a New Meeting of the States is called and Cassils is return'd to England with Commission to tell Henry That the Scottish Lords are content to Relinquish the French on Condition the Match with the Princess Mary were secured 'T is true nothing followed upon this Treaty but a Truce for three years for what reason I know not But from the Deduction I have briefly made it may sufficiently appear how weak the French and how strong the English interest was then in Scotland so very strong as clearly to overcome and almost quite extirpate the other Well! did Francis nothing to recover the Scottish amity Alas at that time he had greater matters to imploy his thoughts He lost his Liberty at the Battel of Pavia Anno 1525 and became the King of Spain's Prisoner and was not Restored to his Freedom till Henry interposed with a powerful Mediation For which He entered into another League with Henry 1527 without minding the Scots or being concern'd for their security This was a third slight put upon the Scots by the French in their Treaties with England 'T is true indeed Francis did not enter into this League with Henry over-awed by his Threats but constrain'd by his Kindness and Good Offices in his Liberation from his Spanish Captivity But it was all one to the Seâ—ts for what reason it was if they were Deserted 'T is true indeed When Iames came to full age he had strong inclinations for renewing the Old Amity with France and no wonder considering how much he was manag'd by the Clergy who abhorred Henry for shaking off the Popes Authority and thought themselves concern'd with all their Might to guard against Henry's contagious influences as they deem'd them But however the King and Clergy were inclined 't is evident the Body of the Nation continued constant in their so frequently provoked Coldness to the French interests and in their good Affection towards England so much that they would never thereafter at least all the time our Reformation was a carrying on follow either King or Regent to invade England Thus When Iames the Fifth Anno 1542. was very earnest for it the Nobility generally declined it and he was forced to dismiss them And when shortly after that his Earnestness that way it seems increasing he ordered ane Army to meet at Carlaverock intending therewith to enter England so soon as Oliver Sinclare was declared Chief Commander and the Kings intentions were made known all threw away their Arms and suffered themselves to be taken prisoners And When the Earl of Arran Regent Anno ..... went with a goodly Army to besiege the Church of Coldingham which the English for the time had fortified he was forced to run for it abruptly fearing as Buchanan says his friends pretended lest his Army should betray him into the hands of the English And Anno 1557 when the Queen Regent Mary of Lorrain was most earnest to have had England invaded thereby to have made a Diversion and eased France of the English Force which was assisting Philip the Second of Spain against Henry the Second of France the Nobility could by no means be gain'd to do it as all our Historians tell us I could have insisted on this Deduction far more largely but I think what I have said may be sufficient for my purpose which was to shew how much Scotland was disengaged of Foreign Influences and by consequence how much it was disposed to receive English impressions from the very Dawning of our Reformation till its Legal Establishment 1560. Let us next try if according to these Dispositions the English influences were Communicated and made suitable impressions And I think in the 1st place No man can reasonably doubt but that 't is fairly credible they did For no man can deny that the Reformation made a considerable figure in England more early than it did in Scotland When Light was thus arising in the Isle it was natural for it to overspread both Nations And it was as Natural that the more and sooner Enlightned Nation should be the fountain of Communication that is in plain terms that Scotland should derive it under God from England Especially considering how at that time they were mutually disposed towards one another Indeed 2. 'T is certain Books deserve to be reckoned amongst the prime Vehicles of such Light as we are now considering and 't is as certain That the first Books which enlightned Scotland were brought from England Tindal translated the New Testament into English Anno 1531. And Copies of it were dispersed here in considerable plenty and other useful Books were then written also in the Vulgar Language which was common to both Nations which coming from England had great success in Scotland as is evident even from Knox's History But this is not all The truth of all this will appear more fully if 3. We consider That King Henry had no sooner begun his Reformation such as it was in England than he Endeavoured to transmit it into Scotland He shook off the Popes Supremacy Anno 1534. And he sent the Bishop of St. Davids to his Nephew Iames of Scotland Anno 1535. with Books written in English containing the substance of Christian Religion Earnestly desiring him to read them and joyn with him in carrying on the Reformation And Herbert says Henry was vastly sollicitous To draw James on his side as knowing of what Consequence it was to keep his Kingdom safe on that part And therefore Laboured still to induce him to abrogate the Papal Iurisdiction in his Dominions And tho this Embassy of St. Davids had not success yet Henry gave not over but continued to write Letters to Iames insisting still upon the same Requests Petrie has transcribed one from Fox wherein Henry Premonishes requires and most heartily prays Iames to consider the Supremacy granted by the Holy Scriptures to Princes in Church matters To weigh what Gods word calleth a Church To consider what Superstitions Idolatries and blind abuses have crept into all Realms to the high Displeasure of God and what is to be understood by the Censures of the Church and Excommunication for the Pope had then Excommunicated Henry and how no such Censure can be in the power of the Bishop of Rome or of any other man against him or any other Prince having so iust ground to avoid from the Root and to abolish such ane execrable Authority as the Bishop of Rome hath usurped and usurps upon all Princes to their Great Damage Requesting him for these Reasons to ponder of what hazard it might be to Iames himself if he agreed to such Censures and by such example gave upper-hand over himself and other Princes to that Vsurper of Rome to scourge all who will not Kiss and Adore the foot of that Corrupt Holiness which desires nothing but Pride and the universal Thrall of Christendom c. Here was Earnestness for Reformation in Scotland with a witness And
forced to return to England Mr. Henry Kellegrew succeeding in his stead in Scotland that this Killegrew at a private meeting told himself plainly that he was come to Scotland with a Commission contrary to his inclinations which was to encourage Faction c. Thus practiced Queen Elizabeth and such were her Arts and influences in Scotland before she had the opportunity of improving the Presbyterian humour to her purposes And can it be imagined she would not encourage it when once it got sooting Certainly she understood it better than so The Sect had set up a Presbytery at Wandsworth in Surrey in the year 1572 four years before Morton made this Proposition seven years before a Presbytery was so much as heard of in Scotland No doubt she knew the Spirit well enough and how apt and well suited it was for keeping a State in disorder and trouble Nay I have heard from knowing Persons that to this very day the Treasury Books of England if I remember right sure I am some English record or other bear the Names of such Scottish Noblemen and Ministers as were that Queens Pensioners and what allowances they got for their Services in fostering and cherishing seditions and confusions in their Native Countrey From this sample I think it is easy to collect at least that it is highly probable that Queen Elizabeth was very willing that the Presbyterian humour should be encouraged in Scotland Let us try 2. If Morton depended so much on her as may make it credible that he was subservient to her Designs in this Politick And here the work is easy For he was her very Creature he stood by her and he stood for her Randolf and he were still in one bottom The whole Countrey was abused by Randolf and Morton Morton and Randolf contrived the Parliament 1571. Mentioned before When Lennox the Regent was killed Randolf was earnest to have Morton succeed him Randolf had no Credit but with Morton Killegrew told Sir James Melvil at the Private Meeting mentioned before That the Queen of England and her Council built their course neither on the late Regent Lennox nor the present Mar but intirely on the Earl of Morton as only true to their interests Morton after Mar's death was made Regent England helping it with all their Might And again in that same page Sir Iames tells that those who were in the Castle of Edenburgh and stood for Queen Mary's Title were so sensible of all this that when Morton sent the same Sir Iames to propose ane accommodation to them He found it very hard to bring on ane Agreement between them and Morton for the evil opinion that was then conceived of him and the hurtful marks they supposed by proofs and appearances that he would shoot at being by Nature Covetous and too great with England And to make all this plainer yet Sir Iames tells us that Morton entertaind a Secret Grudge against his Pupil the Young King He was ever jealous that the King would be his Ruine And England gave greater Assistances to Morton than to any former Regents for they believed he aim'd at the same mark with themselves viz. to intricate the Kings affairs out of old jealousies between the Stuarts and the Douglases Now Let all these things be laid together and then let the judicious consider if it is not more than probable That as England had a main hand in the advancement of our Reformation so it was not wanting to contribute for the encouragement of Presbytery also and that Morton playing England's game which was so much interwâ—â—eâ— with his own made this ill favoured Proposition to this Gen. Ass. But however this was â—lâ—â—her he had such a Plot or not It is cleaâ— that his making this proposition had all the effects he could have projected by being on such a Plot. For No sooner had he made this Proposition than it was greedily entertain'd It Answered the Melvilian wishes and it was easy for them to find colourable Topicks for obtaining the consent of the rest of the Assembly For most part of them were ready to acknowledge that there were Defects and things to be mended in the Agreement at Leith And it had been received by the General Assembly in August 1572. for ane Interim only The revising of that Agreement might end some Controversies and the Regent having made this Proposition it was not to be doubted but he would Ratify what they should Unanimously agree to c. These and the like Arguments I say might 't is clear some Arguments did prevail with the Assembly to entertain the Proposition For A commission was forthwith drawn to nineteen or twenty Persons to Compose a Second Book of Discipline a step by which at that time the Presbyterian got a wonderful advantage over the other Party For not only were Melvil and Lawson the two first Rate Presbyterians nominated amongst these Commissioners But they had their business much prâ—meditated They had spent much thinking about it and it is not to be doubted they had Mr. Beza bespoken to provide them with all the Assistance he and his Colleagues at Geneva could afford them Whereas the rest were Generally very ignorant in Controversies of that Nature They had all alongst before that imployed themselves mainly in the Popish Controversies and had not troubled their heads much about the Niceties of Government They had taken the Ancient Government so far at least as it subsisted by imparity upon trust as they found it had been Practiced in all ages of the Church perceiving a great deal of Order and Beauty in it and nothing that naturally tended to have a bad influence on either the principles or the life of serious Christianity And with that they were satisfied Indeed even the best of them seem to have had very little skill in the true fountains whence the solid subsistence of the Episcopal Order was to be derived The Scriptures I mean not as Glossed by the Private Spirit of every Modern Novelist but as interpreted and understood by the First ages as sensed by the constant and universal practice of Genuine Primitive and Catholick Antiquity This charge of Ignorance in the Controversies about the Government of the Church which I have brought against the Scottish Clergy in these times will certainly leave a blot upon my self if I cannot prove it But if I can prove it it is clear it is of considerable importance in the present disquisition and helps much for coming by a just comprehension to understand how Presbytery was introduced into Scotland And therefore I must again beg my Readers patience till I adduce some evidences for it And First The truth of this charge may be obviously collected from the whole train of their proceedings and management about the Government of the Church from the very first Establishment of the Reformation For however they Established a Government which clearly subsisted by imparity as I
