The Scotch Presbyterian eloquence, or, The foolishness of their teaching discovered from their books, sermons and prayers and some remarks on Mr. Rule's late Vindication of the kirk

SECT. 1. (Book 1)

The true Character of the Presbyterian Pastors and People in Scotland. (Book 1)

OUR Blessed Saviour, in his Sermon on the Mount, bids us beware of false Teachers; and tells us, That by their Fruits we may know them: Such Fruits are not open and publick Scandals, for then the simple Multitude (that measure Re∣ligion by the Sound and not by the Sense) could not so easily be deluded by them. It must be acknowledged, that the End of Preaching should be the Edification of the Hearers; the Design of it being to perswade Men to Piety towards God, and Charity towards one another, and to draw the Image of God upon the Souls of Men. But it will appear from what follows, That the Scotch Presbyterians Sermons have no such tendency; for the Preachers themselves (who would have the world believe, that they only are the Powerful, and Soul-refreshing Gospel∣lers) have not been industrious to draw the likeness of God upon the Hearts of their Hearers, but meerly to im∣press their own Image there; that is, they labour'd not to make good Christians, but rigid Prebyterians▪

That I may not be thought to assert this without ground (for I would not slander the Devil) I shall first give you the true Character of the Presbyterian Pastors and People. 2. I shall say before you, some remarkable passages taken out of their own Printed Books, to con∣firm this Character. 3. Some special Notes (written from their own Mouths) as they preach'd them under

the happy Reign of K. Charles II, and since the late Re∣volution. Lastly, I shall give you some taste of that Extemporary Gibberish, which they use instead of Pray∣er, and for which they have justled out, not only all the Liturgies of the Pure and Primitive Church, but e∣ven the Lord's Prayer it self, because it is an evident Ar∣gument and Pattern for Christians praying in a set Form; and in all this I shall say nothing but what I know to be true, and what I am ready to make appear to be so, upon a fair and free tryal, if that may be had where Presbyterians Rule.

In the first Place, then I am to give you the true Character of Presbyterian Pastors and People. I shall be∣gin with the People, for they are truly the Guides, and their Pastors must follow them, whom they pretend to Conduct. For the Preachers of the new Gospel, knowing that their trade hath no old nor sure Foundation, they are forced to flee to this new and unaccountable Notion, that the Calling and Constituting of Ministers is in the Power of the Mob: Now the World knows by too long and sad Experience, that their Mobile is not led by Reason nor Religion, but by Fancy and Imagination; so that we may be sure when the Election of Ministers is put in their hands, they will chuse none but such as will readily sooth and indulge them in their most extravagant and mad Humors: What Ministers can be expected from the choice of a People void of common Sense, and guided by irregular Passions, who torture the Scripture, making it speak the Language of their deluded Imaginations. They will tell you, that ye ought to fight the Battels of the Lord, because the Scripture says in the Epistle to the Hebrews, Without shedding of Blood there is no Remissi∣on. They are generally Covetous and Deceitful; and the Preaching they are bred with, hath no tendency to work them into the contrary Virtues. They call Peace,

Love, Charity, and Justice, not Gospel, but dry Mora∣lity only. I had once very great difficulty to convince one of them, that it was a Sin for him to cheat and im∣pose upon his Neighbour in matters of Trade, by con∣cealing the faults of his Goods from the Buyer. He ask'd my Reason: I told him, Because he would not wish one to deal so with himself. That is (said he again) but Mo∣rality: for if I shall believe in Christ I shall be saved. I ask'd him, Was not this Christ's saying, Whatsoever ye would that others should do unto you, that do you unto others? Yes, he said, that was good, but that Christ, because of the hardness of the Jews Hearts spake very much Morality with his Gospel. The poor man spoke as he was taught and bred in the Conventicles; for it will be very long e're they hear a Sermon upon Just Dealing, or Restitution of ill-gotten Goods; and who knows not that despising of Dominions, speaking evil of Dignities, and rising in Arms against the Lord's Anointed, is with them but fighting the Battels of the Lord. One George Flint, in the Parish of Smalholm, in the Shire of Teviotdate, was look'd upon as a very great Saint among them; and yet out of Zeal against the Government, he kept a Dog whom he named Charles, after the King; and a Cat which he named Ka∣therine, after the Queen; and another Dog whom he named Gideon, after the Minister of the Parish. They are a People that will not Swear in common Discourse for a World, yet they never scruple before a Judge, any Perjury that may seem to advance the Cause, nor stand in their ordinary dealings to cheat for a penny; nay, Murther it self becomes a Virtue when the work of the Covenant seems to require it; and the new Gospel which they Pro∣fess is so far from condemning Lying, Cheating, Mur∣ther and Rebellion, when committed to fulfil the Ends of the Solemn League, that many of these whom they reckon Martyrs, have at their Execution gloried in

these Crimes, as the sure Evidences of their Salvation.

Morality being thus discountenanced by the generality of that Party, the poor People are thereby lock'd up in a Cell of Ignorance. This did clearly appear, when the Laws, in the former Government, discharg'd Conventicles, the people being brought thereby home to the Churches: When the Ministers began to Catechise them in the Prin∣ciples of the Christian Religion, they found them grosly Ignorant; for when they were desired to repeat the Creed, Lord's-Prayer, and Ten Commandments; they told they were above these childish Ordinances; for if they believed in Christ, they were certainly well: And yet these Ig∣norants would Adventure to pray Ex tempore, and in their Families to Lecture on the most mysterious Cha∣pters of Ezekiel, Daniel, or the Revelation. A grave and good Minister told me, that upon a certain occasion he desired a very zealous She-Saint to repeat the Creed: And that she return'd this Answer, I know not what ye mean by the Creed. Did not your Father, says the Mini∣ster, promise to bring you up in that Faith? Indeed did he not (said she) for I thank my Saviour, that Superstition was not in my Father's time. What then was in your Fa∣ther's time? (said the Minister.) It was (said she) the holy Covenant, which you have put away. Whether was it the Covenant of Works or Grace? said the Minister. Cove∣nant of Works, said she, that is handy Labour. It was the Covenent of Grace which was made with Adam, and which all of you have put away. At Night she went home, and a number of the sighing Fraternity flock'd after, pre∣tending to hear her pray: Their Family Exercise being ended, she told them the Conference that pass'd betwixt the Curate and her, and they all concluded she had the better, and that she was certainly more than match for the ablest Curate in that Country.

Generally their Conventicles produced very many Ba∣stards, and the Excuses they made for that, was, Where Sin abounds, the Grace of God superabounds. There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ. Sometimes this, The Lambs of Christ may sport together: To the pure all things are pure. Nay, generally they are of Opinion, That a Man is never a true Saint, till he have a sound fall, such as that of David's with Bathsheba. The following Narration of a well known Truth shall serve for Instance.

A party of King Charles II. his Guards being sent to ap∣prehend Mr. Dav. Williamson (one of the most Emi∣nent of their Ministers now in Edenburgh) for the fre∣quent Rebellion and Treason he preached then at Field Meetings; and the party having surrounded the House where he was, a Zealous Lady, Mistress of the House, being very Solicitous to conceal him, rose in all haste from her Bed, where she left her Daughter of about Eigh∣teen Years of Age, and having dress'd up the Holy Man's Head with some of her own Night Cloaths, she wittily advis'd him to take her place in the warm Bed with her Girl; to which he modestly and readly con∣sented: And knowing well how to employ his time, e∣specially upon such and extraordinary Call, to propagate the Image of the Party; while the Mother, to divert the Troopers enquiry, was treating them with strong drink in the Parlour; he to express his gratitude, applies him∣self with extraordinary Kindness to the Daughter, who finding him like to prove a very useful Man in his Gene∣ration, told her Mother she would have him for her Husband; to which the Mother, though otherwise un∣willing, yet for concealing the Scandal, out of Love to the Cause consented, when the mystery of the Ini∣quity, was wholly disclosed to her. This whole Story is as well known in Scotland, as that the Covenant

was begun and carried on by Rebellion and Oppres∣sion.

