A Proper Project FOR SCOTLAND.  
To Startle FOOLS, and Frighten KNAVES, But to make WISE-MEN Happy.  
Being a Safe and Easy Remedy to Cure our Fears, and Ease our Minds.  
WITH The undoubted CAUSES of God's WRATH, AND OF The present NATIONAL CALAMITIES.  
BY A Person neither Unreasonably CAMERONIAN, nor Excessively LAODICEAN, and Idolizer of MODERATION; but, entre deus, avoiding extremes, on either Hand: That is, A Good, Honest, Sound PRESBYTERIAN, a Throw-pac'd, True-blue LOYALLIST; for GOD, KING and country: And why not for CO— T too?  
Printed In a Land where SELF's cried up, and ZEAL's cried down; And therefore, In a time of SPIRITUAL PLAGUES and TEMPORAL JUDGMENTS▪ Anno Dom. 1699.   

ERRATA.  
page.. red. 1. Entre Deus.::: Entre deux. 5. Noce te ipsum::: Nosce te ipsum. 7. And what is Commanded. And do what is Commanded 8. Our Crime.::: Your Crime. 14. Daeadful word.:: Dreadful word 30. Batriaecides.::, Patriaecides. 41. Faith:::: Saith. 62. Steepr Preciepies:: Steep Precipies 63. Its most fit.:: As most fit. 64. Make it Zealous.:: Make it their Zealous. -[ after] the worst of Kings[ add] I don't say Tyrants & delared apostates 68. Add degrees.:: And degrees. 74. Make it.::: Making it. - Unto ruin::: Into ruin.  
The other erratas are not Material, as, toto, for, to, deserving no, for, deserving not, Nobemen, for Noblemen, reentring for re-entering, uhappy for unhappy, and not have, for and not to have, never Rarer for never so rare, the length of Men for the Years of men.   

THE Authors APOLOGY to the Reader.  
I Hope none will take Offence at what I have here inserted in the several Causes of Wrath, who do but Seriously and Impartially red them out to an Amen, and then Weigh the whole in a Just balance. I know there are many Things, that may chance to grace upon the Passions and Humours of not a few; and make others to Carp, yea, some will be ready to to Gnash their Teeth before the Time; but none of those Things move me: Though indeed I must confess, when I first entred upon this forced Undertaking, and laying my Account to meet with such Treatment, the first Thoughts of this, did a little Startle me, and I was often Tempted to Dash out several Sentences by that same Hand which wrote them, least I should Offend: But then another Thought of greater Weight, forced it's Way into my Conscience, and Shuffled out the former; when I considered, I am now sifting myself in the Presence of GOD, that great Him, who seeth me, Imploring his Special Assistance, and Begging, that in every Step of this Work of greatest Moment, He would Guide my Spirit, and Direct my Pen: Then, I could not, nay for my Soul I durst not, omit any Thing that I Judged to be Duty on the one Hand, or Sin on the other. And whereas it is the ordinary Caution of every petty Judge unto a Witness, for to say, Remember Sir, You are upon Oath, even so, Divine Providence Singling Unworthy Me out to Witness for the Truth, and having Solemnly Purged myself of all Malice, Pick or Prejudice against any Mans Person, I'm resolved to tell the Truth, and nothing but the Truth, and to conceal nothing of the Truth, according to my Personal Knowledge, and Credible Information, as the GOD of Truth shall enable me. If thou ask, why doth this Fellow speak himself frequently in the Plural Number? I Answer, have a care what thou sayest; every Lord and Earl Stiles himself, We; then why may not I do so too, who have the whole Body of the Nation upon my Side, to Espouse my Quarrel, whereof some at least, wisheth me well, and says, Be thou Warmed, be thou clothed, &c. Others they Pray for me; nay some( if you please) will Fight for me: Some again hath much Zeal, and little Wit, warm Hearts, and hot Heads, but empty Noddles, yet good Bodies too, and ought rather to be Informed thou sighted: Thousands likewise, who have true Zeal, rightly tempered with Commendable Prudence, who dare not shift a Necessar and Seasonable Duty, when it comes in their Road, but still keeping within their own proper Sphere, and impatiently longing to hear or see their betters Act to better purpose in their respective Stations. Therefore, by this time they are become like so many Elihu's, their Belly is as Wine, which hath no vent, it is ready to burst like New Bottles; It is in the Power of Kirk and State, to pierce the Bottle without breaking it, and give us ease; Let them then give in their Reasons at the Greet Day, why they do it not. As for the Pure Gallio's, let them pass with the open Graceless, they ar● none of my attendants, but base deserters, having shaken off their Sworn allegiance, and run in to the Enemies Camp. For these Raw and faint well-wishers, I know not what they serve for, or what to do with them; however, since they will needs faun upon me, merely for Cake and Pudding, I must pitty them till they gather Spirits. In short, put it to a fair Pole, give us but a free Vote, we carry the day, and ought therefore to have our Just demands satisfied. As for a tickle-fancy Style, precise Grammar, or Skill in Poesy, I pretend to none of them, nor is it my present purpose: Only I will affirm, with Old Ben Johnstoun, rhyme or Prose, good or bad, here thou hast a Bundle of plain, sad, and experienced Truths. And if some blind and inconsiderat Reader think, that this man taketh too much upon him, and appeareth too boldly and suddenly upon the Stage: I Answer, it was a forced put, sore against my will; but Necessity hath no Law, nay would to God, it be not too late; I am afraid, our Feverish distempers have gone too far on already, without opening a Vein: And if you take me to be the Master-Bee, come First out, with a Protestation in my Hand, and an alarm in my Mouth, you may expect, that ere long, the whole swarm will likewise hive and follow, every one buzzing and crying in the Ears of his Neighbour, up, depart, come out from the Tents of these wicked Men, touch nothing of theirs, least you be Consumed in all their Sins. Are we not already half Scorched up with the heat of his anger? who will be able to abide, even the Day when he comes in good earnest to avenge the Quarrel of his Covenant? Is not a jealous God at the very Door, throwing in the Fire-Balls of his Fury and Indignation into all the Corners of the poor Skepp, through the whole Church and Kingdom of Scotland? Is it time then for any Lot to linger in Sodom? Others again may reflect and say, this fellow hath a world of ill worded, raw and undegested Expressions, stuff, &c. Not worth the Reading. I answer, Distinguendo; if thou whisper this to a Friend, out of Pitty and Regrate, I shall take it kindly, aclowledge my infirmity, and Confess my fault, perhaps it is true: But if Self-swelling Pride or prejudice make a Table-talk of it, or blaze it abroad, from a design to ridicule; Then( since thou pincheth me by this home-thrust, hits me upon the sore Heel, and falls in upon my weak side) I must crave leave to spell out thy Name ad longum with a short ironical Introduction, by telling thee, thou does very well to throw it by, as suiting neither thy Heart nor Humour; For I perceive, thou hast in some measure learned that great Lesson, noce teipsum, being, it seems sensible, that such Pearls were never made to be cast before Swine, of which Noble Rank and Order, I take thy Worship to be one; thy own Tongue bewrayeth thy own folly; thou cannot for thy Heart say shibboleth; that is, thou cannot from thy Heart speak good of thy Neighbour, or of any good thing; thou discovers thy own Wickedness, more than my weakness; itching more to Censure, than any desire to be Edified: I t●ld thee before, that it is not my present purpose to set my words upon Pins, or my Sentences upon Tiptoes; especially having dispatched this in great hast, my design in the main, being to endeavour, if possible, to prevent thine and the Lands ruin. Thou may likewise be in peril of Censuring me for some harsh-like words, and Satyrick-expressions, scattered here and there: For Answer, considering Mens Minds, the Course of the times, and the horrid Nature of these persons Crimes, it was impossible for me to put it in a milder dress. Finally, good Reader, if thou think me too particular: This is only to refresh, and a little Rub up thy Memory and my own, we having got a trick now a days, to huddle all up, and scroof all over with Fair Generals, which( let me tell thee, sub rosa) is neither fair nor Square: Let this serve for a sufficient Apology once fo● all:  
farewell.   

The Author's Pass to these few Sheets.  
Go Little Book, go spare no pains,  
Go take thy Fate 'mongst Great and small:  
Go Smite, go pierce them Heart and Reins,  
Convince, or then confounded them all.   

A Project for Scotland, &c.  

THERE is a Grand and Seasonable Question, tending to the Undoubted public Good of both Kirk and State, proposed to the Solid Wits of this Age, I mean, to all Serious Thinking Scots-Men in their Right Wits, to be by them Prudently, Impartially, and Faithfully Answered, and if Carried in the Affirmative, as they and I shall Answer in a Dying Hour, it will certainly Stop the Grumbling Mouths, and Ease the Perplexed Minds of all Good Men, viz.  
That since our Und●ubted sovereign hath his Test, Oath of Allegiance and Assurance, Sworn to His Sacred Person and Government,( and why not, there's all the Reason in the World for it) that He may know, whom to Trust, and whom not: This for the Security of the State: As also, the Church of England hath their Sacramental Test, without which, none can be admitted to Places of public Trust; And this for the Security of the Church. Now, since we have Laws, Acts, and Constitutions, both Civil and Sacred, Different from, and Independent upon them, The Kittle Question is, Why may not we likewise,( for our own Security) without Offending either Whigg or Torry, have a Protestant reformed, Presbyterian Test in Scotland? Only have a Care of the Word COVENANT,( I had almost Snappered out with it in my Title page.) for that's enough to Frighten us out of our Little Wits, and the debauched High Flown Tantivy-Torries out of their Graceless Wits; as if we were with Paul and Silas, going to turn the World upside-down; or pretending with their Old Hagg-Mother, the Witch at Endor, to raise the Devil in the Likeness of our Honest Old butted Samuel out of his Grave again.  
If any Thing of this Nature shall happily happen to be done, let it contain a True, Full, Faithful and Brief Narrative of our Presbyterian Principles, in Doctrine, Worship, Discipline, and Government, in so many short, plain and distinct Axioms, relating to each Head; together with a particular Enumeration of our several Steps of Defection and Declinings.  
Then after the said Declaration of what we are to own and adhere to, let there be a Faithful and Full Explanation upon each Head thereof, and that so clearly and plainly, that it may admit of no Ambiguous Sense, or Double Construction, and may be a standard( next to our Confession of Faith) comform to the Word of God, in all time coming; That Ministers, but especially the Poor People, may not still be to seek in Points of Duty and practise; And that all Ranks of Persons may know, how to keep themselves within the due Bounds of their proper Sphere, Station and Capacity, Civil or Sacred, in which the Great GOD hath Placed them.  
When the said Oath, Declaration( or call it what you will) is thus framed and Explained, even to the Capacity of the Meanest, then let it be sent up to His Majesty for His Gracious Approbation, and Recommended by Him to the Parliament, for their Civil-Sanction, then afterwards Ordered to be Printed in a small Octavo, as a Vade Mecum, for Pocket Conveniency, and Dispersed through the Kingdom; and Poor Families, who want Money to buy them, to have them gratis, the Ministers and heritors paying for such: That so the World, and even ourselves, may know, what we are, where we are, and what we Profess, and resolves, to Stick by; since the Graceless on the one Hand, and some Unreasonable Wild-Bodies on the other, do Fancy, that our Principles now, are quiter different from what they were in our Father and Fore-Fathers Days.  
Then let the said Oath be offered unto all, but imposed upon none, against their Will; only, these who refuse, let their Names be insert in the public Records, and if you please, red out in Churches, that they may at least be known to the World, and Branded with the Mark of the Beast. And whoever voluntarly taketh the above Oath, and is found afterwards to make the least Tripp, either in Matters of public Trust, or private Dealings betwixt Man and Man; or otherwise in his Personal Walk and Conversation,( he being thereby a Disgrace, slain and Scandal to his Profession, and the Good Principles of our Religion.) Let him be Exemplarly Punished as a Villain in Masquerade, to the Terror of all Double Minded Knaves, and Rotten Hearted Professors.  
By this Means, we may easily come to know and distinguish Friends from Foes, and prevent the Constant, Treacherous, Undermining Practices of Heart-Enemies, under fair Pretensions, and Mask of Profession, and would contribute much to the Purging of Church and State from many a Secret Judas in both.  
I know this Plain and Honest Question will Startle not a few of avowed Malignants,( since they retain still the Old leprosy, we will give them still their Old Name) on the one Hand, and those who resolve to Sit and Live at Ease on the other; and may prove very Puzzling, nay go near to break their Brains, like these in Matth. 21.24, 25, 26, 27. how to S●lve and Answer it Cannily, and Handsomely, so as to Please all, and Offend none: Though it be omnibus notum, that a Child of ten Years of age, fifty years ag●, could easily have untied this Formidable Gordian Knot, by telling us in one Word, Offend whom we will, let us not Offend any of these Little Ones. Let us make Conscience of a Necessary and Seasonable Duty, and what is Commanded; then Commit the Event unto Him, who is Faithful to Perform what is Promised.  
They who see not a Necessity for something of this Nature, and the Universal Good, Peace and Safety to both King and country thereby, they cannot be Born in Scotland, or else, they must certainly be Born Blind, and Judicially Infatuat: Thus I leave this and them both; the one to GOD's Providence; the other to a further judgement.  
farewell.   

Unto all Courts, Spiritual and Temporal; The Humble and Serious Advice of the Author.  

JACK PRESBYTER, if you would Thrive  
Then take my Counsel while its time,  
All Achans, you must quiter out-drive,  
Least other's Sins become our Crime.   

OLD PERJURIES, which still doth haunt  
Us like a Ghost, where e're we go  
For Breach of SOLEMN COVENANT  
Though now forgot by high and Low.   

All Jesuit Priests, and Papist Pesters  
Which still infest this ruined Nation,  
With Anti-Covenanting Testers,  
Heart Enemies to Reformation.   

All Atheists, Deists, Debauchee's,  
The Brood of Hell, spewed from the Pit,  
And Trembling Quakers Blasphemies,  
All which, old neck has you Besh— t.   

All Aw-less, Law-less, God-less Catives,  
The Plague and Scandal of our Land,  
Deserving not the name of Natives,  
whose Souls the D. keeps in Pand.   

All who contemn Church discipline,  
Such bold and impudent Pretenders,  
Go punish by your Laws Divine  
As highly Obstinat Offenders.   

And hiss out all from place of Trust,  
Who Jehu-like, drives Cursed self:  
For all their Oaths they'll break and burst,  
If once you offer Bribe or Pelf.   

When you have Sweep'd this Rubbish out  
From Church and State, there yet remains  
More to be done, beyond all doubt,  
By Great and Small, well worth your pains.   

All what's Committed to your care,  
In Matters purely ecclesiastic,  
See for your Souls, you Quit on Hair  
Or hoove, to such as are Erastick.   

With Zeal and Courage then go on,  
Stand up for Truth, and its professors,  
Advancing what you have begun,  
Like to your Noble Predecessors.   

Brave public spirits( a thing so rare  
In this degenerat sordid Age)  
See that you Cherish every where;  
Before that you drop off the Stage   

Ah! Do not stop a Work Divine,  
The great Work of your Generation,  
Till you arrive at forty NINE;  
And then, O then! Thrice Happy Nation.   

Then Scotlands Mourners, Young and Old,  
Shall shout and Sing forth Zions Sonnet,  
When they with Joyful Hearts behold  
A Glorious CAPE-STONE put upon it.   

So, shall your Poor posterity,  
When you are Crumbled into Dust,  
Proclaim your famed, both far and nigh,  
As Faithful Men, True to your Trust.    

The undoubted Causes of Gods Wrath, and of the present National Calamities, which if not speedily Confessed, Acknowledged, Mourned for, and Repented of, will in all seeming probability, provoke a Jealous God to punish us yet Seven times more, till we be Consumed; and force the Wisest and Stoutest of us, at last,( like Miserable Achans) whether we will or not, to give glory to GOD, and Confess what we have done, when perhaps too late.  
BECAUSE this woefully hardened, though enlightened Generation, will not be persuaded to look a little back, and seriously to Reflect upon their former ways, both of Old and of Late, least they should be like so many Magor-Missabibs. or despairing Spira's, when they see the black Shadow of that fearful Ghost of PERJURY, &c. and double Vengeance attending it, pursuing them close at the Heels: And seeing that these things stick to our Bones to this very Day, though they seem so far Remote, that they are grown stale, worn out of Date and Mind, almost butted in Silence, and quiter forgot. Therefore, I'll begin our Woes, where it was expected they should have ended, from that famous year of Scotlands JUBILEE, 1638.  

