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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43681	The spirit of popery speaking out of the mouths of phanatical-Protestants, or, The last speeches of Mr. John Kid and Mr. John King, two Presbyterian ministers, who were executed for high-treason and rebellion at Edinburgh, August the 14th, 1679 with animadversions, and the history of the Archbishop of St. Andrews his murder, extracted out of the registers of the Privy-Council, &c. / by an orthodox Protestant.	Hickes, George, 1642-1715.; Kid, John, d. 1679.; King, John, d. 1679.	1680 (1680)	Wing H1874; ESTC R6348	165,592	93

THE Spirit of POPERY Speaking out of the Mouths of Phanatical-Protestants OR THE LAST SPEECHES OF Mr. JOHN KID And Mr. JOHN KING Two Presbyterian Ministers Who were Executed for HIGH-TREASON and REBELLION At Edinburgh August the 14th 1679. With ANIMADVERSIONS and the History of the Archbishop of St. Andrews his Murder extracted out of the Registers of the Privy-Council c. By an Orthodox Protestant 1 Pet. 4. 15 16. But let none of you suffer as a Murderer or as a Thief Yet if any Man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed but glorifie God on this behalf Matth. 23. 13. 16 17. 27. 31 32. Wo unto you Hypocrites who for a pretence make long Prayers Ye fools and blind ye blind Guides you are like unto beautified Sepulchres fair without but full of dead mens bones and uncleanness within Fill ye up the measure of your Fathers for you are the Sons of them who killed the Prophets Luke 11. 49 50 51. Some of them they shall Slay and Persecute that the blood of all which was shed from the blood to the blood may be required of this Generation Matth. 7. 15. Beware of False-Prophets which come to you in Sheeps Cloathing but inwardly are Ravening-Wolves Gen. 49. 6. O my Soul come not thou into their Secret nor unto their Assembly for in their anger they Slew a Man 2 Tim. 3. 2 3 4 5. Boasters Proud Blasphemers Unthankful Unholy False-Accusers Incontinent Fierce Traitors Heady High-minded having the outward appearance of Godliness but denying the Power thereof from such turn away Dehinc ut quiescant porro moneo desinant maledicere malefacta ne noscant sua LONDON Printed by H. Hills and are to be Sold by Walter Kittleby at the Bishops-head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1680. THE PREFACE Wherein the Author of the Animadversions addresseth himself to the English-Dissenters especially the Presbyterians and shews the Jesuitical Tricks that have been used in the former Edition of these Speeches IN Writing the Animadversions upon these two treasonable and blasphemous Speeches and the History of the Archbishops Murder as a further Commentary upon them I have had a double regard to the English and Scottish Reader and have consequently said some things in both of them with respect to the one which may seem superfluous to the other The consideration I had to the former obliged me to cite and exemplifie many Scottish Acts of Parliament Orders and Proclamations of the King by his Privy-Council which had been needless but that without them it was not possible for any but a Scotsman fully to understand the meaning of those passages in the Speeches to illustrate which they are produced And the consideration I had to the latter hath made me insist much on the invalidity of the Kirk-Ministery and the Divine Institution of Episcopacy in doing of which I have cited the Latin Fathers in the Original and the Greek in Latin because this Language in Scotland among the men is almost as common as their Mother-Tongue But besides those things upon which I have largely insisted for the sake of the one of which the other had not so much need I have purposely insisted on other useful things upon the common account of both Particularly I have been elaborat in explaining most of those Texs of Scripture which the two Malefactors misapplied to themselves or their own Party and in citing out of the Kirk-Writers their Papal Jesuitical Murderous Schismatical and Rebellious Principles in doing of which I protest I have not said the fourth-part of what I was able to produce I have also here and there exemplified their Principles with their Practices and all this I have done without any at least without any material reflections upon the English-Dissenters for whose sake especially I have undertaken this small but tedious work For the conforming part of both Churches generally know enough to make them detest the Principles and Practices of our Jesuitical Separatists and so will read things of this nature not so much for instruction as delight and for our Scottish-Nonconformists especially those of the Field-Separation it would be lost labour to write Books for them who lye under as strong a prejudice against the Church-Writers as the most bigoted Papists do and like them are also terrified and prohibited by their Jesuitical Preachers from reading of any thing that is written by an Orthodox Protestant Pen. Therefore the principal design which I had in Publishing all this was for your sakes O ye Nonconformists from our Sister Church of England who have more ingenuity and who I cannot but believe are