in Scotland the Truth of Iesus Christ. Now consider if there are not Material Differences between these two Inscriptions By the Inscription as it is in Spotswood Petrie and the MS. the Dignity and Superiority of the Scottish Superintendenâ—s above the rest of the Clergy is clearly preserved By the other account it is sadly obscured and they are made at least very much to stand on a level with other Ministers c. By the Inscription as in Spotswood c. The Sentiments Our Scottish Clergy had then about the English Reformation and Constitution are very plain genuine and charitable They were satisfied that the Bishops and Pastors of the Church of England had Renounced the Roman Antichrist and that they professed the Lord Iesus in SINCERITY And they had for them suitably the Christian and Brotherly Charity which the Orthodox and Sincere Christians of one Church ought to have for the Orthodox and Sincere Christians of another Church They wished or desired to them The Increase of the Holy Spirit How highly this was agreeable to the sentiments of the then Protestants in Scotland I have made fully appear in the Discussion of my Second Enquiry But To the Pseudo-Knox it seems it lookt highly scandalous to own That the Bishops and Pastors of England had Renounced the Roman Antichrist or that they professed the Lord Jesus in sincerity How could these things be said so long as they retained Antichrists Hierarchy or had so many Romish Mixtures And therefore to wish them the increase of the Holy Spirit was too bold a prayer It was founded on a false hypothesis It supposed they had the Holy Spirit already How suitable is all this to the Presbyterian temper and principles And by consequence is it not evident that these alterations were not the effects of negligence or inadvertencie but of the true Spirit of the party But this is not all In the body of the Letter as recorded by the Pseudo Knox there are several other Corruptions I shall only point at one but it is a considerable one The General Assembly which sent the Letter after a Digression concerning the care that ought to be had of tender Consciences c. Resume their main purpose thus We return to our former humble supplication which is that our Brethren who amongst you refuse these Romish Rags may find of you who are the PRELATS such favour as our Head and Master commandeth every one of his members to shew to another So it is not only in the MS. Spotswood and Petrie word for word but also in a virulent Presbyterian Pamphlet called Scotidromus directed to all Noble Scots and kind Catholicks zealous for the Romish Religion written Anno 1638 to cast dirt at that time upon Episcopacy and render it odious to the People which Pamphlet I have by me in Manuscript But The Supposititious Knox has it thus Now again we return to our former Request which is that the Brethren among you who refuse the Romish Rags may find of you not the PRELATES but who VSE and VRGE them such favour c How unfit was it for the world to know that a Scottish General Assembly had own'd the Bishops of England as PRELATES It was scandalous no doubt to the Godly It was expedient therefore to falsify a little and foist in more useful Epithets to call them not PRELATES but USERS and URGERS of the Ceremonies I have insisted the longer on this Book because our Presbyterian Brethren are so earnest to have the world believe that it was written by Knox Particularly G. R. in his First Vindication c. in Answer to Quest. 1. § 8. where too observe by the way how extravagantly that Author blunders His words are Anno 1559. The Protestant Ministers and People held a General Assembly at St. Johnstown saith Knox Hist. Lib. 2. p. 137. Now there is not so much as one syllable of a General Assembly in the Text. Upon the Margin indeed there are these words The first Assembly at St. Johnstown But no Presbyterian I think unless he is one of G. R.'s kind will be so impudent as to say that all that 's on the Margin of that Book was written by Knox. And that Meeting which was then at Perth was nothing like that Court which we call a General Assembly But enough of this To conclude tho' I am firmly perswaded that Knox was not the Author of this History yet because it passes commonly under his name I have still cited it so on my Margin The Edition I have used is that in 4 to published at Edenburg Anno 1644. The other Treatises attributed to Knox and I know no Reason to doubt their being his from which I have cited any thing are in ane Appendix to the History I have not made it my work to cite Acts of Parliaments and represent the favourable countenance Episcopacy hath had from the State so much as to consider the sentiments of our Reformers and those who succeeded them in their Ecclesiastical