the year 1560 till the year 1616. Our Presbyterian Brethren may be ready to reject its Authority if it Militates against them I give My Reader therefore this brief account of it It was transcribed in the year 1638. when the National Covenant was in a flourishing state For I find at the end of it the Transcriber's Name and his Designation written with the same hand by which the whole M S. is written And he says He began to transcribe upon the 15th day of Ianuary 1638. and compleated his work on the 23d of April that same year He was such a Reader as we have commonly in Scotland in Country Parishes It is not to be imagined it was transcribed then for serving the Interests of Episcopacy For as Petrie and the Presbyterians generally affirm The Prelates and Prelatists dreaded nothing more in those days than that the Old Registers of the Kirk should come abroad And it was about that time that Mr. Petrie got his Copy from which he published so many Acts of our Old General Assemblies Nor is it to be doubted but that as several Copies then were so particularly that which I have perused was transcribed for the Ends of the Good Old Cause This I am sure of the Covenant as required then to be subscribed by the Green Tables is set down at full length in the Manuscript Besides The Stile and Language testify that there is no Reason to doubt That the Acts of Assemblies which it contains have been transcribed word for word at first from the Authentick Records And if Calderwood's or Petrie's Accounts of these Acts deserve any Credit My M S. cannot be rejected for it hath all they have published and for the most part in the same Terms except where these Authors have altered the Language sometimes to make it more fashionable and intelligible sometimes to serve their Cause and the Concerns of their Party It hath Chasms also and Defects where they say Leaves have been torn from the Original Registers And I have not adduced many Acts from it which either one or both these Authors have not likewise mentioned in their Histories Calderwood has indeed concealed very many having intended it seems to publish nothing but what made for him tho I think even in that his Iudgment hath not sufficiently kept pace with his Inclinations Nay His Supplement which he hath subjoyn'd to his History as well as the History it self is lame by his own Acknowledgment For these are the very first words of it I have in the preceeding History only inserted such Acts Articles and Answers to Questions as belonged to the Scope of the History and Form of Church Government Some few excepted touching Corruptions in the Worship of God or the Office and Calling of Ministers But because there are other Acts and Articles necessary to be known I have SELECTED such as are of greatest Vse passing by such as were TEMPORARY or concerned only TEMPORARY OFFICES c. Here is a clear Confession that he has not given us all the Acts of Assemblies Nay that he has not given all such as concerned Temporary Offices and amongst these we shall find him in the following Sheets more confidently than warrantably reckoning Superintendency and the Episcopacy which was agreed to at Leith Anno 1572. I have mentioned these things that the World may see it cannot be reasonable for our Presbyterian Brethren to insist on either Calderwood's Authority or Ingenuity against my Mss. How ingenuous or impartial he has been you may have opportunity to guess before you have got through the ensuing Papers Petrie hath indeed given us a great many more of the Acts of General Assemblies than Calderwood hath done as may appear to any who attends to the Margin of my Book But he also had the Good Cause to serve and therefore has corrupted some things and concealed other things as I have made appear However he has the far greater part of what I have transcribed from the Mss. Spotswood hath fewer than either of the two Presbyterian Historians yet some he hath which I find also in the MS. and which they have both omitted In short I have taken but very few from it which are not to be found in some One or More of these Historians Neither have I adduced so much as One from it nor is One in it which is not highly agreeable to the State and Circumstances of the Church and the Genius of the times for which it mentions them So that Upon the whole matter I see no reason to doubt of its being a faithful Transcript And I think I may justly say of it as Optatus said of another MS. upon the like occasion Vetustas Membranarum testimonium perhibet c. optat Milev lib. 1. f. 7. edit Paris 1569 It hath all the Marks of Antiquity and Integrity that it pretends to and there 's nothing about it that renders it suspicious The other Book which I said required some farther consideration is The History of the Reformation of the Church of Scotland containing five Books c. Commmonly attributed to Iohn Knox by our Presbyterian Brethren That which I have to say about it is chiefly That Mr. Knox was not the Author of it A. B. Spotswood hath proven this by Demonstration in his History pag. 267. his Demonstration is That the Author whoever he was talking of one of our Martyrs remitteth the Reader for a farther Declaration of his Sufferings to the Acts and Monuments of Mr. Fox which came not to light till some twelve years after Knox's Death Mr. Patrick Hamilton was the Martyr and the Reference is to be seen pag. 4. of that History I am now considering Besides this I have observed a great many more infallible proofs that Knox was not the Author I shall only instance in some 3 or 4. Thus Pag. 447. The Author having set down a Copy of the Letter sent by the Church of Scotland to the Church of England of which more by and by Tells how the English Nonconformists wrote to Beza and Beza to Grindal Bishop of London which Letter of Beza's to Grindal he says is the Eight in order amongst Beza's Epistles And in that same page he mentions another of Beza's Letters to Grindal calling it the Twelfth in Number Now 't is certain Beza's Epistles were not published till the year 1573. i. e. after Knox's Death It may be observed also that he adds farther in that same page That The sincerer sort of the Ministery in England had not yet assaulted the Iurisdiction and Church Government which they did not till the year 1572. at which time they published their first and second Admonitions to the Parliament but only had excepted against Superstitious Apparel and some other faults in the Service Book From which besides that 't is Evident Knox could not be the Author we may Learn from the Authors Confession whoever he was That the Controversies about Parity and Imparity c. were not so early in
swatch pardon the word if it is not English of both his Historical and his Argumentative Skill a talent he bewails much the want of in his Adversaries as may make it appear just and reasonable for any man to decline him But lest he is not represented there so fully as he ought to be so fully as may justify my declining of him I shall be at some farther pains here to give the Reader a fuller prospect of him To delineate him minutely might perchance be too laborious for me and too tedious and loathsome to my Reader I shall restrict my self therefore to his four Cardinal Virtues his Learning his Iudgment his Civility and his Modesty Or because we are Scottishmen to give them their plain Scotch names his Ignorance his Non-sence his Ill-nature and his Impudence Perhaps I shall not be able to reduce every individual instance to its proper Species 'T is very hard to do that in matters which have such affinity one with another as there is between Ignorance and Non-sence or between Ill-nature and Impudence But this I dare promise if I cannot keep by the Nice Laws of Categories I shall be careful to keep by the Strict Laws of Iustice I shall entitle him to nothing that is not truely his own So much for Preface come we next to the Purpose And in the 1. Place I am apt to think since ever writing was a Trade there was never Author furnished with a richer stock of unquestionable Ignorance for it To insist on all the Evidences of this would swell this Preface to a Bulk beyond the Book I omit therefore his making Presbyterian Ruling Elders as contradistinct from Teaching Elders of Divine Institution his making the SENIORES sometimes mentioned by the Fathers such Ruling Elders and his laying stress on the old blunder about St. Ambrose's testimony to that purpose vide True Represent of Presbyterian Government prop. 3. These I omit because not peculiar to him I omit even that which for any thing I know may be peculiar to him viz. That his Ruling Elders are called Bishops and that their necessary Qualifications are set down at length in Scrip. e. g. 1 Tim. 3.2 and Tit. 1.6 ibid. Prop. 3.4 I omit his Learn'd affirmative that Patronages were not brought into the Church till the 7 th or 8 th Centurie or Later And that they came in amongst the latest Antichristian Corruptions and Vsurpations ibid. Answ. to Object 9 th I omit all such Assertions as these that the most and most Eminent of the Prelatists acknowledge that by our Saviours appointment and according to the practice of the first and best Ages of the Church she ought to be and was Governed in Common by Ministers Acting in Parity ibid. Prop. 12. That Diocesan Episcopacy was not settled in St. Cyprian 's time Rational Defence of Nonconformity c. p. 157 That Diocesan Episcopacy prevailed not for the first three Centuries and that it was not generally in the 4 th Centurie ibid. 158. That the Bishop S. Cyprian all alongst speaks of was a Presbyterian Moderator ibid. 179. That Cyprian Austine Athanasius c. were only such Moderators ibid. 175 176 177 178. I omit his insisting on the Authority of the Decretal Epistles attributed to Pope Anacletus as if they were Genuine ibid. 202. And that great Evidence of his skill in the affairs of the Protestant Churches viz. That Episcopacy is not to be seen in any one of them Except England ibid. p. 10. Nay I omit his nimble and learned Gloss he has put on St. Ierom's Toto Orbe Decretum c. viz. That this Remedy of Schism in many places began then i. e. in St. Ierom's time to be thought on and that it was no wonder that this Corruption began then to creep in it being then about the end of the fourth Centurie when Jerome wrote c. ibid. 170. Neither shall I insist on his famous Exposition of St. Ierom's Quid facit Episcopus c. because it has been sufficiently exposed already in the Historical Relation of the General Ass. 1690. Nor on his making Plutarch Simonides Chrysostom c. Every Graecian speak Latin when he had the confidence to cite them These and 50 more such surprising Arguments of our Authors singular learning I shall pass over And shall insist only a little on two or three instances which to my taste seem superlatively pleasant And 1. In that profound Book which he calls a Rational Defence of Nonconformity c. in Answer to D. Stillingfleet's Vnreasonableness of the separation from the Church of England pag. 172. He hath Glossed St. Chrysostom yet more ridiculously than he did St. Ierom. The passage as it is in Chrysostom is sufficiently famous and known to all who have enquired into Antiquity about the Government of the Church The Learned Father having Discoursed concerning the Office and Duties of a Bishop Hom. 10. on 1 Tim. 3. and proceeding by the Apostles Method to Discourse next of Deacons Hom. II. started this difficulty How came the Apostle to prescribe no Rules about Presbyters And he solved it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Paul says he did not insist about Presbyters because there 's no great difference between them and Bishops Presbyters as well as Bishops have received Power to Teach and Govern the Church And the Rules he gave to Bishops are also proper for Presbyters For Bishops excel Presbyters only by the Power of Ordination and by this alone they are reckoned to have more Power than Presbyters Vide Edit Savil. Tom. 4. p. 289. Now 't is plain to the most ordinary attention That in the Holy Father's Dialect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the Power of conferring Orders just as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signify the Powers of Teaching and Governing Consider now the Critical Skill of G. R. Bellarmine had adduced this Testimony it seems to shew that there was a Disparity in point of Power between Bishops and Presbyters and had put it in Latin thus Inter Episcopum atque Presbyterum interest fere nihil quippe Presbyteris Ecclesiae cura permissa est quae de Episcopis dicuntur ea etiam Presbyteris congruunt Sola quippe Ordinatione Superiores illi sunt So G. R. has it I know not if he has transcribed it faithfully 'T is not his custom to do so Nor have I Bellarmine at hand to compare them Sure I am the Translation doth not fully answer the Original But however that is go we forward with our Learned Author These are his words What he Bellarmine alledgeth out of this citation that a Bishop may Ordain not a Presbyter the Learned Fathers expression will not bear For Ordination must signify either the Ordination the Bishop and Presbyter have whereby they are put in their Office to be different which he doth not alledge Or that the difference between them was only in Order or Precedency not in Power or Authority Or that it