ignorant of the nature of our Separatists and their Separation because upon all occasions you appear as much concerned for them as if you thought that their Cause and yours were the very same Did you not take them for a more rational and innocent Sect than they are you would I am confident be ashamed to Correspond with them who are the shame of the Presbyterian Name You would not if you rightly understood them Defend their Separation Apologize for their worst Actions By sundry Libellous Pamphlets and most false and Seditious Discourses sent from Scotland and dispersed purposely in this our Kingdom of England especially in our City of London that the cause of these Disorders is sought to be shifted off the Rebels in Scotland and most unjustly cast upon King Charles 1st his lesser Declarat 1640. pag. 2. disperse their Calumniating and lying Stories and with your Interests and Purses support their tottering Cause You would not defend their unrighteous dealings rail at those who bring them to Condign Punishment and call their Fineings Imprisonments and Executions Persecution although they are Condemned upon the very same Account and Suffer for the very same Principles and Practices for which you rejoyce to see the Papists but especially the Jesuits Dye by the Executioners hand If you will not believe me read this little Book nay read but the Speeches and the History and if you please let the rest alone and then if you do not find that I Charge them truely expose me in Print for a Calumniator or Post me up for a Knave But if you find that the Presbyterian Sect of which these two Malefactors and the Archbishops Murderers were profess a Papal Soveraignty over your Native Prince and most of all the Doctrines if not all for which the Jesuits are Secluded both Kingdoms by Capital Laws then I beseech you nay I conjure you as you would be thought true and impartial Protestants or men of common Ingenuity not to favour or approve in the Presbyterian what you abhor in the Popish Priests and People nor to call the Execution of wholsom and necessary Laws Tyranny and Persecution with respect to the one which you declare to be Laudable Justice on the other How have both you and the Conforming-Protestants applauded the Zeal and Justice of your Magistrates in Executing your Laws upon the former and yet you

them Rebels by Letters raised under the Signet of the Privy-Council But because in England where Tenants are not so dependent on their Landlords such proceedings are not nor indeed ought to be practised therefore an inconsiderable party of men whom the Covenanters look upon as their Patrons misrepresented this Bond in that Kingdom for an Arbitrary Tyrannical and Illegal Proceeding though some of the chief Complainers had themselves consented to the Enacting of the like but more rigorous Orders in 1666. and in 1677. as may be seen in the True Narrative of the Proceedings of the Privy-Council in Scotland c. Printed at Edinburgh and Reprinted by Authority at London 1678. The Field-Preachers damned this Bond with Bell Book and Candle and particularly Mr. John Welsh Preaching somewhere about Lanerk and in Carrick after he had severely reproved the People for not coming Armed to the Conventicle with Swords and Pistols to defend the Gospel He said The Taking of this Bond was a renouncing of their Baptism and making a Covenant with the Devil more express and worse than that of Witches And Mr. John Dickson Preaching at a Conventicle May 26. 78. said That those who had taken it had committed a greater Sin than the Sin of the Holy Ghost and were already in Hell 18 Those who have read the Books of Keith and Barclay the Scottish Quakers know the reason why the Presbyterians of that Countrey are so angry at that Sect. For they and their Brethren by the help of their Books pelt the Covenanters on all occasions with such unanswerable vexatious Arguments as these That they ought not to object the Surplice nor the imposition of other Ceremonies against the Church of England who obliged Penitents for Adultery and other Crimes to appear in Sackloth which was both a Symbolical and Jewish Ceremony Devilry of Quakerism so much connived at if not allowed and countenanced by many whose Office it is to restrain it as also against all the steps and courses of backsliding and defection which have been and now are on foot in this Land and against all the Branches and parts thereof under whatsoever name or notion Moreover I bear my Testimony to all the Testimonies given both formerly and of late by our Suffering and Banished That the People of God called Quakers have as much reason to say That they Preach which is to speak from God to men by the Spirit as the Presbyterians for asserting they can Pray which is to speak from man to God by the Spirit That they therefore had the notion of Immediate Inspiration from them or if by that Phrase of theirs Praying by the Spirit they understood not Inspiration of matter and words in their Devotions which they the Quakers profess to have that then they ought to pray to God by prescribed Forms in publick Worship as the People of the Communion of the Anglicane Church do It being the height of Impudence and Blasphemy for