not lament with Jeremiah Cap. 9 1 2 3 â— Oh that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for the slain of the Daughter of my People Oh that I had in the Wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men that I might leave my People and go from them For they be all adulterers an assembly of treacherous men And they bend their tongue like their bowe for lies But they are not valiant fâ—r the Truth upon the Earth for they proceed from evil to evil and they know not me saith the Lord. And this will the more appear not only if we remember the general nature of Backsliding which is a very comprehensive Sin importing less Love Fear and Trust in the true God and proclaiming more Inconstancy Unfaithfulness and ingratitude towards Him then sometimes is found in very Heathens towards their Idols But also if we consider that our present Defection hath all circumstantial Aggravations in the highest degree For it is not in things only Civil Indifferent or of little moment But in things Religious Necessary Important and which at least in their tendency and consequence reach to the very foundation It is not the effect of common humane and invincible infirmity but most free and voluntary yea wilful and deliberate It is not done by stealth or in a corner but avowedly and openly in the sight of the Sun It is not Private and Personal but Representative and Authorized by Acts and Proclamations of King Parliament and Council It is not smoothly and subtilly but most tyrannically carried on by military violence and cruelty It is not of a few or inconsiderable Persons but very Universal The greatest part of all Ranks and of some Ranks almost the whole being some one way or other involved therein It is not only of these who were alwayes of known and professed disaffection to the Cause and Covenant of God but also of many who sometimes being exceeding zealous themselves and exemplary and forcible upstirrers of others therein are now become the chief Ring-leaders theirof and most bloody Persecuters of those who remain stedfast in the Truth It is not in an Heathenish or Antichristian Land or Church divided and broken with several Sects as some others are but even in Scotland so clearly enlightened for which the Lord had wrought so many wonderful works which was under so many obligations of Oaths and Covenants to the contrary and had been so united in the profession of the Truth It is not from violent force Inevitable necessity or irresistible temptation which is neither possible nor yet would excuse it but when the Lord by breaking the yoke of forrain Usurpation had given King and Countrey the fairest opportunity which they ever had to restore confirm and advance His Work as if He had delivered us that we might work all these Abominations And all this for no other end then the base flattering of the Kings humor and inclination the satiating of Prelaticall Pride and Ambition the indulging of the licentious profanity of some Debauched degenerated Nobles and others who could not endure the yoke of Christ's sound doctrine and impartiall discipline And the suppression of Religion and Righteousness in the subversion of the late work of Reformation Whereby we have charged our selves with all the blood that hath been shed upon either side during the former wars Have laid a stumbling block before all who shall see or hear of it to blaspheme Religion as a fiction to condemn the late Work of Reformation as a false pretence for Rebellion and Self-Interest and to affirm that there is neither truth nor ingenuity in the Professors thereof Pass over the Isles of Chittim and see and send unto Kedar and consider diligently and see if there be such a thing hath a Nation changed their Gods which yet are no Gods But Scotland Ah Scotland hath changed her glory for that which doth not profit Be astonished O ye heavens at this and be horribly afraid And so much the rather because few Lands did ever make Defection after this manner but as upon the one hand the Lord gave them up unto more Backsliding until they abounded more with Atheism and all manner of abominations then some Pagan-Nations who never heard nor made Profession of the Gospel So upon the other hand He alwayes pursued them with sorest plagues not only of subjugation at home scattering and exile abroad dividing of Kingdomes amongst themselves and from their former Rulers and final subversion of whole Empires Kingdomes and Common-wealths But also many times with the Final removal of the Gospel and utter dissolution of all visible National Covenant-relation as might be demonstrated from Holy Scripture and other Histories And indeed if He to whom nothing is strange or impossible though they may seem both to us and whose wayes and thoughts are as far above ours as the Heavens are above the Earth do not in the Soveraignity of His Grace recede from His ordinary method of dealing with such apostatizing People and now when he hath seen our way do not heal us we have alas â—oo too just ground of fear that we shall become such a proverb amongst the Nations that the generation to come of our Children and the stranger that cometh from a far Land when they see the plagues of this Land shall wonder and ask Wherefore hath the Lord done this unto this Land What meaneth the heat of this great anger Oh! that the very first and next following steps of Defection together with the Causes of the Lord's wrath against the Land were remembered and acknowledged and that all who have had any accession to the kindling of this flame and who can wholly Justify himself If any would be sure his own mouth should condemn him would draw water and pour it out before the Lord for quenching thereof and that the first resiclers from our National Acknowledgment of Sins and Engagement to duties would glorify God by Confession that he might turn from the fierceness of his Anger But alas He hath at once pour'd out upon us the Spirit of Whoredome and of a deep sleep and hath both made us to erre from His way and hard'ned our hearts from his fear And as we should look bekind us to the Rise so before us to the Result of thâ—se things for though every runner may read the Primum mobile of this course the great axletree and wheels upon which all moveth and who are the furious drivers and slavish drawers thereof and we have both seen the several degrees of Motion and advancement and smarted the sad effects of the same yet I am affray'd that there is now another Spirit in Persons and Tendency in affairs then some men apprehend Whether there be a sufficient ground in the Holy Scriptures to think with some that before the last fall of the Roman Antichrist the Popish Religion shall once more overshadow the Christian World is not proper
