nane shall be repute as loyal and faithful Subjects to our said Soveraign Lord or his Authority but be punishable as Rebellars and Gainstanders of the samine quhilk shall not give their confession and make their profession of the said true Religion And that all sik as makes profession thereof and yet hes made defection fra their dew obedience ought to our Soveraign Lord shall be admonished be the Pastors and Ministers of the Kirk to acknowledge their offence and turn to their dutieful obedience And if they failzie therein to be excommunicat and secluded from the Society of the Kirk as rebellious and corrupt Members betwixt and the first of Jun nixt to come and that alwayes before sik persons as hes made defection be received to our Soveraign Lords mercie and favour they shall give the Confession of their Faith of new and promise to continue in the Confession of the true Religion in time coming and maintaine our Soveraign Lords Authoritie and that they shall at the utmost of their power fortifie assist and maintaine the true Preachers and Professors of Christs Religion against whatsomever enemies and gainstanders of the same and namely against all sik of whatsomever Nation Estate or degree they be of that hes joyned and bound themselves or hes assisted or assist to set forward and execut the cruel decreits of the Councel of Trent quhilk most injuriously is called by the adversaries of Gods Truth the halie league contrary the Preachers and true Professors of the Word of God Many other Acts and these most peremptory and strict against the Popish Religion as Idolatrie and very pernicious to the Kingdom might here be added But these are set down as most apposite to the purpose and the rest may be seen at length in the printed Acts of Parliament Act Ch. 2. P. 2. C. 1. Anno 1669. Act asserting His Majesties Supremacy over all Persons and in all Causes Ecclesiastik THE Estates of Parliament having seriously considered how necessary it is for the good and peace of Church and State that His Majesties Power and Authoritie in relation to maters and Persons Ecclesiastical be more clearly asserted by ane Act of Parliament Have therefore thought fit it be enacted asserted and declared Likeas His Majestie with advice and consent of his Estates of Parliament doth hereby enact assert and declare that His Majesty hath the supreme Authority and Supremacie over all Persons and in all causes Ecclesiastical within this his Kingdom And that by vertue thereof the ordering and disposal of the external Government and Policie of the Church doth properly belong to His Majestie and his Successors as ane inherent right of the Crown and that His Majesty and his Successors may setle enact and emit such Constitutions Acts and Orders concerning the administration of the external Government of the Church and the Persons imployed in the same and concerning all Ecclesiastical meetings and maters to be proposed and determined therein as they in their Royal Wisdom shall think fit Which Acts Orders and Constitutions being recorded in the Books of Councel and duelie published are to be observed and obeyed by all His Majesties Subjects any Law Act or Custom to the contrary notwithstanding likeas His Majesty with advice and consent foresaid doth rescind and annull all Lawes Acts and Clauses thereof and all Customs and Constitions Civil or Ecclesiastick which are contrary to or inconsistent with His Majesties Supremacy as it is hereby asserted and declares the same void and null in all time coming The Bishop of Aberdeen and the Synods Explanation of the Test. I. WE do not hereby swear to all the particular Assertions and Expressions of the Confession of Faith mentioned in the Test but only to the uniform Doctrine of the Reformed Churches contained therein II. We do not hereby prejudg the Church's Right to and Power of making any alteration in the said Confession as to the ambiguity and obscure expressions thereof or of making a more unexceptionable frame III. When we swear That the King is Supreme Governour over all Persons and in all Causes as well Ecclesiastick as Civil and when we swear to assert and defend all His Majesties Rights and Prerogatives this is reserving always the intrinsick unalterable power of the Church immediately derived from Jesus Christ to wit the power of the Keys consisting in the preaching of the Word administration of the Sacraments ordaining of Pastors exercise of Discipline and the holding of such Assemblies as are necessary for preservation of Peace and Unity Truth and Purity in the Church and withal we do not hereby think that the King has a power to alter the Government of the Church at his pleasure IV. When we swear That it is unlawful for subjects to meet or conveen to treat or consult c. about matters of State Civil and Ecclesiastick this is excepting meetings for Ordination publick Worship and Discipline and such meetings as are necessary for the conservation of the Church and true Protestant Religion V. When we swear there lyes no obligation on us c. to endeavour any change or alteration in Government either in Church or State we mean by Arms or any seditious way VI. When we swear That we take the Test in the plain and genuine sense of the words c. we understand it only in so far as it does not contradict these Exceptions The Explanation of the Test by the Synode and Clergy of Perth BEcause our Consciences require the publishing and declaring of that express meaning we have in taking the Test that we be not mis-interpreted to swear it in these glosses which men uncharitable to it and enemies to us are apt to put upon it and because some men ill affected to the Government who are daily broachers of odious and calumnious slanders against our Persons and Ministry are apt to deduce inferences and conclusions from the alledged ambiguity of some Propositions of the Test that we charitably and firmly do believe were never intended by the Imposers nor received by the Takers Therefore to satisfie our Consciences and to save our Credit from these unjust imputations we expresly declare That we swear the Test in this following meaning I. By taking the Test we do not swear to every Proposition and Clause contained in the Confession of Faith but only to the true Protestant Religion founded upon the Word of God contained in that Confession as it is opposed to Popery and Fanaticism II. By swearing the Ecclesiastick Supremacy we swear it as we have done formerly without any reference to the assertory Act we also reserve intire unto the Church it s own intrinsick and unalterable power of the Keys as it was exercised by the Apostles and the pure primitive Church for the first three Centuries III. By swearing That it is unlawful to convocate conveen or assemble in any Councils Conventions or Assemblies to treat consult c. in any matter of State Civil or Ecclesiastick as
we do not evacuate our natural liberty whereby we are in freedom innocently without reflection upon or derogation to Authority or persons intrusted with it to discourse in any occasional meeting of these things so we exclude not those other meetings which are necessary for the well-being and Discipline of the Church IV. By our swearing it unlawful to endeavour any change or alteration in the Government either of Church or State we mean that it is unlawfal for us to endeavour the alteration of the specifick Government of Monarchy in the true and lineal Descent and Episcopacy V. When we swear in the genuine and literal sense c. we understand it so far as it is not opposite or contradictory to the foresaid exceptions They were allowed to insert after the Oath before their Subscriptions these words or to this purpose We Under-written do take this Oath according to the Explanation made by the Council approved by His Majesties Letter and we declare we are no further bound by this Oath A Paraphrase on the Test emitted by one of the conformed Clergy I A. B. solemnly swear in presence of the Eternal God whom I invocate as judge and witness of my sincere intention of this my Oath That I A. B. being fully assured without the least doubt or hesitation of the truth of all that I am now to assert and of the lawfulness of all that I am now to promise Do in the most solemn manner swear in the sight and presence of the Eternal God whom I here call upon to witness against me in the Great Day and to pass Sentence of Condemnation upon me if I affirm any thing by this my Oath of the certainty whereof I am not fully assured or promise any thing of the lawfulness whereof I have any scruples and which I am not sincerely resolved to perform viz. That I own and sincerely profess the true Protestant Religion contained in the Confession of Faith recorded in the first Parliament of James the VI c. That I cordially own without any dissimulation profess the true Protestant Religion And because there are many doctrines and opinions that pass under that name that it may be known what I do mean by the true Protestant Religion I declare That I own that Confession of Faith which is recorded in the first Parliament of King James the VI. as the true test and standard thereof And that I believe the same to be founded on and agreeable to the written Word of God And because it would not be a just standard if some part of it were taken and others left unless these parts that are to be sworn to were expresly condescended on by the same Authority whereby it is imposed For if it were left arbitrary for every one to pitch on these parts of it he pleases as the measure of his Faith it would be useless for the end for which it is adduced Therefore I embrace the whole Confession and do swear by the same solemn Oath That I believe every Article and every Proposition therein to be true as being evidently founded on and agreeable to the Word of God As for instance Art 3. I swear by this my solemn Oath That Adam's Transgression is commonly called Original Sin And Art 12. That men have as little hand in their Regeneration and Sanctification as they have in their Creation and Redemption And Art 14. That to suppress Tyranny is one of the good works of the Second Table most pleasing and acceptable to God and commanded by himself the contrary whereof is 〈◊〉 sin most odious which always displeaseth and provokes him to anger that is When the Civil Mastrate comes to act arbitrarily and against Law when he invades the established Religion the Priviledges of Parliament or the Liberties and Properties of Subjects he is to be opposed and resisted Or when our Ecclesiastical Superiors usurp a Dominion over the Inferior Clergy or behave themselves as Lords over Gods Heritage or require absolute obedience to their Dictates and Determinations they are to be withstood and born down And as it is in the same Article I swear That I believe our resistance of these whom God hath placed in Authority over us is a sin when they do not pass over the bounds of their Office but if they pass over these bounds it is a duty to resist them which is evident being compared with the former Proposition and the practices of them who composed the Confession And in the same Article I swear and believe all these to be evil works in matters of Religion and the worship of God which have no other assurance but the invention and opinion of men So that whatsoever our Superiors determine in this matter tho only for Decency if they cannot shew it to be clearly founded on the Word of God it is to be looked on as an evil work And I swear I shall so reckon it Art 16. I swear That I think it blasphemy to affirm that men who live acording to natural light and moral equity shall be saved unless they profess the Christian Religion And that out of the true Church there is neither life nor eternal felicity So that I not only condemn all Pagans and Papists to Hell fire but I declare upon Oath That I think it Blasphemy to affirm the contrary And Art 18. I believe That Ecclesiastical Discipline rightly administred as Gods Word prescribeth is as essential a note of the true Church as the right administration of the Word and Sacraments So that the Church of England or any other Church that has not Discipline rightly administred tho they have the Word and Sacraments pure and uncorrupted wants an essential Note of a true a Church And Art 21. I declare That I perfectly understand this Proposition and do solemnly swear that it 's true that the faithful in the right use of the Lords Table are so made flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone that as the eternal Godhead has given to the flesh of Iesus Christ which of its own condition and nature was mortal and corruptible Life and Immortality so does Christ Iesus his flesh and blood eaten and drunken by us give unto us the same Prerogatives And Art 22. I declare and swear by this my solemn Oath That the Ministers of the Church of Rome are not Ministers of Iesus Christ and that they have no true Sacraments So that our first Reformers having both their Baptism and Ordination from them we have neither among us truly baptized persons nor rightly ordained Ministers And Art 24 I believe That the resisting the Supreme Power doing that which appertains to his charge is to resist the Ordinance of God So that to resist when he goes beyond his charge is not to resist the Ordinance of God but to repress Tyranny according to Art 14 And I promise and swear That I shall adhere thereto during all the days of my life shall endeavour to educate my
