included in the number of those sound Presbyterians in whose hands the Government was to be established in the first Instance this Proposal rejected 49 Duke Hamilton reasons against putting the Government solely in the hands of those known sound Presbyterians but without Success ibid. The Kng's Power in Ecclesiastical Matters debated in Parliament 50 The Petition of the Episcopal Ministers who were thrust from their Churches by force and violence of the Rabble in December 1688 or at any time thereafter before the 13th of April 1689. 52 53 54 55 56 The Article concerning the Rabbled Clergy considered and three Amendments the Duke of Hamilton procured to be made in it 57 58 59. Proposal that such Ministers as had not free access to their Churches and so could not obey the Proclamation of the Convention April 13. upon the day appointed but were willing to obey when they should have access might be excepted out of the number of those who were to be declared deprived of their Benefices rejected ibid. Reasons of the Duke of Hamilton that the Deed of the Rabble might not be ratified i. e. that those Episcopal Ministers who had been forced from their Benefices by the Fury of the Presbyterian Mobb might not for that be deprived 60 The Petition of the Rabbled Clergy presented and back'd by the Duke of Hamilton but rejected without being read and the Article approved 62 The Duke resents the approving the Article and leaves the House 63 In his absence the Act is voted in cumulo and receives afterward the Royal Assent ibid. 64 Remarks on the Commissioner's behaviour ibid. The Consequences this Act produced 1. Thanks 2. Printed Sermons 3. Presbyterian Ministers got Plurality of Benefices vacant by the ejection of so many Episcopal Ministers by that Act Instances of this 65 66 67 The Duke of Hamilton and some other Councillors procure a Gift of a Year's Revenue of their own Benefices to some of those Episcopal Ministers who had been turned out by the Mobb Restrictions the Presbyterian Lords got put on this 68 69 The Petitions of many of those Ministers rejected by the Privy Council The Case of Mr. Skeen Minister of Dunsyre 70 to 77 Draught of an Act given in by the Earl of Linlithgow that a Toleration might be granted to those of the Episcopal Persuasion to worship God after their own Manner and particularly that those who were inclined to use the English Liturgy might do it safely 77 This rejected The Party especially the Preachers incensed at the design and in their Sermons declaim vehemently against it ibid. Patronages abolished and a new strange Model of electing Ministers established 78 Act of Parliament prohibiting those Ministers who were deprived by the Committee of Estates and by the Privy Council An. 1689. for not reading in their Pulpits the Proclamation against owning the late King Iames and not praying publickly for William and Mary as King and Queen of Scotland to exercise any part of their Ministerial Function till they swear and subscribe the Oath of Allegiance and also engage themselves under their hands to pray for K. William and Q Mary as King and Queen of Scotland and not to own the late King James VII for their King in any sort 79 80. They are likewise obliged to subscribe a Declaration called a Certificate of Assurance which explodes the distinction of a King de facto and de jure 81 They do not comply but for sometime cease from the publick Exercise of their Ministry 82 After some time they begin again to exercise their Ministry in their own Houses the Presbyterian Preachers perplexed at this and move the Privy Council to prosecute them 83 Instances of Episcopal Ministers prosecuted upon this account ibid. The Presbyterians attempt to obtrude a Presbyterian Preacher on the Parish of Errol A Tumult upon that account 84 Dr. Nicolson indicted and libelled before the Privy Council The Narrative of his Libel with the cause why this Narrative is inserted 85 86 87 88. A short Account of the Visiting the Universities 89 to 95 The Proclamation of April 13. 1689 against owning the late King James and appointing publick Prayers for William and Mary King and Queen of Scotland 95 96 The Speech of William Earl of Crawfurd President to the Parliament of Scotland April 22. 1690. 97 98 99 100 SIR ALTHOUGH I am satisfied that the Papers already in Print concerning the Persecutions the Episcopal Church in Scotland has suffered of late do furnish matter enough to move the Compassion of a Friend and glut the Malice even of the most inveterate Enemy yet finding by your last that you earnestly desire to know more about them and not being able to resist your Importunity I have been at the pains to send you this following Account The former Relation as I remember brought things no farther down than that Act of Privy Council dated December 24. 1689. by which all Inferiour Judges within the Nation were prohibited to give Decrees in favour of such of the Clergy as had been thrust from their Charges by Tumult and Rabble before the 13th of April preceding Notwithstanding you have that Act in Print already yet being it must give the Rise of this brief Supplement I shall here again transcribe it An ACT of COUNCIL At EDINBURGH Dec. 24. 1689. THE Lords of His Majesties Privy Council considering that by the â—ot of the Meeting of Estates of the date the thirteenth day of April last there is a difference made betwixt the Ministers then in possession and exercise of their Ministry at their respective Churches and those who were not so And that the Case of the Ministers who were not in the actual exercise of their Ministerial Function the thirteenth day of April last lies yet under the consideration of the Parliament and lest in the mean time they may call and pursue for the Stipends alledged due to them or put in execution the Decrees and Sentences already obtained at their instance for the same before the Estates of Parliament can meet and give the determinations in the points Therefore the said Lords of Privy Council finding that the Case foresaid depending before the Parliament is not obvious to be cognosced upon and decided by the Inferiour Iudges but that the same should be left entire to the decision of the Parliament have thought fit to signifie to all Inferiour Courts and Ministers of the Law that the matter above-mentioned is depending before the Parliament to the effect they may regulate and govern themselves in the judging of all Processes to be intented before them upon the said matter or in executing the Sentences already pronounced thereupon as they will be answerable Sic subscribitur Crawford I. P. D. S. Con. No sooner did that Act pass than Copies of it were instantly sent by the Councils Order to all Inferiour Judges within whose Jurisdictions those Parishes lay from which the Ministers had been forced before that 13th of April so fatal to our
Ministry in their own Churches yet had adventured to preach in Neighbouring Churches And for this they pretended they were only deprived of the exercise of their Ministry at such a Place The Council though it had deprived them had not unminister'd them it was still lawful for them to preach the Gospel when they had occasion And as they thought they had but too much of that considering how many Vacancies were made and how few of these Churches were planted So very few that in many Corners of the Country you should have found six eight ten Churches all empty in one Neighbourhood Besides as they still pretend they preached nothing but the solid and substantial Points of Christianity Faith and Repentance c. They did not meddle with Crowns and Scepters and Government but made it their work to persuade People to a sober righteous and godly Life However this irritated the Government or at least the Presbyterian Party in the Government exceedingly and therefore upon the 22 of Iuly 1690. this Act mas wade about them THE Estates of Parliament taking into their Consideration That several Ministers deprived for not praying publickly for King William and Queen Mary as King and Queen of this Realm and not Reading the Proclamation of the Estates Emitted upon the 13th of April 1689. for that effect are vp their Sentence of Deprivation expresly prohibited to exercise any part of their Ministerial Function within the Parishes from which they were Deprived do nevertheless now far more perniciously and dangerously diffuse the poison of their Disaffection by taking the liberty to preach and pray at other Churches and elsewhere where they neglect to pray for King William and Queen Mary in manner enjoined by the said Proclamation to the manifest Contempt of publick Authority and the stirrrng up and fomenting the disaffection of the People to their Majesties and the present Government and the encouragement of all their Enemies Therefore our Sovereign Lord and Lady the King and Queen's Majesties with Advice and Consent of the said Estates of Parliament do hereby prohibit and discharge the whole foresaid Ministers deprived as said is to preach or exercise any part of the Ministerial Function either in Churches or elsewhere upon any pretext whatsoever until first they present themselves before the Lords of their Majesties secret Council and there in presence of the Lords thereof cake swear and subscribe the Oath of Allegiance and also engage themselves under