Nor was the Actor, who is at this day one of the chief Props of the cause,* 1.1 more admired for his extraordinary diligence and courage in this Matter, than for his ex∣cellent Invention in finding a passage of St. Paul's, to prove that the Scandal of this was very consistent with the state of a person truly Regenerate; Verily, I do not, said he, deny, but that, with St. Paul, I have a Law in my Members, warring against the Law of my Mind, and bring∣ing me into Captivity into the Law of Sin, which is in my Members. Now according to the Gloss which that whole Party puts upon this Scripture, saying, That St. Paul here speaks of himself, and does not personate an Un∣regenerate Man, this Defence of Williamson's must be allowed to be good; as also that the height of Carnality is consistent with the greatest Grace. Even so the Here∣ticks, in St. Peter's Days, wrested some things hard to be understood in St. Paul's Epistles, to their own Destru∣ction.

There was among them a married Woman near Eden∣burgh, who had paid several Fines for not going to Church, yet scrupled not to commit Adultery with one of the Earl of Marr's Regiment, and the Fellow himself: that was Guilty, told, out of detestation to their damnable Hypo∣crisie, that the vile Woman had the confidence, in time of her Abomination, to say to him; O you that are in Marr's Regiment, but you be pretty able Men, but yet ye art great Covenant Breakers; alas, few or none of you are Godly.

There are very many Instances of this Nature, but I shall only add one more which was old me by a Gen∣tleman of good Reputation and Credit, who himself con∣fessed to me, with regret, that in the heat of his Youth, he had been guilty of the Sin of Fornication with a Gentle∣woman of that Holy Sect; he says, that being with her

in a Garret, and she hearing some body coming up Stairs, she said to him, Ah, here's my Aunt, I must devise a Trick to divert her; upon which she ••ell a whining and howl∣ing aloud, as these People use to do at their most private Devotions, O to believe, to believe; O to have Experience, said she. And by that means she diverted her Aunts fur∣ther Approaching, who instantly retired, commending her Niece's Zeal and Devotion. The Gentleman con∣ceals the Woman's Name, out of regard to her Honour and his own; begs Pardon for the Sin, and tells it only to discover the abominable Nature of their Hypocrisie.

They are generally deluded by Persons that have but specious pretences to Godliness. And such is the force, that a loud Voice and a whining Tone, in broken and smother'd words, have upon the Animal Spirits of the Presbyterian Rabble; that they look not upon a Man as endued with the Spirit of God, without such canting and deformity of Holiness. A person that hath the dex∣terity of whining, may make a great Congreation of them weep with an Ode of Horace, or Eclogue of Virgil, especially if he can but drivel a little either at Mouth, or Eyes, when he repeats them. And such a person may pass for a Soul-ravishing spiritualist, if he can but set off his Nonsence with a wry mouth, which with them is called, A Grace pouring down Countenance. The snuffling and twang of the Nose, passes for the Gospel sound; and the throwings of the Face, for the motions of the Spirit. They are more concerned at the reading the Speeches of their Covenant Martyrs, yea such Martyrs as died for Rebellion and Murder, than in reading the Martyrdom of St. Stephen, or any of his Followers. A Sermon of mere Railing and Nonsence will af••ect them more than Christ's Sermon on the Mount; and no wonder, for all they do is to affect the Passions, and not the Judg∣ment.

One Mr. Daniel Douglass, an old Presbyterian Preacher in the Mers, simple man as to the World, yet of more Learning, Ingenuity and good Nature than most of them; he was not long agoe preaching before the meet∣ing of his Brethren, and agoe annalysing a Text Logical∣ly, and very remote from vulgar Capacities, yet so pow∣erful and melting was his Tone and Actions, that in the Congregation he spies a Woman weeping, and pointing towards her, he crys out, Wife, what makes you weep? I am sure thou understandest not what I am saying; my Disourse is directed to the Brethren, and not to the like of you; nay, I question whether the Brethren themselves un∣derstand this that I am speaking.

Several Instances can be given of their strong delusions; this is none of the least, that they take it for a sure Evi∣dence upon their Death-beds, that it's well with them, because they never heard a Curate in their lifetime. For an indulged Presbyterian, who is the Author of the Re∣view of the History of the Indulgence, tells us thus much, Page 527, and Page 528, That some of the leading people among the Presbyterians, were of Opinion, that Baptism by Episcopal Ministers is the mark of the Beast; and the hearing of them as unlawful as Fornication, Adultery, or the worshipping the Calves of Dan and Bethel: And I think that a Curate can tell no worse tale of them, than this, which a Presbyterian himself owns and declares to the World in Print.

I cannot here pass by what happen'd a few Years ago, in the Parish of Tindrum in the South-west; a person that was Executed for Bestiality there, in his Prayers bless'd God, that for a long time he had heard no Curate preach; at which the Hearts of some Presbyterian Saints began to warm with Affection to him, and exprest so much Cha∣rity, that upon that account they doubted not but that he might be saved; and were sorry that he was not al∣low'd

to live, because of the good that such a Zealous man might have done.

It is a well known truth in the Parish of Teviotdale, that two or three sighing Sisters, coming to a Man in Prison, the Night before he was burnt for Bestiality; the whol∣somest Advice they gave him was this, O Andrew, An∣drew, Andrew, all the Sins that ever you committed are nothing to your hearing the cursed Curates; if you get Par∣don for that Sin, Andrew, all is right with you.

A young Woman in Fife, Daughter to a Presbyterian Preacher there, reading that of St. Peter, Christ the Bishop of our Souls, blotted out the word (Bishop) and in the place thereof incerted Presbyterian of our Souls. And by the same Spirit of Biggotry, one of her Zealous Sisters in the same Family, tore every where out of her Bible the word Lord; Because, said she, it is polluted by being applied to the Profane Prelates.

Instances of their Madness and Delusions might swell into an huge Volume, but I shall only mention two or three which are commonly known. What greater In∣stance of Delusion, than that Seven or Eight thousand peo∣ple should be raised to Rebellion at Bothwel-bridge, from laboring their ground, and keeping their Sheep; and that by Sermons assuring them, that the very Windle∣straws, the Grass in the Field, and Stars in Heaven would fight for them: And that after the Victory they should possess the Kingdom themselves. O it's the promis'd Land, and you Israelites shall inherit it: but in this they found their Preachers to prove salve Prophets. After their De∣feat, a Gentleman told me; that going to view the Field, where the Battle was fought, he saw one in the Agony of death, crying out, Ah, cheated out of Life and Soul: The Gentleman inquired what he meant by that expressi∣on, Ah (said he) our Preachers, our Preachers, they made us believe, that as sure as the Bible was the word of God,

we should gain the day, for that the Windlestraws should fight for us.

About the same time a person of Quality returning from the West, with some of the King's Forces, being ne∣cessitate to lodge in a Country House, where there was but one Woman, and she with child; for the Men and all that were able to run, had fled out of the way. The Nobleman encouraged the poor Woman, desiring her not to be afraid; sent one upon his own Horse for Mid∣wife and other Women to attend her. The poor Woman surprised and encouraged with this unexpected kindness, began to talk more freely, and said, Sir, I see you that are Kings-men are not so ill as we heard ye were; for we heard that it was ordinary for you to rip up Women with Child; but pray will you tell me, Sir, what sort of Men are your Bishops? They are, said he, very good Men, and they are chosen out from among the Clergy to oversee the rest of the Ministers. But are they, says she, shapen like other Men? Why ask you that, said he? Because our Preachers made us believe, the Bishops were all cloven-footed. There is scarce one of an hundred among the Presbyterian Vulgar, that will be either reason'd or laugh'd out of the strange Opini∣ons they have of Bishops; as particularly, that they will not suffer Witches to be burnt, because (as they alledge) every Bishop loses five hundred Marks Scots, for every Witch that's burnt in his Diocess. Nay, the generality of The Presbyterian Rabble in the West, will not believe that Bishops have any Shadows, being perswaded by some of their Teachers, that the Devil hath taken away their Shadow as an earnest of the Substance, for their opposing of Covenant Work in the Land.

