While the Memory of King Charles II. and King James VII endures and till Time the Consumer of all things hath eat up their Parliament Rolls it will hold an undeniable Truth that the Prelatical Party of Scotland are Persecutors and that in denying the same they have made themselves notorious Liars II. As long as we remember that the first Covenanters had all sworn the Oaths of Canonical Obedience to their respective Bishops in their several Dioceses and that they dispensed with the said Oath of Canonical Obedience in their General Assembly An. 163. Sess 13. Dec. 5. and forgot their Allegiance to their natural Lord and Sovereign and imposed their Babel Covenant on all in the most tyrannical manner and that to this day they continue to declaim against the legal securities of our Religion and Constitution as contradictory to it self so long we must be excused to say that Presbyterians have no rule of Faith but the Covenant nor no Standard of Morals but the Practices of their rebellious Predecessors Ridpath II. So long as it appears by the same Acts that they imposed a contradictory Test so long will it hold that they are perjured themselves and chargeable with the Perjury of others III. So long as we can remember that the Western Bigots and Incendiaries blew up the People into such mad Fancies that they laid the whole stress of their Salvation upon their Zeal to promote the Covenant and taught them to resist their lawful Sovereign and to proclaim War against him and printed Books to justifie the most barbarous Assassinations so long we may conclude that the People who are led by such Guides are in a most miserable Condition and as long as we retain the exercise of Reason and the Sense of Self-preservation so long our Governours must be commended who guarded against the Dangers that threatned us under their Administrations and so long as Men love their Peace Constitution and Comfort so long they must endeavour by the supereminent Law and first Principle of all Societies to teach Sanguinary Rebels to feel the Effects of their open Villanies and Conspiracies Ridpath III. So long as it remains in the Records of Council that they ordered Men to be killed without any Tryal or colour of Law or so much as with an Exception whether they resisted or not resisted so long will it bold that they are bloody Murderers IV. As long as there are any Records of that Mock-Assembly preserved the World may be easily satisfied by their Impertinent Queries and Disobedience to the King's Order of their Tyranny and Ambition and their Lording it over others who by their Confession are their Equals in Power and Jurisdiction and that by divine right and yet they suspend the Exercise of that Power which is conferred by divine Right by virtue of an Act of Parliament which I hope they do not think to be of any thing more than Human Authority Ridpath IV. So long as the Records of the last General Assembly of the Church of Scotland remain it it will appear by their Evasions Answers and disingenuous refusals to declare their Abhorrence of Arminianism Socinianism and Popery that they are Firebrands in the Church and Incendiaries in the State V. As long as such blasphemous Nonsense as the Decretum praedamnatum and the Decretum praeteritum are to be seen and read in the Writings of their greatest Champions so long they are iustly charged with Nonsense and Blasphemy Vid. Second Vindication of the Church of Scotland pag. 66. Ridpath V. So long as any of their villanous Libels called the Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence exist wherein they charge Holiness with Deformity God with horrid Decrees and mock at Seriousness and Piety so long will it be evident that they are Blasphemers VI. The Address of the Bishops of Scotland before the Revolution to the King contained nothing but what was agreeable to the publick Prayers used in behalf of the King in both Nations and Mr. Ridpath knows that the other Branch of this Particular must not be touched yet as long as the Act of the West Kirk and the Remonstrance in the Year 1650 not to name preceding Papers of the same Nature and Acts of the General Assembly in the year 1648 are preserved so long the Presbyterian Principles are known to be subversive of all Kingly Power and destructive to all Allegiance and the Rights of Sovereignty Ridpath VI. So long as that scurrilous Address of their Bishops against the Prince of Orange their opposing him in Parliament their refusing to pray for him or swear to him now he is King and the legal procedure against them on the said accounts are on record so long it will appear that they are Rebels VII So long as the Acts of your Rebellious Parliaments from 1639 to 1649 and the Acts of your Assemblies in 1648 and 1649 continue upon record and your zealous Preachers importuning the Committee of Estates in person to execute the King 's most faithful Servants so long the World may be informed of Presbyterian Spite and Malice Ridpath VII So long as their bloody Acts of Parliament and barbarous Execution of those Acts against us and our gentle Acts of Parliament and moderate Execution of those Acts against them are upon record so long it will appear that they are infamous Liars in asserting that we treat them more barbarously than they treated us VIII As long as the West of Scotland continues unreformed from barbarous Principles so long they are a Plague to the Nation and a Reproach to the Protestant Religion This is only understood of such of them as deserve this Character Ridpath VIII So long as the West of Scotland which was the principal Scene of these bloody Tragedies has a being so long will it appear that they were barbarous Before I take leave of you I must put the Reader in mind of one Argument by which you endeavour to fully the Reputation of such of the Bishops as voted in the late Convention before the King's Letter to them was opened that They were a free and lawful Meeting notwithstanding of any Order that might be contained in that Letter to dissolve them from this you conclude that they were inconsistent with their own Principles and after Practices And the truth is if they intended by that Vote nothing less than what the Presbyterian Party advanced they were inconsistent with their Principles but tho they concurred in that Vote they took the Words a free and lawful meeting not to signifie any Meeting of the People contrary to the King's Prerogative Authority and standing Laws but rather a Meeting to support all the three and they were to sit notwithstanding of a Prohibition until such time as they could duly inform the King of the Straits and Difficulties that they were involved in Necessity made them bow under the Weight of that Opposition that they wrestled with and they hoped that a Vote might be forgiven which their Practices would have
use their utmost endeavours Naph pag. 155. 41. We ought not to believe that the Primitive Christians were so numerous as the first Apologists for Christianity did give out they were deceived in a Matter of Fact for the Sufferings of the Martyrs do not at all militate against the lawfulness of Defensive Arms. Lex Rex pag. 2. 71. 42. The very power to Extirpate the present Government is God's Call to do so Cargil's New Cov. Art 1. 43. We are no more bound by any tie of Allegiance to the present Governours than we are bound in Allegiance to the Devils Cargil's New Cov. Art 9. If the Scotch Presbyterians under the former Reigns had satisfied themselves with the Theory of Rebellion and if they had not actually practis'd according to the full extent and tendency of their Principles then their Writings and Seditious Sermons might have been tolerated with the greater Ease but since those active Gentlemen ventur'd upon the Natural Conclusions that their Principles yielded so that none of the Kings Loyal Subjects knew but that they were to be murder'd as soon as they stept out of Doors I hope modest Men will allow that severe Laws were very necessary when the Holy Scriptures were perverted to destroy the General Peace of Mankind and fiery Enthusiasts were made believe that they might make bold with the Life of any Man whom they took to oppose their own Dreams if they fancyed that their Neighbours were Canaanites and Moabites Most of them that bawl'd against the Government of Charles II. are such as never understood the Temper of our Religious Incendiaries or were themselves deeply ingaged in the Rebellion and therefore I have added to the former Papers the following Letter to undeceive such as are misinform'd and to let the World see that it was impossible for our Kings and Parliaments to forbear the making of such Laws as our Enemies complain of when the Holy Scriptures were wrested contrary to their True Meaning and made to truckle under the hellish designs of incorrigible Hypocrites The following Paper is a very Authentick one written by the famous Assassin Mr. James Mitchel who attempted the Life of the Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews upon the Streets of Edinburgh and in doing so wounded the Bishop of Orkney This Sacrilegious Effort he endeavours to justifie from the Holy Scriptures The Presbyterians cannot take it ill that the Monuments of their Martyrs are preserv'd if they say that all Presbyterians have not such Principles I say so too but then they must remember that such were the Presbyterians against whom the Laws were made under the former Reigns and 't is difficult to know whether all of them have not the same Principles if once they are provok'd to anger and if they are consequential to the Doctrine of the first Puritans for Goodman saith expresly That If the Magistrates shall refuse to put Mass-mongers and false Preachers to death the people in seeing it perform'd do shew that zeal of God which was commended in Phineas destroying the Adulterers and in the Israelites against the Benjamites Let any sober Man consider what Improvemnnts the Principles of the following Letter are capable of and then let him tell me whether he can name any Crimes punished by any Magistrates in any Corner of the World more dangerous to human Society than the Doctrines that he may read with his own Eyes in this Letter I have copied it from that Collection of Mr. Mitchel's Papers which his own Consederates took great care to Print and preserve in the latter Editions of Naphtali THE COPY OF A LETTER FROM Edinburg Tolbooth February 1674. ME who may justly call my self less than the least of all Saints and the chiefest of all Sinners yet Christ Jesus calleth to be a Witness for his despised Truth and trampled on Interests and Cause by the wicked blasphemous and God contemning Generation and against all their perfidious wickedness Sir I say the Confidence I have in your real Friendship and Love to Christ's Truth People Interest and Cause hath encouraged me to write to you at this time hoping you will not misconstruct me nor take advantage