contrary we know that nothing was more preached up than Passive Obedience founded on the Prerogatives of the Kings of Israel as if the Laws of Moses had been calculat for our Kings And That nothing was more tickling to the Bishops than the Oppression of their Fellow Subjects of the Presbyterian Perswasion In the time of the late King James It is true there were some Bishops in England who stood for their Religion in Opposition of Popery yet the World knows how well natur'd the Bishops of Scotland were upon that Point And in this present Reign we all know how that Bishops of England did concur to ratifie Proclamations issued out against the Scots in the West-Indies which were of a Nature both below the Meekness of Christianity and the Generosity of the English Nation Wise Governments have always had a very mean Opinion of Church-Mens Politicks as particularly that of Venice for whenever any thing occurs of great Moment there to be debated in the Senat before any Suffrage passeth they cause Proclamation to be made for all Priests to retire It is likewise remarkable That he who is called the Divine of the State is chosen commonly such an one who is more Politician than Bigot in Religion And of such a Character was Father Pedro Paulo who wrote the History of the Council of Trent Too much Learning or Wisdom seldom agree together because for the most part too Learned Men are meer Schollars such were most of the Bishops of England which of all Men are the most dangerous when they espouse a Party For both their Learning and Zeal can concur together to make Black seem White or White Black and to impose what Opinions they please upon the well meaning People Now when such Men are perpetual Members of Parliament who have Dependence upon a Limited Monarch by virtue of a Conge d'es Lire the Laick Subjects cannot be circumspect enough about their Liberties It s known that in the time of Popery the Pride and Ambition of the Clergy was a Curse to that Civil Government where they had any medling carrying themselves always Arbitrarly and Tyrannically and committing the greatest Solecisms in Politicks And we may observe for the most part that the Clergy of our Religion who have concerned themselves with Worldly Affairs have been the greatest Promoters of Civil Distempers that have shaken the Foundations either of Church or State And the very Trumpets which have sounded to Popular Furies Martial Alarms and never better will befal Church-Men when they act without their own Sphere What should move the English to carress Church-Men for Counsellors and Members of Parliament I cannot comprehend for were their Bishops educat as the Cardinals are who are better acquainted with this World than that to come we might hope for as great an Essay of their Wit in State-Affairs as ever Cardinal Richelieu or Cardinal Mazarine did shew to the World But on the contrary they know more of the World to come and are educat altogether according their Characters of Church-Men Nor do I understand what is the Reason that there 's so just a Proportion betwixt the Living of a Nobleman and a Peasant among the English Laicks And so great a Disproportion betwixt a Bishop and a Twenty Pound Curat among their Ecclesiasticks For surely it is unjust that the Curat should be preaching the Gospel and starving at the same time Whilst his Bishop is driving to Court with a Coach and six Horses to make an handsome Leg to his Temporal Lord. I 'll now protest That the Liberty I take of writing after this manner may not give Offence to the Clergy of any Church nor that I may meet with the common Fate of Reconcilers to have Blows for my Pains being I 'm of no Party but a Lover of that Church Government which sympathizes best with the Civil Government it is joyn'd with So that if I were Subject to an Absolute Monarch I should esteem Episcopacy as most agreeable to his Government But whilst I live in Scotland or England I must love that Church Government which is least dangerous to the Peoples Liberties I leave it therefore to the Judgment of every Unbyassed Laick to determine if Presbytrie or Superintendency be not more convenient for the People of a Limited Monarchy than Episcopacy as it 's now established in England and less capable to comply with an Ambitious Prince for the undermining the Fundamental Laws of his Kingdom after the Example of the Danish Clergy which were the Instruments of making their Kings Absolute to the utter Ruine of all their Ancient Nobility I conclude with this following Character which I wish every Church-Man might merit One who is delivered of the Prepossessions and Prejudices of Complexion Education and Implicit Authority knowing that all Mankind are puzled even in the Search of the most obvious things One who can distinguish between the true Articles of Faith and the pitiful senseless Triffles of Swiming