God Subjects may take up Arms against him 2. They maintain That nothing is to be allowed in the worship of God but what is prescribed in his Word Were not these the Principles that embroiled these Kingdoms that raised a Combustion and that turned all things upside down both in Church and State And are not these Principles plainly taught in this Confession It is reckoned Art 15 a duty to repress Tyranny and to disobey and resist Kings is a sin with this caution and limitation while they pass not over the bounds of their Office or do that thing which appertains to their charge And in like manner the assistance we ow them is cautioned and limited while they vigilantly travel in the execution of their Office Is not this the very Doctrine of the Solemn League and Covenant by which they bind themselves to defend the Kings Majesty's Person and Authority in the preservation and defence of the true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdom Let any but read Spotswood's History of the Resormation Anno 1558 1559 1560. among others how Subjects did bind themselves by Oaths and Subscriptions to assist one another for advancing the Cause of Religion how by the advice of the Ministers they deprived the Queen Regent of her Government and this very year this Confession was compiled and ratified in Parliament And I am sure there can remain no doubt about the sense of the Confession in this point But to render the matter beyond exception It is declared rebellious and treasonable by Act of Parliament for Subjects to put limitations on their due obedience and allegiance And for the other Principles about Divine Worship the Confession affirms these to be evil works that in matters of Religion and Worship of God have no other assurance but the invention and opinion men In this principle they condemn very Ancient and laudable Customs of Churches as singing the Doxology and the most innocent and indifferent Ceremonies for decency and helps for Devotion calling them by the odious titles of Superstition and Will-worship But be these Principles true or false in themselves certainly they are utterly inconsistent with these other clauses in the Test that assert it unlawful on any pretence whatsoever to take Arms against the King and invest him with such a Supremacy as impowers him to erect such Constitutions and orders about Ecclesiastical matters as His Majesty thinks fit And in this also there is a palpable Contradiction that the Test binds us not to consent to any change contrary to the Confession and by and by enjoyns to swear what is flatly contradictory to it We cannot take this Test unless with the same breath we swear and forswear under Oath protest onething and forthwith under Oath protest the quite contrary It obliges us to swear we shall with our utmost power defend assist and maintain all the Kings Rights And is not this to swear we know not what or is it not to swear we shall maintain and defend with the greatest zeal and concernedness whatsoever the King challenges or the Parliament votes to belong to him And may not a Prince come to claim a Right to act Arbitrarily and may not iniquity happen to be established by Law Nay doth not the King de facto challenge and has not the Parliament declared Supremacy to be an inherent Right of the Crown by which His Majesty may settle and emit such Acts and Orders as he pleases about Ecclesiastical matters And are not Articles of Faith Ecclesiastical maters And what is this but to avow we hold our selves obliged to believe as the King believes And so ere long the Rights Jurisdictions Prerogatives Priviledges Preeminences and Authorities that may be v ted to belong to our Prince may come to swallow up Religion Liberty Property and all our Priviledges We do not see how any man of Sense and Conscience can swear this clause in so great a Latitude and so illimited Terms It obliges us to swear That we acknowledg it unlawful without the Kings special Command to convocate conveen or assemble in any Council Convention or Assembly to treat consult or determine in any matter of State Civil or Ecclesiastik The clause excepting ordinary judgments which was added in all such convocating conveening and assembling which were declared unlawful Anno 1661. 1. Par. Char. 2. Act 21. being left out here we have reason to think that all such Sessions Presbyteries and Synods are discharged there being no special Command or Express for them that we know of And these meetings being of great use for curbing of Vice and Prophanesse and for setling and entertaining Peace and good Order in the Church we cannot swear to forbear holding of them tho we have not an express License from the King We acknowledg Princes have Power and Authority to inhibit their Subjects to meet as they see cause but we cannot bind our selves to obey them against such liberty which Christ hath conferred on his Church This is a Priviledg the Church ever enjoyed since it was founded and erected by our Saviour and in all Ages used as the state of affairs required So we cannot devoid our selves of it without proving betrayers of our Trust and condemning the conduct of the Primitive Christians who without special command nay contrary to the express Edict of Princes did convocate conveen or assemble in Councils and Conventions to treat consult and determine about Ecclesiastical matters and yet for all that have been no less commended and admired for loyalty and peaceableness than for piety and zeal And seeing that in the present juncture its notour that there are Cabals and Engines formed and carried on to undermine the Protestant Religion and to bereave us of the Truth which our Lord has committed to us as so many Depositaries Can we without the most horrid guilt and the blackest infamy swear That we shall not so much as meet Two or Three of us together till we have the Kings Warrant perhaps never to consult about the Welfare of the Church and the Salvation of our own and other Mens Souls It obliges us to swear there is no obligation on us any manner of way whatsoever to endeavour any change or alteration in the Government either in Church or State Is not this to swear what no man living can assuredly know And are there not indeed many tyes on us as Men as Christians as Pastors to procure as far as in us lyes the happiness of the Church and State Now if we discern and it be acknowledged by wise and good men that the Government may be bettered by enacting wholsome new Laws and abrogating corrupt old ones might we not ought we not in our stations endeavour such an alteration The Constitution of a National Synod e. g. gives the Archbishop of St. Andrew's a Negative when the whole Clergy is contrary so that were all our Bishops and other Members of the Synod men of Apostolick sanctity and zeal yet nothing could be done
close up this Head of Objections drawn from the Confession foresaid it is to be considered that the famous and â—earned Doctors of Aberdeen Anno 1638. in their Demands and Duplys do in Demand 11. declare and take God to witness that they and other people were willing to subscribe this very Confession of Faith And 11 Duply They assert that they are ready not only to subscribe but to swear this National Confession of Faith so they call it ratified and registred in Parliament To which Declaration they add the Oath sworn by them when they received the degree of Doctorat in Theology which Oath they solemnly again renew in the 7. Duply And this they judged necessary for them to do to satisfie the world that they were no favourers of Popery which as then so now is the Engine whereby to calumniate loyal Subjects and soundest Protestants as Papists in masquerade By which we understand that these learned loyal Divines and Orthodox the glory of the Reformed Church in their Age who well understood the Protestant Doctrine the unlawfulness of resisting the supreme Magistrate upon any pretence whatsoever the intrinsik power of the Church together with the Interests and Rights of Episcopal Government did not scruple to subscribe and swear this Confession of Faith and that as a Test against Popish Errors and Supersition So that they who shall now refuse to swear to own and believe the true Protestant Religion reformed from Popery contained in this Confession do occasion too much umbrage of suspicion and jealousie that they are not sound nor solid Protestants As to the second Head or Classis of Objections drawn from the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy which together with the maintenance of the Kings Prerogative is asserted and sworn in the Test the great stress of the Objections founded thereupon lies in these two Particulars That the Kings Supremacy as it is asserted by the Act of Parliament viz 16 Anno 1669. seems to deprive and devest the Church of all its intrinsick Power as if all Ecclesiastical Authority were derived not from Jesus Christ the alone Prince and Vital Head of his Church but from secular Princes and Magistrates And 2. That by the foresaid Act there seems to be a Power lodged in the King to alter and change the established Episcopal Government of the Church at his Royal pleasure which they can never swear to maintain as a Prerogative of the Crown who believe Episcopacy to be of Divine Right and Apostolical Institution and by consequence an oecumenick and unalterable Government by any power on earth For the more clear satisfaction of these Objections it will be convenient to read and consider that Act of Parliament November the 16th 1669 in which upon due perusal and examination nothing new or dangerous to the setlement of our National Church will be found comprehended Our Saviour was very unconcerned to regulate the bounds of Soveraign Powers he doth not examine Pilate's Power to judg of Blasphemy or Treason but acknowledgeth and submits unto it And so his Apostles neither enquire into the Rights of the Roman Emperors nor limit the exercise of their Power but seriously recommend to all good Subjects as their duty submission and obedience to the higher Powers and they leave the secular Powers of the world in possession of whatever Authority either over persons or matters they found them invested with The Magistrate doth not intitle himself to the Spiritual Function in preaching the Word administring the Sacraments exercising the Power of Ordination or the Keys c. Our gracious King never challenged these spiritual Powers which indeed belong to the Bishops and other Ministers of the Church The holiest and best Kings of Israel and Judah are famous for abolishing false Worship asserting and setling of the Truth Many excellent Ordinances concerning Religion were made by Moses Ioshua David Solomon Asa Iosiab c. which are recorded and applauded by the Spirit of God in the Scriptures These ordered and regulated divine worship Sacraments and Covenants with God they erected Altars Temples and Tabernacles and dedicated them to God They destroyed Idolatry reformed abuses in Gods House and service and both setled the standing worship and ordained Thanksgivings and Humiliations so that the ordering of matters of Religion was not exempted from the supreme secular Power under the Law nor did the Emperors and Sovereign Princes of the earth by imbracing Christianity lose their Power injoyed by all their Predecessors which if they had they should have been thereby inevitably exposed to the disturbances of their Government by Seditions and Rebellions upon every frantick eruption of religious Melancholy If Constantine had not interposed his Authority for suppressing the Arrian Heresie what had become either of Government or Religion The drawing up of Canons for regulating Religion our Lord committed to the Apostles and their Successors the Bishops with other Ecclesiastical persons but that these Canons should be inforced as Laws by temporal sanctions and penalties this flowed from the authority of the Civil Power And accordingly in the second oecumenical Council the Bishops and Fathers assembled at Constantinople beseech Theodosius the elder to ratifie the Decrees of that Synod Justinian established the main Canon or Codâ—x of the Universal Church consisting of the Canons of the first general and five Ancient provincial Councils commanding them to be keept as Laws As matters of Religion have not been exempted from the cognizance and regulation of the Supreme Civil Powers much less can the exemption of Ecclesiastical persons be pretended Under the Law we find Solomon judging an High Priest offending viz. Abiathar whom he turned out and placed Zadock in his Room and Office 1 King 2. 