of Arbitrary Penalties and contriving Penal and Sanguinary Laws equivalent to that which was made against Papists Seminary Priests and Jesuits ad terrorem 2 Act. Sess 3. Parl. 1 st Ch. 2 d. c. Acts 5. and 7. Par. 2 d. Sess 2 d. Acts 9. and 17. Par. 2 d. Sess 3 d. but several more severe Acts were made in Parliaments 1685. and 1686. and though none of those Laws were once put in Execution against Papists Priests Jesuits c. yet how violently were they put in Execution against those poor Ministers their Flocks and Families for the one's Preaching and the other's Hearing of the Word of God without mixture or the least grains of Schism or disloyalty Which oppression meerly for the difference of Opinion tended to so great a Persecution which verified that old Saying That Oppression makes a wise man Mad that it put the People in such a terrible consternation that this Persecution or Oppression call it what you will forced the People in the Year 1666. to gather together and rise in Arms in defence of their Preacher's Religion and Liberty against those persecuting Clergymen who not only contrived but forced the Statesmen and the King's Privy-Council to stretch these Penal and Sanguinary Laws against both their Religion and Liberty in which they were Educated and what Devastation Forfaultures Cruelties and Bloodshed followed thereupon in that poor Kingdom for several Years is so generally known that it 's needless to relate it here and the late King Charles who had nothing of violence in his Nature considering the common Evil their Divisions occasioned with the concurrence and by a representation of some Honest Men then in the Civil Government did give a little respite by a Toleration to some Ministers to Preach in several Congregations but the regular Clergy were so exasperated against this Indulgence that they themselves made terrible Clamours and Complaints to the King and Clergy of England who were not so immoderate nor so immoral in their Actions against Dissenters nor so vitious and scandalous in their Lives and Conversations and to the Officers of State and the Privy Council in Scotland not only against those poor People but also against any that favour'd or pitied them alledging it was a Schism in the Church that the Ministers Preached Rebellion which the Council found frequently upon Tryal to be false and that those that gave any dissent to their violence against these People were disloyal And many that were vitious and the most scandalous of their inferior Clergy not agreeing with the abstemious lives and the singular Examples of those godly Ministers made it their business to harrass and malign them and the People to the Government till they got their point wrought so far as to remove this Liberty which the King graciously granted and procured an Army of Wild Highlanders to be sent to those Countries in Anno 1677. Which Army committed the greatest Barbarities and Unnatural things that ever was heard tell of in a Christian Nation by their Oppressions Robberies Plunders Rapines c. making no distinction of Persons or Sexes This being with great difficulty represented again to the King he out of his wonted Clemency caused Remove his Army and those poor People though left in a manner desolate having got the least Respite their Religion and Profession being dearer to them than their Lives they frequenting those Meetings again without Tumult or Uproar where they thought they had the Word of God truly and more purely Preached to them The Episcopal Clergy being again allarm'd made the greatest clamour that could be and made their Interest at Court to send Arms again as they alledged to suppress them upon which violent Persons did get Commissions when other moderate Men that had Commissions laid them down and others refused them upon such cruel Expeditions and raised Regiments of Foot Horse and Dragoons and many of them who having neither Principles of Religion nor Humanity were sent thither with those Troops and treated the People in a most barbarous manner which forc'd those poor oppressed People to Guard their Meetings with Armed men till they fell in Blood with those cruel mercenary Souldiers in the Year 1679. Which Cruelty and Persecution increased their Number the more which verifies that old Saying Cinis Sanguis Martyrum semen Ecclesiae for the more they were oppressed and persecuted the more their Number increased And were there not then some of the greatest Personages in that Kingdom in disgrace with the King by the instigation of that Clergy and some other Ministers of State not only for their Dissents to their violent Proceedings against Protestants but also for complaining of some other mismanagements in State But God has at this time been pleased to honour them so as to put them in Capacity to be most Instrumental in setling the present Government I hope upon sure and lasting Foundations But not to make a greater Digression then was the Duke of Monmouth sent Generalissimo to Scotland to Suppress those Protestants yet he was to be over-ruled by the Clergy and the King's Council who notwithstanding of his limited Commission did and for his favour shewn to those poor People who he knew suffered meerly upon the account of their Religion and stricter Lives was by the Clergy and the violent Party their Adherents put in disgrace with the King as other great Persons were and how many Families of all Ranks and Degrees were then and since destroyed by this Oppression and Clergy's persecution how many were tortured without Mercy how many were Banish'd