to be expected And this his absence was a new opportunity to Henry to play his Game in Scotland Indeed he neglected it not he used all arts imaginable further to advance his own and weaken the French interest he harassed the Borders without intermission that in the Miseries and Desolations of War the Scots might see the Beauties and Felicities of Peace on the one hand resolving as it were to Cudgel them into ane Accord if no other thing could do it And on the other hand he had his Emissaries and Instruments busie at work in the Heart of the Kingdom and about the Helm of Affairs imploying all their Skill and Interest all their Wit and Rhetorick all their Eloquence and Diligence to perswade the Nation to a perpetual Amity with England the Queen being the Chief Actrix Neither did this seem sufficient He sent Ambassadors and wrote Letters and represented things in their fairest Colours and made most charming Overtures c. If they would break the League with France and enter into one with England the world should see and they should find by Experience that it was not Humour or Ambition or Love of Greatness that had moved him to treat them so but Love of Concord and Concern for the Prosperity and Happiness of the Nation That he had but one only Child a Daughter Mary Her he would give to Iames in Marriage hereby the English would become subject to the Scottish not the Scottish to the English Government and a great deal more to this purpose Whoso pleases may see this whole matter transcribed by Herbert from Buchanan I go on The French King was not at leisure it seems to afford Albany such assistances as he required so he was obliged to return without them And returning found the French interest still weaker and weaker and the English stronger and stronger as appears from his Success For Having return'd to Scotland in September 1523 He instantly gave out his Orders That the whole force of the Kingdom should meet in Douglas-dale against the middle of October He found Obedience so far indeed that they met but when he had marched them to Tweed and they found he design'd to invade England they would not move one foot further but sounded aloud their old Carol. They knew by experience what was to be gain'd by invading England It was enough for for them that they were willing to defend their own Country c. Here they stood I mean as to their Resolutions not their Ground for they left that and instantly return'd within their own Borders so hastily and with such strong inclinations it seems to be at home That with great difficulty he got them kept together some days till he should fall on some pretext which might give a fair colour to his Retreat and cover it from appearing downright dishonourable 'T is true his luck was so good that he found it But how By the Art and Interest of the English Faction Thus Queen Margaret to wait her opportunities had come to the Border and lodged not far from the Scottish Camp The Earl of Surry commanded the English Army with whom she kept secret Correspondence and it was concerted betwixt them it seems that the English should by all means avoid Fighting and she should be imployed as a Mediatress to bring matters to some honest accommodation The Plot succeeded a Truce was readily patcht up to the satisfaction no doubt of both Parties Albany had reason to be glad of it for he could make no better of the Bargain and 't was with much difficulty he brought his Expedition to so honourable ane issue And 't is plain the English Faction had reason to be as glad for they had gained two points They had got Albany to understand the temper of the Nation and the weakness of the French interest And they had treated the Scots who were so averse from Fighting so discreetly by shunning all occasions of Engaging and thereby shewing that they were no Enemies to the Scots unless it was on the French account that they could not have fallen on a more successful politick for Gaining King Henry's great purpose which was To disengage the Scots of the French as much as he could And the Success was agreeable For After that Albany's Authority and the French interests decayed so sensibly and the English Faction manag'd their designs so successfully that within a few months Albany was turn'd out of his Regency and the young King then but twelve years of age was perswaded to take in his own hands the Government It was the English Faction I say that wrought this Revolution as is evident from the whole thred of the History And Lesly tells us plainly that Albany was sensible of it and was perswaded it was in vain to endeavour any more to gain them to the French side and therefore he took his leave and departed the Country This was in the year 1524. The King so young all know was not able to manage the Government by himself but stood in need of Counsellors They were English who had got him thus Early to assume the Government in his own person 'T is obvious to collect therefore they were English enough who were his Counsellors And such they were indeed For as Lesly has it a Parliament was indicted to meet in February thereafter wherein a Council was nominated for assisting the King in the Administration of the Government but so as that the Queen was to have the Soveraignty so far as nothing was to be done without her special approbation and allowance Albany the great Opposer of his interests in Scotland thus dispatched King Henry's whole Soul was divided betwixt Gladness and Kindness He was Glad almost to excess that he had got rid of such ane eye-sore He was kind to the highest degree to his Sister and Nephew and the Scottish Nobility He dispatched two Ambassadors with all Expedition for Scotland by whom he offered to establish a Lasting Peace and in the interim agreed to a Truce for a year till a fond for a solid settlement might be maturely considered On the other hand Our Queen without doubt with her Brothers fore-knowledg and allowance having now the Reins in her hands sends three Ambassadors to England The Earl of Cassils the Bishop of Dunkeld and the Abbot of Cambuskeneth to propose to Henry in the name of the Scottish Nation that there might be a firm and perpetual Amity establisht betwixt the two Crowns and to this great End that a Match might be agreed to betwixt Iames and Mary Henry entertain'd the proposition with all imaginable shews of Satisfaction but demanded two things That the Scots might break the League with France and make one of that same Nature with England And That James might be educated in England till ripe for Marriage But the Scottish Ambassadors were not Plenipotentiaries enough for adjusting these Matters Cassils therefore comes home
can it be imagined that Henry who was so serious with the King of Scots was at no pains at all with his Subjects with the Nobility and Gentry with such as might had influence either at the Court or in the Country No certainly as may be evident if we consider 4. That when in the year 1540 or 1541 Henry was earnest for a Congress with Iames to try no doubt if meeting face to face and personal and familiar Converse and Conference might prevail with him All our Scottish Protestants were mighty zealous that the Interview might take effect and both time and place which was York might be punctually observed Is not this a Demonstration that they understood Henry's project and approved his designs and that they were in the same Bottom with him in pursuance of a Reformation 'T is true Iames followed other Counsels and disappointed the Interview and therefore Henry turn'd angry and raised War against him But then 't is as true that Iames found his Subjects so backward as I shewed and was so unsuccessful in the management of that War that he contracted Melancholy and soon after died Add to this 5. That after Iames's Death Henry persisted in his Concern to advance the Reformation in Scotland as well as in England To this end He was careful that those of the Scottish Nobility and Gentry who were taken Prisoners at Solway-moss might be lodged with such persons as could instruct them in the Reforming Principles And so soon as he heard that Iames was dead and had left a Daughter some few days old yet Heiress of the Crown He dispatched them for Scotland to promote his interests in the Matter of the Match he was zealous to have made betwixt his Son Prince Edward and our Infant Soveraign Indeed they were as diligent as he could have desired They got it carried in Parliament and that they did it from a prospect of carrying on the Reformation of Religion by that conjunction cannot be doubted if we may believe Dr. Burnet in his Abridgment of the History of the Reformation of the Church of England For there he not only tells That Cassils had got these seeds of Knowledge at Lambeth under Cranmer ' s influences which produced afterwards a Great Harvest in Scotland But also That the other Prisoners were instructed to such a degree that they came to have very different thoughts of the Changes that had been made in England from what the Scottish Clergy had possessed them with who had encouraged their King to engage in the War by the assurance of Victory since he fought against ane Heretical Prince c. And a little after They were sent home and went away much pleased both with the Splendor of the Kings Court and with the way of Religion which they had seen in England And that we have reason to believe this Author in this matter is evident because he is justified herein by all our Historians especially Buchanan as my appear by the sequel Here was Success of the English influences Seven of the Supreme Order i. e. Noblemen and 24 of inferior Quality considerable Gentlemen all enlightned in England for so Buchanan numbers them And here by the way it will not be amiss to consider the strength of the Protestant Party in Scotland when in this Parliament wherein the Match by the influence of the English Converts was agreed to They were so strong that they carried the Regency for the Earl of Arran prompted thereto chiefly by the perswasion they had of his affection to the Reformation as is evident from the consentient Accounts of Buchanan Knox and Spotswood They carried it for the Match with England in opposition to all the Popish Party as I have just now represented Nay which is more because more immediately concerning the Reformation of Religion they procured ane Act to be made That it should be Lawful to every Man to take the Benefit of the Translation which they then had of the Bible and other Treatises containing wholsome Doctrine c. Indeed at that time the Reformation was so far advanced That the Regent kept his two Protestant Chaplains Guillam and Rough both Church of England men as we shall hear who preached publickly to the Court and declaim'd boldly against the Roman Corruptions So far advanced that it stood fair within a short space to have got the publick establishment if Arran the Regent to keep the Popes Cover on his Title to the Succession wherein