27 35. and as single persons so if we consider Church-Officers in their Ecclesiastical Meetings and Assemblies we find the Calling thereof lodged in the supreme Magistrate for Moses not Aaron David not Abiathar Solomon not Zadock summoned the Priests and Levites to the Meetings so under the Gospel in the pure and primitive times we find no Councils nor Synods called by the Bishop of Rome nor by any other Bishop or by any other Ministers forming themselves into Classical and Synodical Meetings against or without the Consent of the Christan Prince or Magistrate To any who will be at the pains to consult Antiquty or Ecclesiastical History it will evidently appear that the indiction of times and places the convocating of persons the precedency the ordering of debates the dismission of Assemblies the confirmation of Canons so as to enforce them as Laws in the General or Provincial Councils were all performed by the supreme Magistrate St. Paul himself appealed to Caesar when arraigned and called in question for his Religion and Athanasius appealed from the Synod at Tyre to Constantine to whom were two appeals made in the case of Cassianus and Donatus besides many other instances of the like nature And it were heartily to be wished that all Church-men and Ministers
thereof Hence it appears a meer quible to cavil upon the Particle as it is established which some think had been better expressed by which is established by Law since by what is said the Particle as is not to be taken reduplicative but specificative relating to the species and substance of the Government And it is a cavil no less fâ—ivoious which is made upon the Particle in â—he Government which they say had been been better expressed of the Government since that Particle in must neither relate to the substance species and fundamentals of these Governments to endeavour the alteration or change whereof is entirely unlawful by this Oath or it must be interpreted by the Parricle of by which the sinfulness of any Subjects endeavouring the change or subversion of the setled Monarchy and Episcopacy is sworn and asserted The last clause in the Test â—â—eâ—â—ing it to be taken in the plain and genuine sense and meaning of the words without any equivocation or men tal reservation c doth not exclude the sensing and interpreting the same by the common Rules of Speech as well as of Iustice and equity This Interpretation imports no more than singly to make clear and plain any word or sentence therein which may seem to any to be dark or dubious which serves only to disco ver the genuine sense of the Oath and the true design and meaning of the imposers thereof which is all that by this essay is undertaken and endeavoured And if a man may swear to believe the Articles of the Apostolik Creed or the several petitions of the Lords Prayer or the Doctrine contained in the Ten Commands of the Moral Law without any equivocation mental reservation or evasion c. which yet he cannot do without an interpretation put upon some Articles of the Creed viz. of the descent into Hell and upon some Petitions in the Lords Prayer as Give us this day our dayly bread and on some of the Ten Commandments as the Fifth and the words of the Fourth Commandment then may we also swear this Oath thâ— some words or phrases in it need a sense or illustration to be put on them Must a Christian abstain therefore from saying the Lords Prayer No. Neither for this need we to admit any ambiguity or equivocation The word certainly hath but one true sense and signification but divers persons understand them according to the different measures of their light These are the most ordinary and popular scruples of greatest seeming force which are commonly offered against this Oath and Test and upon the issue they appear to be founded upon mistakes of the true sense and meaning of some words and clauses therein and misconstructing of the design Authority had in framing and imposing the same And now we having been in duty so tender and compassionate toward the Loyaland Regular Protestant Subjects this Vindication being intended for the satisfaction neither of Papists nor Fanatiks as to endeavour by this short essay to clear these doubts and scruples which might arise in their minds upon the Oath that thereby they may perceive the genuine sense of the same whereby it clearly appears that we are not Sworn by it to maintain or believe every Article assertion or clause in the Confession of Faith therein mentioned but only the true Christian Protestant Religion as it is reformed from the errours and superstitions of the Romish Church and other Heresies and that by it no power is asserted to belong to the Prince which is inconsistent with or destructive of the Specifik Established Government of the Church or the intrinsik or Spiritual Jurisdiction thereof it may be fairly hoped that all good Peaceable Subjects with their Ministers others will meekly receive the Satisfaction here offered unto them and compose their minds to a chearful acquiescence in the Wisdom of their Governours who have judged this Oath so necessary for defeating the pretended Obligations of many former unlawful and Treasonable Oaths and the best mean and expedient for securing the Church and Protestant Religion together with the Monarchy from all danger of Subversion from the Papists on the one hand and the Fanatiks on the other It cannot but be lookt on as a fatal thing if any Conformist Ministers or truly Loyal Protestants for whose interest Peace and Security this Oath was chiefly formed and injoyned should not only after what is said continue to entertain peevish scruples themselves but undutifully to fill the minds of the Populacie with prejudices as unjust as uncharitable against it contrary to the Rules of our most peaceable Religion and therein following the steps of these incendiaries who fatally fired the Kingdom in the late Age by instilling prejudices into the unwary Mobile from the Pulpits or other ways branding the Actions of the K. and Par. as imposing things sinful and unlawful This sure will prove the greatest advantage the promoters of the Romish Interest will propose to themselves against our Church and Religion in as much as every Schism and Breach amongst us and concussion in the Ancient Government of our Church doth visibly hazard the dissolution of the whole fabrick of our Religion And if things still go on at this rate the explanation that some in our late Distractions and Rebellion made of that passage St. John 11. v. 45. Venient Romani capient gentem nostram will prove too true a Prophecy and Popery will overturn all at last It is a wonder indeed to see how the Fanatical adversaries of this poor Church have in so short a time been so strangely multiplied in their number and divided and subdivided into so many special opinions and Principles crumbled into factions and fractions biting and ready to devour one another And if loyal Protestants also fall in pieces and by the ears among themselves upon most unseasonable and uncharitable scruples may it not be feared that the vigilant adversary who is intent upon all manner of advantages will when he spieth his time over-master all with the more ease and less resistance It cannot in charity be doubted but the love of the Church's Peace and Unity Loyalty to the best of Monarchs pious care for preserving and securing our excellent Religion from Popery Disloyalty and Enthusiasm with the zeal of loyal and regular Ministers for the benefit and education of Christian Schools under their spiritual conduct and the dutiful regard and deference men owe to their spiritual and temporal Governours will prevail with humble meek and teachable minds by interpreting all the actions of Authority in the best and most favourable sense to resolve and overcome all scruples that stand in the way of their duty and frankly and readily to embrace what the most transcendent Authority of this Nation hath from sincere and pious intentions enjoyned and imposed for so pious and excellent ends If this small Apology be read without gall or prejudice the Reader will not catch at Particles or Syllables but
studying the peace of this Church and Kingdom will receive without peevishnesse prejudice or partiality the satisfaction which herein is with so much affection and charity endeavoured and tendered then the pains herein taken shall be thought well placed and imployed EDENBURGH Sederunt tertio Die Novembris 1681. His Royal Highness c. Athol Praeses Montrose Argyle Winton Linlithgow Perth Strathmore Roxburgh Ancram Airley Balcarres Lorn Levingston Bishop of Edenburgh Elphinston Rosse Dalziel President of Session Treasurer Deputy Register Advocate Justice Clerk Collintoun Lundie This day the Earl of Argyll having first openly declared his sense as you have it hereafter set down in his explication took the Test as a Privy Councellor and after he was called to and had taken his place the Councils explication which I have already mentioned having been formerly read and debated was put to the vote and passed the Earl not voting thereto as hath been remarked Edenburgh the 3d day of November 1681. The Privy Councils Explanation of the Test. FOrasmuch as some have entertained jealousies and prejudices aganst the Oath and Test appointed to be taken by all persons in publik Trust. Civil Ecclesiastical or Military in this Kingdom by the Sixth Act of His Maje 〈…〉 ies Third Parliament as if thereby they were to swear to every Proposition or Clause of the Confession of Faith therein mentioned or that invasion were made by it upon the intrinsik spiritual Power of the Church or Power of the Keys or as if the present Episcopal Government of this National Church by Law established were thereby exposed to the hazard of alteration or subversion All which are far from the intention or design of the Parliament's imposing this Oath and from the genuine sense and meaning thereof Therefore His Royal Highness His Majesties High Commissioner and Lords of Privy-Council do allow authorise and impower the Archbishops and Bishops to administer this Oath and Test to the Ministers in their respective Diocesses in this express sense 1. That tho the Confession of Faith ratified in Parliament 1567. was framed in the Infancy of Reformation and deserves its due praise yet by the Test we do not swear to every Proposition or clause therein contained but only to the true Protestant Religion founded on the word of God contained in that Confession as it as opposed to Popery and Fanaticism 2. That by the Test or any clause therein contained no invasion or