In the Late unhappy Reigns.  
THAT in the days of our Affliction and Misery, we never did, nor yet will cast back our Eyes, and Remember: Nay, that we are not so much as desirous to be informed of all the pleasant things we had in the days of Old; particularly, and especially, about the time of that Signal and Glorious appearance, and manifestation of the Great GOD, the Lord Our GOD, at the breaking up of the Reformation from Prelacy, &c. and the solemn renewing of our Covenant with Him; what fervent wrestlings Night and Day, with strong crys and Tears, was then to be found among the Worthies of that time, which ushered in the Dawning of that Blessed day, never to be forgotten; and now when past, to be remembered with sorrow? What Plentiful powrings forth of the Spirit from on High, did then Appear in the Morning of that Day, evidently Manifested, both in his special reviving influences upon the truly Gracious, and general influences upon all Ranks of Persons: That Nobemen, Gentlemen, Burgesses, Ministers, and Commons of all sorts, were admirably animated and excited unto a Cheerful, speedy and resolute Renewing of their Covenant for Reformation of Religion, and their own personal Conversation, with the most singular tender Frame that hath been ever heard of, lifting up their Hearts and Hands unto the most High GOD, with Rivers of Tears trickling down their Faces; And when they were engaged in that Covenant, turned, as it were, into other Men, of a more excellent Spirit than formerly, undervaluing their own things, minding and valuing only the things of Jesus Christ, wholly taken up in the Advancement of that Conmon Good Cause and Interest of Religion, as their One Thing Needful. What Power and Efficacy, did then accompany the Preaching of the Gospel, to the Convincing and Converting of many Sinners to the LORD, Establishing and Confirming of Believers in the Faith, a great Concomitant Seal of GOD's Approbation of that Blessed Work? What Joy and Trembling was there then at the Hearing of the Word? What Lively Heart-Exercise? What ●lowing forth of the Spices of GOD's Garden? What Tenderness o Conscience? What Delight and Pleasure without Wearying in Religious Exercises and Duties, and Communion with GOD, and Christian Fellowship of the Saints for Mutual Prayer, and Godly Conference for Edification? What clear Light did then shine, to set us in the strait Paths of the LORD, to discover, and keep from turning aside unto Crooked Ways, on the Right or Left Hand? Then was our public Councils, both of Church and State, shined upon from Heaven, and Righteous Decrees proceeded forth, Then had Scotland, magistrates and Judges, Wise, Sober, Grave, truly Noble Patriots for their country, and Valiant for the Truth: Our Rulers then were not a Terror to Good Works, but to the Evil. Then did the People rejoice, when the Righteous were in Authority: Then were the Church of Scotlands Ministers and Teachers clothed with Salvation, and her Saints shouted aloud for Joy, her Provision was abundantly blessed, and then went all things well in our Judah: Then was it pleasant to see Brethren dwelling and acting together in Unity, and joint in the Truth: All our Strivings were, who should be most Zealously Faithful and Forward in their Masters Service. What Unite Zeal, Tenderness, Throughness, and Peremptory Exactness, was there then for all CHRIST's Royal Interests, the due Rights and privileges of his Church? Carefully Obviating and, Abstaining from the least Appearance of Ceding in the Matters of our GOD, or Declining to either Hand, from his Streight Paths, for Fear or Favour of any; Valourously, and Timeously Resisting, Witnessing and Protesting against the least. encroachment upon our great Masters Royal Prerogative. How Famous was a Man then, according as he Diligently, Faithfully and Zealously Acted for the LORD? Advancing that Blessed Reformation, Impartially Opposing all Opposers, and Opposition thereto? How Unsavoury then was Detestable Neutrality, and Indifferency in the Cause and Covenant of GOD? Then was Poor Despicable Scotland Honourable among the Nations. Then might it have been truly said of Scotland, What Nation is there so Great, who hath GOD so nigh unto them, as the LORD our GOD is in all things that we call upon him for? Then might it have been said of thee, O Church of Scotland, Happy art thou, Who is like unto thee, O People saved by the LORD? the Shield of thy Help, and who is the Sword of thy Excellency, and thine Enemies shall be found Liars, or Subdued unto thee, and thou shalt Tread upon their High Places: For then the LORD was with us, while we were with him, the Light of his Countenance was our Strength and Joy, which made us to prosper in every good Work, and whithersoever we went forth. But now, Alas!— Ah— Reader! whoever thou art; Stop and Pause, stand Amazed, and think and think again, upon what we once had, and sweetly enjoyed, But now Alas! Now, we have miserable lost: And if thou be a Christian Born in Scotland, and have the least Spunk of Spiritual Life, and the smallest Spark of that once Noble( though now Frightful) Grace of Zeal( then the Glory and Defence of a Reformation, now ready to give up the Ghost, Crawling, Languishing, and Breathing out its last, under that Hideous and All-devouring Mountain of thrice Cursed Self; then no bigger than Elijah's Hand, but now covering and overspreading the Face of the whole Kingdom) if thou be not twice dead, and plucked up by the Roots, or a Detestable Gallio, and Loathsome Laodicean; If thou have not the obdured Heart of a ston, the Bowels of a Judas, and altogether left of GOD; Then this must needs make thy Soul sink within thee, and force Floods of Tears from thine Eyes, and cause thee to cry out with Wonder and Astonishment, O Dreadfully Degenerat Age! Ah Wretched Generation! O People Foolish and Unwise! have we thus requited, and so shamefully forsaken the LORD our GOD, and Zedekiah-like, Ezek. 17.19. have with our own Hands drawn down upon ourselves that flying Roll, the Double Vengeance of GOD and his Temple, and entered ourselves Heirs unto all the Broad Curses of a Broken COVENANT, and entailed that Fearful Doom upon us, and our Poor Posterity( which the hardened Jews once did, and which is bound upon them unto this very Day) his Blood, his Precious Blood, be upon us and upon our Children; The Blood of a Glorious Reformation, now almost Sunk in its own ruins; The Blood of all the Zealous Contending and Wrestling Martyrs of CHRIST and his Cause be upon us. Have we indeed given our Amen and Hearty Consent to all this! or where are we? What are we doing? What have we a mind yet to do? Ah! When will we once do something or other to Purpose, for to Avert and Prevent( if possible) the Terrible Judgments threatened, Determined and hastening. Certainly what's come upon us, cannot but deeply Affect us, else we are but Base Bastards, or at least very Unnatural Sons of our Poor Bleeding and Forsaken Mother, now when she is bringing our Faults to Remembrance, and laying Fearful and Heavy Things to our Charge, we cannot but return her the whipped boys Answer to Queen ELIZABETH, Infandum Regina jubes renovare Dolorem. Ah! Will we never come to our Wits, till the surprising Thunder-Claps of GOD's Wrath put us all to our Wits End.  
2. That we have never to this day duly and distinctly reflected upon, and seriously pondered and laid to Heart, the Tremenduous and Horrid Nature, with the Singular Aggrava●ions, of Scotlands National Guilt; And wherein soever any of ourselves yet alive, will be found Guilty with the Guilty Nation, since the time of our last Renewing of the COVENANT, in the Year 1638, until the Year 1660: For, as our Declinings soon began, and by the time we had put our Hands well to the Plough, many did, Alas! look back again, so they ever wrought, Corrupting like a Gangrene or leprosy, till at length it broken out upon our Foreheads, and then as a Mystery of Iniquity, at last broken forth in a plain, open, professed, and shamelessly avowed Bursting of all the Bonds, and a Declared Stated War against the LORD and his Anointed: And though the particular Steps of Defection, in that Interval of Years, are fully expressed in the public Papers of these Times; As in that Solemn acknowledgement of Sins, Engagement to Duties, Confession of the Ministers, Protestation, Remonstrance, Causes of Wrath, &c. Yet they are not to this day duly laid to Heart, and mourned for.  
3. The Universal Debauchery, rioting, &c. and even the Blindfold and Random-Rejoycing of Professors, upon the Return of K. C. the 2d. of 〈◇〉 Memory, ere ever they knew, whether he would prove a Friend or Foe to Religion; Some whereof, Smarted afterwards by his Fury, and their own Disappointment, bearing the Blae Marks of their Fondness and Folly.  
4. The Horrid Mocking of both GOD and Man, by the same K. C. the 2d. both at Breda, in Presence of the Scots Commissioners, who were Designing both his Spiritual Good, and Temporal grandeur and Prosperity; and afterwards by his Letters to Ministers, and his Answers to theirs. And at last,( to put the Fatal Cape-Stone upon all) do but red the two Papers found in his Closet after his Final Exit, and Printed by his Brothers Command in anno 1687. Wherein he Avowedly declareth to the World, his being Popish, and doth Bless GOD for the same. All this notwithstanding of his taking the Oath of the Great GOD upon him, once and again, with the greatest awe, Solemnity, and at least seeming Cheerfulness and Willingness imaginable: Then afterwards( to aggravat his Dreadful apostasy) in his public Declaration before his Court at Dumfermling, the 16th. of August 1650, he had these Fearful Mock-Expressions. That he was Firmly Resolved, through the LORDs Strength, to Adhere unto that COVENANT; And to Prosecute, to the outmost of his Power, all the Ends thereof, in his Station and Calling, Really, Constantly and Sincerely, all the Days of his Life; In Order to which, he doth in the first place, Profess and Declare, That he will have no Enemies, but the Enemies of the COVENANT, and that he will have no Friends, but the Friends of the COVENANT, and that he will not employ, or give Commissions to any, who have been Active in Council or Arms against the COVENANT, until that they have not only taken and renewed that COVENANT, but also have given sufficient Evidence of their Integrity, Carriage and Affection to the Work of Reformation; And is fully convinced, that that COVENANT doth Undoubtedly tend for the Glory of GOD, the Good of his Cause and People, and his own Honour and Happiness. YET, Upon his first Mounting the Throne, how suddenly did he red out to his Subjects, in Letters of Blood, the Words of Unhappy Rehoboam, 1 King. 12.13. and 14. Then immediately Sung Psal. 2.3. The Furious Effects of which, forced some of us, at last, to red Eccles. 7.7. And turn Mad-Men. And no sooner was the Crown put upon his Mortal Head, but( as a Second Pope) he most Darringly grasped at CHRIST's Crown too, by that Blasphemous Supremacy, in Usurping the Sole Prerogative Royal of the SON of GOD, as his vicar, yea Co-Partner, and more than equal Sharer with him, in ecclesiastic and Spiritual Matters. And did put this as boldly in Execution, by his Impious and Sanguinary Laws: Instance, the Turning out, and Actually Depriving, Hand over Head, at one Blow, some Hundreds of Presbyterian Ministers, CHRIST's Faithful and sent ambassadors, without ever so much as telling them, by summons, libel, or Process, for what: The Shedding, and taking upon his Head, the Innocent Blood of the Famous, and eminently Faithful Mr. James Guthry: The Repeated woeful Indulgences, Imposing of Heavy Taxes, Cesses, &c. and Levying of Military Forces: All Grounded upon, and enforced from that very Head of this monstrous and Accursed Supremacy, ( This is that Achaz) as if he had been fully Resolved to Jump himself into the Un-pardonable Sin: And was likewise Owned, Acknowledged, and Sworn unto as such, by all Ranks of Persons, especially by the Fourteen thrice Abjured, and Avowedly Perjured, Antichristian, Knights of the Black Order, and their Sycophantick, Underling, Scandalous Creature-Curats, both in their Lifeless Sermons, and particularly, in their Fearful, Commedian-like, and Complementing Prayers to the Great GOD, the Searcher of Hearts. From all which, I am easily persuaded to believe, that this Man Died a Violent Death, as was Shrewdly Suspected, Universally Reported, and expressly Affirmed by the late D. of Monmouth in his Declaration; And that he found the Weight of that Daeadful Word, Ezek. 17.15, 18, 19. Shall he escape that doth such things, or shall he Break the Covenant and be Delivered? Seing he despised the Oath, by breaking the Covenant,( When lo, he had given his Hand) and hath done all these things, he shall not escape. Therefore thus saith the LORD, As I live, surely mine Oath that he hath Despised, and my Covenant that he hath Broken, even it will I Recompense upon his own Head.  
5. The Ministers their too calmly and suddenly quiting their Respective Posts and Charges, over which the Holy Ghost had made them particular Overseers, and that only upon a threatened hazard, by Paper-Proclamations, ere ever they were thrust out by force; and so exposing their poor Flocks to the hazard of these Grievous Wolfs, afterwards obtruded upon them, and redacted themselves to an utter incapacity of reentering to them, as Matters then stood, and this without giving a sufficient Testimony by any Church Judicatory, against so horrid an Act, thereby to have publicly Witnessed before all men, for the Spiritual Kingly Power, and Supreme Government of their Great LORD and Master, only Lord of their Ministry, and the Exercise thereof; and to have protested against the gain-sayers: And then indeed, or never was the Season, when his Enemies had so darringly presumed to inhibit, and Discharge his Commissionat Ambassadors to negotiat a Peace in his Name with poor Sinners, and so openly declared that they would no longer have this Man to Reign over them. And likewise their Flock( especially the Great Ones, Representatives of the Nation) had neither the Courage, Affection, nor Honesty to give them the least encouragement, in standing by them, but did basely leave their poor Pastors to stand upon their own legs, and shift for themselves; which was indeed the great Argument( though no sufficient excuse) that discouraged them to stand out the Storm: However, it be most true, and worthy of all our observation, that their Holy and only wise Lord and Master( whose prerogatve it is to bring Glory to himself, and good to us, out of all our Misguidings) did in the depth of his Counsel, order that Providential losing of Ministers from their Charges, for the majus bonum Ecclesiae, and to the more effectual advancement of the Gospel in many other places of the Kingdom, particularly among the wild Highlanders and rude Borderers. This was a Singular and remarkably blessed Transportation indeed, by the sovereign hand of the great Shepherd of the Flock, whatever was the Faintings or infirmity of under-Pastors in this business; Not unto us, not unto us, but unto him be the Glory. But ah! When we reflect again, and again, upon that dismal day, when the whole of our Reformation from Prelacy, &c. was so professedly and avowedly razed, and quiter overturned, and that Antichristian ascetic Government set up by a pretended Supremacy over the Church: Oh! What sinful Silence then surprised us all, that there was found no Party in the land of all the Covenanted Friends to Reformation; Nay not of Ministers( whose part it was by Office as Watch-men) either to give warning in due Season; as used to be in former times, or jointly to appear, for Witnessing their resentment of that most dreadful course of Rebellion against the CHRIST of GOD: And that which more aggravated that sinful silence; they were at that time in a far better capacity to have joined in any Testimony, then ever they were afteawards, being in the Possession of Church Assemblies, at least of Presbytries and Synods, before they were by violence dissolved. O! What sad Reflections may we have, upon that sinful and shameful dismissing of ourselves, and Presbytries, without so much as one poor Paper-Testimony from any of them in all Scotland! And albeit something of this Nature was often mentioned, and aimed at in several Synods and Presbytries of this Church; Yea, and earnestly endeavoured by some of our most Faithful Men, yet never brought forth to perfection, or public view, but still by some diversion, and uhappy hand or other, stifled in the Birth, unworthily suffering ourselves to be deceived and imposed upon by Cornal advisings of some pretending to Prudence( under that false and shameful pretence of being unseasenable, when it was most, if not, only Seasonable) to forbear and delay to a more convenient time; and still a new woeful advice to delay, until at length the most seasonable opportunity was Elapsed and lost, the like whereof never to be recovered again.( O that this may not be our Case this day!) Then was our Arm broken, then was our Hair cut. Then did our Strength depart from us, our former Zeal and Courage( which we never recovered since. or ever like to do) did then fail and vanish.  
6. That even these Men, who from clear conviction of the warrantableness and excellency of that Glorious Work of Reformation, so willingly engaged, and cheerfully did Swear unto the most High GOD, that they should Zealously and constantly defend the same, and who were also Honoured to be Co-workers together with him, in raising up, and defending this Noble Work, and signally Countenanced by many remarkable incouradgements while they followed the Lord: That even they, in such a Generation, did so soon forsake, yea and conspired together against their own COVENANTED GOD, contrary to so solemn Engadgements, and with wicked Hands, avowedly in the face of GOD, Angels, Sun, Moon and stars, before the World, and the Churches abroad, to their Eternal Disgrace, did overturn the whole of that beautiful Work, and not only practically, but professedly, and under colour of Law, made voided the OATH of GOD, declaring the same to be no more binding, either on their own or other men's Consciences; rescinded all the laudable Acts and Laws made in favours and defence thereof: licked up again that vile Vomit of abjured Prelacy, Establishing the same by a Law, made many grievous Acts and Edicts for strengthening that Conspiracy: Manifestly invaded our Great LORD and Master his Prerogative of Supremacy over his own House, Ordinances and Ambassadors, and did set up an Idol of jealousy, in his room, and razed the warranted Ministerial Government of Christ by Presbyters, and violently raised, dissipated, and discharged all our Church Assemblies, condemning them as unlawful Convocations of the Subjects, grievously persecuted the truly G●dly, both Ministers and others, who feared the OATH of GOD, and refused to Comply with this violent Course of horrid defection: And what the Lords Worthies have endured( whom the World was not worthy of) since this National revolt from Christ, and opposition to his Cause, would scarce be believed among the Nations abroad. And which might here be added, that most of the Nobility, many of the Gentry and Common People( what through Slavish fear, what through Ignorance) did immediately faun in with, own and Countenance these poor lifeless curates, upon whom was this dreadful Character every where observed, that they were none of those whom the Lord had sent, and therefore could not profit this people at all, it being frequently testified by such of their hearers, as had most understanding to discern a profiting Preaching, that they never found any good by them; severals of whom did afterwards withdraw from them, upon this very head, among other accounts: And which is yet more considerable, that many of the People who had lived Ignorant and Profain, while they continued under them, have( after they withdrew, and resorted to these Ordinances, at the Meetings called Conventicles, being graciously caught by the Power of GOD in the Preaching of the Gospel) reformed their life, and made serious in the great concerns of their Souls salvation; and who also afterwards did endure the greatest of sufferings, rather than to forsake, or engage to forsake those persecuted Meetings, and and return again to these curates.  
7. OUR old Rotten Perjuries and breach of solemn COVENANTS, which though now almost quiter forgot, doth yet stick unto us, like an overgrown leprosy, and from which this Land, and Inhabitants thereof, can never be cleansed and cured, but either by tremenduous desolating Judgments, or by deep repentance, and turning again to the Lord, by Renewing our COVENANT as publicly and solemnly, as it was vilely broken and then Burnt, by the Hands of the Common Hangman, and other execrable Ruffians. Ah! Few of us to this day, have seriously laid to Heart the Attrociousness of this Guilt, nor been so deeply affencted therewith, as we ought, for all these abominations done in the midst of us: And not a few of us, alas! do rather extenuat, palliat, and hid the Lands defection; as if the then change of Church Government, Robbing CHRIST of his Supremacy, such open, barefaced and avowed Perjury, and breach of COVENANT, with all the dreadful consequences thereof, had been Matters of Moon-shine, of small moment, and not have made such Buffle and noise about, cried out, and Witnessed against, as some others did judge it their duty to do upon all hazards. These and many more, may make us Belshazzar-like, to fear and quake, that in the day( which fast hasteneth) when the Holy and Righteous GOD( to whom vengeance belongeth) shall draw his Sword to avenge the Quarrel of his COVENANT, many of us( who would needs be looked upon, and do vainly fancy ourselves to be innocent non-complyers with the Lands revolt) shall not escape to share with the workers of Iniquity, in their Plagues, because we have been so much partakers with them in their Sins. Let us remember the remarkable instance of Saul and the Gibeonits, and tremble: That Breach of COVENANT( though an unlawful Oath) was notwithstanding severely punished in good Davids Time, by the fearful plague of Famine. 2 Sam. 21. and 1. Which sad and heavy stroke, we are this day groaning under, and still increasing upon us, and no relief to be expected from abroad. And because we have woefully Reacted the same Conspiracy against the Lord and his Anointed, which the perfidious and Treacherous Israelits were guilty of, Jerem. 11.9, 10. And the Lord said unto me, a Conspiracy is found among the Men of Judah, and among the Inhabitants of Jerusalem, they are turned back to the iniquities of their Forefathers, who refused to hear my Words: The House of Israel, and the house of Judah have broken my COVENANT, which I made with their Fathers. It is then no wonder, if he should pass that same heavy Doom and Sentence upon Us, as he did upon them: Therefore thus saith the Lord, behold I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall Cry unto me, I will not harken unto them. All our former strokes have not reached GOD's Gracious Ends to put us upon the speedy Search and trial of our ways: We have been hitherto ( Pharoah-like) proof to all his threatenings and Judgments spiritual and Temporal. O! Who knoweth, but this may be already the Ninth Plague, under which we are pining away? Ah then! Let us take the alarm in time, before we provoke an Incense● GOD to surprise us with that last and fearful Word, once for all. Exod. 11.1.6. Yet will I bring one Plague more upon( Scotland) not to Mend, but to End them; not to Reclaim, but to destroy them. And there shall be a great Cry throughout all the Land; such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more. Yet for all thatis come upon us, there are not a few of our Ministers( alas for it) who no ways do make it their Concerning business to Preach up the indispensible Obligations, we and the whole Land ly under, by virtue of these our Solemn COVENANTS; And others do this so darkly and obscurely, that the one half of their hearers knoweth not well what they would be at. Though I know and do aclowledge there be many Faithful Ambassadors of Christ in Scotland, who boldly discharges their Consciences herein. But are we not all equally concerned? O why do we not then all of us, long for it up, Preach it up, Pray it up. Discourse it up, till at length our good Government proclaim it up? For up it will upon us, in spite of our Hearts, if not by our free consent, and Zealous endeavours, for our own good, yet by Gods appointment, I am afraid, for our destruction. Alas, we are as yet like Ephraim, a Cake unturned, like a silly Dove without Heart, Hos. 7.8.11. Ah! We but Smother the Lands guilt; so that we may say with Hos. 13.12.13. The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up, his Sin is hide, he is an Unwise Son, for h●… should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of Children. O Scotland, return then speedily unto the LORD, for thou hast fearfully and shamefully fallen by thine iniquity.  
8. The Total apostasy of many False Brethren, and pretended Professors of the Truth: Instance, that Grand Judas, and Arch-Traitor Sharp, &c. supposed by all Sound Divines, who knew him, to be Guilty of the Fearful, and Un-pardonable Sin against the Holy Ghost. O shall not then such a Frightful shipwreck, as the above Instance is,( though there were no more) be an everlasting Warning, and perpetual Caution, especially to all Young Students, from Spleeting their Poor Souls upon the like Rocks, by Rushing themselves Precipitantly, upon the Tremenduous, Weighty, and Painful Work of the Ministry, perhaps for By-Ends; Trusting only to their Parts, and a Small Stock of Learning, before they be well Rooted and Grounded in the Faith, and have the Precious Stock of Real Grace, a Through and Saving Change wrought upon their Souls, and come this Length, even to make a Personal COVENANT with GOD, writ it, Sign it, and lay it up by them, ad futuram rei memoriam, as a Witness, either for, or against them, accordingly as they afterwards behave themselves; And not offer to Preach the Great Point of Conversion, &c. to others, before they be past the Pangs of the New Birth, and become True and Sincere Converts themselves; that so they may be able to Speak from the Heart, and their own Sweet Experience, to the Heart. When all this is made Conscience of, and done, then they may, with a Holy Boldness,( as having GOD's Call,) yet with Humility, Fear and Trembling, come forth, and offer themselves to the Service of their COVENANTED GOD, to be Fellow-Labourers in the LORD's Vineyard, now when the Harvest is great and the Labourers few. And having these Pre-requisit Necessary Qualifications, and yet stands, as it were, Idle all the Day, in the Mercat-Place, 'mongst the crowd of Groundless Objections, and other needless Niceties, some not coming out, until the eleventh Hour; some, may be, not at all: Such will be found Guilty of Sitting GOD's Call, which is again Dangerous on the other Hand. But O! Since every Individual Christian, every Believer, is expressly Commanded, To put on the whole armor of GOD; how much more then a Minister of the Gospel; and all little enough, to put them in a Standing Posture, to Resist the Fiery Darts of the Devil, and to keep them from Turning either a Desperat Judas, an Ambitious Diotrephes, or a Covetous, Base, and Mean Spirited Demas: For, so long as we are in the State of Imperfection, we may lay our Account for it, that Satan, the Common Enemy, will still be Throwing in his Tares among the good Wheat; And his Grand and Principal Design is, to raise up, and Tempt Corrupt Church-Men, as well knowing, that such will play the Devil and all, to get their Ambitious, Greedy, and Covetous Ends Accomplished, if it were to the utter ruin of a whole Church. And should not this, on the other Hand, put Presbytries, and all concerned upon their Guard, How and Whom they Admit, and Receive into their Bosom? By the By, suffer me to tell you, that it is the Complaint, and daily Fears of many, both Ministers and People, That Persons are now Recommended, Received and Admitted, upon too Slender Proofs of their Sufficiency, and too Easy trial and Search, especially, as to the above Necessar, Inward, Soul Qualfications of a Minister of CHRIST; and so is seen upon it: Are there not already some Thrust out, who, the next Day, are ready to Cut our own Throats, or Turns a Disgrace and Scandal to their Brethren, and the Holy Ministry? I do aclowledge and believe, that a Minister( though a Cast-away himself) may Preach the Gospel to others, yea, and perhaps be some Sort of an Instrument, to Convert a Sinner; Yet I think, this is almost as Rare a Thing, as another Thief upon the across; So that we dare not, nor must not take our Measures by, or presume upon this Head. Therefore, we are bold to say, that any Designing for this Sacred and aweful Office, cannot be too Cautious himself, nor too Strictly tried, and then Bound by all that's Sacred, and tied by as Formidable an Oath, as can possibly be Worded, that they are True and Sound Presbyterians in their Heart, judgement, and Principles, and Declared, Stated and Avowed Enemies to every Thing, that so much as Smells of Popery, Prelacy, Erastianism, and such like Destructive Errors; And Resolves, in their Masters Strength, Firmly and Resolutely, to Adhere to their Principles upon all Hazards. And if any such afterwards( notwithstanding of all this) Listen to the Tempter, Swallow the Bait, Venture upon Perjury, and will needs Damn themselves, Let them then go to Hell with a Witness, it's none of your Fault, you are free from their Blood, and from having any Hand in the Churches ruin. I humbly think this is no Unseasonable Advice and Caution, especially since we have so many former Fatal Experiences of Mens Naughtiness.  
9. The Universal Complying, Cowardly Ceding, Yielding and Tampering with the then Desperat Enemies to Reformation, and especially in the great Points of CHRIST's Crown, as Sole King, Head, and Supreme governor of his Church; And a Partial Falling away from the Truth, by both Ministers and People, Men of Timorous Spirits, and Lovers of Ease; togethe●… with the many Unaccountable Steps of Defection and Division flowing therefrom. Instance, the Taking and Accepting of our Protestant Pope's Indulgences,( Founded upon, and Directly Flowing from that Cursed Supremacy▪ the Mother of many woeful Divisions and Animosities, not Cured to thi●… Day: The Paying of Unlawful Taxes, Cesses, and Impositions for Damnable Ends; the Express Narrative of the Act bearing to this Purpose, viz. T●… Raise and Maintain Forces to Suppress Field Preaching,( by them calle●… Rendevouzes of Rebellion) and to show our Unanimous Affection and Resolution to Maintain His Majesties Supremacy and Greatness, over all Persons and Causes, as Established by Law, &c. But( to give the above Indulgence another little Touch) let it be considered, that as other Steps of Defection seemed to be more Passive, Extorted and Violented, especially from Professors, by Reason of Uncessant Persecution and Cruelties: Yet this of the Indulged, was a more Voluntar Act, purely of their own Accord, by making a down-right Paction with the Enemy, and willingly surrendering up the Fort of their Ministerial privileges, Committed to their Trust and Keeping, by their Great LORD and Master; and that no ways upon Articles of Capitulation, but wholly upon Discretion; all the Conditions and Terms being of the Enemies own Making; and how Fair and Honourable these Conditions were,( consideratis considerandis, as the Lands Circumstances then stood) let the Weighty Nature, Import, and Extent of their Sacred Office Judge. O! our Venerable Assembly, do yourselves and us the Justice, to allow us but a Fair Vote amongst you, whether this was a Sinful and Shameful Step of Defection, yea, or not; And then likewise, as to all the other Backslidings, Defections and Declinings,( Naming them one by one, else it signifies nothing) whether they have been, and so long as not Acknowledged and Condemned, still are, Presbyterian Grievances, and Causes of Wrath, yea, or not: This might be thought, no Unseasonable Overture, if it were no more, but to Undeceive, and Take off the persuasion of many Inconsiderat Creatures, and the suspicion of others, that these Defections are Homologat by all; though Persons more Wise, and Tender of our Ministers due Credit and Reputation, do persuade ourselves, that not a tenth Man amongst them, either will or dare own, Defend, Excuse, or Extenuat any of the Lands Defections, &c.  
10. The Dreadful benumbing, Deadning, Debauching, and Violently Racking of Mens Consciences, by Soul-Damning, and Self-Contradictory Oaths, all directly contrair unto, and openly Flying in the Face of our former Solemn Vows and Engagements to the Great GOD, and our Universal compliance therewith; so that the Poor Land was, with its Inhabitants, Deeply Sunk in the Guilt of most Horrid, Fearful and frequent Perjuries, and the Consciences of many a Poor Wretch, so Seared, as with a Hot Iron, that they, at length, became quiter Senseless, Stupid, Regardless and Indifferent, how often, and how many of them they took; if it had been( as they themselves said) to Cart Load fulls. O! what Hideous cries, from the frequent Perjuries in Scotland, are sent up to the GOD of Vengeance in Heaven, for hastening the Wrath Determined.  
11. The Innumerable, Bloody, Barbarous, and inhuman Cruelties, Committed and Exercised by monstrous cannibals, Fratricides, and Vile Ruffians, in their Slavish and Absolute Obedience unto Men Establishing Iniquity by a Law, by Defaming, Slandering, Informing against, Searching out, Hunting these Poor Partridges out of their Lurking Holes, Dens and Caves, Pursuing them, Plundering, Pillaging, Harrassing, Beggaring, Intercommuning, Dragooning, Apprehending, Imprisoning, Shutting them up in Dungeons and Rocks in the Sea, Banishing to foreign Plantations, Selling them for Slaves, Mutilating, dismembering, Pistolling them upon the High Roads, Heading, Hanging, Drowning, Quartering, Tormenting them with Burning Matches, Torturing with Boots, and Thumikins, Boutchering and Murdering Thousands of the LORD's Hidden Ones, in the Open Fields, upon the Road, upon Mountains, in Mosses and Moors, in their Beds, and Cutting off some, even in the very Act of Worshipping GOD, while on their Knees: And all this to their own Brethren, countrymen and Relations, and that against all Ranks of Persons, without Distinction of High and Low, Rich or Poor, Respecting neither Age nor sex, Sickness nor Infirmity; from Dying Men of Fourscore, to Young girls of Fifteen, of all who any ways Opposed, or gave the least Shadow of a Testimony; nay so much as Offered to Mutter but one Word against their Raging, mad and Desperat Designs, and when no libel could be found or proved( in their Sense) to find them Guilty, then their Unreasonable Fury Reached and Squeezed the Poor Innocent panel that fell in their Hands, by that Devilishly Popish de supper inquirendis, upon his very Thoughts, judgement and Opinion, so that they were sure to have a Hit at him, Fas aut Knave-Fas, Right or Wrong, if he was but a True Protestant-Presbyterian, and good Christian. Such was Scotlands Savage Brutality in Diebus illis, when the read Dragon, that Old Serpent, and his Bloody Slavish Volunteers, were Casting out Water as a Flood after the Woman, and was wrath with her, and made War with the Remnant of her Seed, which keeped the Commandments of GOD, and had the Testimony of JESUS. Nor was this all, but these Poor Perplexed Worthies, must likewise Suffer by False Friends, Secret Judas's, and Pretended Professors, forsooth, particularly when they were at last put to that Forced Pinch, and Unavoidable Necessity of Defending themselves, their Poor Children, Families, and the Cause of GOD with Sword in Hand, once at Pentland-Hills, a second time a●… Loudoun-Law, and Bothwel-Bridge, and a third time with that Noble Marty●… the E. of Argyle; How did then Thousands of heritors, besides th●… Militia through the whole Kingdom,( in all these Bloody Rencounters) presently Raise the hue and Cry after them, got all to their Arms, an●… joined with the common Enemy, as if they had been going to op●ose a formidable Invasion of foreign Cut-throats, or Irish Massacrers, an●… it s more then probable, many of them had neither been so ready, s●… Stout, nor so cruel against such: And so soon as any of them were take●… Prisoners, dragged into Edinburgh and other Towns, and there condemned to die as Malefactors; how ready was then our Cowardly burghers, and degenerat Citizens to watch them, and to guard them to, and at their public Executions, to their indelible Blot and perpetual Disgrace. And others lying Snaking at Home, by their own chimney Corner, either Excusing themselves, or Shifting so urgent, pressing and peremptory a Call to join with their poor Brethren( by which, much of their Blood might have been saved) whose only supposed Crime was merely for Non-Complance, for Innocent Self-Defence, and frequenting these persecuted Meetings, and Preaching of the Gospel by Christs Faithful and sent Ambassadors, in Houses or Fields, as they had best Access; standing out, and Witnessing for that same Truth, contending for that same Noble Cause, and keeping up a Testimony for that same Work of Reformation, which they themselves, and their Enemies, were all equally engaged, and solemnly Sworn to maintain and defend.  
12. That in the most of the above woeful Steps of Defection, there never wanted( Alas! for it) a party of our Ministers, not only Complying themselves, but still likewise Confusing and Confounding others of their Brethren, and the poor People, by Arguments and persuasions to follow their unhappy Footsteps in joining with, and hearing of these Lifeless and Unsent curates, taking of Sinful Engagements, paying of Wickedly imposed Cesses, and exorbitant Taxes; as also, to Desert the Meetings of these Courageous and Eminently Faithful Servants of CHRIST, who jeoparded their Lives in the open Fields; and to Embrace and accept of repeated Indulgences, tolerations, &c▪ founded upon that Cursed Supremacy, and Absolute Power; and many of them suffered themselves to be tied Neck and Heels, by Bonds, Engagements and other Instructions, how they should behave and regulat themselves in the Exercise of their Ministry; and then to be Coupled together by pairs, and thrown in into small Congregations, unworthy of the free Ambassadors of Christ to come under, or be thus Treated; our Enemies strictly Discharging and Prohibiting all the rest of the Presbyterian Ministers in Scotland, ever to speak in his Name, upon their Highest peril: thereby declaring to the World their manifest design, to put an utter stop to the further spreading or preaching of the Gospel through the Land, or the distributing the Bread of Life to a poor Soul starving People, by Confining the same to a narrow Spot; well knowing, that by this means, ere long, that little Spark of their own kindling and appointing, would in like manner quickly go out; And likewise several Ministers did ly quiter by, as useless Stewards, voluntarly deposing themselves: Others Judged it a sufficint exoneration of their Consciences, and a making a full proof of their Ministry, to have had a Morning, Evening, or other diets Exercise, now and then, with a very few Hearers, and these select and hand hand-weal'd Persons, such as had most interest with the Master of the House, in the Corner of a Hall or Chamber, where the poor longing common people, these who had most need of, and great est hunger after the Word, could have no access, but quiter debarred: Tho this indeed, in some Cases, and at some Seasons might have been expedient. Now, if the whole Church and People of Scotland had listened to these Ministers, complied with all the above unaccountable steps of Defection, by their persuasion and Example, and no more of a Testimony keeped up by any Remnant in the Land against them, given over the Preaching and hearing of the Gospel by Christs sent Ambassadors, in Houses or Fields( thereby preserving, at least, some relics of our Principles, and the small Spunk of our first Love and Zeal, which was ready to die) but Calmly had yielded up the Cause by degrees, Removed the due Distance, and quiter laid aside all difference of Judgement and practise, betwixt the then Contending Parties of presbytery and Prelacy: Ah then! What would we have been, do you think, by this time, and at this day? Surely, not Presbyterian; and consequently the Government of the Church, settled by King and Parliament in Scotland, at the late happy Revolution, according to the inclinations of the People( as it was worded) would without doubt, have been purely Episcopal at best. Alas! We have all reason, both Ministers and People( when we compare ourselves with our Fore-fathers) to cry out as in Lam. 4.7, 8. Our Nazarites formerly were Purer than Snow, Whiter than Milk, more Rudy than Rubies, their Polishing, ( their Bright and Shining Zeal) was of sapphire: But O unworthy we! Their degenerat Offfpring( scarce known or discerned to be their Posterity) our visage is blacker than a Coal, we are not known in the Streets, our Skin cleaveth to our Bones, it is Withered, it is become like a Stick; so that it may, now be said, and from Scotland all her Beauty is departed, Lam. 1.6. How hath the Lord covered our Sons and Daughters with a Cloud in his Anger? All that pass by, may clap their Hands at us, hiss and wag their Head, saying, is this FAMOUS COVENANTED SCOTLAND, that Men called the Perfection of Beauty, the Joy of the whole Earth? Lam. 2.1.15. And let me tell you, that tho I own and do aclowledge, that the Church of Scotland doth at present enjoy her Lawful National Assemblies, duly Constitute and Fenced in their Masters Name, and do bless GOD for it; especially having Lawful Authority upon their side, and a Gracious PRINCE to own and Countenance them therein; notwithstanding much hampered and Straitned, even amongst themselves, frighted, I do not know for what. Yet I am bold to say( which all knoweth to be true) That such Ministers( bearing never so great a Figure in the Church) who are yet lying under the public scandals of former habitual Hearing of the curates, and advising the Poor People to do the like, Embracing of repeated Indulgences, and tempting their Brethren to do the same: Taking of sinful Bonds and Engadgements, wholly Burrying their Masters Talent, lying quiter by as useless Stewards &c. would as soon have been admitted to sit and Vote in some of our former Zealous Assemblies, as we could admit and suffer Men infected with the Plague or Leprosy to sit amongst us now; but would have put them out of the Camp till they had Purified themselves by Repentance, and returned with their Trespass Offering, by making some sort of Confession and Acknowledgement of their Error; And itis more than probable, that such are as Dead Flees, the Achans in that Court; and no wonder, nay it is enough to to Tempt Satan to stand at their Right Hand, to resist and accuse them, and even their Brethren, our Joshuah's amongst them for their sakes, while they offer to stand before the Angel of the LORD, with their Filthy Garments, if it were no more but to blast and mar all their attempts for further Reformation. The Lord rebuk him, even the Lord that has chosen Scotland, rebuk thee O Satan, and dissappoint thee of thy Hellish designs! Are not these our Church Judicatories, privileges and Blessings, as Brands plucked again out of the Fire: The LORD take away our Filthy Garments, and cause our Iniquity to pass from us; The LORD Cloath our Joshuah's with change of Raiment, that in stead of any thing that looks like Byassed-self, they may put on Zeal, and in stead of a Timorous Spirit, they may put on Holy boldness and Courage, both in points of Government and discipline. O that we may not be such a Brand plucked out of the Burning, as in Amos 4.11. Against whom the Lord had a dreadful Controversy; the same Reason given there, Continuing still to be our sad Motto, yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord: Though I am very hopeful, that that GOD who has begun to repair his own House, and again to cast out the Rubbish, will yet rear it up till he has put a Glorious Cape-Stone upon it, and( if we could but exercise Patience) force the greatest Malcontent among us to sing and Cry, Grace to it, Amen.   

