Restoration there has been no free nor Lawful Parliaments and he thinks by reason albeit the Members thereof were Elected in the ordinary way Yet when the Members Meet there was unlawful Oaths imposed upon them and there upon severals of them left the Parliament and so he understands that it is not a free nor lawful Parliament and thinks that Episcopacy and Erastianisme is established in that and subsequently Parliaments were contrary to the Word of God and that the Supremacy herein established is most horrid Blasphemy I added here to the Chancellor that I hoped his Lordship would not be offended at this seeing he had sworn the same in the Test but they refused to write this in my subscribed Declaration Being Interrogate if he owned the Proclamation and Declaration at Sanquhair and Hamilitoun Declares he does not own the Sanquhair Declaration as being inconsistent with his Principles such as the cutting off of the wicked and having himself read the Hamiltoun Declaration Declares he owns the same and that when they were invaded and assaulted by any Persons whatsoever in their Exercises of Reformed Religion and Worship they were obliged to stand to their own Defence and owns the Lawfullness of Field Conventicles and their being in Arms to Defend themselves in case of being Molested And he himself was ever ready to own and defend his Brethren in Arms when invaded for Religion And declares that the Invasion made against them at Pentland and Bothwell they being in the Exercise of his Religion was Service done to the Devil and Resistance made by them was Service done to GOD. Confesses that before Bothwell Bridge he had riden in Arms with Mr. Welsch through the Countrey and blesses God for it Confesses he was at a Meeting at Lesmehago before Bothwell when Lieutenant DalÈiel with a Party came upon them and was one of these that engaged against that Party Denies he was at Drumclogg But confesses he was at Bothwell and thinks that Mr. John Welsch stayed about half a year in the Countrey thereafter but he was only about eight days in Company with him after Bothwell in this Kingdom Confesses the King is lawful King Born and came Lawfully to the Crowns of these Kingdoms and that he is lawful King of this Kingdom and owns the Kings Authority conform to the Word of GOD that is to say That he is impowered to Govern for GOD's Glory and the good of his People and to be a Terror to evil doers and encourager to well and Declares that the Act of Supremacy as it is explained by the Act of Parliament that the turning out of Presbyterian Interest and overturning the Work of Reformation most unlawful Acts and being expresly contrary to the Word of God can not be Binding upon the Declarent and that Covenants are binding upon the Nations and shall be so while Sun and Moon endures and that that Oath called the Test is a most unlawful and horrid Oath and he is not obliged to take the same He Declares As to killing the Archbishop of St. Andrews he cannot give Judgment anâ—â—nt it it not being an Act of his own but that some of these that were called the Actors whom he knew and particularly one William Dingwal were Godly and Just Men. sic subscribitur John Dick. The last Day of August 1683 There being many Noblemen in the Court which day Mr. John Dick being present was Examined in presence of the Justices then sitting in Judgment and the abovewritten Confession â—mitted by him in presence of the Council being read he acknowledged the same and every particular of the same in presence of the said Justices Sic subscribitur John Dick Maitland James Fowls John Lockhart Alexander Seton Upon September 4 1683 I Mr. John Dick Son to David Dick Writer in Edinburgh being Called before the Lords of Justiciary being then present it was demanded if I had any thing to say for my self I answered Yes my Lord I have somewhat to add to my Lyble they asked what was that then I proceeded as follows I Mr. John Dick Prisoner in Name and by the Appointment of Our Blessed Lord and Master Jesus Christ Declare That the Blood of all the Presbyterians that have been Executed for their Principles is horrid Murder by whatsomever Law they have been judged and that in the Person of every Individual one who have suffered simply on this Account Our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ hath been as really crucified as He was by Pilate and the Jews at Jerusalem And this I desire may be holden as a part of my former Declaration and Confession emitted before the Council and Justices This I called for and subscribed blessing the Lord that had given me a hand so to do They refused to add it to my Declaration judging they had too much already I required all that were present Witnesses that I had declared the same and Appealled them all to Christ's Bar at the Great Day to Answer for what they had done and were doing They asked if I would have an Advocat I said My Lords that is ordinarly denied to Persons in my condition they declared I should have as many as I pleased I said I would have none but my Blessed Lord Jesus Christ Blessed be His Holy Name for it He is both with me and in me The Justice Clerk asked if I was a Quaker or a Fifth Monarchry Man I told him I abhorred both yet my Affection was relevant being Blessed of my God with the Grace of Faith And then they read my Indictment and asked at every Article to which I answered affirmatively Then did the Justice Clerk ask if I had any thing to say for my self I said I Blessed the Lord I had they Desired me to proceed Answer I expect my Lords being a Free Born Scots Man I shall have the Priviledge allowed me that the Christians in former days had among the Heathens the Justice Clerk bids me proceed there are two things which I hope your Lordship will grant e're we proceed further first do you not Acknowledge that the Almighty God Jehovah is Supream Lord Governour of Heaven and Earth that all Kings in the Earth are but his Deputs Servants the Justice Clerk sayes yes The Second Do ye not Acknowledge that all the Law in the World among Christians must Strike Sail to the great Law the Law of God to which I got no Answer whereupon I took Witnesses and Protested that it might be Recorded in Heaven then they press'd me to proceed I told him the Advocat offering to follow his own method had drawn out my Declaration my Lords you have been at much pains to seek my Accusation I have been so Ingenuous to Exhibite it to you my self for which I Bless the Lord first Article that I own my self to a Presbyterian and to be bound to continue so conform to a Covenant that can not be Infringed by no Power under Heaven Now my Lords I being under such strong Impressions of those my