Brains One who knows That the Love of God is not Fondness nor his Justice Cruelty and that God acts not by meer Arbitrary Will but by the Perfections of his own Nature One who not forgetting to do Good Works endeavours to go to Heaven only by the Merits of Christ One whose Zeal never exceeds his Reason One who abounds with Charity Humility and Meekness One who purges Religion from all Fantastick and Unintelligible Muming and reduces it to its Native Plainness and Simplicity One who understands himself when he Prays or Preaches And lastly One who followeth in Living as near as possible the Practice of the Apostles Most happy would that People be who lived with a Church-Government composed of Members of the foresaid Character For surely Vice and Atheism would be banished nor could Priest-Crast or Knavery have any place amongst them AN ESSAY Concerning The VNION OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND Into one MONARCHY OF Old this Island of Great Brittain was divided into several distinct Governments amongst which there have been many bloody and fatal struglings in Defence of their respective Interests and Liberties And no doubt but untill this Day it had continued a Theater of Cruelty and Barbarity if all its Inhabitants had not been United in Subjection by the happy Succession of King James the Sixth of Scotland to the Crown of England in the year 1603. King James who did not always prefer the Interests of his Kingdoms to his own privat ends never gave a greater Testimony of his Affection to them than in the year 1604 when he proposed to the English Parliament an Union of the Kingdoms of Scotland and England Which Motion was at first embraced with the general applause of both People as the only Mean to extinguish the Memory of all former Animosities To bring that Union to a good issue the Parliaments of both Nations at his Majesties desire did nominat Commissioners to meet at Westminster which accordingly they did and agreed on several Articles to be presented to King
that they might depend upon the Court for a Livelyhood and did so much harrass the whole body of their People with Persecutions and Taxes to make it for ever uncapable to strugle for Liberty The Kings of Sweden and Denmark secured first their Clergy next the Consciences of the Common People and lastly did destroy most of the Ancient Families of their Nobility and Gentry The many Popular Furies which have raged in this Island have no doubt been great Motives to our Kings to approach as near our Priviledges as conveniently they could King James the First of Great-Britain endeavoured to screw his Prerogative as far as the People would suffer him for he thought nothing of Imprisoning Members of the English Parliament or to issue out Proclamations prohibiting his Subjects to talk of State Affairs Tho' in the mean time he was acting against the Interest of his Kingdoms And the late King James seems to have had a great Itch after an absolute Power when his introducing Popery was the principal Step could have been made for that end because of the Multitude of Church-Men and the Decay of Trade which for the most part are unseparable from that Religion But it would appear that the Reason our Kings have so often been baulked of their Designs to teach their Subjects the Practical Rules of Passive Obedience hath been the want of Money and a powerful standing Army Nevertheless they have attacqued us on our blind side which was to divide the People of this Kingdom amongst themselves and then to espouse a Party which was sufficient to plunge any Countrey into the greatest Misery by leaving the Publick Good neglected and nothing to be sought after but Revenge and Interest King William came to this Island when both its Affairs and those of other Princes of Europe did require him then was it that an Occasion offered it self to the Scots for putting their Countrey in a State of Thriving and for curing all the Defects of its Government But Providence so ordered it that they were divided amongst themselves and rendered uncapable to unite in Counsel for promoting the Publick Good They were therefore lyable to be led away whether the greatest Faction pleased which Faction divided in Imagination the Spoil of their Countrey and shared all Places of Publick Trust amongst one another before ever they were determined to offer the Crown to his present Majesty Who is a Prince of an Illustrious Family and merits to be ranked among the greatest Men of his time I hope therefore whatever Historian takes upon him to celebrat and perpetuat to Posterity his Heroick Actions will do him Justice by giving a true and genuine Account to the World both of his Virtues and Vices That the one may serve to set off the other as dark Shadows do the best Pictures SECTION VI. That a mixt Government cannot increase in Wealth and Power but by