&*&** 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J 
 
 Division. 
 
 Section... 
 
 sec 
 
 I '506 
 
•^&&S5 
 

 
 • 
 
\ 
 
MEMOIRS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CHURCH 
 
 SCOTLAND, 
 
 In FOUR PERIODS. 
 
 I. The Church in her Infant-State, 
 
 from the Reformation to the Queen 
 Marfs Abdication. 
 
 II. The Church in its growing State, 
 
 from the Abdication to the Reitera- 
 tion.. 
 
 III. The Church in its perfeciited State, 
 from the Reiteration to the Revo- 
 lution. 
 
 IV. The Church in its prefent State, 
 from the Revolution to the Union. 
 
 WITH AN 
 
 APPENDIX, of fome Tranfa&ions 
 fince the Union. 
 
 LONDON, 
 
 Printed for Eman. Matthews at the Bible % and T". 
 Warner at the Black- Boy } both in Pater-Nofter-. 
 Row, 1717. 
 
THE 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 HE following Work feems to have 
 as little need of a Preface as any 
 of the kind that ha.r been pub- 
 lijlyd in this Age : It is hoped it 
 331 # ** f e tf but a Preface, or Intro- 
 dutlion to fome larger and fuller 
 Hiftory- that may, by better Hands, fome time 
 OT other, do Juflice, not to the Church of Scot- 
 ia n d only, but to the Memory and Familtes of 
 the particular Sufferers and Confeffors, who have 
 facrificed them/ elves in Defence of Religion, in 
 that Part of Great Britain. 
 
 It is a moving Reflexion, that thefe larger and 
 fuller Accounts have been fo often promifed, and fo 
 long ago undertaken by feveral able and worthy 
 Hands, and that yet nothing has been finijhed, in. 
 a Caufe wherein Hiflory is fo much in debt t9 
 Truth ; we fee no full Account yet given, and 'tis 
 to be feared will not be given in our Age. 
 
 This Confideration has made an officious Stranger 
 concern him f elf in the Work \ he could not bear to 
 think, that the Memory of the tnoft glorious Scene 
 of Action, and the mofl difmal Scene of Suffer*- 
 ing, which the Church of Scotland has paffed 
 
 through, 
 
The PREFACE. 
 
 through, fhould lie buried in their own Afhes, and 
 not a Man to be found who would effectually em- 
 ploy himfelf, and fet ferioufly about the Work of 
 ranfoming things of fuch Confeqnence from the 
 Grave of Forget fulnefs. 
 
 For this Reafon he has affiled himfelf, by Books, 
 by juft Authorities, by Oral-Tradition, by li- 
 ving Witneffes, and by all other rational Means^ 
 to make himfelf fufficiently Mafier of the Matters 
 of Fad , at leafi to furnifh out Memoirs, tho* not <t 
 perfett Hiftory, ofthefe Things ', and to endeavour to 
 reftore the general Knowledge ofthefe great Tranf- 
 aftions to the Vfe of Pofterity, till fome more large 
 and particular Account of thefe things fo all appear* 
 
 IJhallfay nothing to thePerformance, but this, that 
 1 have endeavoured carefully to adhere to Truth of 
 Fall, and to have it told fo evidently and clearly, 
 that it may not be mifunder flood by the Ignorant, or 
 mifreprefented by the malicious Part of Mankind in 
 Jiges to come. 
 
 There is a Mifiake in the Paging, and a great 
 Breach made in the Figures between the Second and 
 Third Parts of this Work, which may make fome 
 fuageft there is fomething omitted ; but the Reader 
 is defired to obferve, that there is no Breach of the 
 Story, and that the Reading goes on without Interru* 
 ption, tho* the Figures feem to be a little confufed, 
 which were occafioned only by the Miflake of the 
 Printers. 
 
 The Author recommends the Work to the Candor of 
 impartial Readers ; and if any Miftakes are to be 
 found, tho"* he has been critically careful to avoid 
 them, he defires they may be placed to the Account 
 of a difinterefted Zeal to do Juft ice and Service to 
 the People of Scotland, and to a Caufe which he had 
 too much at Heart to let lie neglecled any longer, 
 how many Imperfettions foever might happen in his 
 
 Performance* 
 
 J M E- 
 
f*J 
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 O F T H E 
 
 CHURCH 
 
 SCOTLAND. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 Of the C HV RC H in her Infant State- 
 
 HO EVER enquires narrowly 
 into the Subject I am now entring 
 upon, I mean the Church of Scot- 
 land y will find it a meer Terra 
 incognita, a vaft Continent of hid- 
 den, undifcovercd Novelties \ and 
 will find himfelf furprifed, to the laft Degree, that 
 Things fo near us (hould be foentirely hid from us. 
 Not that there is any thing monftrous or un- 
 heard of in the Conftitution or Circumftances of 
 
 B this 
 
[ l] 
 
 this Church, much lefs in her Profefllon and Pra- 
 cfcife-, but that fhe has been reprefented to the 
 World in fo many monftrous Shapes, dreft up in 
 fo many Devifs Coats, and Fool's Coats, charg'd 
 with fo many Hcreiks, Errors, Schifms, and An- 
 tichriilianifms by the Mob of this ilandering Ge- 
 neration, that when a Man comes to view her in 
 her original Reformation, her fubfequent Settle- 
 ment, her many Revolutions, Convulsions, and 
 Catailrophe's in her fubjected, perfecuted State, 
 and now in her glorious Restoration and Efta- 
 blifhment, nothing can be more wonderful in 
 humane Affairs, than to fee how Mankind has 
 been impofed upon about her, and with what 
 Front the Abfurdities charg'd on her could be 
 broach'd in the World. 
 
 When we view the Soundnefsand Purity of her 
 D O CTRINE, the Strictnefs and Severity of 
 her DISCIPLINE, the Decency and Order 
 of her W O R S H 1 P, the Gravity and Majefty 
 of her GOVERNMENT: When we fee 
 the Modefty, Humility, and yet Steadinefs- of 
 her Aflempjies \ the Learning, Diligence, and 
 Painfulnefs of her Mi miters *, the awful Solem- 
 nity of her Adminiftration j the Obedience, Se- 
 rioufnefs, and Frequency of her People in hear- 
 ing, and univerfally an Air of Sobriety and Gra- 
 vity on the whole Nation *, we mult own her to 
 be, at this Time, the belt regulated, national 
 Church in the World, without Reflection upon 
 any of the other Nations where the Proteftant 
 Religion is eftablihYd and profefs'd. 
 
 1 am not comparing the Constitutions of 
 Churches, neither (hall I enter into an invidi- 
 ous Comparifon here between the Circumstances 
 of this Church and the Church of England. — 
 Let rjiem fight that Quarrel out With the Pen 
 d.klliix by thfmtelves. fending 
 
M 3 
 
 But this, I believe, I may challeage the Na- 
 tions for, in the Name of the Church, of Scot* 
 land, That as to obeying their Conftitution, as to 
 preferving the Purity of Do&rine and Worfhip, 
 as to enadring good Laws, and maintaining a 
 ftrift Obfervance of them, no Body of Men in 
 the World come np to them. 
 
 I know the Church of England have Canons 
 and Injunctions, which when People defend her, 
 they argue from *, and thofe Canons and Injuncti- 
 ons are far lefs liable to Objection, than thofe 
 who only guefs by her Pra&ice, may imagine : 
 For, when they come to examine how her Mini- 
 fters obey thofe Canons, and how they are pu- 
 niflVd when they break them, Hie labor, hoc o- 
 fusj This is the raoft monftrous thing in the 
 World, and confirms what wasfaid by a Divine 
 of the Church of England, (viz.) That no Nati- 
 on or Church, in thefe Parts of the World, 
 have fo good Laws fo ill regarded as they (a). 
 
 Nor fhall 1 exam in here whence a Thing Co 
 juftly fcandalous to the Church of England pro- 
 ceeds \ 'tis not the Work of this Piece, in which 
 the State of the Church of Scotland, not of the 
 Church of England, is my Theme : But when 
 I have (hewn therein the Advantages, which the 
 Church of Scotland reaps by a Strictnefs of Dis- 
 cipline, peculiar to her felf 5 and that Difcipline 
 exadly executed in every Part \ and how by 
 this fhe feems qualified to be the Church in the 
 World, the harden: to be invaded by Errors and 
 Schifms, and perfectly invulnerable by Herefies 
 and Corruptions, we muft be very blind in En- 
 gland, if we do not fee, that the Slacknefsand 
 
 B 2 Re- 
 
 Car) See Dr. EdwardV Testimony to the Difc/plinc of th* 
 Church of Scotland, in hi; Sermon on the Union. 
 
Rcmiinefs in Diicipline is the only Door at 
 which all the notorious Errors and Herefies, 
 now fwarming in the Englijl) Church, are crept 
 ia \ fuch as Arianifm,Socinianifm, Arminianifm, 
 ^cepticifm, Atheifm, Deifm, and the new ridi- 
 culous Corruptions, Notions, and Novelties of 
 Dodwclly Coward, Afgill, and others, who call 
 themfelvcs of the Church of England, and are 
 daily filling the World with Abfurditics in Re- 
 ligion, not fit to be fnffered in a Proteftant 
 Church or Government. 
 
 Did the Convocation of the Church of En- 
 gland do their Duty, who often times fit long, 
 and do little ^ did they, in Time, check the 
 Growth of thefe Things j did they call in the 
 Aid of the Civil Authority, to curb the Exor- 
 bitance of the Prefs, and exercile their Ecclell- 
 aftick Authority in that of the Pulpit , in fhort, 
 were they as exact in their Difcipline, as grave 
 in their Ccnfures, and as Uriel in the Purfuit of 
 fuch Things as the Church of Scotland, Errors 
 and Ilerefies would creep, like other venomous 
 Creatures, upon the Ground, grovel in the Duft, 
 and come out but in the Dark •, fuch Crimes 
 would be a^tcd as Crimes, and the Guilty would 
 hide themielves, 4ike Adam, among the Bufhes ; 
 and not bully Religion, and affront God Al- 
 mighty to his Face \ laugh at Church Difcipline, 
 and banter Civil Juftice as now they do every Day. 
 
 But in Scotland, I take upon me with Boldnefsto 
 allure the World, it is not fo-, no Error broach- 
 ed, lies brooding like hot Embers laid among 
 dry Buildings, neglected till it fets all in a 
 Flume : No ignorant Perfon can gain Admit- 
 tance to, no immoral Perfon obtain Connivance 
 in the Pulpit} no Error there efcapes Cenfure, 
 nO Cenfure dies there for Want of Profecution. 
 
 If 
 
m 
 
 If any Breach be made, the Church Judicatories 
 never fail to keep it in the Hated Forms of 
 Proceeding, where it cannot fleep \ the guilty 
 Perfon muft be brought either to Repentance 
 or to Punifhment. 
 
 If there is any Breach in this Order, any 
 Stop in the free Exercife of their Authority, or 
 any Interruption to the full Extent of the 
 Church's Power in Cenfure, it proceeds either 
 ( i .) from the exorbitant Power of the Gentry and 
 Nobility, who, often efpecially when their own 
 Guilt is the Queftion, ftand out to Extremity 
 againft Church-Cenfures, and think them'"dves 
 too great for the Authority of the Eccleiiaftiek 
 
 Judicatories Or (2.), from the Loofenefs of 
 
 the Epifcopal DifTenters, who, as they feparate 
 in Worfhip, fo they would be underftood to 
 be excufed from Difcipline. -— Of both which 
 I fhall fpeak at large in their Place, and only 
 note it here, That even in both thefe Cafes, there 
 are Inftances wherein the higheft and molt ob- 
 ftinate have thought fit to fubmit to the Difci- 
 pline of the Church, either convine'd of its 
 Juftice, or loath to have the juft Reproach of 
 
 the Oppofition entailed upon their Pofterity 
 
 In which Cafe Scotland is not without Inftances, 
 where her Noblemen have accepted a Rebuke 
 for the Breaches of their Morals in the open 
 
 Congregation But of all this I fhall be more 
 
 particular in its Place. 
 
 » In thefe Judicatories the admirable Order of 
 Proceeding is fuch, that it feems impoflible any 
 Man can be oppreft •, for he is able to appeal 
 fo often, the Caufe fhall be heard fo often, and 
 by fuch different Judges, that he cannot fail of 
 Juftice. On the other Hand, the Subordination 
 of Judicatories is fuch, and the Proceedings fo 
 
 B 3 nice- 
 
161 
 
 nicely accounted for by the Kirk-Seflions to the 
 Presbyteries, by the Presbyteries to the Pro- 
 vincial Synods, and by the Synods to the Gene- 
 ral Aflemblies, that there can no Miftake pafs 
 unobferved, no Complaint can pafs unheard, no 
 Grievance unrectified.- 
 
 I mall not infill: qn the Particulars here, be- 
 caufe I fhall give it at large in the Scheme I pur- 
 pofe to draw of the State of thefe Judicatories 
 jn this Church } to which I refer. 
 
 But what I am upon here is, that by this 
 Means you have the few eft Breaches made upon 
 this Church by the Defection or Degeneracy of 
 either Minifters or People, among themfelves, of 
 any Church in the World •, and this, I believe, 
 will very remarkably appear in the fubfequent 
 Sheets. 
 
 To give a true and concife Scheme of the State 
 of this Church, it will be needful to go back to 
 its original Confutation, which I fhall only a- 
 bridge, and take no more of it, than is needful to 
 hand down a right Underftanding of its Cir- 
 cum fiances to the prefent Time. And this is 
 the Deilgn of thefe Memoirs, 
 % It began to reform from Popery in the Year 
 1557, being fome time before the Reformation in 
 England. Not but that the Seeds of the Proteftant 
 Religion were fown, and the Proteftant Doctrine 
 fpread very far in private even before that - 7 as 
 may appear by the feveral Confeflbrs for the 
 Truth, who were put to Death under the Ad- 
 miniftration of the Queen-Regent, by the Afli- 
 ftance and particular Fury of the Cardinal Be- 
 ton, of which prefently. 
 
 But this will be farther evident by entring into 
 an Examination of Matters in England. For after 
 the Death of James V, Henry VIII, K. ol England, 
 
 fend- 
 
f 7] 
 
 fending Ambafladors openly to treat of a Mar- 
 riage (b) for his Son, with the Queen of Scotland, 
 the fa id Treaty and Marriage being pro po fed in 
 Parliament, was fo openly contradicted by the 
 Priefts in general, with the Queen Dowager, 
 a French Woman, and Cardinal Bet on at the 
 Head of them, that the Cardinal was confined 
 till the Queftion was put in the Parliament. 
 
 And tho* when the Cardinal was thus remo- 
 ved, the Matter was foon concluded, yet the 
 Cardinal making his Efcape out of Prifon, he 
 and the Popifh Faction fo ordered Affairs that 
 the Articles could never be executed, nor the 
 Hoftages, agreed on, obtained. 
 
 A cruel War followed on this, the King of 
 England refenting all tbefe Indignities : Which 
 War, and the Calamities it brought with it, to- 
 gether with the Confufions in the Regency of 
 the Earl of Artkn^ occafioned by the Policy 
 and Cruelty of the Cardinal Beton, gave the Peo- 
 ple a greater Liberty than otherwife they would 
 have had \ fo that the Proteftant Religion, then 
 particularly called Lutherxnifm, got a great deal 
 of Ground \ and not only wire the common Peo- 
 ple enclined to it, but a great many of the No- 
 bility and Gentry of Scotland favoured the Re- 
 formation : Kay, fo far had it obtained, that 
 fome Towns began to own it in Bulk : And Bu- 
 chanan records it, and from him I hand it 
 down to Pofteriry for the particular Honour of 
 the Town of Dundee, that they were the only 
 Town in Scotland that was then addicted to the 
 
 B 4 (0 Pro- 
 
 (b) King Hen. VIII. font Ja. pi Bods, &c. See Buch. I'd 
 14.. fol. 63. 
 
(c) Protefhnt Religion : Or, which the Senfe 
 will very well bear if the Riftory of the Time 
 be examined, the Town of Dundee was the firft 
 Proteftant Town in Scotland, and therefore the 
 Cardinal would not venture to receive the Earl 
 of Rothes and Patrick Gray, who, it feems, fa- 
 voured the Reformation, in that Town, but 
 fled to Perth. „ 
 
 This was the Time when, at Perth, they burnt 
 a Woman and her Infant, becaufe flie would 
 not call on the Virgin- Mary when (he was in 
 Travel. — And having vowed the Deftru&ion 
 of the Reformed, they came to Dundee, to fearch 
 for fuch as read the New Teflament : And then 
 it was that they raifed (d) a Report among the 
 poor People, that the New Teftament was writ- 
 ten by Luther, and therefore to be rejected as 
 an heretical Book. But, it feems, the honeft 
 People of Dundee, like true Bereans, enquired 
 farther into the Matter, and have retained their 
 better Knowledge to this Day. 
 
 That the Popifh Clergy apprehended a general 
 Revolution in the Affairs of Religion, and faw 
 a ftrong Inclination to that Change in the Peo- 
 ple, was apparent from their Vigilance and 
 Subtilty in rejecting the Offer of an Intermar- 
 riage with England, fir It made by King Henrv 
 VtTI, in the Time of James V of Scotland, and 
 afterwards their running headlong into a War 
 
 with 
 
 (e) Buch. lib. i<j.fol. i r .f.' — Sed Car dinalis,p arum tutun 
 ratus duo? Homines nobiles, & faEiiofos, dr be ne Comitatos in 
 opidum rccipere.nnumiTtffauratte religioni addicJ/JJimum, egit cum 
 prorcge, ui i'ertham rediret. 
 
 (d) t 'a?i:aj;erat Ccva'taf, ut Sacerdotum pleriq\ conrenderent, 
 Ni vum Tefiamentum nuper a Martino Luthero fuijfe fcriptu?n. 
 Void. Fol. 157, 
 
Cofl 
 
 with England, rafher than confent to match' 
 their Queen, then an Infant, to Prince Edward, 
 afterwards Edward VI, King of England. The true 
 Reafon of which appeared to be, lead the Engliflj 
 Reformation mould be impofed upon them. 
 
 This Obftinacy was fo great, as that had 
 the Engliflj purfued their Delign with Force, 
 after the Battle at Pinky, they might have 
 ruined Scotland very much, their Queen be- 
 ing a Child, and the Nobility much divided 
 among themfelves — And yet the Scots, tho' 
 their Army was overthrown, and their Coun- 
 try over-run by the Engliflj, rejected the Match, 
 and privily conveyed their young Queen into 
 France. And all this for fear of a Reformation. 
 This was all from the Subtilty of the Popifh 
 Clergy, as is evident through the whole Courfe of 
 the Hiftories of thofe Times. . — The Priefts had in 
 vain oppofed the growing Reformation with the 
 nnprevailing Remedies of Fire and Faggot : The 
 burning of Patrick Hamilton, at St. Andrews •, a 
 Gentleman of noble Extract, was rather a Help 
 than a Hindrance to the Reformation •, of whom 
 George Buchanan fays, he dy'd by the (e) Con [pira- 
 cy of the Priefts. And the Story of the Domini- 
 can Friar, whom he having convinc'd of the 
 Truth of his Doftrine, afterwards betrayed him, 
 and witneiTed againft him, is very remarkable : 
 For when Patrick Hamilton, at his Death, appeal- 
 ed to his Confcience that he believ'd, and was 
 convine'd of the Truth of what he peiTecuted 
 
 him 
 
 (e) Buchanan, rerum Scoticarum, lib. z+.fol. 146. E» 
 quoq; anno, Patricius Hamiltonius e Johannis Uucis Alba- 
 ni ibrore , ex fratre Comitis Araniac, narus, Jwoenis ingenio 
 fi.mmo & eraditiQne fingidari, conjuration? Saeerdotum ofprefius, 
 ad Fanum Andrea vivus eft crcmatus. 
 
f »o J 
 
 him for, the Friar, ftruck with the Convi&ioa, 
 
 ran diftra&ed immediately, and died mad 
 
 This, fays the fame Author//), much terrified 
 the Minds of the. People. 
 
 Afterwards in the Year 1 539, Five more were 
 burnt at St. Andrews, many perfecuted to Ba- 
 r;ifhment,and ibme recinted. Among the Banifh- 
 ed (g) George Buchanan fays himfelf was one,. 
 but that he made his Efcape out of Prifon. 
 
 How the Priefts managed King James the V, a 
 Prince, as Buchanan fays (7^, naturally fuperftiti- 
 ous 5 how they corrupted his Courtiers, how 
 they flattered him on the giving to them the 
 Books fent him by the King of England ; how 
 they, by the meer Force of Money, prevailed 
 upon him firfl to delay, and afterwards to break 
 off the Enterview appointed between him and 
 the King of England, and how all this was for 
 Fear of the growing Reformation in England, 
 and the introducing it in Scotland, is fo plain in 
 Hiftory, that I need only refer the Readers to 
 the Particulars which they will find in Colder- 
 wood, Spotfwood, and Buchanan, the laft of whom, 
 (viz.) Buchanan, fpeaks it plainly, that the Priefts 
 (r) had this in their View. __A nc * 
 
 (f) Ibid. Anlmos Hominum conterruit Alexandri CambelU 
 Mors. 
 
 See the Story in Buchanan, fot. 146. Is erat e Socklitio 
 Domini canorum • ■■-■ • ■ ■ • to mortem obiit ■ 
 
 (g) Buch. lib. 14. fol. 15 c. Initio anni proximi qui fuit 
 M. D. xxxix, Lutheranifmi fufpecii complures capti funt. Sub 
 fincm Februarii ; quinque Cremati: Novcm recant arttnt : Com- 
 f lures exilic damnati. In his fuit Georgius Buchananus, qui 
 fopitis cujlodibus per cubiculi fencftram evaferat. 
 
 {h) His vclut machinis admotis cum regis animttm fuperfliti- 
 onilus obno-Mum labefaclajfent, turn corruptis, qui flurimum po- 
 tcrant aulicis, magnam per eos regi pecuniae r wi?npolliciti 1 penitus 
 eum a colloquio anjerterunt, Ibid. /o/. 149. 
 
 (7) Demum Sacerdetes, qui pro aris ac focis fibi certandum vi- 
 debant, Jacobs m Betonium Fani Andre* Achiepifcop-um & 
 
 Geor- 
 
Cm ] 
 
 And yet in all this, Scotland had an unfore- 
 feen Advantage, vHl* That having been obli- 
 ged, by thefe things, to defer the Reformation, I 
 mean, as a publick A&ion -, they had Leifure 
 thereby to fee the Defe&s of the E-aglijh Refor- 
 mation, which happened in the mean time, and 
 going a Step farther, to leave out fome Things 
 which the Englifl) retained \ and which, by the 
 Error of the Times, got fuch deep Root there, 
 as never to be altered to this Day : Such as the 
 Supremacy, prefcribed Rites and Ceremonies, 
 and which they efteem'd alfo a Defed, Epf- 
 copacy : Which Things, as they began now 
 to be objected againft in England by feveral of 
 the bell and moft eminent for Piety in the firft 
 Reformation, fo they obtained not at all in 
 Scotland, but John Knox, whom, for this, I 
 think I may call the Father of the Church of 
 Scotland, going over to Geneva, and there con- 
 ferring with the moft eminent Proteftant Di- 
 vines concerning the Model of Church Govern- 
 ment, which ihould be moft agreeable to Scri- 
 pture-lnftitution, he brought over the Figure of a 
 Church as to Worfhip, Difcipline, and Govern- 
 ment, the fame which we find now eftabliflrd. 
 It would be too long a Work for thefe Me- 
 moirs to Rt down here the Beginning, Progrefs, 
 Manner, and I flue of the firft Reformation: It 
 may be fufficient to note here the Heads of it, 
 and withal, the different Manner of it from that 
 in England, which produced that Effect mention- 
 ed above, viz.. a differing Form of Settlement. 
 
 In 
 
 Georgium Crichtonium Caledonia Epifcopum, feres mi'*U- 
 dos, ad aulc.m pertraxtrantj fremere religionem, hoc cwgn/fu 
 prodij &C. lbid./o/. 149* 
 
r I* j 
 
 In Err_ll*tid the Reformation, as to the Settle- 
 ment of it, began in the Crown, the feveral 
 Kings put the firft Hand to it : As i . King Hen- 
 ry VIII, by dethroning the Pope's Supremacy, 
 demolifhiiig the religious Houfes, forbidding 
 Appeals to Rome, and the like. 2. King Edward 
 VI, by a general Overthrow of all the Popifh 
 Hierarchy, cafting their Images out of the 
 Churches, their Mafs, and all their Romijh 
 Innovations out of their Worfhip, dethroning 
 their whole Authority, and rooting out the 
 Remains of their Ceremonies from the Nation. 
 
 But this had two Effects. 
 # 1. That when King Henry VIII abolifh'd the 
 Pope's Supremacy, his Principle at that time be- 
 ing rather Politick than Religious, he fet his 
 own Authority up in the ftead of it, calling him- 
 felf fupream Head of the Church in all Things, 
 whether Ecclefiaftical or Civil * 7 a Thing fince 
 made very ill ufe of, andimprov'd to a Tyran- 
 ny, which neither in the Divine or Humane 
 Original of it could find any legal Foundation. 
 
 2. That when King Edward reje&ed the Pon- 
 tificate of Rome, he yet erefted a Proteftant 
 Pontificate in its ftead, which being foon oppo- 
 fed by fome of the mod eminent for Piety and 
 Wifdom in the Reformation, quickly begot a 
 Divifion in the Church, which has fince been 
 carried on to that Heighth,and encreafedto the 
 Magnitude which we fee this Day. 
 
 3- King Edward, and the firft Reformers, 
 when they came to the Matters of Worfhip, did 
 not wholly deftroy the Model, but reform'd it 
 only \ and tho' I am willing to believe they, to 
 the Extent of their Light, honeftly defign'd to 
 leave out all that was fuperftitious and idola* 
 trous iq the former, and did really believe it 
 
 was 
 
im 3 
 
 was fo *, yet they thought themfelves obliged to 
 retain a Similitude of Form. 
 k Nor do we fince fo much object againft the 
 Form, lefs againft a Form in general \ but a- 
 gainft prefcribing that Form as a Term of Com- 
 munion. 
 
 Thefe are the Three Heads which have fl nee 
 caufed fo much Difpute in England, made un- 
 happy Breaches in the common Charity, and 
 rifen up to fuch large Divilions as we fee at 
 this Day. 
 
 But to return to the Scots, their Reformation 
 began quite in another Manner. — The Know- 
 ledge of the Scriptures began the firft Step to it, 
 and the Englifh Bible got in among the People ve- 
 ry quickly : Some eminent, for Learning, even 
 among the Popifh Zealots, began to be enlight- 
 ed by the Reading the Word of God : And as 
 Knowledge is naturally diffuilve, fo this Kind, 
 having an invifible Inftructor to fecond it, I 
 mean the holy Spirit of God, fpread fecretly, 
 but fwiftly, through the Nation. 
 
 Among thofe, whom it plcafed God to make 
 ufe of as the firft Jnftruments in this glorious 
 Work, was George IVifljart, and feveral others, 
 who became eminent: TThey were bold and fteady 
 Preachers of the Reformation, and the People, 
 of all forts became fo addicled to the Proteftant 
 Religion, by their Inftru&ion, that after the Re- 
 gent, by the Inftigation of Cardinal Beton, had 
 confented to the Martyrdom of that great 
 and good Man Mr. Wifiart, Buchanan tells us the 
 whole Nation began to (k) to difrelifh his Go- 
 vernment. 'Tvvould 
 
 (±) Buch. lib. \<$.fol. 163. Ob hanc imperitlam Rcgni ge- 
 "tndi ftotiuftj'y vita fegnitiem y cu?n animus etiam vulgi proreaf 
 
 offen* 
 
[ M 3 ! 
 
 Twonld be endlefs to recite the Names, 
 Lives, and Death of the many Preachers who, 
 at firft, with the extremeft Hazard, and with a 
 Conftancy, even to Martyrdom, fpread the 
 reformed Dodtxines through Scotland. It fuf- 
 fices to note, that in a few Years it had fuch Suc- 
 cefs, that in general the whole Kingdom feem- 
 ed to be touch'd with the Senfe of the true 
 Religion, and not the common People only, but 
 the Nobility and Gentry embraced it with great 
 Zeal, Eagernefs, and Refolution ; and in this 
 Cafe the Affairs of the Church of Scotland flood, 
 when the Regent was perfuaded by the French 
 Court to demit, and to refign his Government 
 into the Hands of the Queen Mother 
 
 This Lady being wholly French, and a&ed by 
 their Counfels, fet her felf with more Heat, than 
 Difcretion, to fupprefs the reformed Religion, 
 and, as fiie flattered her [elf, to extirpate the Begin- 
 nings of it out of Scotland - but fhe found her 
 felf miftaken, it was now too late *, the Thing 
 had taken too deep Root in the Hearts of the 
 People for her to mafter it. 
 
 However, for Two Years, Matters of Re- 
 ligion ilept, the Queen being married to 
 the Dauphin of France, the Regent taken up 
 by a War with England: And the Clergy, 
 tho' cruel and bloody enough, yet being baulk- 
 ed by the Murther of Cardinal Beton, (who was 
 flain in his Bed-Chamber, as George IVifiart had 
 
 pre- 
 
 effendiffet t turn ob alia indies fiebat vilior : Pracipue poft fublatum 
 Georgium Sophocardium, maxima parte homi?jum fecutas calami- 
 tates in rcligione vertcnte : Sed iis maxim* ?, qui non modo puri- 
 tatmn doBrina & <vit<e tortus rnoderationem in Georgio fufpi- 
 ciebavt : Sed qui mult is <& ejus njeracijjimis predittionibus per-* 
 fuafi vim futuri perfpiciendi divinitus ei inditam credebant. 
 
f 1*3 
 
 predicted, and caft out of a Window by Norman 
 Lejley, Son to the Earl of Rothes, and his Follow- 
 ers) they wanted a Head to profecute the Refor- 
 mers to Blood, and a Power to protect hern in it. 
 
 All this while the Reformed held their pri- 
 vate AITemblies, where they had their Worfhip 
 in their own Language, and had frequent Con- 
 ferences upon religious Matters \ for as yet they 
 had no publick Preaching : However, by this 
 Means the Work of Reformatiori ftill fpead it 
 felf, and took deep Root in the Nation. 
 
 The firfl popular Difcovery this made in the 
 Minds of the Commonality was, in the City 
 of Edenburgh, when the Shrine of St. Giles, the 
 Patron of that City, was robbed of its Relicks, 
 which they had in fo much Veneration. 
 
 The i fi of September, it feems, was the Fe- 
 flival of this tutelar Saint, when his Image was 
 to be carried in Proceffion about the City, and 
 the Queen Regent refolved to be prefent at the 
 Solemnity : But when they came to look for the 
 Saint, he was pleafed to fufrer himfelf to be fto- 
 len away, to the great Confufion of the Clergy, 
 who had pleafed themfelves with the Expectati- 
 on of the Proceffion, and the Honour done them 
 by the Regent to grace the Show. 
 
 However, to make up the Matter as well as 
 they could, they made another Image to fet in 
 the Pageant, and began their Proceffion in the 
 ufoal Form. — After the Show had palled the 
 principal Parts of the City, and the Queen Re- 
 gent was retired, the Mob rofe upon the Prieils, 
 and put an End to their Pageantry : For they 
 pulled St. Giles out of his Throne, which was 
 erected on the Shoulders of the Priefts, threw 
 his Saintfhip into the Dirt, and in fhort, the fa- 
 cred Image fuffcred immediate Martyrdom. But 
 
 the 
 
the Priefts had no Mind to die with their Deity ; 
 for they fled every Man as he could. LI And yet 
 this they need not have done, for the Rabble of- 
 fered no Body any Injury but the wooden Idol, 
 which they broke all to pieces, and fo departed. 
 
 This, however, might give the Regent a Tafte 
 of what Pofture the Affairs of Religion were 
 in, if fhe had pleafed to have taken Notice of it. 
 However, fhe countenanced the Priefls to go on 
 with all the •perfecu ting Methods they could, 
 tho' every where they met with Infults, Slights, 
 and Contempt from the People: As particularly 
 when citing Paul Mejfen of Dundee before them, 
 and he not appearing, was intercommoned ; that 
 is, every one was forbid to harbour, or relieve 
 him, or converfe with him, on fevere Penalties: 
 which yet the brave Citizens of Dundee open- 
 ly difregarded, and protected him, entertained 
 him in their Houfes, and fued to the Regent to 
 remit his Banifhment. 
 
 But things were now coming to a greater 
 Height } for the AfTerters of the reformed 
 Religion refolved not to bear any longer the 
 Opprefftons and Invafions of the Clergy, but to 
 demand their Liberty in a different Manner 
 from what had formerly been done. 
 
 They had calculated their Right fi'rflr, and 
 then their Strength : They found that if they 
 were proceeded againft by Law, they could not 
 be hurt, for they had offended no Law } and it 
 their Enemies had recourfe to Arms, they were 
 more numerous than they, and would defend 
 themfelves. Upon thefe Refolutions, feveral 
 were fent abroad by their Brethren to concert 
 Meafures, and to form themfelves into fome- 
 thing of a Body. 
 
 Thefe 
 
f 17] 
 
 * Thefe were eminent Perfons, as tucbottan (*) 
 obferves, which may ferve to anfvver thofe who 
 alledge, that the Reformation in Scotland was 
 the Effeft only of the Fury of the Rabble.—. 
 They went federally, to the remoteft Parts of 
 the Kingdom (fr), moving the Gentlemen and 
 Towns to adhere to the mutual Defence of Re- 
 ligion, and to ftand by one another. 
 
 Thefe carried with them (c) Tables, as Bu- 
 chanan calls them \ for thofe that were willing to 
 join with them, to fubferibe their Names. I 
 take this to be fomething in the Nature of an 
 (d) Aflbciation, for their mutual Defence, in 
 cafe they fhould meet with any more Violences, 
 as they were fure to do. And to this was added 
 the AiTurance, as it was call'd, which fome call'd 
 the firft Covenant, and is as follows : 
 
 The fr/l Covenant of Scotland, 1557. 
 
 e \lij E perceiving how Sathan in his Mem- 
 c V V bers, the Antichrifts of our Time, cm- 
 
 ' elly does rage, feekin? to overthrow and deftroy 
 1 the Gofpel of Chrilt, and his Congregation, 
 ' ought, according to our bounden Duty, to ftrive 
 c in our Mailer's Caufe, evrn unto the Death, 
 € being certain of the Viclory in him : The which 
 
 C c our 
 
 (a) Buchan. lib. \6.fol. i6j. Infer bac qui dam viri nobi- 
 les e Fifa maxime & Angufia, ac aliquot opidorum elves H/ujlri- 
 ores. 
 
 (b) In omnes Scotia prafeBuras difperfi hortabantur univerfos 
 ut Jinceram divina legis fr<edicarionem amarent, Ibid. fol. 167. 
 
 (c) Quibus hac placcrent Tabulas ea de te confetlas quibut 
 fubfcrlbcrent ojferunt. lb. folio utfupra. 
 
 (d) John Knox in his H'ftory of the Reformation, calls it, in 
 his marginal Note, The firft Covenant of Scotland, and gives 
 the Copy of it, lib. x. p. no but I conceive it was not pyperly 
 fo called; for that the Covenant was not formed u'llfme time af- 
 ter, and this was therefore only called a common Bond. 
 
[ i8] 
 
 our Duty being well confidered, we do promife* 
 before the Majefty of God, and his Congrega- 
 
 * tion,that we (by his Grace) (hall with all Dili- 
 
 * gence continually apply our whole Power, Sub- 
 
 4 fiance, and our very Lives, to maintain, fet 
 J forward, and eftablifh the molt blefled Word 
 c of God and his Congregation : And fhall labour 
 *. according to our Power to have faithful Mini- 
 
 * Iters, truly and purely to minifter Chrift's Gof- 
 < pel and Sacraments to his People. We fhall 
 c maintain them, nourifh them, and defend them, 
 f the whole Congregation of Chrift, and every 
 c Member thereof according to our whole Powers, 
 \ and waging of our Lives, againft Sathan and 
 
 5 all wicked Power that doth intend Tyranny or 
 c Trouble againft theforefaid Congregation. Un- 
 c to the which holy Word and Congregation, we 
 c do join us , and fodo forfake and renounce the 
 c Congregation of Sathan, with all the fuperftiti- 
 1 ous Abomination and 'Idolatry thereof. And 
 
 * moreover, fhall declare our felves manifeftly 
 c Enemies thereto, by this our faithful Promife 
 c before God, teflified to this Congregation, by 
 c ourSubfcription of thefe prefents. At Edin- 
 € burgh the Third of December, mno 1557. God 
 c called to witnefs. Sic fubicribitur 
 
 A. Earle of Argyle. Archibald, Ld. of Lome* 
 Glencdrne. John Erskine of Dun 7 
 
 Mortoun- Et catera. 
 
 Soon after this they fent their Propofals to 
 the Queen Regent by Sir James SandeUnds of Cal~ 
 der, which contained in fhort thefe Particulars. 
 
 1. cc That the Worfhip of God, Prayers and 
 " Sacraments might be had in the vulgar Tongue. 
 
 2^ " That fcaiidalous Minifters might be re- 
 rf rfioVfl. 3. 4C That 
 
Cl 9 J 
 
 3. cc That the People might have the Choice 
 u of their own Ministers. " 
 
 This was called the Oration and Petition of 
 the Proteftants of Scotland to the Queen Regent, 
 and is at length printed in the faidHiftory of the 
 Reformation, lib. 2. p. 127, 128, 129. But is 
 too long to recite here. 
 
 The Parliament foon after this fat down, 
 which was in December Anno 1558, and the 
 Reformers prefented a Letter to them a lib, 
 including their Requefts, and annexed to it a 
 folemn Proteftation, which they demanded to 
 be regiftred at the fame Time that they deliver- 
 ed it. 
 
 The Regent's Anfwer to this Proteftation 
 was mild, and fuch as deceived the Reformers 
 for a while : Her Anfwer was thus — Me will 
 remember what is protefi. Me fal put good Order in 
 all thing that now controverfe. Note, the Regent 
 was a French Woman, and fpoke broken £«- 
 glifi. > %^ 
 
 The Regent all this while dealt cautioufly and 
 fubtilly ; for (he guefs'd wifely that the People 
 who durft make thefe Demands, mult have 
 fome Profpeft of Power to fupport them *, and 
 flie dreaded the Tumults of the Rabble : She 
 therefore confented, in Shew, to fome things, as 
 particularly, to let them have their Worfhip in 
 the vulgar Tongue, on Condition it fhould be 
 without Tumult, and that they fhould not preach 
 publickly in Leith or Edinburgh. 
 
 For fome time, it feems, the Reformed con- 
 tented themfelves with this, and kept the In- 
 junctions of the Regent exaftly, but the Priefts 
 were furious, to the laft Degree, at thefe things, 
 and made all poffible Oppofition, till at laft 
 they drove thines to the Extremities which 
 
 y * C 2 fol- 
 
followed, and pav'd the Way for their own 
 Overthrow. 
 
 They held their Meetings to confult for the 
 Suppre fling the Reformed, and had all the Af- 
 fiftance underhand that the Queen Regent could 
 give them •, but fhe ftill carried it fair to the 
 Reformers, and anfwered them mildly, lead- 
 ing them on in Hopes. 
 
 At la ft fhe threw off the Mask, and openly 
 profeft her Reiblution to deftroy them ; that 
 fhe would not fuffer the Majefty of the Govern- 
 ment to be debafed, but would reftore it to 
 its ancient Veneration by fome remarkable 
 Thing. 
 
 I am content to acknowledge I follow Bu- 
 chanan in thefe Notes upon the Affairs of thofe 
 Days; becaufe tho' other Hiftorians are more 
 particular than he, yet the Enemies of the 
 Reformation are not without Objections againft 
 the Reputation of their Writings, whereas Bu- 
 chanan's Reputation, as an Hiilorian, is unque- 
 stioned, even by his greateir Enemies. I find 
 them alfo all agree, in Sub fiance, with him. 
 lie is alfo concife, and more pertinent than 
 fome of them *, and all Sides acknowledge him to 
 beauthcntick and faithful. But this by the Way. 
 
 The Queen, as I have noted, dealt for a while 
 mildly with the Reformers, but it lafted not 
 long } for they were obliged to come to a Point 
 with her j And therefore not to be wanting to 
 themfelves, as well as at the fame Time to be- 
 have decently to the Regent, they fent the Earl 
 of Clencairn^ Hugh Camjbe/l, Sheriff of Air s and 
 others, to entreat her favourable Anfwer to 
 their Deilres. 
 
 The Queen Regenf, now calling off the 
 Mask, gave her Paffion a full Vent, and told 
 
 them 
 
Cxi 1 
 
 them (<•), in fo many Words, they had nothing 
 to exped from her — -They calmly reminded 
 her of her Promifes to them, but in vain: She 
 told them in effect (/), Princes were not bound by 
 the Promifes which they were obliged to mz\e in 4fy~ 
 
 the Exigence of their J fairs The Proteftants 
 
 finding fuch Ufage as this, and knowing as well 
 what they were to expeft, as their own Strength 
 to refill it, boldly defyed her, and told her to 
 her Face (g), that they then renounced all Obe- 
 dience to her, and advifed her to confider the 
 Confequences of it. 
 
 Now the Fire was kindled, and the Flame be- 
 gan to burn out, and tho' the Queen Regent was 
 rather enraged by their Boldnefs than made 
 thoughtful, yet fhe foon found the Differences 
 of Things i fhe found her Authority to de- 
 creafe, and her Commands every where flight- 
 ed : For Examj>le y fhe commanded the Prqvoft of 
 St. Jobnfton, now called Perth, to fupprefs the 
 Innovation of Religion there •, he anfwered, that 
 he had no^ Dominion over their Confc'unces : She 
 commanded the Sheriff of Dundee to fend Paul 
 Mefen, their Proteftant Mi nifter, bound to her, 
 inflead of which the Sheriff fent to Mr. Mefe??> 
 to tell him, that he might fecure hiinfdf: She 
 wrote to the Neighbour Aflemblies, to obferve 
 
 C 3 Eaficr 
 
 (e) Buchan. lib- i6.fol. 168. Ibi no?i ft pot nit covtimre, qn : n 
 *vocem impictatis teftem prof under et, Invitis, iwjuit, vobifyVe- 
 
 ftrifque mini fir is ifti, etji paulo Jirtcerius concionabtintur, to* 
 mtn exulabunt. 
 
 (f) Rffpondit, fidem promijfomm a principibus exigendav., 
 quatenus earn pr<ejlarc commodum eisvidcrttur. lb. 
 
 (g) j4d h£C illi fubjccerimty Se ergo ornne obfcquiuyn&- parens 
 di necejjitatem ei renunciare, a'que pramomicriini t quantum '?;- 
 eommodorurn ejfit ab hoc fonts Emanaturum lb. 
 
Eafier as ufnal, after the Roman way, but not 
 one of them obeyed her. 
 
 Upon this fhe cited all the Minifters of Scot- 
 land to appear at Stirling, on the 1 oth of May 
 1559} but they came there with fuch Atten- 
 dants, and fo numerous, tho unarmed; that it fright- 
 ed the Regent out of her Defign, and made her 
 entreat John Ereskinc of Dun, a Lover of the 
 Religion, and that could influence them by him- 
 felf, that he would difperfe the People, giving 
 her Promife at the fame Time to ac\ Nothing 
 
 againft the Reformers But fee the Faith kept 
 
 at that Time with Proteftants : As foon as on 
 thofe Promifes the honelt Men were returned 
 home, fhe held the Meeting intended, called over 
 the Names, and outlawed thofe that were ab- 
 fent for Contempt. 
 
 The Nobility and Gentry affembled with the 
 Minifters, finding in what Manner they were 
 to be ufed, that the Queen was wholly beut 
 for their DeftrucYion, and neither to be bound 
 by Promifes, or any other Obligation, and that 
 their Ruin was abfoiutel^ determined, prepared 
 for Force, refolving to defend themfelves. 
 
 And now began the Fury of the People to 
 break out a little beyond the Bounds which the 
 better fort defigned \ for the Mob at Perth, fays 
 Buchanan, on Mr. John Knox^s preaching a Sermon 
 to them againft Idolatry, took Fire at the Hint, 
 and immediately fell to breaking down the L 
 mages in all the Churches and Monafteries at 
 Perth. Other Hiftorians fay, This was upon 
 the laird of Duns giving them an Account of 
 the Falfiiocd and Injuftice of the Queen to the 
 Minifters at the Meeting at Sterling, and give 
 a very particular Account, introduced thus : 
 * The Laird of Dun, coining to St. Jobn- 
 
 « fion, 
 
f M 1 
 
 f Johnftofi, expofed the Cafe even as it was, and 
 c did conceal nothing of the Queen's Craft and 
 c Falfehood, which being n nder flood, the Mulri- 
 c tude was fo inflamed, that neither could the 
 c Exhortation of the Preachers, nor the Com- 
 4 mandment of the Magiflrates flay them from 
 1 deflroying the Places of Idolatry. 7 Vide Knox\ 
 Hiflory of the Reformation, Ub. l-fol. 136. Be 
 it which way it will, whether by Mr. Knox's Ser- 
 mon, who, it is true, did preach at that Time 
 againft Idolatry \ or by the Laird of ZWs giving 
 them an Account of the Queen Regent's Behavi- 
 our, this is certain, that here the demolifhing 
 of Images, &c. began j the Francifcans, Domini- 
 cans, and Carthufians were immediately pull'd 
 out of their Houfes, and all they had was plun- 
 dered and wreck'd : The [Mobility and arm'd 
 Men, with an unnfual Moderation, avoided all 
 Appearance of enriching themfelves by this 
 Work, and let the (hi) Priefts go away loaden 
 with Gold and Silver. But as for the Buildings, 
 they not only demolished them, but caufed their 
 Soldiers to carry away CO the very Stones and 
 Rubbilh ; fo that in fome Places they hardly 
 left any Remembrance of them to Poflerity. 
 
 And now the War was begun in earned 5 for 
 the breaking down of Images, and pulling 
 
 C 4 down 
 
 (h) Bucban.Iib. i6,fol. \6g. Atquc hac omnia pauper/bus 
 in pradam Cifferunt. Na?n quibu&res erat, adeo fe cent inn- 
 trunt ab omni avaritU fufpicione, tit Monachorum nmnuUos ac 
 pracipuc fmtrum Carthufienfium prafetfum, auro.atque argen- 
 tofaft* difcedere onujium permiferhit. 
 
 (:') Nee magisfuit incredi bills militctrium horainum a praeda 
 aojlinentia qitam in demolicndls tot /Edlficiis Cfleritas : Car- 
 thulienfium cnlm ades ilia laxijjima tarn prtperanterxon modo 
 dirttt<e,fed etiam export at a fueru?it, tit intra bidumn vix fun- 
 dmmtntorum vefiigia (uperiffcnt. lb. 
 
t»4 3 
 
 down Monafteries began to fpread over the 
 
 whole Country : The Town of Cowper followed 
 that of Perth, and the Friars and Ecclefiafticks 
 began every where to fhift for themfelves, all 
 the reft being appreheniive, and not without good 
 Caufe, of the fame Fate. 
 
 i The Regent, exafperated to the high eft De- 
 gree, fclemnly fwore fbe would be reveng'd on 
 the City of Perth, that (lie would have the 
 Blood of the Citizens, and burn their City 
 down to the Ground : But fhe reckon'd without 
 her Hod •, for the People let her fee how little 
 they feared her \ for that the very fame Week 
 feveral other Towns did the like.. — In order 
 therefore to put a Stop to this Sort of Work, 
 fhe raiftd an Army, and marched directly a- 
 gainft the Proteftant Nobility, who, by the way, 
 had ever fince the AfTociation, 1 mentioned be- 
 fore, been called The Lords of the CO NG RE- 
 G AT 10 N ': And the proteflants in general, as 
 then united, were called The CONGREGA- 
 TION. ; . 
 
 The Lords of the Congregation, for fo I fhall 
 now call them, far from being difcouraged at 
 the Regent's Preparations, fent Mefiengersto all 
 their Brethren to come and Hand by what they 
 had begun, and not to defertfogood a Caufe in 
 its iaft Extremity. And this had fuch an Ef- 
 fect, that they had foon a very good Army, and 
 'tis recorded, to the Honour of the Earl of 
 GUncairn, that he brought with him ncoMen, 
 well armed, to theij^ Afiiftance. 
 
 The Queen Regent had rather more Forces 
 than the Congregation, including her French Aux* 
 Uictries, but yet (he was loth to venture a Bat- 
 tle \ but lends Two Gentlemen who were in 
 iicr Army, and who were Favourers of the Re* 
 
 formed. 
 
Cm] 
 
 formed, l to treat with them , thefe were the Lord 
 James Stuart, and Gillefyy Camfbel, and they to 
 ihew their Willingnefs to hearken to Reafon, 
 readily appointed two of their Number, viz.. A- 
 lex. Cuningham, and John Ereskine of Dun, to treat 
 with her (*). 
 
 Thefe made, lays Buchauan, a temporary A- 
 greement •, for indeed it was no more. It a- 
 mounted to a disbanding the Troops on either 
 Side, the Queen was to be admitted into Perth, 
 on her Promife not to injure any of the Towns- 
 men, her French Troops were not to come with- 
 in Three Miles of the Town, and all religious 
 Differences were to be left to the next Parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 ■ Thus the War, which was juft breaking out, 
 was feemingly ftopt for a while ; but the Queen 
 Regent kept not one of her Articles j for (he 
 brought her Frenchmen into the City, (he exerci- 
 fed all Sorts of Violence on the Citizens, and 
 fell on them by Fines at Pleafure, Change of 
 their Magi Urates, Banifhment of fome, and 
 Murther of others, and, at her Departure, left 
 a Garrifon of Mercenaries in the Town. 
 
 This Treatment of the Citizens of Perth, fi- 
 nifhed the Ruin of all the Regent's Affairs, and 
 this was the lafb Day of her Profperity -, for 
 now her Friends began to forfake her ; the Lord 
 James Stuart, and Gilefpy Campbell, after Earl of 
 Argylc, deferted her } for that having employ- 
 ed them to bring the Lords of the Congregati- 
 on to an Agreement, fhe had dilhonoured them fo 
 much in breaking her Word. The 
 
 (k) Buch. lib. \6. fol. 170. Quos ante nominavimus Ja- 
 tobum Stuartum & Gitlefpuum Cambellum ad bofte?n ?mfit. Ex 
 altera parte Alexander Qmingamiu! & Johannes Areskinus. 
 dunenfis tit 81. 
 
f *0 
 
 The fame Lord James Stuart, with the Earl of 
 Argyle, join'd thcmfelves foon after to the Congre- 
 gation (I) : The Regent thinking to revenge her 
 felfon Covofer and St. Andrews, as fhe had &&ac 
 on Perth, they raifed the Country again, and 
 fent about to all the Reformed for tielp ; nor 
 did they fail of Afliflance, for the Country came 
 in to them in great Numbers, and fo a fecond 
 Army was raifed for the Congregation, and, as 
 Buchanan obferves, they were fo enraged at the 
 perfidious dealing of the Regent, that they re- 
 folved to truft her no more, but to overcome 
 or die. 
 
 It mould be noted here, that at the breaking up 
 of the Meeting of the Lords of the Congregation at 
 Perth, when that City was yielded to the Queen 
 Regent, there was another Writing fubfcribed 
 which Mr. Knox calls the Second Covenant, and 
 was for mutual Afliftance: And to this the 
 Earl of Argyle and Lord James Stuart figned, 
 having before promifed, if the Queen broke her 
 Word to the Citizens of St. Johnfion, they 
 would join with all their Power with the Con- 
 gregation, as now they did ^ together with the 
 Lord Ruthwen, the Earl of Menteth, and Lord 
 Tullibardin. The Queen fent after them, requi- 
 ring them to return, on pain of Difpleafure ; 
 
 but 
 
 (l) ^d (os e locis propinquis magna repente accurrit multitudo 
 infenfijjimis advetfus Regent cm & ejus capias animis. Qitippe 
 cum gente infociabili,& fera helium ejfe, apitd quam equitas, jus, . 
 fas,promi(fa, fides, & juris jurandi religio tarn lenji momento 
 penderent, ut ad omnem fpei auram, & incertijfimos blandien- 
 tis fortune flatus dicla indicia, fatla infetla ejfent. Nulla* 
 in pofierum conditiones concordia audiendas nuUarn pact's, nijl 
 altera parte extintta, aut ccrte peregrinis regno exatlis, 
 fpemfuper{Jfe. Proinde fe ad vincendum. vel moriendum compa- 
 rarcni. Buchan. lib. \6 fol. 169. 
 
r*7] 
 
 but they boldly rejected her, fending her Word 
 plainly, that, with fafe Confcience, they could 
 not be partakers with her in fo manifeft Ty- 
 ranny as was by her practifed, Knox lib- 2. p. 152. 
 The Second Covenant was as follows : 
 
 The Second Covenant at Perth, 1559. 
 
 c X"Y 1559 Yeers, the" Congregations of the 
 1 Weft Country, with the Congregations of Fyfe> 
 c Perth) Bundle, Angus, Mernes, and Monroffe, be- 
 c ing convened in the Town of Perth, in the Name 
 c of Jefus Chrift, for fetting forth of his Glory, 
 
 * underftanding nothing more neceflary for the 
 c fame, than to keep a conftant Amity, Unity, 
 c and Fellowship together, according as they are 
 c commanded by God, are confederate, and be- 
 1 come bounden and obliged in the Prefence of 
 1 God, to concurre and aflift together in doing, 
 1 all Things required of God in his Scripture, 
 c that may betohisGlory jand with their whole 
 1 Powers to deftroy and put away all Things that 
 c doth Difhonour to his Name, fo that God may 
 c be truly and purely worshiped. And in cafe 
 c that any Trouble be intended againlt the faid 
 c Congregation, or any Part or Member thereof, 
 
 * the whole Congregation fhall concurre, afhft, 
 1 and convene together, to the Defence of the 
 
 * fame Congregation or Perfon troubled : And 
 
 * fhall not fpare Labours, Goods, Subftance, Bo- 
 c dies and Lives, in maintaining the Liberty of 
 f c the whole Congregation, and every Member 
 c thereof, againft whatfoever Perfon fhall intend 
 c the faid Trouble forCaufe of Religion, or any 
 c other Caufe depending thereupon, or lay to 
 ' their Charge under Pretence thereof*, although 
 
 1 it 
 
r *8 ] 
 
 € it happen to be coloured with any other out- 
 € ward Caufe. In witnefling and Teflimony of 
 c the which, the whole Congregation aforefaid 
 € have ordained and appointed the Noblemen and 
 c Perfons underwritten, to fubfcribe thefe Prefents. 
 
 Sic fubfcribitur, 
 Arch. Argyie, R. Lord Boid> Lord Wclnltrie, 
 James Steward* Mathew Campbell of Tarmganart* 
 Glencarne. 
 
 The Queen was now in Fife y marching to 
 Camper, and from thence intending to St. An- 
 drews, where the Lords having defigned to go 
 on with the Reformation, had brought Mr. John 
 Knox to preach againft Idolatry •, but the Bi- 
 ftiop, terrified with the Thoughts of Reforma- 
 tion in his Cathedral-Church, hafted thither 
 with ioo Spearmen, and came into the Town 
 the Evening before. The two Lords, and their 
 Friends, had no Soldiers, only their meer 
 Houfhold-Servants, and the Queen with her 
 Army was but 1 2 Miles off, wt. at Faulkland, 
 nor was the Town yet confirmed in the reform- 
 ed Religion, and to compleat all, the Arch-Bi- 
 fhop, who had before caufed John Knox to be 
 burnt in Effigie, fent them Word by Mr. Robert 
 Caldwell, Laird of Cleffe, That if KNOX da- 
 red to prefent himfelf to the Pre aching- PI ace in his 
 Town and Churchy he would caufe him to be faluted 
 with a Doz.cn of Culver ins r the mo ft Part of which 
 jhould light upon his Nofe. The Lords delibera- 
 ted on the Matter, and moll were for not expo- 
 fing Mr. Knox \ but when they came to confult 
 him he valued no Threats, but (m) boldly re- 
 
 folved 
 
 1*0 Knox'/ Wft* of 'Reform, lib* 2. foL I ft. 
 
[l 9 ] 
 
 folved to preach, and did preach, and preached 
 againft Idolatry from that Text in Matt, of the 
 Eje&ion of the Buyers and Sellers from the Tem- 
 ple. In this Sermon he fhewed the Duty of Magi- 
 itrates and People to pull down Idolatry, and this 
 he did with fuch Vehemence, and it had fuch an 
 Effect upon the People, that not only the common 
 People, but the Provoft, Bailies, and Magiftrates 
 refolved to remove all the Monuments of Idola- 
 try in that Place, and perform'd it accordingly \ 
 the Bifhop taking Sanctuary with the Queen, 
 who lay with her Army then at FaulHand, as 
 before. The Queen, tho' me had no great Kind- 
 nefs for the Bifhop, yet i heard him upon this 
 Occafion with great Concern and Attention, and 
 refolved immediately to advance with her Army 
 to St. Andrews, to punifh the Offenders with 
 the utmoft Severity, and accordingly ordered 
 her Army to march. 
 
 As the Queen was drawing towards them 
 with her Forces, fo they,<w before, had fent about 
 to all the reft of the Congregation, deliring them 
 with all pofiible Speed to come to their Affi- 
 ftance c . which they did with fuch Speed, that 
 by the next Day they encreafed from about 
 300 Men, Horfe and Foot, to above 3000 well 
 mounted and accoutred, and among them were 
 fome of the molt eminent of the Nobility, fuch 
 as the Earl of Rothes, the Lord Ruthwen,t\\Q Earl 
 of Argyle, the Lord James Stuart, Earl of Glen- 
 calm, and others. 
 
 1 The Queen's Army marched all Night to 
 furprize them, but found they had Intelligence 
 of her March, were drawn up ready to of- 
 fer her Battle, and refolved to give her a warm 
 Reception: The Earl of Ruthwen led the Gen- 
 tlemen of Fife, Angus, and Mearns^ who made 
 
 a Thou- 
 
C JO] 
 
 a Thoufand Spears on Horfeback : The Towns 
 of Dundie and St. Andrews made a good Bri- 
 gade of Foot, and were drawn up by themfelves. 
 When the Queen's Men faw the Order the 
 Lords appeared in, and that they were fo polled 
 as that they could not be attackt but with great 
 Hazard, fhe had recourfe to her old Subtilty of 
 treating with them, but they were not to be 
 taken twice in one Snare : They refufed to treat 
 with her, and prepared to fight. -*- She fent 
 MeiTengers again, who preiTed them to treat, to 
 prevent the Effuflon of Blood - but they flill de- 
 clined it, and flood ready to engage, bidding 
 her fall on with her French Cut- throats when 
 fhe pleafed, all edging, there was no Safety in 
 treating with her. However, at length they 
 confented to come to a Treaty on this Prelimi- 
 nary firfl fettled, that an AiTurance mould be 
 ligned by the Duke of Hamilton^ that all the 
 French mould be fent away over the Firth. 
 This was done, and is called in Knox's Hiflo- 
 ry (n) the AiTurance, and is figned by the 
 Duke of Chattslerauh (Hamilton) and Do fell, 
 a French Lord. This AiTurance was, That in 8 
 Days, Meflengers fhould be fent by the Queen to 
 treat of a full Peace ; but the Queen, who never 
 regarded her Engagements in fuch Cafes, never 
 fent any Body to treat as fhe had promifed, nor, 
 it feems, did fhe intend it *, but thought that upon 
 this Treaty fhe mould have an Opportunity to 
 convey her French Troops fafe out of Fife y and 
 perhaps bring the Lords, in Confidence of her 
 Treaty, todifperfe their Men : The firfl of thefe 
 fhe gain'd, but not the laft- 
 
 The 
 
 (») Knox sHiJt,?, 1 5 J. 
 
\ 
 
 t?i 3 
 
 The Lords waited fome Time, but finding 
 no Body come, they, as Reafon good, concluded 
 the Treaty broken. — And from this Time for- 
 ward they depended no more upon the Faith 
 of Treaties, but upon their Arms : Many of the 
 principal Nobility came in to them every Day, 
 and inftead of difperfing, they grew very ftrong \ 
 and firft they march'd to St. Johnfton, to de- 
 liver it from the Oppreflion of the Garrifoa 
 which the Queen Regent had placed there : The 
 Town was furrendered after fome Difficulty, 
 and the Bifhop's Houfeat Scone rifled and burnt, 
 his Servants unadvifedly provoking the Multi- 
 tude, whom the Lords had prevail'd with to lee 
 it alone. 
 
 From hence, fearing the Queen fliould inter- 
 cept their advancing, which fhe was about to 
 do, by marching her felf to Sterlings and putting 
 a Garrifon into the Caftle, they refolved to pre- 
 vent her, and marching all Night, they took 
 PoiTefiion of Sterling, and {topping there but 
 Three Days, in which the Churches were ftript 
 of their Popifh Ornaments, and the Abbey of 
 Cambuskenneth demolifhed, they marched on the 
 Fourth Day for Edinburgh. 
 * The Queen might, by this Time, have per- 
 ceived, if her Eyes had been open, that the 
 whole Nation was bent upon the Reformation, 
 and that there was no refilling it - 7 but God 
 had hardened her Heart, and fhe would not 
 underftand what was vifible to all the World \ 
 for the People of Edinburgh hearing the Lords 
 of the Congregation were marching to them, did 
 all the Work to their Hands, and left no Rem- 
 nant of Popery in any of the Churches, even 
 before the Lords got thither. 
 
 It 
 
Fl*fJ 
 
 It was now the Year 1559, when the Lords 
 marched to Edinburgh, in their Paflage they 
 took Lithgo y and were joined by Duke Hamilton^ 
 who now came over to them, and wherever 
 they came, the Images, Altars, Pictures, and 
 other Enfigns of Popery went to wreck. 
 
 I think 'tis a Piece of Juftice to God's Provi- 
 dence, which no one ought to pafs over, that in 
 this Beginning of the Reformation, the Awe of 
 the Work was on the Hearts of the Popifh 
 Party ; for had they made the leaft regular Op- 
 pofition, the Congregation might at firft have 
 been eafily fupprefs'd. 
 
 0) Bifhop Spotfwood in his Hi'ftory tells us, 
 the Lords had but 300 Men in all their Com- 
 pany when they marched from Sterling to Edin- 
 burgh, and the Queen had near 3000 French Sol- 
 diers, befldes the Popifh Party, and their Ad- 
 herents, who clave to her ; and yet at the firft 
 3Sews of their Approach, fhe fled to (p) to Dun- 
 bar with all her Forces, and durft not look them 
 in the Face. 
 
 The Congregation being now Mailers of the 
 capital City, and the Queen and her Foreign 
 Troops fled - they began to act in behalf of their 
 Country's Liberty, as well as in religious Mat- 
 ters } This even by the Accounts which all 
 the Hiftorians of that Time give of it, will 
 clear the firft Reformers from the Slander that 
 is ib diligently call upon them of making a 
 * tumultuary Reformation, or that it was only a 
 Rabble of the meaner Sort, who were for Plun- 
 der, 
 
 (0) SpotfwoodV Hift. lib. ill. fol. 116. 
 
 (p) Buehan. lib. 16. fol. 170. Scotorum & Galloruw co- 
 
 bortes Mercenarias tantus terror inva/it, ut cum omnibus qua 
 trahere poterant impedimcntis Dunbarum perfugerent. 
 
r 51 3 
 
 der, and who, to enrich themfelves with the 
 Spoils of the Churches, ran into the Reformat 
 tion meerly to juftifie their Robberies, and in- 
 demnifie the Depredations they had made up- 
 on the Church - 7 for now they had not only 
 Duke Hamilton at their Head, but a very great 
 Number of the Nobility and Gentry were 
 profeft Managers of the Reformation, and the 
 common People having, except in their Ex- 
 cedes about demol idling Idolatry, had litfhi 
 Hand in it but as directed by their Superiors. 
 
 Another Thing worth noting here is, that 
 having now gotten Poflefllon of Edinburgh, Octo- 
 ber 17. 1559. they appointed the reformed Mi- 
 nifters to (7) preach publickly in Edinburgh, 
 which had not been openly done before in any 
 Place, fave juft where their Army was aflem- 
 bled ; but they faw an eminent Hand was with 
 them, and as the Scripture fays of Jacob when 
 he journeyed from Succoth y the Fear of them fell 
 on all the Cities round about. 
 
 Things (landing in this Pofture, (after Con- 
 fultation in Council, fays Calderxoood) tho 1 he 
 does not note that there was yet any Hated Coun- 
 cil of the Nation eftabliuYd on their Side (r), 
 they fent feveral MefTages to the Queen about the 
 fettling Matters now in fo much Diforder : The 
 Queen had publifhed a Proclamation, wherein 
 ftie profefTed to be willing to refer Matters of 
 Religion to a free Parliament, to meet in Janu- 
 ary next following, and gave Liberty of Preach- 
 
 D ing, 
 
 (cf) Scotorum proceres ivflauranda religion: s print ipes com' 
 plures in re ordinanda Diei m^rati, prater ALdium finer arum ah 
 omni mijjificandi apfiaratu, repttrgationem, <vzrbo Dei fine ere tnv,n~ 
 ciando^concionatorcs covftituerunt Ibid. 
 
 ('•) Calderwood sWJt.fvl '. it. 
 
t 34 3 
 
 Ing, &c till then-, but reproaches the Lords of 
 the Congregation with rejecting all (*) reafon- 
 able Offers, fhewing, that it is not Religion 
 they feek, but the Subverfion af Authority, and 
 the Ufurpation of the Crown. The Lords con-^ 
 front this with Letters to the Queen, and by 
 open (r) Proclamation to the People. In both they 
 call God to witnefs, that their only Intention is, 
 to banifh Idolatry, advance the true Religion, 
 aod defend the Preachers thereof, promifing to 
 continue in all Duty towards their Sovereign 
 and her Mother the Regent, provided they 
 might have thefe things fecured to them, and 
 offered, in the mean Time, to give AfTurance 
 of their Loyalty. 
 
 Several MefTagcs and Returns pafs'd between 
 them, and a Meeting was appointed of iooof 
 a Side, to fee, if poffibie, to accommodate 
 Matters : The chief on the Reformers Side were 
 the Earls of Argyle and Glencairn, Lord Ruth- 
 yen, Lord Boyd, Lord James Hamilton, Lord O- 
 chiltry, &o 
 
 Thefe could come to no Conclusion, and 
 parted , and the Qu^n,on her Part, prepared to 
 attack the Congregation : They kept together 
 in Edinburgh, and prepared to defend it : The 
 Duke of Chat ether ault and the Earl of Morton, 
 laboured to compofe Things, and at laft a Truce 
 was agreed on, July 24, 1559* 
 
 By 
 
 Q) Spotfwood, lib. m.fol. 126. 
 
 Note. Buchanan takes no Notice of this part, and 1 do not 
 take fo much Care to trace]. Knox ; becaufe 'tis quejlioned whe- 
 ther that H'ffory be genuine or fpurious, and Spotfwcod fays 
 
 tofirively the Latter 
 
 iQ/'riTjc/y xne L.azier. 
 ' (t) Spotfwood, lib. 3. fffl. 126, 127. The Particulars of 
 dnfe Letters , Proclamations, and Declarations srefet down. 
 
ttt ] 
 
 By this Trnce the Protcftants, on one Hand* 
 were to be free in the Exercife of the reformed 
 Religion, and the Papifts were likewife to be 
 unmolefted ; their religions Houfes not infulted, 
 nor their Tithes obftrudted ; the Congregation 
 was to quit Edinburgh, but no Injury was to be 
 done the Citizens, nor any Garrifon put upon 
 them t And all Things were to be referred to 
 a Parliament, to meet on the 10th of January 
 next. 
 
 Tho' the Queen Regent kept this Truce bet- 
 ter than any before, yet it was not long -, for a 
 Thoufand French Foot arriving to her Affi- 
 ftance, fhe began herufual Deviations, firft with 
 fortifying Leith for a Port, by which fhe might 
 fecure her Supplies, and fecondly, fending for 
 more Troops from France, by both which (he 
 Vifibly prepared for War. 
 
 This occafioned that famous Meeting at Ha- 
 milton, where the Lords of the Congregation 
 agreed to write a common Letter to the Queen 
 Regent, which was dated September 29, 1559 (V), 
 and fubfcribed by the Duke of Chan ell erault, the 
 Earls of Arran, Argyle, Glencairn, and Monteth^ 
 and abundance of Lords and Gentlemen. 
 
 The Congregation were fo alarm'd at the 
 fortifying of Leith, and the French Troops the 
 Queen had fixed there ; for fhe had now 2000 
 Foot more arrived, with Money, Arms, and Am- 
 munition } that they gave Notice, by Letters, into 
 all Parts of the Kingdom ; and long MefTages, 
 Proclamations (rv), Charges, and Recriminations 
 
 Da paft 
 
 '■ ' I ■ ■ H i II. ■ HL.1 
 
 (v) Spotfwood, lib. 3 .fol. 1 3 1 . The Contents of the Letter. 
 
 (n>) ibid. 132, 133. See there the (Queens Proclamation, the 
 Lords Declaration, the Lords Letter ta the Queen at Leith, tkt 
 Queens Meffage by Lyon, King at Arrris^ to ths Lords, &c 
 
t *6] 
 
 pad between the Queen Regent and them, in 
 which they infilled upon the difmi (Ting the Fo- 
 reign Troops, and demoliihing Leith , but all to 
 no Purpofe. 
 
 Upon this the Lords arm'd again, and ad- 
 vanced to Edinburgh : The Queen retreats to her 
 new Fortifications at Leith, and with her French 
 Forces and Friends, to the Kumber of 6ooo, 
 (hutting her felf up there, fends IVJeflages to the 
 Duke and the Lords, by the Herald at Arms, 
 charging them with Rebellion,^. 
 
 The Lords convened a great AlTembly, little 
 lefs than a general Convention, wherein the 
 Lord Ruthven was Prefident *, and having there 
 confidered how they had made all the peaceable 
 Applications to the Queen Regent for their Li- 
 berties, both Civil and Religious ; for the dif- 
 miiTing Strangers, and demolifhing the Fortifi- 
 cations raifed there, and having not been able to 
 obtain Redrefs by Reafon of the Obftinacy of 
 the Regent, they began to deliberate how, re- 
 ferring their Loyalty and Obedience to their 
 Sovereign, and her lawful Authority, they might 
 yet dcpofe the exorbitant Power of the Queen 
 Regent, or at leaft reftrain it, as being exerci- 
 fed in Breach of the Laws, and injurious to the 
 Authority and Royal Dignity of their Sovereign. 
 
 It was a bold Offer at that Time of Day, 
 and ftartled the AfTembly at fir ft 5 fome were 
 for it, fome againft it, and they refolved to 
 ask the Opinion of the iMiniftcrs about it. I 
 liave not Room here to infert the Meftages, De- 
 clarations, Proclamations, &c. they are to be 
 found at large, as noted below (.v) - for Bucha- 
 nan 
 
 (:■:) Spotfwood, lib. j.fol. I 3 6, I 37, 
 
 KiiCxV Hiji. lib. 2, foL 202. 
 
nm meddles not with them. But the Minifters 
 Opinion I cannot omit. 
 
 The Minifters, who were called, were Two, 
 Mr. John Willock and Mr. John Knox, whofe O- 
 pinions are faithfully enough related ^ by Mr. 
 Spotfwood, and agree with the Account in Knox's 
 Hiftory, and are as follows. 
 
 Mr. Willock firft gave his Ofinien, c That, 
 c albeit Magiftracy be God's Ordinance, and 
 
 * that they who bear Rule, have their Authority 
 c from him, yet their Power is not fo largely ex* 
 c tended but that the fame is bounded and limit- 
 c ed by God in his Word: And albeit God had 
 c appointed Magiftrates his Lieutenants on Earth, 
 c honouring them with his own Title, calling 
 c them Gods*, yet did he never fo eftablifh any, 
 
 * but for juft Caufes they might be deprived : 
 
 * For even as Subjects, [aid k, are commanded 
 
 * to obey their Magiftrates \ fo Magiftrates have 
 
 * Directions given them for their Behaviour to- 
 c wards thofe they rule -,and God, in his Word, 
 c hath defined the Duty both of one and the 
 
 * other. In depofing Princes, and thofe that 
 
 * have born Authority, God did not always ufe 
 e his immediate Power, but fometimes he ufed 
 c other Means, fuch as in his Wifdom he thought 
 c good } as by Afa 7 he removed Maacha, his own 
 c Mother \ by Jehu, he deftroyed J or am 5 and by 
 c divers others he depofed from the Govern- 
 c ment thofe whom he had eftablilhed before 
 c by his own Word. From which, he inferred, 
 
 * That fince the Queen Regent had denied her 
 1 chief Duty to the Subjects of the Realm, which 
 1 was tominifter Juftice indifferently, to pre- 
 1 ferve them from the Invadon of Strangers, 
 c and to fuffer the Word of God to be freely 
 c preached ; feeing alfo {he was a Maintainer of 
 
 D 3 I Su- 
 
^jSuperftition, and defpifed the Counfel of the 
 Nobility, he did think they might juftly deprive 
 her from all Regiment and Authority over 
 Vthem. * 
 
 Mr. Knox coming to fpeak after, approved all 
 that his Brother had J aid, adding this more % c That 
 4 the Iniquity of the Queen Regent ought not 
 c to withdraw their Hearts from the Obedi- 
 f ence due to their Sovereign *, nor did he wifh 
 c any fuch Sentence to be pronounced againft 
 t her, but, that when fhe fhould change her 
 
 * Courfe, and fubmit her felf to good Council, 
 
 * there fhould be Place left to her of Regrefs 
 c to the fame Honours from which, for juft 
 
 * Caufes, fhe ought now to be deprived. ? 
 
 Mr. Sfotfwood is very angry (a) with the Mi- 
 ni fters for Two Things here, in which, tho? 
 he is a good Hiftorian, he fhews Him felf of a 
 Party againft them in behalf of the Do&rine of 
 Paffive Obedience, a Thing not much taik'd of 
 in thofe Days. 
 
 Firfi y He fays, the Miniflers fhould have re* 
 fufed to have meddled in this Matter, or to 
 have given their Opinion. 
 
 Secondly, he fays, the Examples they brought 
 were not to the Cafe*, and then he fub joins his 
 own Opinion, in which he takes upon him to 
 condemn the Practice of Nations in depofing Ty- 
 rants (b), and refcuing themfelves by Force 
 
 from 
 
 (a) Spotfwood, lib. 3 fo. 1 37 //• had been a better and a v>i- 
 Jer Part in thefe Preachers , to have excufed themftlves from gi- 
 ving any Opinion in thefe Matters; for they might be fure to 
 Law it catf in their Teeth, to the Scandal of their PreftJJion. — 
 
 (b) Spetfwood, Hif. f%l. 137 lib. 3. Neither was the 
 Of imut) tiny gave, found in iff if, nor had it any Warrant in 
 
 the 
 
f J9) 
 
 from Bondage and Slavery when all other 
 Means have been found to no purpofe, which was 
 exactly the Cafe here. But we all know when 
 this good old Man wrote •, I mean, in an Age 
 when thefe Nations lulPd afleep by the wheed- 
 ling Arts of Tyranny, under the gay-painted 
 Vifor of Loyalty and Subjection, became Agents 
 to their own Bondage. — But they have grown 
 wifer fince, which, if Mr. Sjotfwood had lived to 
 fee, I dare fay he had fo much good Senfe and 
 good Meaning in him, lie muft have altered his 
 Opinion. 
 
 As to his firftObjeftion — which ftrikes at the 
 Difcretion of the Minifters only, and charges 
 their Prudentials, it may be briefly anfwered, 
 that their Cafe differed : This was a Cafe begua 
 in, and carried on for, the Matters of Religion : 
 The Mobility and the Minifters had all along 
 gone on Hand in Hand, aiding, aflifting, and ad- 
 viling one another, and it would have been ve- 
 ry unkind if the Minifters, in a Cafe of Confer- 
 ence too, fhould have declined their Opinion 
 to thofe Gentlemen who, at that Time, by their 
 Inftigation very much, at leaf; with their full 
 Concurrence, had ventured their Lives, Families, 
 and Eftates in the publick Affair of religious 
 Liberty *, it had been abandoning their Friends*, 
 and which is worfe, their Caufe too. 
 
 D 4 Nor 
 
 the Word of God: For horebcit, the Power of the Magijlrates be 
 limited, and their Office prefer: bed by God, and that they may 
 likexoife fail into great offences : Tet it is no -cohere permitted to 
 Subjeels to call their Princes in Queftion, or to make Infurr -eft 'ions 
 againsl them, God having referred the Punijhment of Princes s§ 
 Himfclf. [it were to be wijb'd the Author had proved this la ft 
 j^pr nation.] 
 
t4° 3 
 
 Nor was this all, but the Cafe required it ; 
 
 for if it was again ft their Opinions that Authority 
 might be refitted in Cafes of Invafion of Right, 
 what did they there t And if it was their Opini- 
 on, Silence had only fignified that it was their 
 Judgment, but that they feared the chief Priefts* 
 John xii. 42. that is, were Cowards, and durft 
 not own their Principles. 
 
 Again, it was a general Convention of the 
 Eftates of Scotland, that on fuch an Emergen- 
 cy, demanded their Opinion •, and this was to 
 them the lawful Authority at that Time, and 
 they ought not to have difobeyed them in any 
 lawful Thing, if they efteenvd them a lawful 
 Authority* 
 
 His Do&rine about depofing Rulers is on fo 
 many Occasions anfwered, both in Print, as alio in 
 the "Practice of Nations, that I fhall not take up 
 any of thefe Sheets in it. But this I thought ne- 
 ceflary to fay in Defence of the Minifter$ of the 
 firfl Reformation, I hope none of the Clergy 
 of the Chorch of England will blame them, feeing 
 they owe now the Settlement and Deliverance 
 of their own Church from Popifh Invafions to 
 the fame depoling Dodhine at the Revoluti- 
 on. 
 
 But to return to the Story : The AfTembly, or 
 Eftates of the Kingdom, call them which we will^ 
 for fame Hiftorians call them one, fome another^ 
 after the Minifters had given their Opinion, u- 
 nanimouily voted the Regent out of her Office, 
 renounced their Obedience to her, and bid her 
 and her Frenchmen depart. 
 
 They exhibited to her a long Charge, where- 
 in they did not fpare her *, but fetting out her 
 lalfe and treacherous Dealings with them, they 
 
 con- 
 
[4t ] 
 
 concluded thus (cj: Wherefore we, in the Name 
 of our King and Queen, fufpend and inhibit that 
 fublick Administration which you ufurp under their 
 Names. 
 
 I have been the longest upon this Part of the 
 Story, and Jhall atone for it in my Brevity in 0- 
 ther Cafes \ becaufe as the Reafon of thefe Me- 
 moirs is to fet the Matter of the paft and pre- 
 fent State of the Church of Scotland in a true 
 Light, cleared from thofe Mifts and Darknefs 
 which the partial GlofTes of fome late Pa- 
 trons of Tyranny have fpread over her Hifto- 
 ry •, fo thefe being fome of the molt capital 
 Parts of her Progreflion to the prefent happy 
 Settlement which we fee her now in, it is 
 elTential to my Work to leave this Part as clear 
 and explicit as I can. 
 * And it may be particularly pleafant to the 
 Friends of her Eftablifhment, to obferve how 
 wonderfully divine Providence has wrought for 
 her, not barely in refcuing her by Violence out 
 of the Jaws of Su peril; ition, and its Handmaid 
 Tyranny \ but the fame Providence has given a 
 San&ion to the very Method, by obliging thofe 
 very People, who upbraid her with th$ Man- 
 ner of her Eftablifhment, as being popular and 
 tumultuary, and built on the Foundation of Re- 
 bellion, againft lawful Authority, to be behold- 
 ing 
 
 (c) Buchan. lib. l6.fol. 172. H<ec utjperinde ac debemus tw 
 tamur, vos, Regum noflrorum nomine, prafecluram, aut qnocunj; 
 alio imperii titulo publicam adminijlrationem fub regibus ufurp as, 
 fufpendimt/s ac inhibemus: Ut qui pro certo habeamus, qua nunc 
 a te geruntur, en cum eorum perpetua voluntatc, erga publicum 
 bujus Rogni incolumiratem pugnarr: Et quemadmoaum tu nos 
 Legitimos hujtis Regni, & Regum Cives,pro Sencttu, & Loncitio 
 publico non habes : Neqi ms U regentem ant magijlratu fupretȤ 
 fu ngente m agn ofcimus . 
 
f 4* ) 
 
 Sag to the very fame lawful Means far the E- 
 ftabliihment they now are built upon. 
 
 Nor is there any Cafe that I meet with fo 
 parallel to the late Revolution in England as 
 this Revolution in Scotland, and yet we are not 
 of the Opinion that the Revolution in England? 
 was tumultuary at all. 
 
 They both began, and both were carried on 
 by the fame Methods, and no other, by which 
 Nations oppreffed, have, in all Ages, recover- 
 ed their Liberty, and fnatched themfelves out 
 of the Jaws of Tyranny and Oppreffion : Ways 
 honourable, and juftifiable by the Laws of God, 
 of Nature, and of Nations. 
 
 I fhall keep my Word, as to Brevity, in the 
 
 following Part of the Story The Nobility 
 
 having thus renounced the Regent, they fent to 
 fummon the Town of Leith\ but the Trench 
 had made it too ftrong to part with it fo eafily. 
 
 They were indeed formidable to the Con- 
 gregation 5 for they had the Command of the 
 Sea, and being at leaft 8000 Men well officer'd 
 and difciplin'd, they tranfported themfelves 0* 
 ver into Fife, and ravaged the Country from 
 Sterling Bridge to St. Andrews. 
 
 The Congregation had nd proportioned Forces 
 for this Work, nor wherewith to fupply them : 
 They fent to England and borrow'd 4000 Crowns 
 for prefent Occafion \ but the Queen, who had 
 her Spies upon them, got Intelligence of it, and 
 furpriz'd both the Man and the Money. 
 
 Their Affairs thus running backward, they 
 came to the laft and only Expedient, which was 
 to put themfelves under the Protection of the 
 Queen of England, and feek Aihftance — .And 
 here it is to be noted, that the Presbyterians did 
 no: fly to Foreign Help to invade their Sove- 
 reign, 
 
r 4 ?] 
 
 reign, as fome will have it to be ; the Eflablifh'rng 
 the Reformation did not feek Foreign J.elp ^ for 
 the Nation having fo univerfally enibrac'd the 
 Proteftant Religion, there was not one in Ten 
 to Hand againft them. 
 
 But the Cafe turned juft the other Way : The 
 Lords of the Congregation had, as has been re- 
 lated, engaged in the Reformation * 7 the Queen 
 Regent had, by feveral Treaties, a {Tented to it % 
 Part, at one Time, Part at another \ but keep- 
 ing no Faith with them, and refolving, if pof- * 
 fible, to root them out — the flies to Foreign Aid: 
 Mark it \ fhe brings in an Army of Strangers, 
 takes Pofleflion of their Towns, and fortifies 'em, 
 in Order to fupport her in the tyrannical Mea- 
 fures fhe had taken. 
 
 To root out this Mifchief the War began, and 
 not meerly for Religion \ had the Nation been 
 clear'd of Foreigners, on either Side, the Work 
 had foon been done \ but being invaded by 
 France, they flew to England for Help, and 
 foon obtained it. 
 
 The Queen of England, upon a Treaty flgn'd 
 in her Name by the Duke of Norfolk, and in 
 Name of the Duke of Chattellerault by Commif- 
 fion appointed, Pent the Lord Gray with 2000 
 Rorfe,and <5oco Foot, and after that a Reinforce* 
 ment of 2000 Foot more. 
 
 By thefe, after a long Siege, and an obflinate 
 Refiftance, the Town was at lad furrendered, 
 and the French Soldiers, by Capitulation, con- 
 veyed home to France. 
 
 , During thefe Things, the Queen Regent had 
 retired to the Cattle of Edinburgh, where fhe 
 fell flck, and foon after dyed. Some fay, fhe 
 broke her Heart for Grief that fhe was thus 
 reduced. Bifhop S/otfwood fays, That fhe fent 
 
 for 
 
T44] 
 
 for the Duke and the confederate Lords, before 
 fhe died, and exhorted them to end this War, 
 and fend home both French and Englifh ; That 
 Ihe ask'd Pardon of all fhe had injured, and dy- 
 ed very (d) chriftianly. But he quotes no Au- 
 thority for it, neither do any other Hiftorians, 
 that I have met with, fay any fuch Thing. 
 
 Her Death finifhed this firft War, as I may 
 call it, and haftened the Surrender of Leith, 
 which held out but a little while -, not but that 
 it might have held longer, and no doubt it 
 would, the Garrifon being refolute, well pro- 
 vided, and Relief expe&ed \ but the Queen of 
 'England and the King of France having brought 
 Matters to a Treaty abroad, a Treaty at home 
 followed of courfe } fo Ambafladors, from either, 
 met at Edinburgh, and a Truce beiug at firft a- 
 greed on, the Capitulation and general Peace 
 followed \ and the \6th of July 1560, the Englifi 
 Army marched for Barwick, the French fet fail 
 for France, and a general Peace was made ; in 
 which, among other Articles, this glorious Sti- 
 pulation was one, .viz,. That the REFORMA- 
 TION WAS ACKNOWLEDGED, and con- 
 sidering the Infancy of the Church, and the 
 Difficulties her firft Champions had waded 
 through, it was a very great Step to her fu- 
 ture Eftablilhment. 
 
 The Death of the Queen Mother was follow- 
 ed by another Event, which had no lefs In- 
 fluence upon the Affairs of Scotland, and this 
 
 was. 
 
 (d) Spotfwood, lib. l.fol. 146. Shefent for John Willock, 
 the Preacher, (Bifhop Spotfopood would not call him Mini- 
 iVer) and conferring with him a reaf enable Space, declared open- 
 ly that fhe trufted to be fivcd only by the Death and Merits of 
 °-}(.fui Ghrift, and thus ended Iky Life tnos~! chriftianly- 
 
[4? 3 
 
 Was, That the Queen became a Widow, Fran* 
 cis II, the King of France, dying the fame Year, 
 a few Months after his Mother-in-Law. 
 
 This gave a new Turn to the Affairs of Scot- 
 land, and the Popifh Party was, and not with- 
 out Caufe, exceedingly furprized at it •, for they 
 had before, the whole Kingdom of France con- 
 cerned to fupport them \ and their Queen being 
 then married to the King of France, they had 
 them jointly concerned in the Affairs ; whereas 
 now, another King fucceeding to the Crown of 
 France, their Queen became but a Dowager, an 
 Allie, and her Intereft and Power would be the 
 lefs to fupport her Friends in Scotland. 
 
 The Congregation had now the Government 
 of the whole Kingdom in their Hands, and the 
 Queen was, as we may fay, at their Mercy : 
 And this was a fpecial Providence to them, as 
 for fettling the Reformation, fo to clear up the 
 Reputation of the Reformers, and purge them 
 from the Charge the late Queen Regent had laid 
 upon them, of aiming at the Subverfion of the 
 Government, and dethroning their Sovereign, 
 to fet up either Lord James, or the Duke of 
 Chattellerault in her Place. 
 
 But this ftill tended to their Reputation, and 
 to exonerate them as to the Charge ; for when 
 the Regent was dead, the Queen a defolate Wi- 
 dow, and they had all the Power in their Hands, 
 their upright Delign could never better appear - 7 
 for they had no one to hinder their Project, 
 if they had had it in their View * 9 but being 
 lincerely bent for the Reformation of Religion, 
 and the Eftablifhment of their Civil Liberties, 
 and aiming at nothing elfe, they applyed them- 
 felves wholly to that Work, and no other, as 
 wiil appear in the Purfuit of this Story. 
 
 In 
 
1 4<5 ] 
 
 iri order to this, having difmifs'd the Englijh 
 Army, and fhipp'd off the French, the firft 
 Thing that was done was, That in the great 
 Church at Edinburgh, the Lords of the Congre- 
 gation, and all the Gentlemen, their Adherents, 
 who were there, met to give folemn Thanks 
 to God for their Deliverance from the Tyran- 
 ny of Foreigners, and eftabiifhing the true Re- 
 ligion, and their Civil Liberties. 
 
 "Then fays, Bifhop Spotfwood (a), for I mtift 
 be particular here as to Authors, they diftribu- 
 ted Minifters among the Burghs, and appoint- 
 ed Superintendents for iht Dire&ion of the 
 Church Affairs. 
 
 I note this the rather" here, becaufe fome 
 Gentlemen, who are angry with the Church of 
 Scotland for the prefent Eftablifhment, would 
 call this Superintendency an Infant Prelacy •, and 
 from thence argue, that the firft Reformation 
 was Epifcopal, which Difficulty we (hall fee 
 elear'd up as we go on. 
 
 In the mean Time, it will receive its full Anfwer 
 in thefe Two Obfervations. 
 
 1 . They had no Power : What they were to do, or 
 what Power they had for the planting or displacing 
 Ministers in the Kingdom, had theje two Things 
 
 At' 
 
 (a) Spotfwood, lib 3 . fol. 149. Then were the Miniflers, 
 by common Advice, diftributed among the Burghs; John Knox 
 for Edinburgh, Chriftopher Goodman /or St. Andrews, A* 
 dam Herri or tit Aberdeen, &c. Befides thtfe they did nomi- 
 nate (but he dees not fay who) /or the Direction of Church 
 Affairs : Some to be Superintendents, viz. Mr. Jchn Spotfwood 
 for Louthian and Mers, Mr, John Winram for Fife, John 
 Areskine of Dun for Angus and Mearns, Mr. John Willock 
 fmr Glafgow, and Mr. John Kerfwell for Argyle and lies. 
 With this fmaU Number of Bifhops (he would have called 
 them) was the Plantation of the Church at firji undertaken. 
 
t 47 3 
 
 attending it, which quite enervates the Bijhop's Al- 
 legation, viz. 
 
 (i.) That it tfas all fubfervient to the Afflembly 
 of Miniflers , nay, tbefe Superintendents were fub- 
 jetted to the refpetlive Presbyteries : They might be 
 difplac'd by them, and fupplfd by. them ', and the 
 Affembly does (till, on extraordinary Occafwns, depute 
 or commiflion Miniflers, in like manner, for the 
 planting or difplacing their Miniflers 2 vifiting of 
 Churches, and the like. 
 
 1 (2.) They had neither Superiority of Dignity, or 
 Enlargement of Stipend, or any other Thing 
 which might invade that PARI TT which is 
 profefs'd by the Presbyterian Church. 
 
 2. The Cafe was extraordinary, and it is what 
 is never pratlifed in the Church but on extraordi- 
 nary Occafions, of which this is allowed to be one * 7 
 and there is no Queflion but on. the like extraordina- 
 ry Occafions, the like Offices would be made ufe of 
 again, which, in jlwrt, were only Delegations, or Sub ft i- 
 tutions by and from the General Affembly : The Men 
 had neither perfonal Dignity, nor perfonal Power ? 
 their Commijfion was temporary, and the Limitation 
 of their Authority was fuch, as whenever the Bifliops 
 of the Church of England pleafe to reduce them- 
 f elves to, there is no Presbyterian Church in the 
 World but would receive them. 
 
 The Debate therefore of this fuppofed Epifcopacy 
 mufl fall to the Ground, unlefs the Gentlemen that 
 are for it, are content to fubjetl Epifcopacy to 
 Presbytery •, for the Affembly of Miniflers, .either 
 General, Synodical, or Presbyterial had a Power 
 over thofe Superintendents, and the Remark would be 
 very well worth Note what a Kind of a Bifhop it 
 is thefe Gentlemen plead for. 
 
 The Superintendents were, in flwrt, a temporary 
 Expedient for the Necejfity of the firfi planting the 
 
 Church, 
 
f 4 8J 
 
 Churchy and the Ministers, who appointed them, 
 were the mofir antiepifcopal in Principle that could 
 he fotwdz as we jhall fee prefently. But I return to 
 the Story. 
 
 The Lords having thus fettled the Church's 
 Affairs for the prefent, all Things retted till 
 the Meeting of a Convention, or Parliament, 
 which was appointed to be in Augvft following. 
 
 Here another Difpute happened, which the 
 Popifli Party have ftill infilled on, viz.. How 
 this could be called a Parliament, fwee it was not 
 called by the Queen, neither had her Majefty any 
 Body there comtnijjloned to represent her Per [on. 
 
 But the Treaty of Peace folv'd this } which 
 being ftipulated in the Name and by the Am- 
 baflador of the King and Queen, authorifed the 
 Council of Twelve, to call a Convention or 
 Parliament, and this fully legitimated it, tho* 
 there was no Perfon to represent the Sovereign. 
 
 In this Parliament all that had been done be* 
 fore was ratified - n and having a fufficient War- 
 rant, as before, for the holding this Parliament, 
 they efteemed what Acts pafs'd, Authentick, 
 tho' the Queen afterwards refuted to ratifie 
 them, as we frail hear prefently* 
 
 Four Ads pafs'd in this Parliament, tho' they 
 had not the Royal Affent till feveral Years af- 
 terward. 
 
 i. The Confeflion of Faith. Note, it pafs'd 
 in Parliaments^/ 17, 1560. 
 
 2. An Aft for abolifhing the Jurifdiftion and 
 Authority of the Bifhops. 
 
 3. Repealing, or annulling all former Afts 
 made for the maintaining of Idolatry. 
 
 4. For punifhing the Sayers and Hearers of 
 Mafs. 
 
 A 
 
f 49 1 
 
 A Mefienger was fent over to the Queen with 
 thefe Acts, to deiTre her Majefty to fign them ; 
 but the Queen would not fo much as give an 
 Anfwer to him, but treated him with the ut- 
 moil Contempt. However, the Ads being pall, 
 the Affembly was diflblved, and this was the 
 firft Settlement of the Reformation. 
 
 It is to be obferved here, that the Articles of 
 the Confeffion of Faith, contain all the dottrinal 
 Tart of the Reformer's Prbfeflion } but have 
 not one Word of the Difcipline or Government 
 of the Church ; nor was the Form of Worfhip 
 fettled here : And to this it is needful to fay 
 fomething} becaufe great Pains are taken here 
 to make the firft Reformation look as if it had 
 been Epifcopal. 
 
 That they had a Form of Difciplirle and 
 Worihip before this, is (£) allowed by all Hi- 
 ftorians, which wasthe Order of Geneva \ the new 
 one Spotfwood calls the Form of (d) Church Policy. 
 
 It is necefTary to digrefs a little here to the 
 Story of Mr. John Knox. He had been long 
 at Geneva, and was Minifter of the Englifo Church 
 there: He had alfo been at Frankfort, where the 
 Englifh, who fled from Queen Mary's Perfec- 
 tion, had a Church, and Mr. Knox preaching 
 there, a Difference arofe about the Englifh Ser- 
 vice-Book, which drove him back to Geneva. 
 
 E Here 
 
 (c) CalderwoodV ttipory, fit. 1 4. Before the Ccnfejjion of 
 faith was formed, and the Book of Difciflins contrived, the re- 
 formed Kirk had that Book which is before the pfalms in Meeter 
 for their Direction in Difcipline and external Worjhip; which 
 
 Book is caUedin the Book of Difeipline, the Book of common Order f 
 %r the Order of the Church at Geneva. 
 
 (d) Spotfwood, lib. 3. filA$i. tri the Cpuventicn kept 
 at Edinburgh in January preceding, a Form of Church Po- 
 licy wat prcfented, and delivered to it ratified* 
 
[jo] 
 
 Here he drew the Model of Church Govern- 
 ment, which he after prefented to the Refor- 
 mers in Scotland for the Scheme of theirs •, and 
 by this was that Book of Polity or Difcipline 
 formed which we afe now to treat of. Some 
 Hiitorians have called it John Knoxs Work : 
 Others fay, it was done by a (<?) Committee. 
 
 They that would call it John Knox\ ftrive to 
 do it becaufe the Article of Superintendents 
 being mentioned in this Book of Difcipline, they 
 would have John Knox be acknowledged to be 
 of Epifcopal Principles. 
 
 But I conceive, that all this Difpute about 
 the Superintendents would be at an End, if it 
 were examined, whether thefe Superintendents 
 were not really Bifhops ? And whether the true 
 Epifcopacy is not plainly to be reduced to the 
 minifterial Fun&ion ? So that this is fo far from 
 juftifying the Authority, Dignity, and Superi- 
 ority of Bifhops, as now praclifed, that it ra- 
 ther brings down the Bifhops to the Station of 
 thofe Superintendents, the utmoft of whofe Au- 
 thority is by Dr. Rule plainly proved to be ve- 
 ry confident with Presbyterian Parky , a Thing 
 which, if well (/) confidered, would foon put 
 an End to this Debate. 
 
 This Book of Difcipline, however, could not 
 obtain, with the Lords, to a general A (Tent, whe- 
 ther Mr. Knox formed it or not *, 'tis plain he 
 
 ex- 
 
 (e) Commijfion vox? given to Mr. John Winram, JohnSpotf- 
 wood, the Bifhops Father, John Willock, John Douglas, 
 John Rew, and John Knox, to draw up a Book of Policy and 
 D'fcipline of the Church , as thsy had done of the Doctrine. ^ 
 
 .'(/..)■ Spptf wood, lib III. fol. 174.. It had been framd by 
 John Knox, partly in Imitation of the reformed Churches in 
 Germany/ and partly of that he had fern eit Geneva. 
 
C 51 1 
 
 exceedingly preTs'd to have it pafs'd in the Coil 
 vention. Bifhop Spotfivood fays, the Elfates at 
 that Time did not think it meet to enter into 
 the Examination of the Polity. By this he 
 would infinuate, that the Reformation was fet- 
 tled in general, as to Doftrine, and that, all a* 
 greed in the SupprelTion of" Popery \ but that , 
 the Manner, Order, Polity, or Difciplihc of the 
 Church was left uncertain and undetermined. 
 But neither will this anfwer : For tho' as an Af- 
 iembly or Convention they did not fign it, yet 
 as private Men, the whole Body of the fir It Re- 
 formers, who had been called The Congregation, 
 and who had done all the Work, figntd it — 1 
 Thefe were the Duke ofChatellerault, the Earls of 
 Arran, Argyle, Glencairn, Alar flail, Monte it h 9 I 
 Morton, and Rothes -, Lords, James Hamilton, Te- 
 ller, Boyd,Ochiltrie, Sanquhar, Lindfay: And A* 
 bundance of the Gentry, Barons, and BurgeiTes, 
 with one Bifhop, viz* of Galloway, and the Dean 
 of Murray, 
 
 But to go on with our Hiftory. 
 
 Thus far the Convention had afted in behalf 
 of the Church : (1.) They pull'd down, and by 
 an Aft, abolifhed Popery for ever. (2.) They 
 declared the Confeflion of the ProtelTant Faith, 
 and pafs'd the Articles of it into an Aft : And 
 thus they fet the Church upon her own Legs, 
 and then left her to fettle and fix her felf upon 
 flich- Foundations of Difcipline and Government 
 as Ihe mould determine. 
 
 In order to this, tli'e firfl General A (Terribly 
 of the Church of Scotland fat down at Edinburgh^ 
 the 20th of December, 1560. 
 
 Their chief Work was appointing and re- 
 ceiving Minifters, and that alone determined, that: 
 the very Office of Superintendent was fubiefted 
 
 E x to 
 
[ s'i 3 
 
 to the Affembly ^ but if that did not, we fhall 
 fee in a few Years they take upon them to li- 
 mit, approve, and difapprove their A&ions. 
 
 Even in this firft Aflembly, the other Party 
 made fome Struggle about the Authority of af- 
 fembling without the Queen's Command, and 
 as this has been a Point frequently punYd Al 
 fince, and once not very long ago, and may, m 
 Time, come to be p'ufh'd at again, it cannot be 
 amifs to fet down the Argument then ufed, 
 which, in (hort, was this principally. 
 