Obligations the least I can expect is to know by what Authority this is broken To this I got no Answer they declined further Questioning causing and commanding the Jury to be called and after they had asked if I had any thing to say against them they swore them desiring me that if I had any thing to say to the Jury to proceed I said my Lords its hard to devolve me upon a Jury before I be heard for which I charge you all to make ready to Answer before my Great Master at the Great Day and this Jurie also as to what ye do in this Affair Then they desired me to speak to the Jury for the Advocat was to have the last word then I thinking I should have occasion to have Reasoned with the Advocat anent my Lyble told the Jury That the Principle I held in my Declaration was of such a Nature as I durst not if I had as many Lives as there are Pickles of Sand on the Sea Shoar to redeem them all with the quitting of the least hair-breadth thereof Then I pressed the Obligation of the Covenant expecting the Advocat's Answer They asked if I had done I answered Yes as to this Then the Advocat began his Course wherein he did little more than Repeat my Declaration without offering any thing against any Article therein except against that of Defensive Arms his Defence against which was this that he had read of Defensive Arms betwixt two single Men But for multitudes he knew no Defensive Arms against standing Laws Then did I offer to Reply but they would not suffer me but recommended me to the Jury strictly Tying them that the Condemners should put it to after their Name and Assizers likewise Then I came conveyed to the Outter-House by the Guard where my Father came to me within a little and told me he had been dealing with the Lords for a Delay but had not got it so long as he expected I told him that whatever my good Lord's will was I was satisfied but I'le speak nothing of that my self He says well I knew that and so he leaves mâ— I am called in again within half an Hour and my Sentence intimated to be Hanged at the Grass-Mercat upon the 26th instant I said my Lords without a Hearing either before the Justices or Jurors this Practice was never parallel'd among Heathens and further my Lords and Jurors I declare and that upon good grounds that if upon this Sentence you Hang me you shall not be innocent of Crucifying the Lord afresh in me his poor and insignificant Member They called suffer him to speak no more This is the sâ—me so far as my brittle Memory will allow and I am confident there wants little or nothing of Moment Now for satisfaction both to Friends and Foes I have Judged it my Duty to add what follows My blessed Lord and Master hath determined mine Heart in all this my my Tryal next to his own Glory to have my Eye upon the Edification and Confirmation of his poor Distrest and Opprest People my Companions in Trâ—bulation as also to design as much as possible the Conviction of hâ—s and our profest and avowed Enemies moved me without any previous Deliberation to assert these Principles and â—ractices contained in my Indictment and to add that other assertion which I did before my Sentence before the Justices and Assize I say my blessed Lord having thus determined and moved me for which I bless his Name has not left me in the Dark as to Grounds and Warrants for what in and through such a poor and empty Reed as I am he hath done which Grounds while I offered to the Justices and Assizes for my Vindication I am contrare to all Law Equity and Reason refused that Privilege a Privilege granted even by the Heathens These Grounds I have thought fit to leave under my Hand for the comfort of the Lords People and if not the conviction the Terror of his and ours for his sake Proud insolent Enemies as follows You Remember that before I offered any Defence I Demanded of the Justices that they would grant me the these two Principles to wit First that the Almighty God Jehovah was Supreame Lord and Master over all in Heaven and in Earth and that all Kings and other Rulers in the Earth are his Deputes and Servants this they granted The second is that all Laws in the Earth must strike-Sail and Vail their Caps to the Supream Law the Word of God and be Regulate by it this they refuse to grant which I lookt upon as most Horrid Blasphemy and took Instruments on the Refusal thereof which I know stands Recorded in Heaven to be produced against the Denyers at the Great Day of the Lord I doubt not if that Young Noble Man who Refused me this had been present when Mr. John Paterson Proposed the Question to me if our King was Comptable to any to whom I Answered he was He asked to whom I said to these by whom he was Intrusted He Answered then he could not be Soveraign Intimating that there could be no Soveraign but one whom we Presbyterians hold to be the Almighty God Jehovah to whom alone indeed it is high Treason for any Mortall to say what doest thou It being lawful de jure to ask any Mortall King an Account of his doings as need Requires though de facto in the case of Cruel Tyrany this be Dangerous I say if this Noble Man had heard this he had not so rashly Refused my Assertion But whatever our Rulers do I do and I hope with me all that has the least Smattering of Religion will both grant and firmly in his strength hold both these Principles for to me to grant the former and refuse the Latter implys a Contradiction now laying these for two sure and inviolable Foundations I go on as if I were before the Justices and Jury to deliver my own grounds which my God laid to my Hand and answer any thing of Objections I meet with either before the Secret Council or Justices Now my Lords of Justicary and you Jurers taken these Principles for granted my first Assertion I have to Vindicate is this that I own the work of Reformation as the same is contained in the Confesion of Faith and Catechisms conform to the Covenant against Popery Prelacy and Erastianisme and am Resolved by the Lords Strength to bide by the same and seing that it is Lawful for any Man to Weild his Arms for his best Advantage to this I Subjoin the Involable Obligation of the Covenant to adhere to these Principles and Practices Now my Lords this work of Reformation these Principles and Practices being such as I find Warranted from the practice of Christ and his Apostles and not only I but his Majesty and all under him in theâ—â— Nations being by the Oath of God which shall never be Disolved by any Humane Power the least I can expect of your Lordships is that
ye will offer some what that may be Satisfactory to my Conscience in this point if ye deny me this then shall the World judge that ye will Murder me because ye will Murder me all that I have heard from any of your Members against my Principles simply was from the Bishop of Edinburgh who after he had insinuate an Argument with me in Doctrine and Worship seemed fairly to insinuate that Discipline and Government were left undetermined my answer to this is that this is horrid Blasphemy and no less uopn the whole Matter then to say that our blessed Lord Jesus Christ was less faithful in the House of God than was Moses and who having the least Sense of a Deity dares to averre this Well my Lords this being all I have offered by any of your Lordships against my Principles I hope it stands firmly rooted in the Hearts of all that love our Lord Jesus Christ that they are thereby not in the least shaken and since it is so which I must take for granted having nothing offered to the contrary I must for the confirmation of the second brench of this assertion pose your Lordshs by what Authority an Oath a solemn Oath made betwixt the living GOD's Party contracter on the one hand and his Majesty and the whole Body of these Nations on the other hand in as solemn a manner as ever Covenant was transacted I say I must ask by what Authority this Covenant is infringed and broken To this I get no answer neither except what I got from the above mentioned Bishop who told me he had not taken this Covenant For answer it had been a