she would have a Mass in Private But the Preachers decrying that Toleration in their Pulpits produced a Dangerous Tumult against the Freedom of her own Chappel After several Riots and Open Rebellions which were still promoted and seconded by the Presbytery In Iuly 1564. the Queen was Marri'd to the Lord Darnly And Iune 19. 1566. brought to bed of a Son afterward Iames VI. in the Castle of Edinburgh In 1567. they sent the Queen Prisoner to Lochlevin and pass'd an Act of Assembly for the Securing and Disposing of the Person of the Infant-Prince with Direction to move the Queen to a Resignation of her Government and the Appointing of a Regent during his Minority which by Force and Menaces her Majesty was compell'd to do and her Renunciation and Commission Publish'd at the Market-Cross at Edinburgh the Prince being Crown'd and Anointed King in the Church of Striveling the Third day after the Publication being Iuly 29. On the 20th of August the Earl of Murray was Elected Regent King Iames being as yet but Thirteen Months old At the Beginning of the Spring in 1568. the Queen made her Escape and was convey'd to Hamilton where several Lords meeting in Council her Resignation was declar'd Void as Extorted by Fear and Proclamation issu'd against the Rebels that had Usurped her Authority The Dispute in short was brought to a Battle May 13. the Queens Army Defeated and She her self fled into England for Protection where the Faction never left the Persute of her till they brought her to the Scaffold But here you 'l say there was a Foreign Interest and Popery in the Case If That were All how came it that they handled the Young King at as Course a rate every jot as they had treated his Mother tho' their Natural Prince and afterward the Celebrated Champion of the Protestant Cause The Government of Scotland had been Administer'd by Four Regents when upon the Earl of Morton's desire to be Discharg'd of his Regency the King not twelve years old as yet accepted of it and his Acceptation thereof was Proclaim'd at Edinburgh March 12. 1577. where the Regent himself was Assisting As an Earnest of the Respect they bare to his Majesties Authority Andrew Melvil presented a Form of Church Government to the Parliament at Striveling in 1578. which they referr'd to certain Commissioners who agreed to such General Heads as did not touch the Authority of the King nor prejudg the Liberty of the State But this did not content Them so that they resolv'd to put their Conclusions in Practice the next Assembly without staying for a Ratification Spotswood's Hist. Fol. 302. In Glasgow the next Spring the Ministers put the Magistrates of the City upon Demolishing the Cathedral but the Tradesmen Interpos'd and Defended it In 1582. Montgomery was Process'd for Preaching at Glasgow The King by his Warrant commanded the Assembly to desist which the Moderatour peremptorily refus'd and thereupon the Officer pull'd him from his Seat and Clap'd him up in the Tolbuyth for which they Decreed him to be Excommunicate tho' the King himself earnestly perswaded them to the Contrary After this Contempt of the Kings Authority they made a Violent Seizure of his Person and carri'd him Prisoner to the Castle of Ruthen where they kept him Close Nine Months forcing him by a Writing under his hand to command the Duke of Lenox to Depart the Kingdom and Imposing upon him what Servants they pleas'd under pretence of Zeal to Religion and Care of his Person They did also Petition the next General Assembly at Edinburgh to give their sence of the Action Who made themselves Judges and did so highly approve of it that they appointed all Ministers to recommend the Actors of it as good Christians and Patriots pretending that there was no other way to preserve their Religion and Freedoms And yet this Duke dy'd soon after in France of the Reformed Communion For the Countenance of this Proceeding they force the King being but Seventeen years of Age to emit a Proclamation commanding all those that had Levy'd any Forces upon Pretence of his Restraint to Disband within Six hours upon Pain of Death and Declaring that he was at Liberty and had only his Friends about him In the Summer following under Colour of Viewing the Castle of St. Andrews It was contriv'd that the Gates should be shut upon his Followers and so he deliver'd himself from his Guard It would be but the same thing over again to Enumerate the Repeated Usurpations of their Government and the Contumacy of their Ministers their Rebellious Practises at Striveling Glasgow c. and that Horrid Outrage against the Octavians in Edinburgh Decemb. 