King alone or with his Privie Councel cannot put order to Ecclesiastical matters and causes or exerce Church-Power and Jurisdiction without a violation of this Law and manifest controlling of it And further in the 4. Act of that same Second Session of Parliament it is expresly ordained that none be hereafter permitted to preach in publick or in families within any diocess without the licence of the Ordinary of the Diocess So that this licence and permission granted to the Indulged by the Councel to preach and exercise the other parts of their function being without the licence of the Bishops is manifestly contrary and repugnant to this Law Moreover Act 1. in the third Session Anno 1663. we have these words And the Kings Maj. having resolved to conserve and maintaine the Church in the present State and Governmēt hereof by Archbishops Bishops and others bearing Office therein and not to endure nor give way or connivace to any variation therein in the least doth therefore with advice and consent of his Estates conveened in this third Session of his Parliament Ratifie and Approve the afore mentioned Acts and all other Acts and Lawes made in the two former Sessions of Parliament in order to the settling of Episcopal Dignity Iurisdiction and Authority within the Kingdom and ordains them to stand in full force as publick Lawes of the Kingdom and to be put to further execution in all points conforme to the tenor thereof Here is a further Ratification and Confirmation of the Lawes mentioned and the Councel hereby yet more firmely bound-up from emitting any Acts or Edicts contradictory to and tending to weaken and invalidat the publick standing Lawes of the Kingdom And which is yet more considerable in the following words of this same Act the effectual putting of these Lawes in execution is specially and in terminis recommended by King and Parliament unto the Privy Councel after this manner And in pursuance of his Maj. Royal resolution herein his Maj. with advice foresaid doth recommend to the Lords of his Maj. Privie Councel to take speedy and Effectual Course that these Acts receive ready and due Obedience from all his Maj. Subjects and for that end that they call before them all such Ministers who having entred in or since the Yeer 1649. and have not as yet obtained Presentations and Collations as aforesaid yet darred to preach in contempt of the Law and to punish them as seditious persons and contemners of the Royal Authority As also that they be careful that such Ministers who keep not the Diocesian meetings and concurre not with the Bishops in the Acts of Church-Discipline being for the same suspended or deprived as said is be accordingly after deprivation removed from their Benefices Gleebs and Manses And if any of them shall notwithstanding offer to retaine the Possession of their Benefices or Manses that they take present Course to see them dispossest And if they shall thereafter presume to exercise their Ministrie that they be punished as seditious Persons and such as contemne the Authority of Church and State Now notwithstanding of this express reference and severe recommendation we know that in the matter of the Indulgence they were so far from punishing such as had not obtained Presentations and Collations and yet had continued to preach and exercise their Ministrie that in perfect contradiction to this Injunction of King and Parliament and other forementioned Acts they licensed warranded and impowered some such as by Act of Parliament were to be punished as seditious Persons and contemners of Authority of Church and State to preach publickly and to exercise all other parts of their Ministrie and that upon the sole warrand of the Kings Letter which cannot in Law warrand and impower them to contraveen express Lawes and Acts of Parliament and not only to disobey the Injunctions of Parliament but in plaine termes to counteract and counterwork the Established and Ratified Lawes and so to render them null and of no effect Whence we see that there was a necessity for the Parliament An. 1669. to do something that might secure the Lives and Honours of the members of Councel in point of law in granting of that Indulgence which was so expresly against law and which the two Arch-Prelates members of Councel would never give their assent unto as knowing how it intrenched upon the power granted to them and the other Prelates confirmed by Law and so was a manifest rescinding of these Acts and Lawes And though this might have been done by a plaine and simple Act approving and ratifying what the Councel had done in compliance with his Maj Royal Pleasure and authorizing them in time coming to pursue the ends of the same Letter further with a non obstante of all Acts formerly made in favoures of Prelates and Prelacie Yet it is probable they made choise of this way of explaining by a formal and full Statute and Act of Parliament the Supremacie in these plaine full and ample termes wherein we now have it that thereby they might not only secure the Councel but also make the Kings sole Letter to the Councel in all time coming a valid ground in Law whereupon the Councel might proceed and enact and execute what the King pleased in matters Ecclesiastick how intrinsecally and purely such soever without so much as owning the corrupt Ecclesiastick medium or channel of Prelacy And withal it might have been thought that such an act so necessary for the legal preservation of the Indulgers and consequently of the Indulged in the enjoyment of the Indulgence would go sweetly down with all the Indulged and such as gaped for the like favour howbeit so framed as that it was not very pleasant at the first tasting For it cannot be rationally supposed that such as are pleased with their warme dwellings will cast out with the walles roof of the dwelling without which they would enjoy no more warmness than if they were lodging beside the heth in the wilderness And who could think that any indulged man could be dissatisfied with that which was all and only their legal security and without which they were liable to be punished as seditious persons and as contemners of Authority even for preaching by vertue of the Indulgence according to Lawes standing in force unrepealed Whence also we see what a faire way was made unto this Act of Supremacy by the Indulgence and how the Indulgence is so far beholden unto this Act that it can not stand without it nor the persons Indulged be preserved from the lash of the Law notwithstanding of all that was done by the Councel And thus these two are as twines which must die and live together for take away the Act of Supremacy and the Indulgence is but a dead illegal thing We may also see what to judge of this illegal and illegitimat birth that cannot breathe or live where Law reigneth without the swedling clothes of such a Supremacy nor can stand but
in reference to the Indulgence that we may see with what friendly aspect this Supremacie looketh towards the Indulgence and with what Veneration the Indulgence respecteth this Supremacie to the end it may appear how the Indulgence hath contributed to the establishment of this Supra-Papal Supremacie and how the Accepters thereof stand chargeable with a Virtual and Material Approbation of and Consent to the dreadful Usurpation committed by this Supremacie In order to which we would know that this Act of Supremacy made Anno 1669. was not made upon the account that the Supremacie in Church-affairs had never been before screwed up to a sufficient height in their apprehensions for upon the matter little that is material is here asserted to belong unto this Ecclesiastical Supremacie which hath not been before partly in more general partly in more special and particular termes plainly enough ascribed unto this Majestie or presumed as belonging to his Majest In the 11. Act. Parl. 1. Anno 1661. where the Oath is framed he is to be acknowledged Only supreme Governour over all persons and in all causes and that his Power and Iurisdiction must not be declined So that under all Persons and all Causes Church-officers in their most proper and intrinsecal ecclesiastick Affaires and Administrations are comprehended and if his Majest shall take upon him to judge Doctrine matters of Worship and what is most essentially Ecclesiastick he must not be declined as an incompetent Judge We finde also Act. 4. Sess. 2. Parl. 1. Anno 1662. which is againe renewed Act. 1. Anno 1663. that his Majestie with advice and consent of his Estates appointeth Church-censures to be infflicted for Church-transgression as plainly and formally as ever a General Assembly or Synod did in these words That whatsoever Minister shall without a lawful excuse to be admitted by his Ordinary absent himself from the visitation of the Diocess or who shall not according to his duty concurre therein or who shall not give their assistance in all the Acts of Church-discipline as they shall be required thereto by the Archbishop or Bishop of the Diocess every such Minister N. B. so offending shall for the first fault be suspeÌ„ded from his Office and Benefice until the next Diocesian meeting and if he amend not shall be deprived But which is more remarkable in the first Act of that Second Session Anno 1662. for the Restituâ—ion and Re-establishment of Prelats we have several things tending to cleare how high the Supremacie was then exalted The very Act beginneth thus for as much as the ordering and disposal of the external Government and Policy of the Church doth properly belong unto his Majestie as an inherent right of the Crown by vertue of his Royal Prerogative and Supremacie in causes Ecclesiastical This is the same that is by way of statute asserted in the late Act 1669. In the same Act it is further said That whatever this sure is large and very comprehensive shall be determined by his Maj. with the advice of the Archbishops and Bishops and such of the Clergy as shall be nominated by his Maj. in the external Government and Policy of the Church the same consisting with the standing Lawes of the Kingdom shall be valide and effectual And which is more in the same Act all preceeding Acts of Parl are rescinded by which the sole and only Power and Iurisdiction within the Church doth stand in the Church and in the General Provincial and Presbyterial Assemblies and Kirk-Sessions And all Acts of Parliament or Councel which may be interpreted to have given any Church-Power Iurisdiction or Government to the Office-bearers of the Church their respective Meetings other than that which acknowledgeth a dependence upon and subordination to the Soveraign â—â—wer of the King as Supreme So that we see by vertue of this Act all Church-Power and Jurisdiction whatsomever is made to be derived from to have a dependance upon and to be in subordination to the Soveraigne power of the King as Supream and not to stand in the Church Whereby the King is made only the Founâ—aine of Church-power and that exclusive as it would seem even of Christ Of whom there is not the least mention made and for whom is not made the least reserve imaginable So in the 4. Act. of the third Session of