of my Infirmity and weakness You have heard of my Inditement which I take up in these two particulars First As they term it Rebellion and Treason anent which I answered to My Lord Chancellor in Committee that it was no Rebellion but a Duty which every one was bound to have performed in joyning with that party and I in the Year 1656 Mr. R. L. being then Primar in the Colledge of Edinburg before our Laureation tendered to us the National Covenant and Solemn League and Covenant upon mature Deliberation I found nothing in them but a short compend of the Moral Law only binding us to our Duty towards God and towards Men in their several Stations and I finding that our banished King's Interest lay wholly included therein and both Coronation and Allegiance Oaths c. and they being the Substance of all Loyalty and my Lord it was well known that many were taking the Tender and forswearing Charles Stuart Parliament and House of Lords I then subscribed both the doing of which My Lord Chancellour would have stood at no less rate if as well known than this my present adhering and prosecuting the Ends thereof doth now and when I was questioned what then I called Rebellion I answered it is in Ezra vii Verse 26. And whosoever will not do the Law of God and of the King c. but being questioned before the Commissioner and the Council therea nent I answered as I said to my Lord Chancellour before in the Year 1656. Mr. R. L. being then Primar in the Colledge of Edinburg before our Laureation he tendered to us the National and Solemn League and Covenant He Stopt me Saying I 'll wad ye are come here to give a Testimony And then being demanded what I called Rebellion if it was not Rebellion to oppose his Majesties Forces in the Face To the which I answered viz. My Lord Chancellour if it please your Grace I humbly conceive they should have been with us according to the National and Solemn League and Covenant at which Answer I perceived him to storm But saith he I heard ye have been over Seas with whom did ye converse there Answer with my Merchant But saith he with whom in particular Answer with one John Mitchel a Cousin of mine own Saith he I have heard of him he is a Factor in Rotterdam to which I conceded But saith he did ye not converse with Mr. Livingston and such as he to which I answered I conversed with all all our banished Ministers To which he replyed banished Traitors ye will speak Treason at the Bar. Then he answered himself saying But they would call the shooting at the Bishop an Heroick Act. To which I answered that I never told them any such thing but where did you see James Wallace last Answer Towards the Borders of Germany
The SPIRIT of Calumny and Slander Examin'd Chastis'd and Expos'd IN A LETTER TO A MALICIOUS LIBELLER MORE Particularly Address'd to Mr. GEORGE RIDPATH Newsmonger near St. Martins in the Fields CONTAINING Some Animadversions on his Scurrilous Pamphlets Published by him against the Kings Parliaments Laws Nobility and Clergy of Scotland TOGETHER With a short account of Presbyterian Principles and Consequential Practices Tenue est mendacium perlucet si diligenter inspexeris Senec. London Printed for Joseph Hindmarsh at the Golden-Ball over against the Royal Exchange 1693. TO THE READER IT is not much worth the while to inform the World that now Mr. George Ridpath is at the Head of the Presbyterian Party in Scotland His Associates there and here have such an Opinion of him that they consider him as the Invincible Champion of their Cause and the truth is if any Man be so inconsiderable and so much a Brute as to fight him at his own Weapons Mr. Ridpath will certainly carry the Prize He 's the Man that is now most likely to pull down Antichrist and the Whore of Babylon And as for the Scotch Episcopal Clergy who yet retain any kindness for the Hierarchy and the former Government if he lives another year they must all of them be banish'd the Isle of Britain It is enough for you to know that now the Presbyterians as is probable have by an unanimous Suffrage chosen him to manage the Libels against their Opposites He now appears in the Field of Battel with all the Noise Lies and Clamour that becomes a Zealous Covenanter He began this last years Campagne with a Libel against Dr. M o which valuable Book he Dedicated to the Parliament of Scotland by this one may easily infer that either he had a mean Opinion of the Parliament or extraordinary thoughts of himself If the following Treatise cannot be reduc'd into any certain Method this is not to be imputed unto me for I must confess that I too much follow'd the Excursions of Mr. Ridpath's invention I was willing to contract the Animadversions that I made upon his Book into as little room as was possible and therefore the frequent Transitions from one thing to another are best understood by such as have Read his Continuation c. I hope most Men are better employed than either to think or speak of the Calumnies and Lies that he industriously heaps together against the Clergy His Party is resolv'd to make use of such Engines against the Church as they and their Fore-Fathers found most successful to the Extirpation of Root and Branch and they that are unacquainted with their Malicious Methods are great Strangers to our Nation and History If the Reader meet with some Paragraphs that are more particular and peculiar to Mr. Ridpath than the Publick is oblig'd to take notice of I must be excus'd since I was compell'd for I assure you that I value personal altereations no otherwise than a good Christian ought to do Nor did I ever Write to satisfie or convince Mr. Ridpath that being a thing in it self impossible There is a certain Order of Mean Spirited Fellows I do not mean by their External Quality who think that there is nothing written by their Party were it never so ignominiously fulsome and scandalous but what is invincible and unanswerable Their Pride and Vanity are Incurable It is not my meaning that we ought to put our selves to the Drudgery of answering all the Scurrilous and Obscene Libels that are propagated by our Enemies but 't is reasonable to let our Friends see that at some times we can Confute them if that be thought convenient I am so far convinc'd of the weakness of their Reasonings that I know no Sect Antient or Modern that ever broke the Peace of the Christian Church but may be more plausibly defended than the latest Edition of Presbytery in Scotland I never thought that the Reputation of my Friend was in any hazard by being attack'd by Mr. Ridpath or the Little Creatures who instigate him yet by the following Papers I make it plain to all disinteressed persons that Mr. Ridpath lies Willfully and Deliberately in several Instances and therefore I may be allow'd to take leave of him for the future if he does not manage his accusations as becomes the Spirit of Truth Innocence and Ingenuity If you think that the Style is more sharp than is Decent or Just then I intreat you may Read his Books which occasion'd these Papers and then I am confident that you will retract your Censure and find that I have meddled with his Person as little as was possible He is in some places so Obscene that there is no coming near him and therefore I made all possible hast to rid my imagination of him and the paultry Trash that he gathers together The Bookseller was willing to Print a Sheet or two more than the Letter that I address'd to Mr. Ridpath and therefore I gave him some Propositions that are extracted out of such Books as are most in Vogue amongst the Scotch Presbyterians that the Reader might have a sample of their Moral Theology with regard to Obedience Government and Subjection To which I have added a Letter written from the Tolbooth of Edinburgh by the Famous Assassin Mr. James Mitchel who endeavours to prove from several Texts of Scripture that he ought to kill Dr. Sharp Lord Archbishop of St. Andrews In short to use the words of a Great Man Rebellion is the Soul of the Kirk And though we had not known the History of that Parliament Anno 1645. So they call'd the bloody Meeting at St. Andrews we have later Instances of their Arbitrary and Tyrannical Malice against the better half of the Nation Their very Patrons are asham'd of them not through any ingenuous remorse but because their bare fac'd Villanies are frequently expos'd I think the following Letter needs no other Preface than what is already hinted by Sir Your humble Servant S. W. The CONTENTS THE Occasion of this Letter Mr. Ridpath the Author of two or three Scurrilous and abusive Pamphlets against the Kings Parliaments Laws Nobility and Clergy of Scotland Page 1 His Rage and Passion against the Author of the Apology for the Clergy of Scotland Ibid. His Challenge fairly embrac'd The Author of this Defence undertakes to prove that there is not a good Consequence in Mr. Ridpath 's Books from the beginning to the end p. 2 The Character bestowed upon Mr. Rutherford by the Author of the Apology no justifiable ground of Mr. Ridpath 's clamourous bawling against the Learn'd Advocate Ibid. â—â—â—path 's accusation against Sir George Mackenzie in the case of C. of C. founded only on his own Petulance and Malice p. 3 Ridiculous advices to the Ministers of State in England and his Civilities to K. W. and Q. M. Ibid. His imitation of the famous Presbyterian Buffoon Dr. Bastwick when he reviles the present Clergy of the Church of Scotland p. 4 His impudence in
