happen to be disturbed disordered and dispersed the same shall be a Point of a Ditty against the Persons that shall be convict thereof and they shall tyn all their moveable Goods to be Escheat to the King for their Offence but prejudice of a greater punishment if there happens any Offence as Slaughter Blood Mutilation and whosoever invades any Minister or puts violent hands upon them shall be punished with all Rigour and incur the pain of their moveable Goods for the said Invasion or Violence albeit no Slaughter nor Mutilation follow thereupon all which is ratified by the 7th Act Ch. I. by which it is declared that because the insolence and violence may be committed by Lawless and Irresponsable Men who cannot be gotten detected It is statuted that the Landlords Heretors Chief of Clans and others within whose bounds they dwell shall be holden upon Complaint to the Lords of Secret Council to exhibit and produce the Malefactors to be censured and punished at the discretion of the Iudge and the Heretors and others in whose Land they reside are obliged to exhibit them under the like punishment after intimation made to them that they stay upon the place And by the 4. Act Session 2. Parl. 2. Ch. II. It is statuted and declared that whatsoever Person or Persons shall be found Guilty of Assaulting of the Lives of Ministers or actually attempting the same shall be severely punished c. Thus I say did the Narative of the Doctors Libel proceed and then upon this Foundation was the rest of it built viz. That notwithstanding he was deprived and the Church of Errol declared vacant yet when by the Presbyteries appointment Mr. Iohn Tullidaff came to preach there such a Tumult was raised And the Doctor was accessary as an Instigator c. Now I could easily tell you a great many things that might be worth your Notice And that a great many more Acts of Parliament might have been cited For we have had enough to that purpose occasioned by the Insults Invasions and Murthers committed by the Presbyterian Party in King Charles II. His time But that for which I have Transcribed this Narative is chiefly this that as on the one hand you may see the Piety of our former Parliaments in the Protection of Clergy-men so on the other you may take occasion to consider what a Spirit prevailed in the last Session of our Parliament which justified and approved the Deed of the Rabble against so many Ministers And whether we have not now a very Impartial Government when the same Laws which must be buried in deep Silence when the Case concerns the Episcopal Clergy are thus awakened and made cry so lowdly when the Presbyterian Interest stands in need of them not as if I were to justifie Tumults of that Nature No I abhor them with all my Soul But why should not all alike guilty be equally punished Thus Sir I have according to your desire given you a short Deduction of the Usage the Episcopal Clergy in Scotland have met with from the Civil Power since the 24th of December 1689. I have endeavoured all along to represent Matters faithfully and truly as well as succinctly Two other Things there are which are important and would not a little gratifie your Curiosity viz. The Proceedings of the Presbyteries and Synods since the Power was put in their Hands by the Parliament against those Prelatists who complied and the Purging the Universities As to the first I thought it convenient at this time not to meddle with it both because it would swell this Letter infinitely beyond its due limits and I have reason to believe you may confidently expect to se that fully done by another Hand And for the Universities those Seminaries of Learning as they stood under the Episcopal Constitution were a great Eye-sore to the Party and therefore none could expect that the Presbyterians could be satisfied unless the publick Schools were put into their Hands Besides the Education of Youth added much to their strength and National Settlement so they are resolv'd at any rate quo jure quáve injuriâ to seise very speedily the most conspicuous and most eminent Places The Ministers were so warm in this Design that they importun'd their Patrons in the State to remove such Masters as they judg'd most opposite to their Government even before the Affair was considered by the Parliament But the wiser sort among them withstood this precipitancy for since they might frame an Act of Parliament such as they pleas'd it was thought most convenient to delay their Revenge for a little while because the Masters of the Universities might be more effectually turn'd out under the Covert of an Act of Parliament than by the Methods that they first advis'd These Consultations toss'd to and again at last produc'd that Act of Parliament that appoints all Masters and Professors in Universities and publick Schools 1. To sign the Westminster Confession of Faith as the only Standard of Theological Orthodoxy 2. To swear Allegiance to K. William and Q. Mary 3. To sign the Declaration and Assurance which I have had occasion to mention above 4. To submit to the Presbyterian Government in its last and latest Figure as it was lodged in the hands of about fifty or sixty old Presbyterian Ministers It was easie to foresee that there were but few Masters whose deprivation this Act would not occasion The trust of visiting Universities Colleges and Schools was devolv'd on some Noblemen and Gentlemen whose names are inserted in the Act of Parliament that were most addicted to the Interests of Presbytery A full Quorum