 They had then a Popifh Queen, who, unwilling- 
 ly, ftoop'd to Neceflity in the Reformation, their 
 Words are thefe, viz* if the Liberty of the Kirk (hould 
 depend upon the Allowance and Difallowance of the 
 Sovereign, we may be deprived^ not only of AlTem- 
 blies, but of the publick Preaching of the GofpeU Tale 
 from the Church the Freedom of j4ffemblies 9 and 
 you tale from us the Reformation i for how fiall 
 the Government of the Church be fupforted^ Order 
 and Vnity in Dotlrine be maintained^ but ly tht 
 Liberty of holding Aflemblies, and keeping up the 
 judicial Authority of the Church entire. This 
 'way of Arguing was never yet anfwered, and, 
 1 prefume, will not eafily be anfwered. 
 
 It was then moved, in the Aflembly, that the 
 Queen might be defired to rati fie the Book of 
 Difcipliue, but it was deferred for that Time. 
 The Queen was now returned to Scotland, an- 
 1561, and began to take Cognizance of her 
 Affairs, in which fhe very early difcovered her 
 Diflike of what was doing, and her general 
 Averfion to the Reformation. 
 
 It feem'd, however, that the Queen, enclined 
 to ftoop to the Neceflity of the Times, and to ac- 
 quiefce in the new Church Settlement, with al- 
 lowing her the Liberty of her own Opinion, 
 
 and 
 
and to have Mafs faid in private in her own 
 Chappel — but this gave great Offence, and the 
 Minifters particularly infilled upon it, that it 
 was againft their Engagements for the aboli/h- 
 ing Idolatry, and, inculcating this on the Peo- 
 ple, the Queen found fhe loft very much of 
 their Affection by it, and not only fo, but met 
 with fome Affronts in it alfo. However, re- 
 folvcd to fupport, not only her Authority, but 
 feer Party, fhe proceeded warmly. 
 
 She put the Provoft of Edinburgh into the Ca- 
 ttle, and obliged the Citizens to choofe another. 
 This was done for their forbidding the Popifh 
 Priefts to be received into the Town. She then 
 commanded the Town-Council of Edinburgh to 
 choofe a new Provoft, which they, for Fear, 
 at that Time complied with. Next by Procla- 
 mation, fhe made the City of Edinburgh free, as 
 (he term ? d it, for all her Subjects to repair to on 
 their lawful Occafions. This reftor'd the Papifts : 
 And here fhe not only had the better of the City, 
 but really fecmed to have fome Right on her 
 Side, and therefore the Lords did not ftand by 
 the Citizens in it as was expected. 
 
 Indeed the Court being now formed ? and the 
 Queen acting with great Candour in other 
 Things, the Nobility began to be drawn in by 
 Offices, Sallaries, and Preferments*, together 
 with the Emulation and Ambition, ufual in fuch 
 Cafes *, fo that the Lords, who were before, th* 
 moft zealous for the Reformation, tho' they re- 
 tained their fincere Profeflion of the Proteftant 
 Religion, yet they remitted much of their for- 
 mer Zeal, and feemed to be drawn off from 
 their Strictnefs in the Profecution of, and their 
 warmJApplic^tion to the great Work of all. And 
 
 E 3 this 
 
[ 54) 
 
 tjus our Hiftorians, of both Parties (*,£J, very 
 much complain of, as if they had abandoned 
 the Reformation : However, they foon gave good 
 Evidence to the contrary. 
 
 Little pafs'd. now for fome Time in the Affairs 
 of the Reformation, the AfTembly had their con- 
 ftant Dyets, and peaceably proceeded in Church- 
 Affairs, as Matters prefented : The Queen 
 fuffered them to go on, but at the fame Time 
 ihe fhewed, on all Occasions, that Ihe fecretly 
 refolved to cut them fhort, as Opportunity 
 mould prefent. 
 
 In this interval one Thing happened which 
 might have fhewn her, that the Proteftants, their 
 Religion being but fecured to them, were very 
 loyal to her Perfon, and to her Government 
 alfo •, for in the Infurre&ion, which about ..that 
 Time was raifed by Huntley and the Gordons, 
 ihe faw the Papifts in Arms againft her, and 
 the Lord James Stuart, who was now Earl of 
 Murray and was the mod; zealous Reformer, 
 tipg for her with a Band of Protectants at 
 the Battle at Corrkhe, where Hunt ley was rout- 
 ed, and kilTd, and all his popifli Party fcat- 
 tcred. 
 
 The 
 
 (a) Spotfwood, Ufa 4. f»L 18 3. Seme of the Noblemen who 
 had, informer Times, focwed th'mfityes moft zealous againft the 
 Toleration of Idolatry, were grown a little more cold by the Flat- 
 teries of : be Court ; and all of them emulous of each others 
 Grcatnefs, were ftriving who fiould be in moft Favour with the 
 Queen. 
 
 (b) Calderwood, Hft.fol. 34. The Courtiers and Lords de- 
 r upon the Court, came not to the sljfcjnbly ; but the Day 
 
 following, to avoid Sufpicion, ttiey came : Theie he names, viz. 
 The Duke, the F-arls 0/ Argyle, Murray, Glencairn, Morten, 
 Kothes, &c. The very Aurhors and Beginners of the 
 Congregatioji: 
 
r ?? ] 
 
 The long Accounts now intervene in onr Hi- 
 ftories of the Queen's propofed Interview with 
 the Queen of England, and how the Papifts dif- 
 appointed it, from the very fame Principles 
 which they did the Interview of King James V, 
 and Henry VIII, of England long before. Alfo 
 the Hiftory of the Queen's Amours with the 
 Lord Darnley, and that wretched Marriage from 
 whence lb many Mifchiefs enfued \ how the Ex- 
 orbitance of David Riz.z.io brought not only his 
 own Ruin upon his Head, butTthe exafperated 
 King running into the unhappy Excefs of Jea- 
 loufie and Murther, fo alienated the Queen from 
 him, as to run her into the fame Extreams of 
 Murther and Revenge : And this upon the ve- 
 ry Perfon of her Husband : Thefe are fad Sto- 
 ries, and as they have no Concern in this Work, 
 fo I am not delighting enough in fuch tragical 
 Relations, as to make a Digrefllon here to intro- 
 duce them, neither do they relate at all to the 
 Affairs of the Church. To which I return. 
 
 Soon after the Defeat of the Gordons, the 
 Queen calls a Parliament } when me made fo 
 many Concefilons to the Protectants that fome 
 blind fort of People began to fancy the Queen 
 would come over to the reformed Religion : 
 But -flie foon undeceived them. 
 
 For the Match between the Queen and the 
 Lord Damly now coming forward, the Prote- 
 ilant Nobility took Umbrage at the Confe- 
 quences, the Lord Darnley prof effing himfelf Popijh. 
 
 The Queen fummoiVd the Eftates of the King- 
 dom to Sterling, to give their AfFent to her 
 Marriage. 
 
 There was little Opposition made in that Parli- 
 ament, either to that or any Thing elfe ; the 
 Kobility, in Complaifancc to the Queen, com- 
 
 E 4 P l Y in S 
 
C $*1 
 
 Plying more readily than was expe&ed, only 
 °ne (c) Lord oppofing it. Bnt the Papifts ftiew- 
 e d tbemfelves fo much exalted, and behaved 
 with fo little Caution in their Hopes, that it 
 occafioned great Jealoufie among the Nobility, 
 and was partly the Occafion of what followed; 
 for no fooner was this AfTent of the Eftates to the 
 Marriage made publick, but the People fell into a 
 Rage, faying, that the Lords of the Eftates had 
 broke in upon their Engagements, and would over- 
 throw the Reformation : Several Tumults alfo 
 happened, particularly in Edinburgh, which the 
 -Queen profecuted with great Severity. 
 
 But now the Lord*, of whom I noted before 
 that they were iufpected to be yielding too 
 much to the Court, began to open their Ey%5 
 aod come to tbemfelves, joining th em felves to- 
 gether to oppofe this Marriage, and to main- 
 tain the Reformation, 
 
 The General Alterably of the Church was 
 fitting at the fame Time, and as all People be- 
 gan to entertain Jealoufies of the Queen's De- 
 figns, and ftrong Apprehenfions filled the Heads 
 of thofe that were moil concern'd for Religion, 
 feeing the Queen refolved to fupport Popery, 
 and that Ihe was now going to ftrengthen that 
 Intereft with a Popifh Match : So they for- 
 med a Petition to her Majefty, containing Eight 
 Heads. The id Article, of which was, That 
 
 the 
 
 (c) Spotfwond, lib. 4. fol. 189. Lord Ochiltry only cppofed 
 it openly, prof effing that he would never confent to limit a King 
 of the Popifb Religion. 
 
 Ibid. lib. 4. fol. 190. The Earls of Murray , Argyle, Glen- 
 cairn, and Rorhes, ajpjied by the Duke o/Chatelleraulr, meet" 
 ivg together at Sterling, after the Queen was gone, refolded to 
 tfpofe the. Marriage, 
 
C J7] 
 
 the Proteftant Refigion fhould be openly pro- 
 feflfed by all Perfons, and by the Queen her felf. 
 The Queen's Anfwer, very (harp and fatyri- 
 cal, is, with the Articles of the Petition, fet 
 down at large in Spotfwood's (d) Hiftory, where- 
 in (he reje&s their Petition, and tells them plainly 
 Ihe will not change her Religion, nor put the 
 Patronage of Benefices out of her Hands. 
 
 Tho' they could expedr. no other Anfwer, yet 
 this inflamed Matters, and ferv'd to fix the 
 Confederation, and reftore the Zeal of the No- 
 bility, who had now begun to oppofe her, and 
 in which fhe afterwards found her Ruine. 
 
 The Match was now fix'd, and the Queen 
 married to the Lord Darnley, in July 1564, dif- 
 regarding the Reprefentation of the discontent- 
 ed Lords, who openly profefs'd it to be againlt 
 the Liberties of the Kingdom, and began to 
 arm. 
 
 The Queen prepar'd to oppofe them, and 
 march'd towards Sterling, and the King with 
 her *, but the Lords, not prepared for lleiiftance, 
 fled to Paijly, near Glafgorv *, from thence, be- 
 ing followed by the Queen's Forces, they fled 
 to Hamilton, thence to Edinburgh, then feparated, 
 fome fled to England, and fome reconciled them- 
 felves to the Queen : Thus the firft Beginnings 
 of this Fire were quenched for a while, and the 
 People quieted, who neverthelefs were zealous 
 in the Caufe, tho' difcouraged by thefe unhappy 
 Beginnings. The Nobility being thus difper- 
 fed for fome Time, the Proteftant Caufe feem'd 
 to lie bleeding. The Lords, who fled to En- 
 gland, obtained the Queen of England to inter- 
 
 ceed 
 
 (d) SpotfwoodV Hiftory, lib, q.fol. I^o, i$r 
 
7 **)j 
 
 ceed for them by her AmbafTddor ; but /he wa^ 
 as it were, (d) bid to' mind her own Bufinefs^ 
 and not to concern her ie]/ in theie Matters. 
 
 The Duke of ChcittlUrauh feeing the Queen 
 both refolute and powerful, made i his Peace, 
 and was well received. 
 
 The Aflembly met as nfual, and follicited 
 the Queen ft ill toencreafe and fettle.the Stipends 
 of their Minifters, in which they did at length 
 obtain fome Supply:, but in the Affair of Relii 
 gion it felf, they received no Satisfaction at all. 
 
 The Broils of. the Court, and the Murther 
 of David Rlzzio began the Year 1365. Spotfwood 
 in his Hiftory, foL- 195, makes very good: Re- 
 marks, on this, <oiz*. That it had been much bet- 
 ter to have brought him. to pnblick Juftice, 
 and executed him by the Hand of .(<*) the Hang- 
 man 3 for it brought on all the I\,iferies which 
 followed, one on the Neck of another, almoft 
 to the Ruin of the Nation, and effectually to 
 the Ruin of the King, and in the End, of the 
 Queen alfo. 
 
 • The Queen refolyed to ruin the Lords, who 
 were tied, called a Parliament, to forefault or 
 attaint them: In this Parliament, fay (/) fome, 
 me deiigned to make Jfe'^bw Chancellor, and 
 
 this 
 
 _ _ — __ — , 
 
 • (d) Spot. foL 192. The Monger had his Anfwcr in Writing, 
 viz. That Queen Llizabtth mould do we// to have no meddling 
 •wit h the Affairs 0/ Scotland, but leave them to the Discretion of 
 their Princes ; feeing neither (be nor her Husband did offer to 
 trouble thewf elves with her Suljetls. 
 
 (e) Buchanan fays, they deftgncd to hang him publiekly, 
 but that Morton, and his Men, had not Patience enough with 
 him. 
 
 (f) Spotfwood,///'. 4. fol. 195. The Queen defignivghtpuvild 
 aci as Chancellor ivsjfeis Parliaments Morton who, after Hunt- 
 U Death, had Jfos/ttfi that Phue,took it as an Jlfhnt to itbn. 
 
[ S9 \ 
 
 this occafioned Morton** falling upon him. O- 
 thers fay, he had plotted the Deftrucfion of the 
 Kobility, and had propofed to the Queen the 
 cutting them off by way of Maflacre. Again, 
 he is charged with a fcandalous Familiarity 
 with the Queen, which, whether it were true, 
 or that it was fuggefted to the King to irri- 
 tate him, and bring him to be concerned in the 
 Fad*, is not material farther than this ; that by 
 it, the Enmity between the Queen and him, 
 which was before begun, was made ib irrecon- 
 cileable, that as he never refted till he had caufed 
 the Italian to be murthered, the Queen never re- 
 fted till fhe had caufed her Husband to be mur- 
 thered, and divine Juftice, after all, never reft- 
 ed till it had caufed her to be murthered ; ib 
 that Blood followed Blood till that whole Knot 
 was deftroyed. And thus the Enemies of the 
 Reformation made Way, by their own Deftru- 
 ftion, for the more legal and more peaceable 
 com pleating of this great Work of the Refor- 
 mation, to the Glory of God, and the Honour 
 of true Religion, as fhall prefently appear. 
 
 The Murther of this obfcure Fellow however 
 had this Influence, that upon this Profpecf of 
 the Lords of the Court engaging with the King 
 againft I) avid Riz.z.ioj the banifned Lords took 
 Courage to come home, and the Parliament be- 
 ing fitting, offered themfelves to Tryal, and no 
 Body appearing againft, them, the Lords being 
 all bandyed into Parties on the other Occafion, 
 they were acquitted ; again the Queen terrified 
 with the Strength of her Husband's Party, and 
 the Refolution which they appeared to have 
 taken, fac'd about to the Lords that had ficd, 
 received them into Favour, and bent her Fury 
 at the Murtherers of her Favourite. 
 
 In 
 
r 60 ] 
 
 In this Jun&urc fhe was brought to Bed of a Son^ 
 who was afterwards King James VI, who was 
 born in Edinburgh Caille on the 19th of June, 
 in a little Room facing the Caftle-Hill, which 
 is ftill remembred as the Birtfe-JPlace of that 
 King. Tis reported fhe was fo irritated at the 
 King for the Murther of Riznio, that fhe had 
 determined to deftroy the Child, as not bear- 
 ing to nourifh any Thing of his begetting. I 
 do not fay this was any more than a Report 9 
 but it gives us a Hint of the Spirit that then 
 reigned, and fhe having, as there is Reafbn to 
 believe, at the fame Time refolved to murther 
 the Father, it might not be improbable fhe had 
 as barbarous Thoughts towards the Child. But 
 God had other Defigns to bring to pafs in this 
 Birth, whether for the Good or 111 of the Church 
 of Scotland, the Confequence will make appear. 
 
 Another Note is made here upon this Prince, 
 how juftly I will not determine, viz* That the 
 Fright and Terror his Mother was in, at the 
 drawn Swords which were in the Hands of the 
 Perfons employed in this Attempt, (for Rlz.z.h 
 was fallen upon in her Prefencej) fo far influenc'd 
 the Child in her Womb, that his Retentives 
 generally fail'd him at the Sight of Weapons 
 ever after But this by the Way, 'Tis no Scan- 
 dal to fay of him, he was no Man of War. 
 
 The Aflembly being then fitting, they fent 
 fome of their Number to congratulate the Queen 
 on the Birth of a Son, and humbly to defire 
 the Prince might be baptized into the Protefrant 
 Church : The Qjieen gave no Anfwer to it at 
 that Time, but very effectually made a Reply to 
 it afterwards, caufing him to be baptized after 
 the Popifh Manner, at Sterling Caftle, by the 
 Archbifhop of St. Andrews* 
 
 The 
 
{6t ] 
 
 The Church now began to fee which Way 
 Things were going *, for the Queen not only 
 honoured the Archbifhop of St. Andrews with 
 the baptizing the Prince, but gave him alfo a 
 Commiffion, whereby he was reftored to his 
 ancient Jurifdidtion in feveral Things, which 
 clafh'd with their Authority ; fuch as confirming 
 Teftaments, Collation to Benefices, &c. both 
 which being dire&ly contrary to the Afts of 
 Parliament, which eftablifhed the Reformation, 
 and to the true Intereft of the Proteftant Set- 
 tlement, the Aflembly was exceedingly alarm'd 
 at it i but finding it in vain to addrefs the Queen 
 any more, they formed a Paper in manner of 
 an Appeal ; but called it a Supplication, dire- 
 cted, as appears in the Title, to the Nobility and 
 Lords of the fecret Council, who had profefs'd 
 Jefus Chrift, and who had renounced the Ro- 
 man Antichrift : Thefe Proceedings on both 
 Sides, ripened Things for the fudden Change 
 which foon after followed. 
 
 The Murther of the King was the next Tra- 
 gedy that came on the Stage of this unhappy 
 Court : The Queen, after her being delivered of 
 a Son, and, if fhe had the wicked Defign of 
 murthering it, being prevented the Execution 
 of that Murther, retired to Alloway, a Houfe of 
 the Earl of Mar, near Sterling ; the King fol- 
 lowed her, but was refufed Admittance, f(he 
 refolving to have no more of his Race, as fhc 
 openly declared) and was treated with great Con- 
 tempt. — Upon this the King, (fay fome, with 
 Grief (g), others fay, by Poyfon) fell fick, and was 
 
 carried 
 
 (g) Buchanan, Hisi. Eng fays, he fell [ick : The §)ueen ha- 
 ruing given him Poyfon, which, marking 'nfore its Time, broke 
 out all over his Body, andfo Mature c: 'led the Po . 
 
C 6i ] 
 
 carried to Glafgow. The Queen, after tome 
 Time, whether fhe relented at her Ufage of 
 him, or whether in the Plot for his Ruine, or 
 whether Bothvoell formed his Deftruftion upon 
 an Apprehenfion of the Queen's being reconci- 
 led to him at that Time, is uncertain to this Hour ; 
 but fhe went to vifit him, and after fome Words 
 they were openly reconciled again, and the 
 king was, at the Queen's Appointment, carried 
 to Edinburgh^ where he had not been many Days 
 but he was molt barbaroufly mnrthered in his 
 Bed, and the Houfe blown up with Gunpowder, 
 as by the Hiftories of thofe Times more large- 
 ly is to be feen. 
 
 It is not to the Cafe to enquire here into the 
 Manner and Circumftances of this Barbarity, and 
 who did it, of all which, Authors alfo (h>i) dif- 
 fer. All agree that it was vilely contrived be- 
 tween the Queen and Bothwell, and more vilely 
 executed by Bothwell, either in Perfon or by his 
 Agents. 
 
 But I am, by the Courfe of Things, haften- 
 ing to the great Revolution which now hap- 
 pened, and which all thefe horrid Things were 
 but as fo many preparatory Steps to bring to 
 pafs. 
 
 Firft, the abominable Marriage between 'Ifofib- 
 roell and the Queen, which was brought to pafs 
 foon after, which made the Matter fo black that 
 nothing could be w r orfe, next to owning the 
 
 Fad, 
 
 (h) Spctfwood, lib. 4. fol. 200. --- fays Bothwel 
 
 tame upon him t i» the Night, as he lay aji hep, an d fir angle d him -— 
 
 (/) Buchanan/ayx, it was the Confpirators, but feems not to be 
 poftive, that Both well did it with his own Hands t th<? he owns 
 him in the Con/piracy, 
 
r 6j ] 
 
 Fact, viz.. That a Woman fhould link her felf 
 in Marriage to the Murtherer of her Husband. 
 
 Secondly^ Her Behaviour at the Parliament 
 which then approach'd, where fhe pofitively 
 rcfufed all that was defired of her in behalf of 
 the Reformation, and behaved with a quite dif- 
 ferent Air from all fhe had done formerly. 
 
 Thirdly^ Manifeft Deligns and fecret Attempts 
 of the Queen to get the Cuftody of her Son 
 out of the Hands of the Lord AUr^who claim' d 
 it by Birth as hereditary Keeper of the King's 
 Children. 
 
 The firft Step to what followed was by the 
 Earl of Athol, who, fully fatisfied of the Guilt 
 of Bothmlt in the Murther of the King, and 
 meditating how he might with moft Eafe bring 
 him to Juftice, begins to ftart among the Mo- 
 bility his jufl Sufpicions, that the fame Villainy 
 might be pradifed upon the Infant as had been 
 upon the Father. % 
 
 Upon this the Pfoteftant Lords appoint a 
 Meeting at. Sterling in order to protect and 
 fecure the Perfon of the Prince : And in this 
 Meeting the Definition of Popery, Treafon, 
 and Murther took its Rife : They ail met with 
 their Fate together, and this abominable Gene- 
 ration, with their fhort liv'd Joy, vanifhed in 
 Stink and Smoak, being grown noyfomc to the 
 whole World by the moft horrid Actions that 
 Were ever read of. 
 
 The Queen, heating of this Meeting, and 
 that the Lords had entered into Bond, one to 
 another, for mutual A Alliance, pretends a Jour- 
 ney, to villt the Borders, and thereby, accord- 
 ing to Cuftom, luminous the Subjects to attend 
 her with Arms and Provifions for 15 Days: 
 Upon this, a Rumour being fpread that the 
 
 Queen 
 
r*4 j 
 
 Queen defigaed to feize on the young Prince^ 
 and take him from the Earl of Mar, the Lords 
 aforefaid take Arras, the Queen publifhes a De- 
 claration that fhe does not defign to remove the 
 Prince , but this not fatisfying the Lords, they 
 furronnd her iri Brothwick Cattle, but not being 
 able entirely to inVeft the Place, Bothwdl and 
 the Queen make their Efcape to Dunbar, and 
 then, tho' too late, fhe raifes Forces. 
 
 The Lords advanc'd to Edinburgh, and the 
 Queen to Muffcelburgh, but when the Armies fa- 
 ced one another, the Queen's Men did not care to 
 fight, BothweWs Guilt was too great, his Heart 
 fail'd him, and he ran away : The Queen, who 
 had both; more Courage and more Prefence of 
 Mind, ftaid, but was obliged to put her felf 
 into the Hands of the Lords, who carried her 
 to Edinburgh, and from thence, mewing her in- 
 deed but very little Refpedl, fent her Prifoner 
 to the Cattle of Locb-Leven. Thus ended the 
 Reign of Popery in Scotland, I mean barefae'd 
 profefs'd, down right Popery °, as for Popery 
 in Mafquerade, eventual Popery, difguifed Po- 
 pery, 'tis but a very few Years fince that went 
 off the Stage alio \> and we fhall, in the Gourfe 
 of thefe Memoirs, fee many a Farce of its a&ing, 
 and fome bloody Tragedies alfo, till at length it 
 vanifh'd with as much Contempt as the other. 
 
 Buchanan tells us (k) that when the Queen had 
 furrendred her fcif to the Lords, the fecond Bat^ 
 
 talia t 
 
 (k) Buch.lib. iS.fot. 195. Cum ad fecundam aciem pervi- 
 vifet, concors ab omnibus clamor fublatus ett y ut meretricem, ut 
 farricidam cremarent. Erat in militari quodam wexillo depi- 
 it us Henricus Rex mortuus, & juxta filius lnfans vindiclam far* 
 ricidii a Deo expofcens : Id Jignum duo milites inter duas ha* 
 ft as diflintumj quoq; fe verteret, ob oculos ei objiciebant + ~ 
 
16S1 
 
 talla, or Line of the Men, when fhe came among 
 them,ufed her very barbaroufly, and cried out 
 for putting her to Death, painting a Standard 
 with the murthered King and his little Son 
 lying by him, and difplaying it before her. 
 
 It was, without doubt, a very great Revolu- 
 tion, and in it the juitice of Heaven vijibly 
 purfued the Murther of the King, the Barbarity 
 of which hath hardly had its Parallel in any 
 Age : And as this is one of the Reafons why 
 I enter into that Part of the Story, fo tho' I 
 cannot go through all the Particulars, }et I can- 
 not but remind the Reader of one nice Reflecti- 
 on, vfZ.n That tho' Queen Elizabeth is blam'd, 
 and perhaps juftly, for putting her to Death af- 
 terwards ; yet it is plain it was the Work of a 
 fuperior Power, and that Vengeance, which fol- 
 lowed them all, fuffered her not to live. 
 
 Bothwell, who had been the chief Contriver and 
 After of the whole Tragedy, never favv her 
 more \ he fled to Shetland, an lfland in the 
 North, where, for a while, he turned Pyrate - % 
 but being beaten from thence, he fled to Den- 
 mark, where he was taken up, by the King's 
 Order, and kept in a loafihfome Prilbn,and being 
 reduced to extream Poverty, lived about Ten 
 Years in a Jail, and at laft died raving mad. 
 
 The Archbifhop of St. Andrews, who, as Bu- 
 chanan relates, had been one of thofe that vo- 
 luntarily undertook the Murther, was hang'd by 
 the Regent, the Earl of Murray ; being taken 
 in the Surprize of Dunbarton Cattle. 
 
 John Hamilton, who Was one of the A&ors, 
 dyed of Grief, after he confeil the Murther to 
 a Prieft the School-Matter at Paijley. 
 
 F Even 
 
C 66 1 
 
 Even Morton himfelf, who had the Ieaft Con- 
 cern in it, and at moft was no otherwife guilty 
 than that he knew of it, and concealed it after 
 it was done, was beheaded for that Concealment 
 many Years after at the Crofs of Edinburgh. 
 
 The Queen's Guilt was particularly demon- 
 1 ftrated by her own Letters, taken in BothwelCs 
 Silver Cabinet; where, under her Hand, fhe 
 tranfa&ed the whole Affair with him} and a- 
 mong which was a Contract, of Marriage, fign- 
 ed by her own Hand, to him, in her Husband's 
 life, to be confum mated after he fhould be 
 difpatched (/). 
 
 . Thefe Things made her Guilt fo plaiu, that 
 her Name became odious to all the Workf: 
 And the Regent afterward made them all fo 
 plain to every Body's Underllanding, when he 
 was at London j and when the Queen of England 
 enquired of the Reafons why they depofed their 
 Sovereign? that, the fame Author fays, Queea 
 Elizabeth declared, fte was mt worthy to be ajfifi- 
 ecl. 
 
 And 
 
 (7) Bach. Ill- i^.foL 201. Ibi,cum& rerum, titi gefta fuerant, 
 e::p!icatusfuijfetordo, <& prolata corum, qui, f ceteris in regem 
 <eo?nmiJfi, erant confcii, Tejiimoma % ante mortem expreffa, ordinum 
 item deer eta, qui bus multi, ex prortgis accufatoribus,fubfcripfe- 
 rant\ arcula demum argent ea in medium eft allot a, quam a Fran- 
 cif'co, priore Marito, acceptam regina Bothuelio dederat, in ea ine- 
 7 ant liter* Regina manu Gallico fermone ctnfcr'pta ad Bothuc-* 
 Hum, in quibus omnibus f amoris ejus erga Bothuelium impoten* 
 tia,confilium, ratio cadis regia, &,potf cadem, raptitf : Item cum 
 eddem matrhnonii contracitts ttes : Primus ante parricidium, ipfi- 
 us Regina manu fcriptus, quo, <velut Syrgrapha fpondet ei, ubs 
 
 primum jui juris foret, fe nuptura?n — Hac omnium oculis 
 
 expofita & in concilio perletJa, totum f acinus it a fubjecerunt octif 
 lis, ut nulla dubitavio de auclore mnpllus cjfe pofet ■ > 
 
t67l 
 
 And yet after all this Averfion manifefted 
 to her Perfon, and Deteftation of her Crime, 
 Hie formed fuch Parties among the People, who, 
 after the firft Heat, began to relent and com- 
 miferate her, that fhe found Means to efcape out 
 of Lochleven Caftle, and raife new Commotions. 
 
 In the mean Time the Nobility confidered of 
 fettling the Government, and of entirely depoflng 
 the Queen : The firft Step to this was, by pro- 
 curing her to demit or refign the Crown : She 
 at firft refolutely oppofed it, but afterwards 
 iign'd (m) any Thing they brought her, as 'tis 
 faid, without fo much as reading it, uyon this 
 Foundation, that being under Confinement, no- 
 thing fhe did now could be binding upon her 
 for the future. * 
 
 Thus (he figned feveral Inftruments, one for 
 the Surrender of the Crown, renouncing and 
 demitting the Government in Favour of her 
 Son, commiiTioning the Lords for his folemn In* 
 veftiture : One other was a Power to fome No- 
 blemen to make the folemn Refignation, in her 
 Name, in the publick Meeting of the States: 
 One other was for nominating the Earl of 
 Murray, who was then in France, Regent of the 
 Kingdom in the Minority of her Son : And the 
 other for naming Governouts to her Son. But 
 afterwards when fhe made her Efcape out of 
 
 F 2 Loch* 
 
 (m) Spotfwood, lib. 4. fol. ill. She was perfwaded to it by 
 Robert Melvill, who was fent from the Earls of Athol and 
 Lethington, to advife her as fhe loved her Life not to rtfufe 
 them any thing they jhould require. He likewife brought a Let" 
 ter from Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, the Ambajfadar front 
 England, to the fame EffecJ, declaring , That no Refignati- 
 on, made in the Time of her Captivity, would be of an/ 
 Force, and in Law was null, becaufe done out tf a juft 
 Fear. 
 
C <se 3 
 
 Lochleven, (he 4 revok'd all thofe Writings as done 
 by her under the Reftraint of a Prifon, and 
 under Terror of her Life, which they fay the 
 Lord Lindfay threatned when he came to her 
 with the Inftfuments. Howevef, the Lords 
 took her at her firfl: Wofd, arid in the mean 
 Time proceeded upon the Authority of thefe 
 Demiflions, and having put all other Things in 
 order, they proclaimed her Son King of Scotland, 
 and crowned him July 29, anno 1567* and made 
 James, Ear 1 of Murray, Regent, tho' then abfent 
 in France* "This is the fame \ have always cal- 
 led Lord Jams s, being the Queen's half Brother, 
 who was after called the good Regent, and who 
 was, under God, the blefled Inftrument of the . 
 eftablifhing the Reformation in Scotland* 
 
 The Queen, as I noted, having made her E- 
 fcape, raifes an Army about Hamilton, the Re- 
 gent, tho' inferiour in Number, marches to Glaf- 
 gow, and at Ldngfide, a Village not far from Glaf- 
 cow, gives her Battle, and her Forces being over- 
 thrown, fhe fled into England* 
 
 There fhe paft a long Imprifonrncnt, by Order 
 of Queen Elizabeth, dnring which for carrying 
 ou innumerable Plots and Contrivances againft 
 the faid Queen and her Subjects, fhe was at laft 
 brought to the Block, on Pretence of cori- 
 fpiring againft the Englijh. — Whether their 
 Pretence againft: her was juft or no, I do not 
 determine -, but that Juftice purfued her, as is 
 faid before, for the moft abominable Fadl: a- 
 bove, I mean the Murther of her Husband, I 
 think is plain from all Hiftories of thofe Times. 
 The Realm was now under the Conduct of 
 the Regent, the King an Infant, and they had 
 brought the Queen to make a Kind of AfTent 
 to the crowning her Son, and to appoint him 
 
 Go- . 
 
f «9 J 
 
 iGpvemours. The Regent managed with a Pru- 
 dence not to be defcribed } in Diligence unwea- 
 ried, in AcYion undaunted, in Government fa- 
 gacious, in Religion zeajous, and exceeding pi- 
 ous, in Life fedate, and in his violent Death 
 patient and refigned — He was barbaroufiy mur- 
 thered by James Hamilton, fet to work by the 
 Queen's Party : He (hot him through the Body 
 in the Street at Lithgo, as he was riding out of 
 the Pallace amidft a great Throng of the People 
 crouding to fee him : The Murtherer made his 
 Efcape out of a Back- Door, and could not be 
 apprehended. 
 
 Upon this Difafter, great Contention follow^ 
 ed among the feveral Parties: The Nobility 
 came feveral Times together in order to chufe 
 a new Regent, and parted without bringing it to 
 a Conclusion, and the Queen's Party grew very 
 ftrong, particularly the City of Edinburgh fided 
 with her. At lafl: Matthew, Earl of Lenox, Fa- 
 ther to the late rnurthered King, was chofen 
 Regent. 
 
 He carried on the War againft the Queen'$ 
 Party, and taking PoiTeflion of Lcith, had feve- 
 ral Skirmifhes with her Troops, as at Leith y Dal- 
 keith, and other Places } but at lad he is fur- 
 prized at Sterling, with a great many of the 
 Mobility and Gentry, by a Party of the Queen's 
 Men, who take the Town by Surprize, and took 
 the Regent, the Earl of Morton, and fundry 
 other Prifoners *, but the Queen's Men being beat 
 out of the Town again, and fore'd to quit their 
 Prifoners, the Regent was fhot through by him 
 that had him Prifoner, becaufe he could m% 
 carry him off} for which Fad he was afterwards 
 tiang'd, as he well deferved. 
 
 F 3 The 
 
[70] 
 
 The Lord Ereshne, E. of Mar, was then chofen 
 Regent \ but the Queen's Intereft was fo ftrong at 
 that Time, and the King's fo weak, that there was 
 great Danger of a new Turn in Affairs, and Po- 
 pery began to hold up its Head \ but they had 
 the Pleafure of being difappointed in that Parti- 
 cular alfo, by the Turn of Affairs in England 
 with the Queen \ who, on a Difcovery of her 
 Plot therewith the Duke of Norfolk, was clofer 
 confined, and afterwards tryed for ker Life, 
 and beheaded : With her fell all the Hopes of 
 Popery in Scotland. But the Church found other 
 Enemies to ftruggle with, in fome Refpe&s, as 
 fatal to her Profperity as the Papifts, of which 
 we fhall find Caufe to fpeak more particularly 
 in the Second Part of this Work. 
 
 But to return to the Affairs in Hand. As 
 this Revolution was againft the Intereft of 
 the Queen and her Party, fo it was a farther, 
 and, I think, I may call it a compleat Eftablifh- 
 ment of the Churchy for whatever Faftions and 
 Parties were form'd in the State, the Mobility 
 frequently changing Parties as their Interefts and 
 Fortunes guided them, yet they all joined in 
 the Matter of the Reformation, and the confe- 
 derated Lords were entirely in the Intereft of 
 Religion: But to look into this we muft go 
 back again to the firft feizing the Queen. 
 
 The Earl of Murray being declared Regent, 
 as above, was, while he lived, a very great Fur- 
 therance to the Eftablifhment of the Church : 
 That great Man being not only a vigorous and 
 conftant Friend to the Reformation, but a moft 
 pious, religious and fincere Profeflbr of it him- 
 felf. 
 
 Things heing in fo good a Pofture for the 
 Church, when the Queen was taken Prifoner, 
 
 the 
 
f 71 3 
 
 the firft Parliament was holdcn at Edinburgh De- 
 cember 15, 1567, i" the Name of the King, tho* 
 but an Infant} and the firft Thing they went 
 about was, to recognize the whole Proceedings 
 of the Reformation in the following Ads. 
 
 ifl, An Aft abolifliing the Jurifdidion and 
 ufurp'd Authority of the Pope, which was 
 ftill no more than confirming the Ad 
 made before for that Purpofe * 7 but it was 
 done becanfe the Papifts raifed fome Obje- 
 ctions againft the Validity of that Parlia- 
 ment, the Queen having not given her Af- 
 fent to their Meeting, nor confirmed the 
 Articles at Leifb. 
 
 id , Another Ad paft, for repealing former 
 Laws for eftablifhing Popery. 
 
 3d, The Confeflion of Faith was ratified. 
 
 £tb 3 An Ad appointing, That all Kings and 
 Magiftrates mould, at the Time of enter- 
 ing upon their Offices, fwear to maintain 
 the Church, exprefTed in thefe Words : To 
 maintain the true Religion as now received* 
 
 The Polity and Jurifdidion of the Church 
 Was, fays Spot/wood, referred to Delegates, and 
 the Thirds of Benefices were, for the prefent, 
 granted to the Church *, the Neceflity of the Times 
 made it impoflible to obtain the reft : For the 
 publick Affairs requiring the Affiftance of all its 
 Intereft, the remaining Revenues of the Church 
 were retained to the Service of the Nation. 
 
 In this Parliament the King's Authority be- 
 ing acknowledged, the Queen, his Mother, was 
 concluded to perpetual Imprisonment, which was 
 then thought very fevere, and brought a great 
 many to efpoufe her Quarrel, in meer£ompai- 
 
 F 4 fion 
 
tnl 
 
 iionto her Ca'cumftances •, and this, facilitating 
 her Efcape, as before, filled the [Nation with a 
 long Series of Blood, Tumult, and Diforder* 
 
 Yet under all thefe Turmoils the Church 
 was fupported in her Jurifdi&ion, as well as 
 Doftrine ^ and therefore here 1 fix the Period 
 of what I call her Infant-State : And I think 
 my Opinion is back'd very much by that fa- 
 mous Letter of the General AfTembly of the 
 Kirk, Anno 1567, being the fame Year I am 
 now upon. 
 
 The Letter was to Mr. Willed, one of their 
 Minifters, and one who was particularly famous 
 for his Share in the Reformation } but was fled 
 into England from the Troubles of the firfb 
 Years of the Queen's Return : This Man the 
 Afiembly writes to, to invite him to come back 
 again : And their Reafons to move him to re- 
 turn were, * That they had a religious and zea- 
 « lous Magiftrate conftituted, meaning the Earl 
 1 of Murray, commonly called the Cude Rtgenf? 
 c fufficient Provifion appointed for Minifters, the 
 
 * Church eftablifhed, and Religion flourifhing 
 
 * throughout the Realm — and they conclude 
 their Letter, Now you pall fee the Cope- Stone of 
 that Work whereof you laid the Foundation. 
 
 It is true,, that the Book of Polity or Difci- 
 pline was not to this Day eftabliih'd by Par- 
 liament, and therefore the Church had not all 
 the Authority that they wifti'd in the Matters 
 of Jurifdiction, Government, and Difcipline. 
 But the Gentlemen that would difpute here the 
 Priority of Epifcopal Government in the Church 
 to Presbyterial, will get nothing by that } for 
 all this while the Church exercifed a compleat 
 Presbyterial Jurifdiclion, and no other} had 
 their exaft regular Meetings of Kirk or pa- 
 rochial 
 
C 7? 1 
 
 rochial Seffions, Presbyteries, Synods, and Ge- 
 neral AfTemblies. 
 
 The Nobility, upon all Occafions, figned the 
 £ook of Difcipline, and the Book of Polity was 
 frequently revifed, and in this Parliament was 
 ordered to be revifed again. 
 
 The Bilhops that remained, had nothing left 
 them but a minifterial Authority, and were e- 
 qually fubje&ed to Presbytery, Synod, and Af- 
 fembly \ and the Superintendency, of which fa 
 much is alledged to prove it an Equivalent to 
 Epifcopacy, was under all the eflential Articles 
 of a Parity \ a famous lnftan.ee of which was 
 the Bifhop of Orkney, who was, as a private Mi- 
 nifter, cenfured in die firft ^flembly of the King, 
 for folemnizing the adulterous Marriage of the 
 Queen with Bothrvell, and was deprived by them 
 by virtue of an Ad of AfTembly againft marry- 
 ing a divorced Adulterer *, for fuch, it appear- 
 ed, Botbwell was (w), having been divorced from 
 his Wife to come into that horrid Marriage. 
 
 Again, the next General ATembly, An. 1 5^8- 
 the faid Bifhop was (o) reftored, upon his Hu- 
 miliation, and fatisfying the AfTembly. 
 
 (p) At the fame AfTembly the Superintendent 
 of Fife was cenfured for his Negligence in Vifi- 
 tation, and that he was carelefs in punifhing A- 
 dulterers. 
 
 Thefe 
 
 (n) Calderwood, Hi '8. fol. 44. He was deprived till the Af- 
 fembly was fatisfied for the Scandal. 
 
 (0) Ibid, tie is reftored to his Mini/fry, but they ordained that 
 be publickly make aConfejjion of his Faith in the Kirk of Haly- 
 Rood-Houfe, on the Lord's-Day,at the End ofScrjnen. 
 
 (p) Ibid. And the Superintendents of Angus and Louthiaja 
 were to report their Diligence to the next Affcmbly, 
 
r 74 1 
 
 Thefe arc fuch plain A&s of Presbyterial Ju- 
 rifdi&ion over the Superintendents, that nothing 
 can be needful to add to it. In the fame AfTem- 
 bly was the Form of Excommunication appro- 
 ved, and ordered to be printed, and is affixed 
 juft before the Pfalms in Meeter. 
 
 One other Thing is very eflential to this De- 
 bate, which will be alfo found at large in Caldev- 
 xvoocTs Hiftory, fol. 4^. 
 
 The Principal, and fome of the Regents of the 
 College at Aberdeen, were deprived by order of 
 the AfTembly, for refufing to acknowledge the fe- 
 veral Laws of eftablifhing the Church, and other 
 Things objected } but they were deprived not 
 by the Superintendent, but by the Superinten- 
 dent, together with the Minifters and Commjfli!- 
 oners, and the Superintendent a&ed only as Com- 
 miflioner from the AfTembly, as is to this Day 
 to be feen in theRegifter. 
 
 As to Difcipline the Pra&ice of it was, tho* 
 not eftablifhed, yet every Day regulated an4 
 directed by the AfTembly. And if there were 
 any difficult Things in Matters of Order and 
 Difcipline, it was only owing to this, that the 
 Polity of the Church was not perfe&cd and 
 fettled. 
 
 The End of the Flrfi Pan. 
 
 OF 
 
[?*] 
 
 Part II. 
 
 O F T H E 
 
 CHURCH 
 
 I N H E R 
 
 G 
 
 rowing 
 
 State. 
 
 Have fix'd the Periodof the Church's 
 Infancy at the dethroning Queen 
 Mary, when the glorious Top- 
 Stone of the Reformation feem'd 
 to be laid in Scotland, and the 
 Church arrived to a Condition to Itand upon 
 her own Feet. 
 
 Her do&rinal Articles were affented to, and 
 her Worfhip eftablifh'd, and both confirmed 
 by fundry Ads of Parliament, under the Ad- 
 mi- 
 
t 7* f 
 
 miniftration of the firfl Regents, the Earl of 
 Murray, and the Earl of Lenox : Likewife her 
 judicatories took Place, her Churches were 
 planted, and her Difcipline was agreed to, fo 
 that as, in the Letter of the AfTembly to Mr, 
 Willock, is noted, The Church was fully planted: 
 As to her inteftine Troubles, they feemed in- 
 deed to be but begun ^ for the Polity of the 
 Kirk, it was not yet eftablifh'd, nor could they 
 ever bring the Bpok of Difcipline to be paft in- 
 to an Aft in the Convention or Parliament of 
 that Day. At this Door crept in all the Mif- 
 chiefs that for above 1 20 Years after, continu- 
 ally harrafs'd this Church, and brought her fe- 
 veral Times under the Yoke, both of temporal 
 and ecclefiaftick Tyranny \ feveral Times into 
 cruej and bloody Perfections* and more thai} 
 once to the very Gates of Deftru&ion, as ihalj 
 be feen in its Order. 
 
 1 The Church had been now 14 Years in her 
 firft Struggles with Popery, had enjoyed her 
 General Aflemblies 1 2 Years, and tho' the Go- 
 vernment of the Church was not pad; into a 
 Law by the Civil Sanction of a Parliament, as 
 is obferved above, yet the greateft Part of the 
 Nobility and Gentry had figned it •, and all that 
 Part which was needful to the true Difcipline 
 of the Church was fully pra&ifed by the Mi- 
 rafters in their particular Churches, and fre- 
 quently regulated in their General AfTemblies. 
 * But as in all the Ages of the Church, the 
 Profperity of their Affairs has led them into 
 mutual Jarrings, Divifions,and Jealoufies, which 
 confeqyently umered in Multitudes of Innovati- 
 ons *, fo it was here : The Ambition and Emula- 
 tion of the Clergy and Nobility ufliered in a 
 Model of Epifcopal Government, which, as it 
 
 was 
 
r 77 3 
 
 faas at firfl; a Motley -Scheme of Chwch-Govem- 
 jnent, compofed neither of Pfesbyrery nor Pre- 
 lacy, fo it laid the Foundation of its own Cor- 
 ruptions, and in them of all the Confufions 
 Which followed in the Church, as will appear 
 hereafter. „ 
 
 The firftStep to this, was in the Year 1572, 
 when, lipdn the old Foot of fettling and per- 
 fecting the Polity of the Church, that fatal 
 Commiflion was granted to] fettle the &rk y of 
 which in its Place. The Regent was now the 
 Earl of Mar, who, tho' a Proteftant, was, it 
 feems, particularly inclined to the new Scheme of 
 Church-Government which had been propofed 
 in an Aflembly or Convention of the Church 
 at Leith 7 viz. to reftore the Government of 
 Bifhofs as it was in the Time before the Refor- 
 mation : And as there was a ftrong Party even 
 among the Ministers who fell in with the Court, 
 and no doubt the Hopes of Church-Preferment 
 had moved fome, they foon were prevaiPd with 
 to join with the Party that pretended to fettle 
 the Church according to that Scheme. 
 # In order to this, a Commiflion was grant- 
 ed to a certain Number of Gentlemen to treat 
 with alike Number of Mini Iters, to be com- 
 miffioned by the General Affembly, and tocon- 
 fider of, fettle, and conclude anent all Things 
 tending to the Eftablifhing the Polity of the Kirk. 
 
 And this was that famous, or rather fatal 
 Commiflion which firft brought Epiicopacy into 
 the Church of Scotland, and their Act was expref- 
 fed in thefe Words : 
 
 (a) " They think good, in Confederation of 
 <c the prefent Eftate, that the Names and Titles 
 
 « of 
 
 (*) Calderwood, Hijt.fol. 50. 
 
t 78 3 
 
 tf of Archbifhops and Bifhops be not innova- 
 " ted, nor the Bounds of the Diocefles confound- 
 " ed — .but Hand and continue in Time coming 
 cc as they did before the Reformation, at leaft 
 " till the King's Majority, or till Confent of 
 ic Parliament. " 
 
 Epifcopacy being thus brought in, as we call 
 it, by Head and Shoulders into the Church, 
 did not, however, anfwer their End who brought 
 it in *, for at firft it came in fo fettered and 
 Ihackled with Limitation of Power and Caftra- 
 tion of Stipends, that there was little in it 
 more than was before in the Minifters, who 
 were called Superintendents , the Name and Dig- 
 nities excepted. And here it is worth obfer- 
 Ving, that the true Reafon appeared both why 
 the Church could never obtain a Parliamentary 
 Eftablifhment of their Book of Difcipline, as al- 
 io why the Nobility and Gentry fell in fo fud- 
 denly with this new Model ; the Cafe is very 
 plain : Under this Model the Gentlemen retain- 
 ed to themfelves the Revenues of the Church, 
 either in Temporalities feu'd to themfelves, as 
 they call it in Scotland, or Penfionsand Payments 
 which they obtained (&) from the Church-Men 5 
 which they could never before obtain under the 
 Minifters *, for the Minifters would not fo far be- 
 tray the Church as to alienate her Revenues to 
 the Courtiers and Gentry. But now it was done 
 effectually, and the Gentlemen hold many of 
 thefe Things to this Day, to the great Impove- 
 rishment 
 
 (b) Calderwood, Httf.fol. 51. Hence they were called Till- 
 chane Bifhops : Si Tulchane is a Calf-Skin fluffed with Straw, 
 placd to make the Cow give Milk ; for now the Bijbop had the 
 Tide, which was but the Straw, but the Lord got the Milk of 
 the Benefice t 
 
t79l 
 
 fifhment, as well as Difcoufagement of the 
 Church, and Hinderance of the Planting Mini- 
 sters in many Parts of the Country. * 
 
 However, the Clergy found Ways to help 
 themielves as to the Revenue in after Times. 
 This was the firft Condition they came into the 
 Church in, and this fimoniacal Project, for it 
 was no lefs, (viz..) giving Part of the Church's 
 Revenues to the Nobility, that they might have 
 their Vote to poflefs the reft •, this fimoniacal 
 Projeft, I fay, was the firft Reafon of the In- 
 troduction of Bifhops into the Church of Scotland; 
 
 We fhall now fee how this Matter relifh'd 
 with the Reformers, and whether, as fome al- 
 ledge, it was a general A& of the Reformation, 
 TEJy or NO. In February 1572, a new Bi- 
 fhop was inaugurated at St. Andrews ; Mr. Knox 
 protefted againft it, and pronounced his Ana- 
 thema, or great Curfe againft both Giver and 
 Receiver. 
 
 But the Cafe was much altered in Scotland at 
 this Time among the Gentry and Nobility* 
 f 1.) Abundance of the firft Reformers, debauch- 
 ed by the Luxury of the Court, and touch'd 
 upon the Niceties of Allegiance, adhered to the 
 Queen, who was Popifh, tho'- they themfelves 
 were Proteftants \ fuch was the Duke of Chat el- 
 leraultj the Earls of Argyle, Rothefs, Laird of 
 Grange, and others. (2.) Of the reft, the lnte- 
 reft of the Nobility in the Church's Revenues* 
 made them all (lack in the Matter of the Church 
 Polity j fhy of the extraordinary Authority of the 
 Aflembly, and averfe to the Severity of Difci- 
 pline. 
 
 * The two firft Regents the Earls of Murray 
 and Lenox y adher'd honeftly and U h fully to rh-e 
 Church, and were the conftant Patrons of ber 
 
 Set- 
 
fSo] 
 
 Settlement : The Earl of Mar 9 the third Regent^ 
 was both zealous for the Reformation, and re- 
 ligious in his Perfon j but gave way a little too 
 early to the abovementioned Court- Principle, I 
 me§n as to their retaining the Church's Reve- 
 nues. * But the Earl of Morton, who fucceeded 
 him, openly invaded the Authority of the Af T 
 femblv, and throwing off the Mask, prote&ed 
 the Bilhops in ufurping an Authority indepen- 
 dent of the AfTerhbly ; and by the fame Confe- 
 quence, placing ah Authority in the Prince to 
 appoint the Bifnop. And thus he did the Drudg- 
 ery of the Party, for which they ill rewarded 
 Jbim afterward, as will appear in the Courfe of 
 this Story. 
 
 The firft Introduction of Bifhops, as above, 
 left them fetter'd and (hackled, as I noted, under 
 ihe Power of the AfTembly •, and tho' even the 
 !Name gave Offence, yet they were fo reduc'd, 
 &s that the Name began not to be queftioned, 
 and fuch the Church will not difpute to this 
 pay : £or tho' they were allow'd to be called 
 Bifhops, yet they were really only Superinten- 
 dents, and not that neither very long - 7 for the 
 AfTembly, Anno 1574, voted the Bifhops to be 
 only Pallors of one Farifh, and delated feveral 
 of them afterward for not preaching, and for 
 not atteiiding at their (<*) Charge : (£) The Bi- 
 
 fhop 
 
 (*) Spotfwood, lib. *,fot. 226. The Quejiion was propofed 
 t§ the Affentbly, whether Bifhops, as they were then in Scotland, 
 bad their Funttion warranted by the Word ofGtd. The dffetn* 
 hly, without giving a diretl Anfwer, approved the Opinion of the 
 latt Apwbly, with this Addition, " That Bifhops fhould be- 
 " take themfelves to the Service of fome one Church 
 " within their Diocefs, and name the particular Flock of 
 u which they would accept the Charge. 
 
 (b) Ibid. The Eijhop of Dunkeld was depofedby the Ajfmbljf, 
 for Dilapidations. 
 
r 81 ] 
 
 fhop of 1) unfold was a&ually depofed by the 
 Aflembly. The Bifhop of Glafgow was delated 
 for not preaching — The Superintendent of 
 Louthian was cenfur'd for inaugurating the Bi- 
 fhop of Rofs 7 when he Was admonifhed by the 
 Aflembly not to do it. 
 
 Innumerable Inlrances are to be found in the 
 Hiftory of thofe Times, as well of Superinten- 
 dents as of Bifhops, who were tried and„cen- 
 fured by the Aflembly. On the other Hand, 
 Bifhop Spotfwood affirms pofitively, that the Su- 
 perintendent's Power was Epifcopal j but gives 
 not one Inftance to prove it. 
 
 At laft the grand Affair came before the Af- 
 fembly, and was then deciflvely aflerted i> for 
 the Aflembly, beginning to fee themfelves en- 
 croached upon, came immediately to the Root 
 of the Queftion, Whether the Funllion of a El- 
 fwp be warranted by the Word of God. The 
 Name of Bifhop no Body difputed, but the Ex- 
 tent of the Title and Office was the Thing. 
 
 In the 6th Seflion of the Aflembly 1575, the 
 Brethren did not conclude finally, but came to 
 this Refolution, that they aflerted their own Su- 
 periority (c), and their Power to turn the Bi- 
 fhop out, after which they ftated the Thing in 
 general thus: 
 
 1. " That the Name of Bifhop is common 
 " to every one that hath a particular Flock, 
 ct over which he hath a peculiar Charge •, as 
 u well to preach the Word, and to minifter 
 " Sacraments, as to execute ecclefiaftica! Dif- 
 
 G ct cipline, 
 
 (c) Calderwood, fol. 69. If any Bifhop be chofen who hath 
 not fuch Qualities at the Word of God requireth, let him bs tried 
 by the General sltfcmbh, \)E NOVO, and let him be depo- 
 fed if there be Caufe, 
 
[8*] 
 
 " cipline, with Confent of his Elders. *m And 
 iC this is his chief Function by the Word of 
 " God. 
 
 " Out of the Number of Bifhops fome 
 " may be chofen to have Power to overfee 
 <c and vifit fuch reafonable Bounds, befides 
 " his own Flock, as the General A fTembly 
 " fhall appoint ^ and in thefe Bounds to ap- 
 " point Minifters, with the Confent of the 
 lt Minifters of that Province, and with the 
 |£>* cc Confent of the Flock, ZM ARK THAT] 
 ct to whom they fhall be appointed : As alfo 
 " to appoint Elders and Deacons in every 
 u particular Congregation, where there is 
 " none, with Confent of the People thereof, 
 "IM ARK THAT ALSO*] and to fuf- 
 " pend Minifters for reafonable Caufes,with 
 " Confent of the Minifters aforefaid." 
 This is, in fhort the Church of Scotland^ 
 firft Opinion of the Office of a Bifliop : They 
 did not declare direftly againft the very Word 
 Bipjop j for the Court run high for the new Pro- 
 ject, and they were (a) not forward to fly in 
 the Face of the Regent, yet they were refolute 
 hi the Subfrance of the Thing. 
 
 It is very remarkable, that when thefe Reta- 
 in tions were paft in the A {Tembly, there were 
 prefent, the Archbilhop of GUfgow> the Bilhops 
 of Dunhldy Galloway, Brichen, Dumblain, and 
 lies, and all thefe, "by their Silence, acknow- 
 ledge! they underftood themfelves to be Bifhops 
 
 in 
 
 (a) Calderwood ,/<>/. 69. They anfwered not direBly to the 
 Qucftion at this Time, by Reafon of the Regent s Authority, wfo 
 was bent upon the Courfe whereof he was the chief Infirument, yet 
 they agreed upon fuch Points as overthrow the Authority and 
 Power of a Bifoop. 
 
[8? 3 
 
 In fuch aSenfe^ and Spotfwood complains upon 
 them for it. (6) 
 
 Thus the Church afTerted her Authority, and 
 the Project of the Court was very much difap- 
 pointed. 
 
 Hitherto Intreague, Subtilty, and Management 
 had been the Method in all the Steps which had 
 been taken to have introduc'd this Novelty in- 
 to the Church \ but thefe were all defeated by 
 this Proceeding } for the AfTembly took away 
 the Power, and left them the Name, which, 'tis 
 plain, did not anfwer the End. 
 
 There remained no other Way then, but open 
 Violence \ and here we find the Regent making 
 the firft Invafion upon the Kirk, and leading 
 the Way to all the Affaults which have been 
 made upon her ever ilnce. 
 
 The Bifhop of St. Andrews dying, the Re- 
 gent recommends, or rather appointed the 
 Chapter to choofe one Mr. Adamfon, his Chap- 
 lain, to fucceed the Bifhop. 
 
 G 2 Th3 
 
 (b) Spotfwood, lib. I. fol. 176. It doth not appear by the 
 Regijier of thefe Proceedings, that the Bifhop s who were prefent, 
 did Jo much as open their Mouths in defence of their Office and 
 Calling : What it was that wade them fo quiet, whether , as I 
 have heard, that they expected thefe Motions fhoud have been 
 daily d by the Regent, or otherwife, that they ajfefled the Praifs 
 of Humility, is unknown ; which was no Wifdom in them to hav: 
 given way to fuch Novelties, and have fuffered the Lawfulnefs of 
 their Vocation to be thus called in Quejlion. 
 The Perfons prefent he Names, 
 
 Anhbp. of Glafgow, Superi?it(ttdent of Louthian & Angus, 
 Bifhop of Dunkeld, 
 Galloway, 
 Brichen, 
 Dumblain, 
 lies. 
 
C 8 4 ] 
 
 The Chapter deferred the Ele&ion till the 
 General Aflembly, and acquainted them with 
 it : Mr. Adamfon, who was prefent in the Af- 
 fembly, was hereupon ask'd if he would fub- 
 mit to Trials — and accept the Office with thofe 
 Injundrions which the Church would prefcribe — 
 He anfwered, the Regent had forbid him to ac- 
 cept of the Office other wife than as appointed 
 by Church and State. 
 
 I give this verbatim out of Bifhop Spot/wood } 
 becaufe his Authority is leaff, queftioned by the 
 Advocates of this Caufe (c). 
 
 Upon this Anfwer, which fhew'd a direct In- 
 vafion of their Authority, the AfTembly could 
 do no lefs than affiert their Right, and therefore 
 (d) rejected him — but the Regent (*) com- 
 manded the Chapter to elecl: him, and they did 
 fo, in Defiance of the General Aflembly. 
 
 The Aflembly, juftly provok'd at this, gave 
 a Commiflion to the Superintendent of (/) 
 Louthian-i and two other Minifters — to call him 
 before them, and prohibit him to exercife any 
 Jurifdiclion, till he fnould be authorized thereto 
 by the General Aflembly. 
 
 Here we fee a Bifhop fufpended, the Roy- 
 al Mandate difputed, and a Superinten- 
 dent who, Sptfwoody in another Place, fays, 
 had Epifcopal Power, yet receiving a Commif- 
 lion 
 
 (c) Spotfwcod, lib 5". fol. 277. Imparted to them the War- 
 rant they had received : The Bijhop owns it was a Command . to 
 the Chapter to chufe him. 
 
 (d) Ibid. Inhibited the Chapter to proceed. 
 
 (e) U>id. Upon a new Charge given them, they convened and* 
 made Choice of him. 
 
 (f) Calderwood fays, it was the Superintendent c/Fife, 
 tffh'cb is mofl likely % $t, Andrews being in that Province. 
 
fion from the AfTembly, together with other 
 Minifters, to fnfpend only •, which, bird he been 
 a Bifhop, he might have exercised without a 
 Commiflion, if it had been in his own Bounds, 
 and could not if he had been a Bifhop, out of 
 his Diocefs, by any Commiffion. 
 
 Upon this Attack of the Church, the AfTem- 
 bly refolving to att with as much Temper and 
 Moderation as poflible, confiding with their 
 Right and the juft Authority they poileft : And 
 in order to prevent any more Difputes of this 
 Kind, refolved, if poflible, to fix upon a Form 
 of Church-Polity, and accordingly it was 
 drawn up and (g) offered, in their Names, to 
 the Regent} but the Troubles which quickly 
 followed upon this in the State, put a Stop to 
 the fettling it at this Time alfo, as it had done 
 feveral Times before (£?). Mr. Calderwood gives 
 a long Account of the Conference of the Mini- 
 fters in the IVeft-, with thofe appointed by the 
 AfTembly, in order to fix this ecclefiaftical Po- 
 lity, to which 1 refer ^ the Thing not being 
 obtained, 'tis not to my Purpofe to enter into 
 Particulars other than this, that the Presbyterhi 
 Authority was clearly eftablifh'd in it, and the 
 very Name as well as Office and Power of a 
 Bifhop left out. 
 
 The Regent, who oppofed them in all Things, 
 did fo, underhand, in this \ for it was evident 
 he pufh'd not at the introducing the Bifhops on- 
 
 c 3 iy> 
 
 (g) Spotfwood, lib.$.fol. 27 7. The Form of Church-Polity 
 was prefented to the Regent by Mr. Robert Pont, Mr. David 
 Lindfay, and Mr. James Lawfon. 
 
 (h) Calderwood, fol. 73, 74, 7 j, 77, 80. The Regent ever 
 refified the Work of the Polity , which was then in Hand, and 
 preffed his own Injunctions and Conformity with England. 
 
[ 86] 
 
 ly, but even at the Diflblution of the AfTembly, 
 whofe Authority was too great for him, and 
 made him uneafie — However, the Form was 
 preferred, as above, and he did not openly re- 
 ject it ; but ftarted Objections, and appointed 
 Queflions to be anfwered, and nam'd a Commit- 
 tee of the Council to confer with them about 
 it. 
 
 Bat now a new Revolution of Affairs hap- 
 pened *, for Factions rifing, among the Nobility, 
 againfl the Regent, and, as it was thought, he 
 being fenfible of his being too weak for them, 
 was advifed to floop to the Juncture of Affairs, 
 quietly to concede his Authority, and demit that 
 Power which, it was manifefl, he could not 
 keep. 
 
 The King was now almoft Twelve Years old, 
 and tho 5 he was under Governours, yet the Fa- 
 ction of Lords not agreeing who to repofe the 
 Truft in, it was refblved to declare the King 
 MA J £, and put the Government into his 
 own Hands. This alfo feemed the more ho- 
 nourable for the Regent j for to have named 
 another after him, had been plainly to have told 
 the World he was turned out — but to refign 
 his Government into the King's own Hand, had 
 a much greater Appearance of Honour. 
 
 He did fo : But as great Mens Fall feldom 
 flop with the Lofs of their Preferments, fo it 
 was with him \ he paft through various Trou- 
 bles, till at laft the Perfecution of his Enemies 
 brought him to the Block. 
 ! The King was young, but began to be infor- 
 med of Things, and as well from Morton at 
 fir ft, as the reft of the Courtiers about him af- 
 terwards, he received too early Prejudices a- 
 gainft the Conftitution of the Church, and in 
 
 par* 
 
f 87] 
 
 particular he took all Occafions to intrench upon 
 the Power of the Aflembly. 
 
 The Debate was now wholly about Bifhops, the 
 Aflembly was for reducing their Power, which 
 was effectually done as before*, they were now 
 for reducing the Name too, as a Thing which 
 they found furnifhed Matter of continual Di- 
 sturbance : So in the Third Sefllon of tne Af- 
 fembly 1577, it was ordained, That all Bijhops 
 and other s^ bearing Ecclefiaftical Function, he called 
 hy their own Names, or Brethren only (*). 
 
 In the Seventh Seflion of the fame Aflembly 
 they put a Stop to the Number, and ordered 
 that no Bifhop be ele&ed or admitted before 
 the next General Aflembly 5 forbidding Minifters 
 and Chapters to eledl:, or any way proceed to 
 the Election of any Bifhop, on Pain of Depriva- 
 tion. 
 
 In the Aflembly at Sterling, in June 1 578, they 
 made the faid Law perpetual, and that all Bi- 
 ihops already elected, be required to fubmit 
 themfelves to the General Aflembly. And thus 
 that infant mongrel Epifcopacy, Jo it was then 
 called, was voted out of the Church as a Nufance. 
 hi the fame Aflembly they appointed a Com- 
 mittee to wait upon the King with the Book of 
 Polity and a Supplication, which was done ; and 
 they were received well enough by the King 
 with good Words and Promifes of Kindnefs and 
 Countenance, and a certain Number named by 
 the Council to confer with them •, tho' the King 
 himfelf fecretly hated both their Perfons and 
 
 G 4 Mea- 
 
 (/) CalderwoodV Hiji fol. 82. That the fa: a Aft faille ex- 
 tended to all Times to come, and till the Corrupt?!?* uf \(he State of 
 Bifiops be utterly removed out of the Church. 
 
t 88] 
 
 Meafures, for which Reafon nothing could be 
 obtained by that Conference. 
 
 The 1 6th of July after, the Parliament met , 
 and theCommifTioners, appointed by the AfTem- 
 bly to wait upon the Parliament, follicited to 
 have the Book of Polity brought in there, and 
 confirmed -, but the Nobility always put it off, 
 having, as afterwards appeared, no Kindnefs 
 for the Strictnefs and Severity of Presbyterian 
 Difcipline. 
 
 Morton % Fall was not yet ; for he Hill guid- 
 ed the King, and inftilled early Thoughts into 
 him in Prejudice of the Kirk, and in Favour of 
 the Bifhops. 
 
 However the Church went on againft them, 
 and the Afiembly fell particularly upon two by 
 Kame,w'.^. Mr. Patrick A dam fori, whom Morton , 
 by his Letter, had made BiOiop of St. Andrews^ 
 and Mr. John Boyd Bilbop of Glafgoxv. 
 
 But now a fecond Attempt was made upon the 
 Church, and that was by the King himfelf, or at 
 leaft in his Name. The Aflembly, as has been 
 noted, having long ftruggled to obtain their 
 Book of Polity, they had been always, tho' not; 
 abfolutely denied to have it pafs, yet fo delay'd 
 and poftponed, that it was ealle to fee the 
 Court was againft them, and that it was not 
 defignM to bepafs'datall :, neverthelefsthey went 
 v on upon the Foot of the Scheme form'd, as what 
 was their jult Right to demand, tho' they had 
 not Influence enough upon the Government to 
 obtain the Grant. 
 
 Being thus, as I have noted, proceeding up- 
 on the Foot of the Polity as their Right, they 
 receive a Letter from the King, dated at Sterling. 
 the6/7; of July 1579, inhibiting them to proceed, 
 and commanding them to refer all the Matters 
 
 uu- 
 
[8 9 ] 
 
 undecided in the Polity of the Kirk to the De- 
 cifion of the next Parliament (**)• 
 
 The Aflembly, notwithstanding this Letter, 
 went on *, but with all the Caution and Refpeft 
 poffible. 
 
 They examine the Articles referred, and pre- 
 fent an Addrefs to the King, defiring a farther 
 Conference upon the Affair of the Polity, and 
 followed this with a long Supplication, to move 
 the King to farther this Book of Polity. 
 
 While this was in Confideration, and 2 or 3 
 Years fpent in the preffing the Polity on one 
 Hand, and putting it off on the other, in the 
 Year 1580 •, the General Aflembly finding, as 
 they apprehended, that all they had yielded to 
 before as to the Word Bifhop, was improved to 
 enlarge the Office and extend the Power of a 
 Bifhop, they refolve to pull it up by the Roots, 
 and remove the very Karne of it out of the 
 Church •, and in order to this, they pafs two Adts, 
 entirely abrogating the Office as unfcriptural, 
 declaring it void and unlawful, as having no 
 Warrant or Foundation in the Word of God: 
 Which Ads, being very remarkable, are worth 
 perufing, and therefore, as abridg'd, are in the 
 Kotes underneath (<*,&). 
 
 Putting 
 
 (/) Calderwood,/c//. 86. [The Words in the Letter are] 
 
 Forbearing any Proceedings at this Time that touch Matters here- 
 tofore not concluded by our Laws, or reccivd into Practice ; but 
 whatfoever in the former Conferences, touching the Polity of the 
 Kirk, was remitted to be decided by our Eftates in Parliament, 
 let it fo reft without prejudging the fame by any ofyourConclufions 
 at this Time. 
 
 (a) Forafmuch as the Office of a Bijhop, as it is now ufid and 
 commonly taken -within this Realm, hath no fare Warrant, An- 
 tlpovity, nor good Ground out of the Bock of Scriptures; but is 
 
 brought 
 
f 90) 
 
 Putting all thefe Accounts together with as 
 much Impartiality as pofllble, 'tis manifeft, and, 
 I think, out of Difputc, that the Church of Scot- 
 land was in its original PRESBYTERIAN : 
 I have nothing to do here with the Difference or 
 the Difputes about which is the moft fcriptural, 
 Epifcopacy or Presbytery, that Difpute is han- 
 dled very ftrongly by its felf ; but the Reafon I 
 have been fo long on this Party is to clear up the 
 Oueflion which has been the Occafion of fo much De- 
 bate in the World, whether the firfi Reformation of 
 bcoLland was Epiflopal or Presbyterian. The 
 
 kmght in by the Folly and Corruption of Mens Invention to tht 
 great Overthrow of the true Kirk of God : The whole Affembly , 
 in one Voice, after Liberty given to all Men to reafon in the Mat* 
 ter, none oppofmg thcrnf elves in defence of the f aid pretended Of- 
 fice, findeth and declareth the fame pretended Office, ufed and 
 termed as is abovefaid, unlawful in its felf ; as having neither 
 Fundament, Ground, or Warrant in the Word of God ; and Or- 
 daineth, that all fuch Perfons as brook, or hereafter Jhall brook 
 the faid Office, be chargd fimpliciter to demit, quit, and leave 
 off the fame, as an Office whereunto they are not called by God, 
 and fie like to defisl and ceafe from preaching, Minijlration of 
 the Sacraments, or ufing any way the Office ef Paflor, while they 
 receive de novo Admiffion from the General Affembly, under the 
 Fain of Excommunication , if they be found dif obedient, to be pro-> 
 flounced and executed againft them. — — 
 The Second Aft. 
 
 (>J) For the better executing the former All it is ordained, That 
 a Synodal Affembly the 17th of Auguft next to come, Jhall be 
 hoi den in every Province, where any ufurping Bijhops are, where- 
 unto they Jhall Be fumtmned By the Victors of the faid Country , 
 viz the Bijhop of St. Andrews to compear at St. Andrews, the 
 Bifoop of Aberdeen in Aberdeen, the Bijhop of Murray at 
 Elgin, the Bijhop o/Glafgow in Glafgow,™ give Obedience to 
 the faid Act , which if they refufe to do, the faid Synodal Affem- 
 bly jhall appoint them to receive Admonition out of the Pulpit, 
 •warning them to compear before the General Affembly in Edin- 
 burgh the 2cth a/O&cber next, to hear the Sentence of Ex- 
 eommuricaiic?i pronounced againfl them for their Difobedience. 
 
 NOTE, the Bifhop"of Dumblain quietly conformed 
 and fubtnitted to this Act. 
 
f 91 3 
 
 The Court bad indeed, from the latter End 
 of the Earl of Mar's Adminiflration, ftrug- 
 gled hard with the Aflembly to referve its own 
 Power, and to have lome Share in the Matter 
 independent of the Aflembly, and at the Con- 
 vention at Leithy they got Ground, as has been 
 hinted \ but the Aflembly vigoroully oppofed it, 
 and afterwards overthrew it all again, and by 
 thefe Acls entirely abolifhed the very Kame of 
 a Bifhop in the Church. 
 
 I come now to enter into a fad Series of Strife 
 between the Church and the Court upon this 
 very Subject \ which continued with infinite 
 Struggles, Vps, and Downs, intervals of Liberty, 
 Storms of Tyranny, fome horrid Scenes of 
 Ruin and Deftru&ion, and perhaps fome Ex- 
 tremes on both Sides : All which harrafs'd this 
 poor Kingdom till af laft the Reftoration of 
 King Charles II, brought the Church quite un- 
 der Foot : And there begins her TERSECVTED 
 STATE. Of which by it filfi 
 
 The Court were, no queftion, very ill plea- 
 fed with this Proceeding of the Aflembly — but 
 they went ftifl on with Steadinefs : Several of 
 the Bifhops fubmitted to this Order of the Af- 
 fembly, and made their Subtniflion, the Copies 
 of which, by after Times, their Succeflbrs be- 
 ing afhamed fo plain a Teftimony of Fact fhould 
 appear, have been rac'd out of the Regilters (c). 
 
 At 
 
 (c) Calderwood,/o/. 92. There wanteth here in the Regifter 
 Part of the Third SeJJion, the whole Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Part- 
 eft he Seventh riven out, as the reft of them were by the fame 
 facrilegious Hands in the Tear 1 584 ; where the Submifjion of the 
 Bijhops of Glafgow, St. Andrews, and the lies were fet down, 
 every one of whom accepted a particular Kirk, [and fo from Bi- 
 ihops, as now meant, became Minifters only, or Bifhops 
 in a Scripture-Senfe.] 
 
At length the King being advanced, by the 
 Death of the Queen of England, to the united 
 Crown of Great Britain, tlie Difputes retted for 
 fome Time, the Court being taken up with the 
 Rejoicings of their new Acquifition, and with 
 the other Incidents of the new Government: 
 And by this Means the Church of Scotland may 
 be faid to have got fome Ground, even at that 
 Time when the King, who was their avow'd 
 Enemy, was fo encreas'd in Power as to be for- 
 midable to them. 
 
 But the King was taken up with Mirth, and 
 the Court in Revels, I had almoft faid in De- 
 bauchery -, and not the King only, but the No- 
 bility alfo, who were always the Hinderers of 
 the Reformation, were now abfent, and not fo 
 much concerned about what became of the 
 Church, when they had their private Fortunes 
 to make by the Favour of their Prince. This 
 Abfence of the Court, I fay, gave the Church 
 great Advantage, and the General Aflembly con- 
 tinued to aflert and maintain their Eftablifh- 
 ment as Presbyterian in opposition to Epifcopa- 
 cy, notwithstanding all the Injunctions and In- 
 terruptions which they met with from the 
 Court, and therefore this may very well be cal- 
 led the growing State of the Kirk. 
 
 But to go back to what happened in the mean 
 Time. It was about the Year 1582, that the 
 King, by the ill Government of the Duke of 
 Lenox, Earl of Arran, &c. who had him, as it 
 might be iaid, in Tutelage, had not only im- 
 posed and intruded the fo much abhorred Pre- 
 lacy upon the Church, but had infulted the 
 Church in their Difcipline and Government on 
 many Occafions, too long to relate \ as particu- 
 larly in the Affair of Montgomery, and the Tu- 
 mult 
 
In 1 
 
 mult in Glafgorv, where, in defence of a Man ex- 
 communicated for notorious Scandal, they mob- 
 bed the Presbytery, beat and very ill treated 
 Mr. John Howlfon the Moderator, and wounded 
 feveral of the Students of the College *, nor was 
 it far from fetting Fire to the College it felf: It 
 was faid, that fome of the King's Guards were 
 employed upon this Riot, to encourage a Tu- 
 mult *, for that the common People could not 
 otherwife be brought to injure the Minifters 
 after fuch a Manner. 
 
 But the Kirk recovered all this, when a few 
 Weeks after happened that memorable Attempt 
 of the Noblemen againft Lenox and Arran> cal- 
 led the Rode of Ruthven, taking the King out 
 of their Hands, by Force, and carrying him to 
 Sterling. This, I fay, was called the Rode of 
 Ruthven> of which we fliall haer a great deal 
 more, and was put in Execution Auguft 20, 1 582, 
 as the King came back from the great annual 
 hunting in Athol. 
 
 It is not to our Purpofe to enter into the Hi- 
 ftory or Caufes of this Attempt : It is enough 
 to fay, that the Power of thefe two Noblemen, 
 or at leaft their imprudent exercifing of that 
 Power was become intolerable to the Nation, 
 and the reft of the Nobility and Gentry con- 
 cerned, found no other way to deliver themfelves 
 from it, but to fet the King at Liberty to aft 
 by better Council. 
 
 They prefented a Declaration to the King of 
 their Reafons for this Conduct, and carrying his 
 Majelty to Sterlings they gave him full Liberty 
 of his Perfon and"a free Exercife of his Govern- 
 ment, only taking Care that the Administration 
 was entirely removed from the hated Hands of 
 Lenox and Aryan* 
 
 The 
 
C94 3 
 
 The King, tho' he never forgave this A&ion, 
 and to his laft refented it againft the Kirk, as if 
 they had been the only Instruments, yet com- 
 plied with the Time, and the Earl of Arran 
 herng clapp'd up Id Duplin Cattle, and the Duke 
 of Lenox, charg'd by Proclamation, to depart 
 the Country, his Majetty confented that a Pro- 
 clamation fhould be publifhed, intimating that 
 he was iu the Town of Pertb> at full Liberty \ 
 that he ftaid there of his own Choice for fome 
 Time, and that he approved of all the Lords 
 had done as for his Intereft and Service. At 
 the fame Time a Proclamation was alfo publifh- 
 ed for reftoring the Liberties of the Kirk, the 
 Freedom of their Aflemblies and Judicatures, 
 and for encouraging the Minifters in Difcharge 
 of their Duty. 
 
 Thus the Church got the Day of their Ad* 
 veriaries, and all Violences offered to their Judi- 
 catures, the Laws made to reftrain their Li- 
 berties or abridge their Rights, were declared 
 to be nnjnft and illegal, and were laid to the 
 Charge of the faid Duke of Lenox and Earl of 
 Arran\ SVCH AS the Diipofition of Bene- 
 fices IHeno Jure, without the Examination of 
 the Perfons, and Admifiion by the Kirk, making 
 the King and his Council Judges in Matters 
 meerly ecclefiaftical \ difcharging or prohibiting 
 the General Aflembly to proceed to Excommu- 
 nication \ annulling the Sentence of Excommu- 
 nication when paft \ Prelacy obtruded upon them 
 contrary to the Principles of the Church of Scot- 
 land, who had declared in the General Aflembly, 
 that the fame was nnfcriptnral, devilifh, and of 
 humane Invention, and the like* 
 
 Upon this Declaration a General AfTembly 
 was convened to meet at Edinburgh t the 9th of 
 
 O&obtr 
 
r 9s 3 
 
 Ottober i $82, and this was perhaps the firft Af- 
 fembly, even from the Reformation, in which 
 it might be faid the Church had an uninterrupted 
 Liberty to exert her full Power in her own E- 
 ftablifhment. 
 
 At this AfTembly the Laird of Paifly, in the 
 Kame of the aflbciated Lords, declared, that 
 the Dangers of the Ecclefiaftical ConfHtution, 
 and of Religion it felf, as well as the Danger 
 of the King's Perfon and of the Civil Govern- 
 ment, were the principal Caufes of their late 
 Undertaking, and they defired the Concurrence 
 of the AfTembly, as well in recognizing the 
 Neceflity of what had been done, as in concert- 
 ing what was yet to be done for the eftablifh- 
 ing and fecuring both the Church and State. 
 
 The AfTembly unanimoufly voted (every Mem- 
 ber being feverally asked J the Reality of the 
 Dangers attending the Reformation and the 
 Church. The King, upon the AfTembly's fending 
 fome of their Body to him, readily declared, 
 that not only his own Perfon, but Religion it 
 felf was in Peril, and that fuch Meafures had 
 been entered into as mull neceflarily have over- 
 turned the Reformation i> that he efteem'd his 
 own Safety and the Safety of Religion to be in- 
 separable, and exhorted the AfTembly to do their 
 Duty to remove the Dangers that threatned 
 both him and them. 
 
 This occafioned that famous Aft of the 
 AfTembly, wherein the Reformation is recog- 
 nized, and the purfuing it recommended earn- 
 eflly as well to Minifters as People y all the 
 Miniflers are exhorted to fet forth the Dangers 
 of the Church, the King, and the Common- 
 wealth to their Flocks, in the moll prefTmg 
 Manner, urging all who love and tender the 
 
 Glo- 
 
r ^ j 
 
 Glory of God, the profperous State of the King 
 and Common wealth, to concur with them in 
 their Endeavour to their full Deliverance. 
 
 After this the Aflembly proceeded with Vi- 
 gour to exert themfelves : They erected Pres- 
 byteries and Church- Judicatures in fuch Parts 
 where there were none before, as in the North- 
 ern Provinces of Sutherland, Caltlmefs, Rofs, 
 Murray, Aberdeen, &c. 
 
 Then they empowered the Presbyteries to fum- 
 mon before them the Bifhops, and to caufe them 
 to anfwer to the faid Presbyteries for inch 
 Offences as they fhould be accufed of: The 
 Crimes the faid Bifhops were thus accufed of 
 were fuch as thcfe : 
 
 Not Preaching, and adminiftring the Sacra- 
 ments, as is the Duty of aGofpel-Minifter. 
 
 Negled in Difcipline. 
 
 Error in Doctrine. 
 
 Aflbciating themfelves with excommunica- 
 ted Perfons. 
 
 Wafting of the Patrimony of the Kirk. 
 
 Letting Leafes of Land againft the Prohibi- 
 tions of the Kirk. 
 
 Collating to Benefices againft the Tenor of 
 
 ^ the Ads of the Kirk. 
 
 Scandal in Life and Converfation. 
 
 And many other Thing?, not then articled, 
 which were left to the Examination of Wit- 
 neffes. And the Presbyteries were farther em- 
 powered to hear, try, acquit, and condemn, as 
 the Matters of Fad "fhould appear to them. 
 ■• The Time was now come when the Autho- 
 rity of the Church had its full Eftablifhment : 
 The Convention of Eftates, which was then 
 
 called, 
 
r 97 ] 
 
 called, and which met at Perth; gave Room to 
 the Aficmbly to lay all their Grievances beforo 
 them, which was done in 22 Articles, and 
 their Demands of particular Redrefs for Wrong 
 and Wreck, as it was called, in 11 Articles 
 more. 
 
 The Bifhops were now depofed, and many 
 of them fubmitted to become Paftors of private 
 Parifh-Chnrches. 
 
 The Laird of Minto, who, at the Head of a 
 Mob, had infulted the Moderator of the Pres- 
 bytery of GUfgowy fubmitted himfelf to the Af- 
 fembly, and begg'd Pardon. 
 
 . Mr. Robert Montgomery, whofe Cafe had rai fed 
 fuch Difputes between the King and the Church \ 
 the Church excommunicating him, and the 
 King reltoring him by Proclamation •, came in 
 and fubmitted, ojfering to undergo the Injuncti- 
 ons of the Presbytery of Glafgow, and defiring 
 to be received into the Bofom of the Church. 
 
 And thus flood the Affairs of the Church at the 
 Beginning of the Year 1583, but it continued 
 but for a fhort While \ for the King, impatient 
 of the good Government of the Lords, and in- 
 wardly hating the Church, contrivM to make his 
 Efcape from Falkland, which, by the A [fill a nee 
 of another Faction among the Nobility, he effect- 
 ed the 28th of Juguft 1 583, taking Refuge in the 
 Cattle of St. Andrews: Thither repaired imme- 
 diately all thofe among the Nobility who were 
 privy to the Deiign 7 and thus they laid the 
 Foundation of an entire Change of Mcafuresand 
 Perfons in his Adminiftration. 
 
 As in the State, fo in the Church, all 
 Things tended to Change; laving only that the 
 Alfembly, maintaining their Principles, flood 
 their Ground againft the Court with a Con- 
 
 H ftancy 
 
[98] 
 
 ftancy of Zeal which could never be fubdu- 
 ed. 
 
 However, the Bifhops immediately got foot- 
 ing by this Turn of the Court, and the Bi- 
 fhop of St. Andrews being in the Cattle there, 
 immediately reaflumed his Office and Character, 
 pre fuming on the King's Protection, as openly 
 as if he had been placed in it by a legal Au- 
 thority, even the King frimfelf not yet decla- 
 ring his Confent to his Attempt. 
 
 During thefe Tran factions, the General At 
 fcmbly conven'd at Edinburgh, (viz.) the 20th 
 of October \ nor did they flack their Hands in 
 their Proceedings againfl the Bifhops, notwith- 
 standing the King appeared now openly of the 
 Prelaiick Party \ for they call'd for the Report 
 of their Commiffioners, appointed by the for- 
 mer Affembly, to proceed againfl four Delin- 
 quent Bifhops, viz,* the Archbifhop of St. An- 
 drews, the Bifhops of the Ifles 9 Dunhld, and 
 Dumblain. 
 
 The Archbifhop had been fummoned by the 
 Synod of Fife, apud a£ta, to appear at this Af- 
 fembly, which, he now thinking himfelf too 
 high to fabmit to^ declined to do •, Co they pro- 
 ceeded againfl" him as in Contempt ^ and the 
 Procefs againfl his Woman Counfellor AUfon 
 Pearfone, as a Witch, was alfo brought before 
 the Affembly, and a Committee was appoint- 
 ed to examine Witnefles againfl them both. 
 ^ They alfo refolved now to make a Reprefen- 
 tation of their Grievances, and of the State of 
 the Church and Kingdom, and lay the fame 
 before the King himfelf in Difcharge of them- 
 selves: This fome of the Miniflers prefl with 
 the more Earneflnefs, prophetically fugge fling 
 that a Cloud of Darknefs and Perfection was 
 
 coming 
 
l99l 
 
 coming upon them, and would break over their 
 Heads in a violent and furious Storm, as well 
 from the Prelates as from the King himfelf, 
 The Heads of this Reprefentation are at large 
 to be feen in the Histories of thofe Times. Ha- 
 ving drawn out their (*z) Grievances, fome of 
 which pointed directly at the King as a Fa- 
 vourer of the Enemies of God, as well Popifh 
 as prelatick} they fent Ten CommifTioners 
 with it to the King then at Sterling: They were 
 very coldly received, and told, that the King 
 advifed the AfTembly to keep within the Bounds 
 of their proper Bufinefs : The CommifTioners 
 were fent back again to defire a more particu- 
 lar Anfwer } but were told they had been fully 
 anfwered already. 
 
 At this Time two of the moft bold and zea- 
 lous Members of the AfTembly died, (viz..) Mr. 
 Alexander Arbuthnot, Principal of the College at 
 Aberdeen, and Mr. Thomas Smeton, Principal of 
 the College at Glafgow. By the Lofs of thele 
 two great Men their Hands were extremely 
 weakened in the Struggles they were quickly 
 to meet with. » 
 
 However, during the Sitting of this AfTembly 
 they abated nothing of what they thought their 
 Duty : They profecuted the Archbifhop to fuch 
 a Hight, that he was obliged to feign an Em- 
 bafTy into England upon publick Affairs, tho y 
 others [aid he was xoorfe employed, and fearing a 
 Sentence of Depofition, he obtained from the 
 King to be freed from Cenfure during his Ab- 
 fence. It was fa id, that during this Journey 
 into England^ he concerted with fome of the 
 
 H 2 Epif- 
 
 00 Calderwood, Wfi. fol, 142, 
 
C ioo ] 
 Epifcopal Clergy there, thofe wicked Meafures 
 by which he afterward opprefled the Church 
 of Scotland, and in the End overthrew it for a 
 Time. 
 
 That famous Supporter of the Church's 
 Caufe, Mr. John Durie y was one of the firft that 
 felt the Effects of the new Change, being com- 
 manded by the King to depart from Edinburgh^ 
 and remain at Montr o[e y which he fubmitted 
 to \ but both the Town-Council and the Kirk- 
 Seifion of Edinburgh gave him noble Tefti mo- 
 rtals both of his Life and Doctrine*, which was 
 more to his Honour than all the Reproach his 
 Enemies laid upon him could overbalance. 
 
 The perfecuting the Minifters was the firft 
 Work the new Eftablifhment began with, be- 
 fore they fell upon the Church it felf :, and even 
 in their dealing with the Minifters they a&ed 
 cautioufly, and ftrove to begin with fuch Things 
 as they called legal Profecutions for pretended 
 Offences: Afterwards they grew bolder, and 
 fell upon them in a grofler Manner. 
 
 In thefe pretended legal Profecutions Mr. An- 
 drew Melvlns Cafe was the moll famous Ex- 
 ample : He was fummoned before the Council, 
 where he was queflioned for offenfive Words 
 fpoken in the Pulpit, on a Faft-Day, reflecting 
 on, the King and his Adminiftration, faying, 
 That the King was unlawfully promoted to the Crown ^ 
 with other [editions Words. The Univerllty, re- 
 folving to afTert their Privileges, fent two of 
 their Body with a Teftimonial in his Behalf, 
 iign'd by 30 of their principal Men, as well 
 Matters as Students, and demanded that he 
 fhould be cenfured only by the Univerfity \ the 
 Presbyteries of the Bounds fent Commiffioners 
 to proteft again-fl; the Proceedings, as againft the 
 
 Li- 
 
[ IOI ] 
 
 Liberties of the Church, and Mr. Melvin himfelf 
 declined the Jurifdiftion of the Council Ln his 
 Cafe, in a long Declaration, which is to be ^w 
 at large in Mr. C alder wood's Hiftory, fol. 144, 
 145. But all thefe were rejected by the Coun- 
 cil In this Declaration he both pofitively de- 
 nied the Words, folemnly and before God, pro- 
 tefbing that he never fpoke them, accufed the 
 Informer of Malice and declared Prejudice, and 
 juftified what he had really fa id to be accord- 
 ing to God's Word and his own Duty : Upon 
 giving in this Declaration, he retired into En- 
 gland, having Notice that he was to be confix 
 ned in Blacknefs Caftle. After his Retreat he 
 was publickly praifed, and pray'd for in the 
 Pulpit by the Minifters in Edinburgh, which, as 
 the Hiftory of thofe Times cxprefles it, ^leafed 
 the People and galled the Court. 
 
 In the mean Time the Land was full of Trou- 
 bles, the Lords of Angus and Mar fur prized 
 the Caftle of Sterling * 7 but their great Friend 
 Gowry being taken, and others fecur'd, and they 
 being not ftrong enough to defend themfelves 
 againft the young King, who came againft them 
 with a great Army, they fled into England: 
 The Caftle was furrendered, the Captain and 
 Three others, who furrendered it, were hanged : 
 This Attempt weakened the Hands of the 
 Church and their Friends, making their Enemies 
 not only more ftrong, but alfo more furious 
 than they were before. The General AfTembly 
 was appointed to be held at St. Andrews, the 
 24th of April 1584, where the Number of 
 Minifters, who durft appear, were but very 
 few : The Commiflioner whom the King fent to 
 them, being their declar'd and enrag'd Enemy, 
 
 H 3 his 
 
[ ioi ] 
 
 his Kame was Graham of Halyards , at that 
 Time Juftice Depute. 
 
 This Graham ufed them after an unaccuftom- j 
 ed Manner, exerting a Power which they allow- 
 ed not to be the Right, even of the King him- 
 felf : He treated them in a rude and imperious 
 Manner alfo, with all poifible Difrefpeft. Firft 
 he demanded of them, on Pain of Rebellir 
 on and Treafon, to annul a former Act. of Af- 
 fembly, approving the Rode of Ruthven, and by 
 a new Aft to condemn it. At the fame Time 
 he entered into a Treaty with the Provoft and 
 Bailies of St. Andrews to imprifon thofe Mini- 
 iters that fhould not comply. But the Mini- 
 fters got Notice of it, and being refolved not 
 to comply, they filently declined the AfTembly, 
 and dropt out of Town, one by one, leaving 
 the Commifiioner to fit by himfelf. He had, 
 it feems, private Inftruftions to feize upon Four 
 q{ the leading Minifters, viz.. Mr. James Law 
 forte, David Lyndfey, Patrick Galloway, and An- 
 drew Hay. The Three firft appeared in the 
 AfTembly, but he being willing to fnap them 
 all at once, waited for~ the Fourth till thofe 
 that were there got Notice, and efcaped, and 
 fo he mift them all \ for which he was very 
 much laughed at. The few Minifters that re- 
 mained refufed to aft, giving for Anfwer, that 
 they were too few to conftitute an AfTembly \ 
 fo the Cbmroiflioner retired. 
 
 Note \ at this AfTembly, the Court influencing 
 the Nobility, the Barons and Gentlemen, who, 
 as ruling Elders, were ufed to be fent up from 
 the Provinces, and were allowed to fit and vote 
 with them, were forbid by the Court coming 
 to the AiTembly, 
 
 The 
 
E io? ] 
 
 The Four Minifters abovenamed were fought 
 after, high and low, to be apprehended, and 
 would have been put to Death, efpecially Mr. 
 Patrick Galloway? but they made their Efcape 
 for that Time, as did alfo many other Mini- 
 fters, fuch as Mr. John Davifon? Mr. James Car- 
 michaely Mr. Andrew Polwart, and many others. 
 
 Now was the Court refolved, in Conjunction 
 with the Bifhops, to ruin and overthrow the 
 Church } and to this End, the Negotiations of the 
 Archbifhop in England having fucceeded fo far 
 as to have all poflible Concurrence from thence •, 
 tofinifh it the King called a Parliament: In this 
 Parliament Matters were managed fo under- 
 hand by the Court, that it feemed rather a 
 private Council, than a Parliament. The Lords 
 of the Articles, which were a Committee fo 
 called whofe Work it was to prepare Bufl- 
 nefs for the Cognizance of the Houfe, were 
 fworn to Secrecy, and wheu the Houfe fat the 
 Doors were lock'd up. 
 
 However, the Minifters got Intelligence of 
 what was doing. Calderwood in his Account of 
 this Part fays, one of the Lords of the Articles 
 betrayed them, fol. 155. Be that as it will, a 
 Letter was privately fent to the Minifters in £- 
 dinburgb? from an unknown Hand, affuring them 
 that the whole Bufinefs of that Parliament was 
 to deftroy the Church, and bid them take fpeedy 
 Care about it. 'The Minifters knew not what 
 to do, but they deputed Mr. David Lindfey^ Mi- 
 nifter of Leith, who was thought to be a Man 
 acceptable to the King, to reprefent their Cafe, 
 and to pray, in tlie humbleft Manner, that an 
 Aflembly might t>e called and heard in Parlia- 
 ment, before any Thing was done to the Pre- 
 judice of the Church. But initead of heaving this, 
 
 H 4 thc 
 
C 104 ] 
 
 the King caufed Mr. Lindfey to be apprehend- 
 ed, as he was going into the Palace, and car- 
 ried away to Blacknefs-Caflle, without permitting 
 him to deliver his MefTage : They fent other 
 MefTengers, to make Proteft in open Parliament, 
 but to no purpofe } they could not get in. How- 
 ever, two Minifters, (viz..) Mr. Robert Pont, 
 and Mr. Bdcanquell, by their private Intereft, 
 did get in, and did make a Proteft againft the 
 Proceedings. 
 
 Not content with this Proceeding, the King 
 and Council fent an Order to the Magistrates of 
 Edinburgh, that in Cafe any Minifterdid, in the 
 Pulpit, offer to fpeak any Thing againft the 
 Proceedings of the Parliament, they mould in- 
 ftantly pull them down from the Pulpit, and 
 commit them to Prifon j fo the Adcs were paft 
 to deftroy the Church, and to eredt the Epifcopal 
 Hierarchy in its Room, and were proclaimed at 
 the Market-Crofs of Edinburgh : The faid Mr. 
 font and Mr. Balcanquell taking Inftrnments of 
 their Proteft againft it in the Name and Behalf 
 of the Church. But the faid Minifters had no 
 fooner done fo, but they w T ere oblig'd to fly, 
 as did alfo Mr. James Larvfone, and feveral o- 
 thers. 
 
 Thefe A&s of Parliament, for protefting a- 
 gainft which the y Minifters were thus ujed, a- 
 rnounted to neither more nor lefs thaoFan Ac- 
 knowledgment of the King's Supremacy, and 
 the Government of the Church by Bifhops, &c. 
 It has been an Obfervation, which, I believe, 
 will hold good throughout all Ages of the 
 Church fince the Reformation, that no fooner 
 was Epifcopacy, upon any Occafion, fet up in 
 the Church of Scotlapd, but it began always to 
 perfecutq ths Presbyterian Church. And this. 
 
 was 
 
C io 5 ] 
 
 was the Cafe here *, for foon after this the Par- 
 liament fat again, viz.. the i$th of Augufb ^84, 
 when an Aft was made, enjoining all Mini Iters, 
 Maiters of Colleges, and other Ecclefiaitick Per- 
 fons, to appear within 40 Days, and fubfcribe 
 the new Conftitution of the Church, as it was 
 then called, and fubmit to their Diocefan, on 
 Pain of lofing their Stipends. 
 
 Some Minifters refufed this, and were fore- 
 ly perfecuted by the Council , but they conti- 
 nued to declare againft it as illegal, and being 
 queftioned by the Council, how they durft op- 
 pole or condemn an Ad of Parliament, they an- 
 iwered boldly, that they would condemn every 
 Thing that was repugnant to the Word of % 
 God. Mr. Craig, one of thefe Minifters, was 
 greatly infulted by the Earl of Arran ', but he an- 
 fwered him in a Kind of prophetick Rage, That 
 God mould, in a fhort Time, caft him from his 
 Horfe, meaning his Pride and Power, and humble 
 him for mocking the Servants of God. This came 
 literally to pafs in a few Years after, the Earl 
 being unhorft by Douglas of Parkhead, and kill- 
 ed. 
 
 On this Occafion Mr. Craig was depriv'd, and 
 forbid to preach in Edinburgh, and the Archbi- 
 ihop went up into his Pulpit to preach, by Or- 
 der of the King and Council j but when the 
 People faw him come up into the Pulpit, in- 
 itead of their own Minifter, they univerfally 
 rofe up and went out of the Church, the Court^ 
 Tarty only flaying in the Place. The Copy of 
 the Subfcription required of the Minifters was 
 as follows. 
 
 We the Beneficed- A fen, Minifters, and Makers 
 of Schools and Colleges, tejlifie and yromife by 
 
 thefe 
 
f io6 ] 
 
 thefe cur Hand-Writs, our dutiful and bumble Sub- 
 mijfion to our Sovereign Lord the King's Majefiy y 
 and to obey, with all Humility, his Highnefs AB of 
 his late Parliament, holden at Edinburgh the lid 
 Day of May 1584. And that according to the fame 
 we fliall foew our Obedience to our Ordinair, Bifhop, 
 or COMMISSIONER appointed by his Ma- 
 jefty to have the Exercife of fpiritual Jurifditlion 
 in our D IOCES 5. And in Cafe of our Difo- 
 bedience in thefe Premijfes, to be content that our 
 Benefices,. Livings, and Stipends V A IK ipfo fa- 
 dro, and that qualified and obedient Verfons be pro- 
 vided in our Room, as if we were naturally dead. 
 Witnefs, &c. 
 
 The Minifters that refufed to fubfcribe this 
 Paper, went into/voluntary Banifhment and re- 
 mained in England, but moftly about Berwick, 
 where the banifhed Lords alio refided - 9 bat they 
 had their Preaching even there but in pi "vate ; 
 for fuch was the Correspondence between the E- 
 pifcopal People in Scotland and the Church of 
 England, that albeit tr\p Queen of England per- 
 mitted the banifhed Lords and Minifters of 
 Scotland to harbour in England, yet would fhe 
 not admit them to have Preaching in publick, 
 as not being confonant to the Worfhip of the 
 Church in England. Great In fiance was made 
 to Queen Elizabeth to deliver up thofe Noble^ 
 men and fugitive Minifters, which neverthelefs 
 fhe would never do \ but fhe yielded at laft to 
 oblige them to refide farther from the Borders. 
 