without it there were a Couple of sad Chasms and for other worldly ends had not play'd the Iade by renouncing his Profession and returning to the Popes Obedience Observe further by the way That this first Parliament of Queen Mary's was holden in her name and by her Authority upon the 13th of March 1542 3 as is clear not only from our Historians but the printed Acts of Parliament and she was not crowned till the 20th of August thereafter if we may believe both Lesly and Buchanan And yet there was not so much as the least objection made then against the Legality of the Parliament no such thing was thought on So that 't is no new nor illegal thing for Scottish Monarchs to hold Parliaments before their Coronations But this as I said by the way Such was the strength of the Reforming Party then and this strength under God advanced so far principally by English influences And all this will appear more convincing still when it is considered in the 6th place That all alongst the Popish Clergy were very sensible of it and very much offended with it and were at all imaginable pains to disappoint it and oppose it Thus When Henry sent the Bishop of St. Davids as we have heard Anno 1535. to treat with Iames about Reforming the Clergy were in a dreadful pother how to keep off the Interview and used all imaginable Arguments with the King to disswade him from listening to it Telling him it would ruine Religion and that would ruine his Soul his State his Kingdom c. Nay The Pope himself was extreamly solicitous how to prevent so great a mischief as he deem'd it For as Lesly tells us His Holiness finding that Henry had cast off his Yoke and fearing lest Iames should transcribe his Uncles Copy sent his Legates to Scotland to confirm him in the Faith and fortify him against Henry's impressions And Buchanan says He allowed him the Tenths of all the Benefices within the Kingdom for three years time to keep him right Again When Henry Anno 1540. insisted the second time for ane Interview the Clergy were in a whole Sea of troubles They used all arts and tried all Methods to impede it At last they sell upon the true Knack and a true Demonstration of their Concern seeing it was a Knack that lookt so unkindly on their Pockets which was to promise him Money largely no less than 30000 Crowns yearly says Buchanan Knox
calls them 50000 out of their Benefices besides a vast sum which might arise out of the confiscated Estates of Hereticks 50000 Crowns was a good round summ in those days in Scotland Further How were they alarm'd what fears were they under what shapes did they turn themselves in what tricks did they play when the Match betwixt Edward and Mary spoken of before was in Agitation The Cardinal forged a Will in the Kings Name nominating himself the principal of four Conjunct Regents for managing the Government during the Queen's Minority intending thereby to secure the Popish interests and prevent the coming of the Nobility from England who he knew would lay out themselves with all their Might to oppose him being his Enemies upon the account of Religion and advance the Designs of England This not succeeding for the forgery was manifest His next Care was that all the Popish Party should tumultuate bawl and clamour confound and disturb the Parliament all they could which indeed was done so successfully that nothing could be done to purpose till he was committed to Custody Neither did this put an end to these practices of the Party but so soon as the Parliament having concluded the Match was over and he set at Liberty with the Queen Dowagers advice who was all over French and Papist He convenes the Clergy represents to them the impossibility of their standing the certain Ruine of the Catholick Religion every thing that could be frightful to them unless that Confederacy with England were broken obliges them therefore to tax themselves and raise great Sums of Money for Bribing some of the Nobility that were not proof against its Charms and Beauties And to use all their Rhetorick with others to the same purpose And lastly it was concluded in that Religious Meeting That the Match and Alliance should be preacht against from the Pulpits and that all possible pains should be taken to excite the Populace to Tumults and Rabbles and treat the English Ambassador with all affronting Tricks and Rudenesses In short the Faction never gave over till they had cajol'd the weak Regent into ane Abjuration of Protestancy as was told before and reconciled him to the French which then in Scotland was all one with the Popish Interest Nay His Holiness himself again interrested himself in this juncture as Lesly tells us sending Petrus Franciscus Contarenus Patriarch of Venice his Legate into Scotland to treat with the Regent and the Nobility in the Popes Name and promise them large assistances against the English if they would break the Contract of Marriage betwixt Edward and Mary which had so fatal ane aspect towards the Catholick Religion By this Taste 't is easy to discern how much the Popish Party were perswaded of the great influence England had on Scotland in order to a Reformation of Religion And laying all together that hath been said 't is as easy to perceive they wanted not reason for such a perswasion Having thus given a brief Deduction of the State of our Reformation in King Henry's time and made it apparent that it was much encouraged and quickened by English Influences then I think I need not insist much on the succeeding Reigns Briefly then 7. As Edward the Sixth had the same reasons for interesting himself in our Scottish affairs which his Father Henry had before him so we find his Counsels were suited accordingly No sooner was Henry dead and Somerset warm'd in his Protectoral Chair than the Demands about the Match were renewed And being rejected by the Popish Party here who had our weak Regent at their Beck and were then the governing Party the Matter ended in a Bloody War Somerset raised a great Army and entered Scotland But before it came to fighting he sent a Letter to the Scots written in such ane obliging stile and containing so kind and so fair so equitable propositions That the Regent advis'd by some Papists about him thought fit not to publish it to his Army but to give out that it tended to quite contrary purposes than it really contained That it contain'd Threats that the English were come to carry off the Queen by force and Ruine and Enslave the Nation c. Dreading no doubt that if he had dealt candidly and shewed the Letter to such men of interest in the Nation as were there it would have taken so with them that they would have laid aside thoughts of Fighting Indeed this was no groundless jealousie the matter was above-board For as Buchanan tells us In the next Convention of Estates which was holden shortly after that fatal Battel of Pinkie those who were for the Reformation being of the same Religion with England were zealous for the English Alliance and against sending the Queen into France and that they were the Papists only who were for sending her thither 8. When Edward died and his Sister Mary ascended the Throne a heavy Cloud indeed did hang over both Nations and threatned a dreadful storm to the Reformation of Religion Mary according to her surly humour fell to downright Persecution in England And our Q. Dowager having shouldered out Arran and possest herself of the Scottish Regency in her subtle way was as zealous to maintain the Superstitions of Popery using less Cruelty indeed than Mary but more policy and to the same purposes And now the purgation of Christianity seem'd to be brought to a lamentable stand in both Kingdoms and the hopes of those to be quite dasht who were breathing for the profession of that Holy Religion in its purity Yet God in his kind providence did otherwise dispose of things and made that a means to advance Religion amongst us which men thought should have utterly extinguisht it For some of those who fled from Mary's persecution in England taking their Refuge into this Kingdom did not only help to keep the light which had begun to shine but made the Sun to break up more clear than before as Spotswood hath it from Knox. For then came into Scotland William Harlaw Iohn Willock Iohn Knox c. of whom more hereafter Thus we were still deriving more light and heat from England 9. Mary died and Elizabeth succeeded in November 1588. our Queen was then in France It was morally impossible to recover her thence The English influences which in Henry and Edwards time had cherished our Reformation except so far as God sent us Harlaw Willock and Knox by his special providence as I told just now were quite cut off all the time of Mary's Government Our Reformers therefore to make the best of a bad hand were earnest to be amongst the foremost Courtiers with the Queen Regent They were ready to serve her design with all possible frankness particularly they were amongst the most forward for carrying on the Match with the Dauphine of France and voted chearfully that he should have the Matrimonial Crown conferred upon him after the solemnization of the Marriage In
that it was a contrivance of the wicked and envious Papists thereby to Ruine the Church of England Doth he not suppose all these as unundoubted Truths I say Or rather doth he not positively or expresly assert them And now if Separation from the Church of England and condemning her Communion as ane Vnlawful Communion can consist with these principles and suppositions or if he who reasons on these suppositions and from these principles can be deem'd at the same time to have been for the Vnlawfulness of the Communion of the Church of England I must confess I know not what it is to collect mens sentiments from their Principles and Reasonings Whoso pleases may find more of Knox's sentiments to this purpose in his Exhortation to England for the speedy receiving of Christs Gospel Dated from Geneva Ianuary 12. 1559. For there he calls England happy In that God by the power of his verity of late years i. e. in King Edward's time had broken and destroyed the intolerable yoke of her spiritual Captivity and brought her forth as it had been from the bottom of Hell and from the Thraldom of Satan in which she had been holden blinded by Idolatry and Superstition to the fellowship of his Angels and the possession of that rich Inheritance prepared to his Dearest Children with Christ Iesus his Son And a little after he says of the Church of England that in that same King Edward's days she was a Delectable Garden planted by the Lords own hand And in his Letter to Secretary Cecil from Diep April 10 1559. he tells him He expects that same favour from him which it becometh one Member of Christs Body to have for another And in his Letter to Q. Elizabeth from Edenburgh 28 Iuly 1559. He renders thanks unfeignedly to God That it hath pleased him of his eternal Goodness to exalt her Head to the Manifestation of his Glory and the Extirpation of Idolatry Is this like the Clamour which has been ordinary with our Presbyterians about the Idolatry of the Church of England And in the conclusion of that Letter he prays that the Spirit of the Lord Iesus may so rule her in all her Actions and Enterprizes that in her God may be Glorified his Kirk Edified and she as a lively Member of the same may be ane Example of Virtue and Godliness of Life to all others Are these like the sayings of one who in the mean time judged the Communion of the Church of England ane Unlawful Communion 'T is true indeed Iohn Knox was displeased with some things in the English Liturgy He thought she had some Modes and Ceremonies there which were scandalous as symbolizing too much with the Papists and it cannot be denied that he disturbed the peace of the English Church at Francfort But if I mistake not he did so not that he thought the terms of her Communion truly sinful but that he judged his own or rather the Genevian Model purer For 't is reasonable to think he proceeded on the same principles and was of the same sentiments with his Master Calvin And nothing can be clearer than that Calvin did not condemn the things scrupled at as impious or unlawful but as not agreeable to his Standard of Purity as appears from the Citation on the Margin and might easily be made appear more fully if one were put to it but 't is needless now considering that all I aim at is that it cannot be inferred from what Knox did at Francfort That he judged the Communion of the Church of England ane Vnlawful Communion tho I must confess in making these stirs he proceeded not according to the true Catholick