insurrections of the Universe against it and are built on that rock against which the very gates of hell cannot prevail and do also know that their God whom they fear is able to deliver them from this fiery Triall and He will deliver them from their persecuters and if not that nothing save the design of greater glory to this own Name in a greater mercy and salvation to His People shall impede it but all that love the Lord's Salvation have also fair ground of hope that the Lord as he will pour out His wrath upon his adversaries so will He remember for Scotland his Covenant awake and give a shout against His enemies and that now when He seeth their wrath how they behave themselves strangely and say our hand is high and the Lord hath not done all this the Lord will bring forth for His remnant even that holy seed which shall be the substance of this Land that Deliverance which is laid up in store with Him and sealed up amongst His treasures For unto God belongeth vengeance and recompense even the vengeance of His broken Covenant of His dear Saints blood and of His polluted Sanctuary The adversaries foot shal slide in due time for the day of their calamity is at hand and the things that shall come upon them make haste For the Lord shall judge his people and repent himself for his servants when he seeth that our power is gone and there is none shut up or left And the Lord shall say see now that I even I am He and there is no God with me I kill and I make alive I wound and I heal neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand for I lift up my hand to heaven and say I live for ever if I whet my glittering sword and mine hand take hold on judgement I will render vengeance to mine enemies and will reward them that hate me I will make mine arrows drunk with blood and my sword shall devour flesh and that with the blood of the slain and the captives from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy Rejoyce O ye Nations with his people for He will avenge the blood of His Servants and will render vengeance to His adversaries and will be mercifull unto His Land and to His People This is the Song which God hath taught us and therewith we shut up and seal the FAITH AND PATIENCE OF THE SAINTS AND now having finished the Narration intended of the Work of God and having seen and being persuaded that all the degrees and Passages of its Progress and Advancement were the very vestiges of the Lords ascendent Power and Glory which He hath also sealed by the Salvation of many thousands for our assured confirmation that as this Work is of God so shall it not come to nought But that these Antichristian 〈◊〉 who oppose it though in the same Spirit and Power of Darkness which hath mainly caused and procured all the sin temptation and ruine that hath befallen any Gospel-Church 〈◊〉 the blessed coming of our Lord JESUS in the fleâ—h they should arise unto yea surmount the very height of the Papacy and Antichrist himself in their Persecutions Tyranny They shall nevertheless in the end be found even to fight against God and perish for ever in their gain-saying As we do therefore desire to remain stedfast immoveable and always abounding in the Work of the Lord and every point and circumstance thereof without fainting or wearying even unto the Death in and over which the Lord hath caused His faithful witnesses so gloriously to Triumph so we do only here subjoyn for the clear and unanswerable conviction and condemnation of the perfidy and wickedness of these accursed Prelates both before the World and even in their own consciences if any sense thereof do yet remain That though we had never seen any of these great and glorious things whereby the Lord since the Year 1637. did revive confirm and magnify His Work amongst us and that the National Covenant had net been since retaken much less explained and established nor the League and Covenant ensued it Yet since the same doth still stand in the plain and simple terms wherein it was conceaved and in that sense and meaning wherein both it 's express Words and all the circumstances which we have before observed do plainly evince that it was at first taken as this Covenant doth remain unto this Day notwithstanding all the Prelats wickedness perjury and violence unrepeal'd or condemned and by no contrary explanation or gloss either is or can be detorted from being an undenyable abjuration of accursed Prelacy and all it's corruptions so is it a certain fixed and immoveable foundation for all the Work of God that hath ensued and a very sure ground of confidence to all who seriously perpend and firmly adhere to it that the Lord who loved us of old and chosed our Fathers shall yet again by his mighty Spirit and Power turn the hearts of the Children unto the Fathers and bring us back unto the Lord God of our Fathers and upon this same Foundation yet repair our breaches build up the old wastes raise rear up His Glory FINIS The last SPEECHES AND TESTIMONIES Of some who have Suffered for the TRUTH IN SCOTLAND Since the Year 1660. The last Speech of the MARQUES of ARGILE At his Death in Edinburgh May 27. 1661. MANY will expect that I speak many things and according to their several opinions and dispositions so will their expectations be from me and constructions of me But I resolve to disappoint many for I come not hither to justify my self but the Lord VVho is Holy in all His wayes and Righteous in all His VVorks Holy and blessed is His Name Neither come I to condemn others I know many will expect that I will speak against the hardness of the Sentence pronounced against me But I will say nothing to it I bless the Lord I pardon all men as I desire to be pardoned of the Lord my self Let the will of the Lord be done That is all that I desire I hope that ye will have more charity to me now then yee would have had at an other time seing I speak before the Lord to whom I must give an account very shortly I know very well that my words have had but very litle weight with many And that many have mistaken my Words Actings both Many have thought me to be a great Enemy to these great works that have of late been brought to pass But do not mistake me good People I speak it in the presence of the Lord I entered not upon the Work of Reformation with any design of advantage to my self or prejudice to the King and his Government As my later Will which was written 1655. and thereafter delivered to a Friend in whose hands it still remaineth can show As for these Calumnies that have gone abroad of me I blesse God I know them to be
