Chapter V (14)

261 [The army of the Commonwealth was now on its march towards Scotland,
under the command of Cromwell, who had been appointed by the English
parliament captain general of their forces. But the hopes of the
people of Scotland had been revived by the arrival of Charles II.
from Breda, about a fortnight before this, who, at the mouth of the
river Spey, before he landed, had signed the national covenant, and
also the solemn league and covenant, though the commission appointed
to receive his subscription appear, on too good grounds, to have
suspected his sincerity (Sir Edward Walker’s Hist. Disc., p. 158.
Life of Rev. J. Livingston, written by himself, p. 51. Glasg. 1754.)
A letter, addressed by Charles to the Committee of Estates,
immediately after the battle of Dunbar, and dated Perth, 12
September, 1650, contains the following passage: “Wee cannot but
acknowledge that the stroke and tryall is very harde to be borne,
and would be impossible for us and you, in humane strength, but in
the Lord’s wee are bold and confident, whoe hath always defended
this ancient kingdome, and transmitted the governement of it upon us
from so many worthy predecessors, whoe in the lyke difficulties have
not fainted, and they had only the honor and civill liberties of the
land to defend, but wee have with your religion, the gospel, and the
covenant, _against which Hell shall not prevaile_, much lesse a
number of sectains stirred up by it. Wee acknowledge, that what hath
befallen is just from God for our sinns, and those of our house, and
the whole land, and all the families in it, have lykewise helped to
pull downe the judgement, and to kindle this fierce wrath. Wee shall
strive to be humbled, that the Lord may be appeased, and that he may
returne to the thousands of his people, and _comfort us according to
the days wee have beene afflicted, and the yeares that wee have
seene_. You are going, you sat, upon the deuites, for returne of the
afflicted land, (you do well to do soe,) and to try the
instrumentall causes and occasions of the disaster and surpressal.
Looke not too much upon second causes, the pryme and originall, and
only cause, is God’s just displeasure: for the causes of defeats in
armys, they are harder to be found out than in any other of the
actions of men, a word, a sound, the mooving or remooving of any
body or squadron, may be, and have beane, the causes of the losse of
battles, and how often have pannicke feares seazed upon them, that
never any ground or resone could be given for? Lay not the fault
upon this or that, coming doune, or not staing upon a ground of
advantage, or upon this person or the other. That is the worst way
of all, for nothing devided nor discord can stand or prosper, but
leaste of all ane army; any thing of that kinde is the sodaine ruine
of it. Upon any other constitution it will not worke so soone.
Therefore wee intreete and charge you, as ye feare God, love his
cause in your hands, have affection to your countrie, or respect to
us, that you will remember, you are brethren in a covenant, and that
you now stand up and joyne together as one man for religion, your
countrie, your wives, children, liberties, and us, as your
predecessors have done in their difficulties in their generations.
Wee shall as willingly as any of them be ready to hazarde our lyfe
(nay to lay it down) with you for God, the covenant, and the honor
and freedom of this hitherto unconquered kyngdome, with any handful
you have together, or when it shall be thought convenient.”
(Thurloe’s State Papers, vol. i. p. 163.) The gross hypocrisy of
Charles, in putting his name to a letter containing sentiments like
these, and thus exciting false expectations in the minds of his
credulous subjects, must be apparent to all who are acquainted with
his subsequent history.—_Ed._]

262 [The narrative of Hume presents an affecting posture of the
cruelties perpetrated at the time of the Irish insurrection and
massacre. (Hist. of Eng. vol. iv. pp. 361-366, Lond. 1825). It is
said that “200,000 Protestants in two months space, were murdered,
and many by exquisite torments, and many more were despoiled of all
their worldly fortunes.” (May’s Brevary, p. 33. First printed in the
year 1655. Reprinted London 1813). For several years after this
period, Ireland was laid waste by contending armies and by the wild
rage of the native inhabitants.—_Ed._]

263 [A reference to this passage may be seen in the Life of the Author
prefixed to the Work.—_Ed._]

264 [That is, compensated.—_Ed._]

265 [When the national covenant was first subscribed by King James and
his household, and by persons of all ranks, in the year 1581, a
number of Jesuits and popish priests had unexpectedly made their
appearance in the country. Various dispensations from the Pope
likewise had been intercepted, whereby the Catholics were permitted
to _promise, swear, subscribe, and do what else should be required
of them, so as in mind they continued firm, and did use their
diligence to advance in secret the Roman faith_. These
dispensations, says Archbishop Spotswood, “being showed to the king,
he caused his minister, Mr John Craig, form a short confession of
faith, wherein all the corruptions of Rome, as well in doctrine as
outward rites, were particularly abjured and a clause inserted
(because of these dispensations) by which the subscribers did call
God to witness that in their minds and hearts they did fully agree
to the said confession, and did not feign or dissemble in any sort.
This confession [or covenant] the king, for an example to others,
did publicly swear and subscribe; the like was done by the whole
council and court.” (Hist. of Ch. of Scotland, pp. 308, 309). By an
ordinance of council and at the desire of the General Assembly, the
national covenant, along with a Bond for the maintenance of the true
religion, and the safety of the king’s person and government, was
again subscribed by persons of all ranks in the year 1590. This Bond
had been previously entered into and signed by his majesty, and
various men of rank and station in the kingdom, in anticipation of
the threatened Spanish invasion, and as a counter association to the
Holy League, which had been formed by the most powerful popish
princes in Europe with a view to extirpate the reformed religion.
When the national covenant was renewed in 1638, and once more
subscribed by all classes of the community, the Bond which
accompanied it was altered to suit the circumstances of the times.
It expressed a solemn determination on the part of those who
subscribed it to aim at “a personal reformation,” as well as a
resolution to withhold their sanction from the late innovations in
religion, “till they be tried and allowed in free Assemblies, and in
Parliaments.” These are the words—“And because we cannot look for a
blessing from God upon our proceedings, except with our profession
and subscription we join such a life and conversation as beseemeth
Christians who have renewed their covenant with God. We therefore
faithfully promise for ourselves, our followers, and all others
under us, both in public, and in our particular families and
personal carriage, to endeavour to keep ourselves within the bounds
of Christian liberty, and to be good examples to others of all
godliness, soberness, and righteousness, and of every duty we owe to
God and man” (Dunlop’s Confessions vol. II., p. 136.). The following
corresponding clause is contained in the Solemn League and Covenant,
which was ratified by the parliaments both of England and Scotland,
and subscribed generally by the people of both kingdoms in 1643, and
renewed in Scotland in 1648.—“And because these kingdoms are guilty
of many sins and provocations against God, and his Son Jesus Christ,
as is too manifest by our present distresses and dangers, the fruits
thereof, we profess and declare before God and the world, our
unfeigned desire to be humbled for our own sins, and for the sins of
these kingdoms, especially that we have not, as we ought, valued the
inestimable benefit of the gospel; that we have not laboured for the
purity and power thereof, and that we have not endeavoured to
receive Christ in our hearts, nor to walk worthy of him in our
lives, which are the causes of other sins and transgressions so much
abounding among us, and our true and unfeigned purpose, desire, and
endeavour for ourselves, and all others under our power and charge,
both in public and in private, in all duties we owe to God and to
man, to amend our lives, and each one to go before another in the
example of a real reformation, that the Lord may turn away his wrath
and heavy indignation, and establish these churches and kingdoms in
truth and peace.”—_Ed._]