Principles of Christian Communion But enough of him at present To proceed As our Reformers thus generally looke upon the Church of England as a true Church and her Communion as a Lawful Communion so after our Reformation was established those of the Church of England had the same sentiments of the Church of Scotland The Ambassadors who at any time for many years came from England to the Scottish Court made no scruple to live in the Communion of the Church of Scotland and joyn in her publick Worship Thus the Earl of Bedford who came to assist at the Solemnization of the Princes afterwards K. Iames the Sixth's Baptism Anno 1566. went daily to Sermon i. e. by a Synecdoche very familiar in Scotland to the publick Worship Neither did I ever observe the least intimation in any monument of these times I have seen of these two Churches having opposite Communions till many years after the Reformation But I have insisted long enough on this Consideration The sum whereof is briefly this Our Reformers so far as can appear from their private sentiments and practices lookt upon the Church of England as a true Christian Church They lived in her Communion when they had occasion to be within her Bounds not one of them condemned her Communion as ane Vnlawful Communion not one of them set up Conventicles in England when they were there nor erected separate Churches c. From all which it seems to follow at least very probably That they reformed generally upon the same Principles intirely upon the same as to Church Communion The reason why I have insisted so long on this argument is that it smooths the way for the next which is 2. That our Reformers in their publick deeds openly and solemnly profest that they were of one Religion one Communion with the Church of England This as I take it is a point of considerable importance and therefore I shall endeavour to set it at least in a competent Light 1. Then Unity of Religion and by good Consequence I think Oneness of Communion between the Scottish and the English Protestants was the great Argument insisted on by the Scots in their Addresses to England for Assistance to turn out the French and establish the Reformation in Scotland Anno 1559 And it was one of the main Grounds on which all that great Revolution was transacted that year and the next viz. 1560. Take the account as I have it from that which is commonly called Knox his History When the Lords of the Congregation found it would be necessary for them to implore foreign Assistance for driving out the French then the great Obstacles to the Reformation They resolved in the first place to apply to England and the Reason given for this Resolution was That ENGLAND WAS OF THE SAME RELIGION Or if ye please take it in the Authors own words We thought good to seek aid and support of all Christian Princes against her the Queen Regents Tyranny in case we should be more sharply persued AND BECAUSE THAT ENGLAND WAS OF THE SAME RELIGION and lay next unto us it was thought expedient first to prove them c. It was rational enough to try there first indeed considering what I have already observed concerning Queen Elizabeth And Tryed it was and
found successful For Secretary Cecil no sooner heard of their intention than he sent them word That their Enterprize misliked not the English Council Upon the sight of this great Ministers Letter which brought them so comfortable news they instantly return'd ane Answer Knox has it word for word I shall only take ane Abstract of what is proper for my present purpose In short then They perceive their Messenger Master Kircaldie of Grange hath found Cecil ane unfeigned favourer of Christ's true Religion As touching the Assurance of a perpetual Amity to stand betwixt the two Realms as no earthly thing is more desired by them so they crave of God to be made the Instruments by which the Unnatural Debate which hath so long continued between the Nations may be composed To the Praise of Gods Name and the Comfort of the Faithful in both Realms If the English Wisdom can foresee and devise how the same may be brought to pass they may perswade themselves not only of the Scottish Consent and Assistance but of their Constancy as Men can promise to their lives end And of Charge and Commandment to be left by them to their posterity that the Amity between the Nations IN GOD contracted and begun may be by them kept inviolate for Ever Their Confederacy Amity and League shall not be like the pactions made by worldly men for worldly profit but as they Require it FOR GODS CAUSE so they will call upon his Name for the Observation of it As this their Confederacy requires Secresy so they doubt not the English Wisdom will communicate it only to such as they know to be favourers of such A GODLY CONJUNCTION And in their opinion it would much help if the Preachers both in perswasion and in publick prayers as theirs in Scotland do would commend the same unto the people And thus after their most humble Commendation to the Queen's Majesty whose Reign they wish may be prosperous and long to the Glory of God and Comfort of his Church they heartily commit him to the Protection of the Omnipotent Given at Edenburgh Iuly 17. Anno 1559. Before I proceed further I must tell my Reader that all our Historians are extreamly defective as to this great Transaction between Scotland and England I am now accounting for None of them neither Buchanan nor Lesly nor Spotswood hath this Letter except Knox and he calls it the first Letter to Sir William Cecil from the Lords of the Congregation which imports there were more as no doubt there were many and yet he hath not so much as a second Besides I find by Knox Buchanan and Spotswood that in November 1559 Secretary Maitland was sent by the Lords of the Congregation to treat with the Queen of England I find likewise that he managed the matter so and brought it to such maturity that immediately upon his return the League between the Queen of England and the Scottish Lords was transacted and finished and yet I can no where find what Commission he had nor what Instructions how he manag'd his business nor upon what terms the Queen of England and He came to an Agreement and several other such lamentable defects I find so that it is not possible for me to give so exact a Deduction of such ane important Matter as were to be wished Tho I doubt not if it had been clearly and fully deduced it might have brought great Light to many things about our Reformation which now so far as I know are buried in Obscurity Any man may readily imagine how sensible one that would perform my present task must needs be of so great a disadvantage However when we cannot have what we would we must satisfy our selves the best way we can And so I return to my purpose which tho I cannot dispatch so punctually as might be desired yet I hope to do it sufficiently and to the satisfaction of all sober tho not nicely critical Enquirers To go on then By the aforementioned Letter you see The Lords of the Congregation referr'd it to the Wisdom of the English Council to foresee and devise the Means and Assurances they are the very words of the Letter how ane effectual Confederacy might be made between them for Gods Cause Now let us reason a little upon the common principles of prudence where Matter of Fact is so defective What was more natural for the English Council to Require than that now that the English Reformation was perfected and legally established and the Scottish was only in forming the Scots should engage to transcribe the English Copy and establish their Reformation upon that same foot i. e. receive the Doctrine Worship Rites and Government of the Church of England so that there might be no difference between the two Churches but both might be of the same Constitution so far as the necessary distinction of the two States would allow The point in Agitation was a Confederacy in opposition to Popery and for the security of the Reformed Religion in both Kingdoms It was obvious therefore to foresee that it would be the stronger and every way the better suited to that great End if both Churches stood on one bottom For who sees not that Different Constitutions are apt to be attended with Different Customs which in process of time may introduce Different Sentiments and Inclinations Who sees not that the smallest Differences are apt to create jealousies divisions cross-interests And that there 's nothing more necessary than Vniformity for preserving Vnity Besides Queen Elizabeth was peculiarly concerned to crave this There 's nothing more necessary to support a State especially a Monarchy than Vnity of Religion It was for the Support of her State the Security of her Monarchy that she was to enter into this Confederacy She was affraid of the Queen of Scotland's pretensions to the Crown of England For this cause she was confederating with the Queen of Scotland's Subjects that she might have them of her side It was her concern therefore to have them as much secured to her interests as possibly she could they were then at a great Bay without her succour and had referred it to her and her Council to foresee and devise the terms on which she would grant it And now laying all these things together what was more natural I say than that she should demand that they should be of the same Religion and their Church of the same Constitution with the Church of England This politick was so very obvious that 't is not to be imagined she and her wise Council could overlook it And tho it had been no where upon Record that she craved it yet the common sense of mankind would stand for its Credibility what shall we say then if we find it recorded by ane Historian whose Honesty is not to be questioned in this matter And such ane one we have even Buchanan himself tho he misplaces it and narrates it a long time after it
of the Common Prayers of the Church of England or the Genevian Liturgy For we no where read of a Third ever pretended to have been used in those times in Scotland Now that it was not the Liturgy of Geneva is plain for besides that it is utterly incredible that there could have been so many Copies of the Genevian Form in the vulgar Language then in Scotland as might serve so many Parish Churches Nay that 't is highly probable there was not so much as one Besides this I say in the Genevian Form which was afterwards used in Scotland there is no Order for no footstep of the observation of other Holy-days besides Sunday Neither is there any Order in it for Reading of Lessons of the Old and New Testament except in the Treatise of Fasting which was not compiled till the year 1565. There indeed Lessons are appointed such and such Psalms and such and such Histories in the Old but not so much as one Tittle of the New Testament In all the rest of the Book a deep Silence about Lessons than which there cannot be a clearer Demonstration that the Book appointed to be used in December 1557 was not that of Geneva Indeed 2. None of our Presbyterian Historians neither Petrie nor Calderwood have the confidence to pretend nay to insinuate the possibility of its being the Common Order of Geneva which 't is very probable they would have done if they had had the smallest hopes of making it feasible On the contrary Calderwood seems fairly to acknowledge that it was the English Liturgy but then this acknowledgement lies at such a distance from the year 1557. that no doubt he thought himself pretty secure that few Readers would reflect upon it as ane acknowledgment he doth not make it till he comes to the year 1623 when he had occasion to tell how the use of the English Liturgy was brought into the New Colledge of St. Andrews Take it in his own words Upon the 15 th of January Master Robert Howie Principal of the New College of St. Andrews Doctor Wedderburn and Doctor Melvin were directed by a Letter from Doctor Young in the Kings Name to use the English Liturgy Morning and Evening in the New College where all the Students were present at Morning and Evening Prayers Which was presently put in execution notwithstanding they wanted the warrant of any General Assembly or of any CONTINVED PRACTICE OF THE FORM in time by-past since the Reformation Where you see he lays the stress of his Argument against it on its nor having had a continued Practice since the Reformation which is a clear concession that at the Reformation it was in practice tho that practice was not continued But whither he acknowledged this or not is no great matter we have sufficient Evidence for the point in hand without it For 3. Buchanan's Testimony which was adduced before about the Scots subscriving to the Worship and Rites of the Church of England is unexceptionable And yet it is not all For 4. The Order as you see it appointed by the Lords of the Congregation Decem. 