groaning under or in danger of the yoke of Antichristian Tyranny or to joyn in the same or like Association Covenant To the Glory of GOD the enlargement of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and the peace tranquillity of Christian Kingdoms and Common-wealths A Solemn Acknowledgement of publick Sins and Breaches of the Covenant AND A Solemn Engagement to all the Duties contained therein namely thâ—se which do in a more speciall way relate unto the dangers of these times ANNO 1648. WE Noblemen Barons Gentlemen Burgesses Ministers of the Gospel and Commons of all sorts within this Kingdom by the good hand of GOD upon us taking in serious consideration the many sad afflictions and deep distresses wherewith we have been exercised for a long time past and that the Land after it hath been sore wasted with the Sword and the Pestilence and threatened with Famine and that shame and contempt hath been poured out from the Lord against many thousands of our Nation who did in a sinful way make War upon the Kingdom of England contrary to the Testimony of his Servants and desires of his People and that the remnant of that Army returning to this Land have spoiled and oppressed many of our Brethren and that the Malignant party is still numerous retaining their former principles wait for an opportunity to raise a new and dangerous War not only unto the rending of the bowells of this Kingdom but unto the dividing of us from England overturning of the work of God in all the three Kingdoms And considering also that a cloud of calamities doth still hang over our heads threaten us with sad things to come We cannot but look upon these things as from the Lord who is righteous in all his wayes feeding us with the bread of tears and making us to drink the waters of affliction untill we be taught to know how evil and bitter a thing it is to depart away from him by breaking the Oath and Covenant which we have made with him and that we may be humbled before him by confessing our sinne and forsaking the evil of our way Therefore being pressed with so great necessities and straits and warranted by the word of God and having the example of Gods people of old who in the time of their troubles and when they were to seek delivery and a right way for themselves that the Lord might be with them to prosper them did humble themselves before him and make a free and particular confession of the sins of their Princes their Rulers their Captains their Priests and their people and did engage themselves to do no more so but to reform their wayes and be stedfast in his Covenant And remembring the practise of our predecessours in the year 1596. Wherein the General Assembly and all the Kirk-judicatories with the concurrence of many of the Nobily Gentry and Burgesses did with many tears acknowledge before God the breach of the National Covenant and engaged themselves to a Reformation even as our predecessors and theirs had before done in the Generall Assembly and convention of Estates in the year 1567. And perceiving that this duty when gone about out of conscience and in sincerity hath alwayes been attended with a reviving out of troubles and with a blessing and successe from Heaven We do humbly and sincerely in his sight who is the searcher of hearts acknowledge the many sins and great transgressions of the Land We have done wickedly our Kings our Princes our Nobles our Judges our Officers our Teachers and our People Albeit the Lord hath long and clearly spoken unto us we have not hearkened to his voice Albeit he hath followed us with tender mercies we have not been allured to wait upon him and walk in his way And though he hath stricken us yet we have not grieved Nay though he hath consumed us we have refused to receive correction We have not remembred to render unto the Lord according to his goodnesse and according to our own vows and promises but have gone away backward by a continued course of backsliding and have broken all the Articles of that solemn League and Covenant which we swore before God Angels and men Albeit there be in the land many of all ranks who be for a Testimony unto the Truth and for a name of joy and praise unto the Lord by living godly studying to keep their garments pure and being stedfast in the Covenant and Cause of God Yet we have reason to acknowledge that most of us have not endeavoured with that reality sincerity and constancy that did become us to preserve the work of Reformation in the Kirk of Scotland Many have satisfied themses with the purity of the Ordinances neglecting the power thereof yea some have turned aside to crooked wayes destructive to both The prophane loose and insolent carriage of many in our Armies who went to the Assistance of our BRETHREN in ENGLAND And the tamperings and unstraight dealing of some of our Commissioners and others of our Nation in London the Isle of Wight other places of that Kingdom have proved great lets to the work of Reformation and setling of Kirk-Government there wherby Errour and Schism in that Land have been encreased and Sectaries hardened in their way We have been so far from endeavouring the extirpation of Prophannesse and what is contrary to the power of godlinesse that prophanity hath been much winked at and Prophane persons much countenanced many times employed until iniquity and ungodlinesse hath gone over the face of the land as a flood Nay sufficient care hath not been had to separate betwixt the precious and the vile by debarring from the Sacrament all ignorant and scandalous persons according to the Ordinances of this Kirk Neither have the Priviledges of the Parliaments and Liberties of the Subject been duly tendered But some amongst our selves have labored to put into the hands of our King an arbitrary and unlimited power destructive to both And many of us have been accessory of late to those means and ways whereby the freedom and priviledges of Parliaments have been encroached upon and the Subjects oppressed in their Consciences persons and Estates Neither hath it been our care to avoid these things which might harden the King in his evill way But upon the contrary he hath not onely been permitted but many of us have been instrumentall to make him exercise his power in many things tending to the prejudice of Religion and of the Covenant and of the Peace and safety of these Kingdoms Which is so farre from the right way of preserving his Majesty's Person and Authority that it cannot but provoke the Lord against him unto the hazard of both Nay under a pretence of relieving and doing for the King whilst he refuses to do what was necessary for the house of God some have ranversed and violated most of all the Articles of the Covenant Our own Consciences within and Gods judgements upon us without do