266 [Nemo repente fuit turpissimus—Juv. Sat. II. v. 83.]

267 [Num. xxiii. 21.—_Ed._]

268 [Jer. l. 20.—_Ed._]

269 [“About the time of the first renewing of the covenant, there was a
sensible change to the better in men’s carriage and conversation,
most of all those who joined in opposing the defection not only
reforming themselves from common and gross sins such as drunkenness,
uncleanness, swearing, profaning the Lord’s day, slighting of the
ordinances, self seeking, covetousness, oppression, &c., but giving
themselves to the duties of religion and righteousness, such as
sobriety, edifying discourse, chaste behaviour, hallowing of the
Lord’s day, diligent seeking of the Lord in secret and in their
families, attending on the preaching of the word as often as
opportunity is offered, liberality, love, charity one toward
another, a public spirit and zeal for God. But all these things are
now decayed in many and they are again grown as ill if not worse
than before.” Causes of the Lord’s Wrath against Scotland. pp. 48,
49. Printed in the year 1653.—_Ed._]

270 [Much less.—_Ed._]

271 [An inference unfavourable to the religious character of the
countrymen of Binning, has been too hastily drawn from this and some
other passages in his works. (Orme’s Mem. of Dr. Owen, p. 129). The
late Dr M’Crie observed, that this was like “the attempts of popish
writers to prove the _Reformation_ a _Deformation_, by culling
quotations from the sermons of such Protestant preachers as
inveighed most freely against prevailing vices.” (Christ. Inst. vol.
xx. p. 624). In the “Representation, Propositions, and
Protestations,” however, “of divers Ministers, Elders, and
Professors,” printed in the year 1652, and probably about the time
this sermon was preached, it is affirmed, that the religious aspect
of the country had undergone an unhappy change, in the course of the
two preceding years. “If we look back,” it is said, p. 3 “to that
which we have already attained of the work of Reformation,
(notwithstanding our short-coming in the power and practice of
godliness,) what purity was there of worship, what soundness of
doctrine, unity of faithful pastors, order and authority of
assemblies, what endeavours for promoting the power of godliness,
for purging of the ministry, judicatories and armies, and for
employing such in places of power and trust as were of constant
integrity and good affection to the cause, and of blameless
conversation? And again, if we consider how in place of these,
within these two years, have succeeded, for unity, division, for
order, confusion, for purity of worship, outward contempt; for the
power of godliness, atheism and profaneness; for purging of the
ministry, judicatories and armies, sinful mixtures; for zeal,
lukewarmness and toleration,—it is too palpable that we are far gone
on in the way of declining, having lost much of that which we had
attained, and that which remains being ready to die.”—_Ed._]

272 [The author and the other protesters disapproved not only of the
proceedings of the civil and ecclesiastical judicatures, but of the
composition of these courts, after the act of classes had been
rescinded on the 30th of May, 1651. In consequence of the repeal of
this act, they who, on account of what was in the language of the
times called malignancy, had formerly been excluded from their
places in the Scottish parliament, were allowed to take possession
of their seats, by signing a bond, the terms of which the parliament
prescribed. This the protesters considered to be wrong as a matter
both of policy and principle. They likewise declared the assembly,
which in July, 1651, met at St. Andrews, and afterwards adjourned to
Dundee, and also that which was held in Edinburgh, in July, 1652, to
be “unlawful and corrupt,” adding, that “although with the renewing
of the national covenant, and with the casting out of prelates, and
the corruptions introduced by them, the Lord was graciously pleased
to give repentance to not a few who were involved in that defection;
yet, since that time, there hath always remained a corrupt party of
insufficient, scandalous, and ill-affected ministers in the kirk,
enemies to the power of godliness, and obstructors to the work of
reformation, ... that party perceiving that they were not able to
endure trial in a time of reformation and purging, began the last
year to lift up their heads, and speak a language of their own,” &c.
(Representation, ut supra, pp. 11, 12). The protesters, moreover,
are found complaining at this period, “how gracious and well
qualified elders are removed and kept out from church judicatories,
and ignorant and profane persons brought in, and more endeavoured to
be brought in in their room, how gifted and gracious young men are
debarred from entering into the ministry, and a door is opened to
others, whereof some are loose and profane, and many are ignorant
and strangers to the work of the Lord upon their own hearts.”—Letter
from Protesters, subscribed in the name of many ministers, &c. met
at Edinburgh, 17th of March 1653, by Mr. Andrew Cant, p. 6. See what
is said in reply to this, in “The Assertor’s Answer,” printed in the
same year, p. 18.—_Ed._]

