The Nullity of the Pretended Assembly at St Andrews and Dundee, Treatise 2 · Review 19
REVIEW.
BEcauſe ſomething ſeems to the Author to be ſaid again what is now alleadged in the Writer his Reply to the third Objection that he forms againſt his own Argument. The Author takes theſe things in conſideration, and gives ſome Anſwers unto them, but let us ſee what they are. Firſt, he thinks it too wide a word to ſay, That all the Miniſters who did oppoſe the Publick Reſolutions, are known to be faithfull and honeſt, and he gives an inſtance in the carriage of ſome of them that ſeems to weaken this teſtimony, his inſtance is, that ſome of theſe were not ſo faithfull as they ſhould have been this laſt year paſt in the particular of the Defence of the Countrey and Covenant: but what is this but a branch of the thing that is in Controverſie? Theſe Miniſters are perſwaded in their Conſciences before the Lord upon good reaſon, that it would have been in them great unfaithfulneſſe to have allowed of that way of the Defence of the Countrey and Covenant holden forth in the Publick Reſolutions, and that beſides all their provocations which are great and many, they would by this alſo have been acceſſory to what the Nation ſmarts under this day, as the righteous reward of ſuch revolting from God; and therefore if ye have no more to inſtance but this, it doth not prove, but that they may all of them be ſtill called faithfull and honeſt men. Secondly he ſayeth, Be it ſo that ſome were wont to be choſen Commiſſioners, who were not now choſen, yet this is litle to the point, that Elections was carryed by influence of the Commiſſions Letter and Act. But granting that Presbyteries did upon that Letter and Act, leave their wonted way theſe years paſt in th…ir Election, it is to the point in hand, becauſe it is praeſumptio juris, & de jure; that this change flowed from the influence that the Letter and Act had upon them, the Author ſeeing ſomewhat of this, intimates another cauſe that moved that change, to wit, that the whole Kirk was growing ſenſible of this thing, as dangerous, whereby the whole power of Publick Government, was near become ſettled in the perſons of ſome particular men, and theſe but a few, as conſtant Commiſsioners, in which he thinks there will be need to pre-limite Presbyteries, that they make not an uſe of it. If the Lord ſhall be pleaſed again to grant the Liberty of an Aſſembly. But to ſay nothing, that this was the language which was wont to be ſpoken by diſ-affected men theſe years paſt, eſpecially diſ-affected Miniſters, who fell under the cenſures of the Church, whoſe pretences and alleadgeances in this particular have ſtrength added unto them by the Authors aſſerting the ſame thing: It is non cauſa pro cauſa, as will appear by theſe two things; Firſt, there were a good many of theſe who were for the Publick Reſolutions, who had wont to be Commiſsioners theſe years paſt, and who had a great, ſome of them a greater ſwey in Government than the other, and yet moſt, if not all of theſe were choſen alſo the laſt year. Now, if that was the cauſe which the Author ſpeaks of, why did it not bring forth the like effect in regard of both, ſeeing both were alike lyable to that exception. Next, if the whole Church was ſo grown in the ſenſe of that evill, why did they not provide the remedy at the laſt Aſſembly, it being in their power ſo to have done, and the Commiſsioners (as the Authors aſſertion will import) having ſuch an impreſsion of the ſame upon their ſpirits? If the Author will ſpeak his Conſcience, I think he will not deny, but if theſe men whom he ſaith to have been excluded upon that ground, have been for the Publick Reſolutions, even theſe amongſt them whom that ground might have been conceived to reach moſt, would have been choſen and adm…tted Commiſsioners as well as others. If the whole Church was growing ſenſible of this thing, ſurely the Meeting at St. Andrews did litle regard or expreſſe it, when they chooſed one to be their Moderator, who not onelyonly had been Moderator of the former Commiſsion, whoſe proceedings were then in queſtion, and to be examined, but alſo in many preceding Commiſsions and A…len bi…es, and who had been a chief A…tor all that while in all theſe things that concern Publick Government, which I ſpeak not to bear any pa…ticular blame upon him, or upon his carriage, but to let ſee that either the whole Church was not growing ſenſible of this, as the Author inſinuates, or elſe that h…r ſenſe of it in her Repreſentative, was let out, or holden in upon men, according to their judgment and carriage in the Publick Reſolutions; and ſo was not the cauſe of the Preſbyteries, not, chooſing ſuch as they were wont to chooſe. Thirdly, Tha… few oppoſers were choſen; he thinks it is no wonder, becauſe they are but few in compariſon of the reſt of the Miniſtery of the Land. How few ſoever they were in compariſon of th… reſt of the Miniſtery in the Land, yet theſe of them who were formerly wont to be choſen Commiſsioners, were not few in reſpect of the reſt of the Commiſsioners, neither yet were they ſo few as the Author reckons them, when he ſayeth, that four parts of five of the Presbyteries, had in them at that time no oppoſers to the Publick Reſolutions; nay, they were and are ſtill a very conſiderable number; and whenſoever an exact