mention the Blasphemies for Twenty two Years and the New of Montross his Armies with which they were wont to run their Glasses if their Prayers but since the late Revolution within the City of Edinburgh and the Places next Adjacent to it were but Printed and exposed to Publick View all the Protestant Churches would abhor their way as the ready means to introduce and strengthen Atheism and Irreligion among the People The Pulpit Blasphemies that have lately been belched out against Heaven in this Nation cannot be related without Horrour and Indignation Nor was God ever so much dishonoured by the Vanities of the Pagan Idolatry as by the pretended Inspiration of our new Reformers every little trifling occurrence that 's suggested to their Fancy or casually tumbles in their Memory is immediately cramb'd into their Prayers But I have digressed too far now then to return to my particular Theme The Visitors put themselves indeed to extraordinary toll in examining the Masters of the Colledge of Edinburgh And yet the Particulars they insisted upon were such as they themselves knew neither to be material nor possible to be proved They could not but think that the most remarkable steps they made in this Affair would readily come to light and yet they were not so wise as to temper their Proceedings with the least Discretion so difficult a thing it is to hide what has got the Ascendant over all their Passions A Calmer Method and Temperament would have served the Design of their Government to better purposes If their Discipline may be called a Government that 't every where attended with so many Complaints so much Confusion and Anarchy But I am not to teach them how to strengthen and propagate their Party for none can deny them the two principal Supporters of Faction and Schism Impudence and Industry They may think this Language something course and severe but it is hard to change the Propriety of words If we must speak of them and of their actings the keenest Satyrs come short of their Oppressions and Falshoods They had the Confidence at London to deny that some of the People of Aberdene had their Ears nail'd to the Pillory lately at Edinburgh because they testified their respect to their own Episcopal Ministers and would not suffer the Inquisitors to deprive them of the Blessing of their Doctrine and Presence As also they deny boldly That the Ministers in the West were drove out by the Rabble which they hounded out or that any Ministers were deprived in Scotland who were willing to Comply with the State They might have even as well said that the Sun has not shined in that Kingdom since the Covenant was abandoned by it for these other things they assert are as universally known to be false as that is There is no fear that ever their Party shall prevail where Men retain the love of Liberty and Humanity for tho' that poor Nation be at present run down by the most Arbitrary and licentious Practices of the Kirk yet the Common concern of Liberty Morality and Society may awaken Men at length to fix and again to Establish something that may become the civilized part of Mankind and upon which the Superstructure of Religion may be happily raised When our Feaver is abated and the Nation calmly considers its true Interest and Advantage It 's not to be thought that they will suffer an inconsiderable Company of Pedants to continue Dictators either to the Church or the Universities In their late Books they promise to disprove the just but lame account given to the World of the Cruelties and Oppressions the Episcopal Clergy hath met with in the Western Shires of Scotland But this amounts to no more than that they are resolved to employ some of their Emissaries to make contrary Stories and to varnish them over with all the little shifts and artificial Disguises they can invent when their Barbarities are already known over the greatest part of Christendom and when the Reform'd Churches are all ashamed of them and scandalized by them If the Gentry and Nobility who were Commissionated to Visit the Universities had come alone without their Chaplains the Masters had not met with so much rudeness for there are but very few of them so deeply sowred with the leaven of Presbytery And if some may have forgot their Character it is because they have nothing to recommend them but the implicit Faith they pay to the Consistory And now I have nothing more in order to the following Memoirs to advertise the Reader of but only that the Method of them is Natural Easie and Distinct For first the Author sets down the unsubscribed Libel as it was prepared and given in to the Court and to which the Masters were made to Answer upon the first hearing of it without the least delay Secondly The Answers made by particular Masters to those Libels Thirdly In their own very words is set down the Report of the Committee to the Commission concerning the Masters Fourthly The Animadversions on that their Report And now to conclude this Preface let not the Reader forget That tho' Hundreds of Witnesses have been Summoned and Examined against those Masters whose Trials are hereafter related yet nothing was proved of the least Consequence against any of them only such things as they avowedly owned themselves and for which they were rather to be commended than reproved I heartily pray God the Nation may enjoy more Peace Religion Order and Unity than can reasonably be expected from its present Model of Presbytery and that our Country be no more imposed upon by such open and bare-faced Injustice and Oppression under the Pretence of Reformation Presbyterian Inquisition AS It was Practised by the Visitors of the Colledge at Edinburgh in Their Proceedings against some of the Masters there in August and September 1690. THE Act of Parliament for Visitation of Universities Colledges and Schools passes the Vote of the House July 4. 