of them met on the twenty third day of Iuly 1690. and subdivided themselves into four lesser Committees One for St. Andrews one for Edinburgh one for Glasgow and one for Aberdeen The Committee appointed to visit the University of St. Andrews was managed by the Earl of Crawford and they could not commit it to one more bigotted to the Interests of their Party So that their Design was accomplish'd in that place in a very few meetings when the Earl made report to the General Visitation at Edinburgh they were deprived the 25th day of September ad unum omnes Nor did they expect to be otherways treated But this merciless Sentence rais'd the Odium of many against the Party for both the heads of Houses and the subordinate Professors in that University are learned and deserving Men Dr. Alexander Skeen Rector and Provost of the old College by his singular dexterity industry and constant application chang'd the rubbish and ruins of that House into beautiful and convenient Habitations both for Masters and Students And Dr. Iames Weems Principal of S. Leonard's College minded nothing in the World more than the welfare of that House And there is little doubt to be made but that the Learned and Reverend Dr. Lorimer Principal of the new College if he had lived had been treated as his Brethren were since his Principles were as
told that the Book was written half a year before and endured an Examen Rigorosum of the most Judicious of the Party which was News indeed for no body would have known that by reading the Book It is truly a marvellous Work for in it you have not only the Divine Right of Parity among Churchmen and Kirk-Sessions and Presbyteries and Provincial Synods and National Assemblies and Ruling Elders and popular Elections c. most doughtily asserted it was no part of his task to prove but also Presbytery and Monarchy reconciled to an ace and the putting the Government intirely in the hands of the known sound Men most mysteriously justified Doubtless it has been an unaccountable negligence in some body that it has not been before this time Reprinted in England and carefully dispersed all over that Kingdom For who knows what light it might have diffused and what Reformations it might have wrought among you But that which I am concerned to take notice of in it at present is only this That though the Author is content that by the bye it should advance Gods Glory and do good to Souls yet he confesses neither of these was his principal end for publishing it at that time For that was especially that Presbyterian Government might stand right in the opinion of the King and Parliament c. And as Presbytery was thus represented and recommended so the like care was taken to disgrace and defame Prelacy in Pamphlets and Pasquils as the very vilest of all vile things And to all such Dirt Trash c. the Press was open but a Prelatist might as well expect to subvert the Government as to get one Sheet Published in defence of his Cause But this was not all It was not fit that the fate of the good old Cause should stand on nothing else but Paper supporters The influence of two or three principal States-men and if you please you may joyn with them States-women commonly carries on a Cause more effectually than a thousand Printed Volumes and therefore it was necessary that tool should be tried also as vigorously as was possible And therefore the great Lord Melvill a constant Friend to the good Cause and now Their Majesties Comissioner must give vent to his Zeal in his Speech he made to the Parliament they say with very little assurance the first day they met But whatever his Influence or Zeal might be his Rhetorick was no doubt infinitely short of the florid and genuine Eloquence of that Learned as well as Potent Lord W. E. of C. who the next meeting which was April 22. delivered a Sermon to the House wherein it was easie to discern no less Zeal than Art and no less Art than Wisdom It was forthwith Published so that I cannot think but you have seen it already However to make all sure I have herewith sent you a Copy of it It 's true blue all over and you may be much enlightened by it His Lordship was President of the Parliament and that gave him the precious opportunity to open his Mouth and speak Thus were the Commissioners place and the Chair filled and the Press imployed And who can imagine that upon such an exigence the Pulpit would be silent That sure is not to be supposed And indeed it was never exercised more warmly For not only had they been still making it their work to promote their Interest by Melancholy Declamations against Prelacy Prelates and Prelatical Church-men after they had got footing in the Churches A Theme they are generally better skilled in than in the substantial things of Christianity but especially at that time their Fears quickening their Zeal they were extremely eager and every one as he had the fortune to Preach before the Parliament was sure to signalize his fervour as much as any other of his good qualities in behalf of Christ's Kingdom as they call their Yesterdays Parity I must confess indeed I had neither the opportunity nor inclination to hear their Sermons but as I was told by some who did and as I learned by such of them as were published no man needed condemn them of Coldness or Indifferency Thus Mr. George Meldrum of whom you have a sufficient Account in the History of our late General Assembly in his Sermon preached before the Parliament April 27 exhorts them to go on zealously in settling the Government of the Church of Christ according to his own appointment recommends unto them that Word of Artaxerxes Ezra 7. 