Since the late Happy REVOLUTION.  
OUR Horrid Ingratitude, and base requital we have given to the LORD for so seasonable, Signal and surprising a DELIVERANCE by the Worlds renowned HERO, the then illustrious PRINCE of ORANGE, now our Gracious KING and sovereign, when we were not in the least dreaming of it: But on the Contrary, it was visibly seen, by all good Men, to be an Act of pure sovereignty and Surprising Mercy as to Us; we were fo far from deserving and expecting it, that by that time we had calmly consented to be their perpetual Slaves, and Isachar-Ass-like did tamely Couch down between the Two unsupportable Burden●: Popery and Prelacy, and not only tacitly accepted of; but openly addressed our English Pope in a Letter of Thanks for a Sinful and impiously designed Toleration: Though this I Confess was a strong Temptation at the time;( before our Eyes were opened to see the Sting in its Taill, and Death in the Pot) yet we are sure, there is not a Faithful Minister in Scotland, who is not now sufficiently Convinced of this, and all the above Courses of Defection, for exitus acta probat.  
2. Our sudden plunging ourselves into distrustful Fears, and betaking ourselves to Carnal Policy, under the false Notion of commendable Circumspection, Wisdom and prudence, that Conscience-cheating Quirk, whereby many in our days wears out and wards off all Checks and Challenges of Conscience whatsomever, for the Latitude they have taken, and do take to themselves in this Hour of Tentation: But that Prudence( most falsely so called) that leads any to shift the duty of the Day, or yield to Comply with Courses and Things, though but Doubtful to the Conscience, will be found( when Weighed in the Just balance) to be Atheistical Policy, and Unbelieving Fears, Dishonourable to GOD, Reproachful to the Principles of Good Religion, Offensive to Tender Consciences, an Enemy to True Zeal, and the Mans own Peace, in the Day when the Deceived Conscience shall be Awaked out of Sleep. For True Prudence, or the Grace of Prudence, and Tenderness of Conscience, even as to the Hooves of Truth, and Abstaining from the least Appearance of Evil, are ever joined together: And Prudence or Moderation,( call it what you will) without the necessar Concomitant of Tenderness,( have it who please) will be found, before GOD, to be but Carnal Craft, and Suttleness, though now adays, many will needs force upon it, the Painted Name of Prudence, thereby suffering many Precious and Golden Opportunities, miserable to Slip through our Fingers, by which, a begun Work of Reformation might have been, ere now, pretty far Advanced. This is like to prove both our shane and ruin, let us pretend what we will. Ah! When we Reflect how Early we left our first Love and Zeal, then became Spiritual Adulterers, forsook our COVENANTED GOD, and made Sinful Man our Fear and our Dread; then we turned a Company of Treacherous Men, no more Valiant for the Truth, but proceeded from Evil to Worse: And as the Proverb runs, False to GOD, True to no Man, so is it now come to this Jer. 9.4, 5, 6, 7. Take ye heed every one of his Neighbour, and Trust ye not in any Brother, for every Brother will utterly Supplant, and every Neighbour will Walk with Slanders, and they will Deceive every one his Neighbour, and will not Speak the Truth; they have Taught their Tongues to Speak lies, and Weary themselves to Commit Iniquity: Our Habitation is in the midst of Deceit, through Deceit we refuse to you the LORD. Therefore GOD is sensibly Melting us down and seemeth to be saying, Jer. 5.9. Shall I not Visit them for these Things? Shall not my Soul be Avenged on such a Nation as this? You may clearly red our Name and surname here in every Step, Jer. 9.2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. O that we may look to ourselves, before it prove Fatal to us, as in vers. 11. Ah! let us not provoke the LORD to pass that Terrible Word, Therefore Pray not for this People: neither lift up a Cry or Prayer for them, for I will not hear them in the time that they Cry unto me in their Trouble, Jerem. 7.16. While in the mean time he is saying to all Well Meaning Professors, Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not; for behold, I will bring Evil upon all Flesh, Jer. 45.5. It will never be well with Treacherous apostate Scotland, especially considering how far we have Backslidden, and how much Ground we have lost, and are still losing, until we come to this, Jer. 50.4, 5. In those days, and at that time, saith the LORD, the Children of Israel shall come, they and the Children of Judah together,( great and small) going and Weeping, they shall go and seek the LORD their GOD, they shall ask the way to Zion with their Faces thitherward, saying, Come let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual COVENANT, that shall never be forgotten. But how far, Alas! we are from this Noble Frame at present, let both Kirk and State Judge. O when shall that Blessed Day come, when one shall say, I am the LORDs, and another shall call himself by the Name of Jacob, and another shall Subscribe with his Hand unto the LORD, and surname himself by the Name of Israel, Jsa. 44.5.  
3. Our giving Way to Base and Cursed SELF, preferring that Vile Idol of jealousy unto every thing thatis Civil or Sacred, suffering Self Ends, and Worldly Designs, not only to Creep in, but to have the Sole Ascendant over all that's truly Great, Good, and Glorious; notwithstanding GOD is putting every day New Marks of his Displeasure upon it: Are we not Smarting under the Loss and Want of these Comforts, which are Nearest and Dearest to SELF, Trade Decaying, Money Wearying out, Credit lost by Poverty and Treachery, the Staff of Bread Failing, every thing Blasted we take in Hand? Deut. 28.20. The LORD sending upon us Cursing, Vexation and rebuk in all we set our Hand unto for to do, because of the Wickedness of our Doings, whereby we have forsaken him; for we are already, Deut. 28.16, 17. Cursed in the City, Cursed in the Field, Cursed in our Basket, and Cursed in our Store, and in the Fruit of our Land: So that( if we will not for His Glory,) GOD seems resolved( for our Destruction) to Sacrifice this our Only Isaac before our Eyes. Do but Seriously red Haggai 1.4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11. I remember a Word in Isai. 26.9. With my Soul have I desired thee in the Night, yea with my Spirit within me will I seek thee Early, for when thy Judgments are in the Earth, the Inhabitants of the World will learn Righteousness. Shall we not then be alarmed out of our Dreadful Security, and Early and Speedily, with the whole Bent of Soul, and Fervour of Spirit, Desire him, Seek him, Follow hard after him, and Keep closs to him, now in this Dark Night of Desertion, when his Judgments are Flying through the Earth, and already Seen and Felt by us. And( as the Learned Pool speaking on this Verse) good Reason it is, that we should thus Desire and Seek him, in the Way of his Judgments, because this is the very Design of his Judgments, that we should thereby be Awakened to Learn and Return to our Duty. O! shall even the Inhabitants of the World shane the Professors of Scotland, who have not hitherto Learned this Great Lesson, and upon whom the Judgments of GOD have not as yet had this Blessed Effect.  
4. The quiter giving up with, abandoning and Crushing any thing that looks like A public SPIRIT among us; that no Sooner it begins to peep out, in any Court, Civil or Sacred, but immediately all about, are upon its top, so that itis forced to shrink back, as Frighted itself, and frightful to others. O sad Reflection! Ah that it should be said of this Generation, and upon too good grounds, that if the Same Men( who in our Noble Reforming Predecessors days, were counted Famous, according as they lifted Axes upon the Thick Trees) were now alive, they would be reckoned Fools and Mad-men; nay we would be ready to cry out against them, with the unbelieving Jews upon Paul and Silas, as Men going to turn the World up side down; Notwithstanding we have the same Holy Religion to maintain, the same Noble Cause to Contend for, The same desperat Malignant Enemies to grapple with, and the same Omnipotent Jehovah to defend us, which they had.  
5. The monstrous Principles of Atheism, Deism, Socinianism, Quakerism, with other black and Hellish Notions Spewed out of the bottonles Pit, by which multitudes of the Poor, ramp, Inadvertant, ignorant Youth are perverted and Ruined to their own Damnation.  
6. The avowed and open Profanity, Debauchery, and desperate wickedness overspreading the whole Land, and Raging every where, as if the Flood Gates of Hell were broken loose upon us, and overflowing all its Banks: and many of the diabolic Actors and Committers of these Abominations, Ridiculing, Contemning and trampling upon all Law and discipline, especially the Officers and Souldiers of the standing Forces, as to the far greater part of them, and none to control or Check them, which is Lamentable.  
7. That notwithstanding there be many good and wholesome Laws made against Profanity and Impiety, &c. yet by the negligence and Infidelity of Under Magistrates in many places, there is not one of them put to due Execution. And( pardon me my Noble and worthy Patriots, and my dear and Reverend Pastors to say) that many of the Law-makers themselves make no conscience to patronise and follow them forth, by their own good Example, nor to see and cause their own Laws and Acts, either Civil or Sacred, to be carefully, Faithfully, and impartially Execute upon all Transgressors, without Distinction of High and Low, else how comes it, that Habitual Cursers, Swearers, Drunkards, Whoremongers, Adulterers, Sabbath-Breakers, Open Mockers at Serious Religion, &c. abounds every where, and go Merrily on, without the least Check or Punishment: Only some of the Poorer Sort, now and then, must be Offered up as a Victim for all the rest. Ah! if we had once the Spirit and Courage, to fall upon Effectual Ways and Means,( of which Hundreds might easily be Proposed, and Prosecute to Good Effect,) for the kerbing of 'vice, and Advancing of Reformation, other Projects would certainly Succeed better in our Hand. And while it is thus with us, we but Mock GOD and Man; and all Good Christians, the King's Best-Subjects, Expecting the Parturiunt Montes of such Strong and Excellent Laws, to Knock down these Uncircumcised Philistines, Heaps upon Heaps before them, are only charmed out of their Senses, by the more Empty Trumpet Sound of Paper Proclamations. Yea there be many Persons of Quality, and others, who are not at the Pains, when in their Power, so much as to Discourage and Suppress Deboached and Wicked Practices in their Bounds, where they have their Residence, nor to Reform and Purge even their own Families, and domestic Servants, daily Polluting our Streets, and wherever they go, with their Horrid Cursing, Swearing, Obscene Discourses, &c. A Scandal to their Masters, a shane to Christianity, noisome to all Sober Men, Infectious to others, and Destructive to their own Souls.  
8. The Interlyning and Mixing in with Good Men in Places of public Trust, Profit or Honour, Persons known by many, and suspected by all, to be either Heart Jacobites, and Enemies to every thing that's Good, or Naughty Rotten Hearted Covetous Professors, who both alike Regardeth His Majesties True Interest, the Good of Religion, and their country, no more than they were Turks and Pagans, but all must Bow, Fall, and Sink before their Grand Dagon SELF. There is no more Regard had in our Day to that Honest Old Gentleman called True Merit, then if he were a Bug-Bear Criminal, though sadly Languishing by a long Decay, that now his Face is scarce known amongst the Universal crowd of Base Spirited Self-Seekers. And so cometh of it: Doth not the whole Kingdom Groan under the Weight of this Sad Truth? So that all the Cesses, Impositions, Taxes and Supplies, which the Subjects do as Willingly and Cheerfully Contribute, as ever a Poor People did, to the Streatching, yea Over-Streatching themselves; Yet this is far from Answering His Majesty's Honest Designs, or the Peoples Expectations. Ah! is it not then Worth our While, nay a Necessar Duty,( as we shall be Answerable to GOD, King and country,) for to make a Narrow, Through, and Impartial Search into the Bottom, to find out the true Causes of these Things, and Trace back into every Step of the Managements, or( I am afraid) the Mismanagements of particular Persons, Under-Receivers, &c. If it were no more then to give the Subjects Concerned, and the Poor Distressed country, Towns and Cities some Kind of Ease and Satisfaction, what Way their MONEY is gone, and how it is Disposed on, to Whom, and for What. Therefore, We do Humbly beg, Earnestly Hope, and Greedily Expect, that our Great and High Court of Parliament will Effectually and Speedily fall upon the above Search, both for their own Exoneration, and the Unspeakable Satisfaction of the Poor lieges; especially when Surmises, Suspicions and Jealousies do Arise and Increase every Year, whether from Just Grounds or not, I shall not Determine,( let a Wise Parliament find out that) but it is now Scandalously become the Table-Talk through the whole Kingdom; So that People are Tempted to Believe, that Quod omnes Dicunt est Verum. As also, that they would Ease us of perhaps a great many Pensioners, whom neither their Bad Circumstances, nor any Signal and Special Service done to King or country, do pled for, especially now when the Necessar Fonds, it seems, do not, nor cannot Answer their own Native and Proper Ends, for which they were laid on.( Pardon my Freedom, this is the Peoples jealousy, for GODs Sake Unriddle the Mystery to them) And since it is so, and still like to be so, I and all Reasonable Men do humbly think, That Want who will, His Majesties Souldiers ought not, seing such cannot Subsist without it; but especially, since this will Frighten and quiter Discourage all others hereafter, from Offering themselves to His Majesty's Service, upon any Occasion, if they do not meet with more Encouragement than hitherto. And so soon as any Person or Persons are found out, and Convicted as Guilty of Bold, Impudent, and Underminding practices of this Nature, I think all Good Men, Faithful and Conscientious Loyalists, who are true to King and country, will, in their judgement, readily bring in their Verdict, and give their Vote and Sentence, that such Villains ought, and should be Legally Dewitted, and( far more deservedly then Poor Agag) be Cut and Hewed into Pieces, and made a Sacrifice to the public; then afterwards, all the small Parcels and Fragments of their Vile Carcase, Carefully joined together, and Hung up in Chains before the Sun, as a Lasting Disgrace, and terror to all Batriaecides, and National Cut-Throats. If all this be but more Apprehensions, Vulgar Fancies and Mistakes, what meaneth the Bleeting of the Sheep, the Constant Clamours, the Incessant Complaints and Outeryes of all Concerned, both in the New and Old Arrears, &c. Yet Standing out, and Multitudes of them, both Officer●… and others Redacted to great Straits thereby, though many of them, Good and Brave Men, who Cheerfully and Resolutely ventured their Lives, and Lost their All in His Majesty's Service, and for the Protestant Interest, at the first Breaking up of the late Happy Revolution. We know that ou●… Wise Parliament doth lay on Yearly and Necessar Foods, by them Judge●… Competent to Accomplish the Design, and Reach these Ends; and the Subjects in City, Town, and country Declares, they are made to pay the same to the Outmost Farthing; And yet, what becomes of a great part of all this, is indeed a Mystery beyond our Fathoming, we must needs leave this Grand Question at the Door of some Guilty Consciences, and Defrauding Zacheuses, to Answer in a Dying Hour, either upon a Bed or a Gibbet, as Providence shall Determine.  
I do not in the least presume from this Eight Artickle to Reflect upon his SACRED Majesty, or upon the public dead of any Court Civil or Sacred; God forbid I should; I know our GRACIOUS PRINCE would as gladly have us every way Happy, as we ourselves, not like our Trium-viri in the Late unhappy Reigns, who all Three made it their constant business furiously to drive on the Temporal, Spiritual and Eternal ruin of their best Subjects, that is, all good Christians; the last avowedly declaring that it would never be well with him till the West of Scotland was made a Huntingfield: And yet our late Helli— Bishops, and their Creature curates, made one of them equal to JESUS CHRIST, making the parallel run betwixt him and our Blessed Saviour in every Point, his Divinity scarcely excepted, notwithstanding a Mortal Enemy to Reformation; though no true Presbyterian did approve or Justify the foul manner of his Death: A Second, they openly cried up for a God( and was he not a Pure, Chast and cleanly one) and a Third, they Impudently proclaimed to be Heavens Darling: And yet we cannot get these Sparks to pray for a Protestant Prince. GOD have Mercy upon us! If a Bigot Papist be the Darling of Heaven, a Daniel greatly beloved; where is then the Faith and Hope of a Protestant? I could scarce have had the Confidence to have published this among Christians, if I had not myself heard these Popish-Protestants, or Demi-Atheists( which you please) utter such expressions. Ah LORD! To what a fearful hight and length these Spiritual Scots Fathers and their unworthy Gang would have arrived unto by this time, if Providence and the good hand of GOD upon our great Deliverer had not speedily and Seasonably, stepped in for our Relief, and said to the Raging Sea, and them both. Hitherto thou shalt come and no further; and driven these Soul Murdering Locusts out of our Coasts. They were come this length, even to infect and Poison their poor witless Hearers with Gross Arminianism and other destructive Errors, preaching them openly out of Pulpits, and industruously diffusing and spreading them through the whole Kingdom. Haec olim meminisse, &c. O shall not we( when we reflect on these things) all of us cry out with one Heart and Voice, LONG LIVE KING WILLIAM, the great Instrument of our late Deliverance, and of all our present Mercies. The LORD, the LORD his GOD, his great and wonderful hitherto Preserver, make this our valiant Gideon, our good Jehosaphat, a TENDER ZEALOUS REFORMING JOSIAH, and level all the Mountains of Jacobite and Malignant opposition, and make them become a plain before Great Britains ZERUBABEL. And that he may every day take on more and more, King Davids Noble Resolution, Psal. 101, a Psalm directed on purpose by the Spirit of GOD, as an excellent copy for all Christian Kings and Princes to walk by: The Lord make him yet further a Glorious Instrument in his hand for advancing National Reformation, for Renewing our National Vows and Engagements to the Great GOD, and to suppress Profanity, and all maner of Wickedness, in Courts, Cities, Towns and Counties of his three Dominions. The Lord who hath now, we hope, begun to fix the Crown upon his Head, and settle him upon his Throne in Peace, give him still to increase and grow in Piety towards GOD, and Favour towards Men: and that with Zeal and Courage, he may undauntedly trace the Blessed-Foot-steps of his resolute Brother-King the Famous Reforming Hesekiah 2 Chron. 29.2, 3, 4.5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. Where that Noble Prince did begin his Happy and successful Reign with Religion and Reformation: For it is said of him, that in the First year of his Reign, in the First Month, he opened the Doors of the House of the Lord( as our Gracious Sovereign likewise did in Scotland) and Repaired them; and Commanded to Purge and to Plant the House of GOD, and made a Covenant with GOD; and himself pushed on and encouraged his Priests, the Ministers to Zeal and Forewardness in that same Work of Reformation. And O our DEAREST PRINCE, do but see, how wonderfully GOD did Bless and succeed this Godly Monarch, in so good and Necessar a Work, by Remarkably and suddenly changing the Hearts of his Subjects, notwithstanding after so long and general Defection and apostasy, v. 36. And this is not all, but he with his Nobility are at pains and expense themselves Cap. 30.24. Then when we consider the Blessed effects that this Work had( when it thus begins at the Fountain) is very observable Cap. 31.1. where we see that, it put an edge of Zeal upon all Ranks of Persons They broken the Images in pieces, and cut down the Groves: Then down went the HIGH PLACES and the Altars( these constant Enemies to true Reformation) out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasse, until they had uterly destroyed them all. Then( to encourage all Succeeding Kings and Princes to do the same upon the like occasion, and to do it Honestly) the Sacred History concludeth with this: That whatever Hesekiah did of this Nature. he did it with all his Heart, and therefore prospered: Nowise like either our Masked Jeraboam or barefaced Reboboam in the late unhappy Reigns, who whatever they did of this kind, was quiter across to their true temper and Inclination, with a secret Heart Aversion: Or otherwise, from a Spirit of deep dissimulation and Carnal policy. And so came of it, GOD early forsaking them both; Witness, the one turning a desperat apostate, the other a Cursed idolater. And Finally( whose Nature it is, to our sweet Experience, to relieve the Oppressed) That he would at least mediate, and effectually intercede for the poor Distressed and Perplexed persecuted Protestants Abroad, who( I know) do look upon our true and most Christian King, our Great Defender of the Faith, as concerned to do as much in their Favours as possibly his Interest can led him. This is, I am sure, the Earnest and hearty Prayers of all good Men, his Majesties best Subjects. But to return. I say, this in nowise is to be Imputed to our GRACIOUS PRINCE( in a manner a Stranger unto us) For how can we Imagine, that HE should know and be acquainted with our Humours and Constitutions at such a distance, as we ourselves are, to our Smarting Experience: But these fawning sycophantick, underminding and Bribing Moles, or to speak in broad Scots, these Moudiwarts, these Earth-worms, these Horse-Leeches, these self-Gormondizers, these Heart Enemies to all good Government, Civil or Sacred, will needs insinuat themselves upon, and crowd in to Places of public Trust by Money, Interest or Court-Factions, the constant Plague and Bane of Government. And here I crave leave to tell the Reader, that though I am none of those who take a King to be Infallible, and one who cannot Err, and consequently one who requireth, and we must give Unlimited and absolute Obedience unto, for whoever pretends to this( having thereby broken his Coronation Oath, of Ruling according to the Laws of the Land, and by that same, have loosed and freed the Subjects from their Sworn allegiance, the paction being Mutual and Conditional) I count him no True King, Oreained of GOD( a Scourge he may) to Govern Free-born Christian Subjects; but a designed Tyrant, over Beasts and Slaves, such as our Blind Blockish, Brutal and Mad Loyalists in our late Times, who would not in the least have scroupled to have cried up, if it had been the Solemn League and Covenant, and presbytery to day, and Prelacy to morrow, Popery the Third day, The Turks Alcoran the Fourth, Paganism the Fifth, Renounced GOD, and worshipped the Devil the Sixth; and run the full Carreir to Hell the Seventh; and all this by the more Breath of a Man, whose Word and Law was their Bible, their Oracle, their Soul, their Conscience, thair GOD and their All: some may perhaps think me highly Uncharitable, but thousands in Scotland have avowedly maintained this cursed Theses, that no King can do wrong, that all Kings are, or ought to be absolute, and that Absolute Obedience ought to be given unto them. I have heard them often declare this: But I suppose now, they mean'd bad Kings: Else, how comes it, that these same Sparks, our conscientious Nonjurant Jacobites( I must needs smile to see any of these Plutonick Saints pretend to Conscisnce, who formerly Scroupled and startled at nothing) I say, how comes it, that they did so suddenly change their Note, so soon as KING WILLIAM, our Gracious sovereign mounted the Throne? This must be pure Wickedness indeed, and Satanical Malice in the Abstract, against all good Men, merely for Goodness sake; since GOD has Blessed us with a PRINCE, who hath more Wit and Grace than to require any such Slavish Servitude from them. And yet a KING, who by the Opinion of all Good Men, hath as few Faults and Failings as any Mortal that ever Swayed a sceptre over these Sinful Islands of Britain and Ireland. And therefore( to come to my intended purpose) I say( though I be not a Blind Loyalist) yet if his Majesty do Judge it meet, and think it sit and necessar to keep up in Scotland, so great a Number of Standing Forces,, now in time of Peace, I and all thinking Men must be Silent, stoping our Mouths with this one great Argument, that HE alone seeth farther into the Affairs of Europe, and particularly of those which Concern either our safety or danger, and hath more true Wisdom, Honesty and Courage, to foresee Hazards, and prevent Inconveniencies, than we all have. But if any of them be keeped up by Court Interest or otherwise, then I take them to be Scotlands great Grievance and insupportable Burden, especially now when the one half of the Kingdom is in a Starving Condition, that we should distress ourselves to Maintain and Feed Thousands of Idle Mouths, except only in Belching out horrid Oaths, Curses and Blasphemies against the GOD that made them: At least, it might be thought not only fit, but necessar, for to purge our Forces from such desperat Achans in the Camp: and to fill up their Room with Men, whom RELIGION, KING, and country may safely Trust to; such as these who were first under the brave and Noble Earl of Angus, those Resolute Volunteers, who were the First in Scotland, that stood up for the then ILLUSTRUOUS PRINCE of ORANGE, and the Protestant Religion, and who now are Commanded by colonel Ferguson, most part of which( notwithstanding of their frequen●… Recrutes) are at least good Moral Men, and a great many, both Officer●… and Souldiers truly Religious, and have gone as far in signalizing themselves for his Majesty, and lost as much of their Blood( their whole Fiel●… Officers being once and again cut off) in his Service, as almost any Regiment in the whole Army, both in Flanders, and likewise in that Miraculous 'bout, and Bloody engagement at Dunkeld in Scotland, we here about 75●… of them, tho Raw and undisciplined men grappled with near 5000 of Desperat Highlanders for three days together: Notwithstanding of all this they may perhaps be traduced by the open Debauchees of this Age, and other Ill Men, merely for Religions sake. And be the by let me tell you, 〈…〉 think that the Reigning and Raging unsettledness, the crying Sins of the Army and Naval Forces, especially among the Scots and English, was one of th●… provocking Causes, why we had many times so bad Success, both by Se●… & Land, so tedious and lingering a War; and that it often fared the worse wit●… our VALAROUS PRINCE for our Unworthy sakes: I do believe all sober thin●… king Men, are sufficiently Convinced of this, though the Cause was undoubtedly just and good( Wherein it had been very desirable, and all Good Men could have Wished, that we had not joined in Confederacy with Papists and Popish Princes, if we could possibly have done our Business without them: But surely our Way hath not been so Well Pleasing to GOD, as to Expect that a Provoked LORD will Work Wonders and Miracles, even for the best of us: Since therefore, it seemed otherwise to be Impracticable, I will not, I dare not here Condemn it. Necessity hath no Law: And let me ask the Question at these, who will Admit of no Exceptions in this, and many other Cases and Varying Circumstances; That if a few of them were Furiously Attacked by a Strong Party of Desperat Robbers, all Designing their Lives, And the late Fourteen Perjured prelates coming up with the Arch-Traitor Sharp, if Alive, upon their Head, and Cheerfully Offering their Assistance, Whether or not they would Accept of it, nay Earnestly Desire it? If any should Answer in the Negative,— But I Desire to be Sparing in Giving my Sentiments of such Persons, since they pretend a Principle of Conscience and Zeal for GODs Glory, though pethaps Pur-Blind; Since, Alas! in this Dark Night of Sin and Desertion, The Pleasant Voice behind us, saying, THIS IS THE WAY, Walk ye in it, is Sadly a Missing, and we left to Grope in the Dark, so that the Poor People, at least, are at a Stance; as scarce knowing, what to Approve, and what to Condemn; What is Sin, and what is Duty; especially when it comes to the Seasonable Duty of the Day, then I am afraid we are all to seek. Therefore,( as I  told you in my Apology) These Persons ought rather to be Better Informed, than Slighted, and all Means possible taken,( with Meekness of Spirit) to persuade them in unto Regular Scriptural Courses, and Convince them out of their Unwarrantable extremes. The LORD Bless and Succeed any Essay of this Nature, and put every one of us in such a Humble Frame, that all of us, and each of us, may Readily and Ingenuously meet one another, as far as the Blessed Rule of GODs Word will allow us, and our present Dangerous Circumstances do pled for; and there Mutually Confess one to another, Mourn, Weep, and Cry for what has been a Miss on either Side. O that we could ply this our Great and First Work to Purpose, till we had, by our Holy Importunity, and Patient Onwaiting,( leaving no ston Unturned on either Hand, With all Lowliness and Meekness, with Long-Suffering, Forbearing one another in Love,) Wrestled down the Spirit of GOD: Then would we be soon persuaded to Endeavour, TO KEEP THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT IN THE BOND OF PEACE, a Choice, Excellent, and much ●onged for Blessing: Then would the Church of Scotland, once more, be Beautiful as Tirza, Comely as Jerusalem, and Terrib●e as an Army with Banners, though we should never draw a Sword in the Cause, which our Sworn ●nemies, a Desperat Malignant Party well knoweth; And therefore, the Devil and they do make it their Chief and Constant Business, for to Blow up the Coal, by Raising Misreports, Complaints, and Groundless Accusations; This Breedeth Suspicions and Jealousies one of another, that Createth many Needless and Unnecessary Scruples; This again doth Beget Unaccountable Heats and Irregular Passions: So that at last, by this Infernal Squib prepared in Hell, we immediately( ere we are ware) Break out into Open Rents, and Stated Divisions, never Resting, till the One Party Hurry itself Headlong into a Down-right Separation from the Other, quiter giving up all Communion and Fellowship with one another, thereby Cutting off One Great Article of our CREED; And yet I hope, both going on in the same straight and Narrow Way which leadeth unto Life Eternal. This cannot choose, but highly Provoke the Blessed GOD of Peace, the GOD of Love, and the GOD of Order; And when by the Strong Remainders of Corruption, and even of our own Malignant Humours, we have thus Wrought up the Work ourselves unto Malignants Hands, it is no Wonder, that Satan and They stand by, Laughing and rejoicing in the probable Prospect of our Devouring one another, and thereby becoming both together a Prey to them. According to, Divide, & Impera. Ah then! will we be persuaded on both Sides, to fall upon some Speedy and Effectual Methods, Approven of GOD, to prevent this Fatal and Fearful Consequence, and Disappoint the Common Enemy. I think there's no Tender Christian, but he should Spend and be Spent, nay Spend if it were his Dearest Blood, to Accomplish this Great End. Pardon my long Parenthesis and necessar Digression; I could not well get it slipped in into another Paragraph.) I say, though the Cause was Unquestionably Good; As in the Case of the Sinful Israelites, Warring against Wicked Benjamin, who yet were Smitten before them once and again, with a great Slaughter, upon that very same Account, as Pool well Explaineth it, Judges 20. Though I do not, by this, pretend to seek, or expect an Army of Saints upon Earth, yet I hope, I may boldly say it before King and Parliament, that every Man in his Right Wits Earnestly Desireth, and Longeth to see the Day, when some Care shall be takent to Purge our Forces, at least of INCARNAT DEVILS; else what can we rationally expect, but the Curse of GOD, instead of GODs Blessing to follow them, and endanger ourselves, by entertaining such Hell-Vipers in our Bosom.  
9. The Blind, Rash and Presumptuous Approaching unto, and the Promiscuous Admitting of Persons, to the Tremenduous Sacrament of the LORD's Supper, who have had a High Hand in the late Defections; particularly those who are Guilty of Avowed Perjury, apostasy, Persecution, Bloodshed and Abominable Testers, without giving any Sign of their Abhorrence, or the least acknowledgement of their former Wicked Courses( if it were but in Presence of the Minister and Two Elders) thereby Profaning and Polluting that Sacred Table. And I think it's no heresy, if I should say, That National public Scandals can never be fully Removed, without some kind of public acknowledgement. If any shall say, that all this is done. I ansswer, That as no Law or Act of Parliament is in force or binding upon the Subjects, till once it be Proclaimed and Promulgat: So I reckon this is not yet done, neither will we persuade people to believe it, especially when they see no sign of Reformation upon the back of it( the thing being a public scandal) till it be publicly Intimate. I am not so Morose, as to demand their Names, surnames or Qualities, to be thrown over the Pulpit, or by Sound of Trumpet; but only to ease our Minds in so far, by declaring in General Terms, That there are none suffered to sit in public Judicatory's, Civil or Sacred, of the above Persons thus suspected, Nor Admitted to the Sacrament, but such as have Humbly acknowledged this their Sin and Scandal.  
10. The great and Remarkable Decay of that wonted Life, Power and Exercise of Religion among many: Alas! who are Esteemed truly Religious. That Scripture may sadly be applied Rev. 3.2. That there is little Remaining, and that which Remaineth, is ready to die. This is without doubt, the controversy the Lord hath been( and never more than now) pleading against his people and Remnant in Scotland Rev. 2.4. THOU HAST LEFT THY FIRST LOVE; and this is certainly the Root and Rise of all our other defections and steppings aside in practise or Principles, from the good old Paths, wherein we walked, when Grace was in its Lively ascendant within the Heart. This is the great and main duty, and First Work the Lord has been by many loud crys, calling us to, these years past, Rev. 2.5. That we should Remember from whence we are fallen, Repent and do our FIRST WORKS, With that dreadful Certification, That our Candlestick shall be removed, except we Repent: And indeed, if we do not look about us in time, we have Reason to expect and dread it; For though God hath said, The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against his Church, yet there is not one Promise in the whole Bible, securing any particular Church. The lamentable Example of the Jews, and the said instance of these once Famous Churches of Asia, &c. Confirm this. This great and growing decay may be sadly presumed from the manifest Fruits thereof: As 1. Our Great and woeful Barrenness and Fruitlesness in the practise of Godliness, under a Preached Gospel, notwithstanding purely dispensed by the poor wrestling Servants and Ambassadors of Christ, Toiling all the Day, and catching little or nothing; so that we seem to be very near the Execution of that dreadful Sentence, CUT THEM DOWN, CUT THEM DOWN, WHY CUMBER THEY THE GROUND? And that The word of the LORD is like to be unto us, Precept upon Precept, Line upon Line, &c. That we may go and fall backward, and be broken, and Snared, and taken Isai. 28.13. However, though there be some most unreasonable Creatures, not to be regarded, but abhorred for this Wicked mistake, being so Wildly Uncharitable, as boldly to affirm, that Conversion Work is not to be found in our day, by a Preached Gospel in Scotland; yet I am fully persuaded, and do firmly believe ( Blessed be the Lord, Glory to his Name for it) that the Gospel is certainly doing good amongst us, and poor Souls Reaping the unspeakable Sweet Fruits of it, notwithstanding of failings on all hands, and that Conversation Work is known, seen and felt upon the Hearts of some, here and there, through the Kingdom, both upon ordinary occasions of hearing the Word, and more signally and frequently observed upon solemn occasions of Celebrating the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, where I hope there are yet now and then, days of the Son of Man: But alas! we may say, this was never more Rare, since the Blessed dauning of our Reformation in Scotland▪ especially in Touns; and particularly in thee, O City of Edinburgh! Considering the great plenty of Means they enjoy. The provocking Causes and humbling Reasons of this may be( 1.) that the Lord hath an undoubted controversy with our Mother for her old Contracted guilt of PERJURY, apostasy, and other woeful defections, together with our late HEINOUS INGRATITUDE, and woeful Abuse and misimprovement of signal Mercies, Opportunitys, Blessings and privileges; for which we her poor Children are thus Deserted.( 2ly.) The want of that Zeal, Faithfulness, and Boldness, which appeared in our Ministers in former times, then Burning and Shining Lights.( 3ly.) the want of that Gospel simplicity, yea, and of Common Honesty and Integrity in the Hearers of the Word, which was once amongst the Professors of Scotland, So that every Lass and Lad may now visibly see, and clearly observe in their very Faces and Carriage, when they come to the House of God, that their Minds and Affections are running another Airth, driving quiter other designs, and some other base, mean and wicked By-ends, that they seem rather like a Company of Blind Stupid Blocks, as Senseless and Unconcerned as the very Seats they Sit on, whom neither a BARNABAS ca●… 'allure by the calm Voice of the GGSPEL, Charming never so sweetly, to listen to the wholesome Word of Exhortation; nor yet a BOANERGES, can ROUSE, FRIGHTEN and ALARUM, by all the Thunders and threatenings of the LAW, to suffer the Word of Reproof to move them, to Awaken their Benumbed and seared Consciences, or to have any entrance int●… their Ambitious, Proud, Covetous, Selfish, Sensual and Obdured Hearts, like those who are struck Dead, and Slain by the words of his Mouth: That if 〈…〉 Wild Pagan came in, and were Witness to their behaviour, they would certainly conclude, that these Men and Women were serving Stocks an●… Stones, or Worshipiping of Baal, who neither Hears nor Sees them: The lukewarm Professor, the Rotten Hearted Hypocrite, and Moral Man, vainly fancying, that all is well enough with them already, and that therefore the Wor●… doth not Concern them; the Adulterer and Furnicator, continuing still like Filthy Swine, without the least Remorse; the Drunkard, tippler, and Belly-God, sitting and sleeping, going on without the least Check; the Bold Swearer, never a whit moved at what can be said against that Cursed and Cursing set; and the Profane, Impudent Wretch, Mocking and Ridiculing all, as idle Stories, and more Fables, &c. And the poor Ministers, our dear Pastors, looking on, and observing this, vexing their Righteous Souls( with Lot in Sodom) and fetching up the other secret Grean, when they see they are but Spending their Strength in vain, and labouring to little or no purpose amongst these Beasts in the Shape of Men, as if they were fully resolved for Hell and Damnation, in spite of both GOD and Man; That whoever taketh in hand to Convince such, may as easily undertake to grapple and Fight with the Wild Beasts at Ephesus, 1 Cor. 15.32. Yet I am persuaded, that in Spite of the Devil himself, and their own Obdured Hearts Combyn'd together, it is impossible for these Scots Atheists to Ward off, or keep out Pricking Convictions; but that the Poor conscience( GODs Deput) will certainly, now and then, be getting up upon them, Flying in their Face, and putting them in Hell, perhaps once a Week( if not oftener) though their Brutal Stout Stomachs do Labour to keep it as Secret, and bear it as Fair as possible before the World, and their own Graceless Gomerades, Bending their outmost Force to smother, Bear down, and Crush any Thing, that looketh like the Good Motions and Breathings of the HOLY GHOST: And all this, because they are Fixedly Resolved not to part with their Sin and Company. O! what else can such GOD-Daring Desperado's expect in a Dying-Hour, when it comes to the Swellings of Jordan, but a Certain Fearful Looking for of judgement, & Fiery Indignation, which shall Devour them Eternally, with these enlightened Creatures in Hebr. 10.26, 27. Ah for the Man or Woman Born in Scotland! and Living under the Clearest Gospel Light, and yet Dies Impenitent, in an Unconverted State, without GOD, without Hope, and without Holiness; Of all Men in the World, they are the most Unexcuseable; Of all Men at Death, the most Miserable; At judgement, will meet with the Heaviest Doom and Sentence; And then to Eternity, the Hottest Hell. O the Word ETERNITY! It has put many a Man to his Wits-End. They who will not Believe these Truths, and be persuaded Speedily to Mourn and Turn, We must even leave them to pine away in this their Infidelity, and Waste their Wretched Days amongst the Black Roll of those who are Condemned already, Job. 3.18. Who bind themselves over to the Wrath of GOD, Joh. 3.36. And who make the Great GOD a Liar, 1 Joh. 5.10. Ay and while they Repent; And I must tell them, that Repent or not, they will find it,( Sooner or Later) that Repentance unto Life, or the Saving Grace of Repentance, is not so Soon, or so Easily Attained unto, as many of them do Wickedly and fond Fancy, Ah! will these Spectacles of horror but red the above Cited Place, Hebr. 10. and lay it Seriously to Heart, while it may yet be Time, and if it be not already too late; That if peradventure even these Actors, Workers, and Contrivers of Mischief, may be yet Reclaimed and Saved from the Evil and Danger of their Way, and made Monuments of Free Grace, though hitherto, with Saul, Acts 9.1. Breathing out threatenings and Slaughter against the Cause and People of GOD; And such as hath been Monsters in Wickedness, may yet be made Miracles of Mercy: This is the Earnest Prayer of all Good Christians in their Behalf; though, I am afraid, most of them be already past all Recovery: And that many, who perhaps are Mocking, while Reading this Subject, may be yet put to Seek this Great Blessing of GODs MERCY, upon a Death-Bed, and to Seek it with Strong cries and Tears, yet all in Vain, Only these Fearful Words still Sounding in their Ears, as Miserable Comforters, Prov. 1.24, 25, 26, 27, and 28. Because I have Called, and Ye Refused, but have set at nought all my Counsel, and would none of my Reproof, I also will LAUGH at your Calamity, and MOCK when your Fear cometh, when your Destruction cometh as a Whirl-Wind, when Distress and Anguish cometh upon you, THEN SHALL THEY CALL UPON ME, BUT I WILL NOT ANSWER, They shall Seek Me Early( that is, so soon as ever this their Distress and Anguish doth Seize them, or with great Earnestness and Fervency, as Pool Explains it) but they shall not Find Me. Let none offer here to Wound PRESBYTERIANS through my Sides, and Upbraid them with Breach of Charity,( as is the Constant Trick, and wilful Mistake of these Men I am here speaking of) only to rub an Odium upon us: For in any Thing of this Nature, We Declare only our Fears, and by no Means, our Random Positive Assertion of any Person Alive, that such a Man will go to Hell; or of any one Soul after Death, that it is actually damned, as not Daring to enter into GODs Secrets: And we hearty Pray, that we were all Disappointed of these our Fears, and that they were not so Justly Grounded upon many Black, Dismal, and too Evident Marks. O! will these Poor Creatures be persuaded Once to Turn Serious, Thinking, Rational Men. And who knoweth, what one Serious Thought might do, No less than CONVERSION may follow it close at the Heels. The Psalmist could Attest this to his Sweet Experience, Psal. 119.59, 66. I THOUGHT on my Ways, and Turned my Feet unto thy Testimonies: I made hast, and Delayed not to Keep thy Commandments. Surely they have Thrown away many Thoughts to Worse Purpose; Will they but Employ One of them, to Run out a Few minutes upon their Eternal State, lay aside their Rooted Prejudice, and Unreasonable Enmity, and Suffer themselves now and then to Reflect, what, in all Probability, will be the Final, Fatal, and Fearful End of their present Course and Way, which they are Madly and Merrily Pursuing; And to give some Credit to the Infallible and Certain Rule of Faith and Manners, the Precious Word●… of Truth; that word which is the great mean in the Spirits hand, to Convince and Convert poor witless Sinners, where these simplo ONES may learn many a choice Lesson; See and red their Name, their Nature, their Sin, their Remedy, their Judgement, Doom and Sentence: And because( by their practise and Carriage) they seem to be out of their proper Element, while in the performanee of any Spiritual Duty, therefore, I only Recommend to them this one Chapter( not to weary them, and if they think it worth their serious perusal) Prov. 1. Where CHRIST the WISDOM of the FATHER, steps in himself, making out all I have here said, by Inviting, Beseeching, Courting, obtesting and expostulating with, even Mockers and Scorners, the worst of Sinners, enforcing the whole with a sweet encouragement, by adding a Gracious and Precious Promise, if they will but turn at his Reproof And when all this will not do it( as alas! what will to many of them?) Then he backeth it with dreadful threatenings, foretelling their inevitable ruin, if they stand it out. And this WISDOM is said to cry with a loud Voice( as Pool well explaineth it) to intimate both Gods earnestness in inviting Sinners to Repentance, and their inexcusableness, if they will not hear such loud-crys. These Poor Creatures( though their Case be Desperate like, yet they) make no Conscience, and are at no pains to prevent their own ruin, by frequenting of Ordinances, and the other Means of Life, in order to the great end, the Salvation of their precious and immortal Souls. Surely, if Solomon( or Christ and the Spirit of God by Solomon) Prov. 8.34. saith, Blessed is the Man that heareth me, watching daily at my Gates, waiting at the Posts of my Doors, then the dreadful Consequence must hold on the other hand: Cursed is the Man that will not hear me, nor watch daily at my Gates, or wait at the Posts of my Doors, who seldom comes to the House of God, or attends a Preached Gospel. How can such expect to Triumph, sing and say with David? Ps. 23.6. Goodness and Mercy all my Life, shall surely follow me, And in Gods House for ever more, my dwelling place shall be. Ah! how confounding may such Scriptures as these be to many of them upon a Death-bed, as Ps. 5.7.26.8, 27.4.36.8.65.4.69.9. Joh. 5.39, 40. 1 Cor. 1.18, 19, 20, 21. &c. And though they do now and then Deigny themselves to come to the Church( besides their Sitting like unconcerned Blocks) so soon as the Congregation begins to praise GOD by Singing, then some of them appeareth like so many dead Mutes, never so much as opening their Lips( to the loathing of all serious observers) as thinking it below them to join in their Noble and Gentle Voices with the Melody of the Vulgar. O how will such miserable Dummies, Answer the Psalmists express injunction from the Spirit of GOD, that have ever heard or red, Ps. 95.1, 2, 3. O come, let us sing unto the Lord, let us make a joyful NOISE to the Rock of our Salvation. Let us come before his Presence with Thanksgiving, and make a joyful Noise unto him with PSALMS: For the Lord is a Great GOD and a great King, above all Gods. Nay these Pagan Christians( none of the meanest Rank) are so voided of all pretence to Religion, that they disdain so much, as to seek GODS BLESSING when they sit down to eat, but to it they go, like so many Beasts; and then again from it, without ever offering to return him the small Tribute of THANKS for what they have Received, notwithstanding their GREAT AND LIBERAL DONOR giveth them a Splendid well covered Table, with all other Necesaries, Comforts and pleasures of Life. Ah! How is it possible, that ever these poor Wretches can bow a Knee to GOD in secret, and pray, or pray to any purpose, and wrestle with him in good earnest, in the behalf of their perishing Souls, being thus quiter left of GOD, that they neither can nor will open their Mouth in any Duty, but are as it were Judicially Tongue-Tacked, that they are not able to speak one Word of Sense, either of GOD, to GOD, or for GOD; though perhaps they can make a Fluent Discourse upon any other Subject. But I begin to be Weary in Pursuing these Men, as Despairing to Catch them( these Resolute and Desperate Run-away's) I will not say, any one of them, we having had a Late Great and Notable Instance of ONE, whose NAME and QUALITY, Good Breeding forbids me to make public, whom( by all Appearance hitherto) the Lord has plucked as a Brand out of the Fire, Zech. 3.2. Yet this was Remarkable in him( which many of the other Wretches are voided of) That he had always a Warm Side to Good Men, to the Cause of GOD and the present Church Government, even in his Rambling Days. I humbly beg him pardon for this Expression( though doubtless he is fully sensible of it himself) And that I do not give him his due Titles, as otherwise I incline, and he highly deserveth. I have been at pains to inform myself by both Ministers and othrs, and from all the Enquiry that I can make, I do find, ( Glory to his Name for it) That he seemeth to be SINCERE and SERIOUS, the which is Great and Good News to all Good Christians. O! Who can withstand irresistible Free Grace? When once GOD, by his SPIRIT, begins effectually to Work, Then the Greatest Sinner, then the Strongest Lust, then the Stoutest Heart must Stoop, Throw down its Weapons, Give Place to the SON of GOD, and make Way for this KING of GLORY to Enter in. Here is an Eminent Proof, What A GOD can do, and a Sweet Out-making of the Reply, which our Blessed Lord made to his Disciples their Answer to that Puzzling Assertion, and Amazing Truth, Mat. 19.22, 23, 24, 25, 26. Though indeed this, and many other Places lets us clearly see, that it is very Rare, That a Great Man, or a Rich Man findeth Mercy, and ( Consideratis Considerandis▪) no Wonder. However, let none Despair: Here is as Broken a Ship, as almost any of you, and yet( I hope) Come Fairly and Safely to Land: And on the other Hand, let none here encourage themselves, or presume( upon their Eternal Peril) from this, to Delay, Put off, and Stand it out till another Time, perhaps of Sickness, Old Age, or a Death-Bed, &c. I do Reckon him One of a Thousand that gets Mercy, who thus Boldly Ventures to Split his Poor Soul upon such a Dangerous Rock: For he that Resolves to Continue in Sin, upon the Hopes of Future Repentance, he Pands his Soul in the Devils Hands; if he Repent, which( as I said before) is One of a Thousand, itis well, he Relieves his Pand; If not, the Devil keeps it to all Eternity: And that subtle Devil, who tells a Man, he may delay Repentance to Day, or that it is an easy Thing to Repent, will to Morrow assure him, there's no Repentance for him at all, but he must be damned without Remedy. Alas! my Heart is Deceitful, and therefore I dare not Trust it, especially upon the Devils Ground. Ah! that Men would but COME AND SEE, and be persuaded to Ply the Means in Good Earnest: O! will they come, when the Spirit of GOD is so Earnestly Inviting them, giving them no less than the Heart-Melting and Kindly Compellation of Children, Ps. 34.11. Come ye Children, harken unto Me, I will Teach you the Fear of the LORD: Then might some of them soon be made to Cry out with the Psalmist, Ps. 66.16. Come and hear, all ye that Fear GOD, and I will declare what he hath done for my Soul. And likewise, to Invite their Wicked Companions, and Proclaim with the Poor( but Happy) Samaritan Woman, Joh. 4.29. COME SEE A MAN, which  told me all things that ever I did: Is not this the CHRIST? Though I know, The Wind bloweth, when, where, and how it Listeth, Joh. 3.8. Yet I dare promise them in Christs Name, that they shall come speed; And( with this THRICE WORTHY PERSON) come to Reap the sweet Fruits of all their Pains, if it were no more but INWARD PEACE OF CONSCIENCE, a great Blessing, a continual Feast, and may well be reckoned. The Hundred fold, even in this Life, and worth a thousand Worlds in a dying Hour: And if they continue waiting at the POOL-SIDE, as Humble, Depending, Self-undone, needy Sinners, the Ever-blessed SPIRIT will certainly in his own Time, come and move upon the Waters of their Hearts and Affections. O for more desirable Instances of this kind! Then might we expect our REFORMATION to advance a place, and every thing else prosper before us. One pregnant Proof of his Sincerity I must crave leave here to insert, as an Excellent Pattern to all that shall f●llow after him: That when in Company lately with some persons, who it seems had been Witnesses to his former Latitude, where it's reported he had a strange Expression( no less than the Impulse of the HOLY GHOST) One of them saying to him, What's this has befallen you now? We have seen the Day, when you could have let an Oath flee as freely as any of us. His Answer was, SINCE EVER I DID BELIEVE THERE WAS A GOD, I DURST NOT TAKE HIS NAME IN VAIN. O Great and Remarkable Saying, the like whereof, not to to be heard in an Age; well worth the Recording to all Posterity, and enough to confounded our Scots Protestant atheists, especially now in a Gospel-day. Go on, truly BRAVE SOUL, a whole TRINITY bids you go and prosper: All the Promises in the BIBLE are on your side, and engaged for you; Only, Hold on and Hold out, For, It is he( and none else) that endures to the End, who shall be saved, Matth. 10.22. For the LORDs sake make sure Work; Examine and try the Sincerity, Soundness, and Throughness of your Conversion, the Reality of your Graces, the Evidences of your Interest in Christ, by these and the like Scriptures, 1 Sam. 3.10. Psal. 27.8.42.1, 2.73.2, 5.119.11, 14, 20, 30, 46, 47, 48, 53, 57, 59, 60, 63, 67, 93, 101, 104, 106, 136, 167. Luke 24.31, 32. Joh. 21.15, 16, 17. Acts 2.37.16.29, 30. Rom. 8.1. 1 Cor. 9.26, 27. 2 Cor. 5.17.7, 10, 11 Phil. 3.13, 14. Col. 3.1, 2, 5. 1 Pet. 2.1, 2, 3.1 Joh. 2.3, 4, 5.3.14, 18, 19, 24. &c. There is not one Hypocrite in all Scotland, that can apply these to himself; show me the Man or Woman that liveth under the power and dominion of any one unmortified lust, or giveth way to the least known sin, who dare for their Souls, bring such Scriptures closs home to their own Consciences, and say( as in the sight of GOD) that they are the Words of their Hearts, and that they have made it their Business and earnest Endeavour to observe them and make them their own; Though they should boldly presume to say it, I am as bold to tell them, That any one bosom sin Indulged, hath such a bias in that person who giveth way to it, that though he may seem to be in the Way to Heaven, yet that one Lust( whatsoever it be) unmortified, will certainly carry him to Hell at last. You are now advanced to a High and Eminent Post, observe your Leader; Follow your Blessed Guide, the Unerring SPIRIT of GOD: Keep closs by the Great Captain of your Salvation, then you may be able to say, Phil. 4.13. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. I hope, you have begun to signalise yourself in this Nohle Warfare, And done more already, than he that Taketh in a City, Prov. 16.32. Ps. 18.29. You have now Freely Listed yourself in CHRISTs Muster-Roll, and Taken On as a Resolute Volunteer,( no ways by Constraint) Received, I hope, the Earnest of the Spirit, Entered in Pay, And begins to be Sensible of your Gracious Income, That you have Reason already, to Cry out with David, Psal. 34.8. O Taste and see, that the LORD is Good: Blessed is the Man, that Trusteth in him. Ah! How should this Call, encourage and Embolden you to Fight and Act under CHRISTs Colours, For his Cause, for his Interests, for his Precious Truths, for his People, for the further Advancement of a begun Reformation, for the effectual suppressing and discouraging of 'vice; and against the open Enemies of GOD, Sworn Enemies to Reformation: As also, Enemies from within, the Body of Sin and Death, the strong Remainders of Corruption, yet struggling and crawling, though, I hope, knocked in the Head, and a deceitful Heart, with many more: So that you see, your Work is great, your post dangerous-like( though safe and Honourable, and the Victory secured to you, notwithstanding you were but a bruised Reed, the very Weakest believer in Christ, if a True and sincere one, Matth 12.20. Rom. 16.20. Satan hath one great Mark of a Coward; For do but Resolutely and believingly Resist him, he will certainly Flee from you, Jam. 4.7. However, this Requireth no less than the whole armor of God: You must put it on, and prove it, though as yet but a young David, perhaps unexperienced, and not used to it, 1 Sam. 17.39. Your GREAT LORD and Head Commander, is one of strict Discipline, the Holy One of Israel. Do but mark that one Scripture and Tremble, Exod. 23.20, 21. Behold I sand mine Angel before thee( His own Son) to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared: Beware of Him, and obey His Voice; provock Him not: For He will not Pardon your Transgressions( that is, you shall not escape unpunished) for my Name is in him. You have now put your Hand once fairly to the Plough: O let that aweful Scripture alwise stare you in the Face, Heb. 10.38. But if any Man draw back, my Soul shall have no pleasure in him. A Meiosis, that is, His very Soul abhors him. O then place your Guard, the Fear and Dread of GOD. You will find him in Prov. 14.27, 16.6.23, 17. Isai. 8.13. Ps. 16.8.119.120. &c. This excellent guard ( the Fear of the Lord) made good resolute Joseph a Brazen Wall against the Violent Assault of a strong Temptation( though many in our day make light of this and other gross Abominations.) Gen. 39.9. How then can I do this great Wickedness and sin against GOD? Let this engage you to lay Bands upon yourself, resign yourself up to him, make a Personal Covenant with your GOD, writ it, sign it, and Seal it. Then put on strong Resolutions, and back these with strenuous endeavours, Psal. 119.106. I have Sworn and I will perform it; that I will keep thy Righteous Judgments: And O but this be highly Reasonable, and good our Common( as we use to say] since GOD in his deep condescension, hath likewise Sworn unto us, Psal. 89.3. I have made a Covenant with my Chosen, I have sworn unto David my Servant. O Words full of Wonder! to Sinful bits of day; a Thousand pities[ with Reverence so to speak] besides the great Sin and danger of it, to displease such an one. And if a Temptation, should threaten to Master you[ as alas! the least is too strong for our handling] then make use of your Noble Second, your Glorious Intercessor and Advocat; call him in by Prayer to your timeous assistance, and put up with him his own Petition to GOD his Father, Zech. 3.2. The Lord rebuk thee O Satan, even the Lord, that( I hope) has chosen poor me, rebuk thee: Is not this a Brand plucked out of the Fire. The Spirit of GOD hath, I hope, Intimate to your Conscience, a Gracious Pardon and indemnity for all by gones, and given it a Commission to tell you, as Nathan unto David. 2 Sam. 12.13. The Lord hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die: O then observe the next perempter injunction given by the Son of GOD, upon the back of this great Blessing. Joh. 5, 14. Behold! Thou art made whole: sin no more,[ with this Certification] least a worse thing come unto thee. And who can tell, or is able to express, what is under this Word, A WORSE THING? For the Lords sake then, set your Watch, especially when entangled in bad Company, and Particularly, as to your Words and Discourse, when in Passion, or in breaking of a Jest. Psal. 34.13. Prov. 21.23. Jam. 1.26, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. red this Chapter: David, though a Holy Man, thought this well worth his while to pray for, Ps. 141.3. set a Watch, O Lord before my Mouth: Keep the Door of my Lips. O what Dishonour the Great God gets by the Tongue, Jam. 3.6. But above all keep the Heart, that cursed Root of Bitterness. Jerem. 17.9. Prov. 4.23, &c. trust it not for one Moment, it will certainly give you the slip, if you do: The Spirit of God expressly tells us, Prov. 28.26. He that Trusteth in his own Heart is a Fool. The Sad Instance of Peter Confirm this, Matth. 26.35, 74. O! it may make the best of us all to Tremble, when we Compare these two Verses together. Though I should Die with Thee, yet will I not Deny Thee; And( immediately, upon the Back of this his Dangerous Self Confidence) Then began he to Curse and to Swear, saying, I know not the Man. Ah! here is your Worst Enemy, your Bosom-Traitor: Suspect it, have a Constant Eye of jealousy upon it: And when you have done all you Can, you must put it in his Hands, whose sole Prerogative it is, both to Know, and to Search it: Pray and Cry with the Psalmist, Ps. 139.23, 24. Search me O GOD, and know my HEART, Try me, and know my THOUGHTS, and see if there be any Wicked Way in me, and led me in the Way Everlasting. What Reason have we to stand in Fear, when we hear such Words from a Man according to GODs own Heart? O the HEART! it is a very Mystery of Iniquity. Look well to the Buddings of Sin, the first Rise and Secret Stirrings of Corruption, which we are ready to Mistake and Overlook, Ps. 19.12. Do but see the Fatal Effects of giving Way to it, Jam. 1.14, 15. And all along, be sure to keep a Special Eye upon your Predominant Evils, your Delilah's, bearing down the Partiticular Sin or Sins, you have been, or are most Inclined and Tempted unto: For every M●n, even a David, has his Particular Iniquity, Ps. 18.23. The Sin that more easily Overcomes and Masters him, and most frequently Haunts him, Hebr. 12.1. O when this Grand Traitor Assaults, let it put you to your Prayers again and again, 2 Cor. 12.8. For this I Besought the LORD Thrice, that IT might Depart from Me. You are now Entered the Lists, and upon the Great Work of your Souls Salvation: O then, so soon, and how often the Enemy begins to parley with you, give him Zealous Nehemiah's Return to Wicked Sanballat, Nehem. 6.2, 3, 4. I am doing a Great Work so that I cannot come down. Pray for the Outmaking of the Great Promise of RESTRAINING GRACE, this being likewise very necessar, Hos. 2.6, 7. An Encouraging Word, and Worth your Reading. Look well to every Step of your Way and Walk, Prov. 4.26. Ponder the Path of thy Feet: And breath out with the Psalmist, Psal. 119.5. O that my Ways were Directed to Keep thy Statutes. A whole Trinity is Caring for you, And therefore, Looking Narrowly upon you: The Eyes of all Good Men; The Single Eye of an enlightened Conscience( as a Thousand Witnesses, and which cannot be Brybed) is looking upon you: Nay, the Eyes of a Perverse Wicked World are upon you, Seeking, Waiting and Watching for your Halting, only that they may Blaspheme GOD and his WAY. O then! Keep your Post, Maintain your Ground, 1 Cor. 15.58. Therefore be steadfast and unmovable, always Abounding in the Work of the LORD, Gal. 5.1. &c. Above all Outward temptations, Flee for your Life Bad Company Ah! How many Millions of Poor Inadvertant Souls hath been Irrecoverably Lost and ruined to all Intents and Purposes, by this most Dangerously Infecting Plague. And yet, Alas! How Pleasant and Agreeable is it, even to the Remainders of Black Nature, to be Dancing with the Poor Silly Butter-Flee, about this Infernal Candle, till( ere we are ware) the Wings of our Souls and Affections are singed and Burnt. And how can it possibly be otherways: The Spirit of GOD expressly says, Prov. 6.27. Can a Man take Fire in his Bosom, and not be Burnt, Prov. 13.20. A Companion of Fools shall be Destroyed. 1 Cor. 5.11. Eph. 5.11, 12. Consider these Scriptures, And make David's Intimats your Companions, Psal. 101.6. Mine Eyes shall be upon the FAITHFUL of the Land, and Psal. 119.63. I am a COMPANION of all them that FEAR THEE. Give good heed to the Word of Reproof, let it sink down to your Heart, Ps. 119.11. Thy Word have I hide in my Heart, that I might not SIN against thee. And Carefully Observe and Follow the wholesome Instruction of your Teachers, Prov. 4.13. Take fast hold of INSTRUCTION, let her not go; Keep her, for she is thy Life. Highly prise what you have got: The New-Creature is a Generous Soul, it is often putting up such-like Questions( very well pleasing to GOD) What shall I render to the LORD? What shall I Speak for HIM? What shall I do for HIM? How shall I Act for HIM? Nay, What shall I suffer for HIM? O when you look into the Rock whence you are hewn, and to the hole of the Pit whence you are Digged, Isa. 51.1. When you was doubtless groaning out your sad Case with the Psalmist, Psal. 40.12. Innumerable Evils have compassed me about, mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up: They are more than the hairs of mine Head, therefore my Heart faileth me. And then when you Reflect, how a gracious GOD did sweetly alter the sheen, and did not keep you long in the place of the breaking forth of Children, but seasonably appeared for your Relief, and made you to say( I hope upon good Grounds) Psal. 40.1, 2, ●, 4. He inclined unto me, and heard my cry: He brought me up also out of an HORABLE PIT, out of the MIRY day, and set my feet upon a ROCK: And he hath put a new Song in my Mouth, even Praise unto our GOD. Blessed is the Man that maketh the LORD his Trust. Look but back, and see what GOD has done for you and in you: Look up, and see what he is still doing for you: Look forward, and behold by the Eye of Faith, what He will yet further do for you: Then, O then! You cannot but break out in wondering and admiring Eternal, Electing Love, and the Riches and Freedom of his Grace, and break forth into Singing, such as Psal. 34.103.116. &c. O Trade with your precious Talent, improve it well, and hid it not Psal. 116.12, 13, 14. Ephes. 3.17, 18, 19. Phil. 3.13.14. Col. 2.6. and Mat. 25. from verse 24. to 30. And when any Duty presents itself to you, either ordinar or more Solemn, private▪ or public Duties, especially when attended with Difficulty or Danger: As when GOD in His Providence calleth you to stand up and Witness for any Truth, for His Cause, for His Interests, for Advancing a begun work of REFORMATION: Or on the other Hand, in every rencounter with Sin, Corruption or Temptation to it; As Bad-company, &c.[ I name this the oftener, because most Tempting, and therefore the most Dangerous] Then remember your Prince, your Great General, the LORD of Hosts, is looking on, and narrowly observing your Mo●ions, how you behave, and how you come off, 2 Chron. 16.9. Psal. 11.4.33.13, 14.34.15. Prov. 5.21. and 15.3. Keep your Eye then carefully upon HIM, Psal. 25.15. Especially, since his Eye of Mercy is upon you, Psal. 32.8.33.18. One such a Gracious Look, made poor Peter( after he had denied his Dear Master) go out and weep bitterly for his folly, Luke 22.61, 62. O pray with David, Psal. 17.5. Hold up my goings in thy Paths, that my footsteps slip not, Psal. 119.117. You are now begun to Climb the HILL of GOD, a steep Hill, and hard for Flesh and Blood, especially when we consider Enemies on all Hands; Armies of Devils and Temptations from without, and Swarms of even Remaining Corruptions from within, every one giving the poor Soul still the other tugg and back-pull: And on the other Hand, the many difficult and painful Sin-mortifying duties, and Soul-exercising▪ and quickening Graces, you are necessarily and frequently called unto, no less than the plucking out of the Right Eye, the cutting off of the Right Hand, to be fervent in Spirit, serving the LORD, &c. Nay, perhaps to dangerous duties; Who knoweth, but, Unto you it is given, in the Behalf of Christ, not only to Believe on His Name, but also, to Suffer for His sake, Phil. 1.29. A Noble privilege and Honour not allowed to every Believer. You may lay your Account for to meet with one Searching trial after another: GOD will Try your Sincerity, both in your Personal and public Capacity; Satan will Try you, Desiring to have you, that he may Sift you as Wheat, Luke 22.31. The World will likewise Try you, and labour to get you again brought over to its side. Ah then! be sure you have the prerequesite Scripture qualifications in Answer to this great Question, Psal. 24.3. Who shall ascend unto the Hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his Holy place? To wit, He that hath CLEAN HANDS & a PURE HEART, that is, inward Sincerity and Uprightness, as the Root and Spring; and an outward Blameless Walk and Conversation, as the Fruit Evidencing your Sincerity; evangelic Perfection being ascribed in Scripture to both, as Psal. 37, 37. Mark the PERFECT MAN, and behold the UPRIGHT, for the end of that Man is Peace: And and the other was found in good Zachery and Elizabeth Luke 1.6. They were both RIGHTEOUS BEFORE GOD, and walked in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord BLAMELESS. I desire to believe, that you have been the wise Builder, and have already sit down and reckoned the Cost: However, all this requireth no less than everlasting Arms to be underneath you, Deut. 33.27. The good Angel of the Covenant hath( I hope) taken you by the Hand, lead and brought you out of the Sodom of black Nature: O then have a care! Look not back with an Eye of Complacency or Regrate: You will see a sad Instance in that fearful Monument of GODs severe Justice, a lasting beacon, enough to frighten us all, Gen. 19.26. Luke 17.32. But you may, nay frequently ought( for the exciting of your Fear, your Love, Holy gratitude, and New obedience to your Gracious Deliverer) cast back your Eye, and look unto the Rock whence you are hewn, and to the Hole of the Pit whence you are digged, and compare Ezek. 16.3, 4, 5. with v. 6. and 8. O what Man-Abasing, Heart-melting and Soul-Ravishing words are here! And when with Paul you can say, 1 Tim. 1.13. Once I was such an one, thus and thus was it with me: BUT I OBTAINED MERCY: Then you cannot choose but likewise cry out with him v. 17. Now unto the King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, the only Wise GOD, be Honour and Glory for ever, Amen. Pardon me— SIR, That I have been so particular and positive in my poor Advice, and taken upon me to speak of, or to a Person of so great Merit; It is out of a dear Respect to your true Honour, and Love to your Soul; Not pretending in the least to be your instructor or Teacher, but only as your Remembrancer, and Humbly hoping, that this may prove someway useful, suitable and seasonable both to yourself, and any who hereafter may be inclined to follow and trace your Noble Reforming Footsteps. Pardon me likewise, good Reader, that I have been somewhat prolix, and perhaps tedious: As I  told you before, that I was weary of the former Subject, So I could not well get off this pleasant one.  
But 2ly, Our great and woeful Decay, Appeareth in our resting in an unserious and superficial Form and performance of Religious Duties, such as Reading or Hearing of the Word, Secret and Family Prayer, &c. little Studying the exercise of Mortification and Sanctification, or stirring up ourselves to take hold of God, & to attain to that practical mystery of Communion and Fellowship with God in these Holy exercises, which is the Chief end and use thereof. Yea, not a few of our Scots apostates, who some time ago, from a Natural Conscience, made a fashion of worshipping God in their Families, hath now given that necessar and Commendable Duty quiter over, others to stop the Mouth of that same Natural Conscience, doth think themselves sufficiently Exonered before a Holy GOD( who bids us abound in the work of the Lord, and who hath said, Cursed is every one that doth this work negligently, and who hath a Male in his Flock, and offereth a Female( Corrupt thing) I say, they think it very fair, if they make some formal show of Family Worship only upon Sabbath days in the evening, some Reading a Chapter, and no more; others Reading and Singing, but no bowing of a Knee to their Maker; others again avowedly graceless, openly ridiculing, contemning and disdaining any thing of this Nature, never regarding that fearful Word Jer. 10.25. Pour out thy Fury upon the Heathen that know thee not, and upon the Families that call not on thy Name, where you see, the Spirit of God ranketh these riches among wild Heathens. 3. Want of delight, and rather wearying in all these Religious performances, especially those which are most Spiritual, as secret Prayer, Holy Meditation, Self searching, watching over the Heart and Conversation, which sometime hath been pleasant, when our Fathers, yea, many of ourselves, sat under his Shadow with great delight, and his Fruit was Sweet to our taste; the want whereof doth now discover a sad decay of Faith and Love in the inner Man. 4. The great Unclearness and Uncertainty of a PERSONAL INTEREST IN CHRIST and the Covenant of Grace, which many now Labours under, and the little Care there is to have this Interest made sure, and as little Exercise for the want thereof; and though this may be generally Complained of, yet alas! the remedy is little endeavoured, but a deep security, until the awakening come,( may be) on a Death-bed, with a Flood of Amazements, with dread and horror of Conscie●ce, through uncertainty, where their Eternal Landing shall be beyond Time. 5. The prevailing and growing Power of our Corruptions within, that infallibly follows upon decay of Grace, yea such prevailing Power, that many gets not Restrained from breaking forth in Offensive practices, and others have enough a do to get them keeped within Doors. 6. The great Indulging and Fostering of folks own predominat evils, such as Pride, Passion, and Sensualit●, Lazieness, Vanity and Lightness, which often appears in Words, Gestures, and Gaudy guizes of Apparel, to the great Reproach of that Humility, Gravity, and Sobriety, that ought to be in persons pretending to godliness, and which is as dead Flees in the ointment of the Apothecary, that cause it to sand forth a stinking Savour; so is this Folly in any who are in Reputation for Wisdom▪ 7. The little Regard that is had to the giving and occasioning of Offence, and the great aptitude and readiness there is, to take Offence, or st●mble themselves when any occasion is given. 8. The great Fears and Faintings( many times, we know not ourselves for what, Unbelief and distrust, creating Bugg-Bears in our way) that not a few labours under, both Ministers and People; And this fear frequently breaking forth in our Sinful and Scandalous shifting and shunning of many of the necessar and seasonable Duties we have been urgently called to perform; yea almost every Duty, which is attended with any probable or seeming Danger, & difficulty, have been utterly shifted by( alas!) too many upon that account; particularly that great concerning Point of Presbyterian Government; in jointly and Zealously standing up for the Royal Prerogative of our great Lord and Master Jesus Christ, as Supreme Lord and only King and Head of His Church, together with the true Liberties, privileges, and intrinsic Power of the Church. As Luther said of Justification, that true Religion either Stands or Falls, as we are Sound or Unsound in this Cardinal Article of our Faith. So I may say, that Presbyterian Government Stands or Falls, as they either strenuously Contend for, or faintingly yields and lets go the least Hoove or punctilio of this Cardinal Point. 9. The great neglect of that necessar and profitable Duty of private Christian-Fellowship for Prayer, and Godly conference for mutual Edification: And tho it be true, that severals in many places, makes yet Conscience to keep up the Exercise of this Duty, and that sometimes, I hope, to blessed Advantage, and for keeping themselves in a Lively Frame; Though alas! far inferior to what it has been formerly: Yet, how many are there in Scotland, both in Towns and Country, who are Persons capable to associate themselves into Societys for that Effect, and have no Reasonable let in their way to hinder, who notwithstanding do Indulge themselves in the utter neglect thereof; Some looking on it, as the Duty only of Little Ones, or the weaker sort of Christians, but below them, who think themselves come to Maturity; Some pretending the Abuse of that Exercise, an Argument that may pled against any other Duty of Religion, as well as this; Others pretending frivolous Excuses, and needless Niceties: So that it is become a Matter of no small Difficulty, either to get such to join in these Societies, or keeped from wearying and breaking off, if at any time they be engaged therein. Yea, there is too good Ground to complain of some Ministers their Deficiency to stir up and encourage to this Duty, or to engage themselves therein, which might be both profitable to themselves, and these Societies too, for better Regulating them to Edification. It was the laudable practise of our Ministers in our Best Days, before our Declinings, both to press this Duty frequently in public, and also by their own Good Example to commend it to others: Though this Blessed Exercise was never more urgently called for than at this Day, when the Hand of a Provoked, Jealous, and Angry GOD, is pressing us very sore every way: O to be amongst the Number of those MARKED ONES, who Sigh and Cry for their own Sins, and the Abominations of the Sinful Place and Land they-live in, and who fear the LORD and speak often one to another, such have a singular Interest and claim to GODs Distinguishing Favour and Special Protection, even Temporal Preservation in public and National Calamities, when others are neither spared nor pitied by the Destroying Angel, making no distinction betwixt the avowed openly debauched Malignant, and the Rotten hearted, lukewarm, formal blazing Professor, nor betwixt the formal Professor, and the timorous, Cowardly, Faint-hearted, Ceding Kirk-man; do but seriously red the 9. of Ezekiel, and Mal: 3.16, 17, 18.10. The dislike and prejudice many have taken and still take at free Searching, Warning, Reproving Preaching and Preachers, who do and must make Conscience to cry aloud, and lift up their Voice like a Trumpet, to show them and the Land their Sins and Transgressions, yea sometimes a Minister is counted and Offender for a Reproving Word, by not a few Professing Friends, choosing rather to hear Ministers preach smooth and Fair Generals, and prophesying of Peace, but cannot endure the sound Doctrine of Reproof, and discovering the Crying Sins of the time; and as many love to have it thus, so they have it alas! too frequently. 11. The great and almost utter neglect of that clearly commanded Duty, to Reprove and Admonish one another; And the great Difficulty there is to get ourselves brought into that Mortified and Composed Frame, suitable either to Give or Take Reproof to Edification; But Passions rising often on either Hand, to mar all. It may now be sadly said, Let no Man strive nor reprove another, &c. How rare a thing is it to find either private Professors, and not a few Ministers, in case to be Admonished by one another( even for things Justly reprovable) or when Admonished, to Amend; But rather a propensity to defend and argue in Defence of the things they are Admonished for? 12. The great Security and senselessness, which hath seized on us in all this evil and decayed Frame, under which we ly and pine away, using little or no Effectual Means, to stir up ourselves into the Exercise of Repentance, and Recovering from our sad Condition, so as to recover our wonted Zeal, and Tenderness, which was formerly found in this Church.  
11. The Lamentable grieving and vexing of the Spirit of GOD by many, the Resisting and Quenching it by others; And a third black set of Wretches, who in stead of working out their Salvation with fear and trembling, they merrily and unregarded work out their own Damnation, and goes dancing to the Pit, by openly doing despite to the Spirit of Grace, and mocking at all Serious Religion, the fearful mark of that unpardonable Sin against the Holy Ghost.  
12. Our little Concernedness and small Sympathy we have with the Afflictions and Temptations of our Brethren, the poor persecuted Protestants abroad, the miserable and sinking State of that once famous and flourishing Church and People in France, by the incessant Crueltys of their monstrous and and unnatural Prince, notwithstanding his best Subjects, and by whose means he oweth his Crown and Kingdom; As also the deplorable Case of those Ancient and Famous WALDENSES upon the Mountains and in the valleys of Piedmont, &c. Redacted to Extremity of Sufferings, by that Raging tiger of Savoy, that Ungrate Monster, now again returned with the Dog to his Old Vomit, notwithstanding they were signally serviceable unto him, as his most Faithful Subjects, ready to Sacrifice themselves for his safety. And which is a sore Matter, we have not to this Day Made it our business, effectually to fix and settle a mutual Correspondence betwixt us and these afflicted People, Tossed with Tempest and not Comforted, and other Reformed Churches abroad( as our Zealous Predecessors thought it their bound Duty to do) so that we are as Ignorant of their particular Circumstances, either as to their outward Condition, or inward Frame and Resolution, as if they were living beyond the wild Deserts of Arabia, by which we are mightily straitned in our Prayers, knowing neither how, nor what to Pray for them. Surely they are well worth our Serious, Painful, yea expensive enquiry and concernedness, especially these NOBLE WALDENSES; each of whom maketh up a Demonstrative Argument, and a standing Witness against Episcopacy and Prelacy, those Worthies having all along, carefully & conscientiously at the constant Expense of their dearest Blood observed the necessar Injunction of the Apostle judas, v. 3. In Earnestly contending for the Faith which was once Delivered to the Saints, and have stood their Ground, Maintained and keeped their CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES Pure and Unstained with either Popish or Superstitious Errors in all the Succession of Ages, as Faithfully Handed down from the very Apostles themselves, and could never to this Day hear of, or endure so much as the Name of a BISHOP or LORDLY prelate amongst them.  
I had almost forgot Two or Three Particulars of no small Moment, and do beg the Ingenuous Reader to impute it only to the Defect of Memory, that they came not in into their proper place and Order, as designed: And since they now present themselves( Pardon me) I must out with them.  
The first is, Concerning the Receiving in of curates, those of the abjured Episcopal Clergy into Church Communion and other privileges with us. To which I give you not only my own Humble Thoughts, but likewise the judgement of others( both Ministers and People) who are far better versed in Divine politics than myself, viz. That they ought all of them once fairly and Legally to be deposed, and their Churches declared Vacant( our former Zealous Assemblies you know, not only deposed, but even did Excommunicat one Perjured prelate after another) and whereas I am not so unreasonably Hard-hearted, as not to admit and allow of After-Repentance, though( whoever might, when they can do no better, Apply to have a share in our Church Government, and appear willing to join with us) a livelihood, Worldly Interest, or Necessity, would seem to be their Grand and Leading Motive, as to the most part of them; yet so soon as any one of them did give sufficient evidence of their grief and sorrow for what they have done, for their former Course and way, make a full and Particular Confession of all their Steps of Defection, and give in their judgement and naked thoughts( as in the sight of GOD) Concerning both Presbyterial and Episcopal Government in the House of GOD; and likewise to declare before GOD and His Church, what they are Fixedly resolved in His Strength, to Adhere to and Stick by in all Times c●mming; and with all Cheerfulness and readiness( without the least hesitation or scruple) Offereth to Submit and Comply upon the strictest Terms and Conditions that the Church can Rationally and Warrantably demand: I think, then( and not till then) we ought to give them all the due encouragement possible, if it were to put them in our Bosom: We have the example of the Great GOD for this in Repenting and Returning Ephraim, whom we ought to Imitat in all his Imitable Perfections, particularly in this of LOVE Jerem. 31.20. Is Ephraim my dear Son? Is he a Pleasant Child? so likewise we ought Cheerfully to give the Right Hand of Fellowship to all such, and Entertain a dear Respect and Affection for them, if otherways qualified and fitted as Painful and Faithful Ministers of Christ: And surely, if their Repentance be Real and Sincere, they will with PAUL, appear upon all occasions amongst the most Zealous and Forward for GOD and His Interests, as( Glory to His Name) we have some Blessed Instances of such, who are now Eminent Pillars in the Church. Though I must Confess( when I have said all that Conscience and Reason can allow) That Scripture, Ezek. 44.10, 11, 12, 13, and 14. has often Startled me, and puts many to a Stance( how applicable it is to these Men without the least stretch, let any unbiased Scotsman Judge) The Lord there being positive and peremptor in Rejecting them for good and all; at least, if we do Receive them into the Church, We are to suffer them come no further benn( as we use to say) than to be Porters, Door-keepers, Beddals, or in such-like Servile employment: I do not here disparaged them; I suppose the best of them will not pretend to be better than the Royal Psalmist, Psal. 84.10. Who made this his Choice, rather than still to dwell in the Tents of Wickedness: I say, they are to be no further Advanced than to be Door-keepers or Beddals, &c. but never more to be Honoured to Mount a Pulpit, GOD expressly Discharging them to come near unto him to do the Office of a Priest, nor ever to meddle with any of his Holy things; but are doomed to bear their Iniquity and shane to their Dying day, who have thus fearfully gone astray a●● caused our Israel, the Poor ignorant People of Scotland to Commit Iniquity, with them: These Truce breakers, False accusers, These apostate Traitors, these late Bloody Informers, despisers of those that are Good, Heady, Ambitious, high-minded, having a form of Godliness, but quiter denying the Power thereof, Leading Captive only the worst of Men and Women▪ lead away with divers Lusts; These Janes and Jambreses, withstanding both our Moses and Aaron: These are they who have Transgressed after the manner of Corah, Resisting the Truth, Men of Corrupt Minds, Reprobat Concerning the Faith, these evil Men, and Seducers, Waxing worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived: The LORD let them proceed no further, and cause their Folly and Wickedness to be manifest to all Men. Do but red their desirable Properties 2 Tim. 3. Scripture Expressions, and none of my Invention, and surely most part of them deserves worse Epithets from us, nay even from their own Parochiners, whose Souls have been pining away under their careless Charge, many of whom( when Prelacy broken in upon us like a deluge) did seem to be in the way to Canaan, but these LOCUSTS has driven both themselves and their witless Hearers quit back to Egypt again; and reduced them, by their Supine Negligence, Bad Example, and( for the most part) Scandalous Lives, to their old Egyptian darkness; So that when a PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER is providentially Called or Settled in any of these Parts or parochs, who most frequented and followed their CURAT, do find them a Company of more Ignorant Blocks, very little differing from downright Atheists, not only voided of all Serious Religion, but altogether Ignorant of the very Fundamentals of Christianity. And it was remarkably observed throughout all the Corners of the Land, That so soon as any poor Creatures their Eyes were opened( by resorting now and then to the Sent and Faithful Ambassadors of Christ in Houses or open Fields) did begin seriously to consider their ways, especially when under Soul Exercise for Sin, the want of an Interest in Christ, and upon the account of their Eternal State, from that very day they did separat from these their Soul Destroyers, and did begin to Entertain a Religious Aversion at them and their way; Particularly, when upon a Death-bed, then a very sight of these intruding hirelings, was a terror to them. I speak it with horror, Name me the Man or Woman, who were able to declare in their Dying Hour, that ever they got any Saving Good by them, or were Converted through their Means, while continuing such: But upon the contrare, hundreds in Scotland, within these forty Years, has declared in their last Words, and that with Soul Agony, that they were Ruined and poisoned by them, and therefore, could not suffer such to come near them: All this is Matter of Fact, and which multitudes of yet living Instances can Attest, who when in Sickness and Trouble of Mind, has given Orders to pack them down Stairs; For which they were ordinarily Branded by them for Frentick, Distempered, melancholic Persons, therein agreeing with the Pagan Sentiments of their fratres fraterrimi, the Open Debauchees of this Age. From all which, I am bold to say, that without some Reasonable Demonstration and Evident Proof of their Sincere Repentance, it is a Tempting of GOD to receive them into Church Communion: Let us not for the LORDs Sake admit of such Men upon a Venture, or a May-be, who likeways ( May-be) will the next day make it their Business to Undermine and ruin us all, and then Laugh at the Simplicity and Easy Credulity of Presbyterians; Nay, it would certainly open a Door for all Rotten-Hearted herdmen to come in, and then break off at pleasure, and turn their Coat upon every small Temptation, if they should perceive they might be again Received and Admitted upon so easy Terms. I speak this, not so much to censure what is past, as to Caution and Guard us against any thing of this Nature in all time coming, it being a very Dangerous and Tender Point. It were undoubtedly the Interest of both Church and State, to maintain these Naughty Creatures upon their own and the kingdoms Charge, wherein all good Men would willingly Contribute, providing we could but secure them from doing further Mischief, not only those in Churches, Corrupting their poor Hearers by their Life and Doctrine.( I desire all along to Caution my Words, I speak not this of them all, I know there are some more Sober and Sound than others) But likeways a Pack of profane scandalous Wretches, Drunkards, Swearers, and Obscene Vagabond Fellows, polutting both City and country with their IRREGULAR BAPTISMS, MARRIAGES, &c. Who do not in the least scruple( for a small piece of Money) to Baptize all the Bastards and Illegittimat-Brats in the Kingdom, without inquiring after either Father or Mother; Nor to join in Marriage the Brother with his Sister( for any thing they know, their Enquiry, if any at all, being very overly, only for a Sham-Exoneration) And to mary a Man unto one Woman to Day, and to another to Morrow, and both alive, the which they have already done. Now, if these of the more Sober and Sound amongst them, had but the above Necessar Qualifications and Marks, then I should be for Moderation, yea for the hight of Moderation in their favours, as much as any Man: But this is too good a WORD to make a Baffle, a Nose of Wax, a Mock of: Let us not make it a common Gallio-Bridge for both Clean and Unclean to pass over; Let us not stretch it further, or skrue it higher, than the Blessed Unerring Rule will suffer it to go.  
A second is, The daily Oathing and Swearing the lieges upon every small trifle( I will not say, relating to the public Go●d, so much as) to enrich and make up a few particular Persons, T— men, &c. so that they with their Sub-T— men, Cl— s, and Sub-Cl— s, are allowed to impose an Oath upon the Subjects( poor silly Women and others not excepted) where they are Obliged and threatened upon pain of ruin( their Random Decreets amounting to no less) to come in Yearly, nay monthly, and hold up their Hands and Swear again and again by the Great GOD for the Value, if it were but a sixpence, yea, even for the least Gill of Brandy, &c. Retailed by them; So that Multitudes of Ignorant Creatures who have a small livelihood, little or no Gain thereby, and perhaps as little Knowledge and Conscience, are( besides their taking the Holy Name of GOD in vain) undoubtedly and unavoidably PERJURED; otherways, utterly undone if they scruple to Swear. O Lamentable! Ah National Grievance!( as if the poor Land were not deeply enough already sunk in PERJURY) That Men of whatsoever persuasion, Presbyterian, Episcopal, every Jacobit-Malignant, Atheist-fellow, should be tolerate, nay perhaps empowered thus to do what they list: We have been so enured and habituat in Debauching our own and other Men's Consciences, in the late Heathenish Reigns, that we cannot get off it to this very Day. Ah! to what a pitiful pass and puzzling stretch are we come, that we cannot get ten Faithful, Creditable moneyed Men in all Scotland of undoubted Integrity, whom King and country may Trust, to collect the public Fonds( I confess such a set was never rarer since Scotland became Christians) but must be necessitat to flee for Relief to the next dangerous Horn of the Dilemma, to put all to a Common Roup, and entrust our Princes Revenues and the Kingdoms Substance, to every Tantivi-Tory; Malignant Underminer, who bids most( whatever Oaths they may come under to gain their Point) and then not only putting the whole Superplus and Excrescence into their own private Pockets; But likewise, the Fatal Event, and our constant Sad Experience makes it too probable, that( like so many voracious and greedy gripping Hounds) they run with violent Hands, and a Conscience wide like Hell upon the very Stock itself, which is Sacred, and set a part by express Act of Parliament, for His Majestie's Use, and the public Concerns of the Kingdom. And moreover, such may be their Abominable Idolatry( Covetousness I mean) that notwithstanding they come off considerable Gainers, yet perhaps may have the Impudence to Bill his Majesties Honourable Council, and Petition for an Abatement, pretending they have met with great Losses by Disappointments, Accidents, vast Charges, necessar Contingencies, National Calamities, and what not? when, ten to one, that same sum they seem to come short of, is already lying secure in their Coffers. And if they( by Ways and Means) should come to get a hearing, and their Petition granted, which is hardly supposable, this were a way indeed to blind our Eyes, & render them altogether Innocent. Surely one of these three must hold, either there must be great Villains and villainies amongst us, or we must be a pack of wicked and sloothful servants▪ or otherways all Men are Liars. But these things are True or not; If not( which I will not deny, for you hear me affirm nothing positively) Then these Men are mightily wronged by Common famed and Universal Report; But if True, which you know I dare not aver, then certainly the Devil hath them hard and fast in his grips, though he should kick them up Stairs for a while, and mount them next day to a Sir John and Sir James, in hopes of making each of them e're long a second Faustus or Spira, and the Lord knows how soon; As for REPENTANCE, they have done with it, except they make Restitution, even to four fold, if they can, for they themselves know, that without Restitution,[ while in their Power] there is no Repentance; So that none has Reason to envy either Them or their Tempting Places; for every penny of Money got by Treachery, Fraud, and falsehood, will in all Probability bind upon them a Talent of Eternal Wrath and Torment. Who among our gripping Wretches, dare say with Faithful and conscientious Samuel, when they are stepping in to Eternity( I am afraid their Eyes will never be opened till then) 1 Sam. 12.3. Behold here I am, witness against me before the LORD and His anointed; Whose Ox have I taken? Whose Ass have I stolen? Or whom have I DEFRAUDED? Whom have I OPPRESSED? Or of whose hand have I received any Brybe, to blind mine Eyes therewith? And can for their Souls hold up their Faces, and aver before GOD with Paul, in presence of the Council, Acts 23.1. Men and Brethren, I have lived in all good Conscience before GOD until this day. Ah! is it any wonder that nothing prospers with us, but every thing Blasted we take in Hand, and not one thing ever comes to any good Account that we get once among our Hands; For why? GOD doth Blow upon all, and how can it otherways be; So long as the most part of us, are so madly pursuing Cursed Self, and we, Base Spirits, Narrow Souls, Large Consciences, Greedy Hearts, and Gripping Hands? I desire the Ingenuous Reader still to take this alongst with him, for the Author's Vindication, that he does not speak his own Positive Sentiments, but only declareth what he heareth as the constant increasing Noise and Complaint, and what is the Universal Report and Clamour of almost every Man and Woman, in Kirk and Mercat, Street and Tavern, City and Country, which must needs Tempt him to say with Paul, 1 Cor. 11.18. I hear there be such and such things among you, and I partly believe it. You may Observe likeways all alongs, that I have some other Weighty Design in mine Eye, than in seeming, to Reflect upon any particular Person, which Presseth me to be thus plain, viz: To Prevent, if possible, others from running themselves headlong into the like fearful Guilt. For Instance, when I speak( as above) of poor silly Women, and other Ignorant Bodies, who have little Wit, and probably as little Conscience; My chief Design is to Frighten and deter them and all Others in time coming, from darring to involve themselves in the Dreadful Guilt and Crying Sin of Perjury, &c. which is certainly one of the great and Provoking Causes of GODs Wrath, and which doth make the whole Land[ as at this day] for to Mourn and Groan under the Fatal and Direful Effects thereof; Surely no serious Soul, nay good Christian, durst have the least Hand in, or Accession to it, for a thousand Worlds. I hope therefore, the Reader will pardon me, if I reach a By-blow, and throw a Squibb now and then at some particular Anonimo's, not in the least to hurt them, but to alarm and Reclaim such, if Guilty; And[ if they pled Not Guilty] to Forewarn and Caution them and all others, from swallowing such Dangerous Baits for the future.  
A Third is anent our Fast days, Preparation—, Communion, and Thanksgiving-days, the dangerous effects whereof upon the whole Land, and upon many a Poor Soul may make us Tremble for to think on't. Ah for the MOCK-FASTS, &c. that has been amongst us these years past! It had been far better for multitudes of Men and Women, that Divine Providence, and our Good Government of Church and State had never appointed and set a part such Blessed Seasons of GRACE and MERCY, they being all so strangely and fearfully perverted and abused by them, as Pearls thrown before so many Swine. O! Who, upon a Day of Humiliation, are crying out, with Ezra. 9.6. O my GOD, I am ashamed, and do blushy to lift up my Face to Thee, my GOD, for mine Iniquities are increased over my Head, and my Trespass is gone up unto the Heavens: Or with the Psalmist. Ps. 40.12, 13. Innumerable Evils have Compassed me about, mine Iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up, they are more than the Hairs of mine Head, therefore mine Heart Faileth me. Be pleased O LORD to Deliver me, O LORD make hast to help me: And with the Church in Lam. 1.20. Behold O LORD, for I am in distress, my bowels are troubled, mine Heart is turned within me, for I have grievously Rebelled. Wo will be to that Man, that Woman, that Lass or Lad come to Years of Understanding, who upon a Solemn Day of Humiliation and Fasting, goeth not out with Peter and Weeps bitterly for their Sin and Folly; and who doth not take on fixed and peremptor Resolutions and Engadgements from that very day to forsake and part with their Sin in all time Coming. But alas! Upon the contrary, how many ( Avowedly profane and impious) has no regard at all to this Precious and Critical Season: O what can we expect, will be the Portion of such, when the Man or Woman that comes even the length of Counterfeit Humility, and sorrow on such a day, do meet with so severe a Check and sharp rebuk from the SPIRIT of the LORD Isai, 58.5. Zech. 7, 5. &c. especially when Reformation doth not follow upon it Isai. 1. from ver. 11, to 21. Psal. 50.16.17. It being as hateful to a HOLY GOD, as the Killing of a Man, offering up of Swins Blood, or the Cutting off of a Dogs Neck, Isai. 66.3, 4. Who upon a Fast or Preparation day before the Communion are passing through the dark and dry Valley of Baca( of Black Nature) upon the conscientious Search and trial of their State and of their way, ploughing up the fellow Ground of their Hearts, there digging deep with Sensible and Humble Convictions, till they make a Well of Tears and Godly Sorrow, so that the Heavenly Rain of the Spirits influence may fall down and fill the Pools of their Affections, with the Waters of Joy and Consolation; then afterward( by a tender strict and Holy Walk) making it their Work to go on from Strength to Strength, from one Degree of Grace to another, till it be perfected in Glory. Some indeed do make a fashion of seeking God before they go to tread his Courts, but suffice themselves with an Overly, Formal confused, short, Lifeless Word, upon their Sin, upon their Danger, upon their State and Case( great Concerning Points) upon which Holy Men of GOD has thought it worth their while to writ whole volumes. O who are groaning out their Case in secret before the Lord? And like a Princely Jacob Wrestling with the Angel of the Covenant Gen, 32, 26. I will not let thee go until thou Bless me? and with the Poor Blind Men Matth. 20.30, 31. for saving Illumination, crying and crying the more, until they get a Grasious Hearing, SON OF DAVID HAVE MERCY UPON ME: Or pleading, with the distressed Importunat Widow Lord give me this day if it were but the least Crumb of Mercy, the least Sense of a Sealed Pardon, the smallest tokens of thy Gracious presence and assistance to be with me in every step of this days work, Mat. 15. from vers. 22. to 29. Who with the Spouse Cant. 7.5. is holding HIM fast in the Galleries of His Ordinances? And who are resolving with the Psalmist, Pfal. 26.6. I will wash mine hands in Innocency, So will I compass thine Altar O LORD? Ah! Who are considering the place they are going to, is no less than Holy Ground, and therefore by a Fixed and Holy Resolution putting off their Shoes from of the Feet of their vain, wicked and filthy Conversation? Then might they Exult with the Psalmist Ps. 43.4. Then will I go unto the Altar of GOD, unto GOD my exceeding Joy. O what if not a few, cry Hosanna to him upon a Communion Sabbath, and before next Saturday, cry crucify him, by their Untender skulk, their Unwatchfulness, by their Corrupt Communication, rash Swearing, Tippling, Excess, vain and profane Company, &c. What think you of them, that knows no more what it means to lay hold on Christ, to receive Christ, to put on Christ, to make use of Christ, to make a Personal Covenant with Christ, or any thing of that nature, than the very Reprobat World doth, and yet boldly rusheth Blindfold unto that Sacred Table, designed not for Converting to Christ, but Confirming, Establishing and Sealing a Believer in Christ, already Converted? O how many, from Soul satisfaction, and upon Solid grounds, can say with the Spouse, Cant. 4.16. let my Beloved come unto his Garden and eat His pleasant Fruits, who have not yet made Choice of their Beloved, cordially and fully closed with Christ, are not past the pangs of the new Birth, and therefore has no Garden to invite him to, but the Garden of the Sluggard, black Nature, all over grown with the stinking Weeeds of Corruption, hearts full of, not only Raging but reigning Sins, a very Sink of unmortified Lusts. And what Fruit can they present their pretended Beloved from this Cursed Root and three, but Grapes of Sodom, and apples of Gomorah? Not one Grain of Saving Grace in that Poor Soul. What think you of the Man or Woman, who[ notwithstanding of all this] are at no conscientious Pains, taketh no Sufficient Time to take a look of their State, turn over their Evidences, prepare their Hearts, and get a suitable Frame of Soul before they venture upon that Tremenduous Ordinance; And are at as little pains after a Communion, to Search, Try, Examine, and ask GOD and their own Hearts, what they have Got, and what they have Missed; Whether thereby they have heightened their Condemnation, or got their Bands Loosed? If they have been feeding upon empty Husks, or has got CHRIST in them the Hope of Glory, &c. And so comes of it, for I appeal to their own Consciences, if there be the smallest Signs of any Saving Change wrought in them, or the least Reformation upon the back of it. Ah! If the Great GOD( at any of these Solemn Appearances) should come down to the Congregation, and ask the Question with an Audible Voice, Jerem. 30.21. Who is this that hath engaged his Heart to approach unto Me? Who amongst these durst or could hold up their Faces, & give a Conscience Satisfying Answer to Him? Alas! I am afraid, our naughty unprepared Hearts( for the most part of us) would quickly like Nabels sink and die within us, and become as a ston, and we fall down before Him, like so many Bold and Darring Guilty Criminals. And what if CHRIST, the Great MASTER of the FEAST, the INVITER, and the FEAST itself( who is always present in a way of MERCY to some, and JUSTICE to others, both entertaining and viewing His Guests) should stand at the Head of His own Table, looking narrowly about Him, with His All-pearcing Eye( as indeed He doth, when we little consider it) not only to the outward Appearance and Behaviour, but chiefly and principally to the Heart, to the deepest and most secret Corners there, to the Inner-Man, both as to the Gracious State & Frame of the Soul; And should single out every Uunconverted and unworthy Communicant, and by Name and surname, Call to the hearing of all about them, FRIEND ( Pretended Professor, Dead Moralist, Bold Hypocrite, Presumptuous Wretch, profane Fellow) HOW CAMEST THOU IN HITHER, NOT HAVING THE WEDDING GARMENT? O what unprepared Soul( the up-sitten Believer not excepted) were able to stand before this Allarming and Soul killing Question? But then, what think you of those who are come to the length of Men and Women, nay to middle and Old Age, who have never to this day gone to the Table of the LORD, and all because of the Necessity of the above requisite and necessar Qualifications: Let me tell such, as it is a Fearful Sin to go Unprepared, so I reckon it a dreadfully, Unexcusable, and Unaccountable Sin on the other Hand, not to Fit and Prepare themselves for it, making still the other sinful and God-provoking Excuse( let it be what it will) which will never abide the Impartial trial of either GOD or their own Conscienes, at a Tribunal or on a Death-bed. As for Secret Despisers and avowed Contemners of such Gracious Opportunities, open Ridiculers and Mockers, who with their own Hands, do throw the very Door of Mercy on their own Teeth, that in stead of Attending Divine Worship on weekdays, sabbath-days, and upon such Solemn Occasions, do either loiter in their Beds, or goeth in Cabals, spends and wastes these Invaluable minutes in one anothers Chambers, in Taverns, Ale-houses, nay probably with their Loathsome Whores, and about some gross villainies, not to be name, Blaspheming GOD, Damning themselves, Cursing one another, and Railing and Raging against the Faithful Servants of CHRIST, and the whole Government be the By; A fearful misspending and throwing away of the Blessed Dayes of their Visitation, and a sad Return they give to that Great Question( which every Child knoweth) WHAT IS THE CHIEF END OF MAN? As for such, I am wholly at a Stance, what to say either to them or for them; It passeth the Skill of a Solomon to give his Advice here, they being upon the very brink of the unpardonable Sin against the Holy Ghost, if not already plunged into it; So that I am afraid that same Blessed Spirit has past the Word, Hos. 4.17. LET THEM ALONE; these sporting Leviathans, Job. 41. Whose meddles are their pride, shut up together as with a closs Seal; Out of whose mouths goeth burning Lamps, and sparks of Fire flee out; Whose Hearts are as firm as a ston, yea as hard as a piece of the nether Mill-stone, Who laugh at the shaking of the Spear, &c. So that it seemeth to no purpose to throw Pearls before such Swine, or cast Holy Things unto Dogs, in whom there is nothing wanting to begin their Torment, but Soul Distress, Anguish of Spirit, horror of Conscience, the Terrors of GOD to distracted them, all which, may come upon them in one Night: Therefore, I here leave them with the poor possessed Man, Mark 5.2, 3, 4, 5. Cutting and slashing himself amongst the Tombs; these lunatic desperately mad Wretches, possessed with such a furious Devil, whom nothing can Tame, Bind, or Engage, whom none of our LORDs Disciples can cast out and cure, except CHRIST Himself step in and speak the Word, Matth. 17.17. BRING HIM HITHER TO ME; for sure they are resolved( as long as they can) never to come in his way: If He come in theirs, it is well, if not, they are lost for ever: But this seemeth to be too mildred and gentle a Comparison; For that Devil in Mark 5.( for as Fierce as he was, seeing CHRIST but a fat off) ran and was constrained to make the fashion of Worshipping Him, ver. 6. I rather leave these filthy Gadarean Swine( in whom an unclean and raging Devil has so visibly and sensibly entered) to run on, till they throw themselves headlong over that steepr Pecipies, the dreadful Rock of their own presumption, into the Immense Oeean of Eternal Vengeance. I will not say what an Omnipotent Hand of Power by a Miracle of MERCY may do to Overtake and Recover One, Two, or Three, among the many Hundreds; Nay, I fear, among the many Thousands of them: For I know, what ever he be, if a Thousand times worse than the worst of Sinners,( if he be not a Real Devil, and one already among the damned) that if he will but Confess his Sin, Mourn for it, forsake it, turn unto GOD, Cordially come to Christ, Close with, and Embrace Him in the Gospel Terms, that our wonderfully condescending LORD Joh. 6.37. WILL IN NO WAYS CAST HIM OUT, but pluck him as a Brand ( a half burnt Stick) out of the Fire; though when a long suffering and Patient GOD, is by His Spirit, Standing and Knocking at the Door of their Hearts and Consciences, loudly calling and Crying as in Jerem. 23.27. I have seen thine adulteries, the lewdness of thy Whoredoms, and thine Abominations: Woe unto thee, O thou wicked and filthy Wretch, wilt thou not be made clean: Ah! when shall it once be; yet they are stoutly answering him with these Resolute Sinners in Job. 21.14, 15. Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy Ways: What is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? Or at best, with an enlightened Felix, Trembling under a sudden Conviction, Acts. 24.25. Go thy way for this time; when I have a Convenient Season, I will call for thee: And be sure, this will never be, if we can possibly shun it, until we come to look pale Death in the Face, and be Arrested to our Beds, when we can do no better, and are able to Commit sin no longer; Then itis like, we will call for a Minister, cry for help, be content to come unto Christ, and be willing at last to be saved by his Blood, who could never endure to be Sanctified by His Spirit. Thus they build their whole Hopes of Heaven, and certainty of happiness upon the Slender Spiders web of a last Moments Peradventure, and their own Cursed Free-will. I will not limit the Holy One of Israel, though we all do see them Running the strait Road to Perdition, taking the Speedyest Course, the nearest way, Post to destruction; yet an ALL CONQUERING CHRIST,( He that is Mighty to Save to the uttermost,) can, and may make one of them now and then, a single Thief upon the across: However, I am afraid, that a Holy and Just GOD, has already given the most part of them their final Mittimus down to the bottonles Pit, to that Lake that Burns with Fire and Brimstone, and that so soon as DEATH, the King of Terrors and Terror of Kings, shall get its Commission to strike them down, and( maybe) sooner than they are ware of; who knoweth, but incensed Justice may suddenly beat up their Quarters with that surprising and Terrible Alarm, Luke. 12.20. Thou Fool, this Night thy Soul shall be required of thee. They themselves know, that we have fearful Instances in every Age of such Belshazzers, and mogul Missabibs. If they please and think it worth their while● I would Gladly,( from a Bleeding sympathy I have with, and unfeigned Love to their Poor Perishing Souls) recommend to their serious perusal, two small Books in Octavo, next to the Bible, and itis most fit and proper for such desperat hardened Sinners; the one called Sighs from Hell, or the Groans of a Damned Soul; the other is that excellent and useful Piece, Allan's alarm to the unconverted.    