encroatchment is made or intended upon the intrinsik spiritual power of the Church or power of the Keys as it was exercised by the Apostles and the most pure and primitive Church in the first three Centuries after Christ and which is still reserved intirely to the Church 3. That the Oath and Test is without any prejudice to the Episcopal Government of this National Church which is declared by the first Act of the second Session of His Majesties first Parliament to be most agreeable to the word of God and most suitable to Monarchy and which upon all occasions His Majesty hath declared he will inviolably and unalterably preserve And appoint the Archbishops and Bishops to require the Ministers in their respective Diocesses with their first conveniency to obey the Law in swearing and subscribing the foresaid Oath and Test with certification that the refusers shall be esteemed persons disaffected to the Protestant Religion and to his Majesties Government and that the punishment appointed by the foresaid sixth Act of His Majesties third Parliament shall be impartially and without delay inflicted upon them By me Pet. Menzeis Sederunt quarto Die Novembris 1681. His Royal Highness c. Montrose Praeses Perth Ancram Levingston President of Session Advocate Winton Strathmore Airley Bishop of Edenburgh Treasurer Deputy Lundie Linlithgow Roxburgh Balcaras Elphynstoun Register This day the Earl of Argyle being about to take the Test as a Commissioner of the Treasury and having uponcommand produced a paper bearing the sense in which he took the Test the preceeding day and in which he would take the same as a Commissioner of the Treasury Upon consideration thereof it was resolved that he cannot sit in Council not having taken the Test in thesense and meaning of the Act of Parliament and therefore was removed The Earl of Argyle's Explication of the Test vvhen he took it I Have considered the Test and I am very desirous to give obedience as far as I can I 'm confident the Parliament never intended to impose contradictory Oaths Therefore I think no man can explain it but for himself Accordingly I take it as far as it is consistent with it self and the Protestant Religion And I do declare That I mean not to bind up my self in my station and in a lawful way to wish and endeavour any alteration I think to the advantage of Church or State not repugnant to the Protestant Religion and my Loyalty And this I understand as a part of my Oath But the Earl finding as hath been narrated this his Explication though accepted and approven by His Highness and Council the day before to be this day carped and offended at and advantages thereupon sought and designed against him did immediatlie draw up the following Explanation of his Explication and for his own vindication did first communicat it to some privatlie and thereafter intended to have offered it at his trial for clearing of his defences The Explanation of his Explication I Have delayed hitherto to take the Oath appointed by the Pa 〈…〉 ent to be taken betwixt and the first of January nixt but now being required 〈◊〉 two moneths sooner to take it this day peremptourly or to refuse I have considered the Test and have seen several Objections moved against it especially by many of the Orthodox Clergy notwithstanding whereof I have endeavoured to satisfie my self with a just explanation which I here offer that I may both satisfie my conscience and obey Your Highness and Your Lordships commands in taking the Test though the Act of Parliament do not simply command the thing but only under a certification which I could easily submit to if it were with Your Highness favour and might be without offence but I love not to be singular and I am very desirous to give obedience in this and everything as far as I can and that which clears me is that I am confident whatever any man may think or say to the prejudice of this Oath the Parliament never intended to impose contradictory Oaths and because their sense they being the framers and imposers is the true sense and that this Test injoyned is of no privat interpretation nor are the Kings Statuts to be interpreted but as they â—ear and to the intent they are made Therefor I 〈…〉 nk no man that is no privat person can explain it for another to amuse or trouble â—im with it may be mistaken glosses But every man as he is to take it so is to ex 〈…〉 ain it for himself and to endeavour
ambiguous and needs to be explained And the Earl may confidently averr that of all the Explanations that have been offered even the Councils not excepted his is the mostsafe sound and least disagreeable to the Parliaments true sense and meaning And yet when all others escape he alone must be seased and for a thing so openly innocent clearly justifiable and undeniably allowed found guilty of the worst of crimes even Leasing-making Leasing-telling Depraving of Laws and Treason but all these things God almighty sees and to him the judgment yet belongs And thus I leave this dscourse shutting it up with the case of Archbishop Cranmer plainly parallel to the Earl's to show how much he was more favourably dealt with by the King and Government in those dayes then the Earl now is though he live under a much more merciful and just Prince then that worthy Prelate did for Cranmer being called and promoted by Henry VIII of England to be Archbishop of Canterbury and finding an Oath was to be offered to him which in his apprehension would bind him up from what he accounted his duty he altogether declined the dignity and preferment unless he were allowed to take the Oath with such an Explanation as he himself proposed for salving of his Conscience and though this Oath was no other then the statut and solemn Oath that all his Predecessors in that See and all the mitered Clergy in England had sworn yet he was admitted to take it as you see in Fuller's Church hist Of Britain Lib 5 p. 185 and 186 with this formal Protestation In nomine Domini Amen Coramvobis c. Non est aut erit meae voluntatis aut intentionis per hujusmodi juramentum veljuramenta qualitereunque verba in ipsis posita sonare videbuntur me obligare ad aliquid ratione â—orundum post hac dicendum faciendum aut attentandum quod erit aut esse videbitur contra Legem Dei vel contra illustrissimum Regem nostrum Angliae Legesve aut Praerogativas Esusdem Et quod non intendo per hujusmodi juramentum veljuramentâ— quovis modo me obligare quo minus libere loqui consulere aut consentire valeam in omnibus singulâ—s Reformationem Religionis Christianae Gubernationem Ecclesiae Anglicanae Praerogativam Coronae ejusdâ—m Reipublicae vel commoditatem earundem quoquo modo concernentibus eâ— ubique exequi reformare quae mihi in Ecclesia Anglicana reformanda videbuntur Et secundum hanc interpretationem intellectum hunc non aliter neque alio modo dictum juramentum me praestiturum protestor profiteor That is to say In the Name of God Amen Before yow c. It neither is nor shall be my will or meaning by this kind of Oath or Oaths and however the words of themselves shall seem to sound or signify to bind up my self by vertue hereof to say do or endeavour any thing which shall really be or appear to be against the Law of God or against our most illustrious King of England or against his Laws and Prerogatives And that I mean not by this my Oath or Oaths any wayes to bind up my self from speaking consulting and consenting freely in all and every thing in any sort concerning the Reformation of the Christian Religion the Government of the Church of England and the Prerogative of the Crown of the Commonwealth thereof or their advantage and from executing and reforming such things as I shall think need to be reformed in the Church of England And according to this Explanaton and sense and not otherwise nor in any other manner do I protest and profess that I am to take and perform this Oath Nor did that excellent Person sayes Mr Fuller smother this privatly in a corner but publikly interposed it three severall times once in the Charter-house before authentik witnesses again upon his bended knees befor the high Alter in view and hearing of many people and Bishops beholding him when he was consecrated and the third time when he received the Pall in the same place Now would it not be very strange if the like liberty should not be allowed to the â—arl under His Majesty in reference to the Test which Henry the VIII a Prince that stood as much on his Prerogative as ever any did vouchafe to this Thomas Cranmer who as another Historian observes acted fairly and above-board But there wanted then the high and excellent designs of the great Ministers The rare fidelity of Councellors sound Religion and tender piety of Bishops solid Law and Learning of Advocates incorruptible integrity of Judges and upright honesty of Assizers that now we have to get Archbishop Cranmer accused and condemned for Leasing-making depraving Laws Perjury and Treason to which accusation his Explanation was certainly no less obnoxious then the Earl's But I hasten to the fourth and last head of the Earl's additional defences viz The removing certain groundless pretences alledged by the Advocate for aggravating the Earl's offence ASI That the Earl being a Peer and Member of Parliament should have known the sense of the Parliament and that neither the Scruples of the Clergy nor the Councils proclamation designed for meer Ignorants could any way excuse the Earl for offering such an Explanation But first the Advocate might have remembred that in another passage he taxes the Earl as having debated in Parliament against the Test whereby it is easy to gather that the Earl having been in the matter of the Test a dissenter this quality doth rather justify then aggravat the Earl's Scrupling 2ly If the proclamation was designed for the meer Ignorants of the Clergy as the Advocate calls them who knew nothing of what had past in Parliament an Explanation was far more necessary for the Earl who knows so little of what the Advocate alledges to have past in Parliament viz. That the Confession of Faith was not to be sworn to as a part of the Test that of necessity as I think he must know the contrary In as much as first this is obvious from the express tenor of the Test which binds to own and profess the true Protestant Religion contained in the Confession of Faith and to believe the same to be agreable to the Word of God as also to adhere thereto and never to consent to any change contrary to or inconsistent with the said Protestant Religion Confession of Faith Which to common sense appears as plain and evident as can be contrived or desired But 2ly It is very well known that it was expresly endeavoured and carried in Parliament that the Confession of Faith should be a part of the Test and Oath For the Confession of Faith being designed to be sworn to by an Act for securing the Protestant Religion which you have heard was prepared in the Articles but afterwards thrown out when this Act for the Test was brought in to the Parliament some dayes after by the Bishop of Edinburgh and others the