Parl. Anno 1663. For the Establishment and Constitution of a National Synod We finde it said that the ordering and disposal of the external Government of the Church and the nomination of the Persons by whose Advice Matters relating to the same are to be setled doth belong to his Maj. as an inherent right of the Crown by vertue of his prerogative Râ—yal and Supream Authority in causes Ecclesiastical And upon this ground is founded his power to appoint a National Synod to appoint the only constiâ—uent Members thereof as is there specified to call continue and dissolve the same when he will to limit all their Debates Consultations and Determinations to such matters and causes as he thinketh fit and several other things there to be seen Seing by these Particulars it is manifest and undeniable that this Ecclesiastick Supremacie was elevated presumptively before the Year 1669. to as high a degree as could be imagined It may be enquired why then was this Act made Anno 1669 I answere This act so I conceive was not framed so much to make any addition to that Church power which they thought did Iure Coronae belong orginally and fundamentally unto the King for that was already put almost beyond the reach of any additional supply though not in one formal and expressive Statutory Act As to forme the same when screwed up to the highest into a plaine and positive formal Statute having the force of a Law for all uses and ends and particularly to salve in point of Law the Councel in what they did in and about the Indulgence according to the desire and command of the King in his Letter in regaâ—rd that the granting of this Indulgence did manifestly repugne to and counteract several anteriour Acts of Parliament and was a manifest breach and violation of Lawes standing in full force and unrepealed which neither their place nor his Maj. could in Law warrand them to do by his Letter That the granting of the Indulgence did thus in plaine termes repugne to standing Lawes I thus make good In the Act of Rëstitution of Prelates Anno 1662. Prelates are restored unto the exercise of their Episcopal function Presidence in the Church power of Ordination Inflicting of Censures and all other Acts of Church Discipline And as their Episcopal power is there asserted to be derived from his Maj. so withal it is expresly said that the Church-power and jurisdiction is to be Regulated and Authorized in the Exercise thereof by the Archbishops and Bishops who are to put order to all Ecclesiastical matters and causes and to be accountable to his Maj. for their administrations Whence it is manifest that the
Authoritie of Presbyters turning the Ministers of Jesus Christ into the Prelats jurney men making Curates of them only for preaching and intimating the Bishops mandats And what else doe I in this case but make the Ministerie of the Gospel in my Person Immediatly dependant in the exercise of it upon the arbitriment of the Civil Magistrat 5. As for the Permission and Allowance I have to preach when confined This Permission seemeth very fair while I look on it abstractly without relation to the rest of the Particular circumstances of the Act for this would look like opening the door in part which the Magistrat himself had shut but while I take it complexly with what else is joyned with it it doth presently carry another â—ace like some pictures or medals that have two or three different aspects to the eyes of the beholder For Permission to preach in any vacant Church within the Kingdome is so very great a favour as for which I would desire to bless God and thank hiâ— Maj. most heartily But take it without the praevious Call of the people the Authoritie and Assistance of a Presbyterie as it may be had and take it without the exercise of Discipline and Government but what is Congregational and so it is â—ame Againe take it with the Confinment and other claggs and caveaâ—s contained in the 2. Act Or take it with the burden of being obliged to follow all matters formerly referable to Presbyteries and Synods before these Presbyteries and Synods which are now constitute by Bishops and their Deâ—egats and so it is nothing but that same Accommodation which we formerly had in our offer from the Bishop and did refuse And take it yet with the robbing of our owne Congregations and with the depriving of three parts of foure of the whole rest of the Land and then I have it to consider whether this my Permission to preach be not the putting of my neck under a heavier yoke than it could be under before 6. The last Reason for brevity is from the Affinity with and dependance this Act of his Maj. Royal Indulgence hath upon the late explanatorie Act of his Maj. Supremacie which I desire with sorrow of heart to look upon as the greatest Incroachment can be made upon the Crown and Authority of Jesus Christ who is only King and Lawgiver of his Church upon Earth as will be evident by comparing the two Acts together For the Act of his Maj. Supremacie besides the narrative containes two principal parts viz. 1 The Assertorie of his Maj. Supremacie which is the main Theam proposed to be explained in these Words The Estates of Parliament do hereby Enact Assert and Declare that His Majest hath the supreame Authoritie and Supremacie over all Persons and in all Causes Ecclesiastick within this Kingdom 2. The Explanatorie part followes in so many most comprehensive and extensive Branches and Articles thus That by vertue thereof the Ordering and Disposal of the external Government of the Church doth properly belong to his Maj. and his Successours as an inherent righâ— of the Crown and that his Maj. and Successours may Settle Enact Emit such Constitutions Acts Orders concerning the Administration of the external Government of the Church and the Persons employed in the same and concerning all Ecclesiastical meetings and matters to be proposed and determined therein as they in their Royal Wisdome shall â—hink fit Againe the Act of his Maj Royal Indulgence which is the exercise and actual application of his Supremacie in matters Ecclesiastick may be taken up in these particulars comprehensively 1 The nomination and election of such and such Ministers to such and such respective places 2 A power to plant and transplant put out and put in Ministers to the Church 3 The framing and prescribing Rules and Instructions for limiting Ministers in the exercise of the Ministerial Office 4 The ordaining Inferiour Magistrats as Sherifs Justices c. to informe the Councel every six moneths under highest paines anent the carriage of Indulged Ministers and how they observe the foresaid Rules 5 The Confining of licensed Ministers to one small Corner of the Kingdome and declaring all other Places and Congregations whatsoever within this Nation to be uncapable of any share of this Royal Favour except such places only as are exptesly contained in the Act itself Now that these Particulars of the Act of Indulgence are of the same nature and kinde with the Articles Explanatorie of his Maj. Supremacie will demonstratively appear by this plaine Argument viz. To Settle Enact Emit Constitutions Acts and Orders concerning Matters Meetings and Persons Ecclesiastick according to their Royal pleasure is the very substance and definition of his Majest Supremacie as it is explained by his Estates of Parliament But the Act of his Majest Indulgence in the whole five fornamed particulars thereof is only to Settle Enact and Emit such Constitutions Acts and Orders concerning matters and Meetings and Persons Ecclesiastical according to Royal pleasure Therefore the Act of his Maj. Indulgence is the substance and definition of his Maj. Supremacie as it is explained by his Estates of Parliament The Rules and Instructions for limiting Ministers in the exercise of their Office as also the rest of the two forenamed Particulars of the Indulgence are such as I declare I cannot accept of them or any other favour whatsoever upon such termes and conditions because they containe the down-right exercise of Erastianisme as I humbly conceive and a discretive judgment of such Acts as a man resolving to practise can not be denyed him unless men be turned into bruits and so be ruled no more as reasonable creatures namely the Magistrat by his proper and elicit Acts doing that which is purely Spiritual and Ecclesiastick as a Nomothetick Head and Lawgiver framing such Lawes and Constitutions Ecclesiastick as are not competent for any Ministerial or Declarative Power to enact or impose but of that Power only which is absolutely Soveraigne and whatsoever will militat against an Ecclesiastick Person to arrogat to himself to be Christs Vicar on Earth and a visible Head to give and make Lawes for the Church according to his pleasure The same also will make much against any other though the greatest in the World to assume to himself this Prerogative so long as he can produce no divine warrant for this claime A more particular consideration of these Rules and other Particulars I must needs for brevity forbear My Noble Lord. HAving in the singleness of my heart and I trust without any just ground of offence given this short and sober account of the Reasons why I have not made use of his Majest Royal favour and Indulgence And being fully perswaded in my Conscience that both Magistracie and Ministery are Gods Ordinance no wayes destructive but mutually helpful one to another so that I can not but earnestly long That the Lord who hath the hearts of Kings and Rulers in his hand would put
