4. That God does not chastise any of his children for sin. · Part 1

4. That God does not chastise any of his children for sin.

5. That if a man, by the Spirit, know himself to be in a state of grace, though he should commit the greatest crimes, God sees no sin in him.

Three leading Antinomian teachers were brought before a committee of the House of Commons, for promulgating, in different ways, these and similar opinions, which were justly regarded as subversive of all morality.—_Gataker’s _“God’s Eye on his Israel”,—preface, Lond. 1645.—_Ed._]

161 [“Antinomians, contending for faith of assurance, and leading men to be persuaded that God loveth every one, whom he commandeth to believe, with an everlasting love, and that ‘no man ought to call in question more whether he believe or no, than he ought to question the gospel and Christ,’ do with Libertines acknowledge a faith of assurance, but deny all faith of dependence on God through Christ, as if we were not justified by such a faith.”—“A Survey of the spiritual Antichrist, opening the secrets of Familisme and Antinominianisme.” by Samuel Rutherford, Professor of Divinity in the University of St. Andrew’s, part II. p. 235. London, 1648.—_Ed._]

162 [These observations discover an accurate knowledge of the philosophy of the human mind, as well as of the doctrines of Scripture. It is certainly one thing to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and another thing to feel assured of one’s salvation, or to be persuaded that we are possessed of that true faith which is the gift of God, and by which the just shall live. To identify, as is sometimes done, faith in Christ and the assurance of salvation, is calculated, on the one hand, to encourage presumption; and, on the other hand, to give rise to despair, Prov. xxx. 12, Ezek. xiii. 22, 23. What an earlier writer even than Binning says upon this subject, is not unworthy of notice. “St. Paul, wishing well to the church of Rome, prayeth for them after this sort. ‘The God of hope fill you with all joy in believing.’ Hence an error groweth, when men in heaviness of spirit suppose they lack faith, because they find not the sugared joy and delight, which indeed doth accompany faith, but so as a separable accident, as a thing that may be removed from it, viz.

there is a cause why it should be removed. The light would never be so acceptable, were it not for that usual intercourse of darkness. Too much honey doth turn into gall, and too much joy, even spiritual, would make us wantons. Happier a great deal is that man’s case, whose soul by inward desolation is humbled, than he whose heart is, through abundance of spiritual delight, lifted up and exalted above measure. Better it is sometimes to go down into the pit, with him, who, beholding darkness, and bewailing the loss of inward joy and consolation, crieth from the bottom of the lowest hell, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? than continually to walk arm in arm with angels, to sit as it were in Abraham’s bosom, and to have no thought, no cogitation; but, ‘I thank my God it is not with me as it is with other men.’ No; God will have them that shall walk in light to feel now and then what it is to sit in the shadow of death. A grieved spirit, therefore, is no argument of a faithless mind.”—_Hooker’s Works_, vol. iii. pp. 527, 528. Oxford. 1807.—_Ed._]

163 [That is, collect or obtain.—_Ed._]

164 [That is, between extremes.—_Ed._]

165 [Perhaps the word should be plungy, that is _rainy_. _Chauc._—_Ed._]

166 [That is, cover with mist.—_Ed._]

167 [That is, deserving of consideration.—_Ed._]

168 [In the year 1661 Winston and some others sent a letter to Cromwell, through General Lambert, in which they charge the English army in Scotland “with divers errors countenancing of deposed ministers to preach _silencing of ministers that preach of state proceedings_, and suffering officers to preach,” &c.—_Whithel’s Memorials_ p. 497.—_Ed._]

