Design to ruine the Government in which he was not employed Of what a Medley of Men then hath that Countrey-Faction been composed Nevertheless People ought to make no Distinction amongst them so long as they all promote the Publick Interest because they will have time enough to discern the Dregs of a Faction so soon as they separat from the pure Body Now after the Description of the foresaid Factions Methinks that 't is the Countrey-Faction which ought to be carressed and esteemed by all their Constituents as Men that act both out of Conscience and Honour knowing that the Freedom and Wealth of every State go hand in hand together And it hath been often seen amongst our Fore-Fathers that this Faction hath maintained both the Prerogative of their Kings and the Liberties of their Countrey Whilst the Court part hath found it convenient to retire into the Shadows of Oblivion 'T is strange that most of our Courtiers for near these hundred Years have been so much in Love with their privat Interest and valued so little that of the Publick that long ago it hath been a Problem in Scotland whether Parliaments were useful or not because the first thing proposed there hath been always next to Religion a Subsidy for his Majesty And which was both proposed and granted in one day without the Members of Parliament taking the Pains to examine to what use it should be employed or to calculat a just Sum for the same use And hence is the Reason that Money given by Parliaments to their Kings hath served only to be a Bait and Reward for Covetous Courtiers to betray their Countrey and for the Insolent Tacksmen to oppress the Poor People At this rate I confess Parliaments are meer empty shadows of Liberty When a Commissioner and Secretary could have asked His Majesty his Commands for Scotland and at the same time engaged so to secure the Major party of Parliament with Places and Promises that it would be always in a readiness to Vote what ever way the Court pleased A mixt Government hath the Advantage of all other Governments For if Members of Parliament do but their Duty it 's impossible that ever it can hazard to be brought under the Tyrannie of its Monarch But if the Members be debauch'd with Principles of Self-interest and suffer the Nations Treasure to be wasted Secretaries of State to undermine our Priviledges and Trade to be neglected I say That such a mixt Government is a Tyrannie established by our selves And that no King ought to be blamed for drawing us after him with our own Fetters of Slavery 'T is therefore that the principal points of the Duty of Members of Parliament are First That they be Men unbyassed and uncorrupt presering the Safety and Interest of the Country to any Self-love Secondly That they endeavour to make good Laws that may both secure the Subjects Property and promot the publick Good Thirdly That they never grant a Subsidy without knowing the Reason why and how it is to be applyed for the Nations benefit Fourthly That the succeeding Session of Parliament call to an exact account the Managers of the Subsidies granted by the preceeding Session So that Courtiers may be prevented from disposing upon Pensions at pleasure and the Publicans from imposing upon the Courtiers by pretending that they are losers in collecting of Taxes Fifthly That they impeach every great Man who dare pursue destructive Measures either against the Kings Honour or the Countries Interest If these Maxims be steddily followed by our Parliaments then will Scotland be sensible how necessary they are to promot every thing that tends to its Safety Honour and encrease of Wealth and how many Advantages a mixt Government hath above that of an Absolute SECTION VII What Measures this present Parliament ought to take for recovering the Abuses of former Reigns and puting this Nation into a constant Course of Thriving WEre I skilful in making Panegyricks I don't see how I could employ my Wit and Talent better than in praising those Members who in the last Session of Parliament did begin to put a Stop to that Imprudent Method we have always had of raising Taxes from the People without considering the State of the Nation and whether or not it was in a Condition by its Trade to mantain as many Pensioners and Forces as it had done during the late War with France I wish therefore that all the Honourable Members may continue in the same good Sentiments this ensueing Session minding only their Countries Business and believing that to be the best way both to serve His Majesty and themselves 'T is an hard Task for any knowing Physician to give a just Advice for recovering any Patient that hath been long Hectick much more is it for any privat Man to lay down an exact Method to a Parliament whose Constitution hath been almost changed by the supine negligence of its Members for puting it self succeeding Parliaments upon so good a Foot that neither the too much Complaisance for their Kings nor the Treachery of any that is entrusted with publick Employments can be able to shake them However being that every one is obliged in duty to contribute both in Advice and any other thing to the support of that Society whereof he is a Member My Advice then to the ensueing Session of Parliament is as followeth First That there be an Act for a Biennial Parliament that may sit two Months once in the two years without the Kings having power to Adjourn it for the said two Months and which in the beginning of the third year shall be dissolved His Majesty at the same time empowering all Counties and Burroughs to choose new Commissioners for the following Biennial Parliament By such an Act Grievances will be redressed and the Business of the Nation taken care of Because every succeeding Parliament will cause the Acts of former Parliaments to be put in Execution Nor will it be worth the pains of States-men and Courtiers to corrupt Members of Parliament their power being but of a small continuance and Parliaments will also have the liberty to sit and do Business without the trouble of Being Adjourned from day to day For in my humble Opinion if Parliaments cannot sit and do Business I don't know for what use they serve Secondly That there be an Act for a Habeas Corpus conceived much after the Tenour of that of the English Which Act will first encourage Men both to speak and Writ their Sentiments concerning the Interest of the publick without being afraid of the Censure or Displeasure of Men in power for every body knows how much the Liberty of the Press doth Contribute for exposing the Truth and giving political Spectacles to every Honest Man by which he can see the Corruptions of Statesmen and guard against their supprises And I may say that our Neighbour Nation owes the Preservation of its priviledges to the Liberty of the press for how often had their unthinking
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
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