23. this Text was scarce ever missed by any of them Whatsoever is commanded by the God of Heaven let it be done diligently for the house of the God of Heaven c. commends them and blesses the Lord that with so much Unity and Harmony for the party had been infinitly afraid of the Club that it should have marred all their designs but by that time it was found too weak they had gone some footsteps already that is had abolished Prelacy and the Supremacy and restored the Presbyterian Ministers exhorts them to go on and prays that God may be with them c. Was not this pretty fair for an old Conformist But Good Mr. Spalding Clerk to the late General Assembly who had sat many a day in a little Shop in the Town of Irwin and measured out in retail many a Noggan of Brandy was a man of much finer metal for in his Sermon which he preached before the House upon the Eleventh of May the second that was published he tells them in truer stile that now God was making way for the utter ruine and fall of Antichrist and Popery in all the formes of it two of which to be sure are Episcopacy wherever it is and the Liturgy of England that not so much as a Rag of the Whore may remain and his Church may sing in triumph Babylon the Great is fallen is fallen For why God is now carrying on the establishment of Zion upon her right basis and foundation And to shew that he was not a flattering Gospeller who respected Persons He tells them in a parallel betwixt King Saul and King David on the one hand and King Iames and King William on the other at least I protest I can make no other sense of it that King William is not yet absolutely right because he has Carnal Fears to bring the Ark Presbytery into his own City the Church of England and again labour to perfect the Reformation which ye have begun happily and is greedily expected and that speedily and in the first place command as in Ezra 7. 23. That whatsoever is commanded c. Let Reformation I say be perfect and throw to the door all that belongs to the Whore even the Rags which she left behind her for an errand to return again all Prelacy and Ceremonies and set Forms and let none of Babels cursed timber and stone be taken to build the Lords house with Let not so much as one Prelatist continue in the exercise of his
included in the number of those sound Presbyterians in whose hands the Government was to be established in the first Instance this Proposal rejected 49 Duke Hamilton reasons against putting the Government solely in the hands of those known sound Presbyterians but without Success ibid. The Kng's Power in Ecclesiastical Matters debated in Parliament 50 The Petition of the Episcopal Ministers who were thrust from their Churches by force and violence of the Rabble in December 1688 or at any time thereafter before the 13th of April 1689. 52 53 54 55 56 The Article concerning the Rabbled Clergy considered and three Amendments the Duke of Hamilton procured to be made in it 57 58 59. Proposal that such Ministers as had not free access to their Churches and so could not obey the Proclamation of the Convention April 13. upon the day appointed but were willing to obey when they should have access might be excepted out of the number of those who were to be declared deprived of their Benefices rejected ibid. Reasons of the Duke of Hamilton that the Deed of the Rabble might not be ratified i. e. that those Episcopal Ministers who had been forced from their Benefices by the Fury of the Presbyterian Mobb might not for that be deprived 60 The Petition of the Rabbled Clergy presented and back'd by the Duke of Hamilton but rejected without being read and the Article approved 62 The Duke resents the approving the Article and leaves the House 63 In his absence the Act is voted in cumulo and receives afterward the Royal Assent ibid. 64 Remarks on the Commissioner's behaviour ibid. The Consequences this Act produced 1. Thanks 2. Printed Sermons 3. Presbyterian Ministers got Plurality of Benefices vacant by the ejection of so many Episcopal Ministers by that Act Instances of this 65 66 67 The Duke of Hamilton and some other Councillors procure a Gift of a Year's Revenue of their own Benefices to some of those Episcopal Ministers who had been turned out by the Mobb Restrictions the Presbyterian Lords got put on this 68 69 The Petitions of many of those Ministers rejected by the Privy Council The Case of Mr. Skeen Minister of Dunsyre 70 to 77 Draught of an Act given in by the Earl of Linlithgow that a Toleration might be granted to those of the Episcopal Persuasion to worship God after their own Manner and particularly that those who were inclined to use the English Liturgy might do it safely 77 This rejected The Party especially the Preachers incensed at the design and in their Sermons declaim vehemently against it ibid. Patronages abolished and a new strange Model of electing Ministers established 78 Act of Parliament prohibiting those Ministers who were deprived by the Committee of Estates and by the Privy Council An. 1689. for not reading in their Pulpits the Proclamation against owning the late King Iames and not praying publickly for William and Mary as King and Queen of Scotland to exercise any part of their Ministerial Function till they swear and subscribe the Oath of Allegiance and also engage themselves under their hands to pray for K. William and Q Mary as King and Queen