Drown'd Beheaded Shot c. many of them without the Liberty of once calling upon God before their Death is incredible but all Europe knows it and it cannot be denied And who knowing or in the least understanding the Affairs of Scotland in those times will deny but that these cruel Proceedings against the Presbyterian Ministers and their Hearers by Banishments Imprisonments Forfaultures Intercommonings or Outlawries Deaths c. were the very things that forc'd many of the vulgar sort of Professors to fly to the Hills and Mountains where though no doubt they had opportunity to hear some good Ministers Preach yet Popish Emissaries Trafficking Priests c. being never idle and never neglecting occasions by the Divisions of those of the Reformed Religion to propagate their hellish Designs were not wanting to be there as Wolves in Sheeps clothing or Devils in Angels shapes to seduce those of meaner Capacities to imbibe some dregs of the Jesuitical Principles which brought many of those poor Innocents to end their days in Misery But that when the late King James was dealt with for Reasons best known to his Cabin Councellors to grant a general Toleration doubtless out of no respect to the Presbyterian Party They did it 's true take hold of that opportunity and freedom to Preach the Gospel and no further when in the mean time the Episcopal Clergy did give their thanks to the late King
Committee they at their next meeting brought it in as their opinion That the Bishops were one of the greatest Grievances of the Nation which opinion the whole Meeting after serious Consideration approved of and voted them out of Doors After which all the Bishops withdrew themselves in Cabals with several disaffected people called several of their inferior Clergy together prompting them to Disobedience in the present Juncture which Principles many of the Episcopal Clergy did then vent too much in their Preachings and publick Prayers The Estates having emitted a Proclamation proclaiming William and Mary then King and Queen of England King and Queen of Scotland without a contradictory Vote and only one Non liquet And another Proclamation enjoyning the Clergy after the Proclamation to Read the Declaration and to pray for King William and Queen Mary and in doing of which many did comply but several refused yet all even those of the Episcopal Clergy though not complying with this who would live peaceably and regularly as Subjects the Estates took into their particular protection putting forth another Proclamation prohibiting all or any of the Subjects whatsoever to trouble or molest any of them in their Lives or Estates And none will be so Impudent as to alledge in publick that any either of the Bishops or their inferiour Clergy whether complying or not were ever troubled in their Persons or Estates since the said Prohibition and few even before by the unruly Rabble unless it be those whose Deportment no good Men can vindicate and those moderate Men of untainted Lives and Conversations of the Episcopal Communion who have chearfully complyed with the Estates and present Government will declare how they were caressed by the Presbyterian party in this Juncture and others who might be nice and scrupulous in some points christianly exhorted and invited to joyn with them without Engagements further than Reading the Declaration and Praying for King William and Queen Mary and I have reason to think that the present wise Parliament will impose nothing capable to trouble their Consciences in their complyance with the present Government And truly it would seem to be no small reproach to the Scotch Bishopsto hear those who were lately their inferior Clergy now declare in the Pulpit and elsewhere how these many years by-past they themselves have groaned under their Bishops Tyranny and Oppression of several kinds But after the Bishops were declared a Grievance to the Nation for many undeniable good pregnant Reasons and now voted out of Doors the Estates took many calm Methods by Exhortations c. with their Clergy to have their Deportment suitable to their profession in the present Juncture but several of them continued so obstinate and endeavoured to seduce others to the defaming of the Government in publick and private so that they were necessitated to deprive some of them though they indulged some eminent Men till they advised better and ordered Presbyterian Ministers to Preach in their Churches And sure I am notwithstanding the frequent Complaints given in to the Estates of the Episcopal Clergy's and their Parties meeting in Cabals with Papists and other disaffected People to the contempt of the present Government yet that they were so tender of their Character as Ministers of the Gospel that none of them were once prosecuted by the Estates their Committees the Privy Council or the present Parliament since their Deprivation except one Minister who was accused to have spoken some Treasonable Words and how tenderly they dealt with him in his Misbehaviour and Infirmities for fear of bringing a reproach upon any that Preached the Gospel whether6 of one Order or another is well known And it is too Publick how one of those deserting Ministers Wives and others of that perswasion who converse with Papists as the Effects of their Cabals were apprehended endeavouring to get into the Castle of Edenburgh with fresh Meat and other Provisions when it was block'd up and declared Treason to converse with or assist any therein and yet how tenderly they were proceeded against is generally known there are many others