an Orator of a Congregation not Inspired to undertake to pray when he is not certain either what or how he shall speak That therefore there ought to be no Medium betwixt prescribed and inspired Devotions in publick Worship and that either the Church of England or the People called Quakers are in the right and Extemporarians not Inspired certainly in the Wrong That the Presbyterian Preachers are great Deceivers and Hypocrites in pretending to their own People to Pray by the Spirit and denying to others in close Argumentation that they Pray by Inspiration and that it appears from their own Writings that their way of long praying was meer Art Artificial Method or Logical Contrivance which any witty Boy shall learn and perform as well as a Man That they of all other Christians cannot be the People of God who set up and maintain their Religion by shedding of Christian Blood of which they have shed more in a few years within this little Isle than was shed in the first Ten famous Perfecutions within the vast circumference of the Roman Empire and that the want of the Spirit of Meekness and Passive Obedience which is as eminently seen among them the Quakers as among the Primitive Christians plainly declares they are not Christ's That they have no reason to condemn the Church of England for human Inventions for that their Prayers before and after Sermon and before and after Baptism and the Lords Supper are human Inventions That their Solemn League and Covenant is an human or rather a Diabolical Invention Nay That their Church-Discipline by Kirk-Sessions Presbyteries and Synods is not only an human but a new Invention which hath no ground neither in the Scriptures nor Ancient Christian Writers whereas Church-Government by Bishops which they condemn was a very ancient universal Constitution and hath far more to say for it self than theirs That the Bishops and their Clergy and People are far more Civil Kind Meek Affable and Charitable than the Ministers and People called Presbyterians who have always been of a Violent Furious Proud and Persecuting Spirit apt to exclude all from Salvation but themselves That they ought not to complain of legal Rigours and Persecution who Persecuted the People which call themselves the Church without and against Law by all manner of ways and with the greatest rigour that men could be Persecuted and therefore whatsoever they can suffer from them now is but what themselves most unjustly inflicted before These and such like are the ways of Arguing whereby the Quakers vex and expose the Presbyterians who therefore call them for they have an excellent talent that way Devillish Satanical Damned and all other names that belong to Hell Witnesses and to all the Testimonies of our 19 See Note 3. on the first Speech first Sufferers Noblemen Gentlemen Ministers and others that have Suffered in this City and Kingdom who cheerfully laid down their lives with admirable 20 See Note b on this Speech and d. and f. on the first Speech Divine assistance and to all those that have laid down their lives either formerly or of late in the Fields As also to those who have sealed their Testimonies either with Forfeitures 21 Particularly their Ministers in the Bass. Imprisonment or Banishment on this Account Score and Quarrel And particularly I bear my Testimony against that horrid Violation done to our Lord Jesus Christ and that by usurping upon his Royal Prerogatives and in spoiling him of his Crown Scepter Sword and Royal Robe by taking those Princely Ornaments to invest a man with whose Breath is in his Nostrils through that woful 22 See Note 7. on the first Speech Supremacy so much applauded to and universally owned even of such of whom better things might have been expected I mean the 23 The Hill-Preachers call the Indulged Ministers of whom more in Note u. on the first Speech Council-Curates and they represent them to the People as Traitors to Jesus Christ because

revile and hate those who Execute our Laws upon the latter though their Principles are as incompatible with the Government and call the Church-Protestants Papists or say they are Popishly affected when you hear them like good Subjects rejoyce at the news of their Defeats or express their satisfaction that they Suffered as the nature of their Crimes deserved I say Their Principles are as incompatible with Who under the Mask and Vizard of Religion seek to S●bvert all Monard●●al and Civil Government King Ch 〈…〉 his lesser Declaration 1640. p. 3. Government and the common Security that every man ought to have in Human Societies and that they would be extirpated out of any Protestant Government of the World as the Jesuits were once out of France and many other Popish Countreys but Ours and Yours and yet when a Parcel of them a Year ago were sent on Ship-board into the Thames in order to be Transported according to Law you made as great a stir about it with the King and his Secretary for this Kingdom as if they had been the most Innocent and Orthodox-Protestants in the World Had they been Jesuited Papists we should all have rejoyced but had they been so many of either Churches Communion especially of those whom you invidiously call High-flown Church-men