169 [Cromwell, in his despatches, after the battle of Dunbar, states the number of his prisoners, exclusive of officers, to be near 10,000.—_Cromwelliana_, p. 90. “The same daye the minister declaired yt yr wes a petitioune come from the prisoners at Tinmouth quho wer taiken at Dunbar, and representit to the presbyterie for support, because they wer in ane sterving conditione, and all comanders. And yt ye presbyterie hes recomendit the samen to ye several kirks of ye presbyterie, Therfoir ordaines that ane collectione be yranent upon Sondaye come 8 deyes, and intimation to be maid of it the next sabbathe to ye effect ye people may provide some considerable thing yranent.” Records of the kirk session of Govan, 1st July, 1652. “Upon the desire of the Guinea Merchants (20th Sept., 1651,) 1,500 of the Scots prisoners were granted to them, and sent on shipboard to be transported to Guinea to work in the mines there.”—Whitelock’s Mem. p. 485. “Letters (25th October, 1651,) that many of the Scots prisoners and others at Shrewsbury were dead of a contagious fever.”—Id. p. 488.—_Ed._]

170 [That is, in this world.—_Ed._]

171 [That is, he will get, or meet with, a fall or fall lower as he, who aims at being wise above what is written, is in danger of falling into error.—_Ed._]

172 [That is, treat with indignity.—_Ed._]

173 [That is, check (from _compesco_, Lat.).—_Ed._]

174 [Or, hesitation.—_Ed._]

175 [That is, more honoured.—_Ed._]

176 [That is, than.—_Ed._]

177 [That is, concourse.—_Ed._]

178 [Or pre-eminence above others.—_Ed._]

179 [That is, directions, or different points of the compass.—_Ed._]

180 [That is careless or slight.—_Ed._]

181 [This was long a current tradition. But Maundrell avers that he saw “several birds flying about and over the lake of Sodom,” or Dead Sea as it is called “without any visible harm”—Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem A. D. 1696 p. 137. Edin. 1812.—_Ed._]

182 [That is, destitute of reason.—_Ed._]

183 [Or property.—_Ed._]

184 [That is not so likely to happen.—_Ed._]

185 [That is, the obscurity or mystery of the gospel.—_Ed._]

186 [Coldly or carelessly.—_Ed._]

187 [That is, “If thou lovest the earth, thou art earth”.—_Ed._]

188 [Increase.—_Ed._]

189 [Antiperistasis (αντιπεριστασις from αντι περ and ισταημ, the act of hemming round) a term employed in ancient times by the Peripatetics to denote the increase of one quality by the action of another of an opposite nature as when internal heat or inflammation is increased by external cold. It would be “a holy Antiperistasis in a Christian,” it is said (p. 216) were the surrounding ignorance and wickedness of the world to make the grace of God unite itself and work more powerfully as fire out of a cloud and shine more brightly as a torch in the darkness of the night. A learned English divine who lived in the same age with Binning declares that in the case of the faithful themselves sin derives additional power, by _antiperistasis_ from the law, to deceive, captivate, sell as a slave to make them do that which they hated and allowed not and do not that which they would and loved.—Bishop Reynold’s Works vol. I. p. 146, Lond. 1826.—_Ed._]

190 [Exuberant or abundant.—_Ed._]

191 [That is, conceived like that.—_Ed._]

192 [That is, _than_ to look.—_Ed._]

193 [That is, opposite.—_Ed._]

194 [See Note, p. 208.—_Ed._]

195 [That is disfigure.—_Ed._]

196 [That is, “The soul is where it loves, not where it animates.”—_Ed._]

197 [That is, indictment or accusation.—_Ed._]

198 [That is, exert.—_Ed._]

199 [These were booths, or other temporary erections, put up for the reception of such as were infected with the plague.—_Ed._]

200 [In some of his epistles to his friends, Cicero expresses himself as if he thought death was to be followed by utter annihilation. But he speaks very differently in some of his other writings. The following passage occurs in a work (_Consolatio_) which has been ascribed to him—_Gorgias orator, jam ætate confectus ac morti proximus rogatus num libenter moreretur maxime vero inquit nam tamquam ex putri miseraque domo lætus egredior—Mortem igitur in malus nullo modo esse ponendam sed in præcipius bonus numerandam debitaturum puto neminem_—Gorgias the orator, when worn out with age and near death being asked whether he would die willingly said: Very willingly indeed for I depart as if I were gladly leaving a filthy and wretched house.—I therefore think that no one will hesitate to believe that death is not by any means to be ranked among evils but included among things which we account good in the highest degree.—Cic. Oper. tom. iv. pp. 1347, 1348. Basil 1681.—_Ed._]

