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<DATE>2012-09-13</DATE>
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<NAME>Jayanthi Reddy</NAME>
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<P>A Brief and True Account OF THE SUFFERINGS OF THE <HI>Church of Scotland,</HI> Occa&s;ioned by the Epi&s;copalians Since the Year 1660.</P>
<P>Being a Vindication of their Maje&s;ties Go|vernment in that Kingdom, relating to the Proceedings again&s;t the Bi&s;hops and Clergy there.</P>
<P>With &s;ome Animadver&s;ions upon a Libel In|tituled, <HI>The pre&s;ent State and Condition of the Clergy and Church of</HI> Scotland.</P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed in the Year, 1690.</P>
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<DIV1 TYPE="account">
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<HEAD>A Brief and True Account of the Suffe|rings of the Church of <HI>Scotland,</HI> &s;ince the Year <HI>1660, &amp;c.</HI></HEAD>
<P>SEEING it has always been ju&s;tly called intolerable Arrogance in the Church of <HI>Rome</HI> to u&s;urp the Epithet of <HI>&V;niver&s;al,</HI> when the far greater Number of Chri&s;ti|ans decline her Communion; It may very well be called a Superlative Impudence in the late Prelats of <HI>Scotland,</HI> and their Clergy, to arrogate as theirs the Name of that Natio|nal Church, when by the <HI>Convention</HI> they were voted, <HI>the great and in&s;upportable Grievance of the Nation.</HI> By their Maje&s;ties and Parliament, the <HI>Hierarchy</HI> hath been demoli&s;hed, as contrary to the Inclinations of the Generality of the People. And by the Laws of God the Majority of their Adherents are uncapable of the di&s;tingui&s;hing Priviledges of Church-Mem|bers, becau&s;e of their vicious Lives.</P>
<P>Which leads me to con&s;ider, how unbecoming it is for them to reflect upon the Nation as &s;upine and indevote; <HI>Quis tule|rit Gracchos de &s;editione querentes.</HI> If it were not known, that it's ordinary for the greate&s;t Whore to call Whore fir&s;t, one would take them to be very devout Men who thus exclaim again&s;t Indevotion: but O Helli&s;h Di&s;&s;imulation and Malice! herein they imitate the Devil him&s;elf, who fir&s;t tempts, and then accu&s;es; tho' 'tis too vi&s;ible that their Con&s;ciences are pa&s;t feeling, being &s;eared as with a hot Iron. There are Thou|&s;ands in the Nation who remember, That when their Hierar|chy was re&s;tored there, the Devil, who &s;eemed to be bound for &s;ome time before, was let loo&s;e, the Floodgates of all Impiety and Wickedne&s;s were &s;et open, and Hell did triumph in its Conque&s;ts over that Nation, and di&s;played its Banner not only again&s;t Religion, but even Morality: which the Prelates and their Adherents were &s;o far from oppo&s;ing, that they indulged
<PB N="2" REF="3"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">he People, but e&s;pecially, the Gentry, in their Wickedne&s;s, as knowing That to be the only Method to &s;ecure them on their Side; in&s;omuch, that Cur&s;ing, Swearing, Drunkenne&s;s, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> became as infallible Characteri&s;ticks to di&s;tingui&s;h a <HI>Prelati&s;t</HI> from a <HI>Presbyterian,</HI> as <HI>Shibboleth</HI> was to di&s;cern the <HI>Gileadites</HI> from tho&s;e of <HI>Ephraim:</HI> which the following In&s;tances, among&s;t the many hundred more that might be given, do &s;ufficiently evince.</P>
<P>When the <HI>booted Apo&s;tles,</HI> as Dragoons, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> were imploy|ed to convert the Nation, (wherein once at lea&s;t we were in fa&s;hion before <HI>France,</HI>) &s;ometimes they apprehended Per&s;ons by Mi&s;take, but as &s;oon as they heard them pronounce the <HI>Shibbo|leth</HI> of Cur&s;ing and Swearing, they were pre&s;ently &s;et at liberty, with the Character of an Hone&s;t-man, and <HI>no Whigg;</HI> the name then for the Presbyterians of that Nation.</P>
<P>And in the We&s;t of <HI>Scotland,</HI> where &s;o great a Reformation was wrought, that in &s;everal Pari&s;hes there was not the lea&s;t minced Oath to be heard; when tho&s;e Mi&s;creants were &s;ent among&s;t them, to force a Compliance with the Prelatical Cu|rates, thru&s;t upon them as Mini&s;ters, without their con&s;ents; the poor Children hearing their execrable Oaths, and not know|ing what they meant; (having never heard &s;uch before) ask'd their-Parents in the greate&s;t &s;implicity imaginable, the meaning of &s;uch and &s;uch Words: a hopeful Church, that u&s;es &s;uch as Re|formers; but it's too well known there that &s;uch kind of Men were the greate&s;t Abettors of Them, and their Cau&s;e. And on the other hand, when ever it could be &s;aid of a Man, <HI>Behold, he Pray|eth;</HI> it might be &s;aid with equal certainty, Behold, he loatheth the Curates and their Mini&s;try; excepting a very few <HI>Presbyterians</HI> who always held it lawful to hear them, but never could own that they were the In&s;truments of their Conver&s;ion. Yea, the Mi&s;creants them&s;elves were &s;o &s;en&s;ible of it, that a&s;&s;oon as ever any of their Pari&s;hioners begun to &s;et their face Heavenward, and wor&s;hip God in, and with their Families, they were pre|&s;ently the Objects of their Hatred and Per&s;ecution. One re|markable In&s;tance, among&s;t thou&s;ands, there was in <HI>Ea&s;t-Lothian:</HI> A con&s;iderable Yeoman, called <HI>Sherrift,</HI> or <HI>Sherwood,</HI> having a Son, who by hearing &s;ome of the Presbyterian Mini&s;ters, was convinced of his &s;inful State by Nature, and the nece&s;&s;ity of a Saviour; and accordingly, retired Morning and Evening to
<PB N="3" REF="3">bewail, him&s;elf and &s;eek God. His Father was &s;o much a|larmed at it, that his Son &s;hould turn <HI>Whig,</HI> and <HI>howl</HI> and <HI>whine</HI> by him&s;elf, (as mourning for Sin, and &s;eeking of God by Secret Prayer, was then called in the Epi&s;copal Dialect) that he complained of it to his Pari&s;h Prie&s;t, lamenting that he had lo&s;t one of the hopefulle&s;t young Men in <HI>Lothain.</HI>&mdash;The God|le&s;s Mi&s;creant, that he might di&s;cover him&s;elf to be of the true <HI>Egyptian</HI> Brood, who reflected upon the Children of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> as idle, when they &s;ought leave to &s;erve God, advi&s;ed the Father to rai&s;e his Son betimes in a Morning, and work him hard all Day, and he would undertake he &s;hould forget to &s;ay his Prayers er'e he went to bed at night. Adding further, That to convince him what kind of villanous Preachers they were whom his Son heard, and &s;ee the wicked Practices of the&s;e Con|venticlers (whom the Prelati&s;ts charged with uncleanne&s;s then, as their Predece&s;&s;ors the Pagans did the Primitive Chri&s;tians of old) he would lend him his Hor&s;e to ride to a Conventicle. Hereupon the Father took an opportunity to follow his Son to a Meeting, where it plea&s;ed God to touch his Heart by the Word preached, &s;o that he found him&s;elf under a Nece&s;&s;ity of practi&s;ing what he had formerly condemned in his Son; and a little while after they were both of them ex|po&s;ed to Sufferings for Nonconformity.</P>
<P>And that the World may have a further ta&s;te of the Prela|tical Church of <HI>Scotland,</HI> and of their way of Converting, I &s;hall give you another very remarkable In&s;tance, which may &s;ufficiently di&s;cover what their De&s;ign was to convert the Na|tion to, if we con&s;ider the Means and In&s;truments made u&s;e of in &s;o good a Work.</P>
<P>When the Magi&s;trates exacting the Mulcts enacted by Law upon &s;uch as ab&s;ented from hearing the Curates, did not prevail upon the We&s;tern People to own tho&s;e as their Mini&s;ters who were not ordained according to the Word, and intru|ded upon people by Violence; They &s;ent Souldiers upon free Quarter to drive or drag them to Church, who u&s;ually &s;taid till they had con&s;umed the &s;ub&s;tance of their Landlords; and many times would force them to drive their own Cattle to Market, and &s;ell them at an under-rate, and then rob them of the Money: and, moreover, behaved them&s;elves in &s;o bea&s;tial a manner, that no Marriageable-Woman could with &s;afety &s;tay
<PB N="4" REF="4">at home, by which (the Men being al&s;ofled for Nonconfor|mity) it came to pa&s;s that many poor Infants were left in the Hou&s;e, as not able to endure the fatigue of travelling, and lying by night in the cold Mountains, who were &s;o barbarou&s;ly u&s;ed by the prelatical Apo&s;tles, that they could not &s;atisfy their hunger with the brother wherein their Parents Cattle had been boiled, till the Souldiers Dogs had fir&s;t lapped and left it.&mdash;And their u&s;ual &s;aying was, We came to de&s;troy, and we will de&s;troy, and all this before the People could be charg|ed with any In&s;urrection, but meerly upon the Account of not hearing.&mdash;And to te&s;tify what re&s;pect tho&s;e infernal Fu|ries had for Religion, in&s;tead of going to Church them&s;elves, whither they were &s;ent to drive others, a Party of them a&s;|&s;embled at a Mercat-Cro&s;s, and one of their Number read &s;ome ver&s;es of an old amorous Scoti&s;h Poem, called <HI>the Cherry and the Sloe,</HI> in&s;tead of a Sermon, and they &s;ung another part of it in&s;tead of a P&s;alm, without any Animadver&s;ion from their devote Church or Pious State for &s;uch tremendous Athe|i&s;m.&mdash;And to con&s;ummate the Mi&s;ery of the poor People, Sir <HI>Ja. Turner,</HI> the Commander in chief of tho&s;e helli&s;h E|pi&s;copal Mi&s;&s;ionaries, being con&s;cious that he had exceed|ed the bounds of his Ungodly Commi&s;&s;ion, extorted a Cer|tificate from the di&s;tre&s;&s;ed Country, that he had behaved him|&s;elf according to Law: which horrible Oppre&s;&s;ion, together with their Barbarous U&s;age of &s;ome hone&s;t Men (again&s;t whom they had nothing but the Matters of their God) whom they tied Neck and heels together, and ca&s;t two of them, one to ballance another, on Hor&s;e-back, (as Butchers do Sheep de|&s;igned for the Slaughter) occa&s;ioned a &s;mall Number to take Arms in 1666 (becau&s;e they could not otherwi&s;e be &s;afe from the in&s;ults of the Souldiers and Prelati&s;ts) that they might pre&s;ent a Petition to the Council for Redre&s;s of tho&s;e Grie|vances.&mdash;The Prelatical Party having got it made Trea&s;on to Petition the King otherwi&s;e than by his Coun&s;el, which be|ing compo&s;ed of the wicked Bi&s;hops, and their debauched Adherents, they would be &s;ure to &s;tifle all Remon&s;trances a|gain&s;t their Barbarity, that they &s;hould not &s;ee Light.</P>