273 [Acknowledge.—_Ed._]

274 [See note, page 126.—_Ed._]

275 [Recognise.—_Ed._]

276 [That is, genius or ingenuity (from _ingenium_, Lat.) “But gif
corporall doth be commoun to all. Why will ye jeoparde to lois
eternall life to eschap that which neither ryche nor pure, neither
wise nor ignorant, proud of stomoke nor febill of corage, and
finally, no earthlie creature by no craft or engine of man, did ever
avoid?” Letter of John Knox from Dieppe.—_Ed._]

277 [That is, “He who cries up his descent boasts of that which is
another’s.”—_Ed._]

278 [Much less.—_Ed._]

279 [This is a literal translation of a Greek proverb which is quoted by
Aulus Gellius (Noct. Att. lib. xiii. cap. 17) and which has been
rendered into Latin thus:—_Multa cadunt inter calicem labrumque
supremum._—_Ed._]

280 [Diod. Sic. Bibl. lib. i. p. 68.

Venit ad occasum, mun lique extrema Sesostris,
Et Pharios currus regum cervicibus egit.
Lucan lib. x. ver. 276.

The farthest west our great Sesostris saw,
Whilst captive kings did his proud chariot draw.
May’s Translation.

Sesostris was so much affected and humbled, by the delicate appeal
of the enslaved monarch, that he immediately commanded him, and the
other unhappy kings who were harnessed to his car, to be removed
from it.—Theophylact Hist. Maurit. lib. vi. chap. ii. Joan Tzetz.
Hist. Chibad. iii. 69.—_Ed._]

281 [See note page 98.—_Ed._]

282 [Hear, O heavens and give ear, O earth. ver. 2.—_Ed._]

283 [Regret, or accusation.—_Ed._]

284 [Agreeably to the course of discipline in former ages, (Hooker’s
Eccl. Pol. vol. iii. p. 15,) they who had been convicted of any
gross crime were required by the First Book of Discipline, (chap.
ix.) and by subsequent enactments of the Church of Scotland, to
confess their sin in the hearing of the whole congregation. The same
thing was required of delinquents by the canons of the Church of
England. Dr. Grey, in his Impartial Examination of Neale’s History
of the Puritans, (App. pp. 62-68,) has, from original documents
which were in his own possession, furnished us with various forms,
according to which, towards the end of the sixteenth century,
offenders were appointed to make their confession, in different
parts of England, in their respective parish-churches. The dues
which, in cases of scandal, were exacted by the ecclesiastical
courts of Scotland, were imposed and defined by acts of parliament.
Power to levy these was given to justices of the peace, who were
frequently members of the kirk session, or parochial consistory of
their district. In the year 1648, the General Assembly “recommended
to every congregation, to make use of the 9th act of the parliament
1645, at Perth, for having magistrates and justices in every
congregation.” (Rec. of Kirk of Scot. p. 511, Edn. 1839.) It was in
this way, it would seem, or from elders acting both in a civil and
in an ecclesiastical capacity, that the practice of exacting fines
by kirk sessions arose and was continued. “You object that our
church sessions did exact fines. But if you consider, that these
fines, which you mention, are particularly imposed and determined by
statute, and thereby appointed to be applied to pious uses, and
therefore the demanding and uplifting thereof only, as well for the
more summary and effectual restraint of sin, as for the end whereto
they are destined, is in use to be exercised by kirk sessions, or
rather by their officers and beadles in deficiency of the
magistrate, this your scruple must quickly cease.” “The True
Non-Conformist,” p. 55, printed abroad in the year 1671.—_Ed._]

285 [See Note, page 375.—_Ed._]

286 [This passage is quoted in the Life of the Author.—_Ed._]

287 [That is, the persons who prescribe or appoint it.—_Ed._]

288 [“The longer I live in the world the less fond am I of that divinity
that stand upon quirks and subtilties. What should drive us upon
determining whether faith or repentance goes first? What valuable
ends or purposes in religion can it serve to promote? What
edification can it give to an audience to dispute learnedly about a
point of this nature?... I cannot but heartily approve what Mr
Robert Blair, an eminent light of this church now in glory, said
upon the question in hand. He told his people from the pulpit, that
it was a very needless one. ’Tis just (said he,) as if you should
ask me, when we are to walk, which foot should we lift first. If we
should walk to purpose we must make use of both limbs; and so
despatched the thorny question. I wish we may all imitate the wisdom
of that great and good man. Is it not sufficient for us to declare
that both are necessary, without determining the nice point of
priority and posterority?” (Essay on Gospel and Legal Preaching, by
a Minister of the Church of Scotland, pp. 22, 23. Edin. 1723.) “Mr.
Robert Blair, born in Irvine, was first a Regent in the College of
Glasgow, at which time he was licensed to preach the gospel, and was
from the beginning zealous for truth and piety.” (Livingston’s
Memorable Characteristics, p. 73) Mr. Blair died in 1666 in the 73d
year of his age. (See Memoirs of the Life of Mr. Robert Blair, the
first part written by himself, p. 128, Edin. 1754.) Mr. James
Durham, Minister of the High Church of Glasgow, a short time before
his death, intrusted to him the publication of his “Dying Man’s
Testament to the Church of Scotland, or a Treatise concerning
Scandal,” to which Mr. Blair wrote a preface. Principal Baillie
gives this account of Blair, “Truly, I bear that man record that in
all his English voyages, in many passages of the Assembly, private
and public, he contributed as much to the pacifying of our
differences as any, and much more than many.” Journals and Letters,
vol. i. p. 306.—_Ed._]