their Hands to pray for King William and Queen Mary as King and Queen of this Realm and not to own or acknowledge the late K. Iames the 7th for their King in any sort conform to the Tenour of the said Proclamation Certifying such Ministers as shall do in the contrary That they shall be proceeded against as Persons disaffected Enemies to their Majesties Government with all Rigour And further their Majesties with advice and consent foresaid ordain the said Proclamation and Act of the Estates of the Kingdom to be put to further Execution against all such Ministers who have not as yet given Obedience thereto by praying for their Majesties in manner foresaid And that the Lords of their Majesties Privy Council proceed therein or impower the Sheriffs or Magistrates of Burghs to do the same within their respective Bounds as they shall see cause Neither was this thought enough for within a few days after another Act was made against the Distinction of De Iure and De Facto and appointing a certain Declaration which they call the Assurance to be taken by every person in publick Employment And amongst the rest the Deprived Ministers for it is an express Clause in the Act That all shall take it who are obliged by Law to Swear the Oath of Allegiance to their Majesties I am now almost wearied and therefore I cannot be at pains to Transcribe that Act of Parliament but I am afraid you may be angry if you get not a Copy of the Assurance and therefore take it as follows IAB Do in the Sincerity of my Heart Assent Acknowledge and Declare That their Majesties King William and Queen Mary are the only lawful undoubted Sovereigns King and Queen of Scotland as well de Iure as de facto and in the exercise of the Government And therefore I do sincerely and faithfully promise and engage That I will with Heart and Hand Life and Goods maintain and defend their Majesties Title and Government against the late King Iames His Adherents and all other Enemies who either by open or secret Attempts shall disturb or disquiet their Majesties in the exercise thereof Thus the Parliament thought fit to seeure their Majesties Government by exploding that pitiful Distinction of de Iure and de Facto Rationally sure and Consequentially For in a Kingdom where the Government is incontrovertibly Monarchical and Hereditary such as Scotland is How is it possible that one can be King de facto if he be not first such de Iure An Usurper he may be but can never be a King a King in such a Constitution being necessarily Nomen Iuris But to let this pass because it is no part of my present Concern Were not our Non-Complyers our Non-Readers and Non-Prayers our Clergymen who were deprived Anno 1689 pretty well taken notice of by these two Acts of Parliament I believe you will not readily imagine that many of them would incline to qualifie themselves according to these Laws for the further exercise of their Ministry Neither indeed so far as I can learn has one of them done it in all the Kingdom They were forced therefore to chuse the other side of the Alternative and cease from the publick Exercise of their Ministry either in Churches or elsewhere and did so for a certain time That they look'd about them and considered a little better And then in several places they adventured to have Divine Worship somewhat publickly in their own Houses that is they prayed and sung Psalms according to the Scottish Fashion And also gave their Families a Sermon but so as they did not shut their Gates but left them open that whosoever pleased might meet with them This gave mighty provocation to the Presbyterian Preachers For wherever this was done it emptyed their Convinticles of a great many of the Common Sort And besides the Gentry generally flocked to these private Meetings of the deprived Men Which was an unsupportable Grievance and Trouble to the Brethren for so long as that was the Guise they concluded it would be impossible their Interest what ever pretences of Law they might have on their side could be secured But what Remedy was proper for such a dangerous Disease Should they cite them before their Presbyteries or Synods and enter in Ecclesiastical Process against them But that would be to no purpose For they would be sure not to appear and if the pursuit should proceed to the outmost if they should Excommunicate them nothing would be gain'd for the Sting was
indeed it was not Preached till after Presbytery was established and so you may think it is inartificially done to bring it in here but I had rather take a reproof for transgressing the rules of History than not record the Testimony of such a vigorous Witness especially considering how notable it is for it is in real sense that Christ was a Martyr for Presbyterian Government His very words are these Church-Government is no light matter it is an ordinance of God the Royal Diadem of Christ he was a Martyr on this head it was his Ditty on the Cross. Joh. 19. 19. Iesus of Nazareth King of the Iews A wonderful Sermon this was as ever you read I was once at the pains to number the particulars he had amassed in it And if my memory serves me they were about 180. I have thus given you this tast of their Sermons at once though it is not so exactly agreable to the true order of things that you may have the fuller view of them and I might not be obliged to make so many interruptions as another method would have required And by this sample you may judge both of the parts and zeal of the rest of the Brethren for it is not to be doubted but those whose Sermons were not judged accurate enough for the Press were yet every whit as much heated with the holy fire according to the proportions of their Capacities as these first Rate-men But neither was all this yet enough for securing the precious Interest It was necessary to set other tools also a going One there was which I believe had no inconsiderable influence there was a generation of Female Advocates belike some of them Disciples of such as Mr. David Williamson Ladies and Gentlewomen who came at that time and stay'd at Edinburgh and made it their work by all imaginable ways to influence the Members of Parliament into a zealous disposition to carry on the work There was also great throngs of the Preachers still in Town who could not have any other business but to do what they could for advancing the Cause but I believe the Holy Sisters the Citizens Wives and some of themselves too were as successful in making Proselytes as the Preachers for they had better occasion to traffick with such of the Members as stay'd at their houses or were of their acquaintance And besides they had t'other shilling in greater readiness to give for a pint of Sack and that goes very far with well disposed People After all these there was a certain company of Planets little Luminaries Members of Parliament some of whom I could name if it were needful who made it their trade early and late in season and out of season in all companies and on all occasions to vex the more intelligent and to fright the less discerning and very many were such into a forwardness for Presbytery Nay more yet it was confidently talked that not a few of the meaner sort of Members got Money and were kept upon Pension that they might be servicable By these and other such Arts was the Cause carried on and no Methods were left unessayed till a competent number of Votes were secured for every thing that the Commissioner intended While in the mean time the Club was entirely broken and the generality of the Kingdom who were of other Principles found themselves obliged to live quietly and wait a more proper season for diligence and action And so much for the first part of my undertaking Come we now to the Second Which is to give you a brief Account how this Act was prepared debated voted and at last got the Royal Assent in the House It was introduced according to its quality by the Earl of Sutherland who presented an Act to the House concerning it upon the day of I have seen a Copy of it and thought once upon Transcribing it for your use but it was tediously long and coarsely worded and it contained little more than what you have in the Printed Act and therefore after some more thinking I judged it not worth the pains Although it was believed that it was compiled by some of the Brethren who were best studied in the matter some other schemes were also given in by some other Members but his Lordship 's got the preference It was most regarded and best liked by Melvil and Crawford who probably had seen it before and so it was particularly recommended to the Committee which was nominated for Church Affairs Eighteen were at first named to be of that Committee viz. Noblmen Barons Burgesses Earl of Crawford Sir Iohn Maxwell Sir Tho. Stewart of Coltness E. of Sutherland Sir Patrick Hume Anderson for Glascow V. of Arburthnet Sir Iohn Monro Smith for St. Andrews V. of Stair Laird of Levingston William Heggins L. Cardross Laird of Brodie Iames Kenman L. Carmichael Laird of Dalfoilly Patrick Mordock All of the true stamp except the Laird of Levingston who it was thought was named merely for shew or that it might not be said they were all Presbyterians Besides these first Eighteen I think other two were added afterwards but I have forgot their names This Committee met very often and commonly they had some of the leading Ministers with them for advice At last after many an hour and much pains spent about it it was returned by the Committee to the House on Friday the 23d of May more briefly and distinctly digested indeed and much more smoothly worded and yet without any substantial alteration or difference betwixt it and the E. of Sutherland's Copy Being thus prepared and returned to the House in the first place it was twice read over all the Members composing themselves to a diligent and headful Attention This done not a few points in it were debated and several Amendments were made But before I proceed further I will set it down as it was at last agreed upon and made a Law and then give you a brief account of some particulars in it which may perchance contribute something to your better understanding of it ACT Ratifying the Confession of Faith and settling Presbyterian Church-Government Iune 7. 