1690. And by the said Act the Visitours were appointed to meet at Edinburgh the 23d of July for the first Dyer that they might divide themselves into several Committees and lay down common Rules for Regulating the manner of Trying the several Universities within the Nation according to the Instructions and Injunctions then agreed upon as you may see more at length in the Act it self Accordingly a sufficient Quorum of them met upon the 23d of July 1690. and divided themselves into several Committees as follows For the University of St. Andrews Earl Crawford Earl Morton Earl Cassels Earl Kintâ—â— Master of Burley Sir Thomas Burnet Sir Francis Montgomery Mr. James Melvil Laird of Balconie Laird of Nungtown Laird of Meggins Mr. Henry Rymer Mr. William Tullidaff Mr. David Blair Mr. James M'gill Mr. James Rymer For the University of Glascow Duke Hamilton E. Argile V. Stairs L. Carmichael Sir George Campbel Sir Robert St. Clare Sir John Maxwell Laird of Craiggenns John Anderson of Dowhill Mr. James Smalleâ— Laird
our Holy Religion But when they themselves look back upon all the steps and Pageantry of that Visitation they cannot but acknowledge they have missed some considerable part of their Design for the Masters they were most violent against are as much Beloved and Esteemed by their former Friends in the City of Edinburgh and elsewhere as ever They did not think to keep their places in defiance of the present Law nor do they complain so much of the Illegality of the Sentence against them being there is now such a Law as they could not comply with but they have Reason to complain that there was such a Law made on purpose to turn out some particular Persons as the Contrivers threatned Twelve Months before that Tryal They hoped If they were not Treated like Christians and Scholars they might be allowed the Civilities due to Humanity and the common forms of Justice now being this Account carries with it the undeniable Evidence of particular Matters of Fact The Reader may by it discern somewhat of the Spirit of Presbytery and of that Partiality and Hypocrisie that animates their most Solemn Proceedings It is not intended by this Preface to Insinuate that all the Nobility and Gentry who were Named to Visit the Universities by Act of Parliament were equally inclined to Faction and Injustice It is certain that many of them were averse from such Severities and particularly my Lord Carmichael President of the Committee for Glascow Treated the Principal Dr. Fall and Subordinate Masters there with all the Civilities due to their Merit and Character for tho' the Cameronians in that place had prepared Libels against the Regents yet my Lord Carmichael rejected them with Indignation And tho' the Masters of the University of St. Andrews have been Examined with all Rigour and Severity all the Vintners and their Servants and other Rabble at St. Andrews being Summoned to appear before the Committee and made to Declare upon Oath all things that ever they heard or knew of the Masters of that University yet no Masters were treated as Malefactors but the Professors of the Colledge of Edinburgh It 's true nothing but Civility and Discretion could be expected from a Gentleman of my Lord Carmichael's Honour Integrity and good Breeding And that any Persons of Quality were so ridiculously Zealous as to Glory in their Severities against Men of Learning and Piety is I hope to be ascribed rather to the Prejudices of their Education than to any Perverseness in their Nature The Spirit of Presbytery hath in it so much meanness and insolence when it is attended with Force and the Secular Arm that it cannot so much as counterfeit Civility wherefore it 's hoped that the Nation will speedily shake off this Yoke which neither they nor their Forefathers could ever bear Our Gentry are Men of good Sense and Education and tho' in the Western Shires some of them are byassed towards this New and Pedantick Tyranny yet it is not possible to keep even them so much in the dark as not to see the Novelty and Vanity of Presbyterian Pretencies And therefore since Presbytery began to appear in its true Colours they have lost the greatest part even of such of them as they had formerly deluded The Presbyterians from abroad have always spoke and written of the Episcopal Constitution with respect and veneration because they found that the Bishops and their Adherents especially in England have been always the Glory and Defence as well as first Promoters of the Reformation But the through-pac'd western Presbyterians have lost all Thoughts of any other concern but of their own Model and tho' it never prevailed in its full force and tendency in any other Church upon Earth yet they must measure all Mankind by that Standard There is scarce a little ruling Elder in the West of Scotland but expounds the darkest Prophecies in Ezekiel Daniel and the Revelation with relation to the Covenant and the Reformation