 During thefe Oppreftions, many Minifters of 
 the Kirk complied with and fubferib'd the Form 
 above, with fome Alterations. Mr. Andrew 
 Simfon, Minifter of Dalkeith, fubferibed thus: 
 
[ 107 ] 
 
 I MASTER ANDREW SIMPSON, 
 
 Minifter of Dalkeitb, [wear by the Name of the 
 great God, that I fhall not preach any Here fie or fc~ 
 ditious Doctrine, nor fljall privately or publickly ftir 
 up the King's Majefty's Subjects to any Rebellion, 
 and (hall obey all his Laws and Alls of Parliament , 
 fo far as they agree with the Word of God. 
 
 t Others abfolutely refufed, and Mr. Dalgliefi, 
 Minifter of the Weft Kirk at Edinburgh was one:, in- 
 fomuch that a Scaffold was ereded for his Executi- 
 on, which, however, could not bring hirn off, nei- 
 ther would he ever comply. At laft the Court was 
 fain to publifh an Explanation of it, foftening 
 the Meaning. But tho' this Explanation, which 
 was penn'd by the Archbifhop, was accepted 
 with much Applaufe in England^ and the Scots 
 Minifters were cenfur'd then for rejecting it, yet it 
 gain'dbut very littleuponthe Mini Iters in Scot land, 
 and ferv'd only to mew the Weaknefs ofthofe 
 Ads which they took fo much Pains to explain. 
 * In this Condition flood the Church for fome 
 Years, ftruggling with daily Innovations, the 
 King their open and declared Enemy, and on- 
 ly Supported by the Integrity of her Minifters 
 and People : The great Subject upon which the 
 Minifters were perfecuted was, the fubferibing 
 the Obligation mentioned *, all fuch as refufed 
 were difplac'd, and turn'd out -, and this con- 
 tinued to the Year 1587, when it plcafed 
 God to give a new Turn to the Affairs of 
 Scotland, of which the following brief Account 
 Will inform us. 
 
 The banifhed Lords, who, as has been faid, 
 the Queen of England had been unkind to, were 
 gone South, but an Accident happen'd upon 
 
 the 
 
r 108 ] 
 
 the Borders, which brought them back # , for 
 on the 26th of July 1585, at a Meeting of the 
 Wardens of the Borders on either Side, to ad- 
 juft fome Difputes, inftead of an Agreement, 
 they fell to Blows, and the young Lord Rufel, 
 elder! Son to the Earl of Bedford, with fome 
 other Englijh Men were flain by the Laird of 
 Femihurft : Queen Elizabeth relenting this as a 
 high Affront, fhewed her Refolution to re- 
 venge it } and immediately, as a Beginning, fhe 
 fmiles upon the Refugee-Lords, and encourages 
 them with Money and Promifes of Affiftance 
 to return into their Country by a ftrong Hand : 
 The Confufions which then happen'd at Court, 
 gave them a very good Opportunity, and fe- 
 veral difcontented Lords, and fome under Pro- 
 
 * fecutions for differing Caufes, not Religion, 
 yet all joined with thefe to recover their Liber- 
 ty by Force, and to lay hold of this Occafion, 
 as offered by Heaven for their Return. 
 
 About the Beginning of OBober, the banifli- 
 ed Lords from abroad, and the difcontented 
 Lords at home, meet at Jedburgh , and mutter- 
 ing their Forces found they had between Nine 
 and Ten Thoufand Men well appointed : The 
 King and the Earl of Arran Jay at Sterling, 
 with few Forces *, the Lords advance to Falkirk, 
 and the next Day to Sterling : The Earl of Ar- 
 yan, the Archbifhop, and all the wicked Crew 
 fly over Forth, purfued fatter by their own 
 
 1 Guilt, than by their Enemies -, the Cattle fur- 
 rendred the 4th of November, and the Lords 
 pre lent themfelves to the King. 
 
 And now the hypocritical Face being put 
 outermott, they are received with Kindnefs 
 and Favour, tho' nothing lefs intended or de- 
 fired j the Epifcopal Crew fly while none pur- 
 
 fues* 
 
f 109 ] 
 
 Cues, the King owns he has been abufed, pro- 
 mifes to be directed by their Counfel, and pre- 
 tends to acknowledge the good Hand of God in * 
 bringing Things to their due Courfe again, and 
 reftoring them, who were his faithful Friends, 
 without Bloodfhed. 
 
 The Scene being thus chang'd, Epifcopacy 
 
 vanifryd in a Moment, as a Vapour before the 
 
 Sun \ a Parliament was fummoned, and the 
 
 * Church had its AfTembly again, which had been 
 
 fupprefs'd for near Three Years. 
 
 This Aflembly was appointed for the 23d of 
 November 1587, and the Place named was Dum- 
 fermlmg, the Plague reigning both at Edinburgh 
 and Sterling, but when the Minifters came thi- 
 ther, they found the Ports of the Town fhut 
 againft them, by Order of the Laird of Pit- 
 f err en j fo they adjourn'd to Linlithgow. 
 
 But the King, who mortally hated the Kirk, 
 began now to work another way *, for as he 
 could not recover the Party that was now ba- 
 mmed and fled :, he fell to flattering the return- 
 ed Lords, and by fmooth Words, Entreaties, 
 Promifes, Bribes, &c. to bring them off from 
 their' Engagements with the Minifters •, fo that 
 when the Aflembly applyed to the King to 
 abrogate the Ads of Parliament, which were % 
 their prefent Grievance, the King flew out in 
 the greateft Rage imaginable, giving them 
 vile and fcurrilous Language, and railing them 
 out of his Sight. 
 
 Having met with this Repulfe, they applyed 
 to the Lords, but were forely abafh'd when 
 they found them cold and backward \ fome pro- 
 pofing Delays, others declining to meddle with 
 it at all, others promifing fair, but doing no- 
 thing, and all of them willing to put it off to 
 
 an 
 
[ no ] 
 
 another Occafion. But the Minifters befieging 
 the King with continually infixing upon Re- 
 drefs, he commanded them to exhibit what they 
 alledg'd againft the A&s of Parliament in 
 Writing, this they did at large, with a Sup- 
 plication to the King to do them Right. All 
 which are at large in Cdderwoodh Hiftory,/*?/. 
 192, 193. 
 
 The King makes a Declaration, in Anfwer 
 to this, explaining the Acls of Parliament, and 
 juftifying them in all Points. And thus it feem- 
 ed to be a Difpute between the Kirk and the 
 King \ for this Declaration is faid to be penn'd 
 by the King himfelf. The King would grant 
 no more than this Declaration allowM, fo the 
 Kirk return'd a Supplication to the King, and 
 thus it flood for that Year. This Declaration 
 and Supplication are curious Pieces for thofe 
 to read who defire to be fully Matters of this 
 Difpute, and much has been faid of the ex- 
 traordinary Nicety and Subtilty of the Compo- 
 lition. They are to be found at large in the 
 (*) Hiftory of thofe Times. 
 
 As the Affembly was now revived, fo were 
 the Provincial Synods } and as that of Fife e- 
 fpeciaily had been difcontinued, becaufe of their 
 having' fallen upon the Archbifhop of St. An- 
 drews : Upon their being now reviv'd, they 
 renew their Accufation, and as it came in its 
 Order before the faid Synod, aflembed at St. 
 Andrew s, who, after very mature Debates, the 
 Archbifhop being at firft prefent, they excom- 
 municated him. The Sentence was very parti- 
 cular, and merits a Place in thefe Memoirs, as 
 fellows, viz. THE 
 
 (a) CaWcrwood, Wft.fit. 193, to 195 
 
r mi 3 
 
 THE ASSE MB LY ment the Procefs de~ 
 duced againfi Mr. Patrick Adamfone, having 
 confidered and tried the fame with mature Delibe- 
 ration, and after Conference held, hath found, That 
 the [aid Mr. Patrick Adamfone hath no -ways 
 amended his Contumacy and Difobedience to the 
 Voice of the Church of God, and of the faid Af- 
 fembly, convened in the Name of our Lord Jefus ; 
 hut rather continuing therein, contemptuoufly tra- 
 velleth to ufurp and exercife his tyrannical Ambi- 
 tion and Supremacy over the Church of God, his 
 Brethren, and this Affembly, with fundry fandrous 
 Untruths, as well againfi the Word as againfi 
 fome of the Brethren, and being defired by diver fe 
 Admonitions, given him in the Name of the Af- 
 fembly, to hear the Voice of the Church, he not on- 
 ly contemptuoufly and difdainfully refufeth the Cen- 
 fure and judgment, and to be tried by the faid 
 Affembly , but claiming Supremacy and Judgment 
 above them, heapeth up Contempt upon the Ordi- 
 nance of Jefus Chrifi : Adding thereunto the No- 
 toriety of the former Accufation againft him before 
 the General Aflembly, wherein he was thought 
 worthy, for weighty Caufes and great Crimes, to be 
 fufp ended from all Function of the Miniftry, as by the 
 faid Act of Sufpenfion appears ; contrair to the Te- 
 nor whereof he hath not only ufurp ^d again the faid 
 Funtlion, &c. againfi the Ordinance of the Church, 
 but alfo hath difplaid a Banner againfi the whole 
 good Order and Government of the Church \ 
 THEREFORE, and for divers other notorious 
 Slanders, whereof he fiands accufed, and refufes to 
 undergo lawful Tryal: THE ASSEMBLY, in 
 the Fear of God 3 and in the Name of Jefus 
 \ }, moved by Zeal to the Glory of God, and 
 for purging of his Church, excommunicates him the 
 
 faid 
 
[aid Patrick Adam Tone, and ordains the [aid Sen* 
 tcnce of Excommunication infiantly to be put in 
 Execution in the Face of the Affembly? and by the 
 Mouth of Mr. Andrew Huntar, Minifter 0/Carn- 
 bie, declaring him to be one of thofe whom Chrifi 
 commandeth to be holden as an Heathen or Publi- 
 can — ■ Ordaining the faid Sentence to be intimated 
 in all the Kirks t that none pretend Ignorance there" 
 of. 
 
 The Archbifhop appealed, and excommuni- 
 cated feveral of the Minifters *, but he was an- 
 fwered by Mr. James Melvin at large, and this 
 is the Sentence which the Bifhop begg'd, at his 
 Death, to be abfolved from : Thefe Things 
 held the World in Sufpence till the next Af- 
 feuibly met, which was in May 1585. This 
 was that famous AfTembly, called, The Affembly 
 of Conference } wherein a Conference was ma- 
 naged by CommifTioners on both Sides, and an 
 Accommodation was propofed. The King in- 
 iifted upon the Name of Bifhop, the AfTembly 
 upon the Power and Office. The AfTembly 
 granted the Name, and the King gave up the 
 Power, and thus the Matter feem'd to be com- 
 promifed between them,* And it is from this 
 AfTembly, that, to this Day, the Epifcopal Par- 
 ty fay, that the Presbyterians did acknowledge 
 lipifcopacy *, but if they look into the Particu- 
 lars of the Bifhop which they allowed, they 
 will find, that he was to be a Paftor of a Con- 
 gregation, and that he was to be fubjecl: to the 
 AiTembly, and that he came under feveral o- 
 ther Circum fiances, which will very ill fupport 
 that AiTertion. 
 
 In this AiTembly, at the King's Requeft, and 
 upon the Archbifliop's Submiffion, they took 
 
 off 
 
f II?] 
 
 off the Excommunication, pronounced at the 
 Synod of Fife, againft the Arcbbifhop of St. 
 Andrews, and abfolv'd him. 
 
 But againft this Abfolution one of the Mi- 
 nifters, viz.* Mr. Andrew Hunter by Name, gave 
 in that memorable Proteftation, which ftands 
 upon Record in the Book of the AfTembly, and to 
 which afterwards mod of the reft of the Mi- 
 nifters adhered -, which I have added at the End 
 of this Tart, No. A. 
 
 It was obferved, that the King wrought 
 with this AfTembly by. much Policy and Cun- 
 ning : He had, by Experience, found that rigid 
 Methods, Perfections, and Profecutions would 
 not anfwer, and that the Minifters became ra- 
 ther the more CONSTANT, or cbfiinate, 
 as he called it, by fuch Methods ; wherefore he 
 went other ways to work, and feeking by all 
 fecret and underhand Dealings, to divide and 
 draw off, to plea fe, wheedle, perfwade, entreat, 
 and deceive ^ by thefe Methods he got many of 
 the Brethren to ad a different Part from what 
 they would otherwife have done. This was e- 
 vident in the Cafe of the Archbifhop, where he 
 formally fubmitted, but fecretly abhorr'd them \ 
 the Church formally abfolv'd him, and yet fe- 
 cretly believ'd him to be unreformed. 
 
 However it was, the Church, in all this Time, 
 kept upon its Feet, tho' in continual Broils 
 with the King ; upon the Subject of Epifcopacy, 
 and as well about the Authority as the Name 
 of a Bifhop. There were Two AflTemblies in 
 the Year 1587, but the latter was convened 
 extraordinary, becaufe of the growing Danger 
 of Popery •, the Ifland being under great Appre- 
 henfions, at that Time, from the threatn'd lnva- 
 lion of the Spanifh Armada \ and during which 
 
 1 the 
 
[ ir 4 ] 
 
 the Difputes at home were fomewhat abated \ 
 and it was on this Occafion, that the Agree- 
 ment, called the General Band, was fubfcribed 
 by the King, Council, and feveral Perfons of 
 divers Eftates through the whole Kingdom, 
 which, in fhort, was neither more or lefs than 
 what we now call an AfTociation, and was done 
 again ft the Papifts, in which are thefe Words: 
 c And for our farther hearty Union in this. 
 4 Service, we are content, and confent, that 
 ? all and whatsoever our Feuds and Variances, 
 c fallen, or tbat may fall out between us, be 
 c within 40 Days hereafter, amicably referred 
 c and fubmitted to Seven or Five indifferent 
 c Friends, chofen by his Majefty, of our whole 
 1 Number •, and by their Moderation and Ar- 
 c bitriment taken away and componed : And 
 c finally, that we will neither dire&ly or in- 
 4 directly, fe pa rate or withdraw ns from the 
 c Union or Fellowfhip of one another ; and as 
 
 * we (hall anfwerto God, upon our Confciences \ 
 c and to the World, upon our Truth and Ho- 
 
 * nour, and under Pain to be cftcemed Tray* 
 c tors to God and his Ma jetty, and to have 
 c loft all Honour, Credit, and Eftimation in 
 1 Time coming. ' 
 
 They were at this Time under Apprehenfi- 
 ons, as is faid, of the Spain ft Invafion, and the 
 next AfTcmbly being on the 6th of Auguft in 
 hd'iuhiifghy appointed a folemn Fa ft upon that 
 Oscafiou. NOTE, the Ajfcmbly, not the King 
 appointed this Faft* And at the End of October, the 
 fame Year, a folemn Faft was kept Three Sab- 
 baths fucceflively, a Communion celebrated, 
 and the whole concluded with giving Thanks 
 for the Defeat of the Spani ft Armada by the 
 £#*//& NOTE, all this was without the Kim* 
 
 Things 
 
I its 3 
 
 Things now remain'd in a tolerable Quiet, 
 the Fears of Popifh Powers were over by De- 
 feat of the Spaniards , the King intent upon his 
 Marriage with the Daughter of the King of 
 De?jmark, went over Sea to Copenhagen. \ The 
 next Generai AfTembly was at Edinburgh Au- 
 gufi 4. 1590, and now the King and the Church 
 feem'd perfectly reconciled, and, which is more, 
 united. Of this AfTembly I mud record fome- 
 thing, the Truth of which is not to be doubt- 1 
 ed ; but the more it is certain, the greater 
 Brand of Infamy and Reproach will it leave 
 behind upon the Perfon, who, after this, acted 
 fo contrary, in his Station, to what he appear'd 
 that Day. 
 
 The Eighth SefTion of this AfTembly the 
 King came in Perfon into the Place where the 
 Minifters held their Meeting, and being feat- 
 ed in a Chair of State, the Moderator Mr. 
 Tatrick Galloway propofed Three Things to him, 
 viz. The Ratification of their Liberties, the 
 Purging the Land of Jefuits, Popifh Seminaries, 
 &c. and the Provifion of Salaries or Stipend* 
 in every Parifh for the Minifters. Forthcfirfi, 
 the King anfwered, That in every Parliament 
 their Liberties were ratified, and mould ftill 
 be fo. That he would, with Heart and good 
 Will, join to do the Second ; and for Stipends* 
 he referred them to the Council, and ordered 
 them to name Commifiioners to treat with the 
 Council about it : *After fome other Debates, 
 the King ftood up, and taking off his Bonnet, 
 with his Hands and Eyes lifted up to Heaven, 
 but hypocritically, fay the Writers of thofe Times, 
 he broke out, as it were, in an Extafie of 
 Praifes and Thankfgiving to God, c (1 ) That 
 4 he was born into the World, at a Tinre when 
 
 I 2 * the 
 
[ ii<S] 
 
 c the Light of God's Word fhone clearly forth, 
 * eclips'd neither with the Mitts of Ignorance, or 
 1 the falfe Lights of Superitition. (2.) He blef- 
 c fed God that had honoured him to be a King 
 1 over SVCH A KIRK, the fine ere ft KIRK 
 c in the World,* fays the King, repeating it 
 Three Times: To ftrengthen this he flies out 
 upon other Protectants, The Church of GENE- 
 VA. , what are they? Says the King, they keep 
 PASCHE and T V L £, what Authority 
 have they in God's Word, fays the King, and 
 ■where is their In (lit -lit ion f As for our Neigh- 
 bour Church in England, fays this mo ft fine ere 
 and wife King, whom our Engliih Church-Men, 
 aftpr this, compared to Solomon for, Wifdom 9 
 ^ Their Service is m EVIL MASS SAID 
 'S IN ENGLISH, they want nothing of the 
 
 * Ma is but the Liftings : I charge you my good 
 *-. People, turning himfelfto every Side of the Kirk r 
 
 * Miniiters, Doctors, Elders, Nobles, Barons, 
 c and Gentlemen, to ftand to your Purity, and 
 4 to exhort: my People to do the fame, AND 
 ■* /, forfooth, fo long as Life and Crown be 
 f left to me, (hall maintain the fame againft all 
 < deadly. 5 
 
 Bad he been foicerc in this, thefc Words 
 were to be recorded to his Honour, but we 
 ihall foon fee his Majelly acting quite another 
 Part. However, for the prefent, the Words, 
 and above all, the affectionate Manner with 
 which they were fp6ke!i,and their coming from 
 1 the Month of their King, unthought of, un- 
 expected by the Auditory, fo affected the Mini- 
 iters that many burff, out into Tears for Joy, 
 and Mr. Calderwood relating this Paflage fays, 
 There v:as nothing heard for a Quarter of an 
 
 Hour 
 
Naur in the AfTembly, but jraifwg God, and 
 fraying for the King (a)* 
 
 While the King continued in this Mood, the 
 Church gat Ground, and went on in a truly 
 growing Condition } her Judicatures were ac- 
 knowledge, her Authority eftablifhed, and her 
 Epifcopal Enemies truckled. And I cannot give 
 a better Inftance to confirm this laft, than the 
 Submiflion and Recantation of the Archbifhop 
 of St. Andrews, the mo ft implacable and inve- 
 terate Enemy of the Church, who had mort- 
 gaged Faith and Confcience for the Caufe of 
 Epifcopacy, and had made Shipwrack of BOTH y 
 as will appear under his Hand. This Recan- 
 tation being fo eminent, and the Character of 
 the Man fo well known, it is neceflary to re- 
 cord it with the Hiftory of the Times \ becanfe 
 it is a ftanding Monument of the Subjection 
 of the Epifcopal Hierarchy to the presbyterial 
 Inftitution. • 
 
 Nor can the Friends of the Church of Scot- 
 land defire two greater Teftimonies to her di- 
 vine Inftitution, "than thefe from the Mouths of 
 her two greateft Oppofers, viz.* the King and 
 the Archbifhop. The Acknowledgment of E- 
 nemies has a double Force in it: Tis a Con- 
 feflion that comes generally extorted by the 
 Force of Truth, and the Influence of Confid- 
 ence, as Julian the Apoftate acknowledg'd 
 Chrift, when the poifoned Dart ftnek in his 
 Flefh. If we may believe the Hiftory of that 
 Time, the Church of Scotland had not two 
 more fuch powerful, and perhaps implacable 
 Enemies in that Age, nay, fcarcely before or 
 
 I 3 fince, 
 
 (a) CaldenvoodV Hijl. of the Church of Scotland ,foI. 1^6 
 
t "«] 
 
 4>n<$, as the King and the Archbifhop, and both 
 of them are now brought to acknowledge the 
 Purity of her Doftrine, the Exaftnefs of her 
 Difcipline^ the one to thank God for being born 
 under fuch a fincere and heavenly Inftitution } 
 the other, to cry God and the Church's Mercy 
 for his apoftatizing from it, and defiring to 
 die in the Arms of that Church of which be- 
 fore he had been fo cruel a Perfecutor. 
 
 But to go on with the Bifhop's Story. He 
 had been excommunicated by the Synod of Fife, 
 as has been faid j one of his Crimes was Mar- 
 rying the Marquefs of Huntly, without requiring 
 him to fubftribe the Confeflion of Faith, and 
 after the Presbytery of Edinburgh had inhibited 
 any Minifter to do it. For this he was purfu- 
 ed at Law, and flood out to a Horning, as it is 
 there called, (viz.) to a Contempt or Execution j 
 and the King beginning to be weary of the Con- 
 teft, and willing, perhaps, at that Time to 
 pleafe the ArTemhly, abandon'd him, and depri- 
 ved him of the Bxvenue of the Bifhoprick *, 
 whether thefe Misfortunes, or the Reproaches 
 of his own Conference, brought him down, I 
 will not determine, Charity bids us judge the 
 belt. But he fell into a languifhing and grie- 
 vous Sicknefs : In this Condition he acknow- 
 ledges his Offence againft God and againft the 
 Minifters, and fenr. to them to let them know it, 
 and to offer himfelf to make publick Confeflion 
 in tjie Pulpit, to give Satisfaction to all who 
 had been offended at his Behaviour. He fent 
 alfo to the Presbytery of St. Jndmvs, defiring 
 they would give him Abfolution, and feceivc 
 him again into Communion, and into the Fellow- 
 Ihip with the Saiats. 
 
 The 
 
f IIP ] 
 
 The Minifters were doubtful of him for a 
 long Time, they knew not the juft Reafons, 
 however were loth to refift the Work of Re- 
 pentance, if begun in Sincerity, and were in- 
 clined to receive him, upon his giving Satisfa- 
 ction by a publick Acknowledgment, as he pro- 
 pofed; but it foon appeared there was jio 
 Room for it, his Sicknefs being violent and 
 dangerous : So they directed Two of their Bo- 
 dy to go to him, and enquire of his Circum- 
 ftances, and make their Report. Thefe were 
 Mr. James Melvin and Mr. Andrew Moncrief. 
 A (Toon as the Bifhop faw them enter his Room, 
 he pulPd off his Cap, and railing himfelf he 
 faid, calling them by their Names, Forgive me, 
 forgive me> for God's Sake ', for I have grievoufly 
 offended you in particular. They replied, that 
 they forgave him, with all their Heart, and 
 gave him their Hands thereupon \ but began to 
 talk with him about his publick Sins, and to 
 exhort him to an unfeigned Repentance and 
 Amendment; This he received with great Af- 
 fection. Then they proceeded to ask him if he 
 acknowledged the Validity of the Church's 
 Cenfure, and of the Excommunication he was 
 under. He told them T£5, be acknowledged 
 it j and cried out, / fray ye loofe rae-> loo fa me, 
 for ChrifFs Sake j and this he fpoke with fuch 
 Earneftnefs, and with fo many Tears, that they 
 could no longer doubt of his Sincerity, and ha- 
 ving comforted him as well as they could, they 
 left him, and making their Report to the reft 
 of the Minifters, they met thereupon, and in 
 a fclemn Manner abfoLved him, giving Thank- 
 to God who had been pleafed to rcftorc him 
 by Conviction and Repentance. 
 
 I 4 ! » 
 
[ no ] 
 
 In April following, the Synod of Fife meet- 
 ing at St. Andrews, the Bifhop, (/ call him fo for 
 DiftinBion, they called him only Mr. Vatrkk A- 
 damfon) fent his Recantation in Latin *, but the 
 Synod defired him to caufe it to be drawn again 
 in Englifo, and that he would make it as full 
 and clear as he could, and fet his Hand to it, 
 which he did, and which is fo worthy to be 
 read with the reft of the Story, that I could 
 not omit placing it in the Appendix to this Part, 
 No. B. There needs no more to be added of 
 the Bifhop, fave that about February 9 the Year 
 following, he died. 
 
 At this Time, if ever in this King's Reign, 
 the Church may be faid to have been in its full 
 grown Strength *, tho' it lafted not long •, for 
 the King having, as was faid, fmil'd upon them, 
 carefs'd and complimented them, the? it foon ap- 
 peared that it was no more y and their Arch-Ene- 
 my having, as above, been reduced, they enjoy- 
 ed a great Meafure of Liberty and Authority : 
 Some few Things indeed were wanting, which 
 they fet forth in their Petitions to the King and 
 Council in Nlne*Artkles, which, tho' the King 
 did not immediately grant, yet they bad kind 
 Aufvvcrs, and fo much was done as to make 
 than fomething cafie. Thefe Articles were, 
 
 I* That all Laws that have been made for 
 the Weal of the true Kirk be ratified in 
 Parliament, and a new Aft pafs'd, eftablifh- 
 ing the Jurifdittion of the Kirk, and all 
 contrary Laws be abolifhed. 
 
 2. That the Kirk and Country be forthwith 
 purged from Popifh Priefts and Excommu- 
 nicates. 
 
 3. That 
 
C in ] 
 
 3. That a Law be made for reprefling and 
 punifhing the Abufers of the Sacraments. 
 
 4. That Minifters be maintained in the Pof- 
 fefllon of their Glebes, Manfes, &c. 
 
 5. That Order be taken with the Author of 
 the Tumult at the Bridge of Dee. 
 
 tf. That Laws be made againft violating the 
 
 Sabbath, and difturbing of Minifters in, 
 
 or going about the Execution oftheirOff.ee. 
 
 , 7. Ibid, for reprefling of Rapin and Murther, 
 
 that the Land may be purged of Blood. 
 
 8. That all Churches be forthwith planted 
 with Minifters, &c. and fufficient Stipends 
 allotted them. 
 
 9. That the Lands mortified to the Church, u 
 c given by deceafed Perfo?is in their Will, 
 with the Refidue of the Tithes, which are 
 not employed for Minifter's Stipends, be be- 
 llowed on the Schools, Colleges, &c As 
 alfo for Proviflon for the Poor, and re- 
 pairing the Kirks. 
 
 All thefe Things the King had promifed in 
 general Terms formerly to perform, but it 
 feems, the Minifters found not the Effect, of 
 thofe Promifes as they defired, and therefore 
 to the faid Articles they added one, which the 
 King took not well at their Hands, viz,. That, ^ 
 in refpeft many Things had been promifed, but 
 few performed, that now the Manner and 
 Time of performing fhould be exprefled, and the 
 Execution of every Part agreed to. This Claufe 
 feemed to reproach the King with evil treat- 
 ing the Church, which he laid up in his Heart. 
 
 And now the Minifters thought the Time was 
 come, and an Opportunity prefented when the 
 Polity of the Church might be confirmed, and 
 
 the 
 
f i" 3 
 
 the Book of Difciplinebe recognized, and tho v 
 they forefaw that they would find it very diffi- 
 cult to bring the King and his great Men to it, 
 fo as to get it ena&ed in Parliament *,theyrefol- 
 ved, however, to give it all the Sanction they 
 could : The Commiffion of the General AfTembly 
 therefore publifhed an A& to € Order and appoint, 
 c thefe are the 'very Words, that whofoever hath 
 € born Office in theMiniftry within this Kirk, 
 e or prefently bear, or hereafter fhall bear Of- 
 c fice therein, do, and fhall fubfcribe the Heads 
 c of the Difcipline of the Kirk within this 
 c Realm, at length fet down and allowed by 
 4 Ad of the whole AfTembly, in the Book of 
 c Polity, regiftred in the Regifter of the Kirk, 
 c and namely in the Heads controverted by the 
 c Enemies of the Difcipline of the reformed 
 c Kirk in this Realm, and that they be charg'd 
 c to do fo by every particular presbytery where 
 * they be refident , and this, under Pain of Ex- 
 c communication, to be executed againft the 
 c Non-Subfcribers, and the Presbyteries which 
 1 fhall be negligent, fhall receive publick Re- 
 c buke before the whole AfTembly. * 
 
 It is obferv'd, however, in (a) Hiflory, that 
 feveral Minifters in the Church fhunned to 
 fubfcribe, and others that did fubfcribe, fell off 
 and accepted Bifhopricks in the Innovations 
 which foon after were made by the King upon 
 the Church. 
 
 Nor was this all. But farther to prove what 
 I have obferved of the Church's being arrived 
 to its full grown State, it is to be obferved, 
 That the Parliament being now fummoned to 
 
 the 
 
 (!•) CalderwoodV Hip. fol. 25 7. 
 
the 19th of May 1692, the Church obtained, 
 in that Meeting, a compleat Ratification of 
 their Privileges and Government, and particu- 
 larly of their General Aflemblies, Synods, and 
 Presbyteries, which they had for many Years 
 before ftrnggled with their Princes and Gover- 
 nours for, but to no Purpofe. The Tenor of 4 
 this valuable, and indeed unexpected Act of 
 Parliament is too long to infert at large ; but 
 the principal enacting Claufe is as follows. 
 The whole is to be found among the Sects (a) 
 Acts of Parliament. 
 
 Our Sovereign Lord and Eftates of parliament 
 following the lovable and gued Example of their 
 Predeceffors, have ratified and approved, and by the 
 Tenor of this prefent Atl, ratifies and approves all 
 Liberties, Privileges, Immunities, and Freedoms 
 whatfoever, given and granted by his Highnefs, his 
 Regents, in his Name, or any of his Predeceffors to 
 the true and holy Kirk, (b) PRESENTLT 
 eftablifijed within this Realm, and declared in the 
 firfi Aft of his Highnefs 's Parliament, the 20th of 
 October 1579, and all and whatfoever Atts of 
 Parliament and Statutes made before by his High- 
 nefs and his Regents, anent the Liberty and Free* 
 dom of the faid Kirk, and efpecially the firfi Aft of 
 the Parliament of 1581, with the whole Particulars 
 there mentioned, which Jhall be als fujficient as if 
 the famine were here expreffed, and all the other Atls 
 of Parliament made (c) S E NS I N E in Favour 
 of the true Kirk, and (d) SIC LIKE ratifies 
 
 and 
 
 (a) Scots A&s of Parliament, Part f. p. 607, 
 (I;) Prefentty, that is, now. 
 
 (c) Scnjine, i. e. Since that Time, 
 
 (d) Siclike, i. e. Likcmfe. 
 
r "4 ] 
 
 and approves the General Affemblies, appointed by 
 the [aid Kirk, and declareth it frail be lawful to 
 the Kirk and Minifrers, every Tear at the leaf:, and 
 oftner pro re nata, as Occafwn and Necejfity frail 
 require, to hold and keep general Affemblies, provi- 
 ding that the King's Majefiy, or his Cummijfwner 
 with them, to he appointed by his Highnefs, be pre- 
 fent at (a) ilk General Affembly, before the dif- 
 folving thereof \ nominate and appoint Time and 
 Place, when and where the next General Affembly 
 frail be holden, and in Cafe neither his Majefiy nor 
 his faid Commiffioner be pre fent for the Time in that 
 Town where the faid General Affembly frail be hold- 
 en, then, and in that Cafe, it frail be (b) leefome to 
 the faid General Affembly, by themfelves, to nomi- 
 nate and appoint Time and Place where the next 
 General Affembly of the Kirk frail be keeped and 
 holden, as they have been in Vfe to do thir Times, by 
 pafi. And alfo ratifies and approves the Synodal, 
 cr Provincial Affemblies, to be holden by the faid 
 Kirk and Minificrs twice ilk Tear, as they have 
 been within every Province of this Realm, and alfo 
 the Presbyteries and particular Seffmis appointed by 
 the faid Kirk, with the whole Jurifdichion and Dif- 
 ciplinc of the fame Kirk* 
 
 Agreed upon by his Majefiy in Conference had 
 by his Highnefs with certain of the Minifters 
 convened to that Effect. 
 
 It was at this Time that the Alterably took 
 that Freedom which they have been fo often re- 
 proached with fince, and which, they faid, King 
 
 James 
 
 (a) Ilk, i. e. Each or Every. 
 
 (b) Lecfome.i. t. Lawful. 
 
[i*5 ] 
 
 James never forgave them, (viz.") to admonifh 
 the King. I fhall give it impartially in the 
 Words of their own Hiftorians: c The AiTem- 
 c bly directed their Brethren who were appoint- 
 c ed to prefent the Articles (that is, tbofe above 
 c mentioned') to go immediately to his Majefty, 
 1 and to admonifh him gravely, in the Name 
 c of the eternal God, to have Refpeft in Time 
 c to the Eftate of true Religion, to the many 
 c Murthers and Oppreffions, daily multiplied, 
 1 through Impunity and Lack of Juftice, and to 
 c difcharge the Kingly Office in both, as he 
 ' will efchew the fearful Challenge of God, 
 1 and avert his Wrath off himfelf and the 
 c whole Land, and that he might be the bet- 
 c ter informed, to lay down the Particulars to 
 c him, and crave Anfwer. * 
 
 It is true, it was a Freedom which Kings 
 have not been much acquainted with in this 
 Age 5 but the Minifters of that Age thought it 
 their Duty, and perhaps if Minifters had fince 
 done their Duty, with the fame Care and Con- 
 fcience, tho' their Kings had been ill pleafed, 
 they had done better for the Publick, and for 
 Religion alfo. 
 
 However this was done with dutiful Re- 
 fpe&, and when the King complained of the 
 Freedom, they, for Vindication of their own Be- 
 haviour to their Prince, caufed the AfTembly to 
 pafs an AS, ordaining, that c No Minifter with- 
 1 in this Realm utter, from the Pulpit, any rafh 
 c or irreverent Speeches againft his Majefty, or 
 c his Council, or their Proceedings 7 but that 
 c all their publick Admonitions proceed upon 
 c juft and neceflary Caufes, and fufficient War- 
 1 rant, in all Fear, Love, and Reverence, under 
 c Pain of depofing the Offenders. And this 
 
 moll: 
 
[ "6 ] 
 
 molt effe&ually cleares them from the Charge 
 of being mutinous and rebellious, and of refu- 
 ting to fubmit to lawful Authority. 
 
 It is worth noting, for the Obfervation of tht 
 Curious, that this happy Parliament, wherein 
 the Church of Scotland was thus eftablifhed, and 
 her Rights of every Kind recognized, met on 
 that particular Day from which her Overthrow 
 was 72 Years after dated. I mean at the Re- 
 ftoration, viz,, the 29th of May. 
 
 The Authority of the Church being in this 
 flourifliing Eftate, 'tis necefTary to record, to 
 their eternal Praife, as no doubt it is in Hea- 
 ven to their eternal Comfort, how the Minifters 
 made nfe of their Time, and how they applied 
 themfelves to difcharge the Duty which lay 
 upon them as a national Church. I fhail An- 
 gle out one or two Examples. 
 
 1. They appointed a Vifitation ■ of all the 
 Presbyteries in the Kingdom, and that the 
 Church of Scotland may be a Handing Example 
 to all the Protefrant Churches in the World, 
 I fhall give the very Words of the Aft of the 
 Affembly, the Meaning and Defign of this Vi- 
 fitation as follows : l Forafmuch as the Vifiters 
 c of Presbyteries, univerfally throughout the 
 c whole Realm, are thought a Thing very ne- 
 1 ceffary, and from diverfe Aflemblies Commit 
 c lion hath been given for that Effect, a Ne- 
 c ceifity yet remaining, which craveth thecon- 
 c tinuing of the faid Commiflion, the Afiembly 
 1 hath given Commiflion to certain Brethren, 
 c to vifit, and try the Doftrine, Life, Conver- 
 c fation, Diligence, and Fidelity of the Pallors, 
 * within the faid Presbyteries: And ficiike to 
 1 try, if there be any of the beneficed Number 
 c within the famine, not making Refidence, ha- 
 
 ving 
 
f 1X7 3 
 
 c ving no reafonaWe Excufe : If there be any 
 4 that have dilapidate their Benefices, fet Tacks* 
 4 and made other Difpoflticns of the fame, 
 4 without the Confent of the General AfTemb'y -, 
 c any (landerous Perfon, unmeet to ferve in the 
 c Kirk of God, unable and unqualified to teach 
 4 and edifie : And with Advice of the Presbyte- 
 4 ry, within the which the faid Perfons remain, 
 c to proceed againfl them, according to the 
 1 Quality of the Offence, according to the Ads 
 4 of the Kirk. ' 
 
 2. The Synod of Fife being met at St. An- 
 drews September 25. 1593, and being informed 
 of the Threatnings, the Infolence, and the 
 growing Power of Papifls and other Enemies 
 of the Truth, and how the Impunity in fuffer- 
 ing thefe Things to go uhpunifhed, was a great 
 and a national Sin, moved with this and other 
 Signs of imminent Danger, made the following 
 Conclufion. 
 
 That the Paftors of every Congregation, being firft 
 prepared themfelvcs, by Abftinence, Prayer, and 
 diligent Study, and Attendance upon their Charge^ 
 travel carefully by their Doctrine and good Example 
 to move and difpofe the Hearts of their Flock to 
 vn feigned Repentance, calling for Mercy and Pre- 
 fervation at the Hands of God, that thus both 
 P aft or and People may be prepared again ft that 
 general and folemn Faft which the Synod thinketh 
 mo ft needful to be publifted throughout the Realm. 
 The Caufes whereof, beftde the general Reafons for 
 Humiliation in Time paft, are as follows* 
 
 The Caufes which are here referred to were 
 (a) fummed up in many Particulars, referring 
 
 _ chiefl y 
 
 (a) Calderwood,/*/, 189 
 
f 128 j 
 
 chiefly to the Growth of Popery, Idolatry, 
 Prophanenefs, and Immorality. 
 
 To this the faid AfTembly added the direct- 
 ing fome of their Members to the King c To 
 c tell plainly to his Majefty, thefe be alfo their 
 c own Words, that which all his true Subjects 
 c think, touching his too much bearing with, 
 c favouring and countenancing Papifts and 
 c Traytors, his Negligence in reprefling Ido- 
 c latry, and eftablifhing the Kingdom of Chrift 
 c within his Realm, and to declare freely to 
 c his Majefty the Refolution of all his godly 
 1 and faithful Subjects, viz.. That they are rea- 
 c dy to -give their Lives, rather than to fufFer 
 c the fame. 3 
 
 This was plain dealing, and this was what 
 the Courtiers afterwards called difciplining of 
 the King. But the Synod ftopt not here -, for 
 they went on to excommunicate the Popifh and 
 Spawfily affe&ed Nobility, fo they then called 
 them, as Perfons c Who, by their Idolatry, 
 c Herefie, Blafphemy, Apoftacy, Perjury, and 
 
 * profelled Enmity to the Kirk and true Re- 
 c ligion, had, ipfo facto, cut them felvcs off from 
 
 * Chrift and his Church.' This Excommunica- 
 tion by the Synod is regiftred at large in the 
 Acls of the Church, having been afterwards 
 approved by the AfTembly. But the King took 
 great Di ft aire at it, and from henceforward be- 
 gan to withdraw his Countenance, and Afli- 
 ftance, and Favour from the Church, as foon 
 appeared in the Confequences ', for the Church 
 purfued the excommunicated Lords, the King 
 protected them : The Church dcfired the King 
 to give them no Accefs to his Perfon, the 
 King openly received them at Jedburgh, and the 
 like 
 
 Up- 
 
r 1*9 ] 
 
 Upon this a Meeting, or Convention of Mi- 
 nifters, Commifiioners ofBuroughs, and Barons 
 met at Edinburgh, and deputed fome of their 
 Members to wait upon the King. The Kin^ 
 refufed to admit them, and fent them Word 
 he did not acknowledge their Convention, it 
 being without his Advice. They infilled upon 
 the Legality of their Meeting. At laft the King 
 yielded, and gave fuch Anfwers as he thought 
 fit to their Advices, but with little Satisfaction, 
 and perhaps as little Sincerity. However, the 
 excommunicated Lords offered themfelves to 
 Tryal, and the King agreed to it, giving a 
 Commiflion for that Purpofe to a certain Num- 
 ber of the Peers and Gentlemen to try them : 
 Their Names were as follows, (viz*.) the Earls 
 of Huntly, Angus, Errol, Laird of Auchindown, 
 and Sir James Chifoolme. But the King abo- 
 lifhed the whole Procefs afterwards, and by 
 his own Royal Declaration abfolved them all, 
 and that upon Conditions not at all acceptable 
 to the General Aflembly, who, being met at 
 Edinburgh May 7, 1594, ratified the Excom- 
 munication againft the Lords, ordered it to be 
 pronounced in every Church in Scotland, and 
 deputed a Committee of their Minifters to lay 
 a Reprefentation of the DANGERS OF 
 THE CHV RCH, (mark it is an old Phrafi) 
 before the King, and report his Anfwer. The 
 Reprefentation was very long, and the King's 
 Anfwer particular 5 but in fiiort, the King pro- 
 mifed to forefault the excommunicated Lords ; 
 that is, to outlaw them, and that the Parliament 
 mould meet according to the Time appointed : 
 All which was made good, and the excommuni- 
 cated Lords were declared guilty of High 
 Treafon, their Coats of Arms torn by the He- 
 
 K raid, 
 
C i}o] 
 
 raid, and their Eftates forfeited : Upon which 
 they broke out into open Rebellion, and there- 
 upon followed the Battle of Balrirwefs, between 
 the Earl of ArgyU, and the Earls of Huntly and 
 Errol, wherein Yhe excommunicated Lords were 
 defeated. But that is not to our Purpofe. 
 
 Having often quoted Mr. Calderrvood's Hifto- 
 ry to the Matters of Fad here related, I fhall 
 sow give the Words of that ancient and grave 
 Hiftorian to the Subject I am upon, confirm- 
 ing what I have faid of the full grown State 
 of the Church \ And 1 do it here, becaufe that 
 State feem'd now to be at its Hight, and that 
 this was the Time from whence it began fal- 
 lible to decline } for now the Church fell into 
 Difficulties and Strife, which eclips'd her 
 Glory for many Years, from whence, however, 
 we (hall fee her quickly rifing again with a 
 double Splendor. Mr. Calderwood's Obfervation 
 is this : 
 
 c This Year is a remarkable Year to the 
 € Kirk of Scotland, both for the Beginning, and 
 £ for the End of it. This Kirk was now come 
 
 * to the greateit Purity that ever it attained 
 c unto *, fo .that her Beauty was admirable to 
 
 * Foreign Kirks. But the Devil envying the 
 c Tlappinefs, and laudable Proceedings of the 
 1 Miniftry, and Aflemblies of the Kirk, Itirred 
 1 up both Papiftsand Politicians to difturb her 
 1 Peace. The Papifts perceived there was no 
 
 * Reft for them in Scotland, if the Authority 
 < of the Kirk continued \ the Politicians feared 
 
 * that their Craft and Trade, which is to ufe 
 c indifferently all Men and Means to attain to 
 
 * their own Ends, and to fet themfelves up, 
 e as it were, in the Throne of Chrift, fhould be 
 
 * undone. Whereas at her earneft Defire, the 
 
Apoftate Earls Angus, Huntly, and Errol were 
 forefaultcd for an unnatural and trcafonable 
 Confpiracy with the Spaniard, and were ex- 
 c pelled out of the Country \ and fhe was now 
 * fetting her felf to reform whatfoevcr Abufes 
 1 and Corruptions were perceived in her Mem- 
 4 bers, and againft the Re-entry and Reftaura- 
 4 ration of the faid Earls. But was forced, by 
 4 Craft and Policy of Politicians, and diiTembled 
 4 Papifts, to take her felf to the Defence of her 
 4 own Liberties, and of that holy Difcipline, 
 4 which was her Bulwark, and to defift from 
 4 farther Oppofition to the Re-entry of the ex- 
 4 communicate Earls. For fotne thorny Que- 
 4 ftions, in Points of Difcipline, were devifed, 
 4 whereby her Authority was in many Points 
 4 called in doubt. Minifters were called before 
 4 the Council, to give account of their Rebukes 
 4 in Sermons, and to underly their Cenfure. 
 4 The Minifters of the Kirk of Edinburgh were 
 * forced to lurk, and that Kirk, which was a 
 4 Watch-Tower, and mined as a Lamp to the 
 4 reft, was darkned, and no lefs Danger ap- 
 4 peared to threaten the reft. In a Word, in 
 4 the End of this Year began a fearful Decay, 
 c and Declining of this Kirk ' 
 
 To confirm this, we mall give a Summary, 
 and that a very brief one, of the Tranfaclions 
 for the few Years next following, in which the 
 Minifters ftruggled with the Defections of the 
 Times, the refra&ory Difpoi'ition of their 
 Prince, and the growing Infolenee of Courti- 
 ers and Enemies, till they were cruftrd, and 
 fore'd to fubmk to the Pleafure of him, who 
 thought fit, at that Time, to bring them under 
 the Feet of their Enemies for a Seafon. 
 
 K * The 
 
& 
 
 The next AfTembly met the lyh of March 
 1 596 ^ the Kino, himfelf came thither v It feems 
 it was to defire the Minifters to forward a 
 Loan of Money, which he had defigned to pro- 
 pofe to the whole Kingdom, on the extraordi- 
 nary Occafions which were then before him. 
 The Minifters declined it, alledging, that the 
 forfeited Eftates of the Rebels were to have 
 been applied to that Ufe, it being juft that 
 thofe who had been the Occafion of his extra- 
 ordinary Expence, fhould contribute to defray 
 the Charge of it. 
 
 The Minifters fell to complaining of his Con- 
 duct, his perlbnal Sins, and the Sins of thofe 
 in his Family, which it was his Duty to re- 
 ftrain. The King anfwered, if there were a- 
 ny grofs Faults in him, or his Houfe, he would 
 not decline the Judgment of the Affembly, pro- 
 vided it was done privately. Old Andrew 
 Melvin anfwered bluntly, They could not juftific 
 frivtte Rebuke for o^en Offences, and fpeaking to 
 the Moderator, charged him, as he would an- 
 fwer it to God, that he fhould now do his Du- 
 ty, and fpeak to the King plainly and freely, 
 as was his Place to do. The King flood ftleht 
 a while, and then withdrew. 
 
 This AfTembly was famous for Three Things. 
 Fi/fri for their Search into and Regulation of 
 their own Corruptions as Minifters, extending 
 to all the Minifters of the Church :, which Re- 
 gulation confifts of Eight Heads, and are to be 
 feen in the Regifters of the Church. And Se~ 
 condly, For that famous Humiliation and fo- 
 lemn renewing of the Covenant, which was be- 
 gun in the AfTembly the 30th of March 1596", 
 and was carried on through all the Minifters 
 of Scotland. And Thirdly, For their humble, 
 
 bus 
 
but faithful Reprefentation to the King of the 
 Sins, as well of his Perfon and Family, as of 
 his Council and Nobility, and the Remedies 
 thereof, which were exhibited in Five Arti- 
 cles, and it muft be own'd this was the laft 
 Time he had the Blefling of a faithful Mini- 
 ftry to advife and exhort him \ and this Afc 
 fembly being over, it was obftrved by many, 
 that the Church never had another like it, du- 
 ring that King's Reign, and it is at this Peri- 
 od that Mr. Calderwood places in capital Let- 
 ters thefe Words : 
 
 Here end the fwcere General Affcmblies of the 
 Kirk of Scotland. 
 
 The Minifters of this AiTembly went on with 
 renewing the Covenant in all the Presbyteries, 
 and at laft in Parifhes \ but when it came to 
 particular Perfons, and efpecially to the Court, 
 or to thofe who lived near the Court, viz,* in 
 Edinburgh in particular, they declined it, and it 
 began gradually to drop and be omitted : What 
 followed we fhall foon fee. 
 
 The excommunicate Lords were not with- 
 out their Friends at Court} the King had 
 been prevailed with to confent to their Return, 
 but was not willing to take it upon himfelf 
 for fear of embroiling himfelf with the Church, 
 whom he feared as well as hated. It was con- 
 certed therefore to fummon a Parliament, or 
 Convention of Eftates to meet at Falkland^ and 
 to get fuch efpecially to this Convention as 
 were in the fecret. At the opening the Scflion 
 a Motion was made by Alex. Scatoun, Brother 
 to the Lord SeMoun^ to recal the Lords -,it was fe- 
 conded by feveral others, ufing fooae Threat- 
 
 K 3 nin g s > 
 
[ n 4 ] 
 
 flings, as if it would be belt to do fo, lead 
 they fhould join with the Enemies of their 
 Country. 
 
 To carry on the Point, feveral Minifters had 
 Kotice given them to be there •, but it was 
 only fuch as they thought might be eafiefl: 
 brought to comply. But Mr. Andrew Mclvin, 
 a famous and molt faithful Champion of the 
 Reformation, went unfenc for. It feems he was 
 appointed or commifTioned by the laft AfTem- 
 bly to watch againft the imminent Danger^ 
 that might threaten the Church : And this was 
 his Authority. 
 
 When the Minifters were called in, he ap- 
 i pear'd at the Head of them : The King taking 
 Kotice of it, ask' d Who fent for him? He an- 
 fwered, S J R, I have a Call to come here from 
 Chrifi and his Churchy who have a fpecial Concern 
 in what you are doing here, and in direct Oppofiti- 
 on to whom you are all here affcmbled ; but be ye 
 affured that no Council taken againfl him jhall prof- 
 per. i'jittd I charge you, Sir, in his Name, that 
 you or your Eftates, here conveened, favour not 
 God^s Enemies whom he hateth. After he had 
 faid this, and more to the like Purpofe to the 
 King, he tnrn'd his Speech to the Members of 
 the Convention, and l Challenged them with 
 
 * being aflembled there with a traiterous De- 
 c fign againft Chrifi: and his Church, and their 
 
 * native Country : ' And was going on when the 
 King interrupted him, and commanded him to 
 withdraw, which he did -, but foon let the 
 King heai" of him again upon the following Oc- 
 cafion. 
 
 The Com million of the laft Affembly was fit- 
 ting at that Time, and finding which Way 
 Things were going, they refolved to fend fome 
 
 of 
 
of their Members to the King, to expoflujate 
 this Matter with him: Of theie the fame Mr. 
 Andrew Melvin was one. When they came to 
 the King, who received them in his Clofet, 
 Mr. James Melvin, being firfl in the Com milli- 
 on, fpoke as the Mouth of the reft, and told the 
 King their Errand from the Commiffion. The 
 King took him up roundly, and charg'd the 
 Commiflion with Sedition, and the Minifters 
 with being Spreaders of feditious Reports, a- 
 I forming the People with imaginary Dangers, 
 and creating needlefs and unjufl Fears. Mr. 
 James being a courteous, fair fpoken Man, be- 
 gan to anfwerthe King with Refpeft and with 
 great Reverence, when Mr. Andrew, taking the 
 Words out of his Mouth, fays he, c Man, this 
 c is not a Time to flatter, but to fpeak plain- 
 c ly 5 for, fays he, our Commiflion is from the 
 1 mighty God, to whom the King is but a filly 
 c Vaffal. ' Then taking the King by the Sleeve, 
 he tells him, Sir, we will humbly reverence your 
 Majcfty always, namely in fublick \ but we have this 
 Occafion to be with your Majefty in frivate^ and 
 you are brought in extream Danger, both of your 
 Life, and of your Crown, and with you the Country 
 and Kirk of God is like to be wracked, for not 
 telling the Truth, and giving you a faithful Counfel : 
 We mufi difcharge our Duty, or elfe be Enemies to 
 Chrift and you. Therefore, Sir, as diver fe Times 
 before, fo now I mufl tell you, that there are two 
 Kings, and two Kingdoms. There is Chrift and his 
 Kingdom the Kirk, whofe Subject King James the 
 Sixth is, and of whofe Kingdom he is not a King, 
 nor a Head, nor a Lord, but a Member ; and they, 
 whom Chrift hath called, and commanded to watch 
 over his Kirk, and govern his fpiritual Kingdom, 
 have fujfeient Authority and Power from him fo 
 
 K 4 t0 
 
to do} which no Chnflian King nor Prince fhould 
 control nor difcharge, but fortife and aflifi', other- 
 wife they are not faithful Sub jells to Chrifl. Sir, 
 when you were in your [waddling Clouts, Chrifl 
 reigned freely in this Land, in Spight of all his 
 Enemies. His Officers and Minifters conveened and 
 dffembled for ruling of his Kirk, which was ever for 
 your Welfare alfo, when the fame Enemies were 
 feehng your Dtflrutlion } and have been, by their 
 Affemblies and Meetings fince, terrible to thefe E- 
 nemies, and mofl fteedable for you ', will you now, 
 when there is more than Ncceffity, challenge Chrifl' s 
 Servants, your befl and mofl faithful Subjects, for 
 their conveening, and for the Care they have of their 
 Duty to Chrifl and you \ whenas you flwuld rather 
 commend and countenance them, as the godly Kings 
 and Emperors did. The Wifldom of your Coun- 
 fel, which is devilifh and pernicious, is this, that 
 you may be ferved with all Sorts of Men to come to 
 your Purpofe and Grandour, Jew and Gentile, Pa- 
 yifl and Trot eft ant. Becaufe the Minifters and 
 Prot eft ants in Scotland are too ftrong, and con- 
 trol the King, they muft be weakened and brought 
 /.vtp, by ftirring up a Party againft them, and the 
 King being equal and indifferent, both pall be fain 
 to flee to him : So ft all he be well fettled. But, Sir, 
 let God's Wifldom be the only true Wifldom, this 
 will prove meer and mad Folly : For his Cur ft can- 
 not but light upon it ', flo that in feehng both, you 
 ftall lofle both: Whereas in cleaving uprightly to 
 God, his $rue Servants fhall be your true Friends, 
 and he Jk'all compel the reft count erf eitly and lyingly 
 to ferve^you, as he did to David. 
 
 It is eafie to guefs how well this pleafed the 
 King : However, tho' the King was at fir ft ve- 
 ry warm and angry, yet he grew calm and 
 pleafant, protefted that he had no Knowledge 
 
 of 
 
C 137 1 
 
 of the Return of the Lords, and that offer 
 what they would, they fhould have no Favour 
 from him ^ till they had fully fatisfied theChurch, 
 This Difcourfe of Mr. Melvin to the King, Mr. 
 Calderwood fays was taken out of his own Memoirs, 
 left behind him, written with his own Hand. 
 
 The King kept ill bis Tromifes in this Cafe alfo ; 
 for now Diflatisfa&ions grew high between 
 the King and the Minifters \ the King encroach- 
 ing daily upon their Liberties, which they, by 
 no Means, would give up, they deputed Four 
 of their Body to the King, to reprefent, that 
 there was a moll dangerous, Jealoufie begun be- 
 tween him and the Church, which could not 
 but be fatal to both, and to deiire his Majefty 
 to declare plainly what offended him, that, if 
 poflible, they might give him Satisfa&ion. 
 
 The King anfwered in few Words, c That 
 4 ther ecould be no Agreement between him and 
 c them till the Marches of their Jurifd-Bion were 
 * ridden. ' This is a Scoticifm in Speech, alluding 
 to the People, who ufed to ride annually over the 
 Marches or Borders of both Kingdoms of En- 
 gland and Scotland^ to fettle and afcertain the 
 Bounds, as our Parifh-Officers do annually in 
 England for the Parifhes. This intimated plainly 
 that the King refolved to put Limits to the 
 Church's Power, and to reftrain them in fome 
 of thofe Liberties and Privileges which they 
 claimed as their due. When the King had gi- 
 ven them this Hint, he gave alfo Four Heads 
 of Complaint againft them, in which, he faid, 
 he expected Redrefs. 
 
 1. That in their Preaching, they fhould 
 have nothing to do to fpeak of the King's 
 Affairs, or of Matters of State. 
 
 a. That 
 
2. That the General Aflembly fliould not 
 meet but by the King's Authority and 
 eipecial Command. 
 
 3. That he have a negative Voice in the 
 Aflembly. 
 
 4. That the Church Judicatories meddle 
 not with Civil Matters, or with any 
 Matter of Law. 
 
 The Minifters now began to fee plainly , that 
 the Platform was laid for the Overthrow of 
 the Ecclefiaftick Conftitution : They thought it 
 was a good Providence to the Church that the 
 King fpoke fo dire&ly to his own Defigns, and 
 they afted with the greateft Prudence and Cau- 
 tion poflible to take from him all Occafion of 
 Advantage over them. They ordered therefore 
 (1.) That all the Ads of Parliament, Ads of 
 Council, Declarations of the King, or other 
 Documents in Favour of the Liberties and Dis- 
 cipline of the Church fhould be fearch'd out, 
 and colle&ed. (2.) That the Presbyteries mould 
 be advertifed not to enter into any Debates or 
 Difputes upon the King's Propofal, that they 
 might not be fuppofed to call in Queftion the 
 undoubted Liberties and Authority of the 
 Church. But he that has a Nail to drive, will 
 not want a Hammer : The King had an ill Turn 
 ready for the Church, and he let them know 
 it on the following Occafion. 
 
 One Mr. David Black, a Minifter in St. An- 
 drews, had ufed fome diftaftful Speeches in a 
 Sermon fome Months before, which having 
 given Offence to the King and Council, they re- 
 folved to begin there, and fummoned him to 
 appear before the Council to anfwer the fame. 
 
 Thus 
 
Thus the King began with them, and they, 
 on the contrary, found him Work enough 5 for 
 in the firft Place* they went on in their judicial 
 Procefs againft the two great Women, whofe 
 Caufe the King had openly efpoufed, viz.. the 
 Lady Huntly, and the Lady Levingftone. To 
 the firft they directed a Libel or Summons to 
 anfwer their Charge : This was, if pofTible, to 
 prevent her being received at Court, as fhe 
 could not well be, while under the Procefs of 
 the Church, before fhe had given Satisfaction. 
 2. They ordered the Presbytery of Sterling to 
 proceed to Excommunication againft the Lady 
 Levingfton. And as to Mr. David Black, they 
 ordered that he fhould decline the Judicatory of 
 the King and Council, or as we call it in England, 
 plead to their Jurifdi&ion, and refufe to an- 
 fwer before them. Then they came to a Re- 
 foluiion in the AfTembly, nemine contradkente^ 
 That all Judgment of Do&rine appertained to 
 the Paftors of the Church in prima inftantia : 
 and they appointed a Committee, and farther 
 ordered all the Minifters to fearch all the War- 
 rants of Scripture, or Precedents in the Laws 
 of the Realm, to fupport that Pofition. 
 
 It would fwell thefe Memoirs top much, to 
 give a Particular of all the Difpntes which 
 pafs'd between the King and the AfTembly of 
 Minifters on this Occafion : They waited on him 
 with their other Demands, and got tolerable 
 Anfwers, tho' the King was highly affronted 
 with Mr. Patrick Galloway, one of thofe that was 
 fentto him, who told him, That their Enemies 
 got Grants and Performance j but the Church got 
 fair Words and Promifes only. However the King, 
 upon a new Application, promifed them poil- 
 tively, that all they defir'd fhould be granted 
 
 with 
 
r mo ] 
 
 with Refpect to the Popilh Lords and the two 
 Ladies abovenamed : But there was yet a Sting 
 in the Tail, about Mr. David Black, of whom the 
 King faid he mud; appear and anfwer for him- 
 felf, to fatisfie the Englifh Ambaflador, who, it 
 feems, had complained againft him, and tale 
 heed, fays the King, that you decline not my Judi- 
 catory , for if you do, it will be worfe than you 
 imagine. 
 
 Hereupon the AfTembly went upon it openly, 
 refolving not to give up their Rights, and direct- 
 ed Mr. Black to give in a Writing of Declina- 
 ture under his Hand, which, as it is a very cu- 
 rious Piece, and of great Confequence in the 
 Queftion, and being penn'd with much Art, as 
 well as maintained with much Vigor, I cannot 
 omit publilhing it, as follows : 
 
 The Declinature of the King and Council's Judica- 
 ture, in Matters fpiritual, namely in preaching 
 of the Word, given in to the fame at Halyrud- 
 Houfe, by Mr David Black, Mini ft er at St. 
 Andrews, in his own Name, and in Name of 
 his whole Brethren of the Miniftry, the 18th 
 Day of November, 1596. 
 
 c 1 1 NTO your Majefty and Lords of fecret 
 c U Council, with all Reverence in Chrift 
 & humbly meaneth, I Mr. David Black, Minifter 
 c of the Evangel at St. Andrews, that where I 
 c am charged by your Highnefs's Letters, to 
 1 compear and anfwer for certain unreverent, 
 c unfamous, and undecent Speeches, alledged ut- 
 f tered by me in fome of my Sermons made in 
 c publick, in the Kirk of bt. Andrews, in the 
 c Month of Ocloberhit by paft 1596* as at more 
 c length is contained in the faid Letters : 
 
 c Wherein 
 
[I 4 I ] 
 
 * Wherein albert the Confcience of my Innocen- 
 4 cy upholdeth me fufficiently, againft whatfo- 
 € ever Calumnies of Men \ and that I am ready 
 4 by the Afliftance of the Grace of my God, to 
 4 give a Confeflion, and ftand to the Defence of 
 4 every Point of the Truth of my God, uttered 
 4 by me in the faid Sermons, either in opening 
 4 up of his Word, or Application thereof, be- 
 4 fore your Majefty or Council, or whatfomever 
 4 Perfon or Perfons, that upon any lawful Caufe, 
 4 will crave an Account of that Hope which is 
 4 in me, in whatfomever Place or Manner, fa 
 4 far as ftiall be requiflte for clearing and Main- 
 
 * tenance of the Truth, and of my Miniftry, and 
 4 may be done without the Prejudice of that 
 4 Liberty, which the Lord Jefus hath given and 
 c eftablifhed in the fpiritual Office- Bearers of 
 4 his Kingdom. Yet feeing I am at this Time 
 4 brought to ftand before his Majefty and Coun- 
 c cil, as a Judge fet to cognofce, and decern 
 
 * upon my Doctrine, where through my anfwer- 
 
 * ing to the faid pretended Accufation might 
 4 import, with the manifeft Prejudice of the 
 4 Liberties of the Kirk, an Acknowledgment of 
 4 yourMajefty's Jurifdidion, in Matters that are 
 c meer fpiritual, which might move your Ma- 
 4 jefty to attempt farther in the fpiritual Go- 
 4 vernment of the Houfe of God, to the Provo- 
 4 cation of his hot Difpleafure againft your Ma- 
 
 * jefty, and in End either a plain fubverting of 
 
 * the fpiritual Judicature, or at leaft a confound- 
 
 * ing thereof with the Civil, if at any time pro- 
 4 fane and ambitious Magiftrates might by fuch 
 4 dangerous Beginnings find the Hedge broken 
 c down to make a violent Irruption upon the 
 4 Lord's Inheritance, which the Lord forbid. 
 1 Therefore I am conftrained, in all Humility 
 
 4 and 
 
C m* 3 
 
 : and Submiflion of Mind, to ufe a Declinature 
 c of this Judgment, at leaft in frima inftantia ? 
 c which I befeech your Majefty to confider ear- 
 1 neftly, and accept of, according to Juftice, for 
 c the Reafons following. 
 
 * The Lord Jefus, the God of Order, and not 
 4 of Confufion, as appeareth evidently in all the 
 c Churches of the Saints, of whom only I have 
 c the Grace of my Calling, as his AmbafTador, 
 c albeit moil unworthy of that Honour, to bear 
 c his Name among his Saints, hath given me his 
 c Word, and no Law or Tradition of Man, as 
 c the only Inflrudtions, whereby I mould rule the 
 c whole Actions of my calling, in Preaching of 
 c the Word, Adminiftration of the Seals there- 
 1 of, and Exercife of Difcipline : And in the Dif- 
 c charge of this Commiflion I cannot fall in Re- 
 c verence of any Civil Law of Man, but in fo 
 c far as I (hall be found to have palTed the Com- 
 c pafs cf my Inftru&ions, which cannot be judg- 
 
 * ed, according to the Order eftabliflied by that 
 
 * God of Order, but by the Prophets, whofe Lips 
 c he hath appointed to be Keepers of his hea- 
 c venly Wifdom, and to whom he has fubjeclred 
 
 * the Spirits of the Prophets. And now feeing 
 c it is the Preaching of the Word, whereupon I 
 c am accufed, which is a principal Point of my 
 ' Calling, of Neceflity the Prophets mull: firA 
 c declare, whether I have keeped the Bounds of 
 c my Dire&ions, before I come to be judged of 
 4 your Ma jelly's Laws, for my Offence. 
 
 c Becaufe the Liberty of the Kirk, and whole 
 t Difcipline thereof, according as the fame has 
 € been, and is prefently, exercifed within your 
 
 * Majefty's Realm, has been confirmed by diverfe 
 4 Adh of Parliament, and approved by the Con- 
 
 * feflion of Faith, by the Subfcription and Oath 
 
 « of 
 
Cm; 3; 
 
 * of your Majefty and Majefty's filiates, and 
 c whole Body of the Country, and peaceably 
 4 enjoyed by the Officebearers of the Kirk in all 
 c Points ; and namely in the forefaid Point, 
 ' touching the Judgment of the preaching of 
 c the Word in prima infiantia, as the Practice of 
 1 diverfe late Examples evidently will fhew. 
 
 * Therefore the Queftion touching my Preach- 
 c ing ought firft, according to the Grounds and 
 c Practice forefaid, be judged by the Ecclefiafti- 
 c cal Senate, as the competent Judge thereof, in 
 c the firft Inftance. 
 
 c In Refpeft whereof, and for diverfe other 
 c weighty Caufes and Confiderations, namely 
 c of efchewing the great and dangerous Incon- 
 c veniences, that might fall both to Religion 
 c and to your Majefty's own Eftate, by the Ap- 
 c pearance of Diftra&ion of your Majefty's Af- 
 c fe&ion from the Miniftry, and good Caufe of 
 c God in their Hands, to the Grief of your Ma- 
 c jetty's beft Subjects, and to the Encouragement 
 
 * of the Adverfaries, both of your Majefty's E- 
 1 ftate and Religion. Therefore I moft humbly 
 c befeech your Majefty, and in the Name of 
 4 my Brethren the Commiflionersof the General 
 c Affembly, and the Remnant of the Brethren 
 ■ € of the Miniftry, who, for teftifying their ear- 
 c neft Affection and Allowance of the Premifles, 
 1 have fubfcribed thefe Prefents with their 
 1 Hands, that your Majefty in this Action, 
 1 would manifeft your earned Care to maintain 
 
 * that Liberty, which the Church of Chritt 
 c within the Country, for the Comfort of the 
 1 Saints, hath with fo great Bleffing enjoyed, 
 < fince the Gofpel was firft revealed in this 
 c Land, wherethrough the Godly may be com- 
 € forted, the Adverfaries fruftrated of their Ex- 
 
 * peftati- 
 
k r 144 J 
 
 peftation, and your Majefty truly honoured 
 
 * in honouring the Lord Jefus. ' 
 
 * The Foundation of Difcontent being thus 
 laid on both Sides, all Things tended to an 
 open Rupture between the Parties.* The King 
 at the Head of the Civil Power, arid the Af- 
 fembly at the Head of the Ecclefiaftick, pufh'd 
 at one another without any Appearance of a 
 Reconciliation. It is, without doubt, that the 
 King was AggrefTor : He found the Severity of 
 the Minifters a Burthen that he could by no 
 Means bear. They faid the fame of his Invafions 
 upon their Liberties. Several Propofals of Ac- 
 commodation were made, and fometimes they 
 came very near to one another } nay, at one Time 
 the King was brought to agree to the Mediums 
 they propofed ♦, but the next Morning they found 
 his Mind quite altered again, and if it be true 
 which one of the Writers of thofe Times af- 
 firms, viz* That the King was refolved upon 
 fetting up Epifcopacy, and had named the Bi- 
 fhops to every Diocefs (d), before Mr. Black's 
 Declinature above. It is no more to be won- 
 dred at, that tho' his Majefty might fome- 
 times feem to comply with them, for Delay, or 
 for other private Reafons, yet that they always 
 found he changed his Mind when it came to 
 the Point to be concluded. 
 
 It would be endlefs to fet down here the 
 many Particulars of this Breach. Take the Sum 
 of them thus. Upon the failing of the many 
 Attempts to accommodate Matters, the Mini- 
 fters preached openly and vehemently againft 
 
 the 
 
 (a) Calderwooi,/*/. 358. 
 
f 14*1 
 
 tlK King's Proceedings, defended the Jurifdittion 
 of the Church, and daily drew the People to them. 
 This nettled and alarmed the King : He attempt- 
 ed to perfwade the Commiflioners of the AiTembly 
 by fair Means, to direct the Minifters not to 
 meddle. They anfwercd, they could not be 
 Jilent, While he went on to fap the Foundati- 
 ons of their Liberties, and overthrow the Dif- 
 cipline ', that it was their Duty to fpeak freely 
 and plainly: When Perfwailons availed not, he 
 ufed Force \ he charged the Commiflioners of 
 the AfTembly to depart the City of Edinburgh, 
 and publihYd this Charge at the Crofs of Edin- 
 burgh .-""He ordered the Council to proceed a- 
 gainft Mr. David Black, notwithftanding his De- 
 clinature, and to condemn him of Contumacy, 
 fentencing him to enter into Ward, upon Pain 
 of Rebellion and Horning : His Crime was faid to 
 be, For treasonable, uncivil, (landerous, and [editi- 
 ons Words, Calumnies, and Speeches uttered by him 
 agamft the Queen, the Queen of England, the 
 Nobility, Council, and Sejfion. 
 
 Befides this, the King refufed to grant the 
 Stipends to the Northern Minifters, for whom 
 the Commiflioners of the AfTembly had petiti- 
 oned 7 the King's Anfwcr was, That fuch as would 
 acknowledge his Authority, jljould have their Sala- 
 ries *, but he would give no Fee to [uch as would 
 di[claim their Obedience. 
 
 Upon the Commiflioners being warn'd to de- 
 part, they publifhed an Exhortation to the 
 Presbytery of Edinburgh, as they fhould anfwer 
 it to God and his Church, to difcharge their 
 Duty in To necellary and dangerous a Juncture, 
 and to call before them the open and malici- 
 ous Enemies of the Church, of whatfoever 
 Rank, and proceed againft them, even to Ex- 
 
 L torn- 
 
C 146 ] 
 
 Communication, if they relaxed net : Likewife 
 to the Minifters of Edinburgh, to ftand to their 
 Calling, and not to be flack in their Duty \ 
 with Caution however that if Violence was 
 nfed *, for there was a Report, that they mould 
 be pull'd out of their Pulpits by armed 
 Men, they mould give Place to the Fury, and 
 make no Refinance ; and then publishing a long 
 Declaration, for Vindication of their Proceed- 
 ings, and protefting againft the Injuftice that 
 was ufed towards them, they departed. This 
 Was in December 1595. 
 
 The fame Month the King fell upon the Mi- 
 nifters of Edinburgh, and without any particalar 
 Accufation or Crime alledged, charg'd Four 
 of them,^/^. Robert Bruce, James Balfour, Wal- 
 ter Bacanqucll, and William Wat [on, to enter in- 
 to Ward •, that is to fay, to go to Prifon, with- 
 in Six Hours after the Proclamation, upon Pain 
 of horning ; they not doing it, Orders were 
 fent to the Magistrates of Edinburgh, to appre- 
 hend them -j but they fled to the Borders. 
 There were alfo feveral of the Inhabitants of 
 Edinburgh in the fame Condition, being all fuch 
 as were eminent for their Zeal to the true Re- 
 ligion. But this was not all. 
 
 For the King refolving now to carry his 
 Game on to the uttermoft, contriv'd a Writing 
 of Recognition, which was called there the 
 BAND, which all the Minifters were requi- 
 red to fign, on pain of lofing their Stipends. 
 The Copy of which Band or Engagement is as 
 
 follows, (viz,.) 
 
 The. 
 
[ '47 3 
 
 The Copy of the Band, ordained by his Mujifty and 
 Eft.-ncs, to be fubfcribed by every one of the Mi- 
 niftry under the Fain of lofing their Stipends. 
 
 4 TTf TE the Pallors and Minifters of Scotland, 
 4 VV underfcribing, humbly acknowledging 
 4 ourDuty to God, and Obedience to the King 
 4 our Sovereign, whom for Confcience Sake we 
 4 ought to obey, confefs, that he is our Sove- 
 4 reign Judge } to us, and every one of us, in all 
 4 Canfes of Sedition and Treafon, and other 
 4 civil and criminal Matters } and to all our 
 4 Speeches, which may import the faid Crimes, 
 4 albeit uttered by any of us publickly in Pul- 
 4 pit (which God forbidj or in any other Place : 
 4 And that the faid Pulpits, nor no other Place 
 4 whatfoever, have that Privilege or Immunity, 
 4 to be Occafion or Pretence to any of us of 
 4 declining his Ma jelly's Judgment, in any of 
 4 the faid civil or criminal Caufes intended, or 
 4 to be intended againfl any of us, in time 
 4 coming ; but rather that our Offence is the 
 4 greater, in Cafe any of us commit fuch Crimes 
 4 in the faid Pulpits (which God forbid) where 
 c the Word of God, his Truth and Salvation 
 4 fhould be preached by us unto our Flocks. In 
 4 Witnefs whereof, and of our humble Acknow- 
 4 ledging of our Duty in the Premifles, we have 
 4 fubfcribed thefe Prefents with our Hands, 
 4 and are content the fame be regiflrat id the 
 4 Books of our Sovereign's fecrec Council in 
 4 futuram rei memoriam. [ 
 
 After this, for novo the Mask was thrown of, 
 a Proclamation was publifh'd, by Sound of 
 Trumpet, at the Crofs of Edinburgh, empower- 
 
 L 2 ing 
 
[ 148] 
 
 ing and requiring all Magiftrates, Barons, and 
 Gentlemen of Power, to interrupt any of the 
 Minifters if they fhould utter any Speeches ten- 
 ding to Sedition from their Pulpits; or any 
 Speeches, in Reproach, Contempt, or Difdain 
 of the King, his Progenitors, or his Council, and 
 any of their Proceedings; and to imprifon and 
 detain them till Notice mould be given to the 
 Council, and Orders from thence received a- 
 bout them. 
 
 To this Pafs Things were come, in the Space 
 of one Year. 
 
 The Minifters, generally fpeaking, refufed the 
 Band, with Abhorrence ; and publifhed their 
 Reafons for it, with their Apologies and De- 
 fences in abundance; and fome publick Meet- 
 ings did the like, as the Synod of Fife in par- 
 ticular. 
 
 We are now come to a Meeting, called by the 
 King a General Aflembly; butnotownedtobefuch 
 by the Church. The King having, as is faid, claim- 
 ed the Right of calling the General Ailembly, 
 tho' the Church had by no Means yielded up 
 that Point, his Majefty thought fit to aft upon 
 that Right, and fummoned a Convention of Mi- 
 nifters at Perth, to meet the 2%tb of February 
 1597. The Minifters, who came thither, met 
 at the Kings Anointment, fo there was a Viola- 
 tion of the Liberties of the Church, in the ve- 
 ry Entrance ; for by the,Conftitution the Church 
 has the Right of calling, as well as of conftitu- 
 ting their Aflemblies. But this was not all ; for 
 as the AfTembly was called by the King, fo 
 w 7 ere the Members nominated chiefly by him, 
 and efpecially the. 'Northern Minifters, who ap- 
 peared in an unufual Number; and yet as it was 
 they were for fome time doubtfnl, whether to 
 
 have 
 
£ M9 ] 
 
 have it called an AfTembly or not: Old James 
 Melvin denied it to be an AfTembly •, bur the 
 Northern Men outvoted them, the King alio 
 joining his Authority : However, eight Presby- 
 teries entirely oppofed it, eleven, on the other 
 Hand, approving it: The Commiflioners of die 
 Presbytery of Fife made a Proteftation^ againft 
 it, and againft all that fhould be done in it. 
 
 Two Things the King attempted here upon 
 them, yet neither fucceeded thoroughly. Firft, 
 the King, on Pretence of conferring with them 
 on Tome" Affairs of Moment, appoints them to 
 meet, in the fame Place, with the King and his 
 Eftates. This was a Wyle, to bring them to 
 have fitten as it were in Parliament •, but the 
 found Miniiters faw it, and protefted againft 
 it. Next, the King would have entered into 
 Difcourfe of the Point in Controverfie, but the 
 fame Minifters refufed to put any of the Heads 
 of their Difcipline in Queftion \ neither would 
 they reafon or fpeak upon them at all. The 
 King prefs'd it, but to no Purpofe : The King 
 tried them again, and they came to the Place, 
 but would enter upon no Bulinefs there \ but 
 made a long Proteftation againft whatever fhould 
 be done in that Meeting, as not being lawful- 
 ly conftituted. 
 
 Having thus denied the Legality of this Af- 
 fembly, and refufed to ad, the King was left 
 to go on as he liked \ nor are the Things done, 
 faid to be rightly recorded, or any Dependance 
 to be had upon them. But in a Word, the 
 King went on his own Way, and brought his 
 Ends about by fuch arbitrary Methods, and yet 
 by a fpecious Pretence of legal Steps, as may ea- 
 *fily be imagined. He exhibited 13 Articles to 
 them, every one of which was a Violation of 
 
 L 3 their 
 
their former Difcipline*, the Confequence of 
 this was bringing in the excommunicated Lords, 
 and at length fetting up Epifcopacy in the 
 Church. 
 
 In the mean Time, the legal AfTembly had 
 been appointed to meet at Aberdeen, on the 
 xqth of April 1597, and the Moderator of the 
 former AfTembly went thither accordingly *, and 
 tho' the Number was not great, yet they met 
 in Form, conftituted themfelves regularly, and 
 having begun the AfTemb)y with Prayer, as u- 
 fual, and appointed a Fa ft for Confcffion of Sins, 
 they made Proteftations for the Liberty of the 
 Church, and referr'd all other Bufinefs to the 
 next Meeting. This is the AfTembly which the 
 King difowned. 
 
 The King, in the mean Time, went on the . 
 other Way, and appoints another AfTembly of 
 his new Model, to meet at Dundee, in the 
 Month of May after. Thus the Church was 
 miferably divided, and her Difcipline trodden 
 under Foot: At this Alterably the King, as it 
 is faid, aimed at Two Things, viz.. (1.) Bring- 
 ing in the excommunicated lords. And (2.) 
 acknowledging the Meeting at Perth for a legal 
 AfTembly of the Church \ both which the King, 
 •who had, by this Time, wheedled of, or brought off 
 many of the poorer of the Miniltry to his Par- 
 ty, eafily obtained ; fome complying for Pre- 
 ferment, Tome for the Honour, and Tome the 
 Profits of the Court \ for it was an ealle Mat- 
 ter, fays the Hlfioriaa of that Time, Mr. Calder- 
 wood, to draw fuch as thirihd for Gain and 
 Glory, to farther the Intentions of the Court. 
 Thus a dreadful Schifm was made in the Church, 
 which alfo became wider every Day. The Af- 
 
 fem- 
 
f IJI ] 
 
 fembly of Dundee abfolved the Popifh Lords ', 
 ga»ve up the Liberty of Rebuking the Crimes of 
 the great ones; committed Matters of the great- 
 eft Import to a few, and thofe fuch as appear- 
 ed devoted to the Court *, quitted fummary Ex- 
 communication, tho' for notorious Crimes ; a- 
 bolilhed all Meetings of Minifters, not warrant- 
 ed by the King, or forbidden ; and all ecclefl- 
 aftick Matters to be treated of in the Aflcmbly, 
 were, by this Model, to be- fir ft prepared and de- 
 termined of by the King: So, fays the fame Wri- 
 ter, the Aflembly was now no more than the 
 King's LED HORSE-, and all this was 
 brought to pafs by a fubtle dividing the Mi- 
 nifters, and awing or enticing fome from the 
 reft -, who, back'd and fupported by the King, 
 and joined with the Creatures of the Court, 
 carried on his Defigns to the- Ruin of all true 
 Religion. 
 
 And now came on the grand Defign *, for the 
 King having gained a Number of falfe Brethren, 
 (a remarkable Word) he had every Thing done 
 to. his Hand. The Parliament being litting, 
 the Commiflioners of the General AiTembly pe- 
 tition, in the Name of the Church, tho* falfely ', 
 for the main Body of the Church abhorred the Thought 
 of fuch a Thing, for Minifters to be allowed to lie 
 and vote in Parliament. This was granted, and 
 pafs'd intoan Afr,and the very Words of the Aft 
 openly declared the Meaning of the Thing, (viz, ) 
 That thofe Minifters who mould vote in Parlia- 
 ment mould be Bifhops,or Prelates. The Wordsare 
 thefe : That fuch Pa/lor s and Minifters as his ALijefty 
 fljall^at any Time,fleafe toprovide to the Office, Place, 
 Title, and Dignity 0/Bifhdp, Abbot, or other Prelate, 
 pall at any Time hereafter, have Vote in Parliament, 
 
 L 4 as 
 
as by the (a) Ad: may be feen at large, This was 
 in December 1597. 
 
 On the qth of March 1598, another j^*/ 
 Affembly, for fuch it was, not an Affembly of the 
 Church, met at Dundee, of which I need fay no 
 more than this, that by the fame Art and Ma- 
 nagement that the reft was carried on, the Act 
 of Parliament, for Minifters to vote in Parlia- 
 ment, was approved, in the faid Affembly, with 
 all the Formality and Pretence of Good to the 
 Church imaginable. 
 
 The Glory of the pnreft Church in the World, 
 / life the Kings own Words, being thus under 
 an almoft total Eclipfe, was ftrangely reprefent- 
 ed that fame Year in the Firmament, the molt 
 glorious Lamp of Heaven,, the SVN, fuffering at 
 this Time, a moft fearful Eclipfe, fo the Hlfto- 
 rians of that Day tall it, the whole Face of the 
 Sun being covered and darkened -, but it plea- 
 fed God to put them in mind by it, that altho' 
 it was of a long Duration, viz.. near Two Hours 
 before it went quite off, yet the Sun recover- 
 ed again its full Luftre. And thus the Church 
 of Scotland likewife has fince done after many 
 dreadful Eclipfes and Hours of Darknefs. 
 I The next Year finiuYd the Work: The gi- 
 ving the Minifters a Vote in Parliament had 
 been already paft*, the King fummoned a Num- 
 ber of Minifters to a Conference at Halytvod- 
 Houfe, where he thought fit to have fome of 
 the heft Sort called } but took Care to fecure 
 a Majority of his own Party : Here, for Forma- 
 lity sake, thofe Things were debated and re- 
 folved, which the King before had refolved, 
 
 with- 
 
 {f>) dfttcf Parliament fir Scotland, Part i,p*geiTT. 
 
[ in 1 
 
 without debating : The Queftions were not, if 
 the giving the Minifters Votes fhould be con- 
 firmed ^ that was paft and over before \ but how 
 many their Number fhould be, who fhould chufe 
 them, and what Title they fhould have ? Where, 
 finally, their Number, and the Choice of them, 
 was left to the King •, and it was ordered that 
 they fhould have the Title of BISHOP. And 
 thus this long contriv'd Defign obtained its.fi- 
 niihing Stroke, and Epifcopacy was eftablifhed 
 in, or rather upon the Ruins of, the Church of 
 Scotland. 
 
 I have been more particular in this Part, as 
 it relates to the Manner how Epifcopacy got 
 its firft footing in the Church of Scot Ian d\ that 
 the Fraud, the Artifice, and hypocritical Fawn- 
 ings, the arbitrary and outragious Dealings, 
 which were pradifed with the Minifters, might 
 appear •, as alfo the Smugglings and Oppoiiti- 
 on it met with for fb many Years. - The next 
 fucceeding Years will require little to be faid : 
 The King had gain'd his Point *, the Gradati- 
 ons, by which Epifcopacy proceeded, as it ever 
 did in Scotland, from Power to Perfecution, and 
 at length to its own Ruin and Downfal \ as 
 they were publick, fo our Account fhall be 
 more concife and general. 
 
 The Time drew near now that the King was 
 to receive an Addition of Glory, and be call- 
 ed to a Kingdom infinitely more opulent, po- 
 pulous, and powerful than his own -, and with- 
 al, wrapt up in that Eccleiiaftick Hierarchy 
 which he fo much defir'd^ in the mean Time, 
 he fpent the Hours in daily Conteits with the 
 Presbyterian Minifters, for the other are not now 
 to be called fo, oppreffing, imprifoning, remo- 
 ving, banijfhing 7 fo that no fooner was he be- 
 come 
 
f '*4 J 
 
 come a King of an Epifcopal Church, but, as 
 was always natural to the Spirit of Epifcopacy 
 in Scotland, he became a Perfecutor \ nay, a 
 Perfecutor of that very Church, which, as before 
 is obferved, he had, in the Face of the Aflembly, 
 , with Eyes and Hands lifted up to Heaven, So- 
 lemnly praifed and blefied God for being born 
 in, and made King of} calling it, alas ! with 
 what Hypocrlfie ! the pnrelr, the fincereft Church 
 on Earth. 
 
 This was tjhe Time when the King writ that 
 flattering Letter to the Pope, {tiling him, in the 
 Beginning, Beatijfime Pater Pontificem maximum, 
 and the like •, which, to efcape the Cenfure of, he 
 caufed, many Years afterwards, the Reproach 
 of to be laid upon another Perfon, who, it was 
 pretended, deceived the King *, and having pri- 
 vately penn'd the Letter, got the King to fign 
 it in a Crowd of other Writings which were 
 to pafs the Sign-Manual, and which the King 
 fignedofCourfe, without reading •, but if other 
 Authors may be believ'd, the King, who, was 
 not fo hurried with Bufinefs, while King of 
 Scotland, but that, in other Cafes, he was quick 
 lighted enough, and ufed not to let the fmalleft 
 Matter pafs unobferved, was not to be thus de- 
 ceived. 
 
 This was the Time when Mr. John Spot [wood, 
 who was profecuted even by the King's Friends 
 in the Church, for having been at MASS o- 
 penly in Trance, was protected by the King 
 from their Cenfure, and afterwards made Arch- 
 bifliop of St. Andrews *, the fame who writ the 
 Hiftory afterwards of thefe Times, and is fo 
 often quoted in thefe Memoirs. 
 
 On the 31ft of March 1603, an Exprefs ar- 
 rived from England, bringing News of the Death 
 
 of 
 
of Queen Elizabeth, with Letters of Recogniti- 
 on from the Privy-Council there, who had pro- 
 claimed his Majefty King of England and Ire* 
 land. As the King read the Letters, his Coun- 
 tenance chang'd -, the Lords near-hand feared he 
 bad been taken ill, when, on a fudden, he left 
 off reading, and lift up his Hands and Eyes to 
 Heaven, as tho\ he had prayed \ and giving the 
 Letter to one of the Lords that ftood next him, 
 faid, The Queers dead : Read that Letter, Man. 
 
 Immediately the Lords congratulated him, 
 and the Court rung with Joy ; the Guns at the 
 Cattle were fired, and the King was proclaim- 
 ed at the Market- Crofs of Edinburgh, King of 
 England, France, and Ireland, &o 
 
 The next Sabbath, being the 3^ of April, the 
 King made the following Speech to the People, 
 in the great Church, which, I obferve, becaufe 
 he fcarce ever performed one Word of it at all. 
 
 As God hath promoved me to a greater Power, 
 than 1 had \ fo I mnfl endeavour to eflablifh Re- 
 ligion, and to take away Corruption, in both the 
 Countries. Te need not doubt, but as I have a Body 
 as able as any King tn Europe, whereby I am a- 
 ble to travel *, fo I fhallvifit you every Three Tears 
 at leaft, or oftner as I Jliall have Occafion', (for 
 fo have I written in my Book diretled to my Son, 
 and it were a Shame to me not to perform that, 
 which 1 have written) that I may with my own 
 Mouth, take Account of the Execution of Juflice 
 of them that are under me \ and that ye your f elves 
 may fee and hear me, and from the meaneft to the 
 greateft have Accefs to my Ferfon, and four out your 
 Complaints in my Bofcm. This Jliall ever be my 
 Courje. 
 
 The 
 
r *sn 
 
 The Triumphs of this new Accefllon of 
 Power to the King, his PafTage into England^ 
 his Reception there, his Coronation, and other 
 Ceremonies, are no Part of this Work } I fhall 
 fay only this of them, that they, together with the 
 Englijh Bnfinefs, almoft took the King wholly off 
 of Scots Affairs for the firft two or three Years 
 of his Reign, and he did little but confirm and 
 eftablifh his new Fabrick in the Church. 
 
 In this Condition Things ftood with the 
 Church almoft all the reft of the Reign of 
 King James, the Authority of the Church Judi- 
 catories was wholly loft, their Difcipline de- 
 ftroyed, and the Government diffolved into a 
 prelatick Hierarchy. 
 
 It is true, the King being abfent, and em- 
 barrafs'd with the Englijh Affairs, they did not 
 pufh on the deilgned Perfection fo far, or fa 
 faft, as, its very likely, he would otherwife 
 have done \ but ftill the Council continued daily 
 to invade the Privileges of the Church, and by 
 Encroachments of one Kind or other, went on 
 to opprefs them \ and upon every Step the Mi- 
 ni fters took, to affert their Right, or defend 
 their Privileges, they were proceeded againft by 
 the Council as Criminals \ and once no lefsthan 
 Six of the Minifters were tried for high Trea- 
 fon, and condemned to Death, for dechning the 
 Judicature of the Council, and continuing to 
 aifemble at Aberdeen, without the King's Au- 
 thority } but the King would not fuffer them 
 to be executed : What he did with them we 
 fhall fee prefently. Firft, a Proclamation was 
 publifhed, forbidding all People, either in pub- 
 lick or private, to call in Queftion his Majefty's 
 Proceedings againft the faid Minifters. Then 
 ?he Caufe flept a while, the Parliament being 
 
 to 
 
f i*7] 
 
 to meet. This was the Year 1606, when th 
 Parliament met at Edinburgh, but was adjourn 
 ed to Perth ', in which the A& was pafs'd, enti- 
 tuled, The Act for Restitution of BifJiops, by 
 which the Temporalities of the old Bifliopricks 
 were likewife reftored to the Church, having 
 before been given to the Crown by a Law call- 
 ed the (V) AB of Annexation, 
 
 The fir ft Thing of Note which happened 
 after the King's Acceffion to the Crown of En- 
 gland, and the laft Thing of this Nature which 
 we fhall bring into thefe Memoirs was, That 
 memorable Conference at Hampon- Court, be- 
 tween the eight Minifters of the Presbyterian 
 Church and the King, upon the Matters then in 
 Difpute. The Cafe in fhort was this, the Pref- 
 byterian Minifters had met in an Aflembly, as 
 was already noted, at Aberdeen, without the 
 King's Authority, as they in lifted they might 
 legally do • the King difcharg'd or diflblv'd 
 their Meeting as illegal, but they continued to ' 
 meet for all that : And when fome of them 
 were delated, or indi&ed, as we call it, before 
 the Court of Juftice for that Contempt, they 
 declined the Authority of the King, that is to 
 fay, his Authority to take Cognizance of thole 
 Affairs^ for they never difpu ted his Authority 
 in Civil Matters : For this they were again in- 
 di&ed, brought to Trial, found guilty of high 
 Treafon, and received Sentence of Death, as 
 above. 
 
 But the King finding, that this pufhing 
 Things co Extremity would not fully anfwer his 
 End, and willing rather to proceed by other 
 
 Me- 
 
 (a) Aci of Scots Parliament, Part i.pag. 759. 
 
C if 8 3 
 
 Methods, concluded at length to have the Cauf e 
 brought to London, where it fhould be publick- 
 ly heard before himfelf and the Council, not 
 doubring but it fhould be fo managed there, as 
 that he fhould either really have the Victory, or 
 at leaft feem to have it ; hereupon making fhew 
 to defire an Agreement, he (the King) caufed 
 a certain Number of the Scots Minifters on both 
 Sides, to be fummoned to appear before him 
 at London. Their Names were as follow, (viz..) 
 
 Of the Epifcopal Party. Of the Presbytery. Part. 
 
 The Arch- To* a j Mr. Andrew MelviL 
 bp. of ^tJndrews, Mf% Jam$ ^^ 
 
 (Glafgow, Mr. James Balfour, 
 
 The Rn of C^ ^ ^ r# WM* arn Wt&fiHt 
 
 * " jG 'allow ay, Mr. John Carmichael^ 
 KDunkeld. Mr. Adam Coult, 
 Mr. William Scot. 
 
 And as this was a moft eminent Tranfadtion, 
 by which the Craft, Drift, and Weaknefs m 
 Argument, in the Scots Epifcopal Party, and 
 the Capacity, Fidelity, and Courage of the Mi- 
 nifters, were more than ordinarily confpicuous •, 
 and that it is neceflary the Reader fhould have 
 it faithfully and fully ftated \ 1 fay, for this Rea- 
 fon, I fhall impartially relate the Fa<ft, as it is 
 fet down in the Hiftories ofthofe Times, ta- 
 king one Hiftorian on one Side, and one of the 
 other, that the impartial Reader may judge for 
 himfelf, without any Glofs or Comment on our 
 Side, and the Conduct of both Sides may be 
 clearly feen. And becaufe fome may think the 
 reciting this Story, however memorable and 
 worth their Reading, too long an Interruption 
 to the Thread of Story, and yet that thofe, 
 
 whofe 
 
1 159] 
 
 whofe Curio fity is worth obliging, may not be 
 disappointed •, and above all, that the Truth of 
 Fa& may impartially be handed down to Po- 
 fterity, that they may have a true Notion, and 
 be able to make a right Judgment of fo re- 
 markable an Event, I have placed it at large, 
 among other Things, by way of addenda to, 
 and at the End of this fecond Part of the Work, 
 where it may be read by it felf, No. C, D. 
 
 After that Conference, as it was called, was 
 over, and the King had found that neither, by 
 Perfwafion, nor Threatning, any thing was to 
 be done with them, fo as to get the Power, he 
 had aflumed, confirmed by them, or the Pro- 
 ceedings againft their Brethren approved -, he 
 difmifled them, and went to work with the 
 Minifters who were under Sentence : He found 
 it not for his Purpofe to put them to Deaths- 
 he knew too well what a Flame it would kin- 
 dle in Scotland: However, to put as great a 
 Show of Refentment upon it as he thought 
 might anfwer his End, he appointed a Court 
 of Juftice to fit at Lithgow, where the fix con- 
 demned Minifters were brought, to receive 
 their Sentence, which the King was pieafed to 
 change from that of Death into that of Ba- 
 nifhment, never to return, on Pain of Death. 
 Their Karnes were as follows : 
 
 "Mr. John Forbes, Mini Iter of Aw ford. 
 Mr. John Welch, Minifter of Aire. 
 Mr. Robert Bury, Minifter of Anfter. 
 Mr. Andrew Duncan, Minifter of Creil. 
 Mr. Alex. Stravghan, Minifter of Crelch* 
 Mr. John Sharp, Minifter of Kilmeny. 
 
 Be- 
 
r 160 j 
 
 Befides thefe, by a Letter from the King, 
 dire&ed to the Council, eight Minifters more 
 were confined for their Lives, or during the 
 King's Pleafure, in t.he moft diftant, and moft 
 remote and barbarous Places of his Kingdom, 
 viz.. 
 
 Mr. Charles Farum, in the Ifle of Bute. 
 Mr. John Monroe, in Kyntyre. 
 Mr. Robert Toungson, in the Ifle of Arran. 
 Mr. James Irwyn,m the Ifle of Orkney. 
 Mr. William For be fs, in the Ifle of Shetland. 
 Mr. John Rofsj in the Ifle of Lewes. 
 Mr. James Gray, in Caithness. 
 Mr. Nath. Inghs, in Sutherland. 
 
 * Thefe Minifters thus fent into Baniihment, 
 were alfo commanded not to come out of the 
 Bounds of their Confinement, upon Pain of 
 Death *, and by another Proclamation, all other 
 Minifters were forbidden to recommend, in 
 their Prayers or Sermons, any of thofe fo fen- 
 tenc'd : * This was efteemed a greater Cruelty 
 than the reft •, likewife the Minifters at Court, 
 were forbidden to go back to Scotland, and one 
 of them, viz,. Mr. Andrew Melvin was taken 
 up, on Pretence of Words fpoken in London, 
 and fome Latin Verfes made by him, reflecting 
 on the Cathedral-Worihip in England, and was 
 fent to the Tower, and kept there Three Years, 
 after which he was banifhed into France, where 
 he ended his Days. 
 
 But Things ended not here*, for the King 
 being not able to get his Will of the Mini- 
 fters by the Violences above ; continued, not- 
 withftanding, to make Innovations in their Dif- 
 cipline and Government, and therefore in the 
 
 Af- 
 
f t6i ] 
 
 Aflembly held at Linlithgow, December 10. itfotf, 
 he brought in the Overture of con ft ant Modera- 
 tors in the Presbyteries, and the Minifters of 
 the Allcmbly being always a Majority of the 
 wrong Side, after a few had oppofed it, agreed 
 to admit them upon fome Conditions, tho' 
 they could never bring the Presbyteries to ac- 
 cept of them. % 
 
 But now came on a Blow which even the 
 Minifters themfelves did not forefee, I mean 
 the Five Articles concerning Worfhip, called 
 afterwards the Articles of Perth. The Confti- 
 tution of the Church con fills, as it is political- 
 ly underftood of 4 principal Heads, viz* (1.) 
 HerDoarine. (2.)' Her Worfhip. (3.) Her Dis- 
 cipline. And, (4.) Her Government. The two 
 laft were effectually reduc'd, and the King had 
 his Will of them, as you have heard - 7 her Do- 
 ctrine, and Worfhip feemed ftill to remain. 
 But now the King began to attack their Wor- 
 fhip, being refolved to bring the Church's 
 Keck under the Feet of her Enemies. 
 
 It was the Year 1617, when the King took 
 his Journey into Scotland, and where it was 
 expected, by his Prefence, he fhould carry eve- 
 ry Point} but he failed in feveral. And firft, 
 at the Meeting of the Parliament he propofed 
 an Article, importing, c That whatever was 
 1 refolved or concluded, by his Mayfly, with 
 4 Advice of the Archbifhops and Biihops, in 
 c Matters of external Polity in the Church, 
 4 mould have the Force of an Ecclefiaftick Law. ' 
 This was a bold Stroke, even the Bifhops them- 
 felves ftartled at it at firft, and the Minifters 
 iigned a general Proteftation againft it, which 
 the King coming to the Knowledge of, the Ar- 
 ticle was dropped, and fo the Proteftation was 
 
 M not 
 
[ i6i] 
 
 not delivered in * 7 but the King refolved to 
 exercife the Power without the Ceremony of an 
 Jtt y as we (hall fee prefently. 
 
 The King fummoned the Bilhops to meet 
 him at St. Andrews, where, in a fet Speech to 
 them, he propofed what he after obtained , the 
 Bifiiops referred him to an Afiembly \ but the 
 King, who owned that he refolved never to 
 have any more Allemblies, was very avcrfe to 
 an AfTeinbly, and it was now evident that the 
 Reafon why the King had propofed formerly 
 the Article abovenamed was, that the Power 
 of making Ecclefiaitick Laws being veiled in 
 himfelf, he might have no more Occafion for 
 Aiftmblies, which even, tho' Epifcopal, were 
 very much his Averlton. 
 
 However, in fhort, upon the Entreaty of the 
 Bifiiops, and Promifes of Compliance in fome 
 Timeserving Mixifttrs, the King called an Af- 
 fembly to meet at Perth, the i%th of Augufi 
 1617. There had been one held at St. An- 
 drews the November before, which difgufted 
 the King very much in not complying with 
 his Demands. 
 
 In this Afiembly the Worfhip, as well as 
 the Difcipline was innovated, and the Conclu- 
 fions were pafs'd in the following Heads, af- 
 terwards called, as above, the 5 Articles of 
 Perth. The Articles at large are to be found 
 in the (a) Hiftories (b) of thofe Times \ bujf. 
 in fhort, they contained, (i.)The Kneeling at 
 the Communion. (2.) Private Communion at 
 lick Peoples Requeft. (3.) Private Baptifm. (4.) 
 
 Con- 
 
 fa) Spotfwood, Wfl. of the Church ofScot.fol. $39. 
 '/■) Calderwood'/*/. 61.1. 
 