capacity partly because the Acts of Parliament have been diligently collected before Particularly whoso pleases may see a goodly train of them from the year 1560 till the year 16â—7 in the Large Declaration pag. 333 c. Partly because our Presbyterian Brethren are in use to insist more on the Books of Discipline and the Acts of General Assemblies c. than on Acts of Parliaments One advantage amongst many disadvantages I think I have it is that the Authors I have most frequently cited were Presbyterians by consequence Authors whose Testimony 's can least be called in Question by my Presbyterian Brethren I do not pretend to have exhausted the subjects I have insisted on Any Reader may easily perceive I have been at a loss as to several things in History Perchance I have sometimes started some things New and which have not been observed before I wish I may have given occasion to those who are fitter and better furnished with helps for such Enquiries to consider if they can bring more light to our History In the mean time I think I have said enough to convince the Reader that our Presbyterian Brethren have not reason to be so confident as commonly they are for their side of the Controversies I have managed Yet after all this I am not secure but that they will endeavour to have my Book Answered for all Books most be Answered that militate against them and they can still find some G. R. or other who has zeal and confidence enough for such attempts Upon the supposition therefore that I must have ane answer I do for once become ane earnest suiter to my Presbyterian Brethren that they would imploy some Person of ordinary sense and discretion to Answer me and not their common Vindicator of their Kirk G. R. for I have got enough of him and I incline not to have any more meddling with him Whoso reads the following papers I think may find such a sample of him such a
Britain as our Presbyterian Brethren are earnest to have the present Generation believe Again Pag. 449 The Author Narrating how Henry Queen Mary's Husband c was buried Adds in Confirmation of his own Veracity Thus. If there had been any Solemn Burial Buchanan had wanted Wit to Relate otherwise Seeing there would have been so many Witnesses to testify the Contrary Therefore the Contriver of the late History of Queen Mary wanted Policy here to convey a Lie Thus I say the Author vouches Buchanans Authority And it must be Buchanans History that he Refers to For there 's not a Syllable about Henry's Burial to be found in any of his other writings Now Not to insist on the incredibleness of Knox's running for Shelter to Buchanans Authority concerning a matter of Fact so remarkable in its self and which happened in his own time in that very City in which he lived and was Minister Not to insist on this I say Buchanan himself in his Dedication of his History to King Iames 6th Clearly decides the matter He tells his Majesty there were two Considerations which chiefly put him upon writing his History First He perceived his Majesty had Read and Understood the Histories of almost all other Nations And it was incongruous and unaccountable that he who was so well acquainted with Foreign Affairs should be a Stranger to the History of his own Kingdom Secondly He was intrusted with the Kings Education He could not attend his Majesty in that important Office by Reason of his Old Age and Multiplying infirmities He applyed himself therefore to write his History thereby to Compense the Defects of his Non-Attendance c. And from both Reasons it is evident that Knox was Dead before Buchannan applyed himself to the writing of his History For Knox dyed Anno 1572. K. Iames was then but Six years of Age And is it Credible that at that Age he had Read and got by heart the Histories of almost all other Nations Indeed Buchanan survived Knox by ten years And for a good many of them was able to wait and actually waited on the King So that 't is clear 't was towards the end of his days and after Knox's Death that he applyed himself to his History And 't is very well known it was never published till the year 1582. But this is not all The Author of that which is called Knox's History adduces Buchanan's Authority for Convelling the Credit of the Contriver of the Late History of Queen Mary which was written I cannot tell how long after Buchanan was Dead as well as Knox. Further Pag. 306. The Author discourses thus The Books of Discipline have been of late so often published that we shall forbear to print them at this time Now there were never more than two Books of Discipline and the Second was not so much as projected till the year 1576 i. e. 4 years after Knox had departed this life Once more Pag. 286. We read thus Some in France after the sudden Death