wrought by it This is the great Secret of their Religion the original spring that sets all their Endeavours in motion They are a Covenanted People i.e. linked and confederated together to advance and propagate their Faction and Discipline which they upon all occasions Blasphemously call the Kingdom of Jesus Christ It is true the Roman Domination is intolerable but then to make the People bow under the weight of it They pretend to Infallibility The Presbyterians should follow them in this Pretence as they do in the Severity of their Procedures that at least they might be Consequential for they are as impatient of Contradiction as the Jesuits from whom they have borrowed most of their beloved Tenets and Arguments by which they endeavour to support them Especially their opinion concerning Kings and the Independance of Clergymen upon the Secular Powers And because without extraordinary Appearances of Sanctity and Devotion the People cannot be wheedled into a belief of their Godliness and Honesty they confine the Name of the Godly only to themselves as Papists do the Name of Catholick to them And I have heard some of them say That it was not possible the Power of Godliness should prevail but under Presbytery If it be so the World is much mistaken I wish with all my heart we had better Evidences of Their Piety than of late we have discerned I am sure and no less sorry That some who advance and support their Fuction at present in Scotland are remarkably profligate sensual and Scandalous Debauchees Had we no other Evidences of their unchristian and immortified temper but their late Injustice towards the Episcopal Clergy we might be sufficiently convinced of their ill Nature Their Hypocrisie was never acted with less Disguise they are so bare-faced in their illegal Proceedings they leave off to Counterfeit They abuse the Power which is put in their hands to that degree that their Partiality is become the Talk of many of their own Adherents Tho' the perverse Inclinations of the People be no good Argument nay that which Christianity is designed to subdue yet really they have as little Foundation in the Affection of the People as they have in Scripture and Reason And this will appear upon the least search even into those places of the Nation where they boasted that there was none to contradict them I don't mean the West but some of the most eminent and populous Counties and Parishes even be South Forth what do they think of the Shires of the Mers and Teviotdale of the Parishes of Peebles Dalkeith Musselburgh and Aberlady c. and which is yet more troublesome to their Wisdom They are all convenient Livings and not far from Edinburgh As for the Northern Country we know what Esteem they are like to have there by their late Reception at Aberdeen when they want to offer the Gospel there for since they must be attended with Troops it is no good Argument of their having any great Foundation in the Affection of the
the Clerk proceeded to other Articles And after having read one Paper another far more Impertinent and ridiculous was put into his hand to heighten the Libel The Articles whereof follow Articles of Inquisition against Dr. MONRO to which he was made to Answer before the Committee upon the 27 th of August 1690. I. THAT he Renounced the Protestant Religion in a Church beyond Sea and Subscribed himself a Papist II. When Mr. Burnet the Regent being suspected to be a Popist entered to the second Class most of the Parents of the Children that were to enter to the said Class enclined to put them back to the first Class for fear of there being tainted with Popery But Dr. Monro made on Act in the Colledge That none should go back particularly Bailzie Gram's Son who had entered to the first Class was made to enter to the Second Likewise Dr. Monro went and told the Earl of Perth his Diligence and Care of Mr. Burnet whom the said Earl thanked kindly for his love to any that went under that Character III. That he set up the English Liturgy within the Gates of the Colledge a Form of Worship never allowed of in this Nation since the Reformation And tho' it were tolerated yet no Toleration allows any of different Form of Worship from the State to enjoy legal Benefices in the Church or Charge in Universities IV. The Act for Visitation of Colledges requires that none carry charge in them but such as be well affected to the Government both of Church and State But so it is that it is known by all that know Dr. Monro that he is highly disaffected to both as appears by a missive Letter written by him to the late Archbishop of St. Andrews Dated the 5th Day of January 1689. And which may also appear by his leaving the Charge of the Ministry to shun Praying for King William and Queen Mary and his rejoycing the Day that the News of Claverhouse his Victory came to Town And how much he Dislikes the present Government of the Church may appear by the bitter Persecuting of all that Persuasion to the utmost of his Power And particularly the breaking up of Mr. James Inglish his Chamber Door in the Colledge and turning him out of the same notwithstanding he had been in peaceable Possession thereof for many Years and paid Rent for it and all this betwixt terms and the said Mr. James Inglish was willing to part with the Chamber at the Term. And this be did only because the said Mr. James Inglish Preached in a Meeting-House in his own