of Scotland and not to own the late King James VII for their King in any sort 79 80. They are likewise obliged to subscribe a Declaration called a Certificate of Assurance which explodes the distinction of a King de facto and de jure 81 They do not comply but for sometime cease from the publick Exercise of their Ministry 82 After some time they begin again to exercise their Ministry in their own Houses the Presbyterian Preachers perplexed at this and move the Privy Council to prosecute them 83 Instances of Episcopal Ministers prosecuted upon this account ibid. The Presbyterians attempt to obtrude a Presbyterian Preacher on the Parish of Errol A Tumult upon that account 84 Dr. Nicolson indicted and libelled before the Privy Council The Narrative of his Libel with the cause why this Narrative is inserted 85 86 87 88. A short Account of the Visiting the Universities 89 to 95 The Proclamation of April 13. 1689 against owning the late King James and appointing publick Prayers for William and Mary King and Queen of Scotland 95 96 The Speech of William Earl of Crawfurd President to the Parliament of Scotland April 22. 1690. 97 98 99 100 SIR ALTHOUGH I am satisfied that the Papers already in Print concerning the Persecutions the Episcopal Church in Scotland has suffered of late do furnish matter enough to move the Compassion of a Friend and glut the Malice even of the most inveterate Enemy yet finding by your last that you earnestly desire to know more about them and not being able to resist your Importunity I have been at the pains to send you this following Account The former Relation as I remember brought things no farther down than that Act of Privy Council dated December 24. 1689. by which all Inferiour Judges within the Nation were prohibited to give Decrees in favour of such of the Clergy as had been thrust from their Charges by Tumult and Rabble before the 13th of April preceding Notwithstanding you have that Act in Print already yet being it must give the Rise of this brief Supplement I shall here again transcribe it An ACT of COUNCIL At EDINBURGH Dec. 24. 1689. THE Lords of His Majesties Privy Council considering that by the â—ot of the Meeting of Estates of the date the thirteenth day of April last there is a difference made betwixt the Ministers then in possession and exercise of their Ministry at their respective Churches and those who were not so And that the Case of the Ministers who were not in the actual exercise of their Ministerial Function the thirteenth day of April last lies yet under the consideration of the Parliament and lest in the mean time they may call and pursue for the Stipends alledged due to them or put in execution the Decrees and Sentences already obtained at their instance for the same before the Estates of Parliament can meet and give the determinations in the points Therefore the said Lords of Privy Council finding that the Case foresaid depending before the Parliament is not obvious to be cognosced upon and decided by the Inferiour Iudges but that the same should be left entire to the decision of the Parliament have thought fit to signifie to all Inferiour Courts and Ministers of the Law that the matter above-mentioned is depending before the Parliament to the effect they may regulate and govern themselves in the judging of all Processes to be intented before them upon the said matter or in executing the Sentences already pronounced thereupon as they will be answerable Sic subscribitur Crawford I. P. D. S. Con. No sooner did that Act pass than Copies of it were instantly sent by the Councils Order to all Inferiour Judges within whose Jurisdictions those Parishes lay from which the Ministers had been forced before that 13th of April so fatal to our
Clergy And forthwith a stop was put to the Course of Justice For generally those who were liable to pay the Tythes in the Western Shires where Rabling had most prevailed refused to pay one Farthing of what was due for the year 1688. or any years preceding having for them the pretext of this Act of Council Neither would the Judges grant Sentences in favour of any such Ministers as had the hard fortune to stand in these unlucky Circumstances And indeed it was no wonder if the Judges were shy to meddle with such an Act considering on the one hand how darkly and indistinctly it was worded and on the other how ticklish the Times then were and how natural it was for the Council to have turned them out of their Places if they had chanced to give it an Interpretation however consonant with the Rules of Justice unsuitable to the designs of the Government No man I think needs to doubt but this Treatment seem'd grievous enough to the poor Sufferers They had entered to their respective Churches according to Law They had never been summoned to appear before any Court Ecclesiastical or Civil nor tryed or convict of any Crime or Scandal that might infer a Deprivation Only they had been thrust from their Stations by lawless force and violence a thing so far from being Criminal in them that it rather ought to have engaged the Government to have taken particular care for their Redress and Restitution What then may be thought of this precluding them the benefit of the Common Law for what was uncontrovertibly due to them Especially considering that most of them had numerous Families and not one of twenty any Stock of his own besides his Benefice wherewith to maintain them Hard enough sure Well Necessity you know Sir is a rigorous Taskmaster and