<P>But to return to our Author: He tells us, <HI>That the Scots Epi&s;copal Clergy pray heartily that the Di&s;cipline, Order, and Con&s;titution of the Engli&s;h Church might be &s;ettled among&s;t
<PB N="5" REF="4">them, to prevent Supinene&s;s and Indevotgion</HI>&mdash;which is a Ma&s;s of Ignorance and Non&s;en&s;e. Have they not had the E|pi&s;copal Di&s;cipline almo&s;t the&s;e thirty Years? and is not that the di&s;cipline of the Church of <HI>England?</HI>&mdash;How come they then to pray &s;o heartily to have that which they enjoyed?&mdash;Had not the King the naming, or, if you will, the making of the Bi&s;hops, they and the Patrons the making of the Prie&s;ts, and Laws to compel the People to own them as &s;uch? And was not that the Con&s;titution of the Church of <HI>England?</HI> Then what needed they de&s;ire that which they had? And notwith|&s;tanding of all this, Is not that Supinene&s;s and Indevotion a|mong&s;t their own hearers? I appeal to their Con&s;ciences if it be not: Then how doth it appear that the Di&s;cipline of the Engli&s;h Church is &s;o excellent a Mean to prevent it?&mdash;But you'l &s;ay, they wanted the Common-Prayer and Ceremonies. &mdash;True, but that's neither the Con&s;titution nor Di&s;cipline, but the Wor&s;hip of the Church of <HI>England:</HI> and whether that be &s;o excellent a Mean to prevent Supinene&s;s and Indevotion, any Man may judg who will but ca&s;t his Eyes about him, and &s;ee whether Supinene&s;s and Indevotion, and their Conco|mitants, Swearing, Drinking, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> be more the Character of tho&s;e of that Church, or of Di&s;&s;enters from it.&mdash;I am &s;ure they who ob&s;erved the Practice of the D. of <HI>York</HI>'s Family, where that wor&s;hip was zealou&s;ly maintained when he was in <HI>Scotland,</HI> had no Rea&s;on to admire the Effects of that Devotion, for they and their Ma&s;ter together turn'd the Palace into a Baudy-hou&s;e, and indeavoured to make the whole City a Stews; wherein that Epi&s;copal Concurrence to &s;o good a Work might not be wanting, the Bi&s;hop of <HI>Edinburgh</HI> lent a helping-hand, and was taken in the very Act of filthine&s;s with one of his Ladies of Honour, by a Lady of greate&s;t Quality in that Nati|on; and this very Bi&s;hop was the mo&s;t zealous of any for the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Liturgy and Ceremonies, and I under&s;tand &s;ince one of tho&s;e who our Pamphleteer &s;ays, refre&s;h'd their Souls with that kind of Wor&s;hip now in their Di&s;tre&s;s. But if they had con&s;ulted their own Honour, they would never have brag|ged of &s;uch a Pro&s;elyte, who is fitter for a Stallion; or, if now &s;uperannuated for that Work, to be a Pimp to a Baudy-hou&s;e, than owned as a Member of any Church, and much le&s;s as a Right Reverend Father in God, he having been always better
<PB N="6" REF="5">at ki&s;&s;ing his Band-&s;trings in the middle of his Sermon, to give A&s;&s;urance to a Whore that he could think of her in the middle of his Devotion, than to govern in the Church.</P>
<P>Neither do I think that the Reformedne&s;s of tho&s;e of the Church-Communion in the Borders whence our Pamphleteer pretends to write, can be any Tentation to our Epi&s;copal Cler|gy, to de&s;ire the afore&s;aid Wor&s;hip, for I my &s;elf not many Years ago have &s;een Piping, Dancing, and playing among&s;t &s;uch on the Sabbath, where many times the Prie&s;t was Spectator, if not Partner: And until the <HI>Scots</HI> Presbyterian Mini&s;ters by their Preaching, reformed that Country, &s;uch Practices were very ordinary. And Malice it &s;elf mu&s;t needs own that the Ser|mons of &s;uch have repre&s;&s;ed Theft, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> more on the Borders, than either the Laws of the State, or the Preaching and Di&s;ci|pline of the Church of <HI>England;</HI> yea many of tho&s;e who were infamous Thieves, were never mole&s;ted for that while they heard their Pari&s;h-Prie&s;ts, but upon turning from the&s;e evil ways, have on the Account of their Nonconformity been expo&s;ed by tho&s;e Hirelings to great Sufferings, who belike were of the &s;ame Opinion with that infamous Parricide, Sorcerer, and in|ce&s;tuous Apo&s;tate, <HI>Sharp,</HI> Archbi&s;hop of St. <HI>Andrews,</HI> who having &s;ent for that gallant and religious Gentleman Sir <HI>Will. Douglas,</HI> late of <HI>Cavers,</HI> in&s;tead of civil Behaviour to a Per&s;on of his Honour, De&s;cent, and Quality, who has better to hold his Stirrup than the chief of the Bi&s;hop's Family, the infamous Varlot upbraided him thus,&mdash;Sir <HI>William,</HI> I under&s;tand you are a good Countryman, and &s;uppre&s;s theft in the Borders, but you entertain that which is wor&s;e at your Hou&s;e, <HI>viz.</HI> Presby|terian Mini&s;ters. To which the worthy Gentleman, with a Greatne&s;s of Soul &s;uitable to the Grandeur of his Family, di&s;|dained to return any An&s;wer, but immediately turn'd his back upon and left the infamous Villain to corrode his own viperous Bowels with his inhumane Fury.</P>
<P>Yea the <HI>Scots</HI> Epi&s;copalians them&s;elves were &s;o &s;en&s;ible of the remi&s;s Di&s;cipline of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> that when any of their Daughters had been impregnated in Fornication or Adulte|ry, it was u&s;ual among&s;t &s;uch as were willing to avoid the Di&s;|grace of it, to &s;end them over the Borders to be delivered, which in that Country is called the &s;pinning of a blue Web: And the hone&s;t Prie&s;ts for a little Spell of Money, never refu&s;e
<PB N="7" REF="5">Bapti&s;m to &s;uch Brats; or to couple Whores and Rogues toge|ther, which are there called half-Mark-Marriages, when by their previous Dalliances the Belly begins to &s;well, &s;o that for Shame they cannot in that Condition go to be married in their own Country: and I have heard it as the Encomium of a de|cea&s;ed Par&s;on, God be with him, he never refu&s;ed to make a Chri&s;tened Soul, or a married Couple. But le&s;t any &s;hould &s;ay that the&s;e are malicious Reflections upon the Church of <HI>England,</HI> I an&s;wer, that a Poet of their own, <HI>viz.</HI> Mr. <HI>Hicke|ringil</HI> in his <HI>Ceremony-Mongers Character</HI> and other Books, &s;ays a great deal wor&s;e, and in expre&s;s Terms, That it is the wor&s;t con&s;tituted Church in the World. But that which is e|nough to confound the Impudence of Gain-&s;ayers; The mo&s;t part of the Abu&s;es which Di&s;&s;enters accu&s;e the Church of <HI>Eng|land</HI> of are named, and a Reformation of them commanded by his Maje&s;ty in his late gracious Letter to the Bi&s;hop of <HI>Lon|don,</HI> which as it hath heightned and confirmed the good opini|on which all hone&s;t Men had of him, it hath al&s;o incen&s;ed the Debauchees and high-flown Prelati&s;ts, who upbraid him, as now beginning to di&s;cover him&s;elf, and &s;ay that it were not be&s;t for him to meddle too much. Which verifies the Ob&s;ervation that Di&s;&s;enters have always entertained of tho&s;e Tantivies, that let their Hyperbolical Preten&s;ions of Zeal for Religion and Loyalty be what they will, if the King put but forth his Hand and touch them, they will cur&s;e him to his Face; and rather than part with an Inch of Super&s;tition or a &s;wini&s;h Lu&s;t, will, as the Party have always done, &s;ay a Confederacy with <HI>Hell</HI> and <HI>Rome,</HI> as times pa&s;t and pre&s;ent do evidence beyond Contradiction; of which, if my de&s;igned Brevity would permit, I could give Au|thentick In&s;tances out of their own Authors, from the Refor|mation to this very Day. But to conclude this Point, and ma|nife&s;t to the World that the Presbyterian Di&s;cipline is infinitely beyond that &s;o much idolized Di&s;cipline of the Church of <HI>Eng|land,</HI> let them give &s;uch an In&s;tance as this, of the now Pres|byterian Mini&s;ters of <HI>Edinburgh,</HI> who charged their Elders, at their Election, to vi&s;it the Pari&s;h two by two, and &s;ee that the Ma&s;ter of every Family prayed in his Family; and if he were not able to do it, that they &s;hould in&s;truct him, and pray with the Family them&s;elves. Neither is this a Novelty to capital Ap|plan&s;e, but the old Practice of the Presbyterians both at home