great pity this master-Prelate of yours had not been amongst the People of Israel at that time when the Plague of GOD overtook them for the breach of Covenant made as some thinks Four hundred years before that with the Gibeonites and this Covenant in it self nothing so justifiable as this which mby Blessed Lord has set me here to Justifie I say it had been a pity this Pitifull Prelate had not been there its not likely he had obtained a Suspension of this Famine upon this head but let this proud Prelate consider that he Charges the Almighty with injustice in this Practice which you have Recorded in the 2 Sam. 21. Chap. He must either own this a piece of Horrid Blasphemy or else confess his Argument is of no force Now having I hope Rolled out of the way any thing I have offered for my Satisfaction in this matter to come nearer the point I charge your Lordships or any here who sets themselves against me on these heads again to tell me by what Authority this Oath binding to two Necessary and Indispensible Duties is repelled Dare any Mortall here hold up his Face to Heaven and averr that his Majestey's Acts Rescissory does repell it then let him do it upon his Peril and when he has done know that besides his Blasphemy in it he Contradicts the first Principle which your Lordships have granted me That this may be the clearer I hope all will grant that none can Dissolve an Oath made by another except he be above that other in power and Authority of such a Decree as gives Right to do it of this I Remember only two Instances in Scripture The one is That of a Husband if he hear his Wife making a Vow if he be not Satisfied with it he may then unty it But if by his Silence he let it pass the Oath stands firm The Seconds is of a Father having a Daughter in the Family to whom it is granted to annull the Oath he heares her making while in his Family and when out of the Family the power ceases From this it is evident that this is a Superiority over them that Intitles them to this Privilege Since it is so dare any without Horror offer once of Dreaming to apply this in our case I suspect by this time the Justice Clerk finds himself outshot in granting my first Principal O that the Lord would open their Eyes to see the Affronted Indignities done to our most Glorious God in these their most horrid and Abominable Practices Now having Removed what is offered by the Opposers and settled by undenyed Arguments my Assertion of the equity of our Work of Reformation and the Inviolable Obligation of the Covenant while Sun and Moon endures to own the same I hope I shall not need to rack my Judgement for Arguments to prove that my Devolvement on an Assize without a hearing after I had offered to Justifie my Principles and Practices from the word of God is not only a denying of these my two Principles but the most horrid of Murders as I hope shall be cleared more fully in the close and here you may see the reason of denying my second Principle but of this more afterwards The second Assertion I am to defend is that the Laws overturning the Presbyterian Church Establishing Episcopacy particularly these three Acts. To wit first The Act Rescissory whereby at one dash the Glorious Fabrick sometime the Glory of these Nations is Overturned Secondly the Act of Supremacy and Act Explanatory of the same whereby our Blessed Lord is set by his Chair and a poor Worm set down in his Room Thirdly That Act called the Test a Hotchpotch of Nonsense Lies and Contradictions that these and others of their nature were null and asserted Principally because contrary to express Texts of Scripture and this possibly has Straitened my Antagonists as to the granting of our Blessed Lords word to be the Supream Law and for Confirmation of this I asserted I thought the Parliament enacting these Acts was also null as not being free a Qualification absolutly requisite in all Parliaments in this Nation the Privileges of which I am bound by the Covenant made with the Almighty God to assert Now my Lords and you Assizers I take for granted that all Laws of Men contrary to express Texts of Scripture are null and that these Acts and all of that nature are such I shall in the Lords strength endeavour to prove And First the whole work of Reformation being agreeable to the Word of God and though it were not so in it self as I am firmly perswaded it is yet in my case by all Men who have not with their Conscience Debauched away their reason also it must be granted to be seing I have had nothing offered to the contrary and I being under the Oath of God to maintain Propagate and Defend the same the Acts overturning the same expresly Contradicts not only all these Scriptures upon which it is founded which time will not allow me to Enumerate here and you may find in your Confession of Faith Noted upon the Margine of that Book but also the Third Command Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain and that perform thy Vows unto the Lord with multitudes of this Nature which upon a very moderate inquiry may
his Subjects and that the World may see I speak not here at random be pleased to consider these two Scriptures First the 14 Chap. of the first Book of Samuel Secondly the 12 chapter of the first Book of the Kings To this I add the 20 Chap. of the second Book of the Chron. 16. verse Now whosoever shall ponder and seriously consider these three places will find three Kings of the Lawfulness of whose coming to their Crowns I know none that doubt all three resisted by their Subjects the first in offering to perform a rash and sinful Oath the second for offering sinfully to oppress his people The third for dipping too far in the Matters of God for which he had no Commission Now with Submission to the more Judicious I humbly conceive the Ground of the Equity of this Resistance lyes here That Kings and Subjects are under a Twofold Relation one to another First in respect of the Almighty GOD who is the Only Absolute Sovereign and Great Lord both he and they are Fellow-Subjects and with him in sinning against the Laws of This Our Great Master none of his Fellow-Subjects dare under the pain of Eternal Damnation in the least symbolize but on the contrary adhering to our Allegiance to Our Great Liege Lord we are bound by Our Allegiance in our Stations to resist every thing offered to His Dishonour by whomsoever I hope this Truth is clear to any that knows that the Laws of GOD are equally binding upon Kings and Subjects The second Relation is That whereby the King under GOD is King and to Rule the People for GOD's Glory and the Good of the Kingdom and to be a Terror to Evil Doers and an Encourager to Well Doers in which Relation the People are his Subjects Now there is none of my Perswasion but are willing to give Caesar his due that is to obey all his Lawfull Commands and yeild him all Encouragement imaginable he Ruling in the Fear of GOD the People for GOD's Glory and his and their own Good But if a King shaking off all Fear of GOD will enter in Open Hostility against Heaven and force his People by Open Hostility to share with him in these Abominations I again say the People are obliged in pursuance of their Allegiance to their Supream Lord not only to refuse Obedience to this His Depute but also to resist him in pursuance of this his War against the Great LORD I hope I shall need to say nothing