puts one upon all imaginable Shifts to be eased of its burthen And so it is not to be doubted but these poor men would bestir themselves as effectually as they could to have that Act if not repealed at least explained and made more favourable as indeed they did but without success For though some Consellors such as the Duke of Hamilton in whose absence the Act was made were inclin'd to do them Justice yet at that time the Earl of Crawford and the Lord Cardrosse two Lords who had some reason to commiserate the needy and their Adherents of the Presbyterian Party made greatest numbers at the Council Board and they had made the Act and so they would not so much as hear of admitting it to a new deliberation This as soon as they knew it made the afflicted Ministers though they had prepared their Petition quite give over the design of addressing to the Council and betake themselves to the last Remedy Patience till the Parliament should meet to which their Case by the Act of Council was refer'd I have hitherto given you but a very slender account of this matter but if you will be pleas'd to read on you shall have what may satisfie you before I have done Now proceed we strait to the Parliament In the mean time I must tell you that it is no part of my present undertaking to meddle with any thing but what concerns the Church or the Clergy And even of that too you are not to expect the most perfect account The Parliament met upon the 15th of April 1690. And the first thing they did in relation to the Church was the Abolition of the Kings Supremacy in Ecclesiastical matters But alas the thorough-pac'd Presbyterians were sadly nick'd in that matter for it was only the Act which was made Anno 1669. that was rescinded and other Acts that asserted the Supremacy to a degree entirely inconsistent with the Prerogatives of the Kirk were kept in force and unrepeal'd At least this I am sure of Mr. Andrew Melvill a great Promoter if not the first Parent of Presbyterian Parity in Scotland and Mr. David Black and such antient Worthies of the Sect reckoned them intolerable when they called them the Bloody Gullies of Arbitrary Power i. e. the Cut-throat Knives But that 's no great matter only one thing let me add further concerning the first Act which is that it founds the Repeal of that Sixty Nine Act upon this reason that That Supremacy was inconsistent with the Establishment of the Church-Government not now in being for Presbytery was not erected till six Weeks after But now desired which what sense it may make in Law or Politicks it is not my purpose to enquire But I remember many thought then that it was a pretty odd fetch in common reason to abolish that Act because the Supremacy as explained in it was inconsistent with what had no real Existence but only an imaginary one in the desires of a Party But however that was The making this Act was an encouraging Step to the Presbyterian Ministers for no sooner had they found by this that their Party was strongest in the Parliament than they presented their Petition to it craving an entire Settlement of all their new and peculiar Scheme which Petition because it was of so considerable consequence and so far as I can learn though twice published here yet never reprinted in England and so perhaps you have not had occasion to consider it I will here set down and give you some short Animadversions upon it To His GRACE His MAJESTIES High-Commissioner and to the Right Honourable the Estates of Parliament The Humble ADDRESS of the Presbyterian Ministers and Professors of the Church of Scotland Sheweth THAT as we cannot but acknowledge and adore the Holy and Righteous Dispensation of the Lord in all the great and long continued Afflictions wherewith he hath afflicted us for our sins so we are not a little filled with admiration at the great and wonderful Providence of our Most Gracious God who alone doth great Wonders for his Mercy endureth for ever That at such a Time when our strength was gone and there was none to deliver He mercifully stirred up that Pious and Magnanimous Prince William then Prince of Orange now by the good hand of God Our Gracious Soveraign to Espouse the Interest of the Protestant Religion and of the afflicted Ministers and Professors thereof in these Kingdoms and hath blessed him in so Heroick and Noble an Undertaking with agreeable success As also hath raised up your Lordships our most Noble and Honourable Patriots to joyn heartily with His Majesty in appearing zealously for securing of the Protestant Religion in this Kingdom and for what may tend to the better establishment thereof in all its concerns and in evidencing your just Indignation against the Corruptions of Church and State in your Lordships Claim of Right And particularly by freeing us of the Yoke of Prelacy and of the undue Powers and Ecclesiastical Supremacy in Church Matters formerly established in the Supreme Magistrate And these your Lordships zealous beginnings for appearing for the interest of the Protestant Religion and