<PB N="8" REF="6">and abroad, where the Government did not ob&s;truct it, and which God hath many times ble&s;s'd with Succe&s;s. Tho&s;e being Helps of his own Appointment to a&s;&s;i&s;t his faithful Mi|ni&s;ters in the Di&s;charge of their Pa&s;toral Duties. And we &s;hould be very glad to &s;ee the Church of <HI>England</HI> as con&s;cientiou&s;ly di&s;charge what Di&s;cipline their own Canons enjoyn, and his Maje&s;ty hath now commanded, as the afore&s;aid Mini&s;ters are to put theirs in practice out of mere Principle, and without any &s;uch Command: but this is more than we can hope, or their Church bear, as now con&s;titute, which time will verify. &mdash;Nor do we want Te&s;timony from Officers of their own Communion, of the good Di&s;cipline of Presbyterian Families in <HI>Ireland,</HI> where they quartered, and as a thing extraordinary to them, gave an Account by Letter to their Friends, that they were quartered in <HI>Scots</HI> Presbyterian Hou&s;e, who read, pray'd, and &s;ung P&s;alms in their Families twice a Day: &mdash; And yet tho&s;e are the Men whom the Church of <HI>England</HI> will not ad|mit into Command, though they have &s;ufficiently evidenced their Courage, Chri&s;tianity, and Loyalty in the De&s;ence of <HI>De|ry,</HI> &amp;c. whereof others ba&s;ely and maliciou&s;ly have robbed them of the Honour.</P>
<P>What our Author means by the Orthodox Principles the <HI>Scots</HI> Univer&s;ity were &s;o careful to infu&s;e into their Students, or by the great and di&s;tingui&s;hing Doctrines of the Church of <HI>Eng|land</HI> defended in Print by an eminent Profe&s;&s;or at <HI>Gla&s;gow,</HI> I know not: When I was at the Univer&s;ity of <HI>Edinburgh</HI> about 9 Years ago, the <HI>A&s;&s;emblies Confe&s;&s;ion of Faith</HI> was taught there, and generally by the Epi&s;copalians through the Kingdom, though their Practice and the &s;ame were as much oppo&s;ite as black is to white. &mdash; And I cannot think our Author will allow that <HI>Confe&s;&s;ion</HI> as Orthodox, le&s;t he &s;hould thwart a Church-of-<HI>England</HI>-Jury who brought it in as a Libel not many Years ago; it being al&s;o formerly damned by the Univer&s;ity of <HI>Oxon:</HI> And that the Church of <HI>England</HI> (though different in Govern|ment and Ceremonies) held any Doctrine which di&s;tingui&s;hed her from other Reformed Churches, none ever averred, except it were that new up-&s;tart &s;lavi&s;h Doctrine of <HI>Non-Re&s;i&s;tance</HI> and <HI>Pa&s;&s;ive Obedience,</HI> in the &s;en&s;e of the pre&s;ent di&s;loyal Recu&s;ant Clergy, whereof as &s;he had the Di&s;honour to be the Mother, &s;he has al&s;o the Ignominy to be the Murderer, having ba&s;ely cut its
<PB N="9" REF="6">Throat, as Harlots u&s;e to do &s;ometimes with their &s;purious Brood, whereof if their darling K. <HI>James</HI> had had timely No|tice, a thou&s;and to one if ever the Nation had &s;een the ble&s;&s;ed Day of an Abdication and Vacancy of his Throne, and the &s;ame filled with the be&s;t of Kings, as it is now, to the Terror of Papi&s;ts and their Adherents.&mdash;But if, as there is all the Rea|&s;on in the World to believe, they are the Apo&s;tles of Pa&s;&s;ive Obedience, who&s;e Cau&s;e this Man advocates, we know what Friend he is to the Government:&mdash; For if they believe their own Doctrine, they mu&s;t needs look upon re&s;i&s;ting and de|throning the greate&s;t Tyrant as unlawful, and con&s;equently di&s;approve of what the Nation has done again&s;t the late King, and look upon their pre&s;ent Maje&s;ties as U&s;urpers, whom they may lawfully re&s;i&s;t and depo&s;e when they have &s;ufficient Force, which that they may attain we need not doubt of their Zeal to buz about their venemous Principles, and intoxicate the Minds of tho&s;e, who that they may without Controul en&s;lave them|&s;elves and others, by their Profanity, to the Devil (which his pre&s;ent Maje&s;ty by his Letter afore&s;aid has &s;hewed him&s;elf an E|nemy to) they will freely render Them&s;elves and the Nations, Slaves to the Tyranny of <HI>France</HI> and <HI>Rome.</HI></P>
<P>What was the Behaviour of the Epi&s;copal Clergy at the In|&s;urrection of <HI>Bothwel</HI>-Bridg, our Author &s;ays every one knows: but I believe if all the Truth were told, he him&s;elf knows lit|tle of it, and I am confident helooks upon him&s;elf as &s;ome Body, and would be very angry if his Neighbours did not &s;o too.&mdash;However, &s;eeing he hath put me in Mind of it, I'le let &s;ome know what I am &s;ure he is not willing they &s;hould; &mdash; which is thus, &mdash; When the extraordinary Hazard of tho&s;e in who&s;e Hou&s;es they met, the frequent Surprizes and barba|rous U&s;age of tho&s;e who did meet, and the Ble&s;&s;ing of God upon the Endeavours of the Preachers did &s;o much increa&s;e the Number of Meeters, that they could not with Conveniency and Safety be accommodated with Hou&s;es, they betook them&s;elves to the Field, where it plea&s;ed God by the Fooli&s;hne&s;s of Preach|ing, (or in the Epi&s;copal Dialect) Fanatical Preachers to convert &s;o many Souls, that the more they were oppre&s;&s;ed, the more they grew; and notwith&s;tanding the Cannibal Laws again&s;t them, and the Malice of the Epi&s;copalians which carried them beyond the Extent of tho&s;e Laws, the Churches were more
<PB N="10" REF="7">and more emptied, and Meetings more and more crowded; where a Frame &s;o far from &s;upinene&s;s or indevotion was &s;o vi|fible, that the &s;ighs and groans of tho&s;e who were pricked at the Heart for Sin, were very di&s;cernable; and betwixt Sermons, Godly Conferences, &amp;c. very audible: whereat the Devil was &s;o much enraged, that he forthwith &s;tirred up his In&s;truments, the Epi&s;copal-hireling-Preachers, who with Infernal bawlings, cried like the <HI>Jews</HI> of old, <HI>Men, Brethren, and Fathers, help, the whole Nation goeth after them.</HI> At which, their Ungodly <HI>Dioce&s;ans</HI> were &s;oon alarm'd, and by the Interce&s;&s;ion of their wicked Privy Council, they procured a Tax to be laid upon the Nation for rai&s;ing an Army to &s;uppre&s;s tho&s;e Meetings, which they maliciou&s;ly called <HI>Rendevouzes of Rebellion.</HI> And that the In&s;truments might be adapted to the Work, the Troops when rai&s;ed, con&s;i&s;ted of the Scum and Refu&s;e of the Nation: They bore the Characters of Wickedne&s;s on their Foreheads, and their Mouths were filled with Bla&s;phemy and Ob&s;cenity. Their Officers would &s;ometimes cur&s;e them, if they had ap|prehended any Women coming from Meetings, and not ra|vi&s;hed them; yea, in&s;tances can be given, that they made the Hou&s;es of the Epi&s;copal Preachers, who&s;e Cau&s;e they were rai|&s;ed to defend, their Stews, and their Wives and Daughters be|came their Pro&s;titutes: and yet tho&s;e Mi&s;creants were &s;o well plea&s;ed with tho&s;e Pillars of their Church, and Defenders of their Faith, that their &s;ullen Countenances were vi&s;ibly chear|ed upon their being Levied; and when they came to any Town, or Village, the Prelati&s;ts would in&s;ult over the Presbyterians, and ask them, What they thought now?</P>
<P>Tho&s;e Bloodhounds were at la&s;t imployed to &s;earch out, fire upon, and di&s;per&s;e the Field-Meetings, which in many places they did, killed &s;everal upon the Spot, and filled the Jails of the Nation full; after which, the Council Bani&s;hed &s;ome, and &s;old others for Slaves; &s;ome of which, were &s;et at Liberty at the <HI>Thames</HI>-Mouth afterwards. The Landlords were made to give Bond, that thier Tenants &s;hould not go to Meetings, and many times Fined upon that account. The Gentry were Fined, Confined, and Impri&s;oned, becau&s;e of their Ladies and Children going to Meetings. It was declared Trea&s;on, &s;o much as to exchange a Word with many of the Meeters. At la&s;t, it came to that Cri&s;is, That the People were forced to venture their
<PB N="11" REF="7">Lives, and re&s;olve to defend them&s;elves and their Mini&s;ters, or have no Ordinances at all; Whence happened divers Skirmi&s;hes, with various &s;ucce&s;s, but many times the Soldiers were baffled, and therefore they harra&s;&s;ed the Country in the Night time, that no Per&s;on of any Morality could be quiet, but were di&s;turbed by their frequent, and rude Searches; in which they behaved them&s;elves with &s;o much Barbarity, Bla&s;phemy, and Ob&s;cenity, that they look'd liker <HI>Pagans,</HI> than Profe&s;&s;ors of Chri&s;tianity; which confirmed the People in their di&s;&s;ent, who readily argu|ed, That it could not be the Cau&s;e of Chri&s;t, which &s;uch Chil|dren of Hell were &s;o zealous to maintain; nor, they his Mini|&s;ters, who mu&s;t imploy &s;uch Mi&s;creants to procure them Hearers: And if at any time they apprehended &s;uch as had been pre&s;ent at a Meeting, where Re&s;i&s;tance was made; or if they could but be proved, to have had a walking Sword at any Meeting, whe|ther there had been Re&s;i&s;tance or not; they were in hazard of their Lives, by their Ungodly Laws. <HI>James Learmont</HI> being Beheaded, for being at a Meeting where a Party of Soldiers were baffled, tho' it was proved, That he had nothing but a Hor&s;e|rod in his hand. And the Laird of <HI>Knoll,</HI> a <HI>Teviotdale</HI> Gen|tleman, narrowly e&s;caped the like Fate, for being at a Meeting where there was no Re&s;i&s;tance, with a Sword about him, be|cau&s;e a Neighbouring Gentleman, who was brought as a Wit|ne&s;s again&s;t him, would &s;wear no further, Than that he had a Staff, or a Scabbard under his Cloak, which the Jury could not find within reach of the Law. And by a continued Series of Tyrannical Proceedings, many of the mo&s;t con&s;iderable, and &s;ub&s;tantial Yeomen, many con&s;iderable Citizens, &s;ome former|ly Magi&s;trates of Corporations, and divers of the Gentry, be|came liable to lo&s;e their Lives by their wicked Laws: which oc|ca&s;ioned their meeting together, &s;ometimes in pretty good po|&s;ture of Defence to hear the Go&s;pel; and at &s;uch a Meeting it was, where the Great Papa-Prelatical Champion <HI>Dundee,</HI> with a con&s;iderable Force of Foot and Dragoons, was routed by the Conduct of <HI>William Cleland,</HI> then a Boy; but afterwards, the immortaly famous Lieut. Colonel, who at <HI>Dunkel,</HI> with about Eight hundred Presbyterian Soldiers, routed the whole <HI>Ty|ranno-Papa-Prelatical</HI> Ho&s;t, which con&s;i&s;ted of near &s;ix thou&s;and Men; or if you will, Savage Bea&s;ts in Human Shape. After the Defeat of <HI>Claverhou&s;e,</HI> at the &s;aid Meeting, the Gentle|men