charging the Archbishop of Glasgow with so many unheard of Crimes p. 5 His Vanity in thinking that his Books do greater Feats than the other Scriblings of his Party p. 6 His Civilities to the Clergy of the Church of England and his particular Forgeries against the Author of the Apology Ibid. His Critical Skill examin'd And his officious interposal in the Defence of Mr. Rule further Chastis'd Ibid. Train of many impertinent Lies together against Dr. Monro expos'd p. 7 His stupid ignorance in the History of the first Reformation of Scotland and in the Doctrine of the first Reformers p. 8 His Feeble attempts to prove the Divine Right of Presbytery Ibid. His abominable Lies in charging the Government with unheard of Cruelties p. 9 The Cameronians prov'd to be the most zealous Presbyterians And Mr. Radpath 's Argument against their Authority prov'd from Presbyterian Principles to be no Argument at all Ibid. His Argumentum ad hominem from the Viscount of Dundee 's Practices proves no more than that he is ignorant in the first Elements of Logick p. 10 His comparison between the Practices of the Church of England and those of the Scotch Presbyterians scandalous and impertinent Ibid. Presbyterians more cruel and barbarous than any other People This prov'd by a memorable instance in the year 1645. p. 11 The Covenanters less skilful than the Inquisitors but equally Cruel p. 11 His ignorance further expos'd p. 12 The Dr. us'd no Equivocation when he said that the Covenant was rigorously impos'd upon Children Ibid. This prov'd by an Act of the Gen. Ass 1648. p. 13 The Charge of Equivocation disprov'd and retorted p. 14 15 The Practice of the Episcopal Clergy in exposing the Presbyterians vindicated from Levity and Profanity Ibid. The Cameronians the most active and the most consequential Presbyterians p. 16 His derivation of the Word Enthusiasm compar'd with such another Critical Essay of a Bedlamite Ibid. The Acts of the General Assembly especially those of 48 and 49 do sufficiently Vindicate K. Ch. 2. from all imputations of rigor and cruelty p. 17 Sir George Mackenzie gave a true Narrative of the first Rise and Occasion of those Laws that the Presbyterians complain of p. 18 One of the Pedling Scribles in favours of Presbytery his weakness silliness and ignorance fairly expos'd in some Particulars p. 18 19 Mr. Ridpath 's Lies viz. that Sir Geo. Mackenzie persecuted Hamilton of Hallside refuted by Hallside himself Ibid. No Laws made against Presbyterians as such but against Seditions Tumults and Insurrections Ibid. His method of answering Arguments by suppressing such Words upon which their strength depends p. 19 20 The Presbyterians in general charg'd with Rebellious Principles and Practices This made good against the whiffling exceptions and evasions of Mr. Ridpath p. 21 The King and Parliament did not consider them as Presbyterians but as stubborn and incorrigible Rebels Ibid. The Majority of the People for the Episcopal Clergy Ibid. His rude and inconsiderable Lies against the Earl of Airly and the Laird of Meldrum p. 22 The Doctrine of Passive Obedience fairly stated and defended p. 23 24 The Presbyterian Exceptions disprov'd and retorted Ibid. Mr. Ridpath 's incurable infelicity in mistaking true Sense for Contradictions Ibid. The Writings of Mr. Rutherford prov'd obscure and Mr. Ridpath invited to defend them p. 25 26 Mr. Ridpath 's impudence in denying the Blasphemies that are to be seen in Mr. Rule 's Books p. 26 27 His blustering ignorance further expos'd p. 28 The Presbyterians prov'd to be the first aggressors in the Trade of Libelling and the only experienc'd Practitioners p. 28 29 30 The additional accusations against Dr. Monro proves no more than Mr. Ridpath 's wickedness and malice p. 30 31 The Murder of Archbishop Sharp prov'd to be the result of Presbyterian Principles p. 32 The Presbyterians by their Principles not oblig'd to Forms p. 33 The Charge of Pedantry brought against the Doctor disprov'd and retorted p. 33 34 35 Our Ecclesiastical Superiors did not connive at the Faults of the Subordinate Clergy tho they proceeded against such as were complain'd of by the Orderly and tedious Methods of the Law p. 35 Mr. Ridpath further chastis'd for his ignorance in the History and Principles of the Presbyterians p. 35 36 His ungovernable Malice against Dr. Canaties in many rude and impertinent efforts canvass'd aad examin'd p. 37 His willful and affected mistake of the Author of the Postscripts meaning p. 38 His ignorance of a formal Contradiction p. 39 The Presbyterians accuse all Men of plotting against the Government because plotting is their only Element p. 40 Mr. Ridpath 's Hypocrisie wishing that both Parties may be tender of one another when his Practice in the next Line confutes all his pretences of Piety Ibid. His common Topick to justifie his Calumnies viz. That he does not know what he writes to be false further expos'd and ridicul'd Ibid. His Ignorance in opposing the knowledge of Arms to the Liberal Arts and Sciences p. 41 42 The charge against the Clergy of Stealing their Sermons retorted upon an Impudent Presbyterian Plagiary p. 42 43 His Vanity and Ignorance further Chastis'd p. 43 44 His affectation of Theology Logick and Wit expos'd by plain and palpable instances p. 45 46 His Catalogue of Cruelties and Treacheries paralell'd p. 47 48 49. Another Objection against the Bishops of Scotland consider'd p. 51 52 53 Several Certificates and Letters in favours of the Calumniated Clergy p. 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 Several Propositions extracted out of the Presbyterian Books p. 68 69 70 c. Mr. James Mitchel the famous Assassin his Letter Justifying from Scripture his Villanous attempt to Murder the Archbishop of St. Andrews Mr. Ridpath I Have good information from several Persons of known integrity here at London that you are the Author of two abusive Pamphlets by which you endeavour to defame our Kings Parliaments and Nobles such as we had in Scotland before the Revolution Our Kings were perjured Tyrants and K. Charles II. knew that he himself had forfeited his Title to the Crown Our Parliaments were but pack'd Clubs a company of slavish Parasites that contributed all they could to the ruin of our Liberties Civil and Religious and consequently our Nobility can deserve no better Character who made so great a Figure in all our Parliaments As for the Episcopal Clergy whether Bishops or Presbyters you give them so many names that it is a wonder you did not think such a despicable company of men below your Notice The Book which you call your Continuation most of it is levelled against one particular man and when I undertake his Defence if that be necessary I find that the reading over your book and transcribing so many parts of it was all the toil I was likely to undergo and tho you call him whom you fancy to be your Adversary a man of ungovernable passion yet I must tell you that
he could not but be mad to the last degree if he were angry at the names you give him since they of the first quality in Europe have no fairer quarter at your hands A Scribler a Pedant a Hawker a Villain an Ass an Ignoramus a Blunderer are all of them words that he can hear with patience when his Superiours are not better treated One may modestly conclude that you are very angry and that 's a greater punishment than any of your Adversaries can inflict upon you The Author of the Postscript to the Apology for the Clergy of Scotland told you already that he was not at all concerned in that Scuffle between you and your Antagonist nor is he likely to offer his mediation to end your Debate and he is still of the opinion that he can employ his time better than to read again your Answer or the Book that occasioned it His Postscript is a short Epistolary account of the first or rather a Character of the present methods of Presbytery in imitation of their Predecessors than any particular view of your Book and I am content that you impute this to his ignorance or weakness or what else you please to call it It is very odd that you should think that you have power to summon any body to the Press when you please even when you lurk behind the Curtains You take it for granted that Dr. M. was the Author of that Postscript and it may be you hit right enough yet tho your Party be lashed in it with some severity he takes no great pleasure in medling with particular men further than necessity constrains He said that there was not a good consequence in your Book from the beginning to the end this could not but provoke a man of your courage and mettle By a Consequence I humbly think he understood a truth deduced from true and solid Principles that overthrows the common cause of Episcopacy or the reputation of those men whom you asperse I mean such of the Clergy who were never under any publick censure of the Church He told you likewise that he had no inclination particularly to examine the imaginary contradictions that you charge your Enemy with and now I give you the reason partly because the Theme as you manage it yields no edification partly because the publick is not at all concerned to read such Libels and altercations and he gives you liberty to triumph as much as you please upon this Head but if your honour and credit is at stake and that you find your self concerned more particularly to run him down than any other he is content to meet you before any competent number of grave witnesses who by their authority may mitigate such excursions of rudeness as may be feared if your blood should boil to its usual fervor and to reason the matter calmly and without either huffing or the terrible language of an Almanzor to demonstrate that there is not a good consequence in your Book from the beginning to the end And indeed you may excuse me to tell you that in your last Pamphlet you seem not to understand the very first Elements of Logick Moreover the Author of the Postscript incurr'd your high displeasure by saying that there were abusive Metaphors in Mr. Rutherford's Letters and some dark and unintelligible passages in his Scholastical Essays and is this the unpardonable Crime for which there can be no atonement Mr. Ridpath this was no reflection upon his Morals but a plain matter of Fact to be seen by every body that peruseth the Books that are cited And therefore this could not at all justifie your accusing Sir George Mackenzie to have suborned Witnesses a practice so infamous and so wicked that I am confident no man of honour will ever say any such thing of the truly Just and Learned Advocate A previous examination of Witnesses in criminal Cases is not Subornation but precognition practised at all times in Scotland before they deponed judicially and Sir George Mackenzie wanted not many clear evidences to prove that C. of C. was plotting an insurrection against the King and Government about the time of Argyle's rebellion You may read the elegant History of that insurrection written by the Bishop of Rochester and there you may see with your own Eyes several authentick Evidences upon record against C. of C. and I must tell you that Sir George Mackenzie needed not that Gentleman's Assistance to re commend him to the present Court if he had been ambitious to have been a Favorite and if he told C. of C. that he had done him an Injury and begg'd him pardon how came this Confession to be made publick if he to whom it was first revealed under trust spread it abroad he is guilty of something that no Gentleman will readily own but the plain truth is Sir George Mackenzie never told him any such thing after the manner you represent it and he had very good reason to expect that the Witnesses against C. of C. would judicially depone in publick the very same things that they asserted in private and if you please you may remember that there is a greater difference between Sir George Mackenzie and your self than between Mr. Rutherford and those of our Clergy you trample upon Your Advices and Threatnings to the Ministers of State in England are idle and of no use at all for Ministers of State will advise according to their Light and Conviction without any regard to the short-liv'd Pamphlets that fly about the City nor are they likely to receive their Measures either from you or any of us who see so little in their Sphere The Presbyterians in England are not yet ripe for a Rebellion and they in Scotland can do little to disturb England without their Assistance and therefore you had best forbear your Threatnings for I am apt to think that your Influence in either Nation goes but a little way You treat King William no better than other Kings since you say he is prevailed upon to write Letters to the General Assembly that they are not obliged in Law to comply with but better Lawyers are of another Opinion and if King William venture upon such Essays of Arbitrary Power in a little time according to your Hypothesis he may forfeit his Title since he has none but such as is twisted with the Divine Right of Presbytery But indeed Mr. Ridpath I think we had Kings in Scotland before we had either Covenants or Presbytery or the Claim of Right and that our fundamental Constitution does not depend upon an Act of the General Assembly tho the General Assembly sometimes venture in terminis to make an Act against an Act of Parliament It is a gentile Compliment that you bestow upon Queen Mary when you allow the Jacobites to invite her Father to keep the Solon-Geese in the Bass and I think none is permitted to speak so but Mr. Ridpath It is not safe for any Government to