Confirmation of Children. (5.) Obfervation of 
 Feftivals. All which wa> now to be impofed 
 upon the Church of Scotland. 
 
 When the Articles were pa ft, Order was fent 
 to all the Minifters to intimate them in their 
 Churches, to exhort the People to conform to 
 them, and to preach upon the Lawfulnefs of it. 
 But this it was never in their Power to do, nor, 
 where Minifters did conform, was it in their 
 Power to make the People comply with, or 
 hear them*, but a dreadful Rent being thus 
 made in the Church, the People divided from 
 the Minifters, and the diflenting Minifters fet 
 up private Communions, and were almoft uni- 
 versally followed, as will appear prefently. 
 
 But to return to the Affair of the Minj- 
 fters in England, the Scots Minifters beha- 
 ved with fuch Courage and fuch Steadinefs, 
 that the Court could get no Ground of them; 
 but was forc'd to have Recourfe to Coercion 
 and Perfecution in Scotland, and in England al- 
 io : The Six Minifters, inftead of being difpu- 
 ted with, were imprifoned, and long harrafs'd 
 from Place to Place •> fo that fome of them 
 never -law Scotland more. If I enter not far in- 
 to the Particulars of thofe Times, it is becaufe 
 I would not record fome Things praclifed up- 
 on them by fome of the Clergy in England, 
 which it may not be grateful to Pofterity to 
 hear *, for it is not the Condud in England', 
 but the Conduct in Scotland that thefe Memoirs 
 are written about. 
 
 The Sum of the Matter is this, in few 
 Words }the King having mifs'd of his Triumph*, 
 and of reducing the Minifters to a Neceffity of 
 fubmkting, refolved however not to mifs of 
 his Defign in Scotland x and to this End he efta- 
 
 M 2 blifhed 
 
C 164 3 
 
 . b!i(hed a high Commiflioa-Conrt there, to en- 
 force the Articles of Perth, and in a Word, 
 to abolifli the Conftttution of the Church of 
 
 Scott 1 ?id. 
 
 Firft, initead of the General Aflembly, the 
 King, by his fpccial Warrant, fummoned a 
 Convention, not of the Eftates, but of Mini- 
 fters, to meet at Linlhhgo, the 10th of Dec ember 
 \6o6\ initead of the Presbyteries electing the 
 Mini Iters, as was ufual, to re pre lent them, the 
 King's Letter was fent, directed to the Pres- 
 byteries, ordering them to fend fuch Men, by 
 Name, as the King had directed. Let any En- 
 gliftman conceive of this, as if the King of En- 
 gli-id were to fummon a Parliament to meet at 
 Wcftm'wfter, and initead of i fluing out Writ*, 
 for Elections of Members, fhonld name the 
 Members whom they mould fend up. This was 
 the Method in Scotland, and with the fame 
 J u ft ice •, and becaufe this is a Novelty that ne- 
 ver was praclifed before or fince, I have given 
 the Copy of the Warrant, for thus fending up 
 of Minifters, st the End of this Part, No- D, 
 
 In this Meeting the Project of conltant Mo- 
 derators in the Presbyteries was propofed, it is 
 called the King's Advice to the Ailembly •, but 
 any one may guefs what the Meaning of fuch a 
 Phrafe mult be \ when King's advife, efpecially 
 to their own Subjects, they will not take it ill 
 if their People take it for a Command, and fo 
 it prov'd ^ for the Act pa ft without Oppollti- 
 on. 
 
 Great Arts were 11 fed, and fome Violence, to 
 
 rJrfng the Presbyteries to accept thefe conltant 
 
 • 'craters, nor could all the Threatnings and 
 
 • that was pract i fed, bring them to it. 
 
 si * :t :ery of Edinburgh was told plainly, 
 
 that 
 
f **S ] 
 
 that if the Presbyteries refufed them, the King 
 would overthrow the Presbyteries themfelvcs, 
 and there fhould be no more in Scotland •, but 
 all would not do: They named a Moderator 
 pro interim, to continue to the next General 
 Aflembly, and would do no otherwife \ and the 
 like did other Presbyteries alio. 
 
 At length the Presbyteries were cbarg'd, in • 
 the King's Name, and on Pain of Rebellion, 
 and putting them to the Horn, to accept them ; 
 This prevaiTd with fome, but many Rood out, 
 and fome of the Moderators themfelves refufed 
 to accept. Not one of the Synods in Scotland, 
 would accept them, except Angus, no Threats, 
 no Cunning, for neither were wanting, could 
 biiing them to it. , 
 
 By this Time the Court found that all the 
 Arts hitherto ufed, for fubverting the Church, 
 however they might cftablifh a new Constitu- 
 tion, would never bring the Miniders to com- 
 ply, till they came to downright PeiTecution , 
 and therefore it wasrefolved to take that Courfe 
 by a high CommifTion-Court, in the Purfuit of 
 whofe Powers, the Minifters were to be brought 
 by Violence, by Perfecution, Horning, that is 
 to fay, Bantfhrnent and Confifeation of Goods, 
 to abandon their Flocks, and lay down the 
 Office of Minifters. 
 
 It was in the Year i6~i<5, that theCommiffion- 
 Courts were firfl: erected, viz., one in each Arch- 
 biflioprick. This Commiffion was the higheft 
 Exercife of Tyranny that was ever pradifed 
 by any King in Great Britain fince Laws and 
 Cqnflitntions were allowed to be the Rule of 
 
 M 3 tie 
 
 (a) Calderwood,/»/. 550. 
 
[ i66 ] 
 
 the Government \ for it a&ually put the King 
 in PofTefTion of the Bodies and Goods of all his 
 Subjects, and empowered him to ufe them as 
 he pleafed, without the ordinary Forms of Ju- 
 fticc, and meerly by the Agency of the Clergy 
 making the Bifhops the Inftruments of abfolute 
 Power, not only to ruin and deftroy the Li- 
 berties of the Church, but even of the whole 
 Country, Clergy or Laity. The Copy of this 
 famous CommifTion is among the Addenda, at 
 the End of this Part, No. E. 
 
 How they exercifed this unlimited Authori- 
 ty, the Hiftories of thofe Times are WitnefTes, 
 in which whoever pteafes to look, will find 
 the Epifcopal Clergy were not backward to 
 merit the general Reproach call upon Priefts 
 of all Religions. 
 
 There is fcarce any kind of Cruelty, Inju- 
 ftice, and Opprcflion to be named in the World, 
 which was not praclifed in the Confeqnence 
 of this CommifTion, upon the Minifters of the 
 Church } prefent Death, Racks, and Tortures 
 excepted. 
 
 The Minifters were befet with Spies, to ob- 
 ferve their Words Geftures, and their Expref- 
 fions in their Prayers and Sermons, in order to 
 obferve if they offered to fpeak againft the new 
 Conftitntions. They were delated or profecu- 
 tcd before this Court upon fo many Accounts, 
 that it was fcarce poffible to a\ r oid it 5 fuch as 
 fpeaking againft the Bilhops, difliking the Ca- 
 non reproving Wicked nefs, Vices, and immo- 
 ralities, alledging they pointed at the dignified 
 Clergy. 
 
 They were delated in general upon the $ 
 Articles of Perth, upon Points of Doft line, the 
 Supremacy of the King over the Church, own- 
 ing 
 
£ i<S7 ] 
 
 ing or difowping the General Affemblies, and 
 the like. 
 
 In their appearing at their Courts, they were 
 infulted, brow-beaten, and maltreated by the 
 Bifhops, neither treated as Gentlemen, as Scho- 
 lars, or as Minifters oftheGofpel. TheBifhop 
 of St. Andrews in particular told them, at one 
 of his Meetings, that he mould proceed to fen- 
 tence as he was directed, wherein he fhould 
 have no Regard to Wives, Children, or Eftate, 
 which he effectually made good :, and indeed 
 the King's Order or Letter gave them exprefs 
 Encouragement to fuch Cruelty. It feems the 
 Court thought them too relax and flow in their 
 Proceedings, which, if our Riftories are true, 
 there was little Reafon for. But after the 
 firft Commiffion had tyrannized about Three 
 Years, and the Buiinefs feemed a little to reft, 
 it was, on a fudden, renewed again, Anno 
 itf 19 ; and in November after the Bifhop of St. 
 Andrews, fitting in Judgment upon fome of the 
 Minifters, pull'd out the King's Letter, written 
 from England, dated the 23^ of November 1619, 
 animating them to all poifible Severity againli 
 the Minifters that would not comply. This 
 molt merciful Letter being under the King's 
 own Hand, and upon fuch an extraordinary 
 Stile, cannot be omitted, without leaving this 
 Account imperfect : The Words, fo far as re- 
 late to the prefent Cafe, are as follows, (trie.) 
 
 / command you, as you will be an fiver Me to me, 
 that you depofe all thofe that refufe to conform, 
 without refveti of Per fans, no ways regarding the 
 Multitude of the Rebellious ; for that, if there be 
 wanting Numbers to fill their Places, I will fend 
 you Minifters out of England \ and I charge you 
 
 M 4 to 
 
f 168] 
 
 to certifie us of your Proceedings, betwixt this 
 and the 3d of March next to come* 
 
 As the Bifhops wanted no (purring to a Work 
 they fo much delighted in, fo they fail'd not to 
 proceed, in confequence of this Letter, with the 
 mmoft Rigour \ the Minifters were every where 
 cited, and upon their refuting to conform, were 
 deprived, impriforTd, put to the Horn •, their 
 Goods plundered, many of them banifhed to the 
 Iflands, and the like : In their Examinations, 
 they were qffed with all poflible Indignity and 
 Contempt v and in their Imprifonments, with 
 Rigour and Cruelty. 
 
 The Laity were alfo fallen upon for not 
 kneeling at the Communion, according to the 
 Article of Perth, and at one Time fix: of the 
 Citizens of Edinburgh were ordered to Banifh- 
 jnenr, from their Roufes, Trades, and Families, 
 without Trial, Citation, or Form of Procefs, on 
 Pretence that they had countenanced the Mini- 
 fters in their Difobedience. 
 
 I might fill this Volume with the Hiftory of 
 thefc Violence?, and enlarge, with great Advan- 
 tage, on the unprecedented Proceedings of this 
 tyrannical Court of Bifhops: It would alfo be. 
 very diverting, as well as profitable, to record 
 here the Conduct of the fuffering Minifters and 
 People, how ftoutly they flood, in Defence of 
 their Principles*, how boldly they difputed,and 
 often baffled and put to Shame the Bifhops, e- 
 fpecially of St. Andrews and of Glafgow, in the 
 Arguments they ufed with them -, as particularly 
 Mr. 7ho. Hog, Minifter of Dyfert, to the Bp. of 
 Glafgowand Doctor Llndfay, about the Differences 
 between Capping and Kneeling at the Sacrament : 
 The Bifhop,ir feems, would have proved that Cap- 
 ping, 
 
[ i6 9 ] 
 
 ping, or pulling off the Hat, and kneeling, were 
 fynonimous:, that they were not divcrfa fpecies ge- 
 ftusy but that they who did the firft, could not 
 refufe the laft, in which Mr. Hog filenc'd them 
 both, and brought the Bijlwp to fay, It is long 
 fwee I learnt my Logicks, &c. Mr. Hog anfwered, 
 
 * There is no Difficulty here to any that are de- 
 c firous to learn the facred Truths of the Gof- 
 c pel : Capping, in religious Exercifes, is an 
 ' outward Aft of Veneration or Reverence on- 
 
 * ly, and this we do at the Sacrament \ becaufe 
 c none can deny but that Reverence is due to 
 4 the Celebration of that folemn Ordinance, 
 c But Kneeling, in religious Exercifes, is an Aft 
 1 of Adoration or Worfhip, which is proper to 
 4 God only, and therefore Exception is taken 
 c at it in the Sacrament, leaft we feem to wor- 
 c fhip the Elements which we receive. ■ 
 
 i This was fo plain that the Bifhop could make 
 no Reply, and fo broke off the Difcourfe j ma- 
 ny fuch Accounts, I fay, might be given, both 
 profitable and diverting, but the (hort Compafs 
 ofthefe Memoirs admits not to enter intothofe 
 things •, it may fuffice to note, that they got as 
 little Ground by their Violence, as they did by 
 their Difpurations *, and after all they could do 
 in this one Article of kneeling, tho' the King 
 fent down his Letter alfo, flriftly commanding 
 all to kneel, yet at the Communion publifhed in 
 Edinburgh, for Trial of the Effeft of this. Com- 
 mand, out of Sixteen Hundred Communicants 
 in the College-Church there, they could make 
 but Twenty receive kneeling, and the next 
 Day but feven, and thefe few were either of the 
 Families of the complying Epifcopal-Clergy, 
 who adminiftred, or the poor Alms-People, 
 who durft not refufe} yet they publifhU in 
 
 En- 
 
f 170 ] 
 
 England that the People generally complied with 
 the King's Command, and that only a few ob- 
 flinate Presbyterian Minifters ftood out, a Pra- 
 ftice we fee reviv'd even lately while we were 
 told mighty Stories of the Willingnefs of the 
 People in Scotland in Queen Anns Time, to re- 
 ceive the Englifo Liturgy in Scotland , and how 
 defirous they were to have it fet up there - y where- 
 as it fince appears that it has not been receiv- 
 ed any where, except where the Tyranny of 
 their Lairds and Superiors impofed it, and that' 
 as foon as that impofing ceafed, by the fubdu- 
 ing the Rebellion under the Reign of his prefent 
 Majefty, we hear no more of it. 
 
 The laft publick Step to the confirming all 
 this Wreck of the Church, was the getting the 
 Five Articles of Terth eftabliihed by the Sanfti- 
 on of an Aft of Parliament, and fo giving them 
 the Force of a Law ^ for till then they afted 
 meerly upon the Mandate and perfonal Autho- 
 rity of the King. 
 
 The Solemnity of this Tranfaftion was ex- 
 traordinary, the Parliament met the i%tb of July 
 idzi, the Minifters were carefully fene'd againft, 
 that none ihould get into the Houfe, to proteft 
 againft it; for they knew they had a Proteftati- 
 on ready to deliver: Mr. David Barclay, one 
 of the Minifters, who refolved to prefent the 
 Proteftation, got into the Houfe to the fecond 
 Bar, but was difcovered and put out again, and 
 at laft contented himfelf to read it at the Door, 
 and flick it up againft the Wall. 
 
 However, there was great Oppofition to this 
 Aft, even in the Parliament it felf, but the 
 King, by Management of the Members, and by 
 the Affiftance of the Bifhops, got a Majority to 
 vote it j yet a great many, both Lords and 
 
 Com- 
 
r 171 1 
 
 Commons oppofed it. Among the fir ft, the 
 Lords Rothefs, Mentieth, Eglintoun, Linlithgow, 
 Kintall, Gray, Rofs, Ye/ler, Cathcart, Coupcr, Bur- 
 lie, Balmerinochy Elphingflon, Torphichen, and For- 
 befs, all publickly voted againft it. The Earls 
 of Mortoun, Buchan, and the Marquefs of Lau- 
 derdale ftaid without the Door, becaufe they 
 would not vote for it; and of the GommiJTion- 
 ers for Shires and Burghs, Forty Four voted a- 
 gainft it, befides nine Lords and Six and Twen- 
 ty Commiflioners that cared not to appear on 
 one Side or other, and came not near the Par- 
 liament. 
 
 However, notwithftanding all that could be 
 done, the Articles were voted, the Ad p^fs'd, 
 and was publiihed with Sound of Trumpet at 
 the Crofs of Edinburgh the loth of Auguft 1611. 
 
 It is recorded by feveral Hiftorians of thofe 
 Times, that when this Aft, for confirming the 
 Articles of Perth, had been voted, and pafs'd, 
 and was prefented for the ROYAL ASSENT, 
 which is iignified there by touching it with 
 the Sceptre, the Moment the high Commiffi- 
 oner, the Lord Scone, flood up to touch this 
 Ad, Heaven declared its ROYAL DISSENT, 
 in a moft remarkable Manner •, for Three Flafhes 
 of Lightning, one immediately after the other, 
 darted in at the great Window, and ftrook di- 
 rectly in the Commiflloner's Face : He confefs'd 
 afterwards he felt the Warmth of the Fire on 
 his Face •, the laft Flafh was more frightful 
 than trie two firft, and they were rendred the 
 more vifible by an exceeding dark Cloud, which, 
 for fome Minutes before, hung direclly over 
 the City : The Thunder, which followed, and 
 broke upon the City, and as it were more im- 
 - mediately on the Parliament-Houfe, was very 
 
 ter- 
 
r I/O 
 
 terrible, efpecially the Third Clap of Thunder, 
 immediately after the Lightning : The Dark- 
 nefs, occafioned by the faid Clond, cncreas'd to 
 fuch a Degree, that it became frightful, and 
 the whole was followed by fo violent and fo 
 heavy a Rain, that the like had not been known 
 in the Memory of Man j and the Lords and 
 Members of Parliament, altho' their Bufinefs 
 was finifhed, and the Houfe broke up, were kept 
 Prifoners by the Fury of the Rain for above 
 an Hour, and fo long it continued \ that when 
 they did go away, every one fhifted home as 
 they could *, fo that this Aft could not have 
 the Honour of a Proceflion, and to have the 
 Regalia carried before it, as was ufual on like 
 Occafions. The Day got the Name of black 
 Saturday , upon this Account, as well as on the 
 Occafion of the black Work they had been a- 
 bout. 
 
 Nothing but a dark Profpeft of Perfecntion, 
 ? and a Cloud, threatning Defolation totheChurch, 
 now appear'd \ the Prifons were filPd with de- 
 priv'd Minifters, and the remote Parts with the 
 Baniflied, and the King's Letters came every 
 Poft prefling to more and more Severities 5 nay, 
 the Magiftrates of Edinburgh were threatn'd, in 
 exprefs Terms, by the King with being depofcd, 
 and the City of Edinburgh was threatn'd with 
 having the Seflion, or Term for fitting of the 
 Courts of Juftice, removed from them to Lir.lith- 
 go, becauie they were not careful to dq^foeir 
 Duty, in pnrfuing the Minifters, and prevent- 
 ing private Conventicles-, for the depriv'd Mi- 
 nifters preaclrd in their own Eoufes, and Mul- 
 titudes left the Churches, and flock'd to hear 
 them. 
 
 But 
 
(i7? 3 
 
 But the Hand of Heaven interpofed in the 
 very Extremity, and by a furprizing Event 
 put an End for the prefent to the Fury of thofe 
 People , for juft as the profecution of Mr. Wil- 
 liam Rigg, John Hamilton, John Meen, and feve- 
 ral other iuffering Minifters was come to the 
 Extremity, and they were at the Point of be- 
 ing fent into Banilhment, an Exprefs from 
 London brought the News that the King was 
 DEAD. 
 
 By this one Blow the high Commifllon was 
 diilblved of courfe, all Proceedings depending 
 before them dropp'd, and Abundance of good 
 Men were, for the prefent, delivered from the 
 Oppreflions of the Bifhops. 
 
 But the King being fucceeded by his Son 
 King Charles I, who was no lefs zealous than 
 his Father in the Epifcopal Part of Church-Af- 
 fairs, the Church of Scotland got no other Ad- 
 vantage by the Change than the Stop above 
 mentioned, which, by that extraordinary Inci- 
 dent of the Death of King James, was put to 
 the Perfecution of the Minifters, as above. 
 
 On the contrary, the Epifcopal Model recei- 
 ved all poflible Encouragement, as may be 
 gueft by Archbifliop Syotfwood being made Lord 
 Chancellor of Scotland, till the unexpected Folly 
 and Madnefs of the Court- Party unravelled all 
 their own Work, and the Church rofe again 
 upon the Ruin of her Enemies. 
 
 Nay, fuch was the fignal working of di- 
 vine Providence, as has been feen more than 
 once in the Cafe of the Church of Scotland, that 
 the Oppreffions and Perfections of this Church 
 were made the Means of overturning, not the 
 Bifhops only, who were the more immediare 
 Perfecutors, but even the King himfelf, and all 
 
 his 
 
[ 174] 
 
 his Family, as will eminently appear in the 
 Procefs of "the Story. 
 
 The King died March ijth, 1625, the firfl 
 Year of his Son's Reign appeared entangled fo 
 many ways, that he became lefs intent, for fome 
 Time, upon tlae Affairs of Scotland, than his 
 Father had been: He was left entangled ini a 
 War with Spain, and entred afterwards rafhly 
 and inconiiderately into another with France \ 
 in both which his People were uneafie,and his 
 Generals unfortunate. 
 
 The Mifmanagement of the War, the indi- 
 rect Methods taken by the Court for raifing 
 Money, and the ill Ufage of thofe, who, upon 
 Principles of the Peoples Liberties, oppofed it, 
 made the Parliament fail upon his Favorite the 
 Duke of Buckingham, refufe Subfidies, and in- 
 fill warmly on Redrefs of Grievances. Thefe 
 put the* King fo out of Love with Parliaments 
 in England, that no Parliament was afterwards 
 called in Fourteen Years ; during which, fo ma- 
 ny illegal and arbitrary Things were done, that 
 when the King w r as afterwards driven, by Ne- 
 cefiity, to call a Parliament, they carried their 
 Refentment at thefe illegal Pradtices to fuch a 
 bight as drove both Parties to Arms, and end- 
 ed in the Overthrow, firft of the Epifcopal 
 People in Scotland, where the Flame firft broke 
 out. Secondly, of the whole Eftablifhment of 
 the Church of England in England. And laftly, in 
 the Ruin of the King, and of the Royal Family. 
 
 This Ihort Digrefiion to the Englijh Af- 
 fairs mould not have been made, for J have 
 carefully avoided fuffering thefe Memoirs to 
 pafs the Tweed, except on extraordinary Oc- 
 cafions, had it not been to reconcile the Hi* 
 ftory of Fads, and explain what is faid above, 
 
 (viz*) 
 
I 17*3 
 
 (yhJ) that the Flame of the War in England 
 began firft in Scotland. 
 
 During the long interval of Parliament in 
 England, the King had Leifure to apply hirafclf 
 to the Affairs in Scotland, and being refolved 
 to play Reboboatns Part, he met with Rehoboam's 
 Fate : His Father had, as is faid above, impo- 
 fed Epifcopacy upon Scotland, and a long Series 
 of Time bad accuftomed too many of the Peo- 
 ple to it, or an IndifFerency about it \ fo that 
 it was thought had (he King fat ftill, he might, 
 in Time, have reduced the Nation at laft to 
 have been contented with it. But far from this, 
 he not only was not content with putting Hard- 
 fhips upon the Presbyterian Minifters, but 
 prompted, by an evil Fate, he fell upon a 
 Thing which, even the Epifcopal People in Scot- 
 land, could not bear } this was impofing the 
 Engliflj Liturgy upon the Scots. This was not 
 only the moft rafh and impolitick Part in the 
 Court, but it was the moft unkind and ungrate- 
 ful Part to his Friends in Scotland -, for now the, 
 Epifcopal Party themfelves, who had done eve- 
 ry violent Thing he had defired for his Service, 
 were fallen upon, except they would comply 
 with the Service-Book, which Abundance of 
 them refufed. And thus he made his Friends 
 his Enemies. 
 
 This was the Projeft of Archbifhop Laud in 
 England, who afterwards made V Amende hono- 
 rable, for thefe and feveral other Englijk Extra- 
 vagances of like Nature with the Lofs of his 
 Head. This Bifhop had introduced feveral No- 
 velties in the Church of England it felf, en- 
 couraged and propofed the Book of Sports, per- 
 fected the Puritans, and infulted with unheard 
 bf Pride feveral of the Clergy of the Englijh 
 
 Church, 
 
[i 7 6\ 
 
 Church, particularly in a Vifitation of his Cler- 
 gy, he took upon him to remove the Commu- 
 nion-Table in all the Churches, which, from the 
 Reformation, had always flood in the Body of 
 the Church, and to place it Altar-Fafhion at 
 the upper End of the Chancel, on an Afcent, 
 and railed about, exactly after the Manner of 
 the Church of Rome. c This, fays a (a) learn- 
 4 ed HifiorUn of tbofe Times, was oppofed by 
 1 divers of the Clergy, and the Bilbop of Lin- 
 c coin wrote a Book, called, The holy Table, fhew- 
 4 ing the Practice of the Primitive Churches, 
 1 and with Arguments againfl this Innovation. ' 
 
 Had he contented himfelf to have introduc'd 
 his Petty- Popery into the Church oi England, and 
 let the Church of Scotland alone, his worthlefs 
 Name had had no Place inthefe Memoirs \ but 
 whether put upon it by his own mifchievous, 
 turbulent Spirit, which was always reltlefs in 
 tyrannizing over others *, or, as fome have fug- 
 gefted, invited to it by fome of the Prelates in 
 Scotland, it was not long 'ere he began to in- 
 termeddle with his Neighbours in Scotland: And 
 the Occafion feems to be as follows. 
 
 King James had, fays (b) the Englifi Hiftori- 
 ans, had fo good Succefs in pulling down the 
 Presbyterian Church in Scotland, and fetting tip 
 an Epifcopal Hierarchy, that he had conceived 
 what they call, in England, a farther Reforma- 
 tion of that Church, meaning the Church of Scot- 
 land, by bringing them to a Conformity in 
 Worfliip, as well as in Government, to the 
 Church of England -, and for that Purpofe had 
 
 or- 
 
 (a) WhitlockV Memoirs] fol. 54, 
 
 (b) CokeV D,tcttion t Vol* 1 . page 
 
f 177] 
 
 ordered fome of the Scots Bifliops to compile a 
 Book or Form of Common-Prayer, &c to be 
 ufed in Scotland, which they did ; but the Death 
 of that Prince, and the Oppofition made to it 
 from the molt learned even of the Epifcopal 
 Minifters themfelves in Scotland, occa Honed 
 that no more was done in it at that Time. 
 This is taken from the Accounts given in our En- 
 glifo Hifrories of thofe Things (**), for the Scots ei- 
 ther never knew any Thing of it, or did not own it. 
 
 King Charles I. falling in with the pernicious 
 Counfelsof Archbifhop Laud, as above ; renews 
 this Project, if it was fuch, of his Fathers, and 
 gives Direction to the faid Bifhop Laud, and 
 feveral other of the Englifo Clergy, to revife 
 that Liturgy, which they did *, and forming ano- 
 ther out of it with feveral material Alterations, 
 and even more diftaftful to the Scots than the 
 Enghjh Liturgy it felf, they advifed the King 
 to fend it down into Scotland , and to command 
 it to be read in all the Churches there, and that 
 it mould be conform'd univerfally to as it was 
 in England* 
 
 The People of Scotland were greatly alarmed 
 at this Innovation ; and it is faid, that fe- 
 veral of the Epifcopal Clergy took the Free- 
 dom to remonftrate againft it, to whofe Memory 
 I would not fail to do Juftice had Hiftory re- 
 corded their Names. 
 
 But the Bifhops, and fome Lords of the 
 Council, both approving the Deflgn, and ha- 
 ving received the King's pofuive Directions for 
 it, fet themfelves immediately to Work, to caufe 
 this Common-Prayer-Book to be read. 
 
 N It 
 
 (*) WhitlockV Memoir f,fot. 25 . eol. a. 
 
C i?S3 
 
 It (<*) is faid, that before it was admitted, 
 fome of the Bifhops in Scotland obje&ed againft 
 it, that tho' they liked the Book, yet they were 
 difgufted at its being impofed by the Englifli \ 
 alfo they objected againft the Tranflation of the 
 Pfalms, Epiftles, and Gofpels, which were dif- 
 fering from their Bibles * 7 and that this, to fa- 
 tisfe them, was amended. 
 
 Now, as if they were refolved to irritate the 
 People of Scotland to the utmofl, this Service* 
 Book was not only appointed to be read -, bwt 
 the Minifter officiating was to have on the Sur- 
 plice, according to the English Cultom, which 
 was a new and uncouth Sight to the People of 
 Scotland, hateful to the knowing, and next to 
 frightful to the ignorant well-meaning People,, 
 and which tended to make the Thing it felf, to 
 the laft Degree, odious to the whole Nation. 
 
 It was firft fet up in theChappel Royal at 
 Halyrood-Houfe, where none being obliged to 
 go but the King's Servants, it being no paro- 
 chial Church, it was not fo oSenfive *, for tho* 
 the People abhorfd the thing it felf, yet as it 
 was not impofed upon them, they concerned 
 themfelves the lefs about it; but this was on- 
 ly an Introduction to the reft, and the ufing it 
 there was to make it a little familiar to the 
 Citizens, who flocked thither to fatisfic their 
 Curiofity. But this was upon a wrong Suppofi- 
 tion, fpfo+) That as the Fox, by often feeing 
 the Lion, was lefs terrified, to the more the 
 people were acquainted with this Innovation, the 
 more they would like it; whereas on the contrary, 
 the more the People faw this Service perform'd, 
 
 the 
 
 (a) WbitlockV Memoirs, fol. 25. col. 2. 
 
r 179 1 
 
 the more hateful and abominable it appeared to 
 them. 
 
 It was on the 23^ of July 1637, when the 
 Dean of Edinburgh appointed to preach in the 
 great Church in that City, and refolved before 
 Sermon, in his Habit and Surplice, to read 
 the Service- Book, as he had done before in the 
 Royal Chappel. 
 
 There was a great Concourfe of People in the 
 Church, expecting what would be the End of 
 this Matter, and fome Guards were placed at 
 Hand, to prevent any Diforder in the Town \ 
 but no one expected any Thing like that which 
 happened, neither could it be fufpected, or was 
 there ever afterward any Ground to believe 
 th3t any Thing was concerted before, except 
 that it was in the Appointment of divine Pro- 
 vidence, to bring forth what followed by thefe 
 unforefeen Accidents. 
 
 The Hour of Service being come, the Dean, 
 in his Surplice, comes out of the Veftry, the 
 People gazing as at a great Show, and making 
 Geftures of Contempt enough, but no Noife or 
 Diforder *, he pafTes through the Croud to the 
 Reading-Desk, and began to read, the People 
 ftill continuing quiet, when, on a fudden, at 
 fome Words that difgufted her, an old Wo- 
 man, in a Rage, ftarts up, V I L LA I N 7 
 fays fhe, dofi thou fay the Mafs at my (a) LVG 7 
 and taking up a little Stool, which fhe fat on, 
 fhe drives it full at his Head, raifing a molt 
 hideous Noife in the Church by it : Some that 
 fat next her, following her Example, did the 
 like, till, in a Word, the whole Church was 
 
 M 2 in 
 
 (#•) My Ear. 
 
[ 180 3 
 
 in an Uproar, and the Dean fain to come down 
 out of the Desk, and pull off his Surplice, for 
 fear of being torn in Pieces \ the Bifhop of 
 Edinburgh, being prefent, went up into the Pul- 
 pit, and beckning for Silence, offered to fpeak*, 
 but it was all to no purpofe, neither did they 
 fpare \ but Sticks, Stools, and any Thing that 
 came to Hand, flew at him, from all Quarters, 
 till at laft both Bifhop and Dean were obliged 
 to give over, and retire into the Veftry. 
 
 The Lord Chancellor calPd to the Magiftrates, 
 to comedown and appeafe the People, but it 
 was all ineffectual •, for, by this Time, the Tu- 
 mult was as great without as within, and 
 Showers of Stones, Sticks, &c. affaulted the 
 Church-Windows from the Street. 
 
 Kor did it end here \ for the Multitude en- 
 creafing, went to all the Churches where the 
 Curates had deilgned to read the Service-Book, 
 and fet all in an Uproar in every Quarter of 
 the City. 
 
 The Dean and Clergy, in the great Church, 
 with the Magiftrates and the Courtiers, having 
 gotten rid of the Rabble for a while lock'd 
 themfelves in, and went on with their Liturgy 
 by themfelves.} but the Mob, who waited for 
 them in the Street, affaulted the Biihop as he 
 came out, and it was not without Difficulty 
 that he got fafe to the Palace. 
 
 This was the Beginning, and at that Time 
 it went no farther •, the Care of the Magiftrates, 
 and Power of the Court, overawing the Croud. 
 But the Harveft being over, and People more at 
 Leifure, it was foon found that the Generality of 
 the Nation, as well the Gentlemen as the old 
 Women, were difgufted at the impofing this 
 Liturgy upon the Church } and about the Mid- 
 dle 
 
[i8i ] 
 
 die of September, great Numbers of Gentlemen 
 being, with their Servants, come to Edinburgh, 
 a Petition was drawn up, and handed about to 
 be figned, requefting the Council, in their own 
 Names, and the Names of all the Noblemen, 
 Gentlemen, and others, who fhould agree to 
 the fame , That the Service-Book might be no 
 farther preft upon them till thefe Things 
 might be reprefented to the King, and his Ma- 
 jetty's Pleafnre be farther known. An infinite 
 Number fet their Hands to this Petition, and 
 among them feveral Gentlemen of good Rank, 
 and their Number encreafed every Day. 
 
 The Council, inftead of fhowingany Concern 
 at thefe Things, pretended to refent it to the 
 Gentlemen that prefented the Petition, and 
 threatned them to give the King an Account of 
 their Names, as diforderly and difafie&ed Per- 
 ibns, and to take Order with them as fuch y 
 and inftead of an Anfwer to their Addrefs, they 
 publifhed a Proclamation, to remove the Sejfion, 
 that is the Term, to Linlithgow, thinking there- 
 by to take away the Pretence for People to 
 flock to Edinburgh, as they ufually did at that 
 Time on their Law-Bufinefs : They alfo diilbl- 
 ved all Meetings on Church- Affairs, &c. 
 
 This encreafed the Rage of the Citizens of 
 Ed'mburgh ■, for the Removing the Term was a 
 Ruin to the City, as it hinder'd the Concourfe 
 of People there on thofe Occafions. 
 
 The very next Day after this, the Mob ga- 
 thered in Edinburgh to a prodigious Multitude, 
 and there is no" doubt but that whatever it 
 was before, this new Tumult was concerted a- 
 mong thofe Gentlemen who had petirion'd, as 
 above ; nor was it long 'ere they publickly ap- 
 peared with and at the Head of them in the Street. 
 
 N 3 The 
 
C 181] 
 
 The firft Thing the People did, they for round- 
 ed the Council-Houfe, the Privy-Council be- 
 ing fitting, and demanded a better Anfwer to 
 their Petition, and that the Service- Book be laid 
 a fide till the King was fully informed of the 
 Matter : The Bifhop of Galloway, going to the 
 Council, was aflaulted in the Street, tho' with 
 Words only, and followed to the Door : The 
 Earl of Traquair had the fame Fate, as had al- 
 fo the Lord Treafurer. The laft was indeed 
 infulted particularly, and his WHITE- STAFF 
 taken away in the Street. 
 
 At the fame Time another Part of the Rab- 
 ble befet the Magiftrates of the City and the 
 Town-Council, and demanded of them to join 
 with them in oppofmg the EngUJlr Liturgy or 
 Service-Book, and threatning to pull them out 
 by the Heels, they obliged them to draw up a 
 Paper, and fign it, engaging not to permit the 
 idolatrous Service-Book, fo they then termed it, 
 to be read in any Place within their Bounds, 
 and to recal their banifhed Minifters. 
 
 It was in -vain, that the Lords, in the Privy- 
 Council-Chamber, fent ExprefTes to the Town- 
 Council- Houfe to the Magiftrates, to come and 
 refcue them j who could only make Return, by 
 telling, that they were in the fame Condition, and 
 what they had been obliged to do: The Lords 
 had then no Remedy but to fend to fome of 
 the better Sort of thofe of the other Side, to 
 come and relieve them : Upon this Requeft, 
 feveral Lords and Gentlemen, of good Quality, 
 of thofe who oppofed the Service- Book, came 
 2nd fpoke to the People, and defired them to let 
 the Bifhops and Lords quietly depart. 
 
 Tothefe the people immediately yielded, and 
 they guarded their Enemies to their own Houfes 
 
 through 
 
through die Rabble. And now it was cafie 
 for them to fee that the People were no more 
 to be impofed upon } for the very next Day a 
 Petition was prefented to the Privy Council a- 
 gainft the Service-Book : And this was not a 
 Petition of the Rabble; but {[grid by Nineteen 
 Noblemen, Three Hundred Gentlemen, of good 
 Note, and by the principal Inhabitants of the 
 City of Edinburgh. 
 
 This Petition was fent up to the King, but no 
 favourable Anfwer was obtained ; but to fhew 
 the Refentment of the Court againft the Citi- 
 zens of Edinburgh, the Seflion was removed to 
 Sterling^ Proclamation \ and another was pub- 
 lished, to forbid all tumultuous Reforts or 
 Meetings, on Pain of Rebellion. 
 
 This ferv'd to unite the People, who, ha- 
 ving made themfelves obnoxious, by appearing 
 in thefe Things, were obliged, for their own 
 Security, to go thorough with their Work *, and 
 therefore taking no more Notice of the Coun- 
 cil than as Enemies that did them ill Offices 
 with the King, and refolving to defend their 
 Liberties at whatever Hazard, they now began 
 to form themfelves, and to confider their 
 Strength, the Generality of the Nation being 
 really on their Side : In the firft Place, the 
 Earl of Hume, the Lord Lyndfay, and A- 
 bundance of Lords and Gentlemen drew up a. 
 Proteftation, under their Hands, againft thefe 
 Proclamations, and having fent it to the Coun- 
 cil, they from that Time met in a Body, de die 
 in diem, to confider the State of the Nation. 
 I Here the famous TABLES were formed, of 
 which our Hiftories are fo full \ by the Order 
 of which every Degree fat by themfelves. (i.) 
 The Nobility. (2.; The Gentlemen. (3.) The 
 
 N 4 Bur- 
 
Burroughs. (4.) The Minifters. And yet all 
 communicated their Refolves 5 fo that every 
 Thing was done with Unanimity and Agree- 
 ment. 
 
 They were no fooner put into this Pofture, 
 but being fure of the Concurrence of the Peo- 
 ple, they took no Kotice any more of the per- 
 fecting Council^ no, nor of the King himfelf 
 as to his Menaces or Millions } but taking the 
 Adminiftration fo far into their Hands, they 
 proceeded to redrefs the Grievances of the State. 
 
 They began, a Jove privcipium y with the Re- 
 floration of the Church : All the Epifcopal Pomp 
 and Ceremony vaniih'd at once : The Bilhops 
 flood at Gaze, or fled, not daring to fhew their 
 perfecuting Faces, and the Meeting of the ge- 
 neral TABLE renewed the ancient ConfefTion of 
 Faith and Presbyterian Church-Government, en- 
 tringinto a folemn COVENANT, one with an- 
 other, to defend and preferve the faid ProfeiTion 
 of the true Proteflant reformed Religion, and 
 likewife the Perfon of the King. 
 
 The King had a particular Account of 
 all thefe Things laid before him, and they 
 were let to know that his Majefty relented it 
 highly, which was nothing more or lefs than 
 to anirrate them in the Profecution of their 
 jiew Undertaking. 
 
 They proceeded therefore with all the Refo- 
 lution and Vigour poflible, to fettle and efta- 
 bliih the Liberties and Conftitution, both of 
 Church and State } and that in fuch a Manner 
 as not to be again fupplanted or difappointed by 
 their Enemies. In order to this the imprifon- 
 ed Mini tiers were every where fet free, the 
 Banifhed called home, and all reftored to their 
 JLiyings, to the inexnreflible Joy of the People 
 
 of 
 
of Scotland, who forbare not, upon all Occasi- 
 ons, to exprefs their Deteftation of the Inno- 
 vations which had been put upon them before. 
 f It would take up a long Hiftory by it felf 
 to record the reftlefs Endeavours of the Bi- 
 fhops, and their Dependants \ as alfo the Epif- 
 copal Clergy in England, by any Means to bring 
 themfelves in again; but alas! there was not 
 the leaft Room to thrufl: the Notion of it 
 into the Peoples Heads: They were every 
 where overjoyed to fee their ^)oor banifhea 
 Minifters return, the Church reftored to her 
 Liberties, and to enjoy her General Aflem- 
 blies, regular Judicatories, publick Communions, 
 &c. without Difturbance, as before. 
 
 The other Party had but one Way left, 
 which was to provoke the King to the high- 
 eft Refentment, SO to embark the Power of 
 England, in Support of that Refentment, and 
 to bring down a formidable Army to cha- 
 flife them as Rebels againft his Royal Au- 
 thority. This they threatned the Covenanters 
 with, fo the Presbyterians were then called in En- 
 gland, becaufe of the Covenant taken, as above* 
 
 It was certain, that a King of England at the 
 Head of all the Powers of that oppulent Na- 
 tion, was a molt formidable Thing *, and as 
 the King had Troops ready about him, thefe 
 People perfectly naked, unprovided, undifci- 
 plin'd, and the like •, the Refentment of the 
 King was the more terrible, and it occurr'd 
 often from Solomotfs Words, That the Wrath of a 
 King is like the roaring of a Lion* 
 
 But the covenanted Lords, far from being 
 difmaid at all thefe Tlneats, ftood boldly to 
 what they had done } and when the Marquefs 
 of Hamilton^ whom the King fent to them, pro- 
 
 pofed 
 
r w ) 
 
 pofed Two Things, their Anfwer will fuffici- 
 ently acquaint us, that they afted as Men un- 
 der no Apprehenfions of the Power of their 
 Enemies. 
 
 The Marquefs, veiled with the Power of 
 High Commiffioner to fettle the Peace, entred 
 into a Treaty with them on Two Heads, (viz..) 
 
 I . What it was they expected from the King^ 
 in Satisfaction of their Grievances, 
 
 1. Whether they would, after fuch Sat is f alii-* 
 on, return to their Obedience, and renounce 
 their Covenant* 
 
 . 
 
 To the firfl they anfwered, They expected a 
 free Parliament, and a legal General Affcmbly^ 
 and to that they were willing to refer all their De- 
 mands. To the fecond, That they had not forfaken 
 their Obedience, and therefore needed no Terms of 
 Return % but that as to their Covenant, they would 
 as foon renounce their Baptifm : Nor would they en- 
 ter into any Treaty, if it were mentioned to them 4 
 fecond Time. 
 
 There were long and tedious Debates be- 
 tween them upon thefe Things, and many Ex- 
 pedients the Commiffioner offered, in the King's 
 Name, to keep, if poffible, the Bifhops in their 
 Seats. He went back to the King, returnM a- 
 gain with new Conceffions : He offer'd a Decla- 
 ration from the King, confiding of Eleven 
 Heads, all granting Things to the Covenanters, 
 which they would have rejoic'd at a little be- 
 fore ; but now rejected. In this Declaration. 
 The I^ing granted, 
 
 T. To 
 
f 187! 
 
 1. To annul the Service-Book.' 
 
 2. The Book of Canons. 
 
 3. The high Commiffion. 
 
 4. The Five Articles of Pe nh. 
 
 5. That all Perfons, whether Ecclefiaftical 
 or Civil, fhould be liable to Cenfure of 
 the Parliament and General AfTembly. 
 
 6. That no Oath be impofed upon Mini- 
 fters at their Entry \ but what was 
 contain 'd in the Acl: of Parliament. 
 
 7. That the ancient Confeflion of Faith 
 fhould be renewed, and fubfcribed as it 
 was in his Father's Reign, with the 
 Band thereto annex'd. 
 
 8. That a General AfTembly be holden at 
 Glafgow the lift of May* 
 
 9. And a Parliament at Edinburgh the 14*/; 
 of May after. 
 
 10. That therein a general Pardon of all 
 Offences (hall be granted. 
 
 n. That he will appoint a general Faft. 
 
 Thefe were great Things •, but as the main 
 Thing was left behind, viz*. That Epifcopacy 
 was left in the Church, the Bifhops to remain 
 and to lit in Parliament, and thofe Things left 
 to the King's Nomination, which, of Right, 
 belong'd to the Church, nothing could be done : 
 They protefted againfl: thefe Conceffions, as 
 King-Craft, to delude them 5 and claiming the 
 Right to call a General AfTembly themfelvcs, 
 as by Ad of Parliament formerly mentioned, then 
 in Force : They rejected any Accommodation 
 without a perfect reftoring the Church of Scot- 
 land to all her Powers and Privileges, and the 
 total abclifhing Epifcopacy in that Nation ^ 
 choofing to run all Hazards, and to put Things 
 
 to 
 
r 188 j 
 
 to the laft Extremity, rather than abate one 
 Tittle of it. 
 
 Such Zeal and fuch Faithfulnefs to the Prin- 
 ciple they profefs'd, could not fail to prompt 
 them to all proper Means to fupport what they 
 had undertaken *, wherefore the Marquefs of 
 Hamilton being gone back in Difguft, and ha- 
 ving ufed fome threatning Speeches at his part- 
 ing, they refolved not to be furpriz'd } but im- 
 mediately to put themfelves in a Poflure of 
 Defence, that they might be able to go tho- 
 rough with what they had undertaken. 
 
 Accordingly they began to lay Taxes for rai- 
 fing Money, gave out Com millions for levying 
 12 Regiments of Foot and 8 Regiments of 
 Horfe, making in all 18000 Men, fent over in- 
 to Sweden, and the low Countries, to invite 
 home the old experienced Generals and Officers 
 of their Nation, whom they could confide in, to 
 come and take Pay in the Service of their 
 Country, and in a Word, made all neceflary Pre- 
 parations of War. 
 
 As this arming in Scotland was not without 
 very good Intelligence from England, of the 
 Resolutions taken there to reduce them by 
 Force, and the Threats of the Marquefs of 
 Hamilton to their Faces, when he went from 
 them, who told them, infulting, That they mufl 
 riot think to ufe their Kings now as they did for- 
 mer ly, when they were only Kings of Rebels ; that 
 the King had another loyal and warlike Nation at 
 his Command, and that they jhould foon feel it to 
 their Cofi. As, I fay, theie Things went before 
 their arming, the Englifl) Hiftorians are mani- 
 feftly partial, who fay the King armed only in 
 his own Defence, and in charging the Scots 
 with a Defign to begin the War -it being ma* 
 
 nifdfc 
 
f 189 3 
 
 rtifeft they were capable of no other Delign than 
 of fecuring themfelves againft being trampled 
 on by a bigotted Court and an incens'd Clergy* 
 It is alfo evident, that this Vigilance was, un- 
 der God, the Means of their Prefer vation *, for 
 that when the King advanc'd forwards to Tork^ 
 and from thence to the Border, they were rea- 
 dy in the Field before him, and that with fuch 
 a refolute Countenance, as that the Englijh 
 Army cared not to attack them \ and when the 
 Earl of Holland, General of the Horfe to the 
 King, advanc'd in a Bravado with a ftrong 
 Brigade of Horfe and a Detachment of Foot, he 
 was driven back falter than he came, by half the 
 Number of the 5m.? Cavalry, with Musketeers in 
 their Intervals *, a Manner of fighting which the 
 Unglfy had not feen, and which fome Scots Of- 
 ficers had learn'd under the great Guftavus A~ 
 delybus ; it would make too much Sport with 
 the Englijh Courage and Bravery, which is fo 
 well confirmed in the World, to give an Ac- 
 Count how like Scoundrels this Army behaved. 
 An Etjglifi HlRovian of Note fays, in a Manufcript 
 which 1 have feen, they were raifed by the 
 Clergy, and imitated their Mailers - 7 for as the 
 Clergy, who prompt'd this War, accompanied 
 the King to Tork, but left him when he came 
 into the Field *, fo the raw and undifciplin'd 
 Army accompanied him to the Field, but left 
 him when they fliould have engaged ; in a Word, 
 none ofr\|%\ Troops, after the firft Skirmiih, 
 car'd ffrengage, or to look the Scots in the Face i 
 who, on the other Hand, tho' they would not 
 attack the King, yet Hood ready, and fhewed 
 all tfte Forwardness in the World to give Battle. 
 Tft? King's Generals finding the Difpofition 
 of thqir Men, told the King very plainly, it 
 y was 
 
c 190 i 
 
 Was not his bell Way to engage: Upon which 
 ISJotice was given the Scots Army, that they 
 might fend fome to treat with his Majefiy up- 
 on rheif Demands, which was done, and in 
 which all poffible Artifice was ufed to make a 
 fuperficial Agreement, that the Scots might be 
 obliged to disband, and fo might be furpriz'd 
 again unarm'd. 
 
 However, they made a Pacification, and ac- 
 cording to the Terms they broke their Army ; 
 but having certain Intelligence from England, 
 of the treacherous Defign, they kept the Officers 
 and Generals in Half pay, a Practice to this Day 
 ufed when Nations put an End to a War with no 
 very great AfTurances of preferving the Peace. 
 
 As they had been inform'd, fo it prov'dj 
 for the King, fired by the Clergy, fought Oc- 
 cafions of new Quarrels, and declined eftablifh- 
 ing their Civil and Ecclefiaftick Liberties ac- 
 cording to their Model, and then pretending 
 the Scots had not kept their Articles, denounced 
 them Rebels both in England and Ireland. 
 
 This obliged them to reftore their Troops, 
 with all poffible Expedition, and fo foon were 
 they com pleated, the Zeal and Alacrity of the 
 common People furnifhing Men even falter than 
 they required, that they were in the Field 20 
 Days before the King : And now they ufed no 
 more Ceremony about advancing beyond their 
 own Borders, as before *, but finding no Army rea- 
 dy, they entered England in Order of Battle, and 
 advanc'd to New- Caflle upon Tyne, before any E- 
 nemy appeared. 
 
 Here the Royal Army fac'd them, and it was 
 thought impcffible the Scots fhould pafs the 
 Tyne> without fighting \ but General Lefly, an 
 old Soldier, refolding to pu* it to the lfTue of 
 
 l 
 
t i9< ] 
 
 a Battle, pafs'd the River at Nexvhourn, in the 
 Face of a ftrong Body of the Engliflj Array \ beat 
 them fairly by plain Fighting from their Poft, 
 and killed 300 of their Men - 7 which A&ion fo 
 frighted the King, and his whole Army, that 
 they would not ftrike a Stroke more} but 
 fhamefully retreated to Tork, leaving New-Caftle 
 and Durham in PofTeffion of the Scots. 
 
 Here began the Englijh Troubles and Civil 
 War, which, as they belong not to our Story, 
 I fhall mention no farther than to make good 
 what I obferv'd before, vito That God fo or- 
 dered it even from the Beginning of the Refor- 
 mation in Scotland, that no Men, or Party of 
 Men, have ever yet fallen upon the Church of 
 Scotland, but it has been at length their own 
 Deftruclion 5 the Church has been like the Stone 
 in the Gofpel, and on her religious Eftabliih- 
 ment may be written, as is upon her Banners, 
 Nemo me immune lacejfit. Ever may it be fb, 
 and may her Enemies take the Warning, that 
 they never more make the Attempt. 
 
 Now the Church of Scotland was arriv'd to 
 her full grown State indeed : Her Enemies were 
 not only fubdued, but all in her Power \ her Af- 
 femblies were now reviv'd, the Covenant which 
 had been trie Band of all thisSteadinefs, was re- 
 newed, all her Church-Jndicatories were refto- 
 red, Epifcopacy was entirely abolifh'd, and all 
 her Perfecutors fled * ? for Fear of falling into the 
 Hands of that Juftice which they had before 
 exercifed to Tyranny and Oppreffion. 
 
 A few Words will finifh this Part of her 
 Story : The King, and his High-Church Army 
 being retreated, after the Adion at Newbourn, 
 it is impoffible to exprefs the ConHernation they 
 were in : The Scots Army being advane'd to 
 
 Bur- 
 
f I9i 3 
 
 Durham, were now entire Mailers of England • 
 If they had pleafed to advance, nothing could 
 have flood before them. They were entirely 
 pofiefs'd of all the Counties of Northumberland, 
 Cumberland^ and Durham, and began to extend 
 themfelves towards the Wefi, and as they re- 
 ceived daily Supplies of Men from Scotland, they 
 would, in Six Days more, have been pofiefs'd 
 of Weftmoreland and Lancashire, there being no 
 Forces to oppofe them but at Tork, and thofe 
 under the terrible Apprehenfion of being at- 
 tack d by our whole Army, which, God and 
 a jufl Quarrel being on the Scots Side, they 
 were in no Condition to oppofe. 
 
 The King, in the utmofl Diflrefs, here fum- 
 moned a great Council of his Englifh Nobility 
 to confult what to do •, they advife him to what, 
 for 14 Year, had been his Averfion *, namely, 
 the calling a Parliament, and to fend to the Scots 
 to treat of a fecond Pacification, which they, 
 in the greatefl Profperity of their Affairs, rea- 
 dily confent to : This was the famous Treaty 
 of Rippon, where, granting a CefTation of Arms, 
 contrary to the Practice of all victorious Armies, 
 rating their Contributions that the Country 
 might not be opprefs'd, and limiting their Ar- 
 my to the Banks of the River TEES, they fat 
 Hill, waiting upon Providence, and to fee what 
 would be the IiTue of thofe great Things which 
 were then in view. 
 
 I mention this as it concurs with what is ob- 
 ferv'd before, (v«u) That this arming in Scot- 
 land had nothing in it of what the Enemies of 
 the Church of Scotland charg'd upon them, viz.. 
 Of a Defign againfl either the Perfon or Go- 
 vernment of their Prince *, but was nothing 
 4 more or lefs than what the evident Neceffity of 
 
 their 
 
their Circumftances led them to, in Defence of 
 their Civil and Religions Rights, which were 
 illegally overthrown by their Enemies*, which 
 Enemies had follicited a FOREIGN AW j for 
 fuch even their own King, at the Head of the En- 
 glifh Forces, was ; to fubdue and deftroy them : 
 nor was their Practice in this Cafe any thing 
 but what has been practifed and allowed to 
 be agreeable to the Laws of Nature, and of out- 
 Country, by both Nations, on feveral Occafi- 
 oriS} lefs urgent than this, as will, in Part, ap- 
 pear in this Account. 
 
 It remains only to obferve, that on the Meet- 
 ing of the Parliament in England, the Scots being 
 fairly treated with, their juft Demands granted, 
 and afterwards confirm'd, they quitted England 
 in Auguft 1640 \ intermeddled not then with the 
 Quarrels and Divisions which, from that Time, 
 began to encreafe -, but retir'd within their own 
 Borders, and laid down their Arms, till the Flair: e 
 of Civil War, which afterwards broke out in 
 England, involv'd them of Courfe in the Share 
 of it, which they felt to their great Lofs and Op- 
 prelfion, on many Accounts. 
 
 But the Mory of thofe Things not relating to 
 the Church- Affairs, I pa fs over, referring to the 
 Hiftories of both Nations. 1 have only to con- 
 clude this Part with faying, that from this Time 
 to the Reftoration of King Charles 11, the Church 
 of Scotland, being uninterrupted as to her Eccle- 
 fiaftick Jurifdid ion, fubiiiled in her full grown 
 State \ enjoying the full Liberty of her Conftitu- 
 tion, both in Worfhip, Dilcipline, and Govern- 
 ment : In Civil Affairs, their Country was often 
 involv'd in War and Confufion enough ', but as 
 to the Church, which is the proper Buiineis of 
 thisTraft, it fuffer'd no coniiderable Interrupti- 
 on. O Her 
 
C 194 3 
 
 Her next Appearance will be a State of Trial, 
 the Return of her implacable Enemies the Bi- 
 fhops and their Hierarchy, where we mall fee her 
 agajd overwhelmed in Blood, and Suffering the 
 moil cruel and mercilefs Perfecution that ever 
 Proteflant Church endured : Her Neck being for 
 Eight and Twenty Years continually under the 
 Feet of Tyranny and Oppreffion. 
 
 C N C L V S I O N- 
 From this whole Account, this jult Obfervati- 
 on prefents it felf to our View. 
 
 1. That as the Church of Scotland reform/d 
 at fir it from Popery into Presbyterianifm, fo 
 when the Invallons of Epifcopacy, fupported by 
 the Tyranny of Princes, had reduced her to the 
 loweit Ebb, yet whenever the Hand of Tyran- 
 ny was taken away, and the People of Scotland 
 were left to the Freedom of their own Choice in 
 Matters of religions Worfbip, they never fa i I'd to 
 demonilrate, that Epifcopacy was theirAveriion ; 
 and that they [till retain'd a fincere Affection to 
 the Model of their firft Reformers \ that th« 
 Presbyterian Church was truly National, and 
 that they would always, by their Choice, em- 
 brace the fame, both in Doctrine, Difcrpline, 
 Worfhip, and Government. 
 
 2. That Epifcopacy never got Ground in Scot" 
 land) but by Violence j and never fail'd to exercife 
 what Power it had there, toopprefsanddeftroy its 
 Oppofers*, being always animated with a Spirit 
 of Perfecution in the Church, and abfolute Ty- 
 ranny in the State, as will Mill more fully appear 
 in that Part of this Work which isflill behind. 
 
 rioe End of the SECOND PART. 
 
 AD« 
 
t 195" ] 
 
 ADDEND A. 
 
 Here follow fome original Papers and 
 Accounts of Things, which are 
 referred to in the foregoing Parr. 
 
 No. A. 
 
 The Proteflation of Mr. Andrew Hunter, again ft 
 the abfolving the Bifiop of St. Andrews, without 
 Repentance. 
 
 N Refpeft that the Provincial 
 AfTemblie of the Kirk gathered 
 in Chrift's Name, holden at St. 
 Andrews the Twelfth Day of 
 April 1585, For manifeft Crimes 
 and open Contumacie, hath juftly and 
 formally according to the Word of God, 
 and fincere Cuftom of this Kirk, excom- 
 municated Mr. Patrick Ad am f on \ and that 
 in this General AfTemblie they take upon 
 them to abfolve the faid Mr. Patrick from, 
 the Sentence of Excommunication, the Procefs 
 not being tried nor heard in publick, the 
 Perfon excommunicated declaring no Signs of 
 
 O 2 
 
 « trufc 
 
C 196 1 
 
 true Repentance, nor craving the faid Abfol- 
 viture by himfelf, nor by his Procurators, be- 
 fore the very Time, wherein they abfolve 
 him : I therefore for my Part, and in Name of 
 all the other Brethren and true Chriflians, who 
 will be participant with me, take God to Re- 
 cord of the Dealing of that provincial Affem- 
 Wie, and this Affemblie General 5 protefling al- 
 io before the Alnlightie, his holy Angels, and 
 Saints here convened, that I have no Aflurance 
 in God's Word to my Confcience, to aflent, 
 allow or approve this his Abfolviture: And 
 therefore until the Time I perceive his Conver- 
 fion to be true and effectual, I cannot but hold 
 him as one jnftly delivered to Satan, notwith- 
 standing- of the faid Abfolvitur. ' 
 And this his Proteftation, fnbfcribed with his 
 Hand, he defired to beregiftred ad perpetuam rel 
 memor'uim \ and withal gave his Reafons moving 
 him thereto. 
 
 No. B. 
 The Recantation of Mr. Patrick Adamfon, Bijlwp 
 of St. Andrews, directed to the Synod conveened at 
 St. Andrews 8. Aprilis 1591. 
 c Brethren, nnderfranding the Proceed - 
 c ings of the Ailembly in my contrare, and 
 < being now withholden by Sicknefs, to pre- 
 c lent my felf before you, that I may give 
 * Confefiion of that Doctrine, wherein I hope 
 c God fhall call me, and that at hisPlcafure I may 
 c depart in theUnitie of the Chriftian Faith :, I 
 c thought good by Writ to utter the fame unto 
 : your Wifdoms, and to crave your godly Wif- 
 1 dom's Afliftance, not for the Reftitution of any 
 fc worldly Pomp or Preeminence, which I little 
 : refpecl , but to remove from me the Slanders, 
 ' which are raifed in this Country, concerning 
 
 < the 
 
f 197 1 
 
 the Variance of Doctrine, fpecially on my Part; 
 wherein I proteft before God, that i have only 
 a fingle Refpeft to his Glorie, and by his Grace 
 I fhall abide herein to my Life's End. 
 c Firft, I confefs the true Do&rine of Chriftian 
 Religion to be pnblickly taught, and rightly 
 announced within this Realm, and deteft all Pa- 
 piftrie and Superflition \ like as (bleOed be God) 
 I have deteiled the fame in my Heart the 
 Space of Thirtie Years, iince it pleated God to 
 give me the Knowledge of the Truth, wherein I 
 have walked uprightly, as well here, as in other 
 Countries, as the Lord beareth me Record ; un- 
 til! thefe laft Days, wherein, partly for Ambi- 
 tion and vain Glory, to be preferred before my 
 Brethren j and partly for Covetoufnefs, to pof- 
 fefs the Pelf of the Kirk, I did undertake 
 this Office of Archbifhoprick, wherewith jt;fl> 
 ly the imcereft Profeflbrs of the Word have 
 found Fault, and have condemned the fame, as 
 impertinent to the Office of a iincere. Pallor of 
 God's Word. And albeit Men would colour the 
 fame, and the Imperfections thereof, by divers 
 Cloaks 5 yet the famine cannot be concealed 
 from the Eyes of the Faithful \ neither yet can 
 the Men of God, when they are put to their 
 Confcience, di {Terrible the fame. 
 % Nextj I confefs I was in an erroneous Opini- 
 on, that I believed the Government of the 
 Kirk to be like unto the Kingdoms of the 
 Earth, plain contrary to the Command of our 
 Mailer Chrift (as it is:,) but alfo in Mini Iters, 
 who are nothing, but VafTals under him in aii 
 Equality among themfelves. 
 c Thirdly , That I married the Earl of ftwtttte\ 
 contrail* the Commandment of the Church, 
 without the Confeffion of his Faith, and Pro- 
 O 3 < fef- 
 
[ i 9 8] 
 
 1 feffion of the fincere Doctrine of the Word, I 
 c repent and crave God Pardon. 
 
 c That I travelled both by seafoning, and o- 
 c therways, to fubjeft Kirkmen to the King's 
 € Ordinance, in Things tlrat appertained to Ec- 
 c clefiaftical Matters, and Things of Confcience*, 
 c whereupon fundrie great Enormities have fallen 
 e forth in this Country, I ask God Mercie. 
 
 c That 1 taught, Presbyteries to be a foolifh 
 c Invention, and would have had it fo efteemed 
 € of ail Men, which is an Ordinance of Chrift, I 
 c crave God Mercie. 
 
 c Farther , I fubmit my felf to the Mercie of 
 c God, and Judgment of the Affemblie, not mea- 
 c faring my Offences by ray felf, nor Infirmities 
 c by my own ingine, but by the good judgment 
 c of the Kirk, to which always I fubject my 
 c felf, and befeech yon to make Interceflion to 
 t God for me, and to the King, that I may have 
 c fome moyen to live, and confume the reft of 
 e my wretched Time, for winning of whofe Fa- 
 
 * vour (which foolifhly I thought thereby to 
 1 obtain) 1 committed all thefe Errors. 
 
 c Whereas I am burdened to be the Setter 
 l - forth of the Book, called The Kings Declaration , 
 
 * wherein the whole Order of the Kirk is con- 
 1 demned and traduced, I proteft before God, 
 1 that I was commanded to write the fame by the 
 c Chancellor for the Time, but chiefly by the Se- 
 1 cretar, another great Courtier, who himfelf 
 
 * penned the feconci Act of Parliament, concern- 
 
 * ing the Power and Authority of Judicature to 
 
 * be abfoluteiy in the King's Power \ and that it 
 
 * ftiould not. be lawful to any Subject to reclaim 
 4 from the fame, tinder the Penaltie of the Act, 
 
 * which I fip pole was Treafon. 
 
 4 IteMy Where it is alledged, that I fhould have 
 
 ' con- 
 
f *99 1 
 
 * condemned the Dottrine, announced and taught 
 c by the Miniftrie of Edinburgh, concerning Obe- 
 
 * dience to the Prince, I confefs and protefh be- 
 c fore God, that I never underftood, nor yet 
 c knew any Thing, but Sinceritie and Upright- 
 c nefsin the Do&rine of the Minifters of Edin- 
 « burgh in that Point, or in any other. 
 
 4 Farther, I confefs I was the Author of the 
 
 * Adr difcharging the Minifters Stipends, that 
 « would not fubferibe the A els of Parliament, 
 ( wherewith God had jnftly recommenced my felf. 
 
 c As for any violent Courfe. it is known well e- 
 c nough, who was the Author thereof, and my 
 ( Part was tried at the Imprifonment of Mr. 
 « Nicol Dalgleifr, Mr. Patrick Mel vine, Mr. Tko- 
 c mas "jack, and others. 
 
 1 Moreover, I grant I was more bufle with 
 « fome Bilhops in England, in Prejudice of the 
 « Difcipline of our Kirk, partly when I was 
 « there, and partly by mutual Intelligence fince, 
 
 < than became a good Chriftian, much lefs a 
 * faithful Paftor. Neither is there any Thing 
 c that moreafhameth me, than my often decei- 
 t ving and abufing of the Kirk heretofore, by 
 ■ Confefllons, Subfcriptions, Proteftatjons, &c. 
 
 <• which be far from me now and ever hereafter 
 
 • 
 
 < Amen. 
 
 c Your Brother in the Lord 
 
 c M* Patrick Adamfon- 
 
 c Where your Wifdomes defire to have my 
 c own Opinion, concerning the Book of the De- 
 c claration of the King's Intention \ the fame is 
 4 at more length declared in the Confeflion, 
 c which I have exhibited already, wherein Ihave 
 c condemned all the Articles therein contained , 
 * like as by thefe Prefents I condemn the fame. 
 
 O 4 < Where 
 
[ 100 ] 
 
 € Where you require, what became of the 
 c Books of the Atfemblie ? I rcferved them whole, 
 € until the returning of the Lords and the Mini- 
 c ftrie out of England *, and if I had not preferved 
 
 * them, my Lord Aryan intended to have made 
 1 them to be caft in the Fire. And upon a cer- 
 c tain Day in Falkland, before they were deliver- 
 c ed to the King's Majefty, the Bifhopof N. ac- 
 
 * companied with Mr. Henry Hammiltoun, rent 
 ' out forne Leaves, and deftroyed fuch Things as 
 
 * made againft our Eftate, and that not without 
 c my own fpecial Allowance. 
 
 c As for the Books which I have fet forth, \ 
 c have fet forth nothing, except a Commentary 
 
 * upon the fir ft Epiftleof Paul to Timothy, which 
 
 * ftiall be tfire&ed to the King's Majefty, and 
 1 keeped no Exemplar befide me \ and 1 under- 
 e ftand that Mr. JohnCeddie got the fame from 
 1 the King, and lent it to Mr. Robert Hepburn. 
 
 1 Farther, I wrote nothing, but only made 
 
 1 mention, in my Preface upon the Apocalypfa 
 
 i that I fhould write a Book called Pfillus, which 
 
 c (being prevented by Difeafe) God would not 
 
 1 fufifer me to finifh, and the little Thing that 
 
 4 was done I caufed deftroy it. I have fet forth 
 
 * the Book of Job, and the Lamentations of Jere~ 
 
 * wm>, all in Verfe, to be printed in England. 
 
 1 As for my Intention, 1 am not difpofed, nor 
 
 * cf Abilitie to write any Thing at this Time *, 
 
 * and if it pica fe God I were reftored to my 
 4 Fcalth, I would change my Stile, as Cajetanus 
 1 did at the Council of Trent. 
 
 * As far Sutlivius*$ Book againft the Form 
 
 * and Ordf:r of the Presbyteries, fo far am' I 
 
 * from being Partner in that Work, that as I 
 
 * know not the Man, nor had ever Intelligence 
 1 of the Work, befove it was done ) fo if it 
 
 c plcafe 
 
[ ioi ] 
 
 pleafe God to give me Days, I will write in 
 his contrarie. 
 
 c Prays the Brethren to be at Unitie and Peace 
 with me, and in Token of their Forgivenefs, 
 becaufe my Health fuffereth me not to go over 
 to the Colledge, where ye are prefently aflem- 
 bled, which I would gladly do, to ask God and 
 you Forgivenefs, that it would pleafe you to 
 repair hither, that I may do it. 
 4 Moreover I condemn, by this my Subfcripti- 
 on, whatfoever is contained in the Epiftle De- 
 dicatorie to the King's Majefty before my Book 
 upon the Revelation, that is either flanderous, 
 or offen five to the Brethren. Aifo 1 promife 
 to fatisfie the Brethren of Edinburgh, or any o- 
 ther Kirk in this Realm, according to good 
 Confcience, in whatfoever they find themfelves^ 
 juflly offended, and contrare to the Word of 
 God, in any of my Speeches, A&ions or Pro- 
 ceedings, which have paft from me. 
 c And concerning the Commentary upon the 
 firft Epiftle of Paul to Timothy, becaufe there 
 are diverfe Things therein contained oftenfive, 
 and that tend to allow the State of Bifhops, 
 otherways than God's Word can fuffer, 1 con- 
 demn the fame. 
 
 '. The Pages before written, di&ed by me Mr. 
 Patrick Adam [on, and written at my Com- 
 mandment by my Servant Mr. Samuel Cuning* 
 : hame, I fubferibe with my own Hand, as ac- 
 ' knowledged by me, in Sinceritie of Confcience, 
 ' as in the Prefence of God, before thefe Wit- 
 • nelfes, directed to me from the Synodal Afiem- 
 : blie, becaule of my Inabilitie to repair towards 
 1 them, James Moniyennie younger of Pitmillie y 
 ' Andrew Woode ot Stravethie, David Murray 
 1 Poitioncr of Ardeit 7 Mr. David Rujfel, Mr. 
 
 c mi* 
 
f 2Ci ] 
 
 c William Murray Minifter at Dyfert, Mr. Rq- 
 e c bert Wilkie, David Fcrgufon, with diver fe q- 
 c thers. 
 
 M. P. A D A M S O N E. 
 
 David Tergufone witnefs. David Murray with my 
 M. Nicnl Dulaleis. Hand witnefs. 
 
 James Afwipennie of Pit- M- David Ruffel. 
 
 tnitlie wi'nefs. M. David S 'fence. 
 
 Andrew Woode of Strave-M. John Caldclougb. 
 
 thie witnefs. M. William Murray. 
 
 M. ito^rf Wilhie witnefs. 
 
 Mr. Patrick Adamfon'j own Anfwer to and Refu- 
 tation of the Book, falfcly called. The King's 
 Declaration. 
 
 c I have enterprifed of meer remorfe of Con- 
 ference, to write againft a Book, called, A De- 
 claration of the Kin£s Majcfry^s Intention ; albe- 
 it it contained! little or nothing of the King's 
 own Intention, but my own at the Time cf the 
 Writing thereof, and the corrupt Intentions of 
 fach as for the Time were about the King, and 
 c abufed his Minoritie. Of which Book, and 
 c Contents thereof, compiled by me at the Coni- 
 c mand of fome chief Courtiers for the Time 
 
 * (as is before written) I Pnall fhortly declare my 
 c Opinion, as the Infirmity of Sicknefs, and 
 c Wcakncfs of Memory will permit. 
 
 1 Firfi, in the whole Book nothing is contained, 
 e but Allen ions of Lies, afcribing to the King's 
 1 Majefty that whereof he was not culpable : 
 
 * For albeit, as the Time went, his Majefty 
 1 could have fuffered thefe Things to have been 
 c publifncd in this Realme \ yet his Majeftywas 
 € never of that Nature, as to have reviled any 
 
 1 Man's 
 
Man's Perfon, or to upbraid any Man with 
 Calumnies, whereof there is a Number con- 
 tained in that Book. 
 
 « Secondly, In the Declaration of the fecond Act 
 of Parliament, there is mention made of Mr. 
 Andrew Melvine and his Preachings, molt 
 wrongfully condemned, in fpecial as factious 
 and leditious; albeit his Majefty hath had a 
 lively Trial of that Mans Fidelity and Truth, 
 in all Proceedings from Time to Time. True 
 it is, he is earneft and zealous, and can abide 
 no Corruption (which moft unadvifedly I at- 
 tributed to a fiery and fait Humour) which his 
 Majefty findeth by Experience to be true. For 
 he allowed well of him, and knoweth Things, 
 that were alledged upon him, to have been 
 falfe and contrived Treacheries. 
 c There are contained in the fecond Ad of Par-' 
 liament, and Declaration thereof, diverfe o- 
 ther falfe Calumnies, to defame the Miniftrie, 
 and to bring the Kirk of God in Hatred and 
 Envy with their Prince and the Nobility, bur- 
 dening and accufing falfely the Minifters of Se- 
 : dition, and other Crimes, whereof they were 
 : innocent. As likewife it is written in the fame 
 : Ad and Declaration thereof, that fovereign 
 : and fupream Power, in Matters Ecclefialticai, 
 i pertaineth to the King :, which is worthy to be 
 : condemned, and not to be contained among 
 : Christian Ads, where the Power of the Word 
 c is to be extolled above all the Power of 
 1 Princes, and they are to be brought under Sub- 
 4 jedion to the fame. 
 
 1 The fourth Ad condemned the Presbyteries, 
 c as a judgment not allowed by the King's Law, 
 
 * which is a very Mender Argument. For ascon- 
 
 * cerning the Authority of the presbyterie, we 
 
 1 have 
 
r 204 ] 
 
 have the fame warranted in theGofpel, Matth. 
 Ch. 18. where Chrifl commanded to tell the 
 Kirk. Which Authoritie being commanded 
 by Chrift, and the Acls of Parliament forbid- 
 ding it, we mould rather obey God than Man. 
 And yet the Presbyterie wanted never the 
 Kings Authoritie for Allowance thereof from 
 the Beginnings faving only at that Hour of 
 Darknefs, when he was abufed with evil Com- 
 panie. As for any other Thing that is contain- 
 ed in this Aft, againfl any Order or Proceeding 
 of the Presbyterie, it is to be efteemed, that no- 
 thing was done by the Presbyterie without Wif- 
 dom, Judgment, and Difcretion \ and fo hath 
 received Approbation again by the Kirk, 
 whereunto alfo I underftand his Majeity hath 
 given Allowance, hath ratified and approved 
 the fame, which mould be a fufficient Reafon 
 to reprefs all Mens Curiolitie, that either have, 
 or yet would find Fault with the fame. 
 * Thzlaft Ad containeth the eftablifhing of a 
 Bifhop, which hath no Warrant in the Word 
 of God, but is grounded upon the Policie of 
 Man's invention, whereupon the Primacie of 
 the Pope or Antichrifl is rifen, which is worthie 
 to be difallowed and forbidden : Becaufe the 
 Number of the Elderfhip, that hath Jurifdifti- 
 on and Oversight, as well of Vifitation, as of 
 Admifllon, will do the fame far more authen- 
 tickly, godly, and with greater Zeal, than a 
 Bifhop, whole Care commonly is not upon God 
 and his Dutie, but upon the World, whereupon 
 his chief Attendance is. Confider how that 
 Office hath been ufed, thefe Five Hundred 
 Years bygone, with what Crueltie and Tyran- 
 nic it hath been exercifed j ye fhall find it to 
 
 c have 
 
4 have been the chief mean, that hath in tiveif 
 c Conntrcy fupprefled the Word of God j which 
 c fhall be evident to all that read the Storie of 
 c the Kirk. As for my own Opinion, it feem- 
 
 * eth to be nearefl to the Truth, and farthelt 
 
 * from all kind of Ambition, that the Brethren 
 
 * in equal Degree aflemble themfelves under the 
 
 * Head Chrift, and there every Man di (charge 
 c his Office carefully, as he is commanded. And 
 ( becaufe Weaknefsof Memorieand Sicknefs fuf- 
 
 fereth me not at length to difcourfe upon thefe 
 c Matters, as I would, I muft requeft the good 
 Reader to allure himfelf, that 1 have written 
 thefe, without Compulilon or Perfuaflon of any 
 Man, with an upright Heart j and have deli- 
 c vered the fame with perfect Sinceritie of Mind, 
 c fo far as Infirmitie of Flefh and Blood did fuf- 
 1 fer, as God fhall judge me at the latter Day : 
 c And that the fame Reader account, that what- 
 c foever Things are omitted, is to be imputed to 
 the {mbecillitie of my Memorie, and the prefent 
 Sicknefs-, and not to any good Will, which, 1 
 proteft,wasto have condemned every Point, yea 
 even to the falfe Narration of the Banquet, and 
 all the reft contained in the little Treatife call- 
 ed, The Declaration of the Kings Majefiy's In- 
 c tent ion, as I acknowledge they deferve to be 
 condemned by the Cenfure and Judgment of 
 c the Kirk, to the which alfo I fubmit my 
 4 felf, in whatfoever Thing, I have either in 
 
 * Word or Writ attempted in that forefaid De- 
 1 claration, or otherways. By thefe Prefents 
 c fubfcribed with my Hand at St. Andrews the 
 c Twelfth of May, 159T. Before thefe Wit- 
 1 nefTes Mr. David Black Minifber at St. Andrews, 
 c Mr. Robert Wilkie Principal at St. Leonard's 
 
 c Col- 
 
[ io6 ] 
 
 ' Coll ege, Mr. John Aitoun of Enmath, Mr. Wil- 
 liam Ruff el* 
 
 Patrick Adamsone. 
 
 M. David Blaek wittiefs. William Lear month* 
 
 George Ram fey. Patrick Gutrie. 
 
 M. John Auchinleck* Charles Wat [on, Scribe. 
 
 c I M. Patrick Adamfon declare, that this Con- 
 1 feflion and Declaration before-written, is my 
 c own Confeflion, given with my Heart, and 
 4 fubfcribed with my Hand, before thefe Wit- 
 4 nelFes underwritten, tinder fubfcribing with 
 4 me atmyRequeft and De fire, at St Andrews 
 4 the io. of June 1591. 
 
 Patrick Adamsone. 
 
 t)avid Carnegie of Collu- Alexander Bruce of Ear l- 
 
 thie witnefs. float witnefs. 
 
 William Scot of Abbot fljal Borthwick of Gordonjhal, 
 
 witnefs. M> William Ruffe I. 
 
 William Lear month* M. David Black* 
 
 Thomas Kingz.0* M. Andr. Hunter, Scribe 
 
 M. Robert Wilkie. of the Provincial Af- 
 
 M* Andrew Moncreif. fembly. 
 
 No* C. 
 
 Here follows the Account which the Epis- 
 copal Party themfelves give of the Proceedings 
 of the Scot s Bifhops and Presbyterian Minifters, 
 mentioned in this Work, before the King at Ham- 
 
 ytvn-Court* 
 
 * The firft Audience Was at Hampton-Court the 
 c 1% of September \ at which, befides the Bifhops 
 
 4 and 
 
f 107 1 
 
 4 and Minifters from Scotland, were prefent th* 
 c Earls of Dunbar, Argyle, Glencarne, Sir Thomas 
 4 Hamilton Advocate, and Sir Alexander Straiton : 
 4 Of the EngUfli Dr. Montague Dean of the Chap- 
 4 pel was only admitted to'ftay : There the King 
 4 declaring the Purpofe for which he had called 
 4 them, fpakeafew Words to this EfFe& : That 
 4 having left the Church of Scotland in Peace at his 
 4 parting forth of it, he did now hear of great Di- 
 c flurbances in the fame \ whereof he de fired to un- 
 4 derfiand the true Caufe, and to have their Ad" 
 4 vice, how the fame might be removed. This beings 
 4 faid he, the Errand in general for which I have 
 c called you, I jliould be glad to hear your Opinions 
 4 touching the Meeting at Aberdeen, where an 
 4 Handful of Minifters, in Contempt of my Author i- 
 4 ty, and againft the Difcharge given them did af~ 
 * femble ; and though they were neither a fuffcient 
 4 Number, nor the accufiomed Order kept, they 
 c would take upon them to call it a General Ajfembly 7 
 4 and have face proudly maintained it by declining 
 c my Council and Juch other Means as they pleafed to 
 1 nfe> The rather I would hear your Minds, becaufe 
 c / am informed that divers Minifters dojufiifie that 
 4 Meeting, and in their publick Preachings commend 
 € thefe Brethren as Pcrfons difirejfed, which in Effeft 
 4 is to proclaim me a Tyrant and Perfecutor, 
 
 c Mr. James Melvill anfwering firir, faid, 
 cc That there was no fuch Difcharge given to 
 44 thofe Minifters that met at Aberdeen, as was 
 4C alledged, adjuring Sir Alexander Straiton, who 
 " was faid to have given the Charge, to declare 
 4C in his Majefty's Prefence how that Matter 
 " was carried. As to the Abfence of Modcra- 
 u tor and Clerk, he faid, that none of thefe were 
 " eiTential Parts of an A (Terribly, and that the 
 u Moderator abfenting himfelf of Purpofe and 
 
 " the 
 
w the Clerk refufirig to ferve, the Brethren 
 4C conveened might lawfully create others in 
 <c their Places, fo as the Mini Iters having War- 
 " rant to conveen from the Word of God, and 
 <c from his Ma jelly's Laws, as alfo coming thi- 
 44 ther by Direction of their Presbyteries, he 
 
 * could not in his Confcience condemn them. 
 c Well then, faid the King, I jhall defire you te 
 
 4 anfwer me Three Things, that I will ask : Firfi y 
 4 if it be lawful to pray publickly for Perfons con- 
 4 viEled by the lawful Judge as Perfons being in Di- 
 4 ftrefs, and articled? 2. Whether I may not be- 
 4 ing a Chrifvian King, by my Authority Royal^ con- 
 4 vocate and prorogue, and defert for jttft and necef- 
 4 fary Caufes known to my felf any Affemblies or 
 4 Meetings within my Dominions .<" 3. Whether or 
 4 not may I by my Authority call, and conveen before 
 4 me and my Council, whatfoever Perfon or Perfons^ 
 4 Civil or Ecclefiaftieal, for whatfoever Offences 
 4 committed by them in whatfoever Place within my 
 4 Dominions, and if 1 may not take Cognition of 
 4 the Offence, and give Sentence therein I And fur- 
 4 ther, whether or not are all my Subjects being cited 
 4 to anfwer before me and my Council, obliged to 
 4 compeir and acknowledge me or them for Judges in 
 € thefe Offences? 
 
 4 Mr. James anfwering, faid that the Queftions 
 c were weighty, and craved a great Deliberati- 
 
 * on} wherefore he would humbly entreat his 
 c Majefty to grant them a Time to confer and 
 4 advife together, that they might all give one 
 4 direcl Anfwer. This Defire granted, they 
 
 * were commanded to advife and meet together 
 4 that Night, and be ready to anfwer the next 
 4 Day. At this Meeting the Earls of Salisbury 
 4 and Northampton, with divers of the Englifij 
 4 Clergy were prefent. The Minifters defiring 
 
 4 to 
 
f *09 ] 
 
 1 to have the Meeting more private, requefled 
 1 the Earl of Dumbarre to move the King therein, 
 c and that none but Scot [men mould be pre Pent ; 
 c fearing (as they faid) that fome unfeemly Words 
 1 might efcape them. But this was denied, and 
 1 they warned to fpeak with that Refpeft which 
 4 became Subjects. It was believed that the King 
 1 mould have begun with the Queftions proponed 
 ' in the former Meeting, but his Ma jelly taking 
 4 another Courfe, required them to declare one 
 1 by one, their Judgments touching Aberdeen 
 4 AfTembly. The Bifhops (being firft ask'd) did 
 4 all condemn the Meeting as turbulent, fadious, 
 4 and unlawful. 
 
 4 Mr. Andrew Melvill then being enquired 
 * made Anfwer, 4c That he could not condemn 
 44 the AfTembly, being a private Man , that he 
 4 < came into England upon his Majefty's Letter, 
 4c without any Commiflion from the Church of 
 " Scotland^ and though he had Commiflion in di- 
 u fta caufa> and not hearing what they could 
 M fay for themfelves, he could not give his 
 44 Judgment \ Sentence he faid was given againft 
 c * them in a Juftice- Court \ how juftly, he did 
 44 remit that to the great Judge \ but for him- 
 " felf he would fay as our Saviour did in another 
 lx Cafe, Quis me conflituit judicem ? r 
 
 4 Mr. James Balfoure being next asked, cc Did 
 4t pray his Majefty not to prefs him with any 
 44 Anfwer, for that he knew nothing would be 
 cc well taken, that proceeded from his Mouth, 
 " and that My. Andrew had anfwered his Mind 
 tc fufficiently. " 
 
 4 Mr. James Melvil, without giving a dired 
 4 Anfwer, began to tell, i4 That fince his coming 
 t4 to London he had received divers Letters, and 
 4i with them a Petition, that mould have been 
 
 P " pre- 
 
C ato 3 
 
 " prefented to the late Parliament in behalf of 
 tc the warded Minifters, which he was delired to 
 " offer unto his Majefty, and as he thought, the 
 44 Petition would make all their Minds known. 
 
 c The King taking the Petition and falling to 
 c read the fame, willed the Advocate to goon 
 4 and receive the Anfwer of the reft. And as the 
 4 Advocate was queftioning Mr. William Scot, and 
 4 urging him with a difbincTt Anfwer (for he ufed 
 4 many Circumlocutions, according to the Cu* 
 4 ftomJMr. Andrew Mclvill in a great Paflionfaid, 
 ' That he followed the InftruBions of Mr.] ohn Hamil- 
 4 ton his Vncle^ who had foifoned the North with 
 4 his Papiftry, and that he was now become xctTiyo- 
 4 f& *tv aiMK^ov. Northampton asking what he 
 
 * meant by that Speech ? The King faid, he 
 r - calleth him, the mickle Devil : And then fould- 
 1 ingup the Petition, faid, 1 fee you are all fet for 
 4 maintaining that hafe Conventicle of Aberdeen? 
 4 But what Anfwer s have you to give to the Qucfti- 
 *• ons 1 moved ? it was anfwered, " That they had 
 44 conferred together, and finding them to con- 
 li cern the whole Church, they would not by 
 u their pat ticular Voices prejudge the fame. " But 
 4 you will not I truft, faid the King, call my Autho- 
 c rity in Oueflion, and fubjeB the Determination of 
 4 the fame to your AJfemblies. 4t This they faid 
 u was far from their Thoughts, but if his Maje- 
 44 fty mould be pleafed to fet down in Writing 
 tc what he required, they mould labour to give 
 " him Satisfaction. " 
 
 4 Thus were they difmifled for that Time, and 
 
 * being the next Day called before the Scottijb 
 4 Council (for after this they were no moread- 
 c mitted to his Ma jetties PrefenceJ they were en- 
 4 quired, whether they had in their publick 
 6 Prayers prayed for the warded Minifters, as 
 
 4 Per- 
 
Txn ] 
 
 c Perfons affiiZted, and Sufferers for God's Caufe ? 
 4 Some of them confefTed that they had prayed for 
 4 them, as Perfons in Trouble, and Difirefs : Others, 
 4 that they had commended them to God^ but re~ 
 4 memberd not in what Words. 
 
 4 The 20 of October, they were again brought 
 1 before the Scots Councill, and had the Three 
 4 Queftions delivered to them in Writing - 7 
 4 which they were commanded to anfwer feveral- 
 * ly : Mean while they were difcharged to return 
 4 into Scotland without his Majefties Licenfe, and 
 c prohibited to come towards the Queen and 
 4 Princes Court. The Biihops and others of the 
 c Clergy that affifted them, were permitted to 
 4 return. 
 
 Having thus given a Summary of this eminent 
 Story on one Side, it follows to fee how the other 
 Side relates it. 
 
 No. D. 
 
 Here follows the Account which the Presby- 
 terian Party give of the fame Conference, extra- 
 cted from the Memorials of fome of the Perfons 
 prefent, and from Calderwood's Hiilory of the 
 Church, &c. 
 
 4 Upon the lid of September they were fent 
 4 for to the King, and when they came, they 
 4 were admitted to the Chamber of Prefence, 
 4 where they were courteously received by the 
 4 Bifliop of Canterbury. The King came to the 
 4 Chamber of Prefence, accompanied with the 
 4 Earls of Dumbar and Orknay, Lord Fleemingj 
 4 the Laird of Laureftoun, Sir Thomas Hamil- 
 4 tounthe King's Advocate, Mr. John Spotfwood 
 4 Bifhop of Glafgow, Mr. George Gladftones Bi- 
 4 /hop of St. Andrews , Mr. James Law Bifhop 
 
 P 2 4 of 
 
of Orknay, Mr. James Nicolfon, Mr. ^0&<r* 
 Horns ^ Mr. Patrick Sharp, Mr. Andrew Lamb. 
 None were fufFefed to ftay within, but the 
 Scotifo Counfellors and Minifters, except only 
 that of Montague, who keeped the Door. The 
 King opened up the Caufes, which moved him 
 to write for them, almofl conform to the 
 Tenor of the Proclamation, and the Miflive 
 fent tfrito them. In end, he gathered all his 
 Speeches to two Heads, wherein he faid, he 
 would be through with them for the Peace 
 of the ChurcH. The one about the pretend- 
 ed General AfTembly (fo he termed it) hol- 
 den at Aberdeen, and the Proceedings, which 
 followed thereupon. The other, how there 
 might be an ordinary and peaceable AfTembly 
 holden, to fet all Things in Quietnefs and 
 good Order. They had agreed among thetfi- 
 felves to give no pre fent An Twer, but to take 
 all to Advifement. Mr. James* Melvine was 
 chofen to be their Spokefman. After he had 
 exprefled, in a complementing Manner, their 
 Joy for his Inclination to intertain Peace, &c. 
 he de fired Time to advife^ becanfe his Maje- 
 fty's Letter did bear no Particular, neither 
 heard they of any before that Time. There- 
 after there was much Time fpent, upon fend- 
 ing of CommiiTioners from Presbyteries, after 
 receiving of his Ma jelly's Commiffioners Let- 
 ter, d febargiag any AfTembly to be holden 
 at Aberdeen- Item, upon the Proceedings of 
 the Synod of Fife ; praying for the convi&ed 
 Brethren in Prifon -, and upon Mr. James Mel- 
 vin\ Letter directed to the Synod of Fife. 
 For the prefent they anfwered thus much : 
 Many of the Presbyteries had not received Ad- 
 vertifement before the Day j thefe who had 
 
 * re- 
 
C *n 1 
 
 received, confidering that there were weighti- 
 er Reafons for holding the AfTcmblv, thai) 
 for deferting of it, refofved to fend their 
 Commiflioners to keep the Day appointed by 
 his Majefty the Law {landing, which is the 
 mofl authentick Tellimony that a King can 
 give, as his Majefty himfeif declared in open 
 Aflembly holden at Dundie : For the Enemies 
 were bold and bufie : Many References, Ap- 
 pellations, and other Matters were lying not 
 taken Order with, which could not be order- 
 ed without a General Aflembly. The great- 
 eft Motive was a Fear to lofe the Right and 
 Pofleffion of a General AfTembly, which would 
 expire of it felf, if there were not a fet Day 
 appointed. The Words of the Letter, fent 
 by the Synod of Fife to other Synods, were, 
 in their Judgment, fo conceived, that it could 
 neither prejudice the General Aflembly, nor 
 his Majefty's Royal Power/ nor the Brethren 
 who were in Ward under his Majefty's Mer- 
 cy. They confeffed, they prayed for the im- 
 prifoned Brethren } and profeffed, they could 
 not omit that Duty to their Brethren, which 
 was extended even to Malefactors for their 
 Amendment. As for Mr. James Mdvin\ Let- 
 ter, the King fa id, 1 heard, Mr. James , you 
 wrote a Letter to the Synod of Fife, holden 
 at Conner, where there was much of Chrift, 
 and little good of the King. By God, I 
 trow, ye were raving or mad :, for ye fpeak 
 otherwife now. Was that a charitable Judg- 
 ment ye had of me? Sir, faid Mr. James, I 
 was both fore and fjck in Body, when 1 wrote 
 that Letter-, but fober and found in Mind. 
 1 allured my felf, and the Brethren, thatthefe 
 Articles, a Copy whereof came in my Hands, 
 P 3 c could 
 
[ 214 1 
 
 c could not come from your Majefty, they were 
 fo ilrange. Sundry of the Bifhops and Com- 
 c miffioners of the General Affembly, that were 
 1 prefent, confeflTed, that many wrong Copies 
 c were fent abroad, and fome very odious, 
 c whereof one might have come in Mr. James. 
 c his Hands. The King, refuming the firft two 
 c Heads, willed them to advife upon an An- 
 4 fwer, againft the next Day. 
 
 c They were fcarce entred into their Lodging 
 c at Kingftoun, when they received a Letter 
 1 from Mr. Alexander Hay, Secretary for the 
 c Scotijh Affairs, warning them in the King's 
 c Name to come to Sermon to morrow. So up- 
 c on Tuefday the 23d of September, they went 
 c to Hampton- Court, and fat in the Place ap- 
 c pointed for them in the Chappel, the King 
 1 and Queen being prefent. Do&or Buckerage 
 c taught upon Rom. 13. 1. He joined Pope and 
 c Presbyteries together, diverfe Times, as Ene- 
 
 * iriics to the King's Supremacy. 
 
 c After Dinner, they refolved upon this An- 
 c fwer to the firrlHead, which they appointed 
 1 Mr. James Melvin to deliver. They could not 
 c judge of the Aflembly of Aberdeen, for thefe 
 
 * Reafons. 1. His Majefty had indi&ed by Pro- 
 c clamation a General Ailembly, wherein his 
 
 * Majefty expe&ed a Reparation of all Difor- 
 1 dets, in fo far as belongeth to the Cenfures of 
 c the Church. If they {hould now condemn, or 
 ' refolve, having committed liich a Prejudice, 
 c they could not be heard. They called to Re- 
 c membrance his Majefty's Practice, at the Af- 
 c fernbiy holden at Montr of e, where the Com- 
 1 itfiffionefS of Lothian and Merce were rejecl- 
 c ed, upon the like Ground. 2. Res von erat in- 
 1 tegra, but judged already by the Council : But 
 
4 they would be loath to contradift. 3. The 
 4 Judgment thereof could not appertain to them: 
 
 * Nam cjuis con flit uit eos judices } 4. Put the Cafe 
 4 they could be Judges, and that the Matter 
 4 might be committed to them, they could not 
 4 do it indiSta caufity & reis non citatis nee an- 
 c ditis. But the King took another Courfe, 
 c which was to pofe every one in particular, 
 
 * and fo to catch Advantage, if it were polli- 
 4 ble. 
 
 c The Minifters were fent for after Dinner. 
 c The Prince flood at the King's Jcfc Hand, 
 
 * with the abovenamed Scotijh Noblemen, Coun- 
 4 fellors, Bi (hops, and Commiflioners of the Ge- 
 4 neral Aflembly. The Archbifhop of Canter- 
 L bury flood at the King's right Hand, the Earls 
 4 of Salisbury \ Suffolk, IVorcefter, Nottingham^ 
 4 Northampton y Lord Stennop, Lord Knoliesy and 
 4 fundry other Noblemen. Some Bifhops and 
 4 Deans flood at the Door, behind the Tape- 
 c flry, who now and then difcoverd themfelves. 
 c Mr. Andrew Melvin defired the Earl of Dum- 
 c bar y to requefl his Majeily that the Engliflj 
 4 might be removed, left his Majefty mould of- 
 c fend at any Thing fpoken in a homely Man- 
 4 ner in their Prefence : But it was not granted. 
 c The King, after refuming of the Points left the 
 c J a ft Day, came at laft to be refolved in this 
 c Particular \ whether the Adembly holden late- 
 c ly at Aberdeen, was a lawful AiTembly, or not? 
 c And whether the Proceedings of the Minifters 
 4 at it, and afterward, were justifiable, or not ? 
 1 Mr. George Cladftones, John Spotfwood, James 
 c Law, Andrew Lamb, Bifhops*, Mr. Jame s Ni- 
 c col foiiy Patrick Sbarpe, Robert Howie and Lau- 
 c refloun were firft asked, and anfwercd, they 
 
 c ever damned that Aflembly, and the Proceed- 
 P 4- * fags 
 
[n6] 
 
 c ings of tbefe Brethren, as unlawful. Then 
 c the King demanded at Mr. Andrew Melvin^ 
 4 what fay ye *, whether think ye, that where 
 c a few Number of Eight or Nine do meet, 
 1 without any Warrant, wanting the chief 
 c Members of an AfTembly, as the Moderator 
 1 and Scribe, conveening unmannerly without 
 a Sermon, being alfo difcharged before by o- 
 pen Proclamation, may make an AfTembly, or 
 not ? He anfwered to the fir ft Objection thus - 7 
 That in an AfTembly of the Servants of Chrift, 
 whereof the Number is not prefcribed by a 
 Law, it is not lawful for any to difallow there- 
 of for the Number, feeing two or three (which 
 c is the fmalleft Number) conveened in the 
 Name of Chrift, have the Promife of hisPre- 
 c fence, who is their Lord and Ruler. Befide, 
 c Rarenefs maketh not TJnlawfulnefs in an or- 
 dinary Meeting, eftablifhed by Lav/ and Pra- 
 ( 6tice. Laftly, all that was done, might law- 
 c folly have been done by a fewer Number, au- 
 c thorixed with Commifhon, as they were: For 
 € Continuation requireth not full Conventions. 
 c As for their Warrant, i. They have War- 
 
 * rant from God's Word. 2. Your Majefty's 
 1 Laws. 3. Their Presbyteries fent them in 
 
 * Commiflion to that Effect \ and therefore ap- 
 c proved the prorogating of the Day *, which 
 
 * was all they did : And therefore thcfe Presby- 
 
 * terics were to be blamed, if any thing was 
 
 * doneamifs-, and not the Pevfons, who were 
 1 Executors only of their Presbyteries Will and 
 c Commiflion. To the Second he anfwered, that 
 
 * the Abfence of a Moderator and Clerk were 
 c not de effemla Synodi : And therefore the one, 
 c to wit, Mr. Fatrfck Galloway t the Moderator of 
 
 * the former AfTembly, absenting himfeif * 9 the 
 
 * other, 
 
[*»7 3 
 
 4 other, to wit, Mr. Thomas Nkolfon being pre- 
 4 fent, but craving Leave to be abfent for that 
 
 * Time, becanfe of his weighty Affairs, they 
 4 might create others. in their Places, according 
 4 to the Practice of the Church of Scotland, as 
 1 is to be feen in the Regifter of the General 
 4 Aflembly. To the Third he anfwered, his 
 4 Majefty was mifinformed,: For the ordinary 
 4 Paftor of Aberdeen, to wit, Mr. James Rofs had 
 1 a Sermon before the Meeting. As for the pre- 
 
 * tended Charge, given the Night before, turn- 
 4 ing himfelf to Laurefloun, he faid, I adjure 
 4 thee, in the Name of the Kirk of Scotland,, as 
 4 you will anfwer before the great God, in the 
 4 Day that Chrift fliall appear to judge the 
 4 Quick and the Dead, to declare the Truth, 
 4 and to tell, whether there was any fuch Charge 
 4 given, or not. Laureftoun anfwered not one 
 4 Word. Then the King asked, what Reafons 
 4 he had not to condemn the Minifters. He an- 
 4 fwered, if it pleafe your Majefty to hear, I 
 4 havethefe. i. I am but a private Man, come 
 c upon your Majefty's Letter, without any Com- 
 4 miffion from the Church of Scotland', and 
 4 therefore, feeing nemo confiituit me judicem, I 
 4 cannot take upon me to condemn them. 2. 
 4 Your Ma jelly, by Virtue of your Proclamati- 
 4 on, dated here at Hampton-Court (which he 
 4 then produced) hath remitted their Trial to 
 4 the General Alfembly, expecting Reparation 
 4 of wrongs, if any be done : I cannot therefore 
 4 prejudge^ the Church and Aifembly of my 
 4 Vote there, which if I give now, I mall be 
 4 fure to have my Mouth fhut up then, as by 
 4 Experience I and other Brethren have found 
 4 before. 3. Res efi haftenus judicata by your 
 { Majefty's Council, whether rightly, or not, 
 
 1 that 
 
f «8 ) 
 
 4 that I remit to the Lord the Searcher of aH 
 4 Hearts, before whom one Day they mult ap- 
 * pear, and anfwer for that Sentence : Shall I 
 4 then take upon me to contradict your Maje- 
 4 fly's Council, and their Proceedings ? I think 
 4 your Majefty would not be well content with 
 4 it. Laflly, how can I condemn them indicia 
 4 caufa, not hearing their Accufers objecl ng 
 4 againft them ? This was the Subftance of his 
 4 Anfwer, which he uttered after his own Man- 
 c ner, roundly and freely. Mr. James Balfour^ 
 4 Handing next in Order, was urged to declare 
 4 his Mind. He anfwered in Effect as mr. An- 
 4 drew did. Mr. James Melvine anfwered *, their 
 4 Proceedings are already cenfured by your Ma- 
 4 jetty and Council, wherein I am refolded with 
 4 the Peril to obtemperate, either by Obedience 
 4 or Patience. If your Majefty be plea fed to have 
 4 it farther judged by an AiTembly ofthe Church, 
 4 which is our Wiih, I cannot prejudge the 
 ' Judgment of the Church. If in the mean 
 
 * Time your Majefty will urge me to deliver 
 4 my Judgment of the Matter, according to my 
 4 Confcience \ unlefs the Wrongs done to them, 
 c and given in Writ to your Majefty's Eftates, 
 
 * at the laft Parliament holden at Perth, be con- 
 4 fidered and di feuded, I would not for all the 
 4 World condemn them. A Copy of the 
 1 Wrongs we have earneftly defired of them- 
 c felves, that we might prefent them to your 
 1 Majefty, with this he ftepped forward, and 
 4 delivered them to the King in his Hand. 
 c While the reft were fporting, the King read 
 c them over, and fmiling in discontented Man- 
 4 ner, he laid, he was glad they were given in. 
 { Mr. Robert Wallace followed. He regrated 
 4 fome Delations that were given in againft him, 
 
 c and 
 
F 219 1 
 
 « and then anfwered as the former did. Mr. 
 