possession of the favour did not only interpretativly but plainly and expresly in the sight of the whole Nation say they were satisfied with the termes and would rather submit unto them than lose the benefite they had received in and by the Indulgence Upon which account possibly it was that the Councel seeing that they had attained their end in granting the Indulgence and had found the Indulged so calme and pliable to submit to any termes they pleased to propose did mitigate within two moneths thereafter the severitie of the last Act in so far as concerned the stipends for Octob. 5. 1677. this Act was made with which I shall end this historical Relation Edinb Octob. 5. 1677. The Lords of Council thought fit of that the Indulged Ministers shall not be put to a necessity of seeking yearly warrands for their stipends But authorizeth and appointeth the Heretores of the Paroches where they serve to pay them their stipends according as they serve the cure in whole or in part And do declare that if any of these Indulged Ministers shall be found to contraveen their Instructions the Council will proceed against them as they shall see occasion And recommends to the respective Commissioners appointed by the Council for putting the Decreets of Council c and Acts against Conventicles and others in execution to see them keep their confinements and to report if they finde them transgreâ—s We have thus deduced this Business of the Indulgence unto this period and as occasion offered have hinted all alongs such remarks as might suffice to give understanding in the matter and to clear up the true state of the question unto the understanding and unprejudged Reader And from what is said the judicious may see what is to be said of the Indulgence of those Ministers who have thus accepted thereof though no more were said Yet that fuller satisfaction may be given in this matter I shall according as I promised turn back a little and take notice of some things that fell out Anno 1673. when severals of the Indulged were as we heard called before the Councel for not observing the 29. of May and the Instructions that had been given to them where by we may be helped to some further clearness in this affaire And in this examination I shall as to the ground I go upon be favourable to the Indulged beyond all exceptions for I shall only take notice of the relation of what passed as made by one of themselves in a Narrative as it is called concerning the carriage of some Ministers who appeared before the Councel in July last to wit 1673 written in answere to afriend who deâ—ired to be informed about that affaire and truth or falshood was in that Paper scattered up and down among the People concerning the same And I suppose no man will blame me for grounding my discourse against the Indulgence and Indulged upon this Narration seing it may be supposed that this would be made as favourable to them and their cause as truth would suffer and I shall be loath to question matters of fact nor shall it be necessary for â—e to examine every word in that Paper it being sufficient for my present business to touch upon those things which are most material and which concerne our present question This Author tels us that there were a considerable number of Ministers who had obtained liberty from the Magistrat to preach publickly without hazard of that legal restraint under which they lay before cited before the Councel But not to exaggerat that word obtained which would import that these Ministers had been too active in procuring to themselves that liberty as it is called which whether it was so or not I cannot determine though this expression would give the Reader ground to suppose that indeed it had been so I only observe that his Construction of the Indulgence and his Description thereof here given appeareth too favourable and more favourable than true for sure there was more than this in the Indulgence Matters had been thus if the Act of Glasgow had been simply repealed and every man permitted to returne home to his own Charge But when that is not done but every one of them sent to such places as the Council thought meet and appointed and ordained there to abide and to exerce the function of the Ministry with such and such limitations and upon certaine Conditions held forth and made known and as the Councel saith accepted and submitted to it is manifest that the matter had a far other face Beside that the granting of liberty to preach publickly without hazard needed no such Act of Parliament as is the Act of Supremacy to salve the granters in Law and make the grant to stand good in Law But what for a Possession this liberty is the Charter by which it is confirmed may tell us It can be no lawful Possession before God which must have such a de Novo damus and Charter to secure it And that the Indulgence could not stand without this we have seen above and how notwithstanding of all that liberty the Indulged could not be secure in point of Law untill this explanatory Act of the Supremacy had past in Parliament Anno 1669. whereby not only what was done by King and Councel in licensing of so many before that Act was declared to be legal because of the Kings Supremacy in Church-Affairs never before so amply and fully declared and explained but way made for prosecuting the same designe in time coming according as it came to passe When the Indulgence standeth engaged thus unto and under the favourable aspect of that unparalleled Supremacie who that is not wholly devouted unto the Supremacy can give such a favourable verdict of the Indulgence as this Author did Beside that impartial On-lookers will judge that there was much more in this Indulgence seing it is obvious enough how the contrivance was made to break the honest suffering party and as some of the chiefe Contrivers said to divide betwixt the Mad-Cap Phanaticks and the more sober to confirme the Usurpation to strengthen the hands of Adversaries to suppress and keep down the glorious and blessed Assemblings of the Lords people and to settle people in a Sinful silence and stupide Submission to all the Incroachments made on the Prerogatives of the Crown of Christ and on the Privileges of his Church and to the overturning of the whole Work of God and not only the Intentio Operantium which Wise men so circumstantiated as they were were called to eve and consider was obvious and clear but also the Intentio Operis was undeniable however we may please ourselves in devising terms of mincing and extenuating whereby to paint it forth as well as we can if not so as that it shall appear beautiful yet so as that it may not appear so deformed as indeed it is and will be to all that view it in a just and upright mirrour He saith
this is when every one might see what invasions daily were made upon the Power of the Church by the Civil Magistrate and therefore all were clearly called aloud to cry against this and to stand and withstand and do nothing that might contribute to fortifie them in their Usurpations or to occasion their further Incroachment which might have been forborne without sin And sure I am if these Brethren had forborn to accept of the Indulgence as several others did refuse it the occasion of this and many other Invasions had not been given and Church Power had not been so formally usurped as it hath been not the Magistrates so fixed in the possession thereof as they are by such cedings III. What Affinitie it hath with the Supremacie OUr third Head of Arguments against this Indulgence is taken from its relation to affinitie with dependance upon and conâ—irmation by that woful Act of Supremacie made by our Parl. 1669. And sure all who are tender of the Concernes of Christ's Crown and of the Privileges of his Church will have an utter detestation of and abhorrence at any course which floweth from is continued and confirmed by and cannot stand without that Act which with one dash doth dethrone our Lord and spoile him of his Royal Prerogative and his Church of all her Privileges What occasion or rise the Indulgence gave unto the Act of Supremacie and what a foundation it laid for mâ—re of that kind and what a neer affinity and likeness is betwixt them we have shown above and need onely recapitulat things here 1. Had this Indulgence been utterly refused we had never yet seen that Act of Supremacie for the Council having granted the Indulgence upon the Kings Letter contrary to many Acts of Parliament knew no other way to salve themselves but by framing this Act which both secured them for times by past and against all hazard also in going on in the same course as they had begun for the future The grant of the Indulgence was never lawful nor the granters-secured by Law until this Act was made How shall we then judge well of the Indulgence that gave the necessary rise unto that prodigious Act 2. The Indulgence it self would be still an illegitimat brood notwithstanding of all that King and Council both did were it not for the Act of Supremacy for by the Act of Supremacie that is now made a legal deed which otherwise was directly against Law What shall we then think of the Indulgence that must be legitimat by such an Act And what a possession that must be that hath such an Act for its Groundright and Charter let sober men judge 3. The Indulged would notwithstanding of all that is done by both King and Council be still seditious Persons in the account of the Law and lye under hazard of the same were it not for this Act which alone secureth them from the lash of all Lawes made for that end This Act is their onely Right and Ground of Securitie whereby they can plead themselves free from all that could be brought against them by foregoing Lawes So that among other things wherein the Indulged do now differ from all the Non-conforming Ministers this is one that the Indulged are under the Protection of the Supremacie and lye in saftie under the winges thereof whileas others have it not stretched over their heads and so do not enjoy that chilling warmth that is to be had thereunder 4. This is further confirmed by all the Particulars mentioned under the two foregoing Heads for they all belong to this Supremacie and are parts of the same and the Supremacie is but one comprehensive complicated and compounded Act of Usurpation of the Crown of Christ as Head and King of his Church and of the Power and Privileges belonging to the Church and to the Officers of the House of God 5. We saw before the same asserted by Worthy Mr Iohn Burnet in his Testimonie against the Indulgence whose Argument is worth Consideration and I shall here repeat it To Settle Enact Emit Constitutions Acts and Orders concerning Matters Meetings and Persons Ecclesiastical according to Royal Pleasure is the very Substance and Definition of his Maj. Supremacy as it is explained by his Estates of Parliament But the Act of his Maj. Royal Indulgence is only to Settle Enact and Emit such Constitutions Acts and Orders concerning Matters Meetings and Persons Ecclesiastical according to Royal Pleasure Therefore the Act of his Maj. Indulgence is the substance and definition of his Maj. Supremacy c. 6. Seing by what is said it is apparent that not onely is the Usurped Supremacy put in exercise and confirmed in the hands of the Usurped by the Indulgence but also the formal asserting of the extravagant Supremacy by a plaine Statute and Act of Parliament explaining and confirming the same is looked upon as necessary to support the Indulgence and to keep it in legal being It can not be well denied that such as have accepted of this Indulgence have homologated this Supremacie and contributed by vertue of that acceptance all their power to the fixing of this Usurpation for more was not required of them for this end and if they had refused the Indulgence this Statutory establishment of the Supremacy had never been accounted necessary nor possibly once thought upon 7. As he who accepteth a benefite from a Person which that Person cannot bestow but by an usurped Power and doth formally flow from that Usurped Power doth homologat by his acceptance that Usurped Power So the Accepters of the Indulgence from the King and Council which they could not give but by the Usurped Supremacie and which formally and kindly floweth therefrom cannot but in so doing homologate that Usurped Supremacy 8. If this Indulgence had been granted by the Prelate of the Diocie would not the acceptance thereof have homologated Prelates Usurpation and been an acknowledgment thereof Why then shall not the accepting of this Indulgence when granted by the King and his Council be an homologating of their Usurpation Especially seeing the Usurped Power of the Prelate is but a branch of the Supremacy and floweth therefrom Prelates as such having no Church-Power with us but what is granted by the King by Vertue of the Supremacie by the Statute Law of the Land Wherefore if the accepting of the Indulgence at the hands of the Prelates would have homologated the Usurpation that yet flowed from the Supremacy and consequently the Supremacy it self though at a step further off how is it imaginable that the accepting of the Indulgence from the King and Council immediatly shall not be an homologating of the Supremacie which is the immediat root and ground thereof 9. Such as accepted of the Prelates Collation whether to new places or to the same places where they had been before the restauration of Prelacy will I suppose be looked upon as homologating in that act the Prelates Power and consequently the Supremacie from whence that Power