I did not know a thing that he thought was known all the World over why said he Ovid is of our Family and do not you know said he that Ovidius is from Ovis a Sheep and the Butchers take Ovis by the Neck and therefore he began his Book de Tristibus with Parve nec invidio from all this he concluded that Ovid was of his Family and I think he argued as wisely as you do to prove us Enthusiasts It is true the Author of the Postscript said that the Acts of the General Assembly did sufficiently vindicate King Charles II. and his Ministers of State from any Shadow of Rigour or Cruelty but I must tell you that he meant other Acts than those you guess and it is a sad thing to have to do with such an Adversary as you it appears that you have a very good Opinion of your self and there is not a Quality more essential to a Presbyterian than Pride and Vanity you have not read the Books you are concerned to read if you set up for the publick Advocate of the Kirk how came you to guess what Acts your Adversary meant unless he had cited those Acts particularly and therefore I advise you to read the Acts of the General Assembly more narrowly and see if you can name any of the Papal Enchroachments upon the Civil Magistrate more daring and ambitious than that one Act which is cited in the Margine and which is recorded to the Honour of Presbytery Mr. Ridpath you see that I have a great desire to court your Friendship since I cite the Books exactly that you look upon as Oracles You tell us after a long Declamation against King Charles II. his Government and the Doctrine of Passive Obedience that Sir George Mackenzie's Arguments in the defence of his Reign are all of them built upon a false Narrative of Matter of Fact as if the Rebellions against King Charles I and II. were not notorious and known all Europe over The Scotch Rebels laid King Charles I. upon the Altar and the English Rebels sacrificed him and this is no other Censure than what is obvious to every Man's Observation Must we sit down and transcribe all the Presbyterian Protestations Remonstrances seasonable Warnings and Declarations when every little Pamphlet is answered Must we prove that Presbyterians are Rebels that is as needless as to prove first Principles for since the Covenant is the Magna Charta of your Religion as you are distinguished from other Christians why should you think the Imputation of Rebellion to be any Reproach Sir George Mackenzie gave the World a true Narrative of the first Rise and Occasion of those Laws that you complain of And we are very glad how much you write against it you but wound your own head and kick against the pricks for his Narrative remains true and founded upon the Records of Parliament and Progress of your Rebellion and still unanswered as it is unanswerable I know that one of your Club wrote a Pamphlet against his Defence of King Charles II ' s Government entituled a Vindication of the Presbyterians in Scotland c. It peeped out as if it were afraid to see the light but no body knows where to find it and in a few days it evanished 'T is said to be printed for Edward Golding 1692. I got one Copy accidentally but all my Industry could not procure another The Author is a very accomplish'd Gentleman no doubt of it he tells you in the very first page of his Pamphlet that he left the Law part unanswered And this one Expression is enough to proclaim him a Fool that he who had no knowledge in the Laws should venture to answer Sir George Mackenzie's Book just as if one should censure the Works of Tully and Quintilian without any knowledge of the Rules of Oratory and Rhetorick and to let you see how grosly ignorant this poor Creature is he tells us that King Ch. I. when the Earl of Traquair sat at the Helm of Affairs imposed on the Subjects an Oath commonly called the Tender with great Severity and that it is not improbable but that the Covenant was a Counter-Oath to that Now Mr. Ridpath I ask you how any Man can forbear smiling to see how such a little Shuttle-cock can assault the Memory and Writings of Sir George Mackenzie Was the Covenant no older than the Tender and was the Tender by which Men were made to part with all degrees of Loyalty and to renounce the Family of the Stewarts imposed with great Severity by King Charles I. and is this the Book that you think confutes Sir George Mackenzie's Vindication better than the Doctor can defend it But your learned Author goes on and tells us that the General Assembly I suppose he means that in 1638. did not throw out the Bishops without the Authority of Parliament since they had their allowance for it as if the General Assembly that threw out the Bishops had waited for the determination of a Parliament and when Sir George pleads that the Ecclesiastick State were always the first of the three Estates of Parliament your little Man tells us in opposition to this some Stories of Monks and Culdees by which the Church was governed from the beginning of Christianity in Scotland But is this any thing to our purpose when we plead that by so many Laws and Parliamentary Constitutions our Bishops make up the first of the Three Estates of Parliament and which is more those very Laws are not yet repealed by which the Ecclesiastick State is declared to be the first And tho in the days of the Covenant when the Bishops were expelled by Tumult and Violence one of the three Estates was split into two contrary to the fundamental Constitution of Parliaments yet by unrepealed Laws and immemorial Possession they remain the first of the three Estates of Parliament He tells us next that there were no Bishops during King James ' s Residence and consequently none sat in Parliament and must we be put to the drudgery of confuting such a sad Creature as this is when the Records of Parliament give him the lie And I speak it sincerely I never saw any thing in Print more ignorantly writ than that Pamphlet is for he tells us again that he knew of no Persons of Quality put to death by Covenanters save the Earl of Montross And if you please to defend your learned Brother you may for my part if I am not constrained to it I am resolved never to look into his Pamphlet nor do I know how to excuse my self at the Reader 's hands for inserting so many of his lamentable Impertinencies In another place of your Book you accuse Sir George Mackenzie of having persecuted Hallside but this Gentleman is here also and no Man can speak more to the advantage of Sir George Mackenzie in all Companies and upon all occasions than he does and he flatly denies all the malicious
Fictions that you have heaped together on that Subject If Laws have been made under the Reign of King Charles II to restrain the Fury of Madmen and Incendiaries neither the State nor such as advised those Laws to be made are to be blamed for there were no Laws made against the Speculations of Presbyterians but against the Practices of such of them whose Principles and Endeavours were equally destructive to humane Society as they were pernicious to the particular Settlement of our Nation The Paragraph that follows is a true sample of your way of reasoning when you say that Nero and Julian the Apostate had the Advantage of the Primitive Christians in regard of Quality Sense and Interest But I still think that the Apostles and Primitive Christians were Men of the best Sense and far beyond all their Persecutors Mr. Ridpath to do you no piece of Injustice for I disdain it and one needs not take any Advantage of you I let the Reader know that in the Correction of your Errata's you advise to dash out the word Sense out of lin 32. of pag. 27. but then when the word Sense is dashed out you do not repeat faithfully the Doctor 's Argument for you know very well that he reckons the Quality Sense and Interest of the Nobility that are for Episcopacy as things that bear down the noise and clamour of all their Antagonists you may raise Monsters as many as you please and then fight with your own Dreams and Imaginations but since you do not repeat an argument faithfully you should let it alone And what followed in the same Paragraph of the Postscript viz. That the Episcopal Nobility were men of parts honour and integrity was to be considered in conjunction with the former the Characters last named you do not deny to be true and if so how can men of honour and integrity be perjured oppressors For my part I never thought that Honour in its true notion could be separated from a good Conscience and the Author of the Postscript intended to baffle the Calumnies of their opposers by a compendious enumeration of the outward and inward advantages that the Patrons of Episcopacy possessed so that if you was at the pains to answer this Argument you ought not fraudulently to suppress such words as contained its frame and energy and I am content that you call me as well as the Author of the Postscript a Pedant an Ass a Blunderer a Villain a Lyar and a Papist if I tell you that you seem to have nothing in your view than to raise a little Dust when you repeat an argument but not in the Authors words it is no more his but yours you may be taught your mistake by that of the Poet Quem recitas meus est O! fidentine Libellus Sed male dum recitas incipit esse tuus You tell us next that Sir George Mackenzie owns that Presbyterian Ministers and Presbyterian Jurors who were summoned to the tryal of Malefactors of their own persuasion seldom failed to condemn them From this you conclude that Sir George gives himself and the Dr. both the Lye when they charge those Principles upon the Presbyterians in general and this you say discovers the falshood of that necessity that the Episcopalians pretend the Government was under to make such Laws against the Presbyterians in its own defence Your argument may be reduced into form thus Some Presbyterian Ministers