I shall add but one Instance more of the silliness of the Presbyterian People, and that is of a certain person well known both in the North and South of Scotland, for be∣ing not a degree and an half from an Idiot, and to be a

Man that can scarcely read an English Book. This per∣son takes on him to be a Preacher, and among Presbyte∣rian People has procured a great esteem to himself for a wonderful and rare Gospeller, for having not the least degree either of natural or acquir'd Parts, they therefore conclude him to have a large stock of Grace, and to be a most heavenly Man. He came lately to the Mers, where he was never known before, and lodging on a Sa∣turday's Night in a Country-town, he caused call in the good people in the Town to Prayers. Immediately the House was fill'd with a Crow'd, then he lectures to them on the first of Ezekiel, and he told them, that the Wheel spoken of in the Sixteenth Verse, was the Anti∣christ, and the Wheel in the middle was the Bishops and the Curates; For (says he) here's a Wheel within a Wheel, just so the Curates are within the Bishops, and both of them within Antichrist. Then the Wheels are (says my Text) lifted up; even so, Beloved the Bishops and Curates are lifted up; lifted up upon Coaches with four Wheels, just as Sathan lifted up Christ to the Pinacle of the Temple, but God will take the Hammer of the Covenant in his own Hand, and knock down these proud Prelates, and break all their Coaches and their Wheels to pieces, Beloved, and lay the Curates on their Backs, so that they shall never rise again; for the Prophet says here, that when they went they went up∣on their four sides, and they returned not when they went, Be∣loved: That you may see it very plain and clear, for tho' they may go out and Persecute God's own Covenanted People, yet they shall return falling upon their Broad-sides, and get such a fall that they shall never be able to stand or return to persecute the Godly, so long as they go upon their four sides, and are lifted up upon four Wheels. The people said, they never heard such a sweet Tongue in a Gracious Man's Head. He spoke much against those that took an Indul∣gence from K. James. The next day he told them, that

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the Episcopal Minister in the Parish was his Cousin, there∣fore he would go to Church, and hear how he could Preach. Truly, Sir (says the people) we shall go along with you wherever you go, albeit it be our ordinary to go to the Meeting house in the Parish. And that same very day he brought all the Dissenters in the Parish to the Church. The people intreated him to deal with the Minister to turn Presbyterian, and promis'd to desert the Meeting-house Preacher, whom they ordinarily heard, and to hear the Episcopal Minister upon his Conversion. He promised to deal very seriously with him: For that purpose, the next day he came to the Ministers House, and after a few sighs and affected groans, he expostulates thus, Dear Cousin, what makes you own perjur'd Episcopacy? What have you to say against that Office? replies the Minister. I have many Arguments, said he, and one I am sure you can never answer; and you will find it in Psal. 45. 1. My Heart enditeth a good thing: Now is not this, says he, a plain Argument agaist Bishops; for when will they endite good things? The people wondered that the Minister could not be perswaded by so clear an Argument, and said, Poor Soul, his Heart is heardened, he has not Grace enough to believe and be Converted. This Account is pro∣ved before very many famous witnesses in the City of Edinburgh. All I have told of them is truth, but the hundred part is not told. You may judge of the Tree by these Fruits; and of what a delicate Set of Reformers we have at his time in the West and South of Scotland.

I come in the next place, to give you a true Character of their Preachers. And truly, to be plain, they are a Proud, Sour, Inconversable Tribe, looking perfectly like the Pharisees, having Faces like their horrid Decree of Repro∣bation. They are without Humanity, void of common Civility, as well as Catholick Charity, so wholly enslaved to the Humours of their people, that they give no other

Reason why they converse not with Men of a different Opinon, but only that their People would take it very ill if they should. However, I fear there is something in it more, and that is, lest their Ignorance should be discover'd; for it's certain, they have as little Learning as good Nature: And we have both felt and seen, that that is next Neighbour to none at all.

They have their Souls cast into a different mould from all Christians in the World. There is no Church but they differ from, both in Worship and Practice: They have quite banish'd the use of the Lord's Prayer, and what ridi∣culous stuff they have foisted in for it, shall be told in its proper Place, The smoothest reason that they alledge for their forbearing it, is, That the use thereof is inconve∣nient. This is Dr. Rule's own Reason in that pretended Answer he has published to the Ten Questions concern∣ing Episcopal and Presbyterian Government in Scotland. Their famous Preacher James Kirktown, when one of the Magistrates of Edenburgh enquired why they did forbear the publick use of the Lord's Prayer? told down-right, be∣cause it was the badge of the Episcopal Worship. I doubt not but many have heard long ere now of a Conference that past betwixt my Lord B . . . and a ruling Elder in the North. In short it is this, Five Presbyterian Preachers, last Year, appointed themselves Judges, to purge Two or Three Diocesses in the North. They took to assist, or to accompany them, some whom they call Ruling-Elders, one of whom entreated my Lord B . . . to further with his help the happy and blessed Reformation, particularly by giving in Complaints against Ignorant, Scandalous, and Erroneous Ministers, that the Church of God might be replenished with the Faithful: Truly then (saith my Lord) there is one whom I can prove to be very Atheistical, Ignorant and Scandalous. At which the Ruling-Elder be∣gan to prick up is Ears; And pray you, Sir, (says he)

who is the Man? Indeed (says my Lord) I will be free with you, it is Mr. James Urquhart, one of your own Preachers, who is come with you now to sit as a Judge upon others; and by Witnesses of unquestionable Honesty I can make it appear that he said, If ever Christ was drunk upon Earth, it was when he made the Lords Prayer. And I ap∣peal to your self, who are a Ruling-Elder, whether or not this be Blasphemy? Some other things of Scandalous Nature I can prove against him. O but (says he) we are not come here to Judge our Brethren, our Business is with the Cu∣rates.

It is ordinary to hear their People say, That if Christ were on Earth again, he would think shame of that Form, that they could make better themselves, and that he was but young when he compos'd it. All which Blasphemies must needs be the Effects or Consequent of what they hear from their Preachers. And as for the Apostles Creed, it is not so much as once mentioned at the Baptising of Infants; for all that they require at Baptism, is, That the Father promise to breed up the Child in the Belief of the Westmin∣ster Confession of Faith, and that he shall adhere to all the National Engagements laying on them to be Presby∣terians.* 1.2

Here I cannot forget what Mr. John Dickson, Preacher in the Meeting-House at Kelso, said once in a Sermon; Ask (said he) an old dying Wife, if she hath any Evidence of Salvation, she will tell you, I hope so; for I believe the Apostles Creed, I am taken with the Lord's Prayer, and I know my Duty to the be Ten Commands. But I tell you, Sirs, there are but old rotten Wheel-barrows, to carry Souls to

Hell. These are Idols that the false Prelates and Curates have set up, to obstruct the Covenant and the Work of God in the Land.

For reading the Scriptures in Churches, they have abo∣lished that with the rest, and in place thereof, he that raises the Psalm reads the Sermon that was preach'd the Sabbath before; And for the Gospel Hymn, called the Doxology, or Gloria Patri, they reject that as a supersti∣tious prelatical Addition to the Word of God. A certain Maid being lately Catechised by one of these Preachers, the first question he propos'd to her was, Maggi, Now what think you are the Saints doing in Heaven? I know not, Sir: O Maggy, that is a very easie question, answer it, Maggy. I think then (said she) they are doing that in Heaven which ye will not let us do on Earth; What is that, Maggy? says he. They are singing Glory to the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Sir. Now that is your Mistake, Maggy (said he) for there's no such malignant Songs sung there; you have been quite wrong taught, Maggy, the Curates have deceived you, Maggy.

They have no distinguishing Garb from Lay-men, and yet they took upon them to admonish the King's Com∣missioner to their last Assembly, for wearing a Scarlet Cloak, and told him plainly, That it was not decent for his Grace to appear before them in such a Garb; upon which my Lord told them, That he thought it as undecent for them to appear before him in gray Cloaks and Cravats. When the Church of Arrol was last Year made Vacant by the Expulsion of the Reverend and Learned Dr. Niclson, the Elders and Heritors there, whereof many were Gen∣tlemen of the best quality met together, that according to the present Law and constant Practice of the Presby∣terians they might chuse and call another Minister to be their Parson; after they had unanimously agreed, and sign'd, and sent a formal Legal Call to Mr. Lisk, a per∣son

of indisputable Qualifications for the Ministry, in which he has been imploy'd with great Reputation for several Years in the North, and one who has given signal Evidence of his good Affections to heir present Majesties; my Lord Kinnard, Chief Heritor, went with the rest to signifie their Calling of Mr. Lisk to the Presbytery; at my Lords entering into the place where the Presbytery was sitting, he ask'd if they were the Ministers of the Presbytery; Do not you see that we are? said the Mode∣rator. My Lord replied, That by their Garb no Body could know them, and that their Spirit was invisible; now whe¦ther it was for this Jest, or because they knew Mr. Lisk to be Episcopal in his Judgment I know not; but this I know, that these grave New Gospellers, rejected the Call, in despite both of the Heritors and of their own Law, brought in a Hot-headed Young Man of their own Stamp and Election. However, that they use no distinguishing Garb, must be acknowledged to be very Congruous; for truly they are but Laicks, and it will surpass all their Learning, to prove that they are Ministers of Jesus Christ, but meerly Preachers sent and call'd by the People, who are generally but very ill Judges of Mens Qualifica∣tions for the Ministry; hence their constant and vast Heats and Divisions about their calling of able Men. The Mobile ordinarily take their Measures only from the appearances of things, and indeed a Presbyterian Preachers Out-side is not his worst, for they appear commonly, though in Lay-garb, yet in Sheeps-clothing; but as we have often formerly, so do we now, feel that they are inwardly nothing but ravenous Wolves.