the Honesty and Wisdom of its Members of Parliament IF one were to play the Philosopher he might for Disput's sake tell us That the Subjects of all Governments are equally happy provided they be not sensible of their present Misery As for Example that a French-Peasant who hath coarse Bread to fill his Belly and Canvas-Cloaths and Wooden-Shoes to protect him from bad Weather is as much obliged to Fortune as an English Farmer who can smoke his Pipe and talk of Liberty and Property at random Yet if we lay aside the Theory and consider the Practice of People we will read in all Histories that every Nation of Europe which at this day hath no Vestiges of its ancient Government has strugled with its Kings for Liberty to the last Breath An Instance of this are the French who ever since the Reign of Lewis the 11th have been attacqued in their Liberties by succeeding Kings and could never be forced to succeumb till the Reign of this present King Who hath taken all Opportunities to execute Cardinal Richelieu's Political Testament by arming his Popish Subjects against those of the Reform'd Religion by accustoming his Peasants to exorbitant Taxes and Poverty and by bringing the greatest of his Subjects to depend upon his Pleasure for a Livelyhood Is there any Man that hath the good luck to be born a Subject to a Limited Monarch who compares the Circumstances of one that liveth under a Tyrant with his own but will bless his Stars and acknowledge himself much happier in his Practice of Liberty than any Slave can can be in its Shadow or Theory All Governments by the Corruption of their Parts are lyable to many Convulsions and even to be changed at last into Tyrannies if the Nature of their Constitutions do not guard against them We therefore in Scotland are obliged to our Fore-Fathers that have left us a Government which is Limited Monarchy and in which the Prerogative of the Prince and the Liberty of the People are so well regulat that there seems nothing wanting that may tend to the Happiness of either but Honesty and Wisdom in the Members of Parliament For Rome was never enslaved by its Princes till the Senat delivered up its Priviledges to Julius Caesar Who was then put in a Condition to curb the Liberties of all the Unthinking People of the Roman Empire with Forms and Names in place of wholesome Laws I may say with Regret that it hath been our Unhappiness ever since the Restauration of King Charles the Second that our Liberties have been exposed by the Unlucky Division of our Parliaments into two Factions Whereof the one was called the Court-Faction and the other that of the Countrey The Court-Faction was a Party of Men who under Protence of Zeal to the Service of their King destroy'd their Countrey by corrupting Members of Parliament by dividing the Spoils of the Publick Treasury amongst themselves and Minions and neglecting every thing that could promote the Trade of this Nation or provide a Livelyhood to its Poor That Faction was composed of Men who had different Motives to comply with Dishonest Practices One out of Simplicity and good Nature hoping that by laying Taxes on his Countrey he did his Majesty good Service Another out of an Inclination he had to be a Knave And a third out of a Desire to gain Pelf thinking it time enough to serve the Publick when once he had served himself The Countrey-Faction was a parcel of Members of Parliament who thought it their Duty to keep the Legislative Power untainted to be Jealous of the Peoples Liberties and Rights and to be careful for the Publick Safety by watching over the Ministers of State that they should not embezle the Publick Money by imploying it to corrupt Members of Parliament or to maintain a standing Army to bully the People out of their Senses These Members that made up that Party have moved according to different Principles for one hath acted out of pure and sincere Love to his Countrey another out of Hatred and Malice to Statesmen and a third out of
Nevertheless this Empire had split in pieces in its very Infancy its People being in Ease and Plenty and its Soldiers left to follow the itch of their own Inclinations if there had not been some Men by decay of Nature perhaps incapable of the Vices then in Vogue which had the foresight to joyn Priest-Craft with their Civil Government for Banishing from it as much as possible both Mental and Corporal Vices and for bringing People's Consciences under Subjection that they might the more nicely observe a strictness in Morals Then it was that the Assyrian Monarchy had it's Church-Government as well as in succeeding Ages the Persian Graecian Roman and and all other Heathen Governments had their's which have been composed of Persons of more than vulgar Gapacities capable to continue a probable History of a World to come to make acquaintance with its imaginary Inhabitants and to