who lived peaceably at Edinburgh blamed and condemned the practices and rebellions of the Cameronian Presbyterians Ergo the principles of Rebellion are not to be charged upon the Scotch Presbyterians in general But Mr. Ridpath here I deny your Consequence For when we charge the Presbyterians in general with rebellious principles and practices we do not intend to include every individual of that persuasion for many of them do not see the just consequences of their own Principles many of them have not courage enough to put them in execution many of them may be naturally of so sweet a temper that the felicity of their complexion resists the malignity of their Tenents yet notwithstanding of all this the Presbyterians for the most part are guided by a Spirit of rebellion and ill nature When one says such a thing is true of such a Sect or Fraternity generally speaking he does not intend that it should be understood in a strict universality but with that latitude that the subject matter will allow and if you say that the severe Laws that you complain of were made against such Malefactors as Presbyterian Ministers themselves condemned then I infer that the Laws were not made against Presbyterians as such but against those Rebels who improved their Covenants and Associations into Seditions Tumults and Insurrections 'T is very true that those Presbyterian Ministers who were of a calmer temper were sometimes employed to reclaim the Malefactors to their Duty yet they could not prevail with them because the Western Enthusiasts had a higher opinion of their own Preachers who were Remonstrators and through paced Covenanters than they had of the more peaceable and sober Presbyterians why then are our Laws and Governours blamed for restraining the madness of such who were thought intolerable by Presbyterians as well as by the King and Parliament and your reasonings in this Paragraph plainly infer that the King had nothing in his view but to preserve his hereditary Right and the peace of his Subjects when such and such Laws were made against illegal and tumultuous meetings as men of all persuasions were necessitated to condemn But you add further that this concession of Sir George Mackenzie's discovers the falshood of that necessity which the Episcopalians pretend the Government was under to make such Laws against Presbyterians in their own defence Mr. Ridpath if the Government was assaulted and the peace openly disturbed there was a plain necessity to make such Laws as were thought proper to restrain the fury of such Zealots whether they were Presbyterians or Anabaptists all is one to me and if you say that Presbyterians were not guilty of such practices then I say there were no Laws made against the Presbyterians for the King and Parliament did not consider them as Presbyterians but as heady incorrigible and stubborn Rebels who were restless in their nature and gave them perpetual disturbance What follows is of the same nature with the former You tell us that Sir George says that the hereditary Sheriffs refused to put the Laws in execution against Conventicles by which they became formidable This you pretend destroys two other Assertions propagated by our Party viz. That Presbyterianism is not popular and that none but the Rabble are their friends But Mr. Ridpath all this proceeds from your incurable precipitancy and ignorance For some heritable Sheriffs might be inclined to favour Presbytery and yet 't is very true that the most of their friends are among the Rabble and when we say so we do not
intend to say but that here and there an heritable Sheriff or a Gentleman may be a stiff Covenanter and may differ very little in his Education and principles from the inferiour sort of people and if at any time we say that the Rabble only favours the Presbyterians we understand that Proposition in a limited sense as all such Propositions must be understood for generally speaking except it be in the West of Scotland the Presbyterians have very few Friends among the Nobility or Gentry and though they had not the majority of the Nation yet they might prove formidable and when Sir George says that they were formidable can you infer from it that they were more numerous than their opposites At this rate you may prove that High-waymen and Robbers are more numerous than honest Citizens and Subjects because a very few of them are able to frighten a whole County We are ever and anon told by you and the rest of your Party that the Majority of Scotland is for Presbytery but the wiser men of your Faction think otherwise and therefore they took care to secure their inclosure into which they stumbled by a fortuitous concourse of many accidents by several Laws and barricadoes not to be named in this place When you recollect your self a little perhaps you may acknowledge that it is not wisely done of you to abuse so many of the Nobility of Scotland by such infamous Lyes and Forgeries as you are pleased to print particularly when you tell us That the Court employed bloody cut-throat Papists to ruine the Country You name the Earl of Airlie and the Laird of Meldrum 't is true this may pass in a Coffee house at London where the Earl of Airgile is not known but there is not a Scots-man alive that ever heard that either of these Gentlemen were Papists Now this is very sad stuff Mr. Ridpath and any man that undergoes the toil of considering your Books if he knew not whence they came must be guarded by extraordinary patience when truth and innocence are almost in every line so boldly invaded What you mean when you tell the Dr. that he has wounded his pretences to Loyalty by defending Sir George Macknzie's Book is to me a Mystery for I am confident that you are but very little acquainted with him or his pretences either But you complain that he did not answer your argument taken from the consequences of Passive Obedience and that he turns his back and takes no notice of you Well Mr. Ridpath it is but just that a person of your valour should be met in open Field but you must not conclude that a man is pusillanimous when he retires unless you have him so much under your authority that he dare not move a step without your order nor answer any thing unless in the method that you appoint him You impute all the direful effects of Arbitrary Power to the Episcopal Party and the Doctrine of Passive Obedience yet I am apt to believe that there is no people in the World loves Arbitrary Power so much as the Presbyterians do and that they hate it only when it is not in their own keeping If by Arbitrary Power the Presbyterians mean some such power as is unaccountable to any earthly Tribunal such a power there must be in every Government and if it be not managed by a true Christian publick Spirit it may be as grievous and intolerable in the hands of a Parliament as in the hands of a King To declaim against arbitrary power is to declaim against all Government for there is no Government upon Earth but exercises in its Supreme Judicatories arbitrary power and jurisdiction for which it is not accountable to any but to God alone where this finally decisive and Supreme power ought to be lodged is a Question that I leave to Lawyers and Statesmen they know our municipal Laws and Constitutions When the sins of a Nation provoke God then he punishes them by foolish extravagant and cruel Magistrates when it is otherwise and that God is pleased with them they enjoy good Laws peace and protection under wise Governours and this is all the remedy that is left in humane affairs against publick calamities and disasters There was no Meeting since the World began that declaimed against arbitrary power so much as the long Parliament did nor was ever England so miserable as under their Tyranny and Oppressions as long as the administration of publick affairs is left to the disposal of men so long we may be exposed to arbitrary power and the former must be as long as the World continues a Parliament may be as tyrannical as any King and when they are thus pack'd together to serve a particular design we must truckle under them until those Laws are repealed by another so that Passive Obedience thus stated is necessary under all Forms and Models of Government it is all one thing to me whether I am oppressed by the King or by King and Parliament there is no Judicatory allows the remedy of a Rebellion and what all Judges determine in all Nations and at all times must be the Voice of God They who plead for the Supreme and decisive Authority of the General Assembly in Ecclesiastical affairs ought to be more friendly to Arbitrary power for though their sentence against any particular Clergyman were never so unjust and oppressive yet he must strike Sail and hold his peace and practice Non Resistance to a greater heighth than ever the Episcopal Clergy preached it if he would not incur the highest Censures of the Kirk And this Spiritual Tyranny is more insupportable than that which reaches only our temporal concerns and I am content without any blustering or foaming to reason this modestly with your self or any other that you can name but still with this proviso that there be many more present than you and I for I am afraid that we do not well understand one another and therefore if ever we meet we must have a Moderator to keep the peace You say that the Dr. contradicts himself because he thought that there was no injury done to the Presbyterians in publishing a Book that exposed their Fooleries and yet he grants that the Author of that Book was perhaps unwary as to some instances Good Mr. Ridpath I see no contradiction here at all for a Book may serve the end for which it was published though perhaps the Author mistakes himself in some single instances There is no Author now adays sets up for an infallible Dictator and you tell us in another place of your last Pamphlet that it is not possible to publish so many particular stories without committing some faults there is no doubt but you have a very good opinion of your own Book that you last printed yet I hope you are convinced before now that the Covenant was imposed upon Children when they entred the University Whether the Author of that Book mistook