for clearing of this to any that knows that there is a GOD whose Holy Nature entitles Him to Absolute Sovereignty and to Whom Subjection is due from that His Blessed Nature and Natively our Subjection is due to Him for not only our Being but our Well-being Upon the other hand the King's Power the Government it self in general being of GOD yet the Application of it to this or that Person to this or that Modell of Government either by Election or Succession is of Man according to that Be subject to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake I say the case standing thus not only in pursuance of our Allegiance to our Great and Absolute Sovereign are we obliged to resist what is offered and carryed on to His Dishonour and this least we should partake of other Men's Sins but also the People who have conferred that power being Violented in all things that are precious to them and the Government appointed of GOD degenerating into Tyranny may Recall the power given and not only resist but turn out such a Tyrant for whose Tyranny he had no commission from them I hope none who will grant the Sixth Command Thou shalt not Kill to be Binding will refuse this The Reason is here he is beyond all doubt as guilty of Murder who impowers to do the same as he who actually does it Now I hope the case standing thus all Impartial Readers will see how unjustly we are condemned for owning the Lawfulness of Defensive Arms which I shall endeavour to make yet more clear in my Application of these Scriptures above cited and my Answer to what I heard from our Antagonists on this Head And first As to the People's resisting of Saul it being an Act of Loyalty to their Supream Sovereign in hindering his Depute to perform a Rash and Sinful Oath I wonder with what confidence that Man if he be one or rather Monstrous Jesuitical Atheist Bishop Paterson could say to my Glorified Brother John Wilson whose Murder is yet recent That he doubted if they did right in so doing Sure I am the Justice Clerk will not say so who has granted that the Almighty GOD is Supream and consequently that Subjects dare not without Sin suffer any thing to be done to His dishonour that is in their Power to hinder and that to Swear a Rash Oath obliging to Murder is of this Nature I hope I shall not need to prove And Secondly As to that of Rehoboam that Tyrannical Wretch shaking off all Fear of GOD and rejecting the Council of the Old Men to his own Ruine that the Subjects were in their Duty in casting him off I hope none will refuse who knows what Interest the People have in making of Kings and that none needs to be ignorant of who will be pleased to read the 17 Chapter of Deuteronomy from the 14th Verse to the End As also that the People are bound in their Stations to oppose the Tyranny of their Princes least they may share with them in their Judgments Tyranny and Oppression being a palpable Violation of the Laws of Our Blessed and Supream Lawgiver Thirdly As to that of Vzziah that he becoming strong and lifted up in meddling beyond his Sphere with the matters of GOD is given for the Ground of the Resistance he met with And sure in our case our King has yet been more strong and more lifted up I fear to his Destruction in so far as the former did only offer to perform some Office that was only peculiar to the Priests but never offered to overturn the Worship of GOD of his own Appointment and to introduce an other diametrically opposite to the Revealed Will of GOD as it is in our case Now I say our King having out done Vzziah in his affronted Rebellion against Heaven who can blame the People if in standing to their own defence they Endeavour to assert that our Bessed God is absolute Soveraign and Master and that nothing Commanded nor imposed expresly contrary to his will which we still hold to be our Supream Law can be binding upon them this will be yet more clear as what we Asserted a little above that Kings and Subjects are but Subjects to the Supream Majesty if you consider that after he is thrust out of the Temple he is put in a several House upon the account of his Leprosie that which was likewise done to the meanest Subject he had in the like case and what if the Ministery in the Church of
Christ the Lamb of GOD for Meekness and Pleasaâ—tness to His People but to all who shall be found Enemies in that Day The Lyon of the Tribe of Judah and a very Terrible Lyon shall he be What are you resolved to do Can it be possible that Men who were created reasonable Creatures can have fallen upon so Desperate a Cure as this I mean as to have Unanimously Resolved upon the first hearing of the Trumpet that day to Loup quick into Hell and there to hide themselves Sure if this be the thing intended it shall not only be a Desperately Mad but ineffectual Resolution also What Do you not know that thence also the Omnipotent Arm of Jehovah shall easily bring you out Dream not I say Dream not of any escape for the Interrogation here what shall you do imports a very strong Negation of all possible means of Shunning that great Appearance where will you will not every individual one of you appear before that Lyon however averse you may be from it and I dare not but tell you that to look upon his to you terrible Countenance shall be more afflicting more tormenting more astonishing more Soul and Conscience wounding than a thousand Years Torment in Hell this I can assure you of and this you shall never shun by no means imaginable So if you be resolved to refuse my friendly Exhortation and Advice I must here warn you bâ—fore him to make ready to answer for all you have done in the Flesh and though to some of you the slighting of this my Advice may be the last Yet it shall not be the least of the Challenges you shall meet with this day Now I hope I have prevailed with the most part if not all of you to Believe that before this Lyon you must come and look him in the Face also and before him answer for what you have done in the flesh and having told you who is to be your Judge for your further fitting for that Rancounter I shall also tell you by what Law you are to be Judged even by the written Word of GOD wherein is contained our Blessed LORD's revealed Will that self same Law that you refuse to be supream and when my Companion in Tribulation and fellow Sufferer for Christ Jesus George Lapsly called it the Acts of Parliament of Heaven pertinently enough yet some of your Number in rage against our great Law maker Disdainfully did Laugh I say by this self same Law are you all and every one of you to be Judged And however you may be so Diabolically bold as to Contemn it now you shall not then dare to whisper in the least against it Now having told who is to be Judges and what the Law by which you are to be Judged if you incline to know who are to be Witnesses we tell you even your own Consciences with that great Book of Remembrance the comparing of which together shall be as sufficient as Millions of Witnesses Then for your Assizers know you are to have the whole Generation of the Righteous and amongst the rest even these whom you in your rage against the Almighty have slain for the Testimony of our blessed Lord and Master Christ Jesus whom you have not only Renounced your as Head of his Church but also are raging in madness against all such as will not with you run into the same excess of Riot