yoke of PRELACY which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear which is Destructive to all our true Interests Religious and Civill As ye would not involve your selves in the guilt and plagues of Perjury and Breach of Covenant And as you tender the good of your own Names Persons Estates Families and Liberties as well as of your immortal Souls And as ye would partake of the good of God's chosen and of our joyes when ye come so near Eternity as we are We shall say no more but as we were not afraid to take our lives in our hands so we are not afraid to lay them down in this Cause And as we are not ashamed of Christ because of His cross so we would not have you offended in Christ nor discouraged because of us For we bear you record that we would not exchange lots with our Adversaries nor redeem our Lives Liberties and Fortunes at the price of Perjury and breach of Covenant And further we are assured though this be the daâ— of Iacob's trouble that yet the Lord when He hath accomplished the Triall of His own and filled up the cup of His Adversaries He will awake for judgement plead His own Cause avenge the quarrel of His Covenant make inquiry for blood vindicate His People break the arm of the wicked and establish the just For to Him belongeth judgement and vengeance And though our eyes shall not see it yet we believe that the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing under His wings that He will revive His Work repair the breaches build the old wastes and raise up the desolations Yea the Lord will judge His people repent Himself for His servants when their power is gone and there is none shut up or left And therefore Rejoyce O ye Nations with His People For He will avenge the blood of His servants and will render vengeance to His adversaries and He will be merciful to His Land and People So let thy Enemies perish O Lord but let them that love Him be as the Sun when He goeth forth in His might Sic subscribitur Iohn MeCulloch of Barholm And. Arnot Iohn Gordon of Knockbrex Robert Gordon his Brother Iohn Ross Iohn Schields Iames Hamilton Iohn Parker in Bosby Christopher Strang. Gawin Hamilton Another Testimony which was also left by such of the Former ten Persons as were in the same Chamber with Thomas Paterson Merchant in Glasgow who being in like manner Indited but dying of his Wounds before Sentence did communicate the same to his friends with his Assent thereunto MEn and Brethren being condemned by our Rulers as Traitors lest we should seem to many to suffer as evill doers In the first place we bless and praise the Lord our God who hath made us the unworthiest of all men Worthy to be faithfull to Him who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and in simplicity and godly Sincerity singly to mind his glory and who also maketh the cross of Christ though by men superscribed with Treason our sweet consolation and his own joy our strength 2. We declare in the presence of the same God before whom we are now ready to appear that we did not intend to Rebell against the King and his just Authority Whom as we acknowledg for our Lawful Soveraign so we do earnestly pray in his behalf that God would open his eyes and Convert his heart that he may remember his Vowes made unto God relieve this oppressed Kirk and long reign and flourish in righteousness 3. We declare that perceaving the Holy Covenants of our God broken the Work of the Lord overturned the Gospel and Kingdome of Jesus Christ despised and trampled upon his pure Ordinances corrupted his faithful and our soul-refreshing Ministers cast out and the Land filled with Perjury and Profanity and like to be hurried back to that gulf of Ignorance Superstition and Confusion whence the Lord did so gloriously deliver us And finding our selves not only Spoiled of our most precious blessings and most dear enjoyments but urged and compelled by cruel Violence and Barbarous Persecution to wicked Apostacy from our Holy Covenants and to Rebellion against our God And all this done by no other hand then the wicked and perjured Prelats And for no other ends whatever they may pretend then the satisfying of their own vile lusts and establishing their so often abjured Antichristian Tyranny over both Souls and Bodies of Men And lastly finding former Petitions condemned as Seditious and our private complaints when but muttered insolently rejected We did in the fear and Zeal of our God and by the warrant of his Holy Word according to the first and most Innocent instinct of pure Nature and the Practice of all People and Persons in the like case And after the Example of all the oppressed Kirks of Jesus Christ and of our Noble Ancestors take the Sword of Necessary Self-defence from the rage and fury of these wicked violent Men until we might make our heavy Grievances known to his Majesty and obtain from his Justice a satisfying remedy We will not now mention our particular Sufferings nor the sighes and groans of poor wasted Galloway which though very heavy from the hand of man are all to light for Jesus Christ Nor are we willing to reflect upon these grievous and bitter Lawes and Edicts by which they seem to be warranted Only we know that God is Righteous whose Lawes and judgments are Superior and above all the Lawes and Actions of men And to him who will judge righteously We intirly Commit our Cause which is none other then the Reviving of the Work of God and Renewing of his Covenant Which though it pleased the Holy and Wise God not to favour with Success in the field and though by men it be made our Condemnation yet it is our Righteousness Innocency and Confidence in his sight And all praise and thanks be unto our God who not only kept us stedfast in his Covenant and made us Willing and Ready to adventure our Lives for His Name but hath also accepted and dignifyed our Offer with this publick Appearance Where in his own glorious presence before whom we shall instantly appear and before our often Sworn and once Zealous and tender Brethren in the same Cause and in midst of Thee O Edinburgh once famous for the Glory and Zeal of God and of this Covenant we may give and Seal this our Testimony with our blood We therefore the unworthiest of all the Faithful do in the Spirit of God and Glory Testify and Seal with our Blood and Lives that both the National Covenant and Solemne League and Covenant are in Themselves Holy Just and True and perpetually Binding containing no other thing then our Indispensable Obligations to all Duties of Religion and Righteousness according to the revealed Will of God which no Authority nor Power of Man is or ever shall be able to disannul And that our blessed Reformations both from Popery