201 [Animals that have a sting are called aculeata animalis. _Plin. Nat. Hist._ lib. xx. cap. 91.—_Ed._]

202 [That is, not knowing.—_Ed._]

203 [Dr. Mead describes the means which were formerly resorted to in this country to check the progress of the plague. “The main import of the orders issued out at these times was as soon as it was found that any house was infected, to keep it shut up, with a large red cross, and these words ‘Lord, have mercy upon us,’ painted on the door, watchmen attending day and night to prevent any one’s going in or out except such physicians, surgeons, apothecaries, nurses, searchers, &c., as were allowed by authority, and this to continue at least a month after all the family was dead or recovered.

“It is not easy to conceive a more dismal scene of misery than this, families locked up from all their acquaintance, though seized with a distemper which the most of any in the world requires comfort and assistance, abandoned it may be to the treatment of an inhuman nurse, (for such are often found at these times about the sick,) and strangers to every thing but the melancholy sight of the progress death makes among themselves, with small hopes of life left to the survivors and those mixed with anxiety and doubt, whether it be not better to die, than to prolong a miserable being, after the loss of their best friends and nearest relations.”—_Dr. Mead’s Medical Works_ p. 273.—_Ed._]

204 [That is, stupified.—_Ed._]

205 [That is obstruction. “Mr. Prin and the Erastian lawyers are now our _remora_”—Baillie’s Letters and Journal, vol. ii., p. 158.—_Ed._]

206 [The ancient heathens seem to have looked upon a future state, says Leland, (Advantage and Necessity of the Christian Revelation, vol. ii. p. 305, Glasgow, 1819,) as too uncertain a thing to be relied upon, and therefore endeavoured to find out motives to virtue independent on the belief of the rewards prepared for good men after this life is at an end. They represented, in an elegant and beautiful manner, the present conveniences and advantages of virtue, and the satisfaction which attends it, but especially they insisted upon its intrinsic excellency, its dignity and beauty, and agreeableness to reason and nature, and its self sufficiency to happiness, which many of them, especially the stoics,—the most rigid moralists among them,—carried to a very high degree. Cicero, in his Offices, and those excellent philosophers, Epictetus and Marcus Antoninus, in their works, which seem to be the best moral treatises pagan antiquity has left us, go upon this scheme. They were sensible, indeed that, in order to recommend virtue to the esteem of mankind, and engage them to pursue it, it was necessary to show that it would be for their own highest advantage.—_Ed._]

207 [The Sun and the Wind had once a dispute which of them could soonest prevail with a certain traveller to part with his cloak. The Wind began the attack and assaulted him with much noise and fury; but the man, wrapping his cloak still closer about him, doubled his efforts to keep it, and went on his way. And now the Sun silently darted his warm insinuating rays which, melting our traveller by degrees at length obliged him to lay aside that cloak which all the rage of the Wind could not compel him to resign. _Learn_ hence, said the Sun _that soft and gentle means will often accomplish what force and fury can never effect_. (Fable of the Sun and the Wind. Boreas et Sol.) This is one of forty two fables ascribed to Æsop, which Avienus, a Latin poet who lived in the age of Theodosius turned into elegiac verse. The employment of apologues, which is sanctioned by scripture, seems to be a natural mode of imparting instruction. These arrest the attention, disarm prejudice, give to unwelcome truths a pleasing form and imprint deeply on the memory the lesson that is intended to be conveyed. It is mentioned by Vincent of Beauvais, who wrote in the middle of the thirteenth century, that the preachers of his age were accustomed to quote the fables of Æsop in order to rouse the indifference and relieve the languor of their hearers. Special Hist. lib. iii. cap. viii. p. 31. Ven. 1391, ap. Warton’s Diss. on Gesta Romanorum p. i.—_Ed_]

208 [That is united or interwoven.—_Ed._]

209 [Or available.—_Ed._]