of Francis the Second and calling to mind the Death of Charles the Ninth in Blood and the Slaughter of Henry the Second did Remark the Tragical ends of these three Princes who had persecuted Gods Servants so cruelly And indeed the following Kings of France unto this day have found this true by their unfortunate and unexpected Ends. Now Charles the Ninth died not till the 30th of May Anno 1574. i. e. 18 Months after Knox. The following Kings of France who made the Vnfortunate and unexpected Ends were Henry the Third and Henry the Fourth Henry the Third was not Murthered till the year 1589. Henry the Fourth not till May 1610. The former 17 the latter 38 years after the Death of Knox. From this Taste it is clear that that History at least as we now have it was not written by Knox. All that can be said with any Shadow of probability is that Knox provided some Materials for it But Granting this how shall we be able to separate that which is Spurious in it from that which is Genuine All I can say is this 'T is plain to every one that Reads it That he has been a thorough-paced Presbyterian who framed it as we have it By Consequence its Authority is stark naught for any thing in it that favours Presbytery or bespatters Prelacy And if it ought to have any credit at all it is only where the Controversies about Church Government are no ways interested or where it mentions any thing that may be improven to the Advantages of Episcopacy just as the Testimonies of Adversaries are useful for the interests of the opposite party and not an Aâ—e farther So that I had reason if any Man can have it to insist on its Authority as I have frequently done But no Presbyterian can in equity either plead or be allowed the same priviledge I could give the Reader a surfeit of instances which cannot but appear to any considering person to be plain and notorious Presbyterian corruptions in it But I shall only represent One as being of considerable importance in the Controversie which I have managed in my Second Enquiry and by that the Reader may make a Judgment of the Authors Candor and Integrity in other things The English Non-conformists zealous to be rid of the Vestments and some other Forms and Ceremonies retained by the Church of England which they reckoned to be scandalous impositions wrote earnestly as is known to several Reformed Churches and Protestant Divines beseeching them to interpose with the Church of England for an ease of these burdens It seems they wrote to some in Scotland also probably to Mr. Knox He was of their acquaintance and they could not but be secure enough of his inclinations considering how warm he had been about these matters at Francfort However it was the Church of Scotland did actually interpose The General Assembly met at Edenburgh Decem. 27. Anno 1566 ordered Iohn Knox to draw a Letter to the English Clergy in favour of those Non-conformists This Letter was subscribed and sent Now consider the Tricks of the Author of the History attributed to Knox. The Inscription of the Letter as it is in Spotswood Petrie and the Manuscript Copy of the Acts of the General Assembly's is this The Superintendents Ministers and Commissioners of the Church within the Realm of Scotland To their Brethren the Bishops and Pastors of England who have renounced the Roman Antichrist and do profess with them the Lord Iesus in sincerity wish the increase of the Holy Spirit Thus I say Spotswoâ—d hath it pag. 198. And the MS. and Petrie Tom. 2. p. 348. have it in the same words only where Spotswood hath wish they have desire which makes no material Difference But the spurious Knox has it thus pag. 445. The Superintendents with other Ministers and Commissioners of the Church of God in the Kingdom of Scotland To their Brethren the Bishops and Pastors of Gods Church in England who profess with us
Reform Religion publickly to Reform it by Force To Reform the State if it would not Reform the Church To Extirpate all false Religion by their Authority To assume to themselves a Power to overturn the Powers that are Ordain'd of God To depose them and set up new Powers in their stead Powers that would Protect that which they judged to be the best Religion Whoso pleases may see this Doctrine fully taught by Knox in his Appellation and he may see the same principle insisted on by Mr. Hendersone in his Debates with K. C. I. And who knows not that our Reformation was but too much founded on this Principle Herein I say we own we have forsaken our Reformers And let our Presbyterian Brethren if they can Convict us in this of Heresie In short our Reformers maintain'd that the Doctrine of Defensive Arms was Necessary That Passive Obedience or Non-resistance was sinful when People had means for Resistance That