did zealously oppose it. Mr. Knox denounced Anathema to the giver, and Anathema to the receiver. And the following Assembly condemned the office itself, 'as having no sure warrant, authority, nor ground in the book of God, but brought in by the folly and corruption of men's invention, to the overthrow of the church; and ordained all that brooked the office, to demit simpliciter, and to desist and cease from preaching, while they received
de novo admission from the General Assembly, under the pain of excommunication.' Hereby they were awakened and animated to a more vigorous prosecution of the establishment of the house of God in its due government. In pursuance whereof, the Assemblies from that time, until the year 1581, did with much painfulness and faithfulness attend the work: until, by perfecting of the second book of discipline, they completed their work, in the exact model of Presbyterial Government, in all its courts and officers; which was confirmed and covenanted to be kept inviolate, in the National Covenant, subscribed that year by the King, his Court and Council; and afterwards by all ranks of people in the land. Whence it may be doubted, whether the impudence of the succeeding prelates, that denied this, or their perjury in breaking of it, be greater. This was but the first brush. A brisker assault follows; wherein, for the better establishment of prelacy, that what it wants of divine right, might be supplied by the accession of human prerogative, and not only Diocesan, but also Erastian prelacy might be set up, to destroy Christ's kingdom, and advance Satan's; the Earl of Arran, and his wicked accomplices move the King, contrary both to the word and oath of God, to usurp the prerogative of Jesus Christ, and assume to himself a blasphemous monster of supremacy, over all persons, and in all causes, as well ecclesiastical as civil. But this also the faithful servants of God did worthily and valiantly resist; and at the very appearance of it, gave in a grievance to the King in the year 1582, 'That he had taken upon him a spiritual power, which properly belongs to Christ, as only king and head of the church; the ministry and execution whereof is only given to such as bear office in the ecclesiastical government in the same: so that in the King's person, some men press to erect a new popedom, as though he could not be full king of this commonwealth, unless as well the spiritual as temporal sword be put in his hand, unless Christ be reft of his authority, and the two jurisdictions confounded, which God hath divided, which directly tendeth to the wreck of all true religion.' Which being presented by the Commissioners of the General Assembly, the Earl of Arran asked with a frowning countenance, who dare subscribe these treasonable articles? Mr. Andrew Melvin answered, we dare, and will subscribe, and render our lives in the cause. And afterward, that same Assembly presented articles, shewing, 'That seeing the spiritual jurisdiction of the church is granted by Christ, and given only to them, that by preaching, teaching, and overseeing, bear office within the same, to be exercised, not by the injunctions of men, but by the only rule of God's word.—Hereafter, no other, of whatsoever degree, or under whatsoever pretence, have any colour to ascribe, or to take upon them any part thereof either in placing or displacing of ministers, without the church's admission, or in stopping the mouths of preachers, or putting them to silence, or take upon them the judgment of trial of doctrine,' &c. But in contempt and contradiction to this, and to prosecute and exert this new usurped power, Mr. Andrew Melvin was summoned before the Secret Council, for a sermon of his, applying his doctrine to the time's corruptions; whereupon he gave in his declinature against them, as incompetent judges, and told them, 'They were too bold, in a constitute Christian church, to pass by the pastors, prophets, and doctors, and to take upon them to judge the doctrine, and to controul the ambassadors of a greater than was there, which they neither ought nor can do. There are (saith he, loosing a little Hebrew bible from his girdle) my instructions and warrant: see if any of you can controul me, that I have past my injunctions.' For this he was decerned to be warded in the castle of Edinburgh; but he being informed that if he entered in ward, he would not be released, unless it were for the scaffold, he conveyed himself secretly out of the country. Hereafter when the parliament 1584 had enacted this supremacy, and submission to prelacy, to be subscribed by all ministers; the faithful first directed Mr. David Lindsay to the King, desiring, that nothing be done in parliament prejudicial to the church's liberty, who got the prison of Blackness for his pains. And then when they could not get access for shut doors to protest before the parliament; yet when the acts were proclaimed at the cross of Edinburgh, they took public documents