1690. OUR Soveraign Lord and Lady the King and Queens Majesties and the three Estates of Parliament conceiving it to be their bound Duty after the great deliverance that God hath lately wrought for this Church and Kingdom in the first place to settle and secure therein the true Protestant Religion according to the truth of Gods word as it hath of a long time been Professed within this Land As also the Government of Christ ' s Church within this Nation agreeable to the word of God and most conducive to the advancement of true Piety and Godliness and the establishing of Peace and Tranquillity within this Realm And that by an Article of the Claim of Right it is declared that Prelacy and the Superiority of any Office in the Church above Presbyters is and hath been a great and unsupportable Grte vance and Trouble
Professors thereof have been and are great matter of joy to our hearts and of blessing and magnifying our Lord and Master in your Lordships behalf So they are a door of hope to us and to all that love the true Reformed Protestant Religion in this Land That his Grace His Majesties High Commissioner and this Honourable Court of Parliament will in your Station go on zealously in your work of purging this poor oppressed Church from all Corruptions brought into it by Ambitious and Covetous Church-men who sought their own things but not the things of Iesus Christ and from all the sad Consequences which have followed upon the Erecting of Prelacy such as were the driving several hundreds of Ministers all at one time out of their Churches without either accusation or citation and the filling of their places with Ignorant and Scandalous Persons which His Majesty is Graciously Pleased to Notice in his Declaration for Scotland as an occasion of all this poor Churches Miseries and from which unsupportable Sufferings He declared His Resolution to relieve and rescue us And we may add with many also erroneous and unsound in the Faith Enemies to the Reformation and who have now appeared disaffected to the present Civil Government as also framing of a numerous train of severe Laws severely Executed both on Ministers and People of all degrees so for that even while we were counted and treated as Sheep for the slaughter we might not Petition or Complain without rendring our selves highly Criminal by the Laws and Acts then made All which we hope the Commissioner his Grace and your Lordships in this present Parliament will take to your serious Consideration and will free this poor oppressed Church from such Oppressors and Oppressions and settle it again upon the right Foundations of Government and Discipline agreeable to the Word of God and Established in this Church by Law near an hundred years agoe Which settlement we are confident will prove the best remedy of all our otherways incurable distractions and the mean of quieting and uniting the whole Country in a joynt and firm Opposition against all His Majesties and your Lordships Enemies We therefore His Majesties most Loyal Subjects and your Lordships most humble and dutiful Servants in Christ Humbly beseech the Commissioner his Grace and Honourable Estates of Parliament seeing the Kings Majesty hath Declared and your Lordships with him have Zealously appeared for the Protestant Religion you will be Graciously Pleased by your Civil Sanction to Establish and Ratifie the late Confession of Faith with the larger and shorter Catechisms which contain the sum and substance of the Doctrine of the Reformed Churches The Directory of Worship and Presbyterial Church Government and Discipline all agreeable to the Word of God and formerly received by the general Consent of this Nation And seeing Prelacy and all who have entered under Prelacy have been imposed upon the Church without her Consent in any of her free General Assemblies and that Presbyterial Government cannot be secure in the hands of them who are of contrary Principles Therefore we humbly Petition that the Church-Government may be Established in the hands of such only who by their former Carriage and Sufferings have Evidenced that they are known sound Presbyterians and well affected to His Majesties Government or who hereafter shall be found to be such which are hopeful by the Grace of God shall be managed with such Christian Prudence Moderation and Tenderness as shall leave no just matter of Complaint to any and that not only these Ministers yet alive who were unjustly thrust from their Churches may be restored thereto and these Parishes and Flocks at that time no less violently imposed upon may be freed from Intruders But also all other Presbyterian Ministers who either are already or may be by respective Flocks orderly called hereafter may have access to be settled in Churches after the Presbyterian way as they shall be Ecclesiastically approved and appointed and may have your Lordships Civil Sanction added thereunto And we also Request that the Church thus Established may be allowed by your Lordships Civil Sanction to appoint Visitations for purging out insufficient negligent scandalous and erroneous Ministers And seeing Patronages which had their Rise in the most corrupt and latter times of Antichristianism have always been a great grievance to this Church as the source and fountain of a Corrupt Ministry That these may be Abolished And that the Church may be Established upon its former good Foundations Confirmed by many Acts of Parliament since the year one thousand five hundred and sixty And that all Acts contrary to this Government that ratifie Ceremonies and impose Punishments on Presbyterians for Non-conformity and for Worshiping of God according to their Principles may be Abrogate And as a good and necessary mean for preserving the Purity of the Church your Lorships take care that Learned Sound and Godly Men be put in Universities and Seminaries of Learning humbly submitting to your Lordships Wisdom the method of considering and effecting these our desires Thus all things being done for the House of the God of Heaven according to the Commandment of the God of Heaven by your Lordships pious and wise managing these Affairs of the Church of Christ This poor long oppressed and tossed Church may at length through God's Blessing arrive at a safe and quiet Harbour and the true Honour and Happiness of His Majesty and your Lordships as the signal Nursing Fathers of the Church of Christ in this Land may be advanced and continued to future Generations And so the Blessing of the Church that was ready to perish may remain still upon His Majesty and your Lordships And your Lordships Petitioners shall ever Pray that God may Bless and Protect the Persons of Their Majesties King William and Queen Mary long to rule and govern this Nation and your Lordships under them This Petition word for word unless it was in one or two Sentences had been presented by them to the Parliament the year before for a man may be against set forms in their Petitions to God yet for them in Petitions to Parliaments while the Duke of Hamilton was Commissioner but his Grace was no ways pleased with it for several Reasons but principally that they craved that the Church Government might be Established in the hands of such only who by their former carriage and sufferings had evidenced that they were known sound Presbyterians For what was this said his Grace but to pull down one sort of Prelacy and set up another in its place to abolish one that was consistent and intelligible and establish another that imply'd Contradictions And indeed there was no answering this difficulty For there were but about fifty or sixty such Ministers alive in the whole Nation And it was craved that the Government of the Church should be Established in their hands in the first Instance which what was it else but instead of fourteen Prelatical to give us