Daniel and his Fellows did not Resist by the Sword Because God had not given them the Power and the means That the Primitive Christians assisted their Preachers even against the Rulers and Magistrates and suppressed Idolatry wheresoever God gave them Force They maintain'd that the Iudicial Laws of Moses tho' not adopted into the Christian Systeme in many considerable instances continued still obligatory Particularly that the Laws punishing Adultery Murther Idolatry with Death were binding That in obedience to these Laws that Sentence was to be executed not only on Subjects but on Sovereigns That whosoever executes Gods Law on such Criminals is not only innocent but in his Duty tho' he have no Commission from Man for it That Samuel's slaying Agag the fat and delicate King of Amalek And Elias's killing Baal's Priests and Iesabel's false Prophets and Phineas's striking Zimri and Cosbi in the very Act of filthy fornication were allowable Patterns for private men to imitate That all these and more such strange Doctrines were Common and Current amongst them I am able to prove at full length if I shall be put to it Besides they had many other Principles relating to other purposes which I am perswaded were not founded on Scripture had no Countenance from Catholick Antiquity were not aggreeable to sound and solid Reason which we own we are so far from maintaining that we think our selves bound both to Profess and Practice the contrary And how easy were it to Confute as well as Represent some of Master Knox's principles which perhaps were peculiar to him He fairly and plainly condemned St. Paul and St. Iames the first Bishop of Ierusalem for their practice Act. 21.18 19 c. He esteem'd every thing that was done in Gods service without the express command of his word vain Religion and Idolatry He affirmed that all Papists were infidels both in publick and private I cannot think he was right in these things He had sometimes Prayers which do not seem to me to Savour any thing of a Christian Spirit Thus in His Admonition to the Professors of the Truth in England after he had insisted on the Persecutions in Queen Mary's time he had this Prayer God for his great Mercies sake stir up some Phineas Elias or Jehu that the blood of abominable Idolaters may Pacify Gods wrath that it consume not the whole Multitude Amen I must confess it was not without some horrour that I put his own Amen to such a petition In that same Exhortation he prays also thus Repress the pride of these blood-thirsty Tyrants Consume them in thine anger according to the Reproach which they have laid against thy Holy Name Pour forth thy vengeance upon them and let our eyes behold the blood of the Saints required of their hands Delay not thy vengeance O Lord but let death devour them in haste Let the Earth swallow them up and let them go down quick to the hels For there is no hope of their Amendment The Fear and Reverence of thy Holy Name is quite banished from their hearts And therefore yet again O Lord consume them Consume them in thine Anger Let the world judge if such Prayers Savour of a gospel-Gospel-spirit Was this loving our Enemies or Blessing them that Curse us or Praying for them who despitefully use us or Persecute us Was this like forgiving others their trespasses as we would wish our own trespasses to be forgiven Was this like Father forgive them for they know not what they do Or Lord lay not this sin to their charge Did Master Knox consider or know what manner of spirit he was of when he offered up such petitions I shall only give one other Specimen of Master Knox's Divinity and because 't is about a point which of late has been so much agitated I shall not grudge to give his sentiments somewhat fully Because perchance he may come to have some credit by it He may chance to be honoured as a Father by the Providentialists The Story is this He wrote a Book against the Regiment of Women as he called it His aim was principally against Mary Queen of England When Queen Elizabeth was raised to the Throne some body having told her that he had written such a Book she resented it so that she would not allow him to set his foot on English ground when he was returning from Geneva to Scotland Anno 1559. This grated him not a little However he could not endure to think upon retracting the Positions in his Book having once asserted them he deem'd it point of Honour it seems to adhere to them for thus he told Secretary Cecil in a Letter from Diepe April 10. 