to whom it is utterly impossible to perform Ministerial duties Being diligent Preachers themselves they were not as the Prelats are Idle drons nor Non-residenrs nor yet of a strange language to the people as Wallace through his ignorance of the Irish tongue and almost of all others except his Mothers must be a Barbarian to his Diocy of the Western-Isles Neither did they involve themselves in Secular affairs and Offices then which what is there more absurd in Reason and repugnant to Scriptural precept and Example For Christ Himself telleth us that his Kingdome is not of this World Joh. 18 ver 38. and how can his Officers be of it He refused to be a Judge Luc. 12 14. And speaking to the Disciples of Civil Authority and Dominion saith it shall not be So amongst yow Mat. 20 ver 25. Luc. 22 ver 25 And the Apostle Paul telleth us that Ministerial weapons are not Carnal 2 Cor. 10 ver 4 And that the Ministers of the Gospel should not entangle themselves with the affairs of this Life 2 Tim. 2 ver 4 That the Ministerial calling is so weighty that the best qualified and most diligent is not sufficient for it 2 Cor. 2 ver 16. how then are they sufficient for it and civil affairs too And therefore they should Waâ— upon it Rom. 12 ver 7 and give themselves wholly to it 1 Tim. 4 ver 15. and not wait as the Prelats do upon Courts Parliaments Council Convention of Estats c. as members thereof nor Exerce the office of Provosts Justices of peace c. Nor will it excuse them that they commit Ministerial inspection of the flock to Deputs For if they be Shepherds should not the Shepherds feed the flock Ezeck 34 ver 2. If to them be committed the Ministery Teaching Exhorting should they not themselves Wait upon these Rom. 12 7 If they must give accompt of Souls should they not Watch for them Heb. 13 ver 17 And if the Lord will require the flock at their hand Ezek. 34 ver 10 how will they answer to God the people their own Conscience if they have any or to others who ask a reason of them for feeding of themselves only and committing the flock to Others and especially to such who are so far from being Learned Holy Apt to teach Blameless of a good report Chast Sober Grave Lovers of good men Meek and Gentle as the Scripture requireth that many are Novices Ignorant Prophane Light Given to Wine False Covetous Contentious Proud Passionat and Self willed and so far from taking heed to the flock or being an Example to them in Word Conversation Charity Spirit Faith and Purity that they neither take heed to themselves nor rule their own families well I remember that one speaking of such as commit the flock to Vicar-Curats as all are who serve under Prelacy saith Adibunt per Vicarios in Paradisum in Persona in Inferos They shall go to Heaven by their Deputs but to Hell in Person These men if I may borrow an allusion from the duty and commendation of faithfull and approven Ministers have taken forth the Precious from the Vile and taught the people the difference betwen the Holy and Profane and caused men to discern betwen the Unclean and the Clean but mark How and for what End Is it not by making sad the hearts of the Righteous whom they have selected and set up as the Only object of all their Malice and persecution and Strengthening the hands of the Wicked whom they have taken into their bosome as their Only Familiars and Confidents The one they thurst with the side and shoulder the other they do not suffer to turn from his evill way by promising him life But if any desire more particular information about them amongst other places to that purpose let them read and consider Ier. 23.9 to 33. and 5.31 Ezek. 34.1 to 11. and 22.25.26.28 Zeph. 3.4 Mal. 2.8.9 Mat. 23. and as face answereth to face in water they shall see their Call Qualities Doctrine Conversation Works and Influence amongst the people and the Effects of all together with their righteous Doom and Reward He hath already made Contemptible and Base before the people those who have corrupted the Covenant of Levy and being partiall in the Law have made many to stumble thereat and will he not cause to cease from feeding of the flock those who feed themselves eat the fat and cloth with the wooll but do not for indeed they cannot strengthen the deseasâ—d heall the sick bind up that which iâ— broken bring back that which is driven away nor seek that which is lost They have not only turned his house of Prayer into a den of Theeves but from them is profanness gone forth over all the Land and seing they deserve no more honourable Exit will he not scourge out of his Temple those who have sold Faith and a good Conscience for a mease of pottage Yea seing He hath said it we will beleeve that He will make the false Prophet and the Unclean Spirit pass out of the Land and that these men shall bear the Wounds or marks of False Prophets and for shame shall deny for lies are their ordinary refuge that â—ever they were prophets And that Others perhaps their nearest Relations the Fathers and Mothers who begat them shall so little esteem regard or Pity them that they shall accompt them unworthy to live Ye shall not Live And that He will again gather those that are now sorrowfull for the solemn Assemblies that he will search for the flock seek that which was lost bring back that which was driven away bind up that which was broken strengthen that which was sick by the hand of Pastors after his own Heart who under and after the Example of the great shepherd DAVID shall feed them in a good pasture with Wisedome and Understanding To all this as well as the Curse upon them who make the blind to wander out of the way let all the People say Amen Neither are they who plead an Indifferency of Forms of Government more Scriptural or Rationall then the Former for it seemeth equally absurd incosinstant with the Faithfulness of J. Christ who was faithfull to Him who appointed him With the Lords way of dealing with the Jewish Church whereunto he prescribed a Specifical and Fixed Form of Government And with the Perfection and Plainness of the Holy Scriptures wherein all Church Assemblies Officers Powers Acts and who should Exerce the same every other thing necessarily belonging thereunto which the Light of Nature doth not teach and is not common to it with Civill Government and Order are clearly held forth Expressly or by necessary Consequence in Speciall or Generall directions and warrantable Examples as appeareth by the many debats Extant thereanent to leave the Government of his Church Indifferent and Arbitrarily determinable and alterable according to the will of the Civill Magistrat or the various and mutable humours