289 [Or, sin itself.—_Ed._]

290 [That is, _power_ of persuasion.—_Ed._]

291 [This is the word in the first Edition. It would seem to have been
substituted for _arrive_.—_Ed._]

292 [That is, unless you please.—_Ed._]

293 [A proverb, which signifies that conscience does not deceive, and
that its testimony is as overwhelming as that of a thousand
witnesses—_Quintil Inst Orator_ lib. v. chap. xi.—_Ed._]

294 [That is, not to will.—_Ed._]

295 [See Note, page 96. _Si vis cadem semper vella, vera oportet
velis._—“If you are desirous to have always similar wishes, it is
necessary that you should wish for things that are proper.” _Senec.
Epist._ xcv.—_Ed._]

296 [That is, laid open or explained.—_Ed._]

297 [Dispone is a Scots law expression. It signifies to convey a right
or property to another.—_Ed._]

298 See:

Non bene conveniunt, nec in una sede morantur,
Majestus et amor.

_Ovid. Met._ lib. ii. v. 846.—_Ed._]

299 [The name Immanuel ונמע לא signifies, _God with us_. Immelanu ונא
לאמע signifies, _we with God_.—_Ed._]

300 [The Goel (לאג), or nearest kinsman, was, by the Mosaic law,
entitled not only to redeem a forfeited inheritance, but to avenge
the blood of any of the family, by slaying the murderer, if he found
him out of a city of refuge. He was therefore called the redeemer,
or “avenger of blood,” Josh. xx. 3.—_Ed._]

301 [The word λυτρον denotes the price of redemption, or that which is
given to purchase the freedom of those who are in a state of
captivity. “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered to but
to minister, and to give his life a ransom (λυτρον) for many” (Matt.
xx. 28, Mark x. 45). αντιλυτρον is but once used in the New
Testament. Its gratification is a counter-price, or the ransom that
is paid when the life or person of one is given for that of another.
“For there is but one God and one mediator between God and men, the
man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom (αντιλυτρον) for all,” 1
Tim. ii. 5, 6. Vide Leigh’s Critica Sacra.—_Ed._]

302 [That is, proposed.—_Ed._]

303 [That is, however.—_Ed._]

304 [Verse 6.—_Ed._]

305 [That is, place it upon God or charge him with it.—_Ed._]

306 [That is, adorned itself.—_Ed._]

307 [_Scottice_ for _than_.—_Ed._]

308 [There is some obscurity in this sentence. The sentiment that is
expressed, however, seems to be this:—_Much love to a particular
object makes the act of seeking or praying for it to be loved
more._—_Ed._]

309 [That is, an earnest (_arrha_ Lat.).—_Ed._]

310 [Yule is a name that is still applied to Christmas, in the Northern
parts of England as well as in Scotland. “This name was originally
given to the great annual feast celebrated among the northern
nations, at the time of the winter solstice in honour of the sun.
Hence Odin was denominated Julvatter, or the _Father of Yule_.”
(Jamieson’s Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish language.) “He
praised God that he was born in such a time, as in the time of the
light of the gospel—to such a place as to be king of such a kirk,
the sincerest kirk of the world. The kirk of Geneva keep Pasch and
_Yule_; what have they for them? They have no institution. As for
our neighbour kirk in England their service is an evil sad mass in
English, they want nothing of the mass but the liftings.” (Speech of
King James VI, to the Central Assembly of the Church of Scotland, at
Edinburgh, August 1590. Calderwood’s Hist. of the Ch. of Scot. p.
206.) What is called the birch or “birk in Yule even’” was probably
the _Yule clog_. On Christmas eve at no very remote period, the
_Yule clog_, which was a large shapeless piece of wood, selected for
the purpose, was dragged by a number of persons bearing in their
hand large candles, and placed by them on the fire where it was to
be burned in compliance with an ancient superstitious custom. Our
author may refer to this practice or perhaps he had simply in view
the old proverb, “He’s as bare as the birk at Yule.”—Henderson’s
Scottish Proverbs, p. 47. Edin. 1832.—_Ed._]

311 [The records of the kirk session of the parish of Govan, during the
incumbency of the author, after having been lost for many years,
were fortunately recovered not long ago. These show the great
strictness of the ecclesiastical discipline of those days. There
were not fewer than twenty-two elders in the kirk session. Each of
these had a ward or district assigned to him, of which it was his
duty to take a particular superintendence. It was hardly possible,
therefore, that any irregularity of which a parishioner was guilty
could be concealed, and consequently, what is recorded in the
register is to be regarded, not as a specimen, but as the gross
amount of the immorality of the parish. Some may affect to ridicule
the severe notice that was taken of particular instances of
misconduct. But the cognizance that was taken of such things is a
proof of the high tone of moral and religious feeling that prevailed
at that time among the office bearers of the church. Individuals, we
find, were brought before the kirk session, on account of family and
domestic feuds, for quarrelling with their neighbours, for solitary
instances of drunkenness, and of the use of profane language, for
carrying water on the Lord’s day, for sleeping in church, for
resorting to taverns on the Sabbath, for calumny, and for neglecting
the education of their children, &c. They who were convicted of such
offences, were sometimes rebuked in private by an elder, and at
other times by the minister in the presence of the eldership. It was
only in the case of graver offences, the number of which was
comparatively small, that a reproof was administered in the presence
of the congregation.—_Ed._]