of their Evil Practices in the late Conjuncture might be spoken of too tedious to the Reader but to conclude with the Episcopal Clergy's Behaviour in Scotland of late Who have been more Active or like to be found more guilty in a Correspondence with and assisting the Lord Dundee and his Party now in Rebellion and committing most inhumane Actions than several of those who are called the Regular Clergy which must be publick to their shame besides that the late Bishop of Galloway is certainly concluded to be with the late King James in person in Ireland And as a further Evidence of the Estates the present Parliament the Council and other People of Scotland their favourable Deportment and Lenity towards the Episcopal Clergy there it 's undeniable that both the Bishops and their inferiour Clergy who by their ill Deportment and late Obstinacy deprived themselves of their Benefices do Walk and Travel in Town and Country on Foot in Coach and upon Horseback at their pleasure and live peaceably in their Houses without any Trouble or Molestation whatsoever And it will be found unquestionably true that neither the Episcopal Clergy nor any other who have been grievous and great Persecutors and Invaders of the Religion and Encroachers upon the Laws Liberties and Properties of their fellow Subjects in the late Government were in the least fear of their Lives or Estates in that Kingdom since the first general Meeting of the Estates Notwithstanding of the great Clamours and false Aspersions of purpose and industriously invented and spread abroad by some persons for their own ends being either afraid to abide the Test of the Law by way of moderate Justice or being uneasie to themselves and troublesom to others under any Government were it never so good and easie but where they have a power to gratifie their Lusts and voracious Appetite and to do Mischief to others And as for that Allegeance that the Bishops whose Order is abolished in Scotland and their inferiour Clergy who have deserted their Charge out of an ill Principle for the most part have not a livelyhood or subsistence it must be very gross and ridiculous for it 's well known that both the Bishops and those of their Clergy who have deserted their Charges had opulent Benefices and are rich though not to satisfaction or might have been so in a cheap Country where with the least management the half or third part of their yearly Benefices might maintain them and their Families very well for it 's known generally there that several Ministers with lesser Benefices than any that quit their Charge now have made good Fortunes for their Children And it 's hardly known that ever their Charity or Pious Acts was the occasion of their Poverty though they have had Examples enough from many of their good English Brethren Clergy-men and if they lived too sumptuously Sibi imputent And
Plain Dealing BEING A Moderate general Review of the SCOTS Prelatical Clergies Proceedings In the latter Reigns With a Vindication of the present Proceedings in Church Affairs there Licensed September 11. 1689. LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by Richard Baldwin near the Black Bull in the Great Old-Bailey 1689. To the Right Honourable and Truely Religious Lady Jane Countess of Sutherland Madam THE publication of this little piece at this juncture was not the Effect of my forwardness but of that deference I owe to several good Men and Well-wishers of the present Government by whose importunity I was induced to take this Task upon me without prejudice to the Rights of more Abler Men to whose elaborate Works on the same Subject as 't is here limited this Essay has the Honour to lead the way Those Gentlemen my good Friends had very good reason to be moved when they heard the good Measures of the Government misrepresented to Strangers by the Artifices of Designing Men having no less in their Aim than to divide the common Interest of Protestants They unanimously concurred in their judgments that it was expedient to put a stop to the spreading of this Contagion and urged me with Motives that were too weighty for me to resist having all the Inclination imaginable to shew my Zeal for Our Religion and Liberties within my Sphere Herein is contained a true tho a general Account of the Matter of Fact to undeceive Strangers of their Mistakes whose different Opinions as to Church Government and other Circumstances ought not to remove their Christian Charity towards one another but being concerned in one bottom to promote the Common Interest and Salvation of Mankind laying aside all Prejudice Animosity and Rancour tho it should tend to the removal of any Earthly thing most dear to them that proves a stumbling-block or occasion of offence to either strong or weak Brethren imitating the Apostles Precept Acts 15. concerning the difference of the Circumcision And the Apostle Paul's resolution in the like case Romans Chap. 14. 