210 [Mr. Binning had the authority of Jerome for saying this. When speaking of the Dead sea or as it is styled in Scripture, the Salt sea, his words are Demque si Jordanis auctus imbribus pisces illuc influens rapuerit statim mortuntur, et pinguibus aquis supernatant. In fine, if the Jordan, which runs into it, should when swollen with rain, carry any fish along with it, they die immediately, and float upon the surface of the bituminous waters. (Hieron Comment in Ezek. cap. xlvii.) He also states that no living creature of any description was to be found in the Dead sea. (Comment in Joel cap. ii.) According to Volney, clouds of smoke are still observed to issue from this lake, and he represents the lava and pumice stones which have been thrown upon its banks to be likewise indubitable indicators of the agency of fire. The water however of what Milton describes as—

“That bituminous lake where Sodom dam’d”

—though excessively bitter, and so heavy that the most impetuous waves can scarcely ruffle its surface is now perfectly transparent. M. de Chateaubriand who mentions this also informs us that he heard a noise upon the lake about midnight, which the Bethlehemites who accompanied him told him, proceeded from legions of small fish, which come and leap about on the shore.—(Travels, vol. 1, p. 397., Lond. 1812). He adds, “M. Seetzen, who is yet travelling in Arabia, observed in the Dead sea neither the helix nor the muscle, but found a few shell snails.”—Ibid.—_Ed._]

211 [That is, guardians.—_Ed._]

212 [Or attempt to walk.—_Ed._]

213 [That is governed. “Most people in the world are _acted_ by levity and humour.” _South’s Sermons_.—_Ed._]

214 [That is, spark.—_Ed._]

215 [That is, set conscience aside.—_Ed._]

216 [That is, corollary or consequence.—_Ed._]

217 [Of good spirit.—_Ed._]

218 [That is, compared to.—_Ed._]

219 [That is, disburthen.—_Ed._]

220 [That is, respecting.—_Ed._]

221 [Oyes, (from oyez, the old imperative of the French verb _ouir_, to hear) a word used by public criers, before making their proclamations.—_Ed._]

222 [That is, “pious frauds”.—_Ed._]

223 [That is, sue for you or make their suit to you.—_Ed._]

224 [That is, compared to those &c.—_Ed._]

225 [That is, the quarter.—_Ed._]

226 [It is unquestionably a remarkable fact that Pythagoras, one of the most celebrated philosophers of antiquity, represented the Great Author of all things to be possessed of a threefold form (Cudworth System. Intell. cap. iv. p. 446, June 1733). Nor is it less wonderful, as a learned writer has shown, that even the Chinese seem to have received, from the dispersed Jews, long before the birth of Christ, some knowledge of the doctrine of the Trinity. Bryant’s Philo Judaeus, pp. 283-290.—_Ed._]

227 [That is, a bottom, or ball of thread.—_Ed._]

228 [That is, to be manifested.—_Ed._]

229 [The word _furniture_ had formerly a more varied and extensive signification than is now assigned to it. The old divines employed it to denote the union of the divine and human natures in the person of Christ, or the peculiar properties or qualifications with which, as the Messiah, he was furnished, to act in the character of our Mediator. “Consider that Christ’s calling to the office of Mediatorship may import three things his designation, his _furniture_, his investiture in the office.”—_Gillespie’s Ark of the Covenant_, p. 176. Lond. 1677.—_Ed._]

230 [Codrus respecting whom this incident is recorded was the last king of the Athenians. His subjects from reverence to his memory resolved that with him should terminate their regal form of government.—_Val. Max._ lib. v. cap. 6. _Just. Hist._ lib. v. cap. 6.—_Ed._]

231 [That is, appeal.—_Ed._]

232 [“What Mahomet did, lies within any man’s reach. He was authorized by no miracle, he was countenanced by no prediction. But what was performed by Jesus Christ, is absolutely above the power and the imitation of man.