312 [In the “Causes of the Lord’s Wrath against Scotland, agreed upon by
the Commission of the General Assembly,” 1650, “Backsliding and
defection from the covenants and our solemn vows and engagements,”
is specified (p. 46) to be “one of the greatest and most
comprehensive and provoking sins in the land.” _Printed in the year
1653._—_Ed._]

313 [This is the language of a man who did not use “at any time
flattering words,” or utter to his people “smooth things.” From what
he says here, however, and in some other sermons, and from
corresponding evidence which might be adduced, we are forced to
conclude that the well-known description which Kirkton has given of
the state of religion in Scotland in those days, (Hist. of Ch. of
Scot. pp. 48, 54, 64) must be too highly coloured. The presence of a
large military force and a state of civil warfare could not but be
prejudicial, in various ways, to the religion and morality of a
country. I am perfectly aware that the authority of Lord Clarendon,
Bishop Burnet, Milton, and others, may be brought forward to prove
that the parliamentary soldiers were kept under the strictest
discipline, and were remarkable for their grave deportment. But I
know likewise that the characters of not a few of those soldiers are
seriously affected by the offensive details of the ecclesiastical
records of the parish with which Binning was connected.—_Ed._]

314 [See Note, p. 368.—_Ed._]

315 [Or together.—_Ed._]

316 [That is, explain.—_Ed._]

317 [Coldly or indifferently.—_Ed._]

318 [Languishing.—_Ed._]

319 [“Upon Sunday, the 27th of February [1642], a declaration was read
out of the old town pulpit [Aberdeen] by our minister, Mr William
Strahan, showing the state of the Protestants in Ireland, and how
their wives and bairns were miserably banished, and forced to flee
into the west parts of Scotland for refuge, and the land not able to
sustain them. It was found expedient that ilk parish within the
kingdom should receive a collection of ilk man’s charity for their
help and support, whereupon was collected of this poor parish
fourscore pounds.” (Spalding’s “History of the Troubles in
Scotland,” vol. i. p. 34. Aberdeen, 1792.) “As a body, the
presbyterians [in Ireland] suffered less by the ravages of the
rebellion than any other class. The more influential of their
ministers, and the principal part of their gentry, had previously
retired to Scotland to escape the tyranny of Strafford and the
severities of the bishops and were thus providentially preserved.”
(Dr. Reid’s “History of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland,” vol. i,
p. 339.) After the execution of Charles I, an oath called the
_Engagement_, was framed by the English parliament, requiring all
persons to be “faithful to the commonwealth of England as now
established, without a king or house of lords.” The Irish ministers
refused to take this oath. The republicans were irritated by this
refusal, and by the loyalty of the ministers, who publicly preached
against them. They therefore imprisoned some of the ministers, while
others fled to the woods, and some to Scotland. At length, at a
council of war held at Carrickfergus in March, 1651, a formal act of
banishment from the kingdom was passed against them. “Those that
staid in the country, though they could not exercise their ministry
orderly as formerly, and though their stipends were sequestered, yet
they, changing their apparel to the habit of countrymen, travelled
in their own parishes frequently, and sometimes in other places,
taking what opportunities they could to preach in the fields, or in
barns and glens, and were seldom in their own houses. They persuaded
the people to constancy in the received doctrines, in opposition to
the wild heresies which were then spreading, and reminding them of
their duty to their lawful magistrates, the king and parliament, in
opposition to the usurption of the times, and in their public
prayers always mentioning the lawful magistrate. This continued
throughout the summer of 1651, at which time there was diligent
search made anew for them. Some were again taken, others fled, and
those who were taken were imprisoned first, for a time, in
Carrickfergus, in lodgings where they quartered; and thereafter,
Colonel Venables not gaining any ground upon them, they were sent to
Scotland.” Adair’s MS. apud Dr. Reid’s Hist. vol. ii. p. 246-248.
See also a narrative of the sufferings of the Irish Presbyterians,
for their religion and loyalty, in the “Sample of Jet-Black
Calumny,” p. 214.—_Ed._]

320 [What is perhaps meant is, it _swelleth_ much.—_Ed._]

321 [That is, _that can lay claim to the favour of his Saviour even when
his Saviour turns away his face from him_.—_Ed._]

322 [What is here said would seem to fix the date of this sermon. It
appears to have been preached before the battle of Dunbar.—_Ed._]

323 [That is, strongly.—_Ed._]

324 [That is, his utmost.—_Ed._]

325 [It is evident from this, and similar references to recent events,
that the Case of Conscience must have been written in the early part
of the year 1651. The proceedings of the commission of the General
Assembly, from July 1650 to July 1661, fill a large MS volume of
more than 400 pages. These proceedings have never been printed, with
the exception of certain detached papers, which are found engrossed
in the controversial pamphlets and journals of the times.—Peterkin’s
“Records of the Kirk of Scotland,” p. 592.—_Ed._]

