The Nullity of the Pretended Assembly at St Andrews and Dundee, Treatise 2 · Review 41
REVIEW.
THe Author in Anſwering the Inſtance concerning Blacketer, ſeems to himſelf to have gotten a great advantage of the Writer his raſhneſs; but though his advantage were as great as he takes it to be, in that particular, it would not better his Cauſe, becauſe multitudes of Inſtances can be given from time to time in the Gen. Aſſembly of this Church, of removing perſons upon exceptions of ſcandal before any conviction of the Fact, or cenſure for the ſame; yea, in the ſame Aſſembly 1651 ſeveral perſons were laid aſide upon exceptions before any legal conviction or ſentence paſt upon the Fact, as the Commiſſioners of ſome Presbyteries, who were proteſted againſt becauſe of oppoſing publick Reſolutions: And the Commiſſioners of the presbytery of Dunſe, whoſe Caſe was not cleer in Law, neither yet legally found true as to the matter of Fact. But let us ſee what it is that he hath gained in the Inſtance concerning Blaketer. It is agreed on al hands, That Blaketer upon proponing of one Exception againſt him, was removed: the matter then is, To give a Reaſon why he was excluded, and the Commiſſioners admitted notwithſtanding of exceptions proponed alſo againſt them. The Writer ſaith, No man in the world can give a Reaſon of it, ſeeing the exceptions on the one hand were as relevant (if not more relevant) then the other. This the Author oppoſes, That they were not ſo relevant: and he brings 5. Differences for proving of it, which may be all reduced to theſe Two, 1 That the ſcandal of the one Caſe was cleer in Law, but ſo was not the other. 2 That for matter of Fact, there was Conviction and Cenſure put upon it; but to paſs that the Aſſembly did not give any the leaſt intimation or hint that in excluding the one, and admitting the other, they found theſe Differences of which the Author ſpeaks. I Anſwer, The ſcandal of the Commiſſioners Caſe was alſo cleer in Law, unleſs we will deny that the ſame Laws which condemned conjunction with, and imploying of Malignants for the time paſt, do alſo condemn them for the time to come, Tempora mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis: But Duties commanded by God, and Covenanted by us; and Sins prohibited by God, and engaged againſt by us, are the ſame in the yeer 1648, and in the yeer 1651. As to the matter of Fact, if Blaketer was before that time particularly convicted and cenſured, this is indeed eatenus, a difference betwixt the one Caſe and the other: but the Author hath alleadged that, without bringing any evidence of the truth of it, and I beleive it ſhall be hard for him to do it. Some who are Members of that Presbytery, whom I have enquired cocerning this buſineſſe, do profeſs, That they do not remember of any formal cenſure paſt upon him for his ſubſcribing the band 1648, neither did the Aſſembly at St. Andrews at the time of the proponing of that Exception, give any intimation that they did remove him, becauſe he had been already convicted and cenſured for that Fact: But the Exception being relevant in Law, and the Fact as to his particular concernment therein being alleadged by one of the Meeting, the Aſſembly did lay him aſide until it ſhould be tryed, without further enquiring of the buſineſs at that time.
VINDICATION.
WE ſaid we would not follow the ſeveral Objections wherewith the Writer meets, nor need we; only there is ſomething in the Anſwer to the Fourth Objection, whereto we ſhall ſpeak a word: It being Objected by the Writer himſelf, or ſome other (it matters not by whom) That the Exception could not be taken into conſideration until the Judicatory was firſt conſtituted, and a Moderator choſen, and that therefore it was not againſt the freedom of the Aſſembly, that they did refuſe to fall upon it before that was done: He Replies ſo, as he would ſeem to faſten ſundry points of iniquity upon the Aſſemblies carriage in this matter; if ſaith he, the Aſſembly had immediatly upon the chuſing of the Moderator fallen upon the tryal of that exception, and removed theſe excepted againſt, it would not have looſed, though it might have leſſened the ſtrength of the Argument, but even after that they were allowed to ſit as Members, and to be Judges in every thing elſe, many dayes together, before the Judging of that Exception: nay, which is more, before their proceedings were approven, they ſate as Judges to give vote and ſentence upon the very Exception proponed againſt themſelves, the ſame being one of the principal reaſons of the Proteſtation which were condemned before theſe prcoeedings were approven: yet that would not, ſaith he, looſed the difficulty, becauſe the thing deſired was not the trial and diſcuſſing of the exception inſtantly before the chooſing of the Moderator, but that (as it was done to other Members excepted againſt) ſo theſe ſhould be laid aſide until the Aſſembly were conſtituted and take the ſame into Conſideration: This the Aſſembly peremptorily refuſed, and permitted them to vote which was in effect to reject the exception, either as not relevant, or as falſe both which were abſurd, the former would have been to contradict clear light of Reaſon: the latter had been to approve the proceedings before their tryal or hearing what was to be ſaid for verifying the exception: Anſwer, we ſtay not much upon the objection, but eſpecially what is ſaid here to render the proceedings of the Aſſembly odious like in this matter. 1. The Aſſemb. immediatly after the chuſing of the Moderator, did fall upon the tryal of that exception, having ſet a part a Comittee for that very purpoſe to go about it with all diligence, & that the Comiſſioners did in the mean time ſit & vote in the Aſſem. in other matters for ſundry dayes, was, becauſe the Aſſembly could not adjourn and be idle all the time that that Committee was to be upon that buſineſs, and it had been the conſtant practice of the preceeding Aſſemblies ſince 38. to admit the preceeding Commiſſioners to ſit and vote in other matters during the time that their proceedings were under tryal and examination: yea, even when exception hath been made againſt them as is evident in the Aſſembly 48. Secondly in that which is brought in as an abſurdity with a quod majus eſt, that before their proceedings was allowed, the Commiſsioners did ſit as Judges upon the very Objection proponed againſt themſelves, it being the principal reaſon of the Proteſtation, that containeth a a groſs Paralogiſm which can beguile none but ſuch as are too ſimple, and too willing to be beguiled, ſince in judging the Proteſtation (whereof a reaſon was the exception againſt the Commiſſioners ſitting in the Gen. Aſſembly before the tryal of their Proceedings, Judgment was not given upon the truth or falſhood of the thing contained in it, whether the proceedings of the Commiſſioners were right or wrong, contained in them a courſe of defection or not: but only, Whether the Aſsembly refuſing to remove the Commiſſioners when it was alleadged againſt them in the way that it was alleadged, and before the alleadgance was tryed did any thing contrary to the duty and freedom of the Aſſembly, or if the Proteſters did wrong the Aſsembly in declyning it upon that ground, now for the Commiſſioners ſitting and voting as Judges in this matter, was no irregularity, or elſe the Aſſembly 48. alſo was irregular, wherein as the Proteſters may well remember, the Commiſſioners voted as well as other Members upon the relevancy of the exception given in by the Parliament againſt themſelues; and the truth is, Their voting in that matter of the Proteſtation, being no other thing but that which we have ſaid was no prejudice for their advantage in the matter of their proceedings for their alleadgance of their carrying on in their proceedings a courſe of defection at the time & in the manner that it was alleadged, might have been found a non-relevant exception, for their removal from being members before the tryal of their proceedings, and conſequently the refuſing to admit it as an Exception to that effect a non-relevant ground of Proteſting againſt the Aſsembly, and yet haply afterwards their proceedings might be judged to be ſuch indeed as they were alleadged to be, without any croſſing and contradiction between the one Act and the other.