<PB N="12" REF="8">concerned in the Re&s;i&s;tance, knowing they were de&s;tined to the Slaughter, if ever apprehended; and that the whole Country would be ruined for their &s;akes, re&s;olved to keep toge|ther in their own Defence, to whom a great many others in like Circum&s;tances gathered in a little time, and if the Gentry had acted their parts as the People did theirs, or would but have vouch&s;afed them Conduct, in Probability <HI>Scotland</HI> had not at this Day been vexed with a gracele&s;s untoward Generation of Prelati&s;is; from whom, as to the Differences betwixt us and them, we could never from fir&s;t to la&s;t have any thing but Hectoring for Rea&s;on, Damning and Cur&s;ing for Argument: And <HI>it's the King's Will</HI> to &s;atisfy our Objections from the Light of Nature, Word of God, and Con&s;cience enlightned by the &s;ame. Thus you have an Account of the Prelatical Hireling Curates, and of their Carriage before, and how the &s;ame oc|ca&s;ioned the In&s;urrection at <HI>Bothwel</HI>-Bridg, and now follow &s;ome In&s;tances of their Carriage after that was over.</P>
<P>The D. of <HI>Monmouth</HI> having carried on that Affair with the Clemency and Genero&s;ity natural to him, was maligned by our Prelati&s;ts, becau&s;e he did not &s;acrifice the Pri&s;oners to the Re|venge of tho&s;e Epi&s;copal Furies, which they did them&s;elves af|terwards in the mo&s;t inhumane manner imaginable: for having &s;ent &s;everal Hundreds of them to Sea, the Ship was ca&s;t away, (and that probably with De&s;ign) on the Coa&s;t of <HI>Orkney,</HI> and the ungodly Epi&s;copal Brute the Captain, lock'd down the Hatches when the Ship was a &s;inking, that they might be de&s;troyed; &s;o that none e&s;caped but &s;uch as were above Deck, which they were allowed to be in Parcels, le&s;t they &s;hould have been &s;mo|thered when altogether in the Hold; nor did the poor Remnant that were &s;aved e&s;cape the bitter Taunts and Malice of the Epi&s;|copalians of that Place.</P>
<P>And how intolerable the lea&s;t Favour &s;howed to the Presby|terians was to that reprobate Faction, is evident from the fol|lowing In&s;tances; When a great many of the Pri&s;oners taken at the In&s;urrection in 1666, formerly mentioned, were executed to &s;atisfy the Fury of the ungodly Prelati&s;ts, the Court be|came a little exorable, and &s;ent down a Pardon to the re&s;t, but that Limb of Antichri&s;t and infernal Locu&s;t, the Apo&s;tate Arch-Bi&s;hop <HI>Sharp,</HI> being a Revolter, and con&s;equently profound
<PB N="13" REF="8">to make Slaughter, with a Malice like his Father the Devil, kept up the &s;ame till &s;everal more were executed; a Demon &s;tration that the mo&s;t implacable enraged Tyrant hath more Bowels of Mercy than a wa&s;pi&s;h formal Prelate.</P>
<P>In like manner when an Indulgence was granted to &s;ettle the, Minds of the People after the In&s;urrection at <HI>Bothwel-Bridg</HI> the Generation of Vipers, the Epi&s;copalian Seed of the Ser|pent, did mo&s;t bitterly revile the D. of <HI>Monmouth,</HI> whom they look'd upon as the Procurer of it, and flew in the Face of Ma|je&s;ty it &s;elf, expre&s;&s;ing them&s;elves in the Lady <HI>Hatton</HI>'s Dialect, <HI>What the Devil &s;hall the K's Ba&s;tard-Son govern us?</HI> And the uncon&s;tant turn-coat Clergy, (&s;ome of whom while the Presby|terians kept in Arms, declared their Di&s;&s;atisfaction with Prela|cy, and after their Defeat recanted again) by their Mu&s;e <HI>Ninian Pater&s;on</HI> Curate of <HI>Liberton,</HI> publi&s;hed an ob&s;cene &s;currilous Lampoon, reflecting upon the Government for that Indulgence, which made &s;ome of the Epi&s;copal Party them&s;elves wonder that ever &s;uch a Fellow &s;hould have been &s;uffered to pollute a Pulpit afterwards: That you may ta&s;te a little of their Poets Mode&s;ty, I &s;hall give you &s;ome of his Lines which occur to my Memory; In his <HI>Proaemium</HI> he addre&s;&s;es the King thus;
<Q><L>We are like <HI>Jobs</HI> this <HI>19</HI> Years perplex'd,</L>
<L>Betwixt De&s;truction and Di&s;traction vex'd;</L>
<L>And that, dread Sir, though not &s;o &s;trange as true,</L>
<L>By Scabs and Devils, now indulg'd by you.</L></Q></P>
<P>And Abundance more, a great deal wor&s;e, which I have for|got. But that you may know that their Pen-men and Sword|men, or if you will, Hectors and Buffoons, are near a-kin in Mo|rals, you mu&s;t under&s;tand this Clergy-Poet was famous and well known by the Name of <HI>Knaggs,</HI> a <HI>Scotch</HI> Word for a Pin to hang any thing one. The Occa&s;ion of his being called &s;o was thus: Coming on a time into a GEntlewoman's Chamber before &s;he was fully dre&s;&s;ed, he took up her Neck-lace, which when &s;he enquired after, he told her he had hung it upon a Knag, and when &s;he asked where, he &s;hewed it her hanging on his . . . . <HI>&amp;c.</HI> a very mode&s;t Epi&s;copal Preacher.</P>
<PB N="14" REF="9">
<P>Our Author &s;ays, the Epi&s;copal Clergy generally complain'd of Violation of Ju&s;tice under the late Admini&s;tration; and though &s;ome were too acce&s;&s;ary, others &s;uffered for their Op|po&s;ition, and that the whole are not culpable for the Mi&s;car|riages of a few; which take it in the Complex, is a hateful Prevarication, and great Untruth: The Nation too well felt it, and &s;marts yet for it: That they generally in their Sermons, and otherwi&s;e, abetted the Tyranny of the Court, and thun|dered <HI>Anathema</HI>'s again&s;t tho&s;e that maintained the lawfulne&s;s of re&s;i&s;ting Tyrants; and though, it's true, the hone&s;te&s;t a|mong&s;t them were turned out by the Te&s;t, that &s;ays nothing in defence of tho&s;e at pre&s;ent ejected. The Anti-Te&s;ters be|ing thrown out in the Time of <HI>Charles</HI> the Second, and con|&s;equently are too hone&s;t to have any &s;hare in his Apology; and it's well known, the generality of tho&s;e who continued in af|terwards, went along with the Court in every thing, till &s;uch time as Liberty was given to the Presbyterians (which was al|ways more intolerable to the Prelati&s;ts, than Liberty to the Pa|pi&s;ts) and then htey &s;nuffed, not that they were angry with the Tyranny of the Manner, for it was according to their own Doctrine, that the King was emboldened to i&s;&s;ue his Proclama|tion in &s;uch a tyrannical Stile; but that, like <HI>Cain,</HI> being con&s;cious to them&s;elves of their Brethrens Blood, they were a|fraid to &s;ee them any way countenaced by tho&s;e in Power, (and for <HI>Cain</HI>'s Rea&s;on too) le&s;t every one that found them, &s;hould kill them; for they knew well enough that the inhu|mane Laws, in their darling King <HI>James</HI>'s Time, which made it Death for any Nonconformi&s;ts to preach, or People to hear them, were contrived by their Abettors, and pa&s;&s;ed by con|&s;ent of the Bi&s;hops. They knew al&s;o that the bruti&s;h, impo|tent, revengeful Tortures of <HI>Boots</HI> and <HI>Thumikins</HI> had been inflicted on the Presbyterians, by Advice of the Privy-Council, where their Bi&s;hops were the mo&s;t obdurate Spectators, and im|pertinent &s;piteful movers of Que&s;tions to the poor tortured Pri&s;oners. They knew further, that they had procured, and given con&s;ent to the Antichri&s;tian-like Execution of Gentlemen within an hour after their Sentence, as <HI>Jerri&s;wood</HI> and others; like the practice of that Italian, who threatned to &s;tab his Neighbour if he would not deny God; and when he had done
<PB N="15" REF="9">it, &s;tabbed him notwith&s;tanding, that he might kill his Soul too, by allowing him no time to repent. They knew further, that their Prelats had &s;at in Council, where Men were exa|mined and threatned with Torture, to declare their Thoughts on &s;uch an &s;uch Points; and after having declared them, were hanged for the &s;ame, as <HI>James Skein</HI> and others; which was an inva&s;ion on the Right of Mankind. Nay, Tyranny was come to &s;uch an height, that their meane&s;t &s;coundrel Officers would take upon them to examine as Judges, Per&s;ons whom they had apprehended, and torture them with burnt Matches be|twixt their Fingers, to tell the Mini&s;ters Names who they had heard preach; and who of their Acquaintance were there be|&s;ides. And the ba&s;e impudent Prie&s;ts, who&s;e Fathers were not good enough to eat with the Dogs of their Flocks, were hence incouraged to vomit out &s;currilous Reflections upon their own Patrons Families, and tho&s;e of the greate&s;t Quality, becau&s;e favourers of Presbytery; they were &s;o far from complaining of the Violation of Ju&s;tice, as our lying Pamphleteer would in&s;inuate.</P>