he affirmed nothing and if he called you a Lyar though such a Proposition sounded like an Affirmative yet it was no affirmative Proposition but finally resolved into a Negative and can no otherwise be proved than as a Negative may and since he could meet with no Bookseller near Charing-Cross who knew any such man of their Trade might not he reasonably presume that your Title-page had a Lye in the bosom of it notwithstanding all this it may be true that your Book was printed for him and that he lives in some dark Vault near Charing-Cross Such a thing is possible though it be not very probable that a Bookselseller should hide himself under ground for that is not their ordinary way of selling Books I insist on this only to chastise your ignorance and vanity when you darken the whole Hemisphere with Dust out comes your affirmanti incumbit probatio as if your Adversary had the Affirmative that ought to be proved You are so foolishly vain that if all the particular Paragraphs of your first Book have not been considered you conclude that your Adversary was convinced of their truth and solidity The Error that I just now named brings to my mind another piece of fulsome ignorance of the same nature with the former You may meet with it in the place cited on the Margin Your Antagonist loaded the Presbyterians with inconsistencies and particularly he exposed your dorage and fooleries concerning anniversary Days and he might do it with the greater safety because you still retain something in your practice which overthrows your Principles for you celebrate the great Charities of George Herriot by an Anniversary commemoration Ergo says he you are not against anniversary Solemnities But you confute this argument very learnedly and you prove from clear Scripture that Anniversaries are unlawful because the fourth Commandment says positively Six days shalt thou work Ergo you conclude that all Anniversary Solemnities are unlawful Now Mr. Ridpath let us calmly consider the strength of your argument All men are obliged by this Precept in the sense that you put upon it or they are not if all are obliged as no doubt they are by what dispensation are they of Heriot's foundation exempted and if particular Societies be exempted why may not the whole Nation pretend an exemption for one Society is no more privileg'd than another and if all Societies may equally pretend an exemption why may it not be granted to the whole Kingdom which is but the political aggregate of so many Societies For if they of Herriot's Hospital may celebrate an Anniversary why may not all the Inhabitants of Edinburgh do it But you fortifie your Opinion by a Logical Axiom Ex particulari non licet Syllogisare which you think signifies that we must not draw precedents from the allowable practice of particular Societies and this is the Philosophy that you make such a noise with whereas every Boy in the second Class that does not deserve whipping can tell you that the meaning of that Logical Rule is that either of the premisses at least must be an universal Proposition whether affirmative or negative for two particular propositions cannot bear the weight of a conclusion no more than two Negatives Now tell me sincerely whether the making such a noise with Logical Rules when you do not understand what they mean be not Nonsense and pedantry in all their pomps and formalities If the practice of Herriot's Hospital were to be defended by argument the patrons of it would reason from the religious practice of all other Societies the rules of gratitude and the constitutions of the place and a conclusion regularly deduced from such principles is not I hope ex particulari as you ignorantly fancy But not to trifle with you any more the answer to your argument is contain'd in that short but undeniable Axiom received by all Divines Praecepta affirmativa obligant semper sed non ad semper and we may work six days nisi interveniat feriationis causa legitima auctoritate divinâ vel humanâ stabilita Pray Mr. Ridpath forgive all this Latine for I do not think that the speaking of Latine is at all times pedantry and many are apt to let that pass for pedantick which they do not understand but if the phrase of your infectious Breath be the Word that provoked the Severity of your Censure the Dr. in all Humility retracts it for tho your Breath be putrid yet the Contagion spreads no further than People of your own Complexion Men sufficiently infected before you breath'd upon them Mr. Ridpath I do not pretend that this Treatise is methodical and therefore I take no other Care to methodize my Animadversions on your Book than as they tumble into my Fancy I lie open to the censure of your Histeron-Proteron as oft as you please Your Dedication to the Scotch Parliament is as considerable as the Book it self for being the only Book that was dedicated to them it contains your own grave and serious Advice how to manage the publick Affairs Next you fall upon the poor Dr. and he must be lash'd and chastis'd for his Rashness and Precipitancy because he presumed to give such an account of your first Book but since you paint him as an Ass at the very beginning why was you at so much pains with him so mean a Creature was below a Man of your Elevation and since you can defame and expose Crowned Heads Dukes Earls and Prelates why all this Noise to run down a poor Hermite Your very first Blow hath in it so much Life and Wit that one of his cold and phlegmatick Temper can never reach it As Postscript in Answer to the First In the second Page of your Continuation there is a Catalogue of the most tragical Stories made up to justifie all the Bitterness and Buffoonry of your former Pamphlet You justifie the Severity of your Stile by the Answer of a Tinker And truly if all the Parts of your Book had been equally pertinent it had been the best Presbyterian Farce that appeared since its late Erection but because I would let you understand that our Registers of Fanatick Cruelties Rebellions and Perjuries are as exact as the Legends of your imaginary Grievances I will set down eight Particulars in an opposite Column to your eight and then we have sixteen I. As long as we remember the Tumultuous Meetings Rebellious Protestations and the bloody Consequences of the Presbyterian Covenants and Associations the Murder of our King whom they tied Neck and Heels until their Confederates brought him to the Scaffold the Miseries of an intestine War the Taxes Contributions and Free-quarter imposed by the Arbitrary Power of rebellious Subjects and mock Parliaments the Multitude of Errors Heresies and Dreams that were proclaim'd from our Pulpits so long we remember that their Principles were inconsistent with the Royal Prerogative our antient Constitution as well as the Primitive Order of the Christian Church Ridpath I.
vindicated from any suspicion of lessening the Royal Authority But Mr. Ridpath did you never hear of a Merchant throwing overboard his Goods in a Storm his Principle is no doubt to preserve and improve his Stock yet when Life and Ship and all is in hazard Silver and Gold and the best Cargo that he is Master of must be flung over Men sometimes in the Simplicity of their Hearts may yield to some publick Acts in a time of Danger and Confusion which in their own Nature and Tendency are inconsistent with their Principles the wisest Men may sometimes mistake their measures and the presence of ones Mind does not perpetually attend him A great many of the Presbyterians of Scotland took the Covenant as it was enjoin'd by King Charles I. in the sense intended by King and Parliament in the Reign of King James VI. yet this act of their duty and obedience was by the Leading-Covenanters thought inconsistent with their principles and practices and therefore they were forced to disown it afterwards and to adhere to the Covenant it its true and genuine sense of Sedition and Rebellion All the Presbyterians of Scotland after the Restoration of King Charles II. both Ministers and People came to Church without scruple or hesitation yet afterwards they began to think that this practice could not be reconciled to their mutinous Associations and Covenants and therefore for the most part all of them left the Church and publick Worship of the Episcopalians There is a Protestation upon record in the Year 1641. in the journal of the House of Commons May 3. which in its nature was but a Prologue to the Solemn League and Covenant and very derogatory to the King's prerogative and the ancient settlement of the Nation and yet I find that several of the Loyal Nobility and six Bishops signed this Protestation Things may appear very plausible in the beginning that are introductiory to the saddest consequences The Nobility and Bishops that signed the Protestation that I just now named had reason to repent of their precipitancy when the Faction owned above board that no Reformation woul satisfie but the extirpation of Root and Branch according to the phrase that then was in vogue We are to take an estimate of mens principles not from their indeliberate and casual stumblings in time of darkness uncertainty and danger but rather from their constant Doctrine their habitual Byass their more calm and sedate reasonings their Books Homilies and Sermons I could name later instances than any that I have touched which might reasonably be presum'd to be inconsistent with their Principles who were actors and yet I am so far from thinking them disingenuous or treacherous that I know them to be men of the greatest Candor upon Earth All this I have said upon the supposition that the Bishops who concurred with that Vote of the Convention intended it in its full extent and latitude but I know that they intended no more by the words free and lawful meeting than what they are capable of in the lowest sense that they can be taken in and as Privy Councellours some of the Bishops might suspend the execution of the King's Orders contained in his Letters until he should be better informed of the state of affairs and until he should reiterate his Commands in that case I am apt to think that all who own his authority would leave the Convention Mr. Ridpath I would gladly know whether you think that a Libel against Dr. Monro was a Book worthy to be dedicated to the Parliament of Scotland and whether your returning to Scotland was such an extraordinary advantage to the Nation that you thought they would upon this consideration go forward to the through settlement of Presbytery for no doubt you are among the first of those Students who promise to return if your Model be established in its height The Books that you have written against our Kings Dukes and Parliaments may make atonement for the former Gallantries of your Life I despise the knowledge of your particular History and unless you are as stupid as you are petulant you may guess by some dark hints in this Letter which I took care that no other should understand but your self that I am not altogether a stranger to your Adventures I had your Life sent me written by one of your Acquaintances but though I may have many faults yet I never loved personal Reproaches and altercations When you are in the heighth of your humour and passion I think you still below Revenge It may be that the Lay-Gentleman who is next to take you to task may handle you more briskly notwithstanding that Presbytery is now triumphant and setled by an Act of Exclusion of the Episcopal Clergy Mr. Ridpath I sincerely wish you more sense and modesty and I enter my Protestation before all reasonable men that I am not obliged to answer indefinite Libels If you think that you are so extraordinarily qualified to manage the