about fifty or sixty Presbyterian Bishops But such was the posture of their Affairs at that time that there was no other way they could see for securing their Interest and so they made Necessity Justifie a little Nonsense and this year they had a more favourable Commissioner to deal with the good Earl of Melvill But then there is a great deal of considerable stuff in it For observe I pray you the charitable judgment they make of the Bishops and Episcopal Clergy All the distractions have been in this Kingdom will continue still incurable unless this poor oppressed Church be purged from all Corruptions brought into it by ambitions and covetous Church-men it is well they are allowed to be Church-men who sought their own things but not the things of Iesus Christ. And with whom were the Churches filled when Prelacy was erected and the Presbyterian Ministers turn'd out With ignorant and scandalous Persons nay with many erroneous and unsound in the Faith and Enemies to the Reformation and till the Church is freed from these Oppressors and Oppressions she can never be right is not all this charitably said Yet this is not the worst of it For consider the whole strain of the Petition and they are the only Protestants of the Nation For if we may believe them God stirred up the Prince of Orange to espouse the Interest of the Protestant Religion and of the afflicted Ministers and Professors thereof And yet I am very sure many will confidently affirm he did not espouse at his first coming to Britain at least the Interest of the afflicted Ministers of their Persuasion in Scotland Further God raised up their Lordships the Members of Parliament their most noble and honourable Patriots to prejoyn heartily with His Majesty in appearing zealously for serving the Protestant Religion in this Kingdom and for what may tend for the better Establishing of it in all its concerns Now what is all this but that though King Iames had given a Toleration to the Presbyterians yet that put them only in a very weak uncertain and arbitrary State and they could not be well enough till they had a legal Establishment Exclusive of all Popish Prelates and their Adherents And not only so but the steps the Parliament have already made have opened a door of hope to them and to all that love the true Reformed Protestant Religion in this Land that they will go on zealously c. Which words are not capable of another sense than this that whosoever is not Zealous against Prelacy and for Presbytery is not a Lover of the true Reformed Protestant Religion There are a great many other things in this Petition which deserve their proper Remarks but I will not take notice of them any more but as they fall in naturally in the progress of this Paper and then they shall be considered The first of which shall be the Case of the Presbyterian Ministers who were turned out of these Churches they possessed after the first of January 1661. Where in this Petition you see the great injury which was done them is mightily aggravated Several hundreds of them all at one time were driven out of their Churches without either Accusation or Citation And this was so palpable a Persecution so manifest an Effort of Oppression and Tyranny That His Majesty was graciously pleased to take notice of it in his Declaration for Scotland 1688. which 't is very true he did for his words are That the Dissenters in Scotland have just cause of distrust when they call to mind how some hundreds of their Ministers were driven out of their Churches without either Accusation or Citation Nay our Petitioners are at it again in another place of the same Petition and Crave That these Ministers who were unjustly thrust from their Churches may be restored thereto and these Parishes and Flocks at that time no less violently imposed upon may be freed from Intruders This case I say I shall in the first place consider because it was the first thing in the Petition which was redressed by the Parliament For within a day or two after this Petition was presented this Act was made which I have transmitted to you ACT restoring the Presbyterian Ministers who were thrust from their Churches since the first of January 1661. April 25. 1690. Forasmuch as by an Act of this present Parliament relative to and in Prosecution of the Claim of Right Prelary and the Superiority of Church-Officers above Presbyters is abolished and that many Ministers of the Presbyterian Persuasion since the first of January 1661. have been deprived of their Churches or banished for not conforming to Prelacy and not complying with the Courses of the Time Therefore their Majesties with the Advice and Consent of the Estates of Parliament Ordain and Appoint that all those Presbyterian Ministers yet alive who were thrust from their Churches since the first day of January 1661. or Banished for not conforming to Prelacy and not complying with the Courses of the Time have forthwith free access to their Churches and that they may presently exercise the Ministry in those Parishes without any New Call thereto and allows them to brook and enjoy the benefits and stipends thereunto belonging and that for the whole Crop 1689. and immediately to enter to the Churches and Manses where the Churches are vacant and where they are not vacant then their entry thereto is declared to be the half of the Benefice and Stipend due and payable at Michaelmass last for the half year immediately preceeding betwixt Whitsunday and Michaelmass Declaring that the present Incumbent shall have right to the other half of the Stipend and Benefice payable for the Whitsunday last bypast And to the effect that these Ministers may meet with no stop or hinderance in entring immediately to their Charges the present Incumbents in such Churches are hereby appointed upon intimation hereof to desist from their Ministry in these Parishes and to remove themselves from the Manses and Glebes thereunto belonging betwixt and Whitsunday next to come and that the Presbyterian Ministers formerly put out may enter peaceably thereto And appoints the Privy Council to see this Act put in Execution Which Act you see uses the same colours for representing the odiousness of the usage these Presbyterian Ministers had receiv'd that the Declaration and the Presbyterian Petition had made use of before especially in the statutory part where it says in express terms that they were thrust from their Charges which can import no less than Force and Violence in opposition to Law and Iustice it calls the Churches from which they had been thus thrust their Churches As if notwithstanding their dispossession they had still continued to have a Title good in Law and it restores them forthwith to the exercise of their Ministry in their Parishes without any New Call thereto Each of which singly much more altogether make it evident that this their restitution was intended by the Parliament not as an
Act of Favour but of Justice as if these Ministers had been unjustly and illegally dispossess'd and now Sir When all these things are laid together so solemn a Declaration the Presbyterian Ministers so earnest Petition and the Parliaments so publick an Act all conspiring to represent that matter so very odious and unjust I hope it shall not be displeasing to you if I shall endeavour briefly to set it in its due light It is true indeed a good many of these Ministers were dispossessed Anno 1662. how many I confess I cannot tell exactly but I doubt much if they were so many as they are commonly said to be I shall likewise grant that they were dispossessed without either Accusation or Citation Herein I acknowledge they speak truth and yet I doubt if you shall find so much as one jot of iniquity in their dispossession when it is considered impartially The case was truly this As before the Reformation of Religion in this Kingdom which as to its Legal Establishment is variously dated some reckoning from the year 1560. others from 1567. Patronages of Churches in this Kingdom were in force so when the Church was reformed notwithstanding of all the Changes which were then and have been since our Law did still continue them and no man was ever judged to have a Legal Title to any Church or Benefice unless he had a Presentation from the Patron and a Collation from the Bishop whilst Episcopacy was the Legal Establishment which it continued to be for many years after the Reformation without interruption or from a Presbytery after Presbyterian Government began to prevail And as this was still our Law without any shadow of interruption so it was likewise the constant Practice of the Nation not only before the late Presbyterian Rebellion against King Charles the First commenced but even for a good number of years after that is till about the year 1646. or 1647. when the Rebellion by Divine Permission turn'd prosperous and the Kings Affairs were reduced to a very low ebb and the Presbyterian Interest was in a very flourishing condition till that time I say Presentations by Patrons to Churches were in constant practice as well as warranted by Law in this Kingdom But then indeed the Kirk-men sensible of their strength began to adventure amongst other illegal Usurpations to say no worse to take upon them the disposal of Churches and Benefices by bringing that Cheat which they called Popular Elections in Vogue and Presentations by Patrons in desuetude I call Popular Election a Cheat for in effect it was no other and the poor deluded Populace had no more true Power than before and Ministers were as much impos'd on them then as ever as might easily be made appear not only from the common Methods were then taken in managing Elections but also from the express Limitations and Restrictions with which even the General Assemblies clog'd them However the sound of the Name for a while enchanted the unthinking multitude and the Party had a turn to serve by it and so it was push'd on with a great deal of Zeal in many places without