Parish being called to it by them And when the said Doctor was challenged for this He said he would suffer none of such Principles to be within the Colledge And when Mr. Gourlay was Licensed to Preach by the Presbyterians the Students of Mr. Kennedys and Mr. Cunninghame's Classes beat up his Chamber Door and Windows with Stones and pulling off his Hat Cloak and Periwig and reproaching him with Phanatick c. They forced him to remove from his Chamber which he had possessed peaceably before and when this Abuse was Complained of and the Boys Names given up to the Principal there was no redress given V. At the late Publick Laureation He sat and publickly heard the Confession of Faith after it had been approven in Parliament rediculed by Dr. Pitcairn yea the existence of God impugned without any Answer or Vindication VI. He caused take down out of the Library all the Pictures of the Protestant Reformers and when quarrelled by some of the Magistrates gave this Answer That the sight of them might not be Offensive to the Chancellor when he came to Visit the Colledge VII When Mr. Cunninghame had Composed his Eucharistick Verses on the Prince of Wales he not only approved them but Presented them to the Chancellor with his own hand VIII That the said Dr. is given sometimes to Cursing and Swearing an instance whereof is be said to one of the Scholars God Damn me if it were not for the Gown I would crush you through this Floor or to the like purpose IX That the Doctor is an ordinary Neglecter of the Worship of God in his Family X. That on Saturday last he Baptized the Child of Mr. James Scott in the Parish of the West Kirk without acquainting the Minister thereof Answer to the Articles given against Doctor Monro upon the 27th of August 1690. My Lords and Gentlemen I Return you my humble thanks for giving me a Copy of the unsubscribed Articles given in against me upon Wednesday last And by their being such I find my self under no Obligation to take notice of them Yet I make bold to intreat your Lordships Favour and Patience for some Minutes to hear a more particular answer to that Paper than that which I then gave resolving to trouble your Lordships with none of the little shifts and Niceties of form that are usual on such occasions I. That I Renoimced the Protestant Religion and Subscrib'd my self a Papist beyond Sea This is a Spiteful and Malicious Calumny for as it is Libelled it is not supposable that it can be true for any thing I know The Papists require no Subscriptions of such as go over from the Protestants to their Party If I had Inclinations to Popery when I was in France it is more than the Libeller knows and more than he will be able to prove and being now for Twenty Years past by all the Evidences by which one Man knows another of the Protestant Religion any Man will see the Impertinence of this Suspition It is not worth the while to give a particular Account of my Life but I allow them to make the Inquisition as narrow as they can And therefore if your Lordships think it worth the while Mr. Reid the present Serjeant of the Town Company who knew me all the time I was in France may be examined particularly upon this Head or upon any other thing relating to my Life and Behaviour But your Lordships will consider I hope the impertinency of this Accusation since it is not possible to be ordained a Presbyter of our Church without renouncing of Popery And our Ecclesiastical Superiors who ordained Priests and Deacons according to the Forms of the Church of England always since the Restitution took care I hope to distinguish Papists and Protestants by the most Solemn Oaths and National Tests Next let it be considered whether I endeavoured to advance the Doctrines and Designs of the Roman-Church since I entered into the Ministry what good evidences for my being inclined to Popery Had I not a fair opportunity to take off the Mask some Years before the Revolution Was it any of the Sermons I Preached against Popery in the High Church of Edinburgh and in the Abby of Holyrood-house when our zealous Reformers were very quiet To all which some Hundreds of the best Quality of the Nation were Witnesses And the Libeller knows this Article is
orderly and exact Process by The Right Reverend Doctor Bruce then Bishop of Dunkeld and that the Oath of the Test was never offered to Mr. James Inglish altho' to ingratiate himself with the Presbyterians at this Revolution he pretends to be Deposed on meerly for not complying with that But to my Purpose I think about three years ago the Colledge then being very throng several Gentlemen importuned me to procure Chambers for their Children within the Colledge at which time Mr. Inglish had no use for a Chamber within the Colledge being for the most part absent I sent the Janitor to him and ordered him to tell Mr. Inglish that we were very throng and I would take it for a great Complement if he would part with that Chamber yet I ordered the Janitor to treat the said Mr. Inglish with all Civility and Discretion and not to straiten him The Janitor went as he was ordered Mr. Inglish returned answer That now indeed he had no use for a Chamber in the Colledge but since he understood there was a design another should have it he would not part with it and he would keep it in spite of my Teeth Some days after as I was going through the upper Court I met with some marks of Incivility from him