Confession was designedly left out of it But it being again debated that the bare naming of the Protestant Religion without condescending on a Standard for it was not sufficient the Confession of Faith was of new added And after the affirmative clause for owning it and adhering to it was insert upon a new motion the negative never to consent to any alteration contrary to or inconsistent with the said Protestant Religion and Confession of Faith was also subjoyned But not without a new debate and opposition made against the words And Confession of Faith by the Bishop of Edinburgh until at length he also yeelded All which it is hoped was done for some purpose And if at that time any had doubted of the thing he had certainly been judged most ridiculous For it was by that addition concluded by all that the Confession was to be sworn and further it appears plainly by the Bishop of Edinburgh his vindication that when he wrote it he believed the Confession was to be sworn to for he takes pains to justify it though calumniously enough alledging That it was hastily compiled in the short space of four dayes by some Barrons and Ministers in the infancy of our Reformation Where by the by you see that he makes no reckoning of what the Act of Parliament to which the Test refers expresly bears viz. That that second Ratification 1567. which we only have recorded was no less then seven years after this Confession was first exhibited and approven Anno 1560. But moreover he tells us That the Doctors of Aberdeen who refused the Covenant vvere yet vvilling not only to subscribe but to svvear this Confession of Faith Which again to answer the Bishops critik of four dayes was more then 70. years after it was universally received It 's true that when the Bishop finds himself straitned how to answer objections he is forced to make use of the new Gloss I shall not call it of Orelans whereby the Protestant Religion is made to be sworn to only as far as every man pleases to interpret as far as may be consistent with any new principles of state But the Parliament certainly I do not speak ironically did intend by this Test to swear assert the True Protestant Religion and the said Confession of Faith whatever may be now pretended The Earl could not also but very well remember what His Highness had said to himself about the inserting of the Confession and no doubt the Advocate if ingenuous knows all this For the thing was at that time mater of common talk and indeed till Papers objecting contradictions and inconsistencies betwixt the Confession and the rest of the Test began to be so numerous which was about the end of October that there was no possibility left to answer them but by alledging That in the Test men do not swear to every article and proposition of the Confession but only to the Protestant Religion therein contained this point was never doubted And whether this answer be true and a solid Vindication consonant to the words of the Test or a circulating evasion enervating all its force let others judge But the Advocate sayes When it was moved in Parliament to read the Confession it was waved Most true the reason given by the Bishops for it was that it was notour they knew it and it was already insert in the Acts of Parliament And the truth was the reading of it would have spent more time then was allowed on examining the whole Test. It was likewise late after a long Sederunt and it was resolved to have the Act passed that night so it went on But it was likewise moved to read the Covenant seing it was to be disclaimed and this was flatly refused And will the Advocate thence infer That by the Test the Covenant is not abjured albeit it be most certain that many in the Parliament at that time had never read the one or the other But to follow the Advocat's excursions and answer them more particularly The motion for reading the Confession being made on this very occasion because it was to be insert in the Test and sworn to concluds enough against him For no body can be so effronted as to say it was used in Parliament as an argument not to read it because it was not to be sworn to but though it cost a debate it was plainly agreed to be sworn to and therefore insert 2ly Can any man doubt the Confession was to be sworn to when it is notour that severalls who were members of Parliament and by reason of offices they enjoyed were called to swear the Test pretending with reason tenderness of an Oath did before swearing make a fashion at least of reading and studying the Confession to satisfy themselves how far they might swear it And that this was done by an hundred I can attest themselves Lastly it is certain that vvhen in the end of October the Bishop of Edenburgh did quarrel S r George Lockhart for causing the Confession to be insert in the Test he answered that without it a Turk might sign the Test it vvas not then pretended by the Bishop that the Confession vvas not to be svvorn to and therefore he at that time had no reply But this is a debate I confess not altogether necessary for my present task only thereby you may see ground enough for the Earl to believe the Confession vvas svvorn to And all that did svvear before the Councils Explanation having svvorn in that sense and for ought I knovv all except the Clergy being by the Councils Act still bound to do so It vvas not strange the Earl might be of this Opinion And seeing that many of the Contradictions vvere alledged to arise hence and the Earl being a dissenter it vvas yet less strange that the Earl did scruple nor is it unreasonable that his modest Explanation should have a most benign acceptance The second pretence of aggravation is That his Majesty did not only bestow on the Earl his Lands and Iurisdictions fallen into his Majesties hands by the forfaulture of his Father but also pardon him the crimes of Leasing-making and Misconstruing whereof he was found guilty by the Parliament 1662. And raised him to the title and dignity of an Earl and to be a member of all his Majesties Iudicatories All vvhich the Earl as he hath ever doth still most thankfully acknovvledge But seeing the Advocate hath no vvarrand to upbraid him vvith his Majesties favours and that these things are novv remembred vvith a manifest design to raise dust and blind strangers and to add a very ill thing Ingratitude to the heap of groundless calumnies cast upon him I must crave leave to ansvver a little more particularly and refute this new tout as the scots proverb is in an old horn This old Leasing-making is then novv brought in seriously after it hath been treated in ridicule for 18 years by the very Actors vvho did never pretend
THE CASE OF THE EARL of ARGYLE OR An exact and full Account of his Trial Escape and Sentence Wherein are insert the Act of Parliament injoining the Test the Confession of Faith the old Act of the King's Oath to be given at His Coronation With several other old Acts made for establishing the Protestant Religion As also several Explications made of the Test by the Conformed Clergy With the Secret Councils Explanation thereof Together with several Papers of Objections against the Test all framed and emitted by Conformists With the Bishop of Edinburgh's Vindication of the Test in answer thereto As likewise a Relation of several Matters of fact for better clearing of the said Case Whereunto is added An APPENDIX in answer to a late Pamphlet called A Vindication of His Majestie 's Government and Judicatories in Scotland Especially with Relation to the Earl of Argyle's Process In so far as concerns the Earl's Trial Printed in the Year M. D. C. LXXXIII THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER HAving received the ensuing Narrative of the Case and Trial of the Earl of Argyle under the Caution you may find in the close of it not to hasten the publication but rather to vvait for a more convenient season It 's like I had continued to comply as I have done hitherto vvith the Earl's inclination if not excited to the contrary by a Paper called A Vindication of His Majestie 's Government and Judicatories in Scotland Especially with relation to the late Earl of Argyle's Process printed at Edinburgh and reprinted at London vvith the appearance of a publick allovvance For albeit all wise and sober men not only in Scotland but also in the vvorld vvho have heard this affair do at this day sufficiently understand its rise procedure issue and tendency vvith all the just consideration that either oppressed innocence abused justice or impotent and ill contrived malice do deserve Yet seeing these concerned have had the confidence to subject their Res Judicata to an unexpected review and vvithall the equitie to leave their advantages and sist themselves on even ground vvith an open defiance to all contradictors and fair submission to the common sense and reason of mankind I thought I could not be vvanting to such an happy opportunity vvithout disappointing so generous an offer deserting my good Friend the Author of the Mist and failing of the second and principal part of my Trust And therefore resolved vvithout further delay to give the follovving sheets their long desired licence Purposing to subjoyn as an Appendix any further animadversions that the above-mentioned Pamphlet may seem to deserve ERRATA PAg. 2. L. 48. Acts r. Oaths p. 6. l. 39. Tursday r. Thursday p. 8. I. 9. peased r. pleased l. 20. And r. But. p. 40. l. 24. prositive r. positive p. 41. l. 38. 1667. r. 1567. p. 44. l. 61. ther r the. p. 64. l. 6. King r. Kingdom p. 66. l. 48 the Earl's hand r. the Earl of Glencairn first Chancellour after His Majesties Return his hand p. 76. l. 2. is not r. as not p. 82. l. 34. yet r. et p. 86. l. 3. Governour r. Deputy Governour p. 94. l. 3. I have considered r. I have not considered Edinburgh 30. May 1682. SIR The case of the late Earl of Argyl which even before the Process led against him you was earnest to know was at first I thought so plain that I needed not and grew afterwards so exceedingly mysterious that I could not for some time give you so perfect ane accompt of it as I wished But this time being still no less proper the exactness of mynarrative will I hope excuse all delays The design against him being now so clear and the grounds founded on so slender that to satisfie all unbyassed Persons of his integrity there needs no more but barely to represent matter of fact I should think shame to spend so many words either on arguments or relation were it not lest to strangers some mystery might still be suspected to remain concealed And therefore to make plain what they can hardly believe though we clearly see it At His Royal Highness arrival in Scotland the Earl was one of the first to wait upon him and until the meeting of our last Parliament the world believed the Earl was as much in His Highness favour as any intrusted in His Majestie 's affairs in this Kingdom When it was resolved and His Majestie moved to call the Parliament the Earl was in the countrey and at the opening of it he appeared as forward as any in His Majestie 's and His Highness service but it had not fat many dayes when a change was noticed in His Highness and the Earl observed to decline in His Highness favour In the beginning of the Parliament the Earl was appointed one of the Lords of the Articles to prepare matters for the Parliament and named by His Highness to be one of a Committee of the Articles for Religion which by the custom of all Scots Parliaments and His Majestie 's instructions to his Commissioner at this time was the first thing treated of In this Committee there was ane Act prepared for securing the Protestant Religion which Act did ratify the Act approving the Confession of Faith and also the Act containing the Coronation Oath appointed by several standing Acts of Parliament to be taken by all our Kings Regents before their entrie to the exercise of the Government This Act was drawn somewhat less binding upon the Successor as to his own profession But full as strictly tying him to maintain the Protestant Religion in the publick profession thereof and to put the Laws concerning it in execution and also appointing a further Test beside the former to exclude Papists from places of publick trust and because the fines of such as should act without taking the Test appeared no better then discharged if falling in the hands of a Popish Successor and some accounting any limitation worse then ane exclusion and all being conâ—ent to put no limitation on the Crown so it might consist with the safety and security of the Protestant Religion it was ordained that all such fines and forfaultures should appertain the one half to the informers and the other half should be bestowed on pious uses according to certain Rules expressed in the Act. But this Act being no wise pleasing to some it was laid aside and the Committee discharged any more to meet and instead of this Act there was brought in to the Parliament at the same time with the Act of succession a short Act ratifying all former Acts made for the securitie of the Protestant Religion which is the first of the printed Acts of this Parliament At the passing of this Act the Earl proposed that these words And all Acts against Poperie might be added which was opposed by the Advocat and some of the Clergie as unnecessary But the motion being seconded by Sir George Lockhart and the then President of the Session now