in name of the church of Scotland (though they were but two) that they protested against the said acts, and fled to England, leaving behind them reasons that moved them to do so. And Mr. James Melvin wrote against the subscribers at that time very pertinently; proving first, 'That they had not only set up a new pope, and so become traitors to Christ; and condescended to that chief error of papistry, whereupon all the rest depend; but further, in so doing, they had granted more to the King, than ever the popes of Rome peaceably obtained,' &c. And in the end, as for those that lamented their own weakness and feebleness, he adviseth them, to remove the public slander, 'by going boldly to the King and Lords, and shew them how they had fallen through weakness, but by God's power are risen again; and there by public note and witness taken, free themselves from that subscription, and to will the same to be delete, renouncing and detesting it plainly, and thereafter publicly in their sermons; and by their declaration and retractation in writ, presented to the faithful, manifest the same, let them do with stipend, benefice, and life itself, what they list.' This I inferr, because this counsel is now condemned; and when poor people, offended with ministers subscriptions of bonds and other compliances, desire acknowledgments of the offence, they reject it as an impertinent imposition, and plead they are not obliged to manifest any retractation but to an ecclesiastical judicatory. To which I shall say nothing here, but this is no novelty. After this, it is known what bickerings the faithful witnesses of Christ had, in their conflicts with this supremacy upon the account of Mr. David Black's declinature, which they both advised him to, and approved when he gave it in, against the King and Council, as judges of his doctrine. And the Commissioners of the General Assembly ordained all, to deal mightily with the power of the word, against the Council's encroachments; for which they were charged to depart forth of Edinburgh. After which he added a second declinature: 'Declaring, there are two jurisdictions in this realm; the one spiritual, the other civil; the one respecting the conscience, the other externals, &c.—Therefore, in so far as he was one of the spiritual office-bearers, and had discharged his spiritual calling in some measure of grace and sincerity, should not, nor could not be lawfully judged for preaching and applying the word, by any civil power; he being an ambassador and messenger of the Lord Jesus, having his commission from the King of kings, and all his instructions set down and limited in the book of God, that cannot be extended, abridged, or altered by any mortal wight, king or emperor; and seeing he was sent to all sorts, his commission and discharge of it should not, nor cannot be lawfully judged by them to whom he was sent; they being sheep, and not pastors, to be judged by the word, and not to be judges thereof in a judicial way.' The interlocutor being past against him for this, the brethren thought it duty, that the droctrine of the preacher should be directed against the said interlocutor, as against a strong and mighty hold set up against the Lord Jesus, and the freedom of the gospel; and praised God for the force and unity of the spirit that was among themselves. And being charged to depart out of the town, they leave a faithful declaration at large, shewing how the liberties of the church were invaded and robbed. But all this was nothing, in comparison of their wrestlings for the royalties of their princely Master, and privileges of his kingdom, against the tyrant's insolences, after he obtained the crown of England; for then he would not suffer the church to indict her own Assemblies. And when the faithful thought themselves obliged to counteract his encroachments, and therefore convened in an Assembly at Aberdeen in the year 1605, they were forced to dissolve, and thereafter, the most eminent of the ministers there assembled were transported prisoners to Blackness; whence being cited before the Council, they decline their judicatory. And one of their brethren, Mr. Robert Youngson, who had formerly succumbed, being moved in conscience, returned; and when the rest were standing before the Council, desired to be heard, and acknowledged his fault; and therefore, howbeit not summoned by the Lords, was charged by the living God, and compelled to compear that day, to justify that Assembly, to the great astonishment of the Lords, and comfort of his brethren; he subscribed the declinature with the rest; and for this they were arraigned, and condemned, as guilty of treason, and banished. Before the execution of which sentence, Mr. Welch wrote to the Lady Fleming, to this effect: 'What am I, that he should first have called me, and then constituted me a minister of glad tidings of the gospel of salvation, these fifteen years already, and now last of all to be a sufferer of his cause and