Now as to their Sermons (which is the main design of this Paper) they are still upon the Government and the Times, preaching up the Excellency of their Kirk-Government, which they call Christ, the Crown, Scepter, and Government of Christ. This was an old Custom

among them to preach up the Times, and the neglect thereof they call'd sinful Silence. When in the former Confusions of the State they violently intruded them∣selves and Usurped the Government of the Church, which they never had in settled Times. In those Days at a pub∣lick Synod they openly reproved one Mr. Lighton for not preaching up the Times. Who (saith he) doth preach up the Times? It was answer'd, That all the Brethren did it. The (says Mr. Lighton) if all you preach up the Times, you may allow one poor Brother to preach up Christ Jesus and Eternity. But this was never, not is like to be the Design of their Sermons; for, trace them in their Politicks, Mo∣rals, Mysticks, and Metaphysicks, you shall find them Selfish, Singular, and full of Nonsensick Rhapsodies, These perhaps may seem hard Words, but an Aethiopian must be painted black, and that's no sault in the Painter.

For their Politicks, there is no Government under the Sun could tolerate them, if they but act in other Nations as they have done in Scotland since their Intrusion there; to instance but in our Times, Did nor Mr. Cargill, one of their Celebrated Preachers, Excommunicate all the Royal Family, the Bishops and Curates, and all that should hear them and adhere to them? They, indeed, that affect the Name of Sober Presbyterians disown'd these Hill-men, particularly because they refused to join with them in thanking King James for the Toleration, which he granted to them. And yet such is the Disingenuity of these who would be called Sober Presbyterians, that they cry out that they suffered Persecution; whereas it was the Cameronians only, whom they disown, that did suffer any thing: For these others were set∣tled in Churches by an Indulgence granted by the King. Against which Indulgence all the Sufferers, like true Presbyterians, gave their Testimony, cal∣ling it a meer brat of Erastianism. What Government

could tolerate such Ministers, as John Deckson, whom I named before, who in a Sermon Preached by him in the Parish of Gallashiels, declar'd, That it was all one to Sacrifice to Devils, as to pay Cess to King Charles. The Author of the Review of the History of Indulgence, one of the Sober sort of Presbyterians, tells, Page 610. the same of a Preacher of his Acquaintance.

I shall say no more of their Sentiments concerning Go∣vernment, but only referr the Readers to their Printed Acts of General Assemblies, and to those Covenants which themselves have Printed, often Subscribed and Sworn, and which are now again, for the benefit of Strangers, published in that Excellent Vindication of King Charles II. his Happy Government in Scotland by Sir George Mac Kenze, in which it's Evident, that they plainly renounce Monarchy and all Power, but that of the Covenanted Kirk.

As to their Disposition to live peaceably, I appeal not only to their Principles vented in these Covenants and Acts of their general Assemblies, but also to the many private Murthers, and open Rebellions which they have been guilty of under every Reign, since their first entry into Britain. Even in our own Days, since 1666, they have raised no less than Three formidable Rebellions, be∣sides many lesser Insurrections and Tumults, wherein many Christians have suffered. With what Violence did they flee to Arms, and persecute all who were not of their Party, upon the occasion of the late Revolution; when, if it had not been for their indiscreet and fiery Zeal, this Kingdom might have been happily united to England: But what ever Advantage such an Union might have brought to the Church and State; yet, because it seemed to have no good Aspect to the covenanted cause, therefore the motion of it, though offered, was industriously stifled, and that Opportu∣nity,

which we can hardly hope to recover, quite lost. Nay, under the present Government, for which they in the beginning pretended to be so zealous, 'tis well known over all the Kingdom, that they were last Year contriving by force, without any regard to Autho∣rity, to have the Solemn League renewed, and imposed after the old manner, upon all Men, Women and Chil∣dren; and in order to this good end, many Thousands of them, at Field meetings in the West, conveened after their ordinary way, with Bibles and Musquets, Psalm-Books and rusty Swords, and subscrbed a new Association for raising of Men, Horse and Arms, to advance the Old Cause, repurge the holy Kirk, and make a thorow Re∣formation in the Land. But I shall take occasion by and by to give you some later and more evident Instances of their Neglect and Contempt of their present Governors.

In the next place survey them in their Learning, and you shall find that it lies only in the study of some Anti-Arminian Metaphysicks, and in the practical Divinity they pretend to draw from the Heads of Election and Re∣probation, whereby they preach Men out of their Wits, and very often into Despair and Self-murder. It's gene∣rally known, that Joseph Brodie, Preacher in Forress in the time of the late Presbytery, did in the presence of a very Learned and Eminent Person, take occasion in the Pulpit to speak of a poor Man, who was then in such a desperate Condition, that it was judg'd necessary to bind up his Hands, lest otherwise he should cut his own Throat, as he continually threatned; of this desperate Wretch the pious Preacher above-named pronounced thus; Sirs, this is the best Man in my Parish, would to God ye were all like him; he does truely fear Reprobation, which most of you are not aware of.

There is a common printed Pamphlet compos'd and publish'd by a Presbyterian Preacher, concerning one Bessie

Clarkson, a Woman that lived at Lanark, who was three Years in despair, or to speak in their Cant, under Exer∣cise. Whosoever reads that Pamphlet will find, that the poor Woman's Distemper proceeded only form their indis∣creet Preaching, representing God as a sower, severe and unmerciful Being. It is known in the Shire of Teviotdale that Mr. William Veach murder'd the Bodies, as well as Souls, of two or three Persons with one Sermon; For, preaching in the Town of Jedburgh to a great Congrega∣tion, he said, There are Tow thousand of you here to day, but I am sure Fourscore of you will not he saved; upon which Three of his ignorant Hearers, being in Despair, dispatched themselves soon after. And lately in Eden∣burgh Mr. James Kirkton, (the Everlasting Comedian of their Party) one of their famous Preachers in that City, praying publickly for a poor Woman much troubled in Spirit, said, A wholesome Disease, good Lord, a wholesome Disease, Lord, for the Soul. Alas, said he, few in the Land are troubled with this Disease. Lord, grant that she may have many fellows in this Disease.

Not only do they make their People distracted with such desperate Doctrine as this, but moreover they incourage them in direct Impieties. Mr. Selkirk preach∣ing at Musselburgh expressed himself thus, God seed no Sin in his Chosen; Now, Sirs, be you guilty of Murder, Adultery, Bestiality, or any other gross Sin, if you be of the Election of Grace there is no fear of you, for God sees no Sin in his Chosen covenanted People. And this is consonant to an expression of Mr. Samuel Rutherford's printed Letters, Hellfulls of Sins cannot separate is from Christ.

In the Parish of Mr. Macmath, Minister of Leswade, some of those who were lately the most active in perse∣cuting and driving him form his Residence (even after he had the Privy Councils Protection, and a Guard assign'd

him for his Defence) have since suffer'd violent deaths; two of them prevented the Hangman's pains by becoming their own Murtherers. When the Earl of Lauderdale and Sir George Mackenzie dyed last year much about one time, the party who pretend to unriddle all the most secret Causes of God's Providence, called their Deaths a visible Judgment, for their being Enemies to the good Cause, altho' it be well known that both these honourable Persons dyed of a natural Death, in a good age, being both of them worn out with their great diligence in their King and Country's Service (perhaps, indeed, their days were shortened, by seeing such Firebrands able again to force themselves into the Church, as had before ruin'd both it and the State, and were the Scan∣dal of Christianity as well as Disgrace of their Nation.) But when these abovenamed Self-Murtherers of the Parish of Leswade had divided Judas's death betwixt them, the one hanging himself, the other ripping up his own Belly, till all his Bowels gushed out: The Presbyterian Preacher in that Parish, holding forth next Sunday, was so ready of Invention as to find Arguments from thence for the Con∣firmation of the good Cause: Ab Sirs (says he) nothing has befallen these Men but what God had from Eternity de∣creed; and I can tell you, Sirs, why he decreed it, indeed it was even because they had gone sometimes to hear the Graceless Curates. Ah, Sirs, ye may see in this Judgment the danger of that Sin, beware of hearing Curates, Sirs, you see it's a dangerous thing, Sirs, but I'll tell you more yet anent this, Sirs, this is a plain proof that the Gospel has non been preached in this Parish these twenty eight Years, for in all that time you have no: heard so much as of one that had a tender Conscience like these men; but now when we begin again to preach the Gospel, it's so powerful, that it awakes mens Consciences, and pricks them so at the Heart, that they cannot bear it, nor live under it.