though in Charity I believe you would have been sorry for them yet I doubt if you would have taken half that pains to prevent their Transportation have given them half so much Money or upon their account have cryed out Tyranny half so much In like manner when the Highlanders about two years since were brought down under the Conduct of their Chiefs into those Shires where at least five parts in six are of this Jesuitical Sect What Tragical outcries did you make at London though if the Papists should have kept such frequent and numerous Field-Conventicles in the Popish Shires of England at a time when the Kings Standing Forces were not able to dissipate the tenth part of them you would have thought it both lawful expedient and laudable to have sent Thousands of People from Protestant Shires to Quarter among them for a little while till other expedients could have been found You know very well that the first Discoverer of the Horrid Popish Plot hath declared to all the World That Jesuits were sent into Scotland about the same time that they began to Field-Conventicle to encourage them to Rebel and disturb the Ministery of the Duke of Lauderdale and yet you are so confident as to contradict him in this particular reporting in favour of our Jesuited Presbyterians That there was no need for such a Force to over-rule them but that they were brought upon them purposely to provoke them to Rebel I must also remind you of the innumerable Lyes you dispersed I cannot believe you rais'd them of the Devastations Murders Robberies Rapes c. committed by the Highlanders among those Presbyterian Jesuits though there were as few and as small disorders committed by them as ever was by the like number not only of Soldiers but Men. For they are not Barbarians as you Styled them unless it be in the same sence that the Greeks and Romans called all other People Barbarous that spoke not their Languages and wore not the Pall and Gown No I assure you they are a very Civil Generous and Governable People who committed not half so many nor so great disorders in that expedition as the Soldiers who were levied about the same time in England did about the places where they lay Did any of them do such a Barbarous action not to mention others as that of Captain upon Sir Robert Viners Daughter if they did let it be published but if they did not then I beseech you be not accessory to such lying Stories again But the Loyal Highlanders were from the beginning Malls to the Covenant and Covenanters and this is the true ground why our Presbyterians in the first place and you by contagion from them in the second hate and defame them so much For the very same reason you are directed by them to Calumniate the great name of his Grace the Duke of Lauderdale The Church is supported upon and our Pestilent Sectarians crush'd under his Ministery and therefore you Conspire to represent him as a Tyrant Papist and what not Though some of the most Considerable among you know him to be a man of great Moderation and Piety and one who abominates Popery from his heart I think fit also to mind you of the Misrepresentations which you made of the Archbishops Murder endeavouring to lay it elsewhere than at the door of that Phanatical Party who brought his Grace as the Jesuits have done greater men to Ehuds Dagger and Gideons Sword I have made a True Narrative of it and of the Jesuitical Principles upon which it was Committed on purpose that you seeing of what manner of Faith and Spirit this direful Sect are may Befriend them no longer but shew your selves sincere Protestants in abhorring the worst part of Popery in them aswel as in Papists properly so called Furthermore I cannot but tell you that I am very much offended at the spiteful manner after which you have Treated the Church and her Clergy ever since the Discovery of the Popish-Plot I have seen the Narratives of your Essex and Leicester-shire Elections and have read the Books which your Rabbies have lately put out and comparing them with other Phanatical shall I call them or Popish Libels methinks I find little of the Ancient Puritan Spirit among you but that you have deviated ten times further from their Principles than the Divines in Celeusma are falsly represented to have deviated from the Doctrines of the Church Nay to deal plainly with you you seem to have much of the Covenanting Spirit among you and if you stop not in time I am afraid that as many Acts of Parliament must be made in your Countrey for the protection of the Clergy as have been made in ours What are you not ashamed to Assault the Church on one side while the Papists Storm her on the other A Church of all the Reformed most hated by the Papists and whose Clergy alone hath done much more against Popery than the Divines of all Reformed Communions in the World And yet you are not ashamed to misrepresent this very Clergy to the people for Papists or Papishly affected a Clergy whose Writings all Foreign Protestant Divines study English on purpose to understand and which at this day praised be God for it can produce more Great men than the Greek and Latin Churches put together in the most flourishing Century could ever shew at a time But this is not to act like Protestants but Papists or whatsoever else you will call those who endeavour to ruine the Fortress of the Protestant Cause And truly while some of your leading Dissenters openly avow that they are neither Presbyterians nor Independents c. Nor of any other known name do they