The Dyet of your Compearance we have told you before And now again I Obtest and Charge you as you shall Answer to the ever Living GOD that you either grant me my former Freindly Request and Christian Exhortation or otherwise make you ready to stand Naked and Bare before this our ever Blessed Judge and there to be in Readiness as to Answer for all you have done in the Flesh in General so to this our Particular Charge following to which we would very Gladly know what you shall be able to Answer Now again I Charge you all from the Highest to the Lowest that you Staging your in the Sight of our Blessed Lord whom to your Sad Experience you shall find in that Day to be to you a Lyon indeed may make ready to Answer these following Queries wherein because you are all Equally truely concerned though there be amongst you as to them some Gradual Difference we are to Pose you all in Cumulo being Resolved in the Lords Strength to Touch more Particularly at the Persons more Particularly concerned in the several Questions And first what will you Answer for that Unparalelled Act of Rebellion against Jehovah I mean your Overturning the whole Work of Reformation that so very Glorious Work and so Correspondent to the Revealed will of GOD as that Excercised and Practised by our Blessed LORD himself and his Holy Apostles and all the several Churches their Successors for not a few Hundreds of Years alter them as is clear from the Word of GOD and the Writings of our Divines founded thereon to which till this Hour we have never seen nor Heard of any thing looking like a Satisfactory Answer and this over the Belly of a most Solemn Covenant to the Observance whereof every Individual Soul of you stands yet firmly Obliged and I am sure you must give me leave to say so when you consider you Refused me an Answer to the Question by what Authority are these Covenants-Infringed or Loosed And shall be while Sun and Moon Endures And not only so but in the Room hereof Introducing that Abominable and GOD Displeasing Prelacy a Weed which our Blessed LORD never Planted yea which he was at no small Pains while in time to Guard his Disciples against in his several Exhortations to Study Humility and forbear Lording over their Brethren and over the LORD's Inheritance and several others to this Purpose as also his brisk Checks for any think of this Nature that offered to set up tis head in his Blessed time with his own Blessed Example in Girding himself with a Towel and Washing his Disciples Feet in which you are yet the more Inexcusable that by the same Covenant this Abominable Weed is forever thrown over the Hedges of the true Churches of Britain and Ireland I mean these Presbyterian I say what will you Answer for these things when before the Son of GOD that Day And further what will you yet Answer for not only Practising so your but also by Armed Force Compelling the Rest of the Nations to Concur with you in this so Abominable Combination and Rebellion against Jehovah of wich above what will you Answer I say Do you think that Blasphemous Maxim of your's no Bishop no King will Serve your turn No sure it will not May ye not Expect a Severe Check from your Judge for that when he shall tell you first that it is Expresly Contrary to his Revealed will 2dly That it is the same upon the matter with that Proponed by the Jews themselves to his ever Blessed self in saying the owners of our
to Tye your People as it were with Fetters of Iron till they get their Throats cut by that Atheisticall Papisticall Malignant party to whom you have lent your Ear now these two and Twenty Years and refuse all hearing to your most faithful and Loving Subjcts I mean such as are desiring as to give the Almighty GOD what is due in the next Place to give Cesar what is his are all these small Faults think you Is it a small thing think you to strive with the Son of GOD for State and to presume to thrust him out of his Chair in his Church which is his due as only head thereof And yet to cause your Subiects Swear this is horrid Blasphemy Is it no small Sin think you to lift up your self above the Almighty and to set up your Humane Laws above his Divine ones I say are all these small Sins If you either say or think so I must take leave to tell you I differ from you in Judgement and must further tell you my Sentiments thereof and indeed great Sir I look upon all these things as most Horrid Acts of Rebellion against the Almighty what Sir if the meanest of these Intrusted by your Majesty in any Publick trust had offered the Thousand part of that Indignity to your Majesty as to have openly and Avowedly before the Sun torn a Contract betwixt your Majesty and the rest of your Subjects and told all your Subjects that from this his Deed they were obliged to joyn with him in this same Contempt of your Majesty and should have further told your Majesty's Subjects that your Power and Authority wsa to Cede to his and that your Majesties just Laws made in free Parliaments were to vail their Cape to his petty Acts and so forth of the rest would not your Majesty have thought such a Person stark Mad and have caused drag him out as a Traitor and Rebell and that justly for so doing And truely whatever might have Justifyed your Majesty in so doing can not but Infinitely more justify our most Glorious GOD in Serving your Majesty and all under you who have Concurred in this Rebellion at that Rate of Draging you forth and giving you your Portion with the Workers of Iniquity this will be the more clear if your Majesty consider what I have hinted before and what is more fully contained in the Author abovementioned and this your horrid Rebellion against the Almighty is not a little Aggravatee from the Peaceable Restauvation you was Trysted with so immediately before the same what was this your return for that so signall Providence Sure you cannot think that in this you were in your Duty I hope by this time your Majesty is rightly Airted where to find out the Traitors and Rebells in your Dominions even there where any are who have Instigated and Counselled your Majesty to this Horrid Rebellion whoever they be if it were even your Brother the Duke of York to the meanest under your Majesty now having in some Measure laid before your Majesty the Greivousness of these Sins with which your Majesty and these to whom with your Majesty I Address my self are called to charge your and Mourn For I am in the next place come to the second part of of my Task which your Majesty may Remember was to Expostulate with you for a return from the same to GOD's Glory ahd your own Souls Eternal Well being which in the Assistance of my GOD I shall essay as follows Now let me obtest you all in the Bowels of my Blessed Lord Jesus Christ if you have any Respect to the Glory of GOD to the Eternal well being of your own Immortall Souls to the well being of your Posterity and to the Peace and well being of these Nations of which you are all Members thought of different Sizes in the fear of GOD that you wobld lay a side your Enmity against GOD and followed that Advice given in the Second Psalm from the 10 Verse to the Close and that you may be the better helped to this Read and ponder well that whole Psalm not forgetting to pray over your Meditations thereupon and set some time a part for considering the greatness of the Affronts you have to Jeovah