THE 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 OF 
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP, 
 
 (OF ST. ANDREWS.) 
 BY 
 
 THOMAS STEPHEN, 
 
 MED. LIB. KING'S COLL. 
 
 Author of " The Book of the Constitution," " Guide to the Liturgy," 
 
 LONDON: 
 JOSEPH RICKERBY, SHERBOURN LANE, 
 
 KING WILT.TAM STREET, CITY. 
 
 MDCCCXXX1X.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 I BELIEVE this is the first modern attempt at 
 giving a life of Archbishop Sharp ; who having 
 been so much engaged in public affairs, it was 
 impossible to avoid entering into the whole Eccle- 
 siastical history of the times in which he lived. 
 I have taken a different view from the leading 
 historian of the reigns of the royal brothers ; but 
 have not advanced any opinion or fact without 
 adducing ample authority. The history of the 
 latter end of the seventeenth century was com- 
 piled by furious partizans, actuated by the most 
 violent passions, it has therefore been impossible 
 to avoid controversy on some disputed points of 
 history. From the Restoration to the Revolu- 
 tion, the church in Scotland was so crushed 
 under the power of the ministers of the crown, 
 that she appeared to be more a state-engine than 
 an independent Ecclesiastical estate. 
 
 I have had the peculiar advantage of consult- 
 ing some original MSS., belonging to the church 
 in Scotland, and which are deposited in the 
 " Episcopal Chest" at Aberdeen. This could
 
 11 PREFACE. 
 
 only be done under the authority of the whole of 
 the Scottish prelates, who most kindly conde- 
 scended to favour me with an order for that 
 purpose. These documents are now published, 
 some of them for the first time, according to their 
 dates. It is hoped that the following history 
 will therefore be found worthy of public patron- 
 age ; and that I have succeeded in dispelling 
 many prejudices under which the character of 
 the murdered prelate and that branch of the 
 church catholic has so long laboured. 
 
 The late Miss Sharp, who is mentioned by 
 Boswell, in Dr. Johnson's Tour to the Hebrides, 
 collected a great quantity of papers relating to 
 her ancestor, Archbishop Sharp. Her nephew, 
 General Bethune of Blebo, having been detained 
 prisoner by Bonaparte after the Peace of Amiens, 
 and despairing of his return, she unfortunately 
 ordered them all to be burnt previous to her 
 death. Much genuine information, relating to 
 history and the private affairs of the primate, has 
 thus been lost. 
 
 T. & 
 
 King's College, 
 
 December, 1838.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE first introduction of Christianity into Scotland has 
 been ascribed to several individuals, and different eras 
 have been fixed ; but to none of them do 1 think entire 
 credit is due. Christianity was gradually received into 
 Scotland from South Britain, most probably in the rear 
 of the Roman armies, and the church in Scotland was 
 merely an extension of the ancient British church. 
 When the Saxons massacred the British, and drove the 
 remnant into Wales, Christianity took shelter there. 
 The church was unquestionably planted in South 
 Britain by St. Paul, and maintained its independence 
 of Rome in Wales, as a Protestant church, down to the 
 middle of the twelfth century. 
 
 By the end of the second century it is ascertained 
 that the Christian faith had made considerable progress 
 in Scotland, though it is probable there was not then 
 any regularly gathered church. It was not till the be- 
 ginning of the fifth century that St. Ninian, who was 
 himself a South Briton, organised the church. He 
 built the Candida Cam, at Whithorn, in Galloway, 
 and there fixed his Episcopal seat. He travelled much 
 among the Picts and Scots, and, says Bishop Lloyd on 
 the authority of Bede, " He did all the parts of an 
 apostle ; he consecrated bishops among them ; he 
 
 b 2
 
 IV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ordained priests, and divided their country into parishes, 
 and so having formed and settled their church, he re- 
 turned to his own see at Whithorn, and there he died 
 about eighteen years after their conversion." Whenso- 
 ever the glad tidings of salvation was brought to that 
 kingdom, blessed be the name of the Most High, who 
 predestinated it unto the adoption of children by Jesus 
 Christ, and vouchsafed, even in the day-spring of the 
 gospel, graciously to remember and visit it. And may 
 He who seeth in secret, reward those openly who, 
 though unknown to fame, were the messengers of 
 salvation. 
 
 St. Ninian died on the 16th September, 432, which 
 day was for many ages kept as an annual festival in 
 honour of his memory, and the many parish-churches 
 which were dedicated to his name, shows the just re- 
 spect in which he was held in all parts of Scotland. 
 About the period of his death, Celestine sent Palladius 
 to assist the Scottish church in the suppression of the 
 Pelagian heresy. With the usual crafty policy of Rome, 
 even at that early period of the mystery of iniquity, he 
 attempted to assume dominion over the faith of the 
 Scottish church. He thought, says Hollinshed, in his 
 Chronicles, " he should easily persuade that crooked 
 nation to admit and receive the rites of the Church of 
 Rome as he would fain have done before-hand in the 
 South. But as Fastidius Priscus, Archbishop of Lon- 
 don, and his suffragans resisted him here, so did the 
 Scottish prelates there also in this behalf.' 1 '' 
 
 In right of his usurped patriarchal authority, Celes- 
 tine conferred on Palladius the rank and title of 
 Primus Scotia Episcopus, first or chief bishop of Scot- 
 land. The Primus was also called Maximus and
 
 INTRODUCTION. V 
 
 Summus Episcopus, and sometimes simply Episcopus 
 Scotorum. Primus did not indicate Jlrst in point of 
 time but of dignity or rank. The chief bishop of 
 Scotland retained this title till the episcopate of Patrick 
 Graham, in the year 1466, when Pope Celestine III. 
 conferred on him the title of archbishop, to establish 
 the independence of the Scottish church against the 
 claims of the see of York. This title was retained till 
 the death of Archbishop Patterson, after the Revolution, 
 when Dr. Rose, Lord Bishop of Edinburgh, reassumed 
 the ancient title of Primus Scotice JEpiscopus, and 
 which has ever since been borne by his successors in 
 office. A new Primus is elected on the demise or 
 resignation of his predecessor, and the present worthy 
 and much-esteemed occupant of that ancient office is 
 the Right Rev. James Walker, D. D. of St. John's 
 College, Cambridge, and Bishop of Edinburgh. 
 
 Perhaps the most incontestible proof of the identity 
 of the British, the Irish, and the Scottish churches, 
 is the fact that all of them retained the old cycle, 
 in keeping the festival of Easter, in opposition to the 
 Anglo-Saxon church. Austin, and his successors, at- 
 tempted to settle a conformity with the new cycle, but 
 which was resisted both by the British and the Scottish 
 churches. Some Scottish and Anglo-Saxon bishops 
 held a synod, for composing this controversy, but 
 neither yielded. On this subject the Scottish church 
 began to divide among themselves, and Eugenius VI . 
 having sent Bishop Adamnanus on an embassy to the 
 King of Northumberland, he became a convert to the 
 new style, and on his return, succeeded in introducing 
 it into the Scottish church. 
 
 The Papal power was never exercised with the same
 
 vi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 rigour in Scotland as in other countries under the 
 pope's usurpation ; but by all accounts, the clergy seem 
 to have been exceedingly dissolute ; and their vices were 
 the principal topic of declamation by the first Reformers. 
 The Reformation in Scotland was entirely a popu- 
 lar movement, and was opposed both by the court 
 and the Romish hierarchy. John Knox appealed 
 rather to the passions, than to the reason or the faith 
 of the people, and easily enlisted them in a war of 
 devastation on the sacred and conventual buildings. He 
 established in 1560 an Episcopal government, under the 
 name of superintendents, ministers, and readers, which 
 last were to purchase for themselves a good degree, 
 which shows that he intended them to be ecclesiastical 
 officers. His intimate friend, Ersldne of Dun, and one 
 of his superintendents, asserts, in a letter to the 
 regent, " that a bishop or superintendent, is but one 
 office ; and where the one is, the other is:" to which 
 office, he says, " pertains examination and admission 
 (ordination) into spiritual cure and office." Besides, pro- 
 vision was made for the support of the superintendents, 
 " in all time coming" a form of speech which evidently 
 indicated perpetuity. This government of superin- 
 tendents, or titular bishops, continued till the year 1580, 
 when Melville succeeded in erecting ihejftrst Presbyte- 
 rian court. But the Presbyterian system was not 
 confirmed by parliament till 1595, thirty-five years after 
 the establishment of Knox's titular Episcopacy, by the 
 estates of parliament. It occupied Andrew Melville 
 seventeen years of fierce contention and agitation, 
 before he accomplished the overthrow of Knox's su- 
 perintendents, and the substitution of \heforeign plant, 
 Presbytery, which lasted no longer than till 1597.
 
 INTRODUCTION. Vll 
 
 The confusion and sedition to which it then (and, 
 indeed, always has) created, obliged James to restore 
 the titular Episcopacy. 
 
 In 1603 James succeeded to the crown of England, 
 and in 1610 he convoked a general assembly at Glas- 
 gow, which unanimously recognised Episcopacy as 
 the national church, in all time coming. Spottiswood, 
 who is, perhaps, amongst the greatest men whom that 
 church has produced, with two other titular bishops, 
 were summoned to London, where they were duly con- 
 secrated} and who, after their return, consecrated their 
 brethren, the other titular bishops, and ordained the 
 clergy. 
 
 A few factious firebrands dissented from the now 
 happily settled order of the church, and whose re- 
 ligious turbulence found able assistants in the lay no- 
 bility, who having plundered the church, rushed into 
 the horrid sin of rebellion, rather than restore the 
 church and abbey lands, which they had seized at the 
 Reformation. Charles I. summoned a General As- 
 sembly in 1638, which was packed by Presbyterians, 
 rebels, and men inimical to church and state ; they 
 forcibly prevented the bishops from sitting, and ex- 
 communicated them, which, respecting their spiritual 
 powers, was a matter of no moment, as they could 
 not cut them off from the church catholic. The 
 effect however, was very different in a temporal 
 point of view; for it placed their property under 
 confiscation, and rendered themselves liable to assassi- 
 nation, without protection or redress. 
 
 Their properties were forfeited, and to save their 
 lives, the bishops fled into England, where they all 
 died, save one, without providing for the succession.
 
 Vlll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Such of the inferior clergy as were able to retain their 
 benefices, being thus left without governors, sank quietly 
 down, to all outward appearance, at least, Presbyterians. 
 They submitted to the tyrannical " pressure from with- 
 out," which they were unable either to resist or controul. 
 As no society can subsist without government, they met 
 in presbyteries and synods, but were soon obliged to 
 withdraw from the real Presbyterians, who were called 
 Reinonstrators, on account of their rebellious, fanatical, 
 and tyrannical conduct. This anomalous state of 
 things continued till the Restoration ; at which time, 
 as will be seen by the following history, the church was 
 again planted, and cheerfully recognised, by at least 
 nine-tenths of the clergy and people. It was in a very 
 nourishing and united state at the Revolution : when, 
 by the relaxation of government, the faction which had 
 embroiled and agitated the western counties forcibly 
 drove the clergy from their cures on Christmas-day, 
 1688, and subjected them to the most cruel persecu- 
 tion. 
 
 The civil government fell into the hands of those 
 men who had instigated the Covenanters to their law- 
 less violence during the two preceding reigns, and now 
 winked at their cruel treatment of the clergy. The 
 Covenanters urged the "inclinations of the people," 
 i. e. the clamours of their own faction, as their claim of 
 right to the establishment. William was deceived by 
 those Presbyterians who had access to him, both before 
 and after the Revolution. When his sagacity disco- 
 vered the true state of affairs, he made several ineffectual 
 efforts to induce the Scottish bishops to transfer their 
 allegiance to him ; and it was with considerable difficulty 
 that he was at last prevailed on to pennit the establish-
 
 INTRODUCTION. ix 
 
 ment of Presbytery. M'Connick, a violent partizan, in 
 his Life of Carstairs, says, that " it was not till he 
 (William) found that all attempts towards a compre- 
 hension in England would probably be rendered in- 
 effectual by the violence of the high-church party, that 
 he yielded to the establishment of Presbytery in Scot- 
 land" p. 43. " Nor had he sooner consented, than 
 by the indiscreet management of those who were en- 
 trusted by him in the direction of Scottish affairs, and 
 the headstrong VIOLENCE of the Presbyterian clergy, 
 lie benefit to REPENT of what he had done in their 
 favour" " In the preceding session of parliament, 
 King William being with CONSIDERABLE DIFFICULTY pre- 
 vailed on to consent to the abolition of prelacy in Scot- 
 land; but still kept sight of his favourite object, which 
 was an entire union betwixt the two kingdoms, both 
 in church and state. For this reason, he absolutely 
 refused to give his assent to an act which was proposed 
 by some of the rigid Presbyterians, asserting that Pres- 
 bytery was the only form of church -government 
 agreeable to the word of God." p. 47. 
 
 The violence of the Covenanters, aided by the timid 
 non-resistance of the Episcopal clergy, succeeded in 
 forcing Presbytery on the nation, much against the 
 " inclinations of the people." As a nation, it has shown 
 itself unworthy of the sacred deposit of the apostolical 
 succession, by the sacrilegious murder of three Arch- 
 bishops of St. Andrews, and the proscription of the 
 whole Episcopal order, with which Christ promised to 
 be till time should merge into eternity. This murder- 
 ous proscription they have bound upon their souls by 
 a solemn oath. Our Saviour's affectionate lamentation 
 over Jerusalem applies with full force to that kingdom,
 
 X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 which has indeed killed the prophets, and stoned those 
 who were sent. Matt, xxiii. 37 39. Repeatedly has 
 the attempt been made to gather them into the apos- 
 tolic fellowship, but they would not ; and therefore they 
 have cut themselves off from the communion of the 
 church catholic, and have been given up to a state of 
 anarchy and division.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. Page 1 . 
 
 Parentage Birth Education Goes to Oxford Illness 
 Return to Scotland Professor of Divinity Fracas Pre- 
 sented to the Living of Crail Retrospect League and 
 Covenant Glasgow Assembly Resolutioners Protestors 
 Interview with Cromwell His Conduct approved Monck 
 Death of Cromwell Sharp joins Monck at Coldstream 
 Monck reaches London. 
 
 CHAPTER II. Page 24. 
 
 Monck again sends for Mr. Sharp His instructions 
 Reflections Anecdote Instructions to Wodrow Anecdotes 
 Monck's Letter to Douglass Secluded Members restored 
 Proceedings of the Rump Dissolution Mr. Sharp's 
 Opinion of Affairs Reaction in favour of the King Solemn 
 League and Covenant Mr. Douglass' Letter Extracts 
 from the Correspondence of Messrs. Douglass and Sharp 
 Erastianism Reaction in Scotland Mr. Sharp agrees to 
 go to Breda Arrives there, and has an audience of the 
 King Letter to Mr. Douglass Extracts of Letters 
 Liturgy restored in England Meeting at Sion House 
 Letter to Mr. Douglass Reflections Letters Thanks-
 
 Xii CONTENTS. 
 
 giving The people in favour of Episcopacy Letters 
 Scottish Administration appointed Committee of Estates 
 Mr. Sharp leaves London. 
 
 CHAPTER IIL-Page 84. 
 
 Trials and Executions of the Marquis of Argyle Mr. 
 Guthrie, and Sir Archibald Johnston, of Warriston. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. Page 130. 
 
 Mr. Sharp receives a pension Chosen Professor of 
 Divinity at St. Andrews Calamy's letter Thanks of the 
 Presbytery of Edinburgh Resigns his commission Wodrow 
 King's letter to the Presbytery of Edinburgh Reflections 
 Protest of the bishops in 1638 Reflections The Tender 
 Committee of Estates Returns to Crial National Records 
 lost Meeting of Parliament Riding Oath of Allegiance 
 Acts Act Recissory Restoration of Episopacy Festival 
 of the King's Restoration appointed Patronages restored 
 Reflections Proceedings of the Covenanters Mr. Sharp 
 summoned to Court Petition of the Synod of Aberdeen 
 Sharp and Douglass summoned to Court King's popularity 
 Sharp appointed Archbishop of St. Andrews Lauderdale 
 Proclamation Letter from the king to the privy council 
 Proclamation Popular opinion Nicol's Diary Douglass 
 Brief account of the first four bishops Proclamation Sharp 
 and Leighton ordained priests Four consecrated bishops 
 Extract from the Lambeth register-book Reflections. 
 
 CHAPTER V. Page 203. 
 
 Form of presentation to the bishoprics Synods and Pres- 
 byteries forbidden to meet till confirmed Petition of the 
 Presbytery of Kirkcudbright Bishops arrive at Berwick 
 Popular feeling Triumphal entry Consecration List of the 
 bishops Reflections Anecdote Burnet's character of the
 
 CONTENTS. XIII 
 
 bishops " True and Impartial Account'' Turkish Spy 
 Meeting of Parliament " Redintegration" of the Episcopal 
 order Deputation sent to invite the bishops to take their 
 seats in parliament Procession Order in which the Com- 
 missioner and the Three Estates sat Procession to the palace 
 Covenant declared illegal Presentation and collation to 
 churches required Declaration on taking office Proroga- 
 tion Description of the church-service Synodical meetings 
 Synod of Edinburgh Synod of Glasgow Commissioners' 
 Progress Council at Glasgow Ministers desert their charges 
 Glasgow act Further proceedings Middleton removed 
 Christmas kept Livingston Covenant ordered to be burnt 
 Burnt at Linlithgow Henderson's monument defaced. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. Page 260. 
 
 1663. Desertion of the Covenanting ministers New In- 
 cumbents their character Reflections Schism Jesuits 
 Field-meetings Meeting of parliament Rothes, lord com- 
 missioner Lauderdale, prime minister General Assembly 
 proposed Scots mile act Cause of it Dissolution and 
 Riding of Parliament Death of Archbishop Fairfowl His 
 funeral Bishop Sydserf's death Ascension-day and the 
 Restoration, observed as holidays 1664. Gilbert Burnet 
 Court of High Commission Precedence of the Archbishop of 
 St. Andrews Opinions Death of the chancellor Sir James 
 Turner Court of High Commission met Rothes appointed 
 treasurer Two archbishops, privy counsellors Burnet's ac- 
 count of appointing the chancellor Depositions Reflec- 
 tions. 1665. Covenanters disarmed Convention of Estates 
 Depositions Act of Council Riot in the West Kirk 
 Archbishop Sharp's letter to the Earl of Kincardine 1666. 
 Seditious meetings Reflections Archbishop Sharp goes to 
 court Burnet's anecdotes of him Troops raised Soldiers 
 sent into the disaffected districts Insurrection in Galloway 
 Turner made prisoner Proceedings of the rebels Pro- 
 clamationWallace Rullion Green Position of the rebels 
 Battle of Pentland Rout Flight Debates respecting
 
 JMV CONTENTS. 
 
 quarter Odium falls on the bishops Executions King's 
 letter M'Kail His trial Execution Anecdote Reflec- 
 tions Bishop Wishart. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. Page 362. 
 
 1667. King's letter to the primate Convention of Es- 
 tates Western counties disarmed Rothes disgraced King's 
 letter Bond of Peace Reasons for refusing it Primate's 
 letter to Rothes Erastianism defeated. 1668. Sir James 
 Turner's trial Leighton's Accommodation The Indulgence 
 Attempt to assassinate the primate James Mitchel 
 Several accounts Mitchel's character Privy council Letter 
 to the king Lauderdale's letter of condolence Outrages of 
 the Covenanters. 1669, Covenanters Their meetings de- 
 clared illegal Indulgence Conditions King's letter 
 Nature of the Indulgence Remarks Some ministers accept 
 the Indulgence Formulary Erastianism Ministers return 
 thanks Bishops and Clergy averse to this comprehension 
 Bishop Sage's remarks Wodrow's Disaffected ministers 
 in Holland Object to the want of a popular call Popular 
 opinion of the Indulgence Remonstrance of the Synod of 
 Glasgow Conduct of the Government Archbishop of Glas- 
 gow removed from Parliament Meeting of Parliament 
 Assertatory Act Reflections Primate's opposition Object 
 of the act Reflections Archbishop Burnet Cause of his 
 suspension Primate also in danger of deprivation Act for 
 the personal security of the clergy Their oppression 
 Leighton. 1670. Collations Remarks on the number of 
 Dissenters Reflections Archbishop Burnet deprived 
 Leighton his clergy accused Field-conventicles Men go 
 armed Conventicle at Beith Meeting of Parliament Acts 
 Conventicle Act Reflections Preachers sent among the 
 Covenanters Conference betwixt Leighton and the indulged 
 ministers The " Accommodation" Reflections Conspiracy 
 against the church King's letter Remarks by Archbishop 
 Paterson Private instructions to Lauderdale. 1671. Leigh- 
 ton's second attempt at conciliation Death of bishop Wishart.
 
 CONTENTS. XV 
 
 CHAPTER VII. Page 443. 
 
 1672. Lauderdale created a Duke His offices Severities 
 on the keepers of conventicles Toleration Lauderdale's 
 policy More ministers restored. 1673. Opposition in Par- 
 liament. 1674. Prorogation Opposition Welsh Riotous 
 assemblage of women Act of Grace its evil effects Lauder- 
 dale his letter to the primate Mitchel's arrest Act of 
 Council Forrester deposed Archbishop Burnet restored 
 King's letter Leighton's letter Agitation for a National 
 Synod Primate's letter to Archbishop Sheldon Bishop of 
 Dumblane translated to the isles Conventicles Secret con- 
 nivance Complaint of the Glasgow clergy Death of Bishop 
 Hamilton. 1675. Letters of intercommuning Bishop Burnet 
 Archbishop Paterson's letter to the Primate Bishop Ram- 
 say's letter to the Primate his reply Primate's return 
 Commission of enquiry on the Bishop of Dumblane his de- 
 fence restored to his See Grievance of the Assertory Act 
 Test resisted withdrawn. 1676. Clergy assaulted 
 King's letter restoring the Bishop of Dumblane and clergy- 
 men Arrest of Kirkton Further indulgence Remonstrance 
 against it More conventicles Welsh Army kept in readi- 
 ness in Ireland to enter Scotland Highland Host Transac- 
 tions in the disaffected counties Death and translations of 
 several bishops. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. Page 525. 
 
 1678. James Mitchel his arrest Threatening letter to 
 the Primate Mitchel's trial Lord Advocate's address to the 
 Court Interlocutor Mitchel's confession Depositions of 
 witnesses Defence Argument Verdict Reflections 
 Ravaillac Redivivus Prison-hours His written speech 
 Reflections Threatening letters sent to the Primate Mitchel's 
 execution Kingsland's Curates Law-burrows Duke of 
 Hamilton repairs to London Highland Host disbanded Con- 
 vention of Estates Cess Mrs. Smyth of Methven. 1679. 
 Primate's letter to Mrs. Smyth Bishop of Galloway Trans.
 
 lations Assault on Major Johnston Soldiers murdered 
 County address King's letter Opinions of his adversaries 
 Murderers' names Preliminary proceedings Balfour of 
 Burley Anonymous papers dropped Transactions of the 
 assassins their delusion Russell's revelation Letter to Sir 
 W. Sharp Primate crossed the Forth slept at Kennoway 
 His deportment first alarm the attack cut in the wrist 
 his death Miss Sharp Robbery Cargill's letter Privy 
 Council's letter to the King Same to Lauderdale King's 
 letter to the Privy Council Proclamation Dr. Burns Hind 
 let Loose Reflections De Foe Sir William Sharp's letter 
 Surgeon's post mortem report Funeral procession 
 Personal appearance Domestic habits Character.
 
 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 OF 
 
 AKXJHBISHOP SHARP. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Parentage Birth Education Goes to Oxford Illness 
 Return to Scotland Professor of Divinity Fracas Pre- 
 sented to the Living of Grail Retrospect League and 
 Covenant Glasgow Assembly Resolutioners Protestors 
 Interview with Cromwell His Conduct approved 
 Monck Death of Cromwell Sharp joins Monck at Cold- 
 stream Monck reaches London. 
 
 DAVID SHARP was a native of Perthshire, and 
 having been bequeathed a small sum of money by 
 his father, settled in the city of Aberdeen, where 
 he entered into business as a merchant, and ac- 
 quired considerable property. He married Mag- 
 dalen Haliburton, daughter of Mr. Haliburton of 
 Pitcur in the county of Angus, by whom he had a 
 son, named William, and to whom he gave a liberal 
 education. William Sharp, being a man of good 
 abilities, was early patronized by the Marquis of
 
 2 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Huntley and other noblemen, in the counties of 
 Aberdeen and Banff. The Earl of Findlater, in 
 particular, held him in such high estimation, that 
 he entrusted the whole of his affairs to his care. 
 William Sharp married Isabel Lessly, daughter of 
 Mr. Lessly of Keninvy in the county of Banff, 
 and soon after was appointed sheriff's clerk of 
 Banffshire. He resided in Banff Castle, where 
 James Sharp, the subject of this memoir, was born 
 on the 4th of May, 1618. He gave early indi- 
 cations of superior abilities, and at school out- 
 stripped most of his contemporaries, having a 
 quick apprehension, and a tenacious memory. It 
 was remarked that he was constant and diligent 
 in reading the Scriptures, and regular in his pri- 
 vate devotions. He took great pleasure in the 
 society of clergymen, and his father used jestingly 
 to call him the young minister. His mother prog- 
 nosticated that he would be a bishop ; and as she 
 lived to a great age, she had the satisfaction of 
 hearing of his promotion to that office before her 
 death. Being intended for the church, James 
 Sharp was sent to King's College Aberdeen, 
 where he took the degree of Master of Arts. He 
 afterwards studied theology under Dr. Forbes of 
 Corse, and Dr. Baron, with the latter of whom he 
 was an especial favourite. The fact of his having 
 prosecuted his theological studies under the su- 
 perintendence of these ornaments of the Scottish 

 
 ARCHBISHQP SHARP. 3 
 
 episcopal church, is a sufficient guarantee that 
 his principles were catholic and orthodox. It 
 likewise shows that the grand step of his after- 
 life, for which he has been so liberally denounced 
 as traitor and apostate, was not contrary to the 
 principles which he hnd imbibed in early life. 
 " Under tltese great tutors in that sacred science, 
 his advances were extraordinary ; and there he 
 sucked in a set of such orthodox and catholic 
 principles, as were more agreeable to his after 
 elevated character, and the last scenes of his life, 
 than adapted to these tragical times, in which he 
 was to make his first figure and entrance into the 
 world."* 
 
 In the year 1638, the Solemn League and Cove- 
 nant was imposed on all ranks, and on every age, 
 by the leading ministers who were engaged in the 
 grand rebellion. It was vigorously resisted by 
 the university and clergy of Aberdeen, and by 
 none more successfully than by those eminent 
 men Drs. Forbes and Baron. This opposition to 
 the mania of the day, it appears, " incensed the 
 Balaams of those times to that degree, that not 
 only these reverend persons, but also their friends 
 and families, and those suspected to be of their 
 principles, were preached down, whispered off, 
 pointed at, and mobbed, against all laws, out of 
 
 * True and Impartial Account of the Most Reverend Father 
 in God, Dr. James Sharp, p. 28. 
 
 B2
 
 4 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 the protection of law, their interests, and the 
 natural privileges of subjects."* 
 
 Mr. Sharp was now twenty years of age, and 
 being one of those who was not only " suspected 
 to be," but well known actually to be of " their 
 principles," i. e. Episcopalian, found it necessary to 
 retire to England : and it is said, that he was ex- 
 pelled from college for refusing to take the Cove- 
 nant. This circumstance is not mentioned by the 
 anonymous author of his life ; but it is not un- 
 likely, and is honourable to his memory. He cer- 
 tainly did refuse to sign it ; and the imposers of 
 that sacrilegious bond were not likely to use much 
 delicacy with their opponents. He went to Oxford, 
 where he intended to prosecute his studies, till the 
 faction and schism in his native church, and the 
 sedition and rebellion in the state should subside. 
 He trusted that such fierce winds as then blew 
 out of the sanctuary would not be of long dura- 
 tion ; and after the tempest, it was his intention 
 to return, and dedicate his life to the service of 
 the church. During his residence in England, 
 he acquired the friendship of Saunderson, Ham- 
 mond, and Jeremy Taylor ; the former of whom 
 was selected by the university of Oxford to refute 
 the Solemn League and Covenant, which he did 
 in a masterly manner. It appears that Mr. Sharp 
 
 * True and Impartial Account, p. 28.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 5 
 
 stood fair for promotion in the church of England, 
 had it not, as well as the church of Scotland, 
 been overturned by the votaries of the Covenant, 
 " that forerunner of many woes." At this time 
 the church of England suffered a violent persecu- 
 tion; and the church of Scotland was annihi- 
 lated, her Ibishops being driven out of the king- 
 dom, and threatened with death should they 
 venture to return. Before he had resolved on 
 taking orders in the church of England, where he 
 was offered promotion, he was seized with a 
 violent ague, which nearly proved fatal. On his 
 recovery, a change of air was recommended, and 
 he returned by easy stages to Scotland, in a 
 weak state of health. * . . ; 
 
 On his journey homeward, he lodged in the 
 same inn, and on the same night, with Sir James 
 Mackgill of Cranston, afterwards Viscount Oxen- 
 ford. Sir James was a loyalist, a man of learn- 
 ing, and of a generous disposition ; and was so 
 much pleased with Mr. Sharp's conversation, that 
 he invited him to spend some time with him at 
 his house. Here Mr. Sharp completely recovered 
 his health and formed a friendship with Sir 
 James, which ended only with his life. At Cran- 
 ston he became acquainted with the Earl of 
 Rothes, to whom he was related on his mother's 
 
 * True and Impartial Account, p. 29.
 
 6 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 side who was a descendant of that family. The 
 Earl of Rothes was pleased with his relative, 
 and took him under his patronage, through 
 whose recommendation Mr. Sharp was appointed 
 professor of philosophy in St. Leonard's College, 
 in the university of St. Andrew's, and which was 
 the first step of his advancement. * 
 
 He lived here some years, in the usual routine 
 and quiet retirement of a college life. Of time, 
 of which most men are extremely prodigal, Pro- 
 fessor Sharp was particularly economical. What 
 was necessary for instruction was spent with his 
 pupils, and the remainder he spent in improving 
 his own mind, and in society. With the other 
 professors he lived on amicable terms ; but an 
 accidental dispute with one of them, had nearly 
 brought him into trouble. One day, after dinner 
 in the public-hall, and after the students had 
 retired, he entered into an argument on the sub- 
 ject of church-government with Mr. Sinclair, one 
 of the professors, who was a champion of the Cove- 
 nant, and of course of the Presbyterian form of dis- 
 cipline. Mr. Sharp, on the contrary, opposed the 
 Covenant, and maintained the divine appointment 
 of Episcopacy ; and his argument had so much 
 the advantage over his adversary, that Mr. Sinclair 
 gave him the lie direct. This insult Professor 
 
 * True and Impartial Account, p. 30.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 
 
 Sharp resented by a box on the ear, which inci- 
 dent operated rather against Mr. Sharp's reputa- 
 tion; but the superiority of his abilities soon 
 surmounted this blemish. Although of opposite 
 principles, yet he acquired the friendship of the 
 Earl of Crawford, who persuaded him to accept the 
 living of Crail, which was then vacant and in his 
 gift. He accordingly resigned his professorship 
 in the university of St. Andrew's, and retired to 
 Crail, and there in a singular manner exemplified 
 the evangelical precept, as to the wisdom of the 
 serpent and innocence of the dove. Here his 
 labours were most acceptable, and he gained on the 
 hearts of the people by calmness, condescension, 
 and affability. He acquitted himself to the satis- 
 faction of the greater part of his fellow-preachers, 
 though Mr. Blair, and some of the moroser sort, 
 used to say, " they did not believe him SOUND" (a 
 word then and since of weighty import,) "and that 
 he spoke through a bishop." * So that though he 
 settled at Crail as a Presbyterian minister, yet he 
 still held Episcopal principles, and was suspected 
 by the genuine Presbyterians of being secretly an 
 Episcopalian. At that time he could have no 
 other orders than Presbyterian, for all the Scotch 
 bishops were dead ; and the English went abroad 
 to avoid the persecution to which they were sub- 
 jected. 
 
 * True and Impartial Account, p. 32.
 
 8 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 At the period of Charles the First's murder, the 
 Presbyterian ministers fell into a great division, 
 and were denominated Protestors, Remonstrators, 
 and afterwards Covenanters. To account for 
 this, we must look back to the year 1638, when 
 a General Assembly, called by Charles I., became 
 guilty of high-treason, and refused to rise when 
 legally dissolved by the king. This illegal as- 
 sembly condemned the Liturgy Book of Canons 
 Book of Ordination and the Court of High- 
 Commission. It repealed all the acts of As- 
 sembly for the preceding forty years ; condemned, 
 deposed, and excommunicated the bishops, as an 
 antichristian corruption ; declared them infamous, 
 and worse than heathens and publicans. It re- 
 fused to rise when dissolved by the king's com- 
 missioner ; but, indeed, all the succeeding par- 
 liaments and assemblies both met and enacted 
 laws contrary to the royal authority. At that 
 period, the General Assembly exalted itself above 
 the crown and parliament, and actually repealed 
 acts of parliament. A new oath was invented, 
 called the Solemn League and Covenant, and im- 
 posed, contrary to all law, upon all men and women, 
 and even children were compelled to take it ; and 
 such as refused were excommunicated. The con- 
 sequence of excommunication in Scotland, at that 
 time, was the confiscation of all their moveables, 
 and their persons were placed beyond the pro-
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 9 
 
 tcction of the laws. The lives of the bishops, 
 therefore, were now at the mercy of every man who 
 might lift their hands against them, to avoid 
 which they fled to England. Such was the un- 
 happy posture of Charles's affairs, that he found 
 himself under the necessity of ratifying their 
 illegal acts of assembly, in the parliament of 1641. 
 By that mutilated and illegal parliament, Episco- 
 pacy was abolished, and the Presbyterian system 
 established. The Solemn League and Covenant 
 was sworn by the now dominant Presbyterians, 
 and all men forced to comply with it ; the object 
 of which is to " endeavour the extirpation of 
 Popery, Prelacy, (that is church-government by 
 archbishops, bishops, their chancellors and com- 
 missaries, deans, deans and chapters, archdeacons, 
 and all other ecclesiastical officers depending on 
 that hierarchy,) superstition, heresy, schism, pro- 
 faneness and whatsoever shall be found contrary 
 to sound doctrine and the power of godliness." 
 The convention, or parliament, as it has been 
 called, of 1(541, abolished patronages by an 
 ordinance, which by the godly was thought 
 " worthy of being written in letters of gold." It 
 is a singular fact, that in the history of Presbytery, 
 whenever it reached a point when, in their own 
 opinion, it had neither spot nor wrinkle, it imme- 
 diately began to backslide. "After this," says
 
 10 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Willison in his Testimony, " a mournful scene 
 opened, by the breaking division that entered into 
 the church, which tended to stop the progress of 
 reformation work, and make way at length for 
 restoring of Prelacy. This was occasioned by 
 some ensnaring questions put to the commission 
 in December, 1650, by the king, (Charles II.,) and 
 parliament, (which they had better have declined 
 to answer,) concerning the admission of persons 
 into places of public trust, civil and military, who 
 formerly had been opposers of the covenanted 
 reformation, upon their making public profession 
 of their repentance ; those who were for admitting 
 them being called public resolutioners, and those 
 against it, being called protestors." 
 
 The protestors or remonstrators, were the vio- 
 lent and fanatical Persbyterians attached to the 
 Solemn League and Covenant. The resolutioners, 
 were the remains of the Episcopal clergy, and 
 were by far the greatest proportion of the king- 
 dom. After the violent extirpation of Episcopacy, 
 the Episcopal clergy submitted to the force which 
 they could not controul ; kept their benefices, and 
 to all outward appearance became Presbyterians. 
 They had been deprived of their lawful governors 
 the bishops, and it was utterly impossible,' in the 
 existing state of affairs, to procure the succession 
 of others in their place. No sooner was Epis-
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 11 
 
 copacy restored, than the resolutioners to a man, 
 recognised and submitted to the new hierarchy. 
 Those who stood out, were the protestors, who 
 were really Presbyterians, and republicans in 
 political principles. In this division, Mr. Sharp, 
 as an Episcopalian in principle, joined the party 
 of the resolutioners, " as being the only men of 
 the whole, who were of the greatest moderation, 
 religion, loyalty, and sincerity. " This division laid 
 the country open to Cromwell, " who invaded the 
 land, shed much blood, conquered it, and kept it 
 in bondage ten years. During which time a 
 sinful toleration of sectarian errors was granted 
 by Cromwell and his coancil in Scotland, which 
 brought in great looseness, both in principle and 
 practice." The rupture between these two 
 bodies continued and increased till it involved 
 the whole nation in the flames of malice and 
 hatred. In order to settle their disputes, both 
 parties appealed to Cromwell. " The resolu- 
 tioners unanimously chose Mr. Sharp, whom they 
 knew to be of a strong head, quick wit, and of a 
 very equal temper. The remonstrators sent up 
 Mr. Guthrie, preacher at Stirling, the very image 
 and compend of the whole party. He repre- 
 sented a hot-headed incendiary, and an impudent 
 rebel, who, with his slanderous tongue, profaned 
 the pulpit ; and at Stirling, treated King Charles 
 to his face, as the Old Testament varlet Shimei
 
 12 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 did good King David at Bahurim in the days of 
 his distress." * 
 
 Cromwell appointed a time and place for 
 hearing both parties Mr. Guthrie spoke first, 
 and occupied so much time, that Cromwell be- 
 came impatient, and at his conclusion, looking at 
 his watch, said, he would hear Mr. Sharp at a 
 more convenient season, as he had business of 
 greater importance to attend to. Mr. Sharp 
 begged earnestly to be heard, and promised to be 
 brief. His friend, Lord Broghill, afterwards Earl 
 of Orrery, seconded his request, and prevailed on 
 Oliver to hear him. He then turned Guthrie's 
 arguments against himself, and gave such a 
 rational account of his constituents, and their 
 principles, that Oliver was satisfied of the just- 
 ness of their cause. He was also so much pleased 
 with Mr. Sharp's manner and address, that he 
 remarked, " that after the Scotch manner, he 
 ought to be called Sharp of that ilk " " And it 
 is not to be thought," says his biographer, "that 
 a man of Oliver's reach and politics, when he had 
 nipt the growth of the levellers, and fifth-mo- 
 narchists, would have encouraged men of such 
 factious spirits and distempered brains as the 
 remonstrators of Scotland were. And good it 
 was for the nation that affairs were thus ordered ; 
 
 * True and Impartial Account, p. 33.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 13 
 
 for if these had prevailed, the pulpits would have 
 made work for the scaffold and gibbet ; and Mr. 
 Sharp, most probably, would have been the first 
 sacrifice ; which made him own on all occasions, 
 that he owed his life to Oliver Cromwell, and 
 was seldom heard to mention him, but he ac- 
 knowledged his personal merit, and his own 
 obligation."* 
 
 Wodrow's account of this interview is con- 
 siderably different ; but as his object throughout 
 his work is to blacken and defame Mr. Sharp's 
 character, and as his leaning is too obvious to- 
 wards the protestors, his opinions in all cases 
 are to be received with great caution. He says : 
 " Mr. A. Mair, married on Mr. Simpson's 
 daughter, told me he had the certain account 
 of this from his good-father. Mr. James Simpson 
 and Mr. Gillispie were sent up to Cromwell to 
 prevent misrepresentations which might be made 
 by those that were sent to him from the resolu- 
 tioners, Mr. Sharp and another ; if I remember 
 right, it was Bishop Hamilton. That when they 
 came to him, they told him that they had nothing 
 to look for from him, but were come only to 
 satisfy him, if there were need, as to any repre- 
 sentation was made by him from the resolu- 
 tioners. Cromwell called them one day, after 
 
 * True and Impartial Account, p. 34, 35.
 
 14 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Sharp had been with him, and pressed them very 
 hard what sort of man Sharp was. They said, 
 he was a very smart man, but they were come 
 only to vindicate themselves, if need were, and 
 not to say any thing to the disadvantage of 
 brethren. After he had listened a long time, to 
 get his character from them in vain ; he says, 
 < Weel gentlemen, since you will not use freedom 
 with me, I will do it with you, and my judgment 
 is, he is an atheist and of no principles at all.' 
 They said, 'that was a harsh judgment;' 'No,' 
 says Cromwell, ' I do think it ; for he proposed 
 to me, to establish Episcopacy in Scotland, and 
 none but an athiest would do that.' " Upon 
 the same principle, Patrick Gillispie, a protestor 
 minister, must likewise have been an atheist, for 
 he offered to Charles II., to go all lengths to 
 bring in Episcopacy into Scotland ! and that 
 may be the reason why Wodrow suppresses this 
 fact, as related in one of Mr. Sharp's letters. 
 
 In a letter, dated London, December 1657, 
 Messrs. Calamy and Ashe, two Presbyterian 
 ministers, represented Mr. Sharp's conduct in this 
 negociation in the most favourable light to Mr. 
 Douglass. They say, " Our reverend brother, 
 Mr. Sharp, hath with much prudence, courage, 
 
 * Wodrow's Analecta, or Materials for a History of Re- 
 markable Providences, mostly relative to Scotch Ministers and 
 Christians. M.S., vol. i. 134. 

 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 15 
 
 and laboriousness, unweariedly attended and 
 managed the trust committed to him; yea, (as 
 we believe,) he hath secured your cause from 
 sundry aspersions, which otherwise might proba- 
 bly have reproached it; and he hath gained 
 respect in the opinions of some in highest place, 
 by his wisdom and meekness, in vindicating it 
 from misrepresentations And although the 
 great concernment (which he hath faithfully and 
 zealously minded be not brought to so good a 
 conclusion as was desired and prayed for, yet we 
 see cause to bless GOD for that which is done, 
 hoping, that through your prudent improvement 
 thereof, it will tend to future advantage." 
 
 " It appears to me," says his biographer, " that 
 from this time, we may state the rage of the 
 violent party, (the protestors for I do not mean 
 to charge the moderate Presbyterians,) which fell 
 heavy on this excellent person, and never left 
 persecuting him till he was an approved confessor 
 and crowned a martyr."* There is no doubt, 
 but that this was the first spring of that malice 
 and hatred that ripened in his murder. His 
 success with Cromwell, too, was doubtless the 
 cause of that confidence which the resolutioners 
 and moderate Presbyterians afterwards placed in 
 him, when they sent him to Breda and London 
 
 * True and Impartial Account, p. 36.
 
 16 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 at the Restoration. After successfully nego- 
 ciating with the Protector, Mr. Sharp returned 
 to his ordinary parochial duties at Crail. He 
 lived on good terms with the moderate part of 
 the Presbyterian party ; but he was chiefly inti- 
 mate with James Wood and Robert Douglass, 
 men of worth and eminence. During this sad 
 period of our national history, and while the 
 royal family were in exile, Mr. Sharp kept a 
 regular correspondence with the king. He like- 
 wise used every argument with the fainting 
 royalists, to keep up their spirits, and to excite 
 in them attachment and fidelity to the royal 
 interest, of which Charles was always mind- 
 ful. His growing reputation and the general 
 esteem in which he was held, gained him an 
 access to General Monck, who then commanded 
 the revolutionary army in Scotland ; and who 
 highly esteemed him as a man of great worth and 
 abilities, and admitted him into his confidence. 
 
 ] 660. Oliver Cromwell died on the 3d of Sep- 
 tember 1658, and was succeeded in the protec- 
 torate, by his eldest son, Richard. For some 
 time previous to his death, Oliver relaxed the 
 rigour of his government against the Scottish 
 royalists; who were likewise, in general, quiet 
 during the latter years of his protectorate. Yet 
 Charles and his ministers had some difficulty in 
 preventing the loyal clans from rising in arms
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 17 
 
 against the usurper's government. General 
 Monck, who commanded the English army in 
 Scotland, was among the first to acknowledge the 
 new Protector, and he obliged the army under 
 his command to do the same. Suspicions of his 
 fidelity were however entertained, in which the 
 little court at Breda participated. Richard's 
 brother-in-law, Lord Falconbridge, communicated 
 his suspicions to Henry Cromwell, then lord- 
 deputy of Ireland. Monck, however, cautiously 
 dissembled, and baffled all their attempts to 
 penetrate his designs. In 1659, Mr. Barwick, 
 and some others of the king's friends, persuaded 
 a Mr. Otway, who in his heart was a royalist, 
 to undertake a journey to Scotland and Ireland, 
 to secure Colonels Cloberry and Redman, his 
 brothers-in-law, to the royal cause. Cloberry 
 commanded a regiment under Monck, and Red- 
 man one in Ireland. Charles was acquainted 
 with Otway's commission. He had likewise 
 such confidence in Monck, that he despatched Sir 
 John Greenville with the following letter to 
 him, then lying at Dalkeith, dated 21st Julj 
 1659 : 
 
 " Sir, I cannot think you wish me ill, nor have you reason 
 to do so ; and the good I expect from you will bring so great 
 a benefit to your country and to yourself, that I cannot think 
 you will decline rny interest. The person who gives or sends 
 this to you, has authority to say much more to you from me ; 
 
 C
 
 18 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 and if you once resolve to take my interest to heart, I will 
 leave the way and manner of declaring it entirely to your 
 judgment, and will comply with the advice you shall give 
 me; the rest I refer to the person that conveys this to you. 
 It is in your power to make me as kind to you as you can 
 desire, and to have me always 
 
 " Your affectionate friend, 
 
 C. R." 
 
 Sir John Greenville made the acquaintance of 
 Monck's brother, a clergyman in Devonshire, whom 
 he entrusted with the king's letter to the general. 
 Monck's brother-in-law, Dr. Clarges, likewise 
 went into Scotland, for the purpose of persuading 
 him to declare for Charles. Richard's council 
 now determined that the elections for parliament 
 should be made agreeable to the ancient con- 
 stitutional usage. This determination was ex- 
 ceedingly disagreeable to Fleetwood and Des- 
 borough, formerly two of Oliver's chief advisers, 
 and they entered into a resolution to depose 
 Richard. This they effected ; for he had not 
 spirit enough to take advantage of his popularity 
 with the army, to resist them. He retired upon a 
 pension of . 10,000 a year, which he enjoyed to 
 the day of his death. 
 
 Neither his brother nor Dr. Clarges could 
 ascertain what were Monck's real views. Even 
 Charles and his Chancellor Hyde, had not re- 
 ceived any encouragement from him up to the 
 middle of January 1660. Whatever his private
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 19 
 
 opinions might have been, he kept an impene- 
 trable silence as to his ultimate views and in- 
 tentions. The government of England had fallen 
 into the hands of a Committee of Safety, over 
 which Sir Archibald Johnston, of Warriston, 
 presided. The committee prorogued the par- 
 liament, and Monck and the army protested 
 against their authority. The committee, in turn, 
 resolved to strip Monck of his command ; but 
 darod not make the attempt : Lambert endea- 
 voured to excite his officers against him to put 
 him under arrest and then take upon himself 
 the command of his army. Dr. Clarges had 
 made a discovery of Lambert's intentions, and 
 put Monck on his guard. When, therefore, 
 Colonel Cobbett, Lambert's emissary, arrived at 
 Monck's head-quarters, he was arrested, and all 
 the suspected officers were immediately cashiered. 
 Monck then secured Berwick-on-Tweed, and 
 called a meeting of all the nobility and gentry, 
 who were in or near Edinburgh. He declared to 
 them that it was his intention to march into 
 England and re-establish the liberties of parlia- 
 ment. At the same time, he recommended to them 
 to maintain the peace of the kingdom, and sup- 
 press all riots and commotions during his absence. 
 The royalists considered this as tantamount to a 
 declaration in fa vourof the king; and a considerable 
 
 c 2
 
 20 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 sum of money was therefore advanced to put his 
 army in motion. 
 
 He began his march soon after, and at Had- 
 dington received articles from the Committee of 
 Safety, which he rejected. He declared that the 
 articles were contrary to his principles, which 
 were to be governed by a parliament lawfully 
 called, and not by the sword. He halted some 
 time at Berwick-on-Tweed. From Coldstream 
 he sent a pass to Mr. Sharp, minister of Crail, to 
 attend his person without delay, and assist him 
 with his advice. Mr. Sharp's business, however, 
 was to be confidential ; and so cautious was 
 Monck, that it does not appear that even his 
 most intimate friends had any certainty of what 
 were his views. The ministers, David Dickson 
 and Robert Douglass, wrote to Monck signifying 
 their entire confidence in Mr. Sharp, and desiring 
 a pass for him, that he might be near his person.* 
 On receipt of Monck's despatches, Mr. Sharp 
 immediately set out from Crail, where he was 
 quietly pursuing his parochial duties. On his 
 arrival, Monck frankly owned to him his inten- 
 tion to restore the king ; to which measure, he 
 added, that he was satisfied of Mr. Sharp's 
 hearty concurrence ; but found himself greatly 
 
 * Wodrow's Introduction. Glasgow Edit. p. 4, 5.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP, 21 
 
 embarrassed how to proceed effectually. He 
 had therefore sent for him to assist him with his 
 advice ; because some in the army, suspecting his 
 intentions, had already deserted. He added, 
 that he was under some apprehensions from 
 Lambert, the parliamentary general, who had 
 advanced against him as far as Newcastle. 
 After a sleep of two hours, Mr. Sharp prepared 
 a declaration in Monck's name, in which he 
 showed the causes of his present posture and 
 march into England. In this manifesto he never 
 mentioned the king's name, but dexterously 
 accommodated his language to the tempers of all 
 the contending parties. This proclamation or 
 address was read next morning at the head of 
 the army, and confirmed the troops in their 
 obedience to their general. It was quickly dis- 
 persed over the kingdom, and as was designed, 
 soon reached Lambert's army. Nearly the half 
 of his men immediately deserted to Monck, 
 which proved a considerable stimulus to him in 
 his patriotic designs, and he immediately prose- 
 cuted his march on London. Monck, afterwards, 
 repeatedly acknowledged to the king, Mr. Sharp's 
 important services at this critical juncture; and 
 there is no doubt but that to this cause he 
 afterwards owed his promotion and favour with 
 the king. 
 
 Lambert offered to attack the army under
 
 22 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Monck's command, but the faction at Westminster 
 were equally jealous of him as of his opponent. 
 They chose rather to negociate with Monck for 
 the settlement of the kingdom and the security 
 of parliament. He sent Cloberry, Wilks, and 
 Knight, to treat with the Committee of Safety. 
 Instead of proceeding to London, Cloberry and 
 Knight put the royalists on their guard, and 
 formed connexions in his support. Wilks, how- 
 ever, treated with the Committee of Safety ; by 
 whom it was agreed to exclude the king for ever, 
 and to erect a commonwealth, without either king 
 or house of peers ; that there should be a general 
 indemnity, and nineteen persons appointed to 
 adopt proper qualifications for a parliament. 
 When Wilks returned to Coldstream, Monck 
 put him under arrest, for having exceeded his 
 commission. To gain time, he renewed his nego- 
 ciation with the Committee of Safety, who now 
 discovered that Monck was trifling with them. 
 The army declared for a free parliament, and 
 it accordingly sat down in January ; of which, 
 when Monck heard at Coldstream, he sent Morgan 
 to command the few troops he had left in Scot- 
 land, and began his march himself on London. 
 His army was only 6,000 strong ; yet so weak 
 were the rump government, and so great was the 
 reaction in favour of the king, that this small 
 band was thought sufficient to restore the king's
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 23 
 
 government. The parliamentary army was 
 greater and better appointed ; but they could not 
 trust the officers ; and it appears that the rump 
 had imprisoned Lambert. They endeavoured as 
 much as possible to conciliate Monck, and pro- 
 vided quarters for his men in London, which he 
 entered on the 4th of February. This suspicion of 
 their generals is always a feature of republican 
 governments, whose ingratitude is proverbial. 
 From servants, too, military commanders never 
 feel much hesitation in becoming masters : 
 whereas, a king has nothing to fear from the 
 ambition of a successful soldier, who naturally 
 looks to his sovereign for titles and honours. 
 Hitherto Monck had obeyed the commands of the 
 rump ; but he now began to talk to the members 
 of a free parliament. They endeavoured to 
 avoid it; but he wrote to them peremptorily, 
 requiring them to declare a period to their 
 sitting.
 
 24 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Monck again sends for Mr. Sharp His instructions Reflec- 
 tions Anecdote Instructions to Wodrow Anecdotes 
 Monck's Letter to Douglas Secluded Members restored 
 Proceedings of the Rump Dissolution Mr. Sharp's Opi- 
 nion of Affairs Reaction in favour of the King Solemn 
 League and Covenant Mr. Douglass' Letter Extracts 
 from the Correspondence of Messrs. Douglass and Sharp 
 Erastianism Reaction in Scotland Mr. Sharp agrees to 
 go to Breda Arrives there, and has an audience of the 
 King Letter to Mr. Douglass Extracts of Letters 
 Liturgy restored in England Meeting at Sion House 
 Letter to Mr. Douglass Reflections Letters Thanks- 
 giving The people in favour of Episcopacy Letters 
 Scottish Administration appointed Committee of Estates 
 Mr. Sharp leaves London. 
 
 IT would appear, that after rendering the king 
 that important service at Coldstream, Mr. Sharp 
 had returned to Edinburgh. Wodrow states, 
 that Messrs. Dickson and Douglass wrote to 
 Monck on the 10th of January, requesting a pass 
 for Mr. Sharp, to join him at London : to which 
 Monck replied from Ferry Bridge, desiring Mr. 
 Sharp to come to him with all speed, and en- 
 closing a passport. On the 6th of February, several
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 25 
 
 ministers of the Presbyterian party met at Edin- 
 burgh, and agreed on the following instructions, 
 to be given to Mr. Sharp ; from which it is evi- 
 dent, that ^toleration for the religious opinions 
 f of others made no part of their creed ; so much 
 the contrary, that they denominate toleration as 
 sinful. 
 
 1. You are to use your utmost endeavours that the kirk of 
 Scotland may, without interruption or encroachment, enjoy 
 the freedom and privileges of her established judicatures, rati- 
 fied by the laws of the land. 
 
 2. Whereas, by the lax toleration which is established, a 
 door is opened to a very many gross errors and loose prac- 
 tices in this church; you shall therefore use all lawful and 
 prudent means to represent the sinfulness and offensiveness 
 thereof, and that it maybe timeously remedied. 
 
 3. You are to represent the prejudice this church doth 
 suffer by the intervening of the vaking stipends, which by law 
 were dedicated to pious uses ; and seriously endeavour, that 
 hereafter vaking stipends may be intromitted with by Presby- 
 teries, and such as shall be warranted by them, and no others, 
 to be disposed of and applied to pious uses by Presbyteries, 
 according to the 20th act of the parliament, 1644. 
 
 4. You are to endeavour, that ministers lawfully called, and 
 admitted by Presbyteries to the ministry, may have the benefit 
 of the 39th act of the parliament, intituled, act anent abolish- 
 ing patronages, for obtaining summarily, upon the act of their 
 admission, decreet, and letters conform, and other executo- 
 rials, to the effect they may get the right and possession of their 
 stipends, and other benefits, without any address or trouble. 
 
 5. If you find that there will be any commission appointed 
 in this nation for settling and augmenting of ministers' sti-
 
 26 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 pends, then you are to use your utmost endeavours to have 
 faithful men, well affected to the interests of Christ in this 
 church, employed therein. 
 
 (Signed) David Dickson, John Smith, 
 
 Robert Douglass, George Hutchison, 
 James Wood, Andrew Ker. 
 
 These instructions are dated the 6th February, 
 1660, and there appears nothing whatever in 
 Mr. Sharp's subsequent conduct, or correspond- 
 ence, to show that he violated any of them, 
 except it be in the matter of toleration. Mr. 
 Douglass, and all who were of his opinions, were 
 allowed that full toleration which they so ear- 
 nestly represented as sinful and offensive, when 
 granted to others. Mr. Sharp did not recommend 
 intolerance, even when he had a favourable op- 
 portunity against his political enemies the Pro- 
 testors. When the king asked his advice at 
 Breda, how to act towards that party, Mr. Sharp 
 replied, " Though it be not fit that your majesty 
 should give them countenance, or put power into 
 their hands, yet, I think, we will all be suitors to 
 your majesty, that pity and pardon may be their 
 measure." It is, however, to be remarked, that 
 these six ministers who met and drew up these 
 instructions, were neither a general assembly nor 
 a synod of the church, nor had they any commis- 
 sion to act in the name of the whole church, or 
 even of the Presbyterians, as a body They were
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 27 
 
 not even sanctioned by any synod or presbytery, 
 at that time or afterwards. These instructions 
 can therefore be considered only as containing 
 the views of x these six gentlemen. They wrote at 
 the same time to General Monck, and " recom- 
 mended Mr. Sharp to him as one whom they have 
 instructed, and who is to communicate his in- 
 structions with his lordship ; and they have sent 
 him up to prevent any bad impressions that may 
 be given of them at London." They add, that 
 " though it be not their way to intermeddle with 
 civil affairs, yet the miseries of the sinking nation 
 make them humbly request his lordship may en- 
 deavour to ease them of their grievances." Here 
 is a contradiction to their conduct : for the pre- 
 vious twenty years, the Presbyterians had " in- 
 termeddled" in every political transaction, though 
 they felt it now convenient to disclaim it. 
 
 Wodrow informs us, " that the ministers," he 
 must mean these six, who signed the instructions 
 above, " promised to hear his (Mr. Sharp's) 
 charges, and to give him 20. sterling. When 
 he came down bishop, those that joined in with 
 him paid their quota, but those that did not join 
 with Episcopacy, refused to pay ; whereupon he 
 gave in a bill to the clerk-register, to oblige them 
 to pay him. The clerk-register, Sir A. Primrose, 
 delayed the bringing in of the bill. At length, 
 being pressed by Mr. Sharp, it came in, and the
 
 28 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 register said expressly in court, ' The Lord bless 
 us ! this man is worse than Judas, who, when he 
 betrayed his master, he cast back the thirty 
 pieces ; but this man not only betrays his con- 
 stituents, but will force them to pay him for so 
 doing ! ' The archbishop wrote to court ; but the 
 register had got his letter to one that had the 
 king's ear before him. When the matter was 
 told the king, and when the bishops of England 
 came to hear the register's deposition, they passed 
 it as a joke." This anecdote partakes more of 
 Mr. "Wodrow's private malice against the arch- 
 bishop, than of the nature of truth. It is reason- 
 able to suppose, that these gentlemen should 
 bear their representative's expences ; and as they 
 gave bond for the payment, he was entitled to 
 sue those who broke their engagements. But he 
 returned from his mission, restored his instruc- 
 tions, and received the thanks of the Presbytery 
 of Edinburgh, long before he himself was arch- 
 bishop. He must, therefore, have sued his debtors, 
 if he did so at all, before he was Archbishop of St. 
 Andrew's. But this, and various other anec- 
 dotes related by Wodrow, show how faithful that 
 historian was to the instructions which he received, 
 to blacken the memory of Sharp. 
 
 Wodrow received the encouragement of various 
 eminent men, in the prosecution of his laborious 
 work ; but especially from a Mr. George Redpath.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 29 
 
 Dr. Burns of Paisley speaks of him in terms of 
 the highest eulogy, and says, " he seems to have 
 been an indefatigable collector of old records, and 
 is said to have possessed one of the largest col- 
 lections of the kind of any private individual in 
 Britain. To this friend, Mr. Wodrow submitted 
 his proposal, and a specimen of the history, in 
 autumn, 1717. Mr. Redpath embarked with all 
 his soul in the undertaking, and in the following 
 letter gave Mr. W. every encouragement to pro- 
 ceed, while he suggests some hints, that well de- 
 serve the attention of every inquirer into eccle- 
 siastical antiquities, and the value of which was, 
 no doubt, duly estimated by his amiable and 
 candid friend." The letter itself is too long, and 
 indeed unnecessary to be cited, but one of the 
 clauses is too remarkable to be passed without 
 notice. It is the only clause of his instructions 
 which " his amiable and candid friend" seems to 
 have " duly estimated." In short, it seems never 
 to have been for one moment absent from his 
 mind ; and his strict attention to which must, in 
 many material points, vitiate the truth of his his- 
 tory. One clause of the instruction which Dr. 
 Burns says so well deserves our attention, is as 
 follows : 
 
 " As to the matter, my opinion is this : that it is like to 
 swell too much upon our hands, because the subject is copious. 
 As this will make the history too bulky and chargeable, it
 
 30 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 must be avoided as much as possible. To this end, I would 
 humbly propose, first, that what is merely circumstantial, 
 might be left out, except where it is necessary for illustrating 
 the matter, or aggravating the crimes of our enemies'' 1 * 
 
 Wodrow has faithfully followed out this infa- 
 mous advice, in all cases, but most especially 
 where Mr. Sharp, whom he esteems a capital 
 enemy, is concerned. He is also so childishly 
 credulous, that no faith can be placed in his opi- 
 nions. He adopts and records the most absurd 
 and contradictory hear-says and supposititious 
 anecdotes, the absurdity of which the slightest 
 reflection would have shown His hatred of Sharp 
 is so strong, that he spares no pains to convince 
 his reader that that prelate practised sorcery, 
 and was in personal correspondence with the 
 devil. The following anecdotes he relates with 
 the utmost gravity, as materials for history, in his 
 Analecta, and are specimens of what materials 
 his whole history is composed : 
 
 " Upon a time," says he, " when Archbishop Sharp was at 
 Edinburgh, a member of the Privy Council, and active in pro- 
 secuting criminally some men who had been at Pentland, he 
 wanted a paper which tended to a farther clearing of the libel, 
 which was in his cabinet in St. Andrew's, and so despatched 
 his footman in haste to bring it, giving both the key of his 
 closet and cabinet, directing him distinctly to the shottle 
 
 * Dr. Burns' Memoir of Wodrow, prefixed to his edition of 
 Wodrow's History, pp. 7, 8.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 31 
 
 where it lay. The footman came off about ten o'clock in a 
 summer day, and was in St. Andrew's about four o'clock in 
 the afternoon, having run very fast. When he opened the 
 closet door, and looked in, he saw the bishop sitting at 
 a table near the window, as if he had been reading and 
 writing, with his black gown and tippet, his broad hat, just 
 as he had left him at Edinburgh, which did surprise the 
 fellow at first, though he was not much terrified, for being 
 of a hardy frolicksome temper, or a little hallowed as we 
 called it, he spoke to him merrily thus : ' Ho ! my lord, 
 well ridden, indeed. I am sure I left you at Edinburgh 
 at ten o'clock, and yet you are here before me. I wonder 
 that I saw you not pass by me.' The bishop looked about 
 over his shoulder, with a severe and frowning countenance, 
 but spoke not a word, so that the footman runs down stairs, 
 and told the secretary or chamberlain, that the bishop was 
 come home. He would not believe him. He averred he saw 
 him in his closet, and that he was very angry, and desired 
 the chamberlain to come up stairs, and he would see him like- 
 wise. So they came both up stairs, but before they were fully 
 up, they both saw the bishop standing upon the stair-head, 
 glaring upon them with ane angry look, which affrighted them 
 in earnest. Within a little, the footman came up to the 
 closet, and there was nobody there, so he opens the closet, 
 and takes out the paper and comes away in all despatch to 
 Edinburgh, and was there the next morning, when he meets 
 the bishop, and delivered to him the paper, and then told 
 him the former story. Upon which, the bishop, by threats 
 and promises, enjoins him secrecy. My author is the fore- 
 said Mr. J. J." 
 
 This story does not hang well together, but it 
 was in exact conformity with the " hints," which 
 Dr. Burns says, " well deserve attention." The
 
 32 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 following anecdote, with the same laudable inten- 
 tion of " aggravating the crimes' of his capi- 
 tal enemy, is in continuation of the former. 
 
 " At another time," he says, "Archbishop Sharp presiding in 
 the privy council, was earnest to have Janet Douglass brought 
 before that board, accusing her of sorcery and witchcraft : 
 when she was brought, she vindicated herself of that alleged 
 crime, declaring, though she knew very well who were witches, 
 yet she was not one herself, for she was endeavouring to 
 discover their secret hellish plots, and to countermine that 
 kingdom of darkness. The archbishop insisted she might be 
 put away to the king's plantations in the West Indies. She 
 only dropt one word to the bishop, ' My lord,' says she, 
 ' who was with you in your closet on Saturday night last, 
 betwixt twelve and one o'clock ? ' upon which the bishop 
 changed his countenance and turned black and pale, and then 
 no more was said. When the council rose, the Duke of Rotlies 
 calls Janet into a room, and enquires at her privately, who 
 that person was with the bishop. She refused at first, but he 
 promising upon his word of honour, to warrant her at all 
 hands, and that she should not be sent to America, she says, 
 * My lord, it was the muckle black deevil.' My author is 
 Mr. P. Tullidaph." * 
 
 There is a palpable error in this story, of 
 which Wodrow could not be ignorant. He says, 
 Sharp presided at this council ; whereas Rothes 
 
 * Wodrow's Analecta, or Materials for a History of Re- 
 markable Providences, mostly relative to Scotch Ministers 
 and Christians. M.S., vol. i.: from the year 17011709, 
 pp. 161, 162, 163.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 33 
 
 was president, and he is said to have been present. 
 Wodrow's design, in both these improbable 
 anecdotes, is transparent to fix the stain of 
 sorcery and witchcraft on the memory of the 
 archbishop. To accomplish which, he even ad- 
 mits, that one of his own godly old women is 
 guilty of these imaginary crimes. Whenever, 
 therefore, Wodrow gives opinions and unsup- 
 ported facts, they must be received with in- 
 credulity at least, if they be not absolutely 
 rejected. 
 
 But to proceed with the history : on Mr. 
 Sharp's arrival in London, he was kindly received 
 by Monck, and also by Messrs. Calamy, Ashe, 
 and Manton. Monck replied to Mr. Douglass, 
 and the gentlemen who signed Mr. Sharp's in- 
 structions in reply to their letter, as follows : 
 
 " Reverend Friends, I received yours by Mr. Sharp, who 
 is dear to me on many accounts as my very good friend ; but 
 coming with your recommendation upon so good and worthy 
 an errand, I cannot but receive him as the minister of Christ, 
 and the messenger of his church ; and you may be assured, 
 that I shall improve my utmost interest for the preservation 
 of the rights of your church, and shall do what I can for that 
 afflicted country ; which I have great reason to love and be 
 tender of, having experienced so much kindness from you. 
 I doubt not, but you will have a further account from Mr. 
 Sharp, of my great affection to serve you, and that it shall 
 be my care to endeavour, that the gospel ordinances and 
 privileges of God's people may be established both here and 
 
 D
 
 34 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 there with you. I do desire your prayers to God, for his 
 blessing upon our councils and undertakings ; and entreat 
 you that you would be pleased to promote the peace and settle- 
 ment of these nations ; and do what in you lies, to quiet and 
 compose men's spirits, that we may, -waiting with patience, 
 reap the fruits of our hopes and prayers. I have no further, 
 but to beg of God the increase of divine blessings upon your 
 labours, and that you may be kept by his power, as glorious 
 instruments in his work : and desire you to be assured, that 
 none shall be more careful to preserve your profession in that 
 honour they so much deserve, than he who is, your assured 
 friend and servant, 
 
 " Drapers' Hall, (Signed) " George Monck." 
 
 16 February, 1660." 
 
 On the 21st of February General Monck 
 repaired to the House of Commons and restored 
 the secluded members. Previously, however, he 
 made them sign four articles, the fourth and most 
 important of which was, to consent to the disso- 
 lution of the parliament by a certain limited time. 
 By the accession of the secluded members, a 
 majority of the house passed an ordinance, to 
 annul the engagement of 1649 to repeal the 
 oath of abjuration to release the Earls of Craw- 
 ford and Lauderdale from prison to declare the 
 Westminster Assemblies' Confession of Faith, to 
 be the national faith and the Solemn League 
 and Covenant to be obligatory. They then 
 passed another ordinance for their own dissolu- 
 tion, and for the calling of a new parliament.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 35 
 
 The Long Parliament was now dissolved, after 
 having sat nineteen years four months and 
 thirteen days. The liberation of the Earls of 
 Crawford and Lindsay and some other noble 
 Scotchmen, who had been imprisoned since the 
 battle of Worcester, was owing to Mr. Sharp's 
 influence with General Monck. His influence 
 not only with him, but with the leading Presby- 
 terians in England, was very considerable ; to 
 whom, next to Monck, all parties made application. 
 Even Johnston of Warriston applied to him to 
 procure a personal pardon for him ; but this he 
 declined. He appears, from the first, to have 
 foreseen the restoration of the Episcopal church ; 
 and nowhere expresses any objection to it. In 
 his letter of 4th March to Mr. John Smith, he 
 distinctly tells him, that such will be the result. 
 " The great fear is, that the king will come in, 
 and that with him moderate Episcopacy, at the 
 least, will take place here. The good party are 
 doing what they can to keep the Covenant 
 interest on foot ; but I fear there will be much 
 ado to have it so. They dare not press the 
 voting for Presbyterian government, lest it bar 
 them from being elected next parliament."* 
 And in his of 10th March, he informs Mr. Doug- 
 lass, " that the sectarian interest is on the waning 
 
 * Wodrow's Introduction, p. 8. 
 
 D2
 
 36 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 hand, and moderate Episcopacy setting up its 
 head." In the same letter, he recommends a 
 commission to be sent from Scotland, to the 
 Earls of Crawford and Lauderdale, to act in the 
 capacity of Commissioners for that kingdom. 
 
 Monck had now the army entirely at his 
 command. So strong was the reaction in favour 
 of the king, that Mr. Sharp wrote : " There is 
 no satisfying the people without the king ; a 
 treaty with him will soon be set on foot." Mr. 
 Douglass, in his reply, gives it as his opinion, 
 that it were better to settle Presbyterian govern- 
 ment simply. And adds, that he cannot accom- 
 plish Mr. Sharp's proposal of sending a commis- 
 sion to the two noble lords. He says, the Pro- 
 testors were terrified for the return of the king, 
 on account of their miscarriages to him ; and he 
 remarks also, that the Scotch were for restoring 
 the king on " Covenant terms" alone. Their 
 schemes were, however, impracticable; for Charles 
 had a surfeit of the Covenant ten years before. 
 The brethren, however, would listen to no other 
 terms, and they addressed the two noblemen 
 above named in favour of the Covenant ; but 
 utterly excluding the Protestors from all share of 
 royal favour. Mr. Douglass drew up a paper 
 proposing a coalition of all the different sects of 
 Presbyterians ; but which Mr. Sharp evaded, as it 
 had the Solemn League and Covenant for its
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 37 
 
 fundamental principle in the restoration of the 
 king. 
 
 Mr. Sharp had influence with Monck, to stop the 
 appointment of a new set of English judges, which 
 had been appointed for Scotland. In his letter to 
 Mr. Sharp, of the 31st March, Mr. Douglass 
 urged the necessity of a public meeting in Scot- 
 land, for choosing commissioners. In it he 
 inveighs against a Mr. Hardie, who had preached 
 in favour of the ancient hierarchy, and the liturgy. 
 In the postscript, he adds, " There is now a gene- 
 ration risen up, which have never been ac- 
 quainted with the work of reformation, nor with 
 the just proceedings of this nation, and therefore 
 would condemn them, the Covenant, and all 
 their honest and loyal actings, according to the 
 Covenant principles. You will not believe what 
 a heart-hatred they bear to the Covenant, and 
 how they fret that the parliament should have 
 revived it. What can be expected of such, but 
 the pursuing of the old malignant design, to the 
 marring and defacing of the work of reformation 
 settled here, and well advanced in the neigh- 
 bouring nations ? I am informed, that those are 
 to have a meeting here on the 5th April, and 
 have no purpose to wait upon a warrant, but go 
 on with such an election as will be dissatisfying 
 to the sober and well-affected of the nation. 
 It is matter of admiration, that they are unwilling
 
 38 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 that Crawford and Lauderdale (being upon the 
 place, and having given such proof of their honest 
 and loyal affections) should be employed in 
 matters of that concernment ; but those worthy, 
 noble men may be assured that the affections of 
 all honest men are upon them. There are three 
 parties here, who have all of them their own 
 fears in this great crisis : the Protestors fear, 
 that the king come in (at all) ; those above 
 mentioned, that if he come in upon Covenant 
 terms, they be disappointed ; and those who love 
 religion and the nation, that if he come not in 
 upon the terms of the League and Covenant, his 
 coming in will be disadvantageous to the religion 
 and liberty of the three nations. Therefore, I exhort 
 Crawford, Lauderdale and yourself, to deal with 
 all earnestness, that the League and Covenant 
 be settled as the only basis of the security and 
 happiness of fhese nations." 
 
 It would appear, from the correspondence of 
 Mr. Sharp with Mr. Douglass and others, that 
 a call had been made to him from a congregation 
 in Edinburgh. This mark of respect Mr. Sharp 
 declined, and recommended some one else ; but 
 who is not named. 
 
 Both General Monck and Mr. Sharp concurred 
 in opinion, that such a committee as Mr. Doug- 
 lass recommended would rather embarrass than 
 accelerate the king's restoration. The obtuse-
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 39 
 
 ness of Mr. Douglass's ideas must have been 
 very great ; and his attachment to " rigid Pres- 
 bytery," had deprived him of common observa- 
 tion. Mr. Sharp never deceived him on this 
 point, that "rigid Presbytery" was obnoxious to 
 those engaged in the king's restoration , and that 
 Episcopacy would certainly be established. He 
 told him on the 6th March, " the buzz of some is 
 loud enough, No bishop, no king." On the 
 27th March, he says to Mr. Douglass, that the 
 printing his sermon at King Charles's coronation, 
 in 1651, had offended the Episcopalians; and 
 that he knew not how to excuse the Dunfermline 
 Declaration, in which they forced the king to 
 acknowledge his father's guilt." He adds, "some 
 of the Episcopal party have sent messengers to 
 me twice or thrice, to give them a. meeting, which 
 I have refused ; and upon this, I am reported, both 
 here and at Brussels, to be a Scottish rigid Presby- 
 terian, making it my work to have it settled here. 
 They sent to desire me to move nothing in preju- 
 dice of the Church of England, and they would 
 do nothing in prejudice of our church. I did 
 tell'them, it was not my employment to move to 
 the prejudice of any party : and I thought, did 
 they really mean the peace of those churches, 
 they would not move such propositions; but all 
 who pretend for civil settlement should contribute 
 their endeavours to restore it, and not meddle
 
 40 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 unreasonably with those remote cases. The 
 fear of rigid Presbytery is talked much of here 
 by all parties ; but, for my part, I apprehend no 
 ground for it : I am afraid that something else 
 is likely to take place in the church than rigid 
 Presbytery. This nation is not fitted to bear 
 that yoke of Christ ; and for religion, I suspect 
 it is made a stalking-horse still."* 
 
 In reply to this, Mr. Douglass says on the 
 3d April, that Mr. Sharp might, with great pro- 
 priety, have met with some of the prelatic party. 
 Further, he proposes the principle which himself 
 and all his party have ever so severely censured 
 in Charles, viz. "to leave the ecclesiastic govern- 
 ment to the parliament, who, as it is to be hoped, 
 being men of conscience, will find themselves 
 bound to settle according to the Covenant !" It 
 is plain, therefore, that had Charles and his par- 
 liament established rigid Presbytery and the 
 Covenant, the accusation of Erastianism would 
 never have been mooted. Douglass still insists 
 upon the necessity of sending commissioners from 
 Scotland, and of bringing back the king on Cove- 
 nant principles. His correspondent as regularly 
 communicates to him the impropriety of such 
 steps ; and also mentions the attempt of a coali- 
 tion between the less rigid Presbyterians and the 
 
 * Wodrow, i. p. 17.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SARP. 41 
 
 Episcopalians, which was frustrated by the former 
 sticking to their Covenant. In April, Mr. Sharp 
 writes, " I fear the interest of the Solemn League 
 and Covenant shall be neglected ; and for re- 
 ligion, I smell that moderate Episcopacy is the 
 fairest accommodation which moderate men, 
 who wish well to religion, expect. In reply to 
 this, Mr. Douglass wrote, on the 26th April, a 
 letter, setting forth the evils which he appre- 
 hended would be the result of the establishment 
 of Episcopacy. He seems perfectly sincere in 
 his lamentations; and concludes with the follow- 
 ing very remarkable admission, which is conclu- 
 sive of the wishes of the Scottish people. " What- 
 ever kirk government be settled in England, it 
 will have an influence upon this kingdom ; for the 
 generality of this new, upstart generation have 
 TIO love to Presbyterial government ; but are 
 wearied of that yoke, feeding themselves with the 
 fancy of Episcopacy, or moderate Episcopacy."* 
 The progress of events happily tended towards 
 the royal restoration ; and the jealousies and dif- 
 ferent interests, of all the parties, both in civil 
 and ecclesiastical affairs, prevented any conditions 
 being imposed on the king. Monck pressed Mr. 
 Sharp for ten days to undertake a journey to the 
 king at Breda, to which he at last consented. He 
 communicated his intentions to Mr. Douglass, 
 
 * Wodrow, i. p. 21.
 