Episcopally Ordained is unlawful which Assertion supposeth that if it be lawful then they are justly punished and not Persecuted for not going to Church and either it must be granted to be lawful or else the Ministery of the Universal Church was unlawful for above 1500. years There remains then nothing but to assert That they are punished upon a positive account for serving of God or for Worshipping of him in a true Way That the way by which they publickly Worship God is a true way as to the substance of the Worship were their Presbyterian and Schismatical Ministery valid I would not deny but then because there are many true ways of publick Worship Subjects like the Children and Servants of a Family ought publickly to Worship God in that true way of Worship which the Supream Magistrate the Father of the Nation doth appoint I will put this case to the Covenanters There 's none of them dare deny but that the French and Helvetian Churches Worship God in a true way and that the reformed Church of Scotland likewise worshipped him in a true way when Mr. Knoxes Liturgy which is almost the same with that of the French Church was in Use. Now therefore I desire they would tell me That supposing the Presbyterian Government were legally Established in Scotland together with that unprescribed Formless way of Worship which they now use Whether a Separating Party refusing to come to Church because they would Worship God according to the French Liturgy or that of Mr. Knoxes would be guilty of Schism or no If they say yes as by their own Principles and in common reason they are bound to do then I desire to know Whether the Supream Power may not forbid their Separate Meetings and command them to come to Church under certain Pains and Penalties and might not most justly inflict them if they disobeyed They cannot say no by their own Principles and Practices as well as out of common reason and if they say yes then they acknowledge in another case that they are justly punished and not Persecuted for meeting to worship God in Conventicles against the penal Laws But furthermore It is not sufficient that the substance of publick Worship be true unless the Circumstances of it be also due It would for example be a very punishable exorbitancy for any Party of conforming People in England to meet illegally in Fields or Houses or at Midnight in Churches to Celebrate Divine Service by the Book of Common-Prayer although they pretended for their Vindication That it was against their Consciences to Pray or Communicate with Profane Persons who come to the Churches or to have their Christian liberty abridged by legal confinement to Time and Place This is the very case of the Field-Fanaticks who though they worship God in the same way as the Church-Congregations do as to the substance of the Worship Yet notwithstanding their pretence that they dare not own the Church-Ministery they are justly punished and not Persecuted for their Irregularities and Transgressions in the legal circumstances thereof But lastly Though the way in which they meet to Worship God were not only true but as excellent as they imagine it to be nay were they the only true Christians in the World and their Magistrates Idolaters or Atheists yet they have no reason to say they are Persecuted when they are punished on this account because the Laws which forbid them to meet in such a manner allow every Family with a certain number of Strangers to worship God in what manner they like best and were they of the Principles and Temper of the Primitive Christians they would be so far from complaining of Persecution that they would be thankful to God and the Powers for so much indulgence and strive by their peaceable behaviour to procure more But then If they be considered as a People of Treasonable Seditious and Schismatical Principles and Practices that have long lived in a State of Rebellion and twice actually Rebelled in the space of 13. years The punishments which they complain of will be so far from looking like Persecution that they must be acknowledged by all but themselves the just Demerits of their Crimes They complain indeed of Covenanters great Pe●secuters and Tyrants Persecution whereas they themselves have been and are the greatest Persecuters in the World It is notoriously known with what violence they formerly Persecuted the Bishops and all who durst adhere to them and the Church They Tyrannically Usurped Authority to depose and Excommunicate them all in 1638. because as the Act bears they had been Consecrated to the Episcopal Office condemned by the Confession of Faith and Acts of that Kirk as having no Warrant in the Word of God wl●ereas there is not one syllable against it either in the 1 Called in the Harmony Scoticana Confessio larger or 2 Called in the Harmony Generalis confessio and by the Covenanters The National Covenant shorter Confession of Faith They usurped authority over Mens Consciences in a most Tyrannical Popish manner not only by taking upon them to loose Mens Consciences from the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy to the King and of Canonical obedience to the Bishops the last of which they declared to be unlawful in their Assembly Decemb. 