3d 1557. is That the Book there authorised be used in all Churches from that very date but we find by the First Book of Discipline That the Order of Geneva was only coming in to be used then in some of the Churches i. e. 1560. And it had nothing like a public Establishment till the General Assembly holden at Edenburgh Dec. 25 1652. For then and not till then It was concluded that ane Vniform Order should be kept in the Ministration of the Sacraments Solemnization of Marriages and Burial of the Dead according to the Kirk of Geneva So it is in the Mss. and so Petrie hath it But Nature works again with Calderwood For he has no more but this It was ordained that ane Vniform Order be kept in the Ministration of the Sacraments according to the Book of Geneva Omitting Marriage and the Burial of the Dead Marriage I believe to bear the other Company for the Burial of the Dead was the Dead Flee Why The Book of Geneva allowed of Funeral Sermons as he himself acknowledgeth A mighty Superstition in the opinion of Prerbyterians so that it would have been offensive to the sincerer sort as he commonly calls those of his own Gang and inconsistent with the Exigences of the Good Cause to have let the world know that A General Assembly had ratified the Order of that Book about Burials and thereby had justified the Superstition of Funeral Sermons Nay 5. It seems this Act of the General Assembly Decem. 1562. has not been strong enough for turning out the English Liturgy and introducing the form of Geneva For if we may believe Calderwood himself The General Assembly holden at Edenburgh Decem. 25. 1564. found themselves concerned to make another Act ordaining Every Minister Exhorter and Reader to have one of the Psalm books lately printed at Edenburgh and use the Order contained therein in Prayers Marriage and Administration of the Sacraments Where observe further that Prayers not mentioned in the Act 1562. are now put in from which it may be probably conjectured that as much as Knox was against the English Liturgy he found many difficulties to get it laid aside so many that it has not only been used by some few or many I cannot tell in the Ministration of the Sacraments c. after the Act 1562. But the Clergy have not found themselves obliged to forbear the use of it in the publick prayers so that it was needful in this Assembly 1564 to make a New Act restricting them both as to Prayers and other Ministrations to the Order of Geneva And if this holds we have the English Liturgy at least seven Years in continued practice in Scotland But it is enough for my main purpose that it was once universally in use which I think cannot be denied by any who impartially considers what hath been said And now 6. May not I adduce one Testimony more 'T is true it is of a latter date But it is very plain and positive and what I have adduced already is security enough for its Credibility It is the Testimony of the Compilers of our Scottish Liturgy which made the great Stir in the year 1637. And was made one of the main pretences for the first Eruptions of that execrable Rebellion which ensued The Compilers of that Liturgy I say in their Preface to it tell us That it was then known that diverse years after the Reformation we had no other Order for Common Prayer but the English Liturgy A Third Principle wherein our Reformers agreed with the Church of England and which stands in direct contradiction to the Principles of our Presbyterians is that they own'd the Church had a great Dependance on the State That it belong'd to the Civil Magistrate to reform the Church That People might appeal from the Church to the Civil Magistrate c. I
am not now to enter into the Controversie concerning the Dependence or Independence of the Church upon the State that falls not within the compass of my present Undertaking Neither will I say that our Presbyterians are in the wrong as to the true substantial Matter agitated in that Controversie All I am concerned for at present is that in these times those of the Church of England own'd a great Dependence of the Church upon the State and that our Reformers agreed with them in that Principle and I think I may make short work of it For That that was the Principle of the Church of England in these times I think no man can readily deny who knows any thing about her at and a good many years after her Reformation All my business is to shew that our Reformers were of that same Principle And I think that shall be easily made to appear For As to the Civil Magistrates power to reform the Church what can be more clear than the Petition presented to the Queen Regent in November 1558 There our Reformers tell her Majesty that Knowing no Order placed in this Realm but her Majesty and her grave Council set to amend as well the Disorder Ecclesiastical as the Defaults in the Temporal Regiment they do most humbly prostrate themselves before her Feet asking Iustice and her Gracious Help against such as falsely traduced and accused them as Hereticks and Schismaticks c. In which Address we have these two things very clear and evident 1. That they own'd that the Civil Magistrate had power to amend Ecclesiastical Disorders as well as Temporal 2. That in consequence of this they applied to the Civil Magistrate for protection against the pursuits of the Church And in their Protestation given in to the Parliament about that same time They most humbly beseech the sacred Authority to think of them as faithful and obedient Subjects and take them into its Protection keeping that Indifferency which becometh Gods Lieutenants to use towards those who in his Name do call for Defence against Cruel Oppressors c. Meaning the then Church-men Indeed None clearer for this than Knox himself as is to be seen fully in his Appellation from the cruel and most unjust Sentence pronounced against him by the False Bishops and Clergy of Scotland as he himself names it For there He lays down and endeavours to prove this Assertion That it is lawful to Gods prophets and to Preachers of Christ Iesus to appeal from the Sentence and Iudgment of the visible Church to the Knowledge of the temporal Magistrate who by Gods Law is bound to hear their Causes and to defend them from Tyranny And in that same Appellation he largerly asserts and maintains the Dependance of the Church upon the State The Ordering and Reformation of Religion with the instruction of Subjects he says doth appertain especially to the Civil Magistrate For why Moses had great power in the Matters of Religion God revealed nothing particularly to Aaron the Church-man but commanded him to depend from the Mouth of Moses the Civil Magistrate Moses was impowered to separate Aaron and his Sons for the Priesthood Aaron and his Sons were subject to Moses Moses was so far preferred to Aaron that the one commanded the other obeyed The Kings of Israel were commanded to read the Book of the Law all the days of their Lives not only for their own private Edification but for the publick preservation of Religion so David Solomon Asa Iehosophat Hezekiah Iosiah understood it and interested themselves in the Matters of the Church accordingly From which it is evident saith he That the Reformation of Religion in all points together with the Punishment of false Teachers doth appertain to the power of the Civil Magistrate For what God required of them his justice must require of others having the like Charge and Authority what he did approve in them he cannot but approve in all others who with like Zeal and Sincerity do enterprize to purge the Lords Temple and Sanctuary Thus Knox I say in that Appellation I do not concern my self with the truth or falshood of his positions neither am I to justify or condemn his Arguments All I am to make of it is to ask my Presbyterian Brethren whither these Principles of Knox's suit well with declining the Civil Magistrate as ane incompetent Iudge in Ecclesiastical matters with refusing to appear before him prima instantia for the tryal of Doctrines preacht in the Pulpit with the famous distinction of the Kings having power about Church matters Cumulative but not Privative c. I am affraid it shall be hard enough to reconcile them I shall only instance in one principle more which seems to have been common to our and the English Reformers but it is one of very weighty consequence and importance to my main design It is Fourthly That Excellent Rule of Reformation viz. That it be done according to the word of God interpreted by the Monuments and Writings of the Primitive Church That antient solid approven Rule That Rule so much commended by that excellent Writer Vincentius Lirinensis That Rule which the common sense of mankind cannot but justify when it is considered soberly and seriously without partiality or prejudice A Rule indeed which had the Reformers of the several Churches followed unitedly and conscientiously in those times when the Churches in the Western parts of Europe were a Reforming we had not had so many different Faiths so many different Modes of Worship so many different Governments and Disciplines as Alas this day divide the Protestant Churches and by consequence weaken the Protestant Interest A Rule which had the pretenders to Reformed Religion in Scotland still stood by we had not possibly had so many horrid Rebellions so many unchristian Divisions so many unaccountable Revolutions both in Church and State as to our sad Experience have in the Result so unhing'd all the Principles of natural justice and honesty and disabled nay eaten out the principles of Christianity amongst us that now we are not disposed so much for any thing as downright Atheism But were our Reformers indeed for this Rule That shall be demonstrated by and by when we shall have occasion to bring it in again as naturally to which opportunity I now refer it in the mean time let us briefly sum up all that hath been hitherto said and try to what it amounts I have I think made it appear that while our Reformation was a carrying on and when it was established Anno 156â— there was no such Controversie agitated in the Churches as that concerning the indispensible necessity of Presbytery and the Vnlawfulness of Prelacy concerning the Divine Right of Parity or the Vnallowableness of imparity amongst the Governors of the Church I have said enough to make it credible that our Scottish Reformers had no peculiar occasions opportunities provocations abilities for falling on that Controversie or determining of it more
on the most abominable courses who hath not observed who hath not seen that Men have sold Religion Honour Conscience Loyalty Faith Friendship every thing that 's sacred for Money Now by making this proposition He projected a very fair opportunity for gratifying this his predomining appetite He had so anxiously coveted the Emoluments of the Arch-Bishoprick of St. Andrews in the year 1571 as Sir Iames Melvil tells us in his Memoirs that meeting with a repulse he forsook the Court and was so much discontented that he would not return to it till Randolf the English Ambassadour perswaded Lennox then Regent to give it to him Promising that the Queen of England should recompence it to him with greater advantage How much of that Bishoprick he had continued still to possess after the Agreement at Leith and Douglass's advancement to that Arch-Bishoprick I cannot tell But it is not to be doubted whatever it was it sharpened his stomack for more of the Churches Revenues and now the juncture made wonderfully for him For as he had found by experience and many Acts of Assemblies c. That the Church careful of her interests and watchful over her Patrimony was no ways inclined to sit still and suffer her self to be cheated and plundered according to his hungry inclinations but was making and like to continue to make vigorous opposition to all such sacrilegious purposes so long as she continued united and settled on the foot on which she then stood So he found that now Contention was arising within her own Bowels and a Party was appearing zealous for innovations and her peace and unanimity were like to be broken and divided and what more proper for him in these circumstances than to lay the reins on their necks and cast a further bone of Contention amongst them He knew full well what it was to fish in troubled waters as Sir Iames Melvil observes of him and so 't is more than probable