 42 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 who agreed in the propriety of the journey, and 
 sent him a paper of instructions. The English 
 Presbyterians likewise gave Mr. Sharp a commis- 
 sion to represent their interests with the king. 
 Notwithstanding the repeated assurances that 
 neither the king nor the English nation would 
 listen to the Covenant, and his own acknowledg- 
 ment of the " heart-hatred" of the generality of 
 the Scottish nation to that yoke, he continues to 
 press rigid Presbytery and the Covenant " in all 
 his dominions" He still further exhibits his in- 
 tolerant spirit, by directing Mr. Sharp to press on 
 the king, that " he need not declare any liberty 
 to tender consciences now, because the generality 
 of the people, and whole ministry, have embraced 
 the established religion by law, with his majesty's 
 consent. It is known, that in all the times of the 
 prevailing of the late party in England, none have 
 petitioned for toleration, except some inconsiderable 
 naughty men !" On the 28th April, Mr. Sharp tells 
 him frankly, " Presbyterians here are few, and all 
 are Englishmen ; and these will not endure us to do 
 anything that may carry a resemblance in pressing 
 uniformity, (that is, to Presbytery :) for my part, 
 I shall not be accessory to any thing prejudicial to 
 the Presbyterian government; but to appear for 
 it in any other way than is within my sphere, is 
 inconvenient, and may do harm and not good." It 
 is astonishing to see the intolerant and unchari- 
 table spirit which seems to have actuated Mr.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 43 
 
 Douglass, who was otherwise a good and respect- 
 able man : he not only wished to force the im- 
 position of the Covenant on all the king's do- 
 minions ; but to prevent the use of the Liturgy in 
 the Church of England. He advises that some 
 rigid Presbyterians should be appointed to extem- 
 porise in family worship, in the king's household, 
 till the Liturgy can be effectually abolished. 
 He uses the argument, that the Episcopal divines 
 themselves had forborne it for some years. It 
 was time to forbear it, when under the dominion of 
 his beloved Covenant, its use was punishable with 
 transportation and death. The usurper issued 
 an inhuman decree against the Episcopal clergy, 
 " That they should neither preach nor pray in 
 public, nor baptize, nor marry, nor bury, nor 
 teach school, nor live in any gentleman's house ; 
 nor even use the Common Prayer Book in 
 private." 
 
 Mr. Sharp was sent over to Holland in a frigate, 
 and arrived at Breda on the 8th May. He was 
 immediately introduced to the king by the Mar- 
 quis of Ormond. The next morning, at nine, he 
 had an audience of his majesty in his bedroom, 
 for an hour and a half. In the evening, the king 
 condescended to walk in the garden with him for 
 the space of nearly an hour. The Earl of Glen- 
 cairn gave Mr. Sharp a letter, addressed to the 
 king, in which his lordship recommends him to 
 his majesty ,as " a man entirely an Episcopalian
 
 44 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 in principle, and the fittest person whom he could 
 trust, to give him correct information respecting 
 both church and state in Scotland." His conduct 
 while at Breda, will be best appreciated by his 
 correspondence with Mr. Douglass. Wodrow in- 
 troduces a long excerpt from the private papers of 
 Mr. Douglass, to show that Mr. Sharp was cor- 
 rupted at Breda : but by his previous correspond- 
 ence from London, it is quite evident that Mr. 
 Sharp, from the first, was by no means favourable 
 to Presbytery. " In all his transactions," says 
 Mr. Guthrie, " he seems to have acted with great 
 prudence and frankness towards his constituents: 
 I can see no great ground for the violent charge 
 brought by Bishop Burnet against the former, for 
 ingratitude and treachery towards his constituents : 
 he fairly tells Douglass that he would not appear 
 for Presbytery in any other way than within his 
 own sphere/'* After his return to London, Mr. 
 Sharp wrote to Mr. Douglass a full account of 
 his proceedings at Breda ; but Wodrow only gives 
 a summary of that letter, which is here added 
 complete. He has been accused of very im- 
 proper motives in having suppressed it, as well as 
 some other letters. It is, however, but justice 
 to Dr. Burns, the editor of an edition of his history, 
 to state, that he has added the letter in a note ; 
 but even that would not have been done, had it 
 
 * Guthrie's General History of Scotland, vol. x. pp. 74, 75.
 
 ARCHBISHOP srfARP. 45 
 
 not been for the reflections of the author of the 
 True and Impartial Account. It is dated at 
 London, the 29th May, 1660: 
 
 " London, 29 May, 1660. 
 
 " Reverend Sir, Yours, that of May 22d, and of the 8th, 
 with other letters, I received ; and by the last Saturday's 
 post I could only give you notice of my safe return to London. 
 General Monck gave the occasion for my journey to Holland; 
 and I did observe a Providence in it, that his motive did 
 tryst with your desire, which gave me encouragement to follow 
 the Lord's pointing at my going thither, which for any thing 
 doth yet appear, hath been ordered for good. General 
 Monck's intent for my going was, that I might give his ma- 
 jesty an account of all the passages of his undertaking, from 
 the beginning of it in Scotland, to the progresson he hath made 
 at the time of the parliament owning his majesty's title ; and 
 that I might acquaint the king how necessary it was to follow 
 the counsels of moderation, in the future management of his 
 affairs : and, 3Jly, that I might move his majesty for writing a 
 letter to some of the eminent city ministers, to be by them 
 communicated to the Presbyterian ministers throughout the 
 kingdom, intimating his majesty's resolution to bear down 
 profanity, and to countenance religion in the power of it. My 
 own special motive forgoing was to give a timeous information 
 of the condition of poor Scotland, as to the several particulars 
 of which yours of May the 8th doth bear. My thoughts at my 
 going over did run upon divers of these, which digestedly and 
 fully that letter doth mention, and it hath much satisfied me, 
 that upon the perusal of yours at my return, I remembered I 
 hit upon some of those you touched. I came very seasonably 
 in the beginning of the growth of the court, and was the first 
 minister of the kingdoms who made an address avowedly to 
 the king since his exile; which I did with the more confi-
 
 46 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 dence, that having your warrant before my going, 1 made it 
 in the name of the body of the ministry of the church of Scot- 
 land, who had persevered in their integrity and loyalty in all 
 revolutions. I cannot express what welcome I had, and with 
 how kindly an acceptance my application was entertained by 
 his majesty, who was graciously pleased to put such a respective 
 (respectful) usage upon me, all the time I was there, as it was 
 noticed by all at court. I do not mention this out of a tickling 
 vanity, but as an evidence, amongst others, of our prince's af- 
 fection to our country and kirk, of which I am abundantly 
 satisfied, though before my going over, he was falsely repre- 
 sented, even to some of the Presbyterian judgment, as an 
 enemy and hater of both. He did at Breda, at his (own ) table, 
 upon occasion, give his public testimony to the fidelity and 
 loyalty of his kingdom of Scotland, and to me in private, 
 more than once or twice ; and I am persuaded, a sweeter and 
 more affectionate prince never a people had. The first time 
 he allowed me to speak to him in private, which was for the 
 space of one hour and a half, I took it up in giving a full ac- 
 count of General Monck'sproceeedings, and of the activity of 
 those of our nation to improve that opportunity for his ma- 
 jesty's service. The next time he called me to him in the 
 garden, where he caused me to walk with him, almost 200 gen- 
 tlemen being at his back. Almost two hours were employed 
 in his moving questions, and my answering, about the affairs 
 of the parliament ; and in the close somewhat in reference to 
 Scotland, and asking kindly how it was with the ministers 
 who had been in the Tower, and with Mr. Hutchinson, Mr. 
 Wood and Mr. Bailey, of which I gave you some touch in my 
 letter from Breda. The third time he spoke to me (doing it 
 upon every occasion he saw me) was in the princess royal's 
 room, where I was amazed to hear him express such knowledge 
 and remembrance, both as to persons and things relating to 
 Scotland while he was there, as if the passages had been re-
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 47 
 
 cently acted. He mentioned ministers south and north, and 
 other persons, not forgetting John Boswell of Kinghorn, and 
 another in Crail, where, he said, himself was provost; asking 
 how it was with them. There was opportunity of speaking of 
 those with whom we have had so much vexation, (the Pro- 
 testors or Remonstrators,) and of the condition of our kirk, 
 and the carriage of honest men in it ; and had he not been 
 taken up by the interposing of a lord, come straight from 
 England, I think I had said all was then upon my heart in 
 reference to that matter. After this, the court thronging by 
 multitudes from England, and the crowd of his affairs growing 
 upon him, it was unbecoming for me to press for private con- 
 ferences ; but when he did call to me, which he was pleased to 
 do twice more before his coming from Breda, and both those 
 times, he asked me only about some of his concernments with 
 General Monck, bidding me at the last time meet him at his first 
 coming to the Hague, which was upon May the 15th, (and) wait 
 upon (him), to receive my despatch immediately to England, 
 both as to General Monck, and the letter to the city ministers. 
 When I offered to speak a word in reference to Scotland, he 
 told me, he would reserve a full communing about that till his 
 coming to England. And indeed it had been unseasonable 
 and impertinent for me to have urged further, finding the ne- 
 cessity of his affairs in England so urgent : but this I can say, 
 that by all these opportunities I had, in every one of which I 
 did not omit the moving about Scotland, I found his majesty 
 resolved to restore the kingdom to its former civil liberties, 
 and to preserve the settled government of our church ; in both 
 which I was bold expressly to move, and had a very gracious 
 satisfying answer. Upon the apprehension that I might be 
 sent into England presently upon his majesty's arrival at the 
 Hague, I hastened from Breda by the way of Dort, Amster- 
 dam, Haarlem and Leyden, to take a transient view of these 
 goodly towns ; and came the next day after the king to the
 
 48 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Hague ; about the very time of the reception of the commis- 
 sioners from the two houses, and the city to which I was an 
 eye-witness. Dr. Reynolds, Mr. Calamy, Dr. Spoistre, Mr. 
 Case, Mr. Manton, were received privately in his bed-chamber. 
 They delivered a letter, signed by above eighty ministers met at 
 Sion College : I am promised a copy thereof, which I shall 
 send unto you (and had done it before this, could they have 
 given me one, because they had left it in the city). They ex- 
 pressed much satisfaction with his majesty's carnage towards 
 them ; speaking him to be a prince of a deep knowledge of 
 his own affairs, of singular sweetness and moderation, and 
 great respectiveness towards them ; but they were much more 
 satisfied as to these, after they had spoke with him, two by 
 two in private, three days after; in so far, as they speak 
 highly to his commendation to all their friends, as a most 
 excellent prince, restored for a public blessing to these nations ; 
 and do profess it to be their duty to promote his interest 
 among their people. They have often since said to me, they 
 have no reserve nor hope, but in his majesty's good dispo- 
 sition and clemency. At my coming to the Hague, when I 
 had gone to the lord-chancellor, who, by the king's order 
 was to give me my despatches, he desired me to stay so long 
 as the London ministers stayed, telling me he would send by 
 another, the king's pleasure to General Monck. I was 
 ready to lay hold upon this motion, knowing that the king was 
 speedily to go for England, and so kept in company with 
 those ministers, and thereby had occasion to know what may 
 give me ground of a probable conjecture of the tendency of 
 matters, as to the ordering of religion in England. I have 
 much to say of this purpose, which I cannot communicate in 
 this way. At present, I shall only say this, that for me to 
 press uniformity for discipline and government, upon the king 
 and others, I find would be a most disgustful employment, 
 and successless : for, though the king could be induced to
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 49 
 
 be for it, it were not in his power to effectuate it ; the two 
 houses of parliament, and the body of this nation being against 
 it, and, if I may speak what I know, and could demonstrate 
 to you, it is already past remedying: I know very few, or 
 none, who desire it, much less appear for it, and whoever do 
 report to you, or believe, that there is a considerable party in 
 England, who have a mind for Covenant uniformity, they are 
 mistaken; and as you judge by what you write in that of 
 May 8th, if they themselves will not press it, we are free. I 
 see no obligation by Covenant, to impose that upon them 
 which they care not for. If you knew at a distance, what I 
 have occasion to know since my coming hither of this matter, 
 I am confident you would not be very urgent on that point. 
 For my part, I shall have no accession to what may cross that 
 uniformity ; but I have no freedom to an employment which 
 can have no other effect, but the heightening of an odium 
 upon our church, which is obnoxious already to many upon 
 such an account, though I know causelessly. I have heard 
 of your letter to Messrs. Calamy, Ashe, and Manton, which 
 Mr. Ashe only hath seen, Calamy and Manton not being in 
 town : and the rumour goes up and down the city, (I know 
 not if occasion be taken by that letter,) that the ministers of 
 Scotland have declared their dissatisfaction that the king is 
 brought in, but upon the terms of the Covenant. I am afraid 
 that such rumours are, at this moment, studiously raised, and 
 I see more and more the need we have of using caution with 
 those here : we have had large experience of Anglorum, Sj-c., 
 and I have cause to think that we shall have a discovery of 
 it, as much now as ever. 
 
 " I shall present your letter to his majesty at the first 
 opportunity, which I think I cannot have till some days 
 pass over, because of the great press upon him at his first 
 entry into Whitehall. God hath done great things for 
 him, I pray He may do great things by him. It hath 
 
 E 

 
 50 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 been observed, that never did any prince enter upon his 
 government with such a general repute and applause. The 
 satisfaction expressed by the Dutch, could not be more 
 if he had been their own sovereign : and for England, the 
 expressions of ecstatic joy and universal exultation are admir- 
 able. This day, from morning till seven o'clock, I have 
 been a spectator of what the magnificence and gallantry of 
 England could bring forth in testimony of the greatest recep- 
 tion, was, they say, ever given to their king; the manner 
 whereof you will have by the diurnal ; and it hath taken up 
 so much time to me, that the post calling, I have confusedly 
 writ this, and must break off till the next, with commending 
 you to the Lord's grace, who am, 
 
 " Yours, &c , 
 
 " James Sharp." 
 
 It is evident from this letter, that Mr. Sharp 
 had executed the business entrusted to him by 
 the resolutioners. And it is equally conspicuous, 
 that Charles had no intention of establishing a 
 covenant which had been the destruction of his 
 house. But even if he had been favourably 
 disposed towards that disloyal instrument ; yet 
 " it was not in his power to effectuate it." The 
 two houses of parliament and the great body 
 of the English nation were against it. Be- 
 sides, his majesty expressly informed him, that 
 " he was resolved to restore the kingdom to its 
 former civil liberties and to preserve the settled 
 government of our church." Mr. Sharp re- 
 peatedly reminded his constituents, that mode- 
 ration and forbearance would be more serviceable
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 51 
 
 to them, than an importunity for Covenant uni- 
 formity. There were no less than twenty-eight 
 of the Scottish nobility then at court ; but it does 
 not appear that either singly or as a body, they 
 had advocated the cause of Presbytery. The 
 contrary appears rather to have been the case. 
 
 Of the same date, Mr. Douglass pressed on Mr. 
 Sharp the establishing of the Covenant and rigid 
 Presbytery in England, as well as in Scotland. 
 Above all, the Liturgy seems to have alarmed him 
 even more than Episcopacy. " If," says he, "the 
 Lord shall keep them from the service-book, 
 and prelacy, and settle religion among them ac- 
 cording to the Solemn League and Covenant, we 
 have all we desire, and shall look on it as a gra- 
 cious return to our prayers on their behalf." His 
 hostility, however, was of no avail. On the 2d of 
 June, Mr. Sharp wrote to him " In the House of 
 Peers, upon a motion made that the form of 
 prayer appointed in the Liturgy to be used in 
 that house, be practised, it is done. The service- 
 book is not yet set up by both Houses, but they 
 will probably soon do it in all churches." At a 
 very full meeting of Presbyterian ministers at 
 Sion House, a motion to petition parliament in 
 favour of the Westminster Confession of Faith, 
 Directory for Worship, and form of Church Go- 
 vernment, was lost, by being referred to a com- 
 mittee. " And," says he, " from any observation 
 
 E 2
 
 52 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 I can make, I find the Presbyterian cause wholly 
 given up and lost. The influencing men of the Pres- 
 byterian judgment are content with Episcopacy 
 of Bishop Usher's model, and a Liturgy some- 
 what corrected, with the ceremonies of surplice, 
 cross in baptism, kneeling at the communion, if 
 they be not imposed by a canon, sub poena aut 
 culpa. And for the Assembly's Confession, I 
 am afraid they will yield it to be set to the door ; 
 and that the Articles of the Church of England, 
 with some amendments, take place. The mode- 
 rate Episcopalians and Presbyterians fear, that 
 either the high Episcopal men be uppermost, or 
 that the Erastians carry it from both. As for 
 those they call rigid Presbyterians, there are but 
 few of them, and these only to be found in the 
 province of London and Lancashire, who will be 
 inconsiderable to the rest of the nation. A 
 knowing minister told me this day, that if a synod 
 should be called by the plurality of incumbents, 
 they would infallibly carry Episcopacy. There 
 are many nominal, few real Presbyterians. The 
 cassock-men do swarm here ; and such who seemed 
 before to be for Presbytery, would be content of 
 a moderate Episcopacy. We must leave this in 
 the Lord's hands, who may be pleased to preserve 
 to us what he hath wrought for us. I see not 
 what use I can be any longer here. I wish my 
 neck were out of the collar. Some of our country-
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 53 
 
 men go to the Common Prayer. All matters are 
 devolved into the hands of the king, in whose 
 power it is to do absolutely what he pleases, in 
 church and state. His heart is in His hand, upon 
 whom are our eyes." In another letter of the 
 same date, Mr. Sharp says, " I find our Presby- 
 terian friends quite taken off their feet, and what 
 they talk of us and our help, is merely for their 
 own ends. They stick not to say, that had it not 
 been for the vehemency of the Scots, Messrs. 
 Henderson and Gillespie, &c., set forms had been 
 continued; and they were never against them. 
 The king and (Scottish) grandees are wholly for 
 Episcopacy ; the Episcopal men are very high." 
 "The parliament, when it meets, will make all 
 void since 1639, and so the king will be made 
 king, (that is, absolute there ; in Scotland, to wit, 
 as here,) and dispose of places arid offices as he 
 pleases." 
 
 Notwithstanding all these plain warnings, Mr. 
 Douglass still continues to urge his favourite 
 Covenant and rigid Presbytery. He seems to 
 have been smitten with judicial blindness ; and, 
 to cover his own infatuated folly, he raised 
 the clamour of Sharp's apostacy. Sharp was 
 by no means a man of such influence or con- 
 sequence, that he could have either forwarded or 
 retarded the king's intentions. We find the 
 Scottish noblemen of whom there were twenty- 
 eight then at court, besides gentlemen going to
 
 54 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 common prayers, and wholly for Episcopacy. 
 What then could Mr. Sharp singly have done to 
 stem such a torrent ? But, I confess, that it ap- 
 pears to me that Douglass himself betrayed the 
 rigid Presbyterians, by refusing repeated invita- 
 tions to repair to London and advocate their cause 
 himself; more especially as he says he suspected 
 Mr. Sharp's sincerity. And if he did, why did he 
 not supersede him, and go himself to London, 
 particularly as Mr. Sharp was so urgent to be re- 
 called ? It appears exceedingly strange too, that 
 men of such tender consciences should have been 
 so urgent to enforce rigid Presbytery, the Cove- 
 nant, and extempore worship upon the Church of 
 England ; but our wonder will cease, when the 
 same men expressed such horror at the idea of 
 toleration. 
 
 In his letter of the 9th of June, Mr. Sharp 
 again assures Mr. Douglass that his efforts were 
 perfectly unavailing to set aside the determination 
 of the king's government for the establishment of 
 Episcopacy ; and that the noblemen then at 
 court would make no opposition to it. Several 
 letters passed between the parties, the one still 
 urging rigid Presbytery and the Covenant, not 
 only in Scotland, but in England ; the other as 
 regularly assured his friends in Scotland, that 
 nothing was further from the king's intentions than 
 to establish these in either country. The follow- 
 ing letter is copied from the " True and Im-
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 55 
 
 partial Account of Archbishop Sharp's Life," 
 &c. : 
 
 " London, 14th June, 1660. 
 
 " Reverend Sir, I have received none from you by this 
 post. This day the king called for me, and heard me speak 
 of our church matters, which, I perceive, he doth thoroughly 
 understand, and remembered all the passages of the public re- 
 solutions. He was pleased again to profess, that he was re- 
 solved to preserve to us the discipline of our church, as it is 
 settled among us. When I spoke to him of [his] calling a 
 General Assembly, he said he would call one as soon as he 
 could ; but he thought the parliament would be called and 
 sit first. I found the end of his majesty's calling for me, was 
 to give me notice, that he thought it not convenient to send 
 for ministers from Scotland at present : when his affairs were 
 here brought to some settlement, he would then have time and 
 freedom to speak with them, and to send for them to come to 
 him. He thought it was fit for me to go clown, and give you 
 notice of this and the state of his affairs here, and said that 
 he would write by me to you ; and called to one of his bed- 
 chamber to seek for your letter which I delivered, saying, it 
 would be found in one of his pockets, and a return should be 
 sent, and my despatch prepared this next week. I find his ma- 
 jesty speaking of us and our concernments most affectionately, 
 [and that I needed not to inform him of the usage we have had 
 from the Remonstrators.] 
 
 There hath been some talk in the city of a petition from the 
 ministers, about religion ; but some leading men not thinking 
 it expedient, it is waived. Mr. Calamy, Dr. Reynolds, and 
 Mr. Manton were sworn yesterday chaplains [in ordinary to 
 his majesty, by the Earl of Manchester, Lord Chamberlain.] 
 Some say Mr. Baxter is to be admitted one also. [They 
 have this indulged to them,] that when it is their course 
 they shall not be tied to officiate at the Liturgy, but others hav-
 
 56 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 ing performed that service, they shall only be tied to preach, 
 till they be clear to do it. The king hath ordered a letter to 
 Dr. Reynolds and Mr. Calamy, intimating that they may 
 nominate ten to themselves of their judgment, to meet in a 
 conference, [about the settling of the church,] with twelve of 
 the Episcopal party, whom he would nominate himself. [In 
 the meanwhile, the Episcopal men increase and get ground. 
 One of the king's chaplains was made Dean of Westminster, 
 the other day ; and Dr. Cosins, Dean of Durham ; they talk 
 as if there were divers nominated to be bishops in Ireland. I 
 find that it is intended that the field-forces be withdrawn from 
 us how soon can be; but that the garrisons be kept still, till the 
 king's affairs take settling. Some stumble at this exceed- 
 ingly, others are satisfied after they have spoke with the 
 king and known his mind. The Lord Broghill is come to 
 town, and doth remember you all very kindly. The Earls of 
 Cassilis and Loudon came to town last night ; I purpose to- 
 morrow to visit them, having notice of their lodgings I re- 
 commend you to the Lord's grace,] who am, 
 " Yours, &c. 
 
 (Signed) " James Sharp." 
 
 The words within brackets are carefully omitted 
 by Wodrow : they are not of very great import- 
 ance, but it gives a shrewd suspicion, that the 
 author who could suppress words or sentences, 
 which he thinks makes against his party, would 
 be equally on the alert to insert others to answer 
 his own views. Considering Mr. Sharp's prin- 
 ciples, and the general tenor of his letters, there 
 are occasionally contradictory, or at least incon- 
 sistent expressions to be met with in them. Know- 
 ing Mr. Wodrow's bias, his private instructions.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 57 
 
 and these suspicious omissions, it is not unfair to 
 conclude, that he has delicately inserted words to 
 make Mr. Sharp appear a rigid Presbyterian, 
 which he was not. There was a design in omitting 
 the word " his," in the passage respecting the 
 calling of a general assembly. He wished it to 
 appear, that the king had conceded that he had 
 not the right of calling an assembly. The re- 
 flection on the Protestors conveying such an im- 
 putation on the " rigid Presbyterians," could not 
 be very palatable to their panegyrist, and there- 
 fore is omitted. Charles had formed a fixed dis- 
 like to Presbyterianism which he denominated 
 " a religion not fit for a gentleman," from the 
 insults and mortifications which he experienced 
 from its members in 1650. The factious demands 
 of the rigid Protestors were not calculated to 
 soften his prejudices ; and " the generality of 
 the new upstart generation had no love for Pres- 
 byterial government." 
 
 Instead of going himself to London, and pro- 
 secuting the Covenant obligation, Mr. Douglass 
 keeps constantly writing about it, after Mr. 
 Sharp has repeatedly told him that it was doomed 
 to everlasting oblivion. On the 16th of June, 
 Mr. Sharp again informs him : " If information 
 you have received about the state of affairs here, 
 have come from better grounds than what I have 
 given, I shall not justify my mistake ; but for any
 
 58 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 observation I can make, I profess it still to be my 
 opinion, that / know no considerable number, 
 and no party in England, that will join with 
 you for settling Presbyterian governmejit, and 
 pursumg the ends of the Covenant." " Discern- 
 ing- men see, that the gale is like to blow for the 
 Prelatic party ; and those who are sober will 
 yield to a Liturgy and moderate Episcopacy, 
 which they phrase to be effectual Presbytery ; 
 and by this salvo, they think they guard against 
 the Covenant. I know this purpose is not 
 pleasing to you, neither to me " No, nor to any 
 man who is in sincerity, either Presbyterian or 
 Episcopalian. Expediency is always bad ; and 
 this mixture of Presbytery and Prelacy was 
 nothing else. 
 
 A solemn thanksgiving was observed in the 
 realm of England, for the happy restoration of 
 the church and monarchy ; and on the 19th June, 
 a similar festival was observed in Scotland. 
 A candid and impartial author observes, when 
 recording it : " As to the clergy, their own im- 
 prudence gave Charles too good a handle for 
 reinforcing his garrisons, and increasing the 
 standing army in Scotland. They held numerous 
 meetings ; and in the synod of Lothian, Douglass 
 being the leader of the Resolutioners who had 
 observed a day of thanksgiving for the king's 
 restoration, inveighed with such indecent bitter-
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHAHP. 59 
 
 ness against Prelacy y as gave the most melan- 
 choly apprehensions to all the moderate part of 
 the kingdom."* Of this Mr. Sharp complained, 
 and said, " 1 hear your pulpits ring against the 
 course of events here, and your sermons are 
 observed particularly." In all his letters he 
 continues to assure Mr. Douglass that the 
 English nation, as one man, are attached to their 
 ancient church that " Petitions come from the 
 counties for Episcopacy and the Liturgy" and 
 that " the generality of the people are doting after 
 Prelacy and the service-book." 
 
 The author of the " True and Impartial Ac- 
 count" has inserted the following letter of Mr. 
 Sharp to Mr. Douglass, but without any date. 
 Wodrow, however, dates it 28th of June. On 
 comparing them, I find some omission on Wod- 
 row's part. Those words within brackets are 
 what have been omitted by that " amiable and 
 candid" author. The former says, that the nine 
 letters which he has inserted, " I can assure 
 the reader are all taken from copies of them, 
 written with his (Mr. Sharp's) own hand, which 
 he kept, as he did copies of everything of im- 
 portance that he despatched : but whether or 
 not Mr. Wodrow's copies be genuine, is more 
 than I can tell, not having leisure to compare 
 
 * Guthrie's History, vol. x. p. 79.
 
 60 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 them. What other false abbreviates, interpo- 
 lations, &c. Mr. Wodrow has used in this matter, 
 I had no leisure to examine ; but ex ungue 
 leonem." * This letter is satisfactory proof of 
 Mr. Sharp's integrity ; and, besides, it exposes 
 the hypocrisy of Gillespie, in offering to establish 
 Episcopacy in Scotland. 
 
 " Reverend Sir, I cannot see how it is possible for me or 
 any one else to manage the business committed to me by 
 your letters of the other week, with any shadow of advantage; 
 but a certain prejudice will follow upon our further moving 
 in these particulars, which were so disgustful here. I am 
 baited upon all occasions with the Act of the West Kirk, and 
 the declaration at Dunfermline. Qlt cannot be believed 
 what advantages are thereby taken, both by our professed 
 adversaries, and those who formerly carried as friends. As to 
 the Protestors' (or Remonstrators) meeting, it is well you 
 have not mingled with them : sure they must have a strange 
 daring confidence, that they offer to send up one hither. I 
 cannot say they will have welcome ; and though I have been 
 sparing to speak of them finding that the king and others 
 sufficiently know and hate their way yet the next time I 
 speak with the king, I will give them one broadside.] Their 
 doom is dight, unless it be that some, upon design of height- 
 ening our division, to break our government, do give them 
 any countenance, Qwhich I am not apt to believe will be 
 done ; though I hear it is whispered by some noblemen here, 
 that it were fit this were done. I had it from a sure hand, 
 that the other week, Gillespie's wife came to the Lord Sin- 
 clair, and having wept, told him, that the stream against her 
 
 * True and Impartial Account, p. 10 12.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 61 
 
 husband, she saw to be so great, as he would be ruined ; 
 desired if she might use freedom with his lordship. When 
 he had bid her speak what was in her heart, she showed him 
 a letter from Mr. Patrick to her, bearing that she might deal 
 with the Lord Sinclair, that he would move the king on his 
 behalf, and know what length his majesty would have him to 
 go as to the bringing in Episcopacy into Scotland ; and give 
 all assurance that he would do the king service to the utmost, 
 and nothing could be enjoined to him for promoting thereof, 
 which he would not most faithfully and vigorously obey and 
 perfect. This Sinclair has undertaken to move, (as seeing 
 no other way for securing of Patrick,) and was prompted to 
 it by the person to whom he communicated it, who yet re- 
 solves to break the design upon that account by another way ; 
 for I find our noblemen have no will of Gillespie's coming 
 into play, knowing his domineering humour. 
 
 " For any thing doth yet appear to me, I find it is well 
 that you have not come up at this time, upon several respects. 
 I see] no good will follow upon this accommodation they are 
 upon with the Episcopal party; for those who profess the 
 Presbyterian way, resolve to admit of moderate Episcopacy ; 
 and the managing of the business by papers will undo them. 
 The Episcopal men will catch at any advantage they get by 
 their concessions, and after all resolve to carry on their own 
 way. These motions about their putting in writing what they 
 would desire in point of accommodation, are but to gain time 
 and prevent petitionings, and smooth over matters, till the 
 Episcopal men be more strengthened. I find that there is a 
 conjecture, and [I suspect] not without grounds ; that Middle- 
 ton shall be commissioner to the parliament. It is resolved, the 
 garrisons shall not be taken off before the next summer; the 
 committee of estates will sit down and make work for the 
 parliament, which will be called soon after. The king hath 
 declared his resolution not to meddle with our church-
 
 62 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 government, which hath quieted the clamourings of some 
 ranting men here, as if it were easy to set up Episcopacy 
 amongst us. 
 
 " I saw this day, a letter from [an intelligent person] in 
 Paris, bearing, that some learned men of the Protestants in 
 France, and of the professors of Leyden, were writing for the 
 lawfulness of Episcopacy ; and if the king would write to the 
 [provincial] Assembly at Charenton, in July next, there 
 would be no doubt of their approving his purpose to settle 
 Episcopacy in England. I find our noblemen fast enough 
 against Episcopacy amongst us; but I suspect some of them 
 are so upon a state interest, rather than conscience ; and all 
 incline to bring our church-government to a subordination to 
 the civil power. [I have read your last about the Protestors' 
 meeting, to Crawford and Lauderdale. It is not probable 
 that that party shall have any countenance ;] sure the com- 
 mittee of estates and parliament will exercise severity towards 
 them. I would gladly come off, but fear I cannot get away 
 these ten days. [I must take leave of the king, and have 
 some time to speak with him and some of the grandees, which 
 in this throng cannot easily be done. I will be forced to 
 draw a bill from this upon my brother. These ten days I 
 fear I shall not be in readiness to come away, and therefore 
 you may write till you hear from me.] 
 
 " Yours, &c., 
 (Signed) " James Sharp." 
 
 A passage in Mr. Douglass's letter of the 
 3d of July, shows distinctly that Mr. Sharp had 
 warned his friends in Scotland, and that they 
 perfectly understood him, that Episcopacy would 
 be established there. " If," says Mr. Douglass, 
 " it be your mind at court, that we should not
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 63 
 
 speak of Presbyterial government in Scotland, 
 and that our Covenant may be kept here, then I 
 hope never to be of it, for we had never more 
 need considering the temper of many here, and 
 of our countrymen with you.' Here is an un- 
 equivocal acknowledgment and it is the more 
 valuable as it comes from an adversary that the 
 Scottish people were favourable to Episcopacy. 
 
 In his letter of the 3d of July, Mr. Sharp says : 
 " The king hath not yet considered how to manage 
 his affairs as to Scotland, and all he says to our 
 countrymen here will be but for the fashion. 
 That which will be effectual must proceed from 
 his cabinet-council, consisting of three persons 
 whom he will call in a few days, and set apart 
 some time with them on purpose to manage 
 Scotch affairs." The rigid Presbyterians in 
 Ireland had also been preaching furiously against 
 Episcopacy. In the same letter lie says: 
 " General Monck desires you may write to the 
 Presbyterian ministers in the north of Ireland to 
 leave off their indiscreet preaching against the 
 king, and not praying for him." Notwithstanding 
 the plain warning which had been given him of 
 coming events, Mr. Douglass says, on the 12th of 
 July, "Your matters at London are yet a 
 mystery to me." On the 7th of July, Mr. Sharp 
 acknowledges the receipt of Mr. Douglass's 
 letter of the 28th of June, and writes as follows :
 
 64 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 The words between brackets, are again left out 
 by honest Wodrow. 
 
 " London, 7th July, 1660. 
 
 [" Reverend Sir, Yours of the 28th of June I have re- 
 ceived. I did write by that Saturday's post, which you men- 
 tion did not come to hand ; every week I write twice at least. 
 My return is still delayed, though I press it from day to day, 
 because the king's letter, which he is to send by me, is not in 
 readiness. I spoke yesterday with the Secretary of State, and 
 this day with the Marquess of Ormonde, who have both 
 engaged for an opportunity for me to speak with the king. 
 I could any day go to his majesty, and get a word of him, 
 but to have that time and privacy which is fitting for my 
 speaking what I would before parting, is difficult in his throng 
 of applications to him. The next week I am hopeful to have 
 the occasion, and therefore I must have patience under this 
 disappointment as to the speedy return I expected.] Since 
 my last by the Tuesday's post, the ministers have had several 
 meetings at Sion College [about the drawing of a paper to 
 be presented to the king, bearing three concessions in the 
 matter of church-government and worship.] They have 
 many debates, and though all who meet are not of one mind, 
 yet they have agreed to Episcopacy, moderated according to 
 Bishop Usher's reducement ; to set forms of prayer, to the 
 former liturgy, [if amended by such divines as shall be nomi- 
 nated for that purpose]. They desire liberty from ceremonies. 
 [The paper (it is said) will be in readiness this night. The 
 most of the Episcopalians proceed to impose their way ; some 
 pretend to moderation. The House of Commons having 
 appointed a committee for religion, do now and then start 
 some motions about the reports of that committee.] Some, 
 yesterday, spoke in the house for Episcopacy. Mr. Bamfield 
 offering to speak against it, was hissed down [by the clamours
 
 AKCHUISHOP SHARP. 05 
 
 of others, which suits not with the orders of the house.] 
 Some lawyers are giving papers to the court, proving (Mr. 
 W. says, ' to show') that the bishops of England have not 
 been outed by law [of any point of their jurisdiction, save of 
 the High Commission Courts.] The cloud [upon public 
 affairs upon this and several other accounts] is become more 
 dark than was apprehended. The Lord reigns, and knows 
 how to be seen in his glory, and to appear for his own in- 
 terests. To his grace you are commended by, 
 
 " Yours, &c, 
 (Signed) " James Sharp." 
 
 "[P.S. Sir John Clotworthy told me, that he expected 
 this night] three ministers from Ireland, Messrs. Hart, 
 Richardson, and Kaies. Their coming is very ill relished by 
 the Commissioners from the Convention who are here, who 
 have petitioned that Episcopacy [be settled there ; and ac- 
 cordingly, the most are nominated by the king ; Bramhall, 
 Primate of Armagh, Dr. Taylor, Bishop of Down, &c.]" 
 
 The following letter being of the same date, 
 7th July, I here subjoin ; but which is altogether 
 suppressed by Wodrow, except the two sentences, 
 " the Presbyterians are like to be ground be- 
 twixt two mill- stones. The Papists and fanatics 
 are busy." These two sentences he has put into 
 the close of the former letter, as if they had 
 originally been in it. 
 
 "Sir, I am exceedingly impatient of the delay of my 
 despatch ; those who should draw the king's letter, are so- 
 taken up with English business, that I cannot get them to 
 set about this. However, I have a toilsome life of it ; the 
 Lord's anger seems not yet to be turned away from these 
 
 F
 
 66 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 kingdoms. Affairs here begin to be much involved, many 
 foreseeing men apprehend a breach ; we know not upon 
 what foundation to stand. The Presbyterians are like to be 
 ground betwixt two mill-stones ; the papists and fanatics are 
 busy at work. I cannot write what I would, but he is now 
 returned who said God make all well. This is a strange 
 people. I wish our countrymen were at home. Argyle, this 
 day, I hear, hath come to town, and some believe he will not 
 find a very kindly welcome. The king is baited with con- 
 trary applications from our countrymen, as if they were two 
 factions driving to the old divisive work ; we must look on, 
 and wait what the Lord will do. It is promised that in the 
 beginning of the next week, both Scotland and Ireland shali 
 have their answer from the king. The parliament have done 
 nothing as to the public settlement, and to the paying of the 
 army as yet." 
 
 The following letter is altogether suppressed 
 by Wodrow, the object of which seems to be to 
 conceal Mr. Sharp's liberality in pleading with 
 the king for a toleration for the Protestors : 
 
 " Sir, You mention not the receipt of mine of the 14th. 
 I thought his majesty's gracious answer would be acceptable 
 to you ; and albeit it be ready, and the king hath approvcn 
 it in terminis, yet I am advised not to take it till it be signited, 
 which is only delayed till the king declare the secretary, of 
 which we are every day in expectation ; and then I hope I 
 shall have no longer stop. It was told here three days ago, 
 by the Earl of Tweeddale, that Mr. Stirling had disclaimed 
 lately the Remonstrance, and owned the public Resolutions : 
 it seems he begins to be afraid of sklenting of bolts. For me, 
 I can say it, I have not been accessory to any thing done, or 
 to be done against the Protestors, further than to the justi-
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 67 
 
 lying of our cause, and endeavouring they might not have 
 any countenance put upon them, which I am free to profess ; 
 and when I heard of a process to secure some ministers among 
 them, I did interpose, that it might not be executed at pre- 
 sent. Their folly is so manifest to all now, that their wonted 
 impudence will not cloak it. 
 
 " I shall mention to you some passages of my discourse 
 with the king at Breda, he asking me what should be done 
 with those Remonstrators ; in my answer, I closed with this : 
 ' Though it be not fit your majesty give them countenance, or 
 put power into their hands, yet, I think, we will all be suitors 
 to your majesty, that pity and pardon may be their measure.' 
 The king with a smile replied unto me, ' Were they in your 
 case, they would not allow you such a measure.' We have 
 sufficiently found evidences of their malice against us, I pray 
 it may not be charged upon them. 
 
 " Our noblemen yesterday paid their thanks to his majesty, 
 for his gracious condescensions to their humble desires, and in 
 the beginning of the next week, such as may get off, will be 
 dropping away. The Countess of Crawford, with the Earl 
 of Haddington,and Ardross, think of taking journey on Mon- 
 day ; my Lord Crawford will speedily follow after, if he do 
 not come along. It is a great trouble to me thus to be 
 
 detained, could I tell how to help it. 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 " J. S." 
 
 Mr. Wodrow has made free in his usual way 
 with the following letter, and has made an unpar- 
 donable alteration of a word, which gives an 
 entirely different sense to the sentence. Mr. 
 Sharp says, " there are several complaints :" but 
 Wodrow substitutes the word " universal)" for 
 several ; the object is transparent. 
 
 F 2
 
 G8 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 " London, 14th July, 1660. 
 
 " Reverend Sir, I received yours of the 5th. I have com- 
 municated your thoughts upon the matter of accommodation 
 to [some] of the brethren here. They have some sense of 
 the inconveniences you have mentioned, but they excuse 
 themselves from the present necessity, and the duty they owe 
 to the peace of the church. They gave in their paper of 
 Wednesday last to the king, which he ordered not to be com- 
 municated till his further pleasure be made known. [This 
 hath put a stop to my obtaining a copy of those concessions, 
 which yet within a day or two I am hopeful to procure, and 
 shall send it to you.] His majesty, after hearing them read 
 that paper, did commend it as savouring of learning and mo- 
 deration ; and hoped it might give a beginning to a good set- 
 tlement of the church. [He said he would hear what the 
 Episcopal men would offer, and before he proceeded to a de- 
 termination, he would acquaint them. They told me they 
 were entertained with fair, smooth expressions, from his ma- 
 jesty and the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chamberlain and the 
 Earl of St. Albans being present.] When I had an account 
 of the contents of that paper, I asked, if they thought it con- 
 sistent with their Covenant engagements ? They told me they 
 judged so, for they had only yielded to a constant presidency, 
 and a reformed Liturgy. [1 am at the writing hereof now 
 straitened, that by this I cannot give you an account of those 
 passages ; but for any thing I can conjecture,] I fear, they 
 have thereby given a knife to cut their own throats, and do 
 find that the Episcopalians prosecute their own way. This 
 morning his majesty was pleased to call me into his closet 
 alone, where I had the opportunity to give a full information 
 as to all those particulars you by your former letter did desire ; 
 and I must say, we have cause to bless the Lord [on behalf] 
 of so gracious a king. [He hath ordered a letter to be written 
 witiiin a day or two, which, I hope, will be refreshing to all
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 69 
 
 honest men. After this, lie will call for me once more, and 
 then order my return, which I do passionately long for, were 
 it the Lord's good pleasure to take me off this toil. The par- 
 liament have voted the king's lands to be restored into his 
 possession ; it is thought ere long, the bishop and dean 
 and chapter's lands will also be restored.] There are several 
 (W. says universal) complaints of the ejection of many good 
 ministers throughout the land, and the readmission of many 
 not well qualified, [because they have a legal title to their 
 livings, which the others have not. A messenger from the Sound 
 (Elsinore) this night gives certain intelligence of a peace con- 
 cluded amongst the Protestant princes, the Swede, Dane, and 
 Brandenburgher. They speak of an address to the Prince of 
 Conde, to be king of Poland ; and that there is a rebellion in 
 Rome raised against the pope. This afternoon, the king com- 
 manded my Lord Lauderdale to go to the Tower, and examine 
 Lambert about the conferences at the Lady Hume's house, in the 
 48, about his correspondences with Scotsmen, during the time 
 of the wars, and his intelligences at the time of his being 
 in Newcastle, this winter, in all which Lauderdale received 
 no account of any moment : his lordship would have me go 
 along with him, (but I was not present at their conference,) 
 and paying some visits in the city hath kept me so late, that 
 I must break off. 
 
 " I am, yours, 
 (Signed) " James Sharp." 
 
 " P. S. We hear our last letters were stopped."] 
 
 Towards the latter end of July, the king 
 appointed his ministers for Scotland. General 
 Middleton was created an earl, and appointed 
 royal commissioner in the ensuing parliament. 
 The Earl of Glencairn was made chancellor; the
 
 70 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Earl of Lauderdale, secretary the Earl of Craw- 
 ford, lord treasurer Sir John Gilmour, president 
 of the session Sir Archibald Primrose, clerk 
 register Mr. (afterwards Sir) John Fletcher, 
 king's advocate. The English judges, who had 
 been appointed before the Restoration, to the 
 civil and criminal courts in Scotland, were de- 
 prived of their commissions. New courts were 
 erected, and those judges who were alive and had 
 been expelled during the late usurpation, resumed 
 their seats. " Upon the whole, therefore," says 
 Guthrie, " we have no occasion to have recourse 
 to the apostacy and treachery of Sharp, to 
 account for the re-establishment of Episcopacy 
 in Scotland, as it was an almost inevitable 
 measure, in whatever manner he had acted. 
 The king had made his triumphal entry into 
 London on the 29th of May, amidst such universal 
 acclamations of his subjects, that he said, ' he 
 wondered what had become of the people who 
 had kept him so long abroad !' The Earl of 
 Clarendon, who acted as his first and sole minister, 
 had kept a regular correspondence with Glen- 
 cairn, Middleton, and an amazing variety of 
 other people of Scotland ; and Charles himself 
 was well acquainted with the state and dispo- 
 sition of parties there."* Burnet insinuates, that 
 
 * Gen. History, vol. x. p. 78.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 71 
 
 Middleton had secret instructions respecting 
 Episcopacy. There appears, however, no better 
 authority for this insinuation than his own 
 suspicions. It cannot be doubted, from Mr. 
 Sharp's correspondence, but that Charles's reso- 
 lution to restore Episcopacy had been matured. 
 He tells Mr. Douglass the sum of what the king 
 was pleased to grant, as to church matters, was 
 put into writing for his signature and privy seal ; 
 the heads of which, Mr. Sharp then communi- 
 cated, but which Wodrow thinks were unneces- 
 sary to be inserted. Mr. Sharp there expresses 
 his thankfulness at the conclusion of his labours ; 
 and adds, " I have asserted our cause to his 
 majesty and others, and pleaded for pity and 
 compassion to our opposers. I have not spoke 
 of any thing savouring of severity or revenge. I 
 had almost forgot my urging his majesty to call 
 a general assembly, which he told me could not 
 be resolved upon as to the time, till he should 
 more fully advise about ordering his affairs in 
 Scotland. And, upon the motion of his owning 
 the assembly at St. Andrews in 1651, he 
 readily yielded to it, as the fittest expedient to 
 testify his approbation of our cause, and his 
 pleasure that the disorders of our church be 
 remedied in the approven way. You will easily 
 see why he could not own those assemblies that 
 were holden after the interruptions of his govern-
 
 72 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 ment.'"* Here, then, we have from Wotlrow 
 himself ample evidence of the integrity of Mr. 
 Sharp. It were to be wished that he had always 
 shown equal integrity in copying the letters of 
 that much maligned prelate. The following 
 letter, written a short time before leaving London, 
 gives again such unequivocal evidence of Mr. 
 Wodrow's adherence to his instructions " to 
 aggravate the crimes of his enemies," as must 
 throw much doubt upon the archbishop's corres- 
 pondence as he gives it : the words in brackets, 
 show his usual omissions. 
 
 " London, 26th July, 1660. 
 
 "Reverend Sir, [Yours of the 19th, I received; by the 
 two preceding posts I had none from you. That my letters 
 to you came not sooner to hand is my trouble ; but I am 
 sure to send them betimes to the post-house. I sent you last 
 week some account of the heads of that letter, which his 
 majesty did approve, and order to be written for his signing. 
 I did acquaint my Lords Crawford and Cassilis with it, and 
 I know not if by them our countrymen here had notice of it, 
 but I fear many of them are not satisfied with his majesty's 
 declaring his gracious resolution to preserve the government 
 of our church as settled by law. I wait for the sealing of my 
 despatch with the signet, which the king hath not yet put 
 into the hands of Lord Lauderdale, but will within a few days, 
 and then I see nothing to hinder my return, but waiting upon 
 my lady Balcarras' coming to London, according to your 
 
 '* Wudrow's Introduction, vol. i. p. 52.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 73 
 
 desire; after which, I hope J shall not be detained above a 
 day or two. Upon her lord's account, that lady deserves this 
 testimony of our respect towards her. I have shown your 
 letter to some of her friends here, who take it kindly at your 
 hands. Though 1 have cause to be very impatient to have 
 my return thus delayed,] yet some of our friends advise, 
 that I put off two or three days that I may take care, that by 
 the . instructions to the Committee of Estates, the king's 
 assurance given by his letter [with me] may be made good. 
 Those instructions will probably this next week be perfected, 
 Qso that I begin to apprehend I cannot now come from tin's 
 before the beginning of the week following.] The king's 
 condescension, that the acts and authority of the General 
 Assemblies at St. Andrews and Dundee be owned, doth take 
 in the acts of the commission preceding it. Upon my 
 motion of it to his majesty, he was satisfied with the reasons 
 I gave from his own concernments, and ours, [which I do 
 (the more I think of it) the more judge to be much impor- 
 tanced by it. I am very hopeful, that] after the parliament 
 the General Assembly will be indicted. When his majesty 
 hath declared who shall be secretary of state, I shall acquaint 
 him with the proclamation you sent me, which I have shown 
 to some of our friends, who think it may do well ; but not 
 having opportunity to table it as I would, I cannot yet give 
 you an account of it.] Upon Saturday, the 24th, I gave you 
 an account [of which you do not mention the receipt,] of 
 the large opportunity I had with his majesty of clearing- you 
 from mistakes and aspersions according to all the particulars 
 of the information you sent me. [I may say it, that his 
 majesty and others are convinced, that the exorbitancies 
 chargeable upon the administration of the church of Scot- 
 land,] came from the overbearing sway of those men, fjwhose 
 way hath been pernicious to our church and state ; and shall 
 they still presume to keep meetings, and persist to what is
 
 74 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 good in their own eyes, as if there were no king in Israel ? 
 They had best bethink themselves, that Cromwell, Lambert, 
 and the Wallingford-house men are out of fashion ; the sun 
 and shine they have looked big under is set.] We have 
 heard here of an indicted meeting of theirs. [I believe they 
 have cause to suspect their encouragement from court; and 
 if they take no warning in time,]] they will draw a check 
 upon themselves, [which will not be pleasing. I cannot 
 imagine, how they can expect you will join with them. 
 
 " I believe ere this come to your hand,] you have notice 
 of his majesty's answer to the paper presented by our lords; 
 by which, after insinuation of his great regard to Scotland, 
 he tells them of withdrawing the field-forces presently, and of 
 the garrisons, as soon as with conveniency may be; of with- 
 drawing the English forces from the castle of Edinburgh, 
 how soon a Scottish garrison can be raised. The Committee of 
 Estates is to sit down on the 23d of August, and not to 
 meddle with persons or estates; they are to fill up their 
 number with those who have not by remonstrance, or any 
 public acting, disclaimed the king's authority. [The parlia- 
 ment is to sit the 23d of October following. Our country men 
 are desired to repair home at their conveniency, which many 
 of them intend to do next week.] The proclamation for the 
 Committee of Estates is preparing. 
 
 " P can write little in reference to church matters here, 
 but that I see] the proceedings towards settling Episcopacy 
 in England and Ireland go on apace. [The Presbyterians 
 and their favourers, neither do nor can take any effectual way 
 to oppose them.] I find they will speedily nominate the 
 bishops of England, as they have already nominated the 
 most of Ireland; [all deaneries and prebendaries, and colle- 
 giate churches are filled.] The brethren from Ireland are at 
 a great stand what to do ; the General, Manchester, or any 
 person of interest, refuse to introduce them to the king if
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 75 
 
 they present their address ; they have written to the brethren 
 who sent them,* [how they find matters stated.] [By what 
 I can learn,] I find the most they can learn, the most they 
 can expect, will be a forbearance for a time in the exercise of 
 their ministry ; but it will not be permitted them to meet in 
 Pi-esbyteries, or a Synod. I give them all the assistance I 
 can, though they get nothing of it from the city ministers. I 
 recommend you to the Lord's grace, who am, 
 
 " Yours, 
 (Signed) " James Sharp." 
 
 On the 2d of August, Charles issued a procla- 
 mation from Whitehall, by which, till the meeting 
 of parliament, he placed the government of Scot- 
 land in a Committee of Estates. They were com- 
 manded to meet at Edinburgh, on the 23d of the 
 same month ; and were the same individuals that 
 had acted in that capacity in 1651. Many of 
 these commissioners had at that time forced on 
 Charles the shameful mortifications which he then 
 experienced. They had all taken the Covenant, 
 and compelled Charles to make the unnatural 
 Declaration from Dunfermline. They now thought 
 they could not wipe away the memory of these 
 offences so effectual ly, as by extraordinary zeal 
 against those with whom they had formerly acted. 
 Before leaving London finally, Mr. Sharp wrote 
 
 * Wodrow inserts, " for advice."
 
 7G LJFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 to Mr. Douglass the following letter, the brackets 
 indicating Mr. Wodrow's omissions : 
 
 "London, 11 August, 1660. 
 
 " Reverend Sir, Yours of the 2d I received, i have 
 shown the former part of it to Lady Balcarras, Lord Lauder- 
 dale, and Sir Robert Murray, who take it very kindly ; and I 
 confess, I see a conveniency for testifying our respect to that 
 noble and virtuous lady, which I have, since her coming to 
 this place, endeavoured to evidence amongst ray acquaintance 
 here, of which she is sensible. I have not of late written fre- 
 quently to you, because my negociation here is at a close, and 
 I have been in daily expectation of a dimission from his 
 majesty. I did not imagine some six weeks ago, my stay 
 would have been so long continued, and yet I cannot say it 
 hath been altogether in vain : for the apprehensions of our 
 countrymen here are much altered [within this month, from 
 what they were, concerning our church's affairs. After] his 
 majesty was pleased to yield to what I humbly offered, by his 
 condescensions in that letter, I thought it was not amiss to 
 acquaint some here with it; [though I did not intend a di- 
 vulging of it, because the signification of his majesty's plea- 
 sure might silence the clamours of some, and bring them to 
 be more] moderate in their expressions about our church;* 
 [which, I find, hath been the consequent of it, and thereupon 
 am the less troubled that the contents of the king's letter are 
 noticed by so many. The letter was this day by Lauder- 
 dale's hand written in mundo, and subscribed by his lord- 
 ship as secretary, and offered to be superscribed this night 
 by the king, which he hath done and ordered it to be 
 
 " And their expressions about the government of our 
 church are much moderated/' Wodrow, p. 53.
 
 AKCHBISIIOP SHARP. 77 
 
 signe.ted updn Monday. The letter contains the heads 
 I formerly told you, and the strain of it I doubt not, will 
 give abundant satisfaction to satisfiable men, as you 
 write; for others, I believe, they must resolve upon more 
 pliableness than heretofore. I have nothing now to hinder 
 my return, which I desire may be as soon as can be wished 
 for, I know there be reasons for my hastening 1 . I am to 
 take leave of the king upon Monday or Tuesday, and shall, as 
 T did the last Monday, acquaint his majesty with what you 
 had written by the former post, so to take occasion to hint at 
 what you have writ by this, which I am confident will be ac- 
 ceptable; he expressed satisfaction with what you had 
 written then. I have engaged with company to enter on our 
 journey upon Thursday next, by the Lord's help. We hear 
 the way is dangerous, and the weather is so excessively hot, 
 that I dare not venture to post, and therefore must wait for 
 company, and make as speedy a journey as we can.] The 
 letter of the ministers of London, in return to yours, is now, 
 after much belabouring, signed by them, and to be delivered 
 to me to-morrow. The Episcopal party* are still increasing 
 in number and confidence ; and some think they fly so high, 
 as they will undo their own interest. [The king hath, by a 
 letter to the House of Commons, expressed his resolution, to 
 have a better provision of maintenance for vicarages in Eng- 
 land, but expressly did insinuate the owning of the church- 
 government of England by bishops and archbishops ; the 
 letter is now printed. The bill for securing of ordained mi- 
 nisters in their livings is now ready to be engrossed in the 
 House of Commons. The bill for indemnity hath passed the 
 House of Lords, and this day was sent down to the House of 
 Commons; but it is thought the two houses will not agree 
 
 * Wodrow inserts the word " here."
 
 78 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 about it, which will prolong the completing of it for some time 
 longer. I did, according to your desire, wait upon the Lady 
 ofArgyle. Many of our countrymen take journey this next 
 week. I shall by the Tuesday's post write once more. I re- 
 commend you to the Lord's grace, who am, 
 
 " Sir, yours, 
 (Signed) " James Sharp."] 
 
 Mr. Sharp left London soon after despatching 
 the above letter. Messrs. Calamy, Ashe and 
 Manton, eminent English Presbyterians, wrote by 
 him to the ministers at Edinburgh, who had as- 
 sumed the representation of the Resolutioners. 
 It is the letter to which he refers as being written 
 and signed " after much belabouring," and bears 
 decisive evidence of what Mr. Sharp had all along- 
 assured them, that the church would be re- 
 established without respect to either Presbytery 
 or the Covenant. 
 
 " Reverend and Beloved Brethren, We had sooner re- 
 turned our thanks to you, for your brotherly salutation and 
 remembrance of us, but that we expected the conveniency 
 of Mr. Sharp's return, hoping by that time things would grow 
 to such a consistency, that we might be able to give you a 
 satisfactory account of the state of religion among us. We 
 do with you heartily rejoice in the return of our sovereign to 
 the exercise of government over these his kingdoms ; and as 
 we cannot but own much of God in the way of bringing it 
 about, so we look upon the thing itself as the fruit of prayers 
 and a mercy not to be forgotten. Hitherto our God hath
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 1 ( .) 
 
 lielped us, in breaking the formidable power of sectaries, 
 causing them to fall by the violence of their own attempts, 
 and in restoring to us our ancient government after so many 
 shakings, (the only proper basis to support the happiness and 
 just liberties of these nations,) and freeing us from the many 
 snares and dangers to which we were exposed by the former 
 confusions and usurpations. Therefore, we will yet wait 
 upon the Lord, who hath in part heard us, until all those 
 things, concerning which we have humbly sought to him, be 
 accomplished and brought about. We heartily tliank you for 
 your kind and brotherly encouragements, and shall in our 
 places endeavour the advancing of the covenanted reforma- 
 tion according to the bonds yet remaining upon our con- 
 sciences, and our renewed professions before God and man ; 
 and though we cannot but foresee potent oppositions and sad 
 discouragements in the work, yet we hope our God will carry 
 us through all difficulties and hazards, and at length cause 
 the foundations now laid, to increase into a powerful building, 
 that the top-stone may be brought forth with shoutings, arid 
 his people cry, Grace, grace, unto it. 
 
 " We bless God in your behalf, that your warfare is in a 
 great measure accomplished, and the church of Christ and 
 the interests thereof so far owned in Scotland, as to be secured 
 not only by the uniform submission of the people, but also 
 by laws, and those confirmed by the royal assent, a compli- 
 cation of blessings which yet the kingdom of England hath 
 not obtained, and (though we promise ourselves much from 
 the wisdom, piety, and clemency of his royal majesty) through 
 our manifold distractions and prejudices, not like suddenly 
 to obtain. Therefore, we earnestly beg the continuance of 
 your prayers for us, in this day of our conflict, fears, and 
 temptations ; as also your advice and counsel, that on the 
 one side, we may neither, by any forwardness and rigkl
 
 80 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 counsels of our own, hazard the peace and safety of a late 
 sadly distempered and not yet healed nation ; and on the 
 other side, by undue compliances, destroy the hopes of a 
 begun reformation. We have to do with men of different 
 humours and principles ; the general stream and current is 
 for the old prelacy in all its pomp and height ; and therefore 
 it cannot be hoped for, that the Presbyterial government 
 should be owned as the public establishment of this nation, 
 while the tide runneth so strongly that way ; and the bare 
 toleration of it, (" the old prelacy,") will certainly produce a 
 mischief, whilst Papists and sectaries of all sorts will wind in 
 themselves under the covert of such a favour. Therefore no 
 course seemeth likely to us to secure religion and the interests 
 of Jesus Christ our Lord, but by making Presbytery a part of 
 the public establishment, which will not be effected but by 
 moderating and reducing Episcopacy to the form of synodical 
 government, and a mutual condescendance of both parties in 
 some lesser things which fully come within the latitude of 
 allowable differences in the church. This is all we can for the 
 present hope for, and if we could obtain it, should account it a 
 mercy and the best expedient to ease his majesty in his great 
 difficulties about the matter of religion : and we hope none 
 that fear God and seek the peace of Sion, considering the per- 
 plexed position of our affairs, will interpret this to be any 
 tergiversation from our principles or apostacy from the Cove- 
 nant. But if we cannot obtain this, we must be content with 
 prayers and tears to commend our cause to God, and by 
 meek and humble sufferings to wait upon him until he be 
 pleased to prepare the hearts of the people for his beautiful 
 work, and to bring his ways (at which they are now so much 
 scandalized) into request with them. 
 
 " Thus we have with all plainness and simplicity of heart, 
 laid forth our straits before you : we again beg your advice
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 81 
 
 and prayers, and heartily recommend you to the Lord's 
 grace, in whom we are your loving brethren and fellow 
 labourers in the work of the gospel. 
 
 (Signed) " Edm. Calamy. 
 Simeon Ashe. 
 " London, 10th August, 1660." Tho. Manton." 
 
 " Directed to our Reverend and highly esteemed Brethren, 
 Mr. David Dickson, Mr. Robert Douglass, Mr. James 
 Hamilton, Mr. John Smith, Mr. George Hutchinson, 
 Edinburgh." 
 
 Had there been any just cause, for accusing- 
 Mr. Sharp, or even any suspicion of his integrity, 
 no better opportunity presented itself than the 
 present, for either roundly charging him with 
 treachery or of putting their friends in Scotland 
 on their guard. Not a word is said in allusion 
 to any past or meditated treachery ; so far from 
 it that Mr. Sharp's integrity is clearly implied. 
 Gillespie, undoubtedly, did act a treacherous part 
 towards the Presbyterians, without being able to 
 plead the palliation of temptation ; for he 
 OFFERED, of his own accord, to go all lengths, 
 towards the restoration of the ancient church, 
 and " gave all assurance that he would do the 
 king service to his utmost, and nothing could be 
 enjoined to him for promoting thereof, which 
 he would not most faithfully and vigorously 
 obey and perfect," to effect that purpose. Yet 
 not a word of Gillespie's base treachery has ever 
 
 o
 
 #2 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 been heard, because his offer being rejected, he 
 slunk back amongst his old associates, and be- 
 came loud in his condemnation of that very 
 measure which he himself had offered to ac- 
 complish On the contrary, Mr. Sharp, who 
 made no such offer, but whose talents and 
 abilities pointed him out to a grateful sovereign 
 as the fittest person for carrying out his patriotic 
 designs, and who himself only followed out the 
 principles which he had been taught in early 
 youth at King's College, Aberdeen, was pur- 
 sued with the most fiendish hatred and malice, 
 and the most enormous lies which hell itself could 
 have invented. But even if he had made the 
 change from Presbytery to Episcopacy, of which 
 he is accused, is he the only man who is to be 
 called traitor and apostate, for following the 
 dictates of a better-informed conscience ? How 
 many men, since the first introduction of Presby- 
 tery to the present day, have renounced its 
 errors, and, being convinced, have embraced a 
 more rational and Scriptural system, both of 
 doctrine and discipline, and who have neither 
 deserved, nor have they been accused of either 
 treachery or apostacy. Do such men as con- 
 tinue the murderous hue and cry against the 
 memory of this pious and exemplary prelate, 
 admit, that Alexander Henderson was a traitor 
 both to his earthly and heavenly sovereign, and
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 83 
 
 an apostate and persecutor of the church of 
 which he was an ordained minister ? Oh, no, 
 quite the contrary : yet he was the primary 
 instrument of extirpating and persecuting that 
 church which he betrayed, and against whose 
 governors, whom he had sworn to obey, he pro- 
 nounced an act of excommunication. 
 
 G 2
 
 84 LIFE AX) TIMES OF 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Trials and executions of the Marquis of Argyle Mr.Guthrie, 
 and Sir Archibald Johnston, of Warriston. 
 
 THAT the trials and execution of these indivi- 
 duals might not interfere with the narrative, I have 
 thrown their affairs into a distinct chapter. In 
 his declaration from Breda, Charles promised an 
 indemnity to the realm of England, with certain 
 exceptions; but no such indemnity had been 
 promised to Scotland. In favour of such a grant, 
 Lauderdale recounted the services of the Scottish 
 nation, and the loyalty of the great body of the 
 people. He reminded him of the Duke of Hamil- 
 ton's unsuccessful attempt to relieve his father; 
 Montrose's brilliant achievements, the services of 
 the Scots terminating in the unfortunate battle of 
 Worcester ; and their more recent and effectual 
 assistance to General Monck, previous to his own 
 Restoration ; besides that he himself had actually 
 passed an act of indemnity at Stirling, under the 
 name of an " Approbation :" a distinction he ar- 
 gued should therefore be made between those 
 who voluntarily entered into Cromwell's service, 
 and those who were compelled to do so. Of the
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 85 
 
 former class it would be necessary to make some 
 examples, and none appeared to be more proper 
 objects than Argyle, Guthrie and Johnston. 
 Argyle had a natural presentiment that he might 
 be called to account for his former transactions, 
 and he concealed himself for some time after the 
 king's return. In the commencement of the re- 
 bellion, he cast his lot among the Covenanters ; 
 and, in order to bring him back to a sense of his 
 duty, Charles I. created his father a marquis, and 
 called himself up to London. His father wrote 
 to Charles, warning him of his character, and 
 advising him to detain him a prisoner ; " for," 
 said he, " be assured that Lorn will wind you a 
 pirn." The king thanked the old marquis for 
 his advice, but added, " he behoved to be a king 
 of his word, and therefore having called him up 
 by his warrant, he would not detain him."* His 
 cruelties during the rebellion, in which he himself 
 was a chief actor, were notorious; " whilst his 
 signal hypocrisy ceased even to deceive the lower 
 ranks of the Puritans, by whom (as by almost all 
 the world,) he was cordially hated." He was a 
 decided coward, as his conduct at Inverlochie 
 proved him. " In private life, he was as false 
 and selfish as in public, depriving his brother of 
 
 * See the author's History of the Reformation in Scotland, 
 p. 450.
 
 86 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 his estate, and cheating his sisters out of their 
 portions. To complete the picture, tradition de- 
 scribes Argyle as a man of mean stature, red-haired, 
 and with squinting eyes ; so that to this day he is 
 denominated the gleid (squinting) marquis. It 
 is singular that Kirkton does not mention the 
 fatal letters sent down to Scotland by Monck, 
 during Argyle's trial, though the production of 
 such a proof of disloyalty seems scarcely neces- 
 sary in his case, and probably has had greater 
 stress laid upon it by some authors than it really 
 deserves."* 
 
 On the Restoration, Argyle concealed himself 
 in the Highlands, and thence wrote by his son to 
 the king, asking permission to wait on him ; but 
 he received no satisfactory answer, neither did 
 the king bind himself to any particular line of 
 conduct towards him. He ventured, however, to 
 appear at court, and arrived so secretly, that no 
 one knew any thing of his motions till he reached 
 Whitehall, on the 8th of February, 1660. He 
 sent his son to beg to be admitted to an audience 
 of his majesty, which was not only denied him, 
 but he himself was immediately arrested, and 
 sent to the Tower, whence he was conveyed by a 
 ship of war to Scotland, and committed to Edin- 
 burgh Castle, on the 20th of December. On 
 
 * Notes to Kirkton's History, by Kirkpatrick Sharp, Esq.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 87 
 
 the 13th of February, 1661, he was placed at the 
 bar of the parliament-house, and accused by Sir 
 John Fletcher the lord advocate, of high-treason. 
 The marquis requested leave to speak before the 
 indictment should be read ; but this was unani- 
 mously refused. The indictment contained four- 
 teen counts, as follows : 
 
 " 1. That he rose in arms against the king ; and said to Mr. 
 John Stuart, that it was the opinion of many divines, that 
 kings might be deposed. 2. That he marched with an armed 
 force, and burnt the house of Airlie. 3. That in 1640, he 
 besieged and forced his majesty's Castle of Dumbarton to 
 surrender to him. 4. That he called or ordered to be called, 
 the Convention of Estates in 1643, and entered into the 
 Solemn League and Covenant, with England, levied subscrip- 
 tions from the subjects, and fought against his majesty's 
 forces. 5. That in 1645 he burnt the house of Menstrie. 
 6. That in 1646 he, or those under his command, besieged 
 and took the house' of Towart and Ecoge, and killed a great 
 many gentlemen. 7. That he marched to Kyntire, and killed 
 300 Macdonalds and M'Couls in cold blood, and transported 
 200 men to the uninhabited Isle of Jura, where they perished 
 by famine. 8. That he went to London, and agreed to de- 
 liver up the late king to the English army at Newcastle, upon 
 the payment of 200,000, pretended to be due for the arrears 
 of the army treasonably raised, 1643. 9. That he protested 
 against the ' Engagement' of 1648, for relieving his majesty, 
 raised an army to oppose the ' Engagers,' met with Oliver 
 Cromwell, consented to a letter wrote to him on the 6th of 
 October, and to the instructions given to Sir John Chiesley, to 
 the parliament of England, and in May following, signed a 
 warrant for a proclamation against the Lords Ogilvie and
 
 88 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Rae, the Marquis of Huntly, John, now Earl of Middleton, 
 declaring them, their wives and families, to be out of the pro- 
 tection of the kingdom. 10. That he clogged his majesty's 
 invitation to the kingdom of Scotland, 1649, with many un- 
 just limitations, consenting to the murder of the Marquis of 
 Montrose ; corresponded with Cromwell, contrived and con- 
 sented to the Act of the West Kirk, 1650, and the Declaration 
 following upon it. 11. That in 1653 and 1654 he abetted, 
 or joined with, or furnished arms to the usurper's forces 
 against Glencairn and Middleton, and gave remissions to such 
 as had been in the king's service. 12. That he received a 
 precept from the usurper of 12,000 sterling, consented to 
 the proclamation of Richard Cromwell, accepted a commission 
 from the shire of Aberdeen, and sat and voted in his pretended 
 parliament. 13. That he rebuked the ministers in Argyle, 
 for praying for the king. 14. That he positively advised 
 Cromwell and Ireton, in a conference, 1648, that they could 
 not be safe, till the king's life was taken away ; at least, he 
 knew and concealed that horrid design." 
 
 Although some of these charges are probably 
 exaggerated, yet there is not the least doubt of 
 his guilt, and which, indeed, is greatly aggravated 
 by the terms of his defence. In exculpation, he 
 pleaded the commands of the rebel parliament 
 and Committee of Estates, and who were them- 
 selves in a state of open rebellion. Under the 
 rebel government he acted willingly, and, in 
 fact, was one of their chief members and sup- 
 porters, acting as a sort of lieutenant under 
 Cromwell, for Scotland. Even Kirkton admits 
 that he was " Dictator of Scotland." He ad-
 
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 89 
 
 mitted the inhuman massacre of the Macdonalds; 
 but in extenuation alleged that they had com- 
 mitted great barbarities upon his own people, who 
 had taken a cruel revenge. He made his defence 
 in an eloquent and skilful speech, which greatly ex- 
 alted him in public opinion. But the letters which 
 he addressed to Monck showed that he was hearty 
 in the rebellion against the king, and this weighed 
 strongly with parliament in voting him guilty. 
 All his friends and relations, his kith, kin, and 
 allies, withdrew and declined voting. The Mar- 
 quis of Montrose, whose father had been mur- 
 dered by the Committee of Estates, of which 
 Argyle was a member, also withdrew, and with 
 much good feeling declined to vote. On the 
 25th of May, he received his sentence on his 
 knees at the bar of the house : " that he was 
 found guilty of high-treason, and adjudged to be 
 executed to the death as a traitor; his head to be 
 severed from his body at the cross of Edinburgh, 
 upon Monday, the 27th instant, (JMay,) and affixed 
 on the same place where the Marquis of Mont- 
 rose's head was formerly, and his arms torn before 
 the parliament and at the cross " 
 
 He was then conveyed to the common prison, 
 where he spent the short residue of his life in 
 composure and devotion. On Monday morning, 
 he was occupied chiefly with the settlement of his 
 affairs ; and, at his own desire, his lady took her
 
 90 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 final leave of him. It seems, " he was so over- 
 powered with a sensible effusion of the joy of the 
 Holy Ghost, that he broke out in a rapture, and 
 said, ' I thought to have concealed the Lord's 
 goodness, but it will not do : I am now ordering 
 my affairs, and God is sealing my charter to a 
 better inheritance, and is just now saying to me, 
 Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee.'" 
 To Mr. Hutchinson, a preacher, who said on 
 his entrance, " What cheer, my lord ?" he ex- 
 claimed, " Good cheer, sir ; the Lord hath again 
 confirmed, and said unto me from Heaven, thy 
 sins be forgiven thee." These are the sort of 
 rapturous expressions of which the religious ex- 
 perience of the Covenanters were chiefly com- 
 posed : expressions which savoured much more of 
 presumption than of either true piety or Christian 
 humility. The day preceding his execution, he 
 wrote to the king, justifying his intentions in all 
 he had acted in the matter of the Covenant ; 
 protested his innocence as to the death of the late 
 king ; submitted patiently to his sentence ; wished 
 the king a long and happy reign ; cast his chil- 
 dren and family upon his mercy, and prayed that 
 they might not be made to suffer for their father's 
 faults. He was attended by several noblemen 
 and gentlemen to the scaffold, which he mounted 
 with the greatest serenity and gravity. After 
 Mr. Hutchinson had prayed, the marquis spoke
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 91 
 
 for half an hour, and among other things said, " I 
 was real and cordial in my desires to bring the 
 king home, and in my endeavours for him when he 
 was at home, and had no correspondence with the 
 adversary's army, nor any of them when his ma- 
 jesty was in Scotland ; nor had I any accession to 
 his late majesty's horrible and execrable murder. 
 I shall not speak much to these things for which 
 I am condemned, lest I seem to condemn others. 
 It is well known it is only for compliance, 
 which was the epidemical fault of the nation. 
 I wish the Lord to pardon them. I say no 
 more : we are tied by Covenants to religion and 
 reformation ; and it passeth the power of all the 
 magistrates under heaven, to absolve from the 
 oath of God :" and he exhorted all the people to 
 adhere to the Covenant. When he had finished 
 speaking, Mr. Hutchinson again prayed, after 
 which his lordship himself prayed. He next took 
 leave of his friends, and gave the executioner a 
 handkerchief, containing some money ; and then 
 laid his neck on the maiden,* when his head 
 was instantly severed from his body, and fixed 
 on the west end of the Tolbooth, or common 
 gaol of the city. His body was delivered to 
 
 * The maiden was an instrument similar to the guilotine, 
 and was invented by the Earl of Morton, regent during part 
 of Queen Mary's captivity ; and it is somewhat singular, that 
 he himself was the first to suffer by it.
 
 92 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 his friends, and was interred in the vault of 
 his ancestors. The Covenanters considered him 
 as their proto-martyr, and he ranks high to 
 this day in the number of their saints. Never- 
 theless, he suffered most justly as a perse- 
 cutor of the church, and a traitor to his sove- 
 reign. 
 
 James Guthrie was next called upon to bear 
 testimony for the Covenant ; but that the cause 
 of his arraignment may be better understood, it 
 will be necessary to look a little backward. As 
 soon as the murder of Charles I. was known in 
 Scotland, the parliament ordered Charles II. to 
 be proclaimed ; but promising obedience only 
 according to the Solemn League and Covenant. 
 They resolved also, that before he was admitted 
 to the exercise of the government, he should 
 make satisfaction to the kirk on the score of 
 religion, and sign the Covenant. Parliament 
 chose a certain number of commissioners, and the 
 General Assembly so many ministers to treat with 
 the king at Breda on the above basis. The kirk 
 chiefly relied on Livingston ; but he complains, 
 during the whole treaty with the king, that he 
 used the Liturgy, and employed Church of Eng- 
 land chaplains. The failure of Montrose's expe- 
 dition compelled the king, however reluctantly, 
 to submit to the illiberal and unjust terms pro- 
 posed by these religio-political commissioners.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 93 
 
 He was compelled to promise to remove all 
 malignants * from his councils to take the 
 Covenant to prosecute its ends and designs 
 to establish the Presbyterian government to 
 submit the appointment of his ministers to par- 
 liament, and conform himself entirely to its 
 decisions and, finally, to be directed in all things 
 by the General Assembly. Charles was obliged 
 to swallow these hard and unreasonable terms, 
 but not without many scruples, and as much 
 delay as possible. Livingston was horror-struck 
 at hearing that Charles received the holy sacra- 
 ment of the Lord's supper kneeling, while at 
 Breda. With the usual bigotry of the sect, 
 Livingston told him, that it would provoke God 
 to blast all his designs, and was besides contrary 
 to their beloved Covenant. Charles, however, 
 much to his honour, was fixed in his resolution, 
 and said his father always communicated at 
 Christmas, Easter and Whitsunday, and he was 
 resolved to follow so good an example ; besides, 
 he did it then to procure a blessing from God on 
 
 * Malignants was a term of infamy which was indiscri- 
 minately applied by the rebels and Covenanters, or in other 
 words, the religious hypocrites of those days, to all who 
 feared God arjd worked righteousness, and who honoured the 
 king. In the slang of the time, therefore, a Malignant meant 
 a good and true man, one who served God and honoured the 
 king.
 
 94 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 his intended voyage. Happy had it been for 
 himself and the people whom God had committed 
 to his charge, had he always continued in this 
 frame of mind. But we have to thank the 
 Solemn League and Covenant and its adherents, 
 for murdering his father and driving himself, at 
 the inexperienced age of eighteen, into Popish 
 countries, where he learnt all the vices and 
 debauchery of that most profligate religion, and 
 finally apostatized into it. This evil and the 
 ultimate ruin and extinction of that illustrious 
 line of princes, is entirely owing to the sacrilegious 
 covenant which binds its deluded votaries to 
 persecute and extirpate the church, and to rebel 
 against the sovereign. 
 