NOW, If these CAUSES of WRATH were once cordially Acknowledged Confessed, Mourned for, and then Condemned & Abjured in all time coming: And the Grievances of a COVENANTED NATION redressed. Nay, if all Ranks of Persons were come but this length, to cry. importunately with the afflicted and plagued Israelits Judges 10.15.16. Saying Ah Lord! We have Sinned against Thee; do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee, deliver us only, we pray Thee this day: and then immediately Reforming ourselves as they did: Tho indeed he might deservedly bid us go unto the gods whom we have been serving, and let them deliver us, for he will deliver us no more, yet upon our importunat Wrestlings with Him, His Soul would certainly be grieved for the Misery of Poor SCOTLAND; Nay I durst promise in the Name of Israels GOD, that he would soon let us see a Sweet Alteration of Affairs to the better, and work Sudden Wonders amongst us, yea, though we were Redacted to that extremity( as at the siege of Samaria, and such we well deserve) for to Boyll and eat our own Children, I am bold to prophesy, that a Measure of Fine flower would soon come to be sold for one Shekle, and two Measures of barley for a Shekle, and Meal come quickly down to its Old Price; and every thing else prosper before us, though this should be thought Impossible, and none of the Cursed Race of Ham( that black set of Jacobite Malignants) should ever believe it, until ( with Jorams Graceless Lord, upon whom he learned) they be all trode upon in the Gate till they die 2 Kings. 7.1, 2.20. A Brutish man knoweth not, neither doth a Fool understand this, Psal. 92.6. Nay, though you should bray these Fools in a mortar, they'll neither be Wise nor Honest. I must alwise link these Inseparable Companions together; For the Man that is an Heart Malignant( that is, an hater, or opposer of Reformation) he is certainly a Heart Jacobite also, let him pretend what he will, and wants nothing but a fair opportunity and Temptation to avow it before the World, and to declare this his Sin as Sodom. And whereas it is the great affliction and smarting Misery of true Presbyterians( that is, all those who Judge it their duty, and do make it Zealous endeavour to advance a begun Reformation) for to live under bad Kings( then they are sure to meet with Persecution, and be the only Butt of their Fury and Malice) though their Good Principles do own Allegiance subjection and Obedience in DOMINO, even to the worst of Kings, I don't say Tyrants: So likewise on the other hand, these Wretches do sit most uneasy under Good Kings( though rare) reckoning it an insupportable Burden, it being really a down-right Malignant Grievance, especially under his present MAJESTIY, and that merely for his Goodness sake; notwithstanding hitherto, they have met with Wonders of Clemency from HIM. Perhaps they will be read● to conclude( like the rest of their blustering Ignorant Interlocutors) from such harsh like expressions, that I bear Malice, Prejudice and hatred at their Persons; but GOD is my Witness, I do it not; On the contrair, I do truly pitty them, and Commiserat their desperat like Condition; nay I do hearty Pray, long live the worst of Jacobits, the most ingrained Malignant, on condition, they themselves would but seriously consider their ways, leave off their wicked Courses, and Reform their Lives; then I am sure, both the Name and thing of Jacobite or Malignant, would soon become as hateful to them, as it is to myself. But to return. Ah! will we but follow this Happy Overture, will we once put it to a fair trial, and see what a GOD can and will do for us. Do but cast your Eye on that remarkable, Condescending Word, expressly to this purpose, Mal. 3.10. Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the Windows of Heaven, and Pour you out a Blessing, that there shall not be Room enough to receive it. O ye Angels wonder at this, Heaven and Earth stand amazed, to see the Great GOD your Maker, become as it were, a Supplicant to Sinful Dust and day, the vilest of His Creatures, and that for our own Interest every way. This is a Blessed Project indeed, and cannot misgive in our hand, yea, itis impossible it can miss or fail to have a Happy Issue; for why? A Faithful GOD, cannot fail of his Promise, Jerem. 18.7, 8. At what Instant I shall speak concerning a Nation, and concerning a Kingdom, to pluck up and to pull down, and to destroy it: If that Nation against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. I need not here swell my Paper further to prove this, his whole Blessed Word is Sweetly interlaced and stored with such Cordials. This is well worth our Essay, if there were no more than a Peradventure in the Case Joel. 2.14. Who knoweth if he will return and Repent, and leave a Blessing behind him. O then let us put him to it, when the Lord seems to be now saying, Behold I will break the Staff of Bread, they shall eat Bread by Weight, and shall want bread, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their Iniquity, Ezek. 4.16, 17. And since we have shamefully( most part of us) cast off all Zeal for GODs Glory, and his Precious Truths, he seemeth to be putting it on himself for our ruin, and saying, Thus shall mine Anger be accomplished, and I will cause my Fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted; and they shall know that I the Lord have spoken it in my Zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them; when I shall sand upon you the evil Arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I shall sand to destroy you; and I will Increase the famine upon you, and will break your Staff of Bread, Ezek. 5.13.16. I think this is a time and Season, that the greatest Peer in Scotland, the most Reverend Divine in the Church of Scotland, should not, nor ought not to think shane to Confess their Faults, if it were at the M●r●at across of Edinburgh. I am far from requiring this, and though I should, I might produce many Instances in the like Cases, to pled for it. I remember a Passage of that Singularly Faithful Servant of Christ, that great Prophet of the Lord, Old Famous Mr. welsh, to this Purpose▪ One John Stewart, an Eminent Christian, who lived at Air, coming to see Mr. welsh, who said unto him; John, you should not be here, go Home to Air, for the Plague o● GOD is broken out in that place, and cause Hugh Kennedy( then Provost of that Town, likewise a Noble Christian) convene the People to the Streets, Confess your Sins, and pray together, and the Lord shall hear Hugh Kennedy, and Remove the stroke; and the said John, obeying the Call, went, and did what was enjo●ned, and accordingly, in every thing, it fell out as the Man of GOD had shewed. Another instance of the like Nature, when the late Earthquake was in Jamaica, where the Minister of the Town, a Church of England-Man, these dead, hateful, lifeless Formalists, even such an one( when pursued by that dreadful stroke) did run to the Mercat place, and there convened the People and Prayed, Confessed and cried, tho to little or no purpose, because perhaps not one Lot in all that Sodom. Now, though Scotland be seldom▪ Alarmed with such like Earthquakes, yet do we not already hear to our Astonishment, the Dreadful Voice of the Lord upon the many Waters of Increasing, Overspreading and Overwhelming Judgements and Plagues? Is not the GOD of Glory Thundering with his aweful dispensations? And doth this Terrible lion Roar, and shall not we Obstinat and stupid Beasts of the Field, Tremble? Shall we, poor dry stubble, venture upon the devouring Fire? Shall we, silly Briars and Thorns, thus run upon the thick Bosses of the Bucklers of the Almighty? Our present Frame and Carriage doth indeed demonstrat to the World, that we design nothing less. Ah! is there none to stop a whole Nation of Blind and Furious Mad-men from running Headlong to our own resolved destruction? Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we Sronger than he? Never were a people more strangely besotted, sunk and drunk in stupid security, under such a fearful Load of Sin and Wrath, now when the poor Ship( the Church of GOD) with the invaluable Cargo of Precious TRUTHS, all the MAGNALIA DEI, the Great REGALIA CHRISTI, of his Crown, sceptre, and Kingdom, and Passengers of immortal Souls, are all a sinking, every where, furiously driven hither and thither betwixt Wind and Wave, with the Storms of an angry GOD, deserting and plaguing, us on the one hand; and violent persecution, open Enemies, and secret Cutthroats, Heart Judases, pretended Professors, Profanity and all manner of Wickedness on the other, and Wretched we( like so many idle Spectators, lazy lubardly Ly-by's) are standing upon the shore, and gathering Shells, as if we were safe, at our own ease, only now and then casting our Eye[ with a dreadful Indifferency] and seeing Ship and all in an imminent danger, every Moment to dash▪ in pieces; meanwhile, this is the woeful Language and Behaviour of our Scots Gallio's and others; Alas! what can I do do? Its not in my Power, itis out of my way, it lieth not in my Road to help her, let her even take he● Fate, Sink or Swim, all one to us, so long as we resolve to prefer our Corn and our Wine, nay the vile Flesh Pots of egypt, our very Swine, and what not? to both her and her God: And when the weary Weather-beaten Passengers are crying, Help! Help! for CHRIST's Sake Help! They can neither be Heard nor Regarded, by the Incessant Noise of our Cursed outcries, O who will show us any Good? Any good but GODs Glory; Any good, but the Good of His Church; Any good, but the Advancement of Reformation, purging the Land, and kerbing of 'vice: But any Good which may advance our own base private Interests. O degenerat Scotsmen! Ah! When shall we See, Hear, or Know, that all Ranks of Persons, in Church and State, were making some sort of Confession or other, Mourning and Repenting for what they have done; And once condescending upon Particulars which pincheth us, laying their Finger upon the Sore which pains us.  
If it be granted( as no tender Christian will deny) that these are Just Grievances, and Causes of Wrath; Then it must needs follow, that there is an indispensible Necessity obliging us all, both Ministers and People, in our several Capacitys, to Disburden our Consciences of the same, and to ease our Minds, by searching into, and removing all these Causes of wrath. And if we be Sincere and Honest in the Matter, we will, not only confess all we know to be Sinful, Scandalous, and Offensive, but likewa●es, we will hearty take Elibu's, advice to Job; That which I see not, teach thou me, if I have done iniquity, I will do so no more: This were the Valley of anchor, this were a Door of Hope. Then the Refreshing should come from the Presence of the LORD. But whoever he be, of what Degree or Station soever, who have had any leading hand in the Persecutions, Blood-shed, Defections, & Declinings of the late Times, and now sitting in Judicatories, either Civil or Sacred, I am bold to say of such a Man, he is an undoubted Achan in that Court whereof he is a Member, ay and while he make some such Confession of his Error; If not publicly, yet at least in Private, before Witnesses, and his Confession minuted in the Records: And so long as they hid the cursed morsel under their tongue, holding fast deceit, we, the poor People need never expect any Good Thing to purpose, from such a Court. And we have all the Reason in the World, to believe and conclude, that such persons would quickly upon the like Occasions and Temptations, return with the Dog to the vomit, Re-act the same Tragedies, and run themselves in the same Gui●t as deep, as ever. I reckon it no heresy( as I said before) to affirm, that public, National, Scandalous, Sins, can never be fully Removed, without some kind of public Confession and Acknowledgement. And I am persuaded, that if their REPENTANCE were Sound, Sincere, and Deep( all which the Nature of the Thing doth require) there would be no need to Enforce this desirable Duty upon them; For they would soon cheerfully offer themselves, and do it of their own Accord, if it were no more but to take off the public Odium, ease their Minds, disburden their Consciences, and fully to Exoner themselves before GOD and Man. Ah! Our Dear Reverend and Venerable Assembly[ at least, all of you, who are free from any Imputation as to the above Defections] will you Declare, for your own Parts, and as Representing the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, Enact it, and Publish it to the World, for your own necessar Vindication, and Satisfaction of Scrupulous People( not to be despised) That you disown and Condemn all the late Defections and Declinings, naming them one by one( as I said before) This would( I am confident) prove a greater and more Effectual Mean of Healing, than any hitherto attempted. But though none of the above Ranks of Persons, should give Glory to GOD, by making the least Confession or acknowledgement of their Error; Yet this shall never be able( by the Grace of GOD) to tempt me( and which I earnestly desire all Good Christians likeways to Advert unto, and be-war of) for to separat from, and cast at a whole standing Ministry, as some poor Inadvertant People have rashly done) though there were yet more personal Faults and Faillings amongst us( and alas! there are too many) so long as the Precious Gospel and Ordinances of CHRIST are purely dispensed unto us by His undoubted sent Servants, and that without the least mixture of Corruption, or Inventions of Men; Where I am fully persuaded, CHRIST our Blessed LORD and Head is Graciously Present, in less or more, by His Owning, Countenancing, and Blessing the Work, and with whom He yet keepeth Communion to the sweet Experience of, I hope, not a few; Though alas! it be Rare, both as to Frequency add Degrees, if we compare it with former Dayes of the Son of Man, who now( provoked by our aggravated Sin and Guilt to desert us in a great Measure) seemeth as a Way-faring Man, that stayeth but for a Night: Only of such Persons, including the curates[ pardon the Comparison, it is only a Majore ad Minus] those Gleanings of Antichristian Prelacy, these dangerous canaanites, yet left in the Land. I am tempted to say, That if the One will by no means be convinced of their Declinings in a Day of Temptation[ I shall give it no worse Name] And likeways the Other[ with their favourites] of their horrid apostasy, &c. I am far from putting them to it, or imposing this upon them: compelled Prayers does no good. The Lord rid Scotland of this double Grievance, and Cause of Wrath, by removing them fairly off the Stage, in His own Time, and let their Defections, Declinings, Apostasies, Perjuries, &c. be for ever buried with themselves. Mean while, we had need to Pray, that while Providence for our Scourge continues them among us, that the LORD would bind up their Hands, and muzzle their Mouths, that they may no more hereafter be as Thorns in our Sides, and Pricks in our Eyes, by Infecting others, hurtful to the Common Good Cause, and from having yet a further Hand in Widening the Breach, Breaking the Peace, and Retarding a begun Work of Reformation: We have all the Reason in the World to Dread and Suspect them herein, the One as well as the Other, suppesitis supponendis, That the above Defections, &c. are just Grievances, Causes of Wrath, and Stumbling to Tender Consciences; And yet they Standing it out Resolutely, holding the Sweet Morsel under their Tongue, refusing to take with their Fault, or be Convinced of their Error; At least so far as we know, and I think the People ought to know it, and be satisfied in it, such being public Slips and Failings. I know it is a Soul-Grief to Ministers, that they and the Work of GOD in their Hands, meets with so many Stops and rubs from all Hands, for want of that due encouragement and Assistance, which the Laws of their Great LORD and MASTER indispensably Obligeth us to give them: All that they can do, by virtue of their evangelic Office, is to inflict Church Censures upon Delinquents( and O that they were more Impartial and Bold in this) but can go no further, the Civil Sword being in the Hand of the Magistrat, which, when remitted to them, and other Complaints made both of Persons and Things, are notwithstanding overlooked, Waved off, Delayed, or altogether Crushed; So that our poor Pastors knows not what to do, no Remedy left them, save to groan out in secret these their Complaints and Grievances to their MASTER, and cry, LORD, who hath believed our Report, even in this Matter? But if it be still urged, that this is not the Time, and therefore not a Seasonable Duty; We Answer, we have been long waiting upon an Angry GOD, as patiently as we can, but we must say, Impatiently upon Instruments, Year after Year, since the late Happy Revolution: Ah for the Golden Opportunitys, which Providence put fairly in our Hand, immediately upon the back of our Deliverance, and we miserable let slip through our Fingers; This may be gull and Wormwood to us all when we Reflect upon it, so that we now find to our smarting Experience, Perditur in puncto, quod non R●paratur in anno. But let us humbly ask the Question, O when will this your Time and Season come? Ah! when shall it once be? We dread when we think upon that Word, Sero medicina paratur, &c. We are confident to say, it has been GODs Time and Call to us, now these ten Years by past, and every Year the Call crieth louder and louder, this is visibly seen, and sensibly feit, by the fatal Effects, and bitter Fruits of sitting his Call: Have we not all the tokens of a hiding GOD, an absent CHRIST, the lamentable Restraint of the Spirit of GOD( a whole TRINITY seems to be bidding Scotland and Eternal Adieu, and we made to cry out with Job 23.3. O that we know where we might find him) Our woeful Barrenness under a preached Gospel, our shamefully falling from our First Love and Faithfulness, the base Nicknames given to any thing that looks like Noble Zeal and Courage, the Glory and Defence of our Famous Reforming Predecessors; That if we ask the Question, What do you think of such a Man, and such a Person in Church or State? We( by coining some new cunning Gallio-words) do immediately Answer and cry out, like so may unthinking Brutes at Random; O! He is Hot, fiery, uneasy, Humorous, Stiff, Peremptor, Dangerous, and what not? Mean while, the LORD knoweth, and our slow-paced Reformation is sensible, how few such we have to boast of in our Day: And I do believe, that this is the only Reason, why they are thus treated and dreaded, because these Speckled Birds are now become so Rare. Ah! a sad symptom, that the FIRE of our Sanctuary is almost gone out, scarce a Spark to be seen: Notwithstanding Our Zealous Predecessors made it their Great Care, to keep this FIRE continually Burning Night and Day upon the Altar of their Hearts, comform to the express Command of the Great GOD, Lev. 6.13. Besides many other sad and blae Marks of his Anger, both in our Spiritual Plagues, and Temporal Judgements, still increasing upon us. All which a Christian Scots-Man, who hath his Eyes but half open, cannot but attribute this in a great Measure to the above Causes of GODs Wrath and Displeasure against us. And doubtless he hath been all alongst, and still is saying to ever Man of us in particular, Great and Small, as well Ministers as People, as Joshua said to Achan; My Son, give I pray thee Glory to the LORD GOD of Israel, and make Confession unto him, and tell me now what thou hast done; hid it not from me. Is there not an absolute necessity, for our own Safety and Interest every way, to rid ourselves speedily of all these Achans, by openly Confessing them, and Condemning and Abjuring such Practices for ever, and do something to purpose, if possible to Appease an Angry GOD, least Wrath come upon us to the uttermost, and that same GOD break out upon us, and appear suddenly in our Camp against both Moses and Aaron, Church and State? And what if the Slighting, Neglecting, Delaying, & putting off of some necessar & seasonable Dutys, be the Grand Achan that leads the Van, or at least one of the first Rank? I think this Question may have its own weight, and of Greater Importance than we are ware of▪ The Lord is our Witness, we desire to seek nothing, but what we think yourselves will acknowledgh to be, not only Duty, but Seasonable Duty and what we may safely paund our Lives( nay let us say our Souls) will undoubtedly Contribute to the happiness of both King and People, Church and State. And let me tell you, the Present pulse of the People of Scotland; they declare, that as a GRACIOUS GOD alloweth us to give him no rest, till he make JERUSALEM a praise in the Earth, so they are resolved to give, at least, our dear and Reverend Pastors, no rest from Year to year, till we see, whether or not, a provoked GOD will honour this Generation to be Instruments in his Hand, for Carrying on and Perfecting a begun Work of Reformation; delays are dangerous, especially in Matters of greatest Moment: And do we not remarkably see, that every New year raiseth with it new difficulties, and incraseth the Old? Who in our day, regardeth that word, Eccles. 9.20. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy Might? No, but on the contrary, our cowardly Language is, Let us have a care what we do; and then, how we do it, least we Offend and Displease some, and irritat others, or endanger ourselves. I am far from Condemning Calm and Gentle Methods, necessar Caution and Commendable Prudence; and do ingenuously aclowledge,( alas for the entangling Reasons of it) that Moderation was never so apparently necessar as now in our Critical Circumstances, after so long a Tract of Defection and Corruption, Graceless Education and wicked Example; withall, considering the unaccountable perverseseness of Mens minds, the Natural averseness and rooted prejudice, that this Generation( by any that ever lived) hath at Strictness of Life, serious Religion, and the Power of Godliness, and therefore startled at any thing that looketh like further Reformation amongst them: For which I am afraid( the most part of them being so left of GOD) that it will be found scarce worth our while at the long run, to make all this bustle and pains about, if it were not, that we may enjoy our Mercies and privileges in some Peace amongst them and to prevent, if possible, their further relapses, by being unhappy Instruments, in again underminding, overturning and destroying what the great GOD hath given us, and the Laws of the Land hath Confirmed unto us, and which is happily secured in our Favours; as far as the Faith of our truly Reformed Protestant Prince can make it, by his express repeated Promises, fixed Resolution, cheerful Concurrence, Assent and Consent: However, I think the Man( of what Quality soever) that is lost by Pick or Prejudice, is scarcely worth our finding again, especially at the expense of wronging the Cause, by declining a more Necessar and Seasonable Duty; Particularly, the further Advances of a begun Work of Reformation, and exercising strict and impartial Discipline without exception? else to what purpose are Laws and Acts made as to Civil punishments and Church Censures, if not with a Fixed design to put them to due execution; And yet with all the Gentleness, Tenderness and Prudence, which the Nature of the offence; and the Circumstances and Quality of the Persons will allow: However, we being but Men at the best, we had need to advert, for itis Ten to one, if we do not sinfully ex●eed in this tender ●oint of Moderation, not having a due regard to the aweful Reason subjoined by the Spirit of GOD Phil. 4.5. For the Lord is at hand; Sure any Man in his right Wits will say, that this Memento calleth for the hight of Zeal, as much, as for true Moderation, and let me tell you, that these who are so touchy and Tender-skin'd, that we( by the Laws and Acts of the Land, Civil or Sacred) may not Reprove, Censure or punish conf●rm to the demerit of their Crime or Fault, least we irritate and provoke them to break off, and turn Tail upon us( as we use to say) I think these Creatures are not worth the Governments Courting, far less to stop the free Course of Justice in a land: And whoever are thus lost, I reckon it an infallible Sign, they were none of us, else they had continued with us, that they designed to go no further, and walk no longer with us, than Interest or Humour doth led them ( that being all their Religion) and a black mark, they are utterly voided of a true Principle of Grace. Let them red their Name and Nature in 1 Job. 2, 19. And so farewell They, till they return with the prodigal Son, perhaps upon a Death-bed, more serious and Honest; for it is( as it were) only so many Rogues taking off the Mask, and showing themselves in their own true Colours, for which we have Reason to Bless GOD. In sum, I wish we may not have already exceeded the due bounds of Scripture Moderation: For, we seeking to extricat ourselves out of difficulties by Carnal Policy, and such like Methods, do clearly see and feel to our sad experience, that the Lord hath justly turned it into our Plague and judgement, that we cannot now make a handsome Retreat; so that we must say, as in Lam. 3.7, 8, 9. He hath Hedged us about, that we cannot get out; He hath made our Chain heavy: And now when we cry, he shutteth out our Prayer. He hath closed our ways with hewn ston; He hath made our Paths crooked. O do not put us to the necessity at last( God is our Witness, sore against our will) to lay to your door, distressed Mordecai his Answer to Esther, an aweful Scripture Chap. 4.14. For if thou altogether holdest thy Peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and Deliverance arise to the Jews from another Airth, but thou and thy Fathers House shall be destroyed, and who knoweth but thou art come to the Kingdom for such a time as this? And O that such a weighty Word had the same blessed and Seasonable effect in our day, which it wrought upon this Noble, Zealous, and courageous Queen, then in a greater seeming danger by Opposers, than we can pretend to be in, vers. 16. Go gather together all the Jews that are in Shushan and Fast ye for me; I also, and my Maidens will likewise Fast, and SO will I go in unto the King, though contrair to the Law, and if I perish I perish. O how can we hear or red this without a blushy? We know it is a grief to many of your Spirits( as it is indeed unto all good Men) to reflect on these things, and the lamentable effects flowing therefrom: And would as willingly have them redressed as we ourselves could wish: BUT THIS and BUT THAT, and the other thing standeth still in the way: But we Humbly think, there is an absolute necessity for us all to make a safe and speedy Retreat, before it be too late, and resolve to be deaf to all our BUT'S and IE'S, most of them being nothing else but the distrustful result of Carnal Prudence, let us pretend what we will, and God will make it appear to be so, to our own shane and ruin, if we thus Continue to harden ourselves in this Provocation. Ah! When will the Lord make out this great and Sweet Promise unto us, Isai. 45.2. I will go before thee, and make the crooked places strait. I will break in pieces the Gates of Brass, and cut in sunder the Iron bars of all impediments in your way. I think, if ever there was a time to look back, and Speedily to Consider our ways, and what Providence is Loudly calling for from us, as our present Duty, now it is, else we must be strangely Blinded, and worse than the very Beasts. Yea, I am afraid, that of Jerem. 8.7. may be too sadly verified in our Day. The Stork in the Heavens knoweth her appointed times, and the Turtle, Cran and Swallow, observe the time of their Coming, but my People know not the Judgments of the Lord( nor his mind and and will) O let us not put him to this, When I called ye would not hear; therefore, the day is coming, that when you call, I will not hear, but ye shall die in your Iniquities. They that despise the Judgments of his Mouth, no wonder they be made to feel the Weight of the Judgments of His Hands.  
Let none think( by what I have hitherto said) that I am one of those who despise the day of small things; Or do think and expect, that the Rubbish of half an Age, can easily be cast out in one day: I Bless GOD for what we have, and do wish we were Wise to improve it better. I Bless GOD for a Blessed Change of Church Government. I bless GOD for Lawful Church Judicatories, according to evangelic Appointment, and Divine Institution; particularly for free and frequent National Assemblies, and do wish, that we did employ this our Freedom more, as I hope we might. I Bless GOD, that we have a PRINCE upon the Throne, who is the Glorious Instrument of, and giveth his Countenance, and Cheerful Concurrence to all these Blessings. I Bless the LORD for a standing Ministry of CHRISTs sent Servants, and for any Free and Powerful Preaching, particularly upon public and Solemn Occasions; And what measure of Cheerful reception and success a Preached Gospel is meeting with; and could wish there were more of this, and more Universal. I Bless GOD, that we have a set of Hopeful-li●e Young Men, Called out, and still coming forth to the Ministry; and do wish, that we may be dissappointed of our fears, as to some others. I Bless God, that there are daily added to the Church( I will not say such as Believe) the Number of Professors, Increasing; even many of those, who have all alongs stood out against the Government, of both Church and State, are now beginning to give, at least, their outward Countenance to Reformation, to a Preaehed Gospel, and other public Ordinances; and do wish some of them May not have bad and base mean designs for by-ends, and that it were more for Conscience than Interest. Though( I hope) other some of them are Real and conscientious; and this will soon Evidence itself( though no Infallible proof) by a Change of their former Company, their former way and Walk: And if this do not follow, they must give us leave to suspect them, as much as ever, and that upon good Ground, pretend what they will. I Bless the Lord, we have so much as one Noble-man in all Scotland, or any Persons of Quality to appear for the Cause of GOD, for the Interests of Christ, and the present Church Government. And that some others are come the length of even bare Morality, after 40 Years debauching of their Souls, Bodies, Consciences, Estates and all, by their avowed Profanity, Malignancy, and declared enmity against a Work of Reformation. For these and many more unexpected and undeserved Mercies and Merciful privileges, I do in gratitude, and with wonder aclowledge and Bless his Name for: But doth all this hinder our further advancing, and making every year the other gradual step, till we( by the Good Hand of GOD upon us) Arrive to the perfect Man-Child of Reformation; or at least to such a Blessed Pitch, as was from 1638, to 1650. mak-it our Business to follow more Closely these Zealous and Famous Reforming Patterns and copies gone before us?  
There is one thing more, which deserves our serious Consideration, viz. That the many Corruptions and Defections, which has insensibly creep'd in by degrees, among the poor Reformed Protestants abroad, are( we doubt not) the Causes of their present sad Disasters, which has provock'd a JEALOUS GOD( who afflicts not willingly) to fling them into the Furnace: And they being as Beacons to us, to keep off from spleeting ourselves on these Rock, let us then look about us, while( I hope) it is yet time, least we be thrown in next into a hotter Fire, then ever yet we have met with, and which we have all Reason to look for, the Lord knoweth how soon; that as we have lately been surprised into a Deliverance, even so, we may deservedly expect ere long to be surprised unto ruin, if we improve not this day of our merciful Visitation better than hitherto we have done: Because we profess to be GODs People, therefore perhaps we expect Immunity from strokes, and to pass unpunished; But the Spirit of GOD argueth quiter otherways, Amos. 3.2. You only have I known of all the Families of the Earth; therefore, I will punish you. And though we are this day, as so many Fire-brands plucked out of the Burning; yet the Lord seemeth to be saying( since we have not yet returned unto him) Therefore, thus will I do unto thee O Scotland, and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy provoked( though Covenanted GOD) O perfidious Scotland, Amos. 4.12. A burnt Child should dread the Fire. Let us but seriously lay to heart, how in the late times, we, by our Cowardly Ceding, yielding, and tampering with the then Episcopal party( these Reformation, Conspirators, and Saints-Assassinators, our sworn adversaries) when GOD was▪ but a little Angry, we did thereby ourselves, help forward the Indignation, and with our own Hands lengthened out our own Miseries: For was it not observable to the Eyes of all On-lookers, how that GOD did remarkably, once twice, yea thrice, frustrat & blast all our Attempts for Delivering ourselves( tho the Cause was Noble, Just, and Good) And no wonder, for Prov. 28.13. He that covereth his sin shall not prosper.  
But if after all that hath been said on this sad Subject, there be any( as I 'm sure no good Scots-Man dare for his Soul do) who hath the Confidence( I may rather say the shameless Impudence) either to Deny, Defend, Excuse, or Extenuat, the above too Evident Causes of Wrath: I do here for myself, and in Name of Scotlands Mourners, and all the Covenanted Friends to Reformation, enter a Solemn Protestation against all and every one of them, for the Wrongs and Effronts they have done to the Great GOD, the Indignities they have, and still do put upon the Son of GOD, Robbing Him of His Crown and sceptre, and their open Violence done to the Spirit of Grace, stiffling and Crushing the Motions of the Holy Ghost, bearing down, and warding off all Challenges whatsomever. And what I have further to add is only this, That be who they will, on the Bench, or in the Pulpit, who do resolutely stand it out, and will not take with their Sin and Guilt, I do here leave them to an awakened CONSCIENCE, A DEATH-BED, AND A TRIBUNAL, these three will make fearful Work, if Mercy, Great Mercy, and Deep Repentance, prevent not their utter ruin.   