“Mahomet established himself by slaughter, Jesus Christ by commanding us to lay down our lives. Mahomet, by forbidding his law to be read, Jesus Christ by engaging us to search and read. In a word, the two designs are in all respects so directly opposite that Mahomet took the way, in human probability to succeed, Jesus Christ, humanly speaking, to be disappointed. And hence, instead of so irrational a conclusion, as that because Mahomet succeeded, Jesus Christ might, in like manner have succeeded before, we ought to infer, that since Mahomet has succeeded, Christianity must inevitably have perished had it not been founded and supported by a power altogether divine” (Pascal’s Thoughts p. 95. Lond. 1886). Whoever wishes to see this comparison carried farther, may consult the masterly sermons of Professor White, preached before the University of Oxford at the Bampton Lecture. These contain a view of Christianity and Mahometanism, in their history, their evidence and their effects pp. 225-463. Lond. 1792.—_Ed._]

233 [This was Cyrus, the younger son of Darius Nothus, king of Persia, and the brother of Artaxerxes. He was slain in battle, when fighting against his own brother. Plut. in Artax.—_Ed._]

234 [It has been said that the following circumstance led Alexander to lay claim to a divine origin. As he entered the temple of Jupiter Ammon in Libya, the high priest approached him, intending to address him as his son. But not being master of the Greek language, instead of saying παιδιον, (paidion) which signifies _son_ he substituted _s_ for _n_, calling him παι διος (pai dios) which signifies _son of Jupiter_. (Plot. in Alex.). Alexander required his soldiers to address him as the son of Jupiter. This excited the indignation and contempt of Hegelochus, one of his generals. “Do we acknowledge,” he said, “him to be our king, who refuses to own Philip to be his father? It is all over with us if we can submit to these things. He who demands to be thought a God (qui postulat deus credi) despises not men only, but likewise the gods. We have lost Alexander. We have lost our king. We have encountered pride, not to be endured by the gods, to whom he equals himself nor by men from whom he withdraws himself.”—_Quint. Curt._ lib. vi. cap. 11. See also the speech of Callisthenes in the presence of Alexander himself.—_Arrian_ lib. iv. cap. 10.—_Ed._]

235 [These are the words of the Vulgate, signifying literally, that “grief occupies the heights of joy.” A humiliating truth, akin to this, is contained in one of the maxims of Hippocrates: Ultimus sanitatis gradus est morbo proximus. “The highest state of health is as near as possible to disease.”—_Ed._]

236 [The first of Francis Quarles, Emblems Divine and Moral, is the picture of a heart. A representation of the globe covers the whole of the heart with the exception of the three angles or corners on each of which a syllable of the word Tri ni tas is imprinted.

Frances Quarles was secretary to Archbishop Usher. He died in 1644.—_Ed._]

237 [That is, slight.—_Ed._]

238 [These are two adages. The former is quoted by Cicero as an ancient proverb in his days (De Senect. cap. iii.). The meaning of it is, that, “equals or persons of the same age and rank, flock together.” The literal meaning of the other is “like take pleasure in like.” It (το ὁμοιοι το ὁμοιο φιλευ) is as old as the days of Aristotle.—Ethic. Nicom. lib. ix. cap. 3.—_Ed._]

239 [That is, compound.—_Ed._]

240 [That is, “the darkness of too much light”.—_Ed._]

241 [That is, a defect.—_Ed._]

242 [That is, genius.—_Ed._]

243 [That is, who look upon a part or portion of the gospel, as if that were the whole of it.—_Ed._]

244 [A celebrated English preacher, who was cotemporary with Binning makes a similar remark: “No question but those that have been so bold as to deny that there was a God have sometimes been much afraid they have been in error, and have at last suspected there was a God, when some sudden prodigy hath presented itself to them and roused their fears. And whatsoever sentiments they might have in their blinding prosperity, they have had other kind of notions in them in their stormy afflictions, and like Jonah’s mariners, have been ready to cry to him for help, whom they disdained to own so much as in being, while they swam in their pleasures. The thoughts of a Deity cannot be extinguished, but they will revive and rush upon a man at least under some sharp affliction. Amazing judgments will make them question their own apprehensions.” (Charnock’s Works, vol. 1, p. 42 Lond. 1682). An ancient historian relates, concerning Caligula the Emperor of Rome, whose licentiousness knew no bounds, and who professed the utmost contempt for the gods of his country, that, when it thundered, he was accustomed from fear of the gods he derided, to shut his eyes, cover his head, and even conceal himself under a bed.—Suet. in Calig. cap. 51 Seneca de Ira, lib. i, cap. 16.—_Ed._]