 Charles with his suite, which consisted of the 
 Duke of Hamilton, the Earl of Lauderdale, and a 
 few personal friends, and the commissioners, 
 embarked at Amsterdam ; but when Livingston 
 saw so many of those whom he uncharitably de- 
 nominated malignants, he refused to sail in the 
 same ship with them. In the true pharisaical 
 style and spirit of the Covenanted rebels, he 
 alleged of these loyal gentlemen, "that both in 
 regard of the profane malignant company, and 
 how matters stood in the treaty, they were 
 taking the plague of God with them to Scotland. 
 He therefore went to Rotterdam for embarkation. 
 This is a genuine specimen of the pharisaical tern-
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 95 
 
 per and spiritual pride engendered by that instru- 
 ment of popish craft and subtlety the Solemn 
 League and Covenant. The king arrived in 
 the River Spey, on the 23d of June, 1660 ; where 
 he was compelled to sign the Solemn League and 
 Covenant, and before he was permitted to land ; 
 some days afterwards at Leith, Argyle sent an 
 order to discharge all those loyal gentlemen 
 whom the rebels usually styled " Malignants." 
 In their stead, he placed creatures of his own, 
 stiff, starched, and puritanical, who acted the 
 part of spies more than of official servants. " The 
 Marquis of Argyle," says Kirkton, " being all 
 that time almost dictator of Scotland, and to 
 make all sure for himself, being in great danger 
 from the envy of his enemies, thought good to 
 strike up a match betwixt the king and his 
 daughter Lady Anne." Before they would per- 
 mit the king to land, the king was compelled to 
 give his consent to sign the Covenant. Living- 
 ston preached, and at the conclusion of his 
 sermon, read the Solemn League and Covenant, 
 to which they compelled Charles, " although very 
 refractory," to affix his name. " The king," 
 says Burnet, " wrought himself into as grave a 
 deportment as he could. He heard many prayers 
 and sermon's, some of great length, and which 
 were always bitter libels and invectives against 
 his father's actions, his mother's idolatries, and
 
 96 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 his own malignity." On one fast-day, there 
 were six sermons preached without intermission ; 
 and Burnet, who was present, says, " he was not 
 a little weary of such a tedious service." On 
 Sundays, the king was not allowed so much as to 
 walk abroad ; and if at any time there was any 
 gaiety at court, he was severely rebuked for it. 
 Burnet says, this was managed with so much 
 rigour and so little discretion, that it contributed 
 to inspire him with an aversion to all religion. 
 All his father's faithful friends were sternly pro- 
 hibited from approaching him. The common 
 people showed great loyalty and affection for his 
 person, and came in crowds to see him ; but 
 these Argyle drove away, and would not suffer 
 them to get near him. 
 
 Religious hypocrisy and intolerance were the 
 besetting sins of the times ; and Kirkton informs 
 us, with exultation, that at this period " Scotland 
 hath, by emulous foreigners been called Phila- 
 delphia : and now she seemed to be in her 
 flower." To this, Mr. Kirkpatrick Sharp, the 
 editor, adds the following note : 
 
 " This flower of Scotland in the perfection of her church, 
 was plentifully bedewed with the blood of malignancy. E. G. 
 In one day, the Covenanters drowned eighty women and 
 children, found guilty of following Montrose's camp, by preci- 
 pitating them over the bridge at Linlithgow, and six more 
 shared the same fate at Elgin. From the account of the battle 
 of Pliilipshaugh, published under authority by the victors
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 97 
 
 themselves, we learn that they shot an hundred Irish prisoners 
 at a post; on which occasion a covenanted minister observed, 
 ' the wark gaes bonnily on.' General Hurry being sen- 
 tenced to perpetual banishment by the parliament, his life 
 was peremptorily demanded and obtained by the commission 
 of the kirk. The Marquis of Huntly, a venerable nobleman, 
 of eighty, had been previously beheaded, chiefly owing to a 
 like Christian application. After the execution of Sir Robert 
 Spottiswood indeed, the clergy, (i. e. the covenanting minis- 
 ters,) solicited the parliament that more royalists might be 
 slaughtered, but could not obtain their desire. The massacres 
 of Dunaverti and Jurva, where upwards of three hundred men, 
 ' after they were come'd out of the castle, were put to the sword, 
 everie mother's sonne, with a hundredth country-fellowes 
 whom we had smoaked out of a cave as they doe foxes.' Mr. 
 John Nave, or Neaves, (who was appointed by the commis- 
 sion of the kirk, to wait on him, General Leslie, as his chap- 
 lain), never ceased to tempt him to that bloodshed; yea, and 
 threatened him with the curses that befel Saul for sparing 
 the Amalekites, for with them, his theology taught him to 
 compare the Dunaverti men : and I verilie believe this pre- 
 vailed most with General Leslie, who looked upon Nave as the 
 representative of the kirk of Scotland. This massacre was 
 promoted, if not caused by Leslie's chaplain, who exclaimed, 
 in a sermon preached before the troops : ' What meaneth then 
 this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the 
 oxen ?' applying the text of scripture to the victims still un- 
 butchered."* 
 
 We should willingly bury these atrocities in 
 oblivion, were we not continually upbraided with 
 the severities to which the government of Lauder- 
 
 * Kirkton's Hist. 4to., pp. 44, 45, 49. 
 
 H
 
 98 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 dale were compelled to resort, in order to put down 
 the rebellious spirit of the Covenanters. It is there- 
 fore necessary to show how the godly ministers 
 taught such doctrines, as produced in their hearers 
 the fruits of the flesh, and not of the Spirit ; and 
 by their fruits we must judge them. Their in- 
 quisitorial and tyrannical interference with the 
 private affairs of their flocks and of each other, is 
 luminously detailed in the following quotation 
 from one of their own most approved authors : 
 
 " Every minister was to be tried five times a year, both for 
 his personal and ministerial labours ; every congregation was 
 to be visited by the Presbytery, that they might see how the 
 vine flourished, and how the pomegranate budded. And there 
 was no case nor question in the meanest family in Scotland, 
 but it might become the object of the deliberation of the 
 General Assembly ; for the congregational session-book was 
 tried by the Presbytery, the Presbytery's book by the Synod, 
 and the Synod's book by the General Assembly. Likewise, as 
 the bands of the Scottish church were strong, so her beauty 
 was bright : no error was so much as named ; the people 
 were not only sound in the faith, but innocently ignorant of 
 unsound doctrine ; no scandalous person could live, no scan- 
 dal could be concealed in all Scotland, so strict a correspon- 
 dence there was betwixt ministers and congregations. The 
 General Assembly seemed to be the priest with Urim and 
 Thummim, and there was not one hundred persons in all 
 Scotland to oppose their conclusions ; all submitted, all 
 learned, all prayed; most part were really godly, or at least 
 counterfeited themselves Jews. Thus was Scotland a heap 
 of wheat set about with lilies, uniform, or a palace of silver 
 beautifully proportioned ; and this seems to me to have been
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 99 
 
 Scotland's high noon. The only complaint of profane people 
 was, that the government was so strict they had not liberty 
 enough to sin. I confess I thought at that time the common sort 
 of ministers strained too much at the sin, which in these days 
 was called MALIGNANCY," (that is Episcopacy and loyalty) 
 " (and I should not paint the moon faithfully if I marked not 
 her spots,) otherways I think, if church officers could polish 
 the saints upon earth as bright as they are in heaven, it were 
 their excellency and the church's happiness. But this season 
 lasted not long."* 
 
 How is it possible that such inquisitorial tyranny 
 could be long endured. It is not surprising that 
 it made men, as Kirkton indeed acknowledges, hy- 
 pocrites, or that Charles should be so thoroughly 
 disgusted with such men, as to declare that the 
 religion of which they were the ministers " was 
 not a religion fit for a gentleman." Bishop Guthrie 
 asserts, that the moderate or Resolutioner clergy 
 were inclined to the royal cause, but were intimi- 
 dated by the furious and republican Covenanters. 
 The approach of Cromwell, at the head of a well- 
 disciplined army, obliged the Scots to prepare for 
 his reception. The commission of the General 
 Assembly accordingly made the following act, with 
 which Mr. Sharp alleges he was so much " bated" 
 at court after the Restoration, and it shows the 
 state of slavery and thraldom in which the Cove- 
 nanters held Charles whilst he was in their power. 
 
 * Kirkton's Hist. 4to., pp. 49. 50. 
 
 H 2
 
 JOO LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 " West Kirk, 13 August, 1650. The commission of 
 the General Assembly considering that there may be just 
 ground of stumbling, from the king's majesty refusing to sub- 
 scribe and emit the declaration offered unto him by the Com- 
 mittee of Estates and commissioners of the General Assembly, 
 concerning his former carriage and resolutions for the future, 
 in reference to the cause of God and the enemies and friends 
 thereof; doth therefore declare, that this kirk and kingdom 
 do not own or espouse any malignant party or quarrel or in- 
 terest; but that they fight merely upon their former grounds 
 and principles, and in defence of the cause of God and of the 
 kingdom, as they have done these twelve years past; and 
 therefore, as they do disclaim all the sin and guilt of the king 
 and of his house ; so they will not own him nor his interest, 
 otherwise than with a subordination to God, and so far as he 
 owns and prosecutes the cause of God, and disclaims his 
 father's opposition to the work of God and to the Covenant, 
 and likewise all the enemies thereof; and that they will, with 
 convenient speed, take into consideration the papers lately 
 sent unto them from Oliver Cromwell, and vindicate them- 
 selves from all the falsehoods contained therein, especially in 
 those things wherein the quarrel betwixt us and that party is 
 misstated, as if we owned the late king's proceedings, and 
 were resolved to prosecute and maintain his present majesty's 
 interest, before and without acknowledgment of the sins of 
 his house and former ways, and satisfaction to God's people 
 in both kingdoms. 
 
 " Alexander Kerr." 
 
 It must not be imagined that this treasonable 
 Act was the performance of religious bigots alone. 
 It was clenched by the following act of council, 
 of which the traitor Argyle was the leading man 
 the "Dictator," which then exercised the whole
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 101 
 
 powers of government. And it may be remarked, 
 that the " cause of God" means treason, rebellion, 
 and the Solemn League and Covenant. 
 
 " August 13, 1650. The Committee of Estates having seen 
 and considered a declaration of the commission of the General 
 Assembly, anent, the stating of the quarrel whereon the army 
 is to fight, do approve the same, and heartily concur therein. 
 
 " Tho. Henderson." 
 
 It would appear that the king had either refused, 
 or at all events, shown great reluctance to sign 
 the Dunfermline declaration, and which we here 
 subjoin ; indeed, Kirkton says, " he was very re- 
 fractory," which is by no means surprising. It 
 was in fact compelling him to play the part of 
 Ham, and uncover his father's skirt ; and it is a 
 complete exposure of the irreligious tendency of 
 the Covenanting principles. He was betrayed 
 and forced into signing this infamous document 
 by the desperate position of his affairs. He was 
 then a youth of nineteen, a state-prisoner, and not 
 a freeman, deprived of his faithful and loyal 
 friends and counsellors, and surrounded by traitors 
 and rebels. The mortal enemy of his house and 
 kingdom was within a day's march of his capital, 
 at the head of a victorious army, and with the 
 declared intention of serving him as he had done 
 the late king, his father. The Presbyterians too, 
 who had him in their power, absolutely renounced 
 their allegiance to him, unless he signed the de-
 
 102 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 claration ; in which they throw the whole guilt 
 of the bloodshed and of their own rebellion, upon 
 the late king ; and contrary to his own conviction, 
 they compelled him to swear that he would root 
 up and extirpate that church in which he had 
 received the holy sacrament of the Lord's supper, 
 before leaving Breda. He refused, naturally 
 enough, to sign this unnatural and untrue docu- 
 ment ; but finding himself deserted and betrayed, 
 and in the hands of his enemies, and seeing no 
 means of escape, but to be delivered up to Crom- 
 well; he at last, though reluctantly, consented. He 
 did not sign it, however, without protesting " that 
 he did not think his father guilty of blood, and 
 that notwithstanding he had so declared, he had 
 his own meaning thereof." Although this decla- 
 ration appears to be a blot in Charles's character, 
 yet the infamy and the guilt attaches entirely to 
 the Covenanters. Gillespie, who afterwards ab- 
 jectly offered to assist in bringing in Episcopacy, 
 put the pen in his hand ; at the same time hypo- 
 critically telling him ** that if he was not satisfied 
 in his soul and conscience beyond all hesitation, 
 of the righteousness of the subscription, he was 
 so far from over-driving him to run upon that for 
 which he had no light that he obtested him ; yea 
 charged him in his master's name not to subscribe 
 that declaration, no not for the three kingdoms." 
 This obtestation in the face of the King's solemn
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 103 
 
 protest of signing under compulsion, was similar 
 to the hypocritical finesse of the Roman inquisi- 
 tors, when they consign a victim to the flames. 
 They " obtest, yea charge," the civil magistrate 
 to show mercy, and spare the heretic, while all 
 the time they have doomed him to be burnt alive. 
 From what Mr. Douglas says, in one of his letters 
 to Mr. Sharp, while at London, Charles must 
 have been " very refractory," and had long resisted 
 the attempts of the Presbyterian ministers to make 
 him dishonour his father's memory. In his letter, 
 dated the 3rd July, 1660, Mr. Douglas says 
 
 " As to what you write of the declaration at Dunfermline, 
 I was one who went to his majesty with it first, before any 
 commissioners were sent ; and after hearing his scruples, he 
 knows, if he remembers, that I did no more press him with it ; 
 and when I returned I endeavoured to satisfy the commis- 
 sioners ; and when they were naming other commissioners to 
 send again to his majesty, I said I would not go; and they 
 thought me too favourable a messenger for such an errand, and 
 sent good Mr. Hamilton, with some whom they thought would 
 press it more : and after his majesty had signed it, and 
 written a very honest letter to the commission, to alter some 
 expressions in the declaration, the Protestors carried it by 
 multitudes, that not one word of it should be altered. 
 
 " As for the act of the West Kirk, I shall declare to you the 
 truth of that business, for none can do it better than Mr. 
 Dickson, Andrew Kerr, and I. We met first at Leith, Mr. 
 Dickson, Hamilton, Kircaldy, and I only, all the rest were 
 Protestors. When such an act was offered we debated on it 
 about the space of three hours, and finding them (the Pro- 
 testors) obstinate, I being moderator, dissolved the meeting
 
 104 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 After that the officers being dealt with by them (the Protes- 
 tors) a great many of them professed that they would not 
 fight at all except they got something of that nature, and 
 upon that there was a meeting at the West Kirk, drawn on 
 for accommodation when the quorum was twenty-three minis- 
 ters, eighteen of whom were for satisfying the officers with 
 such an act ; and nine ruling elders, six of whom were violent 
 for it. Messrs. Dickson, Hamilton, Kircaldy, and I were 
 still against it, till after conference two of us with some of 
 them, after solemn protestation, that there should be no use 
 made thereof, but to show it to the officers for satisfaction, it 
 was agreed on by that plurality, that it should be enacted 
 which was carried to the Committee of Estates by them, and 
 approven there ; and it was by me enclosed in a letter to 
 David Leslie, in which I declared it was merely for satisfac- 
 tion of some officers, that now they might fight against the 
 common enemy. 
 
 " My memory serves me not to declare what further was in 
 it ; yet notwithstanding of all professions to the contrary, it 
 was published that night in print, without either my hand at 
 it as moderator, or Mr. Kerr's, as clerk ; which afterwards 
 was made evident at Perth, and the chancellor being posed 
 who gave warrant to print it, he professed publicly he gave 
 none. The king subscribing the declaration at Dunfermline 
 made the act null : but that did not satisfy us, after we saw 
 their (the Protestors) way which they took, notwithstanding 
 of his majesty's subscription, continuing to oppose all the 
 Resolutions which were taken for his majesty's preservation 
 and the kingdom's defence ; and in the Assembly at St. An- 
 drew's and Dundee, where his majesty's commissioner was 
 present, the Assembly took to their consideration that act of 
 the West Kirk, and put an explication upon it."* 
 
 * Woodrow, vol. i., pp. 47,48. Burn's edition.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 105 
 
 This infamous transaction appears therefore to 
 have been entirely the work of the Presbyte- 
 rians, known then by the name of Protestors, and 
 afterwards as Covenanters ; and with which the 
 Episcopalian or Resolutioner clergy had nothing 
 to do. It is entirely the work of the treacherous 
 Protestors, spurred on by crafty Jesuits in dis- 
 guise, and who are at the foundation of all the 
 religious troubles and schisms in Great Britain. 
 The following is a copy of the Dunfermline decla- 
 ration, a document which reflects eternal disgrace 
 and infamy on the Covenanters. 
 
 " His majesty, taking in consideration that merciful dis- 
 pensation of divine Providence, by which he hath been re- 
 covered out of the snare of evil counsel; and having attained 
 so full persuasion and confidence of the loyalty of his people in 
 Scotland, with whom he hath too long stood at a distance, 
 and of the righteousness of their cause, as to join in one 
 Covenant with them, and to cast himself and his interests 
 wholly upon God ; and in all matters civil to follow the ad- 
 vice of his parliament, and such as shall be intrusted by 
 them ; and in all matters ecclesiastic, the advice of the Gene- 
 ral Assembly and their commissioners ; and being sensible of 
 his duty to God, and desirous to approve himself to the con- 
 sciences of all his good subjects, and to stop the mouths of 
 his and their enemies and traducers, doth, in reference to his 
 former deportments, and as to his resolutions for the future, 
 declare as follows : 
 
 " Though his majesty, as a dutiful son, be obliged to 
 honour the memory of his royal father, and have in estimation 
 the person of his mother, yet doth he desire to be deeply 
 humbled and afflicted in spirit before God, because of his
 
 106 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 father's hearkening to and following evil counsels, and his 
 opposition to the work of reformation, and to the Solemn 
 League and Covenant, by which so much of the blood of the 
 Lord's people has been shed in these kingdoms ; and for the 
 idolatry of his mother ; the toleration whereof in the king's 
 house, as it was matter of great stumbling to all the Pro- 
 testant churches; so could it not but be an high provocation 
 against him ' who is a jealous God, visiting the sins of the 
 fathers upon the children ;' albeit, his majesty might extenuate 
 his former carriages and actions, in following of the advice, 
 and walking in the ways of those who are opposite to the 
 Covenant and to the work of God, and might excuse his de- 
 laying to give satisfaction to the just and necessary desires of 
 the kirk and kingdom of Scotland, from his education, and 
 age, and evil counsel, and company ; and from the strange 
 and insolent proceedings of sectaries against his royal father ; 
 and in reference to religion and the ancient government of the 
 kingdom of England, to which he hath the undoubted right 
 of succession : yet knowing that he hath to do with God, he 
 doth ingenuously acknowledge all his own sins, and all the sins 
 of his father's house, craving pardon and hoping for mercy 
 and reconciliation through the blood of Jesus Christ. And as 
 he doth value the constant addresses that were made by his 
 people to the throne of grace, on his behalf, when he stood in 
 opposition to the work of God, as a singular testimony of 
 long-suffering, patience and mercy, upon the Lord's part, and 
 loyalty upon theirs ; so doth he hope, and shall take it as one 
 of the greatest tokens of their love and affection to him, and 
 to his government, that they will continue in prayer and 
 supplication to God for him ; that the Lord who spared and 
 preserved him to this day, notwithstanding of all his own 
 guiltiness, may be at peace with him, and give him to fear 
 the Lord his God, and to serve him with a perfect heart, and 
 with a willing mind, all the days of his life.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 107 
 
 " And his majesty having, upon full persuasion of the 
 justice and equity of all the heads and articles thereof, now 
 sworn and subscribed the national Covenant of the kingdom 
 of Scotland, and the Solemn League and Covenant of the 
 three kingdoms, doth declare, that he hath not sworn or 
 subscribed those Covenants, and entered into the oath of 
 God with his people, upon any sinister intention or crooked 
 design for attaining his own ends, but so far as human 
 weakness will permit, in the truth and sincerity of his heart, 
 and that he is firmly resolved in the Lord's strength to 
 adhere thereto, and to prosecute to the utmost of his power 
 all the ends thereof, in his station and calling, really, con- 
 stantly 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 therefore, as he does now detest and abhor all popery, 
 superstition and idolatry, together with prelacy and all errors, 
 heresy, schism and profaneness, and resolves not to tolerate, 
 much less to allow any of these, in any part of his dominions, 
 but to oppose himself thereto, and to endeavour the extermi- 
 nation thereof to the utmost of his power, so doth he as a 
 Christian exhort, and as a king require, that all such of his 
 subjects who have stood in opposition to the Solemn League 
 and Covenant, and work of reformation, upon a pretence of 
 kingly interest, or any other pretext whatever, to lay down 
 their enmity against the cause and people of God, and to 
 cease to prefer the interests of man to the interests of 
 God ; which hath been one of those things which hath oc- 
 casioned many troubles and calamities in these kingdoms, 
 and being insisted into, will be so far from establishing the 
 king's throne, that it will prove an idol of jealousy, to pro- 
 voke unto wrath Him who is the King of kings, and Lord of 
 lords. The king shall always esteem them best servants
 
 108 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 and most loyal subjects, who serve him, and seek his greatness 
 in a line of subordination unto God, giving unto God the things 
 that are God's, and unto Csesar the things that are Csesar's ; 
 and resolveth not to love or countenance any who have so 
 little conscience and piety as to follow his interest with a pre- 
 judice to the gospel and the kingdom of Jesus Christ; which 
 he looks not upon as a duty, but as flattering and driving of 
 self-designs, under a pretence of maintaining the royal autho- 
 rity and greatness. Secondly, his majesty being convinced 
 in conscience of the exceeding great sinfulness and unlawful- 
 ness of that treaty, and peace made with the bloody Irish 
 rebels, who treacherously shed the blood of so many of 
 his faithful and loyal subjects in Ireland, and of allowing 
 unto them the liberty of the popish religion ; for the which, 
 he doth from his heart desire to be deeply humbled before 
 the Lord, and likewise considering how many breaches 
 have been upon their part, doth desire the same to be void, 
 and that his majesty is absolved therefrom, being truly sorry 
 that he should have sought unto such unlawful help for re- 
 storing of him to the throne, and resolving for the time to 
 come, rather to choose affliction than sin. Thirdly, as his 
 majesty did, in his late treaty with his people in this kingdom, 
 agree to recal and annul all commissions against any of his 
 subjects, who did adhere to the Covenants and monarchical 
 government in any of his kingdoms ; so doth he now declare, 
 by commissionating of some persons by sea against the people 
 of England, he did not intend damage or injury to his op- 
 pressed and harmless subjects in that kingdom, who follow 
 their trade of merchandize in their lawful callings ; but only 
 the opposing and oppressing of those who had usurped the 
 government, and not only bar him from his just right, but 
 also exercise an arbitrary power over his people, in those 
 things which concern their persons, consciences and estates : 
 and as since his coming into Sotland, he hath given no com-
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 109 
 
 mission against any of his subjects in England and Ireland, 
 so doth he hereby assure and declare, that he will give none 
 to their prejudice or damage, and whatever shall be the 
 wrongs of these usurpers, that he will be so far from avenging 
 these upon any who are free thereof, by interrupting or 
 stopping the liberty of trade and merchandize, or otherwise, 
 that he will seek their good, and to the utmost employ his 
 royal power, that they may be protected and defended against 
 the utmost violence of all men whatsoever. And albeit, his 
 majesty desires to construct well of the intentions of these (in 
 reference to his majesty) who have been active in counsel or 
 arms against the Covenant, yet being convinced that it doth 
 conduce to the honour of God, the good of his cause, and his 
 own honour and happiness, and for the peace and safety 
 of these kingdoms, that such be not employed in places of 
 power and trust ; he doth declare that he will not employ nor 
 give commission to any such, until they have not only taken 
 or renewed the Covenant, but also have given sufficient evi- 
 dences of their integrity, carriage, or affection to the work of 
 reformation ; and shall be declared capable of trust by the 
 parliament of either kingdom respective : and his majesty, 
 upon the same grounds, doth hereby recall all commissions 
 given to any such persons ; conceiving all such persons will 
 so much tender a good understanding betwixt him and his 
 subjects, and the settling and confirming a firm peace in 
 these kingdoms, that they will not grudge nor repine at his 
 majesty's resolutions and proceedings therein, much less 
 upon discontent, act any thing in a way to the raising of new 
 troubles ; especially, since upon their pious and good deport- 
 ment, there is a regress left unto them in manner above ex- 
 pressed. 
 
 " And as his majesty has given satisfaction to the just and 
 necessary desires of the kirk and kingdom of Scotland, so 
 doth he hereby assure and declare, that he is no less willing
 
 HO LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 and desirous to give satisfaction to the just and necessary 
 desires of his good subjects in England and Ireland : and in 
 token thereof, if the Houses of Parliament in England, sitting 
 in freedom, shall think fit to present unto him the propositions 
 of peace, agreed upon by both kingdoms, he will not only 
 accord to the same, and such alterations thereon meant, as 
 the Houses of Parliament, in regard of the constitution of 
 affairs, and the good of his majesty and his kingdoms shall 
 judge necessary, but do what is further necessary for prose- 
 cuting the ends of the Solemn League and Covenant ; espe- 
 cially in those things which concern the reformation of the 
 Church of England, in doctrine, worship, discipline and go- 
 vernment. That not only the directory of worship, confes- 
 sion of faith and catechism, but also the prepositions and 
 directory for church-government, accorded upon by the synod 
 of divines of Westminster, may be settled ; and that the 
 Church of England may enjoy the full liberty and freedom 
 of all assemblies, and power of kirk censures, and of all 
 the ordinances of Jesus Christ, according to the rule of 
 his own word, and that whatsoever is commanded by the 
 God of heaven may be diligently done for the house of 
 the God of heaven ; and whatever heretofore hath been 
 the suggestions of some to him, to render his majesty 
 jealous of his parliament, and of the servants of God, 
 yet as he hath declared, that in Scotland he will hearken to 
 their counsel, and follow their advice in those things that con- 
 cern that kingdom and kirk ; so doth he also declare his firm 
 resolution to manage the government of the kingdom of Eng- 
 land by the advice of his parliament, consisting of a house 
 of lords, and a house of commons there ; and in those things 
 that concern religion to prefer the counsels of the ministers of 
 the gospel to all other counsels whatsoever. And that all the 
 world may see how much he tenders the safety of his people, 
 and how precious their blood is in his sight, and how desirous
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. Ill 
 
 he is to recover his crown and government in England by 
 peaceable means ; as he doth esteem the service of those who 
 first engaged in the Covenant, and have since that time faith- 
 fully followed the ends thereof, to be duty to God and loyalty 
 to him ; so he is willing in regard of others, who have been 
 involved in these late commotions in England, against religion 
 and government, to pass an act of oblivion, excepting only 
 some few in that nation, who have been chief obstructors of 
 the work of reformation, and chief authors of the change of 
 government, and of the murder of his royal father. Provided 
 that those who are to have the benefit of this act, lay down 
 arms, and return to the obedience of their lawful sovereign. 
 
 "The Committee of the Estates of the kingdom, and General 
 Assembly of the kirk of Scotland, having declared so fully in 
 what concerns the sectaries and the present designs, resolu- 
 tions, and actings of their army against the kingdom of Scot- 
 land ; and the said committee and assembly having sufficiently 
 laid open public danger and duty, both upon the right hand 
 and upon the left; it is not needful for his majesty to add any 
 thing thereto ; except that in those things he doth commend and 
 approve them ; and that he resolves to live and die with them and 
 his loyal subjects, in prosecution of the ends of the Covenant. 
 
 " And whereas, that prevailing party in England, after all 
 their strange usurpations, and insolent actings in that land, 
 do not only keep his majesty from the government of that 
 kingdom by force of arms; but also have now invaded the 
 kingdom of Scotland, who have deserved better things at their 
 hands, and against whom they have no just quarrel ; his ma- 
 jesty doth therefore desire and expect that all his good subjects 
 in England who are, and resolve to be faithful to God and to 
 their king according to the Covenant, will lay hold upon such 
 an opportunity, and use their utmost endeavours to promote 
 the Covenant, all the ends thereof, and to recover and re- 
 establish the ancient government of the kingdom of England
 
 112 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 (under which in many generations it did flourish in peace, and 
 plenty at home, and in reputation abroad) and privileges of 
 the parliament and nation, and just liberty of the people : his 
 majesty desirous to assure himself, that there doth remain in 
 these so much confidence of their duty to religion, their 
 king, and country; and so many sparkles of the ancient 
 English valour, which shined so eminently in their noble an- 
 . cestors, as will put them on to bestir themselves for the break- 
 ing the yoke of these men's oppressions from off their necks : 
 shall men of conscience and honour set religion, liberties, and 
 government at so low a rate, as not rather to undergo any 
 hazard before they be thus deprived of them ? will not all 
 generous men count any death more tolerable than to live in 
 servitude all their days ? and will not posterity blame those 
 who dare attempt nothing for themselves, and for their chil- 
 dren, in so good a cause, in such an exigent ? whereas if they 
 gather themselves and take courage, putting on a resolution 
 answerable to so noble and just an enterprize, they shall 
 honour God, and gain themselves the reputation of pious men, 
 worthy patriots, and loyal subjects, and be called the re- 
 pairers of the breach, by the present and succeeding genera- 
 tions ; and they may certainly promise to themselves a bless- 
 ing from God upon so just and honourable an undertaking for 
 the Lord, and for his cause, for their own liberties, their native 
 king and country, and the unvaluable good and happiness 
 of posterity. Whatever hath formerly been his majesty's 
 guiltiness before God, and the bad success that those have 
 had, who owned his affairs, whilst he stood in opposition to 
 the work of God ; yet the state of the question being now 
 altered, and his majesty having obtained mercy to be on God's 
 side, and to prefer God's interest before his own, he hopes that 
 the Lord will be gracious, and countenance his own cause in 
 the hands of weak and sinful instruments, against all enemies 
 whatsoever.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 113 
 
 " This is all that can be said by his majesty at present, to 
 those in England and Ireland, at such a distance; and as they 
 shall acquit themselves at this time, in the active discharge of 
 their necessary duties, so shall they be accepted before God, 
 endeared to his majesty, and their names had in remembrance 
 throughout the world. Given at our court, at Dunfermline, 
 the 16th of August, 1650, and in the second year of our 
 reign." 
 
 The enthusiastic preachers of the Covenant, 
 wrested the command of the Scottish army out 
 of the hands of General Leslie, and were ac- 
 cordingly defeated by Cromwell at Dunbar, where 
 he exclaimed, " The Lord hath delivered them 
 into my hands." It is uncertain whether Charles 
 or Cromwell was most gratified with the result of 
 this battle. It became necessary to raise a new 
 army ; and Charles desired that the loyalists, 
 and his own particular friends, should be allowed 
 to enter his service ; but this the Covenanting 
 ministers resisted, alleging that the malignants 
 were insincere in their forced submission to the 
 Covenant. In this dilemma, a question was sub- 
 mitted to the Committee of Estates, and to the 
 Commission of the Kirk, " whether in this ex- 
 tremity those who had made defection, or who 
 had been hitherto too backward in the work, might 
 not, upon profession of their repentance, be re- 
 ceived into public trust, and admitted to serve in 
 defence of their country." This was answered by
 
 114 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 two Resolutiojis : 1 . " That they ought to be ad- 
 mitted to make profession of their repentance. 2. 
 That after such professions made, they might be 
 received to defend and serve their country." 
 
 These resolutions were violently opposed by 
 the Covenanting ministers, and produced a di- 
 vision which Willison acknowledges, " looked 
 like a judicial stroke from Heaven upon the 
 church for their other sins." The old Covenanter 
 is right, and it separated the wheat from the 
 chaff; for those clergy who adhered to the resolu- 
 tions, to a man, acknowledged and adhered to 
 Episcopacy after the Restoration. The Cove- 
 nanters who opposed or protested against these 
 resolutions, were subsequently known in history 
 by the name of " Protestors," " Remonstrators^ 
 and " Ante-Resolutioners" The loyalists were 
 known by the title of " Resolutioners" After 
 this, the Protestors heaped more indignities 
 and insults on the king, and even threatened to 
 deliver him up to Cromwell. Seeing no end to 
 the encroachments of the Protestor ministers, he 
 fled northward to the army under General Mid- 
 dleton, where he treated with the Covenanters, and 
 exchanged hostages for the due performance. 
 One of the articles stipulated that he should be 
 immediately crowned, as agreed on at Breda. 
 The Committee of Estates sent General Mont- 
 gomery to fetch the king back to Perth ; and in
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 115 
 
 revenge for Middleton's loyalty, the commission 
 of the General Assembly excommunicated him, 
 and Guthrie pronounced the sentence. The 
 following is Wodrow's account of this transac- 
 tion : 
 
 " When I was last at Stirling, happening in discourse with 
 one Mr. Russell, a man abundantly sensible but a strong 
 Episcopalian, to speak of Mr. James Guthrie, I found he 
 had very harsh impressions of him, saying, that he was a 
 man of stiff, uneasy temper, adhering to whatever he set 
 his mind to most pertinaciously; and particularly, he was 
 guilty of a most notorious act of rebellion against the king, 
 which was this: that having received ane order from the 
 commission of the General Assembly, to intimate the sentence 
 of excommunication against the Earl of Middleton, publicly, 
 in the church of Stirling on the sabbath (Sunday) morning on 
 which it was done, he received a letter from the king, who 
 was then at St. Johnston's, (Perth,) earnestly pressing him to 
 delay the intimation of the sentence of excommunication for 
 that sabbath (Sunday.) The letter was sent by a nobleman 
 (as he called him,) and delivered into his hand. After Mr. 
 Guthrie read the letter, the messenger demanded his answer. 
 Mr. Guthrie answered, ' You may come to church and hear 
 sermon, and after sermon you shall get your answer/ The 
 messenger thinking that he would obey the contents of the 
 letter, went to church, but was surprised after sermon, when 
 Mr. Guthrie made public intimation of the sentence ; so taking 
 horse immediately, without waiting for any further answer, 
 went off with the report of what he had seen done. This was 
 his account of the matter, which I reported to my father 
 when I came west, who gave me likewise his account, viz., 
 That upon the sabbath (Sunday) morning, before Mr. Guthrie 
 intimated Middleton's excommunication, just as he was going 
 
 i 2
 
 116 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 to church, having put on his gown and come down to his 
 hall, there comes in a gentleman with a letter, bearing the 
 same contents with the letter in the former account, but with 
 this variation in his account, that it came not from the king 
 immediately, but from a nobleman. Whether that nobleman 
 had the king's order, he could not tell. Mr. G. having but 
 little time to advise on it, the last bell being rung out, his wife 
 said to him, ' My heart, what the Lord gives you light and 
 clearness to do, that do without giving a positive answer to 
 the messenger.' He went to church, and whether the mes- 
 senger went to church or not, I know not. This my father 
 was an eye and ear witness to."* 
 
 After depriving the king of all the power and 
 attributes of a king, leaving him nothing but the 
 bare name, the Committee of Estates and Cove- 
 nanting ministers, crowned him at Scone, on the 
 1st of January, 1651. Instead of receiving the 
 crown and benediction from the Archbishop of 
 St. Andrews, the Marquis of Argyle placed it 
 on his head. Here again they compelled him to 
 sign the sacrilegious Covenant, and we learn 
 from Guthrie's book, that " when he did conde- 
 scend to subscribe their demands, and take the 
 Covenant, it was with a reserve of a declaration, 
 to be printed therewith, which he did not pass 
 from, until the commissioners of the kirk did 
 refuse to admit thereof."-)- It is much to be re- 
 
 * Wodrow's Analecta, MSS., vol. i. p. 164. 
 t The Causes of God's Wrath, &c.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 117 
 
 gretted that this declaration or protest has not 
 been preserved, as it was a great alleviation of 
 the sin of which they compelled him to be guilty, 
 but it showed to what straits he was reduced, and 
 with what genuine reluctance he signed that 
 sacrilegious bond of rebellion. Those who forced 
 it upon him, however, had the greater sin. 
 Douglass preached the sermon. 
 
 Guthrie likewise preached a most seditious 
 sermon, and was summoned by the lord advo- 
 cate, to answer for sedition and treason, before 
 the king and Committee of Estates. Guthrie 
 appeared, but delivered a. protest, signifying that 
 he did not acknowledge his majesty, or their 
 lordships as proper judges of his doctrine, or of 
 what concerned his ministerial calling, that being 
 alone the province of the church judicatories. He 
 also protested for remedy at law against the king, 
 for thus disturbing him in the exercise of his mi- 
 nistry. This was setting up the popish doctrine of 
 the independence of the ecclesiastical over the civil 
 power ; a doctrine which that party all along have 
 resolutely maintained. In Guthrie's case, how- 
 ever, it was not his religious opinions that were to 
 be inquired into, but ihesedition and treason which 
 he had preached, and in which he gloried. He 
 would not yield the point of exemption, but pre- 
 sented a second protest to the same effect; he 
 was in consequence dismissed. " He railed rudely
 
 118 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 on the king and the ' malignants,' and he is 
 said to have been impressed with the worst ideas 
 of Popery, under the mask of enthusiastic an- 
 tipathy to it, and possessing neither the learning 
 of a divine, nor the manners of a gentleman. It 
 is a certain fact, that being confined by illness 
 to his room at Stirling, the king paid him a 
 visit, and when his wife rose to hand his majesty 
 a chair, he said, ' Sit still, sit still, gude wife ; 
 the king is a young man, and can hand a chair to 
 himself!'"* 
 
 In the year 1653, he published his treason- 
 able book called " The Causes of God's Wrath 
 against Scotland." One of the causes which he 
 assigned was, " the authorising of commissioners to 
 close a treaty with the king, for the investing 
 him with the government, upon his subscribing 
 such demands as were sent to him." He alleged 
 " that those demands were deficient, being only 
 a paper and verbal security ;" " that to settle 
 with him on such verbal securities, and accord- 
 ingly to entrust him, was but to mock God, and 
 to deceive the world, and to betray and destroy 
 ourselves." He assumed an attribute of divinity, 
 and pretended to know the king's heart, saying, 
 that it was not sound ; for, says he, " when he 
 did condescend to subscribe the demands, and 
 
 * Guthrie's History of Seotand, vol. x. p. 89,
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 119 
 
 take the Covenant, it was with a reserve of a 
 declaration to be printed therewith, which he did 
 not pass from until the commissioners of the 
 church did refuse to admit thereof." Had this 
 royal protest been preserved, posterity might 
 have seen what were his majesty's reasons for 
 yielding to the sacrilege which these intolerant 
 rebels forced upon him ; and it might, in 
 some measure, have alleviated his sin, in putting 
 his hand to that most accursed document. An- 
 other cause of God's wrath, in Guthrie's opinion, 
 was the loyalty of the parliament in proclaiming 
 Charles II. without " seeking the Lord," that is, 
 not consulting the Presbyterian ministers. An- 
 other cause of divine wrath, was Charles having 
 so long resisted the signing the Dunfermline 
 Declaration, until he was in danger of being de- 
 serted by his army, and sent prisoner into the 
 camp of Oliver Cromwell. It is laid to his 
 charge, " that he did for a long time refuse to 
 subscribe the Declaration which was tendered to 
 him, for the acknowledging of his own and his 
 parents' guiltiness for the time past, and accord- 
 ing to his duty for the time to come ; and after 
 that he had, with a great deal of reluctancy, sub- 
 scribed to the same, he did oftentimes express, 
 that he did not think his father guilty of blood, 
 and that, notwithstanding he had so declared, 
 he had his own meaning thereof."
 
 120 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 After the Restoration, when the parliament 
 met in 1660, Guthrie convened nine or ten of 
 the fiery Protestors, and drew up a petition or 
 remonstrance, which Burnet calls " a warm paper, 
 prepared by one Guthrie, one of the violentest 
 ministers of the whole party. In it, after some 
 cold compliment to the king upon his restoration, 
 they put him in mind of the Covenant, which he 
 had so solemnly sworn while among them. They 
 lamented that, instead of pursuing the ends of it 
 in England, as he had sworn to do, he had set up 
 the Common Prayer in his chapel, and the order 
 of bishops ; upon which they made terrible de- 
 nunciations of heavy judgments from God on him, 
 if he did not stand to the Covenant, which they 
 called the oath of God." This meeting and the 
 remonstrance were deemed seditious, and the 
 whole set were sent to the castle; but after a 
 short confinement were set at. liberty, with the 
 exception of Guthrie. In the meantime his book, 
 ''The Causes of God's Wrath, &c."and also, "Lex 
 Rex,' another seditious book written by a Cove- 
 nanting fanatic of the name of Rutherford, were 
 burnt by the hands of the common hangman, at 
 the Cross of Edinburgh. A proclamation was at 
 the same time issued, requiring the Protestor 
 ministers and their adherents to enter into bonds, 
 obliging themselves to do nothing tending to the 
 prejudice of his majesty's person, family, and
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 121 
 
 authority ; and prohibiting them, in all time com- 
 ing, from promoting or abetting the Remonstrance, 
 under the highest pains and penalties. This 
 sufficiently shows the pernicious tendency of Mr. 
 Guthrie's principles and those of his faction, 
 whom neither the laws of God nor man could 
 restrain. 
 
 Guthrie was removed from the castle of Edin- 
 burgh to that of Stirling, whence he was brought 
 to Edinburgh for t trial, early in the year 1661. 
 On the 20th of February he was indicted for 
 high-treason, and his indictment contained six 
 counts : 
 
 " 1. His contriving, consenting to, and exhibiting before 
 the Committee of Estates the paper, called the Western Remon- 
 strance, in which he seditiously and traitorously purposed 
 the eradicating and subverting of the fundamental govern- 
 ment, &c. 2. His contriving, writing, and publishing that 
 abominable pamphlet, called " The Causes of God's Wrath," 
 &c. 3. His contriving, writing, and subscribing a paper, 
 called the Humble Petition of the 23d of August last, when he 
 was apprehended. 4. His convocating of the king's lieges 
 at several times without warrant or authority, to the disturb- 
 ance of the peace of the state and of the church. 5. His 
 declaring his majesty, by his appeal and protestation, incapable 
 to be judge over him, which he presented at Perth. 6. His 
 uttering treasonable expressions in the year 1651." 
 
 To this indictment he made a vigorous and 
 ingenious defence, founding the whole on the 
 obligations of the Covenant ; which clearly shows
 
 122 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 the treasonable and sacrilegious nature of that 
 Popish document, and on the doctrines, confes- 
 sion of faith, and the laws of the Presbyterian 
 church. He was found guilty of high-treason, 
 and condemned to be hanged, and afterwards be- 
 headed, and his head to be fixed on the Nether- 
 bow, one of the gates of the city. He suffered 
 accordingly, and his head was placed on the gate, 
 as directed in his sentence. 
 
 Burnet says, " he was a resolute and stiff man ; 
 so when his lawyers offered him legal defences, 
 he would not be advised by them, but resolved to 
 take his own way. He confessed and justified 
 all that he had done as agreeing to the prin- 
 ciples and practices of the kirk, which he had 
 asserted all along, that the doctrine delivered in 
 their sermons did not fall under the cognizance 
 of the temporal courts till it was first judged by 
 the church; for which he brought much tedious 
 proof. He said his protesting for remedy of law 
 against the king, was not meant at the king's 
 person, but was only with relation to costs and 
 damages."* Another author speaking of him, 
 says " his defence was so strong that nothing 
 but the notorious criminality of his conduct 
 could have condemned him : some were not for 
 condemning him capitally, but the majority being 
 
 * Own Times, vol. i. p. 206.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHAKP. 123 
 
 of a different opinion, he received sentence of 
 death ; which, candidly speaking, he well de- 
 served. His trial appears to have been very fair, 
 and carried on with great attention and patience, 
 both by the lawyers and judges. The latter mo- 
 ments of this ver^ extraordinary man were agree- 
 able to the whole tenor of his life. There is reason 
 to believe he had very high offers, even that of a 
 bishopric made him, if he would have recanted. 
 When it was told Charles, by one of the mem- 
 bers, that Gillespie, who was Guthrie's fellow- 
 labourer, had so many friends in the parliament, 
 that his life could not be taken, ' Well, (said his ma- 
 jesty,) if I had known you would have spared Mr. 
 Gillespie, I would have spared Mr. Guthrie.' He 
 seems, in short, to have proposed John Knox as 
 the model of his conduct ; and though their fates 
 were different they were equally undaunted in 
 maintaining their principles against the face of 
 the civil power." * 
 
 Archbishop Sharp interceded with the king for 
 the lives of Simpson, Gillespie, and Guthrie ; a 
 circumstance honourable to the archbishop, and 
 whose letter Wodrow has suppressed, in his 
 printed history. His letter is addressed to Sir 
 Archibald Primrose, lord-register, as follows : 
 
 * Guthrie's General Hist. vol. x. p. 91.
 
 124 LIKE AND TIMES OF 
 
 " That your parliamentary acts of justice have been tem- 
 pered with mercy, I think should not be displeasing, espe- 
 cially since the object of the mercy hath made a confession 
 which I wish may have as binding an influence for converting 
 of those of his way as his former actings had in perverting 
 them. I did, at my first access to the king, beg that the 
 lives of Mr, Gillespie and Mr. Guthrie might be spared, which 
 his majesty denied me ; but now the recommendation of the 
 parliament upon a ground which I could not bring, I hope 
 will prevail with so gracious a prince, more merciful than the 
 kings of Israel. Upon an earnest letter from Mr. James 
 Simpson to me, to whom I did owe no great kindness. I 
 begged of the king, that he might not be proceeded against 
 for his life and corporal punishment, which his majesty was 
 graciously pleased to grant me, by a letter for that purpose, 
 directed to my lord commissioner. When your lordship shall 
 hear my inducements, I hope you will not condemn me."* 
 
 Although this letter was in Wodrow's posses- 
 sion ; yet he suppressed it, lest his diabolical 
 purpose of slandering the archbishop's memory 
 should have been frustrated, and the world 
 should know that that prelate had saved the 
 lives of two of his own capital enemies, and 
 used his best endeavours to save the third. 
 
 Guthrie the minister, was the son of 
 
 Guthrie of that Ilk, a title which, in Scotland, is 
 considered extremely honourable. " When he 
 was a regent in St. Andrews, he was very Epis- 
 copal, and was with difficulty persuaded to take 
 
 * Wodrow's MSS., cited in note to Kirkton's History.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 125 
 
 the Covenant. He was a man of great piety, 
 learning, judgment, and eloquence, but was 
 pitched upon for a sacrifice and example amongst 
 the ministers ; partly because he was a great 
 leader among the Protestors, and a great un- 
 friend (enemy] to malignant and scandalous mi- 
 nisters ; partly because he was desperately hated 
 by Middleton, whom he had formerly excommu- 
 nicated."* Strange ideas of piety seem to have 
 been entertained by the Presbyterians, which con- 
 sisted in speaking evil of dignities refusing to 
 Ca3sar his dues teaching sedition and rebellion 
 in the state, and schism and persecution in the 
 church and generally, all uncharitableness ; for 
 in their vocabulary all loyal Episcopalians were 
 malignant and scandalous ministers. Burnet, 
 who was present at his execution, says, " It was 
 resolved to strike terror into them (the Protestor 
 ministers) by making an example of him. He 
 was a man of courage, and went through all his 
 trouble with great firmness. But this way of 
 proceeding struck the whole party with such a 
 consternation, that it had all the effect which was 
 designed by it : for whereas the pulpits had, to 
 the great scandal of religion, been places where 
 the preachers had for many years vented their 
 spleen, and arraigned all proceedings ; they be- 
 
 * Kirkton's History, p. 109.
 
 126 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 came more decent, and there was a general silence 
 everywhere, with relation to the affairs of state ; 
 only they could not hold from many sly and secret 
 insinuations, as if the ark of God was shaking, 
 and the glory departing." * 
 
 On the 16th of July, 1660, orders were sent 
 to Major-general Morgan, to arrest Sir Archibald 
 Johnston, of Warriston ; but he made his escape 
 beyond sea. He was summoned to surrender by 
 sound of trumpet ; and the general issued a pro- 
 clamation offering a reward of 100 Scots for his 
 apprehension, and discharging all men from con- 
 cealing or harbouring him on pain of treason. 
 On the 10th of October he was declared fugitive. 
 He reached Hamburgh, and after wandering about 
 for some time, he settled at Rouen, when Louis 
 XIV. ordered him to be seized, and sent him over 
 under arrest, to London, in the year 1663. On 
 the 13th May, 1661, he was forfeited by parlia- 
 ment, and his forfeiture publicly proclaimed by 
 the heralds, at the Market-cross. 
 
 He was deeply engaged in the rebellion in its 
 early stages ; and was clerk of the treasonable 
 Glasgow assembly in the year 1638. Burnet, 
 who was his own nephew, and a man of similarly 
 versatile politics, admits, " that there was a great 
 deal against him." He took an active share in 
 
 * Own Times, p. 183.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 127 
 
 the usurping government which maintained the 
 rebellion against Charles I. Being a man of 
 great abilities, he was much courted by Cromwell, 
 by whom he was created a lord, and sat and 
 voted in his house of peers, and into whose 
 counsels he entered with his characteristic ardour. 
 He supported the brief government of Richard 
 Cromwell, and after his resignation, was one of 
 the Council of State. He was afterwards a 
 member of the Committee of Safety, and of 
 course actively opposed the king's restoration. 
 All the charges against him were easily proved, 
 because they were notorious. He was sent from 
 the Tower to Edinburgh, in 1663, and there 
 tried for high-treason, and attainted. Burnet 
 says, " his unfortunate uncle was so disordered 
 both in body and mind, that it was a reproach 
 for any government to proceed against him. His 
 memory was gone, that he did not know his own 
 children. He was brought before parliament to 
 hear what he had to say, why his execution 
 should not be awarded. He spoke long, but in 
 a broken and disordered strain, which his enemies 
 fancied, was put on to excite pity. He was 
 sentenced to die."* His mental imbecility was 
 occasioned, Kirkton says, by poison, administered 
 by Dr. Bates, at the king's desire, and by excessive 
 
 * Own Times, p. 340.
 
 128 LI*E AXD TIMES OF 
 
 bleeding. This is one of those uncharitable 
 surmises, in the entire absence of all evidence, 
 which the historians of that party always record 
 as most veritable truths. Burnet, who was his 
 own nephew, and would naturally extenuate his 
 " unfortunate uncle" as much as possible, neither 
 mentions nor alludes to any such circumstance. 
 There is no doubt but his imbecility was assumed, 
 and put on to excite pity and to screen himself 
 from merited punishment. Lord Middleton, 
 wrote to Primrose : " He pretends to have lost 
 his memory, and so will give no account of 
 any thing. He is the most timorous person that 
 ever I did see in my life, and pretends he can 
 do the king great service, ifhe will give him 
 his life, in putting the registers in good order, 
 and settling the king's prerogative from old 
 records."* He was sentenced to be hanged at 
 the Cross, and his head to be fixed on the Nether- 
 bow, beside Guthrie's. Nothing can be a clearer 
 proof that his imbecility was mere pretence, 
 than his conduct after his fate was sealed by 
 sentence of death and when there was no longer 
 any hope of life, then his intellect became suddenly 
 as clear and vigorous as in his best days. Bur- 
 net says that, " when the day of his execution 
 came, he was very serene. He was cheerful, and 
 
 Wod row's MS., cited in note to Kirkton, p. 170.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 129 
 
 seemed fully satisfied with his death. He read 
 a speech twice over on the scaffold, that to my 
 knowledge he composed himself, in which he 
 justified all the proceedings in the Covenant, 
 and asserted his own sincerity ; but condemned 
 his joining with Cromwell and the sectaries, 
 though even in that, his intentions had been 
 sincere, for the* good of his country and the 
 security of religion." * Cruickshanks says, 
 " thus fell the eminently pious and learned Lord 
 Warriston !" How could any government trust 
 men whose eminent piety consisted in sacrilege, 
 treason, rebellion, and the murder of their 
 sovereign ? Yet eminent piety was ascribed to 
 all such men by Kirkton and Wodrow and their 
 followers ; whereas they invariably style those 
 loyal and peaceable men, who quietly pursued 
 the path of duty in obedience to divine and 
 human laws, malignants ungodly execrable 
 wretches drunkards unchaste avaricious 
 sorcerers, &c. 
 
 * Own Times, pp. 340, 341.
 
 130 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Mr. Sharp receives a pension Chosen Professor of Divinity 
 at St. Andrew's Calamy's letter Thanks of the Presby- 
 tery of Edinburgh Resigns his commission Wodrow 
 King's letter to the Presbytery of Edinburgh Reflections 
 Protest of the bishops in 1638 Reflections The Tender 
 Committee of Estates Returns to Crail National 
 Records lost Meeting of Parliament Riding Oath of 
 Allegiance Acts Act Rescissory Restoration of Epis- 
 copacy Festival of the king's Restoration appointed Pa- 
 tronages restored Reflections Proceedings of the Cove- 
 nanters Mr. Sharp summoned to Court Petition of the 
 Synod of Aberdeen Sharp and Douglass summoned to 
 Court King's popularity Sharp appointed Archbishop 
 of St. Andrew's Lauderdale Proclamation Letter 
 from the king to the privy-council Proclamation Popular 
 opinion Nicols Diary Douglass Brief account of the 
 first four bishops Proclamation Sharp and Leighton 
 ordained priests Four consecrated bishops Extract from 
 the Lambeth register-book Reflections. 
 
 J 660. IN consideration of Mr. Sharp's many and 
 important services, Charles conferred on him a 
 pension of 200. per annum, and which he 
 enjoyed till the day of his murder. While absent 
 in London, he was chosen Professor of Divinity 
 in St. Mary's College in the University of St. 
 Andrews; but his biographer seems to think it
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 131 
 
 doubtful whether he ever entered on the duties 
 of the office. He was likewise appointed one of 
 the royal commissioners for visiting the University 
 of Aberdeen, to inquire into the management of 
 its revenues since the year 1638. 
 
 He arrived in Edinburgh on the 31st of August, 
 and on the following day the Presbytery of 
 Edinburgh met, *to whom Mr. Douglass read the 
 king's letter, which was addressed to himself, 
 to be by him communicated to that court. Mr. 
 Sharp also delivered the letter already given from 
 Calamy, Ashe, and Manton, with which, " after 
 much belabouring," he had been entrusted. The 
 Presbytery returned a letter of thanks to the 
 king, and another to the Earl of Lauderdale. 
 At this meeting of Presbytery, Mr. Sharp restored 
 the commission which he had received from 
 Douglass and others, to represent them at court ; 
 and so highly satisfied were they with his nego- 
 ciations, both at Breda and at London, that 
 they unanimously presented him with a vote of 
 thanks. 
 
 That public act showed plainly that Mr. Sharp 
 had acted in strict conformity with his instruc- 
 tions ; and that he enjoyed the full confidence of 
 his brethren. Nevertheless, Mr. Wodrow does 
 not scruple to allege, that those very men enter- 
 tained suspicions of his integrity at the very 
 moment when they were putting their deliberate 
 
 K 2
 
 132 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 and solemn thanks and approbation of his con- 
 duct on record. He cites a manuscript of Mr. 
 Douglass's, which might have been written after 
 disappointment had soured his temper ; and as 
 he afterwards cast in his lot with the Protestors, 
 his suspicions, which, if he entertained any at all, 
 he carefully concealed at the time of giving Mr. 
 Sharp public thanks, must have been afterwards 
 produced by the envy and malignity of that 
 party. It is hardly credible, that a body of men 
 could have been so inconsistent, as in the face of 
 awakened suspicion of having betrayed their 
 interests, would have stultified themselves by of- 
 fering him their deliberate vote of thanks. But 
 in making this assertion, Mr. Wodrow was faith- 
 fully following his instructions to " aggravate 
 the crimes" and blacken the memories of his 
 adversaries The following letter shows the 
 loose way in which he received and recorded his 
 information ; and although bearing inaccuracy on 
 the face of it, is yet seized on by those desirous 
 of keeping up the false accusation against the 
 archbishop. He says, that a " Mr. James Web- 
 ster tells, that he had it from a person that had 
 it from Calamy, the grandfather, that Calamy 
 'old this person, that he still suspected Sharp ; 
 he was too fawning, and he carried still rather 
 like the deference of a scholar to a master, than 
 ane minister to another. That one day he came
 
 AUCH BISHOP SHARP. 133 
 
 to him, and told him he believed the king was 
 going to establish Episcopacy in Scotland. Mr. 
 Calamy said, he did not believe it ; it was too 
 much impolitic. Says Sharp, ' I assure you of it, 
 and he has made unworthy me Bishop of St. 
 Andrews. 1 Says he, (Calamy,) 'That will cer- 
 tainly be grievous to the hearts of all serious 
 persons.' Shar^took God to witness he embraced 
 that place only to encourage such and keep them 
 from persecution."* It is to be feared, that 
 much that Wodrow has recorded of the trans- 
 actions of these times are founded, like the above, 
 on mere gossip. 
 
 The king's letter to the Presbytery, addressed 
 to Mr. Douglass, and which was by him to be 
 communicated to that body, is dated the 10th of 
 August, 1660 ; and was addressed, 
 
 " To our trusty and well-beloved Mr. Robert Douglass, 
 Minister of the Gospel in our city of Edinburgh, to be com- 
 municated to the Presbytery of Edinburgh. 
 " CHARLES R. 
 
 "Trusty and well-beloved, we greet you well. By the 
 letter you sent to us with the bearer, Mr. James Sharp, and by 
 the account he gave of the state of our church there, we 
 have received full information of your sense of our sufferings, 
 and of your constant affection and loyalty to our person and 
 authority. And therefore we will detain him here no longer, 
 (of whose good service we are very sensible ; ) nor will we 
 
 * Analecta, vol. i. p. 133.
 
 134 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 delay to lot you know by him, our gracious acceptance of 
 your address, and how we are satisfied with your carriages, 
 and with the generality of the ministers of Scotland in this 
 time of trial, whilst some under specious pretences swerved 
 from that duty and allegiance they owed to us. And because 
 such, who by the countenance of usurpers have disturbed 
 the peace of that our church, may also labour to create 
 jealousies in the minds of well-meaning people, we have 
 thought fit by this to assure you, that by the grace of God, 
 we resolve to discountenance profanity, and all contemners 
 and opposers of the ordinances of the gospel. We do also 
 resolve to protect and preserve the government of the church 
 of Scotland, as it is settled by law, without violation ; and tc* 
 countenance, in the due exercise of their functions, all such 
 ministers who shall behave_themselves dutifully and peaceably 
 as becomes men of their calling. We will also take care 
 that the authority and acts of the General Assembly at St. 
 Andrews and Dundee in the year 1651, be owned and stand 
 in force, until we shall call another General Assembly, which 
 we purpose to do as soon as our affairs wiil permit. And we 
 do intend to send for Mr. Robert Douglass and some other 
 ministers, that we may speak with them in what may further 
 concern the affairs of that church. And as we are very well 
 satisfied with your resolution not to meddle without your 
 sphere, so we do expect that church judicatories in Scotland, 
 and ministers there, will keep within the compass of their 
 station, meddling only with matters ecclesiastic, and pro- 
 moting our authority and interest with our subjects against 
 all opposers ; and that they will take special notice of all 
 such, who by preaching and private conventicles, or any 
 other way, transgress the limits of their calling, by endeavour- 
 ing to corrupt the people, or to sow seeds of disaffection to us 
 or to our government. This you shall make known to the 
 several Presbyteries within that our kingdom. And as we do
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 135 
 
 give assurance of our favour and encouragement to you, and 
 to all honest deserving ministers there, so we earnestly re- 
 commend it to you all, that you be earnest in your prayers, 
 public and private to Almighty God, who is our rock and 
 our deliverer, both for us and for our government, that we 
 may have fresh and constant supplies of his grace, and the 
 right improvement of all his mercies and deliverances, to the 
 honour of his great name, and the peace, safety, and benefit 
 of all our kingdoms. And so we bid you heartily farewell. 
 Given at our court at Whitehall, the 10th of August, 1660, 
 and of our reign, the twelfth year. By his majesty's com- 
 mand." 
 
 " LAUDERDALE." 
 
 An elegant writer of a recent date has declared 
 this letter to be ambiguous. " Upon a compari- 
 son," says Bishop Russel, " of the literal meaning 
 of this document with the measures which were 
 soon after adopted, a charge of duplicity has, not 
 without some show of reason, been made against 
 Charles." A slight attention to history will, how- 
 ever, show that this " charge of duplicity" is not 
 founded on fact. With the exception of about 
 eight years, a nominal Episcopacy had existed 
 from the time of the Reformation in 1560 to the 
 year 1610, when Spottiswood and others were 
 consecrated at London. In that year James VI. 
 called an Assembly, which met at Glasgow, and 
 settled in a full and free meeting that the church 
 of Scotland should for ever after be governed by 
 duly consecrated bishops. The subject was de-
 
 136 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 bated in that Assembly for three days ; and Epis- 
 copacy was the deliberate and nearly the unani- 
 mous choice of the whole national church. There 
 were one hundred and seventy ministers present, 
 five only of whom were opposed to Episcopacy, 
 and seven did not vote either way. In that 
 Assembly, the bishops were invested with a ne- 
 gative power : that is, that mere Presbyters could 
 not enact any canon binding on the whole church, 
 without the consent of the bishops. If they could 
 not so much as enact a canon, they certainly 
 could not legally subvert the whole government 
 of the national church. The Assembly of 1610 
 settled the establishment of Episcopacy in Scot- 
 land/or ever, and put it out of the power of any 
 future Assembly of mere Presbyters to set it aside, 
 and erect another. The acts of that Assembly were 
 solemnly ratified and rendered permanently legal 
 by the king and three estates of parliament in 
 1612. Charles I. convoked an Assembly at 
 Glasgow, in the year 1638, to which he sent the 
 Duke of Hamilton as his commissioner. This 
 Assembly forcibly excluded the bishops from their 
 seats as constituent members, and continued to 
 sit and deliberate after the king's commissioner 
 had legally dissolved it, and who declared their 
 continued sitting to be Jiigh-treason, and pro- 
 tested against whatever acts they might pass. 
 The bishops too entered their solemn protest
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 137 
 
 against the legality of that assembly's enactments, 
 and " that none of their deeds be reputed the, 
 acts of the church of Scotland." Nevertheless, 
 the members of that Assembly, who were mere 
 Presbyters and laymen, and many of whom were not 
 legally commissioned, continued to sit and enact 
 ecclesiastical la>vs, in defiance of the royal au- 
 thority, and of the protest of the bishops. 
 
 In their protest, the bishops declared that 
 Assembly to be " most unlawful and disorderly, 
 and their proceedings null and void in law, for 
 the following reasons : 
 
 " 1. Because the most part, if not all, the commissioners 
 were chosen before the Assembly was indicted by the king's 
 authority. 2. Because the ministers who were sent commis- 
 sioners to this Assembly are not qualified according to the 
 forty-sixth parliament of James VI., cap. 3, by assenting to 
 and subscribing the confession of faith in presence of the 
 archbishops or bishops, and taking the oaths of supremacy 
 and fidelity. 3. Because they refused to subscribe the con- 
 fession of faith, as it was enjoined by the king. 4. Because 
 they have impugned the dignity and privilege of the bishops, 
 who are ore of the estates of parliament, contrary to the act 
 one hundred and thirty, parliament eight, of James VI. 
 5. Because they have their commission from Presbyteries, 
 who have forfeited all privilege of sending commissioners to 
 the Assembly, in so far as they have deposed the moderators, 
 who were lawfully appointed by the bishops to govern them 
 in their synods, and elected others in their places, contrary 
 to the act of assembly 1610, and parliament 1612. 6. Because 
 they have associated to themselves a laic ruling elder out of 
 every session, who being ordinarily a man of authority, doth
 
 138 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 over-rule in the election ; whereas lay-elders have not sat 
 ordinarily in Presbyteries these forty years, nor ever had any 
 voice in the election of ministers for the General Assembly. 
 7. Because the commissioners to this Assembly have so be- 
 haved, that they may justly be thought incapable of commis- 
 sion to a free and lawful assembly ; for, first, by their seditious 
 and railing pamphlets they have wounded the king's honour 
 and authority, and animated his lieges to rebellion ; second, 
 they are known to be such as have either been schismatical, 
 refractory, and opposite to good order settled in the church 
 and state ; or such as having promised, subscribed, and 
 SWOR.N obedience to their bishop, have never made conscience 
 of their oath ; or such as having sworn and accordingly 
 practised, yet, contrary to their promise and practice, have 
 resiled, to the contempt of authority, and disturbance of the 
 the church ; or such as are under the censures of the 
 church of Ireland for their disobedience to order, or are 
 under the censures of this church, or convened, at least 
 deserving to be convened, before their ordinaries, or a 
 lawful General Assembly, for divers transgressions deserv- 
 ing deprivation. 8. Because they admit that lay-elders 
 have a decisive voice in the Assembly, which is not con- 
 sistent with reason, scripture, or the practice of the Chris- 
 tian church. 9. Because the most part, if not all, the com- 
 missioners directed to this meeting, have precondemned 
 Episcopal government and the five articles of Perth ; have 
 approven their Covenant as most necessary to be embraced by 
 all the kingdom ; and not only have given judgment of these 
 things beforehand, but by most solemn oaths have bound 
 themselves to defend and stand to the same. Now it is 
 known that among other reasons which made our reformers 
 decline the Council of Trent, this was the chief, that Pope 
 Leo had pre-condemned Luther before the meeting of that 
 Council. 10. Because the greatest part, if not all of those 
 pretended commissioners have declared themselves a party
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 139 
 
 against the bishops of this church, by their calumnies and 
 reproaches ; especially in forging, devising, venting, and 
 publishing a most infamous libel, full of lies and calumnies 
 against the bishops, which they caused to be published in all 
 the churches 1jf Edinburgh, on Sunday, the 28th of October, 
 1638, against all charity, which doth not delight in the dis- 
 covery of men's nakedness; against the Apostle's rule, 'rebuke 
 not an elder, but entreat him as a father ;' against the act of 
 James VI. c. 8, discharging all persons to impugn or procure 
 the diminution and power of the three estates, or any of them ; 
 against all lawful formal proceedings prescribed by acts of As- 
 sembly, ordaining that all summonses contain the special 
 cause and crime, which the said libel doth not ; against com- 
 mon equity, which admits summonses only by the authority 
 of that judge before whom the delinquent is to appear. Now 
 the Assembly was not open when the summonses were given, 
 neither can summonses by the Presbytery be sustained for 
 compearance before the General Assembly ; and against all 
 decency and respect clue to men of their place and dignity. 
 II. Because they have publicly declared that no primate, 
 archbishop or bishop have place or decisive voice in the 
 General Assembly, except they be authorized and elected by 
 their Presbyterial meetings, consisting of preaching or ruling 
 elders, which is against reason and the practice of the church 
 in the primitive and purest times. 12. Because they deny to 
 the primate to be moderator or president of the Assembly, 
 but only he who is chosen by the suffrages of Presbyters and 
 laymen, contrary to the appointment of ancient councils, and 
 contrary to our own laws, both municipal and ecclesiastical, 
 annis 1606, 1608, and 1610. As for that act at Montrosc, 
 let them answer to it that have their calling by that commis- 
 sion. Finally, seeing all pastors are inferior to bishops, how 
 absurd is it, and contrary to all reason and practice of the 
 Christian church, that archbishops and bishops shall be judged
 
 140 J^lt'S AND TIMES OF 
 
 by Presbyters ! and more absurd that they should be judged 
 by a mixed meeting of Presbyters and laics, convening with- 
 out lawful authority of the church. And for these reasons 
 they do DECLINE the Assembly, and PROTEST, that NONE of 
 her DEEDS be reputed the ACTS of the church of Scotland" 
 
 In the face of this protest by the heads of the 
 church, and the king's proclamation crying down 
 the Assembly, can its acts for one moment be 
 deemed legal ? A successful rebellion gave tem- 
 porary force and currency to the illegal enact- 
 ments of that Assembly, and of some meetings of 
 two of the estates, which were called parliaments. 
 But the parliament which met after the Revolu- 
 tion declared all former pretended parliaments 
 illegal, and of no force. The act of Assembly, 
 1610, and the act of parliament of 16J2, there- 
 fore, although in abeyance, were still in force, 
 and still were the law of ihe land, consequently 
 Charles could mean nothing else but that he 
 would maintain the Episcopal government " as it 
 was settled by law." Looking to the example of 
 England, we can see no ambiguity whatever in 
 the king's letter. The Episcopal government in 
 England was overturned, and the bishops shut 
 out of their place in parliament, by an usurped 
 authority, in the same manner as in Scotland. On 
 the Restoration, however, the English bishops, 
 who were alive, took possession of their sees on 
 their return to England, without any formality of
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 141 
 
 law. It was contended and unanimously ad- 
 mitted, that they had been deprived by no legal 
 authority. Mr. Sharp, in his letter of the 7th of 
 July, expressly says, that lawyers proved to the 
 court, that the English bishops had not been 
 ousted by law of any point of their jurisdiction, 
 save of the high-commission court. There was 
 not even an act of parliament to restore them, so 
 illegal was their sequestration esteemed. Upon 
 what principle then could the Presbyterians in 
 Scotland imagine themselves to be legally esta- 
 blished ? They had usurped the places and 
 livings of the Episcopal clergy, contrary to the 
 unrepealed laws of the land, and compelled the 
 bishops to flee to England for the preservation 
 of their lives. Indeed, for that matter the acts of 
 Assembly 1610, and of parliament 1612, stand 
 unrepealed to this day. 
 
 Episcopacy, therefore, had never been legally 
 abolished. After serious enquiry into the causes 
 of the rebellion, parliament found it was charge- 
 able on the Solemn League and Covenant, and 
 on those who adhered to it. Although endeavours 
 were made to induce the Presbyterians to re- 
 nounce the Covenant, yet the Protestors would 
 not renounce it, thinking themselves bound by 
 its obligations. The parliament rationally con- 
 cluded " that the same men, owning the same 
 principles, would be ready upon occasion to act
 
 142 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 over again the same things." They therefore 
 restored Episcopacy as the primitive and aposto- 
 lical government of the church ; and " did sustain 
 Episcopacy as a part of the state, but never as an 
 hierarchy independent from it." In no age or 
 country has Episcopacy ever forced its way into the 
 state by the sword or rebellion ; but has always 
 strenuously maintained and taught the great and 
 essential principle of the Christian religion, " that 
 the uncontro verted magistrate was always to be 
 obeyed, if not actively yet passively." Whereas 
 Presbytery has always entered by means of the 
 sword and of rebellion ; and the Protestors actually 
 disowned, and proclaimed war against the king. 
 At Sanquhar they declared "that the Covenant was 
 the original contract betwixt God, the people, 
 and the king ; and therefore the king having 
 broke it, forfeited his crown ; and by that means, 
 since he was only to be considered as a private 
 subject" (of whom ?) " and enemy to God, it was 
 lawful for them to kill him, and all who served 
 him, according to the noble examples of Phineas 
 and Ehud."* In pursuance of this doctrine, the 
 Covenanters assaulted many of the clergy, and 
 murdered soldiers for no other reason than be- 
 cause they wore the royal uniform. 
 
 Mr. Wodrow makes some very lugubrious and 
 
 * Sir G. Mackensie's Vindication, fol. p. 342.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 143 
 
 uncharitable reflections on the royal letter, which 
 he ascribes to the dictation of Mr. Sharp. " A 
 very full testimony," says he, " is given to the 
 loyalty and affection of the Presbyterian ministers 
 of this church, to the king, under his sufferings, 
 which was so glaring that it could not be hid ; 
 and yet the declaring of it was as severe a re- 
 proach as could be upon the authors of their 
 maltreatment." The ministers, to whose loyalty 
 and affection a full testimony was given, were the 
 Resolutioners, who were the old Episcopalian 
 clergy, and who are confounded by Wodrow with 
 the Protestors, who were Presbyterians, when it 
 suits his purpose of imposing the belief on his 
 readers, that the whole kingdom were thoroughly 
 and willingly Presbyterian. No fact of history 
 can be more clear, than that the Resolutioners 
 were Episcopalian to a man, for they recognised 
 and embraced Episcopacy without a dissentient 
 voice, when it was restored the following year ; 
 whereas the Protestors stood out, and created that 
 schism which produced such deplorable effects 
 during the reigns of Charles and James, and 
 which again broke out in the Presbyterian estab- 
 lishment, after the Revolution, under the name of 
 the Secession. " The inuendo," he continues, 
 " that follows from those who swerved from their 
 duty and allegiance to the king, is a sensible 
 proof of the confidence and disingenuity of Mr.
 
 144 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Sharp, who, though he designed this against the 
 Protestors, knew well enough that not a minister 
 of the Church of Scotland, as far as I know, no, 
 not Mr. Gillespie, had swerved so far from their 
 allegiance as to take the Tender, or offered to 
 come into any measures Cromwell would lay 
 down ; and yet his own conscience could not but 
 reproach him as guilty of this"* that is, of 
 taking the Tender, and swerving from his allegiance. 
 The Tender was an oath or instrument, by which 
 the party signing abjured or renounced allegiance 
 to King Charles II. Wodrow accuses Mr. Sharp 
 of being the only individual who made this abju- 
 ration ; " than which/' says his biographer, 
 " nothing was ever more false or calumnious, 
 nor had ever Mr. Sharp, or any other mi- 
 nister, the least temptation to that wicked- 
 ness."t Neither could he have " penned" the 
 king's letter, as he was not at that time a privy- 
 counsellor. In this case, as in most of the other 
 parts of his history, Mr. Wodrow allows his 
 spleen to overmaster his honesty ; and, indeed, 
 his barefaced and enormous lying often defeats 
 his own purpose. If Mr. Sharp took the Tender, 
 which his contemporary and biographer says he 
 did not, Mr. Douglass and others, his consti- 
 
 * Wodrow, vol. i. p. 21. 
 
 t True and Impartial Account, p. 13.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 145 
 
 tuents, could not have been ignorant of it ; what 
 therefore must we think of their honesty and 
 loyalty, in deputing a man said to be stained with 
 the guilt of treason, and under a solemn oath to 
 abjure and renounce that very sovereign, with 
 whom he wa deputed to negotiate. But this 
 treason was not laid to his charge till after it be- 
 came necessary " to aggravate the crimes of their 
 adversaries," and his in a more especial manner. 
 
 The whole Presbytery of Edinburgh returned a 
 letter of thanks to the king, and another to Lau- 
 derdale, signed by thirty-two ministers ; whereas, 
 Mr. Sharp's instructions were signed by six mi- 
 nisters only, who took upon themselves to act in 
 the name of the whole church. They, however, 
 made no intercession for their brethren, the Pro- 
 testors, whose conduct was not particularly loyal. 
 In the month of November, the Synod of Lothian 
 transmitted to Lauderdale another letter of thanks 
 and congratulation. 
 
 As before mentioned, Charles entrusted the 
 government of Scotland to a Committee of 
 Estates, which met in October, and issued a pro- 
 clamation, in which they imposed a cess for 
 paying the commissioners' charges, and the Eng- 
 lish army then quartered in Scotland ; and also 
 commanded the books called " Lex Rex," and 
 the " Causes of God's Wrath," to be called in 
 and burnt by the hands of the common hangman, 
 
 L
 
 146 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 at the Cross of Edinburgh. Lex Rex was an 
 infamous book, written by Rutherford, who was 
 at one time Professor of Divinity in the University 
 of St. Andrews, and whose writings are designated 
 by Mr. Arnott, as " a composition of hypocrisy, 
 calumny, obscenity and nonsense not to add 
 blasphemy." They also issued a proclamation 
 for the assembling of parliament, for the despatch 
 of business, in December of the same year ; and 
 another, " concerning the carriage of the king's 
 subjects during the late troubles,'' in which it is 
 said, " and hereby we do further assure them, 
 that our own honour, and the honour of that our 
 ancient kingdom being vindicated, and the an- 
 cient prerogative of the crown being asserted, we 
 will grant such a full and free pardon, and act of 
 indemnity, as shall witness there is nothing we 
 are more desirous of, than that our people may 
 be blessed with abundance of happiness, peace 
 and plenty, under our government." Charles 
 ordered the forts built by Cromwell to be de- 
 molished, and their garrisons withdrawn. New 
 magistrates of approved loyalty were elected for 
 all the burghs, and the parliament was prorogued 
 till the 1st of January, 1661. 
 
 On his return from London, in August, 1660, 
 Mr. Sharp resigned his commission into the 
 hands of the Presbytery of Edinburgh, although 
 it did not emanate from that body, but from a
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 147 
 
 few individual ministers ; and that court be- 
 stowed on him a vote of thanks for his faithful 
 services. After this honourable testimony of their 
 approbation, he resumed his official duties in his 
 own parish at Crail. He does not again appear 
 in public life^ except to preach before the parlia- 
 ment, till he was summoned to London by the 
 king's command, in October, 1661. Among 
 some original papers in the " Episcopal chest" 
 at Aberdeen, which I have been very handsomely 
 permitted by the prelates of the church in Scot- 
 land to copy, there is a letter from Lauderdale to 
 Mr. Sharp ; it is of no great consequence, but it 
 shows that the latter was not so deep in the 
 plot for upsetting Presbytery as Mr. Wodrow 
 asserts : 
 
 " My dear Friend, The king's commands keep me heir, 
 so that I shall not see you till the spring. In the meantime, 
 I long for your advice as to what I wrote of Glasgow, and 
 the professor's place at St. Andrews, with a draft of the two 
 presentations. Remember me kindly to all friends. Re- 
 member me kindly to Mr. Douglass and Mr. Hutchinson. 
 
 " I am your friend to serve you, 
 
 (Signed) " Lauderdale." 
 " Whitehall, 2d December, 1660." 
 
 During the usurpation, Cromwell, in imitation 
 of Edward I., carried off all the registers and 
 public documents belonging to Scotland, and 
 
 L2
 
 148 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 deposited them in the Tower of London. Charles 
 ordered these to be packed up and returned 
 to Scotland : they were shipped on board a 
 small trading vessel belonging to Kirkaldy, 
 which was wrecked on the passage, and the 
 whole national records, consisting of eighty- 
 five hogsheads full of papers, were entirely lost. 
 The Earl of Middleton amved at Holyrood- 
 House, on the 31st of December, as royal com- 
 missioner. 
 