they preached not the Gospel according to that 1 Cor. 9 v. 16. and they observed likewise that the necessity was now great yea greater than ever upon many accounts And on the other hand the people being more and more alienated from the Swarm of Curats as being not only prodigiously profane and lascivious vaine and ignorant enough to demonstrate that they were never the authorized Messengers of Christ but also highly guilty of perjurie and defection in their compliance with receiving their commission immediatly from acting in subordination to and by a power derived from the abjured Prelates contrare to the Word of God the Primitive Pattern and our own Reformation confirmed by Oaths solemne Vowes and Covenants and being sensible of an obligation still lying upon them to owne the outed Ministers as the faithfull Servants of Christ and therefore under a necessity to hear them and to receive the Ordinances of Christ as dispensed by them both the one and the other saw themselves called to some other exercise both to restifie their adherence to their former avowed Profession their abhorrence of the abjured re-introduced Prelacie and their willingness to keep Christ in his pure Ordinances in the Land Wherefore not a few of the more serious Ministers bethinking themselves and considering the many obligations lying upon them to preach and to be instant in season and out of season and considering the urgent necessitie and withall the cheerful readiness and willingness of the people to hear saw themselves called of God to preach as Ministers of the Gospel wherever providence ordered their abode and thereupon as occasion offered preached unto all such as were willing to hear but at first that they might as little displease the Rulers as possible only in privat houses and that for the most part if not altogether at such times when there was no publick Worshipe in the publick meeting places A superplus of caution But such was the rage of the new installed Prelates and such was their Indignation at and Enmitie against those outed Ministers and chiefly at and against the work they were about as knowing that if Christ were keeped in the Land and a memory only of him were reserved they could enjoy no quiet in their usurpations that they ceased not to stirre up the Rulers to all extravagancies of Cruelty for suppressing of the Innocent Peacable and Harmeless Assemblings Hence came severe prohibitions discharging all such meetings under exorbitant Penalties both upon the Masters of the houses where these Assemblies were found and upon the Minister found there exercising and upon all and every one present without exception Hence were houses forced and searched and many hailed to prisons and several necessitate to escape at windowes with the hazard of their lives Officers and Spies sent unto and set in several suspected places to seize and fall upon such as they found at such meetings or but suspected to have been there whence it came to passe that many both men and women young and old have been dragged to Prisons and there closs keeped as if they had been the worst of Malefactors besides several other outragious and illegal Acts of Violence and Oppression committed against them contrarie to all Law Equitie and Conscience The faithful Ministers and people desireing still to follow the Lord in the duty of the day and finding so many and so great Difficulâ—ies in their Assembling in Houses where they were so easily attraped and could with so great hazard meet and with difficultie escape the hands of these Burrioes were constrained at last to keep their Meetings in the fields though without all shelter from Cold Winde Snow and Raine Whereupon the rage and fury of the Rulers instigated by the Prelates did break forth into more excessive and boundless Flames Whence came severe Acts of Councel and Parliament against the same and all wayes of cruelty imaginable taken to suppress these House and Field meetings field meetings being discharged under the paine of death unto the Minister and Convocater and other grievous penalties unto such as did meet Which course of severity and rigour hath continued unto this day But to mention the several Steps Methods Means Consequences and Effects of this Tragoedie would make too long a digression It is sufficient for us to notice that the Suppressing of these Meetings hath been the butt aâ— which a great part if not the far greatest of the Acts and Actings of the Rulers have been levelled ever since they began to appear and the onely occasion of so many Acts of Cruelty and of Enormitie in point of Justice and Legality they being the onely eye-sore of these Enemies to Christ and His Interest and that which they had been hitherto both with cruelty and craft seeking to destroy by Tyrannical Acts and Lawes and by more Tyrannical and illegal Executions as if these Assemblers had been no more lawful Subjects but open Traitours and the Worst of Rebels Hence came the filling of Pâ—isons with such as were apprehended the sending of such Ministers as were taken into the Basse the setting of a great summe of Money upon the Heads of some liberty granted to Souldiers to wound and kill in seeking to apprehend Ministers and to apprehend and trouble any person they found on the high-wayes the selling of honest people as Slaves unto the French Captains and unto Persons going to America the Banishing of the Wives and Children of the outed Ministers that were come to Edinburgh for shelter commanding them to dislodge within the short day prefixed under the paine of being forcibly shut up or dragged out the appointment of a Major in Edinburgh with command over the Town Guards and a good salarie for this very end to apprehend at all times all such Ministers or people as he could finde Assembling together the out-lawing of several Ministers and many hundereds of Professors discharging all supply were it but of bread or water or of a nights lodging to be given unto them and what not In the midst of all this furie and after the quashing by blood illegall most falsly patcht up for saltures of severall estates escheating and confiscating of goods of that trouble Anno 1666. occasioned through the Barbarous Executions of illegal Commands against simple Non-complyers with the course of Prelacy the King at whose instigation or in compliance with whose Desire and Request I know not but that it was not of God nor of Christ nor of the Spirit that I know essayeth other meanes and taketh other measures but all tending unto the same destructive end designed to wit the suppressing and banishing out of the Land all these Memorials of the Lords Covenanted Interest and of his presence in the Land the Assemblies I mean of his Servants to serve and Worshipe him according to the pure Order of the Gospel after the example of Christ and his Apostles those primitive Christians which willingly followed and heard them when by cruelty the Rulers saw they
as Christ never made mention of in his Law yea some where of do directly militate against Christs Prescriptions Doth not their receiving of these Instructions or Prescriptions which were contained in his Maj. Letter say that the Prescriptions of Christ were not full But againe seing they had not freedom to say that they received their Ministrie from Christ alone how could they say that they had their full prescriptions from Christ unless they meant that they had them not from Christ alone And then they must say that they had them partly from some other and that other mâ—st either be the Magistrar or Church Officers not Church-officers for neither had they any call to speak of that here nor doth Church Officers hold forth any Prescriptions but Christs and that in the name of Christ. If that other be the Magistrat than it must either be meant Collaterally or Subordinatly to Christ not Subordinatly for they are not appointed of Christ for that end nor do they as Magistrats act Ministerially but Magisterially not Collaterally For then they should have these Prescriptions equally from the Magistrates as from Christ and the Magistrat should be equal and King of the Church with Christ which is blasphemie More might be here noted but what is said is enough to our purpose at present and what was said above needeth not be here repeated But now we must proceed These fore-mentioned were not all who were that yeer indulged For the same supposed favour was granted to others shortly thereafter as appeareth by these Extracts out of the Register Edinburgh August 3. 1669. THE Persons under-written were licenced to preach at the Kirks after specified viz. Mr Iohn Scot late at Oxnam at the same Kirk Mr William Hammiltoun late at Glasfoord at the Kirk of Evandale Mr Robert Mitchel late at Luss at the same Kirk Mr Iohn Gemmil late at Symming town at the same Kirk Mr Patrick Campbel late at Innerary at the same Kirk Mr Robert Duncanson late at Lochanside at Kildochrennan Mr Andrew Cameron late at Kilsinnan now at Lochead in Kintyre Edinburgh 2. Septemb. 1669. For as much as the Kirk of Pencaitland is now vacant by decease of Mr Alexander Vernor last Minister thereat and there being some questions and legal pursuits before the Judge ordinate concerning the right of Patronage of this Kirk Until the decideing whereof the Kirk will be vacant if remeed be not provided Therefore the Lords of his Maj. Privie Councel in pursuance of his Maj. pleasure expressed in his Letter of the 7. of Iune last have thought fit at this time and for this Vacancie allennerly To appoint Mr Robert Douglas late Minister at Edinburgh to preach and exercise the function of the Ministrie at the said Kirk of Pencait land And it is hereby declared that thir presents shall be without prejudice of the right of Patronage according as the same shall be found and declared by the Judge ordinarie Edinburgh Septemb. 2. 1669. The Persons underwritten were licensed to preach at the Kirks after specified viz. Mr. Matthew Ramsey late at Kilpatrick to preach at Paisley Mr Alexander Hammiltoun late Min. at Dalmenie at the same Kirk Mr Andrew Dalrymple late Min. at Affleck at Dalganie Mr Iames Fletcher late Min. at Neuthcome at the same Kirk Mr Andrew Me-Claine late Min. at Craigneis at Kilchattan Mr Donald Morison late at Kilmaglais at Ardnamurchant Edinburgh Septemb. last 1669. The Persons following were ordained to preach at the Kirks after specified viz. Mr Iohn Stirling at Hounam Mr Robert Mowat at Harriot Mr Iames Hammiltoun at Egleshame Mr Robert Hunter at Downing Mr Iohn Forrester at Tilliallan with Mr Andrew Reid infirme Edinburgh Decemb. 