnities of Religion may be abused as the most excellent things are when they are left to the Conduct of humane weakness but it is not possible to preserve Religion among the Body of Mankind without those Vehicles of Form and Order Nothing hinders the Reformation of the Grecian Churches from the variety of their Errors and Superstitions so much as the open neglect of Fasting among the Protestants and this Practice is not to be defended but rather lamented and amended What a Cruelty is it in all the Sectaries to deprive the People of the Publick helps of Prayer and Fasting Who can justifie this that considers the many Incumbrances Tentations Weaknesses that we daily encounter They that set up Methods of their own in opposition to the Wisdom of the Church in all Ages may amuse the People for a while but can produce nothing that is solid or useful It is certain that the Grecian Churches had long ere now made an utter Apostacy from the Christian Religion if the ancient and fix'd Discipline of the Church did not retain them in the Faith and when we consider how much the Religion that we are Baptized into triumphs over Sensualities and Concupiscence we cannot but acknowledge the Wisdom and Beauty of the ancient Discipline The most useful things in Art or Nature may be sadly abused by Folly or Ignorance We are not to separate from the Roman Church further than they have separated from the Wise and Primitive Constitution of the first Ages of Christianity and all the Protestants abroad seem to agree in this Truth for they Preach and Pray Publickly upon the great Fasts and

Worship of God It is true the Vindicator hath not in this place any Discourse to prove this unlawful but I take notice of it as one of the Theological hints that are interspersed in his Defamatory Libel But may not Ceremonies of Human Appointment if they decently and gravely express our Affections be used in the Worship of God Did not Solomon advise us to look to our Feet when we come into the house of God and the same Ceremony was practised under the Patriarchal Dispensation viz. That of putting off our Shoes when we approach the Holy Place as Moses was enjoyned by God himself because the place he stood upon was holy ground and this was an Advertisement that he ought to do what was ordinarily done by all the Eastern Nations when he approached the place of Gods peculiar Residence And pray Was it not a significant Ceremony expressive of their Reverence and adoration In like manner Sackcloth and Ashes did amongst all Nations signifie grief and sorrow therefore in their Humiliations they were used to express their Remorse and Contritions The Presbyterians fix upon a word and pronounce it with disdain and contempt they repeat it with Indignation and then their zealous Disciples when they hear that word pronounced presently let fly their thoughts to some monstrous thing or other that is not at all signified by that word yet the Idea of some such ugly thing sticks to their Imagination for no other reason but that Mas John frown'd when he heard that word pronounced What other reason can we give why the word significant Ceremony should disturb their Imaginations Why may not we express our Thoughts Passions and Affections by Ceremonies as well as by words Since both are innocent and both serve the same design But the Covenanters themselves used significant Ceremonies when they imposed the Covenant he that Swore was to lift up his right hand bare you are to take notice that it was the Right and not the Left and it was lifted up and not otherwise extended It was bare and not covered and was not this a significant Ceremony of Human Institution In the Worship of God nature taught Mankind to approach God with all the decent Marks of Distance and Adoration and they that declaim most against Ceremonies do practice them frequently only they do this more awkwardly and with a figure becoming their singularity but this will never convince the Intelligent part of Mankind that they are either wiser or better than any of their Neighbours True Religion obliges us to comply with the innocent decencies of Mankind and to affect nothing that 's extraordinary or singular Our Saviour left us this Example he eat and drank with Publicans and Sinners and affected no Customs different from the Jews If the Ceremonies be practised by the Nation amongst whom we live if they decently express our Reverence or our Humiliation I see no reason why they may not be used in the Service of God as well as words especially when they are commanded by our lawful Superiours as necessary Instruments of Publick Order and Uniformity nor can they change their Nature by being commanded for such and such Ceremonies are in their Nature indifferent yet some one or other must be used and which of them we shall use may very well be determined by our lawful Superiors Sitting for any thing I know was never looked upon as a Posture of Reverence yet the Presbyterians in Scotland for the most part fit all of them in time of Publick Prayer what they signifie by it I know not I am sure not that which becomes Prayer and the Worship of the most High God We look upon the decent Ceremonies of the Church as Appendages or Expressions but not constituent parts of Worship as is foolishly and peevishly alledged by our Adversaries and I may put the Vindicator in mind that the reason why some of the Clergy in Scotland Read the Book of Common-Prayer is not what he suggests according to his wonted Candor and Ingenuity but rather an open avowing of their Principles when it was visible to the World there was no possibility of uniting with the Presbyterians Another thing I take notice of is to be met with Pag. 196 197. The Author of that Epistle that is subjoyned to the Vindicators Book tells us to the reproach of our Bishops that some of them upon the Restoration of the Government submitted to reordination to the great scandal not only of this but other Reformed Churches I know none were scandalized at it but such as were resolved to pick quarrels with every thing that the Bishops would do It was no scandal to the Foreign Churches or the French Divines All of them the greatest men among them are reordained when they come to England and they chearfully submit to it And this was never condemned by any Publick Act of the Gallican Church nor by none of their Eminent Divines The Church of England does not absolutely condemn their Ordinations in France but rather waves the debate but she is determined to preserve an unquestionable succession of Priests within her own Bounds As to the Matter of Fact narrated in Mr. Meldrum's Letter I know nothing of it and therefore I ought to say no more than I know He tells us that he subscribed a Paper and that the Paper was drawn out of the Archbishops Letter by a Friend of his and that now he repents for Subscribing this Paper and that though he was in great Friendship afterwards with Bishop Scougal and did what others in that Interval did yet he thinks that by all this he paid no formal Canonical Obedience From all which I observe that it is a very happy thing to live in or near an University as Mr. Meldrum did Distinctions are very useful things one had better carry a good bundle of them about him than all your famous Elixirs and Essences one may pay material Canonical Obedience but it is dangerous to pay it formally the great mischief is in the formality of paying it but for my part I have sworn Canonical Obedience formally and I have paid it materially and shall never decline my Bishops Spiritual Authority when ever there is occasion and I think all the Presbyters of that National Church are as much obliged to obey their Spiritual Governours notwithstanding of all that past in favors of the opposite Faction since the Revolution And now I think it high time to go forward to the fourth Particular that I promised viz. To let you see the several Periods of Episcopacy and Presbytery in the Church of Scotland since the Reformation And I am the more confident to give you satisfaction because I had the happiness to peruse a Manuscript written by a person of great honour and true Learning relating to this very affair and it is of so much the greater weight and Authority that it is not only founded on our best Historians but on the authentick Records of Parliament and