5th 1638. but they imposed the Covenant on all men under the penalty of Banishment Forfeiture of Estates and Excommunication taking away from all those who refused it both Heaven and Earth as far as they could at one Blow Nay as much as they could they forced the Conscience of the late King of blessed Memory not suffering him to Serve God in his own Family according to his own way which was by the Common-Prayer The general Assembly in August 1640. made an Act against Expectants or young Students in Divinity who should refuse to subscribe the Covenant by which they declared them uncapable of Preaching Reading in a Church or Teaching School or Residing in any Colledge or University and if they continned obstinate to be Excommunicated and yet they now complain of the King Parliament and Council for obliging Expectants and Scholars at their Laureation to take the Oath of Allegiance which is their Duty to do They were not only content to declare Episcopacy to be Popish and Antichristian but in an Act of Assembly 1638. they declared That it was abjured in the National Covenant 1581. under these words The Popes wicked Hierarchy a Bull or contradiction in Adjecto which as they cite it from the Council of Trent includes the Orders of Bishops Priests and Deacons so that if Bishops were abjured by them who took the National Covenant under the Popes Hierarchy how came it to pass that they did not abjure Priests and Deacons too They made an Act of Assembly August 3d. 1648. for Censuring of Ministers who spoke not to the corruptions of the time i. e. for not Preaching and Praying against the Engagement for delivering the late

eos quos baptizaverat suos putabat esse non Christi in toto orbe decretum est ut unus de Presbyteris electus super poneretur caeteris ad quem omnis Ecclesiae cura pertinere● schismatum semina tollerentur Having now shewed that the Primitive Christians believed the Function of a Bishop to be distinct from that of a Presbyter and Superior to it and that the Bishops were the Successors of the Apostles and of Christs institution as they were I hope it is plain that this Antiepiscopal Deceiver dyed not in the Faith of the Primitive Christians as he hath the impudence here to profess From what I have here said of the Episcopal Office and Authority I may draw some Corollaries First that the Primitive Catholick Church acted in Conformity to its own Profession in declaring Aerius as an Antiepiscoparian an Heretick Secondly that Church-Government is not indifferent but that the † Episcopos esse in Ecclesiâ debere tanquam institutionem Apostolicam ac ordinationem proinde divinam contra Puritanos contraque Bellàrminum semper sensi qui negat Episcopos à deo immediatè suam jurisdictionem accepisse Sed nihil mirum à Puritanis eum stare quum Jesuitae nihil quàm Puritano-papistae ●int This was the Judgment of King James as is observed by Becanus de Prim. regn Angl. c. 7. Jacobi regis praefat Monar Episcopal is immediately of Apostolical and mediately of Christs institution and by consequence at least as unalterable as the Baptism of Infants and observation of the Lords-Day which the Presbyterians with good reason declare that the Magistrate ought not to change or take away Thirdly that it is Blasphemy to say that Episcopacy is an Antichristian usurpation over the Church Fourthly that to assert with the Covenanters that the Presbyterian-Government is of Divine institution is an Unscriptural Heretical and absurd Doctrine contrary to the Word of God and the practice and profession of the Holy Catholick Church And as this Jesuited Presbyterian died not in the Faith or Profession of the Primitive Christians so he died not in the Faith of the Reformed Churches First not of the Church of England which is Governed by Bishops like the Primitive Churches and after the warrant of their example hath Instituted Ceremonies and worships God by Liturgical Forms Nor secondly of the Reformed Church of France which submits to the regulation of the Edict of Nantes which is a pure and Secular Edict and which hath always worshipped God by a Common-Prayer-Book and observes Holy-days as Christmas Easter and Whitsunday and which reverences Protestant Bishops after the example of Calvin and Beza their first Reformers and owns Ministers Ordained by them and are never without some such in their Church And whos 's † The Kings larger Declaration pag. 75. Pastors especially those of Charenton were offended at the Solemn League and Covenant as an indelible Scandal to the Protestant Cause as also the Professors Ministers and Consistory of Geneva and their neighbour Reformed Churches as was certified to King Charles the First by his Publick Ministers abroad Nor lastly died he in the Faith of the Reformed Church of Scotland which never professed Episcopacy to be an unlawful or Antichristian Constitution c. as may be seen in the Larger and Lesser Scoticane Confession