1559. He doubted no more of the Truth of his Proposition than he did that it was the voice of God which first did pronounce this Penalty against Women In dolour shalt thou bear thy Children And in a Conference with Mary Queen of Scotland Anno 1561. He told her that to that hour he thought himself alone more able to sustain the things affirmed in that Book than any ten Men in Europe could be to confute them But for all this Queen Elizabeth as I said was raised to the Throne of England and it was needful her Majesty should not continue to have quarrels with him Her Kindness and Countenance at that time to him and his Projects were worth little less than a Deanry Some Knack was therefore to be devised for making a Reconcilement between his Book and her Regiment Well! what was it he fix't on Why The Providential Right serv'd him to a Miracle For thus he wrote in his aforementioned Letter to Cecil If any Man think me either Enemy to the Person or yet to the Regiment of her whom God hath now promoted they are utterly deceived in me For the MIRACULOUS work of God comforting his afflicted by ane infirm Vessel I do acknowledge And I will Obey the Power of his most potent hand Raising up whom best pleaseth his
Canterbury To the Bishop of London To Ithavius Bishop of Vladislavia dated Decem. 1. An. 1558 Or his Resolution of that Case if a Bishop or Curate joyn himself to the Church c. Or lastly his Epistle to the King of Poland wherein he tells him That It was Nothing but pride and ambition that introduced the Popes Supremacy That the Ancient Church had indeed her Patriarchs and Primates for the Expedition of Discipline and the Preservation of Unity As if in the Kingdom of Poland one Archbishop should have the precedency of the rest of the Bishops not that he might Tyrannize over them but for Orders sake and for Cherishing Unity amongst his Collegues and Brethren And next to him there should be Provincial or City Bishops for keeping all things orderly in the Church Nature teaching says he that from every Colledge One should be chosen who should have the chief Management of affairs But 'T is another thing for one Man as the Pope doth to arrogate that to himself which exceeds all humane abilities namely The Power of governing the whole Universe Whoso shall perpend these writings of Mr. Calvins I say shall find that he was very far from maintaining the Vnlawfulness of Prelacy Nay farther yet I challenge my Presbyterian Brethren upon their ingenuity to tell me weither it was not a good many years after 1560. that Beza himself the true founder of their Sect condemn'd Prelacy if he did condemn it I say if he did maintain the Necessity of Parity and condemn'd Prelacy For however he may seem upon several occasions not only to give the preference to Presbyterian Government and represent it as the most eligible But to endeavour to found it on Scripture And represent Episcopacy as an humane invention yet I have not observed that any where 〈◊〉 calls it absolutely or simply Unlawful On the contrary he says in express terms That it is Tolerable when it is duely Bounded when the pure Canons of the Ancient Church are kept in vigour to keep it within its proper Limits Sure I am he was not for separating from a Church as our modern Presbyterians are upon the account of its Governments being Episcopal as might be made appear fully from his Letters so that whatever greater Degrees of Dislike to Episcopacy he may have discovered beyond his Predecessor Mr. Calvin yet it is not unreasonable to think that his great aim was no more than to justify the Constitution of the Church he lived in and recommend it as a pattern to other Churches The Scope of this whole Consideration is this That if what I have asserted is true if there was no such Controversie agitated all the time our Church was a Reforming nor for a good many years after Then we have one fair Presumption that our Reformers were not Presbyterians It is not likely that they were for the Indispensibility of Parity that being the side of a Question which in these times was not begun to be tossed And this Presumption will appear yet more ponderous if II. It be considered that we have no reason to believe that our Reformers had any peculiar Motives or Occasions for adverting to the pretended Evils of Prelacy or any peculiar interests to determine them for Parity beyond other Churches or that they were more sharp-sighted to espy faults in Prelacy or had opportunities or inclinations to search more diligently or enquire more narrowly into these matters than other Reformers The truth is The Controversies about Doctrine and Worship were the great ones which took up the thoughts of our Reformers and imployed their most serious Applications This is obvious to any who considers the accounts we have of them so very obvious that G. R. himself fairly confesses it in his First Vind. ad Quest. 