that men should be found who deny and would subvert it in it's first principall and most immediate effects But if according hereunto any will subsume and prove that either by the Lord 's ordaining of powers or mens Surrendar and Submission thereto made mainly for Self-preservation the foresaid Right and Power was or could be revoked or renounced we shall most willingly quite the plea and prostitute our selves to all the violences that Tyranny can invent since in that case there could be no Injury 2. That as all Societies Governments and Lawes are appointed in a due Subordination to God and His superior Will and Law for His Glory and the Common Good of the People including the safety of every individual so if either this Subordination be notoriously infringed or these Ends intollerably perverted the common tie of both Society Government and Law is in so far dissolved Hence is it that a King or Rulers commanding things directly contrary to the Law of God may be and have been justly disobeyed and by fury or folly destroying or alienating the Kingdome may be and have been lawfully resisted These are conclusions which our greatest Adversaries cannot but admit and are not deducible from any other premisses Let us hear King Iames whose loyalty none can doubt in a speech to the Parliament in the year 1609. he saith a King degenerateth into a Tyrant when he leaveth to rule by Law much more when he beginneth to invade his Subjects persons rights and liberties to set up an arbitrary power impose unlawful Taxes raise forces make war upon his Subjects to pillage plunder wast and spoil his Kingdomes And lest his inconsequence be suspected as if notwithstanding all this he would have a Tyrant incontrolable it is upon the same grounds that in his answer to Cardinal Perron he justifyeth the Protestants in France their Defensive Arms Now how a discretive judgement in these cases both of unrighteous commands and wicked violence and specially in the later which is by far the more sensible doth necessarily remain with the People and in what maner the same is to be determined and cautioned so as neither to license disobedience against Authority nor create sedition in the Common-wealth is already fully cleared 3. That though all Soveraign Powers upon the supposition of these true and great ends and the presumption of reason and charity that the persons intrusted do in like manner really intend them be constituted indefinitly and therefore in appearance universally without restriction yet according to this known rule that such particulars as if expressed would not far more if they cannot be consented to are not understood to be comprised under a generall condescendence such exceptions and limitations as are indispensibly implyed and could not lawfully be expresly renounced do stand in full force Whereupon also both the Righteousness of God's judgements and the Lawfullness of the Peoples Resistance against mal-versing Powers are clearly and certainly founded 4. That not only the light of Nature and undenyable Reason together with the agreeable Practice of all Nations specially of our Ancestors do evidently clear these Principles proposed but also our own express Statutes declaring the reveal'd Word and Will of God to be the Superior Rule and Law and repealing all Acts repugnant thereto Iac. 6. Par. 1. chap. 3 4 8. and explaining such Acts as were generally made against unlawful Convocations and Leagues and Bonds among Subjects to be understood with this due Subordination and limitation Car. 1. Par. 1. c. 29. together with the King and Peoples Oaths of faithful Administration and Alleadgeance whereby the Coronation-Covenant and Contract specially that made with this King the very bond of the Kingdom is established and secured do undoubtedly infer beyond all contradiction that both our Government and Lawes are constituted and to be interpreted with subordination to the Law and Will of God and in order to these great Ends of their establishment 5. That though prevailing Factions have in all times endeavoured by their most excessive and boundless flatteries to exalt and extend the Powers to an equal degree of absoluteness in all Causes and over all Persons meerly for their own base ends and private advantages yet if any of these persons would seriously consider and would ingenuously declare their opinion in a particular application of the case to themselves what they would account lawfull for them to do either jointly or separately in case that they were injuriously and violently invaded to the destruction of their Lives or Fortunes or the subversion of their Families and dearest and nearest Concernments their resolution in this point would easily justify the practises of all such who esteeming the Glory of God and the maintenance of His Gospel infinitely preferable to all other Interests whatsoever do valiantly offer and expose themselves for the vindication thereof to the greatest hazards 6. That through the manifest and notorious Perversion of the great Ends of Society and Government the Bond thereof being dissolved the persons one or moe thus liberated therefrom do relapse into their primeve Liberty and Priviledge and accordingly as the similitude of their case and exigence of their cause doth require may upon the very same principles again join and associate for their better Defence Preservation as they did at first enter into Societies 7. That we being a Nation so solemnly and expresly engaged by Covenant unto God one with another for the advancing and promoving of these holy and important Ends therein contained there lyeth upon all and every one of us an indispensible duty by all possible means to promove the same not only in our own conscientious and exemplary walking and serious admonition and exhortation towards others but also in endeavouring in case of Defection a National Reformation and valiant vindication of the Glory of God and His Work and Cause against all incorrigible Apostates as we would not not by conniving at their sin be partakers of their Judgement and as we would by destroying the accursed from amongst us avert the imminent wrath of God from the whole Land and Nation Which position as we clearly before asserted both from the Profession and Practise of our first Reformers so that qualification in the Covenant of our endeavours in our places and callings is most agreeable thereto seeing the same doth plainly import that as every one is to confine himself to his own place and move in his own sphere while all in their respective capacities do harmoniously concurre in the same work and duty so if any in higher place and imployment do not only become remiss and forgetful of the Oath of God but according to the extent and influence of their power would seduce and corrupt their inferiors unto their Apostasy it is both their place to resist such wickedness and violence and their calling to endeavour either the Reformation or Removal of these who prove so contrary to and obstructive of the ends whereunto they are