any considerable opposition as indeed who durst then adventure to oppose what the Ministers were for The Party thus finding their Strength successful in so many single instances gathered suitable degrees of Courage and pursued their design so effectually that at last they got Patronages abolished and Popular Elections set up by a certain Meeting of some Noblemen Gentlemen and Burgesses who were pleas'd to call themselves a Parliament Anno 1649. And this Act of that pretended Parliament if it even deserves that Name was all the pretence of Law that ever was for Popular Elections in this Church since the Reformation but it was enough for the then Kirk any shadow or colour of a Pretext being still both Law and Gospel to them when it makes for their purpose And accordingly all the Ministers who were setled in any Churches after that time till the happy Restitution of the Monarchy that is for eleven or twelve years were promoted after this new method No man I think can doubt but this was a palpable encroachment upon the rights of Patrons and a trampling on Law and by consequence a thing that called loudly for redress when the King was restor'd and the Government began to turn upon its proper hinges and so no wonder if the first Parliament which was called by His Majesty took notice of it as indeed they did in their first Session which was holden Anno 1661. for in that Session two Acts were made which demonstrate that the Parliament still look'd upon Patronages as subsisting by Law notwithstanding the illegal interruption which had been made by the Act of the pretended Parliament in 1649. For instance in Act 36. 1. Parl. Ch. 2d Session 1. it is statuted and ordain'd That all Patrons shall be carefull in time coming to grant Presentations only to such as shall give sufficient evidence of their Piety Loyalty Literature and Peacable Disposition and who before they receive the Presentation shall take the Oath of Allegiance c. And in that same Act it is narrated That the King's Majesty has given a Commission under the great Seal as to all Presentations to all Parsonages Vicarages and other Benefices and Kirks at His Majesties Presentation And all this without so much as once taking notice of that Act 1649. And the 54th Act of that same first Session is altogether in favour of Laick Patrons Now both these Acts I say were made Anno 1661. and so before Episcopacy was restored which was not till May 1662. which I observe because our present Presbyterians in their so often named Petition make the turning out of their Ministers Anno 1662. one of the sad consequences of the erection of Prelacy For seeing the Parliament before the Restitution of Prelacy had considered Patronages as still subsisting by Law as is evident from these two Acts. 'T is evident if they were to Act consequentially they could not forbear to make some such Act as was made Anno 1662. of which I shall instantly give you a further Accompt though Episcopacy had never been Established Nor can there be any imaginable difficulty to any man in this matter unless it be made a question whether the Parliament when they thus supposed Patronages as still subsisting by Law made a just supposition But that I think may be very soon determined For as I have said all the old Laws of the Kingdom were positive for Patronages only that Act of the pretended Parliament Anno 1649. could be pleaded for popular Elections and what a Parliament was that A Convention of Rebels who had presumed to meet without being called by any Authority except what they Treasonably assum'd to themselves For all the World knows that King Charles the I. at that time was dead I need not tell you how and King Charles the II. was not within his Dominions and was so far from
told that the Book was written half a year before and endured an Examen Rigorosum of the most Judicious of the Party which was News indeed for no body would have known that by reading the Book It is truly a marvellous Work for in it you have not only the Divine Right of Parity among Churchmen and Kirk-Sessions and Presbyteries and Provincial Synods and National Assemblies and Ruling Elders and popular Elections c. most doughtily asserted it was no part of his task to prove but also Presbytery and Monarchy reconciled to an ace and the putting the Government intirely in the hands of the known sound Men most mysteriously justified Doubtless it has been an unaccountable negligence in some body that it has not been before this time Reprinted in England and carefully dispersed all over that Kingdom For who knows what light it might have diffused and what Reformations it might have wrought among you But that which I am concerned to take notice of in it at present is only this That though the Author is content that by the bye it should advance Gods Glory and do good to Souls yet he confesses neither of these was his principal end for publishing it at that time For that was especially that Presbyterian Government might stand right in the opinion of the King and Parliament c. And as Presbytery was thus represented and recommended so the like care was taken to disgrace and defame Prelacy in Pamphlets and Pasquils as the very vilest of all vile things And to all such Dirt Trash c. the Press was open but a Prelatist might as well expect to subvert the Government as to get one Sheet Published in defence of his Cause But this was not all It was not fit that the fate of the good old Cause should stand on nothing else but Paper supporters The influence of two or three principal States-men and if you please you may joyn with them States-women commonly carries on a Cause more effectually than a thousand Printed Volumes and therefore it was necessary that tool should be tried also as vigorously as was possible And therefore the great Lord Melvill a constant Friend to the good Cause and now Their Majesties Comissioner must give vent to his Zeal in his Speech he made to the Parliament they say with very little assurance the first day they met But whatever his Influence or Zeal might be his Rhetorick was no doubt infinitely short of the florid and genuine Eloquence of that Learned as well as Potent Lord W. E. of C. who the next meeting which was April 22. delivered a Sermon to the House wherein it was easie to discern no less Zeal than Art and no less Art than Wisdom It was forthwith Published so that I cannot think but you have seen it already However to make all sure I have herewith sent you a Copy of it It 's true blue all over and you may be much enlightened by it His Lordship was President of the Parliament and that gave him the precious opportunity to open his Mouth and speak Thus were the Commissioners place and the Chair filled and the Press imployed And who can imagine that upon such an exigence the Pulpit would be silent That sure is not to be supposed And indeed it was never exercised more warmly For not only had they been still making it their work to promote their Interest by Melancholy Declamations against Prelacy Prelates and Prelatical Church-men after they had got footing in the Churches A Theme they are generally better skilled in than in the substantial things of Christianity but especially at that time their Fears quickening their Zeal they were extremely eager and every one as he had the fortune to Preach before the Parliament was sure to signalize his fervour as much as any other of his good qualities in behalf of Christ's Kingdom as they call their Yesterdays Parity I must confess indeed I had neither the opportunity nor inclination to hear their Sermons but as I was told by some who did and as I learned by such of them as were published no man needed condemn them of Coldness or Indifferency Thus Mr. George Meldrum of whom you have a sufficient Account in the History of our late General Assembly in his Sermon preached before the Parliament April 27 exhorts them to go on zealously in settling the Government of the Church of Christ according to his own appointment recommends unto them that Word of Artaxerxes Ezra 7. 23. this Text was scarce ever missed by any of them Whatsoever is commanded by the God of Heaven let it be done diligently for the house of the God of Heaven c. commends them and blesses the Lord that with so much Unity and Harmony for the party had been infinitly afraid of the Club that it should have marred all their designs but by that time it was found too weak they had gone some footsteps already that is had abolished Prelacy and the Supremacy and restored the Presbyterian Ministers exhorts them to go on and prays that God may be with them c. Was not this pretty fair for an old Conformist But Good Mr. Spalding Clerk to the late General Assembly who had sat many a day in a little Shop in the Town of Irwin and measured out in retail many a Noggan of Brandy was a man of much finer metal for in his Sermon which he preached before the House upon the Eleventh of May the second that was published he tells them in truer stile that now God was making way for the utter ruine and fall of Antichrist and Popery in all the formes of it two of which to be sure are Episcopacy wherever it is and the Liturgy of England that not so much as a Rag of the Whore may remain and his Church may sing in triumph Babylon the Great is fallen is fallen For why God is now carrying on the establishment of Zion upon her right basis and foundation And to shew that he was not a flattering Gospeller who respected Persons He tells them in a parallel betwixt King Saul and King David on the one hand and King Iames and King William on the other at least I protest I can make no other sense of it that King William is not yet absolutely right because he has Carnal Fears to bring the Ark Presbytery into his own City the Church of England and again labour to perfect the Reformation which ye have begun happily and is greedily expected and that speedily and in the first place command as in Ezra 7. 23. That whatsoever is commanded c. Let Reformation I say be perfect and throw to the door all that belongs to the Whore even the Rags which she left behind her for an errand to return again all Prelacy and Ceremonies and set Forms and let none of Babels cursed timber and stone be taken to build the Lords house with Let not so much as one Prelatist continue in the exercise of his