326 [“The Gen. Assembly itself at Edinburgh, in July thereafter, did,
upon the 19 of that moneth, publish a Declaration, in which they
give warning concerning Malignants thus:—‘We exhort all those who
are in publick trust in ye comitee of Estates, or otherwise, not
only to take good head of their private walking that it be suitable
to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and of their families and followers,
that they bee void of offence, but also be straight in the cause and
covenant, and not to seek themselves, nor befriend any who have been
enemies to the Lord’s work, self-seeking, and conniving at, and
complying with, and pleading for Malignants, having been publick
sins that have been often complained of; and we wish to God yr were
no cause to complain of these things still, notwithstanding of the
solemne confession of them, and ingadging against them. God forbid
that any mocke the Lord. He is a severe avenger of all such things,
and there is the more reason at this time not to own Malignants,
because it is ordinary with men so to be taken with the sense of the
dangers such is before them as not to look back to that which is
behind hem. There may be inclinations in some to employ these men,
and make use of them, that we may be strengthened in this and in our
neighbour land, but God hath hitherto cursed all such counsels, and
blasted such resolutions, and if we shall again fall into this sin,
as our guilt shal be so much the greater by reasone of many promises
and ingadgments to the contrair, so we may expect ane heavier
judgment from the Lord upon it. Let us keep the Lord’s way, and
though we be few and weake, the Lord shall be with us, and make us
to prosper and prevail. They are not fit for the work of God, and
for the glorious dispensations of his more than ordinary works of
power and providence in these times, who cannot beleive nor act any
thing beyonde what sense and reasone can make clear unto them from
the beginning unto ye end of their undertakings. Former experiences
and present straits call upon us that we should act and follow our
deutie in such a way as may magnify the Lord, and make it known to
others that we may live by Faith.’—‘The Waters of Sihor,’ or the
Lands Defectione, By Mr. James Guthrie, Minister of Stirling,”
Wodrow MSS vol. xvii. p. 41, in Bib. Ad.—_Ed._]

327 [“At Stirlinge, the 12 of Septem. 1650. A shorte declaration and
warninge to all the congregations of the Kirk of Scotland, from the
commissioners of the General Assembly.

“Albeit the Lord quhosse judgments are unsearchable, and quhosse
wayes past finding out, has brought the land werey low wnder the
hand of ane prewaillinge enemey, yet must we not forbeare to declair
the mynd of God, nor vthers refusse to hearken thereto. It wer
superfluous to give answer to the maney calumnies and reproches that
are blazed abroad, for albeit in every thing we cannot justify the
conducte of the armey, yet we hold it our deutie to desyre every one
not to beleive groundless reports, bot rather to eye the Lord, and
looke vpe to the hand that smytts them. And therfor, in the first
place, we exhort and warne all the inhabitants of the land, to
searche out ther iniquities, and to be deeplie humbled before the
Lord, that he may turn away his wraith from us. The Lord hath
wounded us and chasteissed us sore, wiche sayes that our iniquities
are muche, and that our sins are increessed. It concerneth the King
to mourne for all the grivous provocations of his father’s housse,
and for all his auen guiltiness, and to consider if he hes come to
the covenant, and joined himselve to the Lord, upone politicke
interests, for gaining a croune to himselve rather then to advance
religione and righteousness, that it is iniquitie quhilk God will
not forgett excepte it be speedilie repented offe. It concerns our
nobles and judges to consider wither ther carriadge in publicke
matters be straight and equall, or rather savoring of seeking
themselves and the thinges of this worlde, and how they walke in
ther families, and in ther privat conversations. There is in maney a
grate deall of perversenes and incorrigiblenes in regard of
forsaking some and performing some deuties, notwithstanding publecke
confessions and engagements, and this cannot bot heighlie provock
the Lord. And it concerneth the officers of the armey, especially
thesse quho are cheiffe among them, to weight weell quhat the Lord
hes against them, and to repent of ther diffidence and carnall way
of acting and undervaluing of God’s people. And ministers have also
neid to searche themselves concerning ther faithfullness to be
sound, for wiche God is angrie, doutles even amongest thesse is
muche negligence. Albeit the Lord hes suffred that armey of
perfideous and blasphemous sectaries to prevaill. Yet God forbid
that the land should complay with him, quhatever may be the
plauseable and faire carriage of some of that enimey, yet doubtless
there is ane levin of error and hypocrassy amongest them wich all
the lovers of treuth wold decern and avoyd. As the Lord hes trayed
the stability and integritie of his people in the land heirtofore,
by the prevailing of malignants, so doeth he now tray them by the
prevailing of sectaries, and wee trust they will thinke it ther
deutie and commendatione to prove staidfast against them als weill
as the other.

“3. Nather wold men be lesse cairfull and active to opposse the
enimey, then they have beine in opposeing malignants heirtofor, our
religione, lives, liberties and estaits, are als muche in hazard now
as ever, all the ordinances of Jesus Christ in the land are in
danger, and the foundatione lyke to be overturnid by thesse men quho
are oblidged, by the band of the covenant, to mantiene all thesse
and it wer a grate guiltines to ly doune and complay, and crutche
under the burden of the strange impositions that they will lay upon
us, and as men without head, to suffer our land to be brought in
bondage and ourselves to be robbed of all thesse things quhilk are
most precious and deire to us. If wee should doe so, the Lord wold
be angrie with us, and our posterity could not bot curss us.

“4. We would not think that all danger from the malignants is now
gone, seeing that ther is a grate maney suche in the land, quho
still retein ther former principales, therfor we wolde, with als
muche watchfullnes and tendernes now as ever, avoyde ther snars, and
beware of complayance and conjunctione with them, and take head,
that under a pretence of doing for the king and kingdome they gett
not power and strenth unto ther handes, for advanceing and
promoveing ther old malignant desseinges. Doubtles our saftie is in
holding fast our former principales, and keeping a straighte faithe,
without declyning to the right hand ore to the lefte.

“5. It concernes all the inhabitants of the land to bewarre of
murmuring and complaning against God’s dispensations, and
questioning the treuthe and goodnes of our causse or quarreling with
God, or blaming or casting off the covenant, becausse of aney thing
that hath befallin them, that wer a grate iniquitie not to be
pardoned. Lett us beare the indignatione of the Lord patientlie,
becausse wee have sinned against him, untill he plead our causse and
execut judgment for us, he will bring us fourthe to the light, and
we shall behold his righteousnes.”—Sir James Balfour’s Annales, vol.
iv. pp. 98-102.—_Ed._]

328 [“Causes of a soleme publicke humiliatione upone the defait of the
army, to be keepit throughout all the congregations of the Kirk of
Scotland.