 * WillUm Watfon was fharp againft Laurefloun^ 
 1 and laid the Burden of all upon him : But he 
 c never replyed one Word. Mr. WillUm Scot 
 c delivered his Judgment in few Words, agree- 
 c able with thefe that preceeded. The Advo- 
 
 * cate craved Licence of the King to deal with 
 c him : But Mr. William had the upper Hand to 
 c his Shame. Becaufe much Time was fpent, 
 4 Mr. John Carmichael and Mr. Adam Colt were 
 c defired to be fhort. They anfwered in few 
 
 * Words, conform to the reft. Their Harmo- 
 c ny moved the EngHJh and others to Admira- 
 c tion. In end Mr. Andrew Melvin brake out, 
 1 in his own Manner, and plainly avowed the 
 4 Innocency of the Brethren, in alii their Pro- 
 
 * ceedings at Aberdeen- Thereafter he recount- 
 c ed the Wrongs done to them at Linlithgow, 
 1 whereof he was an Ear and Eye- Witnefs. He 
 c laid to the Advocate's Charge his favouring 
 c and fparing of Papifts, his crafty and rnalici- 
 c ous dealing againft the Minifters. So that 
 1 Ktriyop®- rav a,£i\oav could not have done 
 c more againft the Saints of God, then ye did 
 c at Linlithgow againft the Minifters. Ye would 
 c do God and his Majefty better Service, my 
 1 Lord, if you bended your Forces and Speech- 
 * es againft your Uncle Mr. John Hamiltoun a 
 c feminary Prieft, and Mr. Gilbert Broun, Ab- 
 c bot of NewMay, who have infected a great 
 1 Part of the Country with Popery. But thefe 
 c Mens Heads ye have clapped, and fliut up the 
 c faithful Servants ofChriftin Prifon j and (till 
 c ye fhew your felt pojTefTed with the fame 
 c Spirit: For ye think it not enough to have 
 c pleaded againft them in Scotland, with all the 
 4 Cunning and Skill ye had, but ftill continue 
 
r 2 *° ] 
 
 c K$™yo?& rm Mv^** At which Words the 
 King turning him about to the Archbifhop of 
 Canterbury, faid, what is it he faith ? I think 
 he is calling him out of the Revelation Ami- 
 chrlfi \ nay, by God, he calleth him the very 
 Devil. Well bourded, Brother John, faid the 
 
 c King. In end he demanded, what Overture 
 they would give him for the other Point. 
 They anfvvered, their beft Overture was to 
 have a free General AfTembly, by which all 
 Jars would be removed, and quickly quieted. 
 The King rifeth, and they were difmifled, 
 not without great Applaufe of the Englifi,- 
 for their Gravity and Boldnefs in the Caufe 
 
 c of God. The Truth was cleared unto them, 
 which before was obfcured by Mifreports. 
 What was omitted by one, was remembred by 
 another, every one of them having a pretty 
 Space to advife upon his Anfwer. 
 4 When the Minifters were gone out of the 
 Palace, and a little on their Way to King- 
 ftoun, Mr. Alexander Hay fent for them, read- 
 eth to them a Charge from the King, not to 
 return to Scotland, nor to come near the King's, 
 Queen's, or Princes Court, without fpecialLi- 
 
 ' cence and calling for. 
 
 c Upon the 24. of September, M. Alexander Hay 
 
 c willed them to return to Court with all conve- 
 
 * nientfpeed. When they came, he fhewed to 
 f Mr. James Mclvine, that he was directed by his 
 c Majeity to crave his Subfcription to the Sheet 
 c of Paper, which was given-in by him to his 
 c Ma jelly concerning the Caufe, and Manner of 
 c the Delivery. So he gave him it to perufe, 
 c which being done Mr. James wrote the An- 
 
 * fvveiyand Manner of the Delivery of them in. 
 f the Kin-zs Hand. Within an Hour after, the 
 
 < Earle 
 
 / 
 
tttl ] 
 
 * Earle of Glencarne and Mr. John Cordoun came 
 c to them, dire&ed from the King, defiling 
 
 * their Anfwer in Writ, and fubferibed, to his 
 c Queftion •, what the King may do in Matters 
 1 Ecclefiaftical ? And whether or not he had 
 
 * wholly the Power of conveening and difcharg- 
 ' ing of Aflemblies? They craved the Queftion 
 c to be fet down in Writ, and fubferibed as 
 c from his Majefty, and fufficient Time to ad- 
 
 * vife, and fo the Matter deferted at that 
 c Time. 
 
 c Upon the 28. of September, they were again 
 k written for to come to Court. The End was 
 c to hear Doclor Andrews Bifhop of Excefter, 
 who, teaching upon the Tenth of Numbers, 
 difcourfed upon the Two Trumpets, and pro- 
 ved, as he could, the conveening and dis- 
 charging of Councils and Aflemblies to belong 
 toChriftian Kings and Emperours. 
 1 At Supper, they were again warned to be 
 at Court, the Day following by Eight a Clock \ 
 becaufe the Scotift Council was to deal with 
 them. But when they came, they were will- 
 ed by the King's exprefs Command, to come 
 to the King's Chappel, namely Mr. Andrew 
 Melvine and Mr. James Melvine. Mr. James 
 warned Mr. Andrew by the Way, that they 
 were to be trapped, and to have their Pati- 
 ence tried. There they faw the King and 
 Qneen offer at the Altar, whereupon were fet 
 Two Books, Two Baforis, and Two Candle- 
 1 (ticks with Two blind Candles. This was a 
 1 Day folemnly keeped, in Honour of St. Mi- 
 c chaei. A German being pre lent, faid, ego nun- 
 c quam vidi talem cultum : nihil hie prefefto deefi 
 
 * de folenni miffa, prater adurationem confecrati pa- 
 1 nis. Upon the Occafion of this Solerrnkic, 
 
 4 Mr. 
 
[ 12,1 ] 
 
 Mr. Andrew Melvine made the Epigram, for 
 which he was afterward troubled. 
 c That Day afternoon, the Earles of Argile, 
 Glencame^ Orknay, Wigtoun^ Dumbar, the Com- 
 ptroller, the Advocat, the Abbot of Lindor />, 
 Mr. Peter Young, the Laird of Kilfytb conveened* 
 in the Earle of Dumb ar's Lodging. When the 
 Minifters compeared, Dumbar fhewed unto 
 them, that it was his Majefty's Will, that the 
 Council there conveened mould deal with 
 them feverally, and crave their Anfwer to 
 certain Heads, whereunto they prayed them 
 to give clear Anfwers, for Satisfaction of his 
 Majefty, and to go forth, and come in, as they 
 were called on. Mr. James Melvine was firlt 
 called on, and being demanded by the Advo- 
 cat> i. Whether he prayed for the impfi- 
 foned Brethren ? 2. Whether he allowed the 
 holding of the AfTembly at Aberdeen, and the 
 Declinature given in to the Council by them 
 who held it ? 3. Where was his Letter, writ- 
 ten to the Synod of Fyfe, &c He anfwered, I 
 am a free Subject of the Kingdom of Scotland, 
 which hath Laws and Priviledges of their own^ 
 as free as any Kingdome in the World, to 
 which I will ftand. " There have been no Sum- 
 mons la w fully execute againft me. The No- 
 blemen here prefent, and I, am not in our own 
 Countrey. The Charge fuper inqulrendis was 
 declared long (i nee tobeunjuft. I am bound 
 by no Law to accufe my felf, neither to fur- 
 nifh Dittay againft my felf. He defired the 
 Noblemen prefent to remember what they 
 were ^ and to deal with him, howbeit a mean 
 Man, yet as a freeborne Scotsman, as they 
 would be content to be ufed themfelves, that 
 is, according to the Lawes of the Realme of 
 
 \ Scot* 
 
t "3 ] 
 
 Scotland. The Advocat notwithstanding urg- 
 ed him to anfwer, with whom he interchan- 
 ged fome fharp Speeches ;and told him, that 
 howbeit he had not ftudied the Lawes, as he 
 had done, yet he had learned his Logick, and 
 taught it in the Schooles. Will ye not daigne 
 his Majefty with an Anfwer? faid Dumbar. 
 With all Reverence, faid Mr. James, if I 
 might know the Queftion, and have Time to 
 advife upon a good Anfwer. Ye fhall have 
 that, faid Dumbar? and defired him to give 
 in his Supplication, which the Minifters im- 
 prifoned had fent to the King, which Mr. 
 James delivered unto hira, and intreated him 
 to prefent it to the King, and to aflift it. He 
 was removed, and the reft were called on by 
 Courfe. At laftMr. Andrew Melvine was call- 
 ed, and told them plainly, they knew not 
 what they were doing , they had degenerated 
 from the ancient Nobilitie of Scotland, who 
 were wont to hazard their Lives and Lands, 
 for the Freedom of their Countrey, and the 
 Gofpel, which they were betraying and over- 
 turning* Night drawing on they were dif- 
 mifled. 
 
 4 Upon the Thirty of September, they were a- 
 gain called on to Sermon. Do&or King had a 
 raoft virulent Invective againft the Presbyteries^ 
 crying to the King, down, down with them. 
 4 Upon the Second of October, the Eight Mini- 
 fters were again called before the Scotifh Coun- 
 cellours. Three Articles were delivered to 
 them in Writ, whereunto they were called to 
 give Anfwer in Writ, every one of them feve- 
 rally ; and to take as.much Time to advife, as 
 they pleafed, and indeed the chief Drift was 
 to drive Time, till the Convention at Linllth- 
 
C "4 J 
 
 * gow were paft. It was permitted to them to 
 4 go where they pleafed, provided they went 
 4 not far from Court, and made the Place of 
 4 their Abode known, that they might be found, 
 4 when it pleafed his Majefty. The Tenor of 
 4 the Articles, fubfcribed by Mr. Alexander Hay 7 
 4 here followeth. 
 
 4 i. Whether they had not tranfgreiTed their 
 4 Dntie, in making publick Prayers for the Bre- 
 
 * thren in Ward, as being afflicted : And are 
 4 willing to crave his Majefty's Favour for the 
 4 fame } feing their faid Brethren abide in ward 
 
 * for juft Caufes, and by a juft Sentence of a law- 
 
 * ful Judge, ftanding unquarrelled and unreduc'd ? 
 4 2. Whether they acknowledge his Majefty by 
 
 * the Authoritie of his Prerogative Royal, as a 
 4 Chriftian King, to have lawful and full Power 
 4 to convocat, prorogat, and caufe defert, upon 
 4 jnft and neceffare Caufes known to him, the Af- 
 4 femblies of the Kirk, within his Ma jetty's Do- 
 4 minions. 
 
 4 3. If his Majefty by his Authoritie Royal, 
 4 hath not fufficient and lawful Power to call, 
 4 and conveen before him and his Councel, 
 4 whatfoever Perfon or Perfons, Civil or Ecclefi- 
 4 aftical, for whatfoever Faults, and give Sen- 
 4 tence thereanent ? And if all his Majefty's 
 4 Subje&es be aftri&ed to compear before his 
 4 Majefty and Councel, to anfwer, acknowledge 
 4 and obey his Majefty and Councels Judgment, 
 4 in the faid Offences ? i.Otlober 1606. 
 
 1 The Articles abovewritten, appointed by his 
 4 Majefty's Councel to be delivered out of 
 4 my Hand to the Minifters abovemention- 
 4 ed, by his Majefty's fpecial Commandment. 
 
 c Alexander Hay. 
 
 c Upon 
 
( 225 ) 
 
 4 Upon the Fourth of November, Mr. William 
 4 Scot and Mr. John Carmichael went to Weftmin- 
 4 fter, and conferred with Mr. James NiMlfon, 
 c whom they found to be a Man far changed, and 
 4 refolved to accept the Bifhoprick of Dunhldcn, 
 4 bought to him by the King from Mr. Feter 
 4 Rollock for Twenty Thoufand Pounds. They 
 4 delivered to him their Anfwers to the Three 
 c * Articles, and with all their Grievance, which 
 4 the King defired them to give-up. They a- 
 4 greed in Subftance } howbeit fome were more 
 c ample than others. Mr. James Melvine an- 
 4 fwered thus. 
 
 4 With all Submilfion, Humilitie and Reve- 
 4 rence to the King's Ma jefty, and with all hearty 
 4 Affe&ion to his Grandour, James Melvine gi- 
 4 veth Anfwer to the Queftions proponed by his 
 4 Majefty's moft honourable Councel. 
 
 l . c I cannot conceive a Tranfgreflion of Dutie, 
 4 in praying for our Brethren, the Command and 
 4 Warrant being fo clear in the Word of God, i 
 c Tim. 2. i. i John 5. l6 f Heb. 13. 3. And if I 
 
 * could conceive any ; proftrat at his Majefty's 
 
 * Feet, I would molt willingly crave Pardon 
 4 and Favour. 
 
 2. c The Lawes of the Realme, the Judg- 
 4 ment, Pra&ice and Conftitution of our Kirk 
 4 are clear hereanent •, and if there remaine any 
 4 doubt, let it be refolved in the next General 
 4 Afiembly, to the which by the whole Synod 
 4 it is referred. 
 
 3- c The Third is Civil, for the moft Part 
 c of many Interrogations % and cannot therefore 
 4 be (imply anfwered :, and if to be doubted o£ 
 c it is to be refolved by Lawyers and the E- 
 4 ftates of the Realme. And as for judging of 
 4 Minifters in Matters meerly Spiritual or Ec- 
 
 S < do- 
 
( 2*6 ) 
 
 * clefiaftical, fuch as concerne their Calling, and 
 Points of their Miniftrie, which they have of 
 
 1 and in Chrift Jefus, and of his Kirk allanerly, 
 c together with the Jurifdiction of the Kirk, 
 1 what it is, and how it differeth from the Jurif- 
 fc di&ion and Power of Civil Magiftrats, the 
 
 * Statutes of the Realme, the Judgment, Pra- 
 c dice and Conftitutions of our Kirk, the Kings 
 ' Majefty's Declaration at Linlithgow, and at di- 
 c verfe General Aflemblies, are molt clear and 
 1 evident -, to which I Hand, till God teach my 
 1 Confcience better. Protefling before that great 
 1 God of Heaven and Earth, that if I thought it 
 1 not a Sinne againft Chrift, the Lord of Lords, 
 4 and King of Kings, and fomoft dangerous to 
 c the Kings Majefty's Perfon, Crown and Eftate, 
 c to afcribe and give any farther to him, there is 
 c none living would be glader, according to his 
 1 Abilitie, for avouching, maintaining and ftand- 
 
 * ing for the fame to the uttermoft, than poor 
 
 * Jai.es Melvine. 
 
 No. E. 
 The firft Com miflion of the King, called, The 
 High Commiffon. 
 
 James, by the Grace of God, King of Great Bri- 
 tain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, to 
 our Lovits, &c. Meffeno-ers, our Sheriffs in that Part 
 conjunctly and fever ally, fpeci ally conftitute, greeting. 
 For fame ekle as Complaint being made to us, in the 
 Behalf of the Miniftry of this our Kingdom, that the 
 frequent Advocat ions, yur chafed by fuch as were either 
 erroneous in Religion, or fcandalous in Life, not only 
 difc our aged the Miniftry from c en fur ing of Vice ', but 
 emboldened the Offenders to continue in their Wick- 
 $dnefs, ufing thfir Advocations as a Mean to delaf 
 
 and 
 
( 227 ) 
 
 and dif appoint both Trial and Punifhment : We, fir 
 efchewing of this inconvenient , and that the Number 
 of trite Profeffors may be known to increafe, the An- 
 tichriftian Enemie and his Grouth fuppreffed, and all 
 forts office, and fcandalous Life puniflied ', and that . 
 neither Iniquitie, nor Delay of Trial and Punifiment, 
 be left by this fubt erf uge, or difc our aging of Ecclefi- 
 aftical Cenfures to proceed, in Tilings fo meet and pro- 
 per for them, have, out of ourDutie to God, and Love 
 to his Kirk, being the Nouriffi-Father of the fame in 
 Earth, within our Dominions, given Power and Com- 
 mijfion to the Reverend Father in God, and our truflie 
 and welbeloved Counfellour George Archbifhop of St. 
 Andrews, Primat and Metropolitan of our King- 
 dom, and to our right truflCufvne and Coun feller Alex- 
 ander Earle of Dumfermline Lord high Chancellour 
 of this our Kingdom, George Earle of Dumbar Trea- 
 furer, George Earle Marchal, John Earle of Mar, 
 John Earle of Montrofe, Patrick Earle of King- 
 home, to the Reverend Fathers in God, Alexander 
 Bifhop of Dunkelden, Peter Bifhop of Aberdeen, 
 Alexander Bijhop of Murray, Andrew Bifhop of 
 Brechon, David Biflwp of Rofs, George Bifoop of 
 Dumblane, Alexander Blfliop of Cathnefs, and 
 James Bifhop of Orknay: To our trufiie Cufms and 
 Coun fe Hours Lord Lindfey, Simon Lord 
 
 Frazer of Lovat, David Lord of Scoone -, and to 
 our truflie and welbeloved Counfellours Mr. John 
 Preftoun of Pennicook Prefident of our Colledge of 
 Jufiice, Sir Richard Cockburne of Clerk ingtoun 
 Knight Lord Privie-Seal, Sir Alexander Hay 
 Knight our Secretarie, Sir James of 
 
 Kingaskon Comptroller, Sir Thomas Hammiltoun 
 of Binning Knight our Advocate, and to. our lovit Sir 
 David Carnegie of Kinnard Knight 
 Dundas of that Ilk, Alexander Iruing &/Drumme 7 
 Ramfey of Balmaine, Mr. John 
 S 2 Ar- 
 
( 228 ) 
 
 Arthure, Mr. Thomas Henrifon, Mr. Adam 
 king and Mr. James Bannatine Commiffars ofiL- 
 dinburgh, Mr. John Weemes Commiffar of St. An- 
 drews^ Mr. James Mar tine Reel or of the Vniverfi- 
 iie of St. Andrews, Mr. Robert Howie Principal 
 of the new Co/ledge there, Mr. David Monipennie 
 Dean of Faculties Mr. Patrick Galloway, Mr. John 
 Hall, Mr. Peter Hcvvat, Mr. John Mitchelfon, 
 Mr. Robert Wilkie, Mr. John Strauchan, Mr. 
 Andrew Leitch, Mr. Henry Phillip, Mr. Arthure 
 Futhie, and Mr. Patrick Lindfey Minifter s, or to 
 Any Five of them, the Archbiflwp being always one y 
 •within the whole Bounds of the Province of St. An- 
 drews. And to the Reverend Father in God, and 
 our truftie and we Ibe loved Coun feller John Archbi- 
 fiop o/Glafgow, Alexander Earle of Dumfermrline, 
 George Earle 0/Dumbar, John Eaie of CafTils, 
 James Earle 0/Glencarne, John Earle of Wig- 
 toun, James Earle of Abercorne \ and to the Re- 
 verend Fathers in God Gawin Bifnop of Galloway, 
 John Bifliop of Argyle, Andrew BiJJjop of the lies ; 
 and to our truftie Confine and Counfellour Walter 
 Ztfr^o/Blantire, and to our Lovits Mr. John Ar- 
 thure, Mr. Thomas Henrifon, Mr. Adam King, 
 Mr. James Bannatine Commiffars of Edinburgh, 
 David Forfyth Commiffar of Glafgow, Mr. James 
 Halyday Commiffar of Dumfreis, Mr. John Hatn- 
 miltoun Commiffar of Hammiltonn, Mr. J. Ham- 
 miltonn, Commiffar 0/Lancrk, Sir George Eldhin- 
 Itoun of Eafbvood Knight, Mr. Patrick Sharpe 
 Trinciptl of the Colledge 0/Glafgow, Mr. William 
 Birnie Minifter at Lanerk, Mr* John Hay Parfon 
 of Ranfrew, Mr. James Hammikoun Dean of 
 Glafgow, Mr. David sharpe, and David Walkin- 
 fhaw Subdcan of Glafgow, Mr. Thomas Ramfey 
 Minifter at Dumfreis, Mr. John Bell Minifter at 
 Glafgow, and Mr. Walter Stewart Minifter at 
 er any Five of them, the [aid Arch- 
 
 bifhop 
 
( 229 ) 
 
 hifhop being always one, within the whole Bounds of 
 the Province o/Glafgow^To call before them, at fuch 
 Times and Places as they jli all think meet, any Per [on- 
 er Pcrfons, dwelling or remaining within their Pro- 
 vinces refpeflive abovewritten, of St. Andrews or 
 GlafgOW, or within any Diodes of the famine, being 
 Offenders either in Life or Religion, whom they held 
 any ways to be fcandalous ; and that they take Trial 
 of the fame, and if they find them guilt ie and impeni- 
 tent, refufing to acknowledge their Offences , they fhall 
 give Command to the Preachers of that Parijh where 
 they dwell, to proceed with the Sentence of Excommu- 
 nication againfi them, which if it be protracted or de- 
 layed, and if their Command by that Minifier be 
 not prefently obeyed, they Jliall conveen any fuch M ; - 
 nifier before them, and proceed in cenfuring of him 
 for his Dif obedience, either by Sufpenfion, Deprivati- 
 on, or Warding, according as in their Difcretion 
 they fhall hold his Obftinacie, and refufe of their Di~ 
 rettion, to have deferved. And farther, to fine at 
 ther Difcretion s, imprifon or ward any fuch Perfons , 
 who being convifbed before them, they fhall finde upon 
 Trial to have deferved any fuch Punifhment : And a 
 Warrant under the Hand of any Five abovenamed^ 
 of every Province refpetlive abovewritten, the faid 
 Archbifljop of the Province being one, fhall ferve for a 
 fufficient Command for the Captains, Conftables of our 
 Wards and Cafiles, and to all Keepers of Ales andPri- 
 fons, either in Burgh, or hand, in any Part of the Pro- 
 vinces refpetlive abovewritten, for receivingand detain- 
 ing fuch Per fons, as Jliall be unto them diretled to be keep- 
 ed by them, in fuch Form as by the faid Warrant pall 
 be prefcribed, as they will anfwer upon the ccntraire 
 at their Perils : And of all fuch Fines, as jliall be im- 
 pofed upon any Offender, the onejialf to pertain to Our 
 felf, and the other Half to be employed upon fuch ne- 
 teff art Things, as our J aid Commiffiomrs foall be for- 
 
 ce* 
 
( 2?° ) 
 
 ced unto, by charging of Parties and Witnejfes to 
 compear before them, and the fuperplus to be befiowed 
 at the Sight of the f aid Commiffioners, by Difiribution 
 among the Poor : Commanding the Lords of our Privie 
 Council, upon Sight of any Certificate, fubfcribed by 
 any Five of the faid Commiffioners within every Pro- 
 vince, as faid is, the faid Archbifoop of the Province 
 being one, either of any Fine impofed by them upon WT 
 \ny Party compearing, and found guilt ie } or of the 
 Contumacie and Refufal of any to compear before them, 
 that the faid Lords of our Privie Council direct a 
 fummar Charge of homing upon Ten Days only '-, and 
 that no Sufpenfton, nor Relaxation be granted, with- 
 out firfl a Tefiificat under the Hand of the Archbi- 
 fhop of the Province, containing the Obedience and 
 Satisfaction of the Partie charged, be produced* And 
 in Cafe of farther Difobedience or Rebellion of the 
 Partie, who Ji ball be charged for his Fine, or not Com- 
 pearance, the faid Lords of our Councel are then to 
 profccute the mofi flritt Qrder, as is ufual againfi 
 Rebels for any Caufe whatfomever \ with Power to 
 our faid Commiffioners to proceed herein : As alfo t& 
 take trial of all Perfons, that have made Defection^ 
 or otherwife are fufpected in Religion j and as they 
 find any jufi Caufe againfi them, to proceed in Man- 
 ner for ef aid. And alfo whenfoever they fhall learn 
 or under fiand of any Minifier, Preacher, or Teacher 
 of Schools, Colledges, or Vniverfities, or of exhorting 
 or lecturing- Readers, within thefe Bounds, whofe 
 Speeches in publick have been impertinent, and againft 
 the eftablified Order of the Kirk, or againfi any of the 
 Conclufions of the bypafl General Affemblies, or in 
 favour of any of thofe, who are banifhed, warded, or 
 confined for their contemptuous Offences } which being 
 no Matter of Doctrine, and fo much idle Time fpent 
 without Jnflruction of their Auditorie in their Salva- 
 tion, ought fo much the more fevcrely to be punijhed ', 
 
 in 
 
in Regard that they are Minifters, who of all others 
 jhould [fend leafi idle Talk, and facially in the Chair 
 of Veritie : And therefore after the calling of them 
 before the [aid Commiffioners ^hey are to be queftion- 
 ed and tried upon the Points of that which is laid a- 
 gainft them, and funijlied according to the Qualitie 
 of their Offence : And whereas Complaint fljall be 
 made unto them by any Partie, that fljall be conveen- 
 ed before any Ecclefiaftical Judicatories for any fuch 
 Crime as he fi)all be then fufpetted of, or that the Par* 
 tie doth alledge always the Matter it felf to be im- 
 proper to their Judicatories or the Proceeding to have 
 been informal, or that the Judicatorie it felf hath 
 been too partial , and when the Commiffioners fljall fee 
 any j uft Caufe,they are then to take Trial and Cogni- 
 tion thereof themf elves, and to dif charge the faid ju- 
 dicatorie of all farder Proceeding' Giving Power al- 
 fo to the faid Commiffioners to make Choice of a Clerk, 
 and other Members of Court ', and to direct Pre- 
 cepts in Name of the faid Archbifhop and his Affoci- 
 ates within every Province, for Citation of any Par- 
 ties before them, within the Bounds of the faid Pro- 
 vinces, in any of the faid Caufes abovementioned , 
 which Precepts to be fealed with a fpecial Seal, con- 
 taining the Acmes of the faid Bifljoprick. Giving 
 alfo Power to charge Witneffes to compear before 
 them, under the Pain of Fourtie Pounds Scottifh 
 Money , and upon the Certifcat of the faid Commif- 
 fioners, that any of the faid Penalties are incurred by 
 them, the faid Lords of our Councel are to direct the 
 like Charges for Payment of the fame, as is appointed 
 for the Fines, as in the faid Commiffion pa ft our great 
 Seal, containing diver fe other Heeds, Claufes, Arti- 
 cles and Conditions, and bearing Date at our Court 
 at Royftoun the 20. Bay of January laft, at length 
 is contained ', whereof neceffare it is that Publication 
 be made to all our Lieges, that none pretend Ignorance 
 
 thereof 
 
( 2*2 ; 
 
 thereof. OVR WILL IS here fore, and we 
 charge you firaitly, and command, that incontinent 
 thefe our Letters feen, ye pafs to the faid Burrowes, 
 within the Provinces abovewritt en, and there by open 
 Proclamation that ye make Publication of the Pre- 
 miffes, that none pretend Ignorance. And alfo that 
 ye, in our Name and Authorities command and 
 charge all our Lieges and Subjects to reverence and 
 ebey our faid Com) niffioners, in all and every 'thing 
 tending to the Execution of this our Commiffion, and 
 to do nothing to their Hinder or Prejudice, as they 
 and each one of them will anfwer to Z)s and our Coun- 
 cel, upon their Obedience at their highefi Charge 
 and Peril. The which to do, &C. Given under our 
 Signet at Edinburgh, the Fifteen of Februar, and 
 of our Reigne the 47* tear 1610. 
 
 Per A&um Secreti Concilij. 
 
 PART 
 
tiJ7 3 
 
 Part III. 
 
 O F T H E 
 
 CHURCH 
 
 I N H E R 
 
 Persecuted State. 
 
 Ifhop Spotfwood in his Hiftory of Scot- 
 land fays, That the VERSECVTION 
 of Dioclefian, was a great means to 
 farther the firft Propagation of the 
 GOSPEL m Scotland ; which 
 Perfecution being bat in the South 
 Parts of B R IT A 1 N y it brought a great many 
 CHRISTIANS, as well Preachers as Pro- 
 fejfors^ into Scotland^ where they were kindly 
 received by Kin.-; Cratllintb y and the Ifle of Man 
 given them for their Retreat, where he ere&ed 
 a magnificent Church, and called it, THE 
 TEMPLE OF OVR SAriOVR. 
 This is fa id to be in the Year, 2-77. 
 
 T Like 
 
I «}8] 
 
 Like Inftances might be found in all the 
 Tra&s of Antiquity from thence to the prefent 
 Time, where Perfecution has fpread and eftabliih'd 
 the True Religion *, but no where fo eminently, as 
 the Perfeeutions of PRESBTTER IANS 
 has done in Scotland. 
 
 It was with Refpeft to the feveral Troubles, 
 Divifmns, Wars, and Interruptions, which the 
 Eftabliihment of the Church of Scotland met 
 with, even in her moft rlourifhing Condition, 
 that the la ft Part of this Work was calfd, The 
 growing Eft ate of the Church, 
 
 I would have been very well pleafed to have i 
 call'd it, The compleat, or fimjh'd State, and to 
 have reprefented the Church in the Perfection of 
 her Defires ; arriv'd to the Top of her own Views, 
 and in the full Enjoyment of her juft Privileges, 
 fupported by her own Power, and the Majefty of 
 her Conftitution. 
 
 But the Divine Wifdom which has always 
 thought fit to exercife his Church with Tribu- 
 lation and Affliction, as the beft Foundation 
 whereon to build her temporal Eftabliihment, 
 had otherwife cletermin'd-, and all that Strength 
 which the Church of Scotland had gain'd in the 
 Jhort Intervals of Peace which ihe had enjoy'd, 
 in the laft Period of her Circumftances, was 
 little enough to carry her thro' the fiery Tryal 
 ihe had now to endure. 
 
 No fooner was the Reftoration of K. Charles II. 
 brought to pafs in England, but the Enemies of 
 the Church of Scotland began to lift up their 
 Heads, and the black Cloud which did but ho- 
 ver over them , as it were for a while , and 
 threaten'd them with Deftruttion, being big 
 with Storms and furious Thunders, broke upon 
 them all at once. 
 
 There 
 
C t?9 3 
 
 There had fome Things pafs'd in the Englijt) 
 Parliament, which had deeply affe&ed the Peo- 
 ple of Scotland, and had given them a clear View 
 of what they were to expeft, tho' it was not yet 
 fallen upon them, and this is what I mean by 
 the black Cloud which hover'd over them for 
 a while. 
 
 Thefe were ( i ) The declaring the Solemn 
 League and Covenant to be unlawful, and obliging 
 all People who held any Office, &c. to fubfcribe 
 to the ikid Declaration, 13 Car. 2, cap. 1. (2) The 
 Act. of Vniformity, and by which the Epifcopal 
 H ierarchy in England was reftored, and the Mi- 
 nifters who would not conform to the Liturgy 
 and Ceremonies of the Church of England before 
 Bartholomew Day, 1662, were depriv'd of their 
 Livings, 1 3 Car. 2 , cap. 1 1 . 
 
 Thefe were Preludes to what was to be ex- 
 petted in Scotland, and yet albeit, the A&s in 
 England were made before thofe in Scotland, yet 
 the Privy Council or Council of State in Scotland, 
 took upon them to begin with the Presbyterians 
 as loon, or rather fooner, than the Parliament in 
 England began there : So that the Church of 
 Scotland law early what they had to expect, j and 
 thus we are led, without any other Need of In- 
 troduction, into the Hiftory of Faft. 
 
 When the King was reftor'd, the Church of 
 Scotland was in its beft and fulleft Poffemon of 
 Legal Power. The Profeffors of the Presbyterian 
 Do&rine, had by their Adherence to the Royal 
 Family, laid in as good a Loan of Obligation 
 upon the Generofity of the King, as any Party in 
 their Circumftances could have done : And if 
 but the Intereft of that Debt had been paid, or, 
 if Gratitude had been the Faihion of the Times, 
 they had lbme Reaion to expect, a little Con- 
 fideration to be had for them. 
 
 T % And 
 
• C 140 ] 
 
 It was indeed upon fome Expe&ation of fuch a 
 Return, that immediately, on the firft News of 
 the King's Refto ration, the Minifters in Conjun- 
 ction with fome of the Nobility and Gentry, re- 
 folv'd to prefent a Paper to him, which was 
 called , A Monitory Supplication. It was a new 
 Term, perhaps, made for the Occafion : And 
 they did the Presbyterians much Wrong, who told 
 King Charles, that it was a Minatory Supplication ; 
 for the Contents of it prove the contrary, which 
 are too long for the Brevity of this Tratt, but 
 in a Word, is contained as follows, 
 
 LA very hearty and folemn Congratulation 
 of his Ma jetty's Reftoration to the Throne 
 of his Anceftors, recognizing his Right, and 
 extolling the Goodnefs of God, in returning 
 him to his People, praying, that it may be 
 a Blefling to his Majefty and the whole Na- 
 tion, and affuring him of their ready and 
 dutiful SubmiiTion to his Authority. 
 
 II. Reminding his Majefty with great Humi- 
 lity of his C O V E N ANT Engagement, 
 mark that, to God, and the Nation, and his 
 folemn Promiles to put forward the Work of 
 RE FOR MAT 10 N in the Kingdom, as 
 the only Thing in which his Majefty might 
 expecl: the Blefling of God upon his Reign 
 and upon his People. 
 
 This Supplication was never prefented, nay, it 
 was not fign'd by many of the Perfons who had 
 promoted and recommended it : But while it was 
 a meer Embrio the Council of State fent 
 their Officers, and as if it had been an Aft of 
 Rebellion, furpriz'd and feiz'd upon fuch as they 
 
 hai 
 
C 141 ] 
 
 had Information were concerned in it, and clapt 
 them in Prifon, having no other Pretence againft 
 them but this Supplication, which they told them, 
 was feditious, and tended to dilquiet the Mind* 
 of the Leiges, and render his Majeity's Govern- 
 ment uneafie to them. Moft of thofe they feiz'd 
 upon were Eminent Minifters. 
 
 It wasalledged by the Perfons that were thus 
 taken up, That there was no Law against fuppli- 
 cating their Prince, a?id that where there wm no Law 
 there could be no Tranfgreffion -, that they had not 
 atted unpeaceably or undutifully to his A1:.i]cfty in any 
 Thing, and defied to know upon what Law they were 
 committed to Prifon : The Council let them know, 
 no other Law at that Time but their Arbitrary 
 Pleafure, againft which the poor Gentlemen had 
 no Remedy but Submiihon. 
 
 And this was the flrft Article of Perfecution 
 in that Reign (viz..) Imprifoning without a Law, a 
 Thing they reduc'd into a moil general Practice 
 p relent ly after. 
 
 The Government themfelves acknowledged 
 the Injustice of this afterwards by procuring an 
 Unrighteoufs Law, to be made to take away the 
 Subjects Liberty of Petitioning the Sovereign, 
 declaring it Unlawful and Seditious, V7d. 2 Sejf. 
 of the 2d Parliament of King Charles 2. AEb. 2, 
 by which Aft, even Prisoners were deny'd the 
 Liberty to Petition for their Deliverance \ nay, 
 or a Condemned Perfon for his Pardon, or hi* 
 Life -, a cruelty fcarce heard of in any Nation 
 before j which made many good People after- 
 wards endure the moft intolerable Cruelties in 
 their Imprifonment, for fear of having them 
 Doubled by the Crime of Petitioning for Mercy : 
 But this was but the beginning of the; AHlifti- 
 ens of the Church of Scotland. 
 
 T 3 In 
 
t 142 ] 
 
 In the beginning of the Year 1661 . the Firft 
 parliament of King Charles 11. Sate down, and 
 that they might lay a Ground Plot of that 
 Bloody Perfecution, which they had refolv'd to 
 raife, fo they immediately applied themfelves 
 to make fuch Laws, and make void fiich already 
 made, as they well knew would be intollerable 
 to the Presbyterians : They knew , the Presby- 
 terians would neither obey the one or bear the 
 other, and confequently would render them- 
 felves obnoxious to the Penalties and Puniihment 
 of thole Laws, and give the People in Power a 
 fufficient Pretence for falling upon them, with all 
 that Violence and Inhumanity, which they had 
 refolv'd to treat them with. 
 
 To bring the Account into fome Method, it 
 will be needful at once to give a Detail of thefe 
 Perfecuting Laws, as they came to be made, or 
 at leaft of fo many of them, as were made upon 
 thefe * Occafions : And this I mall do in Order 
 to enter into the Hiftory of the Suffering of 
 the People in the Confequence of thofe Laws, 
 the more regularly : And this Method 1 mall 
 repeat again, as other and fubfequent Laws 
 were made for the like purpofes. 
 
 Some of the feveral New Laws, made after 
 the Reftoration, which were the beginning of 
 the periecution were as follows. 
 s 1 • Aft Impofeiiig the Oath of Supremacy : This 
 was direftly contrary to the Presbyterian Principle, 
 Note , This was the very firft Aft pa is'd after 
 the Reftoration, and it was call'd the Oath 
 of Allegiance, only to render the refufing 
 it the more odious, but it contained alfo 
 the Oaths of Supremacy in exprefs Words, 
 and withcu: the Antient Limitations for- 
 merly granted, j, AB. 1. Par. K. Char. 2, 
 
 2. Aft 
 
C 14? ] 
 
 2. Aft Obliging all People in Office, to ac- 
 knowledge the Prerogative o f the King, Note, 
 this was in iuch Terms, as they had then ad- 
 vanc'd ^ above and againft all former Engage- 
 ments , and which they knew Confcientious 
 People could not comply with. 
 
 . 3 Aft Declaring Void, and Diffolving the 
 Obligation of the Solemn League and Covenant. 
 This the Nation having Sworn to, the good 
 People could not be convinc'd, that an Ad of 
 Parliament could difpence with the Obligation 
 of their Oath, in the Sight of God - and there- 
 fore chofe Death, rather than comply with it, 
 Par. I. Seff. I. Afi. I I. Car. I I. 
 
 4. Aft Declaring the National Covenant, to 
 be an Unlawful Oath, and that the fame is not 
 of any Force to bind thofe that have taken it. 
 Par. 1 . Seff. 2. AB. 2. Cha. 1 1 . 
 
 5. An Aft not of Parliament, but of Coun- 
 cil, to burn both the faid Covenants, by the 
 Hand of the common Hangman. 
 
 6. Aft to reftore Epifcopacy in Scotland: 
 Striking at the Root of the Presbyterian Church, 
 and Overthrowing all the Settlement and Efta- 
 bliihment of the faid Church at one blow. 
 
 Firft Aft of the Second Seffion of the firfl 
 Parliament of King Charles 1. Anno 1662. 
 
 It may be truly faid, that fome of thefe Afts 
 not only furpriz'd the Presbyterians^ but even 
 fill'd the whole Nation with Horror, partly at 
 the Unheard of Attack made upon the Solem- 
 nity of the National Covenant,whichmoft People 
 there Efteem'd Sacred, and wondred how their 
 Temporal Power, or indeed any Power upon 
 Earth could take upon them to Difcharge the 
 People of the Obligation of an Oath} and partly 
 
 T 4 kt 
 
C 144 3 
 
 at the Dreadful Things, which they evidently 
 forefuv would be the Coniequence of fuch Pro- 
 ceedings. 
 
 It is not my bufmefs here to enter into the 
 Queftion, whether the Parliament could difpence 
 with the Obligation of this Oath or no,much lefs 
 will I offer ,till I fee the Affirmative better proved, 
 to Condemn the Opinion of thofe, who think 
 the Nation of Scotland guilty by that Aft of a 
 mcft horrid National Perjury. 
 
 Having gone this length on the one Side, let 
 us fee what Courfe the poor People took, who 
 were to fuffer for the lean: Step they took in 
 Oppofmg thefe furious Proceedings. 
 
 The firft Thing I find which the Government 
 laid any hold on, was the Minifters Preaching 
 againft them : This was the leaft Thing they 
 could expect, and yet for fome Time was the 
 greateft Oppofition they met with, and which 
 way to deal with this they hardly knew j for it 
 would feem exceeding Tyrannical , to Attack 
 the Minifters for Words Ipoken in their Pulpits, 
 which it would be hard to afcertain, and againft 
 which there was yet no Law : Beiides having put 
 fb many hardihips already upon them, it leem'd 
 very unlikely , but thele lofers would have 
 leave to fpeak, and very hard to deny it. 
 
 But they foon got over this : and being re- 
 folv'd to ule no Ceremony, but to fall upon the 
 Kirk by all the violent Methods they could De- 
 vile, they publifhed a Proclamation, Difcharge- 
 ing as they call it, that is, prohibiting and for- 
 biding Every one to /peak against the Proceedings of 
 the State. 
 
 This open'd a Door to fall upon the 
 Minifters, for many of them being Zealous for 
 the Reformation* and for the Covenant, which 
 
 they 
 
C H5 3 
 
 they believed was an Oath of God, and could 
 not be Diilblv'd by Man , could not therefore 
 in Confcience but declare againft the Attempt 
 made in the aforefaid Law, to fet up the Power 
 of Man, to difpenfe with the Authority of God: 
 For maintaining this and oppofing the A£fc ot 
 the Kings Supremacy, a Thing which they 
 believ'd was no lei's than a Rebellion againft the 
 Regal Authority of Chrift Jefus, the only Head 
 and Government of his Church •, Many of the 
 Minifters were Imprifon'd, and fome without 
 Hearing, or leave given them to make their De- 
 fence were lndi&a Caufa,Sentenc , d to Banifliment. 
 The Number of thefe was Seven at one Time, 
 they were not indeed lent or Tranfported to any 
 particular Place into Slavery, as was afterwards 
 praftiled. But they were obliged by Sentence, 
 to quit the Country in a certain Time, upon 
 pain of Death, and never to return upon the 
 like Penalty ^ and accordingly they took Ship- 
 ping for Holland, to the great Grief of their 
 Flocks, who mourned for the lofs of them, 
 being left deftitute as Sheep without a Shepherd \ 
 but one was fingled out from the reft to bear his 
 Teftimony againft them in another manner \ this 
 was Mr. James Guthrie the Troto-Martyr of this 
 Perfecution, who was Condemn'd to Death, and 
 accordingly was Hang'd at Edinburgh as a Tray- 
 tor } whole Behaviour during his Impriibn- 
 ment and Tryal , before thofe Tyrannical 
 Judges, and afterwards at the place of Execu- 
 tion, might have convinc'd them , that the 
 Blood of thefe Men, would be the Seed of the 
 Church of Scotland, and that Torments and 
 Death, would not weaken the Caufe of Religion 
 in Scotland, or advance them one ftep towards 
 the Conqueft they aim'd at, 
 
 Having 
 
C 146] 
 
 Having now Tafted Blood, their Fury feem'd 
 to encreafe, and now in Coniequence of the Aft 
 for reftoring Prelacy mentioned before, they 
 advanc'd fuch Principles as they knew were di- 
 reftly contrary to the Presbyterian Doftrine, and 
 fuch as they knew no Bonds, no Affliftion, no 
 nor Death it felf, would ever bring them to 
 comply with. 
 
 Thefe were, 
 
 1. A Declaration in the Preamble to the Aft 
 for Eftablifhing Epifcopacy, fignifying, that the 
 Difpofal of the Government of the Churchy is in 
 the King, as an Inherent Right of the Crown. 
 
 2. Depriving the Church of the Freedom of 
 Galling and Chufing their own Paftors : This was 
 included in an Aft for reftoring Patronages. 
 
 3. Difpoffeffing the Minifters, who would not 
 Conform to Epifcopocy, and this without Legal 
 Profecution, by a meer Aft of Council, pafs'd in 
 October, 1662. 
 
 I think it is very necefTary to fet down thefe 
 fir ft Meafures of the Perfecutors of the 
 Church, in Order to remove a certain Slander 
 raifed by the Enemies of thefe poor Suffering 
 Christians, and which too many good People 
 are PrepofTefs'd in this Nation, (viz.) that the 
 Scots Presbyterians fufferd upon Trifling Pun- 
 ftilio's, not ElTential to Religion , or upon 
 Points which the Christian Church have in all 
 Ages fubmittedto, even under the Government 
 of Heathen Emperors and the like j fuch as ac- 
 knowledging the King, Swearing Allegiance to 
 him, living peaceably, paying Taxes, Tythes, 
 &c. Whereas on the contrary it is Evident, 
 that the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland, 
 and the Perfecution which her Faithful Confef- 
 
 fors 
 
C M7 1 
 
 fors have Laboured under, have been occahon'd 
 for maintaining the EiTential Points, both of 
 DocTrine and Government, which ihe has held 
 ever fince the Reformation, and without which 
 no true Church can be Eftablimed, (viz..) Such 
 as the refuting all Ufurpations upon the Sove- 
 reignty of Chrift, as King and Head of his 
 Church, in Oppoiition to Eraftianifm, and E- . 
 pifcopai Supremacy. (2.) The Infupportable 
 Yoke of what they call'd Unfcriptural Prelacy, 
 which neither they or their Fathers were able 
 to bear. (3. J The right of calling their own 
 Minifters in Oppofition to the Pretences of Lay 
 Patronages, &c. and the like, and ( 4 ) for 
 Oppofing the Tyranny and Injuftice, of the 
 Proceedings of thofein Power, who Condemn'd 
 Men unheard , Sentenc'd Men at Pleafure, 
 without Examining into the Fads, or hearing 
 Legal WitnefTes j and punihVd Men to Death, 
 for fuch Crimes as were not puniihable with 
 Death, by the Laws of the Land. 
 
 Thefe and fuch as thefe, were the Points upon 
 which the People of Scotland fuffer'd the molt 
 Bloody Perfecution, that has been heard of in 
 this Age, or for the laft 100 Years pafs'd in 
 the World. The Perfecution of the Vroteftmts 
 in France, being in proportion to this Country, 
 and the Number of People, and the Blood ipilt, 
 no way to compare to it. 
 
 But to come now to the Suffering Party: The 
 Government having thus by their Unrighteous 
 I ,aws,made way for all theOppreihons whichthey 
 defign'd , having Eftablifh'd Prelacy , and 
 DifpofTefs'd the Presbyterian Minifters of their 
 Kirks, filling their Places with a Race of Men>, 
 who for Ignorance and Wickednefs, were fcarfe 
 to be equaifd in the World j I mean as Mini- 
 
 iter. 1 : 
 
C 148 ] 
 
 #ers. The poor People were immediately fcat- 
 ter'd and difperfs'd in a Dreadful manner : The 
 new Set of Men, were fo weak in Capacity, and 
 fo abominable in their known Practice and Con- 
 version, (fpeaking without the leaft prejudice 
 of the moft of them), that the People abhorr'd 
 to hear them, or to come into the Churches 
 where they were. 
 
 This occafion'd them to follow their own Mi* 
 nifters, tho' DifpofTeft, into private Places and 
 Corners, and to hear the Word Preached > and 
 have their Ordinances Adminiftred in private 
 Houfes and Meetings, as was foon after the 
 pra&ife in England, by the DuTenters here. 
 
 TheMinifters on the other Hand, thinking it 
 their Duty not to for fake their People, kept 
 themfelves Concealed and Retired, and went 
 from Houfe to Houfe, Preaching and Praying, 
 Viflting, Baptizing, and in a Word performing 
 all the Duties of their Office, as opportunity 
 would allow. 
 
 This the Epifcopal Party could not bear ^ and 
 therefore in the firft place, fell to their former 
 cuftom of making Laws againfr. it in Parlia- 
 ment, and Enforcing thofe Laws by Proclama- 
 tions, and Ads of Council, which they foon 
 brought to be of equal Force with A&s of Par- 
 liament, tho' by Law it was quite otherwife, 
 Fid. $d. Aft 1. Sejf. 1. Par. Car. II. Entituled 
 ACT Averting his Majeflfs Royal Prerogative in 
 making Laws. 
 
 Thefe Laws againft Non- Conformity, are fo 
 Extraordinary, and Savour'd fo much of a true 
 Spirit of Persecution, were in themfelves fb 
 Unjufr, and in fome things fo Unnatural, that 
 none can wonder if the Execution of them 
 ibmetniies.drove the poor People to Deiperation, 
 
 and 
 
f M9 3. 
 
 and made, as in far lefs moving Cafes has been 
 faid , N.iture Rebel againft Principle, and drove 
 the People, made thus Diftra&ed by their op- 
 preflions to Tumult and Rebellion. 
 
 And becaufe they have in thefe Things, alfo 
 been ralhly cenfur'd by fome among us, as a 
 People differing as Evil doers. It muft be ufe- 
 ful in their Vindication, to expofe a little the 
 Inhumanity and Barbarity of their Perfecutors; 
 and this can be done in nothing better than in 
 giving a Brief Account of the Laws now made^ 
 which they expe&ed, and rigoroufly exa&ed 
 Obedience to \ and which it was impoifible for 
 that Poor People to obey,without making Shipwreck 
 of Faith and a good Conference, abandoning their 
 Profeflion, Inverting the Rule of the Apoflle, 
 and obeying Man rather than God. 
 
 Thefe Afts are as follow* 
 
 I . ACT difcharging , *. e . forbidding all 
 
 c Writing, Remonftrating, Printing, Praying or 
 
 * Preaching in fuch manner as ihould fliewany 
 
 4 diflike, (1) Of the King's Supremacy in cau- 
 
 c fes Eccleflaftick, (2) Of the Kings abfolute 
 
 c Prerogative, in appointing fuch Government 
 
 c of the Church as he thought fit, and (3) Of 
 
 c the Government of the Church by Biihops : 
 
 < Atl. 2. Sef 2. Pari. U Carol. 2. 
 
 c 2. ACT Prohibiting any Minifters to 
 c Preach in Churches Publickly •, or Privately in 
 c Families, without Licence firft had from the 
 c Epifcopal Minifters call'd Curates, and forbid- 
 c ing all Ploufe Meetings for Religious Exer- 
 
 < cile. ha. 4. Seff. 2. /V/. 1. Car. 2. 
 
 Both thefe Atts were fo dire&ly contrary to 
 the Principles of the Presbyterians, and it was fo 
 
 well 
 
[ Mo ] 
 
 well known, that they could not in Confcience 
 comply with them, that they were very juftly 
 calPd the perfecuting Laws, together with the 
 following Act, which gave the Finiihing Stroke 
 to the reft, viz.* 
 
 4 3. ACT Declaring, that all Non Confor- 
 4 ming Minifters that fhall prefume to Exercife 
 4 their Miniftry in any manner whatsoever, 
 4 fhall be Punifhed as Seditious Perfons ; requi- 
 4 ring all Perfons in Obedience to his Majefty^ 
 4 Government Ecclefiaftick, to give their Coun- 
 4 tenance to the Eftablifh'd Worfhip, by atten- 
 4 ding, &c. Ordaining Penalties to all that 
 
 * fhould withdraw from the Publick Worfhip, as 
 
 4 follows viz., 
 
 4 Every Nobleman, Gentleman, or Heretor, one 
 c Fourth part of his Yearly Revenue. 
 
 4 Every Teoman, one fourth part of his Move- 
 4 able Goods. 
 
 4 Every Barge fs the lofs of his Freedom, or 
 4 Burg-Ship, and a fourth part of his Moveable 
 4 Goods. 
 
 Leaving it alfo to the Council, to Inflict far- 
 ther Puniihment, and to provide for the moft 
 effe&ual Execution, which they did by Procla- 
 mations, of the moft Arbitrary, Illegal, and 
 Tyrannical Nature imaginable, viz.. 
 
 4 Proclamation requiring all to keep to their 
 4 Parifh Churches, under Penalty of 20 s. every 
 
 * Omiffioiij they knowing at the fame time, 
 4 the poor People could not in Confcience 
 4 fpend the Lords Day in fuch a manner. 
 
 • Proclamation Prohibiting all Preaching , 
 4 Praying, or hearing in Families, if above 
 4 Three, more then the Domefticks of the Fa- 
 4 mily were prefent j punifhing thofe who had 
 4 more, as Unlawful Conventicles. 
 
 Proclamation 
 
€ Proclamation appointing all fuch Meetings 
 c not Authorifed, as aforeiaid, to be punifhed 
 c either by Pecuniary or Corporal Punifhments, 
 c at the plealure of the Council. 
 
 c Proclamation Commanding Landlords, Ma- 
 c iters of Families and Magiflrates, to caufe 
 c their Tenants, Children, Servants, Depen- 
 c dents, Taxmen, or Farmers of Duties and 
 c Revenue, and all under their Charge, to Sub- 
 
 * mit and Conform to the Epifcopal Government 
 
 * and Worfhip, and making the faid Landlords, 
 c &c anfwerable for the Default of their Ser- 
 c vants, &c. the Punifhment here alio being left 
 c to the pleafure of the Council. 
 
 Ncte y They referv'd here the Cruelty of Pu- 
 nimment to themfelves \ to be inni&ed, not as the 
 Laws or the Nature of the Offence mould Direft, 
 but as the Perfon who they ihould have before 
 them, flood more or lefs in or out of their Fa- 
 vour. 
 
 Now to finifh all, and Enforce thefe Laws and 
 Proclamftiors, the King Ere&ed a High Com- 
 miffion Court, confiding of a Medley of Clergy, 
 Nobility, Magiflrates and Soldiers. This Body 
 were Empower'd to hear and determine Caules, 
 without Appeal, to Execute Civil and Ecclefia- 
 flick Authority :, they could Sufpend and Deprive 
 Clergy Men; Excommunicate like Bifhops*, Com- 
 mit to Prifon like Juflices of the Peace , Sentence 
 like Judges ; and put to Torture and Death like 
 Hangmen : In a Word, as a known Scots Author 
 calls them jhey were a Hotch-potch -Mongrel- Monfter 
 of a Judicatory , Authorized by the Prerogative , again fi 
 the Laws of GOD and MA N y Illegal in its Confti- 
 tution, and Arbitrary in its Procedure^ whereby Per' 
 fans brought before them , were made to Anfwer 
 SVPER INQVIREND1S, without either Accufa- 
 
 tisn 
 
C H2 ] 
 
 tion or Accufer, contrary to an Exprefs ft an ding Lam, 
 Aft. 13. Pari. 10. Jac. vn 
 
 It is fcarce to be related , what Innumerable 
 Oppreilions fell upon the People, but efpecially 
 upon the poor Minifters, in the Profecution of 
 thefe Laws j for the Minifters finding them fe Ives 
 bound in Confcience , not to abandon their 
 Flocks, for any Perfecution or Bodily Sufferings 
 whatfoever, expofed themfelves freely to the 
 worft that their Enemies could do, and failed 
 not at the greateft and utmoft Hazard, to dis- 
 charge their Duty ^ and the People Flocking 
 after them, they Preached to them with what 
 Privacy and Caution they were able, but at the 
 Extreameft Hazard. Nor was it poflible, but 
 that many would be daily falling into the Hands 
 of their Perfecutors } infomuch, that the Prifbns 
 were every where full of Faithful Minifters ^ 
 whereof abundance dyed, thro' the length of 
 their Confinement, and feverity of their Ulage j 
 lbme thro' Cold and Evil Lodging, having Con- 
 tracted Difeafes and Infirmities, and others for 
 want of Conveniences , and even NeceiTaries ^ 
 vvhofe Blood is no doubt to be Efteem'd, as ihed 
 in the Caufe of Religion, as much as if they had 
 been brought out to Execution, as leveral of 
 their Brethren afterwards were. 
 
 . By this Scandalous Judicatory, call'd the High 
 Commiflion Court, many Innocent Men, as well 
 Minifters as others, were profecuted even after 
 a manner, near a Kin to the Spaniflp Inquifition ; 
 and as an Author well obferves, having no other 
 Precedent in the Chriftian World, but the ikidSpa- 
 mjl) Inquifition, being neither fuffred to know 
 their Crimes or their Accufer ^ never fuffred to 
 come to a Hearing,or to make any Legal Defence. 
 But when they demanded their Accufation, or 
 
 Judicature 
 
CM* 1 
 
 indictment, and leave to Anfwer to the famej 
 they were told they could not be admitted to any 
 Defence, unlefs they would firfb take the Oath 
 by which they were to acknowledge and fubmitto 
 the Jurifdi&ion of their Judges ^ and then with- 
 out hearing their Offence, or having leave to An- 
 fwer, they were fentenc'd to Scourging, Stigmati- 
 zing, Banifhment, Tranfportation, to Slavery in 
 Barbudoes y perpetual Imprifonment and the like - 7 
 as the Commiffi oners thought fit, and this to fuch 
 a Degree, that the People fled before them, and 
 the whole Country-fides, as they are called there t 
 became depopulate, for Non* Conformity. As 
 this High Commiflion Court is juftly rep relented 
 to be the moft Arbitrary, Illegal, Cruel, and 
 Unjuft Judicatory, that ever was let up in a 
 Proteftant Nation, and imitated by none, but 
 the Bloody Inquifition aforelaid, fb it cannot 
 be Unacceptable in our relating the Sufferings of 
 the Good People of Scotland , to give fome few 
 Instances, Out of an Innumerable Crowd of opprefs'd 
 Suffering Chriftians, of the vexations, Barbarities, 
 Inhuman and Illegal Praftifes of this Court, in 
 purfuance of the Commiifion given them, to put 
 the aforelaid Acts in Execution. 
 
 The Author of a Book Entituled, Thewreft* 
 lings of the Church of Scotland, has toucht at the 
 Irregularities and Inhumanities of their Pro- 
 ceedings ♦, but Alas / What are they to the In- 
 numerable Examples, which living Testimony, 
 are yet able to give, and which the Collector of 
 thefe particulars, hasreceiv'd from the Mouths, 
 of many of the Sufferers themfelves. 
 
 I have already mention'd, how Perfbns were 
 brought before thefe new Judges without any No- 
 tice, without Information, Accufation, Witnefs, or 
 Accufer : But being fetch'd in, were inftantly 
 
 U Char/d 
 
3 M4l 
 
 Chargd by way of Inquiry, and therefore was it 
 that this Court was not improperly call'd a Court 
 of Inquifition. The Arch-Prelate, or Bifhop 
 of St. Andrews the fame who was afterwards 
 kill'd, presiding therein. 
 
 Upon the bringing any Perfbn before them, 
 he was requir'd immediately to Anfwer fuch 
 Queftions as were propounded to him , being 
 allow 'd neither Council to advife with, or time 
 to confider \ if he anfwer'd fatisfa&orily to one 
 Queftion, they would ftill find others to Enmare 
 him \ if he refufed to Anfwer, and pleaded the 
 Great Law of Nature , Nemo tenetur Seipfum 
 accufare •, they fet him by Inftantly as Convift, 
 and proceeded to Sentence ; if he anfwer'd boldly 
 and perhaps fmartly, they immediately Sen- 
 tence him for Contumacy and Difreipe£b : A 
 Minifter was Sentenced to Banifhment, for cal- 
 ling the Archbifhop, Sir, And not my Lord. 
 One Mr. Porterfield, a Gentleman of a Loyal 
 Family, was brought before them, and ask'd 
 why he did not come to his Pariih Church, to 
 hear the Curate •, to which he gave them a very 
 pertinent Anfwer, wC Becaufe the Curate had 
 abufed him, and flandred him, in fuch a manner, 
 as was both Scandalous to him as a Minifter, 
 and juft Ground of Refentment to any thing of 
 a Gentleman. The Court upon his expofing 
 and proving the Fa£t, were afham'd of the 
 Curate, but being refolv'd to Revenge it on the 
 Gentleman, they put feveral other Queftions to 
 him, all which he anfwer'd, fo as no Advantage 
 could be gain'd of him, at which the Archbi- 
 fhop being Enrag'd, ask'd him if he would take 
 the Oath of Supremacy, which when he mo- 
 deftly declined, they immediately Sentenc'd 
 him to Banifhment and Confinement, to the 
 
 Town 
 
[ MS 3 
 
 Town of Elgin far North, and Fin'd him almoft 
 to the full value of his whole Eftate - 7 and this 
 was the conftant Method when any Perfon 
 Conven'd before them, Could no other way be 
 laid hold of j nor in their Sentence did they 
 confine themfelves to fuit the Puniihment to 
 the Offence , or confult the Power of their 
 Commiilion^ but frequently Sentenc'd People to 
 the fevereft Puniihment, for the fmal left Offen- 
 ces*, and frequently pafs'd fuch Sentences, as 
 they had no Power by their Commiflion to pafs : 
 one Famous Example, among a great Multi- 
 tude is left upon Record, as follows. 
 
 Mr. John Levingficn, a moft Eminent and 
 Reverend Minifter, particularly famous in the 
 Church of Scotland, had been Banifh'd the King- 
 dom lor no other Reafon, but his refuiing the 
 Oath of Supremacy j there was Collated to that 
 Benefice, a Curate or Epi (copal Minifter, one 
 Mr. Scot, who it feems ftood Excommunicated 
 before, and continued under that Sentence - 7 
 befides that, the People had other Objections 
 againft his Morals and Good Name, infbmuch, 
 that they pub lickly oppofed him, at his coming 
 to Preach*, and it feems, •'there were feme warm 
 Expreilions ufed by fome of the People againft 
 him, which he complain'd of to the High 
 Commiilion Court. Four poor Men of the 
 Parifh, where hereupon Conven'd before them, 
 and being not charg'd with any thing by the laid 
 Scot, but being Interrogated, they acknowledg'd 
 they were prefent, when the Pariihioners did 
 declare their DiiTatisfattion at Mr. Scots coming 
 to their Kirk, butfaid, that they did not fpeak 
 what was faid. 
 
 This the Com miffi oners, contrary indeed to 
 
 feveral of their own Body, Vote to be a Confef- 
 
 U 2 fion 
 
t M<5 3 
 
 lion of Guilt, and immediately gave this Barba- 
 rous Sentence. 
 
 That the Four Men mould be Scourged thro' 
 the Town, Stigmatiz'd on the Forehead with 
 the Letter T at the Crofs of Edinburgh, and be 
 Tranfported to the Ifland of Barbadoes j all 
 which was rigoroufly Executed : Nor was this 
 enough to fatisfy the Rage of the Perfecutors, 
 even in ib trifling an Offence. But a few Days 
 after, two Brothers, and a young Maiden their 
 Sifter, Inhabitants of the fame Parifh, were 
 fentene'd on the lame Account, the two Men 
 to be Baniih'd to Barbadoes , and the young 
 Woman to be whipp'd thro' the Town of Jed- 
 burgh ^ all which Sentences were Executed ac- 
 cordingly. 
 
 Two more Examples we have of their Juftice, 
 which are very eminent \ the One, of Mr. Smith, 
 a Learned Nonconforming Minifter , who was 
 brought before them for Praying and Preaching 
 to a few of his Friends, met privately in a 
 Friend's Houfej they had, it feems, no Evi- 
 dence of the FacT: , much lefs any Thing to 
 object againft what he had fpoken. 
 
 When he came before the Commiilioners, he 
 did not fpeak difrefpe&fully at all, but he de- 
 clin'd giving the Arch Bifliop the Title of Lord : 
 At which, one of the Bench ask'd him very 
 icornfully , if he knew who it was he was 
 fpeaking to, and what Character he bore - to 
 which he anfwer'd , he did know him to 
 be Mr. James Sharp, once a Minifter, as he him- 
 felf then was, and that he knew no higher Cha- 
 racter any Chriftian Man could bear, than to 
 be a Minifter, and Ambaflador oijefns Christ : 
 This he fpoke , directing his Words to that 
 CommiiTioner who had reprov'd him, and gave 
 him the Titles he was known by. This 
 
C 1*7 3 
 
 This fb enrag'd the Arch-Bilhop, that he 
 knew not how with Violence enough to wreak 
 his Malice on the poor Man. But to fhew his 
 Willingnefi to deftroy him, he lentenc'd him, 
 befides his Sentence for Conventklira, as they 
 call'd it, to be led by the Hangman to the Place 
 in the Tol- Booth call'd the Thieves Hole, and there 
 laid in heavy Irons, there being a raving Crea- 
 ture who was an Idiot, and furious, confin'd in 
 the fame Place, and left loole with him. Here 
 the godly Minifter lay fbme Days in Danger of 
 being deftroy'd by the poor demented Wretch, 
 who every Moment threaten'd to kill him. But 
 God, that flopped the Mouths of Daniel's Ly- 
 ons, reftrain'd him fb that he hurt him not : 
 And thele merciful Judges hearing, that by the 
 Grate of this Hole which look'd to the Street, 
 he was reliev'd and comforted by the Charity 
 and Companion of many good People of the 
 City, many were threaten'd for relieving him • 
 and at length the poor Man was carry'd away 
 to a Place call'd the Iron Houfe in the fame 
 Prifon^ where none could come at him. Here 
 he continued clofe Prifbner, and in Irons, for 
 many Days. Befides this, they fentenc'd him 
 for his private Preaching to perpetual Bamfliment 
 to the Ifland of Shetland, ■ the coldeft, and moft 
 unhofpitable of all the Caledonian Iflandsj where 
 his only Relief, as to this World, was the So- 
 ciety of other blefted Sufferers banifh'd thither 
 for the fame Good Caufe. 
 
 The next Inftance of their Cruelty was one 
 Mr. Black, a Lay-Man, charg'd by the Com- 
 miflioners , with having been at a Meeting 
 of a few Chriftians in a private Way, for Prayer; 
 whether any Minifter was with them, or not, 
 was not alledg'd, neither had they any Thing 
 V 3 elfe 
 
C MS ] 
 
 elfe to charge upon him of any Kind what- 
 ever. They could not prove his being at the 
 Meeting ; but would have him confels, which 
 he declin'd: Then they demanded him to give 
 them an Account upon his Oath, who was at 
 the faid Meeting. This he declar'd was againft 
 his Confcience \ and he would not be an Ac- 
 culer of 'Innocent Men : For denying this, they 
 fentenc'd him to be fcourged thro 7 the Town; 
 which he very patiently fubmitted to, and 
 chearfully fuffer'd. 
 
 It would be endlefs to enumerate the Names 
 of the Sufferers in this Cafe , and it has not 
 been pomble for the Author of thefe Collec- 
 tions to come at the certain Number of thofe 
 Ministers, or Others, who dy'd in Prifons and 
 Banifhment, upon Account of thefe Perfecutlng 
 Laws, there being no Record preferv'd of their 
 Prolecution in any Court of Juftice ;" nor could 
 any Roll of their Names be preferv'd in thofe 
 limes ofConfufion any where, but under the Altar, 
 and about the Throne of the Lamb,, where their 
 Heads are crown'd, and their White Robes feen, 
 and where an exacl Account of their Number 
 will at laft be found. 
 
 But, according to the Reports of Creditable 
 and Impartial People, who, upon our earneft 
 Enquiry, have from their Memories, as well as 
 they could, recollected thefe Things, and putting 
 their fever»l Relations together, comparing 
 them with what has been made publick. We 
 fliall at the End of this Part give the Calculations 
 which fuch have made of the Numbers of thofe 
 fuffering Christians, who falling into, or flying 
 from the Hands of their Cruel Perfecutors, pe- 
 rifLed in Prifons, and went into Banifhment, 
 without any legal Proceis *, moft of whom pe- 
 
 rifhed 
 
C '59 3 
 
 rifhed by the DiftrefTes and Extremities they 
 were reduc'd to by thofe Means. And a fur- 
 prizing Number it will be to thofe who have 
 not enquir'd into thefe Things, or difcourled 
 with the People of Scotland about them - 7 and all 
 this before the Year 1666. A Time made re- 
 markable upon the following Occalion, and to 
 which Occalion thefe Things have been the 
 unhappy Introduction. 
 
 If the poor People were by thofe infupportable 
 Violences made defperate, and driven to all the 
 Extremities of a wild Delpair, who can juftly 
 reflecT: upon them, when they read in the Word 
 of God, 'That Opfreffwn males a wife Man mad f 
 and therefore, were there no other Original of 
 the Infurre&ion, known by the Name of The 
 Rifing of Pentland , it was nothing but what 
 the intolerable Oppreffions of thofe Times might 
 have juftify'd to all the World \ Nature having 
 di&ated to all People a Right of Self-Defence, 
 when illegally and arbitrarily attack'd in a man- 
 ner not juftifiable either by the Laws of Nature, 
 the Laws of God, or the Laws of the Country. 
 
 But befides all this it is evident, that this Infur- 
 reftion was no premeditated Deiign, but began 
 in the Violence of Military Execution committed 
 by four Soldiers commanded by Sir James Turner, 
 who falling into fbme Houles in Galloway without 
 Commiffion, or without Order from their own 
 Officers , as Sir James afterwards alledged, 
 were oppofed, and driven out of their Doors 
 by four or five honeft Men of the Inhabitants, 
 in the juft Defence of their Wives, Children 
 and Goods unjuftly infulted and ofter'd to be 
 plundred by the laid Soldiers. The more parti- 
 cular Relation cf this Part is recorded as follows. 
 
 U 4 Sir 
 
C *6o 1 
 
 Sir James Turner was an Officer of Dragoons, 
 who was fent with his Troops by Order of the 
 Council, to quarter at Discretion upon the poor 
 Weftern People of Scotland, becaufe there they 
 found the chief Body of the confbnt Sufferers 
 for, and Adherers to the True Religion were to 
 be found. 
 
 This Sir James was a Tool to their Minds, a 
 Stranger in the Country, being an Enghfi Man, 
 bred to Plunder and Rapine in the Service of 
 of the French , perfectly void of the Fear of 
 God, or Man, and unacquainted either with 
 Religion, or Humanity. He had made three 
 Invafions into this Part of the Country, where 
 his Cruelty and Exactions had been fuch as had 
 almofl: ftript the Country, not of its Subftance 
 only, but even of its Inhabitants, who were o- 
 bliged to quit their Habitations to avoid the 
 Fury and Brutality of the Soldiers. 
 
 It is impolftble to give the Detail of the 
 Cruelties and inhuman Ufage the poor People 
 fuffered from this Butcher, for fuch he was ra- 
 ther than a Soldier \ neither is it the prefent 
 Purpofe but to introduce what followed at this 
 Time. 
 
 The poor People had patiently fuffered the 
 mercilefs Treatment this Man fhew'd them a- 
 bove feven Months, and thereby teftify'd more 
 Tajfive Submiffion, than rnoft of thofe who have 
 fince upbraided them with Refiftance can pre- 
 tend to *, when Sir James Turner put an End to 
 their Patience by the following Occaiion. 
 
 On the 1 3th Day of November, 1666, he fent 
 f our Soldiers from Dumfries, where he quarter'd, 
 to a Town calFd Dalray, in the Shire of Gallo- 
 way, with Orders to feize upon a poor Man's 
 Goods, who, he pretended, to have broken the Laws 
 
 b 7 
 
C 161 ] 
 
 by not coming to his ParifrVChurch ; and if 
 he had no Goods, to take the Man, and bring 
 him Prifoner to Dumfries : The Soldiers , as 
 Sir James alledg'd after, beyond their Inftruc- 
 tions, not only feized his Goods, but his Perfon 
 too *, and binding the poor Old Man Hand and 
 Foot, like a Beaft, brought him out, and laid 
 him on the Ground 'till they riiied his Houfe. 
 
 The Neighbours moved with Companion at 
 the Indignity of the Ufage, and at feeing a 
 poor Ancient Man lye on the Ground, bound 
 like a Beaft, to be carry'd away to the Slaughter \ 
 and with juft Indignation at the Infblence of 
 the four Soldiers, came to the Soldiers, and 
 calmly entreated them to unbind him, and to 
 let him go with them like a Prifoner, and like 
 a Man, not like a Beaft. 
 
 The infolent Soldiers pretend to be affronted 
 at this Motion, and fall immediately upon the 
 People with their Swords , wounding two or 
 three. This fo enraged the reft , that they 
 attack'd the Soldiers immediately, wounded one, 
 and made the reft throw down their Arms, and 
 beg Quarter. 
 
 This Breach, thus purely accidental, and by an 
 unforefeen Provocation being begun, the Sol- 
 diers vowing Revenge, and preparing to fall up- 
 on the whole neighbouring Part of the Coun- 
 try, drove the innocent People to the Neceflity 
 of gathering together, and ftanding upon their 
 own Defence : So that when Ten or Twelve 
 Soldiers return'd with their bloody Reiblution 
 of Plunder, and Defolation, they were Hkewife 
 difarm'd, and made Prifoners, and when after 
 this Three Troops were lent, they found the 
 People too ftrong to be attack'd, upon which, 
 they cryed prefently, A REBELLION-, 
 
 and 
 
C i<5a ] 
 
 and lent for more Forces, which of courfe o- 
 bliged Others to run in to the Aid of their Bre«* 
 thren, all which was purely cafual, 'till finding 
 themfelves reduc'd by this laft gathering toge- 
 ther to a Circumstance which flay or^o, would be 
 fatal to them if they fell into theHands of theGo- 
 vernment, they faw no Remedy but to ftand to it, 
 and inviting all the Injur'd and Opprefs'd People 
 to joyn with them, they declar'd for Liberty and 
 the Kirk of Scotland •, upon this, marching to D "urn- 
 flies , they there feiz'd their great Perfecutor 
 Sir "James Turner in his Quarters ;. Afterwards 
 they march'd to Kirlubright, to Air, and from 
 thence to Lanereh, where they folemnly renew'd 
 the COVENANT, and'refolv'd to feal it 
 with their Blood, as we fliall immediately find 
 they were oblig'd to do. 
 
 The brief Kiftory of this Rebellion is fuch, as 
 it can be no confiderable Interruption to our 
 Story, and is much to the Purpofe, to relate 
 it. The Occafion being as above ^ the People 
 having by Necefftty been driven to repel unjuft 
 Violence by Force, and feeing no Room for 
 Mercy, but a certain Deftru&ion at Hand from 
 the Troops which were drawing about them, 
 they refblv'd to ftand to it j they were not en- 
 creafed to above Four Hundred Men, but thofe 
 very well arm'd when they marched to the Town 
 of Dumfries , where, as I have laid, they feiz'd 
 upon Sir James Turner, who was the Comman- 
 ding Officer of the perfecuting Troops which 
 had oppreft them^ him they carry'd away Pri- 
 foner, tho' as he confeft they ufed him very ci- 
 villy. From thence gathering and encreafmg in 
 Number, they march'd to Kirkubright and Air % 
 principal Towns and Sea-ports on that Side the 
 Country, where they feizM upon all the Arms 
 
 and 
 
[ i6? ] 
 
 and Ammunition they could find, but in no o- 
 ther Thing offer'd any Injury to any Man. From 
 hence they advanced, being ( as was reported ) 
 encreaied' to the Number of above TwoThou- 
 fand, tho' that was a great Miftake, to the Town 
 ofLanerck, where on the 25th Day of November, 
 they had a great Meeting, and in a folemn 
 Manner fafted and humbled themfelves in Be- 
 half of the Nation of Scotland for the great Sin 
 of National Perjury in making void the COVE- 
 NANT ; and there in the moft folemn Manner 
 poffible they renew'd the faid COVENANT 
 with their Hands and Eyes lifted up to Heaven. 
 From hence they advanc'd ftill towards Edin- 
 burgh, where they arriv'd the 27 th of November, 
 1 666, but being not ftrong enough to attack the 
 City, they pofted themfelves at the Foot of 
 Tentland Hills on the South-Weft of the City, 
 waiting the Conjunction of other Friends who 
 they expe£ted from the Border and from the 
 City of Edinburgh. 
 
 Here they were attack'd and furpris'd the next 
 Day by General DalzSel, even during a proclai- 
 med CeiTation, with a Body of the King's Forces, 
 and after a very bold and refolute Defence, they 
 were at length overpower'd and broken : Many 
 efcaped, having difperft themfelves the Two 
 Days immediately before the Fight, about Fifty 
 were kilPd upon the Place, Eighty were taken 
 Prifoners, and the reft fav'd themfelves by Flight. 
 For this A&ion, befides thofe flain, Ten were 
 executed at Edinburgh, December the 7th, and 
 the nth, Thomas Paterfon by Name, who was 
 condemned with them dy'd in the Tolbooth before 
 Execution being grievoufly wounded. Five 
 more were likewife condemn'd the ioth, and 
 four of them executed the 14th. Four more 
 
 were 
 
1 164 ] 
 
 were executed at Glafgow the 1 9th of December, 
 fix more at Edinburgh the 22th, eight more at 
 Air, two at Dumfries, and two at Irvine * 7 Five 
 and Fifty who had made their Efcape, were 
 Fore-Faulted, as they call it, or Outlaw'd, and 
 Proclamation with Reward made for apprehen- 
 ding them, declaring it Treafon to harbour, 
 relieve, receive, or fo much as to fee and fpeak 
 to them. Among thefe were feveral Ministers, 
 of whom more hereafter. 
 
 It will hardly be allow'd us in England to call 
 this Perfecution, or, that the Sufferers here put 
 to Death fhould be reckoned among the Martyrs 
 of Scotland, becaufe ( fay they ) thefe were Men 
 taken in Arms againft the King, and executed 
 asTrayrors. Butwe leave all thofe who afterwards 
 thought it lawful to joyn in the Revolution, and 
 in taking up Arms againft the Oppreffions and 
 Arbitrary Government of King J A M E S, to 
 judge, whether thefe good Men had not the 
 fame individual Reafons and more for this Tent- 
 land Expedition 5 and it is Anfwer enough to all 
 that ihall read thefe Sheets, to fay, that thefe 
 Men dyed for that lawful refitting of Arbitrary 
 Power, which has been juftified as legal, and 
 acknowledg'd to be juftifiable by the Pradlife 
 and Declaration of the refpe&ive Parliaments of 
 both Kingdoms : But we leave all thofe Di im- 
 putes to the Readers to determine, as Truth 
 and Juftice fliall guide them, and return to the 
 Hiftory of Faft. 
 
 Befides the Death of thefe poor Men, we find 
 upon Record above Eight Hundred Men pro- 
 icrib'd, and driven from their Families by the 
 Violence of the Proceedings of this HighCom- 
 mijfion-Court, who, befides thofe afterwards fal- 
 len upon, of whom more remains to be faid, 
 
 thefe 
 
C 165 ] 
 
 thefe fuffered in their Flight all the Miferies that 
 Tongue can exprefs, even beyond what we read 
 of in the I ith of the Hebrews. They wander* d about 
 in Sheep Skins, and Goat Skins , in Dens, and 
 Caves of the Earth, being defiitute, afflicted, tor- 
 mented. They fuffer'd Extremities that Tongue 
 cannot defcribe,and which Heart can hardly con- , 
 ceive of, from the difmal Circumftances of Hun- 
 ger, Nakednefs, and the Severity of the Cli- 
 mate \ where it is known how unfufterable the 
 Cold is \ lying in damp Caves, and in hollow 
 Clefts of the naked Rocks, without Shelter, 
 Covering, Fire, or Food : None durft harbour, 
 entertain, relieve, or fpeak to them, upon Pain 
 of Death : Many, for venturing to receive 
 them, were forced to fly to them, and feveral 
 put to Death for no other Offence ^ Fathers 
 were perfecuted for fupplying their Children, 
 and Children, for nourifliing their Parents -, Hus- 
 bands, for harbouring their Wives, and Wives, 
 for cheriming their own Husbands-, the Tyes 
 and Obligations of the Laws of Nature were no 
 Defence, but it was made Death to perform na- 
 tural Duties, and many fuffer'd Death for A£ts 
 of Piety and Charity, in Cafes where humane 
 Nature could not bear the Thoughts of fuffer- 
 irig it. To fuch an Extreme was the Rage of 
 thefe Perfecutors carried on. 
 
 Befides thefe Eight Hundred Families, who 
 I call frofcrib'd, and were o]blig'd to fiy from 
 their Habitations to avoid the Cruelty and Rapine 
 of their Perfecutors j there were Fifty five Eminent 
 Perfons who were Panneltd, or as we call it mEng- 
 landy Arraign'd, as being actually in Arms in the 
 Pent land Expedition } and being pro fecuted by 
 the Advocate, were fentenc'd refpeftively to be 
 Executed to Death when Apprehended : And in the 
 
 mean 
 
C 166 ] 
 
 mean 'time their Eflates to be forfeited, and feizJd 
 upon to the KING's Vfe. Among thefe were 
 the following Minifters; of whom more is to 
 be faid, 
 
 Mr. John Welch, 
 
 Mr. James Smith, 
 
 Mr. John Cunningham, 
 
 Mr. Gabriel Semple, 
 
 Mr. John Guthrie, 
 
 Mr. Alexander Peddin, 
 
 Mr. William Veach, 
 
 Mr. John Crookihanks, 
 
 Mr. Gabriel Maxwell, 
 
 Mr. John Cairftaires. 
 
 But GOD, in his infinite Goodnefs, deli- 
 ver'd thefe all out of their Hands. Alfo it is 
 very obfervable, that fome of the above-nam'd 
 Fifty two Out-lavfd Perfons being Gentlemen of 
 good Eftates, their faid Eflates were feized on, 
 and given by the King to the moft violent of 
 their Perfecutors, as an* Encouragement to O- 
 thers to imitate the Inhumanity and Butchery 
 by which Things had been thus brought to 
 Extremity. 
 
 Nay, fome of them thought, that the Council 
 had it in their real Deiign, to drive the poor 
 People to the Necejfity of Taking Arms, in Hope 
 of getting their Blood and Eftates more in their 
 Power. 
 
 Never more let us talk of Popijh Cruelties, or 
 give the Romanifis the Title of BLOOD Y } let 
 not the Rigour of the Inquifition any farther en- 
 gage our Pens, 'till the Barbarities of this Pro- 
 teftant Inquifition, the mercilefs, unrelenting Fury 
 of thefe Protefiant Perfecutors has been expiated, 
 by their being abhorr'd by all Mankind. 
 
 But 
 
But to leave the Generals, and defcend a little 
 to Particulars as they occur hiftorically to our 
 View. 
 
 It is proper to mention here, becaufe we fhall 
 have Occanon to fpeak of their Names again, 
 that, amongft the reft of the Minifters who fled 
 on this unhappy Affair , Mr. John Welch, and 
 Mr. Gabriel Sample were two, whofe Zeal and 
 Sincerity in the Caufe of Religion occafion'd 
 their being more eminent than their Brethren. 
 Thefe fled to the Borders, where they found 
 Shelter, and Friends to harbour them in an un- 
 expected Manner •, and where they were made 
 wonderful Inftruments in God's Hand, to plant 
 the Gofpel and the Fear of God in the Hearts 
 of the moft bloody and barbarous of Men, who 
 were before Robbers and Murtherers, who, by 
 the Preaching of thefe baniflied Minifters be- 
 came Eminent Converts, and both them, and 
 their Pofterity were made Emineut in the 
 Knowledge of God, and in their Love to his 
 Ways, in fo much, thdt to the Praife of fo- 
 veraign Grace, thofe rude and unguided Bor- 
 derers are now the moft zealous Profeftbrs of 
 the True Religion in Britain :, and thofe Places 
 which were Dens of Robbers, and Receptacles 
 of Thieves and Murtherers , are now become 
 fome of the beft planted, and moft flourishing 
 Congregations of ferious Chriftians, perhaps, 
 in the World. 
 
 It muft not be forgotten here to mention the 
 Methods taken after this to profecute, and fol- 
 low thofe that fled } which ( it was laid ) was ow- 
 ing to the mercilefs Difpofition of the j4rch-Bijhop 
 of St. Andrew'.* ( viz..) publishing a Proclama- 
 tion, prohibiting the concealing, or correspon- 
 ding with any of thofe who had efcaped - 7 and 
 
 this 
 
[ i<58 ] 
 
 this on Pain of High-7reafon. In this Proclamation 
 the Fifty feven Gentlemen and Minifiers mentioned 
 before were particularly nam'd. 
 
 Thus the Perfecution of God's Servants in one 
 Country has often been the Means of calling 
 of Others ; and perhaps is yet to be the Means 
 of fpreading and planting the EVERLASTING 
 GOSPEL in all Corners of the World, of which 
 this Border of Scotland, and the Colony of New- 
 E-ngland has been fuch Noble Examples, as we 
 need look no farther into Hiftory to multiply 
 Particulars. 
 
 But before I quit this Part, one Thing can- 
 not be omitted, with Relation to the good 
 Men who dyed thus on Account of this Re- 
 bellion. The Perfecutors , for fuch this very 
 Thing will prove them to be : As if they 
 were fond of having it faid, That thefe Men 
 dyed for Religion, and not for being in Arms ; 
 and as if they fcorn'd the Excufe which the 
 Affair of Pentkind put into their Mouths for 
 putting them to Death, caufes feveral of them 
 to be offer'd their Lives, if they would take, 
 and fubfcribe the D EC LA RAT 10 N to re- 
 nounce the COVENANT. Whether they did 
 this fraudulently or fincerely, Providence never 
 gave them an Opportunity to difcover. Nor, 
 whether if theWeaknefs of any had brought them 
 to yield , they would have performed their 
 Promife to them, or no. For, not a Man they 
 ever ofter'd it to CI mean of thofe condemned 
 to dye for the Rebellion of Pemland ) but re- 
 ceiv'd it with Indignation, and chofe to dye, 
 rather than to yield to that Vnconfcionable Pro- 
 pofal. So that in that Point they gain'd an 
 Vndeniable Tefilmony, that they fuffer'd for Re- 
 ligion, Not accepting Deliverance: For none of 
 
 them 
 
[ i6 9 ] 
 
 them efleem'd Renouncing the COVE N ANT 
 to be any Thing more, or lefs, than Renouncing 
 GOD and his CHVRCH, to whom, and 
 for which, that CO VE NA NT was firft en- 
 ter'd, and engaged in 
 
 The Cruelty of thefe Executions was 
 attended with one Piece of Inhumanity, which 
 we believe no PROTE STANTever pra&ifed 
 before 5 nor was it pra£Hfed in all the Popiflj Per- 
 fections in England, in Queen Marfs Days : 
 A Barbarity beyond the Cruelty of Death (viz..) 
 caufmg the Drums to beat round the Scaffold 
 all the while the Executions lafted, that the 
 People might not hear what the Sufferers had 
 to fay to them, and to difcompofe and dis- 
 order them as much as pomble in their laft 
 Moments. 
 
 It is very remarkable, that the like of this 
 was never read of in any modern Hiftory, ex- 
 cept in the Hiftory of that Bloody Tyrant and 
 Perfecutor the Duke d? Alva, Governour of the 
 Netherlands for the King of Spain. 
 
 From this Time we may date the Perfe- 
 ction to be in its Heighth of Fury : For the 
 Rage of the Perfccutors extended every Way, 
 provok'd by the Conftancy of the Sufferers - 7 
 WW it came to fuch a Heighth, as was never 
 yet heard of in any Trot eft ant Country in the 
 World. 
 
 The Poor People were driven from their Ha- 
 bitations and from their Families : This was 
 indeed in their Power, and they did it with 
 the utmoft Cruelty \ but they xould never drive 
 them irom their Principles. Nor while Mini- 
 fters were to be found, who durft preach to 
 them , was it ever poflible to prevent the 
 People affembling to hear them, were the Pe- 
 X natty 
 
C 17° 3 
 
 natty LoSs of Goods, Liberty, Imprisonment; 
 nay, even Death itfelf. And which -was Still 
 wonderful , the more their Perfecutors multi- 
 plyed Laws and Penalties againSt. them, and the 
 more they were puniShed by thofe Laws for 
 thofe AfTemblies, the more numerous they grew, 
 and Multitudes were added to the Church 
 every Day by the Sufferings which they met 
 with. 
 
 But the fiibtil Enemy finding this, fell upon 
 a Stratagem which did more Harm to R E- 
 LIGION in Scotland , as it made a Breach 
 and Divifion among the Sufferers, than all the 
 Crutlty of the Perfecutors could ever do ; and 
 this was what they called The INDULGENCE. 
 The Hi Story whereof is neceffary to the Ju^ 
 ftification of the fuffering People , as well a- 
 gainft the Reproaches of their Friends, who 
 were not rightly informed of their Circum- 
 stances , as againSt the Slanders of their E- 
 nemies. 
 
 The Short Account of the Affair is thus. 
 
 c TTING CHARLE S lid. was a Prince, 
 
 JX^ c not naturally enclin'd to Cruelty, not 
 
 1 a Man of Blood by his Difpofition \ and had, it 
 
 * feems, ibme about him, who had taken the 
 c Freedom to let him know more of the In- 
 c humanity and Barbarity of the Arch-Bifhop 
 c and his Accomplices, than thefe were defirous 
 1 he Should have heard of: And particularly, 
 c what was alledg'd by the Friends of the 
 c Kirk againSt that Prelate's ConduEt , when 
 c the King had once before, upon the like 
 c Reprefentation, fent an Exprefs Order to the 
 
 * Council, That no more Ihould be put to Death 
 
 1 fviz.; 
 
t 111 ] 
 
 ' (Viz.) That the Arch-Bifljop kept that ORDER 
 in his Pocket , ''till he had feen the Execution 
 of the last Nine or Eleven of the Pent land 
 Men who were Condemned* 
 
 This being reprefented to the King, his Majefty 
 began to relent it \ and fpoke fome Things, 
 which gave them Reafon to think that he 
 would fame Way or other put a Stop to their 
 Proceeding, if they did not find out fome new 
 Method to impofe upon him : This they 
 wickedly , but effectual ly did , at the fame 
 Time, and in the fame Aft, and Deed, by 
 which they very fatally divided the Church of 
 Scotland againft it felf in the manner following* 
 Firft, They told the King, That they ( the 
 Council) were mt at all profecuting the Whole Kirk ; 
 but only fome few Men that were Enemies to humane So* 
 ciety, and not fafe to be fufferd in a Civil Go* 
 vernment) who denyed even the Ordinance of Ala- 
 gift racy it felf\ and would neither ac knowledge , 
 or fubmit to His Majeftfs Authority ', or the Laws 
 of the Kingdom \ a few Obftinate Rebels , who 
 would neither Obey the Laws of G D, or fubmit 
 to the Government of Alan. That to convince 
 His Majefty of the 1 ruth of this, they had refolv'd 
 to publijh an ACT OF INDVLGENCE to all 
 thofe who would fubmit to the Civil Magi ftr ate, and 
 give Affurances of their Fidelity to His Majefty 9 s 
 Per fun and Government, allowing them the Excrcifs- 
 of Religon, according to their Confciences ' and then 
 His Majefty weuld fee, that thofe People who would 
 ftand out, were not fit to be fujfer'd in a human 
 Society, were Irre cone He able Enemies to EUs Ma- 
 jefty, and fuch, as no Government could be fafe , 
 'till they were rooted out and deftroyd. With 
 this Hypocritical Shew of CLEMEN CT they 
 latisry'd that Eafie Prince, a Man given up to 
 X i his 
 
L 172 3 
 
 his Luxury and the Effeminacy of his Vices, and 
 who fuffer'd the Mildnefs of his Difpofition to be 
 deluded with falfe Pretences under the fhadow of 
 Lenity, to all that were proper Objects of Com- 
 panion *, and leaving thofe who were mifrepre- 
 fented by his Flatterers, to the matchlefs Rage of 
 their irreconcileable Enemies. 
 
 To carry on this Farce , they pafs'd an 
 Aft of Indulgence , as they call'd it, Anno \66% 
 after they had wafted the Weft of 'Scotland by their 
 Soldiers, even worfe than an Enemies Army 
 would have done in Time of War •, and after the 
 Sufferers were fo entirely katter'd, that few were 
 to be found, and very little Plunder left to fatisfy 
 the Rapine of their Dragoons : By their Aft of 
 Council, for they caufed their ARs of Council to bear 
 the Authority of Laws , they proclaimed, ( That 
 c all fuch OutedMinifters as mould take Licenfe 
 c from the Council, or the Biihop of the Diocefs, 
 which Licenfes alfo had fever al Limitations annex d y 
 all of them direclly contrary to the Presbyterian Prin* 
 ciple, and Homologating, as they term it, the Aw 
 thority of the Civil Magi fir ate in Ecclefiaflick Affair s y 
 even to the Height of ErafHanifm : c All fuch 
 
 * Ministers were alio vved to preach, and exercife 
 
 * the Minifterial Funftions in private Houfes or 
 
 * Meetings, and their People allowed to attend 
 c them with a Non obfiante y to all Afts of Parlia- 
 1 ment then in Force to the contrary.' So that here 
 was not only anlnvafion of the Church, but the 
 Exercife of the Difpenfma; Power in the Extre- 
 mity, fetting afide the eftablifh/d Laws made in 
 Parliament, by the Authority of the Council. 
 
 This Indulgence kindled a terrible Flame of 
 Division and Breach of Charity among the fuffer- 
 ing good People, a Schifm that is really fuch,. 
 carried on even toExcommunicating one another, 
 
 and 
 
C '7? 3 
 
 ' and the Effects of which is felt even to this Day- 
 Many Minifters upon Principles to themfelves, 
 perhaps iatistaclory, came in, and accepted this 
 Indulgence - ? being willing to go any Length that 
 their Coniciences could be fatisfyM with, in Or- 
 der to prelerve the Priviledge of exercifing their 
 Miniitry, and preaching the Gofpel to their 
 People. 
 
 But the perfecuted People, whofe Zeal com- 
 manded them not to do the leaft Evil to reap 
 the greateft Good, began to proteft againft this 
 Compliance of their Brethren, as wicked and de- 
 tectable :, declaring not only againft the Indulgence 
 itfelf, but againft. all thofe who fubmitted to it, 
 as guilty of yielding to the Power of the Prelate's 
 Homologating the Supremacy, forfaking their Prin- 
 ciples, and breaking the Covenant. In a Word, 
 they not only refilled to accept fuch a finfulTolera- 
 tion,but protefted againft the making it, as void in 
 -its own Nature, and this in the warm eft Manner j 
 and being thus effectually fecluded from the Ad- 
 vantage of worshipping GOD in their Houfes, 
 even in the moft fecret Manner poilible, they 
 took to the Fields. 
 
 Now their Perfecutors obtained what they de- 
 fired : For, now they thought they might with 
 AfTurance boaft to trie King, of having made a 
 right Judgment in theie Affairs :, and having laid 
 many favourable. Things of thofe they calif d the 
 Sober Presbyterians, whom now they cajofd, in 
 Order to bring them to accept of the Indulgence , 
 and to take Licenfes, they reprefented thole 
 who remain'd, who were now calPd WHIGGS, 
 as a Party, who were not to be fuffer'd in any 
 Government, but that ought to be rooted otf 
 from the Face of the Earth •, and this is the ftrft 
 Time that the Name of a WHIGG was ufed in 
 X a th e 
 
C 174 3 
 
 the World : I mean, as applied to a Man, or to 
 a Party of Men ^ and thefe were the original pri- 
 mitive WHIGGS, the Kame for many Years 
 being given to no other People.The Word is faid 
 to be taken from a mixt Drink the poor Men 
 drank in their Wanderings compos'd of Water 
 and four Milk •, but that by the Way. 
 
 At the fame Period began the Field-Preachings, 
 or Ficld'Convctitklesy of which I fhall have fre- 
 quent Occafion to fpeak more largely. 
 
 And at the fame Period alfo, the People fre- 
 quenting thefe Meetings, or Field-Preachings, 
 were firft call'd Camcrowans, from one Mr. G*- 
 meron, a zealous AfTertor of the Sovereignty of Con* 
 fcience over the Laws of Men, of whom alio we 
 fhall have Occafion to ipeak hereafter. 
 
 If the Perfecution was cruel and furious before, 
 it was now raging and unfufferable, carry'd on 
 with fuch Madnefs, and with fuch an unfatisfy'd 
 Thirft of Blood, that I believe, none of the Hea- 
 then Perfections in the primitive Times could go 
 beyond it in all its Parts. It is true, they did 
 not immediately torment the Body by Fire, by 
 Racks, and a vaft Variety of instrumental Tor- 
 tures •, tho ? they had Cruelty enough that Way 
 too, as in thole barbarous Engines of Cruelty 
 call'd the Boot and the Thumbkins, than which 
 a more exquifite Torture could not eaiily be de- 
 vifed. 
 
 But they had Torments beyond the Cruelty of 
 Death, which they drove the poor perfecuted 
 People to luffer ( viz.. ) the driving them from 
 their Habitations into Mountains and Hills, into 
 Dens, and Holes, and Caves of the Earth, at- 
 tended with unfufferable, unfupportable Hunger 
 and Cold, in a Climate the moft unhofpitable, 
 and Places moll barren, and empty of Sufte- 
 
 nance 
 
C «75 3 
 
 nance or Relief of any in thefe Parts of the 
 World. * 
 
 It is not to be calculated how many were ftarv'd 
 in this Manner, and whofe Bones, many of them, 
 were found afterwards, who had perilhed in the 
 molt, deplorable Circumstances, and were not 
 dilcover'd by any other Remains:, it would make 
 the Heart of any confidering Chriftian bleed, to 
 contemplate the Miferies of thofe People who pe- 
 riihed in this deplorable Manner, when fuch was 
 the Cruelty of their Perfecutors, that even the 
 Parents durft not relieve, or entertain their 
 Children, or Children harbour, or nourilh rheir 
 Parents : But, if the Perlbn was accuied of hav- 
 ing been at one of thefe Field - Meetings they 
 were immediately profcriFd, and inter communed^ 
 by which it was made Death for any one fo much 
 as to ipeak with them, much more to harbour, 
 or relieve them. 
 
 It has been enquir'd, why thefe People would 
 fo obrtinately continue to affemble in thefe Field- 
 Meetings } and I have heard them cenfur'd by 
 many, who did not underftand the Circum- 
 stances which they were reduced to} which 
 therefore, it is neceffary a little to defer ibe. 
 
 It is mentioned before, how fevere the Laws 
 they had already made, were againft thofe who 
 did not come to Church : And how none were per- 
 mitted to exercife the Minifterid Office, but upon 
 fuch and fuch Limitations. This they found 
 embarrafs'd them, with the whole Body of the 
 Kirk, and begun to appear too rigid and fe- 
 vere: And for this Reafon, as before, the In- 
 dulgence was let on Foot. After which Lenity, 
 as it was call'd } they fuppos'd nothing would 
 be call'd Cruelty upon thole, whowould not ac- 
 cept of Liberty upon their Terms * 9 and therefore, 
 X 4 na 
 
C ?7« 3 
 
 no {boner was the Indulgence granted, but they 
 began to perfecute with the utmoft Fury all 
 thofe, who either would not, or did not accept 
 of their Benevolent Indulgence. 
 