And now I leave the World to Judge, whether this

sort of Learning and manner of Preaching, doth not stand in diametrical opposition to all Religion and Reason, and does not in its Tenure and Effects, appear to be indeed the Doctrine of Devils, and another Gospel; and yet by it our Rabble Reformation has been wrought. All true and solid Learning, particularly Antiquity is decryed by them, because in it there is no vestige, no not so much as any shadow of Presbytery to be found; to preach Peace and Righteousness (tho' that be the design of the Gospel) yet since it does not answer the Ends of the Covenant, it must be condemn'd as temporizing, time-serving, and the pleasing of men more than God, who, they are sure, can never be pleas'd but in their Covenanted way.

Morality with them is but old, out-dated, heathenish Virtue, and therefore such a Book as The whole Duty of Man, is look'd upon with wonderful contempt by them: Frazer of Bray, one of the greatest among them, profes∣ses downright, that there is no Gospel, nor any relish of it in that Book, and that Aristotle's Ethicks have as much true Divinity as that Book hath. And John Vetch of Woolstruthers says, That that Book is too much upon Mo∣ral Duty. A certain Lady of their Stamp, getting it once into her hands, and hearing that it was a Moral Book, done by an Episcopal Divine, she made a Burnt Offering of it, out of her great Zeal against Episcopacy and Mora∣lity. Mr. Macquire, one of their celebrated Professors and Preachers, in his Preface to Brown's Book, entituled, Christ the Truth, Way, and Life, calls the people that are taken up with the whole Duty of Man, or any such Books, a Mo∣ralizing, or rather, says he, a Muddizing Generation.

The most of their Sermons are Nonsensick Raptures, the abuse of Mystick Divinity, in canting and compounded Vocables, oft-times stuffed with impertinent and base Similes and always with homely, course, and ridiculous Expressi∣ons, very unsuitable to the Gravity and Solemnity that

becomes Divinity. They are for the most part upon Be∣lieve, Believe; and mistaking Faith for a meer Recumben∣cy, they value no Works but such as tend to propagate Presbytery. When they speak of Christ, they represent him as a Gallant, Courting and Kissing, by their Ful∣some, Amorous Discourses on the mysterious Parables of the Canticles; and making Christ and his Gospel to be their own Kirk Government; they have quite debased Di∣vinity, and debauched the Morals of the People: This is evident, not only from their manner of Preaching, but also from their way of Writing most of their Books, whereof some Instances shall be given in the next Section.

Some of them have an odd way of acting in the Pulpit, personating Discourses often by way of Dialogue betwixt them and the Devil. Such ways were of old familiar to the Monks, as appears from Monsieur Claude in his Se∣cond part of the Defence of the Reformation, Chap. 10. where he vindicates Luther from an aspersion cast upon him by the Church of Rome. For, say the Papists, Lu∣ther professeth in his Writings, that he had a Conference with the Devil concerning the Mass, and that the Devil ac∣cused him for being an Idolater. To which Luther answers, That he was then in Ignorance, and that he obey'd his Superiours. Hence the Papists conclude, that Luther was the Devil's Scholar. But Monsieur Claude lets them see▪ that Luther spoke in a Monkish Stile, and that the Stile of the Convent did represent conflicts betwixt the Flesh and Spirit, as personal exploits with the Devil: To prove this, he instances St. Dominick, who says, That he saw the Devil one Night, in his Iron Hands carry a Paper to him, which he read by the light of a Lamp, and told it was a Catalogue of his sins, and the sins of his Brethren, upon which St. Dominick commanded him to leave the Paper with him, which was done accord∣ingly; and afterwards he and his Brethren found cause to

correct something in their Lives. All that is said for this, is, that it is a Romantick Stile proper to the Monks, and all that is meant thereby is this, that the Devil could lay such and sins to their charge, their Consciences did smite them, therefore they corrected what they found a∣miss. But such a Stile did create wrong Ideas in the Lit∣teral Interpreters of such Narrations: And it is like some of our Reformers reading Books of this nature, either thought such Apparisions real, or that they affected the Stile; for it its reported of Mr. Robert Bruce, one of our Scotch Re∣formers, that having studied the Civil Law, and going one day to the Colledge of Justice, to pass his Tryals in order to commence Advocate, he said, that he saw a great Gulph in the Close or Court of the Parliament-House, like the mouth of Hell, and this diverted his entrance in∣to the House, upon which he gave over the Study of the Law, and applyed himself to Theology. Whether the thing was litterally true, or whether the man had a di∣sturbed Imagination (as good men may have) or whether he affected the Stile of the Convent, and meant thus much buy it, That the imployment of a Jurist was dange∣rous, and apt to lead men into such Temptations as he feared might be too strong for him, I know not which to conclude; but this I am sure of, That one Mr. Thomas Hogg, a very popular Presbyterian Preacher in the North, asked a person of great Learning, in a Religious Confe∣rence, whether or not he had seen the Devil? It was an∣swered him, That he had never seen him in any visible ap∣perance: Then I assure you (saith Mr. Hogg) that you can never be happy till you see him in that manner; that is, until you have both a personal Converse and Combat with him. I know nothing more apt to create a more Religi∣ous Madness in poor well-meaning people, that this sort of Divinity, in which our Presbyterians have quite out-done the senseless old Monks.

Their Principles and Doctrine being, as ye have heard, opposite to Morality, it will not be thought strange that the height of Pride and Rusticitie should appear in their Conversation: The common Civilities due to Mankind, they allow not to Persons of the Quality, that are of a different Opinion from themselves. To avoid and flee from the Company where a Curate is, as if it were a Pest-house is a common sign of Grace: To affront a Prelate openly is a most meritorious Work, and such as becomes a true Saint: To approve and applaud the Murtherers of the Archbishop of St. Andrews, is an infallible Evidence of one thoroughly reformed. That the World may be satisfied of their Behaviour towards ordinary Men, I shall give you some late Instances of their Carriage towards those of the highest Rank and Quality; the matters of Fact are such as are known to be true by Multitudes of People be∣fore whom they were acted; and themseves have the Im∣pudence still to Glory in them; and yet I will not say, but some of the Party may deny them upon occasion at Court, as they do other things as evident; for I know what Metal their Foreheads are made of.

1. Then when their Majesties Privy Council, by advice of all the Judges conform to a standing Act of Parliament, and common Practice, appointed a Sermon upon the thir∣tieth Day of January, 1690: The Council some time before sent a Person of Quality, one of their own Stamp and Kid∣ney, to the Commissioners of the General Assembly, to desire them in their Majesties and Council's Name, to ap∣point one of their number to preach before them in St. Giles's Church on that Day, and to put them in mind that it was the Anniversary for the Martyrdom of King Charles the First, and that a Sermon proper for the occa∣sion was expected according to the Religion, Law, and Custom of the Nation. The grave Noddies of the Assemb∣ly answer'd thus, Let the Council to do their own Business,

for we are to receive no Directions from the State, nor to the take our Measures from the Council, especiallly in preaching Anni∣versary-Sermons. Upon which they appointed Shields, a Cameronian, one of the most wild and violent of the Hill∣men, to preach in the Tron-Church, where-in they used to have Weekly Lectures, as it happened upon that Day of the Week, but where neither the Lords of Council nor Judges were used to come. All that he spoke concerning the King's Murther was this, Ye Sirs, perhaps some of you may foolishly fanoy that I came here to day to preach to you concerning the Death of King Charles the First: What? preach for a Man that died forty Years ago; if it be true what some Histories tells of him, he is very mach wronged; but if it be true what we believe of him; and have ground for, he is suffering the Vengeance of God in Hell this day for his own and Fore-fathers Sing. The same Shields as he was hold∣ing forth sometime before at Edinburgh, said, That for ought he saw, King William and Queen Mary were rather seeking an earthly Crown to themselves, than seeking to put the Crown on Christ's Head. That is, in the Con∣venticle stile, to settle Presbyterian Government.