15. And in 1 Cor. 8. last Verse If meat make my Brother to offend I will not eat Flesh while the World standeth lest I make my Brother to offend Which no doubt is preceptive to the Christian World who pretend not to Infallibility But being 't is come this length the Dedication for its Patronage and Encouragement is due to your Ladiship chiefly for three Reasons Because First That your Ancestors and Relations had not only a great share in the Reformation but also ever since were great Promoters of the Protestant Reformed Religion in Scotland and Protectors of its Ministers and Professors and your Charity upon that account to Suffering Ministers and Professors having been very considerable Secondly That without any Flattery I dare say and all those who have the Honour to know your Ladiship will confirm my Assertion that none understands the Matter in hand better than your self Thirdly That your Honourable Husband your Self Eldest Son and most of all your Relations were chiefly concerned in the last Efforts and great Enterprize made and the signal Deliverance wrought of late for these oppressed Nations of which God was pleased to make our present Gracious King his Glorious Instrument and for which your Endeavours I hope your Family will meet with its due Reward Your Ladiship must not expect a fine stile of Language it being sufficient that the Matter of Fact is true tho Design honest and the Language intelligible Madam I might have been more plain particular and ad homines but declin'd that Method designing to give offence to no good Christian be his Profession what it will if his Principles be good I don't value how Evil or Byassed men may criticise upon this matter Provided that moderate good men may be pleased and that the honest design of this little plain Piece may be any ways serviceable to the present Government your Ladiships Honourable Family and other good Subjects Which that it may and that as God in his infinite Wisdom has made our Gracious King his Glorious Instrument of our Redemption from our Fears of Popery and Slavery as the Effects thereof So the same Almighty God would be pleased to settle the Imperial Crown of this Kingdom upon the Heads of King William and Queen Mary in Peace and Truth and be so transmitted from them after they have lived a long happy Life here and received Crowns of Glory hereafter to their Posterity and lawful Successors for ever And that your Ladiship and Honourable Family may live happily under their Auspicious Reign is and shall be the constant Prayer of TO THE READER Candid Reader I Was desired to Write the Parts of particular Ministers Acted upon the last Theatres of Government but judged this not to be a fit time so that I hope you will excuse my writing of this in so general terms and also for laying down some general Hypotheses and Propositions Argumentandi Causa which perhaps the more strict on either side will not allow being no Divine myself yet a Well-wisher of the Government as well as of Moderation and Christian Charity amongst all those of the Reformed Protestant Religion whose circumstantial differences occasioning some Heats and Animosities I wish God will be pleased to remove to the Common good of both Please to be as impartial and moderate in your Reading and Censures of this little plain piece as I have been in exposing particular mens faults to publick view and you will not only be more able to make a judgment of the thing but also the impressions received of a violent Procedure in Church Affairs in Scotland will be removed and if this moderate and general Account do not perswade you to the contrary Opinion there will be a necessity to expose particulars and particular Persons to more publick view which I desire altogether to decline I did design to add to this Piece the Objections made against the setling of the Presbyterian Government in Scotland with the Answer to these Objections with a List of the Reformers from Popery in Scotland and those that Suffered Martyrdom upon that Account but being importuned not to put either of them to a publick view I have laid it by for the present but if this have a kind Reception I shall publish the other A Moderate general Review of the Scots Prelatical Clergy's Proceedings in the later Reigns With a Vindication of the present Proceedings in Church Affairs there IT being too much spread abroad whether out of Ignorance of the Matter of Fact or Design of an Intriguing Party to divide the Interest of Protestants I will not divine That the present procedure in Scotland tends to the Oppression or Persecution of the Episcopal Ministry there But whatever be an evil Parties design in it sure I am these Surmises tend to load the good and unanimous Designs of the present Government with unjustifiable things And to remove these Mistakes which might give Encouragement
encroached upon by Popish Emissaries and any other wickedly designing Party in any of the later Reigns but contrary to this being it seems conscious to themselves of some guilt they did all bandy together not only with those that were too active to carry on the Mischief in the later Governments but also with a new designing Party who had no Principles not only to vindicate all the Evils that were done in the late Government but also to bring the Nation under more Slavery than ever the particulars thereof are too generally known And considering their Profession by their Actions Contraria juxta se posita clariùs elucescunt I will not be too opinionative to assert That the generality of people in that Nation or the major part of this Great and Wise Council of the Nation did incline to continue the Establishment of that Hierarchy they finding it in a manner very improbable if not altogether impossible considering all that is said and much more might be said to reconcile the Ignorance Debauchery and persecuting humour of the most part of the Prelatical Party in Scotland with the singular exemplary strict and orderly lives and conversations of the Presbyterian Clergy and most of their Adherents But sure I am that Clergy's former and later Behaviour were the Reasons that induc'd that great and wise meeting of the Estates