 Immediately Sanguinary Laws were made to 
 fall upon thofe they had now doonfd to Deftruc- 
 tion, for not complying with their moft merciful 
 TOLERATION '-,and Fir ft as fuch, who thought 
 fit to take Licences from the Bijbops, were admit- 
 ted, or indulged to Meet, &>c,. in fuch and 
 fuch Places. So all other were immediately 
 lentenc'd , by a Law to fupprefs Conventicles ; 
 whereby all thofe Minifters, who prefum'd to 
 Frcach, Expovnd, or Fray in any Boufe where 
 were more than the Family, were to be impri- 
 fon'd 'till they gave Security never to offend 
 again, or to depart the Kingdom ^ and every 
 Perfon prefented in fuch Houfe to be fin'd a fourth 
 Part of their Annual Rent, if Gentlemen j and 
 hi Proportion for others : But for Field-Conven- 
 ticles, the Preacher was to be put to Death, and 
 his Goods Confitcated,and 500 MarksPveward was 
 given to the Perfon that fhould apprehend them \ 
 the Hearers alfo to be fin'd double to what the 
 Hearers in Houfe-Conventicles were fin'd. 
 This is that Famous Perfecuting Law, entituled, 
 . Aft again ft Conventicles, 6. Acl:. 2d. Serf. 2d. Pari. 
 Cha. II. Anno 1 670. and was continued afterwards 
 for Three Years more, and after that continued 
 again, and the Fines doubled. 
 "The Minifters who could not accept of this 
 Indulgence, had now their Sentence-, if they 
 thought fit to lay afide their Orfice, and neither 
 be Minifter, or Hearer, . they were indeed to- 
 lerably fafe \ but this they could not yield to. 
 What was then before them, as Minifters, was 
 Clear •, for Houfe- Meetings •, Imprifonment and 
 
 Banifhment ; 
 
C 177 i 
 
 " Banifliment % for Field- Meetings y immediate 
 Death. This however did not deterr the poor 
 People to affemble themfelves together, or the 
 Ministers to attend and perform the Duty of 
 their Office, at firft, in Houfes, but afterwards, 
 their Numbers encreafing, they affembled in the 
 Fields, or Mountains rather \ and that in fuch 
 Numbers, and {6 well prepard, as that their 
 Per fee utors often paid dear for falling upon them. 
 But this enrag'd them the more, and 00 
 cafion'd the Perfecution to rife to fuch a Height, 
 as can icarce be equalfd for its Cruelty and Va- 
 riety in any Hiftory. 
 
 As I have faid, the Numbers of the People 
 flocking to the Minifters were not to be con- 
 cealed, indeed not. to be contained in Houfes ; 
 fo that it prefently became fo dangerous to meet 
 in that Manner, that few, if any fuch Meetings 
 could be held, without being diicover'd , in 
 which Cafe the Minifter was lure to fuffer Im- 
 prifonment and Banifliment, and the poor People 
 were as fure to be ruin'd by Fines. 
 
 This caufed them to quit their Houfes, and go 
 to the Hills, the Beginning of Field-Conventicles^ 
 as I faid before, where they had both Conveni- 
 ance of Meeting, were much eafier conceai'd, 
 and had more Opportunity to make their E- 
 fcapes, if difcover'd : Before this had been long 
 pra£Hfed, the Council took the Alarm ^ It is 
 true, as foon as ever the poor People took to 
 this Method, their Numbers encreafed to a pro- 
 digious Degree *, for Thoufands of People, who 
 durft not diftinguiih themfelves in appearing at 
 Houfe-Meetings, finding more Safety, and al- 
 moft an Impoflibility of being difcover'd in thefe 
 Field- Me etings, crowded thither ; fo that it was 
 very frequent to have 7, 8 to 10000 People at 
 a Time at thofe Meetings. Upon 
 
[ i 7 8 ] 
 
 Upon this Method, the Council being, as I 
 faid, alarm'd, refolv'd to raife Forces, and to 
 put the Kingdom to the Expence of keeping, 
 and fupporting a Standing Army 7 on Pretence of 
 luppreiling the Cameronians^ a People, who all 
 that while defir'd no more than a quiet, peace- 
 able enjoying the Liberty of ferving G D> free 
 from the Imp options of Men \ and who, altW they 
 had already fuffered all kinds of Oppreffions and In- 
 juftice, yet offered Violence to none :, what provok'd 
 their Enemies on this Occafion was, that they 
 could not fall upon them now in the ufual Man- 
 ner by their Civil Officers and Perfecutors j for 
 the People having been before difperft from 
 their Habitations , and not daring to appear 
 where they were known*, yet now gather 'd to- 
 gether from all Parts to the Solemn Occafions of 
 worihipping GOD without any Fear, and in a 
 Pofture not to be eafily difturbed. This their 
 Perfecutors prefently called REBELLION, and 
 reprefented it as well to the Tarliament there, 
 as to the King Himfelf, in the moft formidable 
 Appearances, as a Thing threatening a Civil War *, 
 and which, if not timely fuppreft, would em- 
 broil the whole Kingdom. 
 
 As it* was ealy for them to impofe by thefe 
 Things on the moft credulous Prince in the 
 World •, fo they had their Agents ready at Court 
 to aggravate, and expatiate upon every Article; 
 And by this Means they brought the Court into 
 all their moft Sanguinary Relblutions, and hav- 
 ing, as is faid, obtained an Aft of Parliament, 
 whereby they made it Death, and Confiscation 
 of Goods, for any Minifter to Preach, or Pray 
 at thefe Field- Alee wigs. They had this fpecious 
 Pretence to raife Forces to put that Law in Exe- 
 eution.TheKumber ofSoldiers they railedwas not 
 
 great. 
 
C 179 ] 
 
 great, at fir ft, amounting in the whole, not to 
 above 2500 Men, molt Dragoons* but they 
 afterwards thought fit to joyn 3000 Highland 
 Thieves to them, by which they compleated 
 the Ruin of the Country. With thefe Forces 
 they purfued thefe poor People thro' the Hills 
 and Mountains, to difturb and feparate their A£- 
 iemblies - 7 to which Purpofe, they were order'd 
 to feize, fecure, and apprehend all they could 
 lay Hold on, to murther, and deftroy all that 
 made Refiftance \ and to plunder, and wafte 
 the Goods of thofe, who they could not appre- 
 hend : Nor was any Cruelty omitted by thefe 
 Dragoons, which it was in their Power to inflict:, 
 'till their Mafters obtain'd by them the great 
 End, which they always aim'd at, (viz,.) to 
 make the poor People defperate, and drive them 
 to take Arms. This was the Cafe, and this if- 
 fued in the Rifing of Bothwell: Of which in its 
 Place. 
 
 ThefeTroops were immediately difpers'd over 
 the whole Country ; I mean that Part of the 
 Country where the Things were chiefly trans- 
 acted, ( viz.. ) the VVeftem and Southern Shires. 
 They were impowerd to apprehend, and bring 
 dead, or alive, fuch Minifters as they had given 
 them by Name : And at length, they had a 
 Power to apprehend all People, that they had 
 Reafon to fuppofe were prefent at any of thofe 
 Meetings, or were going to them, or coming 
 from them. This laft Claufe gave them fuch an 
 unlimited extenfive Power, that no Perl on was 
 exempt from their Enquiry, and if they found 
 any Perfon upon the Road, that had but a BIBLE 
 ih their Pockets, they took it for a fufficient 
 Proof, that they either had been at, or were 
 going to one of thofe Meetings j and accordingly 
 
 they 
 
C 180 ] 
 
 they fent them to Prifon, where they feldora 
 fail'd of finding fome Pretence or other, to en- 
 fhare them, and draw them in to fome Acknow- 
 ledgment of what they call'd a Crime, fb to 
 keep them in Cuflody : For, as the honeft 
 People would not lye to fave themfelves, they 
 failed not to purge them with QuefKons, whe- 
 ther they had been, or intended to be prefent 
 at any Field - Conventicles : And many Times 
 the People fo queftion'd would boldly acknow- 
 ledge, tho' to their own. Hurt, That they both 
 had been at them, and intended as often as might be 
 to be prefent again at them, defying the Power of 
 their Enemies , and bidding them do their 
 WorB. 
 
 By theie Things the Prifons were fitt'd with 
 great Numbers of Faithful ConfefTors ; and 
 many were conEn'd in the Ifland of the Bafs y 
 the Ca files of Dunnotter, Blacknefs, and other 
 umvholefbme Places ; where they perihYd with 
 Diftempers, and in Miiery, occafion'd by Want 
 of Conveniences , by Severity of Cold , and 
 Length of Time, and Others languifhed without 
 Hope, or at leafl, without ProlpecT: of Delive- 
 rance 1 7 or 1 8 Years, 'till their Perfecutors were 
 fiipplanted by Heaven at the Glorious Revolution^ 
 effected by King William, Many likewife were 
 baniihed in this Part of the Perfection, and 
 Hundreds, nay Thoullinds were driven from 
 their Dwellings, Out-laufd, and Inter communed. 
 
 The Reader is defir'd to oblerve now, that 
 the Perfections of the Church of Scotland 
 may be divided into Two Parts, and they have 
 their refpetKve Periods of Time. To wit, ( i .) 
 The Perfection of the Whole PRESBTTERIJN 
 Church, as defcribed from the Time of the Afl;, 
 
 reforing 
 
/ [ i8i 3 
 
 -■ refloring EPISCOPACY, Anno 166* : Of 
 whieh Mention has been made. And (i.) lh$ 
 Perfecution of the Cameronian Presbyterians t 
 (lb they were then call'd,) which begun at, or 
 immediately after the Declaration of Indulgence: 
 To wit, in the Year 1670. This Indulgence 
 was called a Declaration , becaufe it was 
 not done by Atl of Parliament, but by the King's 
 Council, upon a Letter from the King Himfelfz 
 And to give it an equal Sanation as a Statuted Law-f 
 an Aft was immediately pafs'd in the Parliament^ 
 by which it was Enacted, That the Government 
 of the Church , and the Ordering thereof does 
 of Right belong to His Majefly, and His Succejfors, 
 by Venue of His SUPREMACY, and is inherent in 
 the Crown, and that the King may fet forth fuch 
 Conftitutions concerning Ecclefiaftic Matters, as He 
 Jhall find proper, which are to be Obeyd, and Obferv'd 
 by all His Subjects as Law. 
 
 Upon this Indulgence, thofe Mimfters who fub- 
 mitted to accept of Licences to preach from the 
 Bifhop, and to take the Oaths therein prefcribed; 
 to wit, of ALLEGIANCE and SVPREMACY* 
 were allow 'd to fet up Meeting- Houfes for Religiom 
 Worflnp, and to exercife all the Parts of their Mini- 
 fterial Office to fuch Congregations as gathered to them 
 for that Purpofe. And it is acknowledged., that 
 in the East and North Parts of Scotlandy many, 
 perhaps , the greater Part of the Presbyterian 
 DISSENTERS did comply, and accept of 
 this Indulgence , efteeming it better fo to 
 do, than to leave the People as Sheep without a 
 Shepherd , and better than to be utterly depriv'd 
 of the Means of Preaching the Gofpcl at all : 
 For, tho' they Ihould have fuffred the greateft 
 Extremities, and had been willing "to have en- 
 dured the worft their Enemies could inflict, yet 
 
 could 
 
[ 1*2 ] 
 
 could they not have had the leaft Opportunity to 
 have preached, or the People to have heard them 
 in thofe Parts, where the Country being fully 
 inhabited, and chiefly by their Enemies, they 
 would have been certain at all Times to have 
 been difappointed, and fallen upon. 
 
 But, there were a Body of People, efpecially 
 in the Weft and Southern Parts, whofe Zeal car- 
 ried them beyond all fuch Compliances, and who 
 efteeming the accepting of the INDULGENCE, 
 as Homologating, (to ufe their own Words) their 
 folemnly abjured Prelacy, and detefting every thing 
 that look'd like a Yielding up the Caufe of GOD, 
 as they really believed theirs to be, ftood out, 
 and would by no Means accept of Deliverance 
 in a iinful Manrer. 
 
 It is too long a Subject to enter upon in 
 thefe Memoirs, to fet down the Reafons, that 
 one fide gave for their complying with, and 
 the other for their rejecting this Indulgence \ it is 
 fufRcient to the Cafe in Hand, that thefe Men 
 declar'd they thought the Terms Sinful ; that 
 the Good pretended, was by no means equivalent 
 to the Evil that was to be committed} that it 
 was againfl the Covenant, by which they were 
 engag'd to God, to endeavour to their utmoft, 
 the Extirpation of Prelacy, that they ought to 
 fuffer the greateft Torment , rather than to 
 commit the leaft Sin, and that as this was in 
 their Opinion a great Sin, they could not in Con- 
 ference comply with it. 
 
 What they deny'd or refufed to do, may be 
 comprehended in thefe Heads, with the reafons 
 they have for it. 
 
 i . They would not accept of an Indulgence 
 for Worihiping God, by the Licence of the Bi- 
 fhops •, becaufe they faid they had abjur'd Prelacy 
 in theCovenant, and had declared the Bijhops to be 
 
 An- 
 
/ C i8j 3 
 
 Anti-fcripturial and Anti-ehrifhan, and to take 
 Licenfe from them,was to Homologate their Autho 
 rity as Legal, which they detefted and abhorr'di 
 
 2. They would not take die Oath of Supre- 
 macy , becaufe they could not in Confcience 
 allow any King or Head of the Church but 
 JefusChrirt. 
 
 3. They would not Pray for the King, or 
 Swear to him, becaufe he was a Perfecutor of 
 the Church, and thereby an Enemy to God, 
 becaufe he had Renounced the Oath of God in 
 the Covenant, and till he had repented, they 
 would have nothing to do with him. 
 
 4. Being debarred all manner of Liberty to 
 Worfliip God in Publick, and on the fevereft 
 Penalties forbid to aifemble themfelves toge- 
 ther, either in the Churches, or in private Fa- 
 milies •, and believing it at the fame time their 
 Duty according to the Scripture, mt to ferfake 
 affembling &c. They could not fatisfy their Con- 
 fciences to obey Man rather than God. 
 
 Thefe Things however Condemned by others, 
 who thought the Suffering People {trained their 
 Matters too high ; were yet Principles, which 
 thofe People could not in Confcience abate, 
 or go from :, and it was apparent they 
 would lay down their Lives, rather than abate, 
 or gt> from them i And this makes the Pro- 
 ceedings of the Council againft them be juftly 
 efteemed , the height of Perfecution. Nor 
 were the methods taken with them, fuch as could 
 be juftifled, either by the Laws of God or Man, 
 efpecially Chriftians, tho' their Principles had 
 been really worfe, than their Enemies ever pre- 
 tended they were : For they were treated not 
 only with all manner of Cruelty, Barbarity, and 
 Inhumanity , but wich Treachery, Perfidy, and 
 breach of even the Laws of Nature : They were 
 
 abandon'd 
 
C 184 3 
 
 abandon'd to the Mercy of every common Soul-, 
 dier, to kill and deftroy them, upon even Sus- 
 picion of Guilt, without Tryal, Evidence, or 
 Examination •, they were made WitnefTes againft 
 themfelves, and againft one another, and Me- 
 thods were taken to Try Convict, and Execute 
 them in a few Moments, without Law, Order, 
 Judge or Magiftrate. 
 
 The Mercilefs rage of their Perfecutors, was 
 come to fuch a height, that they would frequently 
 contrive to furprize them, ib as that they might 
 put them to Death, without giving them time 
 fb much as to pray to God, as if they thought 
 their Rage could extend beyond Death , 
 and that if poffible, they would puniih 
 their Souls as well as their Bodies 5 and I think 
 it is no Breach of Charity to lay, that if they 
 could have made an Aft of Parliament, that 
 they fhould have had no Mercy fhewn them 
 in the next World, any more than in this, they 
 would not have fail'd to have pafs'd it : Few 
 Perfections in the World, have ever been 
 Circumftanc'd with fuch particular marks of 
 Inveterate Malice, they have even Envyed them 
 the Prayers of others, and if upon their Tryal-- 
 any one had but laid, Lord Comfort them^ they 
 were fure to be taken up and queftion'd for 
 themfelves. 
 
 Such Inhumanities have not been ParallePd in 
 the World, as has been ufed here, particularly, 
 that when 250 of them were put on board a 
 Ship for Tranfportation, and the Ship was caft 
 away upon the Rocks, fb hard hearted, fo in- 
 humanly Cruel was the Officer who Commanded, 
 that he would not fufTer the Hatches to be 
 opened that they might be fav'd, tho' to be 
 ftill banifh'd according to Sentence \ but flood 
 
 over 
 
I 
 
 7 r 185 3 
 
 over them till they were all Drown'd in the 
 Hold of the Ship except 50 who Miraculoufly 
 e leaped, fome of whom are alive at the pub- 
 liming of this Account. 
 
 Thefe however are Generals, I mall meet with 
 them all again in their Courle : I return to the 
 Pield Meetings, for it is of thefe and of the 
 People frequenting them, that all that is now to 
 be laid is to be underftood. 
 
 After the poor People had thus adjourn'd 
 their Meetings to the Hills as is fad, and the 
 Council had obtained thofe Laws abovemention ? d, 
 declaring it Imprifonment, Death, &c. to be 
 found at any of them , and Troops were 
 Levy'd, to put thofe Laws in Execution } there 
 could be nothing expe&ed on any Side but 
 Blood, and the. Fire of Perfecution was but then 
 laid to be Kindled, 
 
 The nrft Civil or preteidedly Legal Step 
 was an A£t of Parliament, 2. S"Jf. 2. Pari. Cha. 2. 
 Anno 1670, by which every Perfon , of what 
 Quality, Age or Sex foever^was obliged to Anfwer 
 upon Oath, and depofe all that they knew of 
 fuch Field Meetings, and of what Perfons were 
 thereat, and to anfwer to the Queftions that 
 fhould- be ask'd them upon Oath, upon Pain 
 of Imprifonment, Fine, Corporal Punifhment, 
 or Baniihment, at the Pleafure of the Council. 
 By this Acb, Fathers and Mothers were oblig'd 
 to Betray , and Accufe their own Children ^ 
 and Children to Betray and Accufe their Pa- 
 rents ; Husbands their Wives, and Wi\es their 
 Husbands } and many for refufmg thus to be- 
 tray their nearefr. Relations, have been Tranf- 
 porred to the Plantations from their Country, 
 Relations, and Intereft \ where they have been 
 fold for Slaves, and have perilhed by the fe- 
 
 Y vent 
 
C 186 3 ' 
 
 verity of Labour, violent Cold, .or violent 
 Heat, not having been ufed to fuch hardfhips. 
 
 A Serious and Judicious Writer of thole 
 Times, fays, fuch Havock was made by the* 
 cruelty of the Souldiers, and by the furious Ex- 
 ecutions of their Arbitrary and Tyrannical 
 Laws, that greater could not be found in the 
 Reigns of Nero and Caligula, Roman Emperors, 
 moft infamous for Cruelty. 
 
 Nor were thefe Violences Exercifed for a 
 little while, as in feveral of the moft cruel of 
 the Primitive Perfecutions was the Caie j but for 
 Eighteen Years together, the poor People had 
 no Redrefs, no Relaxation, but that every Day, 
 matters grew worfe and worfe, and more and 
 more defperate ; their Enemies always contri- 
 ving fbme new and unpra&is'd Severity, and 
 a&ing lbmething never known before, in Order 
 more and more to exafperate and opprefsthem. 
 This Account of 18 Years Perfecution is to be 
 reckon'd from the lime of the Indulgence, or, 
 atleaft, from the Year after (viz.) 1670: But, 
 the whole Terfecution continued 28 Years (w't.) 
 from May, the Beginning of the Year 1660, 
 being the firft of the RESTORATION, 
 to November, the latter End of the Year 1688, 
 being the Beginning of the REVOLUTION. 
 
 Things were now come to the utmoft Ex- 
 tremity, and the Sufferers being treated thus 
 with all Manner of Cruelty, had, as is faid, taken 
 to the Hills, where they worihipped GOD with 
 more Freedom, and with Gladnefs of Heart ; but 
 not with much lefs Hazard at the laft -, for they 
 were then fallen upon as Rebels by Troops of 
 Dragoons who executed the Bloody Orders of the 
 Council with fuch Rage over the poor defence- 
 JefsPeople,riding over the poor flyingWomen,and 
 
 Children, 
 
Children, and dragging them like Beafts up and 
 down th© Fields, 'till they brought them to 
 Prifons ; that it was no Wonder the Men took 
 Meafures to meet together with more Safety to 
 them ie Ives. From this Time it was refolved, 
 That feeing Self-Defence was a Natural Law, and 
 that every Man had, a Right to prefcrve his own 
 Life in the Performance of any lawful Atlion, and 
 likewife that the Worflnp of God was not only lawful^ 
 but their indifpen fable Duty, which no human Power* 
 ought to reftrain, or had a Right to forbid ', it was 
 lawful therefore for them to defend themfelves from 
 Violence, and preferve their Liberty in the Exercife^ 
 and during the Time of Worfnp : And therefore they 
 refolved y That at their f aid Field- Meetings, as many 
 of the young Men that had Fire- Arms, fwuld com& 
 arm'd, not to ufe Violence againfl any, but to refifi 
 the Dragoons, in cafe theyfiould fall upon the Meetings 
 or lay hold of any of the People going to, or coming from 
 it. 
 
 This was the Famous Refolve of the great 
 . Meeting at LANERCK, and for a Time, was 
 ibme Surprize to the Periecutors. For, indeed, 
 after this they were often beaten back by the 
 Courage of much inferiour Numbers of the Peo 
 pie, notwithstanding their Rage and Fury : And 
 at other Times the Perfecuted appeared to guard 
 their Meetings with fuch Numbers, and fo skil- 
 fully pofted, that the Dragoons durft not attack 
 them : Tho' on all thefe Occafions the Perfecuted 
 kept themfelves on the Defenfive, never offering 
 any more, than to ftand firm, facing their Enemies, 
 'till the poor frighted Women and Children were 
 ieparated, and gotten fafe from the Place. < 
 
 I cannot refrain from giving fome few In- 
 ilances of the Behaviour of thefe People, when 
 Power was m their Hands ; which mav ferve to 
 
 Y z let 
 
[ i8S ] 
 
 let Pofierity fee whether they were Rebellious 
 by their Inclination, or, whether they were 
 driven to take Arms in their Hands for their 
 own j uft Defence, or not : And to prove, that 
 even when it was in their Power to have cut 
 their Enemies in pieces, who well had deferv'd 
 it for their Cruelty ^ yet they contented them- 
 felves with bare Refcuing their Brethren from 
 the Butchery of the Dragoons, and let the Mur- 
 fcherers eicape. 
 
 There had been a Meeting in the Fields, in 
 
 NitbifdaUj not far from Drumlanrig Caftle, the 
 
 Seat of the late D. of Qusensbcrry. The AfTembly 
 
 was very numerous, and there were about fixty 
 
 Men with Fire- Arms, who placed themfelves at 
 
 convenient Di fiance, fo as to keep off their E- 
 
 nemies, if they mould come to difturb the Af- 
 
 fembly, 'till the People might diiperfe : Thefe 
 
 alfo had Scouts out every Way at great Diftance 
 
 to difcover, and give Notice, &c. It was not 
 
 long before an Alarm was given, that They were 
 
 betrafd , and that two Parties of Dragoons were 
 
 marching to attack them. Upon this, the poor 
 
 People, as was always the Method, feparated, 
 
 and went every one their own Way • fo that the 
 
 Soldiers found them entirely difperft, and no 
 
 Meeting inAppearance, except of about 300, who 
 
 were gotten together, where their Men were 
 
 pofted that had Arms :, who prefenting their 
 
 Pieces at the Dragoons from the fide of a fteep 
 
 Hill, where their Horfes were ulelefs, they did 
 
 not think fit to dii mount, and attack them. 
 
 The Soldiers however grown furious, and en- 
 rag'd, fpread themlelves over the Fields, in 
 Perfuit of the poor ftraggling People, andfeiz'd 
 feveral of them : And amongft the reft, they 
 unhappily fell upos fix Men naked and unarm'd ; 
 
 one 
 
[ i«9 3 
 
 one of whom was the Miniftfcr : Thefe, they took 
 and after having abufed them, bruited, and woun- 
 ded them, tho' they offered no Refinance, they 
 bound, and dragg'd them along with them, 
 making the poor Men go on Foot at their 
 Horfe-Heels, as raft as they rode. They car- 
 ry'd thele Prifoners dire&ly for Edinburgh, where 
 alio they were lure to be put to Death as ibon 
 as they arriv'd. 
 
 As the Minifters, on thefe Occafions, were 
 very flee to hazard their Lives tin the Work of 
 their Office, and for the Comfort and Edification 
 of their People .• So the People again were re- 
 markable for their Love to their Minifters, and 
 their Concern for their P refer vation : JSo fooner 
 therefore was it known among them, that their 
 Minifter was taken, but the Men began to gather 
 together in feveral Parties with their Arms, re- 
 folv'd, whatever it coft, to refcue their Mini- 
 fter \ To thisEnd they difperft themfelves into all 
 the Ways by which they thought the Dragoons 
 might march, by which it happened, that the 
 fmaileft Number of them not being above 37 
 Men, who lay on the . fide of Entrehin Hill, 
 met with them, that being the Way the Enemy 
 really went with the Prifoners. 
 
 This Entrehin is a very fteep, and dangerous 
 Mountain^ nor could fuch another Place have been 
 eafily found in the whole Country for their Pur- 
 pofe :, and, had not the Dragoons been infatu- 
 ated from Heaven, they would never have en- 
 tred fuch a Pafs, without well difcovering the 
 Hill above them. The Road for above a Mile 
 goes winding, with a moderate Afcent on the 
 fide of a very high, and very fteep Hill, 'till on 
 the latter part, ftill afcending and the Height on 
 the left above them being ftill vaftly great, the 
 Y 3 Dept^ 
 
[i 9 ° 3 \ 
 
 Depth on their right below them makes a prodi- 
 gious Precipice, defcending fteep and ghaftly into 
 a narrow deep Bottom, only broad enough for 
 the Currrent of Water to run that defcends upon 
 hafty Rain ; From thisBottom theMountain rifes 
 inftantly again fteep as a recipice on the other fide 
 to a ftupenduous Height. The pafTage on the 
 fide of the flrft Hill, by which, as I faid,the 
 Way creeps gradually up, is narrow •, fb that 
 two Horfemen can but ill pais in Front : And, 
 if any Piforder mould happen to them, fo as 
 that they ftep but a little a- wry, they are in 
 Danger of falling down the laid Precipice on 
 their right, where there would be no flopping 
 9 till they came to the Bottom. And the Writer 
 of this has feen , by the Accident only of a 
 fudden Froft, which had made the Way flip- 
 pery, 3 or 4 Horfes at a Time of Travellers, or 
 Carryers lying in that difmal Bottom", which flip- 
 ping in their Way, have not been able to recover 
 themfelves, but have fallen down the Precipice, 
 &nd rolled to the Bottom, perhaps, tumbling 
 20 Times over, by which it is impoilible but 
 they rauft be broken to pieces, e'er they come 
 to flop. 
 
 In this Way the Dragoons were blindly march* 
 ing 2 and 2 with the Minifter and 5 Countrymen, 
 whom they had takenPrifoners, and were hauling 
 them along to Edinburgh \ the Front of them being 
 near theTop of the Hill, and the reft reaching all 
 along thefteep part:, when on a fudden they heard 
 a Man's Voice calling to them from the fide of the 
 JliU on their left a great Height above them. 
 
 It was mifty, as indeed 't is feldom other-* 
 wife on the Height of that Mountain 5 fo 
 . that no Body was feen at firft : But the Com- 
 manding Officer hearing fome Body call, halted, 
 
 and 
 
C 19* 3 
 
 and eall'd aloud, What d? ye want, and who are ye * 
 He had no iboner fpoke, but 1 2 Men came in 
 fight upon the fide of the Hill above them, and 
 theOfficer calFd again, What are ye? and bad Standi 
 One of the 1 2 anfwer'd, by giving the Word of 
 Command to his Men, Make ready \ and then 
 calling to the Officer, faid, Sir, Will ye deliver 
 our Mini ft er ? The Officer anfwer'd with an 
 Oath, No, Sir, and ye were to be damnd. At 
 which the Leader of the Countrymen fir'd im- 
 mediately, and aim'd fo true at him, tho' the 
 Diftance was pretty great, that he fhot him 
 thro' the Head, and immediately he fell from 
 his Horfe j His Horfe fluttering a little with 
 the Fall of his Rider, fell over the Precipice, 
 rolling to the Bottom, and was daih'd to pieces. 
 
 The reft of the 1 2 Men were ftooping to give 
 Fire upon the Body -, when the next Command- 
 ing Officer eall'd to them to hold their Hands , 
 and defir'd a Truce. It was apparent, that the' 
 whole Body was in a dreadful Confirmation^ 
 Not a Man of them durft ftir a Foot, or offer 
 to fire a Shot. And had the 1 2 Men given 
 Fire upon them, the firft Volley, in all Proba- 
 bility, would have driven 20 of them down the 
 fide of the Mountain into that Dreadful Gulph 
 at the Bottom. 
 
 To add to their Confirmation, their 2 Scouts 
 who rode before, gave them Notice, That there 
 appea^d another Body of Arrrfd Countrymen at 
 the Top of the Hill in their Front ; which how- 
 ever was nothing but fbme Travellers, who, 
 feeing Troops of Horfe coming up, ftood there 
 to let them pafs, the Way being too narrow 
 to go by them : It's true, there were about 2 5 
 more of the Countrymen in Arms, tho' they had 
 not appear'd, and they had been fufficient , il 
 
 Y 4. they 
 
[ i9 2 ] 
 
 they had thought fit, to have cut this whole - 
 Body of Horfe in pieces. 
 
 But, the Officer having ask'd a Parley , and 
 demanded, What it was they would have ? they 
 replied again, Deliver our Minifler. V/til Sir, ' 
 fays the Officer. Ye's get your Minifter, and ye 
 will promife to forbear firing : Indeed we"' 11 for' 
 hear , lays the good Man , We defire to hurt 
 none of ye : But Sir, fays he, Belike ye have 
 more Prifoners : Indeed have we, fays the Officer, 
 and ye mon deliver them ally fays the honeft Man. 
 WeU , iays the Officer, Ye jhall have them then. 
 Immediately the Officer calls to Bring forward 
 the Minifter : But the Way was fo narrow and 
 crooked he could not be brought up by a 
 Horfeman , without Danger of putting them 
 into Diforder : So that die Officer bad them 
 Loofe him , and let him go , which was done : 
 So the Minifter ftept up the Hill a ftep or 
 %\vo , and ftood Hill : Then the Officer faid 
 to him, Sir, and I let you go, I expetl you promife 
 to oblige your People to offer no Hindrance to our 
 March, The Minifter promis'd them, He would 
 do fo. Then go Sir, faid he, You owe your Life 
 to this Damtfd Mountain. Rather Sir , faid 
 the' Minifter , to that GOD that made this 
 Mountain. When their Minifter was come 
 to them, their Leader call'd again to the 
 Officer, Sir, We want yet the other Prifoners. The 
 Officer gave Orders to the Rear, where they 
 were , and they were alio delivered. Upon 
 which the Leader began to march away, when 
 the Officer cali'd again, But hold, Sir, fays he, „ 
 Ye promifed to be fatxfted, if ye had your Prifoners : 
 J expect you'll be as good as your Word. Indeed 
 Jhall f fays the Leader, / am jusl marching a- 
 way\ it feems he did not rightly under.ftand 
 
 the 
 
t 19? 1 
 
 the Officer. Well, Sir, but, fays the Officer, / 
 
 expetl you call of thofe Fellows you have po/fed at 
 the Head of the Way* They belong not to us 9 fays 
 the honeft Man, they are unarmed People, waiting 
 *fih you fafs by. Say you fo , faid the Officer, 
 Had J known that, you had not gotten your Men fo 
 cheap, or have come of fo- fret : says the Country 
 men, And ye are for Battle, Sir, We are ready for 
 you (till, if you think y&u are able for m, ye may 
 trye your Hands \ we'll quit the Truce, if you like* 
 NO, fays the Officer, / think ye be brave Fellows, 
 e'en gang your Gate. 
 
 The Cafe was very clear, and the Officer faw 
 it plainly : Had thofe 57 Men, for that was 
 the moil oi their Number, fir'd but twice upon 
 them, and then fallen in Sword in Hand, or 
 with the Club of their Mufquets:, not a Man of 
 them could have efcaped : Nay, they muft 
 have deftroy'd one another ♦, for they would 
 have thruft one another down the Hill with 
 but the leaft Offer to move, or turn, or do any 
 Thing but go forward : Nor could any Dragoon 
 apply himfelf to any Thing but to govern his 
 Horfe, fo as to prevent his r alling over the 
 Edge of the Way down the Hill : Indeed the 
 perfecuted had them all at Mercy, and had 
 they commanded them all to lay down their 
 Arms , and furrender themfelves Prifoners at 
 Difcretion, they muft have done it. But thefe 
 teftify'd by their Moderation, that they fought 
 no Man's Blood :, and that they took Arms meerly 
 for their own Defence, and yet four of thefe were 
 afterwards Executed for this Fa£t. 
 
 This little Affair made a great Noife. The 
 Officer of the Dragoons was threaten'd with a 
 Council of War : And whether he was not 
 broke for Cowardife I am not certain j but this 
 
 I 
 
[ 194 3 V 
 
 I am certain of, that had the beft of them been 
 upon the Spot, they muft have done the fame 
 or have refolv'd to have made a Journey head- 
 long down fuch a Hill, as would have chill'd 
 the Blood of a Man of good Courage but to have 
 thought of. As to the Miftake, of not difcovering 
 the place before they entred the Pais. That 
 Fault by upon the Officer who was kill'd, who 
 had already paid dear for his Omiffion. 
 
 There was another Occafion, in which the 
 perfecuted People had let the Soldiers know, 
 that they were not always to expect their Blood 
 fo cheap as they had formerly had it. And 
 this had been much to their Advantage, had 
 they not carry'd it on afterwards to an Enter- 
 prize, which neither their Numbers, or Cir- 
 cumftances were by any means equal to. 
 
 John Graham, Laird of Claverhoufe, the lame 
 who was famous afterwards by the Title of 
 Vifc. of Dundee , and was kill'd at the Battle 
 of Gillkranky, in the Year 1 689. was a Furious 
 Perfecutor, and an implacable Enemy of thefe 
 poor innocent People upon all Occasions : He 
 had, among the reft of his Cruelties, barba- 
 roufty murther'd feveral of the perfecuted People 
 with his own Hands, as after this A£Hon he did 
 ieveral more, particularly one of his own Name, 
 (viz..) Graham of Galloway, who fled from him 
 out of a Houfe where the faid Clavcrhoufe had 
 perfu'd and befet him : The young Man 
 being forced to quit the Houie , and run to 
 lave his Life, Claverhoufe rid after him and o- 
 vertook him j and tho' the young Man offer'd 
 to furrender, and begg'd him to lave his Life, 
 he fhot him dead with his Piftol. This, with 
 feveral other like barbarous Things he practifed 
 upon the poor perfecuted People. Of which 
 hereafter. Thcr$ 
 
r 195 3 
 
 There was a very great Meeting of the per- 
 secuted People in the Fields near Leudoutt-UiM \ 
 where, by Report, many Thoufands were met 
 together. I think, they had intended to have 
 the Communion, and to have made it a Day, 
 both of Humiliation and Rejoycing \ a Day of 
 Humiliation for the Apoftacy ot their Brethren, 
 and for the Sins of the Land : And a Day of 
 folemn Toy for the Liberty of, and Affe&ion of 
 the People to the Service and Woriliip of God. 
 As it was a very great Meeting, fo the Num- 
 ber of Men was greater that were in Arms for 
 their Defence, than was ufual on other and or- 
 dinary Occafions •, there being about 200 Men 
 with Fire- Arms, prepar'd for, and refolv'd to 
 do their Parts with the Enemy, if they came,, 
 as was threaten'd, to dirturb them. 
 
 The Laird of 'Claverhoufs having Information 
 of this AiTembly, prepar'd to attack them 5 and 
 had boafted what Havock he would make of 
 the Cameronians on that Occafion : It feems hefaid 9 
 that he heard they had fbme Fire- Men among 
 them, but if they offered to make one mot at his 
 Men, he would fiive the Council and Courts of 
 Juftice the Trouble of profecuting his Prifbners 
 with the Formality of the Law, for he would 
 immediately hang up every one that fell into 
 his Hands, ifhefhould take 500. Is was con- 
 fidently reported, that fbme of the Soldiers of 
 his own Troops gave private Notice of this , 
 and of the meafhres he had taken for affaulting 
 the Meeting 9 As alfo of the Menaces and 
 Boafts he had made. Companion indeed might 
 move fome of theSoldiers 5 for tho'generally fpea- 
 king,theSoldiers were barbarous and cruel as their 
 Officers could defire, yet oftentimes it was found 
 they were lefs fo than their Officers, 
 
 However 
 
However it was, the perfecuted had receiv'd 
 
 Information, that Claverhoufe with 300 Dragoons 
 was refolv'd to furround the Meeting, gnd put 
 them all to the Sword. This Account came not 
 to them till after they were arTembled, and theif 
 Worihip was actually begun ; whereupon theMen 
 who hsd theGuard of theMeeting far from being 
 fiirprifed,confulted together what they mould do, 
 whether they mould Aiipeitfe for that Time, and 
 appoint another Meeting at another Place and 
 Time, or what Courfe they ihould take. 
 
 They had not many Hours to deliberate, much 
 lefs to put in Execution what they Ihould refolve 
 on. But, in a Word : ft was concluded the People 
 ihould be defir'd to fit ftill, and compofe them- 
 ielves, whatever ihould happen, leaving the 
 Event to the Providence and good Pleafure of 
 God * and that they ihould fend for Help to 
 all the neighbouring Places, And in the mean 
 Time to meet Claverhoufe and his Men, if they 
 came to attack them : and do as God -foould 
 direft. 
 
 Upon muttering their Men, they found their 
 Number encreafed to about 250 Men well arm'd, 
 beiides ieveral that came in afterwards.- And 
 before the Action began it's thought they were 
 near 400. The Affembly was great, and the 
 People fate all on the Ground on the fide of 
 a iteep Hill : The Minifter preaching to them 
 from a little Tent near the Bottom of the Hill. 
 The Laird of 'Claverhoufe with his Dragoons came 
 on with great Fury, like a Troop of Wolves 
 to fall upon a naked and defencelefs Flock of 
 Sheep, and not expecting any Refinance, kept 
 no Scouts out before him \ when on a Hidden they 
 were challenged , and bid Stand, by an Out- 
 Guard of the perlecuted 7 who finding them 
 
 come 
 
 v^ 
 
C *97 3 
 
 come on, fir'd at them, and retreated to the 
 main Body. But the Dragoons were a fecond 
 Time furprifed, when they found a large Body 
 of Men advantageoufly polled, the firft Line of 
 whom fir'd a Volley of ihot upon them, and kill'd 
 and wounded them 16 or 1 7Men,and fomeRorfes. 
 This brought them to halt, and prepare for 
 Battle : They took not much Time for it , 
 but came on again with great Fury, but found that 
 the perfecuted had a large Ditch caft up in 
 their Front, with a low old ruined Wall, which 
 ferv'd them as a Parapet, from whence they fir'd 
 with more Secuiity, and fo well they piyed them 
 with their ihot , that after 2 or 3 Attempts 
 they gave it over, and retreated, having loft 
 about 30 Men kilfd and wounded *, and found 
 that they had to do with Men refolv'd to die, 
 and fell their Lives as dear as they could. There 
 were fome of the perfecuted who fignaliz'd 
 themfelves upon this Occafion ; and who leap- 
 ing over their Works advane'd fo near them, 
 as that once a young Gentleman laid Hands 
 on the Bridle of Claverhoufe's Horle, and had 
 certainly taken him Prifoner , if he had been 
 well feconded. This was Mr. Cleeland, who 18 
 Years after was Lieut. Col. to the Earl ofjngw's 
 Regiment, which was rais'd among thefe very 
 People at the Revolution, and was call'd, theCz- 
 merodan Regiment, being raifed and compleated 
 in one Day without Beat of Drum. This was 
 the fame Regiment, now calPd Prefton\ which 
 was at the Attack of the late Rebels at Preflon 
 in Lancashire. And this Gentleman Lieut. Col. 
 Cleeland was unhappily kill'd 2it Bunleld againft 
 the fame Oaverhoufe, then Vifc Dundee. 
 
 This Action began to make the perfecuted 
 terrible to the Council : And had they con- 
 tinued 
 
C 198 3 
 
 tinued to have afred thus upon theDefenfive onty ? 
 it was thought they would in Time have ruin'd 
 the Troops of their Perfecutors. But their pufli- 
 ing Things to Extremity afterwards ruin'd them 
 and all their Friends. 
 
 It is eaiie to believe, that this Check enrag'd 
 the Soldiery to the laft Degree : Many of the 
 Perfons who had thus appeared being known $ 
 were after this oblig'd to fiye, for Fear of falling 
 into the Hands of their Perfecutors , but the 
 Heads of the A&ors, finding there was no going 
 back to their own Houies , they unhappily re- 
 icC/ed to keep together : And this begun the Re- 
 bellion of Bothwell- Bridge : For, encourag'd by 
 Succefs, and made defperate by the Extremities 
 they were driven to ? they in lefs than four Days 
 found themfelves near 2000 Men,very well arm'd 
 and furniih'd ; upon this they march'd to Glafgow, 
 and were encreafed in a few Days more to be- 
 tween 6 and 7000 Men. 
 
 Their Friends now began to be in pain for 
 them, becaule England was more immediately 
 concern'd to reduce them now, as well as Scot" 
 land. And the Duke of Monmouth was lent down 
 from thence to command the Army. 
 
 This was, I fay, that well known Infurre&ion of 
 .&tf/7ntf//-Bridge:And it was caWdRebellion, becaule 
 they Declar'd againft the King : They were after- 
 wards attack'd by the D. of Monmouth , while they 
 were irrelblute, and confulting whether to yield 
 or defend themfelves, and were defeated. 
 
 It is not any part of the prefent Work to give 
 the Particulars of this Rifmg. From the Affcion 
 mention'd to the Defeat, it is fuffident to ob- 
 ferve, That in this Action there was between 
 3 and 400 kill'd, and about 1200 taken Prifo- 
 ners ; The reft efcaped, and difperft themfelves 
 
 as 
 
C 199 ] 
 
 as well as they could •, nor were the Perfecutors 
 at all fatisfy'd with the Duke of Monmouth 7 a Con- 
 dud, who refuted, at their Requeft, to let the 
 poor People be perfiied and ma i Fa c red by the 
 Dragoons : Not failing to make a Complaint 
 againft him to the Court of England on that 
 Head,and to have it improv'd to hisDiiad vantage. 
 
 Many were the unhappy Coufequences of this 
 Infurrettion, as well to thole who were not con- 
 cerned in it, as to thofe who were : For tho* 
 the Duke of Monmouth, as General of the Army, 
 reftrain'd the Rage of the Soldiery as above from 
 the Inhumanity ofaHot-BloodExecution • yet his 
 Command ceafing, and himielf returning imme- 
 diately after to Court, the Perfecutors took 
 pains to ihew the World, that they could i& 
 with more Cruelty in Cold Blood, than Men of 
 Honour, and of Chriftian Clemency could find 
 in their Hearts to fuffer, even in the Heat of 
 Victory. 
 
 For now they gave themfelves a full Swing 
 in all their Bloody Meafures, letting loofe the 
 moft Bloody Agents of Tyranny to execute what- 
 ever their private Rage, as well as publick could 
 dictate to them : Under the Pretence of rooting 
 out Rebellion, and of executing Juftice, they per- 
 fued the Innocent as well as the Guilty } and 
 put to Death Hundreds of People by all man*- 
 ner of Cruelties } and on the meaneft Pretences 
 imaginable : Kay often without any Pretence 
 at all, and that in the moft Barbarous manner. 
 
 It is impoflible here to enter into the Parti- 
 culars of the Murthers committed upon this oc- 
 cafion. And if I mould take all the verbal Re- 
 lations, that I have met with in converfing a- 
 mong thofe, that were Eye-Witnelfes of the 
 Cruelties of that Time, it would exceed, if we 
 
 compare 
 
[ 200 ] 
 
 compare the Smal kiefs of the Country, and 
 Numbers of the People concerned, I fay it would 
 exceed all that ever was fet down in any Hi- 
 ftory of Perfecutions , whether of Popifi, or 
 Heathen Tyrants. 
 
 The firft Year after this Infurre&ion , was 
 wholly taken up in fearching after, and perilling 
 thofe who were a&ually in the Army ■, but had, 
 by the Mifmanagement, as they call d it, of the 
 Duke of Monmouth, made their Efcape. For, 
 by the Way, their Deiire was, that when the 
 Body that defended the Bridge were defeated, 
 and the reft began to difperfe and flye, 
 they Ihould have been all furrounded, and cut 
 in pieces, or perfu'd, and no Quarter given 
 them, 'till not a Man of them had been left to 
 carry News to Glafgow of the Defeat. And this 
 having fail'd, they refblv'd, if poilible, to find 
 out every Man that had been at Bothweli, and 
 put them to Death wherever they found them, 
 upon the very Spot. 
 
 In Order to this, they neither requir'd much 
 Evidence of the Fact, nor took the pains to 
 examine the Perfons themfelves : But, if it was 
 but faid to them, that fuch a Man, or fuchMen 
 had been at Bothweli- Brigg, they immediately 
 lent the Soldiers to their Houfes, who were to 
 ask them no Queftions, but ieize upon them, 
 drag them juft out of the Doors, and ihoot them 
 dead in a Moment. How many poor innocent 
 Men, after protefting in the folemneft manner, 
 That they had not been any Way concern d in the 
 Bothweli Affair, have they ihot to Death with 
 thofe Protections in their Mouths / and when 
 they have fallen on their Knees, and begg'd but 
 for 2 Minutes Time to recommend their Souls 
 to GOD, have deny'd them, and fhot them 
 
 kneeling 
 
[ 261 ] 
 
 kneeling as they were, with that Requeft in their 
 Mouths. 
 
 It would make any Chriftian Man's Heart 
 tremble to read the Blafphemies, the Oaths, 
 the Curlings, and the Intultings of thole People, 
 over the poor Men and their Families, when 
 they dragg'd them thus out of the Arms of 
 their Wives and Children, to MaiTacre them. 
 Add to this, the Ufage others meet with in 
 Order to oxtort Confeflions from them of their 
 being at Bothwell-Brigg Rebellion \ obliging Men 
 by Horrible Tortures to accufe themf elves, and 
 weak Women and Children to accufe their 
 Husbands, Fathers, Brothers, and nearer!: Re- 
 lations \ putting Fire- matches between their 
 Fingers, or under their Joints ^ ftripping ftark 
 naked the moft modeft and tender Women 
 and Children, and thrufting them out in the 
 Extremity of Cold j and a Thoufand other Vi- 
 olences, too many to give an Account of, in 
 Order to difcover thole who were at this In- 
 furreftion of Bothwell. 
 
 Of the Prif oners taken at Bothwell, and exe- 
 cuted for Rebellion } 1 lhall fay the lefs, be- 
 caufe puttingMen to Death who are taken in Arms 
 is nothing but what is ufual in luch cafes : 
 Not but that as the occafion of that Infurrec- 
 tion was meerly the Cruelty and Violence of 
 Perfecution for Conference. We mult account 
 thole who were executed in cold Blood after- 
 wards, as all dying by the Hand of Perfecution, 
 and for die Caufe of Religion : And this was 
 fully demonstrated by Mr. John King, and Mr. 
 John Kid, 2 Miniflers taken in the Action at 
 Bothwell \ and put to Death at Edinburgh on that 
 Account. 
 
 "But 
 
[ 202 ] 
 
 But when we come to fpeak of the Ufage ^ 
 given to the reft of the Prifoners, who they did 
 think fit to put to Death by the Hangman .- 
 There we mall fee the Spirit of Perfecution 
 in the Abftracl: :, and fuch Articles of Cruelty 
 as are not to be equalVd in Diodefen or Max- 
 iminian ^ fuch as are not to be found in the Jrijh 
 MaiTacre,or perhaps in any of the moftBloody and. 
 Barbarous Perfecutors. No, not in VfAlva him- 
 felf*,or even in the Spamjh Inquifttion. 
 
 There was as i§ faid, about 1 200 Prifoners, 
 few more, or lefs, taken at Bothwcll. Thefe 
 were in general ftript by the Soldiers of what 
 Cloaths they had upon them, that were any Thing 
 valuable, and driven like a Herd of Beafts, bound 
 two and two to Edinburgh ', where they were 
 kept feveral Weeks in a Church-yard wall'd in, 
 being ftri&ly guarded, andallow'd noLodging but 
 theEarth:, neither any Covering but the'Heavens*, 
 either to flielter them from Wet, Cold, Sun or 
 Wind , altho' many of them were very fore 
 wounded. After this trifling Severity, a pretended 
 Mercy was extended to them, viz.. That fuch of 
 them as would fign a Bond condemning their 
 whole Caufe, acknowledging it to be Rebellion, 
 declaring it unlawful to Take Arms againft the 
 King upon any Pretence whatfoever - and bind- 
 ing them fe Ives in a Penalty not to do fb at any 
 Time thereafter were let go. 
 
 Many took this Declaration, and fign'd this 
 Bond, being not able to endure the Severity of 
 that Ufage which they were expofed to in the 
 Church- yard , which however others calPd 
 Trifling. But many of them refufedto accept of 
 Deliverance, upon fuch Terms as were againft 
 their Principles, and as trampled upon the Blood 
 of their Brethren who had dy'd in that Quarrel. 
 
 Thefe 
 
[ 20J ] 
 
 Thefe were near 400} and the Council net thinking 
 it proper to let theHangman to Work upon f hem 
 all \ above 50 having already been put to Death, 
 found out new and unheard of Ways of Mur- 
 thering the greateft Part of them altogether •, 
 About 300 of them having receiv'd a general 
 Sentence of Transportation to the Englijl) Colonies 
 in America •, a Ship was found which as was pre- 
 tended was bound to Jamaica, or rather was hir'd 
 by the Government to Tranfport thefe poor Vic- 
 tims to Jamaica , where they were to be fold as 
 Slaves. On board this VefTel thefe People were 
 fhip'd. Some have ventur'd to tell us, That fo 
 great a Number could not poilibly have gone to 
 Jamaica in that Ship } That the VefTel was by no 
 Means able to have carry'd freih. Water and ne- 
 ceffary Provifions for fo great a Number, and fo 
 long a Voyage. And moreover, upon Exa- 
 mination we have been told that it did appear, 
 That no proportion of Provifions for fuch a 
 Number and fuch a Voyage was in the Ship at 
 that Time : All which, if true, ferve to prove, 
 That what was afterwards wickedly done was the 
 Horrid Contrivance and Bloody Inftru&ions of 
 the Perfecutors, who had refoiv'd the Deftru- 
 8:1011 of the poor Sufferers whatever it coft. 
 
 The Ship fiifd, as above, and whether by 
 
 Strefs of Weather, Negligence or Wickednefs, 
 
 it is not material :, neither could the poor Pri- 
 
 foriers who were lock'd under Hatches judge of 
 
 it. But this is certain, that coming near the 
 
 Northermoft part of Scotland near the Orkneys, 
 
 . the Ship was driven on fhoar amdngfi the 
 
 Rocks, and ftuck faft. The Ship's Crew fav'd 
 
 themfelves, and all that belong'd to them 5 and 
 
 all the Pri (oners, had they been allow'd to ihift 
 
 for themfelves, would have been fav'd with Safe 
 
 2 2 enough 
 
C 204 ] 
 
 enough \ but the Officer fet over them would 
 not fuffer the Hatches to be opened, neither could 
 any Entreaty prevail upon him to let one Soul of 
 them out, 'till the Ship being darned to Pieces, 
 they were all of them drowned in the Hold, ex- 
 cept only, that an Honeft Seaman, feeing, and be- 
 ing ftruck with Horror at fo Barbarous an Aft} 
 ventur'd his Life to go on Board , and with an 
 Axe cutting thro' the Deck of the Veffel got 
 Forty nine of them out alive } the reft being 
 about Two Hundred and fifty perifhed to- 
 gether. After this Piece of Cruelty is related, 
 I think I need make no Apology for having faid, 
 That the Reign of ' Dioclefian, or any of the moft 
 Cruel Perfecutors of God's Church could not 
 match it .• For thefe were Men delivered, Men to 
 whom Life was granted ^ after the Decimations 
 and Drafts made out of them for the Gibbet and 
 Scaffold were over, thefe were fentenc'd toTranf. 
 portation - but given up to be Murther'd in the 
 moft Inhumane and moft Unprecedented Man- 
 ner, fuch as I believe no Hiftory can mew the 
 like of. 
 
 Another Ship which had 60 or more of thefe 
 Banifh'd Men put onboard her, whereof fevera I 
 were Minifters, and being oblig'd by the Aft of 
 ^Navigation, really for fhe was bound for Jamaica 
 to go fir ft to England^ there by the Good Provi- 
 dence of God, fome Mifunderftanding happening 
 between the Owners and Freighters of the Veffel, 
 upon the Terms of Charter-Par ty, the Ship was 
 not permitted to go the Voyage ; and the poor 
 Sufferers got their Liberty, no Thanks to their 
 Perfecutors. 
 
 There was near an Hundred others Tranfpor* 
 ted in fevera 1 Ships ♦, fome to one Country, fome 
 to another* befides about 30 of the lame Both- 
 well- 
 
[20? 3 
 
 tmil-Brigg Prifoners, that dy'd in Prifon either 
 of their Wounds, or otherwife by Diftempers 
 contracted in their Confinement, arid by the 
 Cruelty of their Keepers. 
 
 But this was not an End of the Bothroell-Bvidep 
 Affair: For, as 1 faid before, it was made for 
 ibme Years the Subject of the Stricter! Inquifitnn •, 
 and Abundance of poor People were Murther'd in 
 Cold Blood by the Perfecutors on Pretence of 
 their having been at that Rebellion i, as iliall ap- 
 pear in its Place. 
 
 In the Time of thefe Tranfa£Rons the Arch- 
 Biihop of St. Andrew\ the molt Fierce and Cruel 
 Persecutor of the Good People aforelaid ^ and 
 One, who, as was reported, had declared it as 
 his Opinion, That they were not a People fit to 
 live \ but ought to be extirpated from the Face 
 of the Earth, was himfelf cut off by the Hands 
 of ibme Men, whole Zeal carrying them beyond 
 their Patience, took upon them this Execution, 
 as a Thing they had a Right to, as they fuppo- 
 Jed :, there being no Way to obtain Public}: 
 fuftice any other Way. 
 
 There have been feveral Accounts given in 
 Publick of this Man's Death - 7 the Truth and Im- 
 partiality of which I have much Reafon to que- 
 queftion, not only becaufe I have heard it other 
 Ways related ^ but becaufe thofe Accounts have 
 manifelt Contradictions in them, both as to the 
 Manner and Circumstances of the Fact, and as 
 to the Perfons concerned in it • neither mall I 
 fay any more than this for the Relation here let 
 down, than that it came immediately from the 
 Mouth of one of the Perfons concern'd in it *, 
 and iliall be repeated as near as poflible in the 
 very Words. 
 
 ^ 3 We 
 
C 206 3 
 
 * We were ( fays this Perfon ) a poor People 
 made defperate by the Violence of our Perfe- 
 cutors \ and ftill more fo for Want of Oppor- 
 tunity and Strength to refift them by Force ; 
 which in Cafe of fuch manifeft Injuftice as we 
 daily receiv'd, we had very much Will to do, 
 and believ'd was not only lawful , but our 
 Duty : And on this Principle we a&ed before 
 at pentiand, and afterwards at Bothwell j which 
 we believe were very Lawful and Juftiflable 
 Aclions ; however, it pleafed not the Lord to 
 give us Succels therein. In the Perfuit of this 
 Opinion, it was propofed at a Meeting, whe- 
 ther we being therefore, tho' fuppreft by Power 
 in a State of War, with ourPerfecutors,who had 
 illegally vow'd ourExtirpation :,it were not law- 
 ful for us to deftroy them by Surprize,'or by at- 
 tacking them as well a-part, as together, where- 
 ever we could find them :, and it was unani- 
 moufly agreed, That it was Lawful. Next it 
 was propofed, That whereas all Appeal to the 
 Publick Juftice being deny'd us-, and all Re- 
 medy againft. our Oppreilions, That is to fay, 
 fuch as the Civil Magiftrate ought to yield us, 
 being render'd impoifible, we might, and ought 
 endeavour to execute that Juftice which God 
 Himfelf hadDenounced againftMurtherers «and 
 which God had by His Own Law deputed to 
 the next' of Kin. That the Perfons here puc 
 to Death were Murther'd, nay even Butcher'd 
 many of them without fo much as any Pretence 
 to the Legal Forms , and ordinary Courfe 
 of Juftice ," being Kill'd in Cold Blood by 
 the Raging Soldiers , or by Bloody minded 
 Peri ecutors, back'd and fupported by the laid 
 Soldiers - and this by meer. Surprize, and Ra- 
 venous Unguided Rage, being equal to AfTaf- 
 
 t c filiation, 
 
C 207 ] 
 
 fination, or rather :, mething like being de- 
 vour'd by Wild Beafts or Savages. 
 1 That upon fuch as Murthet'd without Law, 
 Juftice was to be Executed without Law, and 
 the Sword of God was in every Injur'd Man's 
 Hand to Execute the Divine Juftice on flichj 
 no Juftice being alio to be had from Men, Chofe 
 who bore the Sword, not bearing it in vain only 
 but joyning themfelves to, protecting, and 
 aiding theie Murtherers, and therefore bearing 
 equal Guilt art and fart with them. 
 1 This likewiie was refolv'd upon in the Af- 
 firmative :, whereupon we who were then pre- 
 fent, and whofe Souls were fir'd with Zeal for 
 God's Glory, refolv'd with Thineas to Execute 
 Juftice on thole who had thus lifted up their 
 Hand againft the Lord's People, wherever they 
 might be found •, and to place our felves in 
 the Room and Authority of the Avenger 6f 
 Blood for our Innocent Brethren, who were de- 
 ftroy'd and cruelly MafTacred for the Cauie of 
 God and the Teftimony of a Good Confcience. 
 c In this our Zeal, and fortify 'd with fuch 
 Confiderations as thefe, 5 Men of our- Number 
 Arming our felves, plac'd our felves in Am- 
 bufh, with Defign to Execute God ! s Juftice 
 upon the Laird of , a Cruel and 
 
 Bloody Perfecutor of God's People } and who, 
 had, not many Days before, put to Death ie~. 
 veral of our Brethren in the Province of Fife. 
 This was our Intent, neither had we at that-Time 
 any Thought or Expectation of any other, when 
 we were furpriz'd with an Account from one 
 of our Number who was at a Diftance } that 
 the Arch- Enemy of God and his People, the 
 Prelate of St. Andrew\ was palling on the 
 Road in his Coach. 
 
 2 A fe 
 
[ ao8 ] 
 
 c It was immediately fuggefted to us, that al- 
 beit we had miffed of the Man who we had 
 fought for ; yet God had by a Wonderful 
 Providence delivered the Great and Capital 
 Enemy of his Church into our Hands \ and 
 that it was a Vifible Call to us from Heaven 
 not to let him efcape : That he had been a 
 Notorious Perfecutor of God's People, and a 
 Vile Murtherer of our Brethren ; particularly 
 in that, when the King Himfelf lent his Com- 
 mands to the Council in the Year 1 666 after 
 Pent land Rifing, That no more fhould be put 
 to Death ; which Command was fent in Wri- 
 ting directed to the laid Privy Council, and 
 was deliver'd to the faid Bifhop % yet that he 
 had kept the faid Written Order in his Pocket 
 'till the laft i o Perfons mentioned in this Work 
 />. 166, who were then in Prifon, were put to 
 Death *, and that now was the Time when that 
 Scripture was to be executed by them, He who 
 fpilleth Mans Blood by Man jhall his Blood be 
 fpilt : And that they ought not only to believe 
 that God had deliver'd him up into theirHands^ 
 but that if they let him efcape it fhould be re- 
 quired of them and of their Brethren, as in the 
 Cale of King Ahaby 1 Kings 20. 42. Becaufe 
 thou hafi let go out of thy Hand a Man who I ap- 
 pointed to utter Deftruclion -, therefore thy Life 
 jhall go for his Life, and thy People for his 
 People. 
 
 * Fortify'd with thefe Principles, and parti- 
 cularly with this Thought, viz,, how won- 
 derfully God had deliver'd this Great Enemy 
 into our Hand \ we refolv'd that he fhould 
 not efcape. However, one of our Number 
 declined acting therein, having a private Rea- 
 fbn againft his bearing part in this Work } but 
 
 4 not 
 
[ 209 ] 
 
 not prevailing with us to defift from our Refo- 
 Lution, which we thought we had a Call from 
 Heaven to finifh, he withdrew from us, (land- 
 ing at a great Diftance, lb as to have no Hand 
 indie Action j in which Cafe thet Hand of God 
 was farther remarkably feen by the Confe- 
 quence : For, that none of us ever fell into ^ 
 the Hands of the Enemy, or were put to Death 
 for this Fatt, but that one Perfon, viz.. Hack- 
 fton otRathillet who really had no Share in the 
 Work , but refufed to joyn with us therein 
 as before. 
 
 \ Having refolv'd, as is [aid-, That this Ene- 
 my mould not efcape the Judgment of God by 
 our Hands •, we rode after him, and coming up 
 to the Coach, quickly flopped the fame, and 
 difarming his Servants, we gave him Notice of 
 our Refolutions, letting him know his Offen- 
 ces •, and in ferious Terms exhorting him to 
 give Glory to God, by Confeifing his Guilt, 
 and that he would repent heartily for the 
 Wickednefs of his Ways , and the Innocent 
 Blood that he had fhe'd ; for that, now his 
 Time was come to dye for the fame. 
 * It was fome Time e'er we could convince 
 him, That we were in Earneft refolv'd to put 
 him to Death \ and he feemed to fmile at what 
 we had laid about the Wickednefs of his Life : 
 His Daughter alfo who was with him in the 
 Coach, railed on us with much Evil Language. 
 But thereafter, caufmg her to come forth of 
 the Coach, we let him know, that his Mo- 
 ments were very few \ that we would wait for 
 him yet a little while, and exhorted him 
 not to trifle with his Soul, but to call upon 
 God for Mejcy : After which, feeing us in- 
 deed in Earneft, he began to' entreat for Life: 
 
 c But 
 
[ ai° ] 
 
 But we foon let him know, we were not to be 
 put by our Purpofe for any Entreaties that 
 could be ufed j and that there was no Mercy 
 to be mown to him, who had mown no Mer- 
 cy. Hereupon he began to think of Death. 
 But here juft the very Words of the Ferfon who 
 related the Story '. Behold ! God did not give 
 him the Grace to pray to him without the Help of 
 a Booh But he pull'd out of his Pocket a 
 fmall Book, and began to read over fome 
 Words, to himfelf, which filled us with A- 
 mazement and Indignation. However, wait- 
 ing fome Time, and then calling again upon 
 him to commend his Soul to God's Mercy, 
 for that he mould immediately dye- we fir'd 
 upon him with our Piftols : When finding he 
 was not yet dead, and remembring that it had 
 been reported, that he had ufed Sorcery, in 
 Order to defend his Body, and that he was 
 invulnerable \ and withal to rid him of Life 
 with as little Torture as we might, we flew 
 him with our Swords, and departed. 
 This Relation of the A&ion coming from the 
 Mouth of one of the Aftors, has not only that 
 Authority for its Currency \ but even feems in 
 its felf to be moft confonant with all the other 
 Accounts of it which have been made pub lick ; 
 and is believ'd to be a very Juft and Faithful 
 Account, both of the Killing the Biihop, and of 
 the Circumftances going before it. 
 
 The Reafon why this Account is made pub- 
 lick in this Place, tho' fome Time after the Faft, 
 is on the following Account. 
 
 The Spirit of Perfecution was now come to 
 the Height, and the Perfecutors feem'd to havs 
 exerted themfelves to the uttermoft. The com- 
 mon Methods of Cruelty in putting to Death 
 
 by 
 
C 2" ] 
 
 by Procefs and by Forms of Law were exhaufted, 
 and they behoved to find out a more fummary 
 Way to proceed ; for there were Perfons to be 
 deftroy'd, againft whom they had nothing to 
 alledge, nor any Proof to be made againft them 
 of any Fa£t. And it was neceffary to find out 
 fome Way or other, firft to make the whole 
 Body guilty, and then to make Men their own 
 Accufers, charging themfelves with belonging 
 to the Body or Society, by owning die Prin- 
 ciples upon which they afted. 
 
 This is that unheard of Part, which confti- 
 tutes this Perfecution to be the moft Inhuman 
 of all the Perfections which we read of, ei- 
 ther before or fmce the Primitive Age of the 
 Church or God ; and by which the Sufferings 
 of the Church of Scotland are diftinguiih'd from 
 the Sufferings of all that ever went before 
 them. 
 
 And what Reproach muft the Practice of thefe 
 Times leave upon the Epifcopal Party now alive 
 in Scotland \ many of whom were real A&ors in 
 the Cruelleft Part of this Tragedy ! Nay, faving 
 that the Author of this would not by naming of 
 Names, load the Heads of fbme who are at the 
 Writing of this, under the juft Profecution of 
 the Government for Treafon and Real Rebellion. 
 He could fmgle out the Perfons of fome that are 
 now in the Hands of Juftice *, who were among 
 the moft Bloody and Raging Perfecutors of thofe 
 Times : But omitting their Names, however 
 juft the Reflection, he cannot but lead them by 
 the Hand to this juft Obfervation, viz,. How 
 Righteous is that Providence, which caufesthem 
 to lye at the Feet of a Provok'd Sovereign, 
 Crying for Mercy, AND TO BE DENTED; 
 who Denyed Mercy to lb many of their Inno- 
 
 cen 
 
C 212 ] 
 
 cent Neighbours and Fellow-Creatures *, who 
 were Guilty neither of Treafon or Rebellion ; 
 but only of Worfhipping fhe Great Creator of 
 all Things according to ££is Command } and in 
 'fuch a Manner as the Authority of Conference 
 made their indifpcr.fib!e Duty. 
 
 But to return to the Fafts : Profeeutions in 
 iWms of Juftice, as I [aid, feem'd now at an 
 End ^ the Methods of drawing Blood feem'd to 
 be exhaufted, tho' the Thirft of Blood was not 
 quench'd. The Number of Prifoners to be 
 dragg'd to Execution, or Informers to accufe 
 particular Perfons either were few, or too few, 
 to latisfie the voracious Appetite of the Perfe- 
 cting Party : Nor was it particular Perfons, but 
 the whole Body of Chrlftians in the Denomina- 
 tion of Whlggs^ whofe Blood they refbly'd to 
 ihed. 
 
 Being therefore unfatisfy'd with the perfonal 
 Guilt of fuch who had been at Bothwcll- Bridge *, 
 or fuch as could be found at Field-Meetings - 7 
 whofe Number, the dally great, were but few, 
 when compar'd with what they refolv'd to fall 
 upon. They proceeded now to fum up their 
 Profeilion into Generals:, to form them into 
 Principles •, and then make thole Principles 
 Criminal : By which Method they knew, they 
 ihould infallibly involve the whole Body of thole 
 People in fuch Circumftances, as would entitle 
 the Government to a Right to put them to 
 Death. The Cafe was thus. 
 
 i . They knew, That thefe perfecuted People 
 efteem'd themfelves engaged by the Na- 
 tional Covenant in the Solemneft Bond ima- 
 ginable : That it was the Oath of God ^ 
 that no human Power could diffolve the. 
 
 Obligation \ 
 
Obligation : And that the breaking it as 
 it had been broken, was no lefs a Crime 
 than a National Perjury. 
 
 They look'd upon the King as anEnemy and 
 Perfecutor of God's People j as a Prince per- 
 jur'd, by his Breaking and Renouncing the 
 Covenant} and gu'lty of involving the whole 
 Nation in the lame Deteftable Crime of 
 Perjury : Alfo they look'd upon him as 
 a Perfecutor of God's Church, and a 
 Bloody Deftroyer of his People. And for 
 theie Reafons they could not fatisfy them- 
 felves to pray for him, or fay to him, God 
 fpeed. 
 
 As for the Killing the Arch-Biihop of St. 
 Andrew's, they did not efteem it a Mur- 
 ther, or an AfTafTination \ but efteeming 
 themfelves to be in Open War with him, 
 and with all the Members of that Bloody 
 Society call'd, The Council of Scotland , who 
 had treated them and their Brethren with 
 Barbarity as Enemies to Mankind :, and had 
 by all Kinds of Cruelty and Inhumanity 
 without Law *, except fuch as their Lufl of 
 Blood form d into A els of Council, and contrary 
 to the Conflitution had calPd Laws '-, and to 
 which they gave the Force of Laws \ put their 
 Brethren unjufHy to Death ^ which they 
 efteem'd Murther of the vileft Sort , e- 
 fteeming thefe Men, I fay, by their Bloody 
 Doings to be Blood- Suckers, Murtherers, 
 and open declared Enemies to God and 
 Man : They thought it juft, as in Time 
 of War , to perfue them to Death in what 
 Manner they could, and wherever they 
 
 could, 
 
E 214 3 
 
 could , and wherever they might be 
 found. 
 
 4. As to the Taking Arms at Tentland and at 
 Both-well, and other Places *, they would by 
 no Means admit it to be Rebellion : Be- 
 caufe Nature dictating Self- Defence to all 
 Creatures to whom it has given a Life to 
 defend. And they being attacked by the 
 Arm'd Troops of their Perfecutors, while 
 they innocently and peaceably performed 
 their undoubted and indifpenfible Duty, 
 i/ify the Worfhipping God according to his 
 own Inftitution ^ they thought themfelves 
 1 bound by the Laws of Nature, and al- 
 k>wed by the Laws of God to defend their 
 Lives, and the Lives of their Wives and 
 Children. 
 
 As the poor People maintain'd thefe Prin- 
 ciples with the greateft Exaftnefs^ and per- 
 iined to do fo with the greateft Conftancy* 
 So their Perfecutors knew well what Ufe to 
 make of this Steady Adherence to their Prin- 
 ciples •, and how to make it a Handle to them 
 to take Hold of the otherwife moft innocent 
 and inoffenfive part of the People, and drag 
 them to immediate Execution without further 
 Procels. And this Device they queftion'd not 
 would ferve them to deflroy and extirpate the 
 whole Body of the People, as they owned was 
 their Defign. 
 
 To this Wicked and Barbarous Purpofe they 
 fram'd 4 QuefHons upon the Heads above-men- 
 tioned •, which they refblv'd to have offer'd to 
 the perfecuted People upon all Occafions } and 
 to which they fhould oblige the faid People to 
 
 give 
 
C 215 ] 
 
 give an immediate direct Anfwer ; On refuflng 
 which Anfwer, or not anfwering to their Minds, 
 they were immediately to be put to Death. 
 And here is to be noted, that as it was faid> the 
 late Arch-Bifhop of St. AndnwS, Gen. DaUiel y 
 and feveral others of the frerceft of the perfe- 
 cting Council had often complain d. That the 
 Formalities of the Law, that is to fay, bringing 
 Men to the Bar, and to be Try'd by Judges, 
 Juries, Hearings, Pleadings, &c, were Obstruc- 
 tions to the King's Service : So the prefent 
 Council proceeding by the fameRules of Cruelty, 
 refolv'd to make Ihorter Work with them ♦, and 
 therefore, that the Forms ot Procefs, bringing 
 to Prifons, and to Tryals, might not delay, or 
 encumber the Execution, and prevent the di£ 
 patching the innocent Victim faft enough. They 
 decreed, That every private Soldier, an Army 
 of whom they had now Quartered upon the perfecuted 
 People, fhould have Power to tender the laid 
 Queftions to every Man they met, or to whom 
 they pleafed \ and upon refuting to anfwer„ the 
 faid Soldier was empowered to kill them upon 
 the Spot • and left I may be thought to do this 
 General Ddzjd an Injury, and record of him 
 any Thing which was not fuitable to the reft of 
 his Practice ; who, if Fame belies him not, was 
 a Man as void of Humanity, as rnoft that ever 
 Heaven permitted to live. I fay, that I may 
 not wrong him, I fhall give the following briet 
 Account of an Action of his, or a Specimen of 
 his companionate Temper \ by which the Cha- 
 racter of the Man may be gueft at without 
 Breach of Charity. It was foon after the Rifing 
 at Pentland, when he had been fent into the 
 Shire of Alr % to make Search for, and put to 
 Death fuch of the poor People as he could find 
 
 were 
 
C 216] 
 
 were in the faid Riling. He fends a Lieutenant 
 with a Party of Men to New Mi /Is, and order'd 
 them to leize and bring to him an honeft poor 
 Man, whole Name was FinUy , and who wa6 
 peaceably living in his own Houfe, nor had he 
 been at all in Arms ; When his Men brought 
 the Prifoner to him he examin'd him private. 
 ly, no Wkwfs being by i> and with a kind of Ci- 
 vility, unufual to him, whether he had been at 
 Lanerck with the Rebels ? The Man anfvver'd, 
 He was at Lanerck upon his private Bulinels 
 when their Army came thither •, and told him 
 what his Bufmeis was, offering to prove the 
 Truth of it •, and declared, That he was not in 
 Arms, or had any Weapon with him : Nei- 
 ther did he go among them : Then he ask'd 
 him if he remembred any of thole he law a- 
 mong them, and who they were? The Man 
 declared he did not \ whereupon he calls for 
 the Lieutenant, and order'd him to carry that 
 Man to the Gallows , and have him Ihot to 
 Death: For that he had confeft he was with 
 the Rebels. The poor Man being brought to 
 the Place in a great Hurry and Surprize asks 
 the Lieutenant, if the General was in Earnefi: ^ 
 the Lieutenant faid he feared he was ; How-, 
 ever being a Civil Man, and loth to Execute 
 fuch a Cruel CommiUion , and the poor Man 
 protefting his Innocency, and entreating him as 
 a ChrilHan, that at leaft he might have a Re- 
 prieve for that Night, that he might prepare 
 for Death and Eternity. The Lieutenant, I fay, 
 upon this goes back to the General, and laying 
 before him the poor Man's Cafe, entreated him 
 to grant him a few Hours Time to prepare for 
 Death; But the General flying out in a Rage 
 at the Lieutenant, and with Horrid Oaths and 
 
 Blafphemies 
 
C 217 ] 
 
 Blafphemies commands him to return, and tells 
 him he would teach him. to obey his Orders after 
 a better Manner, than to come back and make 
 himfelf an Advocate for Rebels : Upon this, 
 the Lieutenant went back dire&ly to the Man 5 
 and immediately ihot him dead upon the Spot. 
 
 This and fuch as this was their Temper at 
 that Time : And I think I may lay they were 
 now come to the Height of their Fury. The 
 Meafure of their Cruelty fill'd up a-pace • all the 
 French Dragooning, the Popifh Burnings, the 
 Heathen Torturings that we read of in the . 
 World ? fcarce ever came up to this. In all 
 thole cafes, the Sufferers were brought before 
 Judges and Magiftrates, Officers of Juftice, and 
 Men in Power. But fuch was the Thirft of 
 Blood here, that they appeared willing to ftrip 
 themfelves of their Magifterial Authority, and 
 make every private Sentinel, every Mufquetier, 
 both Judge, Jury, and Executioner. 
 % Never was Juftice Executed in fuch a fum- 
 mary Way as on this Occafion : For, now the 
 Soldiers fill'd the Streets and High-Ways with 
 Blood : Men, Women, nay, and little Children 
 were dragged out of their Houfes, from their 
 Shops, Trades and Labour to immediate Death, 
 without Warning, without Pity, and without 
 Time given them to Call upon God for Mercy 
 to their Souls. 
 
 Nor was the Life of the moft Innocent Per foil 
 iafe at this Time from the Rapine of the Sol- 
 diers ; For now, it was the eafieft Thing in 
 the World for private Revenge to be purfued 
 t© Blood •, and it was in the Power of the Sol- 
 diers to execute the greateft Villany with Im- 
 punity : They had no more to do but to 
 Rob, Ravifh, Infult, Plunder, and commit what 
 A a Wickednefs 
 
C 218 S 
 
 Wickednefs they pleafed, and adding Murther 
 to the reft, fay, the Peribn Murther'd, refufed 
 to anfwer the Queftions. 
 
 Thefe Queftions model'd according to the 
 Heads before recited, were thus, 
 
 * i. Will you renounce the Covenant? 
 
 2. Will you Pray for the King, or will you 
 lay God blefs the King ? 
 
 " 3. Was the Killing the Archbiftiop of St. An» 
 drews Murther, yea or no ? 
 
 4. Was the riling at Bothwel Brigg Rebellion, 
 yea or no ? 
 
 It mould have been obferv'd before this, that 
 in order efTe&ually to fupprefs thefe perfecuted 
 People, and to finilh the ruin of the Country, 
 the Government had raifed what the Country 
 People call'd the Highland Hoft. The Account 
 the Perfecutors gave of this was, c That the 
 Loyal Clans offered their Service to his Majefty, 
 touring into the Field a body of Men, from 
 among their Vaffals and Servants, compleatly 
 arm'd, who were to march whether his Maje- 
 fty fhould pleafe to command them, for the 
 fuppreffing of the Rebellion, and for pre- 
 venting the Rebels and Whigs from gathering 
 in Troops, in the Weftern Shires. 
 On thefe pretences, thofe Highlander s, little 
 better than Barbarians, and in fome Cafes much 
 worfe, were arm'd and taken into the Service 
 of Sat an > and fome time after the Bothwel Brigg 
 affair, were order'd to the Number of 8000 
 Men to Quarter upon the iuffering People, in 
 the Shires of jiir 7 Galloway ', and other the We- 
 ftern Shires : There they exercis'd all the Ra- 
 pine, Violence, Robbery and Wickednefs, over 
 and above the Murther, and ihedding of innocent 
 
 Blood 
 
[ 2I 9 3 
 
 Blood, of which we are juft going to fpeak, thafi 
 may be expected from an ungovern'd Souldieryj 
 or chat could be practifed upon, or fuffered by a 
 People, given up to the luft and rage of a crew 
 of Savages. 
 
 In this pofture flood the- pub lick Affairs as fo 
 the Perfecutors, yet their rage received no a- 
 batement •, the very thought of the Spirit, and 
 undeprels'd courage of the Perfecuted, gal I'd and 
 exafperated them : To fee a let of Men living 
 like wild Creatures in the Mountains, and yet 
 there in fpite of human Power, freely preser- 
 ved the Liberty of their Principles, and met 
 publickly and frequently in mighty Numbers, 
 for the woriliip of God j and that it was impof- 
 iible for them, either to apprehend or prevent 
 them • this provok'd them to the iaft Degree : 
 They found now, that as there wandring Out- 
 law'd People muft be, and indeed fo they really 
 were harbour'd and reliev'd at the greater! Peril 
 by the People in the plain Country, the only 
 way left to extirpate them more effectually, was 
 to ruin and impoverish the whole Country, that 
 the banim'd profcrhYd Refugees, might have 
 no relief from them •, and to make it punifhable 
 111 the higheft manner, and as the moft capital 
 Crime for any lb much as to talk with, much 
 leCs entertain, comfort, relieve and fupport one 
 of thole,. who, as they call it, were interconr- 
 um'dj and this was ib feverely put in Execution, 
 that we find among their lifts of their Butchery's 
 by the Hangman } one JRamfey executed only 
 for going over a'River in a Ferry Boat, with one 
 who had been a Rebel, and talking with him in 
 common, as with other Men in the Boat. 
 
 But all thefe cruelties were not yet able to ex- 
 tirpate a race of Men, By whole Sufferings 
 A a 2 the 
 
[ 220 ] 
 
 the Grace and Mercy of God, was to be made 
 ib confpicuous in the World : NAY fo far 
 was it from that, that on the other hand, the 
 Numbers of them daily encreafed, even under 
 their very Perfections, as was the Cafe in the 
 Primitive times of the Church , their Field 
 Meetings grew more frequented , and were 
 more publickly held, and that with fuch Mul- 
 titudes as were fcarce credible to relate. 
 
 Nor were the zealous perfecuted People pre- 
 vailed upon, to abate one Tittle of the Testi- 
 mony, which they thought themfelves oblig'd 
 to bear againft the Wickednefs of their Ene- 
 mies, and that particularly in two Points. 
 
 i. Their National Perjury in breaking their 
 Oath to God, and to his People j (vm.) in break- 
 find renouncing the Covenant. 
 
 2. Their erecting an Epifcopal Church, Go- 
 vernment which they abhorr'd, and which tlieie 
 treated with no other Name than an Anti- 
 chriftian Prelacy. 
 
 Note, They jufliried the Term Anti-chriftian, 
 for the Prelatick Hierarchy owning the Su- 
 premacy of the King over the Church, 
 whereas they allowed Chrift Jefus to be the 
 only Head and King of the Church on 
 Earth. 
 
 On the other Hand thofe two Articles, and 
 elpecially the open and daring Profeilion of 
 them, by theie perfecuted People, was un- 
 fufferable, and to the laft Degree provo- 
 king to their Perfecutors 5 and the more in that 
 they could neither by all their Cruelties, and 
 moft inhuman Ufoge, deter either thofe that 
 
 dyed 
 
[ 221 ] 
 
 dyed to abate their open Deteftation of thefe 
 two Things, at their Execution, or thole that 
 remained to refrain their open Froreffionof the 
 fame abhorrences, no not for fear of the lame 
 Tortures. » 
 
 Nor could they by all their bloody profecuti- 
 ors prevent the Field Meetings they lb much 
 exclaimed againft, where the refolution of the 
 perfecuted People, to perfevere to their Dehtji, 
 in their oppofition to the Prelates, and their ad* 
 hering to the Covenant, was always cxpreis'd 
 in fuch Terms, and the People were lb con- 
 firm'd in thole refolutions, that the Council 
 law too plainly nothing but Death could put an 
 End to it •, and the whole race of fuffenng Chri- 
 ftians muftbe deftroy'd and extirpated, or thev 
 fhould never Conquer the Oppofition thev made 
 to the Planting of Epifcopacy in that Kingdom, 
 and upon this refolution they proceeded. * 
 
 In the mean time the Poor People, as if the 
 heat ot^ the Perfecution had but ferved to in- 
 fluence their Zeal, thought themfelves oblig'd 
 to declare a War, tho' of a different Nature'a- 
 gainft their Perfecutors \ and to let them fee, 
 that upon a juft and equal Principle, they could 
 clear themfelves of the Guilt charg'd upon 
 them, of being Rebels againft Lawful Autho- 
 rity •, and to this end at one of their publick and 
 mo/t numerous Meetings in the Weft, they o- 
 penly declar'd themfelves revolted from the 
 Government , c renounced and dilbwn'd all 
 Allegiance, Obedience, Homage or Duty to 
 the King and his Administration \ as being'an 
 c Enemy to God and to the Church of God, and 
 therefore not legally constituted, or to be ac- 
 knowledged as their Supream Lord. But Jpfo 
 Jure depofed, from all Regal Authortiy over 
 
[ 222 ] 
 
 them, and diverted of the Office of a Magi- 
 strate, and of the Truft or Charge of Govern- 
 ment which was repofed in and devolved 
 upon him, by exprels Compact, at his Coro- 
 nation, when he iblemnly entred into an Oath 
 and Covenant, with God and his People •, 
 and which Oath, Covenant and Compact he 
 had violated, breaking all the Conditions, and 
 impioufly renouncing the Obligation thereof, 
 upon which Oath and the Obligation thereof, 
 all his regal Authority and their Allegiance, 
 were entirely founded • and upon the Breach 
 whereof, their iubje&ion which was limited 
 to the proviiions of thole Compafts asd Co- 
 venants was explicitly difengaged and remit- 
 ted. 
 
 This was 'tis true a bold ftep, and many of 
 their Brethren feem'd to cenfure them upon 
 fuch a defperate proceeding, but it feems thev 
 were only fuch who had Accepted thej Li- 
 berty mentioned before upon the Terms of 
 a Licenfe from the Prelates which tempo- 
 rifmg and cowardly Complyance, thefe zea- 
 lous People abhorrd as Sinful, and condemn'd 
 as a fainting in Gods Cauie, giving over their 
 Conftancy, and above all, as a wicked recogni- 
 tion of that Epifcopai Authority, from which 
 they receiv'd fueh Licenfe •, This they call'd 
 Homologating the Legality of what they 
 themfelves Condemn'd as AntiTcripturial and 
 Anti-chi iftian, and which they were engaged in 
 the folemneft manner by the Covenant, never to 
 permit, much lefs fubmittoin theJSation. ' 
 
 The Cenfure of fuch therefore was of no 
 Value to them , and they infifled upon the 
 right they had to declare, their revolt from 
 their Allegiance to King Cba. 11. as their natu- 
 ral 
 
C ?2J } 
 
 sal Privilege, and as the juft confequence of 
 his Breach of the Compact of Govern 
 
 The noiie the Council made of his Declara- 
 tion, was ftrange indeed, how chey declared 
 thefe People Rebels, Mad, Enrag'd, Scelerates, 
 &*c. People to be abhorr'd by Chriftians, and 
 to be rooted out from the general Society of 
 Mankind, and the like ; and feem'd to juflify all 
 the inhumanities they at that time refolv'd to 
 practice upon them, and to Legitimate all their 
 Extra-judicial Meafures, by the clamour they 
 raifed upon them, for this one Afrion \ not fore- 
 feeing that in a few Years thofe fame Men 
 fhould do the fame thing, with the next King of 
 the fame Race, and call for a Regiment of thole 
 fame honeft perfecuted Sufferers, whom they 
 had thus damn'd for Rebels and Parricides, to 
 guard them in the doing it, as was within the 
 [face of 12 Years, the very Cafe, as I mall fhew in 
 its order. 
 
 I In this folemn revolt, or renouncing their Al- 
 legiance, they repeated the feu era I A&s of Vi- 
 olence and Oppreilion, which had been prafrifed 
 or authoriz'd by the King, and by his wicked 
 Counfeilors, whereby he unhinged all the legal 
 Eftablilhment of their Religion, and fubverted all 
 their Religious Liberties :The Kings Supremacy, 
 they call'd aBlafphemousand Sacrilegious j Ufur- 
 pation being an illegal Anti-fcripturial Dominion 
 over the Inftitution of Jefus Cbrifl y and the Ordi- 
 nances of his own Divine Appointment. 
 
 They proceed to declare, that the King had 
 overturn'd all the Fundamental part of the 
 Civil Conftitution, fubverting the Laws and 
 Liberties of the People, deftroying their Civil 
 and Natural Rights, and all the Securities of 
 Life and Enjoyment whatfoever*, and that ail 
 
 this 
 
[ 224 ] 
 
 this was by claiming and affuming a right to an 
 Abfolute, Tyrannical Arbitrary Government, 
 by his pretended Prerogative, independent of 
 Law, and fuperior thereto -,all which they de- 
 clare to be illegal and inconfiftent with the 
 Safety, Freedom, and legal Privileges of the 
 People, and with the Oath and Obligation of a 
 King-. 
 
 Thefe and many other things they gave, as 
 the reafon of their revolt from, and renouncing 
 Allegiance to the King, which I am the more 
 particular in, becaufe of their affinity to, and 
 the fan&ion they foon after receiv'd from the ge- 
 neral Pra&ife of the whole Ifland, and alfo to add 
 this remark, viz,. How thefe poor People were 
 not only handled by their Enemies, but even 
 cenfurd by their Friends, for owning thole very 
 Principles at that time, upon which the Safety 
 of the whole Nation was found in a few Years 
 to depend -, and for profeffing fuch Opinions, as 
 in fo little a while were judged effential to the 
 publick Safety, and on which to this Day, our 
 Proteftant Constitution is founded viz.* ThatTy-- 
 rants and Arbitrary perfecuting Princes may be 
 Renounced, the People may revolt from their 
 Allegiance to them, depofe them from their u- 
 iurp'd Authority, and yet cannot be juftlycall'd 
 Rebels and Traytors : Witnefs the Revolution and 
 Proteftant Succejfiott. 
 
 But asking Pardon for this needful Digreilion, 
 I return to the Suffering People, who however 
 righteous the Principles were which they a&ed 
 from were, yet for fome Years toDrink the Dregs 
 of Popifl) and Tyrannical Perfecution, to the full 
 Tryal of their Faith and Patience. For Example, 
 
 After they had thus declared their revolt 
 from, and renounced their Allegiance to the 
 
 King, 
 
C 225 ] 
 
 King, and his Inftruments of Tyranny, they 
 proceeded in a folemn manner to pronounce the 
 greater Excommunication, in which they Ex- 
 communicated the King, and the Bifhops, a- 
 raong the Enemies and Contemners of God and 
 his Church. They likewife in the fame Decla- 
 ration protefted againft a Pofijh Succeflbr *, and 
 declared that they would never receive the Duke 
 of York in Scotland, nor admit him to poffefs the 
 Crown. 
 
 Thus I have given the Reader an abridg'd 
 Relation of what was done on their part. But 
 what Tongue can exprefs, or Pen defcribe the 
 Ufage thefe poor People receiv'd, and the Cru- 
 elties they fuffer'd on this Account. c Not only 
 c Time, fays a [olid Writer of that Day, but 
 
 * Heart and Tongue would fail any Chriftian 
 c to relate all the Violences, Murthers, Plui> 
 € derings, Extortions, and Infolencies, that from 
 c the beginning of this Perfecution have been 
 c committed in a military way, befides what 
 c has been done in the form and courie of pub- 
 ( lick pretended Juftice : IF ftabbing, wounding, 
 € beating , {tripping , and imprisoning Mens 
 c perfons : IF violent breaking into their Hou- 
 c fes in the dead of the Night-, beating, woun- 
 € ding, ravilhing, and inhumanely abuflng Wives 
 
 * and Daughters. IF forcing weak Women by 
 e Tortures, fuch as burning Matches, and other 
 € unfufYerable Torments to difcover, nay accufe 
 c their Husbands, Fathers, and deareft Relations. 
 < IF driving away their Cattle, fpoiling their 
 1 Goods without refpecl to Guilt or Innocence :, 
 c and this in as cruel a manner as ever Scotland 
 c had feen, or could have feen, had a foreign 
 
 * Army been in the bowels of their Country. 
 1 IF all thefe 5 and many more fuch may exnrefs 
 
C 226 ] 
 
 our Mifery, fays this Author ^ fome Guefs may 
 be made at the Sufferings of this Church from 
 the Malice and Fury of this wicked prevail- 
 c ing Prelatick party. 
 
 But we now come to the methods taken with 
 thofe perfons who they could by no other 
 means lay hold upon. Thefe confifted of two 
 forts, (i.J Thole who having been in Arms, 
 and had efcaped the Sword of Battle, were fled 
 to the Mountains : Or, (2*) Thofe who having 
 been mark'd out for Deftru&ion by their Perfe- 
 cutors were withdrawn to the other : Thole 
 Men holding faft their Integrity, and having 
 many Minifters among them , kept up their 
 Fielcl - preachings , and enjoy'd the Free- 
 dom of their Religious Exercifes , notwith- 
 ilanding the moft inveterate Rage of their Ene- 
 mies •, and this, as I faid already, provok'd the 
 Perfecutors to fuch a Degree that they were not 
 able to contain themfelves, but would flye at the 
 Innocent to punifh. the Guilty, that is to fay, who 
 theyfuppos'd guilty ,for otherGuilt they had none. 
 To punifh them then as far as they were able, 
 feeing they could do it no other way \ Flrfi^ they 
 intercommuned them, as they call it, forbid- 
 ding any Perfon to harbour, hide, comfort, or 
 correspond with any of them ^ or even fo much 
 as to falute, or talk with them on the way, on 
 pain of Treafon and Rebellion •, and of being pro- 
 fecuted for the fame Crimes which thofe they fo 
 harbour'd , comforted , or correfponded with 
 were charg'd with. 
 
 In the next place to di (appoint them who were 
 wandring about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins, 
 in Dens, and Roles, and Caves of the Earth j and 
 effe&ually to prevent their being reliev'd or fup- 
 ported from their Friends, Relations, or other- 
 wife 
 
[ 227 ] 
 
 wife \ they found it abfolutely neceffary by 
 Troops of Soldiers who were fubfrfted by the poor 
 Sufferers, to ruin and impoverifh the Country by 
 their various Plunderings and Depredations, ra- 
 ther like Troops in an Enemy's Country, than 
 Troops Billited and placed under Difcipline. 
 
 This was the Cafe when Juftice was transfer r'd 
 from the Judges on the Bench to the Soldier in the 
 Field; and this not to the Officers, to the Court 
 Martial,or AfTembly ofOificers,or Generals 5 but 
 to the brutal common Soldiers, who neither had 
 Confcience to judge by, Reafon to judge from, 
 Senfe to guide, Humanity to fpare, or Temper to 
 confider who to kill, and who to fave. 
 
 It would be endlefs to turn this Account into 
 a Scets Martyrology, or a Regifter of Barbarities. 
 Thefe Sheets are no way equal to a Hiftory of 
 fuch a length :, but keeping myfelf to the Brevity 
 of Memoirs. Agreeable to my Title, I fhall give 
 fome Specimens of the bloody management of 
 this part of the Work •, I mean as to this new 
 fafhioned way of Perfecution, by delivering a 
 naked defencelefs People up to the Fury of the 
 common Soldiers :, and fome flagrant Inftances 
 of this kind will be fufficfent to defcribe the refl. 
 The fir ft I meet with is the Story of a poor 
 Woman and a young Maiden of about 1 6 Years 
 old in theWeft of Scotland,who were cruelly mur- 
 thered by fome Men belonging to Grierfon of Log, 
 an Eminent Perfecutor in that part of the Coun- 
 try. They began by putting the Queftions to 
 them abovemention'd ; and the firft they offered, 
 as what was mo ft popular at that Time in the World, 
 and be ft ferrfd^ as they thought, to expofe the perfe- 
 cuted People to the Court, was that of, Will ye fay- 
 God blcfs the King. As I have receiv'd this Story 
 from Creditable Witnefles, take it as follows; 
 
 The 
 
r 228 ] 
 
 The Woman told them flie would pray to God 
 to forgive the King his Sins : The Maid faid 
 fhe would pray that God would pleafe to give 
 the King Repentance : But it would be an impious 
 Thing, faid the Woman, to pray to God to five, 
 that is, to blefs a Covenant -breaking perjurd Magi- 
 strate, and in the Profecution of his Perjury too * 
 And they both declar'd it was againft their Con- 
 fciences, their Principles, and the Covenant ; 
 and that therefore they could not do it. The Wo- 
 man faid boldly, That while the King was a Per- 
 fecntor of God's People he was an Enemy to GOD 
 and to the Church of GOD } and ihe thought it 
 was an abominable Thing to ask of any Chn&ian 
 to pray for Prosperity to the Perfecutors of the Church 
 ofChrlft ; for that was to fay God fpeed to them, 
 Even in the very Perfecution itfelf : She was an 
 undaunted Woman, and challeng'd them to an- 
 fwer her in that particular \ but they had no- 
 thing to fay to her Argument* bat thought ihe 
 would have fome Regard to theirs which was, 
 Tray to God to blefs the King ~ - — or dye. Will ye 
 kill me, fays the Woman, becaufe I will not blefs 
 thofe who God curfes ! the Lord forbid that Ijhould do 
 it, tbo* J were to dye a Thou f and limes. Upon this 
 they fix'd a Stake in the Sea at the low Water 
 Mark, and binding the poor Woman and the 
 young Girl to the Stake, let them ftand there 
 ? till the Tide flowed over them and drowned 
 them both, being alfo tormented almoin to Death 
 with the Cold by landing in the Water lb long 
 as 'till the Tide was high enough to drown them. 
 However, they both endur'd it with great Con- 
 #ancy,and withour the leaft Offer of Compliance 
 with the barbarous Adverfary. 
 
 It has been matter of Cenfure among fome, and 
 even of thofe otherwife in the fame Intercity and 
 
 of 
 
I 229] 
 
 of the fame doftriual Principles with thole Peo- 
 ple ; when they found that they were fo feverely 
 nice in this particular of praying for the King; 
 feeing they are bid to pray for Kings and all in Au- 
 thority. But not to make thefe Memoirs enter 
 into long Difputes of the Points between them 
 and their Perfecutors, which is not the work of 
 a Hiftorian. I fhall only ftate and remove the 
 Queftion in few Words from thefe poor Sufferers 
 to their Enemies, and leave them toanfwer it if 
 they know how . 
 
 In the fhft place,it is true they began with thefe 
 poor Women upon that Queftion of praying for 
 the King, which was a piece of wicked Policy on 
 their parts :, becaufe it was the more popular Que- 
 ftion, and by which they thought they made 
 thefe People odious to the King, and reprefented 
 them as his particular Enemies \ and perfuaded 
 him by it to let them go on with their Perfec- 
 tion, which by the way they had much ado to pre- 
 vail in 5 for the King who was in himfelf of a 
 merciful Difpofit ion, being often fhock'd with the 
 Accounts of their Cruelties and often faying o- 
 penly he would have no more Blood fhed. I fay, 
 this was a wicked Policy on their Part ; for 
 'tis known they had Three or Four Que- 
 ftions more in their Orders ^ any of which 
 were of fuch a Nature, as that the poor Peo- 
 ple would have fuffred Death rather than to 
 have comply'd : for Example, had thefe Two 
 poor Women anfwer'd, Yes, we will fay God fave 
 thi King *, the next Queftion had been, Will ye 
 * renounce the Covenant ? a Queftion, which if it 
 were now ask'd in Scotland, I believe there are 
 50000 People would as foon renounce the very 
 Name of Chriftians \ that is to fay, they would 
 fuffer all .that humane Nature could fuffer rather 
 
 than 
 
than do it. So that upon the whole, thefe People 
 did not fuffer for a fmgle Oppofition of the King's 
 Lawful Authority as was wickedly charg'd on 
 them ^ but they were given up to Death by a 
 Party, and they fmgl'd out fuch points to queftion 
 them upon as they knew they could not comply 
 with, that they might deftroy them * and if thefe 
 Queftions would not have done it, they would 
 have named others for the Purpofe. 
 
 Farther, it is evident that they refufed pray- 
 ing for the King upon a Religious Principle, not 
 upon a Rebellious Principle ^ and that as they 
 believed the King, as before, to be an Idolater, 
 a Perfecutor; and an Enemy to God and his 
 People. They believ'd that for them to pray 
 for God to blefs him would be either to mock 
 God by ieeming to pray for what they did not 
 mean, or really to pray to God to blefs the King, 
 even in his periecuting God's People, which 
 would be impious, and was againft their Con- 
 fciences. 
 
 As to the other part which the ObjeFtors alledge, 
 viz.. it was a Trifle, and a Thing fo fmall as that 
 they could not anfwer to lofe their Lives for it ; 
 we anfwer that then much lefs could thole Cruel 
 and Inhumane Perfecutors anfwer to take the 
 Lives of poor innocent Women and Children a- 
 way for fo fmall a Thing, which in the common 
 Judgment, and by their own Confeifton, was but 
 a Trifle in its Nature. 
 
 Likewife if it was againft the Confciences and 
 Principles of the poor People jh<? we were tofuppofe 
 them mifinformd or uninformed ; yet they dyed in a 
 Righteous Caufe, not as they dyed for refufmg to 
 pray for theKing 5 but as they chofe to dye rather 
 than to violate their Obedience to the Sovereign- 
 ty of Confcience , which is a Principle every 
 Chriftian ought to adhere to. Let 
 
C 2JI ] 
 
 Let thefe things ferve for Anfwers 'till they cm 
 be confuted, to the Perfecutors themfelv&s, and to 
 all thofe who would blacken the Memory of thefe 
 Confcientious and Zealous People, pretending 
 they were Obftinate^ that they threw away their 
 Lives, and that they dyed upon Foundations and 
 Principles which are not to be juftified •, it is 
 evident they were right in their adhering fted- 
 faftly to the known Duty of a Chriftian, viz.. of 
 fujfcring the greateft Evil rather than committing the 
 haft Sin. Kay, tho' they were to have it granted, 
 that they were, as I [aid above, mifinform'd in 
 the Nature of the Thing they iiiffer'd for : It 
 might be obferved here, that it was the very 
 Argument ufed with many of the primitive 
 Martyrs in the Time of the Ten Perfections : 
 That it was a lmall Thing but to take a Cenfor 
 in their Hands, to feem as if they did facrifice, 
 tho* they did not } That the Prayer to the Gods 
 was made by the Priefts, and it was a Thing of 
 no Confequence to bow the Head p which they 
 might do as to Cefar, and not as to the Gods 
 above } Thus alio in the Cafe of the Marty r'd 
 Maccabees, their Perfecutors pretended in Clemen- 
 cy to offer them their Lives, if they would but 
 take a bit of Swine's Fiefh into their Mouths, 
 tho' they did not fwallow it down. But with 
 what Abhorrence did they REFVSE ! with what 
 Joy and Alacrity did they dye / I mean the pri- 
 mitive Chriftians as well as the Maccabees : Info- 
 much that the wifeft of the Heathen condemn'd 
 them as Fools •, for that they call themfelves 
 away, and loft their Lives, not for the EtTentiai 
 parts of Religion, but for Trifles and Circum- 
 ftances of no Confequence. 
 