 1661. Agreeable to the proclamation, pro- 
 roguing the parliament, it met on the 1st day of 
 January ; and it was determined to make " the 
 Riding" as splendid as possible. Accordingly 
 the streets were cleared of all obstructions, and 
 a lane formed in the centre by railings. Military 
 were stationed outside of these, consisting of 
 both horse and foot, from the palace to the Parlia- 
 ment-house. The guards of the Earl of Erroll, 
 as lord high-constable, formed a second lane, 
 from the military in the High-street to the door 
 of the Parliament-house. Again the earl mar- 
 shal's guards formed a third lane from the outer 
 door to the bar of the house. The Earl of Erroll 
 sat in a chair of state at the door, and received 
 the royal commissioner. The officers of state 
 rode in the procession in their official robes. 
 The lord-lyon king-at-arms, and the heralds in 
 their tabrets, called over the roll from a window
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 149 
 
 in the palace. After which the procession moved 
 in the following order : 
 
 Two trumpets, in coats and banners, 
 
 bare-headed, riding ; 
 
 Two pursuivants, in coats and foot-mantles, riding ; 
 
 Sixty-three commissioners for burghs on horseback, covered, 
 
 two and two, each having a lacquey attending 
 
 on foot, the odd member 
 
 walking alone; 
 Seventy-seven commissioners for shires, on horseback, 
 
 covered, two and two, 
 
 each having two lacqueys attending on foot ; 
 Fifty-one lords barons, in their robes, 
 
 riding two and two ; 
 
 each having a gentleman to support his train, 
 
 and three lacqueys on foot, wearing, above their liveries, 
 
 velvet surtouts, with the arms of 
 
 their respective lords, 
 On the breast and back, embossed in plate, or embroidered 
 
 with gold and silver ; 
 
 Nineteen viscounts, as the former; 
 
 Sixty earls, as the former, four lacqueys attending 
 
 on each ; 
 
 Four trumpets, two and two ; 
 
 Four pursuivants, two and two ; 
 
 And six heralds, two and two, bare-headed ; 
 
 Lord-lyon, king-at-arms, in his coat, robe, chain, 
 
 baton, and foot-mantle ; 
 8 Sword of State, 
 
 J borne by the Earl of Mar ; 
 
 The Sceptre, S 
 
 J by the Earl of Sutherland ; 
 
 THE CROWN, 
 borne by the Earl of Crawford ;
 
 150 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 The Purse and Commission, by the g 
 
 Earl of Morton ; J 
 
 S-a THE EARL OF MIDDLETON, LORD HIGH- g 55" 
 
 K COMMISSIONER, *> 
 
 C** ^ ft) ^ 
 
 8 with his servants, pages, p- o 
 
 and footmen ; 
 
 Four dukes, two and two ; m 
 
 Gentlemen bearing their trains, and each having 
 
 eight lacqueys ; 
 
 Six marquises, each having six lacqueys ; 
 
 Captain of the Horse-Guards; 
 
 The Horse-Guards. 
 
 At the door of the Parliament-house, the com- 
 missioner was received by the lord high-consta- 
 ble, and by him conducted to the earl marshal, 
 between whom his grace, ushered by the lord 
 high-chancellor, was conveyed to the throne. 
 When the parliament rose, the procession re- 
 turned to Holyrood-house in nearly the same 
 order, where the lord-commissioner magnificently 
 entertained the nobility and members at dinner. 
 The Earl of Athole, as cup-bearer, served the 
 lord-commissioner with wine on his knee. 
 
 Mr. Wodrow says, that Douglass preached 
 before the parliament ; but there is a letter 
 extant * in Lauderdale's hand- writing, dated 24th 
 of January 1661, addressed, " For my reverend 
 and worthy friend Mr. James Sharp, his Majesty's 
 chaplain in his kingdom of Scotland." In which 
 
 * MSS. Episcopal Chest, Aberdeen, A. 2.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 151 
 
 he " thanks him for his sermon preached before 
 the parliament, and desires a printed copy of it 
 for the king, and one at least for himself." From 
 which it would appear, that it was Mr. Sharp, 
 as the kind's chaplain, that had preached the 
 sermon. The business of parliament commenced 
 on the 4th of January ; and the commissioner 
 recommended peace, unity, and concord; but 
 avoided all mention of the Solemn League and 
 Covenant. In the palmy days of its supremacy, 
 it was enacted, that all members of parliament 
 at taking their seats, should " take and subscribe 
 the national Covenant, and give an oath in 
 parliament relative thereunto." Parliament now 
 dispensed with this obligation, and their first 
 enactment was an oath of allegiance and abju- 
 ration, to be taken by all the members and 
 officers in his majesty's service : as follows: 
 
 " I, N. N., for testification of my faithful obedience to my 
 most gracious and redoubted sovereign, Charles, &c. do 
 affirm, testify, and declare, by this my solemn oath, that I 
 acknowledge my said sovereign only supreme governor of 
 this kingdom over all persons and in all causes ; and that no 
 foreign prince, power or state, nor person civil nor ecclesiastic, 
 hath any jurisdiction, power, or superiority over the same: 
 and therefore I utterly renounce and forsake all foreign 
 jurisdictions, powers, and authorities; and shall at my utmost 
 power defend, assist, and maintain his majesty's jurisdiction 
 aforesaid, against all deadly, and never decline his majesty's 
 power or jurisdiction, as I shall answer to God."
 
 152 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Members of Parliament were to add the follow- 
 ing clause : 
 
 " And I shall faithfully give my advice and vote in every 
 thing that shall be propounded in parliament, as I shall answer 
 to God." 
 
 One would imagine that no loyal man would 
 refuse this oath, or find any dangerous ambiguity 
 under it ; yet it has been accused of the most 
 enormous profligacy, and of making the king a 
 pope in the church, and of course a tyrant in the 
 state. All the members agreed to and subscribed 
 the foregoing oath without any scruples, except 
 the Earls of Cassilis and Melville, and the Laird 
 of Kilburny. On the 8th of January, the com- 
 missioner moved, that the business of parliament 
 should proceed in the ancient way, by the lords 
 of the articles. Twelve noblemen, twelve barons, 
 and twelve burgesses, with the officers of state 
 were then chosen, and authorised to hear all 
 matters presented to them ; to receive proof of 
 what they found relevant, and report to the par- 
 liament twice a week. 
 
 The second act recognises and establishes 
 " his majesty's prerogative to choose officers of 
 state, counsellors and lords of session," and 
 justly declares " the contrary laws and practices 
 and acts since 1637, to have been undutiful and 
 disloyal." The parliament of f641, composed of 
 disloyal men, and acting under the influence of
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 153 
 
 the Covenant, took away from the king the 
 power of nominating his ministers and judges. 
 This act therefore declares, that the power of 
 nominating tkem, is " part of the king's royal pre- 
 rogative." In order to condemn that fundamental 
 treason, which taught that the king was sub- 
 ject to his people, as deriving his power from them, 
 this, act, therefore, fully recognises and declares 
 "that our kings hold their royal power over this 
 kingdom from God." Their third act recognises 
 and asserts the king's undoubted prerogative, as 
 exercised without challenge at the present day 
 " to call, hold, prorogue or dissolve all parlia- 
 ments, conventions, or meetings of estates ;" and 
 declares that, " all legislative meetings without 
 his special warrant to be null and void." The 
 fourth act prohibited all conventions, leagues, 
 or bonds, without the concurrence of the sove- 
 reign. The fifth act, recognises the king's 
 prerogative, and sole power in making peace or 
 war. This act was rendered necessary by the 
 late rebellion and the turbulent principles of the 
 party who still adhered to the Covenant. It is 
 the same in spirit and similarly worded to the 
 English act of 12 Charles II. c. 6, which was 
 purposely enacted against the traitorous princi- 
 ples engendered by the Solemn League and 
 Covenant. It declares that the power of the 
 sword is solely in the king; " and both or either 
 of the houses of parliament cannot, nor ought to
 
 154 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 pretend to the same; nor can, nor lawfully may 
 raise, or levy any war, offensive or defensive, 
 against his majesty, his heirs or lawful suc- 
 cessors." The sixth act, declares the traitorous 
 Convention of Estates in the year 1 643, which 
 united with the rebel Convention of England, in 
 forcing the Solemn League and Covenant on 
 that country, to be null and void. The seventh 
 act, lays the axe to the root of all the evil of the 
 preceding time of rebellion and usurpation the 
 Solemn League and Covenant, which had wrapt 
 the three kingdoms in blood and anarchy : 
 
 " For as much as the power of arms, and entering into, and 
 making of leagues and bonds, is an undoubted privilege of the 
 crown, and a proper part of the royal prerogative of the 
 kings of this kingdom, and that in recognisance of his majes- 
 ty's just right, the estates of parliament of this his most 
 ancient kingdom of Scotland, have declared it high-treason 
 to the subjects thereof, of whatsoever number, less or more, 
 upon any pretext whatsoever to rise, or continue in arms, or 
 to enter into leagues or bonds with foreigners, or among 
 themselves, without his majesty's special warrant and appro- 
 bation had and obtained thereunto ; and have rescinded 
 and annulled all acts of parliament, conventions of estates, 
 or other deeds whatsoever, contrary to, or inconsistent with 
 the same. And whereas, during these troubles, there have 
 occurred divers things, in the making and pursuance of 
 leagues and bonds, which may be occasion of jealousy in 
 and betwixt his majesty's dominions of Scotland, England, 
 and Ireland ; therefore, and for preventing of all scruples, 
 mistakes, or jealousies that may hereafter arise upon that 
 ground, the king's majesty, with advice and consent of his
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 155 
 
 estates of parliament, doth hereby declare, that there is no 
 obligation upon this kingdom, by covenant, treaties, or other- 
 wise, to endeavour by arms a reformation of religion in the king- 
 dom of England, or to meddle with the public government, 
 and administration of that kingdom. And the king's majesty, 
 with consent and advice foresaid, doth declare, that the 
 League and Covenant, and all treaties following thereupon, 
 and acts or deeds, that do or may relate thereto,are not ob- 
 ligatory, nor do infer any obligation upon this kingdom, or 
 the subjects thereof, to meddle or interpose by arms, or in 
 any seditious way, in any thing concerning the religion and 
 government of the churches of England and Ireland, or in 
 what may concern the administration of his majesty's govern- 
 ment there. And further, his majesty, with advice and 
 consent of his estates, doth hereby discharge and inhibit all 
 his majesty's subjects within this kingdom, that none of them 
 presume, upon any pretext of any authority whatsoever, to 
 require the renewing or swearing of the said League and Cove- 
 nant, or of any other covenants or public oaths, concerning 
 the government of the church or kingdom, without his 
 majesty's special warrant and approbation ; and that none of 
 his majesty's subjects offer to renew and swear the same, 
 without his majesty's warrant, as said is, as they will be 
 answerable at their highest peril." 
 
 The eighth act was against seminary priests 
 and Jesuits, which it appears taking advantage, 
 as they always do, of the disorders of the times, 
 swarmed all over the kingdom in great abundance. 
 They were the principal instigators of the late 
 schisms and rebellion, and had been the chief 
 instruments in the introduction and propagation 
 of the Covenant. The ninth act approves of the
 
 156 LIFE AND TIMES Ol- 
 
 Duke of Hamilton's "engagement" in favour of 
 Charles I. in 1648; but rescinds the ensuing 
 measures of parliament and committees, as being 
 the acts " of a few seditious ministers, who had 
 then screwed themselves into the government." 
 The tenth act, is against the Declaration of Scot- 
 land, 16th of January, 1647. The eleventh act, 
 requires all public officers to take the oath of alle- 
 giance, and to acknowledge the royal prerogative. 
 The twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth acts are 
 money-bills, and no ways connected with the 
 church, and which we therefore pass over. 
 
 The fifteenth, however, is of more importance. 
 All the meetings and conventions which had sat 
 and enacted laws since the year 1633, up to the 
 year 1660, had not only sat without the royal 
 authority, but in defiance of it, and in opposition 
 to it. In short, the parties were rebels, and their 
 acts unauthorised and rebellious, under, as the 
 act itself says, " the common pretext of refor- 
 mation, the common cloak of all rebellions." 
 This act, commonly called THE ACT RESCISSORY, 
 repealed all the acts and ordinances of the rebel 
 parliaments. Some of these Charles I. had 
 summoned and presided in, and Charles II. had 
 himself presided in that of 1651 ; but these 
 sovereigns were at the time under duress, and 
 were not free agents, and the proceedings of these 
 unhappy times were forced upon them by the
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 157 
 
 power of successful rebels. This parliament, 
 therefore, repealed them, as the ordinances of 
 notorious rebels, as well as, on account of the 
 force exercised on the sovereign, being null 
 and void. Besides, even were that not the case, 
 are our acts of parliament to be like the laws of 
 the Medes and Persians, unrepealable ? We 
 daily see acts of parliament repealed, which 
 have been very deliberately and legally framed, 
 when it has been found that their working was 
 either impracticable or injurious. Why, there- 
 fore, should not the enactments of notorious 
 rebels be rescinded, when their operation was to 
 distract the church and undermine the royal 
 authority ? 
 
 The sixteenth act established the Protestant ca- 
 tholic church as it subsisted in the time of James I. 
 and Charles I. of blessed memory. It removed 
 the controlling force, and restored the church to 
 the same legal condition as before the Assembly 
 of Glasgow in 1638, which sacrilegiously decreed 
 her utter extirpation. Those who unhappily 
 approve of the proceedings of that assembly 
 condemn this act, and have raised a horrible cry 
 of persecution ; but they choose to forget that 
 the decisions of the Assembly of 1638 were much 
 more summary, and had not even the semblance 
 of law. They not only condemned the whole 
 frame-work of the church, but without the royal,
 
 158 LIFE AN 7 D TIMES OF 
 
 or even parliamentary sanction, they rescinded 
 all the acts of Assembly for the previous forty 
 years, although they had been ratified by 
 repeated acts of parliament. The Glasgow 
 Assembly in 1638 deposed, and as far as they 
 were able, excommunicated the bishops, as an 
 antichristian corruption in the church. After 
 bearing false witness against the moral character 
 of the prelates of that day, " in forging, devising, 
 inventing, and publishing a most infamous libel full 
 of lies and calumnies," they enacted in the true 
 popish style : " Therefore the Assembly, moved 
 with zeal to the glory of God and purging of his 
 kirk, hath ordained the saids pretended bishops 
 to be deposed, and by these presents doth de- 
 pose them, not only of the office of commission- 
 ers to vote in parliament, council, or convention 
 in name of the kirk, but also of all functions, 
 whether of the pretended episcopal or ministerial 
 calling, declareth them infamous. And like- 
 wise ordaineth the saids pretended bishops to be 
 excommunicate, and declared to be of those 
 whom Christ commandeth to be holden by all and 
 every one of the faithful, as ethnics and publi- 
 cans ; and the sentence of excommunication to 
 be pronounced by Mr. Alexander Henderson, 
 moderator, in the face of the Assembly, in the 
 High Kirk of Glasgow ; and the execution of the 
 sentence to be intimate in all the kirks in
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 159 
 
 Scotland, by the pastors of every particular 
 congregation."* In this instance, an illegal 
 assembly took upon itself to break up the whole 
 constitution of the kingdom, by setting itself 
 above, and repealing acts of parliament, and by 
 removing one of the estates of parliament. So 
 that the restoration of Episcopacy at this time, 
 was only putting the church and the constitution 
 of the kingdom on the same footing as it was 
 before the illegal assembly of 1638, usurped the 
 whole constitutional power of the kingdom, and 
 extirpated the church without any form of law 
 or authority. Parliament dealt more gently with 
 the Presbyterians than that party have ever, in 
 any of their successful revolutions, acted towards 
 the Episcopalians. There were neither depo- 
 sitions nor excommunications, not even depriva- 
 tions ; but going on steadily towards the resto- 
 ration of the church, they passed the following act 
 concerning religion and church-government : 
 
 "Our sovereign lord, being truly sensible of the mercies 
 of Almighty Gon towards him, in his preservation in the 
 times of greatest trouble and danger, and in his miraculous 
 restitution to the just right and government of his kingdoms, 
 and being desirous to improve these mercies to the glory of 
 GOD, and the honour of his great name, doth, with advice 
 and consent of his estates of parliament, declare, that it is 
 his full and firm resolution to maintain the true reformed 
 
 * Act, Sess. 20, December 13, p. 18.
 
 160 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Protestant religion, in its purity of doctrine and worship, as 
 it was established within this kingdom, during the reigns 
 of his royal father and grandfather of blessed memory : and 
 that his majesty will be careful to promote the power of 
 godliness, to encourage the exercises of religion, both public 
 and private, and to suppress all profaneness and disorderly 
 walking ; and for that end will give all due countenance and 
 protection to the ministers of the gospel, they containing 
 themselves within the bounds and limits of their ministerial 
 calling, and behaving themselves with that submission and 
 obedience to his majesty's authority and commands, that is 
 suitable to the allegiance and duty of good subjects. And 
 as to the government of the church, his majesty will make it 
 his care to settle and secure the same, in such a frame as 
 shall be most agreeable to the word of GOD, most suitable to 
 monarchial government, and most complying with the public 
 peace and quiet of the kingdom. And, in the mean time, his 
 majesty, with advice and consent aforesaid, doth allow the 
 present administration by sessions, presbyteries, and synods, 
 (they keeping within bounds, and behaving themselves as 
 said is) and that notwithstanding of the preceding act re- 
 scissory of all pretended parliaments since the year 1638. 
 
 Sir George Mackenzie says, there were only 
 five dissentient voices in parliament to this act, 
 which restored the ancient church. It may 
 therefore be considered as the unanimous desire 
 of the nation, and this is confirmed by the 
 petition to parliament of the synod of Aberdeen 
 in favour of Episcopal government. It is there- 
 fore surprising that men of sense would adopt 
 the outcry of a few disappointed men, and say, 
 that Charles's letter to Douglass was ambiguous,
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 1GI 
 
 or that he oppressively forced Episcopacy on the 
 nation. His parliament responded to his patri- 
 otic intention of restoring the breaches, both of 
 the church and of the constitution, which had 
 been made by the usurpers for the preceding 
 twenty-five years. There was no sudden tyran- 
 nical act of mere power ; but the free, calm, and 
 deliberate decision of the nation, by their repre- 
 sentatives in parliament. They did not sweep 
 away, with ruthless hand, the then existing Pres- 
 byterian government ; but allowed the Presbyteries 
 to continue their meetings and maintain their 
 jurisdiction till bishops, canonically consecrated 
 and lawfully appointed, should reassume their 
 apostolical government. 
 
 The seventeenth act of this parliament ap- 
 pointed the 29th of May, on which day Charles 
 was restored to the throne of his fathers, to be 
 kept as a perpetual holiday : " which day, God 
 Almighty hath specially honoured and rendered 
 auspicious to this kingdom, both by his majesty's 
 royal birth, and by his blessed restoration to his 
 government, be for ever set apart as an holy 
 day unto the Lord, and that in all the churches 
 in the kingdom, it be employed in public prayers, 
 preaching, thanksgiving, and praises to GOD for 
 so transcendant mercies." This act, which shows 
 that the legislators of those days were not so 
 deficient of piety as our adversaries assert, was 
 
 M
 
 162 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 one of the mighty grievances of the Cove- 
 nanters. Wodrow has the charity to assert, 
 that " it was evidently framed to be a snare unto 
 ministers." In the beginning of our Reformation, 
 during all Knox's life-time, the fasts and 
 festivals of the church were regularly observed. 
 From a copy of a bond or agreement made 
 between the magistrates of Elgin and the parish 
 schoolmaster of that city, in the year 1566, it 
 appears that they bound him, under a penalty, 
 not only to keep and observe all the festivals of 
 the church himself, but to see that his pupils 
 were regular in their attendance at the parish 
 church on these occasions. So that, in fact, the 
 Covenanters, and those who have followed their 
 schism, have departed from the faith and the 
 practice of Knox, and the early Scottish Re- 
 formers. 
 
 The next acts which bore on ecclesiastical 
 affairs, were the 18th and 1 9th; the former for 
 the due observance of the Lord's day, commonly 
 called Sunday, and the latter against swearing 
 and excessive drinking. The 36th act, " anent 
 presentation of ministers," requires more notice, 
 inasmuch as it respects a subject which has kept 
 the Presbyterian Establishment in a perpetual 
 ferment ever since its enactment. 
 
 Before the Reformation, indeed ever since the 
 establishment of Christianity in the kingdom,
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 163 
 
 patronage was in force. After the Reformation 
 in 1560, there was no alteration made in this 
 particular, b'ut the law of patronage still con- 
 tinued No minister was ever allowed to have a 
 legal title to any church or benefice, unless he 
 had a presentation from the patron, and collation 
 from the superintendent or bishop, or from the 
 presbytery, during the eight years from 1592 
 till the year 1600, in which the Presbyterial 
 form prevailed. Patronage was the law and 
 practice of the nation from the beginning of its 
 Christianity till 1647, when, by divine permission, 
 rebellion proved successful, the king's authority 
 extinct, and the Covenant supreme. The cheat 
 of popular election then became fashionable, and 
 the Presbyterian ministers, among other illegal 
 usurpations, took upon them the disposal of 
 churches and benefices. In these elections the 
 people have, in reality, no more power than under 
 patrons ; and ministers are as much imposed on 
 them under this juggle, as by the lawful patron. 
 At first, however, the sound of the name en- 
 chanted the people; in fact, this juggle was in- 
 vented to draw their attention off more important 
 designs. The party finding their strength in- 
 creasing, pursued their design more effectually ; 
 and the illegal convention of two of the estates, 
 without the royal authority, which called itself a 
 parliament, in the year 1649, abolished pa- 
 in 2
 
 1G4 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 tronage. "This act," says Mr. Willison, "is 
 worthy to be written in letters of gold." Its 
 enactment should also please the Voluntaries of 
 the present day ; for it says, " and considering 
 that patronages and presentations of kirks is an 
 evil and bondage, under which the Lord's people 
 and ministers of this land have long groaned, and 
 that it hath no warrant in God's word, but is 
 founded only in the common law, and is a custom 
 popish, and brought into the kirk in time of ig- 
 norance and superstition; that it is prejudicial to 
 the liberty of the people and planting of kirks, 
 and unto the free calling and entry of ministers 
 into their charges, therefore, &c." Now this act of 
 this pretended parliament (but it does not even de- 
 serve that name, being deficient of the first estate, 
 and in defiance of the king, who is the caput, 
 principium et finis of parliaments) is the only 
 pretence or shadow of law which had ever been 
 in the Scottish church, for popular elections. It 
 will not be disputed, but, that the removal of 
 the rights of patrons, was a palpable encroach- 
 ment upon their privileges, and a trampling on 
 the laws of the kingdom. Accordingly, when the 
 government began to turn on its proper hinges, 
 it need not excite surprise, that such gross injus- 
 tice and usurpation should be removed. And 
 the thirty-sixth act of the first Parliament of 
 Charles II. recognises the rights of patrons, as
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHAH P. 165 
 
 if the illegal ordinances of 1649 had never been 
 in existence. ' It is statute and ordained, " that 
 all patrons shall be careful in time coming, to 
 grant presentations only to such as shall give suf- 
 ficient evidence of their piety, loyalty, literature, 
 and peaceable disposition, and who, before they 
 receive the presentation, shall take the oath of 
 allegiance, &c. That the king's majesty had 
 given a commission under the great seal as to all 
 presentations, to all parsonages, vicarages and 
 other benefices, and kirks, at his majesty's pre- 
 sentation/' In this enactment, the treasonable 
 Convention of 1649 is not so much as named, so 
 little pretence had it to be called a parliament. 
 It was a convention of rebels, who met without 
 having been called by any lawful authority. 
 Charles I. had just been murdered, and Charles II. 
 was in exile, and he neither called this meeting 
 nor had a representative in it, and perhaps, never 
 knew of its existence till after its dissolution. 
 Presbyterians complain that the restoration of 
 patronages was one of the necessary appendages 
 of Episcopacy ; but it cannot escape observation, 
 that though the rights of patrons were restored 
 in 1661, yet the restitution of Episcopacy did not 
 take place till the following year, 1662. Par- 
 liament considered patronage as still the law of 
 the land, and would therefore have restored the 
 rights of patrons, even if Episcopacy had never 
 existed.
 
 166 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 The party adhering to the Covenant were 
 now sensible, from the proceedings of parlia- 
 ment, that it was the full intention of Charles 
 to restore Episcopacy. The violent Protestors ac- 
 cordingly preached vehemently, and endeavoured 
 to inflame the people's minds against the Episcopal 
 order. "Up and down the country," saysWodrow, 
 " many ministers warned their people fully and 
 faithfully of the evils coming in, and the dangers 
 the Church of Scotland (that is, the Protestor 
 faction) was in hazard of, notwithstanding the 
 severe act was published against ministers' freedom 
 in preaching, by the Committee of Estates."* 
 Some of the Protestors in the western counties 
 kept congregational fasts, and others petitioned 
 parliament against the Episcopal government. 
 At a meeting of the Synod of Glasgow and Ayr, 
 which has always been most attached to Presby- 
 tery and the Covenant, an attempt was made to 
 petition against Episcopacy ; but those favourable 
 to that government, were successful in quashing 
 the petitions, by carrying a motion for adjourn- 
 ment. They attempted to meet again for the 
 same purpose in May, but were prohibited by 
 proclamation. The Covenanting party met in a 
 private house, and agreed on a petition, which 
 Wodrow has recorded, and sent three of their 
 number to present it to the commissioner. The 
 
 * Vol. i. p. 109.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 167 
 
 Synod of Fife met for the purpose of petitioning 
 at St. Andrews, but were dispersed by the Earl 
 of Rothes, in the king's name. At Dumfries, the 
 Earl of Queensbury dissolved a meeting of the 
 Protestors, or Covenanters, as we shall hence- 
 forth call them. These men made an effort for 
 the support of Presbytery and the Covenant, in 
 the counties of Fife, Dumfries, Galloway, Ayr, and 
 Lanark ; but in all the other parts of the kingdom, 
 where the Resolutioners were predominant, Pres- 
 bytery found few or no supporters. Such clergy- 
 men as opposed the violence of the Covenanters, 
 are by Wodrow uncharitably described as "gaping 
 after a bishopric." It appears to have been his 
 opinion, that no man could be an Episcopalian 
 from principle, but that all such were actuated 
 by the most base, malignant and selfish motives. 
 His invectives against Mr. Sharp are such as no 
 man with a grain of charity would have uttered, 
 especially as they are founded on falsehoods and 
 misrepresentations. After his return from London, 
 and the honourable testimony which the Presby- 
 tery of Edinburgh accorded to him, Mr. Sharp 
 returned to Crail, and resumed his parochial 
 duties, and does not again appear in public life 
 till July of this year, when he was summoned 
 to court by command of the king. But the 
 party have accused him of having plotted and 
 planned the entire measures which were carried
 
 168 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 through parliament, and executed by the king's 
 ministers, although he was all the time occupied 
 in his parochial duties at Crail as if he had 
 been a man of such consequence, that he could 
 make or mar at his pleasure, and mould cabinets 
 and parliaments agreeable to his own ambition. 
 Wodrow says, " Mr. James Sharp, and the noble- 
 men who joined him about the king, under the 
 patronage of Chancellor Hyde, and the English 
 highfliers, began their designs of overturning the 
 government and discipline of the Church of Scot- 
 land, by buzzing into the king's ear the wicked lie 
 and scandalous misrepresentation, that the gene- 
 rality of the old, wise and learned ministers of the 
 Church of Scotland were for Prelacy, at least a 
 moderate Episcopacy." 4 How the minister of 
 Crail, living all the time at Crail, in the county 
 of Fife, could have had so much influence at the 
 king's ear, is rather singular. But it was neces- 
 sary to blacken his character, in conformity with 
 his instructions, and therefore honest Wodrow 
 calculated more on the prejudices, than on the 
 reasoning faculties of his readers. He forgets 
 also that Douglass asserted in one of his letters, 
 that not only all the " old, wise, and learned mi- 
 nisters" were favourable to Episcopacy, but the 
 generality of the nation, that is, as I take it, the 
 
 Vol. i. p. 214.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 169 
 
 people, fed themselves with the hope and ex- 
 pectation of it. He describes Mr. Sharp as 
 cunning, bribed, and gaping after the Archbishop- 
 ric of St. Andrews. He also accuses him of 
 having bribed a few lax men in the north, to send 
 up a flattering address from Aberdeen, in favour 
 of Episcopacy. He is generally very copious in 
 documents ; but this petition, the voluntary and 
 unanimous act of that extensive synod in favour of 
 Episcopacy, he has not recorded; but, as it had 
 considerable influence in Charles's council, it is 
 here inserted. It was agreed to in a full meeting 
 of the Synod of Aberdeen, and is signed by ffty- 
 three parish ministers; there was not a dissenting 
 voice in the synod, and it does them honour. 
 
 " To his Grace his Majesty's High Commissioner, and the 
 High Court of Parliament : 
 
 " The humble Address of the Synod of Aberdeen : 
 
 " The various dispensations wherewith the righteous and 
 wise Lord of heaven and earth hath been exercising us these 
 many years by-gone, cries aloud to all the subjects of Scotland, 
 who have not laid aside all sense of sin and duty, to reflect 
 seriously upon the public transactions of this church and 
 nation ; especially upon the deportment thereof to the king 
 and the royal authority ; and while the Lord is pleased to fix 
 such thoughts upon our spirits, we cannot, unless we would 
 blindfold our own consciences, stop the mouth thereof, hide our 
 sin in our bosom with Adam, and keep fast deceit under our 
 tongue, but give glory to God in an humble and ingenu- 
 ous confession, as of the national guiltiness of Scotland, so
 
 170 LIFE AND TIMES Of 
 
 of our own iniquity, in so far as we have been any way ac- 
 cessory to these sinful and rebellious affronts and wrongs, 
 which have been put upon the royal authority, whether 
 during the reign of our late most gracious sovereign, that 
 blessed martyr Charles I., or since his horrid murder, to our 
 gracious king, who now, in the Lord's most wonderful and 
 gjacious Providence, reigns over us ; and particularly, we 
 acknowledge these sad and grievous sins to be lying on the 
 land, and upon us, according to the several degrees and mea- 
 sures of our accession, whether driven thereto by force and 
 violence of a prevailing party, through human weakness in that 
 hour of temptation, or by sinful silence and want of courage to 
 have pleaded against such courses ; viz. the rising in arms against 
 the king; the preaching up the lawfulness of defensive arms 
 by subjects against the supreme magistrate, which is contrary 
 to scripture, to all sound antiquity, to the constant practice of 
 the ancient primitive church, to the judgment of all sound 
 orthodox divines, contrary to our national (Knox's) Confes- 
 sion of Faith, and to the oath of allegiance : popular reforma- 
 tion without, much more against the king's consent and 
 authority : the assisting the king's enemies, by joining our 
 forces with them, while as they were in rebellion against their 
 sovereign lord and master : the preaching down the king's 
 cause and interest, and preaching up the interest of his ene- 
 mies : the giving out a paper called ' A Seasonable Warning 
 for delivering up the King at Newcastle,' and that without any 
 assurances, either by writing or pledges for his majesty's secu- 
 rity, safety, honour, and freedom ; although there was no suffi- 
 cient hostage in that land to have been given for his sacred 
 person the preaching against the intended relief of his majesty 
 of precious memory, when he was a suffering prisoner in the 
 Isle of Wight, in 1648, where he was detained till at last these 
 usurpers brought him to that fatal block the putting unjust 
 limitations and restrictions on our gracious king, who now
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 171 
 
 reigns over us by God's blessing (in despite of all open and 
 veiled enemies, who of late have put on the robe of loyalty) be- 
 fore he was admitted to the exercise of his royal power the 
 indignities which were put upon his sacred majesty by a factious 
 and treacherous party, in that infamous and treasonable Re- 
 monstrance the opposing of the public Resolutions, both of 
 king, church, and state, by that party (the Protestor's) for 
 the most just and necessary defence of king, religion, honour, 
 and all which was dear to men and Christians, the land being 
 invaded, and one half thereof being possessed by an army 
 of sectaries, who by force and fraud had enslaved their own 
 native country, that ancient and famous kingdom of England. 
 And although these sins of the Remonstrance, opposing of, 
 and protesting against the public Resolutions, be not a na- 
 tional guiltiness, both the one and the other being testified 
 against and condemned by the generality of the state, church, 
 and country ; yet these being the guiltiness of a party in the 
 nation, we could not omit them as matters of just provocation 
 against God Almighty the excluding the king's interest out 
 of the state of the quarrel betwixt his majesty's own army and 
 that usurper and tyrant, Oliver Cromwell, by that infamous 
 Act of the West Kirk the forcing of the king's majesty, being 
 then in their power, rather as a noble prisoner than as a free 
 king, sore against his royal will, to subscribe ' Declarations' 
 against himself and his royal family the little sympathy with 
 his majesty in his sufferings abroad, the sinful neglect of duty, 
 for fear of men, in not praying for him in public sinful 
 silence in not preaching absolutely against the usurpers too 
 much, at least, passive compliance with them, sitting down 
 like Issachar, under the burthen, and being like Ephraim, a 
 silly dove without a heart. For these, and sins of a like 
 nature, done against the royal authority, God, in his justice 
 and wisdom, brought and kept us long under a sad captivity 
 and bondage. And have not all the land, and we according
 
 172 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 unto the measure of our accession, more nor (than) reason to 
 confess guiltiness before God, men, and angels, and to entreat 
 earnestly for mercy therefor, at the throne of grace ? And 
 now, since it hath pleased the eternal God, by whom king's 
 reign, to bring back our native king, and settle him upon his 
 royal ancestors' throne, for which we shall desire to bless the 
 Lord while we live, we conceive that upon this signal mercy, 
 God calls upon us to engage, like as we hourly do in the 
 strength of God engage ourselves, never to be accessory to 
 any disloyal principle or practice, but declare our utter abhor- 
 rence thereof, and of every thing which may have any ten- 
 dency that way; obliging not only ourselves to subjection, 
 obedience, and submission to the royal authority and com- 
 mands, but also to preach loyalty, subjection, obedience, and 
 submission, and to press the same from the Word of God, and 
 according thereto, upon all his majesty's subjects under our 
 ministry ; and that it is sinful and ungodly for subjects to 
 resist the king's authority ; but that in case of dissatisfaction 
 in any command by his majesty, it is their duty to suffer. 
 
 " And because it hath pleased the king's majesty and his 
 high court of parliament, for the over-reaching of many 
 ministers in Scotland, their outstretching of Presbyterial go- 
 vernment, by making it run in an eccentric line, in meddling 
 with civil concernments, and topping with the supreme autho- 
 rity, and upon other grave considerations known to them- 
 selves, which becomes not us to search into, to take away 
 and rescind the laws and acts of parliament, whereby the 
 government of this church had any civil authority. That it 
 would please the king's commissioners' grace and the high 
 court of parliament to join with us in this our earnest petition, 
 and to transmit the same to his sacred majesty, that he will 
 allow us to be still under his majesty's protection, and that 
 he may be pleased in his wisdom and goodness to settle the 
 government of this rent church, according to the word of
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 173 
 
 God, and the practice of the ancient primitive church, in 
 such a way as may be most consistent with the royal autho- 
 rity, may conduce most for godliness, unity, peace, and order, 
 for a learned, godly, peaceable, and loyal ministry, and most 
 apt to preserve the peace of the three nations. For doing 
 whereof we shall be earnest to supplicate God, in his majesty's 
 behalf, for wisdom, counsel, and direction. 
 
 " We have conceived this emission to be a duty lying upon 
 us, in reference to God, to the king, to this church and land, 
 and for the exonerating of our own consciences before the 
 world. And although this has been our principal motive; 
 yet it hath been no small encouragement to this synod, that 
 we have been put in remembrance by that noble and worthy 
 lord, the earl marshal, in his letter to the Assembly to this 
 effect; and for which the synod renders his lordship hearty 
 thanks, considering that he having so great influence in this 
 corner of the land, may be very instrumental for advancing 
 religion, justice, and loyalty here. And this paper we have 
 ordained to be registered in our synod books, adfuturam rei 
 memoriam : and in testimony of our unanimity herein, we 
 have all subscribed it with our hands, at King's College, at 
 Aberdeen, the 18th of April, 1661 years." 
 
 The parliament sat till the 12th of July, on 
 which day their acts were read by the proper 
 officers, and with the usual solemnities, at the 
 Cross. " It is but doing justice," says Guthrie, 
 " to Charles and his ministers to say that they 
 applied themselves with great assiduity, and with 
 no little impartiality, to restore the forms of the 
 constitution, which had been so long abrogated. 
 Even the Earl of Cassilis was named to be an 
 extraordinary lord of session ; but was found to
 
 174 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 be disqualified by refusing the oath of supre- 
 macy."* Hitherto, since the Restoration, the 
 government had been placed in the hands of a 
 Committee of Estates ; but henceforward the 
 executive power was committed to the privy 
 council. It possessed the whole powers of go- 
 vernment, and in the intervals of parliament, 
 sometimes assumed its powers also ; but it always 
 assumed the privilege of explaining the intention 
 or meaning of acts of parliament, because the acts 
 of the Scottish parliament chiefly, if not alto- 
 gether, emanated from the crown, through the 
 lords of the articles, and therefore the govern- 
 ment best knew the meaning in which they had 
 been enacted. Immediately after the prorogation, 
 the Earl of Middleton went to London, to lay 
 before the king an account of his proceedings in 
 parliament, and the state of the nation. In April, 
 Glencairn, the chancellor, and Rothes, president 
 of the council, carried up a dutiful letter from 
 the parliament to the king ; and soon after 
 Charles summoned Messieurs Sharp and Doug- 
 lass to repair to court; but the latter excused 
 himself on account of his age and infirmities. At 
 this period Charles appears to have been ex- 
 tremely popular. "Meantime," says Kirkton, " the 
 king's character stood so high in the opinion and 
 
 * Gen. History, vol. x. p. 93.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 175 
 
 idolatrous affections of the miserable people of 
 Scotland, that a man might have more safely 
 blasphemed Jesus Christ, than derogate in the 
 least from the glory of his (the king's) perfec- 
 tions." And Douglass himself, in a letter to 
 Sharp, dated 9th of June, 1660, says, " He is 
 gifted to his people, in return of their prayers, 
 and their expectations are fixed on him, as the 
 man of God's right hand, who will refresh the 
 hearts of all the lovers of Zion." 
 
 The sixteenth act states his majesty's design to 
 maintain the Protestant church, as it existed 
 during the reigns of his father and grandfather. 
 It likewise recognised his right to order the 
 external government of the church, and the 
 nomination of the persons who were to be its go- 
 vernors. On consultation with his Scottish privy 
 council at London, he nominated Mr. Sharp to 
 be archbishop of St. Andrews. " The king 
 having, by singular acts of goodness, restored 
 Scotland to her rights and laws, consulted only 
 Scotsmen on Scottish affairs; and not only mo- 
 tioned but was positive, that as the government 
 of the state was monarchy, so that of the church 
 should be prelacy. And in a council, held at 
 Whitehall, nominated Mr. Sharp Archbishop of 
 St. Andrews. This was agreed to by all present, 
 
 * Kirkton's History, p. 132.
 
 176 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 except the Earl of Lauderdale, who openly en- 
 tered his dissent, and coming out, met Mr. Sharp, 
 walking with the Earl of Stirling, to whom, with 
 an austere voice and threatening gesture, he 
 expressed these words : ' Mr. Sharp, bishops 
 you are to have in Scotland ; and you are to be 
 archbishop of St. Andrews ; but whoever shall be 
 the man, I will smite him and his order below 
 the fifth rib ;' and his lordship was indeed as 
 good as his word in many subsequent instances."* 
 The address in favour of Episcopacy, from the 
 synod of Aberdeen, justly carried considerable 
 weight with the council ; and the commissioners 
 assured the king that the Resolutioners, who 
 composed the greater part of the nation, earnestly 
 desired it. The Protestors alone were opposed 
 to it, from their attachment to the Covenant. 
 " The differences between the Resolutioners and 
 the Remonstrators (Protestors or Covenanters) 
 facilitated the introduction of not only prelacy, 
 but an arbitrary power ; and two parties were 
 formed in the cabinet, the one headed by Mid- 
 dleton, the other by Lauderdale, which suspended 
 for some time the miserable effects of the latter. 
 Lauderdale, though one of the worst and most 
 unprincipled men of the age, would have wil- 
 lingly preserved Presbyterianism in Scotland, 
 
 * True and Impartial Account, p. 54.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 177 
 
 because it would have given him a great sway 
 among all the subjects of that persuasion. Mid- 
 dleton, who knew himself to be hated by Lauder- 
 dale, was a furious friend to Episcopacy, that he 
 might strengthen his own authority by that of the 
 bishops ; and went into the hierarchical notions 
 of Hyde and the English prelates. The third 
 party, which was headed by Glencairn, and was 
 composed of the best and most moderate men of 
 property, thought that prelacy was absolutely 
 necessary for preventing the return of the dis- 
 orders which the nation had lately suffered from 
 the Covenanters ; but they were for a moderate 
 Episcopacy, such as had taken place during the 
 reign of James I. ; and secretly imagined that 
 they had numbers and interest sufficient to bring 
 about such an establishment. I never have seen 
 any plan of this kind ; nor do I know if any such 
 was reduced into writing; but that they had such 
 views is incontestable, from the following well- 
 attested incident. When Lauderdale saw that 
 the prelatical part of the English council were 
 resolved upon the restoration of bishops in Scot- 
 land, he fell in with their views as warmly as 
 Middleton himself had done. This astonished 
 Glencairn, who knew Lauderdale to be a violent 
 Presbyterian by profession. He asked Glencairn, 
 whether he himself was not for bishops ; ' Yes, 
 my lord, (replied the other,) but you mistake my 
 
 N
 
 17cS LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 conduct in that affair. I am not for lordly 
 prelates such as were in Scotland before the 
 Reformation ; but for a limited, sober, moderate 
 Episcopacy.' ' My lord,' replied the other, with 
 an oath, ' since you are for bishops, and must 
 have them, bishops you shall have, and higher 
 than ever they were in Scotland, and that you 
 will find.' The Duke of Hamilton and the Earl 
 of Crawford endeavoured still to make some 
 opposition in council ; but the administration by 
 one bold stroke put an end to all further hesita- 
 tion on that head."* 
 
 Almost every author who has recorded the 
 transactions of this period, mentions the threat 
 uttered by Lauderdale, and his sudden con- 
 version to the policy of supporting Episco- 
 pacy. But there is a paper in the " Epis- 
 copal chest," among the transactions of the 
 year 1670, which shows that he was in earnest 
 in his support of the Established Church, f The 
 Earl of Tweedale, the Earl of Shaftesbury, Sir 
 Robert Murray, and Bishop Leighton, had formed 
 a design quietly to subvert Episcopacy, and 
 establish Presbytery, under an Erastian regulation. 
 For this purpose they drew up a set of regula- 
 tions, by which the bishops were to be deprived 
 
 * Guthrie's Gen. History, vol. x. p. 95, 96. 
 t MSS. Episcopal Chest, b. 4.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 179 
 
 of their negative voice and controul over the 
 Presbyteries. The conspirators above named 
 beset Lauderdale, who easily saw the plot and 
 its design ; but his firmness, and the cordial co- 
 operation of the king, warded off this insidious 
 blow, as will be seen at its proper place. If the 
 fifth-ribbed story be true, we must conclude that 
 his opposition gave way to his better and more 
 matured judgment. His conduct is often very 
 suspicious, yet this well-authenticated fact must 
 clear him of the odium of treachery, which has so 
 long been connected with his name. But Lauder- 
 dale's opposition was not to the thing itself, but 
 only to the expediency of such a sudden change, as 
 Middleton and others wished to make at that time. 
 In prosecution of that in which Charles seems to 
 have been perfectly sincere, he issued a preparatory 
 proclamation, dated the 10th of June, in which he 
 acknowledges the power and goodness of God 
 
 " By His outstretched arm, wonderfully to bring us back 
 in peace, to the exercise of our royal government, we did 
 apply ourselves to the restoring of our kingdoms to that liberty 
 and happiness which they enjoyed under the government of 
 our royal ancestors; and whereas, our parliament, by their 
 act the 29th March, hath declared that it is our full and 
 firm resolution to maintain the true Protestant religion, in its 
 purity of doctrine and worship, as it was established within 
 that our kingdom during the reigns of our royal father and 
 grandfather, of blessed memory ; and that we will be careful 
 to promote the power of godliness, to encourage the exercises 
 of religion, both public and private, and to suppress all pro- 
 
 N 2
 
 180 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 faneness and disorderly walking ; and for that end will give all 
 due countenance and protection totlie ministers of the gospel, 
 they containing themselves within the bounds and limits of 
 their ministerial calling, and behaving themselves with that 
 submission and obedience to our authority and commands, 
 that is suitable to the allegiance and duty of good subjects. 
 And as to the government of the church, that we will make it 
 our care to settle and secure the same in such a frame as 
 shall be most agreeable to the word of God, most suitable to 
 monarchical government, and most complying with the public 
 peace and quiet of the kingdom : and in the meantime, that 
 we do allow the present administration by sessions, Presby- 
 teries and synods (they keeping themselves within bounds, 
 and behaving themselves as said is,) and that notwithstanding 
 of the act passed that day, rescissory of all pretended parlia- 
 ments since the year 1638. Therefore, we have thought fit 
 by this our proclamation, not only to declare our gracious ac- 
 ceptance of these ample testimonies of the duty and affection 
 of that our parliament, by which the world may take notice 
 how unanimously loyal that kingdom is, and how hearty in 
 our service, of which we ourselves were ever confident ; but 
 also to make known our firm resolution to maintain and pre- 
 serve that our kingdom in their just liberties : and likewise to 
 make good what our parliament have declared in our name, 
 as to matters of religion. And considering how much our in- 
 terest, and the quiet of that kingdom, is concerned in the 
 right settlement and peace of that our church, which through 
 the confusions of these latter times, hath been much discom- 
 posed, we do purpose, after mature deliberation with such as 
 we shall call, to employ our royal authority, for settling and 
 securing the government, and the administration thereof, 
 in such away as may best conduce to the glory of God, to 
 the good of religion, to unity, order, and to the public peace 
 and satisfaction of our kingdom."
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 181 
 
 Towards the end of August, Mr. Sharp re- 
 turned to Edinburgh, empowered to offer prefer- 
 ment to Mr. Douglass and some others, whom 
 the king, from personal recollection, had himself 
 selected. On the return of Glencairn and Rothes, 
 they presented a letter from the king to the privy 
 council, dated the 14th of August, as follows: 
 
 " CHARLES, R. 
 
 " Right trusty and well-beloved cousins and councillors, 
 we greet you well. Whereas, in the month of August, 1660, 
 we did, by our letter to the Presbytery of Edinburgh, declare 
 our purpose to maintain the government of the Church of 
 Scotland, settled by law; and our parliament having since 
 that time, not only rescinded all the acts since the troubles 
 began, referring to that government, but also declared all 
 those pretended parliaments null and void, and left to us the 
 settling and securing of church-government ; therefore, in 
 compliance with that act rescissory, according to our late pro- 
 clamation, dated at Whitehall, the 10th of June, and in con- 
 templation of the inconveniences from the church-government, 
 as it hath been exercised these twenty-three years past, of the 
 unsuitableness thereof to our monarchical estate, of the sadly 
 experienced confusions which have been caused during the 
 late troubles, by the violences done to our royal prerogative, 
 and to the government civil and ecclesiastical, settled by un- 
 questionable authority, we, from our respect to the glory of 
 God, and the good and interests of the Protestant religion, 
 from our pious care and princely zeal for the order, unity, peace, 
 and stability of that church, and its better harmony with the 
 churches of England and Ireland, have, after mature deliber- 
 ation, declared to those of our council here, our firm resolu- 
 tion to interpose our royal authority for restoring of that
 
 182 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 church to its right government by bishops, as it was by law 
 before the late troubles, during the reigns of our royal father 
 and grandfather, of blessed memory, and as it now stands 
 settled bylaw. Of this, our royal pleasure concerning church- 
 government, you are to take notice, and to make intimation 
 thereof in such way and manner as you shall judge most ex- 
 pedient and effectual. And we require you and every one of 
 you, and do expect, according to the trust and confidence we 
 have in your affections and duty to our service, that you will 
 be careful to use your best endeavours for curing the distem- 
 pers contracted during those late evil times, for uniting our 
 good subjects among themselves, and bringing them all to 
 a cheerful acquiescing and obedience to our sovereign au- 
 thority, which we will employ, by the help of God, for the 
 maintaining and defending the true reformed religion, in- 
 crease of piety, and the settlement and security of that 
 church in her rights and liberties, according to law and an- 
 cient custom. And in order therelmto, our will is, that you 
 forthwith take such course with the rents belonging to the seve- 
 ral bishoprics and deaneries, that they may be restored and 
 made useful to the church, and that according to justice and the 
 standing law. And moreover, you are to inhibit the as- 
 sembling of ministers, in their several synodical meetings 
 through the kingdom, until our further pleasure, and to keep 
 a watchful eye over all who, upon any pretext whatsoever, 
 shall by discoursing, preaching, reviling, or any irregular or 
 unlawful way, endeavour to alienate the affections of our 
 people, or dispose them to an ill opinion of us and our govern- 
 ment, to the disturbance of the peace of the kingdom. So 
 expecting your cheerful obedience, and a speedy account of 
 your proceedings herein, we bid you heartily farewell. 
 
 " Given at our court at Whitehall, August 14, 1661, and 
 of our reign the thirteenth year. By his majesty's command, 
 
 (Signed) " Lauderdale."
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 183 
 
 Peter Wedderburn, the clerk of council, was 
 ordered to draw up an act of council, in con- 
 formity with the above letter. It is a mere echo 
 of the king's letter, and need not be again re- 
 peated. On the 6th of September, accordingly, 
 it was printed and published. On the same day, 
 it was proclaimed at the Cross with great solemnity, 
 by the lion king-at-arms, with a great assemblage 
 of heralds and pursuivants, in their tabarts, and 
 six trumpets. To give eclat to this proclamation, 
 the lord provost, magistrates and town-council of 
 Edinburgh were present, in their robes, with 
 their mace and officers. The unanimity of par- 
 liament speaks loudly that the popular feeling 
 was in favour of the restoration of the church. 
 The malicious perversions of some authors have 
 so impregnated the greater part of our historians 
 with prejudice, that the truth will scarcely be 
 believed. But Nicol, who lived at the time, 
 and spoke the sentiments of the majority, shows 
 that the people were rejoiced at the restoration 
 of their ancient church. 
 
 " Now," says he, " let the reader stay a little, and con- 
 sider the change of the time, and the Lord's wonderful works, 
 and dispensation therein, and to call to mind the days of 
 old ; that is, that in November, 1638, and in October, 1639, 
 the Covenant was solemnly sworn and ratified in several 
 general assemblies and parliaments. Likewise the League 
 and Covenant was sworn and subscribed in October, 1643, 
 and ratified and approved by sundry acts of parliament,
 
 184 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 wherein the hail archbishops and bishops of Scotland, by the 
 acts of the Assembly were deposed, and eight of them excom- 
 municated, as alleged troublers of the peace of the kirk and king- 
 dom, in bringing in the Service Book, Book of Canons, estab- 
 lishing a tyrannical power over the kirk; for establishing the ar- 
 ticles of Perth, for observation of festival days, for kneeling 
 at the communion, for administration of the communion in 
 private places, for change of the government of the kirk ; for 
 their sitting in council, session and exchequer; for their 
 riding, sitting and voicing in parliament ; for sitting on the 
 bench as justices of the peace ; for their keeping and autho- 
 rising corrupt assemblies at Linlithgow, Glasgow, Aberdeen, 
 St. Andrews and Perth ; for restraining of free general 
 assemblies ; and for sundry more causes, specified and ex- 
 pressed in the acts of general assemblies and acts of parlia- 
 ment: for which they were extirpated, deposed, and eight of 
 them excommunicated, and lying under the sentence of ex- 
 communication ever since ; but now received and taken in as 
 governors of the kirk, wherein a great change and alteration 
 may be seen in a few years." 
 
 " But now," he continues, " since it has pleased his majesty, 
 with advice of the honourable lords of his highness's privy 
 council, to restore bishops to the government of the church 
 in Scotland, as is now declared by the former proclamation, 
 our prayers and supplications shall be to the great Lord of 
 heaven, to bless his majesty with many and happy days, 
 to be a nurse-father to his church, and to make choice of 
 pious and modest men for that government ; and that the 
 Lord would endue them (the bishops) with the spirit of their 
 callings and high functions of the ministry whereunto they 
 are called to the glory of his holy name, and profit of this 
 poor kirk and kingdom."* 
 
 * John Nicol's Diary of Transactions in Scotland. Printed 
 for the Bannatyne club, 4to. pp. 342. 343.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 185 
 
 In the plenitude of his zeal for the Covenant, 
 Mr. Wodrow says, that the restoration of the 
 church in this kingdom " was INIQUITY esta- 
 blished by law."* And Dr. M'Crie, in a lugubrious 
 strain is obliged to admit that the re-establishment 
 of the church was an act agreeable to the great 
 body of the people. " The great body of the 
 people," says he, " through the land, gave that 
 proof of their compliance with the late changes 
 which the parliament had required, by attending 
 the ministrations of the prelatical incumbents or 
 curates."f We have also the respectable authority 
 of Mr. Douglass, " that the generality of this 
 new upstart generation have no love to Presby- 
 terial government ; but are wearied of that yoke, 
 feeding themselves with the fancy of Episcopacy." 
 And even of Wodrow himself, who further alleges 
 that " When the law, such as it was, had made 
 way for the prelates, solicitations began apace for 
 bishoprics. No great disliker of the prelacy 
 observes ' in September and October this year, 
 many of the ministers were seeking after the 
 Episcopal dignity. '"J 
 
 " Towards the latter end of August," says the 
 author of the True and Impartial Account, " Mr. 
 
 Vol. i. p. 233. 
 
 f Testimony of the Ass. Syn. of Orig. Seceders, p. 31. 
 
 J Vol. i. p. 235.
 
 186 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Sharp came to Edinburgh, and had instructions 
 and offers from the king to some of the most loyal 
 and leading of the preachers, particularly Mr. 
 Robert Douglass ; who indeed declined to com- 
 ply with Episcopacy, but with no less modesty 
 than charity, said to Mr. Sharp : ' Brother, I 
 render to his majesty a thousand thanks, but 
 I have dipt so far in oaths, and the concerns of 
 the late troubles, and particularly in my sermon 
 before the king at his coronation ; and now 
 being turned aged and infirm, I want strength to 
 sustain the weight of the office, and the difficul- 
 ties which I should be obliged to encounter. But 
 if you can comply, who are young, and lay not 
 under the same engagements, I neither can nor 
 will blame you.' And really this wise man's 
 temper was so moderate and Christian, that he 
 was a constant hearer of the Episcopal ministers, 
 and received the sacrament from their hands, till 
 an Indulgence ensued, which he thought absolved 
 him from that necessity.' '* From the general 
 character given of Mr. Douglass, we should think 
 that the above account was correct ; but Kirkton 
 gives another version of this interview, not very 
 creditable either to his own charity or to Mr. 
 Douglass's modesty. "Then," says he, " fol- 
 lowed the time of soliciting at court for prefer- 
 
 * True and Impartial Account, p. 54, 55.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 187 
 
 merit, to those who aspired to the bishoprics, 
 where greatest friendship made the bishop. In 
 the meantime, Mr. Sharp makes (for the fashion) 
 a visit to Mr. Robert Douglass, at his own house, 
 when, after his preface, he informed him it was 
 the king's purpose to settle the church under bish- 
 ops, and that for respect to him his majesty was 
 very desirous Mr. Douglass would accept the 
 archbishopric of St. Andrews. Mr. Douglass 
 answered, he would have nothing to do with it ; 
 (for in his private conversation he used neither 
 to harangue nor dispute.) Sharp insisted and 
 urged him ; Mr. Douglass answered as formerly : 
 whereupon Sharp arose and took his leave. Mr. 
 Douglass convoyed him to his gallery door; and 
 after he had passed the door, Mr. Douglass called 
 him back, and told him, James,' said he, ' I see 
 you will engage, I perceive you are clear, you 
 will be bishop of St. Andrews : take it, and the 
 curse of God go with it.' So clapping him upon 
 the shoulder, he shut the door upon him."* 
 
 Kirkton, and after him, in slavish imitation, 
 Wodrow, gives a list of the gentlemen who had 
 been selected for the vacant bishoprics. The 
 characters which these two authors give of the 
 primary bishops of the present church in Scot- 
 land, is such as no man with a grain of sense 
 
 * Kirkton's History, p. 134, 135.
 
 188 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 would give the slightest credence. While they 
 were acting as Presbyterian ministers, they were 
 esteemed by their brethren excellent godly men 
 the salt of the earth ; but no sooner did they 
 accept the Episcopal dignity than it was im- 
 mediately discovered that they were atheists 
 drunkards adulterers infanticides gamblers 
 blasphemers avaricious ambitious change- 
 lings time servers and secret Papists ! Had 
 they continued to rave against Episcopacy these 
 sins would never have been laid to their charge, 
 even although they had been actually guilty of 
 them. But they committed the unpardonable 
 sin, of which the " generality of the new upstart 
 generation" were guilty, of desiring a moderate 
 Episcopacy, and therefore agreeable to Wod row's 
 instructions and the tactics of the party, their 
 memories must be reviled, and a railing accusa- 
 tion brought against them. It is to be hoped that 
 the " accusers of the brethren" knew not what they 
 did, and that therefore they will be forgiven ; 
 but certainly they knew not of what spirit they 
 were of. 
 
 In October, Messrs. Sharp, Fairfowl, and Ha- 
 milton, were summoned to London : Mr. Leighton 
 was in that city at the time. These were nomi- 
 nated by the king, to the sees of St. Andrews, 
 Glasgow, Galloway, and Dumblain. Andrew 
 Fairfowl was born in Anstruther, and first was
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 189 
 
 chaplain to the Earl of Rothes, next minister of 
 Leith, and at the time of his elevation was minis- 
 ter of Dunse. When Charles was in Scotland 
 in 1650, he heard him preach, and now, without 
 any solicitation selected him for the see of Glas- 
 gow. James Hamilton was the second son of 
 Sir John Hamilton, of Broomhill, and brother of 
 the first Lord Belhaven. He was ordained by 
 Lindsey, Archbishop of Glasgow, and served the 
 cure of Cambusnethan, from 1634, till the Re- 
 storation, when he was consecrated to the see of 
 Galloway. He was summoned to London by the 
 following letter : 
 
 " CHARLES R. 
 
 " Trusty and well-beloved, we greet you well. Whereas, 
 we have given order to our council to intimate our pleasure 
 concerning the settlement of the church by bishops, as it was 
 in the reigns of our grandfather and father of blessed memory. 
 These are therefore to require you to repair to London with 
 all the speed you conveniently can, where you shall receive 
 our further pleasure. You are to obey such directions con- 
 cerning the time of your journey, as shall be given you by 
 our chancellor and president of our council. So expecting 
 your ready obedience, we bid you farewell. Given at our 
 court, at Whitehall, the 14th day of August, 1661, and of 
 our reign, the thirteenth year. 
 
 " By his majesty's command. 
 
 " Lauderdale." 
 
 Robert Leighton is better known as the son of 
 the famous puritan, the author of " Zion's Plea."
 
 190 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 On his father's disgrace and punishment, he re- 
 turned to Scotland, and was settled minister at 
 Newbottle, in Mid Lothian. He had never been 
 very hearty in his support of the Covenant ; but 
 chose rather to preach Christ crucified. The 
 fame of his piety and learning procured for him 
 the chair of divinity in the university of Edin- 
 burgh in the year 1653.* 
 
 These gentlemen went to London. " The 
 king's majestie," says Nicol, " having stedfastlie 
 resolvit to promove the estait, power, and dignitie 
 of bischops, and to remove all impedimentis con- 
 trary thaireto ; it thaerfoir pleasit the lordis of 
 secreit counsell in Scotland to give furth and 
 emit this act and proclamation following :" 
 
 " Act of Council ordering presentation of ministers 
 
 to be directed to bishops. 
 
 " Edinburgh, 12th December, 1661. Forasmuch as by 
 an act of privy council, of the date 6th day of September last, 
 his majesty's royal pleasure to restore the church of this king- 
 dom to its right government by bishops, as it was by law 
 before the late troubles, during the reigns of his majesty's 
 royal father and grandfather of blessed memory, and as it now 
 stands settled by law, was made known to all the subjects of 
 this kingdom, by open proclamation, at the market-crosses of 
 all burghs royal ; and as it is statute by the first act of the 
 twenty-one parliament of James VI. that all presentations 
 to benefices should be directed thereafter to the archbishop or 
 bishop of the diocese, within the bounds whereof any vacant 
 
 * Keith's Catalogue of Scottish Bishops, pp. 281, 266, 267.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 191 
 
 church lieth ; so that their restitution to their former dignities, 
 privileges and powers settled upon them by law and acts of 
 parliament, no minister within this kingdom should be ad- 
 mitted to any benefice but upon presentation directed as said 
 is ; and yet notwithstanding thereof, it is informed that upon 
 presentations directed to Presbyteries, they do daily proceed 
 to admit ministers to kirks and benefices, albeit the arch- 
 bishops and bishops are restored to their dignities, some of 
 them already consecrated, and all of them within a very short 
 time will be invested in their rights and benefices, and em- 
 powered to receive presentations and grant admissions there- 
 upon. Therefore, the lords of his majesty's privy council 
 prohibit, and by these presents, discharge all patrons to 
 direct, any presentation to any Presbyteries ; as also dis- 
 charge all and sundry the Presbyteries within this kingdom, 
 to proceed to the admission of any minister to any benefice 
 or kirk within their respective bounds, upon any such pre- 
 sentations, as they shall be answerable with certification, that 
 if they do otherwise the said presentation and admission shall 
 be void and null, as if they had never been granted, and or- 
 dain these presents to be printed and published at the Market- 
 cross of Edinburgh, and other places needful, that none pre- 
 tend ignorance. 
 
 " sic subscr." " Pet. Wedderburn, 
 
 Cl. sti Concilii." 
 
 The Covenanters had the gratification of seeing 
 their oath for the extirpation of Episcopacy so 
 far fulfilled, that only one of the whole Scottish 
 bench, which consisted of fourteen prelates, sur- 
 vived. Dr. Sydserf, Bishop of Galloway, was 
 
 Nichol's Diary, pp. 353, 354.
 
 192 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 the only one who was permitted to see the resto- 
 ration of the ark of God. The general rule re- 
 quires three bishops to concur in the consecration 
 of another ; for, according to the canons of the 
 universal church, one bishop cannot, except in 
 a case of the most urgent necessity, consecrate 
 another. The first of the apostolical canons 
 says, " Let a bishop be ordained by two or three 
 bishops ; a Presbyter by one, likewise a deacon." 
 Charles, therefore, followed his grandfather's 
 example, and summoned the four gentlemen 
 above mentioned to London, that they might be 
 canonically consecrated to the office of bishops. 
 " Episcopal ordination" being, says Kirkton, " a 
 flower not to be found in a Scottish garden." 
 " But first, there was a question to be answered, 
 and that was, whether they were to be re-ordained 
 Presbyters, yea or no ? Sharp desired they 
 might be excused, and that their Presbyterian 
 ordination might be sustained. Episcopal they 
 could not have ; and the former English bishops 
 had sustained Spottiswood's Presbyterian ordi- 
 nation in the year 1610 ; but Sheldon was 
 peremptory either they must renounce their 
 old Presbyterian ordination, or miss their ex- 
 pected Episcopal coronation ; so they were con- 
 tent rather to deny themselves to be Presbyters, 
 than not to be received bishops ; and when they 
 consented, Sheldon told Sharp that it was the
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 193 
 
 Scottish fashion to scruple at every thing, and 
 swallow any thing. But with a great process of 
 change of vestments, offices, prayers, bowing to 
 the altar, and kneeling at the communion, they 
 were re-ordained Presbyters, and consecrated 
 bishops, both in one day, and this was a preface 
 to a fat Episcopal banquet, and so their work 
 ended. This was done December, 1661."* 
 
 Wodrow, in the printed history, gives the same 
 account in nearly the same words; but in his 
 " Analecta," he relates a hearsay story, as fol- 
 lows: "January, 1707. This day Mr. James 
 Webster told that his author had this account 
 from Bishop Hamilton : that after the Restora- 
 tion, Sharp, Leighton, Hamilton, and Fairfowl, 
 four of them, were at London ; and that there 
 were only two of them that were re-ordained, 
 that were Sharp and Leighton : that when 
 Sharp got the gift of the Archbishopric of St. An- 
 drews from the king, he came to Juxon, f Bishop 
 of London, with the orders ; and who says, that 
 is very good, but Mr. Sharp, where are your 
 orders ? You must be re-ordained Presbyter, 
 before you can be consecrate bishop. He said 
 he behoved to consult with his brethren, and re- 
 
 * Kirkton's Hist. p. 137. 
 
 f It should be " Sheldon ;" Dr. Juxon was Archbishop of 
 Canterbury.
 
 J94 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 turned and told them that they behoved to be re- 
 ordained. Mr. Hamilton and the others said, 
 that they were ordained before the thirty-eight, 
 by bishops. Mr. Leighton said, I will yield, 
 (although) I am persuaded I was in orders before, 
 and my ministrations were valid, and that they 
 do it cumulative, and not privative ; and al- 
 though I should be ordained every year, I will 
 submit."* 
 
 Messrs. Fairfowl and Hamilton were already in 
 priest's orders, having been ordained before the 
 extirpation of the Episcopal order in the pre- 
 ceding reign. It is uncertain by whom Fairfowl 
 was ordained, but Hamilton received his orders 
 from Lindsay, Archbishop of Glasgow, in 1634. 
 The other two, however, had been made ministers 
 by the Presbyterian party, who succeeded the 
 Spottiswoodian line, and therefore they were or- 
 dained both deacons and priests, previous to their 
 consecration. Spottiswood and his associates were 
 consecrated in 1610, per saltum ; there having 
 been instances of laymen who had been elevated 
 at once to the Episcopal office. But in the present 
 instance, it was not thought prudent to follow that 
 example. Wodrow expresses great indignation 
 at the submission of these two to be re-ordained, 
 and, as usual, accuses them of the most unworthy 
 
 * Analecta, vol. i. p. 133.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 195 
 
 motives. It is curious to remark his approbation 
 of Spottiswood, for, as he alleges, refusing to be 
 ordained priest previous to consecration. There 
 is no evidence, however, that Spottiswood and his 
 associates had any option. The debate on this 
 subject was maintained by the English prelates 
 then present, among themselves, and in which 
 the Scottish prelates elect took no share. Wodrow 
 again shows his jealousy for the honour of the 
 old line, whom his friends extirpated, by com- 
 plaining, and not without reason, that Dr. Sydserf 
 was excluded from assisting at the consecration 
 of his countrymen. It certainly does appear 
 singular, that he was not added to the conse- 
 crators, as he was not only in London at the time, 
 but actually present at the consecration of the 
 new line of succession. 
 
 The king granted a commission, under the 
 great seal of England, to the Bishops of London, 
 Worcester, Carlisle, and Landaff, to consecrate 
 the four gentlemen already named. Their con- 
 secration took place in the Abbey Church at 
 Westminster, on Sunday, the 15th of December, 
 1661. Actuated by the same principle as his 
 royal grandfather, Charles excluded the Arch- 
 bishops of Canterbury and York from assisting 
 at the consecration of the Scottish prelates. In 
 former times, the Archbishops of York claimed 
 a metropolitical jurisdiction over the Scottish 
 
 o2
 
 196 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 church, which, even in the days of popish slavery 
 had been most vigorously and successfully re- 
 sisted. Their exclusion, both in 1610 and on 
 the present occasion, was to prevent any jealousy 
 on the part of the Scottish, or the revival of any 
 such claim on the part of the English church. 
 "This consecration," says Nicol, "was actit with 
 great solempnitie in presence of mony of the no- 
 bilitie and clergie of England, and mony of the 
 nobles of Scotland, being thair for the tyme at- 
 tending his maijestie. This ordour of consecratioun 
 at Westminster, was done of necessitie,becaus thair 
 was no bischop on lyf in Scotland, except onelie 
 one, to wit, Mr. Thomas Sydeserff, Bischop of 
 Galloway. Eftir this consecratioun, their new 
 bischops, with mony peeres of England and 
 Scotland were feasted in the new paroch yaird 
 at Westminster ; eftir quhich the bischops went 
 all to the church, and hard ane uthersermone."* 
 
 We are indebted to the pious zeal of the late 
 Bishop Skinner, of Aberdeen, for having procured 
 from Archbishop Juxon's register-book, a duly 
 attested extract of the consecration of these 
 prelates, as follows : 
 
 " In the year 1789, Bishop Abernethy Drum- 
 mond, Bishop Strachan, and myself, being at 
 London, soliciting relief to our church from cer- 
 
 * Nicol's Diary, 354, 355.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 197 
 
 tain penal statutes ; at the desire of Bishop Sea- 
 bury of Connecticut, who, some years before, had 
 been consecrated by the bishops in Scotland, we 
 applied to the Archbishop of Canterbury, for 
 an attested extract of the consecration of the 
 Scottish bishops in 1661 ; and through his 
 grace's condescending attention, received what 
 follows : 
 
 " Extract from the Register-book of Abp. Juxon, in the li- 
 library of his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, at 
 Lambeth Palace, folio 237. 
 
 " It appears, that James Sharpe was consecrated Arch- 
 bishop of St. Andrews, Andrew Fairfull, Archbishop of Glas- 
 gow, Robert Leigh ton, Bishop of Dunblenen, and James 
 Hamilton, Bishop of Galloway, on the 15th day of December, 
 1661, in St. Peter's Church, Westminster, by Gilbert, Bishop 
 of London, commissary to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and 
 that the Right Reverend George, Bishop of Worcester, John, 
 Bishop of Carlisle, and Hugh, Bishop of Landaff, were present 
 and assisting. 
 
 " Extracted this 3d day of June, 1789, by me, William 
 Dickes, s ecretary." * 
 
 * Note, on page 351, to " Primitive Truth and Order, vindi- 
 cated from Modern Misrepresentation ; with a Defence of 
 Episcopacy, particularly that of Scotland, against an attack 
 made on it by the late Dr. Campbell of Aberdeen, in his 
 Lectures on Ecclesiastical History, and a concluding address 
 to the Episcopalians of Scotland. By the Right Reverend 
 John Skinner, in Aberdeen, Senior Bishop of the Scotch 
 Episcopal Church."
 
 198 .LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 It has been alleged as matter of complaint, 
 that the preliminary ordinations of the Scottish 
 prelates unchurched all churches (so called) on the 
 Presbyterian model. It was certainly following 
 out the principle maintained by the church in all 
 ages. And are men to do wrong for the sake of an 
 idle compliment to those who live in causeless 
 schism, and who have recorded their solemn oath 
 to extirpate the whole Episcopal order ? Men, 
 who had actually extirpated the whole prelacy of 
 Scotland, and who, within thirty years, attempted 
 to do the same to the successors of those men 
 then ordained, were not entitled to any such 
 deference. They are exceedingly sensitive on 
 this point; but they never consider that the 
 Covenant unchurches, and imposes the extirpa- 
 tion of all churches, nor reflect on their own vio- 
 lence and injustice, which they exhibited in the 
 reign of Charles I., and after the Revolution. 
 There was at this time no rabbling, nor excom- 
 municating, nor deprivation of their livings, as on 
 these two occasions ; but every one was confirmed 
 in his benefice, on the simplest possible condition. 
 The ordination to the priesthood was, besides, in 
 conformity with the sentiments of the primitive 
 church. " But," says an ancient father, " do 
 you think it sufficient to say, that they are or- 
 thodox and sound in faith ? Suppose they are, 
 yet still their ordination is null and invalid, and
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 199 
 
 then what can their faith, or any thing else 
 signify ? Christians ought to contend as earnestly 
 for valid ordination as they do for the very faith 
 itself; for if it be lawful for every pretender to 
 consecrate and make themselves priests, then 
 farewell altar, farewell church, and priesthood 
 too."* The language of the fathers of the 
 Anglican church are in strict conformity with 
 the above sentiments of St. Chrysostom. " No 
 qualifications," says Dr. Potter, " are sufficient to 
 empower any man to exercise any function or 
 office in the church, who has not been first ap- 
 proved and commissioned by those whom God 
 has invested with authority for that end."f 
 Whoever is so invested, although he may not 
 have the qualification of holiness, yet all his 
 ministrations are valid. The clergy ought to be 
 pre-eminently holy ; but their personal holiness 
 is not so absolutely necessary as their authorita- 
 tive qualification : that is, that they be duly sent 
 or ordained by the imposition of the hands of a 
 bishop. Dr. Hicks, and all other sound divines 
 of the catholic Church of England, maintain that 
 men of the most eminent virtues and abilities, were 
 they as full of the Holy Ghost and of wisdom 
 as were the seven deacons, have neither power 
 
 * St. Chrysostom, torn. iii. p. 822. Edit. Savil. 
 f Disc, of Ch. Govt. p. 221 .
 
 200 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 nor authority to act as ministers of the gospel, 
 without the imposition of the bishop's hands. If, 
 on the other hand, they have been lawfully or- 
 dained, though they may, by their wickedness 
 deprive themselves both of wisdom and virtue, 
 and resist the motions of the Holy Spirit, yet all 
 their ministrations are valid and effectual. "The 
 seven deacons," says Dr. Potter, " were antece- 
 dently distinguished from the rest, by their great 
 and eminent qualifications; and one of them, in 
 particular, is said to be a man full of faith and 
 of the Holy Ghost ; and yet they were not per- 
 mitted to exercise the least of ecclesiastical 
 ministries, till the apostles had ordained them by 
 prayer and laying on of hands."* Episcopacy is 
 a positive, divine, and apostolical institution ; as 
 such, it is absolutely necessary in the church; 
 and can only be kept up by an uninterrupted suc- 
 cession. This succession has been uninterrupt- 
 edly enjoyed by the Church of England, from 
 the days of St. Paul, who undoubtedly founded 
 that church. Such a succession of Episcopal or- 
 dination being absolutely necessary to the ruling 
 of the church, the English bishops were willing 
 and desirous of communicating this privilege to 
 the Church of Scotland. The Socinians were the 
 first who denied the necessity of a succession of 
 
 * Disc, of Ch. Govt. p. 220.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 201 
 
 legitimate ordination ; and the Presbyterians are 
 obliged to shelter themselves under the same 
 objection, because they had no predecessors from 
 whom they could claim. They succeeded no 
 one from whom they could derive such a power ; 
 but proceeded from themselves, and were the 
 original of their own authority, consequently are 
 of human institution. " Now," says Mr. Thorn- 
 dyke, " seeing Presbyters never received by their 
 ordination authority to ordain others, seeing no 
 word of God gives it them ; seeing all the rules 
 of the whole church take it from them ; the 
 attempt of our Presbyters in ordaining without or 
 against their bishops, must needs be void and to 
 no effect, but that of schism in dividing the church 
 upon so unjust a cause ; they could not receive 
 the power of the keys from them that had nothing 
 to do to give it ; and therefore, in celebrating 
 the eucharist, they do nothing but profane God's 
 ordinances."* If their celebration of the eucharist 
 be " profane," it must follow that their baptisms 
 are also invalid and null ; and the more unlawful, 
 because done in direct opposition to the bishop's 
 authority ; or in other words, in defiance of the 
 church. St. Cyprian, in his 27th Epistle to the 
 Lapsers, says : " Our Lord, whose commands 
 we ought to dread and obey, instituting the 
 
 * Just Weights and Measures, p. 120.
 
 202 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 honour of a bishop and the order of the church, 
 says thus to Peter, &c. From hence, by the turns 
 of times and successions, the ordination of bishops 
 and the order of a church is so handed down, as 
 that the church is built upon the bishops, and all 
 the administration of the church is managed by 
 the same rulers. Seeing, therefore, this is founded 
 in the divine law, it is marvellous to me, that 
 with such a bold temerity, some of you should 
 have written thus to me in the name of a church ; 
 whereas a church consists of a bishop and 
 clergy, and faithful or unlapsing Christians." 
 Epiphanius likewise states, " that the order 
 of bishops begets fathers for the church, where- 
 as the order of Presbyters has no power to 
 beget fathers or teachers, but only to beget sons 
 to the church by baptism. Indeed how should 
 any Presbyter constitute teachers, since he has 
 not power to impose hands in ordination." St. 
 Jerome has been supposed to have countenanced 
 Presbyterian views ; yet in his fourth Epistle 
 concerning the Montanists, he distinctly places 
 the bishops in the seat of the apostles ; for, says 
 he, " apud nos apostolorum locum episcopi te- 
 nent." With us the bishops hold or enjoy the 
 place of the apostles.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 203 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Form of presentation to the bishoprics Synods and Presby- 
 teries forbidden to meet till confirmed Petition of the 
 Presbytery of Kirkcudbright Bishops arrive at Berwick 
 Popular feeling Triumphal entry Consecration List of 
 the bishops Reflections Anecdote Burnet's character of 
 the bishops " True and Impartial Account" Turkish 
 Spy Meeting of Parliament "Redintegration" of the 
 Episcopal order Deputation sent to invite the bishops to 
 take their seats in parliament Procession Order in which 
 the Commissioner and the Three Estates sat Procession 
 to the palace Covenant declared illegal Presentation 
 and collation to churches required Declaration on taking 
 office Prorogation Description of the church-service 
 Synodical meetings Synod of Edinburgh Synod of 
 Glasgow Commissioners' progress Council at Glasgow 
 Ministers desert their charges Glasgow act Further pro- 
 ceedings Middleton removed Christmas kept Living- 
 ston Covenant ordered to be burnt Burnt at Linlithgow 
 Henderson's monument defaced. 
 
