disclaim and abjure all episcopal power and jurisdiction, with the whole corruptions thereof, condemned by lawful Assemblies within the said kirk of Scotland. . . . promising and swearing, by the great name of the Lord our God, that I shall never, whilst I live, directly or indirectly, exercise any such power within the kirk; neither shall I ever allow or approve the same, not so much as in my private or public discourse; but, on the contrary, shall stand and adhere to all the acts and constitutions of the late Assembly, holden at Glasgow on the 21st of November, 1638, last by past, and shall concur, to the uttermost of my power, sincerely and faithfully, as occasion shall offer, in executing the said acts, and in advancing the work of reformation within this land, to the glory of God, the peace of the country, and the comfort and contentment of all good christians, as God shall be my help." This remarkable disclaimer is dated on the 11th of February1. This unhappy man was very rich, and had lent large sums of money on bond, all of which would have been escheated had he not avoided the Assembly's excommunication by this timely imitation of that treacherous apostle who bare the bag. Upon his shameful apostacy, Robert Baron, professor of divinity in Marischal College, Aberdeen, was elected to the see of Orkney; but from the posture of the king's affairs, and the absence of all the bishops from the kingdom, he never was consecrated or ob tained possession of his diocese 2. In the same session an act was passed "containing the causes and remedy of the by-gone evils of this kirk;" the main and most material of which, they said, was the pressing of the liturgy by the prelates, the frame of which they alleged was popish, containing divers popish errors and ceremonies, and the seeds of manifold superstitions and idolatries; the Book of Canons, establishing a tyrannical power over the kirk in the persons of bishops; with a Book of Consecration and Ordination, having no warrant either civil, ecclesiastical, or from the Word of God; and a High Commission, subverting the jurisdiction of the kirk, and giving to persons merely ecclesiastical the power of both swords, and to persons merely civil the power of the keys.-2. A second cause was the Articles of Perth.-3. The changing the government of the kirk from the Assemblies to the persons of some kirkmen usurping authority over their brethren by the name of episcopal government.-4. Fourthly, the civil places and power of 1 Collection of Acts of Assembly, by Johnston, of Warriston, p. 72, kirkmen sitting and voting in the [court of] session, council, exchequer, parliament, and bench of justices of peace, lifting them up in worldly pomp above their brethren.-5. Fifthly, The keeping and authorising corrupt Assemblies, viz. at Linlithgow, 1606; at Glasgow, 1610; at Aberdeen, 1616; at St. Andrews, 1617; at Perth, 1618, all of which are null and unlawful.-6. A sixth cause was the want of lawful and free General Assemblies rightly constituted of pastors, doctors, and elders, yearly or oftener, pro re nata, and above all these, the breach of the national covenant1. When Henderson composed the foregoing complaint, but in particular its fourth article, he must altogether have forgotten his own agency in the transactions of the previous twelve months. He and his party had made it an unpardonable crime in the bishops and clergy to perform those secular offices which had been thrust upon them by the crown. Yet there appears to have been a most marvellous elasticity in presbytery; for he thrust himself forward into the camp, and, in the midst of rebellion, marched and countermarched with an army in array against his sovereign, attended all the councils of war, treated and advised as a commissioner, and signed the treaty for his fellow Covenanters with their sovereign, which was wholly and entirely of a civil nature. These transactions are instances of the hypocrisy and double-dealing which will ever disgrace and tarnish his name; and will show that his opposition to the secular offices of the bishops arose from envy and disappointed pride and ambition, and not from any real love of God, or for the advancement of true religion, which is first pure and then peaceable. After the foregoing act had been put to the vote, the earl of Traquair consented verbally to it, and promised a written declaration of his consent to the clerk, and also promised to ratify it in the ensuing parliament. -I, John, earl of Traquair, his majesty's commissioner in this present Assembly, do, in his majesty's name, declare that notwithstanding of his majesty's own inclination, and many other grave and weighty considerations, yet such is his majesty's incomparable goodness, that for settling the present distractions, and giving full satisfaction to the subject, he doth allow, like as I his majesty's commissioner do consent to the foresaid act, and have subscribed the premises 2. In the eighteenth session, on the 26th of August, the Assembly passed an act approving of another surreptitious register 1 Johnston's Acts of Assembly, Session eight, 17th August, 1639, pp. 73-76. 2 Ibid. p. 86. which Johnston had forged and now produced, and "or-·* dained the same to make faith in judgment, and outwith in all time coming; as a true and authentic register of the kirk of Scotland, conform to the testimony subscribed by the committee, and to be inserted in the books of Assembly." In the twentieth session an act was passed for receiving such of the deposed clergy as should submit to their government, "recommending to the synods all those who are deposed before them for subscribing the [bishop's] declinature, for reading of the service-book, and for any other gross cause: that upon their true repentance and submission to the constitutions of this kirk, and upon their purgation and clearness from any gross. faults, laid to their charge in any new process against them, they may be found by the synods capable of the ministry 1." In the twenty-first session an act was passed for the keeping of the Lord's Day, and for prohibiting river and sea fishing, and the working of mills, on that sacred day, under the pain of the censures of the kirk. By another act, a fine was imposed on those who went into England in order to be married; that the parish books of every parish be presented to the presbyteries, to be examined by them; to compel the