 I might infift here upon the evident Tefti- 
 mony, that God was p leafed to give even from 
 
 Heaven 
 
r 2J2 ] 
 
 Heaven- to thefe fullering People ; that the of- 
 fering up their Lives in this Cafe was an accep- 
 table Sacrifice to Him, and a reafbnable Service 
 in them : And this Teftimony was by an aimoft 
 univerfal Affiftance given them in their Suffer- 
 ings, filling them with abundant Strength to un- 
 dergo, Patience to bear, and Comfort, even to 
 Joy and Tryumph under the fevereft and cruel- 
 left Torments that their moft inhumane Perfe- 
 cutors could inflift. I take this from an Author 
 who was an Eye- Witnefs of, and a Fellow -Suf- 
 ferer in much of it \ and therefore give the fol- 
 lowing Account in his own Words, and from his 
 own Obfervation, as follow^ 
 
 * We fhall not, indeed cannot, enter upon the 
 f particular Declaration of that Grace, Con- 
 c ftancy,, and Courage , by which the Lord's 
 c faithful Witnefles were fuftain'd, and by which 
 c they did bear Teftimony to the Word of His 
 c Truth : Only this is certain, that many of 
 c them, tho' illiterate and obfcure Men, and that 
 
 * when they came to the Scaffold they were hur- 
 c ry'd and interrupted by the Order 'of the Pre- 
 c lates and Council, and by the Cruelty and In- 
 
 * humanity of the Executioners and Officers at- 
 
 * tending; yet they did bear Witnefs to the 
 c Caufe of God, and of that Grace and Affurance 
 1 whereby the Lord upheld them to the Admi- 
 c ration and Aftonifhment of all the Beholders. 
 
 * That at GUfgow and AW^ where Eleven of 
 c them were Executed, all mean Countrymen j 
 € lbme very ancient, fome not above 17 Years 
 c old ; and that their Enemies caufed Drums to 
 
 * be beat round the Scaffold, that they might 
 1 not be heard •, yet were they fb little thereby 
 
 * amaz'd, or diforder'd, that as well by Words 
 [ ofPraile and Thankfgiving to God, when they 
 
 * . might . 
 
t *3? ] 
 
 might be heard * 8 and by their Comjtenances,Ge- 
 ftures, and other Carriage they did bear inch 
 Teftimony to the Truth, as that thereby many 
 were confirm'd, and their Enemies were made 
 afhanvd. « 
 
 c Likewife tho' fome at other Times did ap- 
 pear weak and faint-hearted at fir ft, yet Co 
 powerfully and abundantly was it given to 
 them in that Hour, that out of Weaknefs they 
 were made ftrong \ and declar'd often, that 
 they had iuch Difcoveries of God's Glory be- 
 tween the Prifon and the Gibbet, that all 
 fear was thereby di feuded : And particularly 
 a poor Country Boy, who they Condemned at 
 Air for refufing the Declaration, which they 
 told him was a Renouncing the Covenant that 
 he had taken *at Lanerck. This Child thro ? 
 Fear, and particularly Ignorance of the Grounds 
 of Chriftianity, was in great Agonies upon his 
 Soul's Account, greatly fearing to dye, yet not 
 daring to redeem his Life on the Terms offer'd. 
 But after the Prayers and Conference of fome 
 good People that had Accefs to him at Irwin 
 two Days before he dy'd, he appeared fo much 
 changed, that on the Morning of his Execution 
 inftead of the Depth of Fear and Perplexity, 
 the obtain'd a full Refblution and Joy (6 
 much inlightned with tiS? Knowledge of God 
 in and thro' our Lord Jefus Chrift, and with 
 the Hope of Salvation thro' His Name *, that all 
 that fa w him, do bear Teftimony to the Grace 
 and wonderful Work of God in his Hearty 
 whereby he went to the Scaffold with Joy, 
 leaping and praifmgGod. ^ 
 c From all which, and the feyeral Teftimonies 
 and Speeches which thefe left behind them in 
 Writing, we conclude and rejoye'e, that God 
 B b * out 
 
t 2J4 3 
 
 * out of the dark Cloud of fuch a fad and afto- 
 c nifhing Providence which has now overfpread 
 c us, hath brought forth foblefled andfo bright 
 
 * a Cloud of Witneffes, ftrengthened and fill'd 
 c with lb much Grace and Glory to bear Tefti- 
 c mony to His Name Covenant and Caufe for 
 
 * the Confirmation of all that love and wait for 
 1 His Salvation. 
 
 A further Teftimony of this will be feen in the 
 Speeches of fome of trie Sufferers at the place of 
 Execution •, of which in its Order. 
 
 But to return to our Memoirs of Fatt, the firft 
 Thing the Highland Forces were empowered to 
 do, was to prefs from all the People where they 
 had any Knowledge of their being Diffcnters, or 
 of their having Diffenters in their Families, a 
 BOND of Conformity, as they calPd it ; wherein 
 every Perfon entring into the faid Bond was 
 bound, not only for himfelf, but all under him, 
 yi%,. Wife, Children and Servants, to frequent 
 and keep to his Parochial Kirk, or Parijlo- Church , 
 and never to go either to any Houfe or Field- 
 Meeting *, nor refetty that is, receive or entertain 
 any that did fo,on any Pretence whatfoever \ alfo 
 to inform againft, and to deliver up if in their 
 power, all the Ministers or Preachers, that exer- 
 cifed the Office of a Minifter or Preacher, in 
 any fuch Meeting or Aflembly. 
 
 Many chro' Fear, complyed with thefe unrea- 
 fonable Conditions \ not being able to bear the 
 ruin of their Families, and the fever ity of a 
 Flight into the Mountains, in the Winter Sea- 
 fon } where they had no Comfort or Relief, but 
 ftruggled with the extremities of Cold, Hun- 
 ger and* Difeafes, occafion'd by damp 1 ' Places to 
 lodge in, want of NecefTaries, &c. But others 
 refolvingto fuffer every thing, that Nature was 
 
 able 
 
C 2*5 3 
 
 able to fupport, to preferve a good Conference, 
 fled to the Mountains, where they had to their 
 Lot exa&ly what is defcrihed in the 1 1 th of the 
 Hebrews, ver. 37, 38. They wandered about in 
 Sheep- skit/s and Goat -skins, being deftitute, tiffutted, 
 tormented } they wandered in De farts, and in Afoun- 
 tains , and in Dens and Caves of the Earth. This 
 was their Portion, and by this means the Towns 
 were left uninhabited, the Villages defoiate, the 
 Lands unlabour'd, L e. uncultivated, and the 
 richeft, moft populous, and, in Proportion, the 
 fruitfulleft Part of Scotland , became a kind of 
 Wildernefs, and like a Houfe without the In- 
 habitant. 
 
 By this Means however, and by the Rifmg at 
 Bothwell, mention d before^ the Number of thofe 
 Refagees in the Mountains encreafed, and the 
 Meetings in the Fields for Publick Wodliip were 
 more frequent, which ftill exafperated the J^er- 
 fecutors ^ and they, being enraged, omitted no 
 Cruelty, no Injuflice, no Inhumanity, for the 
 Deftruftion of them : They very well knew that 
 the People lurking in the Mountains mufl of Ne- 
 ceffity receive Supplies of Food and Clothes,, 
 either from their own Families and Friends 
 which were left behind , or of Charity from 
 others , and therefore as firft they tcok care 
 effectually, by Plunder and Rapkie, to leave 
 nothing in the Houfes of thofe that were ried, 
 fo they perfecuted with the utmoft Rigour ail 
 that were but fui peeled of harbouring or re- 
 lieving them. 
 
 I {hall be^in with the Prifoners taken at Bothwell. 
 Mr. Kid and Mr. King, as has been faid, and fe- 
 veral others, were executed as Traytors *, and , 
 as if their Cruelty had been fatisfy'd, it was re- 
 folv'd in Council to Tranfport the reft into the 
 B b 2 Englijb 
 
C a?« ] 
 
 Englifli Plantations. Upon the King's Orders and 
 under Pretence of this Tranfportation, there were 
 300 of the faid Prifoners put on board of a 
 Ship, in Order, as was faid, to be lent to the 
 Weft-Indies. Thefe are thofe of whom Men- 
 tion is made already, Page 203. of whom this is 
 yet neceffary to be faid, That altho' they were 
 publickly a/low'd Traniportation, yet it is cer- 
 tain nothing lefs than fo much Favour was de- 
 lign'd them. Some have faid that it was then 
 publickly known that the Council had, notwith- 
 standing the Order from England, determined the 
 Tranfported People for Death \ and, indeed, it 
 fee'ms more than probable, feeing (befides what 
 is faid before of their not having fufftcient Store 
 of Provifions in the Ship for fuch a Voyage) 
 they fail'd Northward to go to the Enghjh Co- 
 lonies in America directly from Scotland \ which, 
 by the Constituted Law of thofe Countries, cal- 
 led the Aft of Navigation, could not be done, 
 neither would any of thofe Colonies have re- 
 ceived them, but have feized upon and forfeited 
 the Ship and Goods that came with them ; fb 
 that it is certainly more than a Sufpicion that 
 the poor People were defign'd for Deftru&ion. 
 The Cafe was thus, when thefe poor People, I 
 fay, were put on board the Ship, and faiPd out 
 of the Firth of Edinburgh, it was expected they 
 jhould have gone di recti v to England, as Ships 
 bound to the Englijh Plantations were always 
 uled to do, and as indeed they were obliged by 
 the Laws of England to do, as above ; but, on the 
 contrary, they fail'd Northward to the Coaft of 
 the Orkneys, where, by Strefs of Weather, as was 
 pretended, the Ship was driven among the Rocks, 
 and broken in pieces. The Matter and Sea- 
 men, and the Perfons, or Murtherers rather, 
 
 who 
 
C 2J 7 ] 
 
 who had the Guard or Conducing of the Pri- 
 foners, eafily got on Shore, as has been faid } 
 and, had they been permitted, all the Pi i lo- 
 ners might likewiie have done the fame } whereas 
 the Officer who had the Guard of the Pri loners, 
 with the Matter of the Ship, having, on Pretence of 
 Securing them, lock'd them all down under the 
 Hatches, would not, upon the moft earner! and 
 moving Entreaties of even the Seamen and 
 others •, nor the Shrieks and Cries of the poor 
 dying People, fuller the Hatches to be opened, 
 or one of them to be let out. 
 
 It feems there was one Seaman who ventur'd 
 his Lite on board, when the Ship was juft 
 breaking to pieces, and, with an Axe cutting 
 his Way thro' the Side or Deck of the Veilel, 
 Jet about 50 out, who were every one faved, but 
 the reft all perifhed, as before. 
 
 The beft Excufe that the Murtherers ever 
 gave for this, was, that they had ftrift Orders, 
 whatfoever Port they mould go on Shore at, 
 not to let any of the Prifoners go out of the 
 Ship : But this was fb trifling an Excufe that 
 none could be fatisfy'd with it, for either they had 
 Orders, That tho' the Ship was ftranded or fplit 
 they fkould not let the Prifoners out, or they had 
 net \ if they had, it muft be with an Intent in 
 thofe who gave thofe Orders to have them pe- 
 rifh in fuch Shipwreck, as it happen'd, and 
 would give a fhrewd Sufpicion that fuch a Ship- 
 wreck was intended, efpecially confidering how 
 it afterwards came to pafs. If no fuch Orders were 
 exprefly^riw/, then were the Officers Murther- 
 ers ^ for it could not be imagin'd that a general 
 Order not to let the Prifoners go out of the 
 Ship, had any other Meaning, than that he 
 fhould ufe all Means poffible to prevent their 
 
 B b 3 Efcape^ 
 
[ 2j8 ] 
 
 Efcape j but not that they fhould be drown'd, or 
 that they fhould be kept in the Ship when fhe 
 was finking, any more than a Minimm to a 
 Jaylor, wherein he is to have the Prifbner in 
 iafe keeping within his Jayl, (fuppofe of New 
 gate, or any other Prifon) gives him Power, or 
 obliges him, if the Prifon-houfe mould be on 
 Fire, to fuffer the Prifoners to be burnt to 
 Death, rather than open the Doors to let them 
 out. 
 
 It is therefore very reafonable to believe that 
 this wretched Instrument, or Executioner, for 
 he could be no better, had his fecret Inftru- 
 ftions from the bloody perfecuting Council for 
 what was done } and that the Ship was knock'd 
 on the Head on purpofe to drown, and caufe to 
 perifh, the Number of poor Sufferers who the 
 Clemency of the Sovereign had forbid to be put 
 Death in a Judicial way, and who yet the Ma- 
 lice and Rage of the Perfecutors would not fuf- 
 fer to live. 
 
 * Moreover, it has been creditably reported, 
 that thofe who provided or furniihed this Vet 
 iel out for her Voyage, acknowledg'd that fhe 
 was not Victualled at all in Proportion to ib 
 long a Voyage, and fo large a Number of Peo- 
 ple as were on board ; no, nor any thing like it ^ 
 nay, it has been laid that there was not Pro vi- 
 llous on board for the Prifoners,fufTicient to keep 
 them alive 14 Days:, which, if it is true, would 
 convince an Atheift in fuch Things, that the 
 Defign in putting thefe poor People on board, 
 was not to Tranfport, but to Murther them. 
 
 Another Argument is ftill good alfo againft. 
 the Perfecutors of that Time, vitl. If they did 
 not approve of the Officers Murthering thefe 
 poor People, vhy were they not proiecuted and 
 
 p unlived 
 
C 2J 9 ] 
 
 puniihed for ib horrid and inhumane a Murther, 
 the like of which no Proteftant Age or Country 
 can give the Hiftory of? But, on the contrary, 
 the Mafter or Skipper, the Officer of die Gimrds, 
 and all the reft concern'd, had no Punilhment, 
 no Reprimand, neither was any thing done to 
 them, to let them or the World believe they 
 had not done them very good Service. 
 
 Thus perifhed 250 of thefe good Feople \ I 
 call them fo on this moft juftiiiahte Foundation, 
 (viz..) becaufe that tho' they might have their 
 Lives and Liberties given them by the Sove- 
 reign, upon Terms, which, in Conscience, they 
 could not comply with, they loved not their Lives, 
 to the Death, they refufed to accept of Deliverance :■ 
 And I call it Murther, becaufe,as it is well known 
 the King's exprefs Orders were that they Jhoutd 
 not be put to Death, but be Tranfported. The 
 fuffering them thus to periih, when it was ap- 
 parent their Lives might have been laved, was 
 not a Murther only in the Officers, but a pre- 
 meditated malicious Murther in the Council, 
 who fo far conniv'd at and approv'd it, as ne- 
 ver to offer any Vindication of themielves from 
 it, or any Refentment againft the guilty Periods • 
 for it is a Murther of the blackeft and moft hor- 
 rid kind, and which, I think, as before, has not 
 its Parallel in any Hiftory. 
 
 It has been mentioned alfo, that there were 
 about 60 more of thefe Prifoners put on board 
 another Ship for Tranfportation, who, there 
 being no iecret Defign to murther them, were 
 fuffer'd to go by the ordinary Method, and to 
 fail the ufual Way (viz,-') to England ; where, as 
 it is already noted, fome Difference happening 
 between the Mafter and Owner of the Ship, 
 fo that the Ship d id not purfue her Voyage, 
 Bb 4 and 
 
C 240 ] 
 
 and the Prifbners having been made the Pro- 
 perty of the Owner, not of the Matter •, the 
 faid Matter thereupon, (being alio a well in- 
 clined PerfonJ open'd his Hatches, and let them 
 all go. I mention this again here on this Oc- 
 cafion, viz.* that it was very obfervable, in their 
 Cafe, that the Govetnment here took no No- 
 tice of their Efcape, nor did the King order 
 any Search after them, or give any Order to re- 
 take them, if found : All which evidently 
 proves, that the Cruelties exercifed upon thefe 
 Sufferers in Scotland, proceeded from the Malice 
 and Rage of their Perfecutors there, and neither 
 by the Direction or with the Approbation of the 
 King himfelf \ not that this Clemency, which 
 in the King, was rathe r»au Accident to his Na- 
 ture than a Virtue in his Government, can ex- 
 cufe his permitting thefe cruel Perfecutions, 
 which he had, doubtlefs, Power to prevent ^ 
 and therefore was, dpubtlels, guilty of the 
 JBlood that was fpilt on that Occafion \ which, 
 tho' his Inclination led him not to delight in, 
 yet his Indolence in Government, and his Apo- 
 state Principles, fufter'd him to permit. But tho' 
 it is no Excufe to him whole Duty it was to 
 have put a Stop to the Stream of innocent Blood 
 ihed under his Authority, it was, on the other 
 hand, a convincing Evidence of thebbody Dif- 
 poiition of his Miniftry in Scotland, who, thirft- 
 ing for an Occafion to extirpate the very Name 
 of a Presbyterian Church out of Scotland, dip'd 
 their 4 Hands in Blood in that moft inhumane 
 ind unnatural manner, till they made all the 
 Weft of Scotland a Wildernefs and a Defla- 
 tion. 
 
 This was the Proceeding againft the Bothwll- 
 Bi jdge Prifpners. We fliall now fee what 
 
 Ufage 
 
[ 241 ] 
 
 Ufage they met with who had not been any 
 way concerned in it. 
 
 Firft, in their Purfuit of the fuppofed Par- 
 ties, they effciblifhed little Inquifitions • and, in- 
 deed, they were very properly called fo j for 
 they went round the Country in Circuits, where 
 they enquir'd not only who really and actually 
 were in the Rebellion, but who were fufpe&ed 
 or believed to be fo - and thefe they took Lifts of, 
 make their Return upon *, and after this they 
 fummon'd them to appear before them, to clear 
 themfelves. 
 
 If they did not appear, they reputed them 
 Guilty , and declared them to be Rebels 
 Convift. 
 Jf they did appear, fhey were examined why 
 they did not go to the King's Camp, in 
 order to fight againft the Rebels ^ and, if 
 they did not give a fatisfa&ory Anfwer to 
 thofe Queftions, they were committed to 
 Prifon, in order to get others to accufe 
 them ; where many innocent Perfons pe- 
 riihed by long and clofe Confinement, tho' 
 nothing could be laid to their Charge. 
 If in thefe Examinations they effectually 
 clear'd themfelves of being in the Rebel- 
 lion, yet an incredible Number were en- 
 fnar'd with other unforefeen Enquiries ; 
 fome were Imprifon'd ; fome Fin'd above 
 the Value of their Eftates \ others were 
 Condemn'd to Death, for having but {een 
 and fpoken to any of the efcap'd Rebels, 
 after they had fled from Botbrvell-Bridge , 
 alledging that it was Treafon fo to do, and 
 not to difcover and apprehend them. 
 If neither by Examination, Confeflion, or De- 
 lation, faper tequirendis, Jo it was termed 
 
 in 
 
r 242 3 
 
 in their Law,) they were able to reach 
 them, yet many fucti were Condemn'd and 
 Executed even for their Simple-declar'd 
 Opinior of it, according to the Queftions 
 mention'd before, and which we ihall fpeak 
 farther of prefently. 
 Kor was the Number fmall or inconfiderable 
 of thole who were thus dealt with : There is 
 fcarce a County or Pariih, in thofe Weftern 
 Parts of Scotland, where feveral have not been 
 thus Condemn'd -, nor was it eafy to prevent 
 the poor People being drawn into this Snare^ 
 for when they were brought before the Coun- 
 cil, or the Court of Juiliciary, it was often ex- 
 torted from them by Threatnings of Death, and 
 fbmetimes by Torture, and upon this fingle 
 Queftion, in their Courts of Juftice (viz-) Whe- 
 ther the Rifmg at 1&oXh\v&\" Bridge was Rehellion y 
 and a Sin againfi God* I SAY, many, for re- 
 filling to anfwer it, waving the Queftion, and 
 declaring that they did not think themfelves 
 oblig'd to anfwer, were Condemn'd, and imme- 
 diately led away to Execution , for the Mercy 
 of thofe Courts was fetch \ that many were Sen- 
 tenced in the Morning, and Executed in the 
 Afternoon ^ nay, fome were led immediately 
 from the Bar to the Gibbet, where they were 
 iis'd again in the like cruel manner, being not 
 fuffer'd to declare their Innocence, or to fpeak 
 to the People *, but the Drums, being placed 
 round them, were kept beating all die Time 
 of their heins upon the Scaffold and Ladder^ 
 as has been mentioned already. 
 % But to return to the Soldiers, to whom, as I 
 iltid before, thefe Cruelties not fufricing, Juflice 
 pofed. When we were talking of 
 the Seyeriti ..; of Juflice, and the 
 
 Cruelty 
 
C 24? ] 
 
 Cruelty of their Executioners, on Pretence of 
 Rebellion, it was fuificient to call it Murther; 
 (for Injustice in Form of Law is the Devil re- 
 prefenting an Angel of Light \ and killing inno- 
 cent Men by Legal Procefs is the worft fort 
 of Murther :) But now we come from Murther 
 to MafFacre, for the Soldiers, being now veiled 
 with judicial Authority, went up and down like 
 ravening Wolves, with Mouths open'd to fuck 
 the Blood of the Innocent: They feem'd like 
 Men clothed with more Power than they un- 
 derftood, tho' not more than they defir'd •, that 
 had a Loole ejiven to the Excefs of what, by 
 their Occupation, they delighted in, I mean 
 Blood ; had no Senle of Juflice •, they knew 
 how to kill, but not how to lave } they knew 
 how to deftroy, but not how to fpare< 
 # Their grand Enpuiry was for Bothwell-Brigg- 
 men, as they calfd them : If they heard cafually 
 but the leaft Report of a Man that he was a 
 Whig or a Carrier onian (for fo they began now 
 to be call'd) their way of Procefs was no more 
 than to enter his Houfe, feize upon his Perfon, 
 and, telling him he was a Rebel, drag him imme- 
 diately out to the Street, and moot him at a Poft. 
 If the Soldiers faw a Man in the Road who 
 feem'd in the leaft fhy of them , or that en- 
 deavoured to ihun them, they immediately purfu'd 
 him like Blood-hounds } and, if he fled, fired 
 upon him without any further Enquiry. 
 
 If; upon fearching any ftrange Perfon, they 
 found a Bible about him , it was fufricient 
 to charge him with having been at a Field- 
 Meeting, or that he was going to one \ either of 
 which was fuificient to fet them upon him like 
 Hounds upon a Hare, when they never ceas'd 
 purfuing till they had brought him to Death. 
 
f 244 ] 
 
 If when any were dragging thus to Exe- 
 cution, a Stander-by mould offer to intercede 
 for them, or look concern'd, feem to pity them, 
 or lift up a Sigh for them , they would lay 
 Hands on them, and cry, c What are you, Sir, 
 c that you feem fo much troubled at this } 
 c Wherefore do you pity them ? Are they not 
 c the King's Enemies? And they were all at 
 c the Gallows, you mould be glad, if you were 
 c a Friend to the King. Come, can you an- 
 c fwer the Queftions ? And thus they have 
 Jingled out honeft Men among the Spectators, 
 by** the meer Trouble which appear'd in their 
 I Faces and Countenances for the Sufferings of 
 thole that have been thus cruelly handled. 
 
 And now, to confirm all thefe Things by 
 Examples undeniable, the few that are made 
 publick are indeed fufiieient to filence the 
 Tongues of any that pretend to deny the FacTr ^ 
 but, "alas! they are nothing, compar'd to the 
 Number of thole that many yet living can give 
 an Account of from their own Knowledge and 
 Memories. 
 
 Befides the publick Accounts given by Name, 
 
 and of which Lifts have been printed, we find 
 
 feveral Inftances of Cruelty not made publick, 
 
 efpecially in this Cafe of the Soldiers having 
 
 . Power given to kill and fave as they p leafed. 
 
 A Lieutenant and three Soldiers paifing by the 
 Rond, found a Man fleeping on the Side of a 
 Bank, and a fmall Pocket-Bible lying by him - 7 
 whereupon one of the Soldiers waking him, 
 brings him to the Lieutenant. The Lieutenant 
 ask'd him who he was : He told him his Name, 
 Place of Abode, and whether he was travelling, 
 (viz.,) going to Fifa being a Weaver by Trade. 
 They ask'd him then if hi would pray for the 
 
 King* 
 
[ 245 ] 
 
 King. He (aid, Yes, with all his Heart : Upon 
 which the Lieutenant was about to let him go; 
 but one of the Soldiers unhappily put in : But y 
 Sir, will you renounce the Covenant? The Man he- 
 fitated a little, but being urged and infulted, 
 cries out, Lord-, forgive me, that I fear d to own 
 thy Work \ and then (peaking to the Lieutenant, 
 Indeed Sir, fays lie, Vll as foon renounce my Bap- 
 tifm, (or to that Purpofe,) / know your Power^ 
 work your Will with me j upon which they ihot 
 him upon the Spot. 
 
 A Party of Dragoons in Nithfdale had Infor- 
 mation that Six BothwelUBrigg-men , as they 
 call'd them, were harbour'd in the Houfe of a 
 Country-man near hand ^ they immediately be- 
 fet the Houfe, and, breaking in, they found 
 Four Men there and the Mafler of the Houfe *, 
 and, without enquiring whether they were guilty 
 of the Riling or not, brought them all out of 
 the Door, and ihot them dead, refufing to give 
 them a Minute's Time to pray to God, but 
 {wearing and blaipheming when it was but beg'd 
 for by the Perfons. 
 
 The Writer of this has heard the late Lieu- 
 tenant-General Maitland exprefs great Abhor- 
 rence of the Cruelties committed by Major Bal- 
 four, Captain Douglafs, General Dal&el, and fe- 
 vered others, who would take Pains to iearch 
 out fuch Men as they thought did but muii to 
 be feen, and, with little or no Examination, 
 moot them upon the Spot } which he, being 
 then under Command, could no way prevent : 
 But mariy times, when Power was in his Hands, 
 be either facilitated their Efcape, or otherwiie 
 prevented the MU'chief intended. 
 
 In a Village not far from Hamilton, a poor 
 wa 1 c ih his Houfe, while at 
 
[ 2 4 6 ] 
 
 his Work, by Five Soldiers, his Name Lawfon ; 
 They cail'd to hira to come down the Stairs, 
 which he refus'd to do^ upon which all the 
 Five Soldiers fir'd at him, but he, being aware, 
 flood by the Wall of the Chamber and avoided 
 the Shot, and then cail'd to them and ask'd 
 them wherefore they came to him, he was no 
 Bothwell-Brigg-man. Well then, fay the Soldiers, 
 come down y and we will do you no Hurt. The 
 Man, however, knowing they were not to be 
 trufted, came down, but got out of his Back 
 Door, and jumping over two or three low 
 Stone- Walls of the Gardens, got into the Fields, 
 and took him to Flight, feeing very fwift of 
 Foot, and knowing they had juft fir'd all their 
 Pieces : They purfu'd him, and, loading their 
 Mufquets as they run, fir'd at him again feveral 
 Shot 5 but, by good Providence miffing him, 
 the Man efeaped to the Hills, but was heard 
 of no more at his own Habitation. 
 
 The aforefaid Lieutenant-General MaitUnd 
 was then an Officer among thefe bloody Troops, 
 and was, with fome Soldiers, quarter'd in Glaf- 
 gow but, being a Man of generous Principles, 
 and of too much Humanity to be guilty of 
 fuch Things as thefe, was a great Relief to the 
 perfecuted People, for he ihelter'd and pro- 
 •tecled many who otherwife had been murther'd 
 by the Soldiers ; and if he was commanded on 
 the Service which he abhorr'd fo much, («£&•) 
 to fall upon the poor People in their \Houfe 
 or Field-Meetings, would frequently, by trufry 
 Meffengers, give them private Notice, that they 
 might have Time to difperfe and be gone away ^ 
 and would often find out fome Occafion to make 
 his Men halt by the Way, that his Meffengers 
 might not come too late. 
 
 Yet 
 
C 247 3 
 
 Yet this companionate Gentleman was forc'd 
 (much againft his Will, being under Command) 
 to be preient at a Village where three poor Men, 
 Weavers by Trade, were dragg'd from their 
 very Loom where they were at work, and, 
 without Mercy, fhot to death. Their Names 
 are in thepublick Lift mention'd before. 
 
 They tell us another Story of a Soldier, not 
 fo diverted of Humanity as moft of them were, 
 and who meeting a Man upon the Road who 
 he fuipefred was one of the poor out-law'd pro- 
 fcrib'd People, as indeed he was ', the Man was 
 furpriz'd, and would have got from him, but 
 he law it was in vain, and yet the Soldier foon 
 let him know that he was not very much in- 
 clin'd to hurt him, much lefs to kill him ; 
 whereupon the following Dialogue, as it is faid, 
 happen'd between them. 
 
 The Soldier feeing the Country- man willing 
 to fhun and get away from him, begins thus. 
 
 Sold. Hold, Sir, ye mon no gang fr as me, I have 
 tvuckle Bufinefs at you. 
 
 C. Man. Well, What's is your Will then ? 
 
 Sold. I fear ye are one of the Bothwell-Brigg- 
 men. What fay ye to that ? 
 
 C. Man. Indeed no, Sir, 1 am not. 
 
 Sold. Well) but I mon fpeir fome Queflions at you \ 
 And ye*s anfwer me right, ye and fll be good Friends 
 again, 
 
 C. Man. What Queflions will ye ask at me ? 
 
 Sold. Fir ft, Sir, Will ye fray for the King ? 
 
 C Man. Indeed, Sir, I will pray for all good 
 A fen. I hope ye think the Ki?ig a good Man, or ye 
 W&ud not ferve him. 
 
 Sold. Indeed do I Sir, I think him a good Alan , 
 <wd ye are all wicked that wo' no tray for him. 
 
 *But 
 
C 248 3 
 
 # But what fay you then to the Bufinefs of Bothwell- 
 
 Brigg Was not Bothwell- 
 
 * By this Time the poor Brigg a Rebellion ? 
 
 Man began to fee C. Man. / wot not weel 
 
 the Soldier was not w Jj at t0 fa ,f Bothwell-Bnge.- 
 defigmng to hurt him. *. j 1 1 F 
 
 and he took the Bint] B f ^ they took up Arms 
 and. was encouraged to there againft a good King, with- 
 anfmr as he did. out a good Caufe, it mun be Re- 
 
 bellion, VR own that* 
 
 Sold. Nay then, J hope thou and ffe be Friends 
 prefently, I think thou 9 It be an hone ft Mm. But 
 they have kill'd the Archbijhop of St. Andrews, ho- 
 neft Man : O that was a fore Work, What fay you 
 to that, was not that Murder ? 
 
 C Man. Alas poor Man ! and ha they kiltd himj 
 Truly and he were an hone ft Man, and they have 
 kiltd him without any Caufe, Weel I wot it mun be 
 Murther ', What elfe can I call it ? 
 
 Sold. Weel haft thou faid, Man : Now I have 
 een but ane Queftion more, and ye and Ife tak a 
 Brink together. Will ye renounce the Cove- 
 nant ? 
 
 C. Man. Nay, but now I mun fpeir at you too, 
 and ye like. There are twa Covenants^ Man t which 
 of them do you mean ? 
 
 Sold. Twa Covenants, fay you, what are they ? 
 
 C. Man. There's the Covenant of W&rks, Man, 
 and the Covenant of Grace. 
 
 Sold. Fou fa me and I hn Man \ but een re- 
 nounce ane of them, and I am fatisfyd. 
 
 C. Man. With au my Heart, Sir, indeed I 
 renounce the Covenant of Works with au my Heart. 
 
 Upon this Dialogue, if the Story be true, the 
 Soldier let the poor Man pafs : But be the 
 Story true or not true, it ferves to give the 
 Readei a rrueldea of the dreadful Circumffonces 
 
 every 
 
C 249 ] 
 
 every honeft Man was in at this time, when their 
 Life was in the Hands of every Soldier, nor 
 was the Confequences other than might be ex- 
 pelled on iuch Occafions } the fields, the Roads, 
 the Villages every Day bearing Witnefs to the 
 Murthers that were committed, and to the inju- 
 rious and abominable things which the poor Peo- 
 ple fuifer'd from the Rage of the Soldiers who 
 were then inhumanely let looie upon them. The 
 following is but a imall part of the Account 
 of the Bloodihed in this manner hi one part of 
 the Country, and moflly within the Year 1685, 
 by which may be judg'd a little what was fuffer'd 
 from the rifmg at Bollewell Bridge, which was in 
 1679 to the Revolution in 1688. 
 
 Graham of CUverhoufe the lame who was after- 
 wards Vifcount of Dundee, and was kilPd at the 
 Fight at Gillicrmky in King Williams time, was at 
 this time a moft furious Perfecutor of thefe poor 
 People ^ it was his Rage in falling upon one of 
 their Field Meetings, where he met with a Re- 
 pulfe was theOccaficn and beginning of which the 
 rifing at Both-well as have been mewed already. 
 This Man is laid to have kiird above 100 Men 
 in this kind of cold blood Cruelty \ making it his 
 bufinefs to follow, and pur fue poor People thro' 
 the whole Country, and heaving at his Heels a 
 Crew of Savages, Highlanders, and Dragoons, 
 whole fport was in Blood, and whofe Diverfion 
 was to haul innocent Men out from their Houfes 
 or hiding Places and Murther them \ his Compa- 
 nion in this Work was Colonel James Douglafs, 
 fincecalPd Lieutenant General Douglafs. Thefe 
 two with their Men kill'd 28 Men in a very few 
 Days,and at feveral places in theShire of 'Gakoway 9 
 moft of them without the leaft Evidence of their 
 being Guilty, all of them without any legal Pro- 
 C c fecution 
 
C 250 ] 
 
 fecution and fome without fo mucli £s Exami- 
 nation* « 
 
 At their firft coming down they found five Men 
 in feveral Prifons, who had been committed by 
 other Perfecutors before their coming : It feems 
 fbmebody had malicioufly told this '\ Graham 
 that they were of the Whiggs that ufed the Field 
 Meetings*, upon which without any Oath made 
 of the Fafr, or any Examination of the Men, 
 without any Trial or other Sentence, than his own 
 command ' his bloody Soldiers fetclf d them 
 all to Maudlin, a Village where his Head Quar- 
 ters were, and hang'd them immediately, not 
 fufferirg them to enter into any Houie at their 
 coming, nor at the Entreaty of the poor Men, 
 would"permit One to lend them a Bible who it 
 feems offered it, nor allow them a Moment to 
 pray to God. 
 
 Four more Men who were betray'd to him, be- 
 ing hid in a Houfe at the Water of Dee, and 
 were at the Time his Men came praying together • 
 hecaufed them to be drag'd jufl to the Door, 
 and fliot them Dead as they came out, without 
 any Enquiry whether they were the Perfons that 
 he came to apprehend-, their being found praying 
 to God was it feems fafficient Teftimony of their 
 d Offence •, after this, coming to the fame 
 
 p, at two or three Days diftance, andunder- 
 •franamg the People of the Town had buried 
 
 Bodies, he caufed his Men to dig them up 
 again. and commanded that they fliould lye in the 
 Field's : The Karnes of thefe four were John Crier, 
 Robert Fergufcn^ Archibald Stuart and Robert Stuart. 
 
 ^ More, God did 'riot permit bimto have time at his Death 
 to my or repent) but be ivm tilUjven in the vey Article of 
 Yjkery* . 
 
 At 
 
C 251 3 
 
 At Camonel in the County of Gtrrkl 9 he faw 
 
 a Man run haftily crois the Street before his 
 Troop, and as he might fuppofe did it to eicape 
 from or avoid them, tho' as the People of the 
 Place related it, the poor Man had no Appre- 
 henfions of them, but as he took all Occaiions 
 for his bloody defign, he commanded his Men 
 to ihoot this Perfon, without fo much as Exa- 
 mining him, or asking who he was, the poor 
 Mans Name was Matthew Mekellwrat. 
 
 The lame Party having intelligence, that there 
 were leveral of the Whiggs hid in a great Cave 
 among the Hills of Glencairn y that the Peo- 
 ple reforted to them to pray together, and that 
 leveral Women carry'd them Provifion and Coal 
 to 'burn to warm them. Col. Douglafs fent a 
 fmall Party who furrounded the Hili, and drew 
 five Men out of the Cave, it feems there had been 
 near Fifty there juft before having met to pray, 
 but were feparated again \ had they been all 
 there, Douglafs had not had them fo cheap, for 
 being all Arm'd, it was likely they would have 
 lent him back farter than he came, heaving but 
 1 8 Dragoons with him * thefe five however, who 
 it feems were betray 'd by one * Watfon, this Col. 
 Douglafs dragg'd out of the Cave and immediate- , 
 ly fhot them dead, not giving them time fo much 
 as to recommend their Souls unto God. 
 
 The Karnes of the murther'd Men were, Robert 
 Grierfon, Robert Alitchel 7 James Bennochj John Edgar , 
 and John Gib [on. 
 
 • Note, After the Revolution this Wat ion who bztrifd 
 ihem wiifcifd by fome of the B^Utiom of tbeje poor Md2£ 
 and put in Prifon as Drumfreis, but they did not put him to 
 Path as be d'fer/J, 
 
 the 
 
The fame wretched Gang coming to a Houfe 
 where they had been informed one Welch a Field 
 preacher was harbour'd, or was to be found, they 
 rufti'd violently into the Houfe, but found; not 
 the Man they fought, neither indeed was he 
 there , but they found five Men together, with 
 the Women and Children of the Family all on 
 their Knees at Prayers , whereupon without Exa- 
 mining any farther, they faid it was a feditious 
 Meeting which was forbidden by the Council, 
 and thereupon inftantly dragg'd out the Men and 
 ihot them to Death before the Door. 
 
 John Smithy was mot to Death by two Soldiers 
 at Lifmchago. 
 
 William SkiUilkWy was ihot by 'one Lieuuenant 
 Saunders in the River Air. 
 
 John Ferp-ufon^ George Whitburn , and Patrick Gem- 
 mil at Fimrick by two Soldiers. 
 4 That murtheriftg Perfecutor Graham of Claver- 
 houfe, feeing a Man riding by him on the way, 
 called after him, and the Man not making anfwef, 
 nor flopping his Horfe 3 Graham caufed one of his 
 Soldiers to moot him dead, as he rode along, 
 whereas, upon Enquiry into the matter, it was 
 found that the poor Man was Deaf and could 
 not hear him call to him ? the murthered Man's 
 Name was Robert Auchinleck. 
 
 William Adams, at the Wallwood in Kyle, going 
 along the way, and feeing fome Soldiers at a 
 Diftance, hid himfelfin a Thicket thinking to 
 ihun them, but being difcover'd by the Soldiers, 
 they inftantly ihot him without fo much as 
 asking his Name, or enquiring after any other 
 Guilt, than hismunning to meet them. 
 
 Capt. Douglafs lelzd a Taylor and ihot him 
 dead, only becaufe he had ibme fmall Pieces of 
 Lead about him, fuch as the Taylors put in the 
 
 Sleeves 
 
C 2« ] 
 
 Sleeves of Women's Clothes j and another of 
 that perfecuting Family of the DougUfs, /hot 
 on no other pretence than bccaufe 
 he had a Flint in his Pocket :, thefe things it feems 
 they call'd Ammunition : At another Houfe he 
 mot a Man becaufe he attempted to efcape from 
 him, tho' he had no Knowledge of the?v±anor 
 any Charge againft him. 
 
 Several were kilfd in the dark, being {hot 
 by they knew not who, or for what \ the High- 
 landers mot Men for their Sport without asking 
 them any Queftions, and an five r'd that they could 
 not miftake for all the Country were Rebels. 
 
 Moft of thefe mentioned above, were mafla- 
 cred in the Year 1685, anc * * n one Count, be- 
 fides many more in all parts of the Weft Coun- 
 try- the Dragoons patro I'd all over the Coun- 
 try, by Night as well as by Day, fo that the 
 diftrefs'd People who lay hid in the Mountains, 
 could not come down to the Hpufes of their 
 Friends in the Night, as they ufually did for 
 Succour, and fo retreat again in the Morning 
 before Day ^ but now they got no Liberty to 
 come down, but at the utmoft hazard ; fo that 
 their Wives and Children, or Relations, and 
 fometimes Charitable and Companionate Chri- 
 ftian Friends, went to them to the Hills, and to 
 the Caves and Holes in the Earth, where they 
 were harbour'd,to carry them NeceiTaries and Re- 
 lief, and without which they muft have periilied, 
 for meer want of Food \ and notwithstanding 
 which they endured in thofe vafc and defolate 
 Hills, inexpreihble hardships , extremities of 
 Cold, without Covering, without Shelter, with- 
 out Fewel in the deeper!: of Winter, and often 
 without Food and without Light : A Lift of 
 Threefcore and Eighteen Men by Name has. 
 
 C c 5 been 
 
C 254 3 
 
 been publiihed, who were mafTacred by the Per- 
 iecutors named above, and of whom fome of 
 thofe named here were a Part, but the Number 
 who were thus hunted down and Murther'd by 
 the Highlanders, and the Dragoons, in the 
 whole Country, is not to be reckon'd up, and is 
 indeed Incredible. 
 
 Tne Writer of thefe Memoirs, having talked 
 with many Sober and Judicious Perfons, who li- 
 ved in that part of the Country at that time, and 
 were Eye WitneiTes to much of it, found that 
 they all agreed in this, that many Thoufands of 
 People perimed under the violent Hands of thefe 
 Men, befides thofe killed in the Field of Battle 
 at Ventland Hills, Bothwell, &c. And one Reve- 
 rend Minifter of the Church of Scotland, afTur'd 
 the Writer hereof, that taking in the People 
 who dyed in Prifons and in Banimment ; there 
 was an Account taken ot above Eighteen Thou- 
 fand People , whofe Blood thefe Perfecutors 
 have to Account for, befides the Numbers who 
 at the time of the Revolution were actually in 
 Prifons, in the Ifie of the Bafs, Dunmtter Caftle, 
 Blaclnefs, Edinburgh, and other Places, amoun- 
 ting to a very great Number. 
 
 And yet here it cannot be omitted, that to the 
 Honour* of the Caule, thefe People iuffered in, 
 and in juftification of the Principles which they 
 acted from, we muft obferve, that their Number 
 was fo far from being diminiihed, or them- 
 felves, or their Minifters, from being difcoura- 
 ged, that on the contrary, they encreafed prodi- 
 gioufiy in Number, neither were their Meetings 
 ever deftitute of Minifters, nor were they ever 
 fo dilcouraged as to give over Meeting for the 
 publick Worijiip \ refolving not to for fake the 
 aifembling themlelyes together, where they prai- 
 
 fed 
 
[»« 3 
 
 fed God in finglenefi of Heart, and with Joy 
 Embraced the Opportunities tho' at the hazard 
 of their Lives. « 
 
 I cannot Exprefs this more fully than in the 
 Words of the Sufferers themfelves left upon Re- 
 cord by one of their own Fellows in Affti&ion, 
 thus, (w*,.) ' Tofpeakof the Numbers, fays he y 
 we muft do Juftice to the Miracle of God's 
 Working, whereby the very means ufed to ex- 
 tirpate us from the Face of the Earth, was by 
 the Wife Difpofer of all things, made to en- 
 creale our Numbers } for that albeit they went 
 on for many Years imprifoning, baniihinir, and * 
 butchering our dear Brethren, yet all the Pri- 
 fons they could fill with us, and all the Ships 
 they could freight with us, and all the Gibbets 
 they could hang us on, could never either ex- 
 hauft or leffen our Number, but the more we 
 were Affii&ed , the more we grew, and the 
 deiign to Deftroy us, thro' the Mercy of our 
 God, prov'd always ruinous to the Deftroyers ; 
 and this mull: be acknowledged to the Praife 
 of God's Clemency, and the Condemnation of 
 Man's Cruelty, that when they had Tryed all 
 ways poifible to deftroy us, and root us out 
 from the Earth ; after they had hang'd, jfhot, 
 tortur'd and banifhed for Slaves, all they could 
 catch of us, they were farther from their pur- 
 pofe than when they began : Our Numbers 
 were not diminifhed, our Meeaingi for Goipel I 
 Ordinances were not disappointed , but we 
 enjoy'd the administrations in their Purity, and 
 Power, with greater Certainty, and met toge- 
 ther in greater Numbers than ever, for that 
 our Numbers encreafed more and more : That 
 this was true, their Enemies openly acknow- 
 ledge, and this enraged the Perfecutors ib much 
 
 C c 4 ih* 
 
C 256 1 
 
 the more, and that to fuch a degree that they 
 once reiolv'd on a general Maffacre of all together 
 by the Troops of Heretors, Dragoons and High- 
 land Men, who, forming themfelves into a great 
 Army, lpread themfelves from one Side of a 
 whole County to the other, having their Men 
 placed, marching fingle at a great Diftance, but 
 always one in Sight of the other ; fo marching 
 forward, every one ftraight before him, they 
 by this Means fearched the Rocks , Rivers, 
 Woods, wafts, Mountains, MolTes, and every 
 the moft private and retired Places of the Coun- 
 ty, where they thought we were hidden \ fo that 
 it was impoffjble any thing could efcape them : 
 , And yet fo true were the Mountain-Men, as their 
 Terfecutors caWd them, to one another, that in all 
 that famous March they found not one Man, 
 tho' many a good Man perhaps, with trembling 
 Heart and Hands lift up to Heaven for Pro- 
 tection, faw them, and were pafs'd by them un- 
 difcover'd. 
 
 Failing in any Enterprize of this Nature, and 
 being difoppointed in their Prey y always, re- 
 doubled their Fury at thole who fell into their 
 Hands : It was not far from Edinburgh that a 
 Field- Meeting was appointed, and not the Mi- 
 nifter only, but a great many People went out 
 of that City, at the Hazard of their Lives, to 
 have been prefent at it ; when, on the Way, 
 they got Notice that the Appointment had been 
 difcovered, and that Soldiers were coming 
 to fall upon the People. The faithful 
 Spies, that gave them Intelligence of this, did 
 it fo timely and fo prudently, that the Sol- 
 diers found no-body affembled at the Place : But 
 their Rage doubling at the Difappointment, they 
 ujpon every one they met in their Return, 
 
 and 
 
[ 2$7 3 
 
 and chiefly upon the poor Women and Maid- 
 Servants , charging them with being actually 
 going to the Fietd-Meeting, tho not prefent at it : 
 Befides the Rudenefs and Iniblence of another Na- 
 ture which they offer'd to the Women, as upon 
 all fuch Occafions was their Manner, they car- 
 ry 'd about 30 Women to Edinburgh, and Four 
 or Five Men, where they were put in Prifbn, 
 lbme in the Tolbooth, iome in the Corre&ion- 
 Houle, tho' Perfbns of good Fafhion and Fa- 
 milies -j and of thefe 7 or 8 were at feveral 
 times put to death, principally upon their re- 
 fufing to renounce the Covenant, and to make 
 Declarations condemning their Principles •, and on 
 acknowledging their being on the Way to a 
 their Meeting. One poor Servant-Maid, be- 
 longing to a Citizen's Wife of Edinburgh, being 
 with her Miftrefs, and having her Miftrefs's 
 Bible under her Arm, was taken by the Soldiers, 
 her Miftrefs efcaping by running into a Stable ; 
 The poor Maid, being examin'd upon no other 
 Sufpicion but having the Bible, boldly own'd 
 fhe was going to the Field-Meeting, but refufed 
 to accufe her Miftrefs, or any one elfe ; where- 
 upon they threaten'd her with the Torture, to 
 make her confefs. She anfwer'd, fhe was ready 
 to endure Torture or Death, and talk'd to them 
 with fuch Prefence of Mind, fuch Strength of 
 Reafoning, and fuch Chearfulnefs, as made them 
 both mad and afham'd : They ientenc'd her to 
 be hang'd m the Street of Edinburgh, and ano- 
 ther young Woman with her. She receiv'd the 
 Sentence with rejoycing, and lifting up her 
 Hands and Eyes, gave God Thanks, that had 
 thought her worthy to fuffer for her Teftimony 
 to the Truth of Religion, and the Purity of his 
 Worfln'p. 
 
 The 
 
C 258 ] 
 
 The Cruelty of the Periecutors was farther 
 remarkable in thefe poor young Women's Suf- 
 fering, that they brought them to their Execu- 
 tion with two Murtherers, (viz..) two Wretches 
 condemn'd for murthering their Baftard- Chil- 
 dren, mixing them together that the Common 
 People might imagine they were all guilty of 
 fuch Crimes, or that at leaft they might not be 
 known afunder by the Crowd of Spectators \ but 
 they eafily difcover'd the Difference by the Man- 
 ner of their Behaviour, while thefe two appear'd 
 with fmiling Countenances, fingiag Pfalms, mid 
 in a chearful inimirable Frame \ the other de- 
 jected, confufed, and, to fay all in a Word, like 
 what they really were. 
 
 It would be endlefs to give an Account of the 
 Manner of Execution, the Behaviour ol the Suf- 
 fering People in their Imprifbnment and a_t their 
 Execution, or the Cruelty of the Judges in Tor- 
 turing thefe who were brought before them, 
 with that truly barbarous Engine for Torrture 
 unknown to all the World but to Scotland, call'd 
 the Boot , by which, the Leg being put in, and 
 the Wedges driven with a great Maul by the 
 Executioner, the Bone has been entirely com- 
 prefs'd, and the Marrow of the Bone has been 
 feen to burft out thro' the macerated Fleih. 
 
 Yet it was not found that any one of thole 
 who were thus tor turd yielded to the Tor- 
 mentors, either to accufe themfelves or betray 
 others. Mr. Hugh Mackaii, a young Man of 
 about 24 Years of Age, and being what they 
 call a Probationer for the Office of a Minifter, 
 but not yet a Minifter ordaiifd, was Licentiat, 
 and had preach'd fome time before the turning 
 out of the Presbyterians at the Reiteration, he 
 is an eminent Example of this : His Cafe, in 
 Short:, is as follows j Being 
 
C 2$9 ] 
 
 Being a young Man of promifing Parts and 
 great Elocution, he was appointed to preach in 
 the Great Ghurch at Edinburgh the Sabbath be- 
 fore the Turning out of the Minifters •, and his 
 Subject, as might be expected, related to the 
 cruel Perfections which the Church of God, in 
 all Ages, had undergone from the Enemies of 
 Jefas Chrilf. and his Kingdom •, it was fug- 
 gefted that he carry'd on a Parallel between 
 the Perfecutions of the People of God in the 
 Jewifl) Church, and thole of the People of God 
 ki the Presbyterian Church of Scotland : And it 
 was very particular and furprizing to many that 
 heard him, when he told them the Church were 
 perfecuted by a Pharaoh upon the Throne, a Ha* 
 man in the State, and a Judas in the Church £ * 
 by whom he was fappos'd to mean King Charle s 
 the lid. then reigning upon the Throne *, the Duke 
 of Lauderdale , 'then principal Agent in Scots Af- 
 fairs ; and the Archbilhop of St. Andrew 5, an 
 Apellate from the True Church, and then the 
 moft fa He Betrayer, and at that time, the moft 
 implacable Perfecutor of that very Church which 
 he had before been a Member and Minifter of. 
 
 It feems the Archbilhop^ who was feldom 
 known to forgive any one, had not forgotten, this 
 tho' it was in the Year 1661, four Years be- 
 fore : And it was not many Days after his 
 preaching that Sermon, that a Party of Soldiers 
 was lent to feize him *, but he got no tice of 
 their Defign, and convey ; d himfelf away into the 
 Weft, where he continu'd retir'd till the Affair 
 of Temhlandy of which Mention has been made., 
 when being oblig'd, as he thought, to join with 
 his Brethren in renewing the Covenant, he went 
 to Lanerk y where that folemn renewing the Co- 
 venant was performed , as has been obferv'd 
 
 Page . . * • 
 
[ 20~0 ] 
 
 Page . 1 . . When they were defeated at 
 Pentland, it happened this young Man was taken 
 and brought in Prifoner to Edinburgh. The 
 Archbifhop remember'd the Sermon and the 
 Man, and had his full Revenge upon this Oo 
 cafion, as the Event fhew'd : Mr. Mackall was 
 not taken in the Attion, neither was he in it, 
 nor was he taken in the Company of any that 
 were in the Action ; but meerly, and unpolitick- 
 ly enough, as travelling on the Road } for the 
 Weaknefs of his ConfHtution having render'd 
 him unable to bear the Fatigues of marching, 
 or the Rigour of the Seafon, he was oblig'd to 
 leave the Body of Men who march/d after to 
 Pent land-H'Ms, being no longer able to endure 
 it ; fo parting from them' at a Place call'd 
 Cramond- Bridge, he was taken by fome Country- 
 men who were fent out to flop the Paiiages, to 
 prevent the Elcape of the Rebels,- as they were 
 then call'd. 
 
 Being taken and brought to Council, he was 
 committed to the lolhooth, and feveral times 
 examined, and at length tortur'd to make him 
 confefs himfelf guilty, which however they 
 could not make him do; the Archbifhop of 
 St. Andrews being prefent all the Time of his 
 Torture, as one of the Judges, appointing and 
 directing the fame : A terrible Work indeed it 
 was for a Chriftian Bifhop ! but very agreeable 
 to the reft of his Character, if we may believe 
 what was generally faid of him at that Time a- 
 mong even indifferent Men. 
 
 They queftion'd him likewife, upon Torture, 
 to declare what was the original Caufe and 
 pefign of that Inlurreclion. He anfwer'd, he 
 knew not any' more of it, than that it was oc- 
 s.ifwd: by the Cruelty of Sir James Turner, who 
 
 having 
 
C 261 ] 
 
 having been rcfifted by fomc People who could no longer 
 bear his Violence \ that Refiftttnce having exposed 
 them to the Revenge of the Soldier j, and the Appre- 
 hen fians of that Revenge having made them defpcrate f 
 that very Accident drove them to take Arms, as 
 has been obferv'd before in the Accounts given 
 of that A&ion. 
 
 They were not fatisfy'd with this Anfwer, 
 but prefs'd him to declare all he knew of tha: 
 Affair ; and, upon his declaring he knew no 
 more^ they order'd him to be torturd ; At every 
 Blow die Tormentors ftruck, they ask'd if he 
 would confefs \ and upon receiving ft ill the 
 lame Aniwer (viz,*) That he hiew no more than he 
 had told them, they renewed the Torture till he 
 had received Eleven Strokes of the Hang-man. 
 
 It feems they had been heated the fame Morn- 
 ing, and their Fury encreas'd, by having juft 
 before tortur'd another Gentlemen (viz..) Mr. iV7- 
 cholfon of Ccrfack, in a moft terrible manner. 
 
 Here, for the Information of the EnglijJj Rea- 
 der, or other Stranger to the Cuftoms and Ju- 
 dicatories of Scotland, it is necelTary to note, 
 that this Examination by Torture is always done 
 in the Prefence of the Judges, who order the 
 Tormentors when to begin, how long to pro- 
 ceed, and when to ftop, and interrogate the 
 Sufferer all the time, and in the Interval of their 
 Blows. 
 
 c Mr. Machail, fays an Author who relates that 
 c Story, having before declar'd ingenuoufly all 
 c he knew, could not be mov'd by the Torture 
 c to exprefs any Impatience or Bitternefs, tho' 
 1 the Torture was in it {elf very violent and 
 c terrible, by reafon of the CompreiTure of the 
 c Fleih, Sinews, and even the Bones, by the 
 * Force of woodden Wedges driven in with a 
 
 < Ham- 
 
r 262 ] 
 
 € Hammer in a double and unufual Meaflire, 
 c even to 10 or 11 Strokes, with confiderable 
 c Intervals ; all which he fuftain'd moft con- 
 
 * ftantly and chriftianly : But before he received 
 
 * the lafb three Strokes, he protefted folemnly 
 c in the Sight of God, That he could lay no 
 c more, tho' all the Joints of his Body were in 
 c as great Torture as that poor Leg ; and de- 
 c fires to know what could hinder them to be- 
 c Ueve one of his Profeilion, who had fo fo- 
 c Jemnly declared, as in the Sight of God, that 
 
 * he knew no more than he had told, viz., 
 e That, to the beft of his Knowledge, the Ri- 
 1 fing in the Weft was meerly occasional, upon 
 c a Difcontent between the People in the Stewartry 
 c of Galloway and Sir James Turner , to which 
 c every one did run as their Hearts mov'd 
 c them, when they heard of it. 
 
 The Violence of this Torment threw him 
 into a Fever, and yet could not thefe merciful 
 Judges be prevail'd with to refpite his Appearing 
 before them above one Day, tho' two Phyficians 
 and a Surgeon certify'd his dangerous Condition, 
 and he petition'd for a Delay on that Account : 
 Accordingly the next Day he was rather dragg'd 
 or carry'd than went to their Bar, and was con- 
 demned to die } on the third Day after which 
 was executed accordingly. 
 
 There is another of thefe Sufferers who can- 
 not be forgot when we are Recording the Zeal 
 of the Church of Scotland's Martyrs, who, in 
 Imitation of the Primitive Zeal of the firit Cen- 
 turies, offer'd himfelf to the Sacrifice, without 
 any one laying Hand on him. This was James 
 Nicol of Feeble. 
 
 He was occafionally at Edinburgh when three 
 of the Weftern People were to be brought to 
 
 their 
 
C 26 j, 3 
 
 their AfTize or their Trial, for refufing to an- 
 fwer the wicked eniharing Queftions fo often 
 mention'd in thefe Memoirs. He went to the 
 Justiciary Court to fee them Try'd : It grieved 
 his Soul to fee three innocent Men delivered, as 
 meek Lambs, into the Hands of the Butchers, 
 to be flaughter'd : It mov'd his Paifton to fee the 
 Tyrannical Behaviour of the cruel Judges and 
 Perfecutors, infulting and reviling the Sufferers 
 and much ado he had, as he exprefs'd himfelf, 
 to reftrain his Anger from breaking out upon 
 the Spot, and from reproaching them with Shed- 
 ding innocent Blood j but was in part fatisfy'd 
 and appeas'd, when he heard the three Sufferers, 
 who were his dear Friends and Brethren in the 
 Caule of God, anfwer with fuch Chearfulneis 
 and Courage as put their Enemies to Shame. 
 
 He went from the Court however grieved in 
 his Spirit, having feeii them Condemn'd, and 
 heard the bloody Sentence pronounc'd •, and 
 that, it being then about 1 1 o'th' Clock, they 
 were order'd to be carry'd not back to.Prifon, 
 but from the Court where they receiv'd their 
 Sentence, to the Place of Execution. 
 
 Mr. Nicol, not intending to fee the fad Sight, 
 order'd his Horfe to be brought out about One 
 o'th' Clock, to return to his own Houfe, but was 
 oblig'd to ftop at the Weft Port of the City to 
 have his Saddle mended ^ while he was flaying 
 there, he faw the People running, and, asking 
 what it was for, was told the three honeft Men. 
 were bringing to the Place of Execution, and 
 looking up the Street faw them afcend the 
 Scaffold, which was in View of the Place where 
 he ftood : This moved him to walk up the 
 Grafs Market to fee them die. Now he was 
 no longer able to contain, being moved with a 
 
 ftrong 
 
C 264 J 
 
 ftrong Zeal againft thele Murtherers : But he 
 crys out in the midft of the throng ; they had mur- 
 ther d Three of God's Servants, contrary to their own 
 JLawsy and in a mo ft Barbarous and Inhumane manner. 
 Hereupon he was immediately apprehended , 
 this was on the 10th of Auguft 1684, on t ^ ie T 8th 
 he was examined before the Council, where they 
 were aftoniJhed to find that he, againft whom 
 they had no Accuiation, was bold to declare 
 himfelf in the moft dangerous Queftions, and 
 rather 'fought the Martyrdom he expected, than 
 that he would endeavour to avoid what they had 
 to Inflict, as the Reader will lee by the manner 
 of their Interrogating him , and his Anfwers 
 penn'dby himfelf as follows. 
 
 FIRST, I was Interrogate by two in a Room 
 privately thus. Queftion, Was you at Both- 
 wel Bridge f A. I am not bound to be my own 
 Accufer ; I am not (faid one or them) to clelire 
 you, but only fay upon your Honeft Word, that 
 you were not there. A. I am not bound to fa- 
 tisfy you, but Prove what you have to fay againft 
 me,, and efpecially you, till I come before my 
 Accufers. Well, " faid he, I am one of them. 
 Then I Anfwered, I was there. <?. How came 
 you to rife in Arms againft. the King ? A. Becaufe 
 he has broken the Covenant of the Lord mv 
 God. (X Was the Prelate's Death Murther ? A. 
 No, it was not Murther. <9. Was Hackftouns 
 Death Murther? A. That it was indeed. O. 
 How dare you own the Covenant, feeing the King 
 gave Orders to burn it by the Hand of the 
 Hangman ! A. Yes, I dare own, for altho' ye 
 mould efcape the hand of Men for fo doing, yet 
 ye mall all pay for it, e're all be done, and that 
 
 to 
 
C 265 ] 
 
 to purpole : As for me I would not do it for the 
 whole Earth. Then I was Interrogate by other 
 two, who asked fbme frivolous Queftions which 
 I baffled to filence. Then I was brought in be- 
 fore the Bloody Crew. What now, Sir, laid 
 they, do ye own the King's Authority ? A. I 
 own all things that the Precious Word of God 
 owns m lefs or more, and all Faithful Magi- 
 strates. Q. But do you not own King Charles 
 a lib ! A- I dare not for a World, becaufe it ia 
 Perjury, for he has unking'd himfelf in a high 
 degree, and that in doing all things contrary to 
 the Word of God and Confeilion of Faith, and 
 Catechiims Larger and Shorter. Q^ Know ye to 
 whom ye are Speaking ? A* I know I am before 
 Men. But ("laid one of them) ye are lpeaking 
 to the Chancellor and Members of Council, Sir. But, 
 faid I • AS I have told you already that he has 
 unking'd himfelf , S O have you degraded your 
 felves from being Princes. £>. If the King were 
 here what would you lay, Sir 7 A* I know how 
 I ought to fpeak to the King, if he were King, 
 S/r,is ordinarily faid to him \ and fo to let you know 
 that I am no Quaker, or Erroneous in any thing, 
 but a pare Presbyterian, and of a Goipel, A potto - 
 lick Spirit, I call you Sirs, becaufe ye are Noble- 
 men bv Birth, but not becaufe ye are my Judges. 
 Q^ Will ye not fiy God blefs the King's Majefty ! 
 A. I dare not blefs them whom God hath reje- 
 cted - 7 c If any Man bring another Do&rine then 
 c ye have received bid him not, God fpeed, nor 
 c receive him into your Houfe 2 John 10. And 
 c Pfalms \6. verfe^h fays David, Their Drink , 
 
 * Offerings of Blood will I not OrTer, nor take 
 
 * up their names into my Lips," viz., " Them 
 that haften after other Gods, and therefore I dare 
 not Pray for him. £>. And will ye not Pray for 
 
 D d ' him 
 
[ 266 ] 
 
 him? A- If he belongs to the Election of Grace, 
 he has a part of my Prayers *, and alio if he were 
 a King that had keeped Covenant with God I 
 would giye him a double mare, and make menti- 
 on of his Name •, but he is an Apoftate, (So, 
 my Friends, they looked ftill one to another at 
 every Queftion and Anfwer) Q. How Old are 
 you Sir, i4. lam 51 Years. Q. How dare you 
 own the Covenants feeing wehave burnt it by 
 the hand ot the Hangman. A> Sir, I dare own 
 them upon all Perrils whatfomever to the utmoft 
 of my Power, all the Days of my Life. And with 
 that they Smiled and Laughed one to ano- 
 ther and to me* and laid my Days were near an 
 end ^ I faid I am now in your Power, but if ye 
 take my Blood, ye fhall take Innocent Blood 
 upon your felves, as in Jer. 26. As for me, lam 
 in your Hands do to me as feems good and meet unto you, 
 but know for a certainty that if ye put me to Death ye 
 fhall bring Innocent Blood upon your felves and on this 
 City, and the Inhabitants thereof. And as for me, 
 if ye take my Blood, it's as Innocent Blood as 
 ever ye did take *, for i did never wrong any 
 Man to this Day. 
 
 £>. Do you go to the Church ? A. I went ay 
 to the Church, where I could get any faithful Mi- 
 nified to go to -j but for your Prelates Kirks, and 
 BaaVs Pr lefts, I never heard any of them, nor 
 never intends to do, if I were to live an hun- 
 dred Years : But (faid they) Ye fhall not live 
 long now Sir. 
 
 Then on Tuefday they called me before the m, 
 again, being the 1 9th Day of this Inftant. Q- 
 What fay ye the Day, do you adhere to all ye 
 faid Yefterday ? A- I adhere to all and hail 
 upon all Perrils whatfomever. Q. Do ye approve 
 ©f Bothwell Bridge ? A* Yes I do, £. Do you 
 
 go 
 
C 267 ] 
 
 goto the Kirk at Peebles? A- No, nor never in- 
 tends to go there, nor no Place e lie, which per- 
 tains to the perjured Prelates. CK Do you own 
 the Covenants t A- I adhere to every Point of 
 them. Qj Do ye own Airs-Mofs, Sancjuhair, Rw 
 therglen and Lanerk Declarations f A- Yes, I do j 
 becaufe they are agreeable to the Covenants, and 
 Work of Reformation. Many more Que- 
 stions they asked, which I cannot now particu- 
 larly remember, but I told them in general, That 
 I was againft Popery, Prelacy, Adalignacy and Pro- 
 phanity, and all that is againft found Dcftrine, 
 Diicipline, Wormip and Government ^ and all 
 Errors whatfomever, which are contrary to found 
 Presbyterian Do&rine, be what they will \ for 
 there is none other right, but erroneous ; how 
 fair a Face foever they have, which mall be found 
 not agreeable to the Apoftles Doctrine. And 
 then they read fome thing of what I had faid, and 
 questioned' if I would fubfcribe what I had faid. 
 I anlwered, Islo, Q. Can ye write/ A. Yes, I 
 can write ? Then do it, faid they : I faid , 
 I would not do it at all, Now, my Friends, I 
 lay thefe are but part of my Interrogations. 
 
 Again I was brought before the Judiciary (as 
 they call themfelvesj on the 20th of this Inftant, 
 and interrogate thus: O. What now, Sir, what 
 think you of your felf the Day ? A. 1 praife my 
 GOD, I am the fame I was. Q. What think y£ 
 of what ye faid Yefterday before the Chancellor 
 and the Council} A. I hold all, and decline no- 
 thing \ no not one Ace, Q. Were ye at Bothwel 
 Bridge ? A. Yes, that I was. £. Had ye Arms f 
 A Yes that I had. One of them laid, GOD 
 help you : And I faid, I wote none of ye can pray 
 for you: felf: faid he , I wifh you better nor 
 
 Dd2 ye 
 
C 268 ] 
 
 ye do your feif ; But I faid, No : for ye would 
 have me difown my great LORD, the King of 
 Ziw> and obey Man •, yea, bafe Men \ whofe Breath 
 is in their Noftriles, who give out Laws and Com- 
 mands contrary to his. <2. How dare ye rife in 
 Arms againft the King? A. It is better to 
 cbey GOD than Man^ and he is an Enemy to GOD. 
 £K Would ye rife yet in Arms for the Covenants 
 againft the King's Laws, if ye had the Occafion ? 
 Ak Yes, that I would, fay trie contrary who will, 
 upon all Peril. Q. What think ye of your felf 
 in fpoiling the Country of Horfe and Arms, Sir f 
 v& Sir, I had not the worth of a Spur Whang of 
 any Man's, but was mounted of Horfe and Arms 
 of my own. Q^ Where have ye been all this 
 Time ? A. Sometimes here and there, in En- 
 gland and Scotland* Q^ Whom have ye conver- 
 ged with ? A. I was about my Bufinefs, being a 
 Merchant. They faid ye have been about ano- 
 ther Bufinefs \ for ye are found to be a Fugitive 
 and a Vagabond- A. I have been a Merchant from 
 my Youth. Q. But where had ye your Chamber 
 in this Town t A- 1 had none thele feveral Years . 
 Q^ Where quarter ye in this Town f A* I have 
 not been much in it thefe 7 or 8 Years : Q^ But 
 where was ye the Night, and the laft Night be- 
 fore the Execution ? A> I was not in Town, I 
 came but in to Port juft when the firft was 
 caft over. Then they looked one to another, 
 and whifpered together •, But they would 
 fain have had me wronging my Landlords in all 
 the Parts of the Country, and in all Burghs -, 
 but Glory to my LORD, I have wronged none 
 yet, nor yet hopes to do \ for it was ay my Care, 
 and Prayer to GOD earneftly, that I might wrong 
 no Man, and that I had rather (uffer before any 
 were wronged by me, which he has keeped me 
 
 from 
 
C z6 9 1 
 
 from to this Day, Then they read what I had 
 ^- ino, no. CA Can ye write ' Sir ? ^ v 
 
 teanj but will not. They told me five or fil 
 Times, that my Time mould not be £ a S 
 £ d tome Wdl ye have a Minified >i S 
 have none of your Bad's PricSls 
 
 that he had behaved with all alone. g ^ 
 
 Holes and Caves of the Earth bl, ', ? . 
 the' Milk u^A i\>r • ^rcn, lay concealed m 
 tne iiuis and Mountains, from whence hv thl 
 vigilance of their EnemiA th™ * Y e 
 
 draee'doutrn Pv~ 5 ^ ey wer * frequently 
 uiagg a out to Execution and Death either «,,"*•£ 
 
 get together either ft therein W™" 
 
 *«fcessS53 i 35 
 
 Ohq 
 
 D d.3 
 
[ 270 ] 
 
 One of thefe Parties with Mr. Richard Cameron 
 their Minifter, the fame from whom thefe Men 
 were after called Cameronians, having been toge- 
 ther fome Days but with no other view, than 
 their own Security as above •, were purfued by the 
 Dragoons, and being furprized as they were ly- 
 ing down upon the Grafs for refreihment, at a 
 place cali'd Aird-Mofs, they were oblig'd to fight : 
 The Dragoons who came upon them were about 
 1 20 Men, being 3 Troops ■, the perfecuted People 
 were about 40 Foot indifferently Arm'd, and 26 
 Horfe ^ the Horfe were led by David Hackfton^ 
 Efq} of Rathillcty a Gentleman of a good Family 
 and allyed to fome of the beft Families in Scot- 
 land ; he had been profcrib'd long before for the 
 killing the Arch^bifhop of St. Andrews, tho' a* 
 has been obferv'dy he was the only Man of that 
 Company who refufed to have any Hand in it.— . 
 Some fay he refufed, becauie he would not have 
 had him kilfd, but others lay he refufed, becaufe 
 he formerly had a deciar'd Quarrel a gain ft him 
 Perfonally, and would not fuffer it to be faid that 
 he executed his private Revenge } be that as it 
 will, it is allow'd by all that he was not an a&or 
 in the Death of the Biflaop, any way whatfoe'ver, 
 but that being with the Perfbns who kill'd him, 
 he feparated from them, and refufed to be con- 
 cern'd in it. 
 
 Being forced thus to Fight as above, with fa 
 unequal Numbers, Mr. Hackfion follow'd by 1 5 
 Horfe, charged up to the very Faces of the Dra- 
 goons, and after giving them a Fire from their 
 Carabines, broke into the body of them, where 
 having mewed all theMarks ofBravery and Gallan- 
 try poilible, being furrounded by Numbers and o- 
 ver pow.er'd, the raoft of them were Rill'd or 
 Wounded ; Mr. Hackftpn feeing his Men broken, 
 
 fought 
 
fought like a Lyon, and with a defperate Gou- 
 rage made his way quite thro' the Enemy, Kil- 
 ling and wounding feveral of them with his cwn 
 Hand; and being got clear, and without recei- 
 ving any con fider able Wound, he made off, but 
 was clofely^purfued by 4 Dragoons • the good- 
 nefs of Iiis Horfe carryed him from them, and 
 he was in a fair way to have efcap'd, when his 
 Horfe plung'd into a Bog, from whence he could 
 not get him out : Being thus un-liorft a Dragoon 
 came up to him who knew him, and offered him 
 Quarter, which he refufed, and fought him with 
 his Sword, and would have Mafter'd him, but 
 Three other Dragoons furrounding him , they 
 Jtnock't him down, giving him feveral Wounds 
 in the Heacf, and fo took him Prifbner. 
 
 Mr. Cameron fighting as boldly at the Head of 
 the other part of the Horfe, was Killed, and his 
 Head cutoff, and carryed with the Prifoners to 
 Edinburgh. The Foot being rid down by the 
 Dragoons and Difperfed, fled to the Hills, a- 
 bout 1 7 of them were killed or taken, and the 
 reft efcaped. They carryed Mr. Hachfton Woun- 
 ded as he was to Edinburgh, where they led him, 
 and Three more of the Prifoners taken at the 
 fame place in Triumph thro' the City on a Horfe, 
 with his Face to theHorfe's Tail, Mr. Cameron's 
 Head ftuck on the point of a Halberd, being car- 
 ry'd before him, and another Head in a Sack ; His 
 Examination,- his refolute Anfwers, his horrible 
 Torture, and his cruel Execution, are well known 
 to all Scotland. 
 
 He had been feveral Times, carryed before 
 the Jufticiary Court, as they were calfd, for he 
 would not call them fo, where he refufed to anfwer 
 to any Queftions whatfoever, declining their Ju- 
 rifdi&ion, and protecting againft their Authority. 
 Dd 4 JM 
 
C 272 ] 
 
 But they refolv'd to treat him for it, in a Me- 
 thod which they doubted not, would bring him 
 to fubmit to them, wherein however they failed, 
 and were moft. effectually difappointed $j for nei- 
 ther was their threats of Torture, the barbarous 
 loading him with Irons, who had feven Wounds 
 upon him, the refufing to let thofe Wounds be 
 Dreft for fome Time, no nor at laft the Torture 
 it felf, prevail with him to anfwer them. 
 
 They would have had him confefs the Mur- 
 ther of the Archbifhop, 1)ut he would not ^ 
 then they would have had him deny it, but nei- 
 ther would he do that, but fteddily adher'd to 
 his Protection, (viz..) That they had ufurped 
 the Supremacy over the Church, which belonged 
 alone TO JESUS CHRIST, and efW 
 blifh'd Idolatry, Perjury, and other Abominati- 
 ons ; and in Confiscating themfelves therein, had 
 perfecuted God's People, and ihed innocent 
 Blood, and for this Reafon, he would have no- 
 thing to fay to them, but Declared them open 
 Enemies , to Chrift's Kingdom , Competitors 
 with him, for his Crown and Power, and utterly 
 declin'd them as Judgts. This was the fubrtance 
 of his Anfwers , upon feveral Times being 
 brought before them, and it is no Wonder, that 
 they were exceedingly Provok'd at him, as they 
 foon fhew'd they were. 
 
 Upon Friday July 30, being again brought be- 
 fore the Counfel, it was asked of him if he had 
 any other thjng to fay ? He anfwcred , That 
 which I have faid I will Seal it. Then they told 
 him that they Had fomething to fay to him, and 
 commanded him to fit down and receive his Sen- 
 tence, which willingly he did -, but told them 
 they were all Murderers, for all that Power they 
 Jiad was derived from Tyranny, and that thefe 
 
 Years 
 
[ 27? ] 
 
 Years by-gone, they have not only Tyrannized 
 over the Church of GOD > but have at lb grinded 
 the Faces of the Poor} lb that OppreiHon/ Blood- 
 shed, Perjury, and many Murders were to be 
 found in their Skirts, upon which he was incon- 
 tinent carried away to the Scaffold at the Mercat- 
 Crofs of Edinburgh, where he died with great 
 (a) Torture inflicted upon his Body, nor being per- 
 mitted to leave any Teftimony to the World, 
 except what is comprehended in a few MiiCves 
 directed to fome of his Chriftian Acquaintance 
 from his Prifon in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, 
 which areas follows. 
 
 It is importable to relate all the particulars, of 
 their Perfecution, either as to the cruelty of the 
 Per fee utors,or the constancy of the Sufferers: what 
 has been iaid^vill ferve to open the Eyes of all who 
 are yet Ignorant, and to fill every Chriftian Rea- 
 der with Abhorrence of the Practices, and of 
 the very Names and Memories of the Perfons 
 who exercifed fuch Cruelties on their Christian 
 Brethren. 
 
 I fay Brethren, becaute to the Difhonour of 
 the Vmte&ant Name, it is laid that thefe Perfe- 
 cutors were call'd Proteftants. 
 
 There is but one thing that either ever was, or 
 indeed could be faid to Extenuate the Charge and 
 great Pains has been taken to poffefs the World 
 with the Notion (viz..) that thefe Men were 
 Mad-Men, Enemies to Government, to Monar- 
 chy and to Civil Society, that they denyed Ma- 
 gistracy it felf, as well as the Perfon and (Govern- 
 ment 
 
 (i) Tke Cruelty of Executing Hackfton of Rathillet, be* 
 fides the Torture they before put him to, was indeed Vnbcard, 
 ctb bis Hands being cut off, and after kit Breafi cut open, and 
 bU Heart pull'd out, even before be was Dead, 4S many bear 
 Wimaft, vobo fan him Executed* 
 
r 274 j 
 
 ment of the King, and that they were executed 
 as Rebels, not as Religious Perlbns. 
 
 It is needlefs to anfwer to any part of this 
 Charge \ the profeifion of the Sufferers at the 
 Place of Execution, and upon all other Occafions 
 againft the Enemies they oppofed, making it 
 clear that they did not oppofe Government or 
 Monarchy as fuch ; but Wicked, Perjured and 
 Perfecuting Governors } Thefe they did oppofe, 
 and declare againft, as Enemies to God and their 
 Country } and as breakers of Sacred Oaths and 
 Covenants, made both with God and Man : Thefe 
 they Oppofed, and thought themfelves bound in 
 Confcience to do lb, as being difcharg'd from all 
 Civil Allegiance to them, by the Breach of their 
 Coronation Engagements^ and of all Religious En- 
 gagements to them, by the breaking their folemn 
 Oath to God and his Church-, and turning Perie- 
 cutors of that very Church they had Sworn to 
 maintain ^and this they did on the fame Arguments 
 which juftify'd the Revolution, and on which 
 the ProtesJant Succeffion of Hannover is now foun- 
 ded • to witi of taking Arms againft perjur'd Prin- 
 ces, who break their folemn Compatt with God 
 and their People •, Renouncing and Depoftng 
 them, and excluding both them and their Race - r 
 and bleffed be God who has given fuch a Tefti- 
 mony in our Days, to the Memory of his Saints, 
 and to the truth of the Do&rine and Principles, 
 which thefe faithful Martyrs in Scotland fuffered 
 for, by bringing the whole Nation, nay even 
 fome of the very Perfecutors themfelves, to take 
 up thole very Principles, with refpett to Govern- 
 ment and Obedience, that thofe iiiffering Chrifti- 
 ans Dy'd for • and to Expel and Depofe, rejed and 
 caR off that very Race, and one of thofe very 
 Kings as Tyrants and Robbers, breakers of their 
 
 Oaths. 
 
C 27$ ] 
 
 Oaths, and injurious to the People, which thefe 
 good People were Perfecuted and Murthered tor 
 rejecting before. And therefore even the De- 
 claration at Torwood as it was call'd, where they 
 Excommunicated the King, and which the Ene- 
 mies of thefe good People pretented, to be En- 
 thufiaftick, Devellifh, Rebellious and Antichri- 
 st ian, and for which faid good People were Cen- 
 Sur'd, even by their Brethren who acce pted of 
 the Indulgences. I fay, that very Excommuni- 
 cation is exprefly founded upon the fame Grounds, 
 as was afterwards the renouncing the King by 
 the Revolution, with this Difference only, that 
 the Reafons given by Mr. Cargil, Mr. Cameron 
 and the People then calPd Cameronians in the De- 
 claration of the Que ens- Ferry j and the Excom- 
 munication of Torwood* contain all that is under- 
 stood in the Memorial to die Prince of Orange, 
 from the People of Great Britain, to invite him to 
 a/lift them in Arms againft the fame King, and 
 much more. 
 
 To make this clear, 1 here give you that fa- 
 mous Excommunication , pronounced by Mr. 
 Donald Cargil at Torwood) Anno 1684 and only 
 defire the impartial Reader, to compare it with 
 the Memorials abovenam'd, and fee if it be pof- 
 Sible for any Britijh Proteftant, who owns the Ju- 
 stice of the Revolution, to reflect upon the Zeal 
 of thefe People, without blufhing for himfelf, 
 and the whole Nation, that they did not fee and 
 abhor the Tyranny of thofe Reigns fooner : Then 
 they had joyn'd with thefe. People,initead of cenlu- 
 ring their Zeal : The Revolution had then been 
 brought about, without Foreign help at all \ the 
 Prince of Orange had then been call'd over as 
 peaceably as King George, to take poiTeilion of 
 the Crown, and the Blood of near Twenty Thou- 
 sand 
 
r ^ 1 
 
 land People, who were one way or other MurtherM 
 or Deftroy'd, by that now abdicated race of Ty- 
 rants, and their bloody Adminiflration had been 
 laved. 
 
 What a fhame it is to us, and how much to the 
 Honour of thefe perfecuted People, that THEY 
 could thus fee the Treachery and Tyranny of 
 thofe Reigns, when we law it not •, or rather that 
 they had fo much Honefty of Principle, and o- 
 bey'd fo ftrittly the Di&ates of Confcience, as to 
 bear their Teftimony Early, Nobly, and Glori- 
 oufly, to the truth of God, and the rights of 
 their Country, both Civil and Religious, while 
 we all, tho' feeing the fame Things, and equal- 
 ly convinc'd of its being Right, yet betray'd the 
 caufe of Liberty and Religion, by a finful Silence, 
 &nd a dreadful Cowardice *, not joyning to 
 help the Lord, or the People of the Lord, a- 
 gainft the Mighty, fitting ftill and feeing our 
 Brethren Slaughter'd and Butchered, in Defence 
 of their Principles, which our Consciences told 
 us, even then, were founded on the Truth, and 
 by thofe Tyrants, who we knew deferv'd to be 
 rejected both of God and the Nation, and who 
 afterwards we did rejeffc accordingly : But to Vror 
 ceed. 
 
 As thofe Suffering People are abundantly ju- 
 ftifyed by the Practice of the whole Nation, in 
 the Revolution, fo I muft add, that they area- 
 bundantly acquitted of that weak and unjuft 
 Charge, mentioned before, m. of their being Ene- 
 mies to Government, and refufing to fubmit to 
 Lawful Authority, by their behaviour in the Re- 
 volution } their Chearful joining in it, and their 
 being the firft that Petitioned the Parliameut to 
 make the Prince of Orange King, and promifing 
 
 all 
 
[ 277 "^ 
 
 all Dutiful Submiflion to fuch a King, as they 
 knew would rule in Righteoufnefs, and Defend, 
 not Deftroy the Heretage of the Lord ^ but as 
 this belongs to the next part of this Work, I ihall 
 refer to the fuller Account of their Condu&, 
 which will appear in its Place. 
 
 Here follows an Account of the Proceedings at 
 Tor wood. 
 
 The Meeting was in the Fields, at a Place call'd 
 Torwood, in the Weftern part of Scotland, the 
 nth of September, 1688, Mr. Richard Cameron^ 
 
 Mr. — — and Mr. Donald Cargil Minifters, 
 
 aflifting but Mr. Cargil Preached the a&ion Sermon 
 from 21 Euek. 25, 26, 27. And thou prophane 
 wicked Prince of Ifrael, whofe Day is come, when 
 Iniquity fnall have an End : Thm faith the Lord God, 
 remove the Diadem and take off the Crown, &c In 
 this Preaching, he made firft a fliort Pertinent 
 Difcourfe, on the Nature, Subject, Caufes, and 
 Ends of Excommunication, and declared fully 
 his own Motives then to Pronounce it, and that it 
 was not from any private Spirit, Malice, or Paf- 
 fion, but Confcience of his Duty and Zeal, for 
 the Honour of God, and of his Church, after 
 which, he began as follows, viz* 
 
 c We have fpoken of Excommunication, the 
 f Caufes, Subject, and Ends thereof, we mall 
 
 * now proceed to the Aftion it lelf, being con- 
 c ftrained by the Confcience of our Duty, and 
 
 * Zeal for God, to Excommunicate at this Time, 
 c fome of thofe among us in thefe Lands, who 
 c have been guilty of fuch Crimes, as renders 
 1 them the proper Subjects of this Cenfure, and 
 J efpec::;Uy thofe who have been Authors of 
 
 the 
 
r 2783 
 
 ' the prefent Mifchiefs, to the Church of Chrift, 
 m this Nation of Scotland, and in doing this, we 
 ^11 give them the ordinary Names, by which 
 the}' a«-e called, that it may not be in the leaft 
 doubtful, who we are fpeaking of, in fofolemn 
 an Occaiion. 
 
 s I Being a Minifter of Jefus Chrift, and having 
 Authority and Power from him, do in his Name, 
 and by his Spirit Excommunicate CHARLES II. 
 King, &c. and that upon the Account of thefe 
 wickedneffes following. 1. For his high mocking 
 ;lie Majefty of God in that, where he had 
 Confer: his own Sins, his Fathers Sins, his Mo- 
 thers Idolatry, and had Solemnly engag'd againft 
 them in his Declaration, at Dumferlin, Auguft, 
 16. 26 $0. and was upon that Declaration, and 
 on the Conditions thereof accepted as King : 
 He has broken the faid folemn Engagement, 
 and returned more avowedly to thofe Sins, than 
 all that were before him. (2.) For his abhorr'd 
 (a) Perjury in that, after he had Twice fo- 
 iemnly fubfcrib'd the Covenant 5 he molt Pre- 
 fumptuoufly difown'd, and Renounc'd it, cau- 
 fing it to be burn'd by the Hangman. (3) For 
 that he has caufed all thofe (b) Laws for ©fta- 
 blilhing Religion and Reformation, and which 
 he had engaged in the faid Covenant, to 
 prefer ve, to be refcinded -, and ena&ed Laws, di- 
 rectly contrary, and is (till Working to fet up 
 
 Popery 
 
 Caj At the Revoluti$tt f they chargU Kjng James with Ver- 
 lurjf> in breaking his Coronation Oath, wherein he had Sworn t# 
 maintain the Church, and true Religion* 
 
 (b) At the Revolution , they charged him with difpenftng with 
 the I4IW, And jetting up bit Arbitrary Witi y in the Rom oj the 
 Law. 
 
r 279 3 
 
 Toy try among us. (c) (4) For Commanding his 
 Armies (d) to deftroy theLords People,who were 
 {landing in their own juft Defence, of their 
 Rights, and Privileges, and for the (e) Blood 
 he hath Shed , by Land , and by Water, 
 of the People of God, for the fake of 
 Religion, and of Righteoufnefs, more than all 
 the Kings that have been before him in Scotland, 
 the [aid People being mofi wilting in all other (f) 
 Things, to render him Obedience, if he had Reigned 
 and Ruled them, according to his Covenant and Oath* 
 (5J For that he is ftill an Enemy to, and a Per- 
 secutor of true Proteslants ; a favourers (g) and 
 helper of the Papifis, at Home and Abroad, 
 and hath hindred the due Execution of juft 
 : Laws. ( 6 ) For his relaxing of the 
 Kingdom, by his frequent granting Par- 
 don to Murtherers, which is exprefly contrary 
 to the Law of God, and therefore not in the 
 Power of any King to do. (j) His great and 
 dreadful Uncleanefs, Adultery, and Inceft -, his 
 Drunkennefs and Diflimulation, with God and 
 Man,performing his Promifes,where his Engage- 
 ments were Sinful, &c. 
 
 c By the fame Authority, and in the fame 
 Name, I Excommunicate and Caft out of the 
 True Church, and deliver up to Sattan, James 
 Duke of York, and that for his Idolatry, as far 
 
 ai 
 
 (c) Ki*Z J^mes cbdrgd with fating up Popery arfong tu- 
 
 (d) Kjng James ibarg'dwhb keeping up d, flanding Army in 
 time of Pease. 
 
 (c) Xjng James shargd with Arbitrary {bedding innocent 
 BJopd. 
 (f) M AI{K^T H A 7, willing to render Obedience, tie. 
 ($) Ki'^i ]*mescbirg y d with helping and favouring Papifb. 
 
[ 28o ] 
 
 r as concerns Scotland, for other Things I read 
 c not 5 and for letting up Idodatry in Scotland, to 
 c defile the Lords Land, and his encouraging and 
 ft drawing others to do lb. 
 
 4 Next in the fame Name, and by the fame 
 e Authority, I Excommunicate James Duke of 
 4 Monmouth^ &o For his coming into Scotland, 
 c upon his Fathers unjuft Command, and leading 
 € Armies againft the Lords People \ they being 
 € conftrained to Rife, being Killed in, and for 
 c the Right Worshipping of the true God, and 
 c for his refufing at Bothwell^ the Cefiation pro- 
 
 * pofed by Others. 
 
 c Next I do by the lame Authority, and in the 
 c lame Name, excommunicate, caft out of the 
 
 * true Church, and deliver up to Sathan, John D. 
 c of Lauderdale, for his dreadful Blafphemy, 
 c againft the great God, efpecially thofe horrible 
 c Exp.reifions ufed by him, to the Prelate of St. 
 4 Andrews, m Prophanation of the Holy Word 
 
 * of God, (Viz.) Sit thou at my right Hand, till I 
 
 * male thine Enemies thy Footfiool : Likewife for his 
 
 * Atheiftical drolling upon the Scriptures of God 
 
 * in General •, fcoffing at Religion, and Religious 
 c PerfonS} his Apoftacy from the Covenant and 
 
 * Reformation, and Perfecuting thereof, after he 
 
 * had been profeffor and pleader for, and poiTefTor 
 c of the faid Covenant, ehr. Likewife for his 
 
 * Perjury and Murther, in the Cafe of Mr. (h) 
 
 * James' Mitchell i likewife for his Adulteries, and 
 
 Unclean 
 
 (h) He v>m one of th em in the Council, -who gave pubiick 
 faith to Mr. Mitchel, that bis Lifefhouldbe fived, if he would 
 Confefsbisfireima Piftol, at the Bifhop of St, Andrews, and 
 Wounding tbcBijhop of Glafgow ; without which Confeflion, they 
 teuldnot hive put him tQ Death; notwitbjtandinfi which, thy 
 not only did mkeufe of that ConfeJJlon to condemn Him to Death, 
 hut made Oath before the Jufiiciary Court, upon bis Jryal mi 
 torture^ that tbers ms m fab pub lid Faith given. 
 
• Uncleannefs, for his Coui.nelTing and A /lifting 
 
 4 the King, in all his Tyrannies, and endeavou- 
 
 • ring to overturn the true Religion ^ for his o- 
 
 • penly Gaming on the Lords Days, and finally 
 4 for his ufual and ordinary Curfmg. 
 
 c Next I do by the lame Authority, and in the 
 4 fame Name, caft out of the true Church, and de- 
 4 liver up to Sathan, John Duke of Rothefa &c. For 
 
 * his Perjuries, in the aforelaid Cafe of Mr. 
 c Alitchell, for his Adulteries and Uncleannefs, 
 € and openly allotting the Lords Day for the 
 4 fame. For his openly profeffing and avowing 
 
 * his Willingnefs and Readinefs, to letup Popery 
 4 in this Land, at the King's Command, and for 
 
 * his Barbarous and Unheard of Cruelty, to 
 4 that Worthy Gentleman, David Hachftoun of 
 4 Rathilkt^ whereof he was the chief Author, 
 4 Contriver and Commander ^ and laftly, for hii 
 4 ordinary Curfing, Swearing, and Drunkenefs. 
 
 4 Next, I do by the fame Authority, and in 
 4 the fame Name, Excommunicate, &c. Sir Geo* 
 4 Mackenzie, the King's Advocate, for his Apo- 
 4 ftacy in turning to a profligate Conversion, 
 4 after he had begun a fblemn Profeillon of 
 4 Holinefs •, for his conftant Pleading againft, 
 4 and.Perfecuring to Death, the Servants of God, 
 4 and alledging and laying to their Charge, 
 4 Things which in his Conference he knew to 
 4 he againft. the Word of God, againft Truth, 
 4 Reafon, and the Laws of this Kingdom : And, 
 4 on the other hand, his Pleading for Sorcerers, 
 4 Murtherers, and other Criminals, that, by the 
 4 Laws of God and Man, ought to have been 
 4 put to death :, likewile for his Ungodly, Er- 
 4 roneous, Fantaftick and Blafphemous Tenets 
 E e publiih'd 
 
C 282 ] 
 
 c publifh'd to the World in his Pamphlets and 
 c Pafquils. 
 
 c Laftly, I do by the fame Authority, and in 
 4 the fame Name, Excommunicate, &c. Thomas 
 
 * DalzSel of Bins, for his Leading Armies, and 
 c Commanding the pillaging, oppreiling, and 
 c cruelly murthering the Lord's People ^ particu- 
 c lady for his Commanding to moot at Poft 
 
 * FlnUy, an innocent Perfon , at New Mlllm, 
 c without any Form of Law, Ci^il or Military, 
 4 he not being guilty of any thing which they 
 c themfelves counted a Crime • iikewife for his 
 L Lewd and Impious Life, led in Adultery and 
 c Uncleannefs from his Youth, in a Contempt 
 c of lawful Wedlock, which is the Ordinance of 
 c God \ for his Atheiftical and Irreligious Life - 7 
 c and, laftly,for his unjuftTaking away and Keep- 
 1 ing PofTeilion of the Eftate of that worthy Gen- 
 ' tleman William Muire of Caladol, and other inju- 
 
 * rious Deeds in Exercife of this Power. 
 
 After he had pronoune'd the above Sentences 
 of Excominuication, he went on to the Purpofe 
 following. c I think, [aid be, none that acknow- 
 c ledge the Word of God, the Power deputed 
 c to his Church, and the Reafbn and Nature 
 c of that Power, can judge this Sentence to be 
 
 * unjuft. The Pretence of its being unformal, 
 
 * without Warnings, Admonitions, &c. is fully 
 
 * anfwer'd, in that thofe Men have placed them- 
 
 * felves above the Admonitions of Minifters, 
 
 * have repelfd all due Warnings, and wickedly 
 c put to cruel Deaths the Servants and Minifters 
 c of Chrift, who have with Freedom and Boldnefs 
 c adventur'd to give them Warnings and Ad- 
 
 * monitions, and ihut up all Accefs from us 
 c that remain to do the like \ and as for Proof 
 
 * of the Fa&, I have here charg'd upon them 
 
 it 
 
C *h ] 
 
 c k needeth not, the Deeds being notour and 
 i € known, and the moft of them fuch as them- 
 * lelves do avow, and, to their Shame, boaft of: 
 e And as the Caufes are juft, and fuch as for which 
 € the Minifters of Chrift have in all Agesi pro- 
 4 ceeded to the like Sentence, SO it being now 
 4 done by a Minifter of the Gofpel, and in fuch 
 4 a Manner as the prefent Circumftances of the 
 4 Church of Chrift, with refpecl: to the prefent 
 c cruel Perfecution , will admit, the Sentence 
 4 likewife is undoubtedly juft alfo \ and there 
 4 are no Powers on Earth, either of Kings, 
 c Princes , Magiftrates , or Ministers of the 
 c Gofpel, can, without the Repentance of the 
 c Perfons openly and legally appearing, reverie 
 c thefe Sentences upon any fuch Account : And 
 4 as God, who is the Author of that Power, is 
 4 the more engaged to the ratifying thefe Sen- 
 4 tences, Ip all that acknowledge the Word of 
 c God, and believe themfelves iubje£t to his 
 c Government, ought alio to acknowledge them. 
 c If any {hall objeft, as we hear they do, that 
 4 thefe Proceedings, tho' not unjuft, are foolilh 
 
 * and rigorous : We anf.ver with that Word of 
 1 Scripture which we have much more reafbn 
 c to ufe than thofe of whom it is recorded, 
 
 ' Gen. 34. 3 1 • Should he deal with our Sifter as with an . 
 c Harlot ? Should they deal with our God as 
 4 with an Idol \ Should they deal with his Peo- 
 c pie as with Murtherers and Maleta&ors •, and 
 c fhaU we not draw out God's Sword agairijR 
 
 * God's Enemies. 
 
 It is true that this Attion was the Execration 
 and Averfion of thofe Times, and of the Sove- 
 reign that then Reigned, and to their R.eproach 
 it will be Recorded, that two forts of People 
 blam'd the Cameronmns for running that length, 
 
 Ee 2 Firft 
 
[ 2S 4 ] 
 Virfti Their Brethren of the Presbyterian Churchy 
 who temporifed at that time, and not thinking 
 themfelves called to bear their Teftimony in fuch* 
 a manner againft the Perfecutors j or perhaps not 
 being able to bear the fury of the Profecution, 
 contented to receive the liberty of their Wor- 
 ship by the Indulgence of the King, and the Li- 
 cence of the Bimops : And $dly y The good Peo- 
 ple, as well DifTenters as others in England or 
 elfe where } who were Ignorant not only of what 
 thofe People fuffered, but of the Principles by 
 which they afred ^ and who receiving their Infor- 
 mation in a Partial, or Imperfect manner frcm 
 their Enemies only, or from the other People who 
 join'd not with them, never rightly underftood 
 their Cate*, which Ignorance, and contequently 
 the Prejudices that attended it, remains to this 
 Day. 
 
 As to the Firfi, God has been pleated to Con- 
 vince moft of thofe People, that their fuffering 
 Brethren were in the Right ; and for the Infor- 
 mation of the Second Part, thefe Memoirs are 
 written. 
 
 I ihall clote this Account of Sufferers with 
 Two or Three remarkable Inflances, as well of 
 Chriftian Constancy in the Perfons Suffering, as 
 of the Account given by them of the Reafbn of 
 their then bearing their Teftimony againft. the 
 Power that then Ruled: And the Firft is in the 
 Death of Mr. John Nisbet, who was put to death 
 at Edinburgh, Dec 4. 1685. the firft Year of the 
 Reign of King James VII. 
 
 The account of this Gallant fpirited Gentle- 
 man, as well as couragious Chriftian, is thus 
 faithfully abridg'd by one of his near Relations, 
 tvho was an Eye Witnefs to his Sufferings. 
 
C 285 ] 
 
 c In the Year 1664. he had a Child born, and 
 c refufing' to let it be Baptifed by the Parif) Cu- 
 c rate, or Epifcopal Parlbn, he had it privately 
 e Baptifed by one of the outed Minifters. The 
 c Perfecution being then but newly begun, and 
 c very little Blood Ihed on that account : The Cu- 
 e rate enrag'd at this, publihYd in his Pulpit, that: 
 c he would Excommunicate Mr. Nisbet the next 
 € Lord's day, and had done fo, but that the Day 
 c before he was fnatch'd away by Death fuddenly. 
 c When the Periecuted People in 1666, met to- 
 
 * gether at Lanerk, and received the Covenant at 
 c Laverk, his Confcience fummon'd him to join 
 
 * with them •, and being known,ind threatn'd with 
 
 * Death for that Action, was oblig'd for his own 
 c lafety to follow thofe People, and keep with 
 c them in Arms : At the Fight at TentUnd he was 
 ' lore wounded, ftript as Dead, and left among the 
 c Slain, but was preferv'd, and made his efcape. 
 
 c At the Infurreftion at Bothwell y he joyn'd with 
 c the fame People again, and fought openly and 
 c Boldly at the Bridge *, being not only a zealous 
 c Chriftian, but a Man of great Bravery and Re- 
 c folution, as long as any Man would ftand \ 
 
 * and made his retreat and efcaped falling 
 
 * into the Enemies Hands for that time \ 
 c but being known , was profcrib'd by Pro- 
 c clamation, and a large Reward offer'd for ap-» 
 c prehending him, his Eftate and Goods feiz'd, 
 € his Wife and four Children ftript of all, and 
 c turn'd out of Doors. 
 