become Mediators betwixt them and their fellow Citizens whom they always managed both for the Glory of their Gods and for their own private Advantage Then was it the Custom to Sacrifice not only Beasts but Men Women and Children and to impose all the Idolatry imaginable upon the World by their Oracles the Cheat of which hath been often discovered as particularly by Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria who shewed the Inhabitants of that Town the hollow Statues into which the Priests privately crept to give their Responses Of all the Pagan Church-Governments we know most of that of the Romans Romnlus and his Sucessor Numa Pompilius being made sensible by their own Experience and that of their Neighbours how great a Ligament of Government political Religion was took care to Institute several Orders of Priests to whom all their Subjects might pay Honour and by whom they were to be instructed how to pray what Sacrifices what Vowes what Gifts would be acceptable to the Gods and in a word in all the Ceremonies made use of in Divine-Service The Pontifices of all the Priests seems to have had the greatest share of Church-Government for Cicero in his Oration to them tells them that the Honour and Safety of the Common Wealth the Liberty of the People the Houses and Fortunes of the Citizens and the very Gods themselves were all entrusted to their Care and depended wholly on their Wisdom and Management The Superintendent of the Pontifices was one of the Most honourable Offices in the Common Wealth upon which account all the Emperors for their own Interest and after the Example of Julius Caesar either took the Name of Pontisex Maximus or actually discharged the Office themselves and even the Christian Emperors retained the Title till Gratian refused it The Jews were the only People on Earth that had continued to them the Knowledge of the true GOD who was pleased to reveal his Will from time to time to their Fore-fathers commanding Moses his Servant to give them his Laws and to Model a Church-Government to the Members of which were to be committed the Divine Oracles This was the State of the Jews whilst the wise Governours of all othr Nations such as Solon Lycurgus and Numa Pompilius were sensible of the use of Religion but were not able to become acquainted with the true God for want of Revelation So that their Opinions about His Will and Nature and those of all the Ancient Philosophers have been so many ridiculous Whimsies But no sooner did the Son of GOD appear who was the Original and Model of all Perfection than he was to be a Light to the whole World and a great part of the Jewish Laws was to lose their Authority For he knowing the Will of God his Father better than Moses was pleased to reveal to all Nations that it was no longer the design of God to make a distinction betwixt Jew and Gentile but that he would embrace every Nation that would believe in him and obey his Laws At Thirty years of Age he began to establish his most excellent Religion meeting with all the Opposition imaginable from the Jews as an invader of their Fundamental Laws He was Persecuted and followed all his life with Assaults of Malice and Cruelty His Credit was Slandered his Doctrine slighted and at last he was put to Death with all sort of Torture and Disgrace His only Companions upon Earth was a parcel of poor People whom he called his Disciples and to whom he taught a Doctrine that called men from their Lusts and Pleasures that offered Violence to their Natural Inclinations That required the greatest strictness of Life That revealed Truths above the reach of Natural Comprehension and that obliged Men to take up a Cross to follow the Example of a Crucified Saviour in expectation of an invisible World This Jesus then is of more value to us than e're Moses was to the Jews he being our Law-giver our God and our Saviour who hath given Laws to all those who will believe and acknowledge his Authority Our Saviour when he came into the World as he was God so was he Omniscient knew what Opposition his Doctrine would meet with and with what Misfortunes his Followers would be dogged He came not to a particular People as Moses did to the Jews of whose obedience he was assured but he came to the People of the habitable Earth to teach them the way to Heaven by Repentance and Faith At his first Arrival he found no Church but the Jewish which was to evanish at his Appearance Therefore he laid the Foundation of one himself by Preaching and working Miracles and by triumphing on the Cross over Ignorance and Wickedness which had ruled all the Heathens After his Ascension into Heaven on the day of Pentecost he sent down the Holy Ghost upon his Apostles and Disciples who were assembled at Jerusalem enduing them with the Gift of Tongues and of working Miracles Commissionating them to propagat his Church and