episcopal clergy who had been excommunicated by the Glasgow Assembly, to resign their benefices, which were declared vacant; to revise and enforce all former and obsolete acts against papists and excommunicated persons, and all who aided, comforted, or assisted them; that some uniform catechism be appointed; and that intrants to the ministry be examined before their admission2. Another act was passed, in condemnation of his majesty's "Large Declaration," and in particular of Walter Balcanquhal, the dean of Durham, who it was supposed had written it: his majesty was desired to call it in, and to send the dean of Durham to Scotland, that he might be tried and sentenced to suffer condign punishment, for the vindication of God's honour from such high contempt, and the king's dignity from such false and unjust imputations !3 In this session also the covenanters gained a great jesuitical point, and which has deceived many well-meaning men— the explanation of their bond of mutual defence; of which they have both then and since taken so much advantage. The following supplication of the Assembly was prepared and presented to his majesty's high commissioner and the lords of secret council. After protesting their loyalty and obedience, 1 Johnston s Collections of Acts, session 20, Aug. 28, 1639. Sess. 23, 30th Aug. p. 81. the petition proceeds-" We have solemnly sworn, and do swear, not only our mutual concurrence and assistance for the cause of religion, and to the uttermost of our power, with our means and lives, to stand to the defence of our dread sovereign, his person and authority, in preservation and defence of the true religion, liberties, and laws of this kirk and kingdom, but also in every cause which may concern his majesty's honour, shall, according to the laws of this kingdom and the duties of good subjects, concur with our friends and followers, in quiet manner or in arms, as we shall be required of his majesty, his council, or any having his authority. And, therefore, being most desirous to clear ourselves of all imputation of this kind, and following the laudable example of our predecessors, 1589, do most humbly supplicate your grace his majesty's commissioner, and the lords of his majesty's most honourable privy council, to enjoin by act of council, that this Confession and Covenant, which, as a testimony of our fidelity to God and loyalty to our king, we have subscribed, be subscribed by all his majesty's subjects, of what rank and quality soever1." On the same day, the earls of Rothes and Montrose, lord Loudon, sir John Stirling, sir William Douglass, sir Henry Wood, John Smith, burgess of Edinburgh, Robert Barclay, provost of Irvine, Alexander Henderson, minister, and Archibald Johnston, clerk of the Assembly, appeared in presence of the commissioner and the privy council, and in the name of the Assembly presented the aforesaid petition; "which being read, heard, and considered by the said lords, they have ordained and do ordain the same to be insert and registrate in the books of privy council, and, according to the desire thereof, ordain the said Confession and Covenant to be subscribed in time coming by all his majesty's subjects of this kingdom, of what rank and quality soever 2." Here Mr. Henderson again appears in the character which he and his party had so severely condemned in the late prelates; but this collusion betwixt the Assembly and the privy council was, with the true cunning of the jesuit, turned afterwards to good account. When they had concentrated their scattered forces, which they had never disbanded, and again appealed to arms against his majesty, they evaded this oath by asserting that they swore to maintain his authority in the preservation of the true religion, the laws, and liberties of the 1 Johnston's Acts, &c. pp. 82, 83. 2 Act of Lords of Council, Aug. 30, 1639.-Johnston's Acts, 84. realm; and by severing the regal power from the royal person, they made use of his authority to take up arms against his person and his loyal adherents, who, they pretended, had invaded the laws and liberties of his dominions, and were the greatest enemies to the king and to religion! After transacting this preconcerted business, in direct breach of his majesty's instructions, the commissioner returned to the Assembly, and, as his majesty's representative, declared, in his betrayed master's name, that the council found the desires of the Assembly so fair and reasonable that they conceived themselves bound in duty to grant the same, and had made an act of council to that effect. That he himself was so fully satisfied, that he came now, as his majesty's commissioner, to consent fully unto it; and that he was most willing that it should be enacted here in this Assembly, to oblige all his majesty's subjects to subscribe the said covenant, with the Assembly's explanation. And because there was a third thing desired, his subscription as the king's commissioner unto the covenant, which he behoved to do with a written declaration; and he declared as a subject, he should subscribe the covenant as strictly as any, with the Assembly's declaration; but as his majesty's commissioner, he behoved to prefix the following declaration to his subscription, which no Scots subject should subscribe, or have the benefit of, not even himself as earl of Traquair. This explication, after a long hypocritcal preamble, was as follows:-" Seeing this Assembly, &c. Therefore I, as his majesty's commissioner, for the full satisfaction of the subjects, and for settling a perfect peace in church and kingdom, do, according to my foresaid declaration and subscription subjoined to the act of this Assembly, of the date the 17th instant, allow and consent that the covenant be subscribed throughout all this kingdom. In witness whereof I have subscribed the premises 1." And moreover the commissioner subscribed the following declaration of his consent to the act of the Assembly of the 17th August, which enumerated the causes of the public commotions:-" I, John earl of Traquair, his majesty's commissioner in the present Assembly, do, in his majesty's name, declare, that notwithstanding of his majesty's own inclination, and many other grave and weighty considerations, yet such is his majesty's incomparable goodness, that for settling the present distractions, and giving full satisfaction to the subject, he doth allow, 1 Johnston's Acts, &c. 84, 85. |