all things but loss and dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ MY LORD for whom I now suffer the loss of all things that I may win Him and be found in Him and that I may not only know the fellowship of His sufferings but the power of His resurrection and attain unto the resurrection of the dead And as for yow my dear Friends as I pray for you that the God of all grace who hath called us unto His eternall glory by Christ Jesus after ye have suffered a while may make yow perfect stablish strengthen and settle yow so I recommend to you the same truth that you be not soon shaken in mind but that ye hold fast the profession of your faith without wavering And as you have receaved the Lord so walk in Him Warning and obtesting you by all manner of obligations and by the hope and joy of that crown which I wait for that ye keep your selves unspotted with the abominable courses and practices of these times whereunto ye may be tempted by the extremity of suffering and particularly that ye beware of unlawfull Oaths and Declarations against the Cause and Covenant of God that ye have no complyance with nor give consent unto this Prelacy which ye have abjured And that you be afraid and aware of Popery which by Connivance doth so visibly abound and dayly increase But by fighting the good fight and keeping of the faith you may finish your course as I do in the assurance of the crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge hath laid up and shall give unto me and not to me only but to all them that love His appearance ALEXANDER ROBERTSON The Testimony of JOHN NILSON of Corsack who died at Edinburgh Dec. 14. 1666. BEing made a spectacle to the World to Angels and to Men I found it necessary for vindication of the Truth of my self for undeceaving of some encouraging of others to leave this line behind me which with my innocent blood may speak when I am gone I am condemned I shall not say how unjustly as a Rebell against Man but the Lord God of Gods He knoweth all Israel shall know that it is not for Rebellion against God but for endeavouring to recover the blessed work of Reformation and particularly for endeavouring to extirpate Prelacy which hath been the cause of so much sin and suffering within this Land and for renewing of the Covenant from the obligation whereof seing I made my Vow and Promise to the Lord neither I my self nor any humane Authority can absolve me And if any account this Rebellion I do plainly confess that after the way which they call Heresy I worship the God of my fathers Although the insupportable oppression under which I and many others did groan were enough to justify our Preserving and Defending of our selves by Armes yet know that the Cause was not Ours but the Lord's for we suffered all our grievous Oppressions not for evill-doing but because we could not in conscience acknowledge comply with and obey Prelacy and submit unto the Ministery of Ignorant Light and Profane men who were irregularly and violently thurst upon us Neither did we only or mainly designe our civil Liberties but the Liberty of the Gospel the Extirpation of Prelacy the Restauration of our faithful Pastors the Suppression of Profanity Promoving of Piety the saving of ourselves from unjust violence untill we had presented our Grievances and Desires And in a word the Recovering of the once glorious but now ruined Work of Reformation in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government according to the Nationall Covenant and Solemn League and Covenant to which I declare my adherence and through grace shall seal the same with my blood My Advocate drew up a Supplication for me wherein was acknowledged that I had been with the Rebels but let none offend thereat for â— do hereby declare that I was so far from accounting that course Rebellion that I judged and still do judge it was my duty to joyn therein and my honor to suffer therefore Otherwise I should have counted my self accessary to the blood of the Lord's People which is shed And cannot but regret that others of the Lord's People when they heard of us did not come forth with speed to help the Lord against the Mighty much more let all mourn that not only many have appeared as Enemies but also conjured themselves against the Lord the same Covenant which they so solemnly sware And as for the Petition it self I knew not that expression was in it Being conscious to my self of so much weakness so many hainous sins which predomine in me of unfruitfulness under the Gospel and unsutable walking thereto I confess my self the vilest of sinners and desire to mourn for the same and pray that the Lord for Christ's sake may freely forgive me as I have forgiven them that have wronged me and hope through the righteousness of Jesus Christ to obtain the same And I do exhort all and every one of my friends to more holiness Prayer and stedfastness alwayes abounding in the Work of the Lord And above all things to detest shun that wicked Declaration against the Covenant the apparant temptation of the time and the very mark of Antichristian Prelacy All that I have is but little but if I had many Worlds I would lay them all down as now I do my life for Christ and His Cause nothing doubting but the Lord will abundantly provide for my Wife and my six Children whom I commit to the Lord's care and recommend to the Kindness and Prayers of the faithful And do lay an express charge on my Wife that she shew all my Children that I have bound them all to the Covenant for which now I lay down my life and that She lay it upon them as my last command that they adhere to every Article thereof The Work and People of God are brought very low It may be because they were not ripe for a deliverance And for the greater triall and filling up of the cup of the Adversaries Or because there was litle or less prayer then should have been amongst these who appeared at this time that the Lord hath made this late breach But dear Friends be not therefore tempted to call in question the Work of Reformation or to think the worse of Christ and His Cause because of sufferings Nor be discouraged because these few who took their lives in their hands fell before the Adversary For as sufferings are often sweetned by the Spirit of God and Glory that resteth upon the sufferers and afterward bring forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby So the Lord will arise in due time and have mercy upon Zion and plead the cause which is his own And this Testimony as I am this day to seal with my blood so I subscribe with my hand JOHN NILSON OF CORSACK The Testimony