 1662. THE new prelates were appointed to their 
 respective sees by the king's letters patent, be- 
 cause the furious persecution of the Covenanters 
 had extirpated the deans and chapters, as well as 
 the bishops. The custom in Scotland was the 
 same as in England, that by cong d'elire the 
 chapter elected their bishop. But as this could 
 not be done on account of the extirpation of the
 
 204 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 deans and chapters, all the bishoprics were made 
 donative, for the time being, as in Ireland, till the 
 deans and chapters were restored. There is a 
 letter extant in the " Episcopal Chest," from 
 Lauderdale to Archbishop Sharp, dated 21st of 
 March, 1676, requesting his grace to recommend 
 fit persons to fill some vacant bishoprics, and to 
 which is annexed, a copy of a remarkable para- 
 graph, from the Life of Dr. Barwick, Dean of St. 
 Paul's, after the Restoration, purporting " that as 
 in the usurpation of Oliver Cromwell the usual 
 method of filling the sees in England was utterly 
 impracticable, therefore the king should be pe- 
 tioned to grant his royal license, empowering the 
 bishops to meet together, and to make choice of 
 fit persons, according to the canon and practice 
 of the primitive church, which scheme his majesty 
 most graciously received and approved of. And 
 thus the consecrations (in England) were to be 
 performed in a canonical manner, and with the 
 utmost prudence and precaution, as to the safety 
 of the consecrators and consecrated, from any 
 persecution from the enemy." In Scotland the 
 king presented the bishops elect to their sees, 
 and the following is the form of presentation of 
 Archbishop Sharp to St. Andrews, as it is re- 
 corded in Wodrow's history : 
 
 " That during the tumults in the kingdom for twenty-three 
 years proceeding, laws were made for the extirpation of the
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 205 
 
 church-government, by the archbishops and bishops, against 
 the established law and government of the church of this 
 kingdom, in prejudice of his majesty's power and prerogative, 
 which are rescinded by the consent of parliament ; so that 
 the authority, civil and ecclesiastic is redintegrate, according 
 to the laws in force before the rebellion. 
 
 " And because at this time the deans and members of 
 chapters are for the most part dead, and their offices vacant ; 
 so that archbishops and bishops cannot be nominated, pre- 
 sented, and elected according to the order prescribed by act 
 of parliament, 1617. 
 
 " And that his majesty considereth that the offices of the 
 bishops and archbishops in this kingdom do vaik in his 
 majesty's hands, by the death and demission of the last in- 
 cumbents, particularly the archbishopric of St. Andrews, by 
 the decease of the last bishop thereof, to wit, Mr. John 
 Spottiswood. 
 
 " And his majesty being informed of the piety, prudence, 
 &c., of Mr. James Sharp, doctor in divinity, therefore his 
 majesty ex authoritate regali et potestate regia, certa scien- 
 tia, proprioque motu, makes, creates, and ordains the said 
 Doctor James Sharp, archbishop of the said archbishopric of 
 St. Andrews, and primate and metropolitan of all Scotland." 
 
 The ACT RESCISSORY placed the church on 
 the footing on which it stood before the Glasgow 
 Assembly in 1638. In consequence, the meeting 
 of synods and Presbyteries became unlawful, and 
 were by that act in reality prohibited ; but that no 
 inconvenience might accrue, they were specially 
 licensed to meet as formerly. Now, however, 
 when some of the bishops were consecrated, and 
 all of them nominated to bishoprics, it became
 
 206 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 necessary to postpone the meetings of synods and 
 Presbyteries until after they were regularly called 
 and constituted by their respective bishops. On 
 the 9th of January, therefore, the privy council 
 issued a proclamation, declaring the power of 
 these courts to be now void till the bishops should 
 reappoint them ; and at the same time com- 
 manding all due deference and respect to be paid 
 to the archbishops and bishops. Notice of this 
 was sent by the lord chancellor to the sheriffs of 
 counties, who again were to communicate the 
 same to the ministers of parishes. The Presby- 
 tery of Kirkcudbright drew up a petition against 
 Episcopacy ; but Wodrow does not know whether 
 it was ever presented, and therefore we may 
 safely conclude that it never was. Nevertheless, he 
 attempts to justify all the after sedition and insur- 
 rections of the Covenanters, by the supposititious 
 refusal of the government to receive this petition, 
 although he acknowledges that its presentation is 
 a matter of doubt.* 
 
 On the 6th of April, the primate and the other 
 bishops arrived at Berwick-on-Tweed. Many of 
 the nobility, gentry, and ministers went from 
 Edinburgh as far as Cockburn's-Path, a hamlet 
 about eight miles beyond Dunbar, to meet and 
 escort them into the capital. A vast multitude 
 
 * Vol. i. p. 253.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 207 
 
 of inferior note met them at Musselburgh, whence 
 they were conducted into Edinburgh, in triumph ; 
 " and with all reverence and respect received 
 and embraced them, in great pomp and grandeur, 
 with sound of trumpet and all other curtesies 
 requisite. This done on Tuesday, the 8th of 
 April, 1662."* This is corroborated by Wod- 
 row ; but he adds, " which was not a little 
 pleasing to Mr. Sharp's ambitious temper." f 
 There is no doubt it would be pleasing not only 
 to him, but to all those who wished for the peace 
 of their country, or that the wounds of the church 
 should be healed. It is pleasing, even at this 
 day, when the Covenanting fire is smouldering in 
 its ashes, to see with what unanimity so good a 
 work was received by " the generality of the new 
 upstart generation, who had no love to Presby terial 
 government ; feeding themselves with the fancy 
 of Episcopacy. "J Let the Covenanters say what 
 they will, this demonstration is a decided proof 
 of " the inclinations of the people." It is an 
 incontrovertible fact, and recorded too by Wod- 
 row, that " the generality of the people were 
 wearied" of the Presby terial yoke, and none but 
 
 * Nicol's Diary, pp. 363, 364. 
 f Woclrow, vol. i. p. 255. 
 
 t Douglass's letter to Sharp, 26th April, 1660. Wodrow 
 vol. i. introd. p. 21.
 
 208 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 the bigoted Covenanters were opposed to the 
 Episcopal government. 
 
 Parliament had been prorogued from the 14th 
 of February to the 8th of May. On the 4th of 
 that month, the Earl of Middleton as the royal 
 commissioner, arrived at Holyrood-house. Wed- 
 nesday the 7th, was fixed for the consecration of 
 the other prelates in the Chapel-royal, " which," 
 says Nicol, " was lang lukit for." All the nobility 
 and gentry which were in Edinburgh, the lord 
 provost and magistrates, in their robes and para- 
 phernalia, and a vast concourse of the people who 
 were admitted by ticket were present. The two 
 archbishops and Dr. Hamilton, bishop of Gallo- 
 way, were the consecrators ; u quha," says Nicol, 
 " ordoured that bussines verry handsumlie and 
 decentlie." The archbishops and bishops wore their 
 full Episcopal robes. The reverend James Gordon, 
 minister of Dumbleat, preached on the occasion. 
 Mr. Wodrow says, his text was 1 Cor. iv. 1. 
 " Let a man so account of us as ministers of 
 Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God." 
 Nicol says that his text was, 2 Cor. iv. 5. " For 
 we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the 
 Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus sake." 
 Although they differ as to the text, yet they both 
 agree as to the subject of his sermon. Nicol says, 
 " Wherein he acted his part very learnedly, and 
 held out the faults of their predecessors that
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 209 
 
 made them to fall, desiring them not to encroach 
 upon the nobility, but to keep themselves 
 sober, and not to exceed the bounds of their 
 functions."* 
 
 There were seven bishops consecrated at this 
 time, all of whom had had Episcopal ordina- 
 tion before the grand extirpatory rebellion. Mr. 
 George Haliburton, minister of Perth, " a very 
 good worthy man," was preferred to the see of 
 Dunkeld, by the king's letters-patent. " Mur- 
 doch Mackenzie, parson of Elgin, descended from 
 a younger son of the laird of Garloch, the first 
 branch of the family of Seaforth, was preferred 
 by the king's letters-patent to the see of Moray. 
 He was born in the year 1600, and received 
 Episcopal ordination from Maxwell, Bishop of 
 Ross ; and had been chaplain to a regiment under 
 Gustavus Adolphus. After his return from Ger- 
 many, he became parson of Compton, next of 
 Inverness, and lastly of Elgin. David Strachan, 
 parson of Fettercairn, and a branch of the house 
 of Thornton, in the Mearns, was consecrated to 
 the see of Brechin. John Patterson, minister 
 first of Foveran, and next of Aberdeen, was, in 
 virtue of the king's letters-patent, consecrated for 
 the see of Ross. David Fletcher, brother of Sir 
 John Fletcher, king's advocate, and parson of 
 
 * Diary, p. 365.
 
 210 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Melrose, was consecrated for Argyle. He con- 
 tinued his pastoral functions at Melrose till his 
 death in 1665. Robert Wallace, minister of 
 Barnwell, in the county of Ayr, was consecrated 
 for the bishopric of the Isles. Three of those 
 who had been nominated for the bishoprics of 
 Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Caithness, were ab- 
 sent, but were consecrated at St. Andrews, in the 
 month of June. These were George Wishart, of 
 the family of Logic, in Angus, who was minister 
 of North Leith, and deposed in 1638, by the 
 rebels, for refusing to take the Covenant. David 
 Mitchel, was preferred to the see of Aberdeen. 
 He was born in Kincardineshire, and was one of 
 the ministers of Edinburgh, but deposed by the 
 illegal Assembly at Glasgow, in lb'38. He re- 
 tired from the fury of the misguided Covenanters 
 into England, and was preferred to a benefice 
 there. After the Restoration, 9th of July, 1661, 
 he received the degree of doctor in divinity, from 
 the university of Oxford, being at the time, " by 
 the chancellor of England's letters, one of the 
 prebendaries of Westminster. These letters 
 say ' that Mr. David Mitchel of Aberdeen, is a 
 person very learned and honest, and, from the 
 beginning of the troubles, has been a great suf- 
 ferer for the cause of his majesty and the church, 
 &c.' " Patrick Forbes, son of the famous Pres- 
 byterian minister at Alford, in the county of
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 211 
 
 Aberdeen was preferred to the bishopric of Caith- 
 ness, and consecrated with the preceding two 
 prelates at St. Andrews. Thomas Sydserf, was 
 bishop of Galloway before the grand rebellion ; 
 whom the Glasgow Assembly took upon them- 
 selves to depose and excommunicate in 1638. 
 He was the only bishop who survived the wreck 
 of the church, in the line of Archbishop Spottis- 
 wood. As a reward for his sufferings and loyalty, 
 he was translated from the see of Galloway to 
 that of Orkney, being richer, and not troubled 
 with turbulent fanatics.* 
 
 Nicol, who appears to have been an eye- 
 witness of the consecration at Holyrood-house, 
 gives the following account of the ceremony : 
 "The Archbishop of St. Andrews sat there % 
 covered with his Episcopal cap, or four-nukit 
 bonnet. All that was said by the bishop at the 
 consecration was read aff a buik, and their 
 prayers likewise were read. The first prayer, 
 was the Lord's Prayer, and some short prayer or 
 exhortation efter that; next was the Belief read, 
 and some little exhortation efter it ; thirdly, the 
 Ten Commandments were read, and efter them 
 some few words of exhortation ; much more to 
 this purpose not necessary to be written."! The 
 
 * Keith's Catalogue of Scottish Bishops. Russell's edit, 
 f Nicol's Diary, p. 366. 
 
 P2
 
 212 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Liturgy and the Book of Ordination of the 
 Church of England were used on this occasion. 
 In all consecrations of the successors of these 
 much-maligned prelates from that day to this, 
 and in the ordination of all deacons and priests, 
 the same office has been used, vyithout exception 
 in the Scottish branch of the catholic church. 
 The Church of England decrees, that, " the 
 book of the consecration of archbishops and 
 bishops, and ordering of priests and deacons, 
 doth contain all things necessary to such conse- 
 cration and ordering : neither hath it anything, 
 that of itself is superstitious and ungodly." And 
 therefore the Church of England decrees, that 
 " whosoever are consecrated or ordered according 
 to the rites of that book, or hereafter shall be 
 consecrated or ordered according to the same 
 rites ; we decree all such to be rightly, orderly, 
 and lawfully consecrated and ordered."* In the 
 " Form of Church Government" attached to the 
 " Westminster Confession of Faith," the validity 
 of the consecration of the Scottish bishops is 
 likewise fully acknowledged ; for it is there said, 
 " If a minister be designed to a congregation, 
 who, hath been formerly ordained Presbyter ac- 
 cording to the form of ordination which hath 
 been in the church of England, which we hold 
 
 ' Thirty-nine Articles, Art. xxxvi.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 213 
 
 for substance to be valid, and not to be dis- 
 claimed by any who hath received it ; then there 
 being a cautious proceeding in matters of ex- 
 amination, let him be admitted without any new 
 ordination."* Here there is the concurring and 
 authorised testimony of the Church ot England, 
 and the establishment of Scotland for the validity 
 of the orders of the church in Scotland. From 
 these consecrations, the present fathers of the 
 catholic church in Scotland have descended in 
 a regular, unbroken succession ; and may that 
 succession continue unbroken by either rebellion 
 or schism, till Christ, the great shepherd, and 
 bishop of souls shall deliver up the kingdom to 
 the Father. 
 
 Kirkton, followed by Wodrow, indulge their 
 malice in giving the blackest character to all 
 these fathers of the church, but especially to Dr. 
 Sharp. Their satanic malice, and indeed that of 
 the whole Covenanters, defeats itself, and even 
 brings a direct reproach upon their own beloved 
 discipline. If the bishops were such monsters of 
 wickedness as they represent them to have been, 
 why did the kirk, in its state of Philadelphian 
 purity, suffer them to exercise their ministry 
 without rebuke ? Why suffer them to disgrace 
 the Presbyterian discipline, which Kirkton informs 
 
 * Form, &c., attached to West. Conf. Faith, p. 591.
 
 214 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 us was so severe, and so inquisitorial, that even 
 a poor peasant could not escape its searching 
 strictness, far less its ministry ? We leave these 
 questions to be answered by those who believe and 
 continue the malicious misrepresentations of 
 these persecutors of the true church. Had they 
 really been such immoral men, under such an 
 inquisitorial discipline, it would have been next 
 to impossible to have concealed their immorality, 
 even although Kirkton admits, that their tyran- 
 nical discipline made hypocrisy the besetting 
 sin of the age. It says very little for the severe 
 morality to which the Presbyterian discipline is 
 said to be so favourable, to wink at such alleged 
 wickedness in their ministers. Had these men, 
 however, remained in the obscurity of parish 
 ministers ; but more particularly, had they 
 adopted the Presbyterian discipline, the world 
 would have been unedified by the malicious 
 libels of Kirkton and Wodrow. It is certain, 
 there never was the slightest accusation of immo- 
 rality against them till after their promotion to 
 the order of bishops. The Covenanting histo- 
 rians, and who have been but too thoughtlessly 
 copied by more reputable names, have heaped 
 the most atrocious falsehoods on the Scottish 
 bishops; accusations which a small degree of 
 reflection would show were the suggestions of 
 malice and envy alone. The bishops were
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 215 
 
 chosen out of the party known by the name of 
 public Resolutioners, towards whom the Cove- 
 nanters entertained the most fiendish hatred. 
 
 None, however, suffered so much, nor more 
 unjustly, than Archbishop Sharp. It seems to 
 have been a chief and paramount object with his 
 enemies, to fix on him the guilt of necromancy, 
 and for which purpose the most absurd and 
 improbable falsehoods have been gravely re- 
 corded as materials for future history. Such 
 " weak inventions of the enemy" would only 
 excite contempt, as being the childish gossip of 
 ignorant and silly men, envious of his superior 
 abilities and station, were it not for the deep and 
 fiendish malice which lurks under them. The 
 atrocious libels which the chief historian of that 
 period has put into circulation, and which have 
 been thoughtlessly and maliciously repeated 
 without enquiry, are recorded upon no better 
 authority than mere hearsay. The object is 
 apparent, and hitherto has been eminently suc- 
 cessful ; for not content with taking his life in 
 a most barbarous manner, they have never 
 ceased to murder his character, so that he has 
 oeen a double martyr in deed and in reputation. 
 Good men in all ages have been the butt of the 
 wicked ; but none were ever so maligned and 
 insulted whilst living, nor their memories so 
 persecuted when dead, and some of them even
 
 216 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 murdered, as these fathers of the church, but 
 especially the archbishop. The persecution, 
 whether active or passive, to which the true church 
 lias ever been subjected by heretics and schis- 
 matics, may constitute one of its marks. The 
 church in England was crushed between the 
 upper millstone of popish Jesuits, and the nether 
 millstone of the Puritans ; and the church in 
 Scotland was annihilated by the united ferocity 
 and intolerance of the Covenanters and popish 
 emissaries, at the grand rebellion. It has been 
 all along the tactics of all these parties to perse- 
 cute the church, but especially the church in 
 Scotland, by the continued circulation of the most 
 enormously wicked and inconsistent falsehoods 
 on the memories of the first prelates of that 
 branch of the church catholic. Bishop Burnet, 
 however, who knew these prelates personally, 
 and when age and distance had softened his 
 personal dislike to some of them, gives a very 
 different but true account of them in his Life of 
 Bishop Bedell. The author of the " True and 
 Impartial Account," says : 
 
 "In 1662, the ancient government of the 
 church being fully restored, and these mentioned 
 bishops, being wise and leading men, their 
 example and influence drew the far greater and 
 better part of their old brethren into their interest : 
 so that Episcopal government was soon strength-
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 217 
 
 ened by their care ; and carefully submitted to 
 by the body of the people. The learned Dr. 
 Burnet, (now bishop of Sarum,) in his preface to 
 his Life of Bishop Bedell, informs us what kind of 
 men the bishops of Scotland about this time 
 were. ' I shall not, (says he,) add much of the 
 bishops that have been in that church since the 
 last re-establishing of the order: but that I 
 have observed among the few of them, to whom 
 I have the honour to be known particularly, as 
 great and as exemplary things, as ever I met 
 with in all ecclesiastical history : not only the 
 practice of the strictest of all the ancient canons, 
 but a pitch of virtue and piety beyond what can 
 fall under common imitation, or be made the 
 measure of even the most angelic ranks of men ; 
 and I saw things in them that would look liker 
 fair ideas, than what men clothed with flesh and 
 blood could grow up to. But of this I will say 
 no more, since those that are concerned are yet 
 alive, and their character are too singular not to 
 make them be as easily known, if I enlarged 
 upon it as if I named them.' And no doubt this 
 great man understood very well what he wrote, 
 and knew to be a truth : for they studied 
 harmony and love among themselves, and omitted 
 no means of being serviceable to the church in 
 their respective dioceses. 
 
 " Archbishop Sharp's methods were Christian
 
 218 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 and prudent, and attended with very great suc- 
 cess. He entertained his clergy with much 
 brotherly love and respect, and was a great 
 judge and encourager of learning, wisdom, and 
 piety, and laboured to have all the churches 
 within his jurisdiction planted with such, par- 
 ticularly these in the shire of Fife, and brought 
 that county to such a conformity, that from 
 being ' Presbyterian and Covenanting Fife,' it 
 became quite otherwise affected and principled, 
 and so continues to this time ; which shows the 
 blessing and lasting strength of good conduct. 
 
 "The hatred the Presbyterians bore to the 
 order of bishops, made them even enemies to 
 their persons. The more rigid and violent of the 
 gang traduced and maligned the whole, particu- 
 larly Archbishop Sharp, with the falsest, most 
 improbable, and bitter invectives and libels that 
 could be invented by restless, malicious, and 
 calumniating spirits. And no small part of the 
 quarrel was, because many of them, they thought, 
 had been once in their cause, but had separated 
 from them, and were joined to what they be- 
 lieved was more consonant to the primitive 
 institution of ecclesiastical communion and ends 
 of society. Some of the furiosos of the party 
 were incensed to what is next to rage and mad- 
 ness, against Archbishop Sharp : nay. their re- 
 venge and malice brought them the length of
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 219 
 
 enthusiasm, and pretences of prophesy, that his 
 death would be violent ; which puts me in mind 
 of an ingenious reflexion of the witty author of 
 the ' Turkish Spy,' who, writing of his barbarous 
 murder, and the unparalleled rage of his bloody 
 and sacrilegious enemies, adds, ' that it was 
 easy to presage that he should die a violent 
 death, which they were resolved to execute 
 themselves.' 
 
 " The archbishop and his brethren did bear 
 these unchristian dealings with a patience which 
 became their holy profession ; and, considering 
 their cause, and the seditious party who were their 
 enemies, they esteemed their afflictions light, and 
 were no way discouraged for doing that which they 
 were persuaded was their duty, expedient, lawful, 
 and necessary ; yet always keeping themselves 
 within the bounds of moderation and charity. 
 For although no acts could be better contrived 
 than these were which established Episcopacy, 
 and laid limitations on Presbyterian preachers ; 
 yet these laws were so far from being extended, 
 or rigidly executed, that scarce was there any 
 diocese where Presbytery had any tolerable 
 share of the affections of the people, in which 
 there were not some of these in the exercise of 
 their ministry, by the connivance and favour of 
 their respective bishops : and particularly in the 
 shire of Fife, there were several of them allowed
 
 220 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 to enjoy their offices and benefices during their 
 whole lives, without being molested by the arch- 
 bishop. And even when one of these, who was 
 his old acquaintance, had indecently, from the 
 pulpit, railed against the whole order, and against 
 himself in particular, all the use he made of it 
 was, that he said to a noble lord, who was his 
 ordinary hearer, * My lord, tell mine old friend, 
 your minister, to live easy with me, as I do 
 with him ; otherwise he will be the loser, and 
 have himself to blame.' But there were some 
 whom he never thought it a kindness done to 
 moderation to favour, particularly Mr. Gillespie, 
 a pragmatic and factious man ;* for when the Lord 
 Sinclair desired of the archbishop to have him 
 settled preacher at Dysart, he answered his 
 request : ' My good Lord Sinclair, Mr. Gilles- 
 pie hath lorded it over his brethren more than 
 all the bishops that I know ever did ; one metro- 
 politan is enough for Scotland, and surely two 
 for the province of Fife would be too many."f 
 
 Now, Archbishop Sharp was one of those to 
 whom Bishop Burnet says, he had " the honour 
 of being known," and therefore the character 
 which he has given directly applies to him ; but 
 lest the above might be thought too favourable, 
 
 * And who offered to go all lengths to bring in Episcopacy, 
 t True and Impartial Account, p. 56 61.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 221 
 
 the opinion of the author of the " Turkish Spy" 
 which is alluded to in the preceding* account, is 
 here subjoined. He was a severe satirist, and 
 spared neither friend nor foe ; but as he was a 
 contemporary, and professes to speak what was 
 the general opinion of the archbishop ; his 
 testimony is unexceptionable. 
 
 " Forbearing, therefore, to enlarge in giving the particular 
 account of all the nice differences, that are of late years 
 sprung up among these western infidels, in matters of opinion 
 and church discipline, I will only inform thee, in short, that 
 those who first revolted from the Bishop of Rome, still 
 retained an inviolable attachment and dutiful reverence for 
 their own national bishops; submitting to their conduct, and 
 owning them as fathers, and guides of their respective 
 churches. 
 
 " But as there is no end of divisions, when once the unity 
 of a people is broken, which is the only cement that fastens 
 all societies, so this first separation from the Roman Episco- 
 pacy soon begat another, from all Episcopacy whatever, 
 through most of the Reformed, or Protestant nations of 
 Europe, especially in Scotland, the theatre of many bicker- 
 ings and animosities, on this account of bloody combats and 
 civil wars and finally, now in this year, the stage of a bar- 
 barous murder, committed on the person of the chief mufti, or 
 archbishop, of that nation. 
 
 " He was a man of an accurate and extraordinary spirit, 
 and in his very youth gave early marks of a refined genius in 
 sciences, to which he brought no small reputation and honour, 
 through the vastness of his abilities, his profound judgment, 
 and dextrous sagacity, in all things that he undertook. This 
 is the character given him by those of his nation resident here 
 in Paris, of whom there are always great numbers. 
 
 \
 
 222 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 " This greatest and highest ecclesiastical dignity was given 
 him by the present King of England, at his return from a 
 twelve years' exile, as a debt to his great abilities, and a 
 reward of his merits and services,, in labouring might and 
 main to effect the king's restoration. From the moment that 
 he acquired this honour, such as were equally enemies to 
 kings and bishops, persecuted him with slanders and invec- 
 tives. The streets swarmed with libels against him, and 
 men's tongues were as busy as their pens in railing at him, 
 because he was resolved to endeavour his utmost, that Epis- 
 copacy might be restored in Scotland, as it was in England, 
 though it had been subverted in both nations during the 
 usurpation of Oliver the tyrant. It was this drew upon him 
 the malice and revenge of the seditious, and they spared not 
 in public to threaten his death. Nay, some years before he 
 was murdered, one of these furiosos shot at him in the open 
 streets of Edinburgh, but missed him. Then the seditious 
 published libels, wherein they gloried in the attempt, and only 
 were sorry that it took not effect. They also prophesied that 
 he should die a violent death ; and it was easy for them to 
 presage this, which they were resolved to execute them- 
 selves."* 
 
 On the 8th of May, the second session of 
 Charles's first Parliament met, and having laid a 
 good foundation in their first session for the set- 
 tlement of the church, continued in the second 
 session to act in accordance with so good a be- 
 ginning. Dr. Haliburton, Bishop of Dunkeld, 
 preached at the opening of the session. The first 
 act, and preparatory to the introduction of the 
 
 * Turkish Spy, letter x. vol. via.'
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 223 
 
 spiritual estate to their seats, was " for the resti- 
 tution and re-establishment of the ancient govern- 
 ment of the church by archbishops and bishops." 
 
 " Forasmuch as the ordering and disposal of the external 
 government and policy of the church, doth properly belong 
 unto his majesty, as an inherent right of the crown, by virtue 
 of his royal prerogative and supremacy, in causes ecclesiasti- 
 cal ; and in discharge of this trust, his majesty and his estates 
 of parliament, taking to their serious consideration, that in 
 the beginning of, and by the late rebellion within this king- 
 dom in the year 1637, the ancient and sacred order of bishops 
 was cast off, their persons and rights were injured and over- 
 thrown, and a seeming parity among the clergy factiously 
 and violently brought in, to the great disturbance of the 
 public peace, the reproach of the reformed religion, and vio- 
 lation of the excellent laws of the realm, for preserving an 
 orderly subordination in the church ; and therewithal consi- 
 dering what disorders and exorbitances have been in the 
 church, what encroachments upon the prerogatives and rights 
 of the crown, what usurpation upon the authority of parlia- 
 ment, and what prejudice the liberty of the subject hath suf- 
 fered, by the invasions made upon the bishops and Episcopal 
 government, which they find to be the church-government 
 most agreeable to the word of God, most convenient and 
 effectual for the preservation of truth, order, and unity, and 
 most suitable to monarchy, and the peace and quiet of the 
 state : therefore, his majesty, with advice and consent of his 
 estates of parliament, hath thought it necessary, and accord- 
 ingly, doth hereby redintegrate the estate of bishops to their 
 ancient places and undoubted privileges in parliament, and to 
 all their other accustomed dignities, privileges, and jurisdic- 
 tions, and doth hereby restore them to the exercise of their 
 Episcopal function, presidence in the church, power of ordi- 
 nation, inflicting of censures, and all other acts of church-
 
 224 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 discipline, which they are to perform with advice and assist- 
 ance of such of the clergy as they shall 6nd to be of known 
 loyalty and prudence. And his majesty, with advice aforesaid, 
 doth revive, ratify, and renew all acts of any former parliaments, 
 made for the establishment, and in favour of this ancient 
 government ; and doth ratify and approve all acts and pro- 
 clamations emitted by his majesty or his privy council, since 
 the first day of June last, in order to the restitution of bishops. 
 And further, it is hereby declared, that whatever shall be de- 
 termined by his majesty, with advice of the archbishops and 
 bishops, and such of the clergy as shall be nominated by his 
 majesty, in the external policy and government of the church 
 (the same consisting with the standing laws of the kingdom,) 
 shall be valid and effectual. And his majesty, considering 
 how necessary it is that all doubts and scruples, which, from 
 former acts or practices, may occur to any concerning this 
 sacred order, be cleared and removed, doth therefore, of 
 certain knowledge, and with advice aforesaid, rescind, cass, 
 and annul all acts of parliament, by which the sole and only 
 power and jurisdiction within this church, doth stand in the 
 church, and in the general, provincial, and Presbyterial 
 assemblies, and kirk sessions ; and all acts of parliament, or 
 council, which may be interpreted to have given any church 
 power, jurisdiction, or government, to the office-bearers of the 
 church, their respective metings, other than that which ac- 
 knowledgeth a dependence upon, and subordination to the 
 sovereign power of the king as supreme, and which is to 
 be regulated and authorised, in the exercise thereof, by the 
 archbishops and bishops, who are to put order to all eccle- 
 siastical matters and causes, and to be accountable to his 
 majesty for their administrations."* 
 
 * Act 1st. 2d Sess. 1 Par. Cli. II. Collections of Sir 
 Thomas Murray, of Glendock, fol. 69.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 225 
 
 This act further restores the bishops to their 
 civil rights, possessions, patronages, superiorities, 
 and emoluments as they existed before the year 
 1638. But it declared " that this act of restitu- 
 tion shall give no right to any archbishops or 
 bishops, or their successors, nor to the heirs 
 or executors of the deceased bishops, of any 
 rents belonging to the archbishoprics or bis- 
 hoprics preceding the year 1661, after the said 
 year 1638, but that all the said rents intromitted 
 with, by and pertaining to such persons as had 
 right thereto for the time. As also all such 
 persons who bona fide have made payment of 
 their feu duties, tiends, and tiend duties and 
 others, rents of their bishoprics, are and shall be 
 also secured for by-gones, allenarly, free of any 
 action or question, notwithstanding of this present 
 act, or any thing therein contained."* 
 
 Thus far Charles's ministers and parliament 
 had acted in conformity with his patriotic design 
 of restoring the Scottish constitution in church 
 and state. The act above had " redintegrated 1 ' 
 the bishops that is, restored the first estate to 
 their original position as an integral estate of 
 parliament ; and the other two estates, the lords 
 temporal and the commons, with his majesty's 
 
 * Act 1st, 2d Sess. 1 Par. Ch. II. Collection, &c. by Sir 
 Thomas Murray, of Glendock, fol. 69. 
 
 Q
 
 226 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 ministers, determined to make their introduction 
 into the house as solemn and imposing as possible. 
 On the same day (the 8th of May) the spiritual 
 peers assembled in their Episcopal robes, in the 
 archbishop of St. Andrews' house, in the Nether- 
 bow, and parliament sent a deputation of their 
 number, consisting of the Earls of Kelly and 
 Wymess, two barons, and two commoners, to 
 invite them to take their seats in the house. The 
 whole walked in procession, two and two, the 
 archbishops leading. The procession was joined 
 by the lord provost, bailies, in their robes, and 
 town-council, with their mace Crowds of the 
 people lined the streets and cheered them as they 
 passed along. On their entrance into the house 
 his grace the commissioner rose, and addressed 
 them in a speech from the throne ; when they 
 were conducted to their seats, and the above act 
 read over. This completed the business of the 
 day, and the house adjourned.* 
 
 In the Scottish parliament the three estates 
 sat in one chamber. The king or his commis- 
 sioner sat on a throne six steps high, with a 
 canopy of state over it. On the first step under 
 him sat the lord chancellor, on a bench, with the 
 other officers of state on both sides of him. The 
 lords of session or judges sat on the next step 
 
 * Wodrow, vol. i. p. 255.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 227 
 
 below him. The bishops sat on the right of the 
 throne, rising up in two rows of benches; the 
 archbishops sat on the highest, and the other 
 bishops on the lower, according to the dignily of 
 their sees, or the dates of their consecration. On 
 the left of the throne was another great bench of 
 three steps, and as many rows of benches, on 
 which the nobility sat according to their prece- 
 dence. In the middle were two tables, upon one 
 of which the regalia were deposited ; and beside 
 them, in two great chairs, the constable and mar- 
 shal sat. At the other table, sat the lord clerk- 
 register, with his deputy clerk, who were the 
 clerks of parliament. There were also benches 
 placed on the floor ; on those on the right sat the 
 commissioners for counties, and on the left, the 
 commissioners for burghs.* 
 
 The whole walked to Holyrood-house in pro- 
 cession, preceded by six maces, where the 
 commissioner entertained the members at dinner. 
 Three gentlemen-ushers waited, one on the com- 
 missioner, the second on the chancellor, and the 
 third on the archbishop of St. Andrews. The 
 purse-bearer followed. The commissioner and 
 chancellor walked next with two noblemen on 
 their right and left. The two archbishops in 
 
 The auihor's " Book of the Constitution." 
 
 Q2
 
 228 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 their robes; the other noblemen and members 
 of parliament, with the bishops, filled up the 
 procession.* 
 
 The unanimity of parliament, and the rejoicing 
 of the people without, shows the truth of Doug- 
 lass's assertion, that the people were wearied of 
 the yoke of Presbytery, and anxiously desired an 
 Episcopal government. No opposition was made 
 in Parliament to the redintegration of the Epis- 
 copal estate, except by some of the lords of 
 erection, whose whole property consisted of the 
 plunder of the church, and whose opposition 
 arose entirely from the fear of being compelled 
 to make restitution. David Lesslie, the old 
 Covenanting general, made some opposition ; and 
 seeing some members laugh at him, he remarked, 
 in a menacing tone, that " he had seen the day 
 that they durst not laugh at him."t A remark 
 which shows the difference betwixt the tyranny 
 of the Covenant usurpation, and the freedom of 
 a lawful government. It shows also that the 
 Restoration of the church was a national act so 
 cheerfully and unanimously agreed to that the 
 solitary opposition of an individual Covenanter 
 only excited the laughter and contempt of the 
 house. 
 
 * Nicol's Diary, p. 366, 367. Wodrow, vol. i. p. 256. 
 t Wodrow, p. 259.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 229 
 
 Charles remitted to his parliament the entire 
 privilege of covering over the rebellious miscar- 
 riages of his subjects since the year 1638, and to 
 make such exceptions to the indemnity as in their 
 wisdom they should think merited punishment. 
 Accordingly the second act of this session is " for 
 the preservation of his majesty's person, authority, 
 and government." This was the more necessary, 
 as the Solemn League and Covenant made rebel- 
 lion and resistance to all lawful authority a sacred 
 religious duty. 
 
 " The estates of parliament taking into their consideration 
 the miseries, confusion, bondage, and oppressions this king- 
 dom hath groaned under since the year 1637, with the causes 
 and occasions thereof, do with all humble duty and thankful- 
 ness acknowledge his majesty's unparalleled grace and goodness 
 in passing by the many miscarriages of his subjects, and re- 
 storing the church and state to their ancient liberties, freedom, 
 rights, and possessions ; and the great obligations thereby 
 lying upon them to express all possible care and zeal in the 
 preservation of his majesty's person, (in whose honour and 
 happiness consisteth the good and welfare of his people,) and 
 in the security and establishment of his royal authority and 
 government against all such wicked attempts and practices 
 for the time to come. And since the rise and progress of the 
 late troubles did, in a great measure, proceed from some 
 treasonable and seditious positions infused into the people 
 ' that it was lawful to subjects, for reformation, to enter into 
 covenants and leagues, or to take up arms against the king 
 or those commissionated by him ;' and that many wild and 
 rebellious courses were taken and practised in pursuance 
 thereof, by unlawful meetings and gatherings of the people, by
 
 230 TIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 mutinous and tumultuary petitions, by insolent and seditious 
 protestations against his majesty's royal and just commands, 
 by entering into unlawful oaths and covenants, by usurping 
 the name and power of council-tables, and church-judica- 
 tories after they were by his majesty discharged ; by treason- 
 able declarations that his majesty was not to be admitted to 
 the exercise of his royal power until he should grant their un- 
 just desires, and approve their wicked practices, by rebellious 
 rising in arms against his majesty, and such as had commis- 
 sion from him ; and by the great countenance, allowance, and 
 encouragement given to these pernicious courses by the mul- 
 titude of seditious sermons, libels, and discourses, preached, 
 printed, and published, in defence thereof. And considering 
 that as the present age is not fully freed of those distempers, 
 so posterity may be apt to relapse therein, if timeous remeed 
 be not provided ; therefore the king's majesty and estates of 
 parliament do declare that these positions ' that it is lawful 
 to subjects upon pretence of reformation, or other pretence 
 whatsoever, to enter into leagues and covenants, or to take up 
 arms against the king ; or that it is lawful to subjects, pre- 
 tending his majesty's authority, to take up arms against his 
 person or those commissionated by him, or to suspend him 
 from the exercise of his royal government, or to put limita- 
 tions on their due obedience and allegiance,' are rebellious 
 and treasonable ; and that all these gatherings, convocations, 
 petitions, protestations, and erecting and keeping of council- 
 tables that were used in the beginning, and for carrying on 
 of the late troubles, were unlawful and seditious. And par- 
 ticularly that these oaths whereof the one was commonly called 
 ' The National Covenant,' and the other entituled ' A Solemn 
 League and Covenant/ were, and are in themselves unlawful 
 oaths, and were taken by and imposed upon the subjects of 
 this kingdom, against the fundamental laws and liberties of 
 the same ; and that there lieth no obligation upon any of the
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 231 
 
 subjects from the said oaths or either of them, to endeavour 
 any change or alteration of government, either in church or 
 state ; and therefore annul all acts and constitutions eccle- 
 siastical or civil, approving the said pretended National 
 Covenant or League and Covenant, or making any interpre- 
 tations of the same or either of them. And also it is hereby 
 declared by his majesty and estates of parliament, that the 
 pretended Assembly kept at Glasgow, in the year 1638, was 
 in itself (after the same was by his majesty discharged under 
 the pain of treason) an unlawful and seditious meeting : and 
 that all acts, deeds, sentences, orders, or decreets passed 
 therein, or by virtue of any pretended authority from the 
 same, were in themselves from the beginning, are now, and 
 in ALL TIME COMING, to be reputed UNLAWFUL, VOID and NULL : 
 and that all ratifications or confirmations of the same, passed 
 by whatever authority, or in whatsoever meetings, shall from 
 henceforth be void and null.''* 
 
 The seditious principles inculcated throughout 
 the whole of Wodrow's history are peculiarly 
 manifested in his remarks on the above act. He 
 says it is " every way so singular an establishing 
 iniquity by law, a foundation for much persecu- 
 tion, and an opening the door for popery, &c." 
 " The very naming of these clauses of those acts, 
 does abundantly justify," he says, " the happy re- 
 volution ; and cannot but expose our prelates, to 
 whom we owe all those iniquitous clauses, and 
 plainly evince that prelacy in the Church of Scot- 
 land was still the road to tyranny in the state, 
 
 * Second Act, 2 Sess. 1 Par. Ch. II.
 
 232 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 persecution in the church, horrid invasions upon 
 the liberty of the subjects, and dreadful oppres- 
 sion in the matters of conscience."* He magnifies 
 the power of the prelates absurdly : for were we 
 to believe him, both his majesty's ministers and 
 the whole parliament were mere creatures of 
 their will. But they had in the whole of this 
 session merely to take their share in the debates 
 and record their votes ; for the lords of the 
 articles were chosen before the prelates were 
 redintegrated. None of the prelates were in this 
 session among the lords of articles, therefore 
 this act, as well as all the others of this session 
 were entirely free from their influence or inter- 
 ference. It is well known that the " lords of the 
 articles," prepared all the bills for the Scottish 
 parliament before it proceeded to business, and 
 which it did little more than record and sanction : 
 and in this case none of the bishops were of this 
 body, because it was chosen and had performed 
 its functions before their introduction to parlia- 
 ment ; therefore it is a false and malicious libel 
 on them to say that they were the cause of the 
 passing of this or any other act of this session of 
 parliament. And at this hour the Solemn League 
 and Covenant, which is the mother and nurse of 
 schism and rebellion, stands in the statute-book 
 
 * Vol. i. p. 265.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 233 
 
 under the same penal disgrace and discharge as 
 it did when the foregoing act was passed and 
 itself burnt by the hands of the common hangman. 
 Notwithstanding that this act stands to this day 
 in full force, the Solemn League and Covenant 
 makes a prominent part of the subsidiary standards 
 of the present Scottish establishment.* 
 
 During the predominance of the Covenant, 
 the Presbyterian ministers procured the conven- 
 tion on the 9th of March, 1649, to "discharge 
 for ever hereafter, all patronages and presenta- 
 tions of kirks, whether belonging to the king or 
 to any laic person," as "an evil and- bondage 
 under which the Lord's people and ministers of 
 this land have long groaned, &c." Willison, 
 says this act " ought to be written in letters of 
 gold ;" the act rescissory, however, had no such 
 respect for it ; it was cleared away among all the 
 other illegal acts of that time. Wodrow is in- 
 correct, when he says the following act was i: one 
 of the great pillars of prelacy." It would have 
 been passed although Presbytery had been 
 established, in restitution of the rights of those 
 individuals who were unjustly deprived of their 
 patronages in 1649. In the present act, parlia- 
 ment chiefly insist on the rights and privileges of 
 
 * See Westminster Confession of Faith.
 
 234 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 the patrons, which had nothing whatever to do with 
 the restoration of Episcopacy. The act contem- 
 plates such only as had illegally possessed them- 
 selves of churches and benefices, without the con- 
 sent of the patrons, since the year 1649. It does 
 not disturb those who had been presented before 
 that year, although there were many such then 
 alive, who were not deprived but continued till 
 the day of their death in the undisturbed enjoy- 
 ment of their benefices. The impartial reader 
 will likewise see the justice and clemency of the 
 government towards the illegal possessors of 
 churches since 1649. For the act declares, that 
 the sentence of parliament which pronounces all 
 such churches to be ipso jure vacant, was with- 
 out prejudice to those ministers who should 
 apply to the lawful patron and obtain his pre- 
 sentation. Here, then, was neither persecution 
 nor oppression. In whatever manner a minister 
 got possession of his church, whether by force or 
 fraud, he might retain that possession, on simply 
 asking the patron for a presentation which he 
 dared not refuse. Although so many were thus de- 
 clared to have no right to their benefices ; yet 
 not the slightest inconvenience occurred to any 
 minister who solicited a presentation. Not one 
 was refused ; indeed no patron was permitted to 
 refuse presentation. The Covenanters in the
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 
 
 235 
 
 West, rejected this easy stipulation, and many of 
 them deserted their parishes. The act itself is as 
 follows : , 
 
 " The king's most excellent majesty, being desirous that all 
 his good subjects may be sensible of the happy effects and 
 fruits of the royal government, by a free, peaceable, and safe 
 enjoyment of their due interests and properties under his 
 protection ; and that in his restitution they may find them- 
 selves restored to these rights which by law were secured unto 
 them, and by the violence and injustice of these late troubles 
 and confusions, have been wrested from them ; and consider- 
 ing, that notwithstanding the right of patronages be duly 
 settled and established by the ancient and fundamental laws 
 and constitutions of this kingdom, yet divers ministers in this 
 church, have, and do possess benefices and stipends in their 
 respective cures, without any right or presentation to the 
 same from the patrons ; and it being therefore most just, that 
 the lawful and undoubted patrons of kirks be restored to the 
 possession of the rights of their respective advocations, dona- 
 tions, and patronages ; therefore, his majesty, with advice, 
 &c., doth statute and ordain, that all these ministers who 
 entered to the cure of any parish in burgh or land within this 
 kingdom, in or since the year 1649, (at and before which 
 time, the patrons were most injuriously dispossessed of their 
 patronages,) have no right unto, nor shall receive, uplift, nor 
 possess the rents of any benefice, modified stipend, manse or 
 glebe for this present crop 1662, nor any year following, but 
 their places, benefices, and kirks, are ipso jure vacant. Yet 
 his majesty, to evidence his willingness to pass by and cover 
 the miscarriages of his people, doth declare, that this act shall 
 not be prejudicial to any of these ministers, in what they have 
 possessed or is due to them since their admission : and that 
 every such minister who shall obtain a presentation from the
 
 236 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 lawful patron, and have collation from the bishop of the 
 diocese where he liveth, betwixt and the 20th of September 
 next to come, shall from thenceforth have right to and enjoy 
 his church, benefice, manse, and glebe, as fully and freely as 
 if he had been lawfully presented and admitted thereto at his 
 first entry, or as any other minister within the kingdom doth 
 or may do. And for that end, it is hereby ordained, that the 
 respective patrons shall give presentations to all the present 
 incumbents, who in due time shall make application to them 
 for the same. And in case any of these churches shall not be 
 thus duly provided before the said 20th of September, then 
 the patron shall have freedom to present another, betwixt and 
 the 20th day of March 1663. Which if he shall refuse or 
 neglect, the presentation shall then fall to the bishop jure 
 devoluto, according to former laws. And sic-like his majesty 
 with, &c., doth statute and ordain the archbishops and bishops 
 to have the power of new admission and collation to all such 
 churches and benefices as belong to their respective sees, and 
 which have vaiked since the year 1637, and to be careful 
 to plant and provide these their own kirks conform to this 
 act." * 
 
 An act was passed " concerning masters of 
 universities, ministers. &c."f It was necessary 
 to provide against a recurrence of the late fanati- 
 cal and rebellious times, and to take care that 
 the rising generation should have a religious and 
 loyal education. School-masters and masters of 
 colleges were therefore ordained to acknowledge 
 
 * Third Act, 2 Sess. 1 Par. Ch. II. 
 t Fourth Act, 2 Sess. 1 Par. Ch. II.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 237 
 
 their several bishops, and to take the oath of 
 allegiance. A declaration founded on the pre- 
 amble of the second act of this session, was 
 ordained to be taken by all persons in public 
 trust ; and which was rendered necessary by the 
 seditious spirit engendered by the Covenant. It is 
 grievously offensive to Wodrow, who says that 
 by this act " the parliament put the copestone 
 upon the building of prelacy, and, inasmuch as 
 is in their power the gravestone upon the Cove- 
 nants and Presbytery."* It had been happy 
 for the peace and well-being of the nation had 
 his words been true. As usual, he very un- 
 charitably lays the whole blame of these " con- 
 science-debauching declarations" upon the arch- 
 bishop, whom he compares to Julian the apostate. 
 The Covenant was an instrument which bound 
 men on oath to rebellion, and the destruction of 
 the whole church throughout the empire. Such 
 an oath was certainly unlawful, as we are bound 
 to submit to every ordinance of men in authority, 
 for Christ's sake. It was the duty, therefore of 
 those whose consciences had been ensnared by 
 it, to repent of having taken such an oath, and by 
 no means to keep it. Can it be lawful to call 
 God to witness a lie, and approve of rebellion 
 against his own express institutions ? In the Old 
 
 * Vol. i. p. 267.
 
 238 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Testament, he declared rebellion to be as the sin 
 of witchcraft, and therefore to be eschewed by all 
 men who fear God and honour the king. The 
 declaration is as follows : 
 
 " I, A. B. do sincerely affirm and declare, that I judge it 
 unlawful to subjects, upon pretext of reformation or any 
 other pretext whatsomever, to enter into leagues and cove- 
 nants, or to take up arms against the king, or those com- 
 missioned by them ; and that all those gatherings, convo- 
 cations, petitions, protestations, and erecting or keeping of 
 council-tables, that were used in the beginning, and for the 
 carrying on of the late troubles, were unlawful and seditious : 
 and particularly that t hese oaths, whereof the one was com- 
 monly called the ' National Covenant,' (as it was sworn and 
 explained in the year 1638 and thereafter,) and the other 
 entitled ' A Solemn League and Covenant' were, and are in 
 themselves unlawful oaths, and were taken by, and imposed 
 upon the subjects of this kingdom against the fundament a 
 laws and liberties of the same ; and that there lieth no obli- 
 gation on me nor any of the subjects, from the said oaths, or 
 either of them, to endeavour any change or alteration of the 
 government either in church or state, as it is now established 
 by the laws of the kingdom."* 
 
 Towards the conclusion of the session, an act 
 of indemnity was passed. Besides some excep- 
 tions of certain obnoxious persons by name, 
 liberty was granted, by what was called an im- 
 printed act, to seclude twelve persons from 
 places of trust, who were to be ballotted for by 
 
 * Act 5, 2 Sess. 1 Par. Cli. II.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 239 
 
 parliament. Middleton appears to have in- 
 tended by it, to seclude the Earls of Lauderdale 
 and Crawford, Sir Robert Murray and some 
 others ; but it terminated in his own destruction. 
 A resolution was formed for amercing some lead- 
 ing men who had been prominent in the recent 
 troubles ; and about nine hundred noblemen and 
 gentlemen of all ranks were arbitrarily fined. It 
 would be difficult to find a just reason for this 
 amercement : it has been alleged, that the prin- 
 cipal motive for it was to improve the commis- 
 sioners' private estate ; but amidst so much 
 uncharitable assumption, it is difficult to decide. 
 
 Middleton prorogued the parliament on the 
 9th of September till the 20th of May next year. 
 In the intervals of parliament, the king's privy 
 council assumed the government. In order to 
 satisfy the minds of the clergy, that in attending 
 the diocesan synods they were acting in accord- 
 ance with the recent acts of parliament, the 
 council published an act ordering them to attend 
 their respective diocesan synods. In the course 
 of this year Mr. Honeyman, Archdeacon of St. 
 Andrews, published a small tract, entitled "The 
 Seasonable Case." In it he explained the terms 
 of communion required by the Protestant catholic 
 Church of Scotland as then by law established. 
 There was no Liturgy used; but the clergy were 
 enjoined to repeat the Lord's Prayer once at
 
 240 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 least, if not oftener, at every meeting for divine 
 service ; likewise the Doxology, or the Song of 
 Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the 
 Holy Ghost. This divine song was composed 
 when the church was overrun with Arianism, and 
 it Christianizes the Jewish Psalms. It is never 
 used in the public worship of the Presbyterians ; 
 but it was always used by the then Established 
 Church, and was one of the only visible means 
 of distinction between them. At the baptism of 
 infants the Apostles' Creed was directed to be 
 used. Although no Liturgy was authorized, yet 
 many of the clergy regularly used the Book of 
 Common Prayer by their own authority, and the 
 agreement of their parishioners. Kirk-sessions 
 were attached to each church, as in the Presby- 
 terian discipline. Presbyteries met under a 
 constant moderator appointed by the bishop ; and 
 diocesan synods met, in which the bishop himself 
 presided, or the dean, in his absence. These 
 terms of communion were so easy, that when Mr. 
 Calamy was informed of it, and of the opposition 
 of the Presbyterians, he said : " What would 
 our brethren in Scotland be at ? what more would 
 they have ? Would to God that we had these 
 offers." Sir George Mackenzie says : " The 
 reader will be astonished, when we inform him 
 that the way of worship in our church differed 
 nothing from what Presbyterians themselves
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 241 
 
 practised (except that we used the Doxology, the 
 Lord's Prayer, and in baptism the Creed, all 
 which they rejected.} We had no ceremonies, 
 surplice, altars, cross in baptism, nor the meanest 
 of those things which would be allowed in Eng- 
 land by the dissenters in the way of accomoda- 
 tion; that the most able and pious of their 
 (the Presbyterian) ministers, did hear the Epis- 
 copal clergy preach, many of them communi- 
 cated in the churches, and almost all the people 
 communicated also ; so that it cannot be said, 
 that they were persecuted and forced to join with 
 an unsound, much less an heretical church, as the 
 French Protestants are."* 
 
 In October, the bishops held their first diocesan 
 synods, each in his own diocese. For the most 
 part, the Covenanting ministers absented them- 
 selves, as might have been expected ; but in 
 general, the attendance was full. The Bishop of 
 Edinburgh held a synod, on the 1st of October, 
 in person, and again on the 14th of the same 
 month, when his dean presided. The bishop 
 appointed two clergymen out of every Presby- 
 tery, to prepare business for the synod, whom he 
 termed the brethren of the conference. It was 
 enacted in the first of these synods, that in every 
 burgh and populous parish within the diocese, 
 
 * Vindication, pp. 343, 344.
 
 242 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 there should be morning and evening prayers 
 that the Lord's Prayer should be repeated once 
 at least, or oftener, at the minister's discretion, 
 at every preaching that the Doxology be again 
 revived and sung, " this being a time (says 
 Nicol) quhawn many sectaries deny the God- 
 head of Chryst" that the Belief, or Apostles' 
 Creed be repeated at the sacrament of baptism, 
 by the father of the child, after the minister 
 that all the ministers in the diocese, who had not 
 conformed to the Glasgow Act, be indulged to 
 come in, and accept collation from the bishop, 
 betwixt and the 25th of November next, other- 
 wise the bishop is to proceed against them, and 
 fill their kirks with other ministers. This synod 
 consisted of fifty-eight clergymen : the members 
 of the privy council, the lords of session, the 
 king's advocate, with the lord provost and magis- 
 trates were present, in order to show respect for 
 the bishop and clergy at their first meeting. 
 Wishart himself preached from Phil. iv. 5, " Let 
 your moderation be known unto all men ; the 
 Lord is at hand." The indulgence above alluded 
 to had the desired effect, and all those who stood 
 out, now submitted to receive collation from the 
 bishop before the appointed time."* 
 
 The synod of Glasgow, where the Covenanters 
 
 * Nicol's Diary, p. 381.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 243 
 
 were numerous, was thinly attended. Wodrow 
 says, there were only twenty-seven clergymen 
 present, although it is the most extensive diocese 
 in Scotland. After the rising of parliament, 
 Earl Middleton made a progress " through that 
 part of the country where he expected most 
 coldriffness (indifference) to the bishops, and 
 make his best efforts to bring all into subjection 
 to them." He was attended, it would appear, by 
 a full quorum of the privy council, to afford their 
 advice when affairs required it. In order to 
 excite disrespect towards the royal authority, and 
 " hatred to the bishops," Kirkton, and after 
 him Wodrow, represent the commissioner and 
 the council as being continually guilty of the 
 most beastly intemperance. The insinuations 
 and accusations of Kirkton, which are always 
 literally copied by Wodrow, without acknow- 
 ledgment, are to be received with caution. Their 
 credulity and malignity induce them to receive 
 every old woman's gossip, to magnify and dis- 
 tort the most innocent facts, and to invent and mis- 
 represent, where falsehood will better serve their 
 purpose of blackening the memory of both the 
 prelates and the privy council. " In the conduct 
 of the rigid Covenanters, there is nothing more 
 remarkable than their disposition to slander, and 
 the reckless intrepidity with which they scat- 
 tered around them the most atrocious calumnies. 
 
 R2
 
 244 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Nor was this unchristian propensity confined to 
 their dislike of the Episcopalians ; on the con- 
 trary, the two parties of Presbyterians arrayed 
 against each other, during the ascendancy of the 
 Commonwealth, had mutual recourse to the most 
 bitter words ; and on one occasion, the Remon- 
 strants (Covenanters,) described their antago- 
 nists, the more loyal class, as ' men of depraved 
 habits.'"* On the arrival of the commissioner 
 in Glasgow, Archbishop Fairfowl complained of 
 the obstinate refusal of many in his diocese to 
 comply with the terms of the act of parliament, 
 which enjoined them to ask for presentation 
 from the patron, and collation from himself. A 
 council was held in the College hall, on the 4th 
 of October, present the commissioner, the chan- 
 cellor, Duke of Hamilton, Marquis of Montrose, 
 Lords Morton, Eglinton, Linlithgow, Callender, 
 Newburgh, Sinclair, Sir James Lockhart of Lee, 
 
 and Blackball. Wodrow affirms that these 
 
 counsellors were so flustered with drink that 
 none of them could write down the act ; but the 
 act itself shows no signs of the incapacity of the 
 members for business. It was an impolitic act, 
 and might have been spared, and shows the 
 folly of both parties. Men who had possession, 
 and who were desired to keep it on such easy 
 
 * Dr. Russell's Hist, of the Ch. in Scotland, vol. ii. p. 264.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 245 
 
 terms as asking presentation and collation, but 
 whose obstinacy would not yield such a trifling 
 matter, might have been allowed to remain un- 
 disturbed. Their irregular entrance would have 
 been a much less evil, and one too to be cured 
 by time, than the schism which the desertion of 
 their parishes afterwards caused. The obstinate 
 punctiliousness of the ministers, and the rashness 
 of the council, laid the foundation of all the after 
 miseries which that church and nation has since 
 suffered. Instead of the dew of God's blessing 
 having been sent down on that church, the 
 fiercest winds have ever since blown out of the 
 sanctuary ; and, as a nation, her candlestick has 
 been removed, of which she has proved herself 
 nationally to be unworthy. 
 
 Perhaps it will be supposed that the Glasgow 
 Act was executed with great rigour, and that 
 those whose churches were declared to be ipso 
 facto vacant, were ejected from their manses. 
 But nothing of the sort was done ; the ministers 
 themselves relieved the government of the trouble 
 of a rigid execution. Immediately on the publi- 
 cation of the Act of Glasgow, as it has been 
 called, they generally forbore the exercise of their 
 ministry, and deserted their flocks. They were 
 guilty of this rash desertion, so unlike the duty of 
 true ministers of Christ, on the mistaken conceit 
 that the church could not exist without their ser-
 
 246 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 vices. They deceived themselves with the egotism 
 that the government would be obliged to yield 
 to their will, and court them to resume their 
 charges. In this they were mistaken, and soon 
 evinced their regret ; and many of their own 
 party censured their rashness, in so tamely parting 
 with their churches. Their folly was the greater, 
 as the parliament did not intend any punishment 
 by their act, but merely to declare that those who 
 had been elected by the people, had not a legal 
 title to their churches ; and at the same time, 
 offered to give them a legal title. But even 
 allowing that they had been unjustly ejected by 
 the government from their churches, yet there 
 would have been law, if not equity, on the side of 
 the executive ; whereas there was neither law nor 
 justice when the Covenanters in 1688 rabbled 
 out those Episcopal clergy who had entered to 
 their charges, undoubtedly according to law. 
 The following is a copy of the Glasgow Act, so 
 important in its consequences then and since to 
 the peace of the Scottish church : 
 
 " At Glasgow, 1st of October, 1662, the lords of his ma- 
 jesty's privy council taking into consideration, that notwith- 
 standing it is statute and ordained, by an act of the last 
 session of the current parliament, entitled, ' An Act concern- 
 ing such Benefices and Stipends as have been possessed with- 
 out Presentation from the lawful Patron ;' that all ministers 
 who have entered upon the cure of any parish, in burgh and 
 landward, in or since the year of God, 1649 (at and before
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 247 
 
 which time the patrons were most injuriously dispossessed of 
 their patronages,) have no right unto, nor shall uplift the rents 
 of their respective benefices, modified stipends, manse or 
 glebe, for this instant year 1662, nor for any year following, 
 unless they should obtain presentation from the lawful patron, 
 and have collation from the bishop of the diocese where they 
 live, before the 20th day of September last; as likewise that 
 it is statute and ordained, that the 29th of May be yearly 
 kept as a holiday unto the Lord, for a solemn anniversary 
 thanksgiving for his majesty's restoration to his royal govern- 
 ment, and that all ministers should observe the same in their 
 respective parishes, under the pains therein contained ; yet 
 several ministers have not only contravened the aforesaid acts 
 of parliament, but in manifest contempt of his majesty's royal 
 authority, albeit they have justly forfeited their right to the 
 benefices, modified stipends, and others, continue to exercise 
 the function of the ministry at their respective churches as 
 before ; therefore, they prohibit and discharge all ministers 
 who have contravened the aforesaid act of parliament concern- 
 ing the benefices and stipends, to exercise any part of the 
 function of the ministry, at their respective churches in time 
 coming, which are hereby declared to be vacant : and that 
 none of their parishioners who are liable in any part of their 
 stipends, make payment to them of this instant crop, and 
 year of God 1662, or in time coming, as having no right 
 thereunto ; and that they do not acknowledge them for their 
 lawful pastors, in repairing to their sermons, under the pain 
 of being punished as frequenters of private conventicles and 
 meetings. And command and charge the said ministers to 
 remove themselves and their families out of their parishes 
 betwixt and the first day of November next to come, and 
 not to reside within the bounds of their respective Presby- 
 teries. As likewise, that no heritor or other, liable in pay- 
 ment of any part of the minister's stipend, make payment to
 
 248 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 any minister who hath contravened the aforesaid act of parlia- 
 ment for keeping the anniversary thanksgiving, of any part of 
 this year's stipend, and declare that the ministers who have 
 contravened the said act, shall be liable to the whole pains 
 therein contained ; and ordain these presents to be forthwith 
 printed and published by the sheriffs of shires, and magistrates 
 of burghs, that none may pretend ignorance." 
 
 This act alarmed a great proportion of the mi- 
 nisters within the diocese of Glasgow ; and it has 
 been alleged, the consequence was, that about a 
 hundred ministers deserted their parishes, as they 
 said, " for conscience sake ;" that is, they made 
 it a matter of conscience whether they should 
 receive a presentation from a patron, according 
 to law, and institution by a bishop, or be elected 
 by the inhabitants of the parish, and be collated 
 by a Presbytery. " They could not keep holi- 
 days, they could not take the oath of allegiance 
 or supremacy, they could not own patrons, nor 
 subject themselves to bishops, and therefore, 
 must be turned out."* This last is erroneous; 
 they were not turned out, neither was it designed 
 that they should go out ; but the ministers of their 
 own accord deserted their parishes, and left them 
 literally vacant. Middleton and the council went 
 through Ayrshire to Dumfries, thence to Edin- 
 burgh, where on their arrival he was informed of 
 
 * Wodrow, vol. i. p. 283.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 249 
 
 the consequences of the Glasgow Act. Those 
 members of the government who had not been 
 engaged in that transaction, but especially the 
 primate, blamed them very much. He is reported 
 to have said, that Fairfowl's folly had ruined 
 them.* The council summoned the two arch- 
 bishops to meet at Edinburgh, to assist with 
 their advice for the redress of the disorders con- 
 sequent on the Glasgow Act, " and to provide 
 for the good people whose condition would be 
 rendered very hard, through the want of the 
 ministry and the benefit of the ordinances." 
 On the 23rd of December the council issued a 
 new act in some measure confirming the Glasgow 
 Act, but extending the time for soliciting presen- 
 tation and collation to the 1st of February, 
 1663. It declared that all those who had deserted 
 their parishes should still possess them, provided 
 they complied with these terms within the limited 
 time. It likewise is embodied in the act that the 
 bishops who happened to be in Edinburgh at that 
 time had solicited and obtained this grace for the 
 western ministers. The act declared, that those 
 who obstinately persisted in their disobedience 
 and continued their desertion, should " thence- 
 forth be esteemed and holden as persons disaffected 
 to his majesty's government." This was giving 
 
 * Kirkton, p. 150.
 
 250 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 these headstrong men full warning of the danger 
 they had incurred; but to no effect, they had 
 resolved to follow the example of the English non- 
 conformists. The act directed that recusants were 
 to remove from the dioceses of Glasgow, Argyle, 
 and Galloway ; but prohibits them from entering 
 into the dioceses of Edinburgh and St. Andrews. 
 These two being already sufficiently inflammable, 
 such firebrands thrown amongst them might 
 excite disaffection both to the church and the 
 state. They were directed to transport them- 
 selves and families to the more sober and Epis- 
 copalian region beyond the Tay, where their 
 presence would occasion little or no disturbance. 
 In those days when there was neither steam nor 
 railway communications, nor Macadamized roads, 
 this was esteemed and felt to be a great hardship ; 
 but from which a very slight relaxation in a point 
 which involved no breach of any divine precept, 
 might have saved them. 
 
 The king, of his own accord, postponed the 
 payment of the arbitrary fines formerly mentioned. 
 Many of the ministers in the west returned to 
 their parishes till the 1st of February ; and were 
 censured by the people for deserting them.* 
 About the end of December, the quarrel between 
 Middleton and Lauderdale assumed a more 
 
 * Kirk ton, p. 154.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 251 
 
 serious aspect, and the former hastened up to 
 court to counteract his rival. He fell under 
 Charles's displeasure, and was deprived of all 
 his preferments and reduced to great poverty. 
 As some compensation for his great services in 
 carrying out Charles's patriotic views in the 
 restoration of the liberties of his country, he was 
 sent out as governor of Tangier, where he soon 
 after died of grief and disappointment. Christmas- 
 day was kept this year in Edinburgh with great 
 solemnity, and Bishop Wishart preached in the 
 High-church to a crowded auditory. The com- 
 missioner, the chancellor, and all the nobility 
 who were then in town, were present. After the 
 church-service " command was given by tuck of 
 drum" to spend the remainder of the day as a 
 holiday, without labour of any sort that there 
 should be no markets, nor shops, nor booths to 
 be opened."* 
 
 A passage in the examination of John Living-- 
 stone, minister of Ancrum, who is formerly 
 mentioned as being two righteous to sail in 
 the same ship from Holland with Charles and 
 his few faithful friends, because they were 
 " malignants" and " the plague of God," shows 
 the Jesuitical finesse of the Covenanters. He 
 was examined respecting preaching on the 29th 
 
 * Nicol's Diary, p. 383.
 
 252 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 of May, which he had done that year, because 
 the anniversary happened to fall on a weekly 
 preaching day of his own appointing ; but 
 without noticing the subject of his majesty's 
 Restoration. 
 
 " Chancellor. But what is the reason you do 
 not keep the day appointed by parliament ? 
 Livingstone. My lord, I have not that prompt- 
 ness of judgment or expression that were requisite 
 for surprising questions, and would beg, if your 
 lordships please, to be forborne. 
 
 " C. Can you not give a reason why you keep 
 it not ? L. My lord, even as to the laws of God 
 there is a great difference between a man's doing 
 of that which God hath forbidden, and the not 
 doing of a thing for want of clearness that God 
 hath commanded ; and much more this holds in 
 the laws of men. 
 
 " C. But you kept holidays of your own ; you 
 kept a day of thanksgiving for the battle of Long 
 Marston Moor, and several days of fasting in the 
 time of the engagement. Did you not keep the 
 day for Long Marston Moor ? L. So far as I 
 know, I did; but these days were not called 
 holidays, but only appointed upon some special 
 occasions. And besides, one may scruple if any 
 have power to appoint anniversary holidays."* 
 
 * Wodrow, vol. i. p. 311.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 253 
 
 And Sir George Mackenzie, in his Vindication, 
 relates, that the witnesses who were produced at 
 the trial of the rebels taken at Bothwell-bridge, 
 in the true spirit of Loyola swore that they saw 
 what might perhaps be the prisoners' ghosts or 
 spirits, but could not take upon them to say that 
 they were really flesh and blood ! And when 
 asked if the prisoners had arms; they said they 
 saw the hilts and the scabbards of swords, but 
 whether or not there were swords attached to the 
 hilts and within the scabbards, they were quite 
 ignorant! By these Jesuitical juggles they at- 
 tempted to defeat justice, and this was agreeable 
 to their whole system, in which the Jesuits had 
 a large share, as indeed they have had in all the 
 schisms and distractions of the church since their 
 first institution. 
 
 The 29th of May was ordained, by act of 
 parliament, to be kept for ever as an anniversary- 
 day of thanksgiving for the Restoration of the 
 king and royal family. It happened likewise to 
 be the king's birth-day ; and the privy council 
 passed an act ordaining the Covenants to be 
 burned by the hands of the common hangman on 
 that day. They were accordingly burned by the 
 hands of that respectable functionary on the 
 king's birth-day this year, in the presence of 
 the privy council at Edinburgh, and amidst the 
 rejoicing of the people. This shows the better
 
 254 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 feeling to which the nation had now returned, and 
 their detestation of that faction which had forcibly 
 imposed this impious bond upon them. Nicol 
 says, " And to the end the reidar may be informed 
 of the temper of the pepill at this tyme, and of the 
 haivlent and malice borne aganes the Covenant, 
 I thocht fitt to insert heir a paper given out in 
 prent."* It is a poetical eifusion of no great 
 merit ; but it sufficiently marks the hatred and 
 malice with which the people viewed the Cove- 
 nant. Wodrow, in a fit of holy horror, describes 
 the scene enacted at Linlithgow, where the hang- 
 man did his devoir to that instrument of rebellion 
 and sacrilege ; and the author of " The Cloud of 
 Witnesses," has left the following description of 
 this scene : 
 
 " A dismal account of the form of burning the Solemn 
 League and National Covenant with God, and one another, at 
 Linlithgow, May 29th, 1661, being the birth-day of King 
 Charles the Second. 
 
 " Divine service being ended, the streets were so filled with 
 bonfires on every side, that it was not without hazard to go 
 along them : the magistrates, about four o'clock in the after- 
 noon, went to the Earl of Linlithgow's lodgings, inviting his 
 lordship to honour them with his presence at the solemnity of 
 the day ; so he came with the magistrates, accompanied with 
 many gentlemen, to the market-place, where a table was 
 covered with confections ; then the curate met them and 
 
 * Nicol's Diary, p. 337.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 255 
 
 prayed and sang a psalm, and so eating some of the confec- 
 tions, they threw the rest among the people. The fountain 
 all that time running French and Spanish wine of divers 
 colours, and continued running three or four hours : the earl, 
 the magistrates, and gentlemen did drink the king and queen 
 their good health, and all royal healths, not forgetting his 
 majesty's commissioner, his health, Lord Middleton, and 
 breaking several baskets full of glasses. 
 
 " At the market-place was erected an arch, standing upon 
 four pillars, on one side whereof was placed a statue in form 
 of an old hag-mare, having the Covenant in her hands, with 
 this superscription ' A glorious reformation :' on the other 
 side was placed a statue in form of a whig-mare, having the 
 Remonstrance in her hand, with this superscription ' No 
 association with malignants ;' within the arch, on the right- 
 hand, was drawn, a Committee of Estates, with this superscrip- 
 tion * An act for delivering up the king :' upon the left-hand 
 was drawn the commission of the kirk, with this superscrip- 
 tion ' A Commission of the Kirk and Committee of Estates, 
 and Act of the West Kirk, Edinburgh,' and upon the top of 
 the arch stood the devil, as an angel of light, with this super- 
 scription ' Stand to the cause ;' and on the top of the arch 
 hung a table with this : 
 
 ' From Covenanters with their uplifted hands, 
 From Remonstrators with their associate bands, 
 From such Committees as govern'd this nation, 
 From Kirk-Commissions, and from their profession, 
 
 Good Lord deliver us.' 
 
 " On the pillar of the arch, beneath the Covenants, were 
 drawn kirk-stools, rocks and reels ; upon the pillar beneath 
 the Remonstrance was drawn brechams cogs and spoons ; on 
 the back of the arch was drawn the picture of rebellion in a 
 religious habit, with turned up eyes, and with a fantastic 
 gesture, and in its right-hand holding ' Lex Rex,' that in-
 
 25C LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 famous (rather famous) book, maintaining defensive arms, and 
 in the left-hand holding that pitiful pamphlet (rather excellent 
 paper), ' The Causes of God's Wrath,' and about its waste 
 laying all the acts of parliament, Committee of Estates, and 
 acts of General Assembly and Commission of the Kirk, their 
 protestations and declarations during these twenty -two years' 
 rebellion (so they called the time of reformation) and above, 
 with this superscription, ' Rebellion is as the sin of witch- 
 craft.' Then, at the drinking of the king's health, fire was put 
 to the framo, which gave many fine reports, and soon burnt all 
 to ashes, which being consumed, there suddenly appeared a 
 table supported by two angels, carrying this superscription : 
 
 ' Great Britain's monarch on this day was born, 
 
 And to his kingdom happily restor'd ; 
 His queen arriv'd, the matter now is known. 
 
 Let us rejoice, this day is from the Lord ! 
 Flee hence all traitors that did mar our peace, 
 
 Flee hence all schismatics who our church did rent, 
 Flee hence covenanting remonstrating race, 
 
 Let us rejoice that God this day hath sent.' 
 
 " Then the magistrates accompanied the noble earl to his 
 palace, where the said earl had a bonfire very magnificent. 
 Then the earl and magistrates and all the rest did drink the 
 king and queen, and all royal healths ; then the magistrates 
 made procession through the burgh, and saluted every man 
 of account, and so they spent the day rejoicing in their 
 labour."* 
 
 Happy had it been had the Solemn League 
 perished and been forgotten, but it has been most 
 
 * The words within parenthesis are the author's own 
 running commentary.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 257 
 
 fatal in its operation, as in fact it was designed 
 by Cardinal Richilieu, its author, and the Jesuits 
 his agents, and who again were the servants of 
 satan in his attempt to destroy the church. 
 Those who adhered to and maintained the 
 Covenant, most faithfully executed the work of 
 the great enemy of man, as the following extracts 
 sufficiently show. James Skeen, who was exe- 
 cuted for the rebellion of Bothwell-bridge and 
 Airsmoss, says, in his written speech on the 
 scaffold: "You would canvass the justice of 
 disowning his (the king's) authority, which to do, 
 you are engaged by oath to God." "This 
 wicked burning of the Covenant and ' Causes of 
 God's Wrath,' is cause enough to me to disown 
 his authority" " if there were no other cause of 
 his rejection than these proceedings, they might 
 suffice to justify any who were engaged by God, 
 having time and place, to cut him off ; for by the 
 law of God, murder, adultery, and oppression are 
 punishable by death, and kings are not exempted, 
 far less tyrants that are lawfully excommunicate. 
 But to these horrid impurities is added, the shed- 
 ding of the blood of poor innocents, which aggra- 
 vateth his guilt ; so that though the Lord should 
 make him penitent, he deserves death by law."* 
 
 * Cloud of Witnesses for the royal Prerogatives of Jesus 
 Christ, &c., pp. 29, 30 ; and pp. 66, 67. 
 
 S
 
 258 LIFE AXD TIMES OF 
 
 These were the sentiments commonly enter- 
 tained by the adherents of the Covenant, and 
 it is not surprising that the government should 
 desire to suppress a document which pro- 
 duced such murderous fruits ; nevertheless, 
 it was revived at the Revolution, and occu- 
 pies a prominent place in the standard of the 
 establishment of Scotland at the present hour. 
 The Solemn League and Covenant was a device 
 of Cardinal Richilieu in revenge for Charles I. 
 having repeatedly slighted his offer of military 
 assistance to reduce the rebels. The author of 
 Cassandra, says very justly of it : " He sent 
 the Scots Presbyterians a more powerful and 
 wicked engine than the Spanish Armada their 
 cursed League and Covenant, which, mutatis 
 mutandis, is word for word the very same with 
 that called the Holy League, which, under the 
 name of preserving religion, had raised that 
 terrible rebellion in France, which almost ruined 
 the whole nation. And as that Holy League, 
 which was worded l for the preservation of the 
 king's majesty's person and authority in the 
 preservation and defence of the Roman Catholic 
 religion,' did murder their king, Henry III., who 
 lived and died a zealous Roman Catholic ; so 
 our Solemn League, which was also worded in 
 the same manner, in defence of the king and 
 the Protestant religion, did murder our king,
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 259 
 
 Charles L, who lived and died a zealous Pro- 
 testant." 
 
 The chief actor in the imposition of this infa- 
 mous Covenant was Alexander Henderson, minis- 
 ter of Leuchars, who was moderator of the treason- 
 able Glasgow Assembly in 1638, and who died 
 on the 18th of August 1646. To his memory, a 
 monument had been erected in the Greyfriar's 
 church-yard of Edinburgh, emblazoned with the 
 Solemn League and Covenant. In the month of 
 June this year, parliament ordered the emblazon- 
 ment to be defaced, and which was done accord- 
 ingly.* 
 
 * Nicol's Diary, p. 373.
 
 260 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1663. Desertion of the Covenanting ministers New Incum- 
 bents their character Reflections Schism Jesuits 
 Field-meetings Meeting of parliament Rothes, lord 
 commissioner Lauderdale, prime minister General 
 Assembly proposed Scot's mile act Cause of it Disso- 
 lution and Riding of Parliament Death of Archbishop 
 Fairfowl His funeral Bishop Sydserf's death Ascension- 
 day and the Restoration, observed as holidays 1664. Gil- 
 bert Burnet Court of High Commission Precedence of 
 the Archbishop of St. Andrews Opinions Death of the 
 chancellor Sir James Turner Court of High Commission 
 met Rothes appointed treasurer Two archbishops, privy 
 counsellors Burnet's account of appointing the chancellor 
 Depositions Reflections 1665. Covenanters disarmed 
 Convention of Estates Depositions Act of Council 
 Riot in the West Kirk Archbishop Sharp's letter to the 
 Earl of Kincardine 1666. Seditious meetings Reflec- 
 tions Archbishop Sharp goes to court Burnet's anecdotes 
 of him Troops raised Soldiers sent into the disaffected 
 districts Insurrection in Galloway Turner made prisoner 
 Proceedings of the rebels Proclamation Wallace 
 Rullion Green Position of the rebels Battle of Pentland 
 Rout Flight Debates respecting quarter Odium 
 falls on the bishops Executions King's letter M c Kail 
 His trial Execution Anecdote Reflections Bishop 
 Wishart. 
 