generally forbore the exercise of their Ministry and deserted their Flocks whether they did so from a mistaken Conceit That the Church could not be served without them and that ere long the Government would find it self obliged to give them their Will and court them to return to their Charges as many then judged I shall not now affirm but that they actually did so is so very notorious that to this very day they themselves dare not deny it And there is nothing better known than that they have more than once condemned themselves and been condemned by the most judicious of their Parry for parting so tamely with their Churches And now Sir Considering all I have said where was the necessity of either Accusation or Citation How ordinary is it in all Kingdoms and Commonwealths to prescribe such terms by Law as whosoever shall not perform shall be deprived of such and such publick encouragements without further process of Law Need I rub up your Memory for Example or have you not one fresh before your Eyes in the Kingdom of England Besides it had been absolutely improper in their case for the Parliament was not to punish them as indeed it did not but only it did declare that they had no Title as it was evident they had none I will only add one thing more upon this Head suppose nothing could have been said in vindication of their deprivation or rather dispossession but it had been truly unjust yet methinks it will very ill become the Presbyterian Party ever after the years 1688. and 1689. to open their Mouths about it considering how many Ministers who had without Controversie entered to their charges according to Law were most barbarously turn'd out of their Churches by pure force and Rabble and all this was justified and their Churches thereupon declar'd vacant by I need not tell you whom but of this more afterwards And so much at present about the dispossession of the Presbyterian Ministers Anno 1662. But I have not yet done with our Act of Parliament which restored them For Besides the good Office it did them we must try if it did any bad Offices to any other and here I think we may make short work of it For you can no sooner set your Eye upon it than you may see that where the Churches were not vacant i. e. where at the date of the Act viz. the 25 of April 1690. they were possessed by the Episcopal Clergy from which the Presbyterians had been thrust out their restitution to them is declar'd to be to the half of the Benefice and Stipend due and payable at Michaelmas Anno 1689. for the half year immediately preceding betwixt Whitsunday and Michaelmas and the present Prelatical Incumbent shall have right only to the other half payable at Whitsunday And withal to the effect the Presbyterian Ministers may meet with no stop or hinderance in entering immediately to their Charges the present Incumbents in such Churches are appointed upon intimation of this Act to desist from their Ministry in these Parishes and to remove themselves from the Mauses and Glebes thereto belonging betwixt and Whitsunday next to come that is in six weeks time or perhaps six days just as the intimation shall be made Now Not to insist on their case who had made no Compliance with the Civil Government because I know not what severities their sin may merit I would only ask you what may be thought of the case of those who had complied with the present Civil Government and had still continued in the exercise of their Ministry at their respective Churches many of them till near Whitsunday 1690. and some of them after it whether was it equitable or not thus to deprive them of a whole years Benefice for which they had served and notwithstanding they were as good Subjects as their Majesties could desire to turn them out of their Churches to which they had entered according to Law without the least ground of hope to be provided of other Churches or Livings Are they protected and encouraged according to the merit of their compliance Will this usage they have met with be a good Motive for prevailing with the scrupulous to bring them into a dutiful submission to the Government Well the good Old Cause is a wonderful thing what can it not justifie But enough of this And so I have done with the second Act of the last Session of Parliament which concerned the Church or the Clergy Only Before I proceed to the next it will not be amiss I think to hint at some of its effects I think you will not be very unwilling to believe that those known sound Gentlemen in whose favour it was made would be forward enough to have it put in execution and indeed there was no want of zeal that way but whether according to the strictest Rules of Christian simplicity and self denial in all instances you may judge by these two at the present The first shall be the famous Mr. Iames Kirtoun one of the most noted Presbyterian Preachers in the whole Kingdom This known sound Man had entered by the thing called the Popular Call to the Church of Martin in the last times of Presbytery and had been deprived with the rest in the year 1662. When K. Iames gave his toleration Anno 1687. he was preferred to a Meeting-house in Edinburgh where it seems he found better encouragement than he expected to meet with if he should return to his own Country-parish of Martin And in this Meeting-house he continued till after this Act of Parliament passed Mr. Meldrum the Episcopal Minister at Martin had complied with the Civil Government and done all Duty and so continued still in the exercise of his Ministry there till toward the end of August 1690. that is ten or twelve weeks after Whitsunday and not till then it was that good Mr. Kirkton went to visit his poor old Parish But then he went indeed with Energy sutable to his Party for no sooner arrived he there but presently he turned peremptory demanded the benefit of the Act of Parliament thrust Meldrum from the Parsonage-house and the Church preached two Sundays there and secured thereby his Title to the whole Benefice from Whitsunday 1689. and then returned to Edinburgh where as I hear he has still resided since without ever more minding his old Flock at Martin and who can blame him For every one who knows them both knows that Edinburgh is a much better place and now he has left his Meeting house and possessed himself of a Church in that City after a certain sort of providential manner but I will not trouble you with an account of it at present hoping that you may learn it shortly from another hand In the mean time Martin continues still vacant Kirkton is wiser as I have said than to put it in the ballance with Edinburgh The rest of the Presbyterian Divines think it reasonable to take the best Benefices so long