in all these Acts and Actions we have been weakly hinting at considering therein your Unparalleled Despite done to the Spirit of God in setting your so palpably against the Almighty and setting up your Mock Laws against and above that unerring Law of his I mean his Blessed will Revealled in his Word as also the Weight of the Blood you have Engaged your Shoulders under in exceuting these your Abominable wicked Laws which is no less then the whole Blood shed since the Blood of Righteous Abel to this very hour for this consider thar Passage in the 23 of Mathew from the 29 to the 37 Verse the more Faithfull you are or any of you shall be helped to be in Judging your in this matter the greater hope in your case I pray God none of you be so far left to your as to offer to shift off this Charge which I am sure you shall never have gaound to do till you have Solidly Answered all that is written in the Word of GOD for binding the same upon you as also in the abovementioned and amongst the rest in this poor and Feckless essay of mine which I declare as in the sight of GOD I have Ventured upon next to the Glory of GOD and the good of his people with an Eye to the Everlasting Well-being of the Souls of one and all of you even of my most inveterate Enemy Mr. Paterson Prelate of Edinburgh as you call him and because neither time will allow nor is this so properly my Task I Recommend it to you for your help here to consult the Writings of our Faithful Divines both in Britain and Ireland where you may meet with what may before your better help in this indispensible necessary duty and whither I come speed or not I must advise you also even to consult in this matter such of your faithfull Ministers as are yet amongst us I think it but reasonable you should Essay this in the time of your Health which not a few of you have ventured upon at your Death fearing that then it may prove too late for seldom is late Repentance sure Repentance Now if you shall be helped of the Lord to grant me this my Suit which is so much for the Glory of GOD the good of your own Soul the good of your Posterity and of the Lands wherein you live I do nothing doubt but e're all be done you shall find Reason to bless the Lord and to alter your Sentiments not only of me but of all who with me have been so tender of your Souls as not to dare to harden you in your sinful Courses by Concurring and going alongst with you in these so Horrid Abominations and shall not only think but find it
them all up to him in the Air O Glorious Meeting a Meeting without a parting a Meeting for Joy unexpressible then shall they be set down on the Right hand to receive their Sentence as the Reprobate have done already in our Paper in order of GOD's appointment they shall be last as you may see in that 25th Chap. of Matth. out of which we drew their Sentence and then shall the Sentence of the Elect be pronunced as follows in the 34 Verse of the said 25th Chap. of Matth. Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World Now my Dearest Friends to answering my former Suits which as they are both your Mercies and Duties so are attended with such unspeakable Advantages as we have a little hinted at I shall desire you yet to add two more The first is That one and all of you may with me with our whole Souls sing and say and say and sing Bless O my Soul the Lord thy God and all that in me is be stirred up his Holy Name to magnifie and bless The second is That all of us with one Soul may cordially join in saving Even so come Blessed Lord Jesus Christ come quickly Amen Thus with his whole Soul says JOHN DICK 1st October 1683. Having through Divine Assistance brought my Testimony to this period it may be supposed my Vital Spirits are not a little wearied and sure I am I shall need to use no Argument to perswade any that know me Well that I have never in my Lifetime been so long Serious together as I have been since my Ever Blessed LORD and Master in his Holy Providence brought me under this so Lovely Chain Lovely indeed yet the Sweetest time ever I had in my Life time next to that little time of our Espousalls for which my Soul shall Bless him forever I say since it is so I hope none will Offend if for my Recreation I break here a Jeast or two in Referrence to which I hope the rather I have my Blessed Master's Permission that therein I intend to do Despite to and Spitt in the Faces of a few such as have with most Violence and Hellish Boldness not only done Despite unto the Spirit but also Monstrously Spitten in the Face of my Blessed Lord and Master The Nature of my Jests shall be such as we call in Latin seria mixta jocis and in broad Scots half Jest half Earnest And First by way of Advertisement to all who concern themselves in the Reformed Churches of these Kingdoms that they use their Moyen with these makers of Mugs whether in that place of Scotland called Muir-madzoun or any where else up and down the Nations that in Imitation of the Hâ—llâ—nders who that they might in Rememberance of the Cruelty of that Monster for Blood Thirstiness the Duke of Alva caused Impress his Picture upon the Face of the Brandy Bottles they would upon all the Mugs they shall make after this imprint on the forepart thereof the Picture of this our Duke of Alva I mean York and upon the back part thereof the Picture of that Pitifull thing Claver House and because they must not want a Chaplain upon the Bottom of these Mugs let the Picture of that Monster the Bishop of Edinburgh be Impressed to this effect that all the Carlâ—nes in the Country may have occasion once in the Twenty four Hours to vent their Disrespect to these Abominable Wretches that so with their Names their very Pictures may Stink also and because their Physiognomies may by the Spectators be mistaken I would advise their several Names might be Adjoined to their Pictures least theâ— looking to Yorks Picture might take it for that of a Serpent or to Claver House his Picture for that of a Snake or that Monster the Bishop of Edinburgh his Picture for that of a Meer Swine Wallowing in Filth Yet I will not be Peremptor here for the mistake will not be great in any of these And now having mett with the Bishop that you may see I wrong him not be pleased to take a glance of him in these particulars following And first In a Dialogue betwixt him and that prodigious Drunkard Mr. Trotter one of his Underlings even that Trotter who it would appear having anticipated the Dyet of drinking our Dragie had got himself so full that Morning our blessed Lord set us at liberty that he took Stowre for Smoak and the glancings of his own firie eyes for Light Matches which occasioned his so disorderly deserting of the Pulpit a place he never deserved to set his foot in to the no small Confusion of his Auditors as follows Having met together Occasionally the Bishop says to Trotter How now Mr. Trotter I am informed you are a Scandalous Drunkard Mr. Trotter My Lord do you Believe that Bishop Yes I must believe since all Men says so Trotter I am very sorry for that my Lord for though all Men say you are a Scandalous Adulterer yet I do not believe it Bishop say You so Trotter Yes Bishop Then to be quitts with You neither will I believe the other 2dly You may inform your of the Nature and qualities of that his Snuff-Box which as I am informed is in the Hands of Sir Charles