and Parliaments for their Ratification But in the year 1608 the English Parliament would approve only the Article for abolishing all Hostile Laws that had been in use against either Nation before King James his Arrival in England The Reason I suppose made England neglect that opportunity of Uniting with Scotland was That either it was not sensible of the Advantages it might gain by such an Union tho the judicious Lord Verulam did endeavour to demonstrat them by his Grave Speech or That the Parliament of England did suspect their new Monarch of having some other design than the Interests of his Kingdoms by that Union of which he was the first proposer King Charles the first who was brave Magnificent and but too constant in adhering to ill Counsel was most of his life so harrassed by his own Subjects that he never had time to think upon that Union which his Father could not finish And Cromwel who after but chering of him usurped his Power never thought any further of the Interest of Britain but to gratifie his own Ambition King Charles the Second after his Restoration to his Kingdoms had all the opportunity possible that Ease and plenty could afford him to promot their mutual Happiness did therefore propose an Union betwixt Scotland and England in the Year 1670 and did nominat for that end several Commissioners under his great Seal but all to no purpose because such an Union could not sympathize with the Politicks of these days which were to divide after such manner the People of the whole Island in Religion and Interest that by continually playing one party against another His Majesty might be in a Condition to sway the Scepter in Peace and to introduce into his Kingdoms any Religion suited best with his Humour And for King James he was so little inclined to promot an Union that the thoughts of another World did wholly extinguish any Concern he might have had for advancing the Interest of his Kingdoms in this His present Majesty hath done many great Actions both for the well fare of his Kingdoms and for his own Reputation yet ther 's nothing can contribute more to the Glory of his Family than Uniting the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into one Monarchy So that when he distributes Justice both their Interests being the same none of them will have reason to complain He hath already several times recommended an Union to the English Parliament but it were to be wish'd that His Majesty would be pleased to ordain effectual Means to be used for that end There 's an Union already betwixt both Nations in Language Customs Religion and in Subjection which cannot last unless both Governments be united into one Body Politick And to Consummat that there must be a great Zeal and Frankness in the Members of both Parliaments That all triffling and amusing preliminary Articles being forgot Commissioners may be deputed from them both Men of Honour and Probity no Courtiers but free of all prejudice against either Nation for the better adjusting the two following Articles The First is That the Parliaments in Name of both Kingdoms may consent to joyn together for making up one Parliament of Great Britain The Second is That for the taking away all difference about Place that may arise among the Nobility of both Kingdoms let them be Marshalled interchangeably As for Example First The Eldest Duke of England then the Eldest Duke of Scotland and so on until the Nobility of the whole Island be marked in one Catalogue as Peers of the Kingdom of Great Britain If these two Articles can be agreed to all danger of Uniting the two Kingdoms will be over and there 's no doubt but that all useful Laws can be made afterwards without the least stop that are requisit for supporting this new moulded Empire But before I proceed to shew what Laws would be useful I must remove some Objections that the learned Sir George Mackenzie hath made against the Parliament of Scotland's having power to agree to the foresaid two Articles in his Observations upon King James his Act of Parliament concerning the Union and the Answers to his Objections may prevent the like to be made against the power of the Parliament of England in the same case being both Parliaments of England and Scotland are of of the same Nature The first Argument is That the Members of the Scots Parliament for Shires and Burghs are the same with us That the Procuratores Universitatis are in the Civil Law But the Procuratores Universitatis could not alienat the Rights of their Constituents without a special Mandat for that effect l. 63. de pro Neither can the Parliament of Scotland alter the Fundamentals of their Constitution without the Consent of their Constituents It 's answered That the Members for Shires and Burroughs are not the same with the Procuratores Universitatis because by virtue of their Commissions they have absolute power to Vote for every point which they think can contribute to the safety of the Nation And they are bound only by Oath of Parliament to Act as Men of Conscience and not as Men who have particular Instructions from their Constituents And it was by that power they altered their Primitive Constitution by Voting out a Third State of Parliament in the beginning of his present Majestys Reign Much rather can they in the Name of their Constituents agree with the Parliament of England to the two foresaid Articles being they 'l contribute so much for their Advantage The second Argument is That the Commissioners for Shires Burroughs are only impowered to represent their Constituents in the Parliament of Scotland but if the Parliament of Scotland be made a part of the Parliament of Great Britain the Parliament of Scotland can be said no longer to exist and consequently the Commissions of all its Members fall till they be renewed empowering them to sit in the Parliament of Great Britain It 's Answered That by the Answer to the first Argument we see that the Parliament of Scotland hath an absolute power to agree to the foresaid Articles so that afterward they may ask new Commissions from their respective Constituents to Unite as Members of the Parliament of Great Britain And when both Nations are perswaded of the Advantages of an Union there can be no impediment to it The third Argument is That the Union of Parliaments requires the full Assent of the Members of both Parliaments So that if any Member dissent The Union of both Parliaments must stop Because the Power of making Laws and the Right to retain or resign Priviledges are two different things The one is a a Legislative Power which is regulated by a Plurality of Voices The other is founded upon Dominion and Property and is not subject to Suffrage no more than other Properties are It 's Answered to this last Argument That it 's granted the Property of any Member of a private Society cannot be taken away from
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
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