different from Presbytery as theirs are from the Catholick Church The next place to be visited was the College of Edinburgh and because that House was in the Eye of the Nation they peremptorily determin'd to have the Government of it in their own hands And it must be confess'd that the first Professors in that House did frequently and freely despise the Faction and therefore could not but expect to be censur'd accordingly The Presbyterians were very much afraid that Dr. Monro and Dr. Strachan would comply with the late Test as it stood in their Act of Parliament This put their Invention upon the Rack and therefore a strict Enquiry is made into their Lives Actions private Behaviour Words and Conversation that if they had comply'd with the Act of Parliament they might be turn'd out on other Heads but this Inquisition and toil was very needless For after four years sufferings they 'd venture upon the greatest Calamities rather than comply with a Test of such Consequences as that is However it was this is certain that the Professors of the College of Edinburgh were prosecuted with the greatest Solemnity bitterness and indignation that was possible The first Masters knew very well that they could not hold their Places under the present Scheme of things yet they made particular Answers to all the Articles Libell'd against them for otherwise the Presbyterians would have propagated amongst the People that they were not turn'd out because of their refusing the publick Test but rather for immoralities and Scandalous Faults There is already published a particular account of the Methods that they took in turning out the Masters of the College of Edinburgh yet I must beg the Author of that Narrative pardon if I add some things to what he has written And I do it the rather because they are material and because I have undeniable Authority for them In the General it is very observable that the Libels against the Masters of the College of Edinburgh were own'd and subscrib'd by no particular Accuser and yet the Committee proceeded upon such Libels as if they had been brought before them in the most orderly and legal manner By a publick Proclamation they had invited in a manner all the Nation and every particular Man in it to bring Libels against the Masters but all this to no purpose and therefore Sir Iohn Hall then Provost of Edinburgh who was contented with the humble glory of being a drudge in this Affair cajoll'd Mr. Andrew Massie one of the Regents of the College to draw up Libels against all his Brethren Mr. Massie had in all the Periods of his Life some affected singularities that made him apt to quarrel with his Collegues and always had so much Religion as to worship the rising Sun and therefore he foreseeing that Dr. Monro must needs be turn ' out undertook this generous and honourable Employment of being the Accuser of his Brethren These Libels form'd and contriv'd by Mr. Massie were afterwards in several private Conferences conserted with Sir Iohn Hall and Mr. Henry Ferguson and then at length read in the Town Council the Clerks being remov'd to the end that Sir Iohn might be furnished with all necessary preparations when the Committee for visiting the College of Edinburgh sat By such kind Offices Mr. Massie recommended himself at once to Sir Iohn Hall and Mr. Gilbert Rule who a twelve-month before the Visitation was design'd to succeed Dr. Monro as principal of the College Let none of the Inhabitants at Edinburgh think that this is a piece of Forgery vented by ill-nature and Envy for I appeal to all who were Members of the Town-Council of Edinburgh at that time and I have my Intelligence from one of their number who still makes a considerable Figure in the City And if any sober Man be unsatisfied concerning the several steps of this Knavery and Disingenuity he may ask his Neighbours who were then Members of the Town-Council But the most extravagant piece of partiality was that Mr. Gilbert Rule himself who had all possible assurances and promises of succeeding Dr. Muro was one of the Judges in that Committee and 't was told by a Gentleman who observed very punctually what passed in the General Visitation that when Dr. Monro was remov'd five or six times the other Presbyterian Ministers Members of the Visitation all of them by turns rose up and spoke against him some once some twice but Mr. Rùle spoke thrice Upon which some said that that was to kill and take possession The Masters were never acquainted with the Libels until they appear'd before the Committee and even then they were not read all at once but one Article after another for since most of the Articles Libell'd against them related to matter of Fact to oblige the Masters to answer ex tempore was the most proper way to entangle them and so the Members of the