Halker which I am Confident that Generous Gentleman keeps for no other end but to be a Witness against the Madness the abominable Madness of that Mock Prophet one of whose Prophesies we come to offer to your Consideration in the third place as follows He being on the Castlehill of Edinburgh in Company of the Duke of York and others in the latter end of 1680 or beginning of 1681 looking to that great Comet that did then appear and being asked by the Duke What his Thoughts of the Comet were He answers I look upon it as a Torch in the Heavens to light your Royal Highness to the Throne Did this Prodigious Monster know what he was saying when he spake this Did he not know the many standing Laws of this Kingdom were Bars in the way of this which are yet standing and still shall stand I mean these made against Popety and Papists having any Place of Publick Trust in the Nation Does not this Wretch know that thir Laws are standing and must stand being sounded on and agreeable to the Word of GOD and enacted by free Parliaments Does not the Infatuate Wretch know that any Act made to the contrary can never come in the List of Laws in this Nation as being down right contrary to the Word of GOD and enacted by unfree Parliaments Must we weary our telling him this again and again And did not this Monster for arrogant Boldness in daring Heaven know that by the Word of GOD our Supream Law it is enacted That the Idolater shall die the Death Or is he so wretchedly blind as not to know That that Antichrist that Man of sin and all his Limbs of which this Duke
time My Lords if ye had no other to Enquire at then me ye might have caused take me from the Court of Guard to the Gibbet Do ye own and adhere to all your former Actings I both own and adhere to all that I have done in the Vindication of my Principles and in the Reproving if not the Converting of Christs Enemies either with my Tongue or Pen and am willing to Seal the same with my Dearest Blood Follows an Account of what passed betwixt the Lords of Justiciarâ— and Mr. John Dick when his Sentence was reintimate to him the next Day after he was taken THE Lords hearing of it being Conveened he was brought from the Tolbooth and put in the Pannel before them to whom he gave a Bow and so the Clerk at the Command of the Lords Cryed to the Macer saying Macer Command Silence then they called Mr. John Dick to whom he Answered here I am and so the Clerk Read as follows Mr. John Dick now standing in the Pannel having been apprehended before to wit in August last and having been several times before the Lords of Council and Justiciary was Sentenced and Commanded upon the fifth Day of September 1683 to be Hanged at the Grass Mercat of Edinburgh upon the 26th of of that instant but the said Mr. John Dick having Broken the Toolbooth of thâ—s Brugh upon the 16th of that instant and several others with him and so made his Escape before the time that he should have been Hanged and he being apprehended and now standing in the Pannel these are to Warrand Authorize Command and Charge the Magistrates of this Burgh to Cause Carefuly Conduct him to the said Grass-Mercat of Edinburgh to Morrow between two and four in the Afternoon and there to be Hanged up till he be Dead under the pain of the Act. c. At the hearing of which he gave a Bow to the Lords and said now my Lords the Sentence that your Lordships passed upon me both before and now is both unreasonable and unjust and contrar to the Laws of this Nation however it is very welcome to me upon Christ's Account But I remember two things that I demanded before and now I demand them again The first was That the great Jehovah is Judge of Heaven and Earth and that all the Kings and Princes therein are but his Deputes and Servants this was granted me before The Second was That the Scriptures are the Supream Law and that all the Laws of this Nation and all other Nations are to be regulate thereby and strike and Vail their Capes to this this they refused me before and now I demand it again but he got no Answer So he cryed now my Lords I take the Great GOD to Witness and each of your Consciences to Witness against your and all of you and the rest of this multitude to Witness against you that hears me that ye have again refused me this to grant it to me and tho ye have judged me once before and now again unjustly Yet remember that at one Day GOD will Judge you and Reviving my Blood and the Blood of all my Brethren that has been shed unjustly and they cryed that they would take him away and not suffer him to speak any longer so he rapped upon the Breast of the Pannel and cryed out GOD even my GOD shall Judge you as ye have Judged me and that ye shall find but GOD forgive you and I forgive you if it be agreeable to his Eternal Decree and so he was taken away crying as he went to the Door of the Outter House saying well I am refused of that which none but Heathens could have refused me of but I bliss the LORD for it and many of my Christian Friends knows my Mind of these things and others may know it when I am gone Followes his Words and Carraige in the Laigh Council House that Afternoon he came from the Tolbooth before he went to the Scaffold as was there present after the Reading of the Sentence Mr. Ramsay one of the Ministers of the Old Kirk of Edinburgh offered to Pray to him to whom he Replyed Sir how dare you presume or how dare you have the Confidence to pray in my Presence since ye are Fighting against GOD and Persecuting Christ in his Members ye have not only Abjured the Covenant but is Murdering the Souls of the LORD's people and to Crown all your Abjured ones and Abominations Have he not taken that Abominable Test. Mr. Ramsay Answers Well Sir will ye pray your self then Yes if the Bailie suffer me I will if ye will promise to make no Reflections in Prayer But he Answered that he would make no such promises But said he whatsoever GOD gives me to pray that will I pray And so the Baillie again Refused to suffer him if he would not promise not to have any Reflections in Prayer but he Answered as before But Mr. Ramsay pressed the Baillie to give him Liberty to pray and he began to pray thus O Lord God the Great God and my Covenanted God and the Covenanted God of Scotland For Christs Sake come with Deliverance to thy Church and People and help them Vindicate and make great thy Glory And so the Bailie cryed to take him away The last Words and Carriage of Mr. John Dick who Suffered in the Grass Market of Edinburgh upon the Fifth of March 1684. WHen he went upon the Scaffold he Beckned to the Multitude beginning at North side thereof and so turning himself Round with a Smiling Countenâ—nce and no less Couragious then pleasant Demonstrations without the least of Terrour or being Troubled either with Death near approaching or the manner of he Death he was to Die this in a Princely like Posture he presented himself in the â—ight of all there present And then with his hands Falded together and his Eyes â—fted up to Heaven for a little looking not only stedfastly but Eagerly and so treaching furth his hands he began thus The great Confluence that are gathered together here manifestly declares to me that many if not the great part of this Multitude expects and looks for some thing more than Ordinary but ye may be disappointed I nothing doubt but all of this Multitude at least the most part knows and have heard that I have had near six Months Respite more than was allowed me by Men which time was granted me in the Goodness and Mercy of GOD through my Escape which Mercy I mean this time that I have had since my escape I look upon it to have been given me for these two and in both these that GOD may be Glorified And First That having so much more time I might have the Liberty and Priviledge more fully to exhibite and give in my Judgment At which Bailie Chancellor called to Bear but he stops him saying Beat not and so he proceeded saying Secondly That having so much more time I might the better make ready and prepare my self for that