<P>In the next place, the Scribler mentions an Addre&s;s of the Scoti&s;h Bi&s;hops, which he &s;ays very much incen&s;ed the com|mon inferior People again&s;t them, and pleads for &s;ome charita|ble Allowance to that Action, becau&s;e of the Laws then in force; and &s;eeing (as he &s;ays) they are willing to &s;ubmit to the Government, the Power of tho&s;e in Authority might be plea&s;ed to cover them from the Rage and In&s;olence of the Rab|ble.</P>
<P>Wherein he &s;hews him&s;elf plainly an Enemy to the Go|vernment. He pa&s;&s;es over the Addre&s;s very &s;moothly, though it was that &s;candalous Libel again&s;t his pre&s;ent Maje&s;ty when attempting our Deliverance: They who will, may read it in <HI>Gazette,</HI> Numb. 2398. <HI>Novemb.</HI> 12. 1688. and I &s;hall only animadvert upon two or three Pa&s;&s;ages in it: And fir&s;t, they reckon the long and <HI>illu&s;trious Race of our Kings, the greate&s;t Glory of the Kingdom:</HI> Diametrically oppo&s;ite to the Senti|ments of all &s;ober Men, who (allowing that its due place) con&s;tantly affirm the greate&s;t Glory of that Nation to be their early and long profe&s;&s;ion of the Chri&s;tian Religion, being a|mong
<PB N="16" REF="10">the fir&s;t Fruits of the Gentiles, gifted unto Chri&s;t, <HI>P&s;alm</HI> 2. among&s;t the utmo&s;t Ends of the Earth; and in the Opinion of good Hi&s;torians, ble&s;&s;ed with the fir&s;t Chri&s;tian King. But this Expre&s;&s;ion of the Antichri&s;tian-Prelats, agrees very well with their Religion, <HI>an e&s;&s;ential Part whereof,</HI> as they &s;ay them&s;elves, was, <HI>their &s;tedfa&s;t Allegiance to the late King:</HI> which verifies from their own Mouths our Ob&s;ervation of them, that they and their Hirelings, in&s;tead of preaching Sin|ners into Chri&s;t, have made it their Work to convert the Na|tion into a &s;tupid &s;lavi&s;h &s;ubjection to Tyranny, by them fal&s;ly called <HI>Loyalty,</HI> and their greate&s;t Argument, in&s;tead of <HI>Thus &s;aith the Lord,</HI> was, <HI>Thus &s;aith the King:</HI> And indeed this is not to be wondered at, it being ju&s;t with God to di&s;cover they were none of his Mini&s;ters, but to fill them, as Back|&s;liders, with their own Ways, and make it evident they were the Mini&s;ters of the King to whom they &s;wore as Head of their Church, and had no other Mini&s;terial Power, but what they derived from him; and all who know them, mu&s;t needs &s;ay they preached more again&s;t &s;uch as oppo&s;ed the Tyranny of their King, than again&s;t the mo&s;t avowed Rebels to God and his Word: But their Brethren who po&s;&s;e&s;s the Pulpits now, are re&s;olved to avoid that Extream, and many of then chu&s;e rather to wre&s;t the Fifth Commandment to reach a Blow at their pre&s;ent Maje&s;ties, than to in&s;i&s;t upon the Theme of Loy|alty to their King, though they bellowed it from the Pulpits, to procure &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion to the hateful Tyranny of the two la&s;t Reigns: But their profound and univer&s;al &s;ilence on that Sub|ject now, and forbearing to declare their abhorrence of the pre|&s;ent Rebellion by the Prelati&s;ts, in conjunction with their Bre|thren the Papi&s;ts, does &s;ufficiently demon&s;trate what Friends they are to his pre&s;ent Maje&s;ty, their Zeal for him bearing no proportion to their Zeal for the la&s;t two, they being eagerly forward then, to abhor A&s;&s;ociations, Petitions for Parliaments, and In&s;urrections, yea, to degrade, as unworthy to be Mem|bers of their Church, Mr. <HI>John&s;on,</HI> &amp;c. who maintained the lawfulne&s;s of re&s;i&s;ting Tyranny; but we &s;ee no &s;uch publick Declarations again&s;t the Mutineers and Rebels now.</P>
<P>But to return to the Prelates addre&s;s, they conclude with a pre&s;umptuous A&s;&s;urance, that God would give King <HI>James</HI>
<PB N="17" REF="10">the Necks of his Enemies, for which his pre&s;ent Ma|je&s;ty is very much obliged to them, who as they did then, they look upon him &s;till as his principal Enemy: but their Prayers, Faith and Undertakings were all of a Piece, and failed them mo&s;t abominably; and they were thereby &s;ufficiently di&s;covered to have no Intere&s;t with God, who rejected their pre&s;umptuous Faith; nor with the People, for who&s;e A&s;&s;egiance they undertook, who did by their repre&s;entatives unanimou&s;ly chu&s;e the Prince of <HI>Orange</HI> their King, and at the &s;ame time re|jected the Prelates as an in&s;upportable Grievance, and gave a Demon&s;tration to the World, that the Prelatical Maxim, <HI>No Bi&s;hop, no King,</HI> is as fal&s;e as the Devil the Author of it.</P>
<P>And whereas the Scribler pleads for a charitable Al|lowance to them, becau&s;e of the Laws then in Force: he forgot &s;ure that the&s;e very Laws were made by the In|&s;tigation of the Prelates and their Party, and con&s;e|quently can be no Excu&s;e: And that the late K. was &s;o well a&s;&s;ured of their Adherence to him, that he expre&s;ly commands the Vi&s;count <HI>Dundee</HI> to &s;ummon the Prelates and &s;uch others as he confided in, to frame a Conventi|on of States in Oppo&s;ition to the other: Neither has his Confidence failed him, for as they all owned him while they &s;at in the Convention, their Party hath actually joined the Popi&s;h High-landers, <HI>Iri&s;h</HI> and <HI>French,</HI> who fight for him &s;ince; and &s;uch of them as were enter|tained in our pre&s;ent King's Pay, betrayed his Forces twice to the Rebels: and this is all the Service he can ever expect from the <HI>Scots</HI> Prelati&s;ts.</P>
<P>Next he tells you the &s;aid Addre&s;s very much incen&s;ed the Common People again&s;t them; as if his pre&s;ent Ma|je&s;ty had no other Friends there but &s;uch, and that none of the Nobility and Gentry were incen&s;ed at that ra&s;cal|ly Affront put on him by the Prelates: Sure he forgot that the Convention had not &s;at long till it &s;ent the Pre|lats a going, and I hope they are not the common infe|riour &s;ort; and if his Maje&s;ties great (but by them ill de|&s;erved) Clemency had not prevented, it's not improbable
<PB N="18" REF="11">that tho&s;e Rab&s;hakeh and Shimei-like-Prelates had felt the Re&s;entments of others heavier than tho&s;e of the in|feriour &s;ort, for that &s;candalous Libel. And now I can|not but ob&s;erve the Harmony betwixt the Papi&s;ts and <HI>Scots</HI> Prelati&s;ts, the &s;aying of this Pamphleteer agreeing &s;o exactly with what the D. of <HI>Gordon</HI>'s Gentleman, late|ly come up, a violent known Papi&s;t, &s;aid in a certain Com|pany, That King <HI>William</HI> had none to own his Cau&s;e in <HI>Scotland</HI> but the inferiour Sort the Presbyterians: and tells a great many of the &s;ame impudent Lies concerning the &s;evere U&s;age of the Epi&s;copal Clergy there, which are in this Pamphlet: whereby they de&s;ign to render his Maje&s;ties Government to the Church of <HI>England</HI> odious, that he &s;hould &s;uffer the <HI>Scots</HI> Epi&s;copal-men to be &s;o il|legally abu&s;ed; which our Pamphleteer does al&s;o in a &s;ly manner in&s;inuate by &s;aying,&mdash;The government might be plea&s;ed to protect them from the In&s;olence of the Rabble, which is as much as to &s;ay (but a holli&s;h Lie) they do not.</P>
<P>But granting them charitable Allowances for that Ad|dre&s;s, becau&s;e of the Laws then in Force: What can he &s;ay to ju&s;tify their oppo&s;ing his Maje&s;ties Acco&s;&s;ion to the Crown, when they were not under the dread of tho&s;e Laws, as it is known every Man of them did in the Convention, and that Arch Pimp of <HI>Gla&s;gow, Pater|&s;on,</HI> had the Impudence in their Face to maintain the un|lawfulne&s;s of depo&s;ing the late King. Sure this &s;ays their Oppo&s;ition was of Choice and not Fear; and tho they may be forced to &s;ubmit, yet how they can be d&s;teemed Loyal Subjects to a Government who&s;e Being they oppo&s;ed, I cannot under&s;tand.</P>
<P>Our Author di&s;covers no little Malice and Ignorance in his enumerating the &s;orts of Presbyterians in Moun|taineers, Cameronians, and Indulged: All <HI>Scots-men</HI> know the fir&s;t two to be but one, and for his reckoning all the re&s;t Indulged, becau&s;e Accepters of the Liberty under King <HI>James,</HI> thinking thereby to bring an Odium upon them as Countenancers of the di&s;pen&s;ing Pow|er, nothing can be more malicious, as may be &s;een by
<PB N="19" REF="11">their Addre&s;s, wherein they plainly tell him, their Prin|ciples are contained in the A&s;&s;emblies <HI>Confe&s;&s;ion of Faith;</HI> which is far from owning any other Power in the Magi&s;trate, than to encourage the Good, and puni&s;h the Wicked, and con&s;equently the Bounds of our Obe|dience. This was not a cheating him with a pretended principle of Pa&s;&s;ive Obedience, and yet to dethrone him notwith&s;tanding, when he touched their Mitres; which gives us a new explanation of the Prelatical Maxim, <HI>No Bi&s;hop, no King.</HI></P>
<P>Another of his Reflections is, that they do not check nor re&s;train tho&s;e Cameronians, whom he charges with Anabapti&s;tical Principles, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Which is a gro&s;s Un|truth, it being known, that &s;everal of tho&s;e Camero|nians have been reclaimed by their Admonitions; and if the Malice of Hell did not induce the Pre|lati&s;ts and Papi&s;ts to ob&s;truct the &s;ettlement of Pres|bytery, there is no doubt of the reclaiming of the re&s;t, their difference not being &s;o much in Principle, as in mi&s;taken Matters of Fact; and there are very few, if any of them, chargeable with tho&s;e <HI>German</HI> Ana|bapti&s;t Principles he talks of; though &s;ome, by the Ty|ranny of the late Government, abetted by the Prelati&s;ts, and for want of a free Exerci&s;e of Presbyterian Di&s;ci|pline (which informs Mens Heads, but does not, ac|cording to that of the Prelats, knock out their Brains) run into unwarrantable Exce&s;&s;es; and by mi&s;take con|cluded, becau&s;e the late Government acted &s;o like the Devil, that it was thereby di&s;&s;olved, and every one left to his Primitive Liberty; not con&s;idering, that the People had not then, though they have &s;ince, ca&s;heer'd it by their Repre&s;entatives.</P>