 4 In this Condition he was one of thole who are 
 ' difcrib'd in the 1 \th Heb. 38. They wandred about 
 c in De farts and in Mountains, and in Dens and 
 1 Caves of the Earth, of whom the World was not 
 c worthy, and thus he lived, Suffering as we may 
 
 * fay, all kinds of Diftrefs, from the Year id-79 
 
[ 286 ] 
 
 to 1685, above fix Years, not accepting Deliver- 
 ance, that he might preferve to himfelf the free 
 enjoyment of the Gofpel faithfully Preached in 
 the Fields and Hills • whether he, and a felecl 
 Company, fuch as he was, came always well 
 Arrrfd, as well to defend themfelves, as to Pro- 
 tect their Minifters and Bretheren from Vio- 
 lence during the Worihip of God, as occafion 
 fliould preient : At length being retired to a 
 poor Man's Houfe in the Pariih of Ttnnick, 
 where they had ufed to be fheltered in fevere 
 Weather,' it pleafed God that they were feen, 
 and private Information given, fo that before 
 they were aware the Houfe was furrounded* and 
 after a very defperate Reiiftance, in which he 
 received Seven Wounds, they were all taken. 
 c The Lieutenant of Dragoons, who was of his 
 ; own Name, yet Infulted him, and Treated him 
 ' in a moft Barbarous manner: Firft he took his 
 1 three Friends, who were Prifonerswith him, 
 and Shot them Dead before his Face ; then com- 
 ing to him, asked him what be thought of himfelf 
 novo? He Reply'd, / think as well of Chrifi and 
 his Caufe as ever, and not at all the rvorfe for what I 
 ' Suffer^ and I only Grieve that I am left, and my 
 dear Brethren are gone to Heaven, whom you have 
 ' wickedly Murthefd. The Bloody Gruel Wretch 
 Reply 'd with an Oath, he fwuld not be long behind 
 ' them, but he referved him for worfe Funifoment, 
 HeAnfwered, If the Lord ft and by me, and keep 
 1 me faithful to Deaths I care not what Sufferings I 
 L am put to endure. The Lieutenant then bound 
 ' him Cruelly, tho' bleeding at his Wounds, and 
 : carried him to Kilmarnock, and from thence 
 1 to Air, whereby Interceiiion of Friends, a Sur- 
 : gecn was allow'd to drefs his Wounds, after 
 ■ which he was carried to Edinburgh. It feems all 
 
 this 
 
C 287 ] 
 
 this was done, that the Lieutenant might have 
 the Reward published for apprehending him* 
 ; other wile he had been Shot with the reft. 
 
 * Being brought to Edinburgh he was brought be- 
 c fore the Bloody Council, where they ask'd him 
 : the Queftions following, and received fhort An- 
 ; fwers from him, fuch as barely Ihew'd, that he 
 1 neither expected or fought any Mercy at their 
 1 Hands. The Questions were thus. 
 
 Q. Was you at the Field Conventicle at .? £Here 
 
 they Nam'd the Day and the Place] 
 A- Yes. 
 
 Q. How many Men in Arms had you there ? 
 A. I went there to hear the Gofpel Preach'd,' 
 and not to take an Account of Men or Arms 
 that might be there. 
 Q. Which Way went you when thePreaching was done! 
 A» The beft way we could to efcape your Cru- 
 elty. 
 Q.. Where hefyou the General Meetings, and what 
 
 do you at them £ 
 To this he Anfwered he was not obliged to 
 give an Account', at which one of the Council 
 pretended he would do it for them, and made a 
 long Speech of what was done (tho' he gave a, 
 falfe Account) at a General Meeting near Edin- 
 burgh,) : Then they asked the Prifoner if he was not 
 there, 
 A. No. 
 Q. We hope you are fo much of a Chriftian as to 
 
 Pray for the King, 
 A> Prayer is a holy Ordinance of God, and 
 we ought to Pray for the King as well as 
 for others, but not when every profligate 
 Commands us. 
 Q. Do you own the King as Lawful and fole Sove* 
 raign Lord ? 
 
 Ee 4 J* 
 
f [ 288 ] 
 
 A. He being Papift and that from his Youthi 
 and a Proteftant of the Presbyterian covenanted 
 Perfwafion, I neither can or will own him while 
 he remain filch, if he ''epents and turns to God, 
 I mall readily acknowledge him and obey him, 
 and pray for him. 
 Upon thefe anfwers and without any farther 
 procefs, they paffed Sentence of Death upon him, 
 which he received, fays the relator of this Story, 
 not only with Chriftain Submiffion, but with 
 thankfullnefs, bleffing , and praifing God, who 
 had counted him worthy to fuffer for his Name : 
 during the time of his Imprifonment he was 
 ufei very cruelly, 'having a mercilels Weight of 
 Irons upon him during the whole time } yet he "de- 
 clared that he had a conftant wonderful inward 
 Ailiftance and Support from the Good Spirit of 
 God, bearing him up under the Crofs, having 
 both a comfortable Aiturance of the Pardon of his 
 Sins, and a full Satisfaction of the Jufhiefs of the 
 Caufe'in which he fuffered. 
 
 After this we need but conclude this Work 
 ■with an Account of the laft Martyr who furTered 
 in this Caufe, and this was a Godly Minifter \ to 
 leave it upon Record, that as the firft that dyed 
 was a Minifter (viz.-) Mi'. James Guthrie. So was 
 the laft alio (viz) Mr. James Renwlck. 
 
 There is another Obiervation on the Occafion 
 of his Death (viz..) that he dyed the 17th of Feb. 
 1 688, the beginning of the fame Year of the Revo- 
 lution, Terrifying that the Epiicopal Party never 
 abated or relented } that they were never fatiated 
 with Blood:, bat went on as long as they had Power, 
 even till they law the very Cloud hovering and 
 the Storm ready to break upon their Heads, 
 nor had their thirft of Blood been quench'd 
 to this Day, or as long as their had been a faith- 
 ful 
 
f 2§ 9 ] 
 
 ful Member of the Church of Scotland left alive, 1 
 had their Power lafted •, fo that it was the End of 
 their Government put an End to their Perfecti- 
 ons, and no Clemency, Pity or Compailion in 
 them \ no fuch things were fo much as named 
 among them. 
 
 This Obfervation puts me in mind of a brief 
 Story within the Compafs of my own Knowledge, 
 of a Gentleman who was fet upon by a Furious 
 Maftive Dog : The Gentleman defended himfelf 
 with a Sword for fome time, but the Maftive after 
 being, very much wounded, got within his point 
 and faftned on his Arm, the Gentlaman being in 
 great Diftrefs, and fearing every Moment that he 
 would quit his Arm and fatten upon his Throat, 
 had np other way to Matter this Great Dog, but 
 being a large heavy Man, he catt himfelf flat 
 down upon the Dog with his other Elbow lying 
 on the Dogs Breatt, and thus with the Weight of 
 his Body cruttYd the Beatt to Death, and upon 
 this he obferv'd that as the Dog dyed gradually 
 under him, fo fatt and no fatter his Teeth loofen'd 
 in his Arm •, his Fury lafted with his Life, and 
 both, ended together. 
 
 Tne whole Story is applicable to the Purpofe 
 in hand : The Church of Scotland was near worried 
 by this cruel Creature call'd Prelacy, and very 
 near fhewas to being taken by the Throat and 
 deftroy'd. But me fell at laft' upon the Maftive, 
 andjcrufli'd him to Death,and as hedyed under her, 
 his Teeth loofen'd, his bloody Feud abated, and 
 not one jot fatter ♦, the perfecuting Rage of Scots 
 Prelacy continued with its Life, died when 
 it died, and will revive if ever it revives, of 
 which we mall fee fome Confirmation in the laft 
 Fart of this Work. 
 
 Mr. 
 
1 290 ] 
 
 Mr. Renwicl at his Death, hath this remarka- 
 ble prophetick Exprefllon, in his laft Speech, 
 (viz..) Do not fear j that the Lord will caft off Scot- 
 land, for he will certainly return again, and Jliew 
 himfelf gracious in our Land. This I quote here, 
 tho' his laft Speech is alfo added at Large, in the 
 next Pages : I fay, this Prophetick faying I quote 
 here, becaufe the fulfilling of this Prcphefy is 
 the Subject of the next Part. 
 
 In this Perfecution, as has been Collected from 
 the Accounts, both Publick and Private, above 
 18000 People have fuffered the utmoft Extreme- 
 ties, their Enemies could inflict :, of which the 
 following Particulars are a part, many of which 
 can be proved even to the very Karnes of the 
 Perform, with the Places of their Aboad- 
 
 • 
 1 700 Have been Banifhed as Slaves to the Eng- 
 /^Plantations, befidesfuch as were by or- 
 der of Council, at the beginning of the Per- 
 fecution, ordered on pain of Death, to leave 
 their Country, which amounted to Eighty 
 Seven } and befides above 750 banifhed to 
 Sheteland, to the Ifles of Lewis, Orkney, and 
 other remotePlaces belonging to Scotland : Of 
 thefe 200 were wilfully, and premeditated- 
 ly Murthered, by keeping them under 
 Hatches 'till they were drowned, when the 
 Ship was Stranded, and there was time for 
 them to efcape, as is obferved already; 
 $°° 800 were Outlaw'd*, as we call it in 
 England, about the time of Ventland affair, by 
 the Order of the High Commiflion Court, 
 and five and Fifty eminent Perfons were Pan- 
 rolled, as the Scots Law Terms it ; that 
 k\ were Profecuted abfent, and were Sen- 
 ten ced 
 
[ 29 I ] 
 
 tenced to be Executed without farther Pro- 
 secution, when they mould be taken, as ma- 
 ny of them afterwards were *, among thefe 
 were i o or 1 1 Miniflers, of whichNotice is 
 taken before, page 165. 
 
 It is impoflible to give an Account of 
 thole who perifhed by unjuft jand tedious 
 Confinement in Prifons by the Barbarity of 
 mercilefs »Jaylors, flench of clofe and hor- 
 rible Dungeons and Vaults, want of Con- 
 veniencies, crowding 30 or 40 into little, 
 dark and damp Rooms together, lying on 
 the Ground, extremity of Cold and Hun- 
 ger, weight of Chains, Bolts and Irons, and 
 the like. Befides this great Numbers by the 
 unhappy Places, where they were Confin'd, 
 fuch as the Caflles of Blucknefs, Dunnotter, 
 Inverlochy, and the Bafs , and by innume- 
 rable Cruelties , Pra&ifed upon them , 
 in thofe Places, contracted Difeafes, loflthe 
 ufe of Limbs and Senfes, as Sight, Hearing, 
 Tailing, and fome even of their Under- 
 {landings, but many more of their Lives - ; 
 and thofe who think they have modeftly 
 computed the Number of thefe, for an ex- 
 aQ: Account cannot be had j Tell us, they 
 amount to above 3600, including the 800, 
 and the 27 lafl mentioned. i6oq 
 
 . In the feveral Actions, which their Per- 
 fecutors call Rebellions, and the Skirmifhes 
 which on thofe Occafions, as alfo upon Sur- 
 prifes, or otherwife have happened \ there 
 has been kill'd in the Field about 560, as at 550 
 Pent land y Bothwell, jiird-Mefs, Queen Ferry, 
 and other Places, in defence of their Meet- 
 ings, and perfonal defence of their r .*/e?, 
 
 befides 
 
I 291 ] 
 
 fcefides thofe 'who have dyed of Wounds^ 
 receiv'd on fuch Occaftons, which are rec- 
 68okon'd, to be about 120. 
 
 Thole that have fled from their Country,"- 
 into voluntary Banifhment, nave been yet a 
 greater Number : Thefe made their way in- 
 to England, Ireland, Holland, Sweden, and to 
 any Place whether Neceflity drove them, for 
 fafety of their Lives, and as opportunity of 
 Efcape offered ; in which Countries they 
 were driven to great Diftrefs ; fuch as Want, 
 Cold and Hunger, having their Lives given 
 them indeed for a Prey ; but being perfectly 
 deftitute of Friends, Shelter, Help or Re- 
 lief ^ other than what God was pleafed to 
 raife them up by his Providence, and by the 
 Chriftian Charity of Foreign Proteftants. 
 The Number of thefe, have been efteemed 
 by fuch as think they have made a modeft 
 ?coo Calculation, at above 7000. 
 
 Of thefe, that I may do Juftice to the 
 Charity of every Man, and every fort of 
 Men 1 , the Cruelty they fuffered at Home,and 
 the Extremity they fuffered abroad, were 
 fiich, as wasVven detefted by Papifh them- 
 selves ; and fome of the Suffering People 
 have acknowledged, they have met with 
 Companion, even among the Roman Ca- 
 tholicks :, who have expreffed their Afto- 
 nithment, that Proteftants ihould exercife 
 iiich Inhumanities upon one another. In Eng- 
 land alto they were often Harboured 3 Re- 
 lieved, Entertain'd and Concealed, even by 
 ibme Charitable People, who were of them- 
 selves Epifcopal, and Members of the E- 
 ftabliuVd Epifcopal Church , but who ab- 
 hor 'd the Cruelties and Inhumanities of 
 
 the 
 
[ 292 ] 
 
 the Scots Perfecutors, and even abhorr'd the, 
 Perfecution it felf. 
 
 Of thole who went then into voluntary 
 Banifhment, or, as it may be rather faid, 
 ifled from the Face of their bloody Perfe- 
 cutors, very few ever returned again to Scot- 
 land, the Number of Years being fuch, that 
 Age, together with the hardship of their 
 Sufferings, carried moft of them off before 
 the happy time of the Deliverance of their 
 Country arriv'd. 
 
 Befides thefe, there were abundance of 
 Innonent and Pious Sufferers , who were 
 bafely Murthred by the Soldiers and Perfe- 
 cutors, upon the Occafions and by the Me- 
 thods of which we have Spoken, being ge- 
 nerally kill'd in cold Blood, without Procefs 
 of Law, Civil or Military, without viiible 
 Crime, Charge, or Examination : Of thole, 
 the Printed Accounts tell us the Names of 
 78 Murther'd by particular Perfons, and I 
 am well alTur'd there were very many more, 
 and have hear'd, that a Perfon, whom I 
 have not met with, has the Names of above Q 
 420 more ; but that Number I do not a- 49» 
 vouch. 
 
 The Number really Executed, in the Pre- 
 tended courle of Juftice, and by the Sen- 
 tence of the cruel Perfecutors, and who died 
 by the Hangman, as I am credibly Inform'd, 
 is very great, and I am told that about 362 
 are to be found on the feveral Books of 
 the Jufticiary, and Council Courts, upon P.e- 
 cord, befides what were Executed by Mili- ^ 
 tary Laws, as they call them, of which no 
 Record has been kept. 
 
 The 
 
[ 294 ] 
 
 The Numbers of thofe who Perifhed thro' Cold, 
 Hunger, and other DiftrefTes, Contracted in their 
 Flight into the Mountains, wandring without 
 Shelter or Harbour, in dreadful Winters, during 
 the long fpace of 28 Years Perfecution, and who 
 often came home in fuch Extremities, as juft to 
 ftep into their own Houfes to die, and fome times 
 were, even in the Article of Death, difpatch'd 
 by the Murthering Soldiers : Thefe were many 
 Thoufands, and cannot be Calculated, but will 
 certainly make up more than the Number of 
 Eighteen Thoufand, mentioned above. 
 
 Among thefe, I fay nothing of the Pillage and 
 Spoil of Goods, the turning Women and Chil- 
 dren out into the Fields, in Cold and Nakednefs, 
 after devouring their Food, and tearing off the 
 Cloaths from their Backs, of which many Pe- 
 rifhed for Want, and by the Extremeties of the 
 Weather. 
 
 It were alfb endlefs, to Number the Families 
 ruined and reduc'd to Mifery and Want, which 
 muft be the Confequeuce of the Plunderings and 
 Murthers, mentioned above •, fo that it mould be 
 wondered rather, that any of thofe People were 
 left, or that there were any found at the Revolu- 
 tion : tho' to the Honour of Truth, it muft be 
 own'd, that at the Revolution, their Number was 
 four.d to be greater than ever, Witnefs their rai- 
 ding a Regiment of 800 Men in one Day, without 
 beat of Drum, for the Guard of the Convention, 
 and for the Service of their Proteftant King:, which 
 Regiment was compofed of Men, as ferious in 
 f Religion towards God, as Refolute in Arms for 
 their King and Country, and were Eminent in the 
 Army for preferving the Worfhip of God among 
 them, for which they were call'd in Derifion, the 
 Pfalm Singing Regiment. Their Noble Colonel, 
 
 the 
 
C 295 ] 
 
 the Earl of Angus^ was kitl'd at the Fight at 
 Steenfark, where the Regiment behav'd with fuck 
 Gallantry, that the King him felf gave Teftimony 
 of their Bravery, and is ftill in being in the Army, 
 having lately given another happy Inftance of 
 their Behaviour at Prtfion, where great Part of 
 them were Slain, and where, if they had not be- 
 haved with an uncommon Refolution, the Rebels 
 had not been reduced as they were. 
 
 All the Account given of thofe Things, are 
 fill'd with the laft Speeches of the dying People, 
 which the Brevity of thefe Memoirs does not al- 
 low, nor the Defign of them make needful- How- 
 ever, as I promis'd, Page 290. I have clos'd the 
 Scene with the dying Speech of one Mr. James 
 Rtnwick, whole Tragedy clos'd the Perfecution, 
 for he was not only the laft Minifter, but the 
 laft Man they had Power to put to Death, and it 
 is as follows. 
 
 c QjPe&ators, ( or if there be any of you ) Au- 
 
 * ;J ditors, I muft tell you, I am come here 
 c this Day to lay down my Life, for adhering to 
 
 * the Truths of CHRIST, for which I am nei- 
 c ther affraid nor afham'd to fuffer •, Nay, I blefs 
 c the LORD, that ever he counted me worthy, 
 c or enabled me to fuffer any thing for him •, and 
 c 1 defire to praife his Grace, that he hath not 
 
 * onjy kept me free from the grofs Pollutions oi 
 c the Time ; but alfo from many ordinary Pollu- 
 c tions of Children •, and fuch as I have been 
 1 ftain'd with, he hath wafhed me from tliem in 
 c his own Blood. I am this Day to lay down my 
 c Life, for thefe three Things. (1,) Fordifbwn- 
 c ing the Ufurpations and Tyranny of James 
 c Duke of Torh (2.) For preaching, That it 
 
 * was unlawful to pay the Cefs y exprefly ex-ifrei 
 
 6 for 
 
[ 194 ] 
 
 * for bearing down the Gofpel. (3.) For preach- 
 
 * ing, That it was lawful for People to carry 
 c Arms, for defending themfelves in their Meet- 
 c ings for the perfecuted Gofpel Ordinances. I 
 1 think a Testimony for thele is worth many 
 : Lives, and if I had Ten hundred, I would think 
 : it little enough to lay them all down for the 
 ' fame. 
 
 € Dear Friends, Spectators and (if any of you 
 : be) Auditors, I muft tell you, That I dye a 
 : Presbyterian ProteUant. I own the Word of God 
 : as the Rule of Faith and Manners. I own the 
 ' Confeffion of Faiths Larger and Shorter Catechifms y 
 ' Sum of Saving Knowledge, Directory for Wor- 
 ship, &c. Covenants National and Solemn League, 
 j4tls of General ^Jfemblies, and all the faithful 
 Contendings that have been for the Work of 
 Reformation. I leave my Teftimony approving 
 the Preaching of the Gofpel in the Fields, and 
 the Defending the fame by Arms. I adjoyn my 
 Teftimony to all that hath been feal'd by Blood, 
 ihed either on Scaffolds, Fields or Seas, for the 
 Caufe of Chrift. I leave my Teftimony againft 
 Popery, Prelacy, Eraftianifm, &c. Againft all 
 Prophanity, and every thing contrary to found 
 Doctrine •, particularly againft all Usurpations 
 made upon Chrift's Rights, who is the PRINCE 
 OF THE KINGS OF THE EARTH, who 
 alone muft bear the Glory of Ruling his own 
 Kingdom, the Church : And in particular a- 
 gainft the Ahfolute Power ufurp'd by this Vfur- 
 per, that belongs to no Mortal, but is the In- 
 communicable Prerogative of JE.HOVAH \ and a- 
 gainft this Toleration flowing from that Abfolute 
 Power. 
 
 Upon" this he was bid have done •, He an- 
 fwer'd, I have near done. Then he faid, ye 
 
 6 that 
 
£ 295 ] 
 
 that are the People of GOD, do not weary in 
 maintaining the Teflimony of the Day, in your 
 Sations and Places *, And whatever ye do, make 
 fure of an Intereft in Chrift • for there is a Storm 
 coming that ihall try your Foundation. SCOT- 
 LAND muft be rid of SCOTLAND, before the 
 Delivery come. And you that are Strangers to 
 GOD, break off y cur Sim by Repentance, elib I will 
 be a Witnels againfr. you, in the Day of the 
 Lord. Here they caus'd him to defift. Upon 
 the Scaffold he fung a part of the 103d Pfalm 
 from the beginning, and read the 19th Chapter 
 of the Revelation : And having thus rniih'd his 
 Courfe, ferv'd his General on, and witnefs'd a 
 good Confeilion for his Lord and Mafter, before 
 many Witnefles, by the Will of GOD, he 
 yielded up his Spirit into the Hands of GOD 
 who gave it. 
 
 1 Being the laft that feaPd the Teflimony of 
 this fuftering Period in a publick Way upon a 
 Scaffold. 
 
 The End of the Third Part. 
 
[ 297 3 
 
 Part IV. 
 
 THE 
 
 CHURCH 
 
 I N H E R 
 
 Present State. 
 
 E are now happily come to the 
 End of this melancholly Part, and 
 the Church of Scotland having now 
 gone thro' a long Series of Trou- 
 ble and Affliction* began to fee a 
 gljmpfe of that glorious Delive- 
 rance which was approaching : The Tyrannic.k and 
 illegal Attempts upon the Religion and Liberties 
 of the Englijl) Nation, as well as of the Scots, 
 began to ftir up that Nation to think of pre- 
 ferving themfelves from Deftru&ion ^ and having 
 apply'd themfelves to the Prince of Orange for 
 Affiftance, that glorious Perfon began to ifften 
 to their Propofal, and to make Preparations for 
 his coming into Enaland. 
 
 S F fz In 
 
C 29g ] 
 
 In the Deliverance that follow'd,theXhurch of 
 Scotland, found her Deliverance alfo : For in the 
 Death of Civil Tyranny, Chriftian Liberty re- 
 yiv'd. 
 
 The Hiftory of the coming of the Prince of 
 Orancre to the English Throne, is perfectly and 
 fully related in fo many Hiftories, is recent in 
 the Memory of all People at the writing hereof, 
 and probably will flail be on fo many fubfequent 
 Occafions preferv'd to Pofterity , " that as it 
 does not immediately relate to our prefent Me- 
 moirs : So alfo I need not enter upon an Account 
 of it here, other than what is abfolutely Necef- 
 fary to the Story I am relating. 
 
 It is alfo well known, that this Glorious Prince 
 having finifh'd the Deliverance of the Englift 
 Nation, refolv'd the fame mould extend to Scot- 
 land \ and that as it is exprefs'd in his Declaration, 
 Religion ihould be fettPd in Scotland, in fuch a 
 manner as was moft agreeable to the Inclinations 
 of the People - 7 from whence, and in the Confe- 
 quence of which, we mall foon fee many ufeful 
 Obfervations moil naturally drawn, pertinent to 
 the Cafe now before us *, and which, I fee, all 
 have great Occafion to make mention of again in 
 the Procefs of thefe Memoirs. 
 
 I . But A S it has been already made plain in the 
 firft Part of thefe Memoirs, that the beginning 
 of the Reformation in Scotland, and the firft Re- 
 formers of Scotland were Vresbyterim , and that 
 Epifcopacy fprung up there but from the Dege- 
 neracy of the Reformation: SO it will now, that 
 the Inclination of the People of Scotland Ran with 
 an irrefiftible Torrent into Tresbyteriamfm a- 
 gain at the Revolution, as it had always done 
 when it was left in the Choice of the People ; 
 
 and 
 
r 299 ] 
 
 and that as at the Revolution aforefaid, it was left 
 to the Nation by the Prince of Orange, to fettle 
 Religion in fuch manner as was molt denYd by 
 the People, not a Dog wag'd his Tongue againft the 
 Presbyterian Eftablifhment, not a Mouth gave a 
 Vote r >r Epifcopacy ; nor was it fo much as nam'd 
 to the King as a Queftion, whether the Incli- 
 nation of the People was for Epifcopacy or Pref- 
 bytery ; infomuch, that the King was often heard 
 to fay afterwards, that he wonder'd much what 
 was become of the Epifcopal Party, feeing no 
 Man at the Revolution fb much as nam'd the 
 Word Epifcopacy to him, nor had the Party any 
 one to fpeak for them, or one Word to fpeak for 
 themfelves. 
 
 How they could, fmce that, have the Face to 
 lay, efpecially as they often did to the late Queen, 
 that they were fuperior in Number to the Pref- 
 byterians \ and that if the People of Scotland were 
 left free to Vote, they would carry it for Epif- 
 copacy, / fay, how they could fay thus, would 
 be ftrange to any that did not know how that 
 Party have, on all Occafions, made fuch Things 
 their Refuge, and the Refuge of their Prelatick 
 Hierarchy •, and the Author of thefe Memoirs is 
 Thankful, that even at the Time they did fo, he 
 had the Honour in behalf of the Church of Scot* 
 land, to let her Late Majefty know how untrue 
 that Suggeflion was, and to Convince her Mini- 
 stry how grofly thofe Men endeavour'd to impofe 
 upon England in that Cafe, as they did at the 
 fame Time in their Boaft of the People receiving 
 the EngUfli Service Book with willingnels in Scot- 
 land, which Her Majefty was afterwards fully 
 fatisfy'd was a Cheat, and done only to amufe the 
 Englijfj Clergy, and get Money of them-. 
 
I 300 3 
 
 2. It isobfervable in the Revolution, that the 
 People of Scotland came all into the Principles of 
 the fuffering fincere Party, the fuffering Party kept 
 their own footing, and did not go over to them ; 
 thofe that had thro' Fear, or from Time-ferving 
 Principles, or for want of Zeal, or for any other 
 weak Ilea fon confcnted, and, as I may call it, 
 taken ib low a Step, as to accept of Licenles 
 from God's Enemies to ferve Chrifq asking leave 
 of Men to Worihip God ; a Duty and Debt which 
 they had a Natural and Divine Right to, without 
 bowing the Knee to Baal for it • I fay, THESE, 
 far from j unifying or recommending the Practice, 
 openly recogniz'd the Zeal, Courage and Sin- 
 cerity of the Sufferers, honoured them for it, and 
 rather defir'd to bury their own Compliances in 
 Silence and Forgetfulnefs, than to have it menti- 
 on'd or remember'd. 
 
 3. Now it was feen, and made plain to the 
 World, that the fuffering People in Scotland afted 
 upon no Principles of Enthufiafm, blind Zeal 
 or religious Frenzy, as their Enemies fuggefted \ 
 that they were no Enemies to Monarchy, Civil 
 Government, order of Society, and the like, as 
 load been fcandaloufly faid\ but that they kept ftricl:- 
 ly to the Rule of God's Word, adher'd to an 
 honefl: Caufe , and a&ed upon juft Principles : 
 And when fuch Kings were call'd to the Throne, 
 as defir'd to Rule for God, and the Good of the- 
 People, who made the Laws of God and Man 
 the Rule of their Government, and the Profperity 
 of Religion, and of their Subjects the End of it ; 
 they knew how to obey, ferve and defend fuch 
 PnYces with their Blood and Treafure, as well 
 as they had Courage to refift and rejecl: thofe, 
 who, with the Breach of Faith, Honour or Con* 
 ftitution, became Tyrants and Perfecutcrs, Ene- 
 mies 
 
mies to God, and Deftroyers of Men, as their 
 former Princes had been. 
 
 i 
 
 This is evident by their Practice, at the Re- 
 volution ; in that no fboner was the Prince of 
 Orange Landed in England, and the Enemies of 
 our Constitution began to ftagger, but theie Peo- 
 ple immediately took Arms, and fucce Is fully 
 chas'd the bloody Party, out of their Country. 
 But when this was done, what Meafures did they 
 take ? Did they run into any Enthufiafin ? Did 
 they fet up KING JESUS as a Temporal Prince, 
 and the fifth Monarchy in his Name ? Did they 
 Preach the Doctrine of Dominion founded on Grace , 
 or form Schemes of Republican Government? 
 Did they ereft themfelves as Tyrants in the Room 
 of thole they pull'd down, fo making the Peo- 
 ple change their Matters, not their Yoke? NO, 
 NO, they adher'd to the Legal Conftitution of 
 their Country, they iubmitted chearfully to the 
 Return of Magiftracy, and the free Courfe of the 
 Laws of their Country, they arm'd themfelves, 
 and came up to Edinburgh at their own Charge, 
 form'd themlelves into Companies ; indeed, they 
 were able to have formed a eon fider able Army, and 
 ofTer'd themfelves to March to any Part of the 
 Nation againft the Popim and Jacobite Party j 
 and efpecially they offer d, and were accepted, 
 and admitted to Guard the Convention of Ejhtte# , 
 againft the Attempt of the Duke of Gordon, who 
 at that Time commanded a Popiih Garilon in the 
 Cattle of Edinburgh \ and againft all, of any De- 
 nomination that fhould attempt to Difturb them ; 
 and to the eternal Honour of the wild Anting 
 narchical, Enthuiiaftick, Lunatick Comer oniony 
 for fo their Enemies had calfd them , they were the, 
 ik& Men in Scstland, that addrefs'd or petitlon'ci 
 
 Ff 4 ike: 
 
[ $02 3 
 
 the Convention of Eftates, to Place the Crown of 
 Scotland on the Head of their Deliverer King 
 WILLI A Mi which was done accordingly •, to 
 the reftoring of Religion, healing the Breaches 
 of Scotland, and the utter Confufion of their Per- 
 fecutors, of whom I fhall hare more to fay pre- 
 fentiy. 
 
 I cannot give a better Account of this, than in 
 their own Words : Firft, of their Declaration, 
 or Memorial of their Grievances, and then their 
 Petition itfelf : At the End of the faid Memo- 
 rial of Grievances, we have them concluding 
 thus, the Repetition of which will appear very 
 Pertinent to the Cafe in Hand (viz..) to prove 
 their willing adhering to Legal and Religious Go- 
 vernors and Government, their Words are thefe, 
 (viz,-) c We are reprefented by our Enemies as 
 
 * Antipods to all Mankind, Enemies to Govern- 
 
 * ment, and incapable of Order : But as their 
 
 * Order and Caufe is, Toto Diametro, oppofite to 
 
 * the Inflitutions, and Caufe of Chrift • fo they 
 
 * muft have little Wit, and left Honefty, who 
 
 * believe and receive thofe Notions, and the Re- 
 
 * proaches of thole, who were as great Rebels and 
 
 * Enemies to the prefent Government, as we a- 
 
 * vow'd ourfelves, to be to the Iaft : Our Suffer- 
 ' ino;s for declining the Yoke of Tyranny, and 
 € Popifh Uiurpation , are already hinted , and 
 
 * are generally known ; and all that will examine, 
 
 * and confider our Conduct, fmce the King began 
 
 * his heroick Undertaking, to redeem thefe Na- 
 
 * tions from Popery and Slavery, will be forc'd 
 
 * to acknowledge, that we have given as good 
 
 * Evidence of our being willing to be Subject to 
 
 * KmvWiiliam, as we gave before of our being w*- 
 1 willing to be Slaves to King James: Upon the 
 ? firft Report of the Prince of Orange's Expedi- 
 
 J tioi^ 
 
C jo 3 ] 
 
 e tion, we own'd his Quarrel, even while the 
 
 * Prelatick FaBion were in Arms, to oppofe his 
 
 * Coming : In all our Meetings, we pray'd open- 
 c ly for the Succefs of his Arms, when in all 
 
 * the Churches, the Prayers were for his Ruin. 
 ^AY, and Note j even in the indulg'd Meetings, 
 they pray'd for the Popifh Tyrant, who, we 
 Pray'd againft, and who the Prince came to Op- 
 pofe. * We alfo affociated ourfelves early, bind- 
 ing ourfelves to promote his Intereft, and were 
 the firft who openly own'd and declar'd our De- 
 fire to joyn with him } and this, when the o- 
 thers were affociating with, and for his Enemies : 
 In order to make good our declar'd Intention 
 upon the falfe A Harm of Kircudbright being 
 burn'd, we had Recourfe to Arms, and mo- 
 delled ourfelves into a Body, and into diftincl: 
 Companies, whereby we were in readinefs to 
 offer our Afliftance , and did offer, and had the 
 Honour done us to be accepted, and admitted 
 to Guard the honourable Convention of Eftates^ 
 againft all the Attempts of the Popifh. and per- 
 secuting Party, under the Duke of Gordon, Vif- 
 count of Dundee, or other Enemies whatfb- 
 ever} after which, underftanding that the Go- 
 vernment requir'd the railing Forces for its De- 
 fence, againft the threatned Infurre&ions and 
 foreign Invafions of King James VII. We no 
 fooner heard thereof, than we offer'd ourfelves 
 to raife a Regiment for His Majefty's Service, 
 and accordingly made up the Earl of Angus's 
 Regiment of 800 Men all in one Day, without 
 beat of Drum, or Expence of Levy-Money, ha- 
 ving firft only concerted and concluded fuch 
 Conditions with the Lieutenant Colonel Clce- 
 Und) a Gallant Gentleman, and Chriftian Sol- 
 
 i dier, 
 
r ?o4 1 
 
 c dier, as were neceffary to clear our Confciences, 
 ! and to fecure Liberty and Safety, w&. 
 
 i. That all the Officers mould be Men oi 
 Confcience, Honour, of approv'd Fide- 
 lity, well affe&ed, of fober Convention, 
 and fuch as had never before ferv'd the 
 Enemy, in pulling down that Caufe they 
 were now to defend. 
 
 2. That the Service they fhould now be em- 
 ployed in, mould be under the King's Ma- 
 jefty, for Defence of the K at ion, the Re- 
 covery and Prefervation of the Proteftant 
 Riligion, and in Particular, the Work of 
 Reformation in Scotland, in Oppofition to 
 Popery, Prelacy, and Tyranny. 
 
 Upon thefe Terms the Regiment was rais'd, 
 and they offer'd to compleat two or three Regi- 
 ments more, if His Majefty had Occafion. But, 
 fays the fame Memorial, before we offer'd to be 
 Soldiers, we ftrft made an offer to be SUBJECTS -, 
 and becaufe we did not look upon ourfelves as 
 Subjects to the late King, who treated us as Ene- 
 mies, we made therefore a voluntary Tender of 
 our Subje&ion to our Deliverer in a peculiar Pe- 
 tition, the Tenor whereof follows. 
 
 To the Meeting of the Eftates of the King- 
 dom of Scotland, (viz.) The Noblemen, 
 Barons and Burgeffes lawfully call'd and 
 chofen, now affembled at Edinburgh, for 
 eftablifhing the Government, reftoring and 
 fecuring the True Ruligion, Laws and Li- 
 berties of the faid Kingdom. 
 
 c The 
 
C J°5 3 
 
 4 The humble Petition of the poor People,who 
 4 have fuffer'd grievous Perfecution for their Re- 
 4 ligion^and for their Revolt from, and difowning 
 4 the Authority of King James the VHth, pleading 
 4 for Devolving the Government upon the Prince 
 4 of ORANGE, now King of England. 
 
 Shewcth, &C. 
 
 NOTE HERE, That waving for Brevity fake 
 the long Introduction and Recital of the Suffer- 
 ings of Scotland, under the Reign and Tyran- 
 ny of King James the VII. they go outhus. 
 
 4 We proftrate ourfelves yet under thelbrrowing 
 4 fmart of our ftill bleeding Wounds, at your Ho- 
 4 noursFeet, who have a Call, a Capacity, and we 
 
 * hope a Heart to Heal us : And we offer this our 
 
 * Petition — enfore'd, and Conjuring your Honours 
 4 to hearken to us. 
 
 c By all the formerly felt, prefently ften, 
 4 and for the future, fear'd Eflfe&s, and Ef- 
 4 forts of Popery and Tyranny. 
 
 4 By the Cry of trie Blood of our murthered 
 4 Brethren. 
 
 4 By the Sufferings of the banifh'd Free born 
 4 Subje&s of this Realm, now groaning in 
 4 Servitude, being fold into Slavery in the 
 4 Englijh Plantations of America. 
 
 4 By the Miferies that many Thoufands, for- 
 4 feited, difinherited, harras'd and wa- 
 4 fled Houfes and Families have been re* 
 4 duced to. 
 
 ' By 
 
c By all the Sufferings of a Faithful People,' 
 * for adhering to the antient covenanted 
 c Eftablifliment, of Religion and Liberty, 
 
 And by all the Arguments of Jufb'ce, Ne- 
 c ceility and Mercy, that ever could join 
 € together to begin Communication among 
 J Men of Wifdom, Piety and Vertue. 
 
 c Humbly befeeching, requeuing and craving of 
 ' your Honours, NOW when God hath given you 
 1 this Opportunity to Aft for his Glory, the good 
 c of the Church, of the Nation, your own Honour, 
 
 * and the Happinefs of Pofterity. NOW when 
 
 * this Kingdom, the Neighbouring, and all the 
 e Nations of Europe^ have their Eyes upon you, 
 
 * expecting you will acquit your felves like the Re- 
 
 * prefentatives of a free Nation, in redeeming it 
 c from Slavery, otherwife inevitable, following the 
 
 * Example of your renowned Anceftors, and the 
 
 * Patron of the prefent Convention and Parliament 
 4 in E?igland : THAT you will proceed without any 
 c Delay to declare the late wicked Government 
 c diffolv'd, the Crown and 1 hrone Vacant, and 
 € JAMES VII. whom we never have own'd, and 
 c refolv'd, in Conjunction with many Thoufands of 
 ft our Countrymen, never again to own, to have 
 
 * really forfeited and rightly to be deprived of all 
 c Right and Title he ever had, or could ever pre- 
 c tend to have thereto> and to provide that it may 
 
 * never be in the Power of any fucceeding Ruler 
 c to afpire unto, or arife fo fuch a Capacity of Ty- 
 
 * ranizing : Moreover fince Amarchy and Tyranny 
 1 are equally to be detefted, and the Nation 
 
 * (a) can 
 
[ ?°7 \ 
 
 * (a) cannot fubfift without a righteous Governor ; 
 € as alio, that none can have a nearer (b) Right 
 c or fitter Qualifications than his llluftriouS 
 4 Highnefs the Prince of Orange, whom the moft 
 fc High has fingularly own'd and honour'd to be 
 c our Deliverer from Popery and Slavery : We 
 
 * cry therefore to your Honours, and crave that 
 
 * King William, now proclaimed King of England, 
 c may be chofen and proclaimed alio King of 
 c Scotland ', and that the legal Authority may be 
 
 * devolved upon him, with fuch neceffary Proviii- 
 c ons and Limitations as may give juft and legal 
 c Securities for the Peace and Purity of Religion, 
 1 the Stability of our Laws, Privileges of Parlia- , 
 ' ment, and Liberties of the People, Civil and 
 
 c Ecclefiaftic, and may thereby make our Sub- 
 
 * je&ion both a clear Duty and a comfortable Hap- 
 c pinefs. 
 
 XjHere they enlarge upon the Kings being obliged to pro* 
 fefs and preferve the pure Religion, and the Work of 
 Reformation -, and conclude thus .*] 
 
 c Upon fuch Terms as theie, we render our 
 1 Allegiance to King William, and hope to give 
 
 * more pregnant proofs of our Loyalty to his Ma- 
 c jetty in adverfe as well as profperous Providen- 
 4 ces than they have done or can do, who pro- 
 
 fefs 
 
 (a) Note here the Juflice ofthgir Principle* m to Government * 
 and bow entirely free they Are from all that they have been chat* 
 gedrvith, at to rrfufmp x lawful Subieilion to ]uft Powers, or beiti* 
 of Common Wealth Principles, Enemies to Montr bsy and Jusb 
 Me. 
 
 (b) ffere'tif evident thei preferved the Principles of th Crows 
 lineal Defcent, u wrl! & that of a Monarchical Government ; and 
 perhaps were always as true to the Dotlrine of Hereditary Eighty 
 as tbey whs have made [neb great for about it t coulu do. 
 
[ jo8 ] 
 
 c fefs implicit Subjection to abfolute Authority, 
 * fb long only as Providence preierves its Gran- 
 f deur. 
 
 May it therefore fleafe y§ur Honour s, &c. 
 
 From this Time forward till the Union, we 
 fcarce ever heard of the Cameronians : Their Sepa- 
 ration before was evident from juft Reafons, their 
 not complying with indulg'd Liberty, accepting 
 that from their Enemies which was their Native 
 Right, and by which they muft recognize the 
 Right and Superiority of Epifcopal Jurifdiction, 
 which they abhor'd ^ this was all founded on 
 Conlcience and in juft Exceptions : But when up- 
 on the Revolution, and upon King William's efta- 
 biifhing their antient Liberty, and that Epifco- 
 pacy was depos'd, as we mall fee prefently : They 
 appeared to be all one united Body of Presbyteri- 
 ans, one Church, under one Religious Govern- 
 ment and Adminiftration } the fame in Opinion, 
 the fame in Doftrine, Difcipline, Worihip, and 
 Government, having fewer Breaches, fewer Di- 
 vifions, fewer fallings off to a differing Opinion, 
 than any Proteftant Church in the World. 
 
 It remains then that our Memoirs give a brief 
 Account of the Reftoration of the Church upon 
 this great Turn of Affairs, and this mall be done 
 fb concifely, and with fuch regard to what has 
 been made public already on other Occafions, that 
 I hope none mall think their Time loft in looking 
 back, or think the Relation a vain Repetition. 
 
 According to the Prayer of the above Petition, 
 King William was declared King of Scotland, the 
 Crown was tendred to him, and accepted by him 
 in Form, in Conjunction with Queen Mary* The 
 Aft of Tender, the Claim of Right, the King's 
 Acceptance, with his Majefty's Letter to the 
 
 Meet- 
 
C-3o 9 ] 
 
 Meeting of Eftates concent i % his accepting the 
 Crown,and the remarkab'e Oaths taken by tlie King 
 and Queen on that Occalion, are all to be found 
 in the Collection of Public Afts of Scotland, Vol. 3. 
 P. 147, 153, 155, 159, 187- As loon as thefe 
 Things were done, the Convention of Eftates were 
 turned into a Parliament, and from thence forward 
 began to Aft as the Public Legislature of the Nati- 
 on. 1 fay no more of the Particulars, becaufe 
 they are to be found in all the Hiftories of that 
 Time : But it is to our prefer t Purpofe to Note, 
 that therewith Tcrfecution entirely cetfed, Epifcopacy 
 funkn into its Primitive State of Obfcurity, the 
 Terfecutors fled on all Hands from Juftice ; The ha- 
 nijtfd, and profcnb'd, fuch as were left alive re- 
 turned to their Families , Friends and Native 
 Country. Religion now began to hold up its 
 Head, the Godly perfecuted Minifters and People 
 mewed their Faces, and pofTefs'd the Seat of their 
 Enemies. * 
 
 The firft Aft of Parliament (after that for turn- 
 ing the Convention into a Parliament, and ano- 
 ther to recognize the King's Authority,) was the 
 Aft for abolifhing Epifcopacy : This makes it 
 abundantly clear, that the general Bent and Incli- 
 nation of the People was for Presbytery, and that 
 Epifcopacy was their Averfion ♦, for that the very 
 firft Aft after configuring the Civil Government^ 
 was this of abolifhing the Ecclefiaftick Govern- 
 ment^ I fay the firft, becaufe as there were but 
 two Afts which paft before it ^ one for turn- 
 ing the Meeting into a Parliament, the orher for 
 recognizing the King's Authority ^ 'tis evident 
 without thefe they could not have a^ed at all f 
 and therefore the Aft for abolifhing Prelacy may 
 befaidtobe the firft Aft they made, afcer the 
 Power of afting was confirmed. 
 
 The 
 
C ?io] 
 
 The Aft for abolishing Prelacy is very remark- 
 able, and can not be omitted without manifefl De- 
 feft in our Work, it is as follows. 
 
 ACT abolifhing Prelacy. 
 July 22d 1689. 
 
 WHereas the Eftates of this Kingdom in 
 their Claim of Right of the 1 ith of April 
 laft declared that Prelacy, and the Superiority ' 
 of any Office in the Church, about Presbyters, is 
 and hath been a great and infupportable Grie- 
 vance to this Nation, and contrary to the Incli- 
 nation of the generality of the People ever 
 fince the Reformation \ they having reform'd 
 from Popery by Presbyters, and therefore ought 
 to be abolifhed. OUR SOVEREIGN LORD 
 and LADY the King and Queens Majefty, with 
 Advice and Confent of the Eftates of Parlia- 
 ment, do hereby abolijfj Prelacy and all Superio- 
 rity of any Office in the Church of this King- 
 dom Sabove Presbyters j and hereby refcinds 
 Cafes, and annulls the 1 Aft, 2 Self, the iirft 
 Pari. Cft*. II. and the 2 Aft, 3d SeiT. 1 ft Pari. 
 ChaAl. and the 4th Aft, 3d Pari. Cha. II. and 
 all other Afts, Statutes and Conftitutions, in fb 
 far allanerly, as they are inconfiftent with this 
 Aft, and do abolifh Prelacy, or the Superiority 
 of Church Officers above Presbyters*, and do de- 
 clare, that they with the Advice and Confent 
 of the Eftates of this Parliament, will fettle by 
 Law that Church Government in this Kingdom, 
 which is moil agreeable to the Inclinations of 
 the People. 
 
 This 
 
[ ?II ] 
 
 . This was a ihort Seillon, the Meeting requi- 
 ring nothing of publick Bufinefe at that Time but 
 thofe three NecefTary A£ts : They met again in 
 jipril, and then the iecond Act. pais'd, was to do 
 Juftice to the poor persecuted foffeaang Mini- 
 vers, who had been driven out by the Fury of 
 the late Times 5 By this Aft all the Minifters who 
 had been fo driven away, or as the I. aw exprefTes, 
 it Thrufi from their Churches , from the t ft of Jan. 
 \66\. to that Time, ihould be forthwith admit- 
 ted and allow'd free Accel's to their Churches, 
 from which they were fo Thru ft out • that fb 
 they might presently Exercife their Miniftry in 
 their feveral Pariih.es without any ne'v Call, 'and 
 the prefent Incumbents are order'd to give Place 
 to them, and remove themfelves. 
 
 This was not Perfecution, as fome would have 
 fiifd it, but reftoring the perfecuted, and re- 
 moving Intruders, for they were no other • and 
 this was previous to any Church Settlement, be- 
 caufe it was no more than putting the injured 
 Men into Poffeilion of their Legal Right : All this 
 while Epifcopacy held its PolTeflion in general, 
 tho' its Government was diftblv'd. 
 
 But the fifth Aft of the lame Seliion of Parlia- 
 ment laid the Ax to the Root of the Tree \ this 
 was that famous Act, entitufd, For r&ifying the 
 Confejfion of F,iitb, and fettling Presbyterian Church 
 Government \ the Law itfelf is too long to be re- 
 printed here, it is to be found in the Collection 
 of A&s, Vol. 3. Page 20(5. to 234. 
 
 As the Government of the Church was now 
 reftor'd, fo were her Judicatories of Courfe 5 and 
 at this Time began the firft free General Ailem- 
 bly,which for eight and twenty Years had not been 
 feen in Scotland, it is needlefs here to enter into 
 the detail of the Acls of AfTembly, which are 
 
 G g all 
 
&\\ to be found in the Regifters of the Church { 
 'tis enough to our Purpofe to Record, that now 
 the Church was reftor'd to the full and free Ex- 
 ercife of her Juft and Legal Authority, the Judi- 
 catures were ere&ed in their proper Places, fuch 
 as Kirk Seffions, Presbytery, Synod, and ArTera- 
 bly, and all Ecclefiaftical Juftice ran in its pro- 
 per Channel. 
 
 Before I go on to what has fmce happen'd, in 
 Confequence of this Revolution in the Church, it 
 will be neceflary to fay fomething here to that 
 Challenge, which fome have been very forward 
 to bring againft the Church of Scotland, as if me 
 were alfo of perfecuting Principles, and had exer- 
 cifed the fame Coertion in point of Confcience 
 in her Turn, which me had condemn'd in others; 
 this they have carried on even to the Charge of 
 Cruelty and Perfecution in the Treatment and U-- 
 fage of the Epifcopal Minifters who were difpof- 
 iefs'd by thofe Two A£ts, viz,. Of aboli filing Prela- 
 cy, and fettling Presbyterian Church Government. 
 
 ThisCharge confifts of Two Parts, in clearing 
 up both which, the Honour and Character of the 
 Church of Scotland will not only be vindicated, 
 but the Injuftice and indeed the Ingratitude of the 
 Epifcopal People, who have brought this Charge, 
 will very much appear •, and a quite contrary Be- 
 haviour will be made out to have been the Pra- 
 ctice of the prefent Government. 
 
 i. The firft Refpefts the Concha of the 
 People, when they took up Arms in a tu- 
 multuous Manner at the Beginning of the 
 Revolution. 
 
 2. The next Relpe&s the judicial Proceedings 
 againft the Epifcopal Party fmce, in both 
 
 which 
 
[?»? ] 
 
 which there needs no more for the Vin- 
 dication of the Church, than that the 
 Truth of Faft ihould be impartially Ha- 
 ted. 
 
 As to the fir ft it is true, That as foon as the 
 News came to Scotland that the Prince of Orange 
 xvas landed with an Army in England, and that 
 King y^jew was notable to maintain his Ground, 
 the People of England enclining to a general Re- 
 volt: The People in the Weft of Scotland, for 
 they were the firft, ran immediately to Arms, 
 and declared for the Prince of Orange : This was 
 done with fo Univerfal a -Refolution, and the 
 Confternation the other People were in at the Ge- 
 neral Face of Things, was fuch at the lame Time, 
 that there was no Capacity, or even Diipofition 
 to oppofe them. 
 
 In this general Defection from the Government, 
 the Weftern People not only took Arms, as is 
 faid ^ but ran in a Tumultuous manner, firft upon 
 the Church Affairs, for there it was that the Op- 
 preilions of the former Times had been moll: fen- 
 fibly felt : In this fir ft Fury it cannot be won- 
 dered that they difpoiTefs'd the Epifcopal Mini- 
 fters('Curates,as they call'd themjof their Churches, 
 and reftoring the oid Worihip, caufed their own 
 banifh'd perlecuted Minifters to come and preach 
 among them : But the Nature of all fuch Rabbles 
 confider'd, and above all the Sufferings and Provo- 
 cation of thofe poor People, and of which I have 
 given fome Account \ being duly weigh'd, it muft 
 be confels'd to be wonderful, that any kind of 
 Violence was forborn, not that I allow it was 
 juft to have committed them \ but how could 
 lefs have been expe&ed from a People lb treated 
 Gg 2 as 
 
Cm1 
 
 as they had been when, they were thus perfectly 
 let loofe to thierown Refentments. 
 I Yet we do not find that the utmoft Violence 
 complained of, amounts to any more than an over 
 hafty turning the faid Epifcopal Minifters out of 
 the Parfonage Houfes, which it was their Opinion 
 were unlawfully poffeis'd,. and fome injurious hur- 
 rying their Goods out with them \ and this but to 
 a few : But as to any perfonal Injury, fuch as 
 wounding or killing of any, I do not find that any 
 fuch Thing is charged upon them. 
 
 On the other Hand, when we reflect, how ma> 
 ny muft be among thofe Rabbles who had fulTered 
 deeply in the Perfecution , I have fpoken of : who 
 had loft Fathers, Mothers, Children, Husbands, 
 Wives, and the deareft of remoter Relations in 
 that Perfecution, and could not be without the 
 warmeft Refentment ; add to this, that fome of 
 thofe Minifters or Curates, who they were then 
 difpoffeilingjhad dipt their Hands too much in the 
 Perfecution of thofe poor Sufferers : I fay, if thefe 
 things were duly comider'd, what can be faid, but 
 that it was next to miraculous, that an ungovern'd 
 Multitude, left to the full Vent of their own Rage*, 
 and that Rage grounded upon fuch juft Provocati- 
 ons ihould have left any of them alive •, and I can 
 not think it any Breach of Charity to lay, its 
 very probable had the Parties been chang'd, it 
 would have been quite otherwiie. 
 
 And tho' any tumultuous Violences are not 
 juftifiable in a civiliz'd Chriftian Nation, yet the 
 the Conduct of thefe People at that Time, with 
 their Provocations and Circumftances confider'd, is 
 a great Teftimony of the Moderation of the Prei- 
 byterians in Scotland : The Scripture makes this an 
 extraordinary Cafe, i Sam. 24. 19. If a Alan find 
 
 his 
 
fe Enemy i will he let him go well away, yet when 
 the Presbyterian People in Scotland had their Ene- 
 my in their Hands, for fo at this Time they had, 
 they left their Revenge to him to whom Vengeance 
 belongs 5 and contenting themfelves with putting it 
 out of the Power of their Enemies to do any more 
 Mifchief for the Time to come, they meddled 
 not with punifhing them for what was pail. 
 
 But fuppofing thofe Rabbles did commit fome 
 Violences, as to Plunder, and as to Perfonal Rud- 
 nefs to the Miniflers, &c< who they turned out, 
 which yet I have not met with any Account of: 
 This is fully anfwered in a Book formerly written 
 on that Subject, in theie Words. 
 
 c (.z) What's this to the Church ? It might be 
 done by Presbyterians of the Church-, but itcannever 
 c be faid, it was ever done by THE PRESBYTE- 
 RIANS as a Church : It was done by no Aft of 
 the Church, no, nor of the Government , nor 
 did either the Church or the Government ever 
 Approve, Juftify, or Employ any of the Per- 
 ions—— 5 Tis true, there was no publick pu- 
 nifhing the Aclors; neither did the Govern- 
 ment in England punifh, neither was it a Time 
 to punifh thofe ExcefTes : And particularly the 
 Government in England thought fit, by Parlia- 
 ment, fo far to bear with them, as to flop all 
 Procefs againft TrefpafTes, &c. 
 c There is alio another unhappy Circumfence, 
 that fo effeftually clears the Church of this 
 Charge, that I cannot but wonder, the Party 
 could ever make ufe of it as an Argument, or 
 bring this Matter of Rabbling into the Charge : 
 G g 3 c And, 
 
 £$) Presbjtctiat Pc?[ecutiWj p. 9, 10. 
 
C $*6 ] 
 
 And that is, That thefe Tumults, Plunderings, 
 and Driving away the EpifcopalMinifters, were 
 all done and over, before there was any fuch 
 thing as a Presbyterian Church :, I mean, efta- 
 blHh'd, or in any Power to Aft as a Judicatory, 
 or as a Body ; So that, to charge the Church 
 
 c with this, is like Indicting a Man for a Mur- 
 
 < der committed before he was born. 
 
 This I think may ferve to clear up the firft 
 Head, viz,, the Conduct of the Rabble, &c . * 
 
 I come next to the general Proceedings of the 
 Church' of Scotland^ as a Church after their 
 Reiteration, or new Eftablifhment: How they were 
 fettled by Acl: of Parliament, has been already 
 obferv'd ^ it remains to enquire how they a£bed 
 when fettled, and whether either the Civil Govern- 
 ment or Church Government, can be jufily char- 
 ged with Periecution. 
 
 c It could not be expected, but that, upon the 
 ', Revolution, the Prelatic Tyranny would fail 
 
 * with the Regal : And, were it worth Examin- 
 
 * ing into, it would be eaiy to prove, there was 
 
 * an inevitable Keceility it mould do fo, they 
 
 * being fo effectually iupported one by another, 
 1 that they could not but ftand and fall together. 
 
 c That the conjunct Tyranny of both Church 
 1 and Stare had treated the Presbyterians with 
 
 * fuch an Impolitic Fury, as muft imply, they had 
 
 * not the lead Apprehenfion of being ever pulfd 
 4 down again by them,is very evident from the par- 
 
 * ticulars, which make up the former Part of thefe 
 
 * Memoirs. But to return to the. Hiftory. 
 
 The 
 
T in ; J 
 
 The Bifhops being Depofed, and the Presbyte- 
 rian Government and Diicipline reftored in the 
 Church : The firft thing the Alfembly went upon 
 was, to confider of planting Minifters in the Va- 
 cant Churches } for it could not be, but that in 
 Eight and Twenty Years of Cruelty and Blood 
 which they had fuffered under, and which I have 
 given fome Account of in thefe Memoirs, a great 
 Number of the ancient Minifters were fallen *, be- 
 fides that, even the length of Time, would by the 
 Courfe of Nature carry a great many off the Stage. 
 Andfo it wo*) even to fuch a Degree, that it was 
 at firft not very eafy to find Minifters to fupply 
 Churches from which the Epifcopal Minifters or 
 Curates were neceffarily to be removed. 
 
 And here again the pretence of Perfecution is 
 brought as a Plea againft thedifplacing thofe In- 
 cumbents, who would not qualify themfelve? ac- 
 cording to Law : But neither will it hold in this 
 Cafe neither : See the Words of the fame Author, 
 upon the lame Subject, where he gives the follow- 
 ing brief Hiftory of the firft Step taken in this 
 Cafe. 
 
 The Government, fays he, was no fooner efta- 
 blifh'd by the Revolution, and the Kirk reftor'd to 
 her Judicatorial Authority, but herfeveral Courts, 
 as SeiTion, Presbytery, Synod and AiTembly, took 
 their Courfes, and began to Aft. 
 
 By the firft Aftof Parliament for fettling thefe 
 Matters, Tpsiftjunej. 1690. Intituled, Act Ratify- 
 ing the Confeffion of Faith-, and Settling frcsbyterian 
 Church Government *, It is ordain'd, That the General 
 Affembly, the Ministers and. Elder j, ftiould have 
 fewer tQ try and purge out alt bifufftcicnt , SwididoM, 
 G g 4. 4»d 
 
[ 3i8 ] 
 
 wd Erroneous Afinificrs, by due Courfe of Ecclefiafti- 
 cal Frocefs and Cenfures : But this Aft no where lm- 
 power'd them to Cenfure any who were not In- 
 sufficient, Scandalous, or Erroneous, tho' they 
 would not take the Oaths to the Government— — 
 So that, by this Law, the Church could not be 
 capable of Perfecution. 
 
 It may be objected here, That Co be Epifcopal, 
 might beadjudged Erroneous by thisJudicatory,and 
 Co come under the Church Cenfure, by Authority 
 of this Aft. 
 
 io this 'tis replied — , Fir ft, In FatJ y No Man 
 was ever fmce the Revolution Depoied by the 
 Church, meerly for being Epifcopal, nor was any 
 Procefs ever commene'd againft any Man on that 
 Foundation, 
 
 SecoxtHv, It was particularly declared by the 
 Hrft General AiTembly after the Revolution, viz.. 
 in the Sixth Seflion, in the Year 1690, That this 
 Affembly will Dcpofe no Incumbents /imply for their 
 Judgment anent the Government of the Church, and 
 ZJrge Re- or -din at Ion upon them* Fide Index of the 
 'Unprinted A els of the AiTembly, Sejf. 6, 1690. 
 
 In the fame Affembly, in their lnftruftions gi- 
 ven to their Commiiiion, which was to fit during 
 their Recefs, we have theie Words ; 
 
 Th.tr they be very Cautious of receiving Informations 
 afa&pft the late Con form: ft s - 7 And that they proceed in 
 the A fitter of Cenfure very Deliberately , fo as none 
 may have jujl Caufe to complain of their Rigidity ; And 
 that the fudl not proceed to Cenfure , but upon relevant 
 Libels andffjicient Probation % Aft I 5th, SefT. 26th, 
 AiTembly 1690. 
 
 Again, left the Presbyterians ftiould be raih and 
 fevere the Commiiiion is impower'd as follows, 
 'hit if thy flail be Inform d of any precipitant Proce- 
 dure 
 
 rr"<, 
 
 4 
 
[ 3i9 ] 
 
 dure of the Presbyterians in fuch Procejfes, to reflrain 
 them. Vide the lame Aft as above. 
 
 If then they were thus Moderate even in Scan- 
 dalous Things, and declared againft proceeding in 
 Cafes meerly Eyifcopal, where mall we find the 
 Article of Perfecution ? 
 
 'Tis true, That in the Year 1693, an Aft of 
 Parliament was made to Deprive 5 all fuch Mini- 
 vers, as would not both Swear to the Govern- 
 ment, and Acknowledge the Church Government 
 
 alfo, and the Confeilion of Faith . But the 
 
 Occafion 'of this Aft is vifible to all that know 
 the Affairs of that Time, viz.. That it was paft 
 to fatisfy the Minds of the People, who were ex- 
 ceedingly difturb'd at the Churches having been 
 Infulted in the Affembly 1692, by a general For- 
 mula procured by the Epifcopal Clergy, together 
 with their Appeal to the King on a Refufal : And 
 the AiTembly being abruptly DlfTolved, or Dif- 
 miffed fine die, which put the Nation into a very 
 great Ferment. 
 
 Yet, even upon this Aft, I may challenge the 
 Epifcopal Clergy to mow me one Minifter, that 
 ever was Bepofed for not acknowledging the 
 Church, if at the fame Time he offered to ac- 
 knowledge the Government, and take the Oaths, 
 and they hftve been often challenged on this Head. 
 
 And to confirm this Lenity of Praftice by a 
 Law, that famous Aft of Parliament was made in 
 the Year 1695, wherein taking the Oaths to the 
 Government is made the Onely and Fully Sufficient 
 Qualification, and all Minifters that would fo Qua- 
 life themfelves are continued. As may be feei'i at 
 large by the Aft, Intituled, Aft concerning the 
 Churchy Anno 1695. 
 
 This 
 
r 520 ] 
 
 This very Aft of Parliament, if I were to go 
 no further, effeftually clears the Church of Scot- 
 land from the Charge of Perfecution - ? fmce 'tis 
 plain there was no religious Tenet in difpute, but 
 a civil Queftion of owning or not owning the Go- 
 vrenment. 
 
 It was by this Aft of Parliament taken quite out 
 of the Power of *he Church, to Depofe any Man 
 meerly for being Epifcopal in Principle, or for 
 refufmg to own the Presbyterian Church \ nay, 
 the Epifcopal Clergy, who by vertue of this Aft, 
 remain in their Livings,- many of them to this 
 Day, refufe to acknowlege the Church, to fubmit 
 to any of her Judicatories, or to join, either in 
 Difcipline or Worfliip. 
 
 How impoilibie it is then to be true, that the 
 Presbyterian Church has been guilty of Perfecuti- 
 on, I leave to any Impartial Reader to judge } ad- 
 ding withal, what was publilhed in the fame Cafe, 
 viz.. That there was at the Time of the Union 
 One hundred and fixty five Epifcopal Ministers then 
 pollening Churches and Stipends in Scotland by the 
 Lenity and Forbearance of the Government, who 
 had no other Qualification required of them, than 
 the taking the Oaths to the Government, and 
 were not bound to, neither did they comply with, 
 or fubmit to the Presbyterian Church :, and a Lift 
 of their Names has been published, and of the 
 tneParJfhes in which they Refide-, nay, in feveral 
 Pariihes where theie Epifcopal Minifters are In- 
 cumbent, the Presbyterians are at the Expence to 
 have a Minifter of their own, who they maintain, 
 inci who Preaches in a Meeting- Houfe at their own 
 private Es pence : Take the Cafe, in the Words for- 
 
 ft 
 
[ 32i 3 
 
 It would be pleafant for People who charge the 
 Church of Scotland with perfecuting the Epilcopal 
 Clergy, to go to ibme of thele Paroches and fee 
 this uncouth Jeft, where the perfecuting eftablifh- 
 ed Church is fain to fubmit to a Meeting-Houfe, 
 and the perfecuted Epilcopal Clergy-man intuits 
 them from the Parifh Church, and keeps both the 
 
 Pulpit and the Stipend in ipight of them all 
 
 Here is the eftablifrYd Church turn'd DifTenter, 
 and the DilTenter made the Incumbent :, the Per- 
 fecutor become perfecuted, and per contra the per- 
 fecuted made the Perfecutor. 
 
 Thus the Church has re-obtain'd her Eftablim- 
 ment, and here ihe may be faid to be arrived ac 
 the full extant of her Militant State, flour ifhing 
 in Peace, and the Wounds of her ami&ed State 
 healing apace. 
 
 It remains as a proper Clofe to this Work, that 
 Something fhould be faid concerning this delpifed 
 perfecuted Church in General •, a Body of Chri- 
 ftians placed thus, as it were in the remoteit part 
 of the World, in whom however God has been 
 plea fed fo eminently to appear, and for whom to 
 do li;ch great Things as has been here related. 
 
 Now me enjoy'd her full Eftablifhment, I mean 
 juft before the Union : After the Vni&n^no Attempt 
 that Epiicopacy could make upon her could over- 
 throw her Settlement, without overthrowing at 
 the fame Time the whole Constitution of Great 
 Britain. What Attempts have been made. upon 
 her during the Interest which her Enemies had in 
 the Administration, at the latter End of the loft 
 Reign, have rather fcratch'd her Face, than touch'd 
 her Vitals, and have rather mewed their Defign 
 j-han tjieir Power : Whether fixe will obtain that 
 
 Jufticq 
 
C ?22 ] 
 
 Juftice to have thofe Injuries redrefs'd now the 
 whole Government is reftor'd, I cannot yet fay, 
 nor does it relate to the prefent part of this 
 Work. 
 
 Her Government, Difcipline and Worihip, are 
 eftabliih'd now by Treaty, and have the ArTent of 
 an Epifcopal Church and Nation as a Sanction to 
 it : The Aft for her Security is Incorporated into, 
 and made a part of the A& of Union ; and the 
 eftabliihing the Church of Scotland is there called 
 the eftabliihing the true Proteftant Religion. 
 
 I know but Two Things which the Church of 
 Scotland can be laid to complain of, or to ask more 
 than was at this Time granted to her ; and thofe 
 there is fome Reafon to fear ilie never will obtain, 
 but as they are not Effential to Religion it felf, I 
 jfhall not lay too great a ftrefs upon them. 
 v i . That the Revenues of the Church, I mean 
 of the Archbiihops, and Bifhops, Deans, Chapters, 
 Crc. when they were Depofed, and Epilcopacy 
 Abolifhed, were not appropriated to the Ufes of 
 the Church, as indeed they ought to have been, 
 but divided like the Spoil of the Revolution among 
 the Nobility and Gentry : Had this been done, 
 there had been a Fund for the Service of the 
 Church, which would have been lufficient to have 
 anfwer'd feveral Wants, which in Default of this 
 Supply, fhe feels the Effects of, 1ri& 
 
 j. There had been a Supply for fupporting 
 Students in the Colleges for the Study of 
 Divinity, and to have enlarged the Sti- 
 pends of the Regents or Tutors in the laid 
 Colleger, which were at that Time very 
 Jow ; and not fuitable to the Labour and 
 Application requiliite in thofe Oihces.-The 
 ter was ib. evident, that the late Queen 
 
 was 
 
c m ] 
 
 waspleafed to add confiderably out of her 
 own Purfe,as an encreafeof Sallery amount- 
 ing in the whole, as I have heard , to 
 about 300 /. per Annum. 
 
 2. There had been a Fund to encreafe the 
 Stipends of Minifters in remote Parishes, 
 where they were too fmall, to encourage 
 the Incumbents and fupport their Familes 
 in waiting upon their Work. 
 
 3. There would have been a Fund to have 
 bred up Minifters to aft as Miffionaries for 
 the Highlands ) to ftudy the Irijh Language 
 and qualify themfelves to go into the re- 
 moter!: Parts to Inftruft the poor Ignorant 
 Families of the Highlanders, and to fupport 
 them in fuch a Work : A Thing attempt- 
 ed fince the Union, by a General Subfcrip- 
 tion for the Propogating Chrifiian Knowledge, 
 but I do not find the Succefs anfwers the 
 Goodnefs of the D^fign. 
 
 4- There would have been a Fund to have an- 
 fwered the common Incidents of the 
 Church, fuch as fending up Minifters to 
 London to folicit Redrefs of Grievances, 
 upon any Occafion, and for every pub- 
 lick Tranfa&ion with the Court." O R 
 which were very de fir able for the maintain- 
 ing an Agent conftantly at London, to take 
 care of their Interefts, to prefent their 
 AddreiTes, recommend their Concerns, and 
 in a Word to manage their Affairs; all 
 which they are now obliged either to 
 want Aififtance in, or the Minifters who do 
 come up as Agents on extraordinary Occafi- 
 ons, are oblig'd to bear their own Charges, 
 which is a Hard/hip many of them may not 
 be very well furniilf d to bear. 
 
 2. A 
 
[ J2 4 ] 
 
 2. Another Thing they complain of, is the 
 want of the Sanction of the Civil Power to en- 
 force Ecclefiaftic Difcipline and Cenfure * for want 
 of which, obftin ate Offenders are often encourag'd 
 to ftand out in Scandal and in wicked Pra£Hces,and 
 refufe to fubmit to the Sentences of the Church, 
 however juft, righteous, and moderate : This is 
 one P.ealbn why the Nobility and Gentry very of- 
 ten live in Defiance of Ecclefiaftic judicatures 
 and Proceis, even in the profefs'd and avow'd 
 Commiilion of flagrant Crimes, fuch as blafphc-- 
 mous Swearing, open Drunkennefs, Fornication, 
 and even Adultery it felf } whereas were the Civil 
 Magistrate oblig'd to affift in the Execution of 
 Church Sentences, no Man would then be above 
 Reproof, and Puniihment in juft Cafes. 
 
 But as I faid before, thefe Things do not at 
 all break in upon the Church } either in her Do- 
 ctrine, or in the Liberty of her Worfhip ^ they 
 may indeed affect the Eftablifhment of her Dif- 
 cipline, tho' not much - 7 fo that by the Treaty of 
 IJnlon^ it is to be hoped her lafr. Struggle with 
 Epifcopacy is at an End • and She may now be 
 able to fay, thar not only She fe arriv'd to her full 
 grown State, but that the Continuance of it is Se- 
 cured to her People and their Pofterity. 
 
 This brings to my Mind, a Reproach uSually 
 caft on the Church of Scotland by her Enemies, 
 or rather it may be call'd an Infult, (viz-) That 
 Presbytery was often hatch'd in Scotland and nur- 
 fed up. But was never Major ; never came to be 
 of Age \ alluding to a young Man, who tho' care- 
 fully brought up, dies before he attains to the 
 Af*e of One and Twenty : But that Jeft will ferve 
 them no longer, feeing it is now Eight and Twen- 
 ty 
 
C 325 ] 
 
 ty Year fmce the Revolution, and fince the .pal- 
 ling the Act. for abolishing Epiicopacy \ and yet 
 Presbytry not only remains, but feems to be in a 
 better and more probable Way for Duration than 
 it ever has been fince the Reformation. 
 
 It might be proper here to fay a few Words by 
 way of Obfervation, concerning the prefent State 
 of the Difcipline of the Church of Scotland, which 
 was confirmed alio at the Time of the Union, and 
 indeed I cannot refrain it for Two Reafons. 
 
 1 . That I think it is a Debt due to the Church 
 her felt, who I find fuffer innumerable un- 
 juft Reproaches , and is contemptibly 
 thought of, not among her Enemies only, 
 but even among thofe in England, whofe 
 Intereft as well as principles ought to 
 move them to inform themfelves better 
 concerning her, and who being better in- 
 form'd, ought to do more juftice to thofe 
 who fo well deferve it at their Hands. 
 
 2. That She may be a Pattern to all the 
 Several Sorts of ProteStants in Britain, and 
 may Shew them by her Example, not only 
 what the Bleiling would be of an efia* 
 bb'ShM well executed Difcipline in a Na- 
 tional Church, and of a laborious well re- 
 gulated Clergy, but alfo how eafy it is to 
 attain to it. 
 
 I Shall not examine into the Difcipline of the 
 Two National Churches in this Ifland, in order to 
 compare them, to recommend one of them as 
 better than the other: But for their due Emulation, 
 this I may fay, that fuppofing the Rules of their 
 Difcipline equally good, yet no Man will deny 
 Two Things. 
 
 1. But 
 
[ g2 6 ] 
 
 i. That the Church of England Difcipline is 
 the moft Negle&ed, the Execution of it 
 the moft Incumbered, and the Profecution 
 made the moftDifficult and Tedious,as well 
 as Expenfive andChargeable to the Profecu- 
 
 1 tor of any Proteftant Church in the World. 
 
 2. That the Church of Scotland's Difcipline is 
 the moft exa£r. in Form, the moft eafy and 
 cheap to the Profecutor, and the moft 
 punctually and ftri&ly Executed, without 
 Partiality, Bribery, or any fort of Cor- 
 ruption, as alfb without a tirefome, tedi- 
 ous and dilatory Proceeding, of any Church 
 Difcipline in the World. 
 
 Some of the Confequences of this, are thefe ; 
 
 i. The Minifters (for they are as muchfub- 
 jecled to the Difcipline of the Church as 
 the People, and perhaps more) are daily 
 and duly enquired into as to their Couducl:, 
 and fail not to be Cenfur'd, if they give 
 occafion of Scandal in the fevereft manner \ 
 and in this Cenfuring of the Minifters in 
 Scotland, it is to be particularly obferv'd, 
 That Minifters have there a fe verity ufed 
 with them, if they offend, which the 
 common People have not, and which per- 
 haps no Minifters in the World but 
 thefe, are fubjecl: to, (viz*.) That if a Mi- 
 nifter falls into any fcandalous Crime, for 
 which he is Depofed, he is Depofed for 
 ever •, a private Man is receiv'd again, af- 
 ter Scandal given, if he Repent and give 
 Satisfaction, but a Minifter never. 
 
 KOTE, 
 
t 327 3 
 
 NOTE, Upon Repentance and making 
 publick Acknowledgement to the Satisfa- 
 ction of the Church, he ihall be received 
 again to Communion as a Fellow Chriiti- 
 an, but as a Minifter he is perfectly ufe- 
 lefs, and never can be repon'd, 
 
 NOTE alfd y That this fever ity is not by 
 the Law of Difcipline, but the Practice 
 and Ufage of the Church, the People will 
 never hear or receive fuch a Man as a Mi- 
 nifter. 
 
 NOTE Thirdly, That the happy Confe- 
 quences of this Severity, and which muft 
 be mention'd to the Honour of the Church 
 of Scotland } IS, That there is not a Mini- 
 fter now preaching and exercifing the Of- 
 fice of a Paftor in the whole Church of 
 Scotland, who can be charg'dwith any Im- 
 moralities or fcandalous Behaviour, except 
 fuch as are under Prcfecution for the lame. 
 
 Could this be faid of the Church of England 
 or could it be faid that all due Care, as far as her 
 own Laws would allow, was taken to bring it to 
 this, what a new Face would there be of Religion 
 in this part of the Ifland ! 
 
 2. The People are retrained in the Ordinary 
 Practice of Common Immorallities, fuch 
 as Swearing, Drunkennefs, Slander^ For* 
 nicatiotv* Adultery and the like: As to 
 Theft, Murther/and other Capital Crimes^ 
 they come under the Cognifcance of the 
 Civil Magistrate, as in other Countries ; 
 H h But 
 
C 328 ] 
 
 But in thofe Things which the Church has 
 Power to puniih, the People being con- 
 stantly and impartially profecuted, they* 
 are thereby the more reftrained, kept fo- 
 ber and under Government, and you may 
 pafs thro c Twenty Towns in Scotland, 
 without feeing any Broil,or hearing an Oath 
 fvvorn in the Streets ^ whereas if a Blind 
 JVlan was to come from thence into Eng- 
 Und, he ihall know the firft Town he fets 
 his Foot in within the Englifh Border, by 
 hearing the Name of God blafphem'd and 
 prophanely ufed, even by the very little 
 Children in the Street. 
 
 Another Thing I cannot omit, in which the 
 Conftitution of the Church of Scotland is Singular 
 and Differing from her Neighbours, and this, is 
 that not the leaft Room is left here for the popu- 
 lar Charge of Prieft-craft, with which the Deifts, 
 Atheifts and prophane People of this Age, Charge 
 the Minifters of the Gofpel of all Perfwafions, al- 
 ledging that all they do is either under the Awe of 
 the Great Ones, to purfue their Intereft and Li- 
 vings, or with Wheedling and Delufion to win 
 upon the Poor to make a Profit of them. 
 
 To the Honour of the Church of Scotland^hev 
 Minifters are lb ftated, as that (1 .) They are under 
 no Influence, Awe, or Command from the Great 
 Ones-, for the Stipend or Sallary of the Minifter 
 depends not upon the Lord or Patron, but is fet- 
 tled by Parliament, to be paid duly by the Here- 
 tor, or Perfon who receives the Tithes ^ and if he 
 refufes or dekys, the Minifter may demand it of 
 his Tenant j lb that the Minifters are wholly in- 
 dependant of the Gentry, how much lbever the 
 poor People arc in Bondage to them. 
 
 (2 ) As 
 
[ ?29 3 
 
 ( 2. ) As they can lofe nothing by the AfigGt of 
 
 the Gentry, they can get nothing by Favour of the 
 Commonalty; and this is very remarkable, that 
 no Fees, no Perquifites, no Advantages are made 
 of any kind by the Minifter in his Parifh, of or 
 from his Peopie \ He receives nothing for Burials^ 
 Marriages, Baptifms, Vifking, or any other 
 Thing belo: Minirrer ; So 
 
 that he_ has nothing to Wheedle the People ii.ro, 
 or for. On the contrary, as he prefides in his 
 Kirk-Sefhon or Veftry, he is rather a Magi ftrate 
 or Infpetlor over the Lives and Converfatioris of 
 his Parifhioners, than a Tool to plea J e and cajole 
 them, that he may get Money by them, as is too 
 much the Cafe in England^ and in other Coun- 
 tries alio. 
 
 This Power of the Minister in his Parochial 
 JurifUi&ion is that upon which Mr. Ladder 7 (a) in 
 that famous and yet t&inrrfivered Book.ofhis, argues 
 That a private Parifh Minifter in Scotland is a 
 compleat Diocefm Biihop, according to Cypri* 
 an, and according to the Scripture Inftitutidri oT a 
 B^iliop^ prefiding in Judicature over his Fleck or 
 Diocefs, being Veiled with the Power both to 
 Cenfure and Abfolve ^ and that the Government 
 of the Church of Sect land by Kirk-Seffions, Pref- 
 byteries, Synods, and General Aflemblies, is real- 
 ly and properly Epifcopai Government^ to all Intents 
 and Purpofes, as the Government of the Church 
 was Epifcopai in the Third and Fourth Centuries. 
 
 (3.)" The Office of a Minifter in the Church of 
 
 Scotland is a quite different Thing from the Orhce 
 
 H h 2 of 
 
 (a) Vide Lauder, antiem Biffnp co»fider% tap. viii. 
 pjge 3 '6. 
 
C ??o ] 
 
 of a Minifter in England :, that is to fay, as it is 
 now Executed, either in the National Church or 
 among the DifTenters \ and it may be faid without 
 an Hyperbole, that were the Minifterial Office 
 jlibjecbed and difcharged in England^ as it is in 
 Scotland, in that Laborious Self- denying Manner, 
 and under fuch fmall Encouragements, Thoufands 
 of the Clergy, I dare fay, would wiih to have 
 been brought up Mechanicks rather than Parfons ; 
 and fcarce a Man that had any Temporal Eftate 
 to fubfift on, would take the fatigue of the Gown 
 upon them. Here are no Drones, no Idle Far- 
 ions, no pamper'd Priefts, no Dignities or" Pre- 
 ferments to excite Ambition, no Pluralities and 
 Curacies to encourage Sloth, no Authority or 
 Power over one another to gratify Pride, no Ex- 
 emtion from the Laborious part, or Excufe for 
 not performing it. 
 
 Every Minifter in Scotland preaches twice a Day, 
 and Leftures upon or Expounds a Chapter, or 
 part of a Chapter, before the Morning Sermon; 
 except only where in fome large Pariihes, there 
 are Afljftants or Collegues allowed; every Mini- 
 fter is bound by his Office to Viiit every Family in 
 his Pariih minifterially, and at leaft once a Year to 
 Examine every examinable Perfon in his Pariih : 
 Every Minifter isoblig'd in Conjunction with his 
 Elders, who with the Minifter compofe the Kirk-Sejfwn* 
 to takeCognifance of andhear all Complaints againft 
 the Morals of every Perfon in his Parim,and to pro- 
 ceed judicially as the Cafe fhall require: Every 
 Minifter likewife is obliged to Vifit the Sick in his 
 Pariih, when ever they fend to him ; nor is that 
 an eafy Work in the Country where the Pariihes 
 are large, and the Villages included in them re- 
 mote from one another. 
 
 Who 
 
Who ever confiders the Office of a Mimfter In 
 Scotland, how faithfully the Minifters tliere execute 
 it, how conftantly they preach, how painfully they 
 Study, how diligently they Examine, how duly 
 they Vifit, will eafily Account for that weak 
 Scandal that our People in England raife upon 
 them, (viz..} 'That we fee none of their Writings ; 
 And I mall add to it, what a Worthy and Reve- 
 rend Divine of the Church of England laid on 
 Occafion of that Reflection, (viz,.) That • if our 
 Minifters, as well of the Church, as the DifTenters, 
 would Study more, Preach more, Vifit, Comfort, 
 Examine and Inftruft their People more, though 
 they wrote lefs, it would be better Service to the 
 Church, and they would more defer ve the Name 
 of Gofpel Minifters. 
 
 There are many other Laborious things which the 
 Minifters of the Chmch Scotland go thro',and which 
 Minifters in England know nothing of ;fuch as their 
 managing the Parifti Charity, keeping the^ Trea- 
 fure for the Poor, for there are there neither 
 Church -War dens or Overfeers, their Travelling to 
 reconcile Breaches, and heal Divifions among their 
 People \ their Expenfive Journeys Monthly to the 
 Presbyteries, half Yearly to the Synods, and an- 
 nually to the General Affemblies, and the like : 
 All which ferve to make it true which was laid by 
 an impartial Enquiror there, (viz..) That the Life 
 of an Engliih Porter was eafy compared to that of a 
 Presbyterian Minifter in Scotland. 
 
 Yet all this isfupported anddifcharged with fuch 
 Courage, fuch Temper, fuch Steadinefs in Applica- 
 tion,fuch unwearied Diligence,fuchZeal and Vigour 
 in the Work, that our Englijl? Sermon- Readers know 
 little of, not having the fame Support, and 7 fear t 
 not the lame Spirit to carry them thro'; m a Word, 
 ks they have a Work which humane Strength, is 
 Ph 3 hardly 
 
I W 1 
 
 : tent to Difcharge \ fo they have a Sup- 
 port which humane Nature is not capable to iup- 
 p]y < and I rauft acluiowlege that there leems to 
 be fuchan Appearance of the Spirit and Prefence 
 or* God with and in this Church, as is not at this 
 Time to be ieen in any Church in the World. 
 
 Farther, as there is among the Minifters a Spi- 
 rit of Zeal, and an earneft devoting of all their 
 Powers, Faculties, Strength, and Time to their 
 Work, fo the Peoples Part is in proportion equal *, 
 their Tafte of Hearing, their Affection to their 
 iiters,their Subjection to be Inhructed,and even 
 to Diicipline; their eagernefs to follow the Directi- 
 ons given •, thofe are Things fo vifible in Scotland* 
 that they are not to be defer ib'd but admird : To 
 fee a Congregation fit with Looks fo eager, as if 
 they were to eat the Words as they came out of 
 the Mouths of the Preacher • to fee the Affecti- 
 on with which they hear, that there ftiall be a Ge- 
 neral Sound of a Mourning thro' the whole Church 
 upon the extraordinary warmth of Expreffion in 
 the Minister, and this not affected and defign'd, 
 but cafual and undiiiembled. 
 
 And one Thing as a Hint, to Englifi Hearers, I 
 cannot omit, (viz,.*) That in a whole Church full 
 of People, not one fhall be feen without a Bible, 
 a "Cuftom' almofr forgotten in England : On 
 the other Hand in a Church in Scotland, if you fhut 
 your Eyes when the Minifter Names any Text of 
 Scripture, you iliall hear a little rufsling Noife over 
 the whole Place, made by turning the Leaves of 
 the, Bible :, nay, if a blind Body be at the Church, 
 they will have a Bible, which they will give to the 
 Pe rfons next to them to fold down the Texts quo- 
 ted, that they may caufe forne Body to read them 
 to them when they come home, 
 
 There 
 
c mi 
 
 There are many more Circumstances, in which 
 I might fhow the Church of Scotland to be happi- 
 ly drftftqguifti'd from moft, if not all the other 
 Proteftant Churches in Europe, but the Particulars 
 are too many. 
 
 1 wiih I could have had Room in thele Memoirs 
 to have let down the Heads of their Difcipline 
 which we call in England the Canon, but it is too 
 long ; what has been laid, as it is impartially fin- 
 cere, ib tho' ihort in Particulars, is furricient to 
 Jet you know what a Church fhe is, and what a 
 Flouriflttng and Glorious State ftie is now in. 
 The Glory be to Jefus Chrift, the Eternal King 
 and only Head of his Church, for ever and even 
 AMEN. 
 
 The End of the Fourth Part- 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 O F T H E 
 
 STATE 
 
 O F T H E 
 
 CHURCH 
 
 SINCE THE 
 
 UNION 
 
 S thefe Memoirs were Written foon 
 after the Union between England 
 and Scotland was flniih'd and rati- 
 fy xl, fo the Period chofen for the 
 laft Part was proper to the Time j 
 but no lefs than Nine Years having 
 paft fince that Time, and before the Publication 
 hereof k h requjfite that fome Notice iliould 
 be taken of what has happen'd in that Time, and 
 thh tke rather, becaufe fome Depredations have 
 
 been 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 been made upon the eftabllfh'd Liberties of the 
 Church of Scotland fmce that Time, and fome 
 Attempts, even befides the open Rebellion of the 
 Jacobites, in Order, if pollible, to pull down her 
 Fences, and lay open her Enclofure •, that Jacob 
 might be given to the Spoil, and Ifrael to the 
 Robber. 
 
 But that Providence which has fo eminently 
 guarded the Church of Scotland in fo many Dan- 
 gers, has deliver'd her from this alfo, and now 
 ihe fees her felf free again from farther Invafion. 
 We have Ceen in the Accounts pafs'd, on what 
 Foot of Eftabliihment the Church flood foon after 
 the Revolution, and how ihe went,, even till the 
 Treaty of Union \ neither is there any Thing m 
 her Hiftory, which requires particular Notice^dii- 
 ring that interval of Time. Farther 'tis obfer- 
 vable, that the Church being effectually reftor'd as 
 before i and enjoying an uninterrupted Prosperity j 
 there remain'd nothing to be done in her Behalf, 
 at the Time of the Treaty of Vnion, but to preierve 
 her as ihe was in the full Enjoyment and Security of 
 her Doftrine, Difcipline, Worfhip and Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 For this Reafon, when the Treaty began, it was 
 laid down as a Fundamental, That the Commiffi oners 
 on either Side flwuld have no Power to enter into any Con- 
 ferences upon the Ecclefiafiick Settlement of either Na- 
 tion, for as there was no View or Defign, or indeed 
 poilibility of bringing the Two Churches to unite: 
 So to agree atfirft, that both ihould remain juft 
 as they were, was the only Method to put the Trea- 
 ty in a way of being finiih'd : The want ofiuch a 
 Preliminary having been the only Reafon why all 
 other Attempts for a Union had proved ineffectual 
 and come to nothing. 
 
 The 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 , The Church then having no room to apprehend 
 that her Constitution mould come to be debated 
 in this Treaty, had nothing left to do, but to 
 bring her Security to be one of the Articles of the 
 "Union, and fo bring the Epifcopal Church of Eng- 
 land, not only to Recognize her Eftablimment, but 
 to engage the whole Nation and Power of England 
 to fupport and maintain it. 
 
 And this alone made the Vnlon be acknowledg- 
 ed to be ferviceable to the Church of Scotland, for 
 otherwife it muft be allow'd, that it had been a 
 dangerous Thing for the Church of Scotland, which 
 was the weaker, to join and incorporate her Civil 
 Power, which was her Defence, with the Engliflj, 
 which was the ftronger : But now the Security, 
 Liberty and EftabLifhment of the Church of Scot- 
 land being twirled with the Englijh Conftitution, 
 and built upon the fame Foundation with that of 
 the Church of England . it becomes invulnerable, 
 unlefs we ihall fuppofe the whole Eccleiiaftic and 
 Civil Constitution of Great Britain mould fuffer a 
 Convulfion, and be overturned and deftroy'd; 
 
 Nor had the Church of Scotland fo good a Se- 
 curity for her Eftablifhment before •, her Nobility 
 and Reprefentatives, being not the beft Friends to 
 her ConhHtution, often offended at the Severity of 
 her Difcipline, and in part debauch'd from her 
 Principles by the Levity and Faihion of the Court; 
 and it was more than probable, that in time they 
 might have given a Blow to the Conflitution of the 
 Church, which now it is for ever out of their 
 Power to do. 
 
 It is true, that there is not one Ounce of Good 
 WM&he more between the Two Churches for this 
 Union, nor can I lay that the Englijb Church has 
 not fhewn her Teeth on feveral^Occafions fmce 
 
 : i The Scots Epifcopal Clergy have met with 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Encouragement in their infulting the Church of 
 Scotland, as in the Cafe of Mr. Greenfields^ who 
 let up a Meeting-Houfe in the Teeth of the Ma- 
 giftrates of Edinburgh jlx\& vilely infulted them when 
 they touched him on that Head, telling them he 
 was a Member of the Church of England, and ap- 
 pealing from them to the Houfe of Lords. 
 
 But after all, as the Government were convin- 
 ced, that the Epilcopai Men were in the Wrong, 
 and that they could not iupport the Defign \ fo 
 the Man had ibme Money given him to withdraw, 
 and the Cafe was dropt as quietly as they could, 
 and with that juft Caution with which wile Men 
 generally drop a Thing they are aihamed of. 
 
 Nor can I fay, that even the Union it felf has 
 been fo facredly obferv'd on the Englijh Side, as 
 the Cafe of the Church of Scotland required, or her 
 Privileges fo well preferv'd as they had Reafon to 
 expeft, from the good Words which were given 
 them at the time of the Treaty $ Witnefs the ie- 
 veral Attacks made upon them in the Affair of 
 Patronages, the Yule Vacance, and the imposing 
 Oaths upon the Minifters, inconfiftent with their 
 principles ; Things of which all I ihall now fay, is, 
 That as they were done in a Reign, which did 
 feveral other Things which the prefent Reign dif- 
 owns and declares againft- fo we have great room 
 to hope, and the Church of Scotland to expect, 
 that thofe Impofitions and Infractions of the Trea- 
 ty will be repealed , and that ihe ihall have 
 more Juftice for the future. 
 
 The Church made what itruggle they could at 
 that Time againfl the palling the Bill for reftoring 
 Lay-Patronages :, the Agents they employ'd here 
 were heard by their Council, and'confidering how 
 much was faidagainft it, and how little wa c , or 
 i,ould be laid for it* 'twas thought very unaccount- 
 ably 
 
APPENDIX, 
 
 able that fuch an Aft ihould pafs at all^but it muft 
 be placed to the Account of the Times, and who 
 ever reflects upon the Perfbns who managed the 
 Affairs of Scotland, and had the Power at that 
 Juncture, will find the Neceffity they were in of 
 gratifying the Epifcopal Party : Their Advocate 
 then was the Earl of Maty, the fame who has 
 been fmce their Champion, and who was then 
 Secretary of State \ it was no wonder then that the 
 Church had as little favour in every thing that 
 was mov'd againft her, or wherein her Intereft was 
 concern'd, as if ihe had been an Enemy \ nor was 
 it in the Power of the few Gentlemen in England^ 
 who were ienfible of the Injury, and would have 
 ierv'd her at that Time, to do any Thing for her. 
 
 However, a long Defence of her Privileges was 
 published and delivered to the Members of Parlia- 
 ment, and was handfomely fpoken to in the 
 Houfe ; and the Church had this Satisfaction, that 
 her Caufe was loft by Numbers, not by Strength 
 of Reafbning, or of Right. 
 
 It would be too long to incert here the tedious 
 Account publiih'd on that Occafion, by fome who 
 ihew'd their good Will, rather than Capacity to 
 State the Cafe : But the true State of the Cafe, as 
 it was prefented to the Houfe of Lords by the Three 
 Minivers deputed by the Church for that Purpofe, 
 cannot but be proper to publifh, becaufe it gives 
 the Churches Plea in her own Words, and is as fol- 
 iows. 
 
 To 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 To the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Tempo- 
 ral in Parliament Jffembled. The Humble Reprcfen- 
 tat ion of William Carftairs, Thomas Blackwell 
 and Robert Baillie, Mimfers of the Church of 
 Scotland, concerning the Bill for refloring Patro- 
 nages, now depending before your Lord flips. 
 
 IT is with all humble Duty and Submiflion re- 
 prefented unto your Lordfhips, that this de- 
 pending Bill feems to be contrary to the prefent 
 Constitution of our Church, fo well fecured by 
 the late Treaty of Union, and folemnly ratified 
 by the A£ts of Parliament in both Kingdoms : That 
 this may be more clear, it is to be obferv'd, That 
 from the firft Reformation from Popery, the Church 
 of Scotland hath always reckon'd Patronages a Grie- 
 vance and Burden, as is declared by the firft and 
 iecond Books of Difcipline, publiih'd foon af- 
 ter the laid Reformation, fince which Time they 
 were ftill judged a Grievance, till at length they 
 came by Law to be abolished. 
 
 Thefe Patronages having been reftor'd with 
 Epifcopacy, in the Year \66\, and \66i y did 
 continue to the Year 1690, that Epifcopacy was 
 abolifh'd, and Presbyterian Government again efta- 
 blihYd} and tho' the Act: of Parliament 1690, 
 refettling Presbyterian Church Government, was 
 founded upon the Acl of Parliament 1 592, which 
 bears a Relation unto patronages, yet the faid Acl; 
 of Parliament 1690, doth expreuy except that 
 Part of the old Acl, and refer Patronages to be 
 thereafter confider'd, which according ly was con- 
 fider'd in the fame Parliament 1690, whereby it is 
 plain, that the Abolition of Patronages was made 
 a' Part of our Church Constitution, ena&edby the 
 Act 1630, and that this Act: 1690, with all other 
 Acls relative thereto being expreily ratified, and 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 for ever confirm' d by the Aft for fecuring the 
 ProteStan Religion and Presbyterian Government, 
 and Ingrofs'd as an eSTential Condition of the Rati- 
 fications of the Treaty of Union pafb in the Par- 
 liaments of both Kingdoms } The faid Aft aboliSh- 
 ing Patronages muSt. be understood to be a Part 
 of our Presbyterian Constitution, fecur'd to us by 
 the Treaty of Union for ever. 
 
 Yet it is to be particularly conSider'd, that the 
 lame Parliament 1690, was fo tender of the civil 
 Rights of Patrons, and fo Sincerely defirous only 
 to reftore the Church to its juft and primitive Li- 
 berty of calling Ministers in a Way agreeable to 
 the vVord of God, that they only difcharged the 
 Patrons Power of Prefenting Ministers to vacant 
 ChurcheSjbut as to any thing of their civil Rights, 
 did make the Condition of Patrons better than 
 before, not only by referving unto them the Right 
 of Difpofal of vacant Stipends, for pious Ufes 
 within the Parcch, but alfofor giving unto them 
 the heretable Pvights of the Tythes, restricting 
 the Minister, who formerly had the faid Right to 
 Stipends,much below the Value of the faid Tythes, 
 notwithstanding which advantageous Concefhon to 
 the Patrons by the Parliament, this Bill takes 
 back from the Church the Power of Presentation 
 of Ministers, without restoring the Tythes which 
 formerly belong'd toher, hy which the Parens 
 come to enjoy both the Purchafe and the Price. 
 
 This being then the true Account of our legal 
 Settlement as to this Matter, it appears to be evi- 
 dent that the Restitution of Patronages, as to the 
 Point of Prefentation,can only gratify a few, while 
 on the other Hand it muft neceffarily difoblige a 
 far greater Number, that are now freed of that 
 Impofition, and indeed it cannot but Seem Strange, 
 that this Bill Should be fo much infifted upon, 
 
 when 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 when there are fo many Patrons, and thofe too of 
 the moil confiderable in Scotland, that are againft 
 fuch a Restitution. 
 
 It is alfo apparent, that Presbyteries muft come 
 under many Difficulties and Bardfhips, as to their 
 Compliance with this Innovation, and that many 
 Contefts, Diforders and Differences, will probably 
 infue betwixt Patrons, Presbyters, Heretors and 
 People, befides the known Abufes wherewith Pa- 
 tronages have been attended even in their moft 
 fettled Condition •, whereof many Inflances might 
 be given , elpecially, that thereby a Foundation 
 was laid for Simoniacal Factions, betwixt Patrons 
 and thofe prefented by them, and likewife Mini- 
 fters were impofed upon Paroches by Patrons who 
 were utterly Strangers to their Circumftances, ha- 
 ving neither Property nor Reiidence therein. 
 
 It is therefore with all Submijfion expetled from 
 your Lordfnps Jufiice and mature Deliberation, 
 'That a Billy as we humbly conceive, fo nearly af- 
 fecting the late Treaty of Vnion in one of its moft 
 Fundamental and EJfential Articles, r effecting the 
 Trefervation of the Rights and VriviUges, which 
 our Church at that Time was poffefs^d of by Law^ 
 for the Security of which the Parliament of Scot- 
 land was fo ?nuch concern d as not to allow their 
 Commiffioners to make it any Tart of their Treaty, 
 but referred it as a Thing unalterable by any Judi- 
 cature deriving its Conftitut'-on from the [aid 
 Treaty, jhall not be approved by Tour Lordfups, 
 efpccially while the Nature of the Treaty it fclf 
 flicws it to be a reciprocal Tran faction between the 
 Two Nations* 
 
 W. Car stakes. 
 
 THO. BlaCKW bLL. 
 
 Ro. Baulil. 
 
 Before 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Before the Commons, as have laid', they 
 were heard by Council \ but all was to no Purpofe, 
 the Bill pafs'd \ and which is worfe, we do not lee 
 the Church of England, or even the Gentlemen 
 in the Parliament of Britain, who were actually a- 
 gainft the Bill at that time, equally folicitous to 
 reftore the Church now to the Privileges which 
 ihe loft then, how unjuft foever the taking them 
 away has been. 
 
 Indeed we find the Commiflion of the AfTembly 
 very earneft to folicit the redrefs of thofe Grie- 
 vances, and not without Hope that it fhall be ef- 
 fected : And therefore, even while this was wri- 
 ting, Two Minifrers, wzi* Mr. Hamilton, Pro- 
 
 feffor of Divinity in the College of Edinburgh, and 
 Mr. William Mitchel, one of the Minilters of 'Edin- 
 burgh, are Deputed by the faid Commiflion to at^ 
 tend the fitting of the approaching Parliament, to 
 get, if pollible, Redrefs of the Churches Grie- 
 vances, and a Repeal of thofe Afts which pafs'd 
 in the preceding. Reign in their Prejudice : The 
 Afts are particularly. 
 
 i . The Aft for reftoring Patronages. 
 
 2. The Aft for Tollerating Epifcopal Meet- 
 ings. 
 
 3. The Aft for the Yule Vacance 5 that is, for 
 keeping Chri&mas. 
 
 ' If thofe Three are obtain'd, the Church will 
 then be reflor'd to her full Luflre and Authority, 
 end its hoped will never more have any Occafioa 
 to Complain of being Opprefs'd. 
 
 FINIS. 
 

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