so suddenly to tender that Order of Bishops as a Grievance of the Nation to His Majesty in their Preliminaries in order to be abolished in the next Parliament now Sitting and to vindicate that Nation the general meeting of the Estates and the present Parliament from all Aspersions which are industriously spread abroad loading them with a Persecution of the Episcopal Ministry there Take this for truth of which no intelligent Man in Britain can be ignorant That the first Act the Estates made was to secure their own Sitting The second material to our purpose was their declaring themselves a free Estate and a legal Meeting and declaring that they would not separate but continue to sit by frequent meetings till they had restored and secured their Religion Laws Liberties and Properties as well as that of their fellow Subjects so much encroached upon and till they had Established the Government of the Church and State. Both which Acts the Bishops Voted in and approved of And this being done with several other things establishing the Legality of the Meeting c. too tedious to rehearse here being intended but an Abbreviat Who would think that the Reverend Protestant Fathers of the Church of Scotland would have stood in the way of any proposition that might tend to the Security of the Protestant Reformed Religion restoring the wholsom Laws and securing the Liberties and Properties of the Subject Yet with the next breath they were not only for continuing profess'd Papists in chief Commands of strong Fortresses and in the Army expecting their greater Security that way as it seems they had reason considering their former Deportment and the then present circumstances of the Nation but were also for recalling home the late King which they alledged they looked upon to be the only way to secure Religion to give the standing Laws their lustre no doubt there is something understood there latuit anguis in herba and to secure the Liberty and Property of the people these were their very Expressâ—ons But as I doubt not that there is any good Christian but is heartily grieved for the Bigottry of the latâ— Kâ—ng's Religion his Evil Council and Mismanagement of Affairs in State and Church and Encroachments up â—n all that was dear unto us which brought him to his low Estate much more Brittish Inhabitants and mâ—st of alâ— tâ—e Sâ—otâ—h Proâ—eâ—â—ants who can endure no Government â—ut a Monarchical whose Love to that Governmâ—nt is such that they did always undergo great burthens and did peaceably forbear many Faults and Infirmities in several of their Kings for many Ages as unquestionable good Historians make appear Yet to give a Call to the late King in his and our present circumstances to return with a French Irish and other cruel Popish Crew were either to make him more miserable who could not but be utterly destroyed in the Attempt or the Protestants in Britain most miserable by reducing of them all to Popery and Slavery or to the French most Unchristian Cruelty and untolerable heavy yoke and our foreign Protestant Allies and their Confederates though of different Religions more uneasie if not in hazard to be destroyed by the French Ambition and Slavery which is more untolerable beyond doubt than that of the Turks and Tartars his dear Confederates but it seems our Bishops when they desired to recall a Popish King did not mind or rather did not value the verity of Claudian's Remarque in case the late King did return with the least favour of a reeling populace Componitur Orbis Regis ad exemplum And a little after Mobile mutatur semper cum principe vulgus And who doubts but that if the late King returned by force the fate of all those of the Reformed Religion if real Protestants whether Episcopal or Presbyterial would be sudden in the Execution and if invited home were his promises never so fair and specious the same fate would no doubt befall them in a short time And the Mobile is not always to be trusted for a Bulwark in every Exigence But to the next Matter of Fact. Upon the day of April the Estates having fully considered that it would be dangerous to have the Government longer unsetled and having upon good grounds too tedious to relate here resolved to declare the Crown vacant and the late King James's Right c. forfaulted the Bishops not only urged frivolous Arguments but also voted against it Notwithstanding their chearful voting affirmativè to the former Acts. And there being an Act ordaining the Clergy not to pray for the late King James c. as King and Prince their Right being forfaulted and the Crown declared vacant the Bishops all removed without any compulsion except 2 or 3 who were the most moderate and one of those being desired at the rising of the Meeting to say Prayers he that he might not omit his pretended Allegiance to King James in his Prayers omitted to say Prayer in common Form or extempore but only repeated the Lord's Prayer desiring it seems to give offence to none But a person present alledged That several persons used to conclude their Prayers with the Lord's Prayer and so did that Bishop for he suspected it should be his last Prayer in that place At the next Sitting of the Estates it was moved That Considering the Bishops behaviour in the later Governments their behaviour in that general Meeting where notwithstanding their being present and voting in several Acts Affirmativè which they contraveen'd contrary to their profession their Order should be declared a Grievance to the Nation which motion being remitted to the Consideration of the Grand