17. 1596. When the King appoints a Feast they Indict a Fast the Council Orders the Ministers of Edinburgh to give Thanks for his Majesties Deliverance from Gowry's Conspiracy Their Answer was That they were not acquainted with the Business And when it was urg'd that they were only to affect the People with the Sence of his Majesties having scap'd a great Danger they Reply'd That nothing should be Vtter'd in the Pulpit but That whereof the Truth was known Nay they would not so much as pray for the Kings Mother when her Death was Resolv'd upon tho' the very Form was prescrib'd in the most Innocent Terms Imaginable viz. That it might please God to Illuminate her with the Light of his Truth and save her from the apparent Danger wherein she was cast And This would have been the Issue too of the English Project under Queen Elizabeth as appears by the Insolence of their Demands and the Virulence of their Writings if the Conspiracy had not been nipp'd in the Bud. The Scottish Insurrection in 1637. was only their Old Method Reviv'd Of which in a few Words Out of the Kings Declaration upon That Subject Upon occasion of a Seditious Uproar at Edinburgh Octob. 18. 1637. his Late Majesty order'd the Discharge of all such Meetings upon Pain of Death And his Proclamation being Publish'd at Sterling Lithgow and Edinburgh was encounter'd with a Protestation against it at the same Times and Places and with the same Solemnity as if they had been Both by the same Authority Immediately upon this Affront the Protestors erect Publique Tables of Council for Ordering the Affairs of the Kingdom without the Consent of the King and in Contempt of his Majesty and Council At These Tables having First agreed upon their Covenant they conclude upon Certain Propositions of Instruction to the Party No Answer must be made to State-Questions without Advice All Proclamations to be Protected against and to take nothing for Satisfaction Less than their Whole Demand This way of Anti-Protesting they made use of from first to last Upon his Majesties Proclamation for Dissolving the Assembly at Glasgow 1638. they did not only Protest and Refuse to Depart but Cited the Kings Council that Sign'd the Proclamation to appear before the King and Parliament In This their
Levy'd by Distress and Sale and in Case of Refusal the Parties to be Emprison'd pag. 767. With further Authority Feb. 3. 42. p. 777. to Break open any Chests Trunks Boxes Dores with Power to Seize such Chests with Money or Goods for the Satisfaction of the Sums Assess'd And the same Power Amplifi'd they granted to Commissioners for Levying of Money by a Weekly Assessment upon London and Westminster and every County and City in England and Wales the City of London being Rated the Weekly Sum of 10000 l. and Others in Proportion You have here from their own Publique Acts for I cite none of their Pamphlets a Breviate of the Powers they assumed to themselves over King and People And this so Early in the War too that the Faction was not as yet sure in the Saddle For This was all before 1643. You shall now see the Execution of these Arbitrary Principles by the Covenanters of Both Kingdoms in their Turns and you shall Confess that tho' the Rigours of the Kirk may serve as a Foil to any Other Tyranny the English have yet had the Honour to out-strip their Masters According to the Common Method of Innovatours their First Work was by Press and Pulpit to Defame the Government their Next was by Popular Artifice to stir up the Multitude by Tumults to Reform it and Lastly if they found their Party strong enough to Depend upon to Enter into a Confederacy and Set up for themselves This was the Course that Knox Willock and their Followers took in Scotland under the Queen Regent in 1555. and afterward under King Iames VI. And Cartwright with his Complices went the same way to Work also under Queen Elizabeth only the Conspiracy of Arthington Hacket Coppinger Wigginton c. was Discover'd and the Plot Disappointed But the Libels and Tumults in Scotland 1637. which led to that Impious Bond and Covenant in 1638. had better success