him so also do we confess that the Holy Ghost doth sanctifie and regenerate us without all respect of any merit proceeding from us be it before or be it after our Regeneration To speak this one thing yet in more plain words As we willingly spoil our selves of all honour and glory of our own Creation and Redemption so do we also of our Regeneration and Sanctification For of our selves we are not sufficient to think one good thought but he who has begun the work in us is only he that continues us in the same to the praise and glory of his undeserved Grace XIII Of The cause of good works SO that the cause of good works we confess to be not our free will but the Spirit of the Lord Iesus who dwelling in our hearts by true faith brings forth such works as God has prepared for us to walk in For this we most boldly affirm that blasphemy it is to say that Christ abides in the hearts of such as in whom there is no Spirit of Sanctification And therefore we fear not to affirm that Murtherers Oppressors cruel Persecutors Adulterers Whoremongers filthy Persons Idolaters Drunkards Thieves and all workers of Iniquity have neither true Faith neither any portion of the Spirit of the Lord Iesus so long as obstinately they continue in their wickedness For how soon that ever the Spirit of the Lord Iesus which Gods elect children receive by true Faith takes possession in the heart of any man so soon does he regenerate and renew the same man So that he begins to hate that which before he loved and begins to love that which before he hated and from thence comes that continual battel which is betwixt the Flesh and the Spirit in Gods Children still the flesh and natural man according to its own corruption lusts for things pleasant and delectable unto it self and grudges in adversity is lifted up in prosperity and at every moment is prone and ready to offend the Majesty of God But the Spirit of God which gives witnessing to our Spirit that we are the Sons of God makes us to resist filthy pleasures and to groan in Gods presence for deliverance from this bondage of corruption And finally to triumph over sin that it reign not in our mortal bodies This battel hath not the carnal man being destitute of Gods Spirit but does follow and obey sin with greediness and without repentance even as the Devil and their corrupt Lusts do prick them But the Sons of God as before was said do fight against sin do sob and mourn when they perceive themselves tempted in iniquity and if they fall they rise again with earnest and unfeigned repentance and these things they do not by their own power but by the power of the Lord Iesus without whom they were able to do nothing XIV What works are reputed good before God WE confess and acknowledg that God has given to man his holy Law in which not only are forbidden all such work as displease and offend his godly Majesty but also are commanded all such as please him and as he has promised to reward And these works be of two sorts The one is done to the honour of God the other to the profit of our Nighbours and both have the revealed will of God for their assurance To have one God to worship and honour him to call upon him in all our troubles to reverence his holy Name to hear his word to beleeve the same to communicate with his holy Sacraments are the works of the first Table To honour Father Mother Princes Rulers and Superior Powers to love them to support them yea to obey their charges not repugning to the commandment of God to save the lives of Innocents to repress Tyranny to defend the oppressed to keep our bodies clean and holie to live in soberness and temperance to deal justly with all men both in word and deed And finally to repress all appetite of our Neighbours hurt are the good works of the second Table which are most pleasing and acceptable unto God as those works that are commanded by himself The contrary whereof is sin most odious which always displeases him and provokes him to anger As not to call upon him alone when we have need nor to hear his word with reverence to contemn and despise it to have or to worship Idols to maintain defend Idolatry lightly to esteem the reverend name of God to prophane abuse or contemn the Sacraments of Christ Jesus to disobey or resist any that God has placed in Authority while they pass not over the bounds of their Office to murther or to consent thereto to bear hatred or to let Innocent blood be shed if we may withstand it And finally the trangression of any other commandment in the first or second Table we confess and affirm to be sin by the which Gods anger and displeasure is kindled against the proud unthankful world So that good works we affirm to be those only that are done in Faith and at Gods commandment who in his Law has expressed what the things be that please him And evil works we affirm to be not only those that expresly are done against Gods commandment but those also that in matters of Religion and worshipping of God has no other assurance but the invention and opinion of man which God from the beginning has ever rejected as by the Prophet Esay and by our Master Christ Jesus we are taught in these words Invain do they worship me teaching for doctrines the precepts of men XV. Of The perfection of the Law and the imperfection of Man THe Law of God we confesse and acknowledge most just most equal most holy and most perfect commanding those things which being wrought in perfection were able to give life and able to bring man to eternal felicity But our nature is so corrupt so weak and so imperfect that we are never able to fulfil the works of the Law in perfection Yea if we say we have no sin even after we are regenerated we deceive our selves and the verity of God is not in us And therefore it behoves us to apprehend Christ Jesus with his Justice and Satisfaction who is the end and accomplishment of the Law by whom we are set at this liberty that the Curse and Malediction of God fall not upon us albeit we fulfil not the same in all points For God the Father beholding us in the body of his Son Christ Jesus accepts our imperfect obedience as it were perfect and covers our works which are defiled with many spots with the Justice of his Son We do not mean that we are so let at liberty that we owe no obedience to the Law for that before we have plainly confessed but this we affirm that no man in earth Christ Jesus only except has given gives or shall give in work that obedience to the Law which the Law requires But when we have done all
things we must fall down and unfeignedly confess that we are unprofitable Servants And therefore whosoever boasts themselves of the merits of their own works or put their trust in the works of Supererogation boast themselves in that which is naught and put their trust in damnable Idolatry XVI Of the Kirk AS we believe in one God Father Son and Holy Ghost so do we most constantly believe that from the beginning there has been and now is and to the end of the World shall be one Kirk that is to say one company and multitude of men chosen of God who rightly worship and embrace him by true Faith in Christ Jesus who is the only Head of the same Kirk which also is the Body and Spouse of Christ Jesus which Kirk is Catholick that is Universal because it contains the Elect of all ages of all Realms Nations and Tongues be they of the Jews or be they of the Gentiles who have Communion and Society with God the Father and with his Son Christ Jesus through the Sanctification of his Holy Spirit and therefore it is called the Communion not of prophane persons but of Saints who as Citizens of the Heavenly Jerusalem have the fruition of the most inestimable benefits to wit of one God one Lord Jesus one Faith and one Baptism Out of the which Kirk there is no other life nor eternal felicity And therefore we utterly abhor the blasphemy of them that affirm that men which live according to Equity and Justice shall be saved what Religion that ever they have professed For as without Christ Jesus there is no other Life nor Salvation so shall there none be participant thereof but such as the Father has given unto his Son Christ Jesus and they that in time come unto him avow his Doctrine and believe into him we comprehend the Children with the faithful Parents This Kirk is invisible known only to God who alone knows whom he has chosen and comprehends as well as said is the Elect that be departed commonly called the Kirk triumphant as those that yet live and fight against sin and Satan and shall live hereafter XVII Of The Immortality of the Soul THe Elect departed are in peace and rest from their labours not that they sleep and come to a certain oblivion as some Phantasticks do affirm but that they are delivered from all fear and torment and all temptation to which we and all God's Elect are subject in this life and therefere do bear the name of the Kirk-Militant As contrary wise the reprobate and unfaithful departed have anguish torment and pain that cannot be expressed So that neither are the one nor the other in such sleep that they feel not their happiness nor torment as the Parable of Christ Jesus in the 16. of Luke his words to the Thief and these words of the Souls crying under the Altar O Lord thou that art righteous and just How long shalt thou not revenge our blood upon these that dwell in the earth does declare XVIII Of the Notes by the which the true Kirk is discerned from the false and who shall be Iudge of the Doctrine BEcause that Sathan from the beginning has laboured to deck his pestilent Synagogue with the title of the Kirk of God and has inflammed the hearts of cruel murtherers to persecute trouble and molest the true Kirk and Members thereof as Cain did Abâ—l Ishmael Isaac Esau Jacob and the whole Priesthood of the Jews Christ Jesus himself and his Apostles after him It is one thing most requisite that the true Kirk be discerned from the filthy Synagogues by clear and perfect Notes lest we being deceived receive and embrace to our own condemnation the one for the other The notes signs and assured tokens whereby the immaculate Spouse of Christ Jesus is known from the horrible Harlot the Kirk Malignant we affirm are neither Antiquity Title usurped Lineal descent Place appointed nor Multitude of men approving ane error Cain in Age and Title was preferred to Abel and Seth Jerusalem had prerogative above all places of the earth where also were the Priests lineally descended from Aaron And greater numbers followed the Scribes Pharisees and Priests than unfeignedly believed and approved Christ Jesus and his Doctrine And yet as we suppose no man of sound judgment will grant that any of the forenamed were the Kirk of God The notes therefore of the true Kirk of God we believe confess and avow to be first the true preaching of the Word of God in the which God has revealed himself unto us as the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles do declare Secondly the right Administration of the Sacraments of Christ Iesus which must be annexed unto the word and promise of God to seal and confirm the same in our hearts Lastly Ecclesiastical Discipline uprightly ministred as God's Word prescribes whereby Vice is repressed and Vertue nourished Wheresoever then these former notes are seen and of any time continue be the number never so few about two or three there without all doubt is the true Kirk of Christ who according unto his promise is in the midst of them Not that universal of which we have before spoken but particular such as was in Corintbus Galatia Ephesus and other places in which the Ministry was planted by Paul and were of himself named the Kirks of God and such Kirks we the Inhabitants of the Realm of Scotland Professors of Christ Jesus profess our selves to have in our Cities Towns and places reformed For the Doctrine taught in our Kirks is contained in the written Word of Godto wit in the Books of the Old New Testament in those Books we mean which of the Ancients have been reputed Canonical In the which we affirm that all things necessary to be believed for the salvation of Mankind is sufficiently expressed The interpretation whereof we confess neither appertains to private nor publick persons neither yet to any Kirk for any preheminence or prerogative personally and locally which one has above another but appertains to the Spirit of God by the which also the Scripture was written When controversie then happens for the right understanding of any place or sentence of Scripture or for the reformation of any abuse within the Kirk of God we ought not so much to look what men before us have said or done as unto that which the H. Ghost uniformly speaks within the body of the Scriptures and unto that which Christ Iesus himself did and commanded to be done For this is one thing universally granted that the Spirit of God which is the Spirit of Unity is in nothing contrarious unto himself If then the Interpretation Determination or Sentence of any Doctor Kirk or Council repugne to the plain word of God written in any other place of the Scripture it is a thing most certain that there is not the true understanding meaning of the Holy Ghost altho that Coun cils Realms and Nations have approved and
