their Morality in their Conversation or for their concern in that matter That they the Presbyterians are obliged by their Oaths to ruin Episcopacy would indeed be to his purpose if he could make it appear that the Covenant or any other Oath doth bind us to tell lies or use any means good or bad toward that end But if that be false as all do know let it be considered what Morality or Argumentative Skill the Man is Master of who doth so boldly affirm this and maketh such inference from it § 23. Another thing whereby he endeavoureth to vilifie his Adversary for that is the professed scope of this part of the Apology is he is for the divine right of Presbytry If he or any of his party could disprove this Opinion which I have not yet seen nor expect to see yet I think few except this Author will think this sufficient to render a man contemptible Many with whom the Vindicator will not compare and to whom I think the Apologist is not equal are of the same Opinion And have strenuously maintained it and if it be so ridiculous to assert the Divine Right of Presbytry what is it to write and think so of Episcopacy as the Apologist doth p. 23. where he calleth it the Apostolical Government if it be Apostolical it must be Divine for the Apostles were guided by a Divine and infallible Spirit If our Authour would have made us ridiculous on this hâ—ad it might have been expected that he should have refuted this opinion and answered what is saâ—d for it with such strength and evidence as was able to captivate the understandings of all men except they were Idiots as he seemeth to reckon the Presbyterians but that was too hard a task for him and therefore he wisely forbeareth to meddle with it What he bringeth to prove the absurdity of â—his Opinion is far short of what others of his Party have said and a very weak bottom to found his confidence upon The first Presbyterians held Church Policy to be variable and for this he citeth the Confession of Faith inserted in the Oath of the Test it seems he knoweth the Confession of Faith of the first Scotch Protestants under no other designation It is evident to any who readeth that Confession â—hat there is nothing said in that place of Government whether Parity or Prelacy but of Policy and order of Ceremonies and Ceremonies here must needs be taken in a large sense for External Rites common to other publick actions beside Church Administrations For they expresly condemn Humane Ceremonies in Gods Worship If another person had reasoned at this rate it would have been improved by our Author as a part of the Character of such a Writer He taketh it very ill p 25. That the Presbyterian Church will not own themselves as Delegates of the State As if they acted against the Sentiments of the whole Nation and against common Sense which do determine that they could have no power over the Episcopal Clergy but what they derived from the State Our Author doth little consider wâ—om he disobligeth by his loose talk Even that part of the Church of England to please whom this and most of their Pamphlets are calculated Tho' he will not read the Books of the Presbyterians because they stir his Choler I wish he would read a late piece about Christian Communion on behalf of the deprived Bishops where it is asserted and strongly pleaded That the Church in matters purely Spiritual and such the Government of the Church is by him asserted to be as much as the Administration of the Sacraments is altogether independent on any other Power whatsoever Wherefore there are other Men as well as Presbyterians so ridiculous in this Writer's Eyes as to deny Church Assemblies for Government to be Delegates of the State For the Presbyterian Churches power over Episcopal Men they have it by their office over all the Members of the Church of Scotland whatever be their opinion about Government Tho' we own it as the favour of the State that we have its countenance in the exercise of this Government Another of his wise reasons is Calvin said Honour and Reverencâ— is due to Prelates etiam hoc nomine if they embrace the Reformation Ergo. His Disciples are absurd in being loath that any other Policy should prevail Here is no shadow of consequent Calviâ— was as unwilling as we are that Episcopacy should prevail whatever respect he or we might have to the person of a Bishop who embraceth the Truth That it is in any part of the Vindication said or insinuated that they who are not for Presbytry or the Divine Right of it are not acquainted with the Spirit of God is most false and injuriously hinted by our Author He might have seen in the page that he citeth it is said of some on a quite different account If he can make it appear that his Antagonist doth thus write at random let him Characterize him as he pleaseth § 24. Another thing whereby he thinketh to make his Antagonist absurd and odious is hiâ— Rudeness and Vanity p. 25. I hope he looketh on these two qualities as distinct And is obliged to prove them both whereas I find nothing that looketh like an attempt