See his Late Majesties Large Declaration upon That Subject And after their Pattern so had the Practices in England in 1641. when the Parliament was so Over-aw'd by Tumults that the Vote of the Two Houses was no other in Effect than the Sense of the Rabble in the Lobby It was but their Bawling for Justice upon the Noble Earl of Strafford their Crying down of Bishops and Popish Lords and the thing is Done The Riots were so Great that the Lords press'd the Commons at a Conference to Joyn with them in a Declaration for the Suppressing of them But it was Answer'd saying We must not Discourage our Friends This being a time we must make use of All our Friends God forbid says Mr. Pim that the House of Commons should proceed in any way to Dishearten People to obtain their just Desires in such a way Exact Collections pag. 532. The Kirk would have said that they did not know with what Spirit they were Over-Rul'd as they told King Iames in the Case of Gibson and Black for delivering Treason in the Pulpit The next thing that follow'd in Course was a Combination and That shall be the first Point we 'l handle in the Common Practices of the Party which in One Word amounts to no less than the Dissolution of a Legal and the Setting up of a Tyrannical Government The Practices and Usurpations of the Presbyterians upon the Civil Government TO be as Clear now in their Practices as I have been in their Positions you shall have as good Evidence for their Proceedings as you have had already for their Principles And I 'le begin with the Foundation of their Empire their Audacious and Mysterious Covenant Not with the Matter or the Design of it but only to shew you that Covenanting is the Method of the Party The First Covenant of Scotland bears Date Decemb. 3. 1557. at Edinburgh The Second at Perth May 31. 1559. The Third at Sterling Aug. 1. And a Fourth at Leith Apr. 27. 1560. They Enter'd also into Another Covenant at Ayr Sept. 4. 1562. which Knox calls a New Covenant In England 1583. they Subscrib'd their Discipline and Enter'd into a League both by Promise and Writing to do their Parts toward the Establishing of it In Scotland 1638. so soon as ever they had settled their Tables of Advice the First Act of those Tables was their Solemn Covenant And so likewise in England the Commons Impos'd a Protestation and then went on to Covenants and Othes without End Here 's an Vsurpation upon Sovereignty the very first step they set in the Exacting of an Oth without due Authority beside that all Leagues of Subjects among themselves are in the Eye of the Law no better than Seditious Conspiracies Wee 'l come now to the Pretence of these Covenants which is only an Artifice of Inveigling the Silly People into a Confederacy against the Government under the Notion of Promoting the Common Good The End of the First Scottish Covenant above-mention'd at Edinburgh is said to be the Defence of Christs Gospel and his Congregation and of every Member of it against all Opposers to the Death The Second at Perth goes further and Extends to all Persons that shall trouble them upon what Pretence soever In the Third at Sterling they bind themselves from any Correspondence with the Queen either by Word or Writing In their Fourth at Leith they Covenant a Direct Revolt and the reducing of all men by Force that are not of their Opinion In their Last Bond at Ayr they declare against all men as Enemies that shall not submit to their Government And upon the Whole Matter they Found all their subsequent Proceedings upon the Obligation of the First Covenant for the Defence of Christ's Gospel The Pretext of the Scottish Covenant in 1638. was the Defence of the King's Majesty his Person and Authority in the Defence and Preservation of the True Religion Liberties and Laws of the Kingdom As also the Mutual Defence one of another against all sorts of Persons whatsoever And the English Protestation of 1641. looks the very same way viz. for the Maintenance of the Doctrine of the Church of England the Power and Privileges of the Parliament and Liberty of the Subject And what 's the very Title of their Solemn League and Covenant in 1643. but Reformation and Defence of Religion the Honour and Happiness of the King the Peace and Safety of the Three Kingdoms So soon as ever they had by these specious Appearances decoy'd an Inconsiderate Part of the Nation into the Net they Emprov'd the Fraud by Expounding upon all their Bonds and Covenants quite Contrary to the Common Intent and Acceptation of the same And made way thereby to the Destruction of all those Interests which the People thought they had Sworn to Preserve But the Subject was so hamper'd betwixt the Dread of the Othe among those that did not understand the Nullity of the Obligation and the Forfeiture of Life Fortune and Estate if they should not persue it according to the Oraculous