Committee took all possible advantages to make them say things inconsistent or to make their defences in great hast and confusion In the next place I must acquaint the Reader with what I have from good Hands viz. that the only reason why Dr. Monro and Dr. Strachan return'd particular Answers to the unsubscribed Libels against themselves was that the Presbyterians might not propagate among the People and leave it upon Record that they were turn'd out for Immoralities of Life not that they thought it possible in that juncture to stand their ground against Presbyterian Malice At this Visitation there were five of the Masters turned out The two Professors of Divinity Mr. Iohn Drummond Professor of Philology Mr. Alexander Douglas Professor of the Oriental Languages and Mr. Thomas Burnet Professor of Philosophy Dr. Gregory Professor of the Mathematicks was conniv'd at for a while though he had refus'd the Test as it stood in the Act of Parliament The College of Glasgow was visited by a Committee whereof my Lord Carmichael was President And he you may be sure would take a Method different from Sir Iohn Hall for though my Lord favours the Presbyterian Party yet he is a Man of great Modesty and Calmness of Temper and he managed that Trust with great Moderation and Equality Dr. Fall Principal of the College of Glasgow refused the Complex Test as it stood in the late Act of Parliament and so must needs be turned out and upon the same account his Collegue Dr. Weems Professor of Divinity and two of the subordinate Masters Mr. Blair and Mr. Gordon By Doctors Fall's prudent and frugal management of the publick Revenues he advanced the College of Glasgow to a very flourishing Condition As for the University of Aberdeen the Presbyterians were not so zealous to turn them out because they were remote from the Center of the Nation and partly because they had but few of their own number who were willing at that time to undergoe the Toil and Pedantry of speaking Latin It was more convenient for their Interest and more agreeable
Though our Church were Settled to the greatest advantage and our other Grievances likewise Redressed the Nation cannot be safe without a Supply suitable to the present Exigency It is matter of heavy Regrate that so many are groaning under the Load of Forfeitures and Fines and His Majesty willing to relieve them and as yet no Issue put to those desirable Purposes May the Wisdom and Goodness of God so over-rule all our Counsels that we be not imposed upon by false Notions of things Let neither Partiality on the one side nor Passion on the other either keep up former Differences or give a rise to new ones lest it he said of us as was spoken by Ezra upon the like occasion And after all that is come upon us for our evil Deeds and for our great Trespass seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve and hast given us such Deliverance as this should we again break thy Commandments What my Lord Commissioner spoke the other day 〈◊〉 delivered to such advantage that any enlargment I could make on it would be like a rash touch of a Pencil by an unskilled hand upon a compleat Picture So I forbear every thing of that kind It is beyond Debate that in this Honourable Assembly the Hearts of a great many are very warm to His Majesty and that His though at a distance from us is no less filled with Thoughts of Favour to us So if the Result of our Councils be not Comfortable to our selves and of National Advantage I am afraid the present opportunity of doing well if neglected shall prove a heavy Charge against us in the day of our Accounts But as the Lord's hand hath been eminently seen in every step of our late escape from Popery and begun Reformation So I trust the Head-stone shall be put on with shouting and we shall in the Issue be forced to acknowledge This is the Lord 's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes FINIS ERRATA PAG. 1. lin 18. read â—ise to p. 2. l. 10. dele The. Ibid. r. determination p. 4. l. 2. r. the greate p. 7. l. 2. r. Power Ibid. l. 29. d. For. p. 18. l. 30. r. we are hopeful p. 11. l. 25. r. the Episcopal Persuasion ibid. l. 27. r. Ioin ibid. l. 28. r. preserving p. 18. l. r. Cassed p. 21. l. ult r. Examples p. 37. l. 28. d. before Although ibid. l. 39. put after matter p. 41. l. 31. r. Representatives p. 45. l. 9. r. the rest p. 48. l. 8. r. to them p. 55. l. 10. r. Debitors and so l. 19. p. 63. l. 25. after Matter r. Is this doing just and righteous things to all men p. 64. l. 17. r. Earls of p. 65. l. 3. d. Him ibid. l. 19. r. Is. ibid. l. 30. r. Embellish p. 70. l. 5. d. In. p. 74. l. 13. r. Cases of p. 77. l. 1. r. in to p. 86. l. 27. Going about divine p. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. just now Vid. Paper at the end of this Book * A Company of Noblemen and Gentlemen Members of the Convention and Parliament who had been very Zealous at first for King William and had not a little promoted the Revolution in Scotland turned afterward malecontent because as themselves said the Claim of Right was not observed or as their Adversaries alledge because they were disappointed of the Preferments and Rewards they thought due to their early services To these joyned some other Members who had been thought Jacobites and they altogether were called the Club. They struggled for some time against the designs of the Commissioner c. but at length were defeated Vid. Presbyt Inquisition as it was lately practis'd against the Professors of the College of Edinburgh