245 [That is, place or station.—_Ed._]

246 [That is, judge.—_Ed._]

247 [That is, to sue for.—_Ed._]

248 [Many of the speeches and actions of Philip, who was the father of Alexander the Great, are worthy of being remembered. A collection of his most memorable sayings has been made by Erasmus, in his Apothegmata Opus (pp. 268-279, Lutetiæ 154). The conduct of Philip, in many respects however, was very unlike that of a wise and virtuous prince. Like mankind in general, though he was reminded daily of this, he too often forgot that he was mortal.—_Ed._]

249 [There is no fact, connected with the history of former times, which can be more easily proved than this that religious sacrifices were prevalent throughout every part of the Gentile world. Animals, which were deemed suitable for sacrifice by one nation, might be considered improper for such a purpose by another. But in the most remote countries victims of one kind or another, and not unfrequently human victims were seen bleeding on the altars of superstition, and with the death of these, the idea of substitution, or of presenting life for life, was almost invariably connected. When sacrificing her victim, Ovid makes his votaress exclaim—“I like heart for heart, I beseech thee, take entrails for entrails. We give to thee this life for a better one”—

Cor pro corde, precor, pro obras sumite fibras. Hanc animam vobis pro meliore damus Fast lib. vi. v. 161

But “as Kennicot observes from Delaney, whatever practice has obtained universally in the world, must have obtained from some dictate of _reason_, or some demand of _nature_, or some principle of _interest_, or else from some powerful influence or injunction of some Being of universal authority. Now the practice of animal sacrifice did not obtain from _reason_, for no reasonable notions of God could teach men that he could delight in blood, or in the fat of slain beasts. Nor will any man say, that we have any natural _instinct_ to gratify, in spilling the blood of an innocent creature. Nor could there be any temptation from appetite to do this in those ages, when the whole sacrifice was consumed by fire; or when, if it was not, yet men wholly abstained from flesh; and consequently this practice did not owe its origin to any principle of _interest_. Nay, so far from any thing of this, that the destruction of innocent and useful creatures is evidently _against nature_, _against reason_, and _against interest_, and therefore must be founded in an authority, whose influence was as powerful as the practice was universal and that could be none but the authority of God, the sovereign of the world; or of Adam, the founder of the human race.

If it be said of Adam, the question still remains, what motive determined him to the practice? It could not be nature, reason, or interest, as has been already shown, it must therefore have been the authority of his Sovereign, and had Adam enjoined it to his posterity, it is not to be imagined that they would have obeyed him in so extraordinary and expensive a rite, from any other motive than the command of God. If it be urged, that superstitions prevail unaccountably in the world, it may be answered, that all superstition has its origin in true religion; all superstition is an abuse; and all abuse supposes a right and proper use. And if this be the case in superstitious practices that are of lesser moment and extent, what shall be said of a practice existing through all ages, and pervading every nation?—See Kennic, Two Diss. pp. 210, 211 and Rev. Exam. Diss. 8 p. 85-89.” Magee on the Atonement, vol. ii. part i. pp. 27-29.—_Ed._]

250 [That is, restrain.—_Ed._]

251 [See note page 96.]