Iudges in Matters of Faith and the Unmannerly Temper of it where a Taylor or a Shooe-maker shall Sit and Vote Cheek by Jowle with his Sovereign Having made a Faithful Report of the Pretended Powers the Avow'd Principles and the Open Practices of these Troublers of our Israel so far as the Discovery may honestly conduce to our Present Purpose we shall now lay open the Mystery of Iniquity in the Secret Contrivances of their Cabal and upon no less Authority than the Faith and Honour of King Charles the Martyr in his Remarques upon the Proceedigs of the Scottish Covenanters The Device of our standing Committees in 1641. with Subordination to the Close Committee was only an Imitation of the Preparatory Tables of Advice in Scotland with Subordination to their General Table And There Effectually was lodged the last Result of Counsel It was Compos'd of Men of Brains Popularity Boldness and such as were most Obstinately Engag'd to the Faction whether Preaching or Ruling-Elders The Acts of Assembly were but the Dictates of the General Table as in England the Two Houses still agreed to the sense of the Close Committee There it was that the Abuses of Government were Inspected Reformations Modell'd Court-Offices dispos'd of all Conspiracies Form'd and Digested And the Preachers Expresly directed what Points to Press and which Nail to drive There can be no better Accompt given of their under-hand dealing than they give of Themselves in their two Private Papers of Instructions Printed in the Late Kings Large Declaration Fol. 282. c. with his Majesties Notes upon them toward the Securing of a General Assembly which was to meet at Glasgow Nov. 21. 1638. The One of them being directed to one Lay-Elder and the Other to some One Minister in every Presbytery for the Packing of their Party In the Former of them you have in terms these following Particulars in Charge That some one Minister and Gentleman in every Presbytery meet oft together to resolve upon the Particular Commissioners to be Chosen and use all diligence with the rest of the Ministers and Gentlemen that such may be Chosen And Because nothing will avail so much for our Purpose where the most part of the Misters are disaffected as that the Gentlemen be present to Vote in Presbyteries it would be presently try'd whether this be put in Execution and if the Minister be slow in urging it the Gentlemen themselves to urge it and put themselves in Possession That they linger not they would be urged again to send their Commissioners to Edinburgh before the First of October by this we shall know our strength the better at our Meeting And the Gentlemen at least the greatest part of them would be warned to be at Edinburgh Septemb. 20. And that only the Gentlemen who are nam'd Commissioners to the Presbytery for chusing their Commissioners for the Assembly with some to assist them that day stay at home and those to come away immediately after the Election That in every Presbytery there be a Particular Care taken of the Informations against the Prelates for Instructing our Complaints The Other Paper of Private Instructions of Aug. 27. 1638. runs as follows THese Private Instructions shall be discovered to none but to Brethren well affected to the Cause Order must be taken that none be Chosen Ruling-Elders but Covenanters and Those well affected to the Business That where the Minister is not well Affected the Ruling-Elders be Chosen by the Commissioners of the Shire and spoken to particularly for that Effect That they be careful no Chapter-men Chappel-men or a Minister Justice of the Peace be chosen although Covenanters except they have publiquely renounc'd or declar'd the Vnlawfulness of their Places That the Ruling-Elders come from every Church in equal Number with the Ministers and if the Minister Oppose to put themselves in Possession