9. 1669. Mr Alexander Blair at Galstown Mr Iohn Primrose at Queensferrie Mr David Brown at Craigie Mr Iohn Craufurd at Lamingtoun with Mr Iohn Hammiltoun aged and infirme Mr Iames Vetch at Machline Edinburgh Decemb. 16. 1669. Mr Iohn Bairdie at Paisley with Mr Matthew Ramsey infirme Thus we see there were this Yeer 1669. Five and Thirtie in all licensed and indulged and ordained to preach in the several places specified upon the Councels Order in pursuance of the Kings Royal pleasure And in the following yeer we will finde the same Order given unto and obeyed by others But ere we proceed it will not be amisse that we take notice of the first Act of Parliament holden this yeer Novemb. 16. 1669. and consequently before the last Six were licensed The Act is an Act asserting his Majesties Supremacy over all Persons and in all Causes Ecclesiastical Whereby what was done by the Councel in pursuance of his Majesties Pleasure signified by his Letter in the matter of granting these Indulgences is upon the matter confirmed and ratified by Parliament when His Maj. Supremacy is so ampliated and explained as may comprehend within its verge all that Ecclesiastick Power that was exerced or ordained to be exerced in the granting of the Indulgence with its Antecedents Concomitants and Consequences And a sure way is laid for carrying on the same designe of the Indulgence in all time coming The Act is as followeth Nov. 16. 1669. THE Estates of Parliament having seriously considered how necessare it is for the Good and Peace of the Church and State That his Maj. Power and Authority in Relation to Matters and Persons Ecclesiastical be more clearly asserted by an Act of Parliament Have therefore thought fit it be Enacted Asserted and Declared Like as his Maj. with Advice and Consent of his Estates of Parliament doth hereby Enact Assert and Declare That his Maj. hath the Supreame Authority and Supremacy over all Persons and in all Causes Ecclesiastical within this His Kingdom And that by vertue thereof the Ordering and Disposal of the external Government and Policy of the Church doth properly belong to His Maj. and His Successours as an inherent right to the Crown And that His Maj. and His Successours may Settle Enact and Emit such Constitutions Acts and Orders concerning the Administration of the External Government of the Church and the Persons imployed in the same and concerning all Ecclesiastical meetings and matters to be proposed and determined therein as they in their Royal Wisdom shall think fit which Acts Orders and Constitutions being Recorded in the Books of Councel and duely published are to be observed and obeyed by all his Maj. Subjects any Law Act or Custome to the contrary notwithstanding Like as His Maj. with Advice and Consent foresaid doth Rescind and Annul Lawes Acts and Clauses thereof and all Customes and Constitutions Civil or Ecclesiastick which are contrary to or inconsistent with His Majesties Supremacie as it is hereby asserted And declares the same Void and Null in all time coming Concerning the Irreligiousness Antichristianisme and Exorbitancie of this Explicatory and as to some things Ampliatory Act and Assertion of the Kings Supremacy in Church-affairs much yea very much might be said but our present business calleth us to speak of it only
man can accept of the Indulgence as so and so conveyed as it was but they must withall virtually implicitly and interpretativly at least though yet really and consequentially acquiesce submit unto and acknowledge the Supremacie in so far as concerneth the matter of the Indulgence and the Acts Orders aâ—â— Constitutions â—â—erein comprehended I am in all this far from thinking that these Indulged brethren did formally and expresly Owne Acknowledge Acquiesce in or Approve of the Ecclesiastick Supremacie in and by their accepting the Indulgence or that they had any such Intention therein as to make way for approve of or to confirme the said Supremacy No I am only shewing what is the native consequence thereof and inevitablie followeth thereupon and what consequentially they may and ought to charge themselves with and others not without ground account them interpretatively guilty of and what a Conscience when rightly awakened and illuminated will challenge them for and the Posteritie will think they have failed in and many now a dayes are stumbled by or induced to stumble upon the occasion of not to mention the designe of the Contrivers which yet when known and discovered may occasion yea and cause a sad and wakening reflection Nor yet to mention what afterward upon several occasions was discovered of which more afterwards and which might have been sufficient to have made some bethink themselves and search more narrowly what they had done and give glory to God by turning out of such dangerous and so many wayes scandalous and offensive pathes Having thus briefly spoken of the Supremacie as relating to and friendly corrosponding with the Indulgence its native daughter we now proceed in our History and shall show who were Indulged even after this Act of Supremacie was thus made and published And of these we have found already five or six licensed that same yeer within a moneth or thereby after the Parliament which gave us such a full and large explication of the Supremacie sat down But we proceed to the following yeers Edinbr 27. 1670. Mr Alexander Wedderburn at Kilmarnock Edinb March 3. 1670. Mr Iohn Lauder at Dalzel Mr George Ramsey at Kilmars Mr Iohn Spadie at Dreghorne Mr Thomas Black at Newtyle Mr Andrew Mc claine at Killaro and Kilquhanan Mr Andrew Duncanson at Kilchattan in Lorn Thus we have this yeer seven moe in all fourtie three Towards the beginning of the next year there is a Proclamation of the Privie Councel re-inforcing the punctual observation of the forementioned Injunctions delivered unto the Indulged after this forme Edinb Ian. 26. 1671. For as much as the Lords of his Maj. Privie Councel in pursuance of his Maj. Royal pleasure signified to them by his Letter the 7. of Iun. 1669. did by their Act of the 27. of Iuly 1669. Ordaine all such outted Ministers as should be allowed to exercise the Ministrie to keep Kirk Sessions and keep Presbyteries and Synods as was done by all Ministers before the Year 1638. And did declare that such of them as should be allowed to Exercise the Ministrie and should not obey in keeping of Presbyteries should be confined within the bounds of the Paroches where they preach aye and while they give assurance to keep Presbyteries And the saids Lords being informed that hitherto Obedience hath not been given to the foresaid Act of Councel Do therefore command and require all and every one of these Ministers allowed to preach by order of Councel to keep Presbyteries in time coming And do hereby confine all these who shall not give Obedience in keeping Presbyteries within the bounds of the respective Paroches where they preach And ordains Extracts of this Act to be sent to every one of the saids Ministers that none of them pretend ignorance How or what way this Injunction was observed I am not much concerned to enquire Onely the Reader would know that the Presbyteries now and before the year 1638. were not the same so that however honest Ministers did observe those yet no honest man could with a good Conscience keep these meetings now because before the year 1638. Presbyteries had never been discharged or removed Howbeit many complied with the Prelates then and frequented these meetings yet good men keeped their Possessions only the Synods then were so far changed into Episcopal Visitations that several honest men had not peace and freedom in going to them But in our Dayes Presbyterian Government was plucked up by the roots and wholly cast away And there was no Presbytery or Synod but what was purely Episcopal depending upon him and recognosceing his Power Whence we see that by this Injunction a compliance with Prelacy was designed And I suppose such of those Indulged Ministers as had not freedom in Conscience to yeeld obedience unto this command thought that by compliance herewith they should have Homologated the Prelats Power and abjured Prelacy notwithstanding that they were obliged by the Command of God to hold such meetings for the exercise of Discipline according to the Patterne of the New Testament if such circumstances had not made it sinful in them Why then might they not also have judged it unlawful for them to have accepted of the Indulgence as homologating the Magistrat's usurped Supremacie and abjured Erastianisme notwithstanding of their Obligation to preach the Gospel Why did not the Obligation to observe Presbyterial Assemblies for the Exercise of Discipline make them willing to step over the inconvenience of Prelacie without acknowledging of which they could not keep these meetings hic nune as they supposed their obligation to preach the Gospel did warrand them to step over the inconveniencie of Erastianisme without acknowledging of which they could as little preach hic nune Especially seing if they observed not these Presbyteries and Synods they could observe none But though they preached not in these places designed by the Indulgers they could have preached elsewhere with as much Glory to Christ Good to souls Edification of the whole Body and Peace in their own mindes if not more I see not how they who scrupled not at preaching though as circumstantiated attended with abjured Erastianisme could rationally scruple the Exercise of Presbyterian Discipline though as circumstantiated attended with abjured Prelacy Yea I think there was less ground for scrupling this of Discipline than for scrupling that of Preaching because as I said they could have preached without the Erastian Indulgence that to much more advantage as experience hath proved in others But they could not have exerced Discipline such I meane as used to be exerced in Presbyteries and Synods without the Prelates Courts We have now seen the Progress of this device of the Indulgence contrived mainely to suppress and keep down the Meetings of the Lords people in houses and in the fields which were the eye-sore of the Rulers and which they were seeking to destroy by all meanes As appeareth by that grievous Act of Parlia made against them August 13. 1670. with the