252 [Lucius Cinna was the grandson of Pompey the Great. It was through the intercession of Livia, the wife of Augustus, that Cinna was pardoned. “Do” said she to Augustus, “what physicians are accustomed to do, who, when the remedies they have employed do not succeed, try others which are entirely different. You have done no good by severity—Try now the effect of clemency. Forgive Lucius Cinna. Now that he has been discovered, he cannot injure you, but he can advance your reputation”—Seneca de Clem. lib. i.—_Ed._]

253 [Language of this description was in common use with the Antinomians of the time, as may be seen in Edwards’ Gangræna (Part First, p. 22, Lond. 1646). Gataker’s Antinomiania Discovered and Confuted, (pp. 18, 19, Lond. 1652) and other similar works written about this period.—_Ed._]

254 [How inconsistent is this maxim of Machiavel with the semblance even of Christian integrity! Pascal, however, has supplied us with ample proofs not only from the books of the Jesuits but from their public Theses, that they hold it to be perfectly justifiable to calumniate their enemies or to charge them with crimes of which they know them to be innocent. He declares that this doctrine is so generally received by them (si constante,) that should a man dare to oppose it, he would be treated by them as a fool,—Les Provinciales tome troisieme quinzieme lettre.—_Ed._]

255 [The philosophy of Aristotle was called architectonica (αρχιτεκτονικη), _pertaining to building_, from αρχος _a leader_, and τεκτην an _artificer_), as if every kind of knowledge had been rendered subservient to it.—_Ed._]

256 [That is, arts or sciences.—_Ed._]

257 [The Records of the Presbytery of Glasgow show, that this Fast was appointed by the commission of the General Assembly. “The commissioun of the Generall Assemblie, upone the 25 day of June 1650 did emit ane seasonable warning concerning the present dangeris and dewties unto all the memberis of the kirk. To draw neir to God, to murne for thair ayin iniquiteis, and for all the synnes, prophanitie, and bakslydinges of the land, to studie to mak peace with God in Cryst Jesus, to searche and try our wayis and to return speedilie to the Lord, and to lift up our hartis with our handis to God in the heavines, that he may spair and save his pepill, that thai be not a prey to the enymie,” &c. (Nicol’s Diary of Public Transactions in Scotland, p. 17. Printed by Bannatyne Club, Edin. 1836). On the 28th of June, a copy of this warning was presented to the Scottish parliament, who thanked the commission of the General Assembly for it, and requested them to delay the printing of it for a few days, that it might be accompanied with a Declaration from them suited to the existing crisis (Sir James Balfour’s Annals of Scotland, vol.

iv. p. 63.). When the Presbytery of Glasgow met on the 31st of July, 1650, “the brethrene that wer present declaired that yei had keepit the fast, that yei had read the warning” (Presb. Rec). See also Lamont’s Diary, 7th July 1650. The appointment of Fasts to be observed on the Lord’s day, was at a subsequent period disapproved of by the Church of Scotland. “Albeit by the treatise of fasting emitted by the Assembly 25 December, 1565, the Sundays were appointed for some fasts as being for the greater ease of the people, and since by the last act of Assembly 1646, a fast is appointed on the Sabbath next except one preceding the then following General Assembly, yet seeing the work to be performed on the first day of the week is, by divine institution, already determined, we ought to set about it exactly, which we all acknowledge to be a thanksgiving and not a fast. Extraordinary duties are not to interfere with the ordinary, nor is one duty to shuffle out another. If either should be allowed, it would look somewhat like the reverse of redeeming the time, for thereby diligence is rather diminished than doubled in the service of God.”—Overtures of the General Assembly, 1705.—_Ed._]

258 [“The abstinence is commanded to be from Saterday at eight of the clock at night, till Sonday eftir the exercise at eftir noone, that is, after five of the clock. And then onlie bread and drink to be used, and that with great sobrietie, that the bodie craving necessarie food, the soul may be provoked earnestly to crave of God, that which it most neideth, that is mercie for our former unthankfulnes, and the assistance of his holie spirit in tyme to cum.” (_The Ourdoure and Doctrine of the General Fast, set down by John Knox, and John Craig, at the Appoyntment of the Assemblie in the year 1565, Apud. Dunlop’s Confessions_, vol. ii. p. 686.) This Order was afterwards observed in all the fasts appointed by the General Assembly. (Id. p. 699.)—_Ed._]

259 [That is, “Nor does God please all, when he sends rain.”—_Ed._]

260 [That is, parts.—_Ed._]

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.