hot as ever as is evident from a second Tumult at Glasgow upon the 17th day of February and year abovesaid being the Lord's day on which both Minister and Hearers having assembled for Divine Worship according to Law and upon the protection and security contained in the said Declaration were most violently assaulted by an enraged Multitude in the High Church of that City and a great many other Instances which may be easily adduced and a Representation of that Tumult in Glasgow and a second Application for Protection were made to His Majesty by Dr. James Fall Principal of the College of Glasgow And His Majesty referred the matter to the meeting of Estates indicted by him to sit at Edenburgh the 14th of March and year aforesaid Whereas the said Meeting of Estates did not think it convenient in that interim by their Authority to Repossess your Petitioners of their just legal and undoubled Rights as appears from their Proclamation of the date at Edenburgh the 13th day of April 1689. So that your Petitioners wanting Protection durst never since without the manifest peril of their Lives adventure to return to the exercise of their Ministry at their respective Churches Whereas your Petitioners beside the unspeakable grief it is to them to be thus restrain'd from the exercise of their Sacred Function are generally reduced to great Necessities and many of them with numerous Families are at the point of starving having no Livelihood but their Stipends and being refused Payment of these by the Debiors thereof upon pretence of an Act of Council dated December the 24th 1689. whereby Intimation is made to all Iudges that the Case of the Ministers who are not in the Actual Exercise of their Ministerial Function the 13th of April 1689. lyeth under the Consideration of Parliament and they are required in Executing of Sentences already recovered and in Iudging of Processes to be intented at the Instance of such Ministers to behave themselves as they will be answerable which Act not only the Debiors of your Petitioners Stipends pretend for not Paying the same as said is but also many inferiour Iudges do so construct that they will grant no Decrees in favours of your Petitioners And Whereas by the Laws of this Realm your Petitioners being Ministers of the Gospel of Christ and having entered legally to their Offices and Benefices as said is have right to Protection in the Exercise of their Ministry at their respective Churches and to their Benefices ad vitam vel culpam and can neither be deprived of either without a legal Sentence And now your Grace and the Estates are met in Parliament to which the Case of your Petitioners is referred by the aforesaid Act of Privy Council May it therefore Please your Grace and the Honourable Estates of Parliament to take the Premises under Consideration and interpose your Authority for restoring your Petitioners to the exercise of their Ministry at their respective Churches for causing make Payment of the Stipends that are due to them by Law and for protecting them both in their Offices and Benefices according to Law The Framers of this Petition made it their work to put it in as smooth and modest a dress as they could that it might not be condemned of Superciliousness and Arrogancy as that had been which was presented the day before As for the Form one of these who were concerned produced King Charles the first His large Declaration and therein turned to the Petition which was given by the Presbyterians Anno 1638. to the Presbytery of Edenburgh against the Bishops affirming it would be best to imitate that Pattern as near as could be For so the Presbyterians in the Parliament could not find fault with it without casting dirt upon their own Predecessors The Fancy was relished by the rest and this was the true reason why there were so many Whereas's in it Having thus formed their Petition Their next work was to wait upon the Commissioner and shew him a Copy of it But that Night they could not have access it was a Post-night and his Grace was busie writing Letters So they returned on Monday morning and were at last admitted into his Grace's presence where one of them in very few words told him They were of the number of these Ministers who had been thrust from their Churches by force and violence before the 13th of April 1689. That they were informed that the Parliament had now their Case under consideration That therefore They had formed a Petition which they were to Present to the Parliament and so were come to acquaint his Grace with it and give him a Copy of it that he might thereby understand the true state of their Case and with these last words he offered his Grace a Copy of the Petition He received it and after a little pause He asked this Question What Are ye the Gentlemen who gave in the Petition to the Parliament on Friday The Person to whom he directed this Question understanding very well what he meant by it viz. That his Grace had a mind to be at them for their Arrogancy if they had been the men replyed instantly They were not And then deduced their Case over again briefly Then was there another pause his Grace still holding the Petition in his hand without ever offering to read it At last he broke his Silence with this very Christian Sentence had he been Ingenuous in it Gentlemen I can say no more but that I am for doing just and righteous things to all men To which it was forthwith replyed That they sought nothing but Justice give them that and they were satisfied and with that they left him The next thing to be done was to search out some Member of Parliament who might do them the favour of presenting the Petition to the House At last they found Sir Patrick Scott of Ancrum a discreet Gentleman who undertook it For you must know it was not every body that had Courage for such an imployment as matters then went Well On Monday the 26th of May there was no opportunity for it The reading the Westminster Confession as I have said wearied the whole House so that Article about the Rabbled Clergy was not considered till the last and great day Wednesday the 28th of May The day on which the whole Act was voted but before I come to the work of that day I must give you an Account of some Skirmishings had been concerning it on Friday the 23d For The Duke of Hamilton obtained no less than three Amendments in that Article that day which that you may the better understand I will set down the Article as it was prepared by the Committee and then tell you briefly upon what Reasons the Amendments were made The Article as it was prepared by the Committee ran thus And because many Conform Ministers either have deserted or are removed from their Churches preceeding the 13th of April 1689. and ought not to be reponed and
just neither more nor less than this Skeen upon such a Saturday for such was that 13th of April was not in the exercise of his Ministry had not publick Worship and Sermon and therefore the Act of Parliament declared his Church vacant And is not this a probable Consequence I could easily say a great deal more but perhaps even what I have said is a Digression Leave we therefore the Session and let us accompany Skeen now to the Council His pinching Circumstances prompted him to make another Attempt before he should quite give over and that was to Petition the Council that they would retract their Gift to Murray and restore him to his Right Or if they would not do that That their Lordships would at least allow him the equivalent for the year 1689. out of some other vacancy You may easily collect Reasons enough to recommend this Petition from what I have already set down i. e. The usage he had received from the Rabble the death of his Wife the numerousness of his Family his Poverty his continuing so long in the exercise of his Ministry after the 13th of April his never to that hour being under any Sentence Civil or Ecclesiastical his never being heard for his Interest Murray's procuring that Gift surreptitiously c. and a great many more All these he had in his Petition But the Result was the Council would neither recall their Gift to Murray nor supply the poor mans needs from any other Fund So that all this while he has nothing but the Charity of good Christians to subsist by Thus I have briefly hinted at such things as may give you a sufficient tast of the consequences of our Act of