Wonderfull reasoning All men know that Parliaments neither are nor pretend to be infallible And in our present case hundreds of Loyall subjects complain of contradictions and inconsistencies some way or other creept into this Oath And even the Council have yeelded so far to their Exceptions as to make an alteration upon it for satisfying those scruples far beyond any thing the Earl said and such an alteration as I beleeve few dreamed of and I am certain none durst have attempted without their express command and Authority and yet in the midst of all this the Farl's charitable and honest Opinion in behalf of the Parliaments good intentions must be perverted to a direct slander But the Earl sayes That every man must explain it for himself And so no doubt he must if the Test be either in it self or in his apprehension ambiguous otherwise how can he swear in Iudgment But this the Advocate will have to be a mans own sense and thereupon runs out That Hereby this Law and Oath and all Laws and Oaths are rendered useless and to no purpose And further the legislative Power is taken from the Imposer and setled in the Taker of the Oath Which certainly is a most treasonable presumption But first although there be no Reason to strain or mistake the Expression yet the Earl did not say That every man must take the Test in his own sense II. The Council hath now explained the Test for the clergy Might not then the Earl before their Explanation was devised say by the Councils allowance which he had That he might explain it for himself For if an ambiguous proposition the Test for example may be reconciled to it self two different wayes must not the Taker reconcile it as in his own sense he thinks it doth best agree with the genuine meaning of the words themselves and with the sense he conceaves was intended by the Parliament that formed it especially before the Parliament emitt their own Explanation And is it not juster to do it so then in any other mans sense which he thinks agreesless with the words abeit they may be thought by others to be reconciliable another way III. All this looks like designed mistakes and traps for should any man swear unless he understand And where an Oath is granted to be ambiguous can any man understand unless in want of the imposers help he explain it for himself IV. Was ever a man's Explaining an Oath for himself before taking it far less his bare saying that he must explain it before he take it alledged to be The overturning of all Laws and Oaths and the usurping of the Legislative power and making of new Laws certainly to offer to answer such things were to disparage common Reason And lastly this is strange Doctrine from the Advocate who himself in Council did allow not only the Earl his Explanation but that Explanation to the Clergie contrary as appeares by their Scruples to what they that took it thought either the Parliaments design or the plain words of the Test could bear and certainly different from the sense many had already taken it in and wherein others were commanded to take it And whatever the Advocate may cavil to insnare the Earl sure he will not allow that by his explaining this Oath he himself hath taken on him the Legislative power of the Parliament far less though he should acknowledge it will any beleeve that he hath or could thereby make all Laws or Oaths useless By this you see what strange stuffe he pleads which deserves no answer But sayes the Advocate the Earl affirms He takes the Test only as far as it consists with it self and with the Protestant Religion by which he most maliciously insinuats that it is inconsistent with both But first this only is not the Earl's but the Advocat's addition 2 ly I would soberly ask the Advocate or any man whether the Test as it includs the Confession in general and consequently all contained in it was not either really or at least might not have been apprehended to be inconsistent with it self Else what was the use or sense of the Councils explanation wherein it is declared that men doe not swear to every proposition of the Confession but only to the Protestant Religion therein contained And if it was either inconsistent or apprehended to be so how could the Earl or any honest man swear it in other terms with a safe Conscience But thirdly If Parliaments be fallible and this Oath as being ambiguous needed the Councils Explanation to clear it from inconsistencies must the Earl's words when he was to swear that he took it in so far as it was consistent be in this case understood as spoken maliciously and with a criminal intent when all Sense Reason and Religion made this caution his duty And if it be so criminal for one going to swear to suppose a possibility of inconsistencies in it Is it not manifestly more criminal in others plainly to confess and grant that there are inconsistencies in it after they have swallowed it in gross without any explanation whatsoever But sayes the Advocate The Earl hath invented a nevv vvay vvhereby no man is at all bound to the Test For hovv can any man be bound if he vvill obey only as far as he can And yet it will be hard even for the Advocate tho hesometimes attempts indeed more then he and all the World with him can do to tell how a man can obey farther and I am sure that in a matter of this kind viz. the free tender of an Oath all discreet men will Judge the Earl's offer both frank and obliging Then he asks To vvhat the Earl is bound if he be bound no further then he himself can obey manifest confusion and never either spoke by the Earl nor at all pertinent to his case besides he freely acknowledges that all men are bound to more then they can do or so far as the Test is consistent vvith it self and the Protestant Religion a strange doubting or yet I dare say imports as much as his Majesty expects of any and more then the Advocate will ever perform But sayes the Advocate vvho can determine to vvhat the Earl is bound Which sayes plainly that either the Test agrees with it self and the Protestant Religion in nothing or that the Protestant Religion is nothing Both which the Earl thinks far from truth But the Advocat's reasoning reflects far more on the Councils Explanation where it is plainly said That the Confession is not svvorn to in the Test but only the Protestant Religion contained in the Confession so that the Protestant Religion indefinitly is that which is said to be sworn to Now pray is it not much worse for a man to say that by taking the Test he svvears only to the Confession as it contains or agrees vvith the Protestant Religion which is in effect to set the Protestant Religion at variance with its own Confession and so to
for an honest expression of a commendable tenderness without any imputation of reproach against either King or Parliament How much more then is his part clear and innocent when albeit so many thought the contradictions to be undeniable yet such was his well tempered respect both to God and man to his own conscience and his Majesties Authority that before and not after the taking of this Oath to clear himself in the midst of the many exceptions and scruples raised of all ambiguities in swearing he first applies himself for a satisfying Explanation to the Parliament the prime imposers their true intentions and genuine meaning and then gathering it very rationally from the Oaths consistency with it self and with the Protestant Religion the Parliaments aim and scope and so asserting the King and Parliaments truth and honour he places the reliefe and quiet of his own Conscience in his taking the Test with this Explanation and in declaring its congruity with his Oath and duty of Allegiance The third Head of the Earl's additional defences is the further clearing and improving of his grounds of Exculpation above adduced and repelled Which were first that before the Earl did offer his Explanation to the Council a great many Papers were spread abroad by some of the Orthodox Clergy charging the Test with contradictions inconsistencies 2ly That there was a paper penned by a reverend Bishop and presented and read in Council and by them allowed to be printed which did contain the same and far more important things then any can be found in the Earl's Explanation And consequently far more obnoxious to all His Majesties Advocat's accusations 3ly That the Explanation upon which he was indicted was publikly by himself declared in Council and by the Council allowed so that the Oath was administrat to him and he received to sit in Council and vote by His Highness and the rest of the Members with and under this express qualification But to all urged for the Earl's Exculpation the Advocate makes one short answer viz. That if the Earl's paper did infer the crimes charged on it a thousand the like offences cannot excuse it And his Majesty is free to pursue the offenders when and in what Order he thinks fit which answer doth indeed leave the Council and all concerned in his Majesties mercy But that it doth no way satisfie the Earl's plea is manifest For the first ground of Exculpation viz. that before the Earl did offer his Explanation a great many papers writ by the Orthodox Clergy and others were abroad charging the Test with Contradictions c. was not alledged by the Earl merely to justify his Explanation by the multitude of the like papers and so to provide for an escape in the croud But the Earl having most rationally pleaded that his Explanation was given in by him after these many Scruples and Objections raised by others were abroad it was a good Plea from a most pregnant circumstance clearing both the design and sense of his words from the soul aspersions of reproaching and depraving thrown upon them Seing the words spoken by him under the motive of such a circumstance by all fair rules of interpretation insteed of being judged misconstrueing and depraving could only be understood as a seasonable asserting of the integrity of the Parliaments intentions and the uprightness of the Earl's Conscience which argument being in reason unanswerable it necessarly follows that the Advocat's return to the first ground was neither sufficient nor pertinent and that therefore the Exculpation was unjustly repelled But next the second ground of Exculpation is so far from being answered by the Advocate that it does not appear it was so much as understood For the Earl's argument being That words allowed approven by the Council can never fall under the accusation either of Leasing-making or slandering his Majeslies proceedings or depraving Laws and Acts of Parliament as is evident in it self and granted by the Advocate where he say's that an Explanation though reflecting on the King and Goverment which the Earl's was not yet if allowed by the Council is to be sustained But so it is that the Council hath allowed the words contained in this Explanation contraverted both in themselves and also in their equivalent and far more important expressions As for instance not only by accepting the Earl's Explanation as shall be cleared in the next place but by giving warrand for the publication of the Bishop of Edinburgh his Vindication wherein First for obviating the contradictions objected from the Confession of Faith he