I Now turn myself from poor Dying Worm MAN, unto the Living and True GOD, by whose Special Providence, I think myself Called( since Instruments a thousand times more Fit▪ and Qualified, are not like to appear) and do here stand Obliged, by my Sworn allegiance, upon highest peril, in my present Capacity, to offer up this my poor unworthy Mite of a Testimony and Witness for His Precious TRUTHS, the least of which is of more Value than a whole World. And for what Measure of Divine Assistance, the Blessed Hearer of Prayer( I humbly hope) hath afforded me herein, Especially, considering my great Weakness, and utter Insufficiency, I must and will speak it to His Praise, Not unto me, Not unto WORTHLESS me; But unto HIM be the Glory for ever AMEN.  
Ah LORD! O Eternal GOD, Great and Dreadful sovereign JEHOVAH, how long? Ah! what will the End of these things be? Our very Hearts trembleth to think on't. What meaneth all this heat of thine Anger? hast thou indeed past that fearful Word? Ah! I will ease myself of such a Nation as this: Is there nothing left this greatly enlightened Generation, but a fearful looking for of Judgement, and Fiery Indignation, who have thus trodden under foot the Son of GOD? Is His Mercy clean gone? and ●ill He be Favourable no more? Are we crying unto an Inexorable GOD, with poor reprobate Esau, with a great and exceeding bitter Cry: Father Bless me, even me also, O my Father. Mercy, Mercy to us, and the poor Land, even unto apostate Scotland also, O our dear Father. O LORD GOD of Hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the Prayer of thy People? Hast thou hardened Scotland, and the Inhabitants thereof( as thou did Pharaoh) That thou mayest show thy Wonders upon us? Hast thou said the Word, This Iniquity shall not be purged till they die? But halt— What am I doing? Do I Expostulat with the ALMIGHTY? Keep off O my Soul, no nearer, this is Holy Ground, come Home, stoop, fall down upon thy Face, turn Inward to thy own Conscience, and Retort the Question and Complaint upon thyself, call to thy Assistance all concerned, High and Low, Ministers and People, and there with Fear and Trembling fall upon the Speedy Search, and search again, trace back till thou come to the Source and Fountain, the unhappy Rise, Root, and Spring of all our Woe and Misery( O Spirit of the LORD help us in the Search) and come with Ropes of Humility about our Necks before this Merciful King of Israel, smiting upon our Breast, and crying, all with one Voice, AH! WHAT HAVE I DONE? O Beast! Beast that I am, have I thus provoked a Gracious Covenanted GOD? Ah! I am the Man, I am the Woman; I am the Ahab in the State, that has troubled Israel, I am the Jonah in the Church, that has raised the Storm of GODs Wrath upon the poor Ship; I am the Achan in the Camp, in the Court, in the City, in the Country, that has had a Hand in all these Evils of Sin and Misery, which is come upon the Land. Where is this monstrous ACHAN? O where lieth he hide? Ha! have I found thee, O mine Enemy? Here! here he is! PERJURY, even horrid National Perjury, with his black and unseparable Attendants of apostasy and DEFECTION, at the bottom of this weighty load of SIN, and fearful cload of WRATH, enough to sink us down to the lowest Hell, by some, lying hide under the vile Stuff of their own WORLDLY INTEREST, and by others Avowedly, and impudently set up before the Sun upon Mount Gerizim, Blessing and speaking Peace to themselves, notwithstanding Sudden Destruction seems to be at the Door. Come O our Gracious sovereign. O come High and Honourable House of Parliament. Come O Noble Council of State. O Dear and Reverend Venerable Assembly come. Come all Ranks of Persons throughout the whole Kingdom. Come for Christs sake, for your poor Countrys sake, and pull down with Zeal, Courage, and Unanmity, this GRAND TRAITOR, This Murdering Judas, and set the thrice cursed Achan up again upon Mount Ebal, where he ought to stand, and where the Great GOD hath placed him; Or stamp it, grinned it into Powder, with the melted Calf; Then sink it down to the bottonles Pit, from whence it came. Let GOD and Man Combine together against this Soul-destroying bloody Monster. Heavens heavy Curse, the Vengeance of His Temple, the Curse of three Kingdoms, the Curse of all Scotlands Martyres and Mourners, the Curse of an once Glorious, but new half ruined Reformation, light eternally upon it, to the Dread and Alarm of all it's hold and obstinately Impenitent confederates, and perpetual terror of this and all succeeding Ages, even until that great Day, when these miserable Miscreants, itis bold Contrivers and Promotters, with all their criminal Soeii Criminis, shall stand trembling at the Bar, and crying out in despair, Hills and Mountains cover us, &c. At the first opening of the Book, when the Meek Lamb Jesus( then the Roaring lion of the Tribe of Judah, and their Terrible Judge) shall set this Damning Sin in its fearful shapes, broad and full in their View, where they with it, and it with them shall be again dragged back to their place of Torment: Let the stoutest of them then tell, whether it had been better and safer for them to have obeied God, rather than Man. This Perjury with its desperat Fellow-Combatants, are Satans Infernal three worthies, who have destroyed the Camp of Gods Israel, and ruined a whole Work of Reformation; Nay darringly ventures to break through a whole Host of Sins, Plagues and Judgements, and all to fetch a little water from the Cursed. Well of Worldly Interest: Ah! is there none to Appear for the Land, when the Lord is seeking out a Man among us all, to make up the Hedge, and stand in the Gap before Him, that he may not destroy it? Is there none to step in 'twixt the Living and the Dead, to quench the Fire of Gods wrath already broken out, before it burst forth into a flamme, which will laugh at, and burn up all our Carnal Policys, Canny Prudence, and basely overstreached and wrested Moderation? O whether is a Self denied and public Spirit gone▪ Where is that Man to be found, who will Resolutely and courageously offer his Service to GOD and His Generation at a Dead Lift? When the thundering Voice of Providence is now calling and crying, Whom shall I employ? whom shall I sand? who will go for us? O where is the Man, who with Noble Isaiah 6.8. Is briskly Answering a whole Trinity? Here am I Lord, sand me. Little do unthinking Persons of all Ranks consider, that the Blood of a poor half-ruin'd Land, People, and Reformation, will ly heavy upon the Heads and Skirts of these Men, who Can, but Will not bestir themselves, and fall upon speedy and effectual Courses and Methods, to Appease an Angry God, remove what is provoking to him, offensive to his People, and damning to themselves; Now when the Cause of GOD every where, the precious Interests of Christ, the poor persecuted Protestants Abroad, and thousands of miserable starving Familys at home, are all wishfully looking and gazing this way and that way on Instruments( as yet to no purpose) with Ruthful Crys, Ah! Help, Help! Is there none to help before we perish? O how long shall we maintain a cowardly and distrustful Contest, betwixt a Seasonable Duty, and the seeming dangers and difficultys attending it? Ah for a mighty Rushing of the Spirit of God, and the sound of a Noise upon the tops of these M●ll-berry Trees, our Dry, Dead, and withered Hearts, Even so come LORD JESUS, come Quickly. AMEN.   