Kingdom thro' the whole World Which accordingly they did Preaching the Gospel first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles many of them taking particular parts of the World to make known the Joyful News of Salvation Thus St. Andrew Preached the Gospel in Scythia St. Bartholomew in India St. Matthew in Parthia and St. John in the lesser Asia They went from Town to Town and from Village to Village publishing the Blessed News of Immortality and constituting Bishops and Deacons the first Fruits of their Ministry leaving them to govern and to enlarge the particular Churches over which they had placed them Tertullian saith de Praescrip advers Haereti That Clemens was ordained Bishop of Rome by St. Peter and Polycarp Bishop of Smirna by St. John Now Let us enquire whether our Saviour or his Apostles after his Death left any distinct Scheme of Government to be followed by all particular Churches which Scheme if there be any must be found in the Holy Scriptures or in the Writings of the Fathers who succeeded immediatly to the Apostles but if no Scheme of Church Covernment is to
constituting and giving Laws to all in general and to each in particular under his Dominion To which agrees that Church-Government Hierarchy composed of Arch-Bishops Bishops c. And of such two Governments was constitute the Roman Empire in the time of Constantine Aristocracy is the Government of a few of the greatest power and conform to it is Superintendency Which is a Church-Government where a parcel of Members are all equal in power and by the same are distinguished from the rest of the Clergy Democracy is a Government in which the whole Body of the People hath some share and to this is consonant Presbytrie Which is a Church-Government where all the Clergy are equally concerned To none of the above-mentioned kinds of Civil Government doth the Civil Governments of Scotland and England belong which being both of the same Nature I shall call them by one Name a Limited Monarchical Government Which is a Government that 's manag'd by one Man according to the Laws of the Society where he reigns which Laws are made by him in Conjunction with his People So that he hath his Prerogatives and they their Properties and such a Government hath the Advantage of all others which can degenerat into Tyrannies The Government of Scotland and England being a limited Monarchy quite opposit to an absolute one It follows that some other kind of Church-Government must be more agreeable to it than Hierarchy which agrees only with an absolute Monarchy Because the People having lodged so many Prerogatives with their King as the power of declaring War of making Peace of sending Ambassadors of making Leagues and Treaties and of Levying of Men and Arms by Sea and Land if this King is ill-inclined what wants he more but Money to change the very foundamental Laws of his Government and to make Parliaments altogether useless which cannot be raised from the Subject without their consent or which is all one without the consent of Parliament Therefore the People ought to take particular care in chooseing Men to be their Representatives in Parliament that they be Men of Honour and Probity whom the Monarch can noways influence to betray the Liberties of their Countrey And surely it must succeed the better with it the fewer Members of Parliament depend upon the King What power the Kings of Great Britain have had to Cajol Bishops being constant Members of the Parliament into a Complyance with their designs the History of Past-times must declare Constantine as he was the first Christian Emperor so had he a great respect for the professors of that Religion We read in his life That he would not only regal its Teachers at his own Table but that he never went a Journey without ome of them along with him that at the Council of Nice so great was his Complaisance for Church-men that he refused to sit down in their presence The Clergy on the other hand being sensible of the Emperours Kindness continue with him the old Title of Pontifex Maximus by virtue of which he had Right of Ecclesiastical Function reserving for themselves all the Ministerial Offices So Constantine was Rex idem hominum Phoebique Sacer dos A mutual good understanding was so cultivated amongst the succeeding Emperours and the Clergy that they had several Laws made in their savour as may be seen in the Titles of the Codex de sacrosanctis Eccles de Episc Cler till the Bishops of Rome taking the opportunity of the Division of the Roman Empire being over-run by Barbarous Nations and of the Ignorance of the times did set up for it themselves under the Specious Title of Christs Vicar And how far they carried their Authoriy with Temporal Princes for some Ages is evident by the Insolence of Hildebrand who rebelled against his lawful Emperor Henry the fourth depriving him of all