 1663. THE extension of time and the modifi- 
 cations adopted at the council-board, had not the
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 261 
 
 desired effect. There were now said to be 
 nearly two hundred vacant benefices, in conse- 
 quence of the Covenanted ministers having 
 deserted them. All these had sworn to the 
 Covenant, which imposes the duty of extirpating 
 Episcopacy and some of them had actually 
 been engaged in 1638 in that operation. It 
 could not therefore be expected, that ministers, 
 glorying as they did in such extirpation, would 
 accept collation from men whom they considered 
 "antichrists," and were sworn to destroy. They 
 were cunning in their generation, as well 
 as "heady" and "high-minded;" for they 
 imagined that such a body simultaneously re- 
 signing, would embarrass both their civil and 
 ecclesiastical governors, and so indeed it did. 
 They roused their parishioners to a deep resent- 
 ment against the Episcopal order ; but kept them 
 in entire ignorance of the real cause of all the 
 uproar. " I believe," says Kirkton, and after 
 him Wodrow, " I believe there never was such 
 a sad Sabbath in Scotland, as when the poor 
 persecuted ministers took leave of their people. 
 It did not content the congregation to weep all 
 of them, but they howled with a loud voice, 
 weeping with the weeping of Jazer, as when a 
 besieged city is sackt."* Nevertheless, it is 
 
 * Kirkton, p. 150. Wodrow, vol. i. 323.
 
 262 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 allowed by their own historian himself, that 
 " those worthy ministers were blamed for leaving 
 their congregation so easily, and going out at the 
 first publication of the council's pleasure." "So 
 fickle and uncertain are the sentiments of a 
 multitude, that some were ready even to have 
 suspected the ministers, had they continued at 
 their posts, as secretly in collusion with the 
 bishops, as afterwards did appear in the re- 
 proaches cast on some this way."* Archbishop 
 Sharp was dissatisfied with the summary proceed- 
 ings of the Archbishop of Glasgow and the privy 
 council, in their act of council in that city, which 
 gave their decree the appearance, though unjustly, 
 of persecution. He said, that the most prudent 
 method would have been to have allowed them to 
 vacate their churches in detail, which could have 
 been gradually and insensibly filled with ortho- 
 dox and peaceable clergymen. But the simul- 
 taneous desertion by so many, embarrassed both 
 the Archbishop of Glasgow and the privy council, 
 and at the same time it excited a temporary 
 clamour among the people, whose excitement was 
 increased by the violence and uncharitable in- 
 sinuations of the late incumbents. That Arch- 
 bishop Sharp's opinion was the most prudent and 
 safe is admitted by Kirk ton : " Lastly, had they 
 
 * Wodrow, vol. i. p. 330.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 263 
 
 stayed till they had been turned out one by one, 
 and their places planted immediately, as Bishop 
 Sharp designed, the change had never been so 
 sensible, nor the opposition to bishops so con- 
 siderable ; whereas, Providence made the course 
 ministers took, the first act of clear opposition to 
 that course by the alienation it made upon the 
 people ; and the break it made upon the country, 
 the bishops and all their might were never able 
 to heal." No, nor the Presbyterians neither; 
 for the same breach or schism, for the same cause 
 and by the same parties, broke out in the Presby- 
 terian establishment soon after the Revolution, 
 and which continues under the name of the 
 Secession, with equal rancour, to this day, and 
 which looks very like a just judgment upon them 
 for their former divisions. " Yet such," continues 
 Kirkton, " was the weakness of the people, that 
 many of them began to censure what they had 
 formerly approven, and the ministers' bitter 
 sufferings turned with some rather into offence 
 than an edifying example. Such was the cloud 
 upon us at that time, ignorance, scrupulosity, 
 and censure being frequently conjoined in our 
 sad experience."* 
 
 To supply the places of the Covenanters, young 
 theological students were brought from other 
 
 * Kirkton's History, p. 152.
 
 264 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 parts of the country, particularly from the north, 
 who were ordained and inducted into the vacant 
 livings. Kirkton and Wodrow give a most false 
 and exaggerated character of the new clergymen 
 who succeeded the deserters. Neither has Bishop 
 Burnet been deficient in contributing his mite 
 towards rendering them odious. The former, 
 most unjustly calls them " a sort of young lads, 
 unstudied and unbred, who had all the properties 
 of Jeroboam's priests, most of them of two or 
 three years' standing, miserable in a world, and 
 unable to subsist, which made them so much long 
 for a stipend ; and so profane and void of con- 
 science themselves, that they believed there was 
 none in any other, and that the humour of pro- 
 fession might be as easily dispelled by profit or 
 loss, as it had been in themselves. So they went 
 to their churches with the same intention and 
 resolution a shepherd contracts for herding a 
 flock of cattle."* Wodrow copies the above, 
 but mixes some of his own deeper malignity 
 along with Kirkton's, in the following words : 
 " When the curates entered their pulpits it was 
 by an order from the bishop, without any call 
 from, yea, contrary to the inclinations of the 
 people. Their personal character was black, 
 and no wonder their entertainment was coarse 
 
 * Kirkton, p. 160.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 265 
 
 and cold. It some places they were welcomed 
 with tears in abundance, and entreaties to be 
 gone : in others, with reasonings and arguments, 
 which confounded them ; and some entertained 
 them with threats, affronts, and indignities, too 
 many here to be repeated. The bell's tongue in 
 some places was stolen away, that the parish- 
 ioners might have an excuse for not coming to 
 church. The doors of the church, in other cases, 
 were barricaded, and they were made to enter by 
 the window literally. The laxer of the gentry 
 easily engaged to join in their drinking cabals, 
 which with all iniquity did now fearfully abound, 
 and sadly exposed them : and in some places 
 the people, fretted with the dismal change, 
 gathered together and violently opposed their 
 settlement, and received them with showers of 
 stones."* "I have known some profane people, 
 if they had committed ane error at night, thought 
 affronting a curate to-morrow a testimony of their 
 repentance."! 
 
 Such is the character given of the new incum- 
 bents ; but which is too clumsily put together to 
 bear a rigid criticism. An attempt is made to 
 show, that the lower class of the people were 
 holy and pure ; whilst amongst the higher orders 
 
 * Kirkton, p. 161. Wodrow, vol. i. p. 332. 
 f Kirkton, p. 163.
 
 LIFE AND TIMES Ol-' 
 
 " all iniquity fearfully abounded." But it can- 
 not be denied, even by their eulogists, that men 
 who conducted themselves in the wanton and 
 malicious way that these men did, must have 
 been very ill taught by the deserters. But the 
 black character bestowed on the new clergy is a 
 gross falsehood, and which is made evident by 
 their patient sufferings seven-and-twenty years 
 afterwards. On clergymen, such as have been 
 described by these accusers of the faithful, the 
 holy and charitable spirit of martyrdom could not 
 rest; yet all these were more than martyrs in 
 their personal sufferings at the Revolution, and 
 have been in their reputation ever since. " Their 
 patient submission," says the present amiable 
 Bishop of Edinburgh and primus of the Church 
 in Scotland, " to the most vexatious persecution 
 after the Revolution, adds to the force of the 
 proof, which is not to be invalidated by the 
 accusation often adduced, that they were weak 
 and wicked, or as the technical phrase was, 
 scandalous. Weak men never, I believe, suffer 
 real evil patiently, and wicked men certainly 
 never do, if by any compliance they can avoid it. 
 Now the Episcopal clergy of Scotland," (and it 
 was the men now under consideration, on whom 
 the atrocious persecution of the rabble fell,) 
 " suffered the loss of every thing, and suffered 
 iw a spirit which never was exceeded in any
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 267 
 
 age of the church. The truly Christian spirit of 
 the whole community was such as to carry along 
 with them in their sufferings many who might 
 naturally have been expected anxious to escape 
 from the connexion, if they found a convenient 
 opportunity."* These patient sufferers in 1688, 
 are the men who have been so malignantly repre- 
 sented as, in 1663, " coming in with perjury 
 written on their foreheads," as adulterers, 
 drunkards, gamesters, and as assuming the cure 
 of souls on the same principle as a shepherd the 
 care of sheep. Their integrity was strongly 
 tried ; but they were infinitely superior to the 
 morose uncharitable Covenanters who had de- 
 serted their flocks ; and of whom Bishop Burnet 
 says : " They were for the most part a grave, 
 solemn sort of people. Their spirits were eager, 
 and their temper sour, but they had an appear- 
 ance which created respect. Their faults and 
 defects were not conspicuous. They had a very 
 scanty measure of learning ; and a narrow com- 
 pass in it. They were little men, of a very 
 indifferent size of capacity, and apt to fly out 
 into great excess of passion and indiscretion. 
 They were servile, and too apt to fawn and 
 flatter their admirers. They were affected in 
 their deportment, and very apt to censure all 
 
 * Note E> to Bishop Walker's Gaelic Sermon.
 
 268 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 who differed from them, and to believe and 
 report whatsoever they heard to their prejudice. 
 And they were superstitious and haughty. In 
 their sermons they were apt to enlarge on the 
 state of the present time, and to preach against 
 the sins of princes and courts; a topic that 
 naturally makes men popular. It has an appear- 
 ance of courage; and the people are glad to 
 hear those sins insisted on, in which they perceive 
 (that) they (themselves) have no share, and to 
 believe that all the judgments of God came down 
 by the means and procurement of other men's 
 sins. But their opinion about the independence 
 of the church and clergy on the civil power, and 
 their readiness to stir up the people to tumults 
 and wars, was that which begat so ill an opinion 
 of them at this time in all men, that very few 
 who were not deeply engaged with them in these 
 conceits, pitied them under all the ill usage they 
 met with."* 
 
 That schism commenced at this time which has 
 not yet been healed, although, in God's good 
 time, perhaps it may. The people were excited 
 by the Covenanting ministers, to hatred and 
 malice against their clergy, and their fellow 
 Episcopalians, instead of being taught brotherly 
 love and charity. Their desertion of their churches 
 
 * Own Times, vol. i. p. 264.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 269 
 
 was a political measure, but which did not alto- 
 gether answer the end they designed. It has, 
 however, been visited upon the present establish- 
 ment, in the breaking out of a secession, upon 
 exactly similar grounds. It is quite evident, from 
 the following quotation, that pride and worldly 
 policy had more influence with these over-zealous 
 men, than pure religion. In short, there had 
 been the emission of an evil spirit upon them 
 of such a spirit as that which in two apostles 
 would have called down fire and brimstone upon 
 the inhospitable Samaritan villagers. Luke, ix. 
 54, 55 : " All that winter," says Kirkton, " and 
 spring, people in the west and south found their 
 churches desolate, and so were constrained to 
 wander for lack of bread, sometimes to the 
 churches where the old, forlorn Presbyterian mi- 
 nisters continued their ministry, sometimes to 
 share of the family exercises of the younger 
 ministers, who were ousted, but sojourned among 
 them ; and sometimes the multitude that came 
 to partake of the family exercises, increased 
 so, that the minister was constrained to preach 
 without, and at length to go to the open fields, 
 which was the cause and original of field-meet- 
 ings in Scotland, which made so great a noise. 
 The first who began to preach in the fields were 
 Mr. John Welsh and Mr. Gabriel Semple, and 
 were, indeed, because of their painfulness and
 
 270 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 boldness, in no small respect among the common 
 people ; but partly because of the deep disdain 
 the people bore to the curates, partly because of 
 their scandals and insufficiency, and partly be- 
 cause of the admonitions some of the ministers 
 gave the people to be constant in the good old 
 way of the Church of Scotland, and to beware of 
 false teachers coming among them, very many of 
 the people refused to hear the curates, after they 
 were settled in their pulpits ; and the first fruits 
 of their ministry was scattering of their flocks. 
 And now sprung up the lamentable question of 
 hearing the perjured curates ; and though very 
 many agreed in the conclusion of forbearing 
 to hear, yet great was the difference in the rea- 
 sons for which people did forbear; for some 
 forbore because they believed their ministers to 
 be null and altogether illegal, either because the 
 bishops were illegal and null in law, or because 
 they had fallen from their office by the transgres- 
 sion of their clamorous perjury. Some refused 
 to hear, because they believed they had no call 
 to such a particular congregation, and that for- 
 bearing to hear was a proper testimony against 
 their intrusion. Some would not hear, because 
 they thought them so profane, that they were not 
 for ane honest man's company, much less to be 
 acknowledged ministers. And some forbore to 
 hear them, to shun the offence of poor, honest
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 271 
 
 people. However, the first fruit of the scruple 
 was empty churches ; and thereafter perse- 
 cution, till many were compelled to do that 
 against their profession, which they declared 
 was altogether against their conscience ; but 
 this was a lasting temptation to poor Scot- 
 land." * 
 
 On the 24th of March, the Earl of Glencairn, 
 lord high chancellor, wrote, by order of the council, 
 a circular letter to all the bishops, warning them 
 of the machinations of Jesuits and seminary 
 priests, who were taking advantage of the re- 
 ligious dissensions, to beguile many unstable 
 souls. Dissensions and divisions among Protest- 
 ants have always been fomented by the Jesuits, 
 for the purpose of making converts to the idola- 
 trous and apostate Church of Rome. If, there- 
 fore, it were for no other purpose than self- 
 defence against that insidious foe, unity among 
 Protestants would be a most desirable consumma- 
 tion. Of the same date, the chancellor wrote to 
 Sir James Turner, who commanded in the west 
 country, to report all those who kept and fre- 
 quented field conventicles. This measure was 
 rendered necessary, by information received by 
 letter, " from a sure hand," that several meetings 
 had been held, which tended to the disturbance 
 of the public peace. Wodrow cannot omit this 
 
 * Kirkton's History, pp. 163, 164.
 
 272 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 opportunity of bearing false witness against Arch- 
 bishop Fairfowl, and altogether without the 
 shadow of any other proof than a very probably. 
 " Very probably" says he, " this letter," con- 
 taining information of the seditious meetings, 
 " was from the Archbishop of Glasgow ; and it 
 shows how ready the council were to serve the 
 prelates, when upon one letter from them, or 
 others, they straight appoint such a committee as 
 this."* That this letter was from the archbishop 
 is altogether supposititious ; yet a grave accusa- 
 tion is laid against him, which, although resting 
 only on a " very probably '," is yet intended to con- 
 vey the certainty of truth. The council, however, 
 were not serving the prelates, but their sove- 
 reign, and keeping his peace, in conformity with 
 their bounden duty, when they took measures on 
 certain information and from " a sure hand," who- 
 ever he might be, for the informant is not named, 
 to prevent midnight-meetings of the disaffected. 
 But Wodrow had to make out a case, and he has 
 hitherto succeeded to admiration, on no better 
 foundation than the above " very probably" it 
 was the archbishop " or others," who gave the 
 information ; but if the information was conveyed 
 by that or any other prelate, they were only 
 doing their duty to the powers that were. 
 
 Parliament met on the 18th of June: as be- 
 
 Vol. i. p. 340.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 273 
 
 fore mentioned, Middleton yielded to the greater 
 influence of Lauderdale, at whose recommenda- 
 tion the Earl of Rothes, the king's favourite, 
 was sent down as royal commissioner to this 
 session of parliament ; Lauderdale also came 
 down as prime minister, and brought a full pardon 
 for Archibald Campbell, Lord Lorn, and his resto- 
 ration to the earldom of Argyle, which his father 
 had forfeited by his treason and rebellion. In 
 this session it was enacted, that all the ministers 
 who refused to attend the diocesan synods, or 
 any other act of church-discipline, shall, for the 
 first fault, be suspended by the bishop, and for 
 the next, be deprived. Another provided that 
 noblemen and heritors, who wilfully and ob- 
 stinately absent themselves from their parish 
 churches, shall lose a fourth part of that year's 
 rent in which they are accused : yeomen, the 
 fourth part of their moveables ; burgesses, the 
 same, together with their freedom of the town in 
 which they live. A third act required all persons 
 in public offices to subscribe the oath of alle- 
 giance. For refusing this oath Earl Crawford 
 was deprived of the office of treasurer, and Sir 
 James Dundas of Arniston, of his seat in the 
 court of session. It was likewise enacted, that 
 there should be a general assembly constituted. 
 
 It was determined that this national synod should 
 consist of the archbishops and bishops, deans,
 
 274 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 archdeacons, and permanent moderators, and one 
 minister from each Presbytery, chosen by the 
 plurality of voices; and two from each of the 
 universities. These were to treat only of such 
 particulars as shall be laid before them by the 
 Archbishop of St. Andrews, president or mode- 
 rator of the synod, and determined by the ma- 
 jority; " and this synod thus constitute is to 
 meet at such times and places as his majesty, by 
 his proclamation, shall appoint ; and is to debate, 
 treat, consider, consult, conclude, and determine 
 upon such pious matters, causes, and things, 
 concerning the doctrine, worship, discipline, and 
 government of this church, as his majesty shall, 
 from time to time, under his royal hand, deliver, 
 or cause to be delivered to the Archbishop of 
 St. Andrews, president of the said national as- 
 sembly, to be by him offered for their considera- 
 tion. ' This constitution is sufficiently demo- 
 cratic, and places the inferior clergy on a level, 
 in point of voting, with the higher dignitaries of 
 the church. It is not, therefore, surprising, that 
 Archbishop Sharp was always opposed to the 
 meeting of such a general assembly ; but it is as- 
 tonishing to find Kirkton complaining of this con- 
 stitution on this very ground. " When I observe, 
 contrary to the fundamentals of Episcopal go- 
 vernment, which lodgeth the power of jurisdiction 
 in the hands of the bishops alone, the meanest
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 275 
 
 Presbyter is allowed equal authority with the 
 metropolitan himself, wholly contraire to the con- 
 stitution of their diocesan meeting, where the 
 Presbyters had only a consultative vote, and no 
 more ; but let them agree about this, for such 
 ane assembly as this Scotland never saw."* 
 
 On the 13th of August parliament passed 
 what has been termed " The Scots Mile Act :" 
 it narrated that several ministers intruded into 
 parishes, and preached, &c., drawing away the 
 people from their own ministers, and keeping dis- 
 orderly conventicles. These were, therefore, com- 
 manded to remove themselves and families within 
 twenty days, and not to reside within twenty miles 
 of the same, nor within six miles of Edinburgh, 
 or of any cathedral church, nor within three 
 miles of any royal burgh. This is certainly a 
 harsh law, and subversive of the liberty of the 
 subject ; but the government were driven to the 
 commission of intolerance by the Covenanters 
 themselves, whom no severity could repress, nor 
 kindness conciliate. 
 
 The following remarks, by a distinguished 
 lawyer and member of the privy council, will 
 convey some idea of the state of the king- 
 dom and its governors at that time : " Whatever 
 might be said against such acts in countries where 
 
 * Kirkton's Hist. pp. 167, 168. 
 
 T2
 
 276 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 dissenters never entered into war, yet in this isle, 
 where they, upon the same principles, overturned 
 the government and laws, and were upon every 
 occasion again attempting it, so small a caution 
 cannot be accounted severe. This caution was 
 much more just in Scotland than even in Eng- 
 land, because the dissenters in Scotland were 
 more bigoted to the Covenant, which is a 
 constant fund for rebellion. The posterior acts 
 made against field-conventicles, were the neces- 
 sary product of new accessional acts of rebellion ; 
 and were not punishments designed against opi- 
 nions in religion, but merely against treason- 
 able combinations, which exceeded what was 
 attempted in England or elsewhere ; and the 
 government (for the time) can truly and boldly 
 say, that 710 man in Scotland suffered for his 
 religion. But if any will pretend that religion 
 obliges him to rise in arms, or to commit murder, 
 this principle ought neither to be sanctioned as 
 a defence, nor the obviating of it to be a crime : 
 and as the Covenanters laughed at such a 
 defence, when proposed for them who assisted 
 King Charles I. merely for conscience sake, so 
 they cannot deny but they zealously pressed Sir 
 John Dalrymple, then (king's) advocate, to hang 
 Mr. Renwick a field- preacher, for field-preach- 
 ing, where some of his hearers were armed, 
 because he was like to divide their church. After 
 they got an indulgence from King James, against
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 277 
 
 the accepting thereof, Renwick and his party 
 exclaimed loudly ; and that so much the more 
 plausibly, for that many of them who now ac- 
 cepted an indulgence from a king (James) pro- 
 fessedly popish, had rejected and preached against 
 those who accepted of one, when offered by a 
 king (Charles) of the Protestant profession. I 
 must also ask them, if any should now rise in 
 arms,* in defence of Episcopacy, and allege con- 
 science for so doing, would they sustain that as a 
 just defence ? Whenever any man offered to 
 keep the church, former fines were generally 
 remitted, if timely application was made ; and 
 now more indulgences and indemnities were 
 granted by this king (Charles II.) than by any 
 that ever reigned ; and generally, no man was 
 executed in this reign, who would say, God 
 bless the king ! or acknowledge his authority ; 
 an unusual clemency, never shown in any other 
 nation, and such as was not practised by those who 
 now cry out against the sincerity of that govern- 
 ment."! 
 
 Early in November parliament was dissolved 
 by the commissioner. The riding afterwards was 
 
 * The Vindication was written subsequent to the Revolu- 
 tion, at which time the Episcopal clergy were turned out of 
 their livings by a lawless rabble ; and at the time when Sir 
 George wrote, were suffering very severe privations. 
 
 t Sir G. M'Kenzie's Vindication, works, fol. vol. ii. p. 343.
 
 278 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 very magnificent ; but during the procession 
 Archbishop Fairfowl caught cold, which was 
 succeeded by inflammation. He died on the llth, 
 and his body was laid out in St. Giles's cathedral, 
 where Mr. Hay, parson of Peebles, preached a 
 funeral sermon. The bells of the city tolled from 
 four till five in the afternoon ; and his body was 
 conveyed in a hearse to Holyrood-house, and 
 interred among the illustrious dead in the chapel- 
 royal. The funeral was attended by the nobility 
 and gentry then in town, the lord provost and 
 magistrates, the lords of session in coaches, and 
 many of inferior note on foot. The body was 
 preceded by trumpets sounding, two heralds and 
 two pursuivants in their tabrets, and a number of 
 torches. The lord chancellor, with purse and 
 mace ; the Archbishop of St. Andrews, and other 
 bishops in coaches followed.* Bishop Alexander 
 Burnet was translated from Aberdeen to Glasgow, 
 immediately after the death of Dr. Fairfowl, and 
 Bishop Burnet was succeeded by Patrick Scougal, 
 parson of Saltoun, in East Lothian. He was the 
 son of Sir John Scougal, of that ilk, and the 
 father of Henry Scougal, author of the excellent 
 little work, " The Life of God in the Soul of 
 Man."f In speaking of the death of Archbishop 
 
 * Wodrow. 
 
 t Keith's Catalogue of Scottish Bishops.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 279 
 
 Fairfowl, Kirkton shows the envenomed spite 
 with which he was actuated against the Episcopal 
 order. It ia too beastly to transcribe entirely ; 
 but the following sentence is a specimen of the 
 author's unchristian feelings : " The commis- 
 sioner and all the estates rode from the palace to 
 the parliament-house, in triumph and grandeur ; 
 and among the rest, the loathsome Archbishop 
 Fairfowl finished his stinking office of bishop : 
 '' * so he was forced to rise and go home 
 a footman as he came a horseman, so he made 
 but the half of this miserable triumph ; and after 
 he was got home he would never believe the 
 physician, who assured him death was at hand : 
 he died by surprisal and undesired, perishing like 
 his own dung !"* Wodrow is no ways inferior 
 to Kirkton in blackening this prelate's memory. 
 He says, " That Archbishop Fairfowl was my 
 Lord Hollo's chaplain, and my Lord Colvin from 
 them my relator had that he and some others 
 were commending him for a smart man. ' Yes,' 
 says Rollo, ' he has learning and sharpness 
 enough ; but he has no more sanctification than 
 my grey-horse.' That the archbishop used to go 
 out to a gentleman's house near St. Andrews, and 
 there all the Sabbath play at cards and drink. 
 
 * Kirkton's History, p. 177.
 
 280 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 One day one of the servants came into the room : 
 * Have you been at sermon,' said the archbishop ? 
 ' Yes,' say he: ' Where was the text?' ' Remem- 
 ber the Sabbath-day to keep it holy.' "* These 
 extracts partake so much of the malignity of their 
 authors, that comment is unnecessary. In fact, 
 they defeat their own evil intention by the obvious 
 and premeditated falsehoods which they detail on 
 mere hearsay, without a shadow of proof or even 
 probability. It is doubtful whether the slander 
 respecting the drinking and gaming on Sunday 
 is meant to sully the character of the Archbishop 
 of St. Andrews or Glasgow. In either case, 
 however, it is a very unlikely story ; and indeed 
 Kirkton admits that much of which the bishops 
 and clergy were accused were mere fabrications 
 for party purposes. " If," says he, " you ask what 
 sort of men they (the bishops) were, I cannot but 
 say, though they were very bad, yet the country 
 made them LARGE as wicked as they were." 
 Sydserf, bishop of Orkney, died on the 29th of 
 September this year. He was the last bishop of the 
 Spottiswoodian line ; and the only one who sur- 
 vived the grand rebellion. Keith says " he was 
 a worthy and learned prelate." He was succeeded 
 in that see by Andrew Honyman, Archdeacon of 
 
 * Wodrow's Analecta, MSS. vol. i. p. 76.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 281 
 
 St. Andrews, and author of the " Seasonable 
 Case," and " Survey of Napthali." 
 
 Ascension-day fell this year on the 28th of 
 May, and Nicol says, it was religiously kept in 
 Edinburgh, and most other parts of the kingdom. 
 Upon the 29th, which was the king's birth-day 
 and the anniversary of the king's Restoration, he 
 continues " was a solemn thanksgiving for his 
 majesty's restoration to the royal government of 
 his kingdoms, and a day for the commemoration 
 of his birth ; being a day honoured and rendered 
 auspicious to this kingdom by his majesty's royal 
 birth upon that day of the month. This day was 
 universally kept and set apart as a holiday unto 
 the Lord in all the churches in Scotland, and 
 especially in Edinburgh, and in all the churches 
 thereof, before noon. And after dinner all tokens 
 of joy and thanksgiving was given by the town, 
 in busking of their cross with green branches, 
 running of wine from their spouts; the magis- 
 trates being upon the cross, they drank merrily 
 and brake their glasses, threw them and their 
 sweetmeats and comfits upon the High-street ; 
 erected a large scaffold upon the east- side of the 
 cross, whereon there were placed six dancers ; all 
 this time the viols playing, the drums beating, the 
 bells ringing, and the trumpets sounding, and the 
 cannons roaring; with numbers of people through 
 all the streets, dancing about the fires, both men
 
 282 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 and women. There was nothing lacking to make 
 this day honourable."* 
 
 1664. After accusing the Episcopal clergy of 
 the most foul and loathsome crimes, upon no 
 better foundation than common report, invented 
 and propagated by his own party, Kirkton next 
 attacks Gilbert Burnet, whom he accuses of being 
 an Arminian, a Papist, and a Socinian ; " but he 
 professes himself a man of that high strain of 
 moderation and charity, that he has a bosom for 
 every sect that wears the name of Christian, 
 except only ane unpardonable dissenter from his 
 church. Yet he was thought fit to be a father in 
 our church, and placed in Glasgow College, to 
 breed our young divines; and what a fry his 
 young disciples were, the Lord knows better 
 than the godly people of Scotland, who refused 
 to hear them or own them. v f This is a base 
 calumny against the Bishop of Sarum, invented 
 because he taught anti-Calvinistic doctrines. In- 
 deed, we are told by Kirkton himself, that the 
 established Episcopal clergy studied chiefly the 
 works of Hammond, Thorndyke, Sherlock, and 
 Taylor.^ They had repudiated the Dutch divi- 
 nity, and neither followed the erroneous systems 
 of Calvin nor Arminius ; but took the Scriptures 
 and the purest antiquity for their guides. 
 
 * Nicol's Diary, p. 391. f Kirkton, p. 193. 
 J Ib. p. 191.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 283 
 
 The following letter from the king was directed 
 to Bishops Hamilton and Wishart, and shows 
 the warm interest which he seems, notwithstand- 
 ing his levities, to have taken in the settlement 
 and welfare of the Church of Scotland : 
 
 " CHARLES R. 
 
 " Right reverend fathers in God, our trustie and well- 
 beloved, we greet you well. Having received from the 
 Archbishop of St. Andrews ane account of the state and con- 
 dition of the Church of Scotland, we have thought fit to tell 
 you, that we take special notice of your concurring in our 
 parliament and in your particular stations, for the furtherance 
 of our service ; and as we do expect that by your conformity 
 in your church administrations, and your vigorous and unani- 
 mous endeavours in that subordination to which, by the rules 
 of your order, you are bound, you will discharge the trust 
 committed to you, for the good of that church and our service 
 therein ; so you may be confident of our princely protection 
 and encouragement, and that we will be careful to employ 
 our royal power for removing these distempers, which the 
 disorders of these late times have created, and preventing and 
 remedying these evils which you apprehend to be prejudicial 
 and obstructive to your pious and lawful designs. 
 
 ' For the further settlement and weal of the church, we 
 have commanded the Archbishop of St. Andrews and the 
 Bishop of Aberdeen (whom we have presented to the arch- 
 bishopric of Glasgow) to acquaint you that we have granted 
 a commission to be passed under our great seal to persons of 
 known affection to our service, for a speedy impartial execu- 
 tion of the good laws made in behalf of church-government, 
 and for preventing and suppressing schisms, which we are 
 hopeful will prove the most effectual expedient for crushing
 
 284 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 the disobedience and opposition of those who are disaffected 
 to our authority, and the lawful government of the church. 
 
 " We have also given instructions to be communicated to 
 you for preparing overtures to be offered to its, for a previous 
 facilitating of the work of the national synod, constitute 
 according to the late act of parliament, which we are resolved 
 to call as soon as we can, promising to ourself by the blessing 
 of God. The result of that synod may most probably con- 
 duce for the settlement and security of that church, in its 
 doctrine, discipline, and worship. 
 
 " We have also ordered the planting of the vacant sees of 
 Aberdeen and Orkney, with persons of known worth and 
 abilities : and have moreover commanded, that it shall be 
 signified to you with how much satisfaction and content we 
 do take notice of the late act of parliament for the better pro- 
 vision of universities ; and that we do commend your exemplary 
 piety and zeal for the public good of church and state, which 
 is visibly concerned in the flourishing of these seminaries of 
 religion and good education in learning and virtue. 
 
 " As we do give you our hearty thanks for so good a work, 
 and so beseeming your profession, so we do signify our express 
 pleasure that you use your utmost endeavours for perfecting 
 and rendering the same effectual, according to the intent of 
 the act; and for this end, that you intimate our pleasure to 
 the ministers in their respective dioceses, and appoint col- 
 lectors, and give to your respective provincials complete rolls 
 of the valued benefices and stipends betwixt and the 10th of 
 August next, and that you take care that the several propor- 
 tions be payed in against the 1st of February, 1665, according 
 to the tenor of the act. In this you are not to fail, as you 
 would do us acceptable service : and we shall not be wanting 
 both to contribute ourselves, and to invite and persuade others, 
 our good subjects, to imitate so laudable ane example for 
 promoting so universal and public good.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 285 
 
 " In order to which we have granted a commission to 
 several persons to join with the respective chancellors for 
 visiting the said universities and regulating the professions 
 therein, and disposing the relief and supplies of the mean and 
 incompetent maintenance of professors and governors in the 
 several colleges as they shall be proportioned by us. Thus 
 remitting what else we have instructed the Archbishop of St. 
 Andrews, for promoting our service to his relations, we bid 
 you heartily farewell. 
 
 " Given at our court at Whitehall, the 12th of January, 
 1663-4, and of our reign the fifteenth year. 
 
 " By his majesty's special command, 
 
 " Lauderdale." 
 " Directed to the Right Reverend 
 
 Fathers-in-God, the Bishops of 
 
 Edinburgh and Galloway." 
 
 These two learned prelates immediately com- 
 menced the examination which his majesty recom- 
 mended, with the greatest diligence and exactness. 
 They enquired particularly into the state and 
 condition of the church, and especially into any 
 disorder into which any part might have fallen, 
 through neglect or otherwise. They also made 
 the most rigorous inquisition into the conduct of 
 the managers and masters, and also into the pro- 
 visions of the universities, where it seems they 
 found little, - " save blind, irrational zeal and 
 bigotry." The old Covenanting leven had not 
 been purged out of these seats of learning. On 
 these different topics they drew up a plain 
 and faithful report, which was laid before his 
 majesty by Archbishop Sharp, and with which
 
 286 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 he was so much pleased that he wrote a very 
 gracious answer to each clause specifically ; 
 assuring them and the other prelates, who had 
 also rendered them great assistance, " That their 
 concurring with his parliament, and their unifor- 
 mity in (the) church might make them have a 
 confident assurance of his princely protection. 
 
 " That for removing the distempers which the 
 disorders of the late times had created, now 
 obstructive to their pious designs, his royal power 
 should be employed. 
 
 " That the vacancy in the sees for their further 
 support should be filled up. 
 
 " That schism and disobedience to the lawful 
 government of the church should be tried by 
 commissioners under the great seal. 
 
 " And lastly, with how much satisfaction and 
 content his majesty takes notice of their concern 
 in the universities, by procuring the additional 
 act, with his hearty thanks for so good a work 
 beseeming their profession, for which his majesty 
 gives directions with this promise both to con- 
 tribute himself, invite and persuade others, and 
 also to grant a commission for visiting the 
 said universities, and regulating the professions 
 therein."* 
 
 * Account of the Familie of Hamilton, of Broomhill. 4to. 
 pp. 56 to 59. Published by the Bannatyne Club. James
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 287 
 
 Early in the spring of this year Archbishop 
 Sharp went to court, and presented the report of 
 the Bishops of Edinburgh and Galloway, on the 
 state of the church and the universities, to the 
 king. Burnet and others do not scruple to allege 
 that in undertaking this journey he was actuated 
 by the most unworthy motives, and the most 
 persecuting intentions. But as Burnet had con- 
 ceived an implacable resentment against Arch- 
 bishop Sharp, on account of his repressing his 
 presumption in urging upon him his unasked 
 opinion and advice ; or, as he says himself, 
 "despising his advice;" we must not always 
 take his opinion without duly weighing it. He 
 broadly states, that the sole object of the arch- 
 bishop's journey was to complain of Lord Glen- 
 cairne the chancellor, in particular, and the 
 whole privy council in general, and to per- 
 suade the king to erect a court of high-com- 
 mission. Charles certainly did erect that court, 
 but there is no other evidence than Burnet's 
 insinuations that he was prompted by the advice 
 of the archbishop; and as Charles seems to have 
 been actuated by the most sincere intentions in 
 supporting the Scottish church, we may conclude 
 
 Hamilton, Bishop of Galloway, was the second son of Sir 
 James Hamilton, Bart, of Broomhill, whose eldest son, Sir 
 John Hamilton, was created Lord Belhaven, by Charles I.
 
 288 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 that its erection was with the best, though mis- 
 taken intentions. 
 
 That court was to judge and decide in all 
 ecclesiastical offences. Its proper jurisdiction 
 was to execute all the acts of parliament and of 
 the privy council, which were directed towards the 
 preservation of the peace and unity of the church. 
 By this means, ecclesiastical affairs were entirely 
 removed from the hands of the privy council, and 
 placed in those of the bishops. The powers of 
 this court were inquisitorial and independent ; 
 and its members were authorized, " to take 
 cognizance of, and punish all offenders who went 
 about corrupting and disaffecting people from 
 their allegiance, respect, and obedience to the 
 laws, and all who expressed their dissatisfaction 
 to his majesty's authority by contravening acts of 
 parliament or council in relation to church affairs." 
 The members of this court consisted of the two 
 archbishops, the other bishops, the lord chancel- 
 lor, and a considerable number of nobility and 
 gentry. Five members were a quorum, of whom 
 a bishop must always be one. The danger arising 
 from so arbitrary and unlimited a jurisdiction 
 was foreseen by many ; and an open breach en- 
 sued between the archbishop and the lord chan- 
 cellor in consequence. Burnet says, Lauderdale 
 foresaw the inconvenience of this court ; " but 
 gave way to it, though much against his own
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 289 
 
 mind." " Upon these things I took the liberty," 
 he continues, " though then too young to meddle 
 in things of that kind, to expostulate very freely 
 with him. I thought he was acting the Earl of 
 Traquair's part, giving way to all the follies of 
 the bishops on design to ruin them. He, upon 
 that, ran into a great deal of freedom with me ; 
 he told me many passages of Sharp's past life ; 
 he was persuaded he would ruin all ; but he said, 
 he was resolved to give him line, for he had not 
 credit enough to stop him, nor would he oppose 
 any thing that he proposed, unless it were very 
 extravagant. He saw the Earl of Glencairn, and 
 he would be in a perpetual war, and it was in- 
 different to him how matters might go between 
 them ; things would run to a height, and then the 
 king would of himself put a stop to their career. 
 For the king said often, he was not priest-ridden ; 
 he would not venture a war, nor travel again for 
 any party. This was all that I could obtain from 
 the Earl of Lauderdale. I pressed Sharp himself 
 to think of more moderate methods ; but he 
 despised my applications, and from that time he 
 was very jealous of me."* Burnet professes him- 
 self too young to address Lauderdale on affairs 
 of state, for the sake merely of ascertaining his 
 opinion; but he thinks himself old enough to 
 
 * Own Times, vol. i. pp. 301, 302. 
 
 U
 
 290 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 press the archbishop with gratuitous advice This 
 arbitrary and unconstitutional court did not exist 
 long. Finding that it rather irritated than re- 
 claimed the dissentients, Charles recalled his 
 commission about two years afterwards, and the 
 court ceased for ever. 
 
 In former times the archbishop of St. Andrews 
 always had the precedence of all the nobility and 
 officers of state ; but during the rebellion, and 
 after the Restoration, the privileges belonging to 
 that office had been overlooked. Charles there- 
 fore was pleased of his own accord, and without 
 any solicitation, to restore the archbishop to his 
 proper place by his letters-patent; and he was 
 directed to take precedence at the privy council, 
 and in all public meetings and processions, of 
 the lord chancellor and all other subjects. The 
 following is a copy of the king's letter : 
 
 " Whereas our royal father of blessed memory, by his letter 
 dated at Wanstead, 12th July, 1636, did signify to his privy 
 council, that having considered, according to the custom of all 
 civil and Christian kingdoms, what place and dignity is due 
 unto the church, the precedency of whose chief ruler should 
 procure more respect thereunto ; to the end that the Arch- 
 bishop of St. Andrews, primate and metropolitan of that our 
 kingdom, may enjoy the privileges belonging to his place, 
 we were pleased to name him first in the commission of our 
 secret council : and our pleasure is, that he have the first place 
 both at our council and at all other public meetings, before 
 our chancellor and all other our subjects within that our king-
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 291 
 
 dom ; as one from the eminency of whose place we will have 
 none in any way to derogate : [but shall ever contribute what 
 we can] for the advancement thereof, in so far as is lawful 
 and expedient. And we being also desirous to maintain the 
 honour of the church and that dignity in the person of the 
 Archbishop of St. Andrews, and his successors, have thought 
 fit to renew our blessed father's command, and to the end it 
 may be punctually observed, we command you to registrate 
 this our letter in the books of our council, and so we bid you 
 heartily farewell. Given, &c., 16th January, 1664." 
 
 The calumniators of the primate do not agree 
 respecting the spring and source of this renewal 
 of his precedency. Burnet says that the arch- 
 bishop himself " moved that a letter might be 
 writ, giving him the precedence of the lord chan- 
 cellor. This was thought an inexcusable piece 
 of vanity ; for in Scotland, when there was no 
 commissioner, all matters passed through the lord 
 chancellor's hands, who, by act of parliament, was 
 to preside in all courts, and was considered as 
 representing the king's person."* Here Burnet 
 accuses the primate of having solicited the pre- 
 cedence; but Wodrow, on the other hand, in- 
 sinuates that it was a carrying out of Lauderdale's 
 threat of striking Episcopacy under the fifth rib 
 that is for the purpose of entirely ruining it. 
 He says " that Lauderdale in order to bring 
 hatred on the bishops, procured a letter from the 
 
 * Own Times, vol. i. p. 301. 
 
 u 2
 
 292 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 king, ordering that the archbishop of St. Andrews 
 should take place of all the officers of state, even 
 the chancellor himself, that thus, as the letter 
 bore, the king might show such thankfulness to 
 God for his restoration, by putting such honour 
 on the first order of the church."* Lord Foun- 
 tainhall says, that " Archbishop Sharp had such 
 a letter, but never made use of it." The chan- 
 cellor was much mortified at the precedence given 
 to the primate ; but he did not survive the 
 diminution of his rank many months. He died 
 on the 30th of May.| 
 
 About the same time that Johnston of Warris- 
 ton suffered this year, great ferments broke out 
 in the south and west of Scotland, especially at 
 Dumfries and Kircudbright, but without blood- 
 shed. Sir James Turner commanded a few soldiers 
 which were maintained in the disturbed districts, 
 and easily restored order. The character of this 
 rough soldier, as given by his enemies, is, that he 
 " was a tool to their (the privy council's) mind ; 
 a stranger in the country, being an Englishman, 
 bred to plunder and rapine in the service of the 
 French, perfectly void of the fear of God or 
 man, and unacquainted either with religion or 
 
 * Analecta, vol. i. p. 27. 
 
 f Fountainhall's Decisions, vol. i. p. 184, cited by Kirk- 
 patrick Sharp, esq. ; note to Kirkton's History, p. 203.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 293 
 
 humanity."* De Foe might have added, that he 
 was also bred to the shedding of blood under the 
 blood-stained Covenant. After the partial show 
 of disaffection in the south, Sir James was ordered 
 to billet his men at free-quarters on the dis- 
 affected to receive and transmit informations 
 and to levy fines without any legal process. 
 Living at free-quarters, his soldiers are accused 
 of having been guilty of great rapacity ; never- 
 theless he afterwards proved that his harshness 
 and severity fell short of his instructions. 
 
 On Friday, 16th of April, the Court of High 
 Commission met at Edinburgh ; in which meet- 
 ing the Declaration concerning Church Govern- 
 ment, of Mr. James Wood, Professor of Divinity 
 at St. Andrews, was condemned to be burnt by 
 the hands of the common hangman. It is pain- 
 ful to reflect on the harsh steps which were 
 adopted to compel the Covenanters to refrain 
 from their lawless practices ; but, on the other 
 hand, we cannot approve of men, who set divine 
 and human laws at defiance, as the Covenanters 
 did. We are commanded to " submit ourselves to 
 every ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake : 
 whether it be to the king as supreme ; or unto 
 governors, as unto them that are sent by him for 
 the punishment of evil doers, and for the praise 
 
 De Foe's Memoirs of the Church of Scotland, p. ICO.
 
 294 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 of them that do well."* On the 22d, the privy 
 council issued two proclamations. One was for 
 the recal of Buchanan's book, De jure Regni 
 apud Scotos : the other discharging the collect- 
 ing and distributing money to dissenting and 
 disaffected ministers. This year his majesty's 
 birth-day fell on the high festival of Whitsunday, 
 " a remarkable day ; whereon was made in every 
 kirk of Edinburgh three several sermons that 
 day, in commemoration of the Pentecost wherein 
 the Holy Spirit was sent down upon Christ's 
 apostles ; this day wherein the solemnity was 
 used for the king's birth was the full moon, even 
 at the very solemnity, after four hours in the 
 afternoon ; and this day the Lord sent down a 
 gracious rain for nourishing the corns, which 
 were parched with drought a long time before, "f 
 These artless remarks of Mr. Nicols, clearly 
 prove that the festivals of the church were 
 solemnly observed by the Established Church 
 in Scotland, in the same manner as other 
 Christian churches celebrate them. He is an 
 unexceptionable witness, for he had no party 
 to serve either way by recording these simple 
 facts. 
 
 The Earl of Crawford resigned the office of 
 treasurer, and the Earl of Rothes was appointed 
 
 * 1 Peter, ii. 13, 14. f Nicol's Diary, p. 413.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 295 
 
 his successor. The Earl of Tweedale was made 
 president of the council. Lauderdale's brother, 
 the Lord Hatton, and the two archbishops, were 
 made privy counsellors. Burnet says, that on the 
 death of the Chancellor Glencairn, Archbishop 
 Sharp " hastened up to court, and was coldly 
 received," for the purpose of securing the seals 
 for himself. But Nicol, whose advice the arch- 
 bishop had not despised, and consequently had no 
 dislike to him, asserts, that the king commanded 
 both the archbishop and the Earl of Rothes to 
 repair to court. In consequence, both these 
 distinguished individuals went to London, when 
 Rothes was invested with the offices of lord 
 chancellor and lord high-commissioner.* Bur- 
 net, ever ready to show that aversion which the 
 primate's rejection of his unasked advice had 
 excited, accuses the archbishop of aspiring to the 
 office of chancellor himself. The judicious reader 
 will judge for himself how far Burnet's relation 
 is agreeable to truth : it is rather long, but 
 cannot well be curtailed. 
 
 " The death of Glencairn put the primate on new designs. 
 He apprehended that the Earl of Tweedale might be advanced 
 to that post, for in the settlement of the Duchess of Buc- 
 eleugh's estate, who was married to the Duke of Monmouth, 
 the best beloved of the king's children, by which, in default of 
 
 * NicoPs Diary, p. 421.
 
 296 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 issue by her, it was to go to the Duke of Monmouth, and the 
 issue he might have by any other wife ; the Earl of Tweedale, 
 though his children were the next heirs, who were by this 
 deprived of their right, had yet given way to it in so frank a 
 manner, that the king was enough inclined both to oblige and 
 to trust him. But Sharp had great suspicions of him as cold 
 in their concerns; so he writ to Sheldon, that upon the dis- 
 posal of the seals, the very being of the church did so abso- 
 lutely depend, that he begged he would press the king very 
 earnestly in the matter, and that he would move that he might 
 be called up before that post might be filled. The king bid 
 Sheldon assure him, he should take especial care of that 
 matter, but that there was no occasion for his coming up ; for 
 the king by this time had a very ill opinion of him. Sharp 
 was so mortified with this, that he resolved to put all to 
 hazard, for he believed all was at stake, and he ventured to 
 come up. The king received him coldly, and asked him if 
 he had not received the Archbishop of Canterbury's letter. 
 He said he had, but he would choose rather to venture on his 
 majesty's displeasure, than to see the church ruined by his 
 (own) caution or negligence. He knew the danger they 
 were in in Scotland, where they had but few and cold friends, 
 and many violent enemies. His majesty's protection and the 
 execution of the law were the only things they could trust to ; 
 and these so much depended on the good choice of a chan- 
 cellor, that he could not answer it to God and the church if 
 he did not bestir himself in that matter. He knew many 
 thought of him for that post, but he was so far from that 
 thought, that if his majesty had any such intention, he would 
 rather choose to be sent to a plantation. He desired that he 
 might be a churchman in heart, but not in habit, who should 
 be raised to that trust. These were his very words as the 
 king repeated them. From him he went to Sheldon, and 
 pressed him to move the king for himself, and furnished him
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 97 
 
 with many reasons to support the proposition, a main one 
 being, that the late king had raised his predecessor, Spottis- 
 wood, to that trust. Sheldon upon that did move the king 
 with more than ordinary earnestness in it. The kino- sus- 
 pected Sharp had set him on, and charged him to tell him the 
 truth. The other did it, though not without some uneasiness. 
 Upon that, the king told him what he (Sharp) had said to 
 himself; and then it may be easily imagined in what style 
 they both spoke of him. Yet Sheldon prayed the king that 
 whatsoever he might think of the man, he would consider the 
 archbishop and the church, which the king assured him lie 
 would do. Sheldon told Sharp that he saw the motion for 
 himself did not take, so he must think on somewhat else. 
 Sharp proposed, that the seals might be put in the Earl of 
 Rothes' hands, till the king should pitch on a proper person. 
 He also proposed that the king should make him his com- 
 missioner, in order to the preparing matters for a national 
 synod, that they might settle a book of Common Prayer, and 
 a Book of Canons. 
 
 " All this was easily agreed to, for the king loved the Lord 
 Rothes, and the Earl of Laudcrdale would not oppose his 
 advancement, though it was a very extravagant thing, to see 
 one man possess so many of the chief places of so poor a 
 kingdom. The Earl of Crawford would not abjure the 
 Covenant, so Rothes had been made lord treasurer in his 
 place ; he continued to be what he was before, lord president 
 of the council; and upon the Earl of Middleton's disgrace, 
 he was made captain of a troop of Guards ; and now he was 
 both the king's commissioner, and, upon the matter, lord 
 chancellor. Sharp reckoned this was his master-piece. 
 Lord Rothes being thus advanced by his means, was in all 
 things governed by him. His instructions were such, as 
 Sharp proposed, to prepare matters for a national synod ; and 
 in the meanwhile to execute the laws that related to the
 
 298 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 church with a steady firmness. So when they parted from 
 Whitehall, Sharp said to the king, that he had now done all 
 that could be desired of him for the good of the church, so 
 that if all matters went not right in Scotland, none must 
 bear the blame, but either the Earl of Lauderdale or Rothes ; 
 so they came to Scotland where a very furious scene of illegal 
 violence was opened. Sharp governed Lord Rothes, who 
 abandoned himself to pleasure; and when some censured this, 
 all the answer that was made, was a severe piece of raillery, 
 that the king's commissioner ought to represent his person,"* 
 that is, copy all his debauchery. 
 
 The above is Burnet's account ; but it does not 
 appear to correspond exactly. Although he 
 accuses the primate, without citing any authority, 
 of coveting the seals ; yet he makes him say, that 
 in the appointment of Rothes, the king " had 
 done all that could be desired of him for the 
 good of the church." In point of ambition, I fear 
 Burnet was not the man who could throw the 
 first stone at the primate. 
 
 This year the bishop of Dunkeld had been 
 obliged to depose Mr. Donaldson from the 
 ministry of the parish of Dalgetty, at the instance 
 of his synod. He informed him, that he had 
 absented himself causelessly, from five successive 
 synods in contravention of peremptory acts of 
 parliament that his brethren had exhibited great 
 reluctance to proceed against him that they met 
 
 * Burnet's Own Times, vol. i. pp. 305, 307.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 299 
 
 from him "obstinate and ungrate continuance in 
 his seditious and schismatic way" and that, at 
 the synod 4th of October, his brethren " did think 
 and vote him worthy of deposition from his minis- 
 terial function. Like as the bishop did, in the 
 name and by the authority of Jesus Christ and 
 in the name and with the consent of all his 
 brethren, actually at that time depose him." 
 Lord Dunfermline, then at London, procured a 
 warrant from the king, commanding Bishop Hali- 
 burton to restore him unconditionally to his 
 living. Another minister had been inducted into 
 this parish ; and in the mean time another order 
 came from court " discharging all outed ministers 
 to come back to their charges." It is impossible 
 to conceive that there could be peace in that 
 church when the nobility and the heads of the 
 church drew so ill together. The Archbishop of 
 Glasgow was also under the necessity of deposing 
 Mr. Robert Maxwell, minister of Monckton, at the 
 instance of the synod. The synod condemned him 
 because he " continued obstinate in refusing to 
 join with the rest of his brethren, to sit in presby- 
 tery and synods, for the exercise of discipline." 
 That he " refused to receive satisfaction when of- 
 fered by them, showing them positively, that he is 
 fully resolved not to submit" to the discipline of 
 the church. Therefore, the archbishop confirmed 
 the sentence of the Synod of Glasgow and Ayr.
 
 300 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 From the numerous acts of individual depo- 
 sition with which we meet, it cannot escape 
 observation, that the number of resignations 
 alleged to have taken place in consequence of 
 the Glasgow Act, must have been greatly ex- 
 aggerated. That a great many deserted their 
 churches and flocks, rather than ask presentation, 
 which the patrons dared not refuse, and accept 
 collation which would not have been enforced, 
 is but too melancholy a truth. But the numbers 
 who were individually deposed at different times, 
 show, that the Glasgow Act was not enforced by 
 authority, till the contumacy and turbulence of the 
 parties themselves compelled their own brethren in 
 their synods and presbyteries to depose them. Let 
 it be also remarked, that the bishops never acted 
 on their own sole authority ; but appear rather 
 to ratify and execute the decisions of their synods. 
 So that the clamour raised against the bishops 
 for arbitrary proceedings are really groundless. 
 The inferior clergy, irritated and disgusted with 
 the irreclaimable hostility of the Covenanting 
 ministers, were driven in self-defence to cite them 
 before their synods, and pass sentence of depo- 
 sition on them. That the multitude spoken of 
 by Kirkton and copied by Wodrow, did not 
 desert their churches in 1662, appears evident 
 from the last author's own words : " The 
 people," says he, " of the Presbyterian per-
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 3Q 1 
 
 suasion were now everywhere harrassed, and the 
 methods I hinted at in the former chapter con- 
 tinued. Every day the soldiers grew more and 
 more insolent at the churches where any old 
 Presbyterian ministers ventured to continue."" 
 If so many had deserted as they allege, there 
 could have been none who " ventured to continue 
 at their churches," and consequently none to 
 depose. But we meet with many depositions, 
 therefore the clamour raised about the desertions 
 after the Glasgow Act has been greatly exag- 
 gerated and magnified, for the purpose of serving 
 a party. 
 
 1665. Sir James Turner was kept in full 
 employment in the western counties, in suppress- 
 ing the seditious meetings of the Covenanters ; 
 and it cannot be said that he exercised his facul- 
 ties meekly. The Covenanters maintained a 
 treasonable correspondence at this time with the 
 Dutch, with whom Charles was at war. As a 
 ncessary measure of precaution, therefore, Turner, 
 by authority of the privy council, disarmed the 
 western Covenanters. There is little doubt that 
 the Covenanters were treasonably allied to the 
 disaffected in England and Holland. After the 
 rebellion, which was dissipated at Bothwell 
 Bridge, Guthrie remarks, " The amazing height 
 to which it (the rebellion) arrived in less than 
 fourteen days after the archbishop's murder,
 
 302 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 leaves no room to doubt, notwithstanding the 
 suggestions of Wodrow to the contrary, that it 
 was preconcerted, both with the disaffected in 
 England and the exiled Covenanters in Holland ; 
 for by the best accounts that have come to my hands, 
 the number on the day of battle amounted to 
 four thousand, great part of whom were horse."* 
 When the Covenanters were actuated with such a 
 rebellious spirit, and which broke out in three dis- 
 tinct rebellions, the complaints of their apologists 
 must not be admitted to their full extent ; and, 
 on the other hand, the government must be exon- 
 erated from the charge of cruelty and oppression 
 towards the Covenanters, with which it is so 
 clamorously accused. It is impossible to sup- 
 pose that any government would tamely look on 
 such seditious practices, without taking some 
 measures of precaution. Men may differ respect- 
 ing the judiciousness of the measures adopted, 
 but there can be no difference of opinion re- 
 specting the necessity of suppressing such a 
 spirit. It is not much for the credit of the Cove- 
 nanting ministers, to find that they were the 
 foremost to preach and teach disaffection to the 
 government, and that their field-preachings were 
 the rendezvous of armed rebels. 
 
 In May there was a general fast, on account 
 
 General Hist, of Scotland, vol. x. p. 192.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 3Q3 
 
 of the Dutch war. Wodrow records the conduct 
 of several ministers, especially a Mr. Fergusson, 
 " yet connived at in his church at Kilwinning." 
 This admission, with several depositions for con- 
 tumacy, which occurred this year, clearly prove 
 that the desertion was by no means so extensive 
 as Kirkton and Wodrow would have us believe. 
 Nay, Kirkton inadvertently admits, that many still 
 continued in their parish churches, without having 
 asked for presentation, or having been collated 
 according to law. " Another practice was common 
 among them, and that was, because the people 
 used to go and hear the Presbyterian ministers^ 
 who were not as yet turned out ; and the cursed 
 soldiers would run in troops to these churches ; 
 they enter the church, and interrupt the worship ; 
 they make the congregation pass out at one 
 door ; they make them all swear whether they be 
 members of that congregation yea or not." * 
 
 London was desolated by the plague this spring, 
 and in Scotland the winter was so severe, that 
 all ploughing and farm-work was stopped from 
 December till the middle of March, from long- 
 continued frost and snow. 
 
 In August there was a convention of estates, 
 by proclamation, for the purpose of raising money 
 to prosecute the Dutch war. Rothes being 
 
 * Kirkton's History, p. 200.
 
 304 LIFE AXD TIMES OF 
 
 chancellor, the Archbishop of St. Andrews was 
 chosen president of this convention, " and had a 
 long harangue to them ; and in his cold way, 
 urged, that the people might contribute willingly 
 and cheerfully for the king's service. The king's 
 commissioner was present, and could have de- 
 livered a speech of this nature with a far better 
 grace ; but it seems this was also for the honour 
 of the church, that a bishop should be at the head 
 of this convention."* " After all," says Guthrie, 
 " it is reasonable to think, that some correspond- 
 ence was kept up between the Presbyterians and 
 their friends, who had either been banished, or 
 had retired to Holland, which might have been 
 dangerous to the government. To prevent any 
 consequences of this kind, the commissioner this 
 year made a most pompous progress through all 
 the chief towns of the west, attended by the 
 king's guards ; and upon his return, fresh severi- 
 ties, as appears by the council-books, were in- 
 flicted upon the dissident Presbyterian clergy. 
 The acts against them left it doubtful, whether it 
 was safe for a landlord to admit them as tenants ; 
 and the Earl of Kelly, who was far from being 
 their friend, told Archbishop Burnet, ' that the 
 government ought tojmpose a badge upon them, 
 lest he should ignorantly let any of them a house 
 
 * Wodrow, vol. i. p. 424.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 305 
 
 or tenement, and thereby incur the lash of the 
 law.' "* 
 
 In October, Mathew Ramsay, of Kirkpatrick 
 Wester, and Robert Mitchel of Luss, were de- 
 posed. In November, the court of high-commis- 
 sion was demolished, and the privy council re- 
 sumed the executive. An act of council was 
 emitted, declaring, that " after a long and tender 
 forbearance, find it necessary their former acts, 
 23d of December 1662, and 13th of August 
 1663, be extended to all other ministers who en- 
 tered in before the year 1649, and have relin- 
 quished their ministry, and been deposed by their 
 ordinary, do charge, &c. such to remove them- 
 selves, and families, &c. out of these respective 
 parishes." There was likewise a proclamation 
 against conventicles. Kirkton admits, that at this 
 time the people willingly attended the churches : 
 " truely at this time the curates' auditories were 
 reasonable throng ; the body of the people, in 
 most places of Scotland, waited upon their 
 preachings ; and if they would have been content 
 with what they had (in the opinion of many) 
 they might have stood longer than they did ; but 
 their pride vowed that they would be more glo- 
 rious, and better followed, than the Presbyte- 
 
 * General Hist. vol. x. p. 118. 
 
 x
 
 306 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 rians; and because respect would not do it, force 
 should."* 
 
 In May this year there was a riot or " mutinie" 
 at the West Kirk of Edinburgh. The rioters pre- 
 vented Mr. Gordon, one of the ministers, from 
 preaching, or even entering his own church ; and 
 they upbraided him in the most opprobrious lan- 
 guage, with maintaining the religious observation 
 of the festivals of the church. They accused him 
 of being the author and cause of Williamson's 
 removal from that church, and from his functions 
 in the ministry. They barricadoed the church 
 door, and forcibly prevented his entrance. A 
 great many were apprehended and imprisoned; 
 and one man and one woman, who were the 
 ringleaders, were scourged by order of the privy 
 council, on the 20th of May. Wodrow gives the 
 same account, in nearly the same words as Nicol, 
 on the authority, he says, " of a writer who was 
 no enemy to conformist ministers. "f It is not 
 uncharitable to conclude, that there were deeper 
 designs in this " mutinie," than Wodrow chooses 
 to disclose, as he- delicately shuts the affair up, 
 by saying, " no more about this hath come to my 
 hand." Had it been plausibly defensible, he 
 would have recorded the names of the two who 
 
 Kirkton's Hist. p. 221. 
 
 Nicol's Diary, p. 433 ; Wodrow, vol. i. p. 422.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 307 
 
 were scourged, as martyrs for the Covenant. In 
 October the privy council received his majesty's 
 commands, to ordain that the Marquis of Huntly 
 should be educated in the principles of the Pro- 
 testant religion, and in the family of the Arch- 
 bishop of St. Andrews.* 
 
 The following letter was written by Archbishop 
 Sharp, in reply to two letters from the Earl of 
 Kincardine. It appears that, his lordship had 
 countenanced those seditious meetings, which 
 were convened under the specious pretence of 
 religion. The ministers who officiated on these 
 occasions may or may not have been acquainted 
 with the dangerous designs of the disaffected 
 leaders, who encouraged and protected their 
 meetings ; but this is certain, that these con- 
 venticles were converted into dangerous political 
 cabals. This letter is important, inasmuch as it 
 shows what were the archbishop's real opinions on 
 the point of Episcopacy : 
 
 " My Lord, Your last tells me that your first is no 
 accusation, but a private expostulation, not intended to be 
 seen by any other, unless urged to it. I think I may be al- 
 lowed to say, who have read it, that it brings very foul accu- 
 sations of me, in what you cannot prove : and had it been 
 addressed to the meanest stipendiary minister about you, it 
 might have justlie caused a greater resentment of its contemp- 
 tuous insinuations, and demanding a public reparation, than 
 
 * Wodrow, vol. i. p. 433. 
 
 x2
 
 308 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 I have yet expressed, t know well, my lord, that you are a 
 peer and privy councillor of the kingdom ; and do accord- 
 inglie pay you all due honour. But, I suppose, had the 
 most ancient peer and greatest privie councillor treated as you 
 have done, with a freedom, which you may say is beyond or- 
 dinarie, one, who besides that he is a Christian bishop, by 
 as authentic a derivation as anie else, is, by the munificence 
 of the king and constitution of this Christian kingdom, in- 
 vested with that place amongst the peers and privie-council- 
 lors, and which was ever given to my predecessors, they 
 would, I think, upon calm composure, judged it to be scarce 
 conform to the honour and civility of their peerage and 
 trust, to charge me, upon so slender ane occasion, with pre- 
 varication, breach of promise, ingratitude, sinister dealing, 
 and very plain insinuations of other unworthy qualities, which 
 did ill become anie person of judgment, education, and con- 
 dition, much less the character I bear, which I have not 
 stained with anie base action ; you are pleased, without if or 
 and, to charge me with doing injuries to your lordship, long 
 before you were suspecting it off my hand ; that I have given 
 bad impressions of you to the king ; represented you as dis- 
 loyal; and that after all the familiarity, knowledge, and 
 proofs I had of you, that I have accused your lordship, and 
 that no less than to his majesty. You appeal to the great 
 God to judge of the wrong I knowingly have done you ; and 
 from this you infer by a (figure) which I might reasonably 
 conceive you would have me notice, as carrying with it a 
 menace, that those in my station doe dare attempt the abusing 
 of the king, and accusing men of that they did not know. If 
 this gird in the close of your lordship's letter have any 
 oblique aspect upon the late commitment of some persons, 
 which, I hear, is by some charged, but most unjustlie, upon 
 those of my order, you best can tell. But since your lord- 
 ship is pleased to declare, that you have no thought to fix
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 309 
 
 that upon my station, but that the scope of your letter speaks 
 of it with that respect you ought, I shall not debate upon 
 the obvious logical construction it bears to anie who reads it ; 
 but by the strain of the whole, I have cause to say, that I 
 think more respect is due to my station and my person, so 
 long as I am in it, than the giving of a verbal compliment of 
 titles, when the strain and scope of the whole does charge me 
 with criminations, which to God -and my conscience are 
 known to be false, and no man alive can make out. It will 
 be hard to persuade me, that such usage from your lordship, 
 and that gloss you put upon the general assertion, in the 
 close of your letter, is for the honour of my place, in which, 
 without boasting, I may say, I have done service to the 
 church, to the king, to my countrie, and to the Protestant 
 religion, by my endeavouring to suppress that spirit of se- 
 dition, disorder, and separation, which has acted so much and 
 long, and your lordship does own is still binding, to act to 
 the prejudice of the rights of the crown, the honour and 
 interest of this kingdom, and the repute and power of re- 
 ligion. 
 
 " I have been reflecting upon all the passages of my speak- 
 ing or acting in reference to your lordship, and cannot charge 
 myself with anie one injurious. I remember above a twelve- 
 month's ago, I spoke to a minister by whom you had an 
 intimation of what came to my ears of the general sense 
 people had of your way as to the peace of the church in those 
 parts where your interest doth lay, and you may remember 
 you often spoke to me of it, as that you took in good part as 
 ane act of friendship which thereby was intended. I can say 
 it in truth, I did not after open my mouth to any person of that 
 mater, save that when the rumour went abroad, that when you 
 and your friends were observed not to be verie zealous in dis- 
 countenancing and suppressing the disorderly and disaffected, 
 who were known to be more extravagant and insolent in those
 
 310 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 places than in anie else on this side of Forth, and that your 
 lordship gave small countenance and encouragement to the 
 orderlie and obedient to the laws, in which I believe his ma- 
 jesty conceives his service to be concerned ; I told I could not 
 believe it, having received full professions from your lordship 
 of the contrarie. I am not conscious of any thing else, which 
 might give any shadow for charging me with doing you ill 
 offices. What can your lordship divine should be my end and 
 inducement ; what temptation could I have thus to deal with 
 you ? That particular you condescend upon, my bringing to 
 his majesty's ears, as a crym with aggravating circumstances, 
 your being at the communion of Tulliallan, I do deny, and no 
 man upon knowledge can assert it as truth. I heard many 
 weeks ago that you had been informed that at court your 
 being present at that communion was noticed and talked of, 
 and if you had suspected me, as I was told you did, you had 
 occasions divers times, in the abbey and council-chamber, to 
 have asked me of it ; but your having referred it till now, I 
 know not upon what design, I shall give you the account of 
 it ingenuously, which I would have done then, though the 
 way you have taken in challenging me does not oblige me 
 to it, 
 
 " When the scandal of that disorderly communion was 
 notified to the commission, the lords present, amongst whom 
 were the president of the session, and two more of the judges 
 of that bench, found, upon confession of the minister, that it 
 was not according to law, I told my lord commissioner I was 
 sure that your lordship being a privie councillor, by your pre- 
 sence should have countenanced such a meeting, which if I 
 had complained of at the council-table, I was told, it could 
 not but be noticed as of very bad example and of great offence, 
 that the communions given by orderly ministers should be 
 abandoned when occasions were often given of them, and 
 factious people encouraged to gad after the communions of
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 311 
 
 the disorderlie, which are set up as banners of separation, and 
 especially that communion administered by a person notour 
 for his prevarication and constant declaiming, these three 
 years past, in prayer and preaching against the government 
 and public administrations, of which your lordship may re- 
 member you told me you had so heard and taken notice, as at 
 your coming thither you did speak to him to abstain from 
 offensive expressions, and you hearing of the noise made of 
 the conventions made from several places at that communion, 
 where some declared fugitives were present, you came to my 
 chamber and spoke of it, and heard me express to yourself 
 then my dissatisfaction with your being there. After when 
 that minister who had been cited, by his carriage in a more 
 insolent way than any who had been before the commission, 
 had owned all for which he had been delated, as to his sedi- 
 tious principles and practices, so as out of pity we did forbear 
 to put those interrogatories to him which some did move, 
 finding that his humour did prompt him to answers which 
 would have brought upon him the guilt of treason, and though 
 I found he was justlie censurable, yet the votes of all these 
 present did over-rule my opinion and desire for forbearing at 
 that tyme to pass a censure upon him. 1 gave ane accompt 
 of the commissions' procedure that night to a person then at 
 court, who was concerned to know it, and in my letter, to my 
 best remembrance, my expression in reference to your lord- 
 ship, was in these terms, or to this sens, and no other that 
 I was sure that the E. of Kincardin, being a privie councillor, 
 should by his presence and communicating have given counte- 
 nance to that meeting. If his majesty had notice of this by that 
 information or by another, (which peradventure might be, that 
 communion being noised everiewhere in Edinburgh, and in 
 the countrie,) and with what aggravation of circumstances, 
 I had not yet the opportunitie to enquire, bot may be shall 
 within few dayes, howbeit, I deny not tliis I wrot, which was
 
 312 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 mater of fact and notour at the tyme. I did nothing thereby 
 unbeseeming the character I bear, nor what reasonablie could 
 be expected by your lordship from me ; I did not thereby 
 abuse the ears of the king, nor give caus for lessening the credit, 
 which in the courts of Christian princes is given to those in 
 my station, nor have I forfaulted that belief which his maj. is 
 graciouslie pleased to give to me in maters relating to his 
 service in the church. If I had represented that mater with 
 those aggravations immidiatelie to his maj. that it did ill 
 beseem a person of your qualitie and trust publicklie and 
 deliberatlie to countenance the violation of the lawes, and the 
 bespattering the proceedings of the state as well as of the 
 church, by that minister's usual praying for those who were 
 banished upon the account of treason, and that in a place 
 where your interest and authentic should and can work the 
 causing obedience and respect be paid to authoritie and the 
 lawes, to encourage factious and ill-disposed people by your 
 practise to persist in the way of separation they have hitherto 
 followed, to the prejudice and vilifying of those who live order- 
 lie and obedientlie, whose ministrie in word and sacraments 
 you know divers at that communion doe abandon upon that 
 verie accompt ; to put a testimonie of your respect and liking, 
 then which you could not show a greater, of a factious minis- 
 ter and his scandalous way, who you knew did live in professed 
 contempt of authoritie and the lawes, and though not then 
 under process and censure by a formal judicial proceeding 
 yet by the sentence of the law, under that guilt and scandal, 
 which should have caused your avoiding to own him with 
 more respect then you did orderlie ministers, especially when 
 by the construction of the law, by the particular injunction of 
 the king to those of his privie council, by the deutie of your 
 place and trust you are to give all countenance and assistance 
 to the observation of the lawes and encouragement to obedient 
 ministers, and to discountenance and suppress factious minis-
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 3]3 
 
 ters and unlawful meetings, which that was found to be by the 
 commission, upon most clear grounds, and owned by the con- 
 fession of that minister. And in doing hereof, I conceive you 
 doe not gratify the interest of some persons now in authorise 
 in the church, for whom you may have small value, but you 
 doe service to the king and to the public honour and interest 
 of the kingdom, which as upon other accompts, so in this, is 
 concerned to see to the preservation of the settled order from 
 violation and contempt, that the king's ecclesiastical supre- 
 macie, and, insubordination thereunto, Episcopal government 
 now restored, by as solemn and full consent and unanimous 
 vote of the representatives of the kingdom in two sessions of 
 parliament as ever anie pub lick act of justice was done since 
 Scotland was a nation. If I had represented that it is the 
 general observation, and frequent complaints these three years 
 past have been made to me, that in Culross, and places there- 
 abouts, outed ministers are harboured, admitted to pray and 
 other exercises in families ; that disorderlie ministers are treated 
 with all kindness, who are scandalous for their neglect of 
 discipline and administrating the sacrament of the Lord's 
 body ; who preach and pray usuallie to the dishonour of the 
 legall government, and to the leavening and corrupting per- 
 sons of all sexes and conditions with alienation and prejudice 
 from the public settlement, more than any where in my dioces 
 and places adjacent to it; to the great offence, grief, and 
 disheartening of the peaceable and obedient in vicinitie to 
 them. If I had represented that, after I had upon several 
 occasions given notice hereof to the E. of Kincardin, yet 
 nothing hath been done for evidencing his zeal for his maj. 
 service and the churches peace and preservation from that 
 spreading gangren of separation, bot, on the contrary, agreater 
 growth of disaffection and untowardness is observed in those 
 parts, which it is naturallie to be presumed might be easilie 
 prevented and obviated by your lordship's endeavours and
 
 314 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 interest, if you should use them as you ought ; let the opinions 
 of people in these maters be what the infusions they have 
 from pragmatick ministers and others can make them, yet 
 sure, subjects living under the protection of the king and his 
 lawes may be found in their practice to pay deference to the 
 king's pleasure, and honour of the lawes. If I had, I say, 
 represented these aggravations, and other I could mention, 
 I had sayed nothing for which there was not just caus, or you 
 could in reason complain of, as ane ill office done your lord- 
 ship. I having before told you of what had come to my ears, 
 and particularlie of your giving offence by that communion, 
 which you did then and still seem to justifie, I had done 
 nothing unbeseeming the duetie of my place, which, by the 
 appointment of the king and law, and I think by the in- 
 stitution of GOD, layes upon me the chief inspection and 
 care of the concernments and reputation of the settled 
 religion in that precinct, and of the deportment and carriage 
 of all persons in reference thereunto ; bot mv respect and 
 kyndness to your lordship, made me forbear, and now I tell 
 you them that you may know (that) I am not ignorant how the 
 king's authoritie and the reputation of his ecclesiastick officers 
 and lawes are dealt with in that part of the countrey, and 
 that I cannot look upon the keeping of these factious meetings, 
 the countenancing and owning disorderlie ministers in their un- 
 warrantable prayers and preachings and extravagant carriage, 
 the little regarding the quiet and credit of the settled order of 
 the church as so slight occasions and indifferent maters as 
 some doe take them to be. And I hope that since his maj. 
 as your lordship sayes, has ordained this form of church 
 government, and by that intrusted us, his bishops, with the 
 keeping of his subjects in peace and obedience, from schisms 
 and factions, in the way proper for our functions, your lord- 
 ship will not think us such fools, as when we know, and 
 apparentlie see, a faction daily emboldening themselves, some
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 3l5 
 
 upon pretence of obligations and conscience, others may 
 think it is their interest, to contemn the lawes, to oppose our 
 office and authoritie, to bring our persons into contempt and 
 vilifying, whom yet, through the mercie of GOD, our adver- 
 saries cannot charge with corruption of doctrine, or scandal 
 in life, that wee, through timiditie or other base respects or 
 credulitie to specious professions, will suffer ourselves to be 
 hoodwinked to be unfaithfull to the trust put upon us, to the 
 interest which should be dearer to us then our lives, so as to 
 keep silence, or say to the king that it is well with his autho- 
 ritie and government ecclesiastical when alienation from it is 
 fomented, and affronts are dailie acted, and no remedie 
 effectuallie used by those, who may and should (if they 
 would) suppress the opposition and spirit, which if it doe not 
 depart from its known principles and practices, must endea- 
 vour the ruining of other public concernments as that of the 
 church. 
 
 " My lord, I write thus in a private manner to your lordship, 
 not intending to communicat it to any other, bot to let you know 
 I am not of such a prostituted spirit and way, as you by your 
 dealing with me seem to take me to be, and that I have not 
 given those characters and impressions of you, which your 
 way as to the publick concern of the church hitherto might 
 have given just occasion to ; I never did you ane ill office : I 
 remember the occasions I have taken to doe you good offices 
 before my master the king and other his officers. I profess 
 I have been obliged by your civilities to me of many years, 
 and if I knew wherein I have failed of deserving well of you, 
 I would be a more severe challenger of myself than you can 
 be. You charge me with breach of promise, as to a recom- 
 mendation of you ; I remember none bot that (which) I maide 
 when you did me the honour to see me last in this place, 
 which that I did accordinglie perform, my lord commissioner 
 will do me the right to bear testimonie. I am not so sillie,
 
 
 316 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 bot I apprehend what low thoughts you have of anie favour 
 I am capable of, can signifie to you ; bot I know not the 
 friend who can say I have been wanting to him, when oppor- 
 tunitie or power to doe a good office hath been offered. You 
 profess loyaltie and faithfulness to his maj. and readiness to 
 serve him against all his enemies, domestick or foreign. 
 Upon the knowledge I have of a long tyme had of you, I doe 
 you the right as to believe you are heartie and real in it, and 
 doe crave that you will doe me the right to believe, that my 
 place, my principles, my interest, doe oblidge me to all the 
 sincere service I can make to those who are faithful and 
 zealous for the royal interest, and the rights of the crown, 
 especiallie of those who by their pairts, worth, and publick 
 usefulness, can be verie instrumental against the manie adver- 
 saries in this church and the kingdom of that soveraignitie, 
 which the law declares to be inherent in Charles II. ; in the 
 maintaining and promoting of which, experience proves that 
 no persons are more concerned then those of the nobilitie. 
 Let the king's ecclesiastick supremacie be owned and asserted 
 by practice as well as by profession, and wee of the clergie shall 
 have no caus to complain, nor can wee give just caus of griev- 
 ance to others, seeing the exercise of our power is ordered by the 
 king, and regulated by the lawes. My lord, your practises I 
 never accused to anie, as tainted with disloyaltie or dishonour. 
 If the staining of mine be meant by those complyances you 
 mention, you know I have as little caus to be ashamed of my 
 deportment as to the usurpers, and as great reason to bless GOD 
 for the deutie and services I have paid throughout my whole 
 course to the royal interest as anie of my condition within the 
 kingdom. I know what I have been, what through grace I am ; 
 I can through the goodness of GOD bid defyance to all, who have 
 ane ill eye to me, to charge me justlie with anie disingenuous, 
 unworthie art, and in the comfort hereof I can patientlie bear 
 all the smytings of the tongues which Providence shall per-
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 317 
 
 mil to excercise me by, hoping that all these railings shall be 
 ordered for my good. 
 