This same Year again they peremptorily refused and de∣spised the Privy Council's Order, requiring them, accord∣ing to a standing Act of Parliament, to preach upon that day.

2. Inst. Mr. Areskme preaching in the Tron Church at Edinburgh, the day after the King by open Proclamation had adjourned the General Assembly, said, Sirs, Ye heard a strange Proclamation the other day, which I hope the Au∣thors of may Repent some day: It brings to my mind, Sirs, an old story of King Cyrus who once set his Hands fairly to the building of God's House, but his Hand was not well in the Work, when he drew it out again: All is well that ends well, Sirs; for what think ye become of King Cyrus, Sirs? I'll tell you that Sirs; He e'en made an ill end, he e'en

died a bloody death in a strange Land. I wish the like may not befal our King; they say Comparisons are odious, but I hope ye will not think that Scripture-comparisons are so; what∣ever you may think, I am sure of this, that no King but King Jesus, had Power to Adjourn our General Assembly. This was spoken so lately, before so great an Auditory, that whatever Rule may say in his next Book, yet I think the Author himself will not have the Impudence to deny it.

3. When last Summer their Commissioners returned from King William in Flanders, and told the General As∣sembly, That the King had possitively told them, that he would not any longer suffer them to oppress and perse∣cute the Episcopal Subjects; and desired them in his Name to acquaint the General Assembly with his Mind, that for the time to come they should proceed more mode∣rately, otherwise he would let them know that he is their Master. The Moderators said openly, That if it were not for the great Army he had with him, he durst not have said so to them; and however, he had been wiser to have held his peace, for that they own'd no Master but Christ.

When King William in January last desired them, by his Letter to the General Assembly, to re-admit into the Ex∣ercise of the Ministry, so many of the Episcopal Presby∣ters as should be willing to submit to and comply with a Formula which his Majesty sent to them, and appointed to be the Terms of Communion betwixt the Parties: This Proposal of Peace and Union, which moderate Pres∣byterians might have been thought to have rejoyced in, was insolently rejected, and exclaimed against by all the Assembly, except one Mr. Orack† 1.3. Then the common dis∣course and preaching of Presbyterians was. That King William design'd to Dethrone King Jesus; that the pre∣scribing to them any Formula was an Incroachment upon Christ's Kingdom, and a violent Usurpation of his Privi∣ledges;

that any Formula but the Covenant, is of the Devil's making, and ought not to be tolerated by Presby∣terians. The Moderator of the General Assembly, in his Prayer immediately after its Dissolution, reflected upon King William as sent in Wrath to be a Curse to God's Kirk. He and the whole Assembly protested against the King's Power to dissolve them, and before his Commissioner dis∣claim'd all his Authority that way: Afterwards, to make their Testimony (that's their word for Treason) publick, they went to the Cross of Edinburgh, and took a formal Protestation after the old manner against the King in be∣half of the People of God (by which they intend their own Subjects.) The Magnanimous Earl of Crawford vow∣ed before the Commissioners, that he would adhere to the Protestation with his Life and Fortune, two things equally great and valuable.

Their ordinary Doctrine and Discourse in the Pulpit and out of it, speaking of the Kirk and King, is, Deliverance will come from another hand, but thou and thy house shall perish. Mr. Matthew Red, holding forth the New Gospel at his Kirk in North Berwick, Feb. 20th, 1691-92, said, The Kirk of Scotland is presently under the same condition that David was, when he was so sore persecuted and pursued by Saul, that he seemed to have no way left him to escape; but then a Messenger came and told Saul, that the Philistines had invaded the Land; this gave Saul some other† 1.4 Tow in his Rock, and by that David was deliver'd. This Mr. Red be∣ing that same night with another of his Brethren at Sup∣per at a Knight's House in that Parish, told plainly, That by the Philistines in his Sermon, he meant the French. And both the New Gospellers agreed, that the Kirk of Scotland could not now be otherwise deliver'd but by an Invasion of the French to restore King James. This ac∣connt I had from a Gentleman of good Credit who was present both at the Sermon and Supper. Mr. Stenton, one

of their noted Preachers, said in an open Company, the day after the Assembly was dissolved, That they had ap∣pointed their next Meeting in 1693, hoping that before that time they might have another King who would allow them better Conditions. They now lay great stress upon the Prophesie of an old Man in the West, who at his dying in 1689, said, The perfect Deliverance of God's Kirk must come after all by the French, for this King William will not do it. And say commonly, that they brought in a Dog for God's sake, and that he now begins to bite the Barnes.

This being their way of treating a King who has con∣descended to oblige them even to his own loss, and to the wonder of Mankind; what may their Fellow-subjects, e∣specially such as are not of their Biggotry of Opinion, ex∣pect from them? That this is no new thing to them, nor the actings only of some few of the more rigid sort of them, is evident from their extravagant and constant course of Rudeness to King James the Sixth, and to both the Charles's, whereof many instances are to be seen in their own Books, some of them you may meet with in the next Section.

All the Presbyterians profess, that the keeping of Anni∣versary Days, even for the greatest Blessing of the Go∣spel, is Superstition and Popery. For the modestest of them that ever spake last Year against Christmas, was Frazer of Bray, who preaching in the High Church of Edinburgh, in his ordinary turn upon that day on which Christmas fell, all that he said was, Some will think that I will speak either for the Day or against it: To speak against it I see no reason, and to speak for it I see as little; for why should we keep our Saviour's Birth-day, and not his Conception. Had this Man been but acquainted with the Liturgy of the Primitive Church, or of that in the Neighbour-Nation, he might have found that they keep Annunciation-day for the Conception, and this would have broke the strongest

Horn of his Presbyterian Dilemma. But for all the Ab∣horrence that Presbyterians have, and do profess against the Observation of Anniversary-days, yet they never mis∣sed to preach an Anniversary Sermon on Mr. Heriot, who built and indued the great Hospital in the City of Edin∣burgh; the reason is, that for every Sermon on Heriot's Commendation, they get five Ponds, a new Hat and a Bible. If they could have made but the same Purchase by preaching on Christmas, it's more than probable that they would have thought the Annual Observation of our Sa∣viour's Birth, as little superstitious as that of Mr. Heriot's Memory.

But the Disingenuity, Hypocrisy, and Covetousness of that Party appears not only in this, but in many other particulars; for who clamour'd more than Presbyterians a∣gainst Plurality of Benefices, which was never allowed nor practised under Episcopacy in our Kingdom, and now se∣verals of them are suing for five or six ••tipends at once, viz. the great Apostles of the New Gospel, Dr. Bule, Mr. John and Mr. William Vetches, Mr. David Williamson, John Dickson. I cannot here omit a passage of Mr. James Kirkton, now a famous Preacher in Edinburgh, who held forth formerly in a Meeting-house about three and twen∣ty Miles from it, in the Parish of St. Martine, within the Shire of the Mers, in which Parish there was an Episcopal Minister that gave Obedience to the present Laws, but this Kirkton by the Act restoring Presbyterian Preachers to their former Charges, out of Malice against the Episcopal Minister, and Covetousness to get the Stipend of the place, * 1.5 comes from Edinburgh and preaches one Sermon in the Parish of St. Martine, and returning some days after, left the Church without a Minister, by which means he ob∣tain'd to himself the Stipend of that Parish, tho' he lived and preaches in the City of Edinburgh ever since.

There is another, Mr. Anthony Murray, who has a con∣siderable Estate in Dunsire, he ordinarly uses this Phrase as a Proverb, That he desires no more in the World but a Bit and a Brat; that is, only as much Food and Raiment as Nature craves; and yet this very Man that would seem so denied to the World, got himself into the possession of two fat Benefices, viz. that of Counter in which he never did preach, and that of Dunsire Parish, in which the Regu∣lar Pastor had served for the whole Year, 1688, and for the greater part of the Year 1689, and yet was not allow'd one Farthing of the Living for either: altho' when he was drove away he had eight young Motherless Children, and no Bread for them, whereof Murray it seems not having one Child, had no sence at all.