that respect which was due unto him from a Bishop of Rome It hath been the Policy of the Papal Court to keep the Clergy of every Common-wealth in a certain Hierarchy That it might the more conveniently challenge a Supremacy over them and to the end that they might depend absolutely upon their Interest for to oppose all Temporal Princes who durst do any thing in prejudice of the Holy See by Excommunicating and depriving them of the Allegiance of their Subjects In such a Condition was both the Clergy of England and Scotland in the time of King Henry the Eight of England Who being a wise Prince and disobliged by the Pope in the Marriage of Anna Bullen took the occasion of a Critical Minut to throw off the Popes Supremacy over his Clergy and to assert it for himself according to the Practice of the Kings of England And finding that his Clergy was satisfied with the change he continued the Antient Popish Hierarchy making the Bishops of his Kingdom capable of the greatest Civil Employments in it If the Reformation had begun in Scotland with publick Authority as it did in England I doubt not but Episcopacy had been continued there in place of that Church Government introduced by Knox and others after the Geneva Model Because Supream Civil Powers know how much it is their Interest to be of the Clergies side And that it is easier to have a few Church Men to manage than a Multitude Of this King James is an Example who was not only a great Favourer of the Clergy but thought it his Interest so soon as he was sole Monarch of this whole Island to establish Episcopacy in Scotland according to that Maxim No Bishop No King Now let us see what great Feats Bishops have done in the Management of the British Affairs and accordingly we should make our Judgment concerning the Agreeableness of Episcopacy and our Government which is a Limited Monarchy In the Reign of King James the First of Great-Britain there were Bishops no doubt who complyed with him in every Counsel that was for the Dishonour of his Crowns For we find the Bishop of Lincoln then Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England in his Sermon at King James his Funeral either to flatter his Successor or to impose upon the World making a paralel betwixt him and King Solomon his Text being 1 King 11.41 42 43. Now either that Bishop was perswaded of the Verity of what he preached or not If he was perswaded that King James was the Solomon of his Age then surely he could not refuse to go along with him in all his Counsels And if he preached contrary to what was his Opinion then he was capable at Command to be an Haickny Courtier In King Charles the First 's time it was Bishop Laud and others that occasioned all the Misfortunes that befel that Prince both unhappy in his Council and in his Opiniatritie In King Charles the Second's Reign we never heard of any of his Ecclesiastical Counsellors that e're Discourted themselves for disswading him from his Effeminat Way of Living or from following too much French Counsel On the
Duties For the Poverty of this Nation and the smalness of Trade doth occasion That Land-Estates are frequently shifted from hand to hand the present Masters making all they can so long as they keep Possession of them And are sure to rack every Tenent in his Duty when they are disposed to sell them for drawing the greater Price from the Buyers Who so soon as they are Masters of their new Purchases are not at the Pains to consider the Nature of their Soils whether they are capable to produce both their Duties and a Livelyhood to the Husband-men but go on after such a manner that in few Years nothing will answer their Tenents Arrears but the seizing of all they have and turning them a begging with a numerous Family Which is an Injury not only done to the poor Tenents but to the People who must provide for their Sustenance by Charity As Husbandry is the greatest Riches of this State so it ought to contribute with all its power to maintain it and provide that all Laws made for it's improvement be put to due Execution It is therefore requisit that there were appointed by Act of Parliament some Judicious Gentlemen of every County to be chosen annually by Land-Proprietars of 40 Pounds Sterlin a Year and above who should have power to decide all Controversies arising betwixt Master and Tenent for it is not just that the Master should be both Judge and Party as it often happens in Baron-Courts and to inquire into the Rental of every Heritor That so they may provide that no Farms be over-valued according to the Caprice of the Master when he gives new Leases And such an Inquisition would be no Imposition on Gentlemen because they would be only hindered from abusing their own to the prejudice of the Publick According to that Maxim of Law Reipublicoe interest ne quis re sua male utatur And it would be the Advantage of