 " For your principle, my lord, as to church-government, 
 supposing that my employment and way of life hath given 
 me more leisure and opportunitie to consider of it then your 
 lordship hath done, I shall tell you that my principles as to 
 the form of government are not as arbitrary as you profess 
 yours to be ; and if you had the same persuasions to the deri- 
 vation and right of Episcopacie which I have, I know the 
 king would not judge you the worse subject for it, his maj. 
 holding it to be jure divino, as his royal father and grand- 
 father did, nor can any other upon good reason think it, the 
 holding of Episcopacie to be of apostolical institution and 
 approbation doeth infer a derogation in the least degree to 
 that supreme power Ecclesiastical, which by the law is 
 established, and by the doctrine of our church acknowledged 
 to be inherent in the crown. Your lordship's seconomical 
 power, as father and master of your own familie, is from 
 heaven, of GOD, and not of man ; yet in the exercise of that 
 power you are subjected to the power, jurisdiction, and lawes 
 of your sovereign, and it will be hard to give a clear reason 
 of difference why the Ecclesiastical power, because it claimeth 
 to be of divyne right, should be therefore thought to be in- 
 jurious to regal power, and the other (though claiming in the 
 same manner) not to be. It is well your lordship professeth 
 Episcopal government to be the best ; the law sayes so, and 
 as it is now settled in Scotland to be well ordered, though 
 some, who did observe it, told me that your lordship was the 
 alone nobleman upon that bench, who gave your NO to the 
 act for restitution of that order, which was renewed in the 
 last session of parliament. The measure I would take in 
 these maters of all Scotsmen, is, that when the public consti- 
 tution of church and state are now settled legally, their con- 
 science and concernment does oblige to pay deference to the
 
 318 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 public judgement of the kingdom, and sacrifice their privat 
 opinion in these maters to the peace of the church and honour 
 of the lawes, and to give to Csesar that which the law declares 
 to be his, in the observing and not violating of which the 
 interest of our order, as well as of the other orders of the 
 kingdom, will be preserved, and the true interest and repute 
 of Scotland will be best served. Pardown all this trouble 
 you have in return to your two last from, 
 
 " May it please your lordship, 
 
 " Your humble servant, 
 
 " St. Andrews, " St. Andrews." * 
 
 "22d November, 1665." 
 
 1666. Among the Episcopal papers, there is 
 a letter from the Earl of Lauderdale to Arch- 
 bishop Sharp, dated the 30th January, 1666 ; in 
 which the former promises that no one shall be 
 preferred to any vacant see without the appro- 
 bation of the primate. The system of banishing 
 the Presbyterian ministers to different parts of 
 the country, was the means of impregnating 
 those parts with disaffection to both the civil and 
 Ecclesiastical government. Of this Dr. Patter- 
 son, Bishop of Ross, complained to the primate, 
 intimating that the " westland gentlemen have 
 alienated the hearts of many who were of another 
 principle before, being the staple of intelligence 
 between the west and the north, among the fanatic 
 
 * MS. A. 4. Copy of an original letter, among the papers 
 in the Episcopal chest, Aberdeen, said to be in the primate's 
 own handwriting.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 319 
 
 party ; and begs these gentlemen may be re- 
 called, that they spread not their infection any 
 more."* The council directed letters of citation 
 against John Welsh and Gabriel Semple, two 
 ministers, who convened vast gatherings of the 
 disaffected for political purposes. Wodrow very 
 charitably accuses the Bishop of Galloway of 
 instigating the council to this measure, upon no 
 better authority than his own suspicion : " at 
 the instigation probably of the Bishop of Gallo- 
 way." The citation states, that these and others, 
 " presume to keep conventicles and private 
 meetings, and presume to preach ; and in their 
 sermons and conferences traduce, reflect upon, 
 and declare against authority, and the govern- 
 ment civil and ecclesiastical, as it is established 
 by law in church and state." It was therefore 
 on account of the seditious practices of these 
 men and their followers, that the government 
 attempted to suppress their meetings, and not on 
 account of their religion. 
 
 Wodrow admits that, " In the beginning of 
 this year, Presbyterian ministers had some con- 
 nivance, and were permitted to live in their hired 
 houses, when turned out of their livings." This 
 shows that those who were disposed to live 
 peaceably were undisturbed ; it was only those 
 
 * Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 3.
 
 320 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 turbulent and disaffected ministers who gathered 
 seditious meetings that were brought to any 
 trouble. " The call of the importunate multitude 
 was not yet so great as afterwards, and generally 
 they only preached to their own families and a 
 few neighbours, who now and then stole into 
 their houses. Field-preachings, unless it were in 
 some few places in the south, where the people 
 would not hear the curates, were but very rare. 
 The meetings of the Episcopal ministers in cities 
 and towns, except when they were openly pro- 
 fane and vicious, were as much frequented as 
 they could well expect. Indeed, evils grew 
 among them, and their impertinent and reproach- 
 ful sermons, their open share in the cruelties and 
 oppression, with their lewd lives, quickly after 
 this altered matters." * This is one of the many 
 incidental admissions, which are to be met with 
 in Wodrow, of the respect and esteem in which 
 the established Episcopal clergy were held. He 
 cannot, however, refrain from adding those false 
 accusations, in accordance with his instructions, 
 of cruelty, lewdness, &c., with which the memo- 
 ries of those men have been ever since most un- 
 justly assailed. Then he goes on to copy from 
 Kirkton : " At this time, if they (the Episcopal 
 clergy) could have been satisfied with the num- 
 
 * Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 8.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 321 
 
 bers of hearers they had, many thought they 
 might have enjoyed their churches longer than 
 they did : but they would have as throng churches 
 as the Presbyterian ministers formerly had ; and 
 if regard to their persons and sermons could not 
 procure hearers, it is resolved terror, force, and 
 fear shall."* It may be easily gathered from 
 this, when stripped of its malignity, that the 
 Episcopal church was not obnoxious to the quiet 
 and peaceable, even in the associated shires, the 
 strong-hold of the Covenant. There were men 
 high in power, whose interest it was to keep 
 Charles's government in continual agitation, and 
 they secretly encouraged the disaffected ministers 
 to hold political conventicles, where, under colour 
 of preaching, seditious principles were inculcated, 
 and where the men were accustomed to meet in 
 arms. It was this species of sedition which was the 
 terror of government, and to put down which 
 so many rigorous measures were adopted, many 
 of which were certainly incompatible with the 
 liberty of the subject. These seditious meetings, 
 and the severities which they compelled the civil 
 government to adopt, united to the system of 
 "enormous lying," and which has been persevered 
 in by their apologists, are what has brought such 
 unjust and undeserved odium on the Episcopal 
 
 * Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 8. Kirkton, p. 221. 
 
 y
 
 322 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 church. Notwithstanding this system of " enor- 
 mous lying," these authors are compelled some- 
 times to admit the truth, although with their own 
 qualifications. " To give every man his due, he 
 (Archbishop Burnet,) was certainly one of the 
 best morals among the present clergy. He was a 
 mighty bigot for the English ceremonies and 
 forms, and as forward to have all the usages of 
 that church introduced to Scotland, as if he had 
 been educated by Bishop Laud ; yea, to have his 
 fancy pleased with these pageantries, he could 
 have almost submitted to the old claim of the see 
 of York over the Church of Scotland. At his 
 first diocesan meeting, he put five or six of his 
 curates publicly in orders, after the English pon- 
 tifical, to inure the west of Scotland to these 
 novelties."* It is rather surprising, that ordina- 
 tion, after the manner practised in England, 
 should be objected to, when even the Westmin- 
 ster Confession itself acknowledges its validity .f 
 
 * Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 8. Kirkton, p. 221. 
 
 f " If a minister be designed to a congregation, who hath 
 been formerly ordained Presbyter according to the form of 
 ordination which hath been in the Church of England, which 
 we hold for substance to be valid, and not to be disclaimed 
 by any who hath received it, then there being a cautious pro- 
 ceeding in matters of examination, let him be admitted with- 
 out any new ordination." " The Form of Church Govern- 
 ment," appended to the Westminster Confession, &c. p. 591.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 323 
 
 But the fact is, that these authors seize on every 
 trifle with the greatest avidity, in order to rouse a 
 spirit of hatred and malice in the minds of their 
 readers against the then established church. All 
 the rigorous proceedings of the civil government 
 were laid to the charge of the curates, as they called 
 the clergy in contempt. Even the fines imposed 
 by parliament soon after the Restoration, and 
 which were very oppressive and unequally levied, 
 were said to have been imposed by the clergy : 
 " these fynes imposed by the curats ;"* as if the 
 clergy had been the makers of the laws, and, at the 
 same time, the executive government. This is 
 part of that system of "enormous lying," and which 
 has hitherto worked so effectually, ad captandum 
 vulgus. 
 
 In the early part of the summer, Archbishop 
 Sharp went to London, in company with the Earl 
 of Rothes. His motives for this journey are, of 
 course, represented as of the most despotic and 
 sanguinary nature : " no way was now left but 
 that of violence, which was not disagreeable to 
 his haughty and proud temper." This is more 
 of the same system ; and the primate is accused, 
 without the least shadow of evidence, of having 
 procured from Charles the appointment of a 
 standing army, " to bear down Presbyterians and 
 
 * Kirkton, p. 222.
 
 324 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 cut their throats, when many of them were now 
 impoverished as much as possible. The king is 
 prevailed upon to fall in with his proposal, and 
 gives orders to levy an army for guarding the 
 prelates, executing arbitrary commands, and sup- 
 pressing the fanatics."* The last of the three 
 causes was the true one, of " suppressing the 
 fanatics ;" but such an opportunity could not be 
 lost, of throwing the odium on the Episcopal 
 order, and especially on the primate. Burnet also 
 seizes on this opportunity of injuring the arch- 
 bishop, towards whom he bore a secret grudge. 
 " When Lord Rothes and he waited first on the 
 king, Sharp put him in mind of what he had said 
 at his last parting, that if their matters went not 
 well, none must be blamed for it but either the 
 Earl of Lauderdale or Rothes ; and now he came 
 to tell his majesty that things were worse than 
 ever, and he must do the Earl of Rothes the 
 justice to say, he had done his part. Lord 
 Lauderdale was all on fire at this, but durst not 
 give himself vent before the king ; so he only de- 
 sired that Sharp would come to particulars, and 
 then he should know what lie had to say. Sharp 
 put that oif in a general charge, and said he 
 knew the party so well, that if they were not 
 supported by general encouragement, they would 
 
 * Kirkton, p. 225. Wourow, vol. ii. p. 13.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 325 
 
 have been long ago weary of the opposition they 
 gave the government. The king had no mind 
 to enter further into their complaints, so Lord 
 Rothes and he withdrew, and were observed to 
 look very pleasantly upon one another as they 
 went away. Lord Lauderdale told the king he 
 was now accused to his face, but he would 
 quickly let him see what a man Sharp was ; so 
 he obtained a message from the king to him, of 
 which he himself was to be the bearer, requiring 
 him to put his complaints in writing, and come to 
 particulars. He followed Sharp home, who re- 
 ceived him with such a gaiety, as if he had given 
 him no provocation ; but Lord Lauderdale was 
 more solemn, and told him it was the king's 
 pleasure, that he should put the accusation with 
 which he charged him in writing. Sharp pre- 
 tended he did not comprehend his meaning : he 
 answered, the matter was plain ; he had accused 
 him to the king, and he must either go through 
 with it and make it out, otherwise he would 
 charge him with leaseing-making, and spoke in a 
 terrible tone to him. Upon that, as he told me, 
 Sharp fell a trembling and weeping : he protested 
 he meant no harm to him ; he was only sorry 
 that his friends were, upon all occasions, pleading 
 for favour to fanatics (that was become the term 
 of reproach.) Lord Lauderdale said, that would 
 not serve his turn ; he was not answerable for his
 
 326 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 friends, except when they acted by directions 
 from him. Sharp offered to go directly with him 
 to the king, and to clear the whole matter. Lord 
 Lauderdale had no mind to break openly with 
 him, so he accepted of this, and carried him to 
 the king, where he retracted all he had said in 
 so gross a manner, that the king said afterwards, 
 Lord Lauderdale was ill-natured to press it so 
 heavily, and to force Sharp on giving himself the 
 lie in such coarse terms. 
 
 " This went to Sharp's heart ; so he made a 
 proposal to the Earl of Dumfries, who was a 
 great friend of the Earl of Middleton's, to try if 
 a reconciliation could be made between him and 
 the Earl of Rothes ; and if he would be content 
 to come into the government under Lord Rothes. 
 Lord Dumfries went into Kent, where the Lord 
 Middleton was then employed in a military com- 
 mand on the account of the war ; and he laid 
 Sharp's proposition before him. The Earl of 
 Middleton gave Lord Dumfries power to treat 
 in his name, but said, he knew Sharp too well to 
 regard any thing that came from him. Before 
 Lord Dumfries came back, Sharp had tried Lord 
 Rothes, but found he would not meddle in it; 
 and they both understood that the Earl of Claren- 
 don's interest was declining, and that the king 
 was like to change his measures. So when Lord 
 Dumfries came back, to give Sharp an account of
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 327 
 
 his negotiation, he seemed surprised, and de- 
 nied he had given him any such commission. 
 This enraged the Earl of Dumfries, so he 
 published the thing in all companies ; among 
 others he told it, very particularly, to my- 
 self." * 
 
 Notwithstanding its plausibility, this story does 
 not hang well together, but partakes considerably 
 of the bishop's private resentment. The primate 
 was not such a simple politician as to bring 
 himself under the arbitrary statute of leaseing- 
 making, by accusing Lauderdale before his face 
 of secretly encouraging the disaffected, when he 
 could not prove it. This is, however, cited with 
 much approbation by Dr. Burns, in his edition of 
 Wodrow's History ; who calls it " an exceedingly 
 graphic description of these parasitical plun- 
 derers^ who were alike faith less to God, to their 
 king, and to one another." If " the Lord Mid- 
 dleton" here spoken of was Charles, Earl of 
 Middleton, son and successor of the late commis- 
 sioner, he would have been too young to have 
 been entrusted with a military command at that 
 time, or a responsible office in the government. 
 Indeed, this story is altogether unworthy of credit, 
 and should not have been noticed, but for the 
 
 * Burnet's Own Times, pp. 311, 312.
 
 328 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 malignant party spirit in which Dr. Burns* has 
 given it currency. 
 
 In addition to the former military strength, two 
 regiments of foot, and six troops of horse were 
 raised, altogether amounting to three thousand 
 foot, and eight troops of horse ; and the com- 
 mand was given to Thomas Dalzell, of Binns. On 
 the 8th of June, the council ordered a general 
 fast to be observed, on account of the war with 
 Holland. At the same time, the council directed 
 that in all the universities, before being admitted 
 to honorary degrees, the students shall take the 
 oath of allegiance. In October, the privy council 
 were commanded by the king to take care that 
 the laws and acts of state be vigorously prose- 
 cuted against all contraveners, and with greatest 
 severity against those who are known to be most 
 pernicious adversaries to the peace of the church. 
 The royal letter also required the council to 
 make all proprietors and landlords answerable 
 for the orderly conduct of their servants and 
 
 * Would the learned editor of Wodrow think it a charitable 
 conclusion, were the world to say that the man who prose- 
 cuted in the name of his Presbytery, a brother minister, for 
 partaking of a political dinner with Daniel O'Connell, and 
 himself soon after partaking of another with Sir Robert Peel, 
 in the same city " was a parasitical plunderer, alike faith- 
 less to God, to the queen, and to one another ," eh P
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 329 
 
 tenants. Robert Blair, a Presbyterian minister, died 
 in confinement, says Kirkton, "full of hope that the 
 Lord would deliver Scotland, and very confident 
 God would rub shame upon Bishop Sharp, as it 
 came to pass." This was one of those prophecies 
 which darkly foreshadowed the murderous designs 
 of the primate's enemies, which would appear to 
 have been contemplated so long before the sad 
 catastrophe. In September this year, the fire of 
 London happened. The preachers of the Cove- 
 nant had created such a spirit of insubordination 
 in the people, that it was necessary to quarter a 
 few soldiers in the disaffected districts. Soldiers 
 living at free-quarters will be guilty of many acts 
 of individual tyranny ; and it would appear those 
 under the command of Sir James Turner had 
 used excessive rigour in the execution of their 
 duty. This produced an irritability among the 
 people, which was fostered by the preachers of 
 the Covenant and political adventurers, in con- 
 nexion with the king's enemies in Holland. 
 
 In consequence of the irritability that the 
 severities and military executions, which they 
 drew on themselves, produced, an insurrection 
 broke out in Galloway, in November. Sir James 
 Turner sent four soldiers from Dumfries to the 
 village of Dairy, in Galloway, with instructions 
 to seize the goods of a Covenanter who had 
 defied the law; or in the event of his having no
 
 330 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 goods, to secure his person. It is said that in 
 the wanton exercise of power the soldiers seized 
 both his person and his goods, on the 14th of 
 November. Some neighbours interfered, fired at, 
 and severely wounded one of the soldiers, dis- 
 armed the others, and rescued the prisoner. 
 Elated by this trifling success the country-people 
 collected, surprised and disarmed some other 
 parties of soldiers, and hurrying forward to 
 Dumfries, made Turner himself prisoner. They 
 secured his papers and his military-chest, con- 
 taining a sum of money sent from Edinburgh and 
 the collection of fines, for paying his men. They 
 entrusted the chest to one Andrew Gray, who 
 absconded, and carried off the money with him. 
 On their arrival at Dumfries they searched for the 
 Episcopal clergyman, for the purpose of wreaking 
 their vengeance on him, but he escaped their fury. 
 They retreated in haste that night to Glencairn, 
 and thence to Castle Feme. On the 16th they 
 came to the village of Dairy, but on an alarm 
 that Lord Drumlanrig was advancing to attack 
 them, they pushed on eight miles further to 
 Carsphairne, in a very dark and rainy night.* They 
 were joined by some gentlemen with their re- 
 tainers, and marched to Ayr, where their numbers 
 amounted to about three thousand. " Their mis- 
 
 * Note to Kirkton's Hist. p. 232.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 331 
 
 taken hopes made them expect, that when they 
 came to that country all the gentry and ministers 
 should presently join them ; but when they came 
 thither, they find major-general Montgomerie and 
 the Laird of Gadgirth were both gone to meet 
 Dalzell, at Eglinton, and the ministers living 
 quietly in their families. This offended the 
 Colonel's party very much, that friends in the 
 country should be so little concerned."* 
 
 Lord Rothes was then at court, and repre- 
 sented Scotland as being in a perfect state of 
 tranquillity. Charles surprised him by showing 
 him an express which had arrived, mentioning the 
 particulars of the insurrection. At home, the 
 council was dreadfully alarmed, and fancied the 
 forces of the Covenanters to be much more for- 
 midable than they really were. General Dalzell 
 was ordered to concentrate the king's troops at 
 Glasgow, and thence to march against the rebels. 
 Orders were issued for the nobility to call out 
 their tenants, and on the 21st, a severe proclama- 
 tion was issued, commanding the rebels to lay 
 down their arms, but without offering any in- 
 demnity. It said " that if they do not lay down 
 their arms in twenty-four hours, they shall be 
 proceeded against as incorrigible and desperate 
 rebels, and be incapable of mercy or pardon." 
 
 * Kirkton, p. 235.
 
 332 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Burnet says, that the chief agents in assembling 
 this ill-assorted army were four fiery ministers, 
 Semple, Maxwell, Welsh, and Guthrie. The 
 chief of the Presbyterian gentry were then under 
 confinement for former delinquencies, so that they 
 had no concern in this rebellion. They were 
 disappointed of being commanded by Major- 
 general Montgomery, and they chose a Mr. 
 Wallace for their commander-in-chief. Turner 
 was still in their power, and many of the chief 
 rebels had determined to put him to death ; but 
 he was spared when they discovered by his in- 
 structions that he had not acted up to their 
 rigour. Indeed he himself declares positively, 
 in his Memoirs, that he never exacted more than 
 one-half of his fine from any Covenanter. At 
 Muir Kirk, the propriety of disbanding was seri- 
 ously debated ; but which was over-ruled, as the 
 ministers alleged that " the Lord had called them 
 to this undertaking." On their arrival at Lanark 
 their forces were at their greatest compliment; 
 from that time they began insensibly to dwindle 
 away. Here Guthrie and Semple administered 
 to the whole party the oath of the Covenant on 
 the 26th, and observed a solemn fast to atone for 
 what they called the national perjury of making 
 void the Covenant. Here Mr. Lowrie, of Black- 
 wood, came from the Duke of Hamilton to 
 ascertain their demands, and to propose their
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 333 
 
 laying down their arms. His proposals were 
 rejected, and he himself ran some risk of being 
 arrested. 
 
 General Dalzell came within sight of the Co- 
 venanters on the same day, and they held a 
 council, whether it were more prudent to fight 
 him there, as in the event of their being defeated, 
 they could more easily make their escape than in 
 the low country. It was otherwise determined, 
 and they began their march for Edinburgh on the 
 27th. They reached Bathgate that night, wet 
 and weary, and could find no quarters for their 
 men. At midnight, on a false alarm of Dalzell's 
 approach, they marched for Collinton, and were 
 overtaken by emissaries from the Duke of Hamil- 
 ton. These proposed, for the third time, that 
 they should lay down their arms, promising to 
 procure their pardon, as they had already secured 
 for them a cessation of hostilities on the part of 
 Dalzell, who was then at Midcalder, within ten 
 miles of their rear. This they unhappily rejected ; 
 but finding themselves between a well-appointed 
 army in their rear, and a fortified town in their 
 front, where they were deceived into expecting 
 assistance, they resolved on a retreat. Previous 
 to their retreat, Wallace wrote to Dalzell repre- 
 senting the oppressions and grievances of the 
 Covenanters, and desiring a passport for their 
 commissioner to present their petition to the
 
 334 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 privy council. " Blackwood returned to Dalzell, 
 and was by him sent to attend the council with 
 his own letters, and the west-country men's 
 grievances. But notwithstanding this imperfect 
 treaty, Wallace and his party now at length 
 resolve upon the retreat, and thereupon, turning 
 the east-end of Pentland-hills, they take the way 
 to Biggar."* Wallace seems to have been desti- 
 tute of military knowledge; for he deliberately 
 marched into a position where escape or retreat 
 was scarcely possible. Instead of finding friends 
 and supporters in Edinburgh and the Lothians, 
 he ascertained to his dismay that the whole fen- 
 cible forces of the country were arrayed against 
 him, Edinburgh fortified, and the College of 
 Justice and inhabitants armed, and ready to give 
 him battle. To complete the misery of his situa- 
 tion, an arm of the sea rendered escape impossible 
 on the left, a ridge of high hills lay on his right, a 
 garrison-town in his front, and the royal army 
 within five miles of his rear. Although he might 
 have spared the lives of his hungry and heartless 
 men, and himself the mortification of a defeat, 
 yet he resolved not to wait the result of the 
 negotiation which had been humanely entered 
 into. He judged it better to retreat ; but whether 
 with the view of protracting the war, or of leading 
 
 * Kirkton, p. 242.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 335 
 
 his men back and dismissing them to their homes, 
 does not appear. In the interim, the council 
 determined not to accept the proposals of the 
 Covenanters, as being unsatisfactory ; but " if 
 they should lay down their arms, and come to your 
 excellency within the time appointed, they might 
 petition for mercy."* 
 
 All hopes of obtaining terms being now at an 
 end, Wallace resolved to retreat " Colonel 
 Wallace and his men, notwithstanding of this 
 imperfect sort of treaty, resolve on the best re- 
 treat they can, for their own safety and sustenance 
 in the meantime ; and turning by the east end of 
 Pentland-hills, they resolve on the way to Big- 
 gar. From Collinton they march to the house in 
 the Muir ; and from thence to the fatal spot called 
 the Rullion-green, where they draw up the dis- 
 pirited remains of an army, not exceeding nine 
 hundred, weary, spent men."f Dalzell was then 
 close on their rear, and an engagement was now 
 unavoidable. Wallace drew up his men in three 
 divisions. Under a low shoulder of the hill to 
 the south on Rullion-green, he posted a small 
 /body of cavalry ; in the centre were the foot, very 
 poorly armed, and exhausted with hunger and 
 fatigue, under his own command ; on the left, the 
 
 * Council's Letter to Dalzell. Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 30. 
 t Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 30.
 
 336 LIFE AXD TIMES OF 
 
 chief body of his horse, under the command of a 
 major Learmonth. So little attention does Wal- 
 lace appear to have paid to the motions of his 
 adversary, that Dalzell had got within a quarter 
 of a mile of his position undiscovered. The first 
 appearance of the royal cavalry was even sup- 
 posed to have been a friendly reinforcement. He 
 was quickly, however, undeceived. Dalzell com- 
 menced the engagement by attacking his left 
 wing, which Learmonth repulsed and drove down 
 the hill in confusion. In this rencontre John 
 Crookshanks and Andrew Maccormick, two 
 preachers from Ireland, " and the great instru- 
 ments to persuade the people to this undertaking," 
 were among the slain. Dalzell rallied and again 
 advanced and attacked the main body of the in- 
 surgents, but was again repulsed, and pursued 
 down the hill. Dalzell rallied his broken ranks, 
 and advanced his left wing, consisting of cavalry, 
 upon the right wing of Wallace's army, which 
 being weak, he easily routed. By this charge he 
 turned Wallace's right, and getting into his rear, 
 attacked the victorious main-body, which being 
 broken by their charge on the right-wing of the 
 retreating royalists, took to flight, and could 
 never be rallied. It was almost dark on the night 
 of the 28th of November, when the Covenanters 
 dispersed ; " and the horsemen who had made the 
 chase, being most part gentlemen, pitied their
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 337 
 
 own innocent countrymen. There were about 
 fifty killed, and as many taken of Wallace's men, 
 and five or six of Dalzell's. The country people 
 were very cruel, both in killing- the fleeing men, 
 and taking many prisoners."* If Kirkton's ac- 
 cusation be true, that the country people were so 
 cruel, it is a convincing proof, though an un- 
 necessary one, that they were neither enamoured 
 of Presbytery nor of the Covenant. 
 
 The Covenanters, although fatigued, dispirited 
 and weak, for want of food, maintained their 
 position with a gallantry and courage worthy of 
 a better cause. Their chief deficiency was in 
 officers, there not being more than half of the 
 requisite number ; and even of those there were 
 not above four or five who had ever seen service 
 before.')' In the relation of this fight an attempt 
 is made to show that Dalzell, being in league 
 with the devil, was bullet-proof: " it was com- 
 monly believed he was in covenant with the 
 devil," because a bullet was seen to drop from his 
 breast, on his boot ; but it should be recollected 
 that he wore a cuirass, which would effectually 
 turn a bullet, without the aid of the devil, or of 
 witchcraft. " Welsh, the minister, during the 
 fight, prayed with uplifted hands to the Lord of 
 
 * Kirkton, p. 244. 
 
 f Note to Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 24.
 
 338 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 hosts against Amalek, (as his spirit moved him 
 to miscall the royal forces,) and had his hands 
 stayed up by some of his brethren, as Moses had 
 his by Aaron and Hur." " Sir James Turner 
 does not mention this circumstance ; but says, 
 that during the engagement he and his guards 
 were removed from a hill, on which they had 
 originally been posted, ' and by the way we met 
 with Mr. Welsh and Mr. Semple, who were going 
 to take that advantage of ground which we for- 
 merly had, and by doing so, I thought both of 
 them had provided indifferently well for their 
 own safety.' After ascending the hill, when the 
 ministers imagined that their friends gained any 
 advantage, they shouted out 'The GOD of Jacob ! 
 The GOD of Jacob !' which was re-echoed by 
 Turner's guards. The prudent conduct of Welsh 
 and Semple is strongly contrasted by that of 
 the two preachers from Ireland, who fought 
 courageously, and were left dead on the field of 
 battle."* An instance of the fanaticism of the Cove- 
 nanting ministers, and the familiarity with which 
 they addressed the Almighty, may be gathered 
 from Sir James Turner's Memoirs. Robinson 
 said in his prayer, " And if thou wilt not be our 
 secondarie, we will not fight for thee at all ; for 
 
 * Notes to Kirkton, &c. p. 245, 246.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 339 
 
 it is not our cause, but thine own ; and if thou 
 wilt not fight for it, neither will we/'* 
 
 Both Kirkton and Wodrow accuse the people 
 of great cruelties towards the discomfited Cove- 
 nanters. The former says : " Of all Scotland, 
 only Mid Lothian was cruel : they took many 
 prisoners, killed some, and were some of them so 
 barbarous as to unbury them, that they might 
 rob them of their winding-sheets, in which the 
 honest people of Edinburgh had buried them ; 
 yet even in that country many were kind to them ; 
 Alexander Pennicook, that famous surgeon, har- 
 boured some and cured many : yea, even among 
 the CURATES, some had so much of a man as to 
 preserve some of them." t "Thus," says the 
 latter historian, " was the body of good people 
 broken and dissipated It was next to a wonder, 
 and can scarce be accounted for, except from the 
 goodness of their cause, that they were so brave 
 on this day of their defeat, if either the con- 
 stitution or circumstances of such an army be 
 considered. They were but a small handful of 
 untrained, undisciplined countrymen who had 
 never seen war ; they had very few officers, and 
 these had little authority. Every private man 
 in such a gathering, readily must either be let 
 into the secrets of the council of war, otherways, 
 
 Memoirs, p. 186. t Kirkton, p. 246, 7. 
 
 z 2
 
 340 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 he is in hazard of clamouring his neighbours in 
 the company into a mutiny." * Although Wod- 
 row carefully copies Kirkton's remarks on the 
 barbarity of the people, yet he omits to notice 
 the kindness of the clergy. Wallace, in his 
 Memoirs, says : " There were about fifty prisoners ; 
 but by accession of those whom the Lothian 
 barbarians had taken, there were, within two or 
 three days thereafter, about eighty prisoners." 
 " Only the three Lothians were very active in and 
 about the time of the skirmish , and after, in the 
 flight, took many more than Dalzell's men did, 
 and killed several also in their escaping; for 
 which they may look for a scourge in due time, 
 for their savage cruelty, from Him in whose sight 
 the blood of the saints is precious." f 
 
 The prisoners, fifty in number, were lodged in 
 the gaol of Edinburgh; and about thirty more 
 were brought in the day after by the country 
 people. The following day, the council addressed 
 a letter to the king, informing him of the defeat 
 of the rebels and of their intended " speedy pro- 
 ceedings, according to the laws against traitors." 
 At the same time, they express their apprehen- 
 sion, that the seditious spirit which gave rise to 
 
 * Wodrow,vol. ii. p. 34. 
 
 t Wallace's Narrative of the Rising of Pentland, pp. 425, 
 429.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 341 
 
 the late insurrection, was deeply imbibed by 
 many, and who were disaffected to his majesty's 
 government. The letter is signed by the primate, 
 as interim president of the council in Lord 
 Rothes' absence, and by thirteen privy coun- 
 cillors. 
 
 The case of the prisoners came under the 
 cognizance of the privy council, where the ques- 
 tion was agitated, whether by their receiving 
 quarter in the field, it was understood that their 
 lives were to be spared. It was alleged that the 
 Covenanters came only to petition the council 
 without any intention of overturning the govern- 
 ment ; but M'Kenzie maintains, " That all rising 
 in arms, upon any pretext whatsoever, is declared 
 rebellion in this and all other nations ; and if any 
 should rise now in arms, because free-quarter is 
 taken from them against law, they would find 
 this government (i. e. the government of William 
 and Mary) so to take it." " Nor can it be pre- 
 tended that justice was denied to private peti- 
 tioners ; but on the contrary, Turner and Ballan- 
 tine were laid aside, which is all the state could 
 do, it being impossible to answer for all the 
 extravagancies of soldiers, even under the most 
 just government. From this likewise it neces- 
 sarily follows, that because this was no just war, 
 therefore the learned and worthy Sir John Nisbet, 
 then king's advocate, and the criminal judges
 
 342 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 were unjustly reproached for refusing to allow the 
 defence founded on giving quarter, that being- 
 only to be allowed in justo hello. And it is to 
 be remembered, that this defence was not allowed 
 to the worthy president, Sir Robert Spottiswood, 
 son to the famous archbishop, in anno 1645, 
 though the war was just on the king's side, and 
 he acted by virtue of a commission from that 
 very king by whose authority the parliament that 
 condemned him was called ; and it could not be 
 proved by those that were taken at Pentland- 
 hills, that quarter was granted them ; whereas it 
 was clearly proved, that the council in general 
 had discharged granting of quarter upon the 
 aforesaid account. We pass under silence here, 
 the dreadful slaughter of several hundreds, killed 
 after free-quarter given, and surrendering of the 
 castle of Dunvileigh (which made Lieutenant- 
 general Leslie, who then commanded the army, 
 threaten to lay down his commission,) notwith- 
 standing of a violent sermon made before him 
 upon these words : ' What meaneth then this 
 bleating, c. ;' that is, this noise of prisoners 
 yet preserved alive. So the preacher applied his 
 doctrine." * 
 
 The popular odium of the whole of this affair 
 fell solely on Archbishop Sharp. Indeed, it 
 
 * Sir G. M'Kcnzie's Vindication, 8vo., pp. 10, 11.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 343 
 
 would appear, from the exaggerations of his 
 enemies, as if the whole powers of the privy 
 council and the crown itself had been wielded by 
 his single arm; whereas he had only one vote 
 amongst fourteen or fifteen counsellors. The 
 question respecting the prisoners being allowed 
 the privilege of quarter was submitted to the 
 law-officers of the crown and the judges. The 
 Lord Lee, one of the judges, decided that, "though 
 the prisoners had the soldiers' quarter in the 
 field ; yet it prejudiced not their trial by law." 
 This decision is, of course, very charitably set 
 down as intended to please " the blood-thirsty 
 bishops." * Wodrow is more particular, and 
 says : " Bishop Sharp the president, pushed 
 violently the prosecution and execution of the 
 prisoners; and indeed his blood-thirsty temper 
 at this time made him very odious. I am well in- 
 formed,'" (his general authority,) " that after some 
 of them were condemned and a few executed, a 
 letter came down from the king, discharging 
 taking any more lives. This letter came to the 
 primate as president, and ought to have been by 
 him communicated to the council ; but the blood- 
 thirsty man kept it up, till as many as he had a 
 mind were despatched." f On the 4th of De- 
 cember, eleven were tried and condemned. Sir 
 
 * Kirk ton, p. 248. f Wodrow, vol. ii. pp. 37, 38.
 
 344 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 George Lockhart, Sir George Mackenzie, Wil- 
 liam Maxwell, and Robert Dickson, advocates, 
 were appointed as their counsel. The prisoners 
 were executed at Edinburgh on the 7th and llth 
 of December ; and some others were condemned 
 and executed on the 22d. Four of these received 
 a pardon on the terms proposed by the king, viz. : 
 a promise to obey the laws for the time to come. 
 Rothes, president of the council, afterwards made a 
 tour through the disaffected counties, having a 
 quorum of the privy council along with him, and 
 several executions took place at Ayr and Glas- 
 gow. Nicol says, " The general (Dalzell) having 
 marched towards the west, he took and killed 
 sundry persons called the Whiggs, and brought 
 into the town of Edinburgh sundry prisoners, and 
 upon the seventh day of December, presented 
 them to the privy council, who caused execute, 
 hangit, heidit, and quarterit ten of these persouns 
 at the Mercat Cross of Edinburgh ; others of 
 them were callit in the buttis quho war crewellie 
 tormentit." * 
 
 Archbishop Burnet arrived from London, and it is 
 said was the bearer of a letter from the king to the 
 privy council ; who approved of all the measures 
 which they had adopted ; but added, that he 
 thought there had been blood enough already 
 
 * Diary, p. 452.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 345 
 
 shed. He therefore ordered that such of the 
 prisoners as should promise to obey the laws for 
 the future, should be set at liberty, and the in- 
 corrigible sent to the plantations. Four accepted 
 these terms and were discharged ; but the greater 
 part justified their rebellion, and refused to 
 promise obedience to the laws. It would have 
 been more magnanimous had the proceedings 
 been less sanguinary than they were : but the 
 attachment of the prisoners to a perpetual source 
 of rebellion the Covenant, made the govern- 
 ment afraid that the same cherished principles 
 would produce the same bloody effects. 
 
 Of all the sufferers in this rebellion, none has 
 produced such a clamour against the primate as 
 the execution of M'Kail, a minister. Kirkton 
 says : " He was a proper youth, learned, travel- 
 led, and extraordinarily pious /" He was engaged 
 in the rebellion, and supposed to have been deep 
 in the secrets of the ringleaders. He was ex- 
 amined before the privy council, and was, by 
 order of Rothes, president of the council, who 
 had returned from London, severely tortured on 
 the 4th of December. Previous to his examina- 
 tion, he addressed a paper to the council, in 
 which he acknowledged that he had been with 
 the insurgents, and had borne arms ; but denied 
 all knowledge of there being a plot for inviting 
 the invasion of a foreign enemy. It is certain,
 
 346 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 however, that there was such a plot ; and which 
 is admitted by one who was present at the action 
 of Rullion Green.* The council urged M'Kail 
 to confess the particulars of this secret treaty 
 with the Dutch, and who were the ringleaders at 
 home. It is painful to think that Rothes ordered 
 him to be tortured, but nothing was elicited. 
 M'Kail's brother, a physician, afterwards solicited 
 the primate to intercede for his life ; which he 
 promised to do, provided he would discover the 
 secret of the plot. "Matthew M'Kail, the 
 brother, spoke to him, and the archbishop desired 
 him to assure Mr. Hew, that he would befriend 
 him if he would reveal the mystery of the plot;" 
 but, says M'Cree, " there was indeed a plot to 
 have surrendered the castles of Edinburgh, 
 Stirling, and Dumbarton in July that year, and 
 the chief contrivers failing, nothing was done." f 
 M'Kail was tried before the High Court of 
 Justiciary. " At the bar, he spoke of the ties and 
 engagements that were upon the land to God ; 
 and having commended the institution, dignity, 
 and blessing of Presbyterian government, he said 
 that the last words of the National Covenant had 
 always great weight on his spirit. Whereupon 
 the king's advocate interrupted him, and desired 
 
 * Veitch's Memoirs, edited by Dr. M'Cree, p. 378. 
 f Note to Veitch's Memoirs, p. 36.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP; 347 
 
 he would forbear that discourse, ' since he was 
 not called in question for his persuasion, but/or 
 the crime of rebellion, in rising in arms against 
 his majesty's authority.' As for rebellion, 
 M'Kail said, his accession was only simple pre- 
 sence with a sword, and that occasional." * He 
 was condemned for the crimes of treason and 
 rebellion, and was executed on the 22d of De- 
 cember. In his speech on the scaffold, he gloried 
 in his crimes, and asserted " that there can be 
 no greater act of loyalty to the king, as the times 
 now go, than for any man to do his utmost for 
 the extirpation of that abominable plant, prelacy, 
 which, he said, was the bane of the throne and the 
 country." " And now, he continued, I willingly 
 lay down my life for the truth and cause of God, 
 the Covenant and work of reformation, which 
 were once counted the glory of this nation ; and 
 it was for endeavouring to defend this, and to 
 extirpate that bitter root of prelacy that I em- 
 brace this rope." After the cap was drawn over 
 his face, he removed it and said ; " Besides the 
 justness of my cause, this is my comfort, which 
 was said of Lazarus, when he died, that the 
 angels did carry his soul into Abraham's bosom ; 
 so that as there is a great solemnity here, of a 
 confluence of people, a scaffold, a gallows, and 
 
 * Cruikshank's History, vol. i. p. 231.
 
 348 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 people looking out at windows ; so there is 
 a greater and more solemn preparation in 
 heaven, of angels to carry my soul to Christ's 
 bosom !" * 
 
 This is a sample of the spirit in which the 
 infatuated Covenanters lived and died. The 
 same evil spirit pervaded the whole of them ; 
 alas ! it is much to be feared, they knew not of 
 what spirit they were. Of M'Kail's execution, 
 and six others who suffered at the same time, 
 Kirkton acknowledges, that they might have 
 saved their lives by complying with the king's 
 terms; but they would not. That, however, 
 could hardly be expected from men excited to 
 such a pitch of enthusiasm, and fancying them- 
 selves under an obligation to rebellion and 
 murder. " None of them would save their life 
 by taking the declaration, and renouncing the 
 Covenant, though it was offered to them all ; all 
 of them died constant, and justifying what they 
 had done ; all of them died cheerfully, and full 
 of hope of salvation ; all of them died in hope 
 that God would deliver Scotland," f i. e. suffer 
 the bishops to be murdered. 
 
 Bishop Burnet, and the other historians of this 
 period, seize with avidity on this execution, to 
 
 * Cruikshank's History, vol. i. pp. 235, 237. 
 t Kirkton, p. 249.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHAUP. 349 
 
 heap odium on the archbishop. Without any 
 proof, he alleges accordingly that the primate 
 suppressed the king's letter; but soon after- 
 wards, he shifts the guilt to the Archbishop of 
 Glasgow. " Mr. M'Kail's death," he says, " was 
 the more cried out on, because it came to be 
 known afterwards, that Archbishop Burnet of 
 Glasgow, who had come down before his execu- 
 tion, had brought with him a letter from the king, 
 in which he approved of all they had done ; but 
 added, that he thought there was blood enough 
 already shed, and therefore ordered, that such of 
 the prisoners as should promise to obey the laws 
 for the future, should be set at liberty ; and that 
 the incorrigible should be sent to the plantations; 
 but Burnel (the Archbishop of Glasgow) let the 
 execution go on before he produced the letter."* 
 After citing the above, Cruikshanks adds, " But 
 / am apt to believe, that if Burnet brought the 
 letter from the king, he delivered it into the 
 hands of Sharp, who wickedly and basely con- 
 cealed it. But however this was, it appears the 
 king was more humane than the bishops, "f 
 If either of these prelates did as is here only sup- 
 posed, it was certainly a base and wicked act ; 
 but that either of them did suppress this letter, or 
 that it was suppressed at all, remains to be 
 
 * Burnet's Own Times, vol. i. p. 348. 
 t Cruiksh. Hist. vol. i. pp. 220, 221.
 
 350 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 proved. Wodrow and Cruikshanks say, this letter 
 came to the primate, as president of the council ; 
 but it is to be observed, that he was only to act 
 as president during the absence of Rothes. By all 
 the accounts, it appears that Rothes sat as presi- 
 dent of the council at M'Kail's examination; and 
 therefore the king's letter came to him and not to 
 the primate. Again, if either of these three indi- 
 viduals suppressed the royal mercy till after the 
 execution, how comes it that they were enabled 
 to offer the sufferers that very mercy granted by 
 the king in this mysterious letter ? This mercy 
 could not have been offered, if the letter had been 
 suppressed : at all events, these men refused to 
 comply with the conditions of the proffered 
 mercy. Here then we have a grave charge 
 of a most deliberate and cool murder, preferred 
 against the two archbishops, upon no better 
 foundation or proof than the hearsay of Wodrow, 
 the suspicion of Burnet, and the apt to believe 
 of Cruikshanks.* This is part of that system of 
 " enormous lying," which has been so success- 
 fully practised against the primate and all the 
 
 * Kirkton gives it merely as a report, which he himself 
 does not affect to believe ; but the others wish it to be be- 
 lieved as an undoubted fact. For my own part, I disbelieve 
 the existence of this letter altogether ; because a letter, on 
 which that party have laid so much stress, would not have 
 escaped the industry of Wodrow, who is so copious in docu- 
 ments of all sorts. What could possibly have answered his
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 351 
 
 bishops of Scotland. As a proof of the falsehood 
 of this accusation, Nicol, who was a contempo- 
 rary, and resided constantly in Edinburgh, does 
 not refer to this letter, or to its suppression ; and 
 he could not have been ignorant of it, if it had 
 been true. But, says Cruikshanks, " however, 
 this was," that is, although he deliberately 
 records the foul libel, yet he himself does not 
 believe it. It has, however, effected the object, 
 which he and others intended it should effect, 
 that of blackening the memory of the primate. 
 What can be thought of authors, who can be 
 guilty of handing down to posterity such in- 
 tentional calumny, and which, alas! has been 
 thoughtlessly credited and repeated by others, 
 who should have known better. " This foul act," 
 says Wodrow, " he (the primate) was justly 
 charged with, by the persons who some years 
 after this took away his life ; and when he cried 
 pitifully for mercy, he was told, that as he had 
 never showed mercy to others, so he was to 
 expect none from them." 
 
 purpose, of " exaggerating the crimes of his enemies," so 
 well as the real evidence of their guilt, had such evidence 
 existed. In short, this supposititious letter, and the horrible 
 outcry which the party have raised and continued upon it, 
 Was a " weak invention," to draw off public indignation from 
 the atrocious guilt of their own friends, and the horrible senti- 
 ments which they taught, of deliberate murder, schism, and 
 rebellion, at the foot of the gallows.
 
 352 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 We are indebted to the industry of the late 
 Dr. M'Cree, where it was not much to have been 
 expected, for a fact, which will entirely clear the 
 archbishop of this false accusation. In a note to 
 the Memoirs of Mr. William Veitch, he makes 
 a long extract from a MS. in the Advocate's 
 Library, " containing some particulars not gene- 
 rally known." 
 
 " The fore-mentioned Mr. Mathew M'Kail, then apothecary 
 in Edinburgh, and afterwards doctor of medicine, when he 
 heard of his cousin Mr. Hew M'Kail his being taken, and 
 put in prison, went to Mr. James Sharp, Archbishop of St. 
 Andrews, to solicit for him. When Mr. Mathew spoke to 
 him, he desired him to assure Mr. Hew that he would be- 
 friend him, if he would reveal the mystery of the plot, which 
 he not being able to do, occasioned his torture ; but there 
 was indeed a plot to have surrendered the castles of Edin- 
 burgh, Stirling, and Dumbarton, in July that year; and the 
 chief contrivers failing, nothing was done. Upon the Thurs- 
 day thereafter, the bishop went to St. Andrews, and Mr. 
 Mathew followed him on Friday, but reached only Wemyss 
 that night. After dinner, he arrived at the bishop's house 
 on Saturday, and the servant told that the barber was 
 trimming him, and when he was done, Mr. Mathew would 
 get access. When Mr. Mathew got access, he delivered to 
 the bishop ane letter from the Marchioness Douglass, in 
 favour of Mr. Hew, whose brother Mr. Mathew was governor 
 to his son, Lord James Douglass ; and another from the 
 bishop's brother, Sir William Sharp his lady : and when he 
 had read them, he said, ' The business is now in the justiciaries' 
 hands, and I can do nothing ; but, however, I shall have 
 answers ready against the next morning;' at which time, 
 when Mr. Mathew came, the bishop called his family together,
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 353 
 
 prayed, and desired Mr. Mathew to come and dine with him, 
 and then he would give the answer; then he went to the 
 church, did preach, and inveigh much against the Covenant. 
 Immediately after dinner, he gave the answers to the letters, 
 and Mr. Mathew said, that he hoped that his travelling that 
 day about so serious a business, would give no offence ; to 
 which the bishop answered, that it would give no offence. 
 Then Mr. Mathew went to enquire for his horse, but the 
 stabler's family were all gone to church, so that he could not 
 travel till Monday morning early ; and when he came to Buck- 
 haven, the wind being easterly, the fish-boats were coming 
 into the harbour, and he hired one of them immediately, and 
 arrived at Leith in the evening, having sent his horse to 
 Bruntisland. He went immediately to Archbishop Burnet 
 of Glasgow, and delivered a letter to him, who did read it, 
 and then said that the business was in the justiciarie's hands. 
 The next day being Tuesday, Mr. Hew was arraigned before 
 the justice-court, which sentenced him to be hanged at the 
 Cross of Edinburgh on Friday next." * 
 
 It appears, therefore, from the above evidence, 
 that so far from suppressing the king's letter, 
 addressed to the president of the council, that 
 the archbishop was actually at St. Andrews. It 
 may likewise not be out of place to notice, the 
 unwilling evidence of an adversary, to the fact of 
 the archbishop's attention to his family devo- 
 tions, as well as to public preaching. And this 
 corroborates what the author of the " True and 
 
 Note to M'Crie's edit, of Veitch's Life, pp. 3537. 
 
 A A
 
 354 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Impartial Account" says, that he preached regu- 
 larly every Sunday and holiday. It is curious 
 too to observe, that those men who were thirsting 
 for the archbishop's blood, when, through their 
 crimes their own lives were in jeopardy, they 
 solicited him to interfere with, and to stop the 
 course of justice, in order to save them from 
 the ignominious death which they knew would 
 be awarded them. 
 
 We may therefore justly conclude, that this 
 was part of that loyalty which M'Kail recom- 
 mended ; or as John Wilson, another of the rebels 
 who was executed, said in his last speech, " For 
 in my judgment, a man's endeavour to extirpate 
 perjured prelates, and abjured prelacy, according 
 as he is bound by OATH, in a sworn Covenant, 
 may very well stand with a man's loyalty to 
 king and country ; for, I am sure, the king and 
 his subjects may be happy, yea, more happy, 
 in the extirpation of prelates and prelacy, than 
 in their standing ; yea, the throne shall never be 
 established in peace, until that wicked plant be 
 plucked up by the roots." The outcry got up 
 against these eminent fathers of the church was 
 one of those pious frauds which, by men of some 
 religious opinions, were thought meritorious. 
 The unhappy sufferers were offered the king's 
 pardon for their treason, on the easy terms of living 
 peaceably, and renouncing the murderous obli-
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 355 
 
 gations of the Covenant. Four individuals ac- 
 cepted these terms, and were discharged ; the 
 others rejected the proffered mercy, and suffered 
 agreeably to their sentences. The blood of these 
 men, therefore, must rest on their own heads ; 
 and their guilt was greatly aggravated, by dying 
 not only wholly unrepentant, but absolutely 
 glorying in their treason. 
 
 The inconsistency, to give it no worse name, of 
 the author of the History of his Own Times, is very 
 remarkable. By his own account the letter, which 
 is said to have shown the king to be more merciful 
 than the bishops, was actually procured by the 
 bishops. Hear what he himself says : " The best 
 of the Episcopal clergy set upon the bishops, to 
 lay hold on this opportunity for regaining the af- 
 fections of the country, by becoming intercessors 
 for the prisoners, and the country that was like 
 to be quartered upon and eaten up, for the favour 
 they had expressed to them ; and that many of 
 the bishops went into this ; and that Wishart, 
 Bishop of Edinburgh, showed a very Christian 
 disposition at the time, by sending every day very 
 liberal supplies to the prisoners, which was like- 
 wise done by almost the whole town." The 
 king's letter to stop the executions was procured 
 and brought down by the Archbishop of Glasgow, 
 which shows that the bishops were more humane 
 than their enemies will allow. The clergy like- 
 
 A A 2
 
 356 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 wise showed their humanity, by entreating their 
 several bishops to petition the king in behalf of 
 these unhappy dupes of Jesuitical intrigue. The 
 alleged suppression of the king's letter, if indeed 
 there was such a letter, is mentioned by Kirkton 
 merely as a report ; but it is taken up by 
 Wodrow, and, of course, by others, as as an un- 
 deniable fact. Nicol, who was a contemporary, 
 does not mention nor even allude to such a dis- 
 graceful transaction. He says, " upone the 22d 
 day of December, 1666, ther was six men hangit 
 at Edinburgh Croce, commonlie callit the Whiggs; 
 quhairof Mr. Hew M'Kail, expectant minister, 
 was on, and Umphra Colquhoun, merchand in 
 Glasgow, was ane uther, with other four, quho all 
 of them pretendit they died ' for GOD and the 
 Covenant !' " * The severities which were inflicted 
 on the rebels were the consequences of their own 
 disloyalty and treason. No government would 
 have passed over such a rebellion, without same 
 examples ; and none could have been more 
 proper objects than men taken with arms in 
 their hands on the field of battle, and who justi- 
 fied their treason, except the secret instigators. 
 Rising in arms is accounted rebellion in every 
 country, whatever may be the pretext. The field- 
 preachings were the rendezvouses of rebellion ; 
 
 * Nicol's Diary, p. 452.
 
 ARC 11 111 SHOP SHARP. 357 
 
 and their preachers were always foremost in acts of 
 treason, and therefore the government prohibited 
 them. Unmerited and most unjust odium has 
 been heaped on the primate : as a privy counsel- 
 lor, his share in the proceedings of that arbi- 
 trary court was not greater than that of the other 
 members ; indeed, his biographers say it was 
 much " less, as appeared plainly from his con- 
 duct in many places and diets, as his attendance 
 at the council only on necessary occasions, his 
 declining to move questions to several crimi- 
 nals, his patience under their open reproaches 
 and indecencies, and "his absenting himself in 
 time of torture." 4 
 
 " But those," he continues, " who adhered rigidly 
 to the Covenant, as affairs then stood, were no 
 less enemies to the state than to the church, and 
 thought that the former's protecting the latter 
 dissolved their allegiance and obedience to autho- 
 rity. So that acts of Parliament were contra- 
 vened, illegal meetings and conventicles held and 
 resorted to, the Covenant preached up and re- 
 newed, barbarous indignities offered to the per- 
 sons of ministers and others, and the government 
 baffled and insulted. These growing evils called 
 for a cure ; and the methods in order to it, were 
 
 True and Impartial Account,
 
 358 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 so far from being effectual, that the discontented 
 party became thereby more violent and outrage- 
 ous. For now they broke forth into open rebel- 
 lion, took up arms in great numbers, gave a 
 defiance to the government, renewed their Cove- 
 nant afresh, and going on furiously in their blind 
 career, used all hostilities and cruelties against the 
 king's good subjects, as if it had been in a law- 
 ful war. But a check was speedily given to their 
 unaccountable extravagancies; for they were en- 
 countered by the king's forces, and routed at 
 Pentland-hills, in anno 1666. Though the courses 
 then taken (all circumstances being considered) 
 were such as no society or government could 
 avoid that had any regard to its own security and 
 preservation ; yet such was the malice and un- 
 reasonableness of the party, that all the measures 
 and proceedings of the state (how necessary 
 soever) were branded with the hardest names that 
 a misled zeal and violent principles could vomit 
 up. And the bishops were loaded with the re- 
 proach of all ; as if the officers of state, council- 
 board, and supreme courts of justice had been 
 only filled with them ; or, as if they, had their 
 inclinations so disposed them, could have in- 
 fluenced so many wise and learned judges. 
 Though we must not dissemble, that two great 
 men, who had the chief management, did over-
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 359 
 
 act in some things, on purpose to bring an odium 
 upon the clergy, which gave great encouragement 
 to their enemies." * 
 
 Bishop Burnet informs us that Bishop Wishart, 
 though a rough man and sharpened by ill-usage, 
 yet upon this occasion expressed a very Christian 
 temper, such as became one who had felt what 
 the rigour of a prison had been ; for he sent every 
 day very liberal supplies to the prisoners : which 
 was indeed done by the whole town, in so bounti- 
 ful a manner that many of them, who being shut 
 up, and having neither air nor exercise, were in 
 greater danger by their plenty than they had been 
 by all their unhappy campaign." f George Wish- 
 art, Bishop of Edinburgh, was of the family of 
 Logie, in the county of Angus. He first was 
 minister of North Leith, but was deposed by the 
 Covenanters in 1638, for refusing to take the 
 Covenant. The insurgents who were then in 
 possession of the government, discovered that he 
 had corresponded with the royalists, and in con- 
 sequence they plundered him of all his goods, and 
 imprisoned him in Haddo's-hole. Haddo's-hole, 
 or the thieves'-hole, was the nastiest and worst 
 part of the common-gaol of Edinburgh, and was 
 so denominated from the circumstance of Sir John 
 
 * True and Impartial Account, pp. 61.63. The author 
 Iiere alludes to Lauderdale and Rothes. 
 f Own Times, p. 398.
 
 360 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Gordon of Haddo having been shut up in it, for 
 his loyalty to Charles I. Wishart was immured 
 in this loathsome dungeon for seven months, and 
 during all that time was only allowed once to 
 change his linen. While in Haddo's-hole he ran 
 some risk of being devoured by rats, the marks 
 of whose voracity he bore on his face to his grave. 
 On his discharge from this abominable place, he 
 went abroad with the Marquis of Montrose. 
 After the fall of that illustrious nobleman he 
 became chaplain to the Queen of Bohemia, sister 
 to Charles I., and in that capacity accompanied 
 his royal mistress into England, in 1660, to visit 
 her nephew, after his happy restoration. He was 
 presented to the church and rectory of Newcastle- 
 on-Tyne, where he lived much respected. On 
 the restoration of the Church of Scotland he was 
 preferred to the see of Edinburgh, as a reward 
 for his loyalty and former sufferings. He was 
 consecrated at St. Andrews, and held the see of 
 Edinburgh till his death, in 1671. He was buried 
 in the Chapel-royal, Holyrood, where an elegant 
 monument was erected to his memory. He was 
 a man of true religion and piety ; and never for- 
 got his own sufferings in Haddo's-hole ; but felt 
 for those who inhabited that abode of wretched- 
 ness and misery. In pursuance of this charitable 
 sympathy it was his daily practice to send pro- 
 visions from his own kitchen, all the time he sat
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 36] 
 
 bishop in Edinburgh, to the prisoners. In par- 
 ticular at this time, he nearly killed the westland 
 Whiggs taken at Pentland, with over- repletion. 
 Burnet himself admits that the prisoners were in 
 greater danger from full feeding than they had 
 been during their short campaign. He wrote the 
 History of the War in Scotland under the great 
 Montrose, a book to which all historians are 
 indebted for the true history of that period.* 
 
 * Keith's Catalogue of Scottish Bishops. Bishop Russell's 
 edition. Burnet's Own Times. Note to Kirkton's History, 
 p. 247.
 
 362 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1667. King's letter to the primate Convention of Estates 
 Western counties disarmed Rothes disgraced King's 
 letter Bond of Peace Reasons for refusing it Primate's 
 letter to Rothes Erastianism defeated. 1668. Sir James 
 Turner's trial Leighton's Accommodation The Indul- 
 gence Attempt to assassinate the primate James Mit- 
 chel Several accounts Mitchel's character Privy coun- 
 cil Letter to the king Lauderdale's letter of condolence 
 Outrages of the Covenanters. 1669. Covenanters 
 Their meetings declared illegal Indulgence Conditions 
 King's letter Nature of the Indulgence Remarks 
 Some ministers accept the Indulgence Formulary Eras- 
 tianism Ministers return thanks Bishops and Clergy 
 averse to this comprehension Bishop's Sage's remarks 
 Wodrow's Dissaffected ministers in Holland Object to 
 the want of a popular call Popular opinion of the Indul- 
 gence Remonstrance of the Synod of Glasgow Conduct 
 of the Government Archbishop of Glasgow removed from 
 Parliament Meeting of Parliament Assertatory Act 
 Reflections Primate's opposition Object of the act 
 Reflections Archbishop Burnet Cause of his suspension 
 Primate also in danger of deprivation Act for the per- 
 sonal security of the clergy Their oppression Leigh ton. 
 1670. Collations Remarks on the number of Dissenters 
 Reflections Archbishop Burnet deprived Leighton his 
 clergy accused Field conventicles Men go armed 
 Conventicle at Beith Meeting of Parliament Acts 
 Conventicle Act Reflections Preachers sent among the
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 3G3 
 
 Covenanters Conference betwixt Leighton and the in- 
 dulged ministers The " Accommodation" Reflections 
 Conspiracy against the Church King's letter Remarks 
 by Archbishop Paterson Private instructions to Lauder- 
 dale. 1671. Leighton's second attempt at conciliation 
 Death of Wishart. 
 
 1667. AFTER the affair at Rullion-green, the 
 army was sent into Ayrshire, and Dalzell esta- 
 blished his head-quarters at Kilmarnock. He 
 seems to have been of a stern disposition ; and 
 the excesses said to have been committed, if true, 
 are shocking to humanity ; but when the tendency 
 of those who make the assertion, to " aggravate 
 the crimes of their enemies" is considered, we 
 must not admit their accusations to the full 
 extent. Compared with him, Turner and Ban- 
 natyne were considered mild and gentle. Kirkton 
 says, " Sir James Turner and Sir William Ban- 
 natyne had, by their cruelties, driven the poor 
 people of Galloway into despair; but they were 
 saints compared to Tom Dalzell and his soldiers." 
 In the month of January of this year, Charles 
 wrote a letter with his own hand to the primate, 
 thanking him for his services in the late Presby- 
 terian rebellion. The letter itself is in the pos- 
 session of Major-general Bethune, of Blebo, the 
 lineal representative of both Archbishop Sharp 
 and Cardinal Beaton, who kindly permitted me 
 to take a copy of it. On comparing the hand-
 
 364 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 writing with documents known to have been 
 written by that monarch, and in the possession of 
 the Right Reverend Dr. Walker, Bishop of Edin- 
 burgh and Primus Scotia Episcopus, and also 
 the seal attached, there can be no doubt of its 
 being in the hand-writing of Charles. 
 
 " Whitehall, 2d January, 1667. 
 
 " My Lord St. Andrews I have received so great testimo- 
 nies of your prudent carriage in the late transactions for settling 
 my affaires, and how far you have been from foolish Jealousies, 
 that I thought it fitt to thanke you for it. I am confident 
 you will so continue, and I assure you I shall be, 
 
 " Your affectionate friende, 
 
 " Charles R." * 
 
 In January there was a Convention of Estates, 
 with the view of raising money for the pay of the 
 army, and the other expenses of government. 
 The king recommended mild measures to be 
 adopted by the council ; and on the 12th of 
 March he ordered the western, or disaffected 
 counties, to be disarmed. In the northern parts, 
 beyond the river Forth, where the Episcopal 
 church was the church of the people's affections, 
 there was not a single soldier quartered. It was 
 
 * The hand-writing is good and legible, and the paper is 
 about the size of a half-sheet of pot paper, folded quarto. The 
 seal is lozenge-shape, having the royal arms; on the upper 
 point of the lozenge is the crown, at the left corner his cypher, 
 C., and opposite, the letter R.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 365 
 
 only in Galloway, Ayr, and Lanarkshire, where 
 a part of the people were attached to the Cove- 
 nant, where the Covenanting ministers kept up 
 a constant agitation, and whose religion was 
 mixed too much up with sedition that any distur- 
 bance or disaffection to government existed. This 
 seditious spirit was fostered by the preachers of 
 the Covenant, who might with great justice be 
 called knights of the church-militant. In March, 
 a squadron of Dutch ships sailed up the Forth, 
 and threw some shot into Leith and Burntisland ; 
 the army was therefore ordered to the eastern 
 coast. " Nota," says Nicol : " Thir times looked 
 verie stormie lyke baith be intestine debait and 
 divisione in the north, south, and west lands, 
 braking out in pairties quhilk compellit the privie 
 council to convein oftener than of befoir to re- 
 stray ne some wicked persones quhilk would not 
 be restrained, and als be reasone of ane foraign 
 enemie, the Panes and Dutches, dailie waiting 
 upone our sea-coastis for rubbing and taking of 
 our schips and goods, and taking of men's lyfes, 
 if it war possible."* 
 
 Rothes was about this time stripped of all his 
 employments, except the office of chancellor. His 
 dissolute conduct in private life prevented his 
 attention to the public affairs of state; and 
 
 * Diary, p. 454.
 
 36G LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 besides he bad quarrelled with Lauderdale, whose 
 influence with the king was despotic. A great 
 part of the army was likewise disbanded, except 
 two troops of horse and one regiment of foot- 
 guards. 
 
 The council received a letter from the king, 
 dated the 4th of May, enjoining proper respect 
 to be shown to the established clergy. 
 
 " Whereas, nothing can be more useful for our service or 
 more conducible for reclaiming the people from these treason- 
 able and fanatic principles wherewith they have been poisoned 
 by factious preachers, then the encouraging the sober and 
 orthodox clergy, against whom the greatest rage appeared in 
 the late rebellion. And whereas, we are resolved not only to 
 encourage and protect the bishops in the exercise of their 
 callings, and all the orthodox clergy under them, but also to 
 discountenance all of what quality soever, who shall show any 
 disrespect or disaffection to that order and government : 
 therefore we do more especially and earnestly recommend it 
 to you, who are trusted under us with the government of that 
 our ancient kingdom, to give all manner of countenance and 
 encouragement to the orthodox clergy, and to punish severely 
 any affronts or disrespects put upon them, to the end that 
 they may be the more endeared to their people, when they 
 see how careful we, and all in authority under us, are of their 
 protection in the due exercise of their calling." 
 
 Iii consequence a proclamation was issued 
 embodying the subject of the above letter, 
 and making heritors and parishioners liable for 
 damages done to the clergy by the fanatics.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 3G7 
 
 In September the king granted a general am- 
 nesty to all who had been engaged in the late 
 rebellion, except those who had been forfeited. 
 In consequence of disbanding the army the 
 council determined to tender the following " bond 
 of peace" to the Covenanters in the west : 
 
 " I, A. B., do engage, bind, and oblige myself to keep the 
 public peace, under the pain of a year's rent, of all whatsom- 
 ever lands and heritages pertain to me, to be paid in case I 
 contravene ; and also those who are or shall be my men, 
 tenants, and servants." 
 
 To men religiously and peaceably disposed 
 such a bond should not have been any stumbling- 
 block ; nevertheless, it was generally refused by 
 the Covenanters. The most unreasonable part 
 was the making landlords responsible for their 
 tenants. The reasons of those who owned the 
 Covenant for refusing the bond, being curious, and 
 not a little tinctured with the ingenuity of Loyola, 
 it is here inserted from a standard book with the 
 Covenanters, called " The Hind let Loose." 
 
 " 1. That this bond of peace was a confederacy with God's 
 enemies, whom we should reckon as our enemies, and hate 
 them because they hate him. 2. This cannot be taken in 
 truth, judgment, and righteousness, because of the fallacy and 
 ambiguity of the terms ; for there are divers kinds of peace, 
 some of duty and others not. It must then be peace rightly 
 qualified ; for we can profess and pursue no peace or con- 
 federacy with GOD'S enemies, no peace inconsistent with the 
 fear of GOD, no peace obstructing the Gospel or our testimony ;
 
 3G8 LIFE AXD TIMES Of 
 
 no peace prompting to preposterous prudence, in palliating 
 sin, or daubing defections with untempered mortar; no peace 
 inconsistent with truth, &c. 3. If we further enquire into 
 this meaning, living peaceably ; it is plain they mean such a 
 peaceable living, as gives obedience to their wicked laws, and 
 is a compliance with their established courses ; such peace- 
 able living as is opposite to their sense of sedition, rebellion, 
 schism, &c. ; such a peaceable living as is contrary to all the 
 duties of our covenanted profession, as going to meetings, 
 withdrawing from the curates, &c., which, according to them, 
 is inconsistent with the public peace. 4. This is contrary to 
 our Covenants, by which we are obliged to a constant con- 
 tending with, and opposition to all the supporters of popery, 
 prelacy, &c." 
 
 What could any government do with men of 
 such anti-social principles? This bond was con- 
 sidered oppressive and tyrannical by the Cove- 
 nanters, and by them only refused. It gave 
 however general satisfaction ; and all those who 
 were in prison on suspicion, were liberated. 
 Charles approved of the moderate measures now 
 pursued, and in October ordered a proclamation 
 of pardon and indemnity, with certain exceptions, 
 and this put a stop to all the severities. 
 
 Burnet says that Rothes was commanded to 
 write to Archbishop Sharp to confine himself to 
 his own diocese, and to attend to the education 
 of the young Duke of Gordon. This must 
 be altogether erroneous, for by the following 
 letter to Rothes, we find, that instead of being
 
 ARCHBTSHOP SHARP. 369 
 
 confined to his diocese, he went to London. 
 Rothes represented his royal master so faithfully, 
 that he gave himself up entirely to a dissolute 
 course of life, to the detriment of public business. 
 The archbishop wrote to him from London, re- 
 proving him for his loose, lascivious life, and his 
 letters, says Mr. Kirkpatrick Sharp, " to Rothes, 
 do him much credit, as a candid friend, and sao-e 
 adviser." 
 
 " By my last I scribbled, being straitened with time, I do 
 not remember well what : only what comes into my heart, I 
 take a freedom to utter to your grace, whyle I am with 
 you by word, and at this distance by write. I have been 
 these two days much at Lambeth, and yesterday morning 
 
 had a full and free discourse with a confidant of 
 
 Worcester-house, and found there has been endeavours, since 
 your parting from this place, to do me ill offices, and not 
 good service to your grace. It is apprehendit here, that I 
 am absolutely yours, (and I confess I doe not take pains to 
 dispossess them of that opinion,) and therefore they have 
 thought it fitt for them to make bold with me, by useing all 
 the wayes their malice could prompt them to blast my repu- 
 tation and credit with my most gracious master, with the 
 duke, and churchmen my friends; and their having begun 
 witli me, (whom they thought in my absence it was easy to 
 oppress,) they might without much controul have opportunity 
 to make their calumnies of your grace to take place, that you 
 are unfitt to prosecute the king's service, not at all concerning 
 yourself in it, being dissolute, lascivious, and wholly given up 
 to follow your pleasures, caring for none, and being intimate 
 with none, but such kind of persons who are without brains 
 or morality, whom you keep always about you for drinking,
 
 370 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 carding, dyeing, and w g ; so as your family and way 
 
 gives the example to all looseness throughout the country. 
 Finding that these suggestions were made of you, I thought 
 it wasfitt for me, upon monday morning to speak to the king, 
 and to read your note written to me, of which I do not re- 
 pent. I did justify you to my Lord Canterbury, of whose 
 fidelity and friendship to you I can give you assurance. 
 Having taken my Lords of Athole and Storment to dyne 
 with him yasterday at Lambeth,, he entertained them very 
 kindly, and sayed to them at the table, that by the account 
 I had given him, he found that the king's commissioner for 
 Scotland, his noble friend, had done the part of a faithfull 
 minister to his master ; and having called for a glass of 
 shearie, he pulled off his hatt, and drank out to your grace's 
 health, and made it goe round the table, all being uncovered. 
 I am not solicitous or doubtfull but that you are ordering your 
 carriage so as will cut off occasion or pretension to those who 
 envy your greatness to traduce you. Before I part from 
 hence, your interest with the king, and those who govern 
 here, shall be more surely fixed than can be underminded or 
 lessened by the attempts of any." * 
 
 Bishop Burnet brings a sweeping charge of 
 ignorance and scandal against the whole body of 
 the clergy in the diocese of Glasgow, upon the 
 suspicious evidence of their enemies, the Cove- 
 nanters. Nevertheless, he admits in another 
 place, that, " it was after all hard to believe all 
 that was set about against them." That is, that 
 the falsehoods respecting them were so very 
 
 * Note to Kirkton's Hist, by Kirkpatrick Sharp, Esq., 
 pp. 261,262.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 371 
 
 glaring that they carried their own refutation 
 along with them. Sir Robert Murray proposed 
 a special commission to try them. This was 
 opposed by the archbishop, as direct Erastianism, 
 and as striking directly at the root of Episcopal 
 authority. The clergy themselves were alarmed, 
 and exclaimed against this proposal, as in fact 
 delivering them into the hands of their implacable 
 enemies the Covenanters, who were to be their 
 accusers, and that too before lay judges. These 
 were exasperated against the clergy, on account 
 of their sacred functions, and because they 
 yielded obedience to the laws, and would have 
 sworn any falsehood against them. On this the 
 Covenanters became exceedingly insolent, and 
 began to ill use the clergy; many of whom, 
 despairing of further protection from the govern- 
 ment, vacated their cures and went over to 
 Ireland. The commission was abandoned, but its 
 proposal did much mischief. 
 
 1668. A special commission was ordered by 
 the king in February, to inquire into the conduct 
 of Sir James Turner, during his command in 
 Dumfrieshire and Galloway. It appears from 
 their report, from informations on oath, " that 
 many illegal exactions had been made and dis- 
 orders committed." * For which he pleaded his 
 
 Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 102. 
 
 B B 2
 
 372 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 written instructions from Lord Rothes, the king's 
 commissioner. But as these instructions were 
 taken from him by the rebels after his capture, 
 it was impossible for him to produce them in 
 evidence. He admitted having extorted .50,000 
 Scots from the stewartry of Kirkcudbright. And 
 it appears on Sir James's oath, that the army as 
 it was called, with which he was said so mightily 
 to have oppressed that part of the country, only 
 amounted to sixty men, rank and file ! This is 
 a fair specimen of the exaggerations to which 
 the party have resorted in the whole proceedings 
 of this reign ; and from this we may judge of the 
 enormous lies with which the page of history, 
 during these two reigns, has been overlaid. The 
 report and defences were submitted to the king, 
 who ordered his commissions to be taken from 
 him, and himself declared incapable for ever after 
 of serving his majesty. 
 
 With the malignant feelings which actuated 
 the historian of the Sufferings, of the so called, 
 Church of Scotland, he says, that Sir James 
 Turner was abundantly ready to execute the 
 orders of the privy council ; but was obliged to 
 go beyond even his own inclinations, to satisfy the 
 bishop of Galloway, who, he says, was severe and 
 cruel, as all apostates used to be, and the rest of 
 the prelates. These severe accusations are en- 
 tirely false, and are only conceived in that spirit of
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 373 
 
 aggravation in which his whole history is written. 
 I have shown that Bishop Hamilton could not be 
 an apostate, even in their sense, because he was 
 Episcopally ordained, and only was coerced into 
 a forced submission to the wide-spread heresy 
 during the usurpation. 
 
 The following remarks are taken from a work 
 recently published by the Bannatyne Club, to 
 which we are much indebted for the publication 
 of many original MSS., which throw great light 
 on the history of Scotland, at a period when a 
 mendacious spirit seemed to have been poured 
 out upon the compilers of its history. 
 
 " Very hard names ; a betrayer of the liberties 
 of the kirk, ane obleidger of ane officer who knew 
 so very well his duety as to execute it with rigour, 
 to goe beyound his inclinations, severe, cruel, and 
 ane apostate too. Might not one be induc'd to 
 think that Mr. Wodrow had now altogether lost 
 his Christian charity, and with that St. Paul's 
 precept, ' Let each esteem others better than 
 themselves ;' malice, perverse lyeing, and back- 
 byteings, are doun right contradictory to the 
 spirit of Christianity ; and the vermine who not 
 only use, but avowedly print them, should be 
 looked upon by all good and honest men as the 
 cankers of societie, and the shame of any religion 
 whatever, only fit for a common stage, but in 
 no wayes for the pulpit.
 
 374 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 " If Mr. Wodrow had known the bishop befor 
 he wrot, as certainly he ought, he must have 
 spoke out the gentleman, and fairly said, Hamil- 
 ton, &c., who hath at last got thorow that dismall 
 and schismatical inundation, is now not only 
 restored to, but made a prelate of, that orderly 
 and orthodox church of Christ, wherin he was 
 baptised, and many years before the Restoration, 
 instituted and ordain'd. This so much for 
 answer to his betraying and apostacie. 
 
 " The bishop was too well known here, both by 
 freinds and enemies, some whereof still aliue, to 
 deserue those base epithets of severe and cruel ; 
 and a gentleman, tho' no great freind to his 
 partie, speaking of the bishop very lately, was 
 pleased to say that he knew him severe in nothing 
 save his dyet and morals. 
 
 " As for Mr. Wodrow's termes of childish obli- 
 gations upon Sir James Turner, (considering that 
 gentleman's character,) they must be very stupid. 
 For my own curiositie, I haue gone thorow the 
 bishop's letters, note, and papers, and I now 
 declare that I cannot see one word about him ; 
 which must obleidge me to believe, considering 
 the bishop's exactnesse, that he and Sir James 
 were very little, if at all acquainted. 
 
 " I expected also in this gentleman's appendix, 
 some vouchers for the aboue calumnies, but it 
 seems they are, as too many others which he
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 375 
 
 relates, not yet come to hand. If Mr. Gilbert 
 Hamilton at Crawfoord, one of his sufferers too, 
 who all the bishop's tyme keept his conventicles 
 and meetings, within less than a bowshot of 
 Broomhill, were aliue, he would give these his 
 imprudent assertions the lye to their face. 
 
 " In the same vol. p. 102, is, 'Therefore the court 
 pitched upon Masters Sharp, Fairfoul, and Hamil- 
 ton, &c., to come up to London, and learn the ser- 
 vice of that land, and receiue Episcopal ordination.' 
 