positively asserts that by the Test men do not swear to own every Article of that Confession and yet the Test binds expresly to beleeve that Confession to be founded on and agreable to the Word of God and never to consent to any alteration contrary thereto or inconsistent therewith So that he gives both the Test and the Parliament the Lye And then for removing another Scruple he tells us that By the Test men are not bound up from regular endeavours to rectify or better the established government both of Church and State which is clearly the same thing but not so well cautioned with that which in the Earl's case is made a ground of treason From which it unquestionably followes that the Earl's words having been allowed and approven by the Council could never in Law or reason be thereafter made a ground of accusation by any much less by themselves Now I desire to know where the Advocate in all his Plea doth so much as notice far less answer this defence or what his telling us A thousand offences of the like nature doth not excuse one either doth or can signify seeing this argument for the Farl insteed of pleading excuses doth justify the matter and for ever purge all shadow of offence or ground of quarrel which will be yet more apparent when you shall adde to this the third ground of the Earl's exculpation viz. That the explanation whereupon the Earl was indicted was publikly by himself declared in Council and by the Council allowed and accepted In so much as after he had given his Explanation as the sense wherein he was free to swear the Test the Oath was thereupon administrat to him and he received to sit and vote as a Councellour Whereby it is evident That by this allowance and acceptance the Earl's Explanation became the Councils as much as if after the Earl's pronouncing the words they had verbatim repeated them and told him they were satisfied he should swear the Test in these terms And whether this ought not to be a sufficient exoneration to the Earl let all men judge The Advocate makes a noise That in the case of an Oath required the taker ought to swear it in the sense of the imposer which none doubts and then runs out That The Earl in place of taking it in the imposers sense did unwarrantably intend a sense of his own to the eluding and frustrating of the
needless is found guilty condemned of high Treason which is as full a Concession in my opinion as could have been desired Ay but sayes our Author The former argument still recurs viz. He that will not bind up himself as to any thing reserves a power as to all things which must at least be interpret of unlawful things for lavvful things need no Exception But not to notice our Authors Christian charity and far more observable justice that because Lavvful things need not be reserved though in all cases dubious it be certainly the more tender part to reserve them will therefore have the Earl's Reservation to be of Things unlawful and treasonable The Earl's Reservation is most expresly of Things lawfull in so far as he only refuses to bind up himself in his Station and in a lawfull way as to things advantageous to Church and State not repugnant to Religion and Loyalty Which is a full and cumulative Expression of their Lawfulness And as to what our Author subjoyns of the Earl's putting Limitations on his Allegiance in so far as what he sayes is intelligible it is already answered It being manifest that the Earl's words in stead of being a Limitation are a designed and ample Extension In the next place our Author comes to tell us That the Earl's Qualifications take off the whole force of his Oath either as to rising in Arms or any other unlawfull thing For. 1. Sayes he He takes the Oath only in so far as it is consistent with it self and the Protestant Religion So that if he think the Protestant Religion shall require rising in Arms he is not tyed But. 1. I have told you how false it is that the Earl resolves the force of his Oath upon his own thinking which here he doth not so much as mention 2ly Is it not strange how our Author should judge that the Protestant Religion may not make as certain a Qualification in the Earl's Explanation as it doth in the Councils Where yet in liew of the Confession of Faith the standard appointed by the Parliament it is made the only bar against Popery 3ly What a ridiculous Conceit it is to think that the Earl by offering to take the Test in as far as it is consistent with it self and the Protestant Religion did reserve to himself a liberty to rise in Arms when by an Article of the Test which can neither be taken off nor eluded by any part of the Earl's Explanation he was to swear liquidly and distinctly not to rise in Arms 2ly Sayes our Author The Earl's Oath only tyes him as far as he can which may leave him yet bound by the Covenant But I have already cleared how the Earl did only profess his readiness to obey the Act of Parliament as far as he could without intending by these Words any restriction of his Oath and that to wrest them as if designed for that end is an absurd and willfull errour 3ly Sayes he The Earl takes it only as far as it is consistent with it self And God and the Earl only know how far that is A noble Testimony to the Test And as plain a declaration that our Author neither knows nor caâ—es to know how far it is consistent But having already told you that the Earl did certainly use this Expression to vindicate the Test and his own Conscience from other mens Exceptions and Scruples And that no man in reason either ought to take it or can be bound by it otherwise I shall not here adde any thing And lastly our Author repeates the danger of Limitations telling us That if after the dreadfull effects we have seen produced by them and that Parliaments have condemned them as Treason we should still be secure and unconcerned all the vvorld might laugh at our ruine But seeing it is 1. Most ridiculous to call a manifest Extension an undue Limitation 2ly Most false that ever the Parliament condemned any Limitation of the nature of the Earl's Reservation or that ever a Deed qualified in the Earl's terms was or can be thought dangerous far less rebellious 3ly Most certain that nothing in all times hath so much ruined Government and Governours as the unjust Iealousies and pretended legal but really violent Proceedings of its Ministers I shall not trouble our Author with any further Remarks In the close of his Discourse he thinks fit to instigate Judges to Severity and to guard them against insolent Pity as he calls it which truly after what all men have seen of their frank Procedure against the Earl appeared to me at first reading a very superfluous Caution But my Surprise was only from the want of our Author's fore-sight and was soon intirely discussed For just as I am writing there is come to my hand His Majesties gracious Proclamation for compleeting no doubt the selicity of our Author 's happy Kingdom by ordering the Prosecution of all Rebells and their Resetters c. In the Execution whereof now after the Government had for severall years connived at many hundreds of these Rebells and out-Lavvs and thereby rendered the people secure and careless It is easy to demonstrate that more then ten thousand of his Majesties peaceable Subjects may be prosecute and punished as Traitors and above fourty thousand beside made liable to Fining and Imprisonment at the Councils pleasure A work which I confess requires the highest measures of severity that our Author could prompt to doth indeed leave the far better part of the Kingdom without all refuge or relief save in his Majesties Clemency But where I also hope they shall seasonably and comfortably find it notwithstanding all our Author 's many sly and mischievous Insinuations to the contrair He vvishes the Earl had come in vvill as if forsooth he had proven him to be guilty And as falsly insinuats this to be usual that he may represent him not only as Criminal but a Contemner of his Majesties Mercy He likewise tells us That he doth not admire that this Author and these of his vvay see not this Paper to be Treason since they vvill not acknovvledge it to be Treason to oppose the Succession and to say that it can be altered by a Parliament Which yet the Scotch Parliament thought to be Treason Nor in the last age thought they it Treason to rise in arms against the King and call Parliaments vvithout him So that sayes our Author The fault is only in the depraved Intellectuals of such as have by a long custome of hating Authority bred in themselves a hatred of every Person and thing that can maintain it But not to stay here to discuss all the Calumny and Envy wrap't up in this passage I shall only desire you to consider 1. That our Author would have it a transcendent wonder that the Author of the Mist should say The Succession can be altered by a Parliament And yet he cannot but know that that Person lives under an express Act of Parliament declaring it Treason to say the contrary 2ly He sayes The Scotch Parliament thought it to be Treason to oppose the Succession and to say that it can be altered by Parliament And yet the same Scotch Parliament judged it proper for them to declare and confirm the Succession And Law and Reason say that Constituere destituere sunt ejusdem facultatis But not to insist upon these things For a Conclusion I shall only take the liberty to protest for my self without offering to anticipate the better judgment of others as our Author visibly doth That were I as clear for the Succession as his Royal Highness As dissatisfied with the old Statut and late Proceedings of the English Parliaments about it as our Author As zealous for the Honour and Infallibility of the last Scotch Parliament as his Majesties Advocate As enraged against former Practices as the greatest Torry in Britain And yet more tender and respective of Authority then my ovvn heart I could not have imagined that either Misinterpreting Defaming Depraving or Treason should have been found in the Earl's words And am very apprehensive that the Judgment so given against him may prove a greater bar to the Succession and Reflection on Scotch Parliaments and Judges then all that our Author hath laboured to squeese out of them COPPY OF His Majesties Letter ordering the passing of his two former Signatures for the Earl's Offices and Jurisdictions AT Edinburgh the fifteenth day of January 1669 Years His Majesties Letter under-vvritten direct to the Lords Commissioners of his Treasury and Exchequer vvas presented and read and ordained to be recorded whereof the Tenor followeth Sic suprascribitur CHARLES R. Right trusty and right well beloved Cousins and Councellors and right trusty and well beloved Councellors we greet you well Wee did upon the fyfteenth day of October 1667 sign a Signature in favours of the Earl of Argyle and another shortly after for the Lands of Knoydart The Signatures we are informed are not past And in August last our Secretary acquainted us with a Letter which he had received from our Advocate bearing date the thirteenth day of August 1668 Years together with an Information containing thirteen Reasons against some heritable Offices comprehended in the said Signature We are also acquainted vvith the Earl of Argyle's Ansvvers All vvhich vve have taken into our consideration And although we are very well satisfied with our Advocate in his doing of his duty in representing to us what he conceives to be fit for our service in this particular as also vvith his Fiaelity and Diligence in other things relating to his Place Yet upon serious Consideration of the vvhole matter It is our Gracious Pleasure That the said Signatures vvith these Offices be past our Exchequer and that in the terms exprest in our Letter signed by us soon after the signature any thing in our Instructions to the contrary notvvithstanding For all vvhich this shall be your vvarant And so we bid you farewel Given at our Court at Whiteâ—al the seventh day of January 166 9 8 and of our Reign the 20 Year By His Majesties Command Sic subscribitur Lawderdale Extractum de Libris Actorum Scacarii per me Sic subscribitur THO. MURRAY Clericus Reg. FINIS ☜ ☞ ☞ ☜ ☜ ☜ ☜ ☞ ☜ ☜ ☞ ☞ ☜ ☜ ☞ ☞ ☜ ☜ ☜ ☜ ☜ ☜ ☞ ☞ ☞ ☞ ☞ ☜ ☜ ☜ ☜ ☜ ☜ ☜ ☜ ☜