TESTIMONY TO THE Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government of the Church of SCOTLAND AND THE Covenanted work of Reformation As it was Profess'd in the Three Kingdoms TOGETHER WITH An Account of the Persecution of some of the most Eminent in Our Days for their Adherence to the same As it was left in Write by that truely Pious and Emmently Faithfull and now Gorified Martyr Mr. John Dick. To which is Added His Last Speech and Behaviour on the Scaffold on the fifth day of March 1684. Which day he Sealed this Testimony and left it to a particular Friend to Communicate to the World after his Death which was never Published till now at the desire of some reall and Sincere Lovers of the true Peace and Welfare of the Church of Scotland Printed in the Yâ—â—â— A TESTIMONY TO THE Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government of the True Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the Covenanted Work of Reformation as it was professed in the Three Kingdoms By That Renowned and now Glorified Martyr Mr. John Dick who Suffered at Edinburgh on the fifth of March 1684. Edinburgh 29 August 1683. BEing called before Four of the Council my Lord Livingston after Sir William Paterson had Interrogat some few Questions in the Outter-house which because confident with what follows I omitt says to me Mr. Dick There is a great Charge given in against you which amounts to a great height what say you for your self I answered I crave you pardon Sir for you are a Stranger to me One of them said it is my Lord Livingston then I answered I crave your Lordship would be more particular as to your Charge Then he said That I was at Pentland which I denied Then he asked where I had been ever since that time To which I answered that being discovered to be a Converser with some that were there immediatly upon the back of the first Shot at the Bishop some Gentlemen being taken upon that Account and threatned with the Boots I was necessitaâ— to leave the Nation Then said he What say ye as to the Bishop's Death when he was killed I told him I thought he desired an Account of my Principles and I told him I was a Presbyterian and adhered to the Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government of the Presbyterian Churches of the Three Nations to which we were solemnly sworn He says then you adhere to the Covenant I answered Yes with my whole heart and resolves to do while I breath Then says the Bishop of Edinburgh do ye own the King's Authority I told him my first Answer wherein I gave an Account of my Principles was a sufficient Answer for that Some others started a Question anent this but the Bishop anticipated my Answer by saying he speaks very rationally according to his Principles allowing the King as much as the Presbyterians do to which I added conform to the Word of GOD. The Bishop asked if I acknowledged Bothwell to be Rebellion I told him I could not say it was for I was confident the Generality of that people was not in Rebellion being simply in self Defence the Bishop asked do ye own self Defence lawful in any case I said yes in some Provost Ramsey sayeâ— was offering to Answer but I was Interrupted by the Bishop of Edinburgh who drew an argument from the effect accompanying the little Blood that was shed in Queen Maries Days with what was shed in the Instine Wars I â—eâ—ected â—iâ— Argument and albeit he Fathered the Effusion of Blood on the wrong 〈◊〉 oâ— the House self Defence being lawful by the word of God by Laws of mâ—â—â—y Nations and Law of Nature I added let the World Judge whither this Bishop's Principles leads him right that would have his fellow Subjects to hold up their Necks to Bloody Murderers I suspect he shall be found a Jesuite and thinks strange that the Emperor of Germany should not send for him to preach this Doctrine to him Then asked one of them standing behind their Backs if I Rode with Mr. John Welsch I said I knew not if I was bound to answer him not knowing that he was a Member of the Council well sayes one Sitting what say ye to it I Answered yes I did and I bless God that ever I did see him then sayes the stander do ye confess ye Rode in Arms wth him Riding in Arms I told him I had not Riden without Arms since I was Seventeen or Eighteen years of Age The Bishop of Edinburgh sayes I will propone a question to you as a Clergy Man I stopped him there and told him I would Answer no question as a Clergy Man siâ—ting there at which some others stormed he said it was conform to my Principles then the Bishop pressed further his Argument from the effect in that abovementioned Comparison Provost Ramsey said you be newly taken your Spirits aloft its not time to reason now it will be more seasonable afterwards upon which he desisted the Bishop asked if I knew the Men that were standing behind them which were Hugh Stevenson and Mr. Thomas Gordon who showed more Keenness against me then the Bishop himself for which I forgive them and I said I knew all there by Eye sight except my Lord Livingston The Bishop asked when I knew him I told when he was a Regent in the College but finding my self in a mistake I craved him pardon telling him I was minding Commissar Wisheart but told that it was when he Preached in the Tron Church that I knew him He asked if ever I heard him there I said sometimes in the Week days He asked why not now I said he was Lookt upon â—s an Honest Man then but had proved otherwise by Breaking his Oath to God he said he never took the Covenant I said that was a vain Defence This is the Summe so far as my Memory Serves Then upon the last day of August 1683 being called before the Council in presence of the Lord Chancellor Marquis of Dowglas the Earl of Tweddell Bishop of Edinburgh President of the Session Colington Castlehill Abbotshall after the Chancellor had conferred with me a confiderable time the Clerk having cleared such of my Assertions as they judged fit to make use of against me they desired me to Subscribe the same which I refused to do till it were rectified they having some things in it wrong and others misplaced At last this Meeâ—ing Resulted in this that I should Subscribe the following Declaration both before the Council and Justiciary Mr. John Dick Son to David Dick Writer in Edinburgh being called and Examined in presence of the said Lords declares He owns the work of Reformation as the same is contained in the Confession of Faith and Catechismâ— conform to the Covenant against Popery Prelacy Erastianisme c. And is resolved by the Lords Strength to abide in the same Declares that as to Episcopacy and Laws Establishing the same he cannot understand it to be Lawful because since the Kings