in the Harmony but I suppose he means the Covenanted Reformed Church that Schismatical Military Church which was and is the Reproach of the Protestant or Reformed Name by the mighty 9 So he calls the incurable obstination of the Presbyterian Party in Schism against the Episcopal Church and Faction and Rebellion against the State Power Goodness and Wisdom of God I bear my witness and Testimony to the Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government of the Kirk of Scotland by 10 A great * Presbyteries Tryal pag. 50. Apostle of the Covenant said in the Pulpit that the Angels and Saints of heaven if they could leave the sight of God would be glad to come down and see the admirable order of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland by Kirk-Sessions Presbyteries and Synods Which Platform being no where to be found in the Scripture made many that had cryed up the Presbyterian Discipline for a Divine Institution tu●● Independents Quakers and Atheists and condemn it as in truth it is for a meer human invention Which if Mr. Calvin had not hit upon and set up in that exigence in Geneva had never been known to the Western no more than to the Eastern parts of Christendom at least to great Britain where it hath been taught in both Kingdoms without any ground in the Scriptures or Antiquity for the sole indispensable government of the Church † King Charles his larger Declarat pag. 67. The National Covenant is that which in the Harmony is called Generalis Confessio it was first Subscribed by King James of blessed Memory and his Household 1580. and by Persons of all Ranks 1581. by an Ordinance of the Privy-Council and Act of General-Assembly It was Subscribed again by all sorts of Persons 1590. by a new Ordinance of Council at the desire of the General Assembly with a general Bond for maintaining the true Religion and the Kings Person and so far Authority permitting or commanding it all was well But then afterwards in † See the Declaration in w. on the first Speech and the Kings larger Declarat pag. 68 69 70. 1638. without the Kings Authority or Commission from his Council they imposed it again according to a new Interpretation of their own although no Authority can interpret any Oath Law or Rescript but that which made it or those whom they who made it have Constituted Interpreters and Judges thereof The new Interpretation was That this Confession was to be interpreted and understood against all the pretended Innovations as if every one of them had been expressed therein viz. The Five Articles of Perth the Service Book the Book of Canons the High-Commission and Episcopacy it self although these things were neither named nor hinted at in that Confession whereof the first Framers only abjured in it those Romish Corruptions which in their time had infected the Church Besides all this they altered the Bond which was annexed to the former Confession by adding these words without authority A mutual defence of one another against all Persons whatsoever by which what they meant the King by woful experience found The Copy of this Confession may be seen in the forecited larger Declaration of the King Kirk-Sessions Presbyteries Synods and General-Assemblies Also I bear my Witness and Testimony to our Covenants † National and Solemn-League betwixt the three Kingdoms which Sacred and Solemn Oath I believe cannot be dispensed with nor loosed by any person or Party upon earth but are fully binding these Nations and will be so ever hereafter Also I bear my Testimony to our publick Confessions of Sin and engagements to Duty and that either as to what concerns

Marquess of Huntly or Me and yet this Answer is defended by Mr. Robert Bailly in his Dissuasive from the Error 's of the Times It is notoriously known in Scotland That Mr. Robert Duglas of Edinburgh and Mr. Patrick Gillespy of Gl●scow were more haughty and insolent in their behaviour than all the Bishops I will not except Cardinal Beton that ever were in the Land But to proceed from the Pride of single men let us reflect a little on the Insolence of their Spiritual Judicatories the Presbytery Synod and General Assembly It is notoriously known what great state the Presbytery or Consistory kept with King James and it is upon Record in the presbytery-Presbytery-Books of Edinburgh how his † Presbytery Displayed pag. 7 8. c. Majesty not once but often hath sent Persons of Honour and great Quality demanding or rather requesting some things of them who have heard the Commissioners propose the Kings mind but then to keep the power and place which the King of Sion had given them in that dignity which was suitable to so high a Trust they have dismissed the Noblemen sent by the King without Answer and by Order of that Spiritual House have appointed one or two as Commissioners of the Presbytery to go to the King with their Will and Pleasure losing nothing of Christs Authority and carrying themselves with the King almost as if two Free States or two Free Princes had met to treat together The Presbytery of Edinburgh as many yet alive remember attempted to censure the Merchants for Carrying Wheat to Spain in a time of Dearth because it was to feed Gods Enemies but above all to Transport Wax to Spain for that was to be accessory to Idolatry because the Wax for the most part was employed in making Tapers and Candles to the Virgin Mary and other Saints The * Presbytery Displaid pag. 9. 