the Master not only to set reasonable Duties on his Farms whereby the Husbandman may be both able and encouraged to improve his Estate by all kinds of Inclosure but likewise to parcel out his Estate into as few Farms as he can conveniently For if a Farm that pays 20 Pounds Sterlin a Year hath as great a Family to entertain as a Farm that pays 40 Pounds Sterlin surely he that payeth the 20 Pounds can never be in so good a Case either to pay his Master or to cultivar his Farm as he that payeth the 40 Pounds who hath not only double his Profit but likewise as small a Family to entertain A Gentleman then that would take reasonable Methods to improve his Land-Estate ought never to heighten his Tenents but proportionably to the mprovement of their Farms Which in a few Years could be so improv'd that the Rental of his Estate can be doubled without Hazard of making any Beggers SECTION III. Of the Clergy THe first Foundation of the Happiness of a State is the Establishment of the Reign of God to whose immediat Servants who are the Clegy we owe all the Honour and Respect the Love of Religion can inspire into us provided they are distinguishable from other People by the Character of their Office which is composed of Christian Virtues Such as Innocence of Life Soundness of Doctrine in things essential to Salvation and Love and Charity to all Men. And by these Virtues it was that the first Preachers of the Gospel did gain Credit to the Christian Religion from the most obstinat Heathen Philosophers The most of the Clergy of Scotland are Men of mean Extraction and owe to their Education their Opiniatritie in things indifferent For what must be expected from Men that never read any Authors but those that make for that Party their Fathers or Friends have design'd them to follow but that they will Dispute for it so long as conveniently they can And when ever Reason fails them they 'll protect it with all the Passions and Impertinencies imaginable And hence is the Reason that most part of the Divines that are educat in the Northern Universities amongst the Northern Gentry are inclined to the Episcopal Government Whilst many of those that are educat in the Southern Universities are inclined to the Presbyterian It 's strange that Men have been so extravagant and made such Stirs in this World about the things of another that instead of making us happy here as well as hereafter by following the Fundamental Rule of Christian Religion to Love the Lord our God with all our Hearts and our Neighbours as our Selves We have only practised a Rule much contrary to hate and destroy our Neighbour for Zeal to God's Worship Which no doubt hath given Occasion to Unthinking Men frequently to let pass for good Coin this Saying Fallere vis Plebem Finge Deum Was it not sufficient That by the Reformation most of the People of this Kingdom have ben brought to the true Knowledge of the Christian Religion What then hath occasioned the one half of the Reformed so to separat from the other in the mutual Duty of Love and Charity which both the same Countrey and Religion obliged them to observe Or why hath this Disease of Church-Government so affected this Kingdom as to destroy its natural Force to ruine all Prospect of Trade to give so often Temptation to our Kings to enchroach upon our Liberties and to fill the Learned World with many useless Volumes and hundreds of ridiculous Pamphlets In Scotland the Religion before the Reformation was that of Rome the Care and Pains of whose Priests were spent in inlarging their Wealth and Authority and not in informing the Minds of the People in Piety and Honesty That Religion was so adorned with Gaudy Ceremonies that the Splendor and Pomp of them served only to amuse the Minds of the Common People who like Men in an Amazement or Wonder could never recollect themselves for examining which was the true Religion Its Priests did challenge the Remission of Sins and took the Liberty both to number and to tax them so that if the Party Confessing was Rich Paradise did go at a great rate And if the Party was Poor the Priests did exercise their Authority with the greater Severity It hath been a great Advantage to the Romish Clergy that they had the Wit to invent the Mass for who can forbear the paying a profound respect to them that by a Whisper can produce so Venerable a Victime The number of the Sacraments was invented for Priests to squeeze the Pockets of the Laicks and Good Works to be a Spur to excite their Ambitious Piety to enrich the Church Purgatory was invented to make separat Souls a Merchandable Commoditie and the Invocation of Saints to increase the Authority of the Clergy who by their Suffrage could advance any Body they pleased to the Court of Heaven But at present to give the Romish Hierarchy its due since the Heat and Defection of the first Reformers was over it hath so