to prove the latter But it will not be difficult to retort it on himself by any who considereth the Supercilious strain of his writing and his contempt of his Adversary For the former his proof is The Vindicator representeth his Adversary as a Liar and Villain Tho' he cannot prove that the Author of the History of the General Assembly wrote one Lie If his Informations were not exact he is not to blame But it cannot be proved that any information he got was false A. He should have shewed where he was represented as a Villain for I do not remember it and no place is cited unless he take a Liar and a Villain for the same It is a pleasant Vindication from being his Information was not exact Our Author here would shew his Critical Skill but do we not in ordinary Speech call gross Falsehoods Lies not considering the knowledge or intent of the Speaker And all that was said was that the things wrote were Lies Which was abundantly made evident and is known to most in Scotland Tho' our Author hath the brow to say that it cannot be proved To impute so absurd thâ—ngs to so publick a meeting where were so many Witnesses to attest the Falsehoods of them and to transmit these to Posterity in Writing let every one judge by what softer term it could be called Whether he or his Informers be the Liars we are little concerned But Wise Men will think that neither can be excused Beside are there not many things instanced by the Vindicator as asserted by his Adversary in which it is hard to think that the Mans Mind did not contradict his Thoughts As p. 36. They the Presbyterians and no exception or distinction
Men is sophistically alledged I doubt not but there are such among them tho' I never thought what they differ in from the rest of the Presbyterians to be any part of their Godliness But I never called them yea nor any other party of Men universally Godly nor thought that all was well done that is committed among a Body of Men where are many Godly Yea nor that whatever is done by good Men is Good Christs Disciples were good Men yet their forsaking him and flying was no Good Action It is probable enough that some bad Men might creep in among these zealots and might much influence these Disorders as the mixt multitude influenced the Israelits to Murmuring in the Wilderness § 5. But he will prove the Cameronians to be Presbyterians a Conclusion which in the sense given we deny not let us hear his Arguments 1. If they be not Presbyterians to what Communion then do they belong A. This is as if we should alledge that the Arminians in the Church of England are the Episcopal Party and ask them who deny it To what Communion do they belong Surely neither to the Presbyterians nor Independents c. Wherefore I answer directly tho' in most things they agree with the Presbyterians yet in other things they are a Communion by themselves And indeed till the Lord was pleased to abate the heat of that division that was among us they had cast off Communion with the Presbyterian Church and would hear none of her Ministers but cleaved to two or three of their own way His second Argument is have they any Principles Discipline or Government different from the Presbyterian Church A. For Discipline and Government the Arminians of England have none different from the Episcopal Church and yet the Apologist and others might Justly blame us if we should not distinguish between Arminians and Episcopalians For Principles they had principles both with Respect to the Civil Government and as to that Submission that is due to Church Governours which other Presbyterians did never hold And tho' this had not been and if they had been Members of our Congregations our Dislike of the practice and having no accession to it doth clear us from the blame of it and all that can be inferred against us is that some Presbyterians have done ill things And if he can instance in any party of Men of whom the like cannot be said we shall yield to his Argument I hope he will not alledge it of his own party His third Argument is were not the leading men lately owned and received by the pretended General Assemblie without retracting any Articles of Doctrine or disowning any of their practices that they so zealously recommended to their followers in the West A. to say nothing of his Discretion in the Epithet Pretended that he bestoweth on the Assemblie which the King and Parliament indicted and owned as well as it was the representative of the Church of Scotland It is true the three Ministers who had headed that party were received upon promise of Submission to the Church and orderly behaviour which they have since faithfully performed and by that means multitudes of the People that followed them are brought to more sober Courses and do wait on the ordinances of God dispensed by the Presbyterian Ministers which before they could not be perswaded to And was it not wisdom in the Assemblie to so pite these Divisions by lenitie rather than to exasperate and continue them by putting men on formal retractation of