Debates that are on foot chuse one of the Questions that are toss'd between both the parties eithe the divine Right of Presbytery or the unlawfulness of Anniversary Days or significant Ceremonies in the worship of God I name these because you offer to vindicate your own Opinions concerning them in your Books and since you cite the Epistles of S. Augustine to S. Jerome from which you say the antiquity of Presbytery may be demonstrated pray do not forget to name that Epistle but I am affraid you will be forced to go to the Booksellers in the World of the Moon before you can meet with it and to make you amends I offer to prove positively that there is not one of your party in Scotland that truly and sincerely represents the Opinions of St. Jerom nay more expresly I offer to make evident from the writings of St. Jerome that Eiscopacy was established by the Apostles and that he never dream'd of any such period of the Church wherein the parity of Presbyters prevailed after the death of the Apostles And if you must write Books you ought to come out from behind the Curtains and let us know where your Bookseller may be found and by whom they are Licensed and take the assistance of all your Fraternity read all the Books that you think defend your Cause to the best advantage and let us plainly hear what grounds you have to assert that your new and upstart Discipline is founded upon devine Right and why the Ministers of the Episcopal persuasion are turned out if they do not solemnly promise never directly nor indirectly to alter an Ecclesiastical Government which can no more be reconciled to the former constitution of Presbytery than to the Word of God the Canons of the Universal Church and the practice of the first Ages of Christianity And let us know if ever Clergymen were turned out of their Livings upon their denying to make any such promise since the name of Christian was heard in the World
have made that never a person suffered in Scotland by Subornation or false Witnesses employed by the Government since the Restoration of the Royal Family Tho many of the Rebels have been brought off and assolzied by the scandalous and bare-faced Perjuries of their own Party for in the Tryals of those Rebels the Witnesses for the King being formerly engaged in the saids Rebellions made use of such strange and uncouth Fetches and Strains of Words that no Jury could fix any Verdict or Doom upon for being interrogated if they saw the person at the Barr in Arms with the Rebels as particularly in the case of one Sprewel an eminent Ringleader and Captain several of his own Kinsmen as well as Acquaintances and who had ridden under his Command they were brought with great difficulty to confess that they thought they had seen a Man there which seemed to be somewhat like the Prisoner at the Bar but for a World they could not swear that this Prisoner was the person they saw there Being ask'd if he had a Sword they answered they saw that person have something like the end of a Scabbard hanging from under his Cloak but whether there were a Blade there or not they could not tell and being question'd on oath all the while if that person had Pistols they confessed they had seen something like Hulster-Cases at his Saddle but whether there were Pistols in them or not they could not swear for a World And by such Presbyterian Canting Prejuries as these this Sprewet and many others were brought off Dear Sir I am afraid I have been too tedious in this Return but since it contains nothing but simple Truth it will be the wellcomer to you and therefore is subscribed by Your Humble and Faithful Servant W. P. ADVERTISEMENT THE Following Propositions are taken out of such Books as are most in Vogue amongst the Scotch Presbyterians They contain a short Account of their Moral Theology with regard to Obedience Subjection and Government I desire the impartial Reader to let me know wherein the Sentiments of the Kirk differ from the Doctrines propagated by the Jesuits You have many of them gathered together in one view not at all as an Answer to any of Mr. Ridpath 's Scriblings but as a sufficient Confutation of the impertinent Clamours against the Government of King Charles the Second For since they were taught by their Religion to rebel against their King and Parliament our Governors could not but secure the Peace of the Nation against such barbarous Practices as were indeed the natural Consequences of their Principles 1. A Man ought no more to suffer when the Sentence is unjust than he ought to do that which is unjust and sinful at the command of Authority Jus Pop. throughout 2. No Authority can command or can oblige until he himself that is commanded be convinced and persuaded that the thing is just reasonable and expedient Gillesp Ingl. pop Cerem 3. To oppose the persons invested with Authority is not to oppose the Ordinance of God for the Ordinance of God is Magistracy in abstracto that is it that we are commanded Rom. 13. not to resist but the person of the King ought to be resisted Lex Rex pag. 265. and when the Parliaments of both Kingdoms fought against the King's Person they fought for his Royal Interest and as he was a King and tho the person I of the King was absent and denied his consent as a Man yet they were as valid Parliaments as if he were personally present with them Lex Rex 270. 4. Patient Suffering fall under no Law of God Lex Rex pag. 314. Vide Napht. pag. 157. 5. The Presbytery hath the power of making peace and war neither ought the Parliament enter into war without them no more than Joshua did offer battel without Eleasar the High Priest Acts Gen. Ass 48. Agust 3. 6. Since Religion is the highest Interest of Mankind it is not only lawful but necessary for private Subjects to rise in Arms against the King to reform the Abuses crept into it and when the supreme Powers serve not the great Ends of Religion we are ipso facto loos'd from all Tyes of O bedience to them Naph pag. 154. Vide Jus Populi throughout 7. The Presbytery may excommunicate the King and when he is excommunicated none of his Subjects owe him Obedience neither may they converse with him Jesuits and Presbyterians 8. There is nothing to be allowed of in the Worship of God as to its Order and Circumstance that is not founded on the express Letter of the Scripture the unscriptural symbolical Ceremonies are the Badge of Antichrist All the Sectarians 9. It is a good Argument against any part of the Worship of God to have it abolish'd that it was or is still to be found in the Mass Book Bailies Parallel of the Liturgy 10. It is lawful and necessary to enter into Covenants and Leagues without the King and formally to protest against the King's most legal Methods to the contrary Prot. at the Cross Ed. 37. p. 38. 11. The King having now for many years usurped the power of Christ and most palpably tyrannized in Civil Matters he is to be deposed and brought to punishment and all the Covenanted People of the Lord are to fight against him and his Adherents under the Standard of Christ Jesus Sanchor Declar. 22. June 1680. and Cargill's Cov. broughtout 12. It is downright Idolatry and prejudicial to the Honour of Christ and the Interest of Reformation to appoint anniversary Days for Benefits bestowed on the King and Kingdom Apol. Narrat Naph p. 87. 13. The minor part of a Kingdom that is for God and his Cause against the King if they be in a probable capacity to bring their Design to pass ought by the Call of God to endeavour the Reformation of their Nation by Force of Arms. Naph and Jus Populi throughout 14. Tho our Saviour told his Disciples John 18. 36. That his Kingdom was not of this World and that they ought not to fight for him yet it obliges not the Christians now they may fight without and against the Consent of the supreme Magistrate Jus Pop. Proef. to the Reader and Naph pag. 159. 15. The greatest reproach that the People of God could be exposed to was to own the King's Proceedings without Satisfaction to the covenanted People of God in both Kingdoms Vide Act of the West-Kirk 16. None have right to the Creature but the People of God or Dominion is founded in Grace Enthus and Sect. 17. The Scots Covenant is the Magna Charta of all Religion and Righteousness and not only obliges those who personally swore it but the whole Nation to all succeeding Generations in all its Tendences and natural Consequences Naph pag. 83. and 185. 18. The Success that the Presbyterians had in the late Troubles against the King and his Adherents were undeniable Signs of God's Favour to that Party and to follow
manifest lye with a witness there is no place left to suppose I made use of any method for returning to my Office which I never left far less such impious and silly ones as he says and would have believed I did and are not worth the mentioning being such as I fancy no man on Earth though of less heigth of Natural Temper than I and almost of equal Villany with the scurrilous Author could be guilty of but was it not a Lucky thing that this mettled Spark charged me not with the Criminous Sins of Bestiality Incest and Sorceries Certainly he had not failed of it if they had not been Vertues peculiar to the Saintship of one of his Friends who was publickly burnt betwixt Edinburgh and Leith upon consession of the foresaid Crimes in my sight and some thousands besides In some other part he charges me with Robbing of a thousand Marks Scots mony from William Carfrey who came to pay me my Stipend due by the Town of Edinburgh I shall never think it worth my Pains to offer a Justification of my self from so ridiculous a Story the young man lives still in the City and is so Just and Honest to declare to some of my acquaintance that it is a most notorious Lye but Innocence it self cannot be secure against hellish Impudence There is one thing more in his Paper not worth the minding indeed which I had almost forgot viz. That I was at the time of his Writing a Vagabond at London if a Man must be branded with this Character for going from one place to another he has been much longer a Vagabond than I as I am told and I am sure for his bloody uncharitableness deserves the mark of a second Cain and the Character of another Accuser of the Brethren having been made very skilful in the Art of Lying by his Father who has used it since the beginning I leave this Letter intirely to your disposal I ask your pardon for this trouble and am with all respect Sir Your affectionate faithful humble Servant Andrew Cant. Edinburgh July 29. 