notwithstanding any Opposition That the Commissioner of the Shire cause Convene before him the Ruling-Elder of every Church Chosen before the day of the Election and enjoyn them upon their Othe that they give Vote to none but to those who are Nam'd already at the Meeting at Edinburgh That where there is a Nobleman within the Bounds of the Presbytery He be Chosen And where there is none there be Chosen a Baron or one of the Best Quality and he only a Covenanter The King observes Fol. 315. that This Assembly of Glasgow had not so much as the Face of an Ecclesiastical Meeting not a Gown worn by any Member of it unless it was by one or two Ministers that liv'd in the Town The Appearance of it was in a manner wholly Laical Among the Members of it were Seaven Earls Ten Lords Forty Gentlemen One and Fifty Burgesses many of them in Colour'd Cloths and Swords by their Sides all which did give Voyces not only in very high Points of Controversie but also in the Sentences of Excommunication pronounc'd against the Bishops and Others Nay and all things in the Assembly carri'd by the Sway of these Lay-Elders Insomuch that it was a very rare thing to hear a Minister Speak there Now let any man Judg whether this be a Church-Assembly or the Embryo of a Common-Wealth A Conscientious Consultation for the Reforming of Religion or a Seditious Practice for the Embroiling of the State How applicable is that Invective against Popery in the Libel concerning the Growth of it to the Case of Presbytery The Power of it is Absolute says the Author of it and the Decree is Infallible It can change the very Nature of things making what is Iust to be Vnjust and what is Vice to be Virtue All Laws are in the Cabinet of its Breast and it can dispose of Kingdoms and Empires as it pleases It makes it a Mortal Sin even to doubt of any part of its Religion and demands under pain of Damnation the Subjection of all Christians to its Authority That Word of Reformation misappli'd has serv'd it to justifie all the Executions Assassinations Wars Massacres and Devastations whereby the Discipline hath been Propagated It is almost Vnconceivable how Princes can yet suffer a Power so Pernicious and Doctrine so Destructive to all Government Their strict Othes and Vows of Obedience to the Presbytery Evacuate the Fealty due to the Sovereign What difference now more than in the Name betwixt the Papal Tyranny as he has set it forth and the Presbyterial as it appears from their own Words and Deeds What Power can be more Absolute Or what Decrees more Infallible than That of the Presbytery Which challenges Obedience to all its Dictates both from Prince and People under pain of Life Liberty Dominion and Estate It Over-rules Laws sets up Othes of Treason against Othes of Allegiance and covers the Crime of Rebellion with the Title of Virtue It takes upon it self the Office of Christ Vicar Deposes Kings and under the Masque of Religion dissolves the Order and Authority of all Governments The
King in his Declaration before-Mention'd Fol. 404. among other of their Vnchristian Extravagances takes Notice of their Refusal to Pray for Sir William Nesbett upon his Death-bed because he had not Subscrib'd the Covenant and that they did Formally bar non-Covenanters from the Communion in Express terms with Blasphemers and Adulterers refusing Baptism in the Churches of Ministers that had not taken the Covenant even to Children that were born in the same Parish The Unchristian Rigour of this Discipline is such says the Authour of Toleration Discuss'd Pag. 334. that It Crucifies weak Consciences with Needless Infinite and Incurable Scruples that Haunt Dog and Torment us in the most Necessary and Ordinary Actions of Humane Life At the Church at the Table at the Market at Home and Abroad At all Times in all Places and upon all Occasions in our Thoughts Words and Deeds As to Excess in Eating It is Censurable either in the Quantity or in the Quality So that in the first place the Eldership is to provide one Common Gage for the Stomachs of the Whole Parish for fear of a Mouthful too much And in the second Place It is made a matter of Salvation or Damnation whether a man Eat 's Beef or Venison And so for Excess in APPAREL one Inch more than to cover your Shame is a Superfluity and One Peny more in the Pound than the Allowance of the Presbytery is made as much