Who cried out more against the Covetousness of Pre∣lates, and complying Ministers, than Mr. John Johnston, yet in the time of his suppos'd Persecution, he made up two thousand and five hundred Pounds Sterling; and to the certain knowledge of his Acquantances he was two hun∣dred Pounds Sterling in debt when he abdicated his Pa∣rish. This same Johnston being called to a dying Gentle∣man in East Lotham, who was always Episcopal, (but the Call was by some Phanatical Friends, without the know∣ledge of the dying Person) Johnston having come to his Chamber, advances with many Hums and Ha's close to the Gentleman's Bed-side, and after stairing a while upon him, at last with a great Groan he gave his Judgment of his State and Condition in these words: I see nothing there in that Face, ah, I see nothing but Damnation, Hell and Re∣probation! At which words, a merry Man standing by, whispers in the ears of the said Mr. Johnston, He hath left you two hundred Marks. Mr. Johnston at this changed his mind (like the Barbarians in the Isle of Malta,) and says, But methinks I see the Sun of Righteousness rising with heal∣ing under his wings, sayng, Son be of good chear, thy sins are forgiven thee.

Who cried out more against Ministers Scandals, than one Balfour in the Mers, and yet but a few Months ago he fled for the Sin of Adultery himself. This among them is called but a Slip of the Saints; but far less Slips in o∣thers are aggravated into heinous Scandals and crying Sins, as that ought indeed to be esteem'd.

What greater act of Injustice than that done to Mr. A∣lexander Heriot, Minister of Dalkeith, who gave all Obe∣dience to the Civil Law, and yet the Presbytery of Dal∣keith permitted one Calderwood, a declared Enemy of Mr. Heriot's, and some others of his Accusers, to sit as Judges among them, and not only admitted, but also invited and encouraged two or three Knights of the Post to swear, That the Minister had danced about a Bon-fire the 14th of October 1688. And when it was made appear to the conviction of all Men, that there was no Bon-fires in the Town upon that Day, and that the Town was never wont to use any such Solemnity upon the occasion of that Day; all that the Presbytery said, was, That they could not help it, for the matter was sworn and deponed, and and they behoved to proceed, having a Call to Purge the Church.

Besides, their not having good Notions of the Gospel, nor of any good Heathen Morals; one reason of their malicious and crabbed Nature may be, that they never suf∣fered Affliction, for after they abdicated their Churches in 1662, they began every-where in their Sermons to cant about the Persecution of the Godly, and to magnifie their own Sufferings; by this means they were pamper'd in∣stead of being persecuted; some of the godly Sisters sup∣plying them with plentiful Gratuities to their Families, and Mony to their Purses; they really lived better then ever they did before, by their Stipends. They themseves boast∣ed that they were sure of Crowns for their Sufferings; and that Angels visited them often in their Troubles; and

both were materially true. I know severals of them who got Estates this way, and that grew fat and lusty under their Persecutions. Mr. Shields, one of their honestest and best Writers, being well acquainted with all that they suf∣fered, and a great Sharer in it, glories in this, that they were highly provided for in their greatest Difficulties, and makes an Argument for it of their being God's People: In his Annalysis (as he calls it) on the 29th of Deuteronomy, delivered in a Discourse to the People on the Preparation-day before they renewed the Covenants, p. 10. l. 8. these are his words: Tho' in the Wilderness of Prelatick, Erastian, and Antichristian Vsurpations, we did not meet with Mi∣racles, yet truly we have experienced Wonders of the Lord's Care and Kindness, and for all the Harassings and Persecutions, &c. the poor Wilderness-Wanderers have look'd as Meat-like and Cloath-like a others that sat at Ease in their Houses, and drank their Wine and their strong Drink. The Party finding such good Fruits of their Itinerary Labours, con∣tinued to preach the unthinking Mobile out of their Mo∣ney and Senses, and well as out of their Duty to God and Man, receiving in the mean time, instead of Cups of cold Water,* 1.6 many Bowls of warm Sack; the true Co∣venant-Liquor, and the best Spirit that inspires the New Gospellers. By these means the Malignity of their Na∣ture was rather kindled than abated; the only Men and suffered any thing, being the poor silly Plow-men and Shepherds in the West, whom the false Teachers hounded out to die for a broken Covenant: It's true indeed that many such Men being deluded into several Rebellions, put the State under a necessity of defending it self, by pu∣nishing some of them, and killing others in Battels; but yet before the danger of these Battels, the Preachers were generally so wise as to save themselves, by running first; for ad they been so honest as to have born but a part of these Burdens which they imposed upon their Prose∣lytes,

or so couragious as to have but shew'd their Faces in the day of Battel (to which they always sounded the Allarm by their Sermons) then it's like we should not have been now infested with such swarms of these Lo∣custs as have over-spread our Land, and again filled our King's Chambers, as the Frogs and Lice of Aegypt did that of Pharaoh's.

Tho' upon certain occasions the more subtile and cun∣ning Presbyterians, knowing that no art can defend or disguise the unaccountable wildness and madness of some of their party, are forc'd, to disprove and condemn them; Yet they never fail to make use of the Sufferings of these same wild Men, to magnify that Persecution which them∣selves pretend to have undergone, but had not the least share in. Eminent instances of this we have in Rule's late book. To whom among other favours we owe this new distinction of wild and sober Presbyterians. Truly if the Presbyterians had met with the same measure with which they formerly served the Prelatists, if they had been used as they did good Bishop Wishart, whom they made to lye seven Months in a dark stinking close Prison, without the conveniency of so much as changing his Shirt but once, so that he was like to be eaten up of himself, and the Vermine which that nasty place produced; its proba∣ble that by such Severities (which I am glad they suffered not) they might have been brought to something of that good Man's Christian Temper and Disposition: And that this was very great, the worst of themselves were con∣strained to own, when upon changing of the Scene, he being deservedly advanced to the Bishoprick of Edinburgh, was so Charitable as to convey large supplies to such of them as were Imprison'd for their Notorious Rebellion at ••entland Hills, 1666, and that without letting them know from what hand it came, nay his Compassion to them was such, that he continued such Presbyterian Preachers as

were any thing tollerable, in their Churches and Office; without imposing on them the conditions of Conformity which the Law then required: But now Presbyterian Prea∣chers, even those that are called the soberest, as we may see by their daily Practices, and Expressions, are highly galled, because they are not allowed to treat the Bishops and other Ministers of God's Word, after the same Bar∣barous manner that they formerly did, that is, Hew them in pieces before the Lord, as they were wont to Phrase it, for they commonly compare Bishops to Agag, and those ordained by them to the Amalekites.

The Episcopal Ministers and Rulers used all Christian and discreet Methods when they had Power to gain and oblige the Dissenters, and to save them from the Penalties of the Law. But now such is the ingratitude of some, even of those same Presbyterians, whom the Episcopal Mini∣sters had saved from the Gibbet, to which the Law had justly doomed them; that they were the only Persons that invented false Stories, forged malicious Lybels, and raised Tumults against those very Ministers who had been formerly so exceeding kind to them; we have but too many instances of their rendering Evil for Good in this manner: And that which makes this the more strange and odious, is, that it is Acted under a pretence to Reli∣gion, and Reformation, and that the giddy People are instigated to this Wickedness by their Preachers; I shall trouble the Reader at present only with two Particulars to this purpose: Mr. Monro, Parson of Sterling, was lately lybel∣led and accused before the Brethren of the Inquisition, by one whom, as all the Neighbourhead knows, he preserv∣ed from being Hanged, when he well deserved it. And now, tho' the said Parson Monro has visibly baffled all the Articles of his Lybel to the disgrace of his ungrateful Accu∣ser, and of those Preachers who openly prompted him to this Villany, yet they daily molest and disquiet him, because

of his constant adherence to the Sacred Order of Episco∣pacy, which is the greatest Fault his Judges can accuse him of, except that of his possessing a good Living, and that his Parts and Piety darken the whole Presby∣tery, of which his Parishoners being fully convinced, Love him so well, that they resolve, cost what it may, they will not part with him as their Minister; and have therefore, to the great mortification of the Presbytery there, joyntly signified so much to them under their hands.