“Albeit soleme publicke humiliations hes beine muche slighted, and
gone about in a formall way by maney in this land, so that it is not
one of the least of our provocations that we have drawn neire to God
with our mouthes and keepit our heartes fare from him, for wich the
Lord hath turned the wisdome of the wysse unto foollishnes, and the
strenthe of the strong men unto weaknes, yet seing it is a dutie
that hath oftin provin comfortable to uswards, God doeth new call us
in a speciall way by a singular peice of dispensatione, and knowing
that all quho are acquainted with God in the land will make
conscience of it, wee conceave it expedient that the quhole land be
humbled for the causses following.

“1. The continued ignorance and profanitie of the bodie of the land,
and the obstinacey and incorrigiblenes of maney, notwithstanding of
all the caires that God hath takin upon us by his word, and by his
workes of mercy and judgement, to teache us in the knowledge of his
name, and to refraine us from the eivell of our wayes.

“2. The manifest provocations of the kinges housse wiche we feare
are not throughlie repented off, nor forsaken by him to this day,
togidder with the crooked and precipitant wayes that wer takin by
sundrie of our statesmen for caring the trettey with the king.

“3. The bringing home with the king a grate maney malignants, and
indevoring to keepe some of them about him, and maney of them in the
kingdome, notwithstanding of publicke resolutions to the contrarey.

“4. The not purging of the kinges familie from malignant and profane
men, and the constituting of the samen of weill affected and godlie
persons, albeit it hathe beine oftin pressed upone the parliament
and comittee of Estaits, undertaking and promessed to be performed
by them.

“5. The leveing of a most malignant and profaine guard of horsse to
be aboute the king, quho having beine sent for to be purgit aboute 2
dayes before the defaite, were suffred to be and feight in our
armey.

“6. The exceiding grate slaknes of maney and aversnes and
untowardnes of some in the cheiffe judicatories of the kingdome and
in the armey, in guid motione and publick deuties, especially in
thesse thinges that concerne the purging of judicatories and the
armey from malignant and scandalous persons, and filling all places
of powre and trust with men of knowen integritie and trust, and of a
blamles and Christiane conversatione, togider with grate
inclinations to keepe and bring in malignants to the judicatories
and to the armey, as if the land could not be gydit and defendit
without thesse, and grate repyning and craying out against all that
is done to the contrarie, and studding to make the same ineffectual.

“7. The exceiding grate diffidence of some of the cheiffe leaders of
our armey, and others amongest us quho thought wee could not be
saved bot by ane numerous armey, who quhen wee have gottin many
thousands togider, wold not hazard to acte aney thing,
notwithstanding that God offred faire opportunities and advantages,
and fitted the spiritts of the souldiers for ther deutie, for
carnall confidence that was in maney of the armey, to the dispysing
of the enimey and promising victorie to themselves without eying of
God.

“8. The lousnes, insolencie and oppressione, of maney in the armey,
and the litle or no caire that was taken by maney to preserve the
corne, by wich it hath come to passe that verey much of the food of
the poore people of the land have beine neidlesly destroyed, and
quhile wee even remember this, we wishe that the prophanitie and
oppressione of sundrie of oure officers and souldiers in Ingland,
quhen we were fighting for the assistance of the parliament of that
kingdome, may not be forgottin, because it was matter of stumbling
in that land, so it is lyke it is ane of the causses of the sore
indignatione now manifested against us by the hands of thesse men.

“9. Our grate unthankfullnes for former mercies and deliverances,
and even for maney tokins of the Lords favor and goodness towards
our present armey quhile they wer togider, and the grate impatience
of spirit that was to be seine in maney thesse weekes past, quhilk
made them limitt the Lord, and to compleine and weerie of his
delaying of ane deliverance.

“10. The enving and eyeing of the kings intrest and quarrell by
maney, without subordinatione to religione and the liberties and
saveties of this kingdomes.

“11. The carnall selve seiking and crooked way of sundrie in our
judicatories and armies, quho make ther employments and places
rather ane matter of intrest and gain and preferment to themselves
then of advancing religione and righteousness in the land.

“12. The not putting difference betwix thesse that fear God, and
thesse that fear him not, for our services, our companie, our
employments, bot acompting all men alike, maney times preferring
thesse quho have nothing of God in them.

“13. The exceiding grate negligence that is in grate ones, and maney
others, in performing the deuties in ther families notwithstanding
of our former soleme acknowledgment of the samen; as also, our
neglecte of the deuties of mutuall edificatione, and grate
unfruitfullness and barrennes that is to be seene amongest all sorts
of persons; togider with the following of deutie with a grate deall
of mixture of carnall affections and fleschly wisdome wich grives
the Spirit of God, and takes away muche of the beutie of the Lords
image from our judicatories.

“As we wold be humbled for thesse thinges, so wold wee also intreat
the Lord that he wold sanctifie this affliction to his people that
they nather dispysse his chestisings, nor faint quhen they are
rebukit of him, bot that they may beare his indignatione patiently,
and cleive steadfestly to the treuthe, and the covenants, and the
causse of God without yeilding to the power of the enimey, or
receaving ther errors, or complaying ather with them on the one
hand, ore malignants on the other, and that the Lord wold poure out
of his Spirit upon the people, that ther spiritts may be raissed
unto ther deutie, and that they may be filled and furnished of God
with wisdome and resolutione to acte against their enimies for the
honor of God, ther awen preservatione; and that the Lord wold not
suffer them to be tempted above that whiche they are able to beare,
bot that he wold break the yoke of ther oppressors from off ther
neckes, and give them salvatione and deliverance; earnestly to
intreat the Lord in private and in publicke that he wold preserve
with us the ordinances of Jesus Christe, the kingdom, the kings
maties persone, the ministrie, from the power of ther enimies, quho
seekes the destruction of all.”—Id. pp. 102-107.—_Ed._]