1. where he tells us That the Errors and Idolatry of that way meaning Popery were so gross and of such immediate hazard to the Souls of People That it is no wonder that our Reformers minded these First and Mainly and thought it a great step to get these Removed so that they took some more time to consult about the Reforming of the Government of the Church From which 't is plain he confesses the Reformation of the Churches Government was not the subject of their Main Thinking which indeed is very true and cannot but appear to be so to any who considers what a Lame Scheme was then drest up by them But however this was 't is enough to my present purpose That our Reformers were more imployed in reforming the Doctrine and Worship than in thinking about Church Governments From which together with the former presumption which was that our present Controversies were not begun to be agitated in these times one of two things must follow unavoidably viz. either 1. That if they were for the Divine and indispensible Right of Parity 't is no great matter their Authority is not much to be valued in a Question about which they had thought so Little Or 2. That it is to be presumed they were not for the Divine Right of Parity That being the side of a Question which was not then agitated in any Protestant Church and as Little in Scotland as any To be ingenuous I think both inferences good tho 't is only the Last I am concerned for at present But this is not all For III. So far as my opportunities would allow me I have had a special eye on all our Reformers as I found them in our Histories I have noticed their sentiments about Church Government as carefully as I could And I have not found so much as one amongst them who hath either directly or indirectly asserted the Divine and Vnalterable Right of Parity By our Reformers here I mean such as were either 1. Martyrs or 2. Confessors for the Reformed Religion before it had the countenance of Civil Authority or 3. Such as lived when it was publickly established and had a hand in bringing it to that perfection Such I think and such only deserved the Name of our Reformers And here again I dare be bold to challenge my Presbyterian Brethren to adduce clear and plain proof that so much as any one man of the whole Number of our Reformers was of the present principles of the party Some of them indeed seem to have laid no great stress on Holy Orders and to have been of opinion That personal Gifts and Graces were a sufficient Call to any man to preach the Gospel and undertake the pastoral Office Thus that excellent person Mr. George Wishart who in most things seems to have juster notions of the Gospel Spirit than most of our other Reformers when at his Tryal he was charged with this Article That every man was a Priest and that the Pope had no more power than another man answered to this purpose That St. Iohn saith of all Christians He hath made us Kings and Priests And St. Peter He hath made us
was done and as it were only by the by The occasion on which he records this is when in the year 1569. the tenth year after this Confederacy between the Scots and the English was concerted as I take it the Earl of Murray then Regent had gone to the Northern parts of the Kingdom to settle matters there Accounts were brought to him of the Duke of Norfolk's Conspiracy which was so well compacted and so deep laid that it was judged morally impossible to disappoint it and Murray's friends were earnest with him to retreat in time and disengage himself of the opposite party with whom he had hitherto sided and so when Buchanan comes to give the History of this juncture he to find a just rise for his Narration returns no less than ten years backward discoursing thus The State of English affairs oblige me to look back a little because in these times the interests of both Kingdoms were so twisted that the concerns of the one cannot be represented without the other The Scots some years before being delivered from the Gallican Slavery by the English assistance had subscribed to the Religious Worship and Rites of the Church of England and that surprizing change in Affairs seem'd to promise to Britain quietness and rest from all intestine Commotions and Factions c. Here you see the thing is plainly and undeniably asserted Yet so careless to say no worse have all our Historians been that not one of them mentions it but he and he does no more than mention it and to this minute we are generally in the dark when how by whom and with what Solemnities it was done Buchanan's words would seem to import that it was done after that our Deliverance as he calls it was accomplisht But not one word of it in the Treaty concluded at Leith and proclaim'd Iuly 8th 1560. which succeeded immediately upon the back of that Deliverance not one word of it I say in that Treaty as it is ether in Buchanan Knox or