 "To what end ordination, when, as I haue 
 already told, the bishop more than twenty-six 
 years before that, had it in his pocket ? But I 
 suppose he means consecration, which reallie till 
 this tyme he had not, tho' conforme to this 
 teacher's wry tings, and his printed visible know- 
 ledge, it may be reckoned, without breach of 
 charity, that he takes these words to be synoni- 
 rnous. As to the bishop's learning the service of 
 that land, is still a greater blunder in Mr. Wod- 
 row, especially when he braggs so much in his 
 preface as to giue a well-vouched narrative, the 
 searchings of the registers of the privie council 
 and justiciary, (carefully done to my knowledge,) 
 his accesse to the valuable papers of Mr. Alex- 
 ander Sheils, and the relations of the sufferers in 
 that period. Yet for all that, he hath neglected 
 the synodical books at Glasgow, else he had 
 found Mr. James Hamilton, to his lasting honour,
 
 376 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 severely handled by the then synod, for useing 
 so long that great treasure of rational devotion, 
 I mean our Liturgie, in his church at Cam- 
 busnethan" * 
 
 In consequence of many having refused to sign 
 the bond of peace, the king wrote to the council 
 requiring information respecting the number of 
 those who had refused. He recommended to their 
 especial care, the preservation of the public peace, 
 and to countenance and maintain the Episcopal 
 government. He also commanded them by all 
 means " to restrain the gatherings of the people to 
 conventicles, which are indeed rendezvouses of re- 
 bellion, and execute the laws severely against the 
 ringleaders of such faction and schism." In 
 reply, the council state that two hundred and 
 eighteen had accepted his majesty's pardon, and 
 signed the bond of peace ; and that three hundred 
 of the inferior people had not accepted it.f The 
 country became now much more tranquil, and 
 would have remained so, but for the machinations 
 of those Presbyterians who had taken refuge in 
 Holland. The Earl of Tweedale and his friends 
 were greatly concerned at the intractable spirit 
 of the Covenanters. They sent for some of their 
 heads ; and offered, that if they would conform 
 
 * Account of the Familie of Broomhill, 4to. pp. 54 56. 
 f Woclrow, vol. ii. p. 107.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHAHP. 377 
 
 themselves to the government, they would en- 
 deavour to procure a mitigation in their favour of 
 some of the severest of the laws against them. 
 Many churches in the western counties were 
 vacant, in consequence of the violent and lawless 
 conduct of the Covenanters, which harassed the 
 clergy so much, that some of them were obliged 
 to vacate their livings in despair.* 
 
 The civil government determined to pursue 
 milder measures, and Leigh ton, Bishop of Dum- 
 blane, proposed a scheme of " Accommodation." 
 Burnet says, a set of hot, fiery preachers peram- 
 bulated the western counties, inflaming the minds 
 of the people, and drawing them away from their 
 parish churches. As a remedy for this increasing 
 evil, Leighton proposed a treaty, for accommo- 
 dating; the existing differences, and changing the 
 ecclesiastical laws. Parliament had exalled the 
 Episcopal authority much higher than the bishops 
 themselves had ever assumed. The basis of Leigh- 
 ton's accommodation was, that the church should 
 be governed by the bishops and the clergy mixing 
 together in church-courts. It was proposed, that 
 the bishop should act merely as a president or 
 moderator ; and that all decisions, in matters of 
 jurisdiction and ordination, be determined by the 
 majority of the presbyters. Those Presbyterian 
 
 * Guthrie, Gen. Hist., vol. x. p. 141.
 
 378 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 ministers who should accede, should be allowed to 
 declare at their first sitting, that they submitted to 
 the presidency of a bishop, for peace sake, with a 
 reservation of their opinions regarding the law- 
 fulness of such presidency. The bishop was not 
 to be allowed a negative vote ! The bishops 
 were to hold ordinations at the churches, where 
 the ministers were to be settled, and not at his 
 cathedral. The Presbytery were to meet there at 
 the same time, to hear and discuss the objections 
 that might be offered. The persons ordained 
 were to have permission to declare their opinions, 
 whether or not they thought the bishop was 
 head of the Presbyters. It was likewise pro- 
 posed, that there should be provincial synods, 
 to meet once in three years, in which complaints 
 against the bishops should be received, and them- 
 selves censured accordingly ! Upon this falla- 
 cious basis it was proposed to alter the laws 
 respecting Episcopacy, which was, in short, to 
 establish Presbytery. According to this scheme, 
 the bishop had no more power than any of the 
 presbyters : it went the whole length of Erastian- 
 isrn ; for, if a negation was necessary, it was to 
 be interposed by the king ; and some lay person 
 was to negative the proceedings, should the bishop 
 find it necessary !* Such were Leighton's propo- 
 
 * Burnet's Own Times, pp. 462468.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 379 
 
 sals for healing the schism, a scheme much more 
 likely to perpetuate it. Lauderdale, however, 
 would not consent to such a wild proposal ; and 
 even the Presbyterians themselves treated it with 
 deserved contempt. 
 
 This accommodation being set aside as im- 
 practicable, it was resolved in the king's councils 
 to grant a toleration to such of the Presbyterian 
 party as would engage to live peaceably. To 
 this, however, Leighton was opposed. Some of 
 the outed ministers were to be permitted to fill 
 the vacant churches, as an act of royal indul- 
 gence ; hence the name. Wodrow says, that at 
 this time field-conventicles were very rare ; but 
 Presbyterian ministers preached to their followers 
 in houses and barns : unless in some places, 
 where circumstances obliged them to take to the 
 fields, it was rare to preach out of a house.* 
 This indulgence or toleration would have been 
 carried into effect at this time, had not the 
 infernal principles engendered by the Covenant, 
 induced an attempt to assassinate the primate. 
 Kirkton calls it " ane unhappy accident.''-^ 
 Wodrow says, it was " ane unhappy incident." $ 
 Burnet, of whom better things might have been 
 
 * Wodrow, vol. ii. pp. 109, 110. 
 f Kirkton's History, p. 277. 
 t Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 115.
 
 380 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 expected, calls this inhuman attempt, " a strange 
 accident which happened to Sharp." 
 
 The vile assassin's name was James Mitchell, 
 one of the ministers of the Covenanters ; and it 
 may hence be inferred what sort of horrible doc- 
 trines they taught the people. I shall give the 
 account of the " unhappy incident," in the cool 
 and approving language of Wodrow, which 
 clearly shows that the " unhappiness" of the 
 " incident" consisted, in his opinion, in its want of 
 success : " James Mitchel was a preacher of the 
 gospel, and a youth of much zeal and piety ; 
 but, perhaps, had not those opportunities for 
 learning and conversation, which would have 
 been useful to him. I find Mr. Traill, minister 
 at Edinburgh, in the year 1661, recommending 
 him to some ministers in Galloway, as a good 
 youth, that had not much to subsist upon, and as 
 fit for a school, or teaching gentlemen's children. 
 He was at Pentland, and is excepted from the 
 indemnity. From what motives I say not, he 
 takes on a resolution to kill the Archbishop of 
 St. Andrews; and upon the llth of July, he waits 
 the bishop coming down in the afternoon to his 
 coach at the head of Blackfriar's Wynd in Edin- 
 burgh ; and with him was Mr. Honeyman, Bishop 
 of Orkney. When the archbishop had entered 
 the coach and taken his seat, Mr. Mitchell steps 
 close to the north side of the coach, and dis-
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 381 
 
 charges a loaden pistol in at the door of the 
 coach. The moment the pistol is discharged, 
 Mr. Honeyman sets his foot in the boot of the 
 coach, and when reaching up his hand to step in, 
 received the shot designed for Mr. Sharp, in the 
 wrist, and so the primate escaped at this time. 
 Upon this, Mr. Mitchell crossed the street with 
 much composure, till he comes to Niddry's Wynd- 
 head, when a man offers to stop him, and he 
 presented a pistol to him, upon which the other 
 let him go. He stepped down the wynd, (lane,) 
 and going up Steven Law's close, went into a 
 house, and changed his clothes, and came straight 
 confidently to the street, as being the place where 
 indeed he would be least suspected. The cry 
 arose, a man was killed ; and some rogues an- 
 swered, it was but a bishop, and all was calmed 
 very soon. The two bishops made all the haste 
 they could to the house where they had been."* 
 Dr. Burns of Paisley makes no comment on 
 this atrocious attempt at murder, but seems 
 rather to approve of it ; for he adds in a note 
 the following vindictive paragraph : " Honeyman, 
 like Sharp, had been originally a very violent 
 Presbyterian, but like him had, for the sake of 
 preferment, violated his conscience, and was a 
 cruel persecutor of all who refused to follow his 
 
 * Wodrow's Hist. vol. ii. pp. 115, 116.
 
 382 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 example. The above accident, however, was 
 fatal to him ; the wound could never be healed, 
 and in a few years after, was the cause of his 
 death. Sharp, though he thus escaped at the 
 time, was greatly alarmed, and probably lived 
 after this in daily and nightly terror. Bishop 
 Burnet, who, though he hated the man, had some 
 respect for the archbishop, and called on him for 
 the purpose of congratulating him on his escape, 
 informs us, ' that he was much touched with it,' 
 and put on a show of devotion upon it. He said, 
 with a very serious look, ' My times are wholly 
 in thy hand, O thou God of my life!' ' This,' 
 he adds, ' was the single expression savouring of 
 piety, that ever fell from him in all the conversa- 
 tions that passed between him and me.' ' : 
 And, without any breach of charity, we may 
 assert, that this solitary, " single expression, 
 savouring of piety," would not have been chro- 
 nicled by either Burnet or Burns, had it not been 
 for the pious purpose of defaming Sharp, as they 
 respectfully call the primate. " But neither his 
 innocence nor character could screen him from 
 the inhuman designs of the sons of Belial, who 
 thought if they could once destroy him, his order 
 would also follow. The first attempt to put this 
 
 * Own Times ; cited by Dr. Burns, in note to Wodrow, 
 vol. ii. p. 116.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 383 
 
 hellish project into execution was made on 
 the llth of July, 1668, being Saturday; for 
 as he came down in the evening from his 
 brother's lodgings, which were over against the 
 Blackfriar's Wynd, and being placed in his 
 coach, was distributing charity to the poor, and 
 blessing them, and receiving their returns, he 
 along with Dr. Honeyman, Bishop of Orkney 
 (who was entering the coach,) were assaulted by 
 a wicked ruffian, (Mr. James Mitchel by name, 
 whose son and heir is present preacher, (1723,) at 
 Donnoter,) who shot at them with a pistol, charged 
 with three balls, which broke the Bishop of 
 Orkney's left arm, a little above the wrist. In 
 the confusion occasioned by so unexpected an 
 event, the bloody assassin made his escape."* 
 
 Cruikshanks, copying Wodrow, and relating this 
 attempt at sacrilegious murder, calls Dr. Honey- 
 man's wound the "righteousness of Providence, 
 in disabling Honeyman at this time."t And 
 even the more respectable Guthrie says, " As 
 Honeyman was among the most learned of the 
 Scotch bishops, and had lately distinguished 
 himself by a publication in favour of Episcopacy, 
 though he had formerly been a violent Cove- 
 nanter, enthusiasts looked upon his wound as a 
 
 * True and Impartial Account, p. 63. 
 
 f Hist, of the Churcli of Scotland, vol. i. p. 269.
 
 384 LIFE AXD TIMES OF 
 
 just punishment for his apostacy ; but the pub- 
 lic made no doubt that the ball was aimed at 
 Sharp."* 
 
 We shall meet with the " pious' Mitchel 
 afterwards; meantime his character may be men- 
 tioned, as a specimen of what certain religionists 
 mean by " piety and zeal." He was rejected by 
 the Presbytery of Dalkeith from ordination on 
 account of his ignorance. Afterwards he was 
 recommended to the Laird of Dundas, as domestic 
 chaplain ; in whose family he entered into a 
 criminal familiarity with the young wife of the 
 laird's aged gardener. Their guilt being dis- 
 covered, he was dismissed from the family. He 
 came to Edinburgh, and lodged in the same house 
 with the execrable Major Weir, with whom he 
 contracted a friendship. He now began to fre- 
 quent conventicles and to preach up the Cove- 
 nant, with all disloyal principles. Major Weir, 
 to show his friendship for him, recommended him 
 to the neice of Sir Archibald Johnston the famous 
 rebel, and one of the greatest fanatics of her day. 
 It was during his residence in this family that the 
 Pentland rebellion broke out, which he imme- 
 diately joined. He escaped the sword, but was 
 proclaimed traitor, and was afterwards excepted 
 out of the king's act of indemnity. From that 
 
 * General History, vol. x. p. 142.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 385 
 
 time he skulked about, and sheltered himself 
 among the rebellious saints of the Covenant, till 
 he had an opportunity of reducing his principles 
 to practice, on Saturday, the llth of July.* Sir 
 James Turner says : " At Douglass, I was ac- 
 costed by one Mitchell, (whom I had never seen 
 before,) a preacher, but no actual minister, who 
 spared not to rail sufficiently against all authority, 
 both supreme and subaltern." 
 
 The privy council immediately assembled, and 
 issued a proclamation for the assassin's appre- 
 hension ; and then wrote the following letter 
 to the king, acquainting him with the horrid 
 assault. 
 
 " May it please your sacred majesty, As it hath not been 
 our custom to give your majesty any unnecessary trouble ; so 
 we could have wished that the wickedness of a desperate 
 fellow had not given occasion to us in duty to acquaint your 
 majesty with that which we know will not be pleasing to you, 
 and which we and all honest men doe abominate. 
 
 " Saturday last, in the evening, as the Archbishop of St. 
 Andrews and Bishop of Orkney were going abroad, the 
 archbishop being in his coach and the other stepping up, a 
 wicked fellow standing behind the coach, did shott the Bishop 
 of Orkney beneath his right-hand, and broke his left-arm a 
 little above the wrist, with five balls, and immediately crossing 
 the street, went down a lane and escaped, there being no 
 person near at the time but those who were so taken up about 
 the Bishop of Orkney, that they could not observe the person, 
 
 * Ravillac Redivivus. 
 
 c c
 
 386 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 nor whither he went. That same night all possible search was 
 made both within and about the town, and this day a pro- 
 clamation was issued forth for the discovery and apprehending 
 of him, whereof a copy is sent to your secretary to be pre- 
 sented to your majesty, whom we shall acquaint from time to 
 time, &c."* 
 
 Among the Episcopal manuscripts at Aberdeen 
 there is an original letter from the Earl of Lau- 
 derdale, dated 18th July, 1668, addressed to 
 Archbishop Sharp, in which he congratulates the 
 primate on his recent happy escape from assassi- 
 nation. His lordship also offers condolence to 
 the Bishop of Orkney, for the severe wound 
 which he had received. He communicates to the 
 primate that some " villain had wounded my lord 
 general's porter, and on being taken, he said, he 
 intended to have murdered the king and the 
 Duke of Albemarle." This is the sort of " piety 
 and zeal" which the disciples of the Covenant 
 universally taught, and of which they approved. 
 About this time very gross outrages were com- 
 mitted on the Episcopal clergy by the Covenanters. 
 They broke into their houses, beat themselves 
 and their families, destroyed their furniture and 
 provisions, and carried off what they pleased. 
 
 1669. The conventicles, as they were called, 
 is, large congregations of the disaffected 
 
 * Acta Secreti Concilii. Extracted from MSS. Books 
 of Counsel, in the Register-office, Edinburgh, p. 97.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 3^7 
 
 Covenanters, which met in retired places for 
 hearing sermons, became more common. Al- 
 though ministers preached at these meetings, 
 yet seditious measures were contrived at them, 
 and men went armed to them, either for offence 
 or defence, as the case might require. Govern- 
 ment, having one rebellion before their eyes, were 
 apprehensive of a more extensive and more dan- 
 gerous combination. On the 8th of April there- 
 fore, the council issued a proclamation, declaring 
 these conventicles to be illegal and treasonable ; 
 inasmuch as they were rendezvouses for rebellion 
 and sedition. By this proclamation, every heritor 
 in the counties of Lanark, Renfrew, Ayr, and 
 Kirkcudbright, on whose lands any conventicles 
 were held, were declared liable in a fine of fifty 
 pounds. 
 
 It appears that Archbishop Sharp was called 
 up to court in the spring of this year. And even 
 Burnet admits that he advised Charles to pursue 
 moderate measures against the field-preachers. 
 The Earl of Tweedale likewise seconded the 
 primate's advice, and the result was a letter 
 from the king to the privy council, granting an 
 INDULGENCE. The terms of this toleration were 
 easy, and might have been complied with, with- 
 out any encroachments on principles, or the rights 
 of conscience, had not the wild spirit of insubor- 
 dination taken such deep root in the minds of the 
 
 c c2
 
 38 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 more rigid Covenanters. By this indulgence or 
 toleration, such Presbyterian ministers as had 
 deserted their charges, or had been deposed since 
 1662, were to be readmitted to such parishes as 
 were then vacant, on condition of living peace- 
 ably with the Episcopal clergy, and admitting 
 none but those of their respective parishes to attend 
 their ministrations. Those who were unprovided 
 with the vacant churches were allowed a regium 
 donum of four hundred marks yearly, if they were 
 peaceable and orderly.* It is to be regretted 
 that this condition was necessary; but in truth 
 the Presbyterian ministers were the prime movers 
 of all the disorderly doings at that time. Twee- 
 dale was the bearer of the king's letter, and it is 
 as follows : 
 
 " CHARLES R. 
 
 " Right trusty, &c. Whereas, by the act of council and 
 proclamation at Glasgow, in the year 1662, a considerable 
 number of ministers were at once turned out, and so debarred 
 from preaching of the gospel and exercise of the ministry; we 
 are graciously pleased to authorise you and our privy council, 
 to appoint so many of the outed ministers as have lived peace- 
 ably and orderly in the places where they have resided, to 
 return, and preach and exercise other functions of their 
 ministry, in the parish churches where they formerly resided 
 and served, (provided they be vacant,) and to allow patrons 
 to present to other vacant churches, such others of them as 
 
 * Kirkton's History, pp. 288, 289,
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP 3() 
 
 you shall approve of; and that such ministers as shall take 
 collation from the bishop of the diocese, and keep Presbyteries 
 and Synods, may be warranted to lift the stipends as other 
 ministers of the kingdom : but for such as are not, or shall 
 not be collated by the bishop, that they have no warrant to 
 meddle with the local stipend, but only to possess the manse 
 and glebe, and that you appoint a collector for those and all 
 other vacant stipends, who shall issue the same, and pay a 
 yearly maintenance to the said not collated ministers, as you 
 shall see fit to appoint. 
 
 " That all who are restored and allowed to exercise the 
 ministry, be in our name and authority, enjoined to constitute 
 and keep Kirk-sessions, Presbyteries, and Synods, as was done 
 by all ministers before the year 1638, and that such of them 
 as shall not obey our command in keeping Presbyteries, be 
 confined within the bounds of the parishes where they preach ; 
 aye, and while they give assurance to keep Presbyteries for 
 the future. 
 
 " That all who are allowed to preach, be strictly enjoined 
 not to admit any of their neighbour, or any other parishes 
 into their communions, nor baptize their children, nor marry 
 any of them, without the allowance of the minister of the 
 parish to which they belong, unless it be vacant for the time. 
 And if it be found, upon complaint made by any Presbytery 
 unto you our privy council, that the people of the neighbour- 
 ing or other parishes, resort to their preachings, and desert 
 their own parish churches, that according to the degree of the 
 offence or disorder, you silence the minister who countenances 
 the same, for shorter or longer time ; and upon a second 
 complaint verified, that you silence again for a longer time 
 or altogether turn out, as you see cause ; and upon complaint 
 made and verified, of any seditious discourse or expressions in 
 the pulpit or elsewhere, uttered by any of these ministers, you
 
 390 LIKE AND TIMES OF 
 
 are immediately to turn them out, and further punish them 
 according to law and the degree of the offence. 
 
 " That such of the outed ministers who have behaved 
 peaceably and orderly, and are not reinstated or presented as 
 aforesaid, have allowed to them four hundred marks Scots, 
 yearly, out of the vacant churches, for their maintenance, till 
 they be provided of churches : and even such who shall give 
 assurance to live so for the future, be allowed the same yearly 
 maintenance. 
 
 " And seeing by these orders we have taken away all 
 pretences for conventicles, and provided for the wants of all as 
 are, and will be peaceable ; if any shall hereafter be found to 
 preach without authority, or keep conventicles, our express 
 pleasure is that you proceed with all severity against the 
 preachers and hearers, as seditious persons, and contemners of 
 our authority. So leaving the management of these orders to 
 your prudence, and recommending them to your care, we bid 
 you farewell. 
 
 " Given at our court at Whitehall, 7th of June, 1669. 
 " By his majesty's command. 
 
 (Signed) " Lauderdale." 
 
 This indulgence shows how anxious the king 
 and the government were to preserve the peace 
 and quiet of the kingdom, even at the expense of 
 the Episcopal establishment. It was not merely 
 such a toleration as dissenters from the national 
 establishment of the present day enjoy ; it was 
 much more : it permitted dissenters to enjoy the 
 livings of the Established Church, without ac- 
 knowledging her jurisdiction, or being compre- 
 hended within her pale. It was the complete
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 391 
 
 establishment of Presbytery in the heart of Epis- 
 copacy ; and, as may be easily supposed, the 
 bishops did not much relish this degree of license, 
 which set up an independent power within their 
 respective dioceses. It dispensed with the laws 
 by which their government was established, and 
 weakened the unity and constitution of Episco- 
 pacy. It was, however, a matter of expediency, 
 which completely shows that the government 
 were not persecutors, but were anxious to con- 
 ciliate the Covenanters, although their friends 
 have stigmatised Charles and the church with 
 that accusation. " It was the senseless cant and 
 language of an incorrigible party, who notwith- 
 standing this lenity still pursued their rebellious 
 courses, and renounced their allegiance. Nay, 
 they were so enraged against the sober part of 
 their own body, who accepted this royal favour, 
 that they branded the indulged brethren with as 
 ill names as they did the orthodox clergy, calling 
 them the ' king's curates,' * the council's curates,' 
 &c/'* Wodrow is indignant at this indulgence ; 
 because nothing less than an exclusive establish- 
 ment would have satisfied him. But a later 
 historian than him, the late Dr. M'Crie, has 
 expressed sentiments respecting this measure, 
 which evinces that the feelings of the party has 
 
 * True and Impartial Account, p. 64.
 
 392 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 not improved even in the nineteenth century. " It 
 is deeply to be lamented (says he) that the most 
 of the Presbyterian ministers in Scotland accepted 
 of it, and some of them sent an address to the king, 
 thanking him in their own name, and that of their 
 brethren, for his gracious and surprising favour, 
 and promising an entire loyalty in doctrine and 
 practice. Nor was any joint testimony given 
 against this sinful and dangerous measure."* 
 
 A proclamation was issued in conformity with 
 his majesty's letter, and a committee of council 
 was appointed to examine the ministers willing to 
 be indulged. It is much to their credit, that the 
 sober and really peaceable Presbyterian ministers 
 very thankfully accepted the king's proposals, 
 and resolved to observe the conditions. Accord- 
 ingly, ten ministers were indulged on the 27th of 
 July ; seven on the 3d of August; seven again on 
 the 2d of September ; and five on the 30th ; five 
 on the 9th ; and one on the 16th of December ; in 
 all thirty-five. Among those licensed on the 2d 
 December, was Mr. Robert Douglass, who up to 
 this period had communicated in the Established 
 Church ; but after this preached at the parish 
 church of Pencaithland, to which he was pre- 
 sented, and where he died. The first ten ap- 
 peared before the privy council and received 
 
 * Testimony of Ass. Syn. of Orig. Seceders.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 393 
 
 licenses, of which there were two forms. One 
 related to those who were to serve at the churches 
 then vacant, and where they had formerly been 
 settled; the other to those who were appointed 
 to other churches, as follows : 
 
 " The lords of his majesty's privy council, in pursuance of 
 his majesty's command, signifyed the 7th of June last, do ap- 
 point Mr. Ralph Rogers, late minister at Glasgow, to preach 
 and exercise the other functions of the ministry at the kirk 
 of Kilwinning." 
 
 The second was : 
 
 " Forsamickle as the kirk at Ochiltree is vacant, the lords 
 of his majesty's privy council in pursuance, &c. and in re- 
 gard of the consent of the patron, do appoint Mr. Robert 
 Miller, late minister there, to teach and exercise the other 
 functions of the ministry at the said kirk of Ochiltree." 
 
 A copy of the above was delivered to each of 
 the ministers, and the Act of Council was read to 
 them. It may be remarked, that this was all 
 that was originally required of them, only the 
 license would have been granted by the bishop 
 instead of the privy council. Here men thank- 
 fully accepted presentation from the patron and 
 collation from the privy council in 1669, which 
 is Erastianism, and which they refused in 1662, 
 from the bishop. There is an inconsistency a 
 straining at gnats and swallowing camels which 
 shows how false the outcry was against Arch- 
 bishop Fairfowl and Middleton, for the Act of
 
 394 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Glasgow. It likewise shows, that the desertion of 
 their parishes in 1662 was entirely a factious de- 
 monstration, designed to embarrass the government. 
 Their conduct upon that occasion, shows that 
 they were not actuated by religious but by factious 
 and political motives. At the end, however, of 
 seven years, they homologate Erastianism ; al- 
 though they have ever falsely accused the Epis- 
 copal church of it. So happy were they now to 
 accept what they might have had with much less 
 trouble from their bishops, and never had occa- 
 sion to leave their own parishes, that on receiving 
 their Erastian collation in the council-chamber, 
 Mr. George Hutchinson made a speech to the 
 council in his own and his brethren's name : 
 
 " My lords, I am desired, in the name of my brethren 
 here present, to acknowledge in all humility and thankful- 
 ness his magesty's royal favour, in granting us liberty, and the 
 public exercise of our ministry, after so long a restraint from 
 the same ; and to return hearty thanks to your lordships, for 
 the care and pains taken therein, and that your lordships 
 have been pleased to make us, the unworthiest of many of our 
 brethren, so early partakers of the same. 
 
 " We, having received our ministry from JESUS CHRIST, 
 with full prescriptions from him for regulating us therein, 
 must in the discharge thereof be accountable to him : and 
 as there can be nothing more desirable or refreshing to us 
 upon earth, than to have free liberty of the exercise of our 
 ministry, under the protection of lawful authority the excel- 
 lent ordinance of GOD, and to us most dear and precious ; 
 so we purpose and resolve to behave ourselves in the dis-
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 395 
 
 charge of the ministry, with that wisdom and prudence, 
 which becomes faithful ministers of JESUS CHRIST, and to 
 demean ourselves towards lawful authority, notwithstanding 
 of our known judgments in church affairs, as well becomes 
 loyal subjects, and that from a principle of conscience. 
 
 " And now, my lords, our prayer to GOD is, that the LORD 
 may bless his magesty in his person and government, and 
 your lordships in your public administrations; and especially 
 in pursuance of his magesty 's mind, testified in his letter, 
 wherein his singular moderation eminently appears, that 
 others of our brethren may in due time be made sharers 
 of the liberty, that through his magesty's favour we now 
 enjoy." * 
 
 The grateful feelings of these gentlemen were, 
 however, severely censured by many of their 
 brethren at the time ; and it has since been 
 matter of grave and ungenerous accusation against 
 their memories, by the antiburghers of the pre- 
 sent day. In expressing the opinion of that 
 body, Dr. M'Crie says : " In pronouncing our 
 judgment on this point, we desire to cherish a 
 tender respect for the good men who accepted of 
 these indulgences, and to recollect that it is 
 easy for us, who live in the land of peace, to 
 censure the conduct of those who had to contend 
 * in the swellings of Jordan.' We readily allow 
 that they could not be blameable for simply 
 availing themselves of any liberty afforded them 
 
 * Cruickshank's Hist. Memoirs, 4to. pp. 157, 158.
 
 396 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 to exercise their ministry, by the removal or re- 
 laxation of laws, which were in themselves unjust ; 
 and we feel disposed to give all due weight to the 
 reasons which they assigned for their conduct. 
 But we think it undeniable, that the indulgences, 
 first and last, sprang directly from the royal 
 supremacy, which was the bitter root of all the 
 evils, with which the church was then afflicted ; 
 that the privy council, by delegation from the 
 king, assumed church-power in appointing the 
 indulged ministers, judging of their qualifications, 
 planting and transplanting them at their pleasure, 
 and prescribing instructions for regulating the 
 exercise of their office ; and consequently the 
 accepting these indulgences, and acting under 
 them, without disavowing in an explicit manner 
 the power usurped by the civil government over 
 the house of God, (especially after the act 
 assertory of the supremacy passed,) was a de- 
 parture from a material part of the testimony of 
 the Church of Scotland, caused offences and 
 divisions among its friends, and encouraged their 
 persecutors to proceed to greater severities 
 against those who were exposing their lives on 
 the high places of the fields. * 
 
 The primate and the other bishops were de- 
 cidedly averse to granting such unlimited powers 
 
 * Testimony of the Ass. Syn. of Orig. Seceders, p. 32.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 397 
 
 to men so openly unfriendly to Episcopacy. 
 Under that Erastian indulgence, Presbyterians 
 could hold benefices in the Episcopal church, 
 without submission to Episcopal authority; which 
 was an imperium in imperio. It had however 
 the effect of greatly uniting the people. Bishop 
 Sage says, that at the death of Charles II., the 
 Established Episcopal Church was in a more 
 peaceable and flourishing state than it had been 
 for many years preceding. Generally, he says, 
 all Scotsmen were of one communion ; and there 
 were scarce one Papist to five hundred Protes- 
 tants. The Presbyterians were divided into two 
 sects; one of which was opposed to the tolera- 
 tion, the other accepted it. The latter, or mode- 
 rate party, he continues, had mostly returned to 
 the unity of the church. Their very preachers 
 attended the Established Church and partook of 
 her sacraments ; and had given up holding field- 
 meetings. The Cameronians (Covenanters) alone 
 kept up the separation. The moderate Presby- 
 terians acknowledged that they could conscien- 
 tiously live in communion with the Episcopal 
 church. Many of them thanked GOD, that they 
 had been reconciled to the Episcopal church ; 
 and many of their ablest preachers said, they 
 would never be engaged in schism again.* At 
 
 * Sage's Letters on Toleration.
 
 4 
 
 398 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 this period, both Presbyterians and Episcopalians 
 used the same mode of extempore worship. 
 Neither wore the surplice. Both administered 
 the sacraments in the same manner ; and both 
 had synods and presbyteries. Even Wodrow 
 admits, that " the whole Presbyterians cheerfully 
 submitted to their (the indulged ministers) minis- 
 try, as they had access. Matters continued thus, 
 as far," says he, " as I can learn, till some of the 
 banished ministers in Holland, perhaps upon 
 misinformation, or at least incomplete accounts 
 from Scotland, some time after this, wrote over 
 some letters, and sent home some reasons against 
 joining with the indulged. This began a flame, 
 which by degrees rose to a very great height." * 
 
 Nevertheless, the scrupulosity of these ministers 
 found something, even in the indulgence itself, to 
 boggle at. Those who were appointed to other 
 parishes than those which they had deserted, or 
 from which they had been deposed, scrupled to 
 enter without a call from the people. Others, 
 again, strained even at this call itself, when they 
 did obtain it, because, as they alleged, the people 
 had not a free choice. Kirkton says, " it was 
 derived from the king's supremacy, and so judged 
 a bitter fruit from a bitter tree. Ministers were 
 obtruded upon diverse congregations, upon the 
 
 * Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 135.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 399 
 
 consent of the patron, without respect to the call of 
 the people. They were required to do evil," that 
 is, acknowledge Episcopal government ; " they 
 were made prisoners, and by the harsh indul- 
 gence. Nobody might partake of their ministry, 
 that they might keep good neighbourhood with 
 the curates, and that was to conform their sinful 
 ministry."* Rather than lose their benefices, 
 however, they all took possession with or without 
 a call, and that too under an Erastian collation. 
 The indulged ministers preached only the Christian 
 doctrines, and refrained from speaking evil of 
 dignities, railing on the LORD'S anointed, and 
 testifying for the Covenant. In consequence, the 
 more fanatical of the people deserted them, and 
 upbraided them with being Erastians, the king's 
 curates, and the council's curates. The field- 
 preaching ministers styled them " dumb dogs 
 that could not bark ; " and they called the in- 
 dulgence itself, Erastianism and the black indul- 
 gence. "They," says Burnet, " that could have 
 argued about the intrinsic power of the church, 
 and Episcopacy and Presbytery, upon which all 
 their sermons had chiefly run for several years, 
 knew very little of the essentials of religion."^ 
 Wodrow informs us, in a contemptuous manner, 
 
 * Kirkton, p. 290. 
 
 f Own Times, vol i. p. 478.
 
 400 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 that the Archbishop of Glasgow and his diocesan 
 synod " made a little sputter against the exercise 
 of the supremacy, when it struck against them." * 
 The indulgence caused great and just alarm to 
 the Episcopal clergy in the Covenanted districts ; 
 and the synod of Glasgow, therefore, drew up a 
 strong remonstrance against it. They contended, 
 and justly, that this act of council superseded the 
 authority of several acts of parliament, particu- 
 larly the Act 1662, which enacts " that all 
 church power is to be regulated and authorised 
 in the exercise thereof, by the archbishops and 
 bishops, who are to put order to all Ecclesiastical 
 matters and causes, and to be accountable to his 
 majesty for their administration." f It went 
 directly in the teeth of another act, " That none 
 hereafter be permitted to preach in public, within 
 any diocese without the license of the ordinary ;" 
 but the indulged were licensed by the council, in 
 defiance of the bishop. Besides, how could they 
 reconcile the royal indulgence with the clause of 
 another act, which directs the council " to punish 
 all preachers without the bishop's license, as 
 seditious persons ? " The synod represented 
 the illegality of this measure, and the fatal effects 
 it was likely to produce in the church. This 
 
 * Vol. ii. p. 1 38. f 4 Act, 2 Sess. 
 
 t 1 Act, 3 Sess., 1667.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 4Q1 
 
 Remonstrance, although prepared, was never pre- 
 sented; for the council hearing of it, became 
 alarmed for their own safety, and sent peremptory 
 orders to Archbishop Burnet to deliver up the 
 papers. The council also commanded Mr. Ram- 
 say, dean of Glasgow, Mr. Ross, a lay gentleman, 
 and the clerk of the synod, to appear before the 
 council on the 14th of October, and to produce 
 the synod records. The papers of the synod of 
 Glasgow were referred to a committee of council, 
 who reported on the 16th, " that they were of a 
 dangerous nature and consequence, tending to the 
 depraving his majesty's laws, and misconstructing 
 of his majesty and his council, and the manner 
 of conveying thereof, most illegal and unwarrant- 
 able." " Nor," says the author of Memoirs, 
 alleged upon very insufficient grounds, to have 
 been Sir George Mackenzie, for there is not the 
 slightest internal evidence : " nor was this paper 
 less seditious than the Remonstrance; nor the 
 Archbishop of Glasgow more innocent than Mr. 
 James Guthrie ; for both equally designed to 
 debar the king from interposing any way in the 
 affairs of the church. Whereupon the archbishop 
 was called to the council, and it was intimated 
 to him, that it was his majesty's pleasure, that 
 he should not be present at this present parlia- 
 ment, but should be confined to Glasgow, till 
 
 D D
 
 402 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 his offence were further considered ; in obedi- 
 ence to which, he retired ; and thus one great 
 design was effectuated, wherein it was contrived, 
 that he should be removed from parliament till 
 the Act of Supremacy should pass; against which 
 it was found, that he would oppose himself and 
 stir up others." * 
 
 Parliament met on the 1 9th of October, and the 
 Earl of Lauderdale presided as the royal com- 
 missioner. The two chief topics of his opening 
 speech were the church, and an union of the 
 kingdoms. He earnestly recommended the pre- 
 servation of the Established Church, and ex- 
 pressed great zeal for Episcopacy ; and assured 
 the house of his majesty's fixed resolution unal- 
 terably to maintain that apostolic government. 
 How far the noble speaker was sincere, may be 
 gathered from the first act of this session ; and 
 here, for once, we cordially agree with Wodrow's 
 "observe" on it; "how far," says he, "the 
 good and peace of any right constitute church 
 can be advanced by the utter removal of all 
 church power, I cannot see." It is commonly 
 called the ASSERTORY ACT, and asserted the 
 royal supremacy so high, that it left no power 
 whatever to the church. But the act itself is 
 worthy of record here : 
 
 * Memoirs, 4to. pp. 157, 158.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 403 
 
 " The estates of parliament having seriously considered 
 how necessary it is for the good and peace of the church 
 and state, that his majesty's power and authority in rela- 
 tion to matters and persons ecclesiastical be more clearly 
 asserted by an act of parliament, have therefore thought 
 fit it be enacted, asserted, and declared, likeas his ma- 
 jesty, with advice and consent of his estates of parliament, 
 doth hereby enact, assert, and declare, That his majesty 
 hath the supreme authority and supremacy over all persons, 
 and in all causes ecclesiastical, within' this his kingdom ; 
 and that by virtue thereof, the ordering and disposal of 
 the external government and policy of the church, doth pro- 
 perly belong to his majesty and his successors, as an inherent 
 right of the crown ; and that his majesty and hjs successors 
 may settle, enact, and emit such constitutions, acts, and 
 orders, concerning the administration of the external govern- 
 ment of the church, and the persons employed in the same, 
 and concerning all ecclesiastical meetings, and matters to be 
 proponed and determined therein, as they, in their royal 
 wisdom shall think fit ; which acts, orders, and constitutions 
 being recorded in the books of council, and duly published, 
 are to be observed and obeyed by all his majesty's subjects ; 
 any law, act, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding : 
 likeas his majesty, with advice and consent foresaid, doth 
 rescind and annul all laws, acts, and clauses thereof, and all 
 customs and constitutions civil or ecclesiastic, which are con- 
 trary to, or inconsistent with his majesty's supremacy, as it is 
 hereby asserted, and declares the same void and null in all 
 time coming." * 
 
 This was decidedly a etab under the fifth rib. 
 This act was j ustly disliked by all parties, as totally 
 
 * Act aiiervt the Supremacy, 16th November, 1669. 
 
 DD 2
 
 404 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 subversive of all ecclesiastical authority. Lauder- 
 dale, dreading Archbishop Burnet's opposition, 
 had, by a most unconstitutional stretch of power, 
 confined him to his diocese. Gilbert Burnet 
 seems to have hit upon the right, or at all 
 events, the most plausible motive for the pass- 
 ing of this act. He says, that Lauderdale had 
 discovered the secret of the Duke of York's 
 religion ; and, by laying the Church of Scotland 
 at his mercy, paved the way for handing it over 
 to the pope's pastoral care, and for securing to 
 himself a long lease of power.* The primate 
 and the other bishops made a vigorous, though 
 ineffectual opposition, and thereby incurred the 
 wrath of Lauderdale. The primate argued the 
 point zealously, and was repeatedly interrupted 
 by the commissioner, who remarked, that " my 
 lord St. Andrews would not allow the king's 
 supremacy in the terms of the act, because he 
 supposed he designed that for himself." f 
 
 In his sermon before the parliament, the primate 
 stated " three pretenders to the supremacy the 
 pope, the king, and the general assembly of the 
 Presbyterians; and had, in a long discourse, 
 disproved all their several pretences ; for which 
 it was thought he would have been turned 
 
 * Own Times, vol. i. p. 419. 
 
 t True and Impartial Account, p. 65.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 405 
 
 off (!) if the Archbishop of Glasgow had not 
 suffered so lately."* This shows the arbitrary 
 nature of this act, and the purpose for which it had 
 been enacted. Indeed, " the reason why he (the 
 Archbishop of Glasgow,) was not presently turned 
 out of his bishopric was, because his enemies 
 were not as yet fully assured that the clergy 
 would consent to the Act of Supremacy, if they 
 found it would produce such effects: but how 
 soon that act was past, his majesty by a letter, as 
 supreme head of the church, declared his see 
 vacant, and he was moved to resign it in his 
 majesty's hands ; for which some blamed him, as 
 an act of too much despondence and fear in him; 
 but he was induced to do it, by the vows they 
 made to pursue him as a traitor, if he did not; the 
 ground of which process they intended to found 
 upon the former letter," to Sir H. Bennet, " which 
 was said to be the lying betwixt the king and his 
 people. But to this it was answered by some of 
 his friends, that he needed not fear that accusation, 
 seeing it was palpable now to the world, that 
 the fanatics had been assisted by some council- 
 lors; for by the Indulgence many of them were 
 restored to their former ministry. Thus he 
 (Archbishop Burnet,) went off the stage, gene- 
 rally admired, even by the fanatics themselves, 
 for preferring his conscience to his gain, and for 
 
 * Memoirs, p. 159.
 
 406 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 fearing nothing but to offend it; and by his 
 example we may see how advantageous it is to 
 adhere to the principles we have once owned. 5 '* 
 
 The clergy were alarmed at the prostration of 
 all ecclesiastical power, before the Act Assertory ; 
 and so vigorous was the primate's opposition in 
 parliament, that it produced a misunderstanding 
 with Lauderdale. It is quite evident, that by 
 the authority of this act, the king might do just 
 what he pleased with the affairs of the church. 
 He might pull down the established Episcopacy, 
 and set up Presbytery or Popery, as he chose. 
 Burnet admits, that " many of the Episcopal 
 clergy, Nairn and Charteris in particular, were 
 highly offended at the act. They thought it 
 plainly to make the king our pope."f He says 
 further, of the arts resorted to in order to carry 
 the bill Lauderdale cajoled the Presbyterians, 
 that it was necessary to keep the bishops down, 
 by making them depend absolutely on the king. 
 But the Earl of Tweedale protested to Burnet, 
 that the chief object of this bill was to be an 
 indemnity to the council, for enacting the Indul- 
 gence in such an arbitrary and unconstitutional 
 way. It screened the king's ministers from im- 
 peachment, for having superseded acts of par- 
 liament by an act of council. 
 
 * Memoirs, pp. 158, 159. f Own Times, p. 482.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 407 
 
 The Erastian Act Assertory therefore, it would 
 plainly appear, was a plan of the Presbyterians 
 to humble the church, and screen the king's 
 ministers from impeachment for high-treason. It 
 was generally known at the time, " that it was 
 contrived by Mr. Robert Douglass and several 
 of his brethren, in concert with some of the 
 king's ministers, in order to secure and justify the 
 Indulgence, and make it as good as legal. Be- 
 sides, some of the statesmen had this in their 
 view, that their actions in this and other affairs, 
 would be less censured, while two parties were 
 contending ; and that by encouraging them to be 
 jealous of, and bandying them against one an- 
 other, they might serve their own turns of either 
 or both. Though it be almost demonstratively 
 certain, that the principal design of this act was 
 to do a kindness to the Presbyterian party, and 
 to justify all the tolerations or favours those of 
 their faction could procure from his majesty on 
 their behalf, and consequently,- that it was at first 
 devised by themselves ; yet so unreasonable are 
 some men, that there is not one topic of slander and 
 reproach insisted so much upon by these same men, 
 against the then bishops and clergy, and their 
 successors, as this ; namely, that by this act they 
 tamely gave up all their privileges and rights, un- 
 churched themselves, and what not ; though they 
 very well knew that the bishops and churchmen
 
 408 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 could propose no advantage to themselves by it, 
 unless it were to have their rivals and irreconcile- 
 able enemies encouraged, and their interests pro- 
 moted, to the eminent danger or ruin of their own, 
 to which this did not a little contribute ; and 
 therefore, though there were no documents of it 
 yet extant, nor living witnesses to inform us, 
 yet we may rationally infer, that the regular 
 clergy, if they were in their right wits, could 
 not fail to oppose it : and so they did, as much 
 as they were able, and as much as their calumnia- 
 tors could have done, had they been in their place ; 
 who, (the Presbyterians,) in their turns, have 
 more than once truckled under to the state, and 
 been made tools to designing courtiers, and have 
 as little to boast of their intrinsic power as other 
 people. But it is a Jesuitical fetch, a serpentine 
 wisdom, divested of the innocence of the dove, 
 to dun the world with reproaching the Episcopal 
 clergy, for suffering that which they could not 
 help, and of which they (the Presbyterians} 
 themselves, were the principal contrivers, and 
 who only reaped benefit by it. The answer to this, 
 perhaps, will be, (for I do not see what other they 
 can make,) that the bishops and other churchmen, 
 rather than suffer such an act to pass, should 
 have dimitted their dignities and charges; (as, 
 by-the-bye, the pious Dr. Burnet, Archbishop of 
 Glasgow, actually did ;) that is, they should have
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 409 
 
 modestly given place to their inveterate enemies, 
 and not only have abandoned their offices and 
 livings, but brought on themselves anew all the 
 miseries and calamities they had suffered in the 
 glorious days of the Covenant."* 
 
 The author of the " Memoirs" alleges that the 
 Remonstance of the Glasgow Synod, was the pre- 
 text ; but the real cause of his being " turned off" 
 was, the opposition which they anticipated that 
 Archbishop Burnet would make to the Assertory 
 Act. Another reason has been assigned, which 
 places the archbishop in a more amiable point of 
 view than our adversaries are willing to allow. 
 " After the defeat of the rebels at Pentland, 
 anno 1666, Archbishop Burnet showed great 
 inclination to have these people used with lenity, 
 and when their affair came before the privy 
 council, he laboured to get their lives spared, and 
 went so far as to transmit an account of the 
 proceedings of the council against the captive 
 rebels, to the English secretary, Sir Henry Bennet, 
 (afterwards Earl of Arlington,) to be communi- 
 cated to the king. This the Earl of Lauderdale 
 took to be such a piece of indignity done to his 
 character, who was then secretary for Scotland, 
 that he threatened the archbishop with a pursuit 
 of high-treason, for revealing the king's secrets, 
 
 * True and Impartial Account, pp. 66 68.
 
 410 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 unless he would make a session of his office ; to 
 which this prelate yielded out of fear, and sur- 
 rendered the office in the month of December, 
 1669."* 
 
 The primate trusted that the king would not 
 have accepted the ultra-supremacy, which this 
 most improper act conferred ; but he was mis- 
 taken. The king approved of the act; and the 
 primate had reason to fear, that he himself 
 should be deprived for his opposition to it ; but 
 it seems that Lauderdale was " ashamed to 
 depose two archbishops in one year." f His 
 deposition, however, was debated in council ; but 
 they could not find any one that would answer 
 their purpose to put in his place. And as they 
 dared not venture to depose him, they affected to 
 show him all outward marks of respect. Lauder- 
 dale always spoke of him, and of all the bishops, 
 with the greatest respect, as a blind to cover his 
 designs, and also to please the king. He even 
 passed two acts in their favour, on the 30th of 
 November one to make the parishes liable for 
 the robberies which were frequently committed 
 on the clergy, and the other inflicting severe 
 penalties on those who refused to pay their 
 stipends. " The first of these acts was enforced 
 
 * Keith's Cat. of Scots Bps. p. 266. 
 f Memoirs, p. 162.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 411 
 
 as necessary, because ministers, to the great con- 
 tempt of religion, had their houses robbed, and 
 were nightly pursued for their lives, in all the 
 western shires ; so that they were forced to keep 
 guards, which exhausted their stipends, and ab- 
 stracted themselves from their employments. And 
 albeit, those shires pretended that this was done 
 by highwaymen, who showed their insolencies 
 under the pretext of religion, calling themselves 
 Presbyterians, and inveighing against the poor 
 ministers whom they robbed, in the language of 
 that sect ; yet it was concluded that these inso- 
 lencies were committed by those of that per- 
 suasion, (Presbyterians,) who were known to think 
 that all injuries done to Episcopal ministers, 
 were so many acceptable services done to GOD; 
 and it was most probable, that the same zeal 
 which carried them on to plunder, imprison, and 
 execute all such as differed from them in the last 
 rebellion, and to shoot at the Bishop of St. An- 
 drews upon the street, might excite them to great 
 outrages, when they were countenanced, as they 
 thought, by authority, and under the silence of 
 night, when they might hope for impunity ; nor 
 was ever the west country known to be infested 
 with robbers at other occasions, so that they 
 (the parishioners) were connivers at least in 
 those crimes, and therefore deserved to be fined 
 upon such occasions. These motives induced
 
 412 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 the parliament to agree unanimously to this 
 act." * 
 
 " Yet all this outward zeal for Episcopacy 
 could never prevail with the bishops to believe 
 Lauderdale their friend ; nor were the leading 
 Presbyterians terrified at these, as marks of his 
 disesteem ; because/awakes were advanced to all 
 places of trust, and the friends and servants of the 
 grandees (who could not dissemble so well as 
 their masters) laughed at Episcopacy and the 
 malignant party. "f The bishops then had suffi- 
 cient penetration to see the hypocrisy of the 
 dissolute statesmen, who were constantly planting- 
 secret stabs under the church's fifth rib. It required 
 considerable tact to ascertain who would take the 
 see of Glasgow, now vacant, by the extension of 
 the Assertory Act. The bishops were universally 
 opposed both to that infamous act and also to the 
 Indulgence. It was discovered, however, that 
 Leighton was the only man of the whole bench 
 who could be induced to enter into the views of 
 the ministry. He seems to have been an ex- 
 tremely low churchman ; for we are told that 
 " his great principle was that devotion was the 
 great affair, about which churchmen should em- 
 ploy themselves ; and that the gaining of souls, 
 and not the external government was their proper 
 
 * Memoirs, pp. 163, 164. - t Ib. p. 164.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 413 
 
 task." It was supposed that he was the author 
 of the Indulgence ; and lie is said to have served 
 with satisfaction under Presbytery and Episco- 
 pacy indifferently. " These principles rendered 
 him a fit instrument in their present under- 
 takings."* 
 
 Bishop Leighton was a very learned and pious 
 man; but he was a very low churchman, and 
 altogether unfit for the Episcopal office in the 
 difficult times in which he lived. " He knew 
 nothing of the knave, so that the hypocrite of 
 ordinary letters, from whatever quarter, with a 
 dejecting whining countenance, and a large pre- 
 tence to pietie, seldome went away without his 
 designs." "j" 
 
 1670. On the 1st of January the council 
 granted collation, under the Indulgence, and in 
 virtue of the Assertory Act, to one Presbyterian 
 minister, and on the 27th, to another. On the 
 3rd of March, six more received indulgences. 
 These, with thirty-five indulged last year, make 
 forty-three of the Deserters and deposed minis- 
 ters who were restored to parish-churches. This 
 number shows decidedly the system of" enormous 
 lying" to which Kirkton and Wodrow resorted in 
 compiling their histories. They modestly com- 
 
 * Memoirs, p. 161. 
 
 f Account of the Familie of Hamilton, of Broomhill, p. 60.
 
 414 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 pute the number of deserters in 1662 to have 
 been nearly four hundred! At that time the 
 established clergy did not much exceed in all 
 nine hundred ; certainly did not amount to one 
 thousand. The desertions were confined to the 
 dioceses of Glasgow and Galloway, and extended 
 over the five counties of Galloway, Wigton, Ayr, 
 Renfrew, and Lanark. This is not an eighth 
 part of the kingdom ; but these authors make the 
 deserters amount to nearly one-half of the whole 
 clergy in Scotland ! Their assertion is an enormous 
 exaggeration, and which is distinctly proved by 
 two facts : 1. that only forty-three were restored, 
 although none refused the indulgence, but a few 
 of the fanatical Covenanters ; and, 2. after the 
 Revolution, when the first Presbyterian Assembly 
 was held in 1690, there were no more ihanffty 
 Presbyterian ministers could be found in all 
 Scotland ! It is impossible that three hundred 
 and fifty could have been removed by death, in 
 the short period which elapsed ; but where were 
 they they were nowhere to be found at the 
 Revolution ? In truth, there were not much 
 more in all than one hundred deserted their 
 livings or were deposed ; although such a false 
 amount has been stated, and all subsequent au- 
 thors have assumed Wodrow's exaggerated state- 
 ment without enquiry or consideration. Yet 
 these few Presbyterian ministers kept the west of
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 415 
 
 Scotland in a continual ferment and agitation ; 
 while the rest of the kingdom, which was Epis- 
 copalian, enjoyed profound tranquillity. These 
 Presbyterian ministers were the greatest enemies 
 to their country which it ever saw. They occa- 
 sioned more bloodshed, and arbitrary and severe 
 measures, more trenching upon the liberties and 
 freedom of the people, by their restless, lawless 
 discontent, than the country had ever known. 
 And, finally, the overthrow and nearly the anni- 
 hilation of a flourishing church, the choice of the 
 great majority of the nation. 
 
 On the 6th of January, Lauderdale intimated 
 to the privy council, that Archbishop Burnet had 
 resigned his office and dignity in his majesty's 
 hands ; and he ordered his name to be expunged 
 from the roll of privy counsellors. All that the 
 king could take from him was his temporalities ; 
 his spiritual character the king could neither give 
 nor take away. He retired, however, into private 
 life, and bore his disgrace with becoming dignity 
 and resignation. From his more accommodating 
 disposition, Bishop Leighton was appointed to 
 administer the affairs of the diocese, under the 
 j title of Commendator. This was the first effects 
 of the Assertory Act, and shows the wicked and 
 insidious policy of its contrivers. Burnet's depri- 
 vation, without being first tried and censured by 
 his brother bishops, was an unconstitutional, as
 
 416 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 well as an unecclesiastical act of arbitrary power. 
 Perhaps such another unjust act could not have 
 been produced in the whole annals of the Chris- 
 tian church ; and was, most likely, the precedent 
 for the deprivation of the nonjuring bishops, after 
 the Revolution, both in England and Scotland. 
 The dean and parson of Glasgow were repri- 
 manded ; but afterwards pardoned and restored 
 to their benefices. Gilbert Burnet was this year 
 appointed divinity professor in the college of 
 Glasgow. 
 
 It was twelve months after his appointment 
 before Leighton undertook the duties of his new 
 office, which he is said to have done with reluc- 
 tance. The king sent for him to court, and on 
 his return he presided in a synod, and preached ; 
 exhorting his clergy to look to God, and consider 
 themselves as the ministers of the cross of Christ 
 to bear the contempt and ill-usage they met 
 with, as a cross laid on them for the exercise of 
 their faith and patience to lay aside all appetites 
 of revenge to humble themselves before GOD 
 to have many days of secret fasting and prayer 
 and to meet often together, that they might quicken 
 and assist one another in those holy exercises. 
 Gilbert Burnet vehemently, but falsely, accuses 
 the clergy of that diocese of vice, irregularity, and 
 indiscretion. He instigated, therefore, the Com- 
 mendator to make a thorough investigation and
 
 AUCHBISHOP SHARP. 417 
 
 purgation of the diocese of Glasgow. Prejudice 
 and partiality were thrown into the scale against 
 the clergy ; and the people were not only allowed, 
 but invited, to accuse them. It is not therefore 
 surprising that nearly a hundred were quickly 
 indicted ; yet out of the whole diocese only one 
 was found worthy of deposition or even of rebuke ; 
 and he not without strong allegations of injustice. 
 Burnet was himself obliged at last to confess that 
 the clergy of that diocese had been grossly ma- 
 ligned ; and he might have added, that he himself 
 had aided in circulating the infamous slander. 
 He acknowledged that their calumniators were 
 actuated purely by the spirit of malignity. 
 
 Field conventicles became now very frequent 
 and annoying to the peaceably disposed. At the 
 meeting of the rebels at Lanark, in the year 16(56, 
 it was then resolved, " that it was lawful for 
 them to defend themselves from violence, and 
 preserve their liberty in the exercise and during 
 the time of worship : and therefore they resolved, 
 that at their said field-meetings, as many of the 
 young men as had fire-arms should come armed, 
 not to use violence against anyone, but to resist the 
 dragoons, in case they should fall upon the meet- 
 ing, or lay hold of any of the people going to or 
 coming from it."* In consequence of this resolu- 
 
 * De Foe's Memoirs, p. 187. 
 
 E E
 
 418 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 tion, those who attended the field-conventicles 
 went fully armed. These seditious meetings be- 
 came more frequent ; and it was the intention of 
 the ministers and leaders to overawe and compel 
 the government to restore them to their former 
 state. The people now deserted the indulged 
 ministers, and followed those fanatical preachers 
 who would obey no human laws, but force their 
 governors into subjection to themselves. A mul- 
 titude of armed Covenanters held a conventicle 
 on the hill of Beith, near Dumfermline, in the 
 month of June. Some of the king's guards came 
 up to them for the purpose of dispersing them ; 
 but they were seized and blind-folded ; and a 
 Covenanter seizing the officer's horse by the 
 bridle, drew a pistol and threatened to shoot 
 him dead unless he was silent. The military 
 party were detained prisoners till the conventicle 
 broke up.* 
 
 On the 28th of July parliament met, and 
 Lauderdale was the royal commissioner. An act 
 passed subjecting all who deserted their parish 
 churches to follow conventicles, to pay the eighth- 
 part of their yearly rent. Many endeavoured to 
 have this act confined to the five western shires, 
 where such delinquencies alone happened ; but 
 it was extended to t.he whole kingdom. The fifth 
 
 * Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 156.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 419 
 
 act respecting conventicles, shows either the 
 tyrannical temper of Lauderdale, who brow-beat 
 the parliament into passing it ; or else the dread- 
 ful nuisance which these conventicles were to the 
 government and the peaceably disposed, which 
 could render such an act necessary. 
 
 " The act statuted and declared, that whosoever, without 
 license or authority aforesaid, shall preach, expound scrip- 
 ture, or pray, at any of those meetings in the field, or in any 
 house where there be more persons than the house contains, 
 so as some of them be without doors (which is hereby declared 
 to be a field -conventicle,) or who shall convocate any number 
 of people to these meetings shall be punished with death, 
 and confiscation of their goods." 
 
 It was customary with the Covenanters to 
 refuse to depose on oath to the names of any 
 who were present at conventicles. It was there- 
 fore declared that every man should be obliged to 
 answer upon oath all such questions as the 
 council should ask, under pain of banishment or 
 an arbitrary punishment. This was opposed as 
 laying men under a necessity of divulging the 
 secrets of friends, and thus rendering every man 
 suspicious and jealous of his neighbour. 
 
 The members of this parliament were over- 
 awed into passing these severe acts by the frowns 
 and violent interruptions of the commissioner. In 
 the Scottish parliament, the king or his commis- 
 sioner was always present on the throne during the 
 
 E E2
 
 420 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 debates. " Lauderdale was become so lazy, and 
 was naturally so violent, and by his majesty's 
 favour and his own prosperity was so far raised 
 above all thoughts of fear, that he never con- 
 sulted what was to be done ; nor were the members 
 of parliament solicited by him or his friends, upon 
 any occasion ; whereas, on the contrary, he would 
 oft-times vent at his table, that such acts should 
 be past, in spite of all opposition " There was 
 an act passed against disorderly baptisms, which 
 declared " that baptisms by persons not publicly 
 authorized are scandalous to the Protestant re- 
 ligion." This is complained of by Wodrow, as 
 unchurching all the reformed churches (so called) 
 abroad. May we not, in turn, complain of the 
 language held by his friends, that " all the bairns 
 (children) that are baptized by the curates (Epis- 
 copal clergy), GOD reckons them as children of 
 whoredom! "f And Dr. Burns, of Paisley, de- 
 nounces the indulgence, which was so thankfully 
 accepted by the sober part of the Presbyterians, 
 and to grant which the privy council had arbitrarily 
 and illegally superseded many acts of parliament,^; 
 " as a snare" But indeed the lawless, discon- 
 
 * Memoirs of the History of Scotand, p. 181. 
 t Prelacy an Idol ; sermon by Mr. Fraser, of Brae, cited 
 in note to Kirk ton's History, p. 305. 
 J Note to Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 161.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 421 
 
 tented Covenanters brought much severity and 
 suffering on themselves, and undeserved obloquy 
 on the church, by their seditious conduct. 
 " Thus," says the author of the Memoirs, " these 
 fanatics wronged their country, not only in break- 
 ing the good old laws, but in occasioning the 
 making of too severe new statutes. And yet it 
 was said by some, that it had been better to have 
 made the new laws less severe, that they might 
 have been the more severely observed ; and that 
 their laws were made so severe, upon design, 
 that they might not be observed; and that the 
 fanatics might clearly see that the grandees 
 were not in earnest.'''* The opposition made by 
 the primate to the Assertory Act had created a 
 misunderstanding betwixt him and Lauderdale ; 
 and which the subsequent conduct of that states- 
 man had tended to widen. Indeed Lauderdale 
 " now took a contrary course to obtain the same 
 end," (i. e. to stab the church under the fifth 
 rib), " and to make good what he had threatened 
 upon the restoration of Episcopacy. For he, with 
 his creatures and followers, and a set of men of 
 his principles, screwed up the laws against dis- 
 senters to a higher pitch than before, but with a 
 far greater design to load the church with the 
 scandal of severity, than to rectify the disorders 
 
 * Memoirs, p. 190.
 
 422 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 of the times, and the unaccountable methods of 
 a giddy-headed people. Thus the Ecclesiastical 
 establishment had to grapple not only with the 
 sober as well as wild Presbyterians and mission- 
 aries from Rome, and other despicable fellows in 
 their shape, but also with bosom enemies, and 
 some who owed most to the royal bounty, and 
 their underlings."* 
 
 Into that act which subjected the field-preachers 
 to the punishment of death, Lauderdale inserted, 
 with his own hand, a clause which protected the 
 papists. His object in this partiality was to 
 acquire merit with the popish party and the Duke 
 of York, whose religion was as yet unsuspected 
 in Scotland ; although to Lauderdale and the 
 court of St. James's it was no secret. Burnet 
 asserts that he said to him, that " he had put in 
 these words on design to let the party know they 
 were to be worse used than the papists them- 
 selves." The king was displeased with the un- 
 christian severity of this act, and would not have 
 passed it, had he known that the preachers were 
 under the penalty of death. It met with great 
 opposition from the bishops in parliament. Leigh- 
 ton in particular said, " the whole complex of it 
 was so contrary to the common rules of humanity, 
 not to say Christianity, that he was ashamed to 
 
 * True and Impartial Account, pp. 68, 69.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 423 
 
 mix in councils with those who could frame and 
 pass such acts." Charles was not only displeased 
 at Lauderdale for his acts of parliament ; but his 
 friends began to cool in their support. He had 
 lost the friendship of Archbishop Sharp, Hamilton, 
 Argyle, and Tweedale ; and he therefore called 
 in his brother, the Lord Hatton, to his support in 
 the council. It is said that Hatton had all his 
 brother's bad qualities ; but was deficient of his 
 abilities as a statesman. 
 
 While statesmen were taking these severe steps 
 in hypocrisy, the church herself was endeavouring 
 to conciliate the Presbyterians. Leighton took 
 great pains to soften their fierce opposition. In 
 the first place he invited some of the most eloquent 
 and popular preachers from other parts to itine- 
 rate in the western counties, and preach at 
 different places. Gilbert Burnet was among the 
 number of these preachers, and he says that, 
 " the people of the country came generally to hear 
 us, though not in great crowds. We were in- 
 deed amazed to see a poor commonalty so 
 capable to argue upon points of government, and 
 on the bounds to be set to the power of princes 
 in matters of religion. Upon all these topics they 
 had texts of scripture at hand, and were ready with 
 their answers to anything that was said to them." * 
 
 * Own Times, vol. i. p. 431.
 
 424 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 This preaching crusade came to nothing, and the 
 country people jeeringly called them, " the 
 bishop's evangelists." Leighton made another 
 effort ; but which likewise failed, because those 
 for whose benefit it was made, considered it as 
 merely "a cunning and ensnaring proposal." 
 
 Immediately after the rising of Parliament, 
 Lauderdale went to court: but returned to Edin- 
 burgh towards the end of the year. He wrote to 
 six of the most eminent of the indulged ministers, 
 requesting them to hold a conference with Leigh- 
 ton in the capital, in the presence of himself, 
 Rothes, Tweedale, and Kincardine. Archbishop 
 Sharp did not approve of the measure to be 
 proposed, and therefore declined being present at 
 the conference. Leighton's proposal was called 
 an " ACCOMMODATION :" and the feeling with 
 which the indulged ministers entered into this con- 
 ference may be appreciated by the remarks of 
 Wodrow. "The design of this," says he, "was 
 nothing else but to hook in the Presbyterian 
 ministers to an unperceived subjection to bishops. 
 The snare was seen and prudently and cautiously 
 evited/' * 
 
 They met in Holyrood-house, and the meeting 
 was opened by Lauderdale, who complimented 
 them on their peaceable demeanour since their 
 
 * Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 177.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 425 
 
 indulgence. He said, " he had sent for them 
 to advise with them concerning an accommo- 
 dation, and to propose an agreement upon 
 joint measures, which might tend to the peace 
 of the church." Bishop Leighton then spoke for 
 two hours, on the evils and schism which they 
 had occasioned in the church. Many souls, he 
 said, were thereby in danger of being eternally 
 lost ; and therefore the utmost efforts ought to be 
 made to heal the schism. For his own part, he 
 said, he was persuaded that Episcopacy, as an 
 order distinct from Presbyters, had continued in 
 the church since the days of the apostles. He 
 said, the world had everywhere received the 
 Christian religion from bishops ; and that a parity 
 among clergymen was never thought of in the 
 church before the middle of the last century, and 
 was then set up rather by accident than by design. 
 Nevertheless, since they were of another mind, 
 he was now to make a proposal to them, by 
 which both sides might still preserve their 
 opinions, and yet unite so as to carry out the 
 object of the gospel and their own ministry. 
 They had moderators among themselves, he said, 
 which certainly were no divine institution, but 
 only a matter of order. He proposed that the 
 king should name these moderators ; and he did 
 not think, that to make them permanent would 
 be such an encroachment on their functions, as to
 
 426 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 occasion any breach of the church's peace. He 
 maintained, that to bless the permanent mode- 
 rators by an imposition of hands, could be no 
 degradation from their former office. Some 
 might think, that this gave them a new and 
 special authority, besides a precedence. But as 
 they were not required to concur with them, 
 further than in submitting to them as presidents, 
 it did not much concern them. Besides, they 
 should be allowed to declare their opinion in as 
 full and free a manner as they chose respecting 
 their views of this presidency. He spoke with 
 great gravity and earnestness which made a con- 
 siderable impression on the ministers ; and he 
 concluded by putting it to their consciences to 
 weigh his proposals, as in the presence of God, 
 and without respect to popularity or party. 
 
 Mr. Hutchinson replied, that a parity among 
 ministers was their well-known sentiments ; and 
 that the presidency now proposed had formerly 
 made way for a lordly dominion in the church. How 
 inconsiderable soever the proposal might seem, 
 yet its effects both had been and would still be 
 very considerable. He therefore desired time 
 for consideration, and for consulting with his 
 brethren. As this, he said, might be construed 
 into an assembling without law, he desired to have 
 the commissioner's licence ; which was immedi- 
 ately granted. There was a second conference,
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 427 
 
 in which the accommodation was more fully ex- 
 plained and urged. Lauderdale made the whole 
 dine together, among whom was Bishop Burnet, 
 and he himself joined them after dinner. "But," 
 says Burnet, " Lauderdale could scarce refrain 
 himself from flying out ; for their (the Presby- 
 terian ministers) behaviour seemed to be both 
 rude and crafty. But Leighton had prepared 
 him for it, and pressed him not to give them a 
 handle to excuse their flying off, by any rough- 
 ness in his deportment towards them." * 
 
 This accommodation was a palpable absurdity, 
 and was neither Episcopacy nor Presbytery 
 proper. The primate scouted it as a measure of 
 expediency, which contained within itself the 
 seeds of schism and division ; and when the 
 terms came to be generally known, the clergy 
 were chiefly of the same opinion. The Presby- 
 terians considered it as a snare a specious ap- 
 pearance meaning only to lay that generation 
 in their graves in peace in the next, Episco- 
 pacy would take root downward, and bear fruit 
 upwards. Burnet says, however, that the far 
 greater part of the nation approved of the ac- 
 commodation ; " and they reckoned that either 
 we should gain our point, and then all would be 
 quiet, or if such offers were rejected by the Pres- 
 
 * Burnet's Own Times, vol. i. pp. 4934.
 
 428 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 byterians, it would discover their tempers and 
 alienate all indifferent men from them ; and the 
 nation would be convinced how unreasonable and 
 stubborn, and how unworthy they were of any 
 further favour." Bishop Leighton sent six preach- 
 ers round the west, to preach in the vacant 
 churches ; among these was Burnet himself, 
 Nairn, and Charteris, two very superior men. Of 
 these, Kirkton says : " The men were Mr. James 
 Nairn, their paragon, a man of gifts, but much 
 suspected as unsound ; Mr. Gilbert Burnet, (of 
 whom before,) a man more disdained in the west- 
 country than followed at London ; for though he 
 speaks the newest English diction, he spoke never 
 the language of an exercised conscience."* The 
 object of this mission was, if possible, to disabuse 
 the minds of the Presbyterians, and bring them 
 to some terms of moderation. " In their meet- 
 ings," says Burnet, " there was much sad stuff; 
 they named in some of them two, to maintain the 
 debate pro and con. When we heard what 
 their reasonings were, papers were writ and sent 
 among them in answer to them ; but all was 
 labour lost : hot men among them were positive, 
 and all of them were full of contention." " In 
 short," he continues, " the Presbyterians may 
 see how much their behaviour disgusted all wise, 
 
 * Kirkton's History, p. 292.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHAKP. 429 
 
 moderate, and good men, how little sincere and 
 honest they were in it, when the desire of popu- 
 larity made them reject propositions that came 
 so home even to the maxims they had set up, 
 that nothing but the fear of losing the credit 
 they had with their party could be so much 
 as pretended for their refusing to agree to 
 them." * 
 
 The Presbyterians were, however, under need- 
 less alarm, that Leighton's accommodation was 
 intended to be a snare to hook them into Epis- 
 copacy. No, it was a real stab under the fifth 
 rib at the church herself; and she was indebted 
 to Lauderdale's sagacity, for seeing, " and pru- 
 dently and cautiously eviting" it. When at 
 London, Bishop Leighton had been drawn into 
 a conspiracy, perhaps innocently, for he was 
 totally unacquainted with the wisdom of the 
 serpent, by the Earls of Tweedale, and Shafts- 
 bury, and Sir Robert Murray. These drew up 
 a set of Erastian regulations for the church, which 
 would have effectually subverted Episcopacy 
 and established Presbytery on an Erastian foun- 
 dation. The church was to be governed by 
 synods and presbyteries ; but allowing no power 
 to the bishop, who was to be degraded to the 
 position of a constant moderator. When any 
 
 * Burnet's Own Times, pp. 500, 515.
 
 430 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 irregularity should occur, the bishop was to enter 
 a demurrer till he acquainted the king ; who was 
 to interpose his authority. This was in fact 
 Presbyterial government, flowing from the king 
 as the source and fountain of Ecclesiastical 
 power. This was truly to take the crown from 
 Christ's head and put it on King Charles, and 
 truly might such Presbyterian ministers be called 
 the king's curates. The conspirators surrep- 
 titiously procured the king's consent to a set of 
 rules and instructions for the Scottish bishops, 
 written originally in the Earl of Tweedale's 
 hand, arid a copy of which was obtained by 
 Archbishop Patterson in 1680. The original 
 copy was deposited at Ham, and the copy which 
 he took is in the Episcopal chest at Aberdeen, in 
 the archbishop's own hand-writing, and from which 
 the following is copied. " But Lauderdale had 
 the address to ward off the blow at that time 
 very warily, by obtaining a private instruction 
 from the king, referring all to his discretion, 
 when going commissioner to Scotland." The 
 following, are copies of the documents referred 
 to. 
 
 "Vera Copia taken by me, (Archbishop Patterson,) 3d of 
 May 1680, from the original at Ham. Some constitutions 
 and orders settled and emitted by his majesty concerning 
 the administration of the internal government of the Church of 
 Scotland and the persons employed therein.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 431 
 
 " CHARLES R. 
 
 " We, having taken into our serious consideration how 
 highly important it is for the preservation and advancement 
 of true religion and the peace of the church and kingdom of 
 Scotland, that the affairs and government Ecclesiastical 
 therein established be duly managed, do allow and approve 
 the practice of the bishops these years past, in that they have 
 exercised the government and discipline of the said church, in 
 conjunction with presbyters in their accustomed meetings of 
 presbyteries and synods. 
 
 " 1 . And for establishment of the same good order and 
 practice in time to come, it is our will, and we do ordain that 
 the said bishops shall continue to manage all church matters 
 with the advice, consent, free vote, and assistance of the 
 Presbyters or major part of them, in the said meetings of pres- 
 byteries and synods, to the end that discipline may be regu- 
 larly and exactly exercised, and all scandalous offences and 
 offenders duly punished. We therefore will and ordain, that 
 presbyteries shall ordinarily meet once a month, and the 
 diocesan synods once a year, in May or June, in their ac- 
 customed places. 
 
 "2. Concerning ordination of presbyters, it is our pleasure 
 that intrants to the ministry, being lawfully presented to a 
 parish church, and bringing with them certificates of their 
 having taken the oath of allegiance and supremacy, be duly 
 tried and examined in the usual manner, and if thereupon 
 they shall be in all points approved, and found sufficiently 
 qualified by the bishop, and presbytery, within which the 
 said parish church lies, an edict shall be duly served at the 
 same, and a day appointed by the bishop and presbytery for 
 their meeting there in order to the ordination and admission 
 of the person so presented and appointed, and that one of 
 the presbyters be appointed to preach, and the people of the 
 parish warned to convene at a fit hour, for the exercise of
 
 432 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 divine worship, and to see their designed minister solemnly 
 ordained by the imposition of the hands of the bishops and 
 presbyters there present, and be exhorted to yield due 
 reverence and obedience to him and his ministry in the same. 
 
 " 3. But seeing the rules and duties of the ministerial office 
 are fully expressed in the form of ordination,* and that the 
 intrant accordingly promise to observe them, our will is, that 
 he having given his oath that he is free from all simoniacal 
 paction, no other oath or subscription shall be superadded or 
 required of him. 
 
 " 4. We further ordain, that the bishops reside constantly 
 in their dioceses, except upon urgent occasions ; and that 
 being in their dioceses, they preach every Sunday in some 
 church thereof, unless they be hindered by old age, or sick- 
 ness, or some invincible impediment. 
 
 " 5. And we do will and ordain, that every minister with 
 his church-session, be careful of the contribution for the poor, 
 and their constant relief, according to the ability of the 
 parish ; and likewise of the preserving and repairing the 
 fabric of the church, in the way appointed by law ; and that 
 they take notice of all public scandals, and gross offences 
 within the parish, redressing such offences as they have been 
 in use to censure and correct, and reserving and delating 
 others to the Presbytery, as they have been accustomed to 
 do, being always accountable and subject to the revision and 
 recognition of the Presbytery, in all things acted by them 
 at their usual meetings, as the presbyters are to be account- 
 able for all their actings to the bishop and diocesan synod. 
 
 * " Nota. There is no form of ordination appointed to 
 this day." The foregoing nota is by Archbishop Patterson ; 
 the form in use was, and still is, the English Book of Ordina- 
 tion ; it must theiefore have been a form intended for this 
 special regulation.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 433 
 
 " 6. And to the end that good order may be the better pre- 
 served in the parochial meetings aforesaid, we do ordain, that 
 besides every bishop's particular visiting the parishes within 
 his diocese, in which they ought not, and it is hoped, will 
 not be deficient, there shall be frequently, in the summer 
 season, more solemn and indicted visitations of such churches 
 as desire or need them, by the bishop and presbyters, toge- 
 ther with so many of the presbyters and moderators, as can 
 conveniently meet at the time and places appointed. 
 
 " 7. When we shall think fit to call a national synod of 
 the Church of Scotland, it shall consist of the archbishops 
 and bishops, deans of cathedrals, moderators of presbyte- 
 ries, and one presbyter or minister out of each presbytery, 
 chosen by the major part of the same, of one or two from the 
 university of St. Andrews, one from Glasgow, one from King's 
 College, one from Marischal College at Aberdeen, and one 
 from the College of Edinburgh ; we, or a commissioner from 
 us, being always present. And when we shall be personally 
 present, such of our privy council as shall have place and 
 vote in the said national synod, as we shall think fit to 
 choose, which shall not exceed the number of fifteen ; and 
 when we send a commissioner to it, those of our council, 
 chosen by us as aforesaid, shall be present, and assisting 
 to our commissioner, and shall sit and vote in all things pro- 
 pounded in the synod, they not exceeding the aforesaid 
 number. And the synod thus constituted is to meet at 
 such time and place as we, by our proclamation, shall 
 appoint; and is to debate, treat, consider, consult, conclude, 
 and determine upon such matters, causes and things, con- 
 cerning the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government 
 of the church, as we, or our commissioner shall propound, 
 or cause to be propounded, to the consideration of the said 
 synod ; and whatever shall be concluded by the vote of 
 the major part of the synod, and shall be consented to 
 
 F F
 
 434 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 by us or our commissioner, shall have the full force of 
 an ecclesiastical law or constitution of the Church of 
 Scotland ; and all our subjects ecclesiastical and civil, in 
 that our kingdom shall, in all matters ecclesiastical be sub- 
 ject to the judgment, decision, and censure of the said na- 
 tional synod ; and all inferior ecclesiastical meetings and ju- 
 risdictions in the said church shall, in all their actings and 
 determinations, be accountable to it, and censurable by it, 
 according as we or our commissioner, and the said synod, 
 shall see meet to take cognizance and revision of the same. 
 
 " 8. And upon the due publication of these regulations 
 and orders, our will is, that all the ministers of the Church of 
 Scotland shall thenceforward resort to the meetings of the 
 presbyteries and synods to which they belong, and that none 
 of them shall be allowed, upon any cause or pretence what- 
 ever, to plead exemption from the same. 
 
 " These are the particulars, which we have thought fit at 
 present to ordain, concerning church affairs in Scotland, as 
 we likewise intend, by the assistance of GOD, to be careful in 
 time coming, to add and enact such further ordinances and 
 constitutions as we shall judge needful or useful for the pro- 
 moting of piety and true religion, and for the establishment of 
 good order and peace in that church ; and these orders and 
 constitutions being first recorded in the books of our pi ivy 
 council, and duly published, we do ordain to be observed and 
 obeyed by all our subjects in that our kingdom, and for the 
 recording and due publishing of the same, this shall be a suf- 
 ficient warrant. 
 
 " Given at our court at Whitehall, the 6th day of July, 
 1670, and of our reign the 22d year." 
 
 The following observations were by Archbishop 
 Patterson : " These are written with Earl 
 Tweeddale's hand, and were consulted and con_
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 435 
 
 trived by his lordship, Earl Shaftesbury, Sir 
 Robert Murray, and Bishop Leighton, by whom 
 Duke Lauderdale was then beset, as will ap- 
 pear by a copy of a paper, written by Bishop 
 Leighton