1693. THE next Certificate is in favours of Dr. Alexander Monro and it serves the end for which it is publish'd You say that when he was in Scotland he was so and so accus'd as is narrated in the following Certificate If this had been true there is no doubt to be made but that Persons of Honour Sense and Interest in the Cities of Edinburgh and St. Andrews would have heard of it especially since he was preferr'd to such places as would provoke Rivals and Competitors And is it to be believ'd that the least surmise of that Nature could have escaped the Industry of the Presbyterians who scrupled not to pretend to the knowledge of his very Thoughts without any external Evidence I have often told you that Negatives in a Matter of Fact are not otherwise to be prov'd 'T is no wonder that so malicious an Accuser should mistake Truth for Falshhood and Falshood for Truth when you have not yet attain'd to so much Sense as to distinguish between an Affirmative and a Negative Proposition You are firmly resolv'd to defame and disparage the Episcopal Clergy at any rate and that hath occasion'd the following Evidence of your Candor and Veracity Whereas Dr. Alexander Monro late Principal of Edinburgh College is said in an impertinent Libel Entituled A Continuation of the Answer to the Scotch-Presbyterian-Eloquence to have been accused when he was in Scotland of being found with a Woman among the Corn We whose names are under written living in and near to the City of Edinburgh do by these presents declare upon Honor and Conscience that we never heard that he was so accused and that if any such Accusation had ever been invented against him We think it very probable that we would have heard of it especially since so narrow an inquisition has been made into his Life and Actions in the beginning of the Late Revolution when for Non-Complyance he was turned out of the College of Edinburgh Sic Subscribitur W. Binning Sir William Binning of Wallinford late Lord Provost of Edinburgh J. Dick. Sir James Dick of Priest-field late Lord Provost of Edinburgh Tho. Kennedy Sir Thomas Kennedie of Kirk-Hill late Lord Provost of Edinburgh John Marjoribanks Late Bailiff of Edinburgh Ja. Henryson Writer to the Signet there John Baillie Apothecary and Chirurgeon there Robert Clerk Apothecary and Chirurgeon there A. Skene Alexander Skene D. D. Late Provost of the old College in the University of St. Andrews Ri. Waddell Richard Waddell D. D. Late Arch-Deacon of St. Andrews A. Macleod Mr. Alexander Macleod Advocate James Flemyeng Sir James Flemyeng of Ratho-byres late Lord Provost of Edinburgh A. Balfour Sir Andrew Balfour Doctor of Medicine Ar. Stevenson Sir Archibald Stevensone Doctor of Medicine Will. Monipenny Mr. William Monipenny Advocate T. Skene Mr. Thomas Skene Advocate C. Gray Mr. Charles Gray Advocate Al. Craufurd Mr. Alexander Craufurd Advocate Jo. Mackenzie Mr. John Mackenzie one of the Clerks of Session Du. Mackintoshe Late Bailiff in Edinburgh Aen. Macleod Town-Clerk J. Wedderburn Mr. John Wedderburn Clerk of the Bills Al. Gibson One of the Clerks of the Session Mr. Ridpath I Would have gladly taken leave of you long before now but that I am not left at liberty as to the following Letter It is occasioned by your own Civilities to the Archbishop of Glasgow and others We oppose the Publick Records of the Nation to your Clamorous and Obscene Libels and if there were nothing else to prove the madness of your Temper than that one Story of Margaret Paterson we need no other proof to convince the World of your desperate Impudence A Letter from a Gentleman in Scotland to his Friend in London Edinburgh July 22. 1693. Sir I Had not yours till last Night which lets you see that it hath been a month by the way and this is the true Reason your return is so late As to that silly Varlet Ridpath all I can say of him more than yours to me contains which I know to be most exact Truth is that being apprehended and made Prisoner here about Christmas 1680 for contriving and writing a Bond of Combination or kind of Association for burning the Pope in Effigie which you know was a folly never before that time attempted here and was design'd then by the Rogues of this City particularly the Presbyterians as an indignity to his then Royal Highness This Bond being found in the custody of this Villain by the diligence of the Learned and Reverend Dr. Cant then Principal of King James his University of Edinburg who though he was a Celebrated Champion for the Protestant Church yet had he a just indignation against all Rabbling and Tumults This Bond I say is now in the Council Office and I have often seen and read it 'T is indeed a young League and Covenant containing a Clause of Mutual Defence not excepting the King or any in Authority under
him and an invitation to Prentices and all others to joyn in this their Association Now a Bond of this Nature is by many Laws and Acts of Parliament declared Treason and that not only since the dreadful effects of the Infamous League and Covenant but even by very old Acts in the Reigns of King James the First and Second So much for this This Scoundrel was committed who was not then a Boy but a Fellow come to Years and then a Servant to two Sons of one Gray a person living on the English Border and of the same Gang with his Man Ridpath The Fellow confess'd before the Committee of Council that he had drawn this Bond but would not own that he had been prompted to it or assisted in it by others though the Council well knew that many of the Ringleaders of the Party were the promoters of this Trick which was design'd as a Prologue to a Rebellion against the then Government For this Villany the Law here might have justly sent him to the Gibbet and perhaps the Council had put him in the hands of the Judges Criminal had he not been preserv'd by the unparallel'd Clemency of the Prince that then sate at the Helm here which you know is so natural to that Sacred Race I remember the Duke of Rothes the Chancellour and several other great Lords having examin'd him and finding him very false and obstinate in his Answers ordered him to be committed Close Prisoner till he were further examin'd And as he was going to Prison seeing a Crowd about him and considering them as a Rabble he cry'd out aloud that he was suffering for the Protestant Religion the ordinary but false pretence of all Seditions and Rebellions here For which he was for some days put in Irons and a little after by the Goodness of his then Royal Highness who was always too compassionate to that Generation of Vipers he was dismissed This is all I can remember or learn of this Creature I hear in his late Pamphlet which I have not yet seen he has the Impudence to say that one Margaret Paterson a Prostitute sufficiently infamous should have confess'd somewhat before the Criminal Court relating to the Archbishop of Glasgow and me I am satisfied that all that that Villain has scribled of the Bishop be believed if ever she named either the Bishop or me in her Confessions either before that Court or any Confessions else whether publick or private Nor did the Bishop hear of such a Creature till the noise was made at her being taken naked in the Bed with the late Presbyterian Moderator Kennedy his two Sons for which they stand declared Fugitives in the Justice Court Books for the horrid Crime of Incest As to what relates to the C ks I make you this distinct Return In the year 1684 Sir Hugh and Sir George Campbels of C k with Baylie of Jerviswood Commissar Monro Mr. William Spence Mr. William Carstairs and some others were sent down Prisoners here by Sea and were kept close for some Weeks during which time I had occasion to be often with them for the Council ordered any of their Friends to converse with them and see them in presence of any of the Clerks of Council and such of them as are yet alive and their Relations will bear me witness that I was as easie to them that way as they could desire For the truth is they all professed so much Innocence in the matter they were accused of which was for being in a Conspiracy with the late Monmouth and Argyle for raising a Rebellion in both Nations at the same time and which fell out the next year accordingly and that with all the circumstantiated Imprecations to them and their Families that I began to believe the Government had been imposed upon in this matter and contracted such a compassion for them as made some of our then Statesmen angry with me and yet Carstairs upon the first application of the Thumb-Screw even the first touch of it confessed all as may be seen in his Printed Confession in the Tryal of Jerviswood and then Monro and afterwards the two C ks themselves which two Campbels were upon their Judicial Confession forefaulted in plain Parliament 1685 and their Estates annex'd to the Crown tho the King gave them not only both Remissions for their Lives but even ordered their Estates to be returned to them upon their paying a very inconsiderable Composition to some of the then Statesmen That which the Rascal Ridpath aims at I suppose is a Process which was commenced some time before that against old C k the undisguised matter of Fact was truly this which you may rely upon for certain and recorded Truth There was one Wallace a Collector or Surveyor in Airshire This Man gives Information to the Secret Committee that there were three Men in that Country who had assured him that old C k had encouraged several Country People to the Rebellion at Both well Bridge 1679 and that particularly he had said to themselves whom he rencountred with upon a place called the Bridge of Gastoun near his own House What meant such young lusty Fellows to stay at home when the People of God were in Arms for their Covenanted Cause and bid them go on to the rest the Whig-Army being then at Hamiltoun within ten Miles or thereby to that place for he and the rest of the Country would quickly be with them Upon which Information the three Fellows are brought in and kept some time in the Cannon gate Prison I heard them examined before the Secret Committee and all of them both jointly and separately were very positive clear and distinct in their Depositions Upon this an Indictment is raised against C k and the same Witnesses are again examined upon Oath before the Justices which is called by our Law a Precognition and there they were again very firm and seemed altogether clear and sincere But the Day of the Tryal being come and a disaffected Crowd getting in about these Witnesses when they came to depone they began to waver much and upon the matter deny much of what they had twice clearly made oath of before so that the Jury brought in C k not guilty and so he was acquitted from that Indictment And the next day the same three Rogues begged to be heard before the Council where I heard them again upon their Knees and with all the Solemnities of Truth and Sincerity Protest and Swear that what they had first Sworn was simple Truth and that their Carriage the day before in the Court was occasioned by their being terrified to swear against C k so great a Man in that Corner of the Country But upon the whole Matter the worthy Sir George Mackenzie had no more hand in all this Affair but meerly to pursue as the King's Advocate And in general I can affirm as in the sight of the God of Justice and Truth I do believe after all the Enquiry I