calculation ſhall be made by a particular liſt of the whole Miniſtery in the Land, and of theſe who were againſt the Publick Reſolutions at the time of the Elections, and of the whole Commiſsioners of the Aſſembly at S. Andrews and Dundee, I believe it ſhall be found, that the number of Commiſsioners who were choſen from among theſe who were againſt the Publick Reſolutions, wa… no way in proportion anſwerable to the number of the other: That ſome unſatisfied, were choſen without another Election, and without Proteſtation, even when neither whole Societies were unanimous againſt the Reſolutions, not yet the plurality were oppoſers, he doth affirm it, but doth not prove it: for the inſtances which he gives of the Commiſsioners, both of the Presbyte…y and Univerſity of Aberdeen prove nothing leſſe: For the Univerſity, the Letter and Act came not to it, at leaſt, were not read in it, and the plurality there were oppoſers of the Publick Reſolutions: And for the Presbytery, by his own grant, there was a Proteſtation againſt the oppoſing Brother who was choſen, which was taken up again with much difficulty, and by earneſt dealing of ſome of the Brethren, oppoſite to the Publick Reſolutions, whoſe deſire was condeſcended unto, with condition, that their ſhould be a third Commiſsioner, it being in the mean while ſuggeſted in private, that he who had firſt appeared in the Proteſtation againſt the oppoſers, might be the man, which I relate not upon hear-ſay, but upon the ſubſcribed teſtimony of theſe who were witneſſes to the matter of fact. So I hope, that nothing againſt the truth hath been aſſerted by the Writer in this part of his Anſwer. The Author ſayeth in a Parentheſis, that diſſenting in the enumeration, is idlely reckoned up. Why he ſhould ſay ſo, I do not conjecture, unleſſe that it be he thinks diſſenting and proteſting the ſame thing which they are not, as appears clearly from an Act of the Aſſembly 1644. concerning diſſent and Proteſtations in Presbyteries. He ſeems unſatisfied with the Writer, that whilſt he makes enumeration of elections of Presbyteries divided in judgment, ſome doubted, ſome diſſented from, or proteſted againſt, ſome both wayes, that he gives no particular inſtances of all theſe ſorts, but only two, and he tells his Reader, that he ſuſpects he can give no more, or very few. But he is ſuſpicious without cauſe, moe can be given and are given by the Writer in that very Paper that the Author is replying to, and moe then all theſe can yet be given if need be: And though they were but few, this is no great wonder, becauſe there was but few Presbyteries did chooſe any oppoſite to the Publick Reſolutions, or according to the Author, could chooſe any ſuch, becauſe they had none ſuch amongſt them. Whereas he ſayeth, that it is a poor way of proving the Act and Letter of the Commiſsion to have had much influence upon the Election of Commiſsioners, to ſay, that of all this, no other reaſon can be given, becauſe it is no more; but when you have affirmed a thing, to ſay, that the Adverſary cannot prove the negative, whereas affirme…ti incumbit probatio. If the way of proving be poor, yet …s candide and ingenuous, by putting an advantage in the hand of gain-ſayers, if they can give another reaſon, which the Author ſayes may be given, and ſhall be conſidered in this place; But Juriſts will tell him, that illi non nobis incumbit probatio, becauſe we have praeſumptionem Juris, & de Jure quae nos relevat ab onere probandi, & probationem devolvit in adverſarium.
VINDICATION.
AS for the elections mentioned here a word of them, and then we paſse on to the next inſtance; for that of Sterline it is known that the firſt Proteſtation there, was not againſt the election of oppoſers of the Reſolutions, but againſt no oppoſers when at the Di…t of the Presbytery appointed for election of Commiſsioners to the Aſsembly, the matter was put to voice, and Commiſsioners choſen by plurality of votes, ſome of the Brethren of that Presbytery, the fewer part in number diſſented, and the election held a new Meeting by themſelves without the preſent Moderator and Clerk, and made a new election of the oppoſers of the Reſolutions to be Commiſsioners, was there not reaſon enough to Proteſt againſt that election (if it was Proteſted againſt) beſide the Act and Letter of the Commiſsion. As for that of Glaſgow be it ſo, that the Letter and Act was a reaſon that moved ſome Brethren of that Presbytery to Proteſt againſt the firſt election, being oppoſers of the Reſolutions, yet it was not the reaſon that moved them to Proteſt; they had ſundry other weighty motives beſides that as is known; yea, it was evident, that it had the leaſt influence in that matter of any; for in the election that theſe ſame Brethren made afterward, they chooſed one of theſe ſame oppoſers to be a Commiſsioner, notwithſtanding of the Act and Letter of the Commiſsion; and I verily think, that there was none that at that time in Elections paſſed by any oppoſers or diſſenters from the Election of any of them; but they would have paſſed by theſe ſame, and diſſented from theſe ſame, thogh there had not at all ſuch a Letter and Act come from the Commiſsion, they conceived in it ſelf a duty at that time, and they looked upon the Act and Letter but as a warning, the more to make them mindfull of their duty.