he would not neglect such ane opportunity still so much the more if it be considered 3. That whatever professions he might have made in former times of good affection to Episcopal Government yet there is little reason to think that his Conscience was interested in the matter For besides that covetous selfish subtle men such as he was use not to allow themselves to stand too precisely upon all the Dictates of a Nice and tender Conscience The Divine Right of Episcopacy the true fund for making it matter of Conscience in these times was not much asserted or thought on That was not till several years afterwards when the Controversies about the Government of the Church came to be sifted more narrowly It is commonly acknowledged that the main Argument which prevailed with him to appear for Episcopacy was its aptitude for being part of a fund for a good Correspondence with England Spotswood tells us that one of the Injunctions which he got when he was made Regent was That he should be careful to entertain the Amity contracted with the Queen of England And Calderwood saith thus expressly of him His great intention was to bring in conformity with England in the Church Government without which he thought he could not Govern the Countrey to his Fantasie or that Agreement could stand long between the two Countreys And again He pressed his own injunctions and Conformity with England Now this being the great motive that made him so much inclined at any time for Episcopal Government It is to be considered 4. That however prevalent this might be with him when first he was advanced to the Regency civil Dissentions raging then and the Party of which he was the Head being unable to subsist unless supported by England Yet now that all these Dissentions were ended and the Countrey quieted and things brought to some appearance of a durable settlement His Dependance on England might prompt him to alter his scheme and incline him to give scope to the Presbyterian wild-fire in Scotland To set this presumption in its due light Two things are to be a little further enquired into 1. If it is probable that Queen Elizabeth was willing that the Presbyterian humor should be Encouraged in Scotland 2. If Morton depended so much on her as to make it feasible that he might be subservient to her Designs in this Politick As for the First this is certain it was still one of Queen Elizabeth's great cares to Encourage confusions in Scotland She knew her own Title was Questionable as I have observed before and tho' that had not been yet without Question the Scottish blood had the next best Title to the English Crown and as 't is Natural to most People to worship the rising Sun especially when he looks Bright and Glorious when he has no Clouds about him I mean the Apparent Heir of a Throne when he is in a prosperous and flourishing condition So 't is as Natural for the Regnant Prince to be jealous of him Therefore I say Queen Elizabeth for her own security did still what she could to Kindle wildfire in Scotland and keep it burning when it was Kindled Thus in the year 1560. She assisted the Scottish subjects against their Native Soveraign her jealoused Competitrix both with Men and Money as I have told before And Anno 1565. She countenanced the Scottish Lords who began to raise tumults about the Scottish Queens Marriage with the Lord Darnley She furnisht them with money and harbour'd them when they were forced to flee for it And how long did She foment our Civil wars after they brake out Anno 1567 What dubious Responses did She give all the time She Vmpir'd it between the Queen of Scotland and those who appeared for her Son And is it not very well known that She had ane hand in the Road of Ruthven 1582 and in all our Scottish seditions Generally Sir Iames Melvil in his Memoirs gives us enough of her Practices that way He lived in these times and was acquainted with intrigues and he tells us That Randolf came with Lennox when he came to Scotland to be Regent after Murray's death to stay here as English Resident That this Randolf's great imployment was to foster discords and increase Divisions among the Scots particularly That he used Craft with the Ministers offering Gold to such of them as he thought could be prevail'd with to accept his offer 'T is true he adds But such as were honest refused his gifts But this says not that none took them and who knows but the most Fiery might have been foremost at receiving It hath been so since Even when it was the Price of the best blood in Britain But to go on Sir Iames tells further that Morton and Randolf contrived the Plot of keeping the Parliament at Stirling 1571. to forefault all the Queens Lords thereby to Crush all hopes of Agreement That he was so much hated in Scotland for being such ane Incendiary that he was
separated They could not collect it from any Covetous disposition they could reasonably imagine was in the Generality of the People to make themselves Rich by possessing themselves of the Revenues of Bishopricks They could not but know that 6 or 7000 l. ster was a sorry morsel for so many appetites and they could not but know that when Prelacy should be abolished few and but a very few could find advantage that way They could not collect it from any suspicions the People could possibly entertain that the Bishops or the Episcopal Clergy were inclining to turn Papists They could not but know that such had very far outdone the Presbyterian Preachers in their appearances against Popery The Members of that Meeting of Estates had received no instructions from their Respective Electors either in Counties or Burghs to turn down Prelacy and set up Presbytery I could name more than one or two who if they did not break their trust did at least very much disappoint their Electors by doing so There were no Petitions no Addresses presented to the Meeting by the People craving the Eversion of Prelacy or the Erection of Presbytery They never so much as once offered at Polling the People about it Shall I add further After it was done they never received thanks from the Generality of the People for doing it There was never yet any thing like ane Vniversal Rejoycing amongst the People that it was done They durst never yet adventure to require from the Generality of the People their Approbation of it And now If the Article was thus Established at first intirely upon the foot of Rabbling the Episcopal Clergy in the West I think I might reasonably superceed all further labour about this Controversie For not to mention that they were but the Rascally scum of these Counties where the Rabbling was who perform'd it and that even in these Counties there are great numbers of People who never reckoned Prelacy a great and insupportable Grievance and Trouble but lived and could have still lived peaceably and contentedly under it particularly the most part of the Gentry Not to insist on these things I say but granting that all the People in these Counties had been inclined as is affirmed in the Article yet what were they to the whole Nation Is it reasonable to judge of a whole Kingdom by a corner of it To call these the sentiments of all the Kingdom which were only the sentiments of four or five Counties But lest I have mistaken in fixing on the Performances of the Western Rabble as the true foot of this part of the Article I shall proceed further as I promised The Article however founded thus fram'd and published surprized the Generality of the People It was thought very odd not only that Prelacy should have been Abolished upon such weak Reasons But that the Inclinations of the Generality of the People should have been pretended at all against it Considering how sensible all People were that they had never been so much as once asked how they stood inclined in the matter It came therefore to be very much the subject of common discourse if it really was so And many who pretended to know the Nation pretty well were very confident it was not so And began to admire the wisdom of the Meeting of Estates that they should have asserted a proposition so very Positively which was so very Questionable In short the noise turn'd so great about it that it could not be confined within the Kingdom but it passed the Borders and spread it self in England particularly at London This being perceived one of the Presbyterian Agents there I know not who he was fell presently on writing a Book which he Entituled Plain Dealing or A Moderate General Review of the Scottish Prelatical Clergy's Proceedings in the Latter Reigns Which was published in August I think or September 1689 wherein having said what he pleased sense or nonsense truth or falshood as he found it most expedient for coming at his Conclusion toward the end he gave his Arguments for his side of our present Controversie They were these two Take them in his own words 1. There being 32 Shires or Counties and two Stewartries comprehending the whole body of the Nation that send their Commissioners or Representatives to Parliaments and all General Meetings of the Estates or Conventions Of these 34 Districts or Divisions of the Kingdom there are 17 intirely Presbyterians So that where you will find one there Episcopally inclined you 'll find 150 Presbyterians And the other 17 Divisions where there is one Episcopally inclined there are two Presbyterians 2. Make but a calculation of the valued Rent of Scotland computing it to be less or more or computed argumentandi gratia to be three Millions and you will find the Presbyterian Heritors whither of the Nobility or Gentry to be proprietors and possessors of two Millions and more so that those that are Episcopally inclined cannot have a third of that Kingdom And as for the Citizens or Burgesses and Commonalty of Scotland they are all Generally inclined to the Presbyterian Government except Papists and some Remote wild and Barbarous Highlanders c. And all this he saith is so true that it can be made appear to a Demonstration I am not at leisure to take so much impudent trash to task Only he himself if he knew any thing of Scotland could not but know that with the same Moderation he might have asserted that all Scottish Men were Monsters and all Scottish Women at every Birth produced Soutrikins And indeed as he had the hap to stumble on two such Demonstrations so I believe to this minute he may have the happiness to claim them as his property For I have never heard that any other of his Party no not G. R. himself had the hardiness to use them after him However so far as I have learned He was the first Author who published any thing about this Controversie The Presbyterian party having this adventured to Exercise the Press with it one who intended to undeceive the world concerning some Controversies between the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians in Scotland digested his Book into ten Questions and made the tenth concerning our present subject viz. Whither Scottish Presbytery was agreeable to the General Inclinations of the People Arguing to this purpose for the Negative That the Nobility of the Kingdom a very few not above a dozen excepted had all sworn the Oath commonly called the Test wherein all Fanatical principles and Covenant Obligations were renounced and abjured That not one of 40 of the Gentry but had sworn it also And not 50 in all Scotland out of the West did upon the Indulgence granted by King Iames Anno 1687. forsake their Parish Churches to frequent Meeting-houses That the Generality of the Commons live in Cities and Marcat Towns That all who could be of the Common Council in such Corporations or were able to follow any ingenious trade were obliged