Parliament that settled the Presbyterian Government 'T is now time for us to return to the Parliament house again and see what more was done there concerning the Church or the Clergy And that which comes next in order of time was a draught of an Act which the Earl of Linlithgow gave into the Parliament the next day after the Act establishing Presbytery was Voted The design of it was to give Toleration to those of the Episcopal Persuasion to worship God after their own manner and particularly that whoso were inclined to use the English Liturgy might do it safely Being presented by so considerable a Member they could not refuse it a Reading But it never got more Indeed I am apt to believe his Lordship who presented it did not expect that it should meet with better entertainment However one thing was gain'd by it even that it was rejected and that the Party who had so thankfully embraced King Iame's Toleration before now that they were mounted on the Sadle refused to Tolerate any of a different Persuasion This themselves were sensible of and that it was a Thorn put into their Foot But it was inconsistent with their Principles to grant it and so that such a thing should have been moved incensed them exceedingly especially the Preachers who for several days after made it their work to declaim vehemently against all Tolerations particularly worthy Mr. David Williamson in his famous Sermon which I have cited already was at it with a great deal of warmth and that oftner than once For not only towards the end of his Sermon did he Harangue directly and copiously against it calling it A Backset to all that was done and a Mystery of Iniquity c. But even near the beginning with more Zeal than Discretion He made it an infallible mark of Infidelity in a Prince to grant Tolerations Do not think I am injurious to him you shall have his own words In respect of Religion some Princes are Believers as Ioshua some Infidels and so are either such as persecute Religion as Herod and Iulian or Tolerate it as a Trajan Thus the Zealous Man not considering that King William had granted a Toleration in England Nay so much was the Mans Teeth set on edg that such a thing should have been once muttered in Parliament that he was earnest in his Exhortations to the House That they would if not Hang at least Banish all the Prelatists Thus he tells them It is not the wisdom of Magistrates to overlook dangerous Persons by Cruel Indulgence one Achan spared may endanger the whole Camp of Israel is not this as bad as Hanging Traytors to Kirk and King would be duly noticed And again Persons of a dangerous Complexion to undermine the State would be incapacitated and a Rope is the best way for that and put out of reach to hazard the Commonwealth If he were a Churchman an Abiathar he might be sent to Anathoth This last fling I am apt to believe was design'd against the Archbishop of Glasgow for possibly Mr. David dreaded he was upon the Plot of the Toleration Stubborn Parliament that would not provide Halters or at least Prisons for all these Rogues when such a godly Man advised them The next thing wherein the Church was concerned was an Act which passed Iuly 29. 1690. Abolishing Patronages and setting up in their stead What Popular Elections according to the Presbyterian Profession Nothing less What then A new Model for Electing Ministers for which it will be very hard to find a Ius Divinum in all the Scripture For now the Heritors and Elders are to name and propose the Person for whom they encline to the whole Congregation to be either approved or disapproved by them and if they disapprove the Disapprovers must give in-their Reasons to the Effect the Afsair may be cognosced upon by the Presbytery of the bounds at whose judgment and by whose determination the Calling and Entring of a particular Minister is to be ordered and concluded c. I am not at present to debate the Reasonableness or Conveniency of this new Model But it surpriz'd me at first that the Presbyterian Preachers were so easily pleased with this after their so warm and frequent Protestations for the Ius Divinum of the popular Elections But this Surprize was soon over when I found that this Method in the result brought the whole Power as effectually into their Hands and perhaps more easily than popular Election could have done and that was all they were aiming at And here it is that the Divine Right of any thing with them doth commonly terminate At least I am very far mistaken if this is not all the Divine Right that shall be found at the bottom of the most part of their glorious Pretences The next thing I am to take notice of concerns a Set of Men whom I know not if you will allow to be called in a State of Persecution viz. Those who had been Deprived by the Committee of Estates and the Council Anno 1689. for not Reading the Proclamation against the owning the late King James and not praying publickly for William and Mary as King and Queen of Scotland Some of these though they had obeyed their Sentence so far as not to exercise their
happen to be disturbed disordered and dispersed the same shall be a Point of a Ditty against the Persons that shall be convict thereof and they shall tyn all their moveable Goods to be Escheat to the King for their Offence but prejudice of a greater punishment if there happens any Offence as Slaughter Blood Mutilation and whosoever invades any Minister or puts violent hands upon them shall be punished with all Rigour and incur the pain of their moveable Goods for the said Invasion or Violence albeit no Slaughter nor Mutilation follow thereupon all which is ratified by the 7th Act Ch. I. by which it is declared that because the insolence and violence may be committed by Lawless and Irresponsable Men who cannot be gotten detected It is statuted that the Landlords Heretors Chief of Clans and others within whose bounds they dwell shall be holden upon Complaint to the Lords of Secret Council to exhibit and produce the Malefactors to be censured and punished at the discretion of the Iudge and the Heretors and others in whose Land they reside are obliged to exhibit them under the like punishment after intimation made to them that they stay upon the place And by the 4. Act Session 2. Parl. 2. Ch. II. It is statuted and declared that whatsoever Person or Persons shall be found Guilty of Assaulting of the Lives of Ministers or actually attempting the same shall be severely punished c. Thus I say did the Narative of the Doctors Libel proceed and then upon this Foundation was the rest of it built viz. That notwithstanding he was deprived and the Church of Errol declared vacant yet when by the Presbyteries appointment Mr. Iohn Tullidaff came to preach there such a Tumult was raised And the Doctor was accessary as an Instigator c. Now I could easily tell you a great many things that might be worth your Notice And that a great many more Acts of Parliament might have been cited For we have had enough to that purpose occasioned by the Insults Invasions and Murthers committed by the Presbyterian Party in King Charles II. His time But that for which I have Transcribed this Narative is chiefly this that as on the one hand you may see the Piety of our former Parliaments in the Protection of Clergy-men so on the other you may take occasion to consider what a Spirit prevailed in the last Session of our Parliament which justified and approved the Deed of the Rabble against so many Ministers And whether we have not now a very Impartial Government when the same Laws which must be buried in deep Silence when the Case concerns the Episcopal Clergy are thus awakened and made cry so lowdly when the Presbyterian Interest stands in need of them not as if I were to justifie Tumults of that Nature No I abhor them with all my Soul But why should not all alike guilty be equally punished Thus Sir I have according to your desire given you a short Deduction of the Usage the Episcopal Clergy in Scotland have met with from the Civil Power since the 24th of December 1689. I have endeavoured all along to represent Matters faithfully and truly as well as succinctly Two other Things there are which are important and would not a little gratifie your Curiosity viz. The Proceedings of the Presbyteries and Synods since the Power was put in their Hands by the Parliament against those Prelatists who complied and the Purging the Universities As to the first I thought it convenient at this time not to meddle with it both because it would swell this Letter infinitely beyond its due limits and I have reason to believe you may confidently expect to se that fully done by another Hand And for the Universities those Seminaries of Learning as they stood under the Episcopal Constitution were a great Eye-sore to the Party and therefore none could expect that the Presbyterians could be satisfied unless the publick Schools were put into their Hands Besides the Education of Youth added much to their strength and National Settlement so they are resolv'd at any rate quo jure quáve injuriâ to seise very speedily the most conspicuous and most eminent Places The Ministers were so warm in this Design that they importun'd their Patrons in the State to remove such Masters as they judg'd most opposite to their Government even before the Affair was considered by the Parliament But the