is not for evill doing that I now suffer although I be charged with Rebellion against the Kings Authority yet 1 declare before God and you all that in all this matter I never intended to wrong his Majestie 's just Power and greatness but for conscience sake did respect Authority as the Ordinance of God appointed for the punishment of evill doers and that I wish his Ma all welfare both in this life and the world to come and that it may be his happiness to consider his Obligations to God and Perform the same that so it may be well with him and his Posterity to many generations and I pray God make him a friend to His Cause and the truly Godly who own the same though falsly called Phanaticks or turbulent persons I declare I have such persuasion of the Interest of Religion Reformed and sworn unto in the Covenant that I dare venture not only to lay down my own life but if every hair of my head were a man they should all be put to venture for this cause I would not have the world to stumble at the Cause because of my death after this manner for I rejoyce greatly in it and I desire every good Christian as they tender their own souls that they would grip fast lay hold on and cleave to Jesus Christ and His way My coming out at this time I say was not against his Majesty but for the Covenant which is now troden under foot my intention was for the Cause of Christ I take God to witness it was nothing else I came out for and for that I am free to lay down my life I bless God I am much encouraged in this and not at all afraid to die for so good and clear a Cause and I hope He will bring me thorow all my difficulties in this dark shadow of death I hope I have the peace of a good conscience and have had some glimpses from Jesus Christ of His countenance and reconciled Face since I came into this prison for which I desire to bless His Name with all my soul heart and spirit And I rejoyce that He hes made use of me to suffer for His Cause And I think it too litle not only to lay down my body but if it were possible even my very soul at the stake for that Cause and for Jesus Christ my good and kind Master who hath loved me and given Himself for me I give the Lord thanks that I had some of His Presence since I came into this condition and again I say I am much encouraged and not afraid to die and bless Him that I die not as a murtherer or evill door or Rebel to Authority but for such a cause as this O that it were the happiness of my Nation of England once to subiect themselves unto the sweet yoke of Christs Reformed Government under which this Nation of Scotland hath enjoyed so much of the Power and life of the Gospel by a faithful Ministry according to the Covenant sworn by them both And now my dear Friends in Christ and fellow-Covenanters though I be a stranger in this Land being an English-man but trifted by providence in the prosecution of my calling to have my residence for a time here in Scotland which I look upon as a singulare evidence of God's special love to me though I be a stranger I say to many of you yet I must be bold as a dying friend to beseech you by the mercy of God and by your appearance before Jesus Christ when we shall have to do with none but Him as our Judge that ye be faithfull and stedfast in the Cause of God and Covenant which ye have sworn with hands lifted up to the most high God which no Power on earth can loose you from and that ye keep you from snares unto the contrary and not suffer your selves to fall into a detestable Neutrality and Indifferency in that Cause of God And especially that ye keep your selves free of any Engagements by word or write that may wrong your Oath of the Covenant I commit my Wife and Children to His care who careth for them that put their trust in Him before the Sons of men not doubting but they shall be eyed with goodwil and favor by the Godly after I am gone And now I render up my Spirit to Him who gave it me and for whose sake I now lay down my life To this God my Covenanted God be glory blessing and praise for now and ever Amen That this is my mind and Testimony which I leave behind me I witness by my ordinary subscription R. SHIELDS The Testimony of HUMPREY COLHOUNE At his Death in Edinburgh Decemb 22. 1666. Dear Friends and Spectators I am come here this Day to this Place to die this Death for crimes for which I thank God my Conscience doth not condemn me My crime as is alleaged is for Disloyalty against the King's Majesty Yet I thank God that my appearing lately with the Lord's People was from my sense of my obligation in the Covenant and the sense of the wrongs done in the Land and the crying oppressions committed therein This was the end of my appearing for the Lord against His enemies to bear witness against the same The which obligation of the Oath of God I judge that none on earth can loose the Conscience from I bless the Lord again and again I die for this Oath and Covenant And I thank God also that I have by the great mercy of the Almighty God in Christ Jesus obtained mercy and forgiveness for all my transgressions both against the first and second Table of the Law And that through that Ocean of grace which is in the Lord Jesus Christ I believe that I am justified and sanctified and believe now to be glorified with Him by that blessed blood of His which hath purchased this Salvation to me through faith in the same made application of according to the good Covenant of grace He hath performed this out of his vvonderfull and incomparable free-grace And this is my joy and exceeding great rejoycing and consolation and all my salvation for vvhich I am Grace's debtor throughout all Eternity I die vvith this my Testimony my adherence to the National Covenant to the Solemn League and Covenant to the Work of Reformation a great length carried on and now overthrown most sinfully by ungodly Men vvho have established their Apostacy by Law which no just Power on earth could ever do Also I adhere to the Presbyterial Government the Confession of Faith Cathechisms Larger and Shorter And to the Solemn Acknovvledgement of the Church of Scotland And Publick Testimonies thereof against the sins of the time This day I rejoyce that He hath counted me vvorthy to lay dovvn my life for Him as one that beareth vvitness against the breach of all the Sacred Oaths and Ties that were established in this Land yea by the just Laws both of God and Man which never could