The other particular instance of this Nature, shall be that of one Ronaldson, a Tenant in the Parish of Cranston, whom the Orthodox Minister there, Mr. Burnet, by his Inter∣cession with Persons of Quality, preserved from having his Goods confiscated, and Person Banished; after Ronaldson by his signal Disobedience to the Law had exposed himself to that Sentence: This kindness Ronaldson then looked on as so great and surprising, That he often and openly profes∣sed he knew not how to be thankful enough for it; he and his Family constantly kept the Church thereafter, and up∣on every occasion acknowledged the Minister's singular favour, with all the Signs of sincere gratitude; But yet upon the new light of the late Revolution, he appeared the most open and avowed Enemy that the Minister had: The Minister justly surprised with this, challenged his many promises of continuing grateful. To whom Ro∣naldson gravely replyed, that the Thanks of his Preser∣vation was not due to him, but only to God; who oft-times (said he) stirs up ill Men to befriend his own People. This change was wrought upon the Man, and this answer put in his Mouth (as himself sometimes owns and pro∣fesses) by frequent Conferences with their Preachers, who in their private Discourses and publick Sermons have as∣sured him, that he is not to look to the Instrument, but to the Cause of his Preservation.

I shall shut up this head concerning the Persecution they pretended to have suffered, with a remarkable note of a Sermon preached lately by Mr. Daniel Douglass, one of their great * Mufties,

Now Sirs, (says he) I will be even plain with you, and perhaps e'en more plain than pleasant, Sirs, I'le tell you now, Sirs, its ordinary for us to cry out that we were persecuted under Episcopacy, but we are yet living, Sirs; and why were we not Hanged as well as others were, beloved? It is e'en because we thought they did cast away their Lives needlesly, and that we would not venture our Lives for such matters as they ventured their Lives, for I knew to meet with kindness both from the Church-men and the States-men: And particularly I knew that the Clerks of Council and Session would take nothing from us, but there are no such Clerks now: For there is one Gibbie Eliot, Sirs, that has no Charity nor Discretion, for if we were all made up of Dollars, he would swallow us up; pray God, Sirs, to keep our Purses from that false lown Eliot.

Ingenuity is a thing they are not concerned about, for that's but a Branch of dry Morality, below Men so full of Grace; some young Men among them that have had the Advantage of being abroad are more affable, and in their Conferences with Men of Sence, they ordinarily ex∣claim against the peevish sowr and unconversable Temper of Scotch Presbyterians; but yet these same Sparks of the Cause, sing to a quite contrary Tune when they are in a collective or representative body. I have read of a cer∣tain Monk who being wearied of the Cloyster aimed at a vacant Dignity, the possession whereof he knew would set him free: For this end he applied himself to every one of his Acquaintances that had a Suffrage in the Election, and from every singular and individual Person he received very fair and satisfying promises, bet yet he found himself still disappointed when they met together in Assemblies

for the Election, whereupon he invites most or all of them upon a set Day to Dine and be merry with him. They that were invited knew that he was not in condition to make any competent Provision for so many Guests; Wherefore according to the usual Custom of that Fraternity, they sent each of them some material or other, proper to make up the Feast; some sent Flesh, some Fish of di∣vers Kinds, some sent Butter, some Cheese, some Wine, and others Oyl. All which he boyled in one Kettle toge∣ther, and his Guests being conveen'd, he caused serve up that Hotch-potch in several large Dishes to them, so that every Dish as they tasted it equally disgusted them: Where upon they asked what manner of Victuals it was? He said it was just such as themselves had sent, all well boyled in a large Kettle together. That, say they, is the worst Meat in the World when thus jumbled toge∣ther, but very good when every thing is dressed by it self. Just so are ye to me, says the Monk, you are very fair and kind, when single, and one by one: But I can find nothing worse than you, when you are all together. The Presbyterians resemble the Monks in this, as in many other things, for take them singly, and they generally condemn the Methods and Proceedings of their Brethren, as rigid and severe, but take the same Men met together in a Presbytery, Synod, or Assembly, and the whole Body is the most unpalatable and most unsavory Hotch-potch in the World.

And now to hasten to a close of this Section, Strangers may justly wonder that Men of such Temper and Quali∣fication, as ye have now heard the Pretbyterian Preachers to be, should have any followers. But this will not seem so strange to such as confider what Multitudes of the Rab∣ble, crowd after Jack Bowels in his Drunken Fits, Women and Children are ordinarily led by noise and shew, tho' it were but of Hobby-Horses and Rattles. And

indeed the Presbyterian Preachers are only flocked after by such a Herd, some out of a blind Zeal and Itch after novelty and change, some again loving to Fish in the troubled Waters of such Confusions as are inseparable from Presbytery, hoping thereby ••o mend their broken Fortunes. And to palliate their want of Sence, and greater Faults, by a pretence to strict Religion: Others frequent them for sport and diversion, as Men of little Sence and less business run after Stage-Players and Rope-dancers.

Sometimes ago these Preachers were conversant only with Shepherds, and a few silly Women, laden with di∣vers Lusts, whose hot Zeal had no knowledge to guide it; the Preachers then indeed admired themselves for Per∣sons of great Gifts and Learning, because of the esteem that these ignorant Creatures had for them; but now that they are brought to Act in publick, and possess the Pulpits of Learned Men, they are at a great Disadvantage, for their better Auditories expect solid Divinity, Rational and close Discourses, and that being none of their Talent, puts them quite out of their Road and Element, and hence it is that the People generally forsake and abhor them, and nothing but a few of the Rabble frequent their best Churches and Preachers: So that now their own dear fol∣lowers begin to complain and cry out, That Christ did more good in the Hills than he does now in the Churches. And if they hold on at their usual manner of Raving in Pulpits, they cannot fail to render themselves as Ridicu∣lous and odious as they deserve, which they have made pretty good Advances to already. They frequently up∣braid Curates, as deserted of the Spirit, because they own that in the composing of their Sermons they make use of Books, and yet Mr. David Williamson, one of their ablest Men, Preaching before the Parliament, on Ps. 2. and verse 10. stole most of his Sermon from Herle's Tripus of Wisdom, and had the Confidence to reprint the same at

Edinburgh. Indeed the nonsence and railing of that Ser∣mon is wholly his own; for none but himself ever pre∣tended or presumed as he does there, That Christ dyed a Martyr for the Presbyterian Government; because for∣sooth this Inscription was written on his Cross, Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews. I do not discommend the use of Books, but the Hypocrisie of these Men, who give out that they Preach meerly by Inspiration and Meditation, as Mr. Areskine did in a Sermon which he Preached lately in the Tron Church at Edinburgh, his words were these, The Curates goes to their Books for Preachings, but we go to our Knees for our Preachings. And yet such is the silliness of some deluded People, that they proclaim these for Soul∣refreshing and powerful Preachers, and for Men that, as they Phrase it, have an inbearing Gift, speaking home to their Hearts: Indeed make some People judges, we know Presbyterian Sermons will gain the applause. I remember the Old Fable of the Cuckow and the Nightingale, both conten∣ded who should Sing sweetest, the Ass because of his long Ears is made judge, the Nightingale Sung first, the Cuckow next, the Asse's determination was, that truly the Nightin∣gale Sung pretty well, but for a good sweet plain taking Song, and a fine Note, the Cuckow Sung far better.

Some who are not so well acquainted with the Scotch Presbyterian's manner of Preaching and praying may, per∣haps, think that matters are here aggravated against them, because things so very Ridiculous were never vented by any former Sect, as these I have and am hereafter to discover of them; but they are too well known to be denyed a∣mong us: And that Strangers may not think themselves imposed upon, I shall in the next Section give the Reader some little taste of their Printed Books, and leave him to judge from the Ridiculousness of what they have delibe∣rately published to the World that way, what extravagancy they may be Guilty of in these extemporary Ravings, which they mis-call Spiritual Preaching and Praying.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Me was but last Year sent to A∣gent their Affairs at Court.
• * 1.2

  Though Mr. Rule. who defends the New Gospellers by denying their Prints, and by palpable vntruths, seems to disown this in his Second Vindication of his Kirk. Yet much honester Presbyterians affirm it, and glory in it. Vid. Covenants with acknowledgment of Sins and Engagement to Duties, renew∣ed at Lesmahago. 1688. Et Hind let loose.
• † 1.3

  A Person who was well edu∣cated, and justly e∣steemed at St. An∣drew's V∣niversity.
• † 1.4

  That is in English some other Fish to fry.
• * 1.5

  Charity it self cannot put a bet∣ter Con∣struction on so foul an Action.
• * 1.6

  The name of a ridiculous and rebel∣lious Book emitted by them in K. Charles the Se∣cond's time.