what was done seing the same thing was materially performed Will any man who is not fond of picking Quarrels say that by this Course the Assembly approved of what these men have done or that all the Presbyterians are of the same sentiments that these men had been of especially considering that the Presbyterian Church hath received into Ministerial Communion and admitted to a share of the Government of the Church severals of them who had complyed with Episcopacy and are ready to do the same by all good and useful men among them who will not endeavour the hurt of the setled Government without puting them to express retracting of their former principles or practices this considered I hope the Reader will see to how little purpose his Simile is brought from the imagined Apology of the several parties among the Donatists For if one only of these parties he mentioneth were guilty of these Irregularities he speaketh of there is no reason to blame the other factions in those things whatever blame might be fixed on them all in these things wherein they agreed § 6. What he asserteth page 3. That the most intelligent among them the Presbyterians did contrive and manage the irregular Heats and Motions of their own Partizans I suppose he means the Cameronians This we deny and shall consider the proofs of this assertion in its place But before he cometh to this he pretendeth to oppose the vanity of this Apology more closely How he performeth what he promiseth tanto hiatu let us now hear he saith that the knoweth no Opinions that Mr. Cameron propagated which were peculiar to himself He followed most closely and ingenuously the Hypotheses of the old and zealous Presbyterians A. We know that he and they who joyned with him and they who succeeded to him held that they owed no alledgeance to the King because he had broken the Covenant That they might not lawfully hear any of the Ministers of Scotland because either they had received Indulgence from the King or owned such as Ministers who had received it or did not declare against them Were these the Hypotheses of the Old and zealous Presbyterians But whatever were his principles his practice in making so wide a separation from all the other Presbyterian Ministers in Scotland is a sufficient Apology for their Innocency who neither were of his way nor had any hand in the Disorders that we now debate about which were committed by that party which he had headed while he was alive Another effort of his more closs arguing is Mr. Cameron was not a proper Man to be the founder of a new Sect. As if profound Learning and deep policy were alwayes necessary to mislead a few of the less intelligent People especially when the severity of persecution had imbittered their Minds both against the Rulers and the Episcopal Church it was easy to set them oft from them And from all that did not make the same Resentments with them of what was then acted I am yet unable to find out his close Reasoning for what followeth is That the Episcopal party first called that party Cameronians and by that name mean all Presbyterians whose zeal for their Faction over-drives them beyond all Discretion and this all along he imputeth to all Presbyterians and therefore he will allow no difference among Presbyterians some will call this a loose Declaration rather than close Argumentation for whatever names he is pleased to give to persons or things
For we do not pretend to any knowledge in these but what we build on Scripture and Reason we plead no immediate Revelation If he can prove our Grounds to be insufficient he may conclude our Opinions false but not that they are Enthusiastick All the Divines that I have read on that subject take Enthusiasm for a pretension to immediate Revelation or Inspiration or Instinct or Afflatus of things that they who pretend to it can give no other ground for And even Plutarch calleth it Instinctus divinus de defect Oracul c ' 67. If he can either prove that we pretend to this or that we bring no other grounds for what we affirm let him brand us with Enthusiasm at his pleasure That all the subdivisions of Dissenters in England are for Anniversary Holy days is so well known to be false that I wonder he should insinuate so much without blushing That the Anniversary day for the burning of London is observed by them all with Fasting and Prayer is not true for any thing that I know And if it were true will he also say that they have sequestred that day from all Civil Employment and dedicated it to Religion If he say not this the Case is not paralell to what we now debate about § 35. His conclusion of what he had discoursed is That it is dangerous if not impious to separate from the Church in these excellent Constitutions that are received from the beginning and in all Countries where the name of Jesus hath been worshipped Such Constitutions and Solemnities have been derived from the Apostles or Apostolick times Here are big words If the strength of his forgoing Reasons were but proportioned to the confidence of his