Majesty to suppress such as fight against his Glory Albeit that both NATURE and GODS MOST PERFECT ORDINANCE REPUGNE to such Regiment More plainly to speak If Queen Elizabeth shall Confess that the EXTRAORDINARY DISPENSATION of Gods great Mercy makes that LAWFUL unto HER which both NATURE and GODS LAW do DENY unto all Women Then shall none in England be more willing to maintain her Lawful Authority than I shall be But if GODS WONDROUS WORK set aside She ground as God forbid the justness of her Title upon Consuetude Laws and Ordinances of Men then I am assured that as such foolish presumption doth highly offend Gods Supreme Majesty so I greatly fear that her Ingratitude shall not long lack punishment This was pretty fair but it was not enough He thought it proper to write to that Queen her self and give her a Dish of that same Doctrine His Letter is dated at Edenburg Iuly 29. 1559. In which having told her He never intended by his Book to assert any thing that might be prejudicial to her Iust Regiment providing she were no◠found Unfaithful to God he bespeaks her thus Ingrate you will be found in the presence of his Throne if you transfer the Glory of that Honour in which you now stand to any other thing than the DISPENSATION of his Mercy which ONLY maketh that Lawful to your Majesty which NATURE and LAW denyeth to all Women to command and bear Rule over Men In Conscience I am compelled to say that neither the consent of People the Process of time nor Multitude of Men can Establish a Law which God shall approve but whatsoever he approveth by his Eternal word that shall be approved and stay constantly firm And whatsoever he Condemneth shall be Condemned tho' all Men on Earth should travel for the justification of the same And therefore Madam The only way to retain and keep the Benefits of God abundantly of late days poured upon you and your Realm is unfeignedly to render unto God to his Mercy and undeserved Grace the whole Glory of all this your Exaltation Forget your BIRTH and all TITLE which thereupon doth hang It pertaineth to you to ground the JUSTICE of your Authority not on that LAW which from year to year doth change but upon the ETERNAL PROVIDENCE of him who CONTRARY to the ORDINARY course of NATURE and without your deserving hath exalted your Head If thus in Gods presence you humble your self I will with Tongue and Pen justify your Authority and Regiment as the Holy Ghost hath justified the same in Deborah that Blessed Mother in Israel But if you neglect as God forbid these things and shall begin to Brag of your Birth and to Build your Authority and your Regiment upon your own Law flatter you who so listeth your Felicity shall be short c. Let Contentious People put what Glosses they please on Bishop Overal's Convocation Book sure I am here is the Providential Right so plainly taught that no Glosses can obscure it Here it is maintain'd in plain terms and Resolutely in opposition to all the Laws not only of Men but of God and Nature Thus I have given a taste of such principles as the Prelatists in Scotland profess they disown tho' maintain'd by our Reformers It had been easy to have instanced in many more But these may be sufficient for my purpose which was not in the least to throw dirt on our Reformers to whom I am as willing as any man to pay a due reverence but to stop the mouth of impertinent clamour and 〈◊〉 the world have occasion to consider if it is such a scandalous thing to think otherwise than our Reformers thought as our Brethren endeavour on all occasions to perswade the populace For these principles of our Reformers which I have mentioned in Relation to Civil Governments are the principles in which we have most forsaken them And let the world judge which set of principles has most of Scandal in it Let the world judge I say whither their principles or ours participate most of the Faith the Patience the Self-denyal c. of Christians Whither principles have least of the love of the world and most of the image of Christ in them Whither principles have greatest affinity with the principles and practices of the Apostles and their immediate successors in the most afflicted and by consequence the most incorrupted times of Christianity Whither principles have a more natural tendency towards the security of Governments and the peace of Societies and seem most effectual for advancing the power of Godliness and propagating the Profession and the life of Christianity I further subjoyn these two things 1. I challenge our Presbyterian Brethren to convict us of the Scandal of receding from our Reformers in any one principle which they maintain'd in Common with the Primitive Church the Universal Church of Christ before she was tainted with the Corruptions of Popery And if we have not done it as I am Confident our Brethren shall never be able to prove we have our receding from our Reformers as I take it ought to be no prejudice against us I think the Authority of the Catholick Church in the days of her indisputed Purity and Orthodoxy ought in all Reason to be deem'd preferable to the Authority of our Reformers especially considering that they themselves professed to own the Sentiments of the Primitive Church as a part at least of the Complexe Rule of Reformation as I have already proved 2. I challenge our Presbyterian Brethren to instance in so much as one principle in which we have Deserted our Reformers wherein our Deserting them can by any Reasonable by any Colourable construction be interpreted ane approach towards Popery I think no Man who understands any thing of the Popish Controversies can readily allow himself the Impudence to say that to dislike Tumultuary Reformations and deposing Sovereign Princes and subverting Civil Governments c. upon the score of Religion is to be for Popery Or that the Doctrine of Submission to Civil Authority the Doctrine of Passive Obedience or Non-resistance or which I take to be much about one in the present case the Doctrine of the Cross are Popish Doctrines Or that to Condemn the Traiterous Distinction between the Person and the Authority of the Civil Magistrate as it is commonly made use of by some People and as it is Condemned by the Laws of both Kingdoms is to turn either Papistical or Iesuitical Let our Brethren if they can Purge their own Doctrines in these matters of all Consanguinity with Popery And now after all this 3. I would desire my Readers to remember that this Artifice of Prejudicating against principles because different from or inconsistent with the principles of our Reformers is none of our Contrivance Our Presbyterian Brethren not we were the First who set on foot this Popular tho' very pitiful way of Arguing By all the Analogies then of equitable and just Reasoning they ought to
this purpose I shall only instance in a few Thus The eight Act Parl. 1. Iac. 6. holden in Decemb. 1567 appoints the Coronation Oath to be sworn by the King And it is one of the Articles of that Oath That he shall Rule the People committed to his Charge according to the loveable Laws and Constitutions received in this Realm no wise repugnant to the word of the Eternal God Now I think this Parliament made no Question but that the Fundamental Law of the Constitution of Parliaments was one of these Loveable Laws and Constitutions received in this Realm no wise repugnant to the word of the Eternal God Indeed The 24 th Act of that same Parliament is this word for word Our Soveraign Lord with advice and consent of his Regent and the three Estates of Parliament has Ratified and Ratifies all Civil Priviledges granted and given by our Soveraign Lords Predecessors to the Spiritual Estate of this Realm in all points after the form and tenor thereof Than which there cannot be a more Authentick Commentary for finding the true sense and meaning of the Coronation Oath in Relation to our present purpose I shall only adduce two more but they are such two as are as good as two thousand The 130 th Act Parl. 8. Iac. 6. Anno 1584 is this word for word The Kings Majesty considering the Honour and the Authority of his Supreme Court of Parliament continued past all memory of Man unto these days as constitute upon the free votes of the three Estates of this Ancient Kingdom By whom the same under God has ever been upholden Rebellious and Traiterous Subjects punished the good and faithful preserved and maintained and the Laws and Acts of Parliament by which all men are Govern'd made and Established and finding the Power Dignity and Authority of the said Court of Parliament of late years called in some doubt at least some such as Mr. Andrew Melvil c. curiously travelling to have introduced some Innovations thereanent His Majesties firm will and mind always being as it is yet that the Honour Authority and Dignity of his saids three Estates shall stand and continue in their own integrity according to the Ancient and Loveable custome by-gone without any alteration or diminution THEREFORE it is Statuted and Ordained by our Soveraign Lord and his said three Estates in this present Parliament that none of his Leiges and Subjects presume or take upon hand to impugne the Dignity and the Authority of the said three Estates or to seek or procure the Innovation or Diminution of the Power and Authority of the same three Estates or any of them in time coming under the pain of Treason Here I think the necessity of the three Estates whereof the Ecclesiastical was ever reckoned the first is asserted pretty fairly Neither is this Act so far as I know formally repealed by any subsequent Act And whosoever knows any thing of the History of these times cannot but know that it was to crush the Designs set on foot then by some for innovating about the Spiritual Estate that this Act was formed The other which I promised is Act 2. Parl. 18. Iac. 6. holden Anno 1606. Intituled Act anent the Restitution of the Estate of Bishops In the Preamble of which Act we are told That of late during his Majesties young years and unsetled Estate the Ancient and FUNDAMENTAL Policy consisting in the Maintainance of the THREE ESTATES of Parliament has been greatly impaired and almost subverted Specially by the Indirect Abolishing of the Estate of Bishops by the Act of Annexation of the Temporality of Benefices to the Crown That the said Estate of Bishops is Necessary Estate of the Parliament c. Such were the Sentiments of these times So Essential was the Ecclesiastical Estate deem'd in the Constitution of Scottish Parliaments And no wonder For no man can doubt but it was as early as positively as incontestedly as fundamentally and unalterably in the constitution as either the Estate of Nobles or the Estate of Burrows There is no Question I think about the Burrows As for the Estate of Nobles 't is certain all Barons were still reckoned of the Nobless The lesser Barons in Ancient times were still reckoned a part of the Second never a distinct Estate of Parliament and they must quit all pretensions to be of the Nobless when they set up for a distinct Estate Setting up for such they are no more of the Nobility than the Burrows And then If two Estates can vote out one and make a Parliament without it If they can split one into two and so make up the three Estates Why may not one split it self as well into three Why may not the two parts of the splitted Estate joyn together and vote out the Estate of Burrows Why may not the Nobility of the First Magnitude joyn with the Burrows to vote out the smaller Barons Why may not the smaller Barons and the Burrows vote out the greater Nobility After two have voted out one why may not one the more numerous vote out the other the less numerous When the Parliament is reduced to one Estate why may not that one divide and one half vote out the other And then subdivide and vote out till the whole Parliament shall consist of the Commissioner for Rutherglen or the Laird of or the Earl of Crawford Nay why may not that one vote cut himself and leave the King without a Parliament What a dangerous thing is it to shake Foundations How doth it unhinge all things How plainly doth it pave the way for that which our Brethren pretend to abhor so much viz. a Despotick Power ane Absolute and unlimited Monarchy But enough of this To conclude this point there 's nothing more notorious than that the Spiritual Estate was still judged Fundamental in the Constitution of Parliaments was still called to Parliaments did still Sit Deliberate and Vote in Parliaments till the year 1640 that it was turned out by the then Presbyterians And our present Presbyterians following their footsteps have not only freely parted with but forwardly rejected that Ancient and valuable Right of the Church Nay they have not only rejected it but they declaim constantly against it as a Limb of Antichrist and what not And have they not herein manifestly Deserted the undoubted principles and sentiments of our Reformers It had been easy to have ennumerated a great many more of their notorious Recessions from the principles of the Reformation e. g. I might have insisted on their Deserting the principles and practices of our Reformers about the Constitution of General Assemblies about Communion with the Church of England about the Civil Magistrates Power in Church Matters justly or unjustly is not the present Question and many more things of considerable importance Nay which at first sight may seem a little strange as much as they may seem to have swallowed down the principles of Rebellion and Arm'd Resistances against Lawful Soveraign