a mans Soul is Worth It is the same thing for VAIN WORDS A Nurse shall not dare to still her Child but with a Psalm and you must not presume so much as to ask What a Clock it is without a Text to prove that the Question tends to Edification Nay they have drawn CHIDING within the Compass of Ecclesiastical Censure So that Malters shall not reprove their Servants nor Parents their Children without Leave of the Eldership And they have taken in BRAWLING too and made every Billingsgate Quarrel a Subject of Consistorial Cognizance Vnder LEWD CUSTOMES are Censur'd all sorts of Publique Sports Exercises and Recreations that have been long in Vse as having their Original from the Times of Paganism or Popery As Comedies Interludes Wrastlings Foot-Ball-Play May-Games Whitson-Ales Morrice-Dance Bear-Bating c. All GAMES that bring Loss are also Prohibited as Tennis Bowls Billyards c. And so are UNCOMELY GESTURES So that a man may be given to the Devil for Lolling upon his Elbow or Sitting upon his Back-side before the Deacon of the Parish Nay our very THOUGHTS are Censurable and 't is enough to be suspected He that sues to recover a Debt shall be suspected of Avarice and he that refuses to Crouch like the Ass under the Burthen shall be suspected of Pride To pass now from their Rigours to their Scruples There goes a Story of some of them that made it a Matter of Religion to Piss a Bed and Ride Hobby-Horses because it is said Except you become as little Children you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven But Bancroft in his Holy Discipline Pag. 368. tell you of those that made Hawking and Hunting and Womens laying out of Hair to be Cases of Conscience and Walker consults Field particularly whether it be in any respect Tolerable for Women that profess Religion and the Reformation to wear Doublets Little Hats with Feathers Great Gowns after the French and Outlandish Fashion Great Ruffs and Hair either Curl'd or Frizl'd or set out upon Wyres c. And Cholmlye desires to be resolv'd whether the strict Prohibition of not Kindling of fire on the Sabboth be of the substance of the Moral Precept Among all these Scruples I find no Difficulty made in the Cases of Dethroning Kings Demolishing Churches Killing and taking Possession c. But to conclude with the Treatise aforesaid From the Triple-Crown'd Consistory that Lords it over Souls Bodies and Estates over Kings Nobles and Commons over Laws Magistrates and all Sorts and Ranks of Men and Interests That Turns Gospel into Law Communities into Deserts Men into Beasts Good LORD DELIVER VS THE END Covenanting is the Method of the Party Al Leagues without Authority are Seditious The Pretended Ends of the Covenant The steps by which the Holy Discipline Advanc'd into a Direct Rebellion They persecuted the Queen Regent into her Grave The Daughter had no better Quarter than the Mother They treatted King James as ill as they had done his Mother The Conspiracy under Queen Elizabeth was nipp'd in the Bud. The Scotch Rebellion of 1637. The Rise Method and Progress of it They Levy Arms against the King for the Glory of God The Practises of the Scotch and English compar'd The Usurpations of the Two Houses The Rigours of the Covenant The Kirk Betray'd and Sold the King in his Distress Lowdon's Second Speech at a Conference Oct. 6. 1646. Answer to the Vote of Sept. 24. 1646. Lowdon's Speech to his Majesty 1646. The Covenanters Barbarous Propositions to his Late Majesty The Two Houses as bad as the Scotch It was the Faction of Scotland not the Nation that Ruin'd the King Their dealing with the King at Holdenby Their Rigour at the Isle of Wight and the Horrid Murther of Montross The Covenanters Iustifie the Murther of the Late King upon the Restauration of This. Presbytery is Inconsistent with any other Government The Presbyterians Will is their Law The Tyranny of the Pretendea Parliament in 1641. The Tyranny Cruelty and Profaneness of the English Covenanters They Disposed of our Estates and Persons at Pleasure Their Scandalous and Uncharitable Censures The Scottish General Table was the Pattern of the English Close Committee Their Private Instructions The Medly of their Assembly The General Assembly is but the Embryo of a Common-wealth Presbyterial Tyranny Excess in Eating Censurable In Apparel Vain Words Chiding Lewd Customes Rediculous Scruples