POSTSCRIPT  
SInce all Men are liable to Mistakes( there being no Perfection in this side of Heaven) Therefore, if the Author have accidentally Committed any escapes, either by a few Unpolished Expressions, or otherways perhaps Lame, as to some small Circumstances of the Truth; and declaring before GOD and Man; that his Design, Aim and Meaning, is Innocent, Harmless, Loyal, and Honest, not presuming to reflect upon either his SACRED MAJESTY, or the supreme Courts of the Nation; but only upon some Particular kinds of Persons, which he neither will, nor Infallibly can Condescend upon; and supposing such things to be true, which are Universally laid to their Charge, he persuades himself, that none will offer to Treat him the worse for his Ingenuity; There being alas! too many( and we have a pretty good guess of them all) that may speak fair, while Seven abominations are in their Hearts, and ready on all occasions, to smite us under the Fifth Rib, like those in Prov. 26.24, 25, 26. He that Dissembleth with his Lips, and layeth up deceit within him, when he speaketh fair, believe him not, for there are Seven Abominations in his Heart, whose Hatred is Covered by deceit. And 2 Sam. 20.9, 10. Joab said to Amasa: Art thou in Health my Brother? And took him by the Beard with the Right hand, of a Profession, and pretended Friendship, to kiss him; while poor Amasa took no heed to the Sword that was in his Left hand of secret Revenge and Enmity, till the other smote him therewith in the Fifth Rib. Now, let ony Man in his Right Wits, Judge, if one Joab may not do, and actually doth more hurt in a Church or Commonwealth, than a Thousand such as the Author, who openeth his Breast, and freely declareth his mind to the World: And yet what Care is taken to and out these Men, keep a watchful Eye of jealousy over them, to observe their Motions, bear them down, and Cause their wickedness to be publicly shown before the whole Congregation? Prov. 26. It is therefore Expected, and the Author Begg●, that the Candid Reader, will fairly Impute these his Defects to the Want of that Infallible knowledge and Memory Requesite, or to the Infirmity of his Constitution and Temper( having with all the Caution, possible, laboured to avoid extremes on either hand, or the Foisting in any thing of his own Brain and Fancy) And since every Man doth at the First View, clearly see, that the design of the whole, hath a manifest Tendency to the GLORY of GOD, and to the undoubted Good of both KING and Country, CHURGH and State, every way; especially, it being an Undertaking of that Nature, wherein it is Impossible to please all; Nay( I may say) any at all, save only the Humble Soul, and the Convinced sinner. From these, & many more forcible and pleading Reasons, he doth think, that the Sin of ig●●norance and Infirmity, deserveth neither He●ding nor Hanging▪ And if any thing hath fallen from his Pen, that may Meri● a Reprimand( though he doth expect rather the Thanks of the House) why not? He offereth willingly ●o submit unto it. But if some Wicked Haman, or ill minded Fellow, will needs throw the First ston at poor Mordecai( and, be sure, the most Guilty, will be the most forward and ready in this Impudent Age) they but endeavour to tramp upon a S— r, which will certainly spread the more, and probably to his own fruit, though he should oblige the Author[ who wisheth him well] to betake himself to his Old Childish play, which was Inverted to a Tragedy, and often reacted in the late Bloody Reigns, viz: hid thyself well wherever thou be, &c. The Reason why he is thus Comical, Free▪ and Homely, is because he reckons all Courts as now Established, to be Friends( at least ought to be so] to the Man that Designeth Honestly, though they and he both may have their own Personal and public Failings, faults, Slips and Short-comings: And that no Good Man will offer to bring his Neighbour into trouble, where he finds him Honest and Serio●s in the Main. They who seriously Consider how Matters are going, & still like to go, will aclowledge that it s almost impossible for the Meekest Moses among us to open his Mouth, without showing his Teeth. I remember he  told you in his Apology, that as he was then stated, he durst not so much as Minch the least TRUTH; Therefore he now begs, you would Pardon him, if he speaketh what he thinks to be so. Upon all which Considerations, he Boldly ventures to Subscribe Himself[ But hold 
— This being a Ticklish World, he thinks fit to do it, with  
ERRORS EXCEPTED, and NAME BLANK.—  
A LOVER of the TRUTH, and a FRIEND to all MEN.     