<P>And whereas he aggravates the turning out of &s;ome of the Prelatical Hirelings, before any thing was done in Parliament again&s;t them: There are none who throughly under&s;tand that Matter, will think it &s;o culpa|ble as he would render it, e&s;pecially when it is con&s;i|dered that the Government was di&s;&s;olved, and the Peo|ple in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of their Native Right, it will appear no
<PB N="20" REF="12">Wonder that they &s;hould di&s;charge &s;uch to preach, as their Mini&s;ters, who were obtruded upon them by Force, and into the Labours of Faithful Mini&s;ters, ex|truded by Violence; but e&s;pecially they being void of all Piety, having entred upon the Mini&s;try with no other De&s;ign, but as Men do upon an ordinary Calling, to get a Livelihood, having no other Ordination, but the Col|lation of a prophane Bi&s;hop, who arrogates to him&s;elf the &s;ole Power of Ordaining; and declares all the Or|dination of the Reformed Churches abroad to be void, while he holds that of the Church of <HI>Rome</HI> to be valid; and it being a known Practice among&s;t them to chop and change Benefices for Advantages and Conveniency, as Men do Hor&s;es and Cows. But who&s;oever con&s;iders that the&s;e Hirelings had been the occa&s;ion of &s;o much Rapine, Profanity, Blod, and Deva&s;tation in the We&s;t of <HI>Scotland,</HI> where, by their means, Sir <HI>Ja. Turner,</HI> with a Body of Helli&s;h, Prelatical, Lowland Souldiers, was brought to wa&s;te the Country upon the account of Non|conformity, as formerly hinted; and twice afterwards an Ho&s;t of Popi&s;h Savage Highlanders, (then the Epi&s;|copal Converters, and now their Champions) were brought upon them with a de&s;ign to depopulate the Country in a time of great Peace and Quiet; by which means a Famine was brought on tho&s;e Parts, whereof many died, though the mo&s;t indu&s;trious People in the Kingdom.</P>
<P>If it be further con&s;idered, what they &s;uffered af|terwards on the account of the In&s;urrections at <HI>Both|wel</HI>-Bridg, and that by the Earl of <HI>Argyle,</HI> both occa|&s;ioned by the Prelati&s;ts, in&s;omuch that there was &s;carce|ly a Family in the We&s;t which had not &s;uffered, either by Free-quarter, Fining, Confining, Rape, Exile, Mur|der, Famine; yea, even many of the Prelati&s;ts them|&s;elves, either in their Families or Relations, it being very well known that the Highlanders &s;poiled all with|out di&s;tinction, where they could with conveniency; and were &s;o bruti&s;h and inhumane, as to tear the Mort-cloaths, (or Pall,) from Corps going to be buried,
<PB N="21" REF="12">which they afterwards converted into Caps. Now, I &s;ay, all the&s;e Barbarities con&s;idered, which that poor Country &s;uffered upon the account of tho&s;e Hirelings, it may rather &s;eem Matter of Wonder, that they &s;hould have been &s;o moderate as to content them|&s;elves with turning them out, and not have vented their Re&s;entments in the utter de&s;truction of them, who had occa&s;ioned the de&s;truction of &s;o many; and certainly if Grace had not &s;ubdued Humane Pa&s;&s;ion, they would have done &s;o: And I appeal to the Prelati&s;ts own Con&s;cien|ces, whether they could have carried it with &s;o much moderation to tho&s;e who had but half &s;o much in|jured them.</P>
<P>And as for the Contempt the People &s;hewed of them, after the abolition of Epi&s;copacy, it denotes how they had behaved them&s;elves when in Power; for, &s;etting a&s;ide &s;ome prophane Athei&s;tical Wretches, it was never known that the generality of the People did &s;o much vilify the Nonconformi&s;t Mini&s;ters, when under the &s;e|vere&s;t Laws: And it demon&s;trates clearly, that they were under the Effects of the Threatning, <HI>becau&s;e they made the Sacrifice of the Lord Vile, he made them con|temptible before the people;</HI> who if they had profited by them, would never have trampled upon them. And the true Rea&s;on of the Peoples di&s;regard, our Author by chance ingenuou&s;ly acknowledges, though he did not intend &s;o much, when he &s;ays in expre&s;s Terms, <HI>The Ejected complained not &s;o much of their being depri|ved, as that all the Profits of the Year were denied them.</HI> It being ju&s;t the vulgar and true ob&s;ervation of them, <HI>That they cared more for the Fleece, than for the Flock.</HI> And though as to Preaching &s;ucce&s;sfully and faithfully they were dumb Dogs, yet they could call for <HI>their Gain from their Quarter.</HI> And their complaining 2o much of their Danger from the People, puts me in mind of a Gentleman's Saying in the We&s;t of <HI>Scotland,</HI> who&s;e Protection they demanded, for fear of the Peo|ple, at their fir&s;t being obtruded upon them; which was thus: <Q REND="margQuotes">If you be God's Mini&s;ters, let God protect
<PB N="22" REF="13">you; tho&s;e who were here before you, never needed nor &s;ought, our Protection: And it is a 2hrewd ground of &s;u&s;picion to the People, that you are not God's Mini&s;ters, when you mu&s;t have &s;uch wicked Means and In&s;truments to pre&s;erve you.</Q> The poor man being con&s;cious of his own Wickedne&s;s, and knowing all their Abetters to be &s;uch.</P>
<P>Then he complains, that tho&s;e who would not pray as commanded, were ejected; wherein he hatefully pre|varicates, and de&s;ignedly pa&s;&s;es over what they were commanded to pray, <HI>viz.</HI> for <HI>their pre&s;ent Maje&s;ties;</HI> which may be &s;een in the printed Journals of the Scotch Parliament; wherein all mode&s;t Men cannot but ju&s;tify their Conduct; for though there might have been other Grounds enough to have deprived mo&s;t of them, as Scan|dal, In&s;ufficiency, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> yet that they &s;hould have no rea|&s;on to complain of prejudicated Judges, and that their Knavery might be evidenced to the World, the Parlia|ment, with a con&s;ummate prudence, chu&s;ed to make their Loyalty to the government their Te&s;t; and not one was authoritatively turned out, but upon the ac|count of refu&s;ing to pray for their Maje&s;ties, and read the Declaration; and tho&s;e who were (de&s;ervedly e|nough) turned out by the People, were by Act of Coun|cil re&s;tored again, till &s;uch time as they underwent a legal Trial. But &s;uppo&s;ing it hard mea&s;ure, if they had any Con&s;cience, they might herein acknowledg the Ju|&s;tice of God, if they con&s;ider that the Presbyterian Mi|ni&s;ters were turned out, meerly becau&s;e they would not acknowledg the Prelats, though willing enough to own the Civil Government: And Malice it &s;elf mu&s;t needs own the Moderation of our pre&s;ent Sovereign, when compared with their Darlings of Heaven, <HI>Charles</HI> and <HI>James,</HI> that hanged tho&s;e, who upon better (though mi&s;taken) Principles, refu&s;ed to pray for them. And if his pre&s;ent Maje&s;ty exceed any way, it is in Mercy to tho&s;e who profe&s;&s;edly di&s;own his Title; for never was any Government known &s;o mild towards tho&s;e who re|fu&s;e to own it; and the lea&s;t Puni&s;hment that can be, is to
<PB N="23" REF="13">turn &s;uch from their Employments. And what kind of Friend to the Government this Pampheleteer is, who complains of Inju&s;tice in depriving of &s;uch Men, may be ca&s;ily gue&s;&s;ed.</P>
<P>As for his hear-&s;ay Violences u&s;ed to their Clergy, whereof the mo&s;t atrocious In&s;tances are the killing of one, and daubing his Face with Excrements, and a|bu&s;ing the Wife of another though in Child-bed; they are Helli&s;h Prelatical Lyes, and we challenge him to make good his A&s;&s;ertions, that any Presbyterians were concerned in tho&s;e Inhumanities, which if any &s;uch hap|pened, look liker the bruti&s;h impudent Fury of 2ome E|pi&s;copalians, who&s;e Relations have perhaps &s;uffered by the Information or Rage of tho&s;e Curates, who&s;e malici|ous Carriage hath &s;everal times drawn upon them the Re&s;entments of tho&s;e of their own communion, to re|venge the Injuries offered to their Wives, Children, and remoter Relations, of which we can give many In|&s;tances if needful: but that we may be a&s;&s;ured they are impudent atrocious Lies, he neither gives Time, nor Place, nor Name of tho&s;e Per&s;ons &s;o abu&s;ed, which to be &s;ure he would if he could: only he tells you, <HI>he has been told &s;o, and he cannot certainly tell you who did it, though their Neighbours threatned thom:</HI> Ju&s;t like the In&s;tance of Papaprelatical Veracity u&s;ed by the D. or <HI>York,</HI> and his Epi&s;copal Council of <HI>Scotland</HI> again&s;t the Univer&s;ity of <HI>Edinburgh,</HI> when they had affronted him by burning the Pope in <HI>December</HI> 1680. they fir&s;t alledged that the Students threatned to burn the Provo&s;t's Hou&s;e, becau&s;e he like a Blockhead had &s;uffered the King's Souldiers to enter the City (contrary to his own Oath, and the Towns Priviledges) to prevent the burning of the Pope, and when they had buzzed about this &s;uppo&s;ed Threatning, then they burn'd it them&s;elves, and charged the Students with it no make them odious, and find Occa&s;ion of di&s;&s;olving the Univer&s;ity, which they did for &s;ome time, and though the &s;aid Students offered to come to any legal Trial for their Vindication, it was never accepted, becau&s;e the Council knew it could be