Assertion our Cause must fall to the ground But the Reader will judge whether any one word of this Thrasâ—nick triumph be true or have sufficient foundation in what he hath proved He telleth us but I know not to what purpose that the knowledge of Christ doth not extinguish the light of Reason Therefore such Constitutions as the reason of all Mankind is agreed in have nothing in them contrary to the purity of our Religion It is tedious to refute or to read such loose Arguings of which the meanest Logician might be ashamed We deny not the use of Reason in Religion viz. For understanding what is revealed and for drawing Native Consequents from these great truths But that the use of Reason is to appoint new Ordinances or Means of Grace that Christ hath not appointed we deny And if our Author do not assert that he saith nothing for his Holy days And if he do not prove it his Argument is insignificant For Holy days are such means if we may believe this Author who speaketh of them as the means of propagating the Christian Faith That these Constitutions are agreed on by all Mankind is a supposition as far from Truth and from Modesty as any thing can be He hath not yet done with this subject but falleth on it afresh in a discourse two pages long which he calleth a short digression Wherein any thing that looketh like Argumentation hath been many times to far greater advantage proposed by others of his way and as often answered by Men of our side So that I wonder that so high a pretender is not ashamed so to trisâ— Some things indeed he hath that are new viz. Some Historical passages which are as far remote from Truth as Darkness is from Light Let us hear the particulars He pleadeth p 41. that Anniversary Solemnities may be used in the Worship of God tho' they have been abused to the Worship of Idols A. We have better Arguments against these and other Human Ceremonies than from the abuse of them by Papists and Pagans But even this wanteth not its weight only we never used this Argument against the use of things necessary and therefore the Author doth unwisely mention the Sun and the Seasons the use of which we must not lay aside whoever abuse them But of things that are of no necessity such as all Human Ceremonies are acknowledged to be by the most Learned of the Patrons of them Our Argument hath yet greater strength if we consider not only that the Holy day now debated about was kept by the Heathens in Honour of Julius Caesar and hence called Yule in Scotland And is still abused by many Superstitious Fopperies among the Papists But is generally by the far greater part of the Protestant Observers of it spent in Idleness Feasting and Playing and by very many it is horribly profaned by all manner of Excess and Debaucheries It is a wonderful confidence Do we not see saith he all Nations agree in this that Publick Solemnities and Anniversary Festivities and Fasts are necessary to the Being and Beauty of Religion So p. 41. and p. 42. we ought to remember that the stated Festivals and Fasts of the Church do preserve and increase our Mortification ibid. The stated periods of Fasting oblige the most stubborn and impenitent to think of his Soul and the visible practices of the Church preach Repentance more effectually and make more lasting impressions then the loose and indefinite Homilies of Self conceited Men. And p. 43 he imputeth to the neglect of Fasting among Protestants the hinderance of the Reformation of the Grecian Churches And ibid. The publick seasons of Devotions are the Catechism of the People A few Remarks to expose these flights of his Fancy First What could be more said of the Word and Sacraments and other Ordinances instituted by Christ What greater Elogies are given to them in Scripture For indeed he saith as much as Christmass and other Holy dayes are the power of God to Salvation 2. This is contary to the Sentiments of all that ever wrote on this subject Who agree that these Ceremonies are indifferent things And yet he will have them necessary and that not only to the beauty of Religion but to the being of it 3. Then it seems there was no Religion in the Apostolick Church nor among the Waldenses nor in Geneva and several other Reformed Churches I add not the Presbyterian Church of Scotland in all the Ages of it because he will hardly allow any thing of Religion to be among us This is his Christian Charity of which he talketh He doth indeed damn all them to Hell who observe not Christmass He is the first of this Opinion and I hope he shall be the last 4. If all this were true it were impossible that Irreligion Impenitency or Immorality could be at least be frequent and abundant in a Church where these forms are used Which I hope none will say who have lived in England or in Scotland or in the Romane Communion It is but suitable to his Genius to vilisie the Preaching of Presbyterians as the loose and indefinite Homilies of Self conceited Men But it had been fit to have told us whether there be any Preaching that can equal these forms in