Spotswood or any other Historian I have had occasion to see neither have we any other publick Transaction or Deed that mentions it I find it told by several Historians that the Earls of Morton and Glencarne were sent to England after that our Deliverance to return thanks to Queen Elizabeth for her assistance 'T is possible it might have been done then for as Spotswood has it After the Professors heard of the cold Entertainment that Sir Iames Sandilands who went to France to give ane account of the Treaty had got at that Court their minds were greatly troubled for they were seasible of their own weakness and doubtful of Support from England if France should again invade because of the Loss the English had received in the late Expedition Neither says he had the Earls of Morton and Glencarne who upon breaking up of the Parliament were sent into England to render thanks to the Queen and to entreat the Continuance of her Favour given any advertisement of their acceptance If upon this occasion Commission was sent to these two Earls to subscribe in name of the rest of the Protestants to such ane Vnion in Religion it exactly answers Buchanan's Account but no such thing is so much as insinuated to have been done on that occasion For my part I humbly offer it to be considered whither it is not possible that Buchanan intended not to lay any such stress upon the word LIBERATI as thereby to import that it was after the Accomplishment of our Deliverance that the Scots subscribed But bringing in the whole matter occasionally where he mentions it and intending to dispatch it in as few words as he could he did not stand nicely upon the wording of it And if t is holds the most Rational and Natural Account will be that Secretary Maitland and Sir Robert Melvil who were sent by the Scottish Lords in the beginning of November 1559. to implore the Queen of England's Assistance were impowered to agree in name of the whole body to this Union of Religion if it should be demanded That the Secretary had power to treat and agree to and sign Articles is certain for amongst the Instructions given to the Commissioners for concluding the Treaty at Berwick dated at Glasgow Feb. 10. 1559 66. I find this as one Item If it shall be desired of you to confirm for us and in our Name the things past and granted by our former Commissioner the young Laird of Lethington ye shall in all points for us and in our Name confirm the same so far as it shall make either for the WELL and CONJUNCTION of the two Realms or this PRESENT CAUSE or yet for the security of our part for fulfilling of the same This I say is one of the Articles of these instructions from which it is evident that Lethington had signed Articles in England tho we are no where told what they were And may it not pass for a probable conjecture that that concerning Vnity in Religious Worship and Ceremonies was one of them But whensoever or by whomsoever it was done is not the Critical Hinge of the Controversie We have Buchanan's word for it that it was done and I hope my Presbyterian Brethren will not hastily reject his Authority especially considering that his Veracity in this matter is so much assisted and made credible by the strain of the Letter directed to Secretary Cecil on which we have already insisted Neither is this all For 2. The publick Thanksgiving and Prayers made with great Solemnity in St. Giles's Church in Edenburgh after the Pacification at Leith in Iuly 1560 amount to no less than a fair Demonstration of ane intire Vnion between the two Nations as to Church Matters and Religion for on that occasion it was thus addressed to Almighty God with the common Consent and as a publick Deed of our Scottish Reformers Seeing that nothing is more odious in thy presence O Lord than is Ingratitude and Violation of ane Oath and Covenant made in thy Name and seeing thou hast made our Confederates in England the Instruments by whom we are now set at this Liberty and to whom in thy Name we have promised mutual Faith again Let us never fall to that Vnkindness O Lord that either we declare our selves unthankful unto them or Prophaners of thy holy Name Confound thou the Counsel of those that go about to break THAT MOST GOGLY LEAGUE CONTRACTED IN THY NAME And retain thou us so firmly together by the power of thy holy Spirit That Satan have never power to set us again at Variance nor Discord Give us thy Grace to live in that Christian Charity which thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ hath so earnestly commanded to all the Members of his Body that other Nations provoked by our Example may set aside all Ungodly War Contention and Strife and study to live in Tranquillity and Peace as it becometh the Sheep of thy pasture and the People that