think fit that the halfe of the Stipends of the Respective Paroches wherein they are confined of the Crope and Yeer of God 1672. be payed to the Ministers formerly indulged therein and that the other halfe of the said stipend be equally devided amongst or betwixt these formerly and now allowed to preach in the saids Paroches The saids whole stipends receiving in the future Division proportionably according to the number of Persons formerly and now allowed to preach therein And where there was no Person formerly indulged the third part of the stipend of the yeer 1672. is to be payed to these confined and allowed by this present Act in the respective Paroches foresaids And in case any of the Ministers foresaids shall not serve as they are allowed by this Act or Commission foresaid their proportion of the said stipends are to be holden as vacant and to be imployed conforme to an Act to be made in this Session of Parliament anent the disposal of the Vacant Stipends And ordaines letters to be directed at the Instance of the several Ministers foresaids serving as said is against these liable for payment of their proportions of the saids stipends And the Lord Commissioners Grace and Lords of his Maj. Privie Councel considering the extent of the Indulgence given by this Act and that if the same should be any further enlarged the regular Ministers might be discouraged and the orderly and peacably disposed people of this Kingdom disquieted do declare that hereafter they are not to extend the said Indulgence in favours of any other people or to any other Paroches than to those mentioned in this Act nor to allow outted Ministers to preach in any Kirks not herein expressed and wherein there are not already Ministers allowed to preach by this Act. Thus we see this Indulgence very far extended and as far as the Counsel minded to extend the same in all time coming But you will say we hear of no Orders Instructions and Prescriptions given unto them whereby they were to be regulated in the exercise of their Ministrie as others formerly allowed and licensed were Therefore in order to this there is an Act of Councel of the date of the foresaid Indulgence to this effect WHereas by an Act of the date of thir presents and by former Acts of Councel diverse Ministers ouâ—ted since the Year 1661. have been and are warranted and licensed to preach at certaine Kirks therein specified and it being necessare for the better keeping of good Order that the Rules following be observed by these Ministers indulged by an Act of the date of thir presents and these Indulged by former Acts of Councel Therefore the Lord Commissioners Grace and the Lords of his Maj. Privie Councel do enjoine the punctual and due observance thereof to the saids Ministers as they will be answerable 1. That they presume not to marry or baptize except such as belong to the Paroch to which they are confined or to the neighbouring Paroches vacant or wanting Ministers for the time 2. That all Ministers indulged in one and the same Diocess celebrate the Communion upon one and the same Lords Day and that they admit none to their Communions belonging to other Paroches without restificats from the Ministers thereof 3. That they preach only in these Kirks and not in the Church-yards nor in any place else under the paine to be repute and punished as keepers of Conventicles 4. That they remaine within and depart not forth of the Paroch to which they are confined without license from the Bishop of the Diocess only 5. That in the exercise of Discipline all such cases as were formerly referable to Presbyteries continue still in the same manner and where there is no Presbyterial meeting that these cases be referred to the Presbyterie of the next bounds 6. That the ordinary dues payable to Bursers Clerks of Presbyteries and Synods be payed by the saids Ministers as formerly And that the saids Ministers may have competent time for transporting of their families and disposing upon their goods The saids Lords suspends their confinement for the space of three moneths to the effect in the mean time they may go about their affairs providing that during the time of the said Suspension they do keep and observe the rest of the Orders and Instructions foresaids and other Acts made anent outted Ministers There was another act of Councel made this same day concerning all the rest of the outted Ministers nor as yet by name Indulged and licensed and concerning some newly ordained as followeth Halyroodhouse Septemb. 3. 1672. THe Lord Commissioner's Grace and the Lords of his Maj. privie Councel considering that by the Act of the date of thir presents and former Acts of Councel certaine Ministers outted since the Yeer 1661. are confined in manner therâ—in contained and that there are remaining diverse of that Number not disposed on by the said Act it ought also to be provided that these may not give scandal to any by with drawing themselves from the publick worshipe in the Kirks of these Paroches where they reside nor ensnare others to do the like by their practice and example do therefore give order and warrant to Sheriffs Baylies of Regalities Baylies of Baylieries and their respective Deputes and Magistrats within Brughs to call and conveen before them all outted Ministers since the Yeer 1661. And not disposed on as said is and who are not under a sentence or censure of State resideing in the respective jurisdiction or bounds or who shall in any time thereafter reside therein to require them to hear the word preached and communicat in the Kirk of those Paroches where they dwell or repaire to or dwell in some other Paroches where they will be ordinary Hearers and Communicat and to declare their resolution herein and condescend upon the Paroches where they intend to have their residence and hear the word and Communicate with power to the said Sherifs and other Magistrats foresaids to seize upon and imprison their Persons within the space of a Moneth after they should be so required And in case any of the said Ministers shall reside in the Paroch where there are Ministers indulged by the Councel they are hereby warranted and allowed to preach in the Kirks of those Paroches where they reside upon the Invitation of the Minister therein confined and allowed and not else And whereas some within the Kingdom without any lawful Authority or Ordination take upon them the calling of the Ministrie preach and do other Acts peculiar to those of that function and considering that such Presumption and Intrusion upon the sacred Oâ—fice tend to the Disordering and Disquieting of the Church and Kingdom Therefore the Lord Commissioner's Grace and the L L. foresaid of his Maj. Privie Councel do enjoyn the said Sheriffs and other Magistrates foresaids within the respective bounds to make search for and seize upon and imprison such upon tryal that they have exercised the Office of a
Mr Georg Hutcheson Mr Iohn Spading Mr Iohn Wallace and Mr William Maitland and all of them except the saids Mr Iohn Bairdy Mr Iohn Crawford and Mr William Fullertoun compearing and all of them except the saids Mr Iohn Spading Mr Iohn Wallace and Mr William Maitland acknowledging that they had not observed the 29 of May 1673. The Councel did finde them to have contraveened the 12. Act of the third Session of his Majest second Parliament and therefore fined ilk one of them in the halfe of their respective proportions of the Stipends allowed to them by the Act of Indulgence and that for the Crope and year of God 1673. And in regard the saids Mr Iohn Spading Mr Iohn Wallace and Mr William Maitland did observe the 29. of May the Lords of Councel assoiled them and ordained the three Persons not compearing to be denounced Rebels And further the said Mr Alexander Blair Minister at Castoun having publickly disowned the King and Councels Power in giving them these Instructions appointed for the Indulged Ministers the Lords of Councel did ordaine him immediatly to be carried to the Tolbooth of Edinburgh and there to be kept close prisoner until further order And in regard diverse of these Indulged Ministers did pretend they had not received the saids Instructions did cause deliver to them extracts thereof at the Bar that they might pretend no ignorance of the same Edinbr the 10. of Iuly 1673. The Ministers underwritten being conveened for the cause foresaid were fined ut supra upon their own Confession viz. Mr Iohn Mc Michen and Iohn Sempil And Mr Iohn Colt not compearing was ordered to be denounced Edinbr the last of Iuly 1673. The Ministers underwritten were also fined upon their own Confession ut supra for the causes foresaid viz. Mr Iohn Scot Mr Iames Fletcher and Mr Robert Mowat Upon the 4. of Septemb. 1673. Mr Alexander Blair is ordered to have liberty upon caution that dureing the time of his Inlargment he should keep himself in the House of Iean Weir nigh the Weigh-House of Edinbr and re-enter his Person within the Tolbooth thereof within the space of one Moneth And that dureing the said space he should not keep any Meetings contrare to the standing Lawes of the Kingdom under the paine of 5000 Merks Scots money And upon the 8. of Januar. 1674. his Inlargment is prorogat for the space of fourteen dayes upon caution of the summe and in the former termes But before this short time was fully at an end He was called home to his Master's joy of whom of the ground of his particular sufferings we will have occasion to speak something hereafter and therefore it will be sufficient at present for clearing of what is past concerning him to give a short deduction of the matter When Mr Alex. Blair and others as we saw above were called before the Council upon the occasion mentioned The Councel enquired if they had observed the Instructions that were given unto them some answered that they had never seen them where upon the Councel resolved to prevent this excuse in time coming to give to every one of them Coram a Copie of these Instructions When the day appointed here unto cometh they all compear what was their Deliberations and Resolutions in the Interim and what was the carriage of the rest that day we will have a fit occasion to speak hereafter the Copie of the Instructions is given to each of them standing Coram at the Bar Several had received them before they were presented to Mr A. Blair But when they are given to him he being moved with zeal and remembering whose Ambassadour he was told the Council plainly that he could receive no Instructions from them to regulat him in the exercise of his Ministrie otherwise he should not be Christ Ambassadour but theirs and herewith letteth their Instructions drop out of his hand knowing of no other Salvâ— or manner of testifying for the Truth in the case The Council seeing what a direct Opposition this was unto them in their Designes in a rage sent him with a Macer unto prison which made a great noise in the City the more serious though sorrowful at his sufferings yet rejoicing that he had witnessed a good Confession and so had perpetuated the Testimonie of the Church of Scotland her patience This could not but carry some sad reflection with it on the rest who had received and come away with these Instructions in their hand wherefore some Judicious and serious Ministers in the Town being filled with shame and sorrow both at what past endeavoured to call the rest together that they might owne Mr Blairs Testimonie vindicat themselves and prevent the contempt under which otherwise they would lye but though they did meet yet nothing of this kind could be granted some would not move one step forward and the rest out of a pretence of love to Union though in evil would not leave them but they all notwithstanding of all their love to Union left Mr Blair alone who