<PB N="24" REF="14">proved that &s;ome of the Duke's Livery were &s;een come from the Hou&s;e, ju&s;t as it took fire, and that a Barrel of Powder having the Ca&s;tle-Mark on it, which it was not po&s;&s;ible for any to come at, but from the King's Am|munition, was found in the Park near the &s;aid Hou&s;e: The mo&s;t violent Pro&s;ecutors of the &s;aid Students, were the Bi&s;hops of St. <HI>Andrews, Edinburgh,</HI> and the profane Ru&s;&s;ian Sir <HI>William Rather&s;on,</HI> then Clerk to the council, and as great a Whore-ma&s;ter as his Brother the Bi&s;hop, who both of them particularly, when the Students were examined by the Council about the Pope-burning, took care to have that Que&s;tion ask'd at them, if they went to Church, knowing the Prelati&s;ts had not &s;uch a Hatred at Popery as the others; which as it was di&s;covered then, appears above board now, when they joyn actual|ly with the Papi&s;ts in Arms again&s;t the pre&s;ent Govern|ment in that Kingdom, and according to our la&s;t Ad|vices from <HI>Ireland,</HI> the Robels build their great Hopes upon an A&s;&s;ociation of the <HI>Scots</HI> Prelati&s;ts, who have &s;worn Allegiance to their pre&s;ent Maje&s;ties, that they may have the greater Opportunity of undermining them.</P>
<P>Our Author in the next place re&s;olves to give us a touch of his Hyperbolical (or rather helli&s;h becau&s;e ly|ing) Oratory, <HI>That it's beyond the Power of Words to ex|pre&s;s their Mi&s;ery to that Degree as they &s;uffer it.</HI> But I would have him to remember that there are Epi&s;copal Inhumanities which we have felt of a far higher Nature than tho&s;e he fal&s;ly alledges they &s;uffer, <HI>viz.</HI> Rapes, Ra|pine, Murder, Hanging, Drowning, Beheading, Fa|mine, torturing with Boots, Thumikins, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> which we have Words to expre&s;s, and pray if he can let him give us In&s;tances of their Sufferings to the De|gree.</P>
<P>This next Reflection is upon the want of Divine Ser|vice in many Churches for &s;ome Months: to which he may readily be an&s;wered, That mo&s;t of them have wanted it ever &s;ince the Re&s;titution of Prelacy, for what Service has been in them &s;ince, it has by its Effects
<PB N="25" REF="14">proved far enough from being Divine, as may be &s;een by their want of Converts, of which we challenge the whole Party to produce any if they can; Perverts we are &s;ure they may: and therefore we give them the like Choice, as <HI>Elijah</HI> gave to <HI>Baal</HI>'s Prie&s;ts; <HI>The God that an&s;wereth by Fire, let him be God.</HI> Let tho&s;e who&s;e Mi|ni&s;try God has owned by the Seal of Conver&s;ion, be his Mini&s;ters, and the others not; and we are &s;ure to find the <HI>Scots</HI> Prelatical Curates to be excluded, and that Threatning exactly fulfilled on them, <HI>Becau&s;e you ran, and I have not &s;ent you; therefore you &s;hall not profit my People:</HI> whereby God hath owned our Cau&s;e, and maintained the Truth of our Arguments again&s;t their Mi&s;&s;ion and Ordination. Not that I would accu&s;e all who cannot perhaps give Proof of their Mini&s;try by Conver&s;ion as no Mini&s;ters, knowing that God is So|veraign, and may u&s;e in that Work whom he plea&s;es, but I &s;ay that con&s;idering their way of Ordination, and coming in upon Flocks which they have maintained af|ter &s;o much Light to the contrary, in Oppo&s;ition to that Way which is clearly exhibited in the Word, their Univer&s;al want of Succe&s;s, while God hath ble&s;&s;ed their Oppo&s;ites with it, is to me as vi&s;ible a Demon|&s;tration that God owns our Cau&s;e, and di&s;owns theirs, as his burning up of <HI>Elijah</HI>'s Sacrifice, while that of the <HI>Baalicolites</HI> remained untouched, was, that he owned him as his Prophet, and di&s;owned them.</P>
<P>And that &s;ome Churches are unprovided, and others not &s;o well as they &s;hould be, is no Reflection upon us, but on them&s;elves, who have by their Inhumanity dimi|ni&s;hed the Number of our Mini&s;ters, prevented the breeding up of others, and at pre&s;ent ob&s;truct the Set|tlement of our Church, by their horrid Lies, and &s;ly malicious In&s;inuations. But when their Party was pre|dominant, I have &s;een &s;everal Churches, nay I am &s;ure the mo&s;t part of the Churches in &s;ome Counties, where there was little or no Divine Service, as they call it, be|cau&s;e the People could not be prevail'd upon to come and hear them, and in that ca&s;e let any Man judg whe|ther
<PB N="26" REF="15">it be fit to impo&s;e &s;uch a Mini&s;ter whom the People would not hear? or where have they a Precedent in the Scripture for &s;uch Practices?</P>
<P>Next he tell us that the Nobility, Gentry, and bet|ter &s;ort of the Commonalty re&s;pect the Per&s;ons and Functions, and extreamly commi&s;erate the Condition of their Clergy, <HI>&amp;c.</HI>&mdash;A Ma&s;s of malicious Impudence! Was it not the Nobility and Gentry, and the Repre&s;enta|tives of the Commonalty, that made tho&s;e Laws which turn'd them out, and decalred the Function of their Bi&s;hops an in&s;upportable Grievance to the Nation? Where were their Advocates then, why did they not ap|pear in Parliament, or wherefore did not their Nobility and Gentry, if there were &s;o many of them, enter their Prote&s;tation again&s;t tho&s;e Laws? We hear but of very few of their Advocates there, and tho&s;e who did plead for them, were &s;uch as had been imbrued in Presbyte|rian Blood, and con&s;equently under <HI>Cain</HI>'s Dread, and have been actually que&s;tioned &s;ince by the Parliament, as di&s;&s;affected to the pre&s;ent Government: and the Truth is, they have few Friends but &s;uch as if they had Pow|er would mole&s;t it, as the late Vi&s;count <HI>Dundee,</HI> who was the fir&s;t that made any Appearance for them, and did at the &s;ame time declare again&s;t the Government: And that the better &s;ort of the Commonalty are their Friends, is a helli&s;h Lie, except the Ignorant, Pro&s;ane, Swearing, Cur&s;ing, Drunken, Whoring Rabble, and &s;uch as have no Wor&s;hip of God in their Families (as not one in a thou&s;and of the Prelati&s;ts have &s;o much as the Form of it) be the be&s;t, and tho&s;e who walk in the contrary steps be the wor&s;t: I appeal to their own Con&s;ciences if they do not know this to be true, and to all Men of any Morality, who make Con&s;cience of &s;peaking Truth to &s;ay to the contrary if they can, and whether this A&s;&s;ertion of his be not an impudent Lie in the Face of God and Man, it being very well known that debauched Per&s;ons were always their greate&s;t Friends, and that the Generality of tho&s;e who had any Piety were their profe&s;&s;ed Oppo&s;ers.</P>
<PB N="27" REF="15">
<P>And as for their Clergy's Inclinations to the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Liturgy, and comforting their Souls with it in their Di&s;tre&s;s. Whatever Influence it may have upon many of the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Clergy to a&s;&s;i&s;t them, who will a thou&s;and to one be readier to do that, than &s;wear Allegiance to their Soveraigns, it will be found but an inau&s;picious Argu|ment with their own Country-men, and perhaps may arm the Good-women with their Folding-&s;tools once more again&s;t them, as it did formerly in <HI>Charles</HI> the fir&s;t's time, when one of the Bi&s;hops begun to read the Com|mon-Prayer (which &s;he called <HI>Papery</HI>) in her Ears. And indeed it verifies what the Di&s;&s;enters have always &s;aid of them, that they were &s;trangers to the Power of Godli|ne&s;s, and not knowing how to pray without, mu&s;t now have Recour&s;e to a Form, of which whatever need may be pretended for the Weak, they are as unrea&s;onable and unnatural an Impo&s;ition upon the Strong, but e&s;peci|ally on Mini&s;ters in the Exerci&s;e of all their Mini&s;terial Duties, as would be the impo&s;ing of Crutches upon the Adult and able part of Mankind, who can walk better without them; and u&s;e them who will, if they have any Experience of Chri&s;tianity on their Souls, they will quickly find the be&s;t of their Forms as defective and ill &s;uited to their various Needs, as the poor Man did, who came to the Par&s;on for a Prayer to quench his burning Hou&s;e.&mdash;The Prie&s;t turning over his Book, and find|ing none for the purpo&s;e, at la&s;t bethought him&s;elf of that for Rain, which being only for moderate Showers; the poor Man finding that not to reach his ca&s;e, cried, <HI>Nay, Good Lord, whole Buckets full, for moderate Showers will not do my turn.</HI></P>
<P>His topping Reflection comes next, that the <HI>Scots</HI> Presbyterians pray <HI>that God will put down the Anti-Chri&s;ti|an Hierarchy</HI> al&s;o in <HI>England.</HI> But he &s;uppo&s;es that to proceed from Zeal, rather than Encouragement of Au|thority, though he wi&s;hes there were no Features in the pre&s;ent Face of things that encourages &s;uch &s;ad Prog|no&s;tications;&mdash;<HI>Hinc illae lacrymae.</HI></P>
<PB N="28" REF="16">