10. Presbytery of St. Andrews threatned to Excommunicate a man who had gotten a Judgment from the highest Civil Judicatory in the Kingdom against another who ought him a Sum of Money if he persisted to put the Judgment in Execution and he for fear of this dreadful Court and Sentence desisted from his Pursuit Many instances might also be produced of this holy Sunhedrim's repealing of Royal Grants confirmed by Law and of citeing Noblemen and Gentlemen before them for Commencing Civil Suits against their own Tenants because it bred Strifes withdrew the People of God from their lawful Vocations and hindered the progress of the Gospel as may be seen in the Author cited in the Margin They also undertook to Remove and Transplant any Minister at pleasure though never so learned and unblameable upon a pretence That it was for the Good of the Church or That the Congregation was not edified by his Preaching as may be seen in the same Author and as many yet alive can tell In their Provincial Synods which consisted of Commissioners chosen out of all the Presbyteries within the Province they extended their power in proportion to the dignity of the Court and the Commissioners at their Return home were to see that every Minister of their respective Presbyteries were to Preach as the Synod did direct and command The Nobility and Gentry were forced to court these leading Ministers and make Addresses to them as to so many Popes to strengthen themselves and their Party with the Spiritual Sword In their going to and coming from the Synods the most Eminent of the Nobility and Gentry used to meet them and invite them to their Houses lodge them in their best Chambers and set them at the head of their Tables and never any Bishops in Scotland entered Cities with such Convoys and attended with such great Personages as these Arch-Presbyters used to do When Mr. Robert Bruce came from his Visitation in the West or South he made his Entrance into Edinburgh like a Prince or like an Ambassador or like the Pope into Rome insomuch That King James once looking out of the Window in his Palace and seeing his Cavalcade said with indignation which extorted an Oath from him Mr. Robert Bruce I am sure intends to be King and declare himself Heir to King Robert Bruce Their General-Assembly was composed of Commissioners sent from all the Presbyteries of the Kingdom It was the Supream Sanhedrim wherein the King of Sion sate in the highest power and glory he could upon Earth It was there where Ecclesiastical Sovereignty and Infallibility was to be found and concerned it self in all Temporals in ordine ad Spiritualia The authority they exercised in it they pretended to have by immediate Trust from Christ and declared That whosoever obeyed not this Sovereignty be he King or Subject it was all one was to be Excommunicated They allowed the King or his Commissioner to sit there but he had only one affirmative Voice and if the greater part of Voices determined contrary to his Voice or his Conscience he was bound to put it in Execution In this Court the Spiritual legislative power was seated it was the highest Tribunal and Judicatory of Christ upon Earth from which no Person no Office no Condition of Creature was Privileged and from whence no Appeal could be had The King had no power to appoint the time or place of this Assembly but once a Year it must necessarily meet and oftner if the Commissioners of Assembly thought fit They Contemned Usurped and renounced the Sovereign Authority as it served their Turn they denounced the same War against their Enemies which God commanded Israel to execute against the Canaanites all the Ministers of the Church were to Preach as they directed and a Minister Preaching Treason was to be censured by none but themselves They challenged to themselves a power of Condemning Annulling and Repealing Acts of Parliament and of subjecting the Supream Civil Judicatory of the Nation to them as in the case of Graham one of the Lords of the Session and if any man doubt of the truth of these Assertions let him read the 6th Book of Spotswood's History or the Author of Presbytery Displayed in the General-Assembly In their General-Assembly 1648. July 28. pag. 7. they made an Act and Declaration against the Act of Parliament and Committee of Estates and against all Oaths and Bonds imposed in the common Cause without the Consent of the Kirk They also Ordained all that engaged in the late Kings Relief to incur the wrath of God and to be processed with the highest Censure of the Church which was the heighth of Blasphemy Insolence and Pride This Self-Conceit and Persuasion which they had of their own Spiritual Excellence and dearness to God is the true reason why they indulge themselves the liberty of speaking so Contemptibly Disdainfully Slanderously and Reproachfully of the Church and all that are of Episcopal Communions without any regard to the Functions or Qualities of Men. Naphtali rails at the late King of Blessed Memory for a