yet was not alone his Masters presence making up the want of his Brethren their fellowship at this meeting I heard there was a motion made that some should be appointed to write about the Magistrats Power in Church-matters as if they forsooth could have found-out new Principles to have justified their own proceedings so point blank contrary to all the Actings of the Church of Scotland and of the faithful in it from the beginning and if the Person that drew up their Vindication of which afterward was appointed hereunto I should have expected nothing but a piece of Vedelian Pedantrie But it was good that this motion was also laid aside However faithful and honest Mr Blair must moreover suffer by their Tongues for they were not ashamed to say that all his suffering was for his rude and unsutable carriage before the Council though all that knew him knew him to have as much of a Gentle-man and of good breeding as any of them But the Truth was as a faithful Person to whom he himself spoke it did report he had that day bowed the knee to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and with much earnestness begged Counsel and Courage in order to a sutable carriage at that appearance and finding his heart enlarged did not leave praying that morning until he had obtained some assurance he should be assisted and therefore came before the Council with Micajahs Rudness if so it must be called as having gote a sight of his Royal Master and durst do or receive nothing that might countenance an encroachment upon his Prerogative Royal. It was also known that some of those who in their previous Meeting voted for Mr B. being their mouth before the Council said now they were glade he was not for then he had marred all their Business And in a Vindication of the rest emitted by some of their number he is also as we shall hear lashed and that with the
shame could arrogate to himself such a transcendently Superlative Supremacie over Church-matters as now by Act of Parliament is declared to be an Inherent Right of the Crown think that they would have satisfied themselves with such a General Impertinent Confused Indistinct and Defective Testimony to such a Glorious Truth Will any who considereth the Zeal that ordinarily acted our faithful Progenitours from the beginning to this late Catastroph and of our valiant Worthies who valued this Truth of Christ's Kingship above their lives think that there was not here a palpable cedeing from that Spirit and Zeal which moved them to postpone all things to this chief matter And can any say that this way of vindicating Truth wherein so much Pusillanimity Disingenuity carnal Consultation occasioning Misconceptions and Blindness appeared did keep correspondence with our frequently reiterated Vowes and Engagements Was it pertinent or seasonable or could it be satisfying to propose in such an exigent a meer Cothurnus I meane that general Assertion of the Magistrates Objectively Ecclesiastical Power no less ambiguous till fitly explained than impertinent to the case then in hand Nay let this very Informer tell me if he think not that more Plaine Clear and Full expressions might have been fallen upon if plaine and home dealing had been Intended This I suppose may serve for an Examination of that matter as this Informer hath declared it unto us Reasons against the Indulgence THough by what is said it may be sufficiently seen how sinful that Indulgence was upon the Accepters part with which we have onely here to do as it was conveyed and circumstantiated and occasionally we have here and there discovered several particular Evils wrapped up in it beside its sinful Rise and destructive Tendencie All thâ—t now remaineth to be done is to draw the several Eviles comprehended in this complex business to their own proper Heads that the Reader may see at one view what was formerly scattered up and down the foregoing Relation And considering what is said it will not be necessary to insist on particulars to touch them in a word will be sufficient I. How injurious it is to Christ as Head of the Church WE shall beginne with this Head of Arguments and show in how many particulars injurie was done by the Indulgence as accepted unto our Lord Jesus Christ the onely Head and King of his Church And 1. In that hereby they declared they did not hold their Ministrie wholly and solely of Jesus Christ Sure Christ alone as Head and King of the Church his spiritual Kingdom did Institute this Office of the Ministrie and did Impower men unto the exercise thereof As the Scriptures do prove And Ministers depend solely upon Him therein if they renunce not their own place and standing But we saw above how the Indulged did plainly and positively refuse to say that they held their Ministrie of Iesus Christ alone See what is remarked on Mr H's speech when the first Ten were Indulged where ex professo the word alone was left out and what is said in Answere to the Informer who was dissatisfied with Mr Blair whereby an injurie of a very high Nature was done unto our Lord Jesus who alone ascended up on high and led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men even gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers Eph. 4 v. 8 11. It was God alone that set some in the Church first Apostles secundarily Prophets thirdly Teachers after that Miracles c. 1. Cor. 12 28. So that as the office of Apostles Prophets Evangelists c. were onely from Christ so was the office of Pastours or Teachers Hence they are said to be made Overseers by the Holy Ghost Act. 20. v. 28. Whoever therefore will not confess that Ministers hold their Ministrie alone of Christ do derogat hugely from His glory and rob him of his Prerogative and set these others who ever they be of whom they hold their Ministery in part or in conjunction with Christ down upon Christ's Throne and make Christ no sole King and Head of his Kingdom and consequently no sole Prophet or Priest and Mediator And what an affront this is unto our Lord let any judge And if as we know the clay-Kings of the Earth will think themselves sufficiently dethroned and unpardonably injured if any Subject be made partaker with them of their petty Soveraignity in whole or in part let any consider how Christ shall take this injurie done to him by his own professed Servants But some will possibly say Though this was their fault and great escape yet it was but personal and accidental as to the Indulgence and so cannot not affect the same Or make it an incroachment upon Christ of such an high Nature I answer This being spoken at that occasion when the King and Council were acknowledged thankfully for the granting of the Indulgence cannot but have a reference unto the Indulgence it self and supposing as all reason will allow us to do that what was said was spoken with understanding it must be granted that they had their eye upon the Indulgence granted and so their discourse was to this purpose in effect We declare that we hold not our Ministrie of Christ alone but of Christ and of the Magistrate and therefore do accept of this Indulgence without scruple Whence also it is manifest that they looked upon the Indulgence as a consequent of their holding of the ministrie partly of the Magistrate And whether the Magistrate did intend the granting of the Indulgence as a declaration of their accounting Ministers to hold their Ministrie partly of them or not yet the accepting of the Indulgence thus was a plaine declaration on the accepters part that they held their Ministrie partly of the Magistrate and not solely of Christ And consequently that they owned not Christ as sole Head of the Kirk Further This discourse of theirs so worded purposely and deliberatly saith that if they had not beleeved that they held their Ministrie not of Christ alone but of others also they could not have accepted of the Indulgence If any should yet say That though this might be said of the Indulgence according as it was understood by the Accepters yet it will not follow that the Indulgence it self is chargable with this I answer yet hereby it is granted that the Accepters are chargable with high Treason against the King of Kings our Lord Jesus Christ And as for the Indulgence it self we may safely construe of it according to the sense both of the Granters and of the Receivers And by what followeth its nature will be more fully discovered If it be said That the most that can be inferred from that expression of the Accepters at that time is that as to the Exercise which is distinct from the Office of the Ministrie it self they did depend on others than Christ I Answere No mention was made of the Exercise but of the Ministrie it self
Multitudes of the Non-conforme Ministers were ejected and cast-out of their Places and Congregations because they would not acknowledge the Power and Interest of Patrons nor accept of their Presentations unto Flocks But in this Indulgence as we saw above the Interest of Patrons is reserved entire Though they should say That they sought no Presentations from Patrons nor had they any active hand therein it will not much avail For even several of the ejected Ministers might have been free of ejection if they could in Conscience have yeelded to so much and acquiesced in this that the Patron should have signified to the Bishop his presenting of such a Person and that without his express Consent or Formal Acceptance thereof Yea how many had the Presentation willingly and cheerfully offered unto them undesired 3. It is the chiefe Corner stone of our Reformation and the fundamental point whereupon all the wrestlings and sufferings of our Church from the beginning have been stated viz. That Christ is the alone Head of the Church But by the Indulgence another head is acknowledged beside Him when thereby it was declared that the Indulged held not their Ministrie of Christ alone as we saw above on the first head and first particular thereof 4. So by the rest of the Particulars mentioned under that head we see how many wayes there was in this Indulgence a defection from former Principles and a falling off from our grounds all which we need not here repeat 5. We fall from our Principles and from the cause upon which our sufferings are stated when we cede and yeeld to Adversaries seeking to overthrow the pillars and grounds of Presbyterian Government And in how many Particulars Presbyterian Principles are by this Indulgence receded from we have seen above in the 2 head 6. It hath been the Lot of the Church of Scotland from the very beginning to be put to wrestle against the Powers of the Earth encroaching upon the Prerogatives of Jesus Christ and the Privileges of his Church and in contending for the same against all such Usurpation did the faithâ—ulness and steadfastness of our worthie renowned Predecessours appear and shine forth and upon the account of their faithful adhering to the Truth and bearing witness against all Usurpations made upon the Rights of the Church and on the Jurisdiction of Christ sole King of Zion and for declining Judicatories acting by usurped Authoritie were they all alongs put to suffer in their Freedom Persons Goods c. by