The next News I hear of Mr. Inglish is that he had raised Letters of Law-barrows against me and offered himself to Swear before the Lords of Session he dreaded me Bodily Harm But the then Lord President Lockart rejected the Letters with Indignation without my Interposal or Knowledge For I knew nothing of this Malicious diligence against me until some of my Friends sent me the Letters of Law-barrows rejected in praesentia I gave this account of the whole Affair to Sir Thomas Kennedy then Lord Provost of Edinburgh he immediately sent his Officers to discharge Mr. Inglish from the Colledge who when they came they did not break open his Door nor was his Furniture cast out but after all this Provocation I gave him all the days he sought for ordering his things conveniently and peaceably to retire So much of Mr. Inglish his Persecution for being a Presbyterian And I beg Your Lordships Pardon that I have kept you so long upon this particular But the Libeller adds I was challenged for this and returned answer I would suffer none of Mr. Inglish his Principles to continue within the House That I was challenged for this is an untruth and consequently I made no such answer If by Principles he mean Faction Contention and Sawciness I confess I did not love these Qualities but if by Principles he means the New Opinions and Fancies which denominate a Man a Presbyterian I behoved to extrude several of the Students who are likely to adhere more tenaciously to their Tenets than Mr. Inglish can be supposed to do but some even of them so Principled will bear me witness that I treated them with the same Civility I did others according to their good behaviour The next Man I Persecuted for being Presbyterian is Mr. Gourlay and his Persecution did so exactly meet with the time of his being Licensed to Preach by the Presbytery Mr. Cuninghame and Mr. Kennedy's Scholars drove him from his Chamber and no redress of all this The Libeller is certainly very Critical and Exact in this part of his Inquisition for there was no mark of Contempt put upon Mr. Gourlay here says he until he Preached and until he was Licensed to Preach by the Presbyterians this is wisely observed for if I could have gotten Mr. Gourlay out of the Colledge I had accomplished a great design for Episcopacy It is not enough for the Libeller to Represent me as an Ill Man but he must have me thought an Idiot But the Matter of Fact as to this Trifle is that Mr. Gourlay some years before I came to the Colledge attempted to teach the Semy Class in Mr. Kennedy's Absence But the Boys then found him quite out of his Element and drove him out of the Schools with Snow-balls to the Foot of the Colledge Lane My Lords and Gentlemen I appeal to you if after this Affront it was ever possible for Little Gourlay in so numerous a Society to recover his Reputation unless it be supposed that so many Boys in Health and Vigour should want all degrees of Petulance and Levity I am sure he that tries them next when I am gone will find he has no Utopian Common-wealth to Govern And yet I think they are as Obedient and Regular as so many Youths in any part of the World When Mr. Gourlay came to me I went with him and I was so forward to punish the Youths that before I heard them plead in their own defence I fin'd some of them in a Pecuniary Mulct But the Students finding that they were thus treated by Gourlay they presently Caball'd themselves into a more numerous Combination of which I knew nothing and then it was that Gourlay found it Convenient to retire But as to this Second Assault made upon him no complaint was ever entred no Names were ever given up to me And I again beg Your Lordships Pardon that I have spent so many Lines on this impertinence And Mr. Gourlay will pardon me if I do not set down the particular Acts of Imprudence open Folly and Ignorance by which he made it impossible for him to live here without a Guard Why the Students in Mr. Cuninghame and Mr. Kennedy's Classes should only be named the Libeller and I both know a very good reason for it but because it would seem Malicious I now wave it V. The next Accusation is that I heard Dr. Pitcairn at the late Publick Commencement Treat the Confession of Faith at Westminster in Ridicule and Impugn the Existence of a Deity without answering him My Lords my Patience is quite tired with this Impertinence I was not in the Desk nor bound to preside at those Exercises and so not concerned to answer But my good Friend Dr. Pitcairn is more able to answer for himself and me both than I am Only the sneaking Libeller is grosly Ignorant and Malicious for the Doctor did not Impugn the Existence of a Deity he endeavoured fairly like a True Philosopher to load some Propositions in the Thesis with this Absurdity Hoc posito sequeretur illud The most Sacred Fundamentals in Religion are thus disputed in the Schools not with a design to overthrow them as he ignorantly fancies but to establish and set them in their true light that they may appear in their evidence Is it necessary to answer the silly Conceits of such a Libeller who should not be suffered to enter the Publick Hall if he must Censure and Mis-represent the most exact and usual Methods of all Schools in Christendom Yet I foresaw that some Ignorant or Malicious People would mis-represent this Argument and therefore I desired the Doctor to let it fall and without any more he did so