<P>Pray good Sir, Is it not as lawful for the <HI>Scots</HI> Presby|terians to pray again&s;t the Hierarchy as <HI>Anti-chri&s;tian,</HI> as it was for a Metropolitan of <HI>England</HI> in the la&s;t Par|liament to declare the <HI>Di&s;&s;enters were not Chri&s;tians?</HI> and be it known to his Lord&s;hip, I'le undertake to prove the former, as &s;oon as he &s;hall have made good the latter. Or, farther, why may not the <HI>Scots</HI> Presbyterians as well pray again&s;t the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Hierarchy, as the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Cler|gy, and Prelates too, Plot, Drink, and Plead (we know where) again&s;t the <HI>Scots</HI> Presbytery? and I believe they would pray again&s;t it al&s;o, but that they have not a Form for it, whih they may ea&s;ily provide for now, that they are about mending the Liturgy, and then there will be <HI>quid pro quo</HI>&mdash;. And whereas he &s;uppo&s;es they are not herein encouraged by Authority: If he means the Authority of <HI>England,</HI> it's Non&s;en&s;e, for they have nothing to do with it: but if he mean the Authority of <HI>Scotland,</HI> he di&s;covers his Ignorance and Saucine&s;s; for it is plain they have done what was proper for a Civil Government (as &s;uch) to do, <HI>viz.</HI> they have declared the Hierarchy (as to their own part) <HI>Antihumane,</HI> that is, contrary to the Peoples Inclinations, and an in&s;upporta|ble Grievance to the Nation; and I &s;uppo&s;e are &s;o good natured to wi&s;h their Neighbours were rid of it too; and &s;o much the rather that they have &s;o often found, and do &s;till find their impo&s;ing &s;awcy Intrigues again&s;t the Kingdom of <HI>Scotland,</HI> where they have nothing to do; wherein if they per&s;i&s;t, it may perhaps (and let them blame them&s;elves for it) prove as fatal to them as it did in the Days of <HI>Laud.</HI></P>
<P>But &s;eeing our Author is &s;o good a Phy&s;iognomi&s;t, as to di&s;cover Features in the pre&s;ent Face of Affairs, encouraging &s;uch &s;ad Progno&s;tications as the Fall of the Church of <HI>England</HI>'s Hierarchy, he would have done well to have di&s;covered them, that if po&s;&s;ible the Effects might be prevented; but this I &s;uppo&s;e is re&s;erved to the next <HI>Se&s;&s;ion at the Devil,</HI> where the Pillars of the Hierarchy, it's po&s;&s;ible, may find &s;ome new Props, or Buttere&s;&s;es, if his Maje&s;ty's Oath, repeated A&s;&s;urances,
<PB N="29" REF="16">and Acts of Parliament, be not Security enough. But though the Scribler would by this In&s;tance, according to the u&s;ual practices of the Papi&s;ts, (whereof the Church of <HI>England</HI> will never learn to be aware) in|cen&s;e them again&s;t his Maje&s;ty, as endeavouring to bring in Presbytery, becau&s;e he has in &s;ome part gratified the Inclinations of his Maje&s;ty's Subjects in <HI>Scotland:</HI> they may a&s;&s;ure them&s;elves, that &s;o long as they can &s;ecure to their Hierarchy the Inclinations of the generality of the People of <HI>England,</HI> they need not fear that his Ma|je&s;ty, who aboli&s;hed it, to &s;atisfy the Inclinations of his People in <HI>Scotland,</HI> will do the like here, contrary to the Inclinations of his People in <HI>England;</HI> having drawn his fir&s;t Breath in a Country where the People are &s;uffered to follow their Inclinations in Matters of Religion, and not cudgell'd (according to the manner of &s;ome) into a Ceremonial Uniformity, where there is a &s;ub&s;tantial Multiformity. And there would be &s;o much the le&s;s hazard of their lo&s;ing the Inclinations of the People, if the People perceived his Maje&s;ty had more of theirs; for they cannot &s;uppo&s;e the People ignorant, that al|mo&s;t all of the Hierarchy (Bi&s;hops at lea&s;t) oppo&s;ed his coming to the Crown of <HI>England;</HI> which in a great mea&s;ure ob&s;tructed the Relief, and con&s;equently occa|&s;ioned the Ruin of <HI>Ireland;</HI> nor that they do not ob|&s;erve how the Metropolitan of all <HI>England,</HI> and too ma|ny of the re&s;t, di&s;own him &s;till: Nor have they forgot, that upon the Oppo&s;ition the Abdication and Vacancy of the Throne met with from the Mitred Lords; that when the Matter came to the Lower Hou&s;e again, they were followed by about 150 of the Commons; and con&s;equently the Nation at the very brink of De&s;tru|ction, by the moro&s;ity of the Mitres, which occa&s;ioned &s;evere Reflections upon them by &s;ome of their own Co|ronets, <HI>viz.</HI> That they generally found the Bi&s;hops to be again&s;t that which was for the Nation's Good, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> And how&s;oever the late Oppo&s;ition which they made to the late King may be magnified; they &s;eem quickly to have repented of it, when &s;o many of the &s;ame Men
<PB N="30" REF="17">are at this Day oppo&s;ite to his pre&s;ent Maje&s;ty's Title. But &s;uppo&s;ing they had continued &s;tedfa&s;t to the Na|tion's Intere&s;t; whatever good Nature might have done, I am &s;ure Ju&s;tice would not have awarded them any Thanks, but &s;uch as are due to Him, who after he hath broke my Head, allows me a Plai&s;ter: Which will ap|pear undeniably true, if we con&s;ider that they threw out the Bill of Exclu&s;ion, which makes them chargeable with all the Mi&s;chiefs pa&s;t, pre&s;ent, and to come, from that unhappy Reign. And if they per&s;i&s;t in &s;uch Cour|&s;es, it cannot but be thought that, early or late, the Na|tion may come to enquire what &s;ort of Men they were who preached up Di&s;pen&s;ing Power, Pa&s;&s;ive Obedience, Non-re&s;i&s;tance, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> And who were the mo&s;t zealous in promoting Abhorrences of Petitions for a Parliament, reading <HI>Charles</HI> the Second's Declaration for di&s;&s;olving that of <HI>Oxford,</HI> promi&s;ing to a&s;&s;i&s;t and &s;tand by him and the Duke of <HI>York;</HI> publi&s;hing the Prote&s;tant Plots from their Pulpits; whence they ridiculed that of the Papi&s;ts; which the Mitres are &s;till &s;o unwilling to have believed, that mo&s;t of them oppo&s;ed the rever&s;ing of the Judg|ment of <HI>Perjury</HI> given again&s;t Dr. <HI>Oates,</HI> who (though little regarded) did the Nation more Service than the Seven idolized Stars, &s;o many of whom are now turned dark Lanthorns. Nor can it ever be forgot how many of the Inferior Clergy, following the conduct of their Triple-headed Guide, advanced the Intere&s;t of the Triple Crown, and &s;ome of them topping Ones too, at the Hour of Death, grated with their &s;lavi&s;h Non-&s;en&s;ical Doctrine of Non-re&s;i&s;tance, upon the Con&s;ciences of the Noble Hero's and Darlings of the People, the Lord <HI>Ru&s;&s;el,</HI> and Duke of <HI>Monmouth,</HI> upon the very Scaf|folds: and if the contrary Doctrine be damnable, as they alledged then, I am &s;ure their Church hath been guilty of damnable Practices &s;ince.</P>
<P>As for his malicious In&s;inuation, That it is not the want of Affection to the pre&s;ent E&s;tabli&s;hment that in|cen&s;es the People of <HI>Scotland</HI> again&s;t the Epi&s;copal Par|ty, he may remember that he contradicts him&s;elf in the
<PB N="31" REF="17">fir&s;t Page, where he &s;ays, That the Addre&s;s of the Bi&s;hops again&s;t the Prince of <HI>Orange,</HI> incen&s;ed the inferi|or People again&s;t them: So we &s;ee the Proverb verified, that <HI>Liars had need of good Memories.</HI></P>
<P>And whereas he &s;ays, That &s;ome of the Clergy ex|pelled <HI>Scotland,</HI> conform in all Points when they came to <HI>England,</HI> it needs better proof than his A&s;&s;ertion to give it credit: For what Rea&s;on can there be to own his Maje&s;ty's Authority in <HI>England,</HI> that might not have prevailed with them to do it in <HI>Scotland?</HI> Let any rea|&s;onable An&s;wer be given to this; and if there be any who do that here, pretending they were turned out by Authority upon anyother Account there, or that they may not have the Protection of Authority to &s;tay there; he would do well to give us their Names, and we doubt not to prove them Infamous, Scandalous, Lying Runna|gates, of which we know there are too many who make it their Work to incen&s;e the Church of <HI>England</HI> again&s;t, and make them jealous of his Maje&s;ty: Of which Num|ber this Pamphleteer &s;eems to be, by his malicious In&s;i|nuation, <HI>That Ce&s;ar's Ear is not open to hear their Com|plaints;</HI> a &s;editious Reflection, as if his Maje&s;ty denied Common Ju&s;tice to any of his Subjects; which Autho|rity is obliged to enquire into and puni&s;h.</P>
<P>And whereas he alledges, That the Sufferings of the&s;e infamous Hirelings, are not unlike tho&s;e of the Primi|tive Chri&s;tians. To which of the Saints will he turn him? or where will he find an In&s;tance in the Primitive Church, That the Mini&s;ters adhered to a per&s;ecuting Pa|gan Prince, brought to the Crown by Force and Fraud, again&s;t a Chri&s;tian King duly elected by the People? Let him give me &s;uch an one, <HI>Et erit mihi Magnus Apollo.</HI></P>
<P>But to conclude, with a true Character of the&s;e Scoti&s;h Prelati&s;ts, They are not &s;uch as out of Con&s;ci|ence decline to own the pre&s;ent Government; but knowing them&s;elves either to have been wicked Per&s;ecu|tors, of &s;candalous Lives, or In&s;ufficient, &s;o as that
<PB N="32" REF="18">they could not be continued in the Pa&s;toral Charge un|der any good Government; They thought it be&s;t to come off with a little Credit, and pretend Loyalty to the Abdicated Prince.</P>
<P>I conclude, with an obte&s;tation to all &s;ober Men, not to regard the Gain-&s;ayings of Hectors, Ruffians, prophane Fellows, Cur&s;ers <HI>Jacobites,</HI> Swearers, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> to any thing here delivered, though they &s;hould confirm their Atte|&s;tations with execrable Oaths, for they may be &s;ure that &s;uch as make no Con&s;cience to &s;wear, will make none to lie.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