Tossings Citations Letters of Horning Confinements Imprisonments Confiscation of goods Relegations Sentences unto death and Banishments But now what a falling off this ground ceding to Usurpations Homologating of the Supremacie Establishment of Erastianisme is in the Indulgence is manifest from the Particulars mentioned under the 3. and 5. head 7. We need not forget what was one maine ground of the actings of our worthie and valiant Predecessours in the yeers 1637 and 1638. viz. That Ecclesiastick causes should be determined by Lawful Ecclesiastick Judicatories and Civil causes by Parliaments and other Civil Judicatories But to Homologate a Power in the Civil Magistrate as such to cognosce upon and judge in Church affairs immediatly and formally is to condemne all these actings and all the actings of Church and State since upon that ground and a plaine relinquishing of that foundation And that by the accepting of the Indulgence such a power is acknowledged to be competent to the Civil Magistrate as such hath been manifested above in several Particulars Let us here but name that one Instance of the Councils sole judging of the fitness and Qualifications of a Person for such or such a charge in reference to his setling there as Pastor of the place which is an Ecclesiastick cause and hath been alwayes so accounted But it will be said No man needs question their abilities some having been Ministers in the most eminent places of the Kingdom For answer I shall not question their abilities though it may be the carriage of some of them hath been such since this defection began as would make a Conscientious Church-Judicatory not a little averse from admitting of them within their bounds if the Acts of our General Assemblies by which they stand censurable were in any regarde But however the Civil Magistrate is here made sole competent judge of this fitness and by what right he hath appointed these to go to the places particulary designed he may appoint others to go to such places for which no Church-Judicatory acting conscientiously would judge them Qualified And who can challenge them upon this account seing they are sole judges themselves 8. In King Iames his dayes several faithful and honest Ministers were banished from their own Churches and confined in other places of the Land and seeing no hope of getting the Civil Sentence taken off were necessitate to accept of a call to serve the Lord in the places where they were confined but we never finde that they took the Charge of such or such a Flock upon the Edict or Act of Council enjoining them thereunto 9. Who ever heard before in our Church Ministers compeating before the Privie Council and there receiving Directions Instructions Rules and Canons directing them how to regulate themselves in the exercise of their Ministerial Function And when the Indulged Persons did thus who can assoile them from a plaine Defection from our Cause and Principles Put the case that some Ministers had done so in the Year 1649. how would they have been looked upon by our General Assembly Or if our Parliament and Council Anno 1648. had turned out such as were against the Duk 's Engagment and thereafter had ordered them to go to such and such places of the Land as they thought fit giving them withall such Instructions as here were given to the Indulged if these Ministers had carried but just as our Indulged did I leave to all to judge whether or not they had been looked upon as Deserters of our Cause 10. We know what sufferings those faithful men underwent when after so long imprisonment they were at length condemned at Linlithgow Anno 1606. for declining of the Privie Council when about to judge them in the matter of a meeting keeped or offered rather to be kept at Aberdeen But now we finde severals Indulged called before the Privie Council there to be judged concerning their Baptizing of some Children within the Covenant a matter no less unquestionably Ecclesiastick than was that meeting at Aberdeen and in stead of giving-in a Declinature we heard of nothing but of a simple excuse that they had not seen those Orders plainly showing that if they had seen them they had obeyed them was not this a manifest defection from our Principles and Cause 11. I might mention under this Head the Indulged persons their forsaking and laying aside at the command or desire of the Council that useful and commendable piece of our Reformation I mean the Lectures or
people as that countenancing and hearing of the Indulged is looked upon as an approving of the Indulgence it self the people not knowing the use and practice of Metaphysical distinctions how can such be urged to hear and countenance them who by so doing must look upon themselves as approving what otherwise they condemne contrare to Rom. 14 22 23 Many moe Arguments may be gathered out of the several Particulars we mentioned above under the several Heads of Arguments but we shall satisfie our selves with these at present leaving the Understanding Reader to make his owne use of the rest that are not made use of here For further satisfaction in this matter to such as would have Formal Arguments I shall only say That by what Arguments Principally we vindicat the People their withdrawing from the Curates by the same mutatis mutandis by changing or adding such words as must be changed or added we shall be able to vindicate the people their withdrawing from the Indulged I saw lately a Vindication of the persecuted Ministers and Professours in Scotland written by a faithful Minister of Christ now in Glory and found that the Chiefe of these Arguments whereof he made use to vindicate the people their withdrawing from the Curats were applicable to the question now under debate concerning the hearing or withdrawing from the Indulged as I shall make appear by these Instances His first Argument Pag. 75. was this They who have no just Authority nor Right to officiat fixedly in this Church as the proper Pastors of it ought not to be received but withdrawn from But the Prelates and their adherents the Curats adde for our case the Indulged have no just Authority or Right to officiat in this Church as her proper Pastours Therefore they ought not to be received but withdrawn from All the debate is about the Minor which he thus maketh good They who have entered into and do officiat fixedly in this Church without her Authority and Consent have no just Authority or Right so to do But the Prelats and their Curats adde the Indulged have entered into this Church and do Officiat therein without her Authority and Consent Therefore they have no just Authority The first Proposition saith he and we with him is clear and we suppose will not be gainesaid by our Antagonists seing the power of Mission of Calling of Sending of ordinarie fixed Pastours is only in the Church and not in any other as all Divines do assert The Second is evident from matters of fact for there was no Church-Judicatory called or convocated for bringing of Prelats in to the Church adde nor for setling of the Indulged over their respective charges all was done immediatly by the King and Acts of Parliament adde Acts of the Counâ—il without the Church A practice wanting a precedent in this and for any thing we know in all other Churches He proposeth an Objection in behalf of the Curats Pag. 78. which I know the Indulged will use for themselves to wit They have entered by the Church And his answer will serve us which is this This we deny the contrare is clear from confiant Practice for the Curats adde the Indulged came in upon Congregations only by the Bishop and Patron adde in our case only by tâ—e Council and Patron who are not the Church nor have any power from her for what they do in this All their right and power is founded upon and derived from the Supremacy and Acts of Parliament and not from the Church in which the Bishop adde the Council acts as the Kings Delegat and Substitute only impowered thereâ—o by his Law adde Letter So that the Curats adde the Indulged having and deriving all their power from the Prelates adde the Council cannot have the same from the Church none gives what he hath not But. 2. The Prelats adde the Council not being the lawful Governing Church any that enter Congregations by them cannot be said to enter by the Church Read the rest there His second Argument is proposed Pag. 79.80 thus Those that receive and derive their Church power from and are subordinat in its exercise to another Head then Christ Jesus should not be received and subjected to as the Ministers of Christ in his Church But the Prelates and their Curats adde the Indulged do receive and derive their Church Power from and are subordinat in its exercise to another Head than Christ Jesus Theâ—efore they ought not to be received c. The first Proposition will not be denied He proveth the second thus Those Officers in the Church professing themselves such that derive their Church-power from and are subordinate in its exercise to a Power truely Architectonick and Supream in the Church beside Christ do derive their Power from and are subordinat in its exercise to another Head than Christ Jesus But so it is that Prelats and their Curats adde the Indulged do derive their Church-Power from and are subordinat in its exercise to a Power truely Architectonick and Supreme in the Church beside Christ. Therefore c. The Major is evident for whoever hath a Supream Architectonick Power in and over the Church must be an Head to the same and the Fountaine of all Church-power The Minor is clear from the Act of Restitution adde the Act Explicatory of the Supremacy His third Arg. Pag. 8. is long I shall cut it short thus that it may serve our case If Churches required by Law or Act of Council to submit to Prelates and to their Curats or to the Indulged thus thrust in upon them had their own Pâ—stors set over them conforme to Gods Word then it is no sinful Separation for Churches in adhering to their Ministers not to receive or submit to the Prelats and their Curats or to the Indulged But the former is true Therefore c. The truth of the Major is founded on this That the obligation betwixt Pastor People standeth notwithstanding of the Magistrat's Act. And the Minor is true I suppose as to some Churches over which the Indulged were placed by the Council His fourth Argument Pag. 90. will serve us It is thus The way of the Curats Indulged entering into Congregations puts a bar on our subjection to them that we dar not owne them for the lawful Pastors of the Church for as their entry is without the Church and the way that Christ hath setled in his House for that end so they have come in on Congregations in wayes which we judge corrupt and without all warrant from the Word of God the practice of the Primitive times In search of Scripture and pure Antiquity we finde that Ordination adde and Potestative Mission by Ministers the Election and Call of the people was the way by which Ministers entered into Congregations and not the Institution and Collation of the Bishop adde nor the Warrant and Allowance of the Magistrat nor the Presentation of Patrons He addeth 1. This way of their