329 [See the Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, Anno 1650, xxx
Novembris, vol. vi. p. 544.—_Ed._]

330 [“About this time the king’s head was filled by some unhappy men
about him, especially Dr. Fraser [who was the king’s physician] and
Henry Seymour, with many extreme fears. After the affront at Leith,
they had raised suspicions in his mind, which, upon the defeat at
Dunbar, were increased, but by the separate rising in the west
brought near to the head of a design to break the treaty with him,
and agree upon his expences with Cromwell. Upon these motions the
malignants in the north stept in, and by the forenamed persons began
a correspondence for the raising of the north for his present
service, under the conduct of Middleton. So many noblemen were on
this unhappy enterprise. Crawford was given out for its head and
contriver, albeit be professed to me his opposition to it.
Lauderdale knew of it; but he has said so far to me, that I believe
him he opposed it to his power. However, the thing was so foolishly
laid, and the king, by the counsels of those about him, was so
various in giving order for that rising, sometimes commanding and
then countermanding to rise, that all the party was put in a
confusion; yet, by the information of these foresaid fools, the king
being put in fear, that Lorn, going timely to bury a soldier, was
drawing together his regiment to lay hands on him, contrary to his
former resolutions, he took horse with some two or three, as if it
had been to go a hawking, but crossed Tay, and stayed not till he
came to Clowe in Angus. By the way he repented of the journey, and
meeting with Lauderdale at Diddup, and Balcarras coming from Dundee
by accident, was almost persuaded by them to return, yet by Diddup
and Buchan he was kept in Clowe. But when he came to that
miserably-accommodated house, and in place of the great promised
forces, he saw nothing but a small company of Highlanders, he
presently sent for Robert Montgomery, who was near with his
regiment, and without more ado, did willingly return, exceedingly
confounded and dejected for that ill-advised start. When it was
first blazed abroad, it filled all good men with great grief, and to
my own heart it brought one of the most sensible sorrows that in all
nay life I had felt. Yet his quick return of his own accord, and his
readiness to give all satisfaction for that failure, and his kind
receiving by the committee of states, among whom he ever sat after
his return (though never before) turned our grief suddenly into joy,
his absence not lasting above two full days. Yet all men were not so
soon satisfied.

“Sundry of them who had been on the plot, fearing a discovery and
punishment, flew to arms; Lewis Gordon, Ogilvie, Athol, and others,
under Middleton’s command, putting out a number of fair pretexts for
their rising. This might have destroyed all; yet, by God’s mercy,
all was quickly quieted. D. Leslie, with all his horse, marched
towards them; the king wrote earnestly to them to lay down. The
committee of estates sent a fair act of indemnity, and so without
more ado they went home.”—Baillie’s Letters, vol. ii. p. 356.

Middleton, like the Marquis of Montrose, had been at one time a
covenanter. After the Restoration, he was appointed to open the
Scottish parliament, as his Majesty’s commissioner. But this did not
prevent him from taking part in the debate, when the Act Rescissory,
by which the presbyterian form of church polity was completely
destroyed, was under consideration. Mr. David Dickson, along with
some others, was delegated by the presbytery of Edinburgh to present
to the Earl of Middleton a petition upon this subject. Middleton
told Mr. Dickson “he was mistaken if he thought to terrify him with
papers,—he was no coward.” Mr. Dickson dryly replied, “They knew
well he was no coward ever since the bridge of Dee.” This was a
skirmish which took place on the 19th of June, 1638, in which
Middleton had displayed great zeal for the covenant, in opposition
to Charles I. He took no notice of Mr. Dickson’s sarcastic
remark.—Kirkton’s “History of the Church of Scotland,” p.
118.—_Ed._]

331 [This was the “Acte of Pardon and Indemnitie, granted by the King
and Comittee of Estaites to the Northerne Rebells, 26 October, 1650,
and proclaimed at the mercat crosse of Perth, the 29th ditto, by
Rosse Heraulde, A.L.” See Balfour’s Annales, vol. iv. p. 132.—_Ed._]

332 [He refers to “The Northerne Band and Othe of Engagement sent by
Mideltone to L. Generall David Lesley, 26th of October, 1650.”
Middleton and the other subscribers of the Bond promise and swear
that they “shall manteine the trew religione, as it is established
in Scotland; the covenant, league and covenant, the Kings Majesties
persone, prerogative, gratnes and authoritie; the previllidges of
parliament and freedome of the subjects.”—Id. p. 129.—_Ed._]

333 [See the Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, ut supra.—_Ed._]

334 [The reader will find a very interesting account of the negociations
at Breda, in “A Brief Historical Relation of the Life of Mr. John
Livingston, Minister at Ancrum in Scotland, and last at Rotterdam in
Holland,” who was one of the commissioners sent from Scotland to
Breda (pp. 39-52. Glasgow, 1754). Dr. Cook, who quotes from the MS.,
does not seem to have been aware that the Life of Livingston was
ever printed. See his “History of the Church of Scotland,” vol. iii.
p. 177, _note_.—_Ed._]

335 [“Immediately after the Scots army had marched in to England to the
parliament’s assistance, did the King commissionate Montrose to
raise a war in Scotland, by which he made account either to oblige
the covenanters to recall their army out of England, or at least to
make that nation smart for their boldness. And this indeed he did
effectually, for landing in the West Highlands, with a party of
bloody Irish papists, who had been but a little before clashed in
the cruel massacre of the innocent protestants he overran the whole
country and beat the covenanters forces in six bloody conflicts. His
war, I believe, was the most cruel in the world.” (Kirkton’s
History, p. 43) “Montrose’s History is written in good Latin
(supposed to be by Bishop Wishart), but with as little truth as most
in the world.” Id. p. 122.—_Ed._]