wiser sort among them withstood this precipitancy for since they might frame an Act of Parliament such as they pleas'd it was thought most convenient to delay their Revenge for a little while because the Masters of the Universities might be more effectually turn'd out under the Covert of an Act of Parliament than by the Methods that they first advis'd These Consultations toss'd to and again at last produc'd that Act of Parliament that appoints all Masters and Professors in Universities and publick Schools 1. To sign the Westminster Confession of Faith as the only Standard of Theological Orthodoxy 2. To swear Allegiance to K. William and Q. Mary 3. To sign the Declaration and Assurance which I have had occasion to mention above 4. To submit to the Presbyterian Government in its last and latest Figure as it was lodged in the hands of about fifty or sixty old Presbyterian Ministers It was easie to foresee that there were but few Masters whose deprivation this Act would not occasion The trust of visiting Universities Colleges and Schools was devolv'd on some Noblemen and Gentlemen whose names are inserted in the Act of Parliament that were most addicted to the Interests of Presbytery A full Quorum of them met on the twenty third day of Iuly 1690. and subdivided themselves into four lesser Committees One for St. Andrews one for Edinburgh one for Glasgow and one for Aberdeen The Committee appointed to visit the University of St. Andrews was managed by the Earl of Crawford and they could not commit it to one more bigotted to the Interests of their Party So that their Design was accomplish'd in that place in a very few meetings when the Earl made report to the General Visitation at Edinburgh they were deprived the 25th day of September ad unum omnes Nor did they expect to be otherways treated But this merciless Sentence rais'd the Odium of many against the Party for both the heads of Houses and the subordinate Professors in that University are learned and deserving Men Dr. Alexander Skeen Rector and Provost of the old College by his singular dexterity industry and constant application chang'd the rubbish and ruins of that House into beautiful and convenient Habitations both for Masters and Students And Dr. Iames Weems Principal of S. Leonard's College minded nothing in the World more than the welfare of that House And there is little doubt to be made but that the Learned and Reverend Dr. Lorimer Principal of the new College if he had lived had been treated as his Brethren were since his Principles were as
calling that Parliament or being present himself or having any Commissioner or Representative at it that I doubt much if he knew that there was such a meeting till it was Dissolved All which and many more such nullities which for brevity I forbear to mention was so recent and notorious Anno 1661. That the Parliament tho it casted and annulled all the Acts of the pretended Parliament holden in the years 1640 41 44 45 46 47 48 by its 15th Act yet did not so much as make the least mention of that Meeting in the 49th not thinking it worthy of the Name so much as of a Pretended Parliament For which whether they had not reason I leave to the World to judge But to proceed The Parliament having laid such a foundation An. 1661. and continuing to act consequentially Anno 1662. They made an Act about the middle of May which because it so distinctly clears the whole matter in its Narrative I have transcribed at large ACT concerning such Benefices and Stipends as have been possessed without Presentation from the lawful Patrons THE Kings most Excellent Majesty being desirous that all his good Subjects may be sensible of the happy effects and fruits of the Royal Government by a free peaceable and easie enjoyment of their due interests and properties under his protection And that in his Restitution they may find themselves restored to those Rights which by Law were secured unto them and by the violence and injustice of the late troubles and Confusions have been wrested from them And considering that notwithstanding the right of Patronages be duly setled and established by the ancient and fundamental Laws and Constitutions of this Kingdom yet divers Ministers of this Church have and do possess Benefices and Stipends in their respective Cūres without any right or presentation to the same from the Patrons And it being therefore most just that the lawful and undoubted Patrons of Kirks be restored to the possession of the Rights of their respective Advocations Donations and Patronages Therefore his Majesty with advice and consent of his Estates of Parliament doth statute and ordain That all these Ministers who entered to the Cure of any Parish in Burgh or Land within this Kingdom in or since the year 1649. at and before which time the Patrons were most injuriously dispossessed of their Patronages have no right unto nor shall receive uplift nor possess the rents of any Benefice modified Stipends Mause or Glebe for this present Crop 1662. nor any year following but their Places Benefices and Kirks are ipso jure vacant Yet his Majesty to evidence his willingness to pass by and cover the miscarriages of his People doth with advice aforesaid declare that this Act shall not be prejudicial to any of these Ministers in what they have possessed or is due to them since their admission and that every such Minister who shall obtain a presentation from the lawful Patron and have Collation from the Bishop of the Diocese where he liveth betwixt and the twentieth of September next to come shall thenceforth have right to and enjoy his Church Benefice Mause Glebe as fully and freely as if he had been lawfully presented and admitted thereto at his first entry or as any Minister within the Kingdom doth or may do And for that end it is hereby ordained that the respective Patrons shall give presentations to all the present Incumbents who in due time shall make application to them for the same And in case any of these Churches shall not be thus duly provided before the said twentieth of September then the Patron shall have freedom to present another betwixt and the twentieth day of March 1663. which if he shall refuse or neglect the presentation shall then fall to the Bishop jure devoluto according to former Laws And such like His Majesty with advice foresaid doth Statute and Ordain the Archbishops and Bishops to have the power of new Admission and Collation to all such Churches and Benefices as belong to their respective Sees and which have valted since the year 1637. And to be careful to plant and provide these their own Kirks conform to this Act. This Act you see is so very clear and plain that it would be superfluous to insist on any long explications of it only three things I would desire you to remember in it The first is That as I noted before The Parliament insists mainly on the Rights and Privileges of the Patrons in the narrative and form of this Act so that the Presbyterians talk wide in their Petition when they say that this Act was one of the sad consequences of the Erection of Prelacy Nay Secondly As it is obvious to any who considers this This Act does not at all consider these Ministers as Presbyterian for then it would have considered all Presbyterian Ministers equally which it does not for it only considers such as had illegally possessed themselves of such Churches and Benefices from the year 1649. at least so far as Laick Patrons are concerned But not so much as a word of such as had entered before that year and yet there were many such And this Act was so far from depriving them that they continued in the exercise of their Ministry and enjoy'd their Benefices for many years after that Act was made and put in execution The third thing is The Clemency of the then Government even towards these who had possessed themselves illegally of Churches after the year 1649. For you see the Act declares that the Parliaments Sentence pronouncing all such Churches ipso jure vacant was without prejudice to any of these Ministers who should apply themselves to the lawful Patron and obtain his Presentation What greater temper could the Government then shew Would they have had it to have downright authorized their illegal Usurpations Was this to thrust them from their Charges when they might have kept them upon so equitable terms And was this a grievous Persecution But to go on Notwithstanding that this Act was as peremprory as it was just and reasonable yet a great many of these Ministers who had entered illegally after the year 1649 from what Principle I am not now to enquire turn'd obstinate and refused to take the benefit offered by the Act of Parliament against the time prefixt And therefore the Privy Council meeting at Glasgow after the term was expired in pursuance of the design of the Act of Parliament made an Act declaring all such Churches ipso facto vacant This was that famous Act which commonly passes under the name of the Act of Glasgow And God knows how many ill things it has been called since by the Party but with what reason let any Man consider But Perhaps that Act has been executed with some wonderful rigidity and that hath raised the Clamour No such matter for in effect they themselves prevented all the trouble of a rigid Execution for immediately upon the publication of the Act of Glasgow they