APPENDIX.  
THAT I may fill up the Remaining waste paper before me, I hope it will not be improper, if I insert a particular of Memorable Importance and Glorious Concern to poor unworthy Scotland, which the good Providence of GOD has just now cast in my way, and which[ me thinks] should Animat and encourage all of us to a Cheerful observing and Conscientious practising of what I have here Humbly proposed in these few Sheets, as our indispensible duty and undoubted Interest. A●d that is, the Great, good and welcome News of the safe Arrival[ upon the 2d of November last] of our Generous and Resolute Brethren, lately gone from us, and of their begun Happy Settlement at DARIEN in America, dating their Letters from NEW-EDINBURGH in PORT CALED●N●A, where they Enjoy a wholesome Air, and healthy Climat, as is in all that Vast Continent, with a most Rich and Fer●●le Son, for all things desirable to the outward Man; and were received and Catressed by the Natives, at their very first landing, with all the demonstrations of Respect, Joy and Affection; and do find them a ●●nd and Obliging People, offering already, great things for their Encouragement: So that in effect, they are become in a manner, our willing Subjects; taking Commissions from us, and swearing allegiance to u●. ●hi● i● indeed ●o undertaking every way so Glorious and formidable, that( if our ●●eful, repeated provocati●●●● do not ●●ill stop the current of our mercies) it will prove not only Amazing and Surprising to all our 〈◇〉 Neighbours about 〈◇〉 but likewise make this 〈…〉 ●●●ed Nation ●●●ounted ●●nriched to all Poste●●ty; es●●●●●lly, if we make it ●●t Bussiness to propagate the precious Gospel of Christ, and 〈◇〉 the …〉 〈◇〉 sending the Joyful sound and glad Tidings of Salvation to these ●li●d●d Nations, who are ●●lly falli●● down and worshipping Grave● Images▪ And if we shall faithfully and Conscientiously Tr●●s●●● thi● in 〈◇〉 Jewel unto them in cleanly Earthen Vessels, the Blessing of these poor Creatures ready to perish, and GOD▪ ●ich Blessing to Boot, will come upon us. But above all( as we are bound before GOD in Gratitude and conscience to do) let us Feast our Pagan Friends with wholesome Food. And therefore to take Care that none be suffered to go there on that great design, but the Undoubted s●●t Servants, and Faithful Ambassadors of Christ, those who have his Commission, and are Clo●●hed with his Authority: Then I do not doubt, but( with their Masters presence) they may come to work wonders in a few Years amongst these poor perishing Natives, to whom we are already so much obliged, And therefore I hope, our Church Judicatories, will not reckon it belo● the most Eminent amongst them, Cheerfully to offer their Service to that GOD, who hath given the outmost Ends of the Earth to his Son for a Possession, and to this great & Glorious undertaking, it being a Post most Honourable. For the LORDs sake, for the Glory of our GOD, for our Dear Brethren and Country-Mens sake, now groaning and pining under the sad and heavy loss of their Spiritual Overseers, whom GOD has removed from them, as a Just stroke and Punishment( I am afraid) to many in that Company for their profane Walk and loose Conversation; And likeways as a Sharp trial to Others, all of them being now left to wander as Sheep without a shepherd in a strange Land, amongst wild Pagans( as they themselves do word it) where I fear, those who are not well Grounded, may come to join in with the Abominations of these People, with whom they now Live and Converse: And( may I add) for our own sakes here at Home, to whom Divine Providence may alott this spot of Ground( New Scotland) for an Azylum, Sanctuary, and Shelter, for whatever Storms and National Calamitys may threaten and blow upon Sinful and Provoking old Scotland, in our present or succeeding Ages. Let us then fall upon speedy and effectual Methods to choice out, Ordain and Dispatch over, with all Expedition, two, atleast, of the most Pious, Grave, and Learned Men among us, for the Service of GOD, our Country and those poor Natives: For we all know, that if any of the Episcopal Clergy should once get footing amongst them, then no sooner those poor Ignorant People comes to be Nomin●l Christians, but as soon they will teach them the Doctrine of Devils( if that of Pride and Kirk Ambition be one) by instiling into their dark Minds, that they and the Church, must be Governed by so many Lordly prelates, with the rest of their dignified and distinguished Trash: But let me advice such, that they first Ca●●● another Gospel, and keep the Express Words of our Saviour, with the four Evangelists, and Doctrine of the Apostles qui●● out of their sight; All which do flee in the Face, and knock down this their Dagon of Prelacy. And on the other hand, let these poor Creatures take Care, after they are made Christians in Name, and Formal worshippers, that they Advance not one step further in Reformation, by crossing their Reverend Fathers in their Tyrannical and Lordly Dominion over Mens Consciences, get Saving Illumination, and become Christians indeed; Else a R●d for their ●acks, Scots Boots and Thummikins, &c. And( if that won't do) then a Rope for their Necks, must be the only Argument to Reduce these Indian Whigs to their former Slavish Obedience. Ah! We know not what Unhappy Instruments may be waiting for our halting in this Grand Affair, our Enemies still lying upon a Catch, it will be our Wisdom therefore to prevent them. Principiis Obsta, &c.  
And if this should meet with the least rub or Delay( as we are all persuaded it will not) there will be a ne●essity to betake ourselves to the Old Scripture Method, Acts. 1: 24, 25, 26, 27. Of making a Lee● of Eight or Ten Ministers, not having the Charge of Wife and Children; And after solemn calling upon GOD by Prayer, give forth their Lo●●, and let Providence make the final Decision, what Two of that Number shall go, the thing requiring hast, and it being an undoubted Magis bonum Ecclesia, of far greater Consequence than a whole Province of particular Congregations. But I hope there shall be no need of this Extraordinary Method. The ●ORD Bless and Succeed this Glorious Undertaking and Noble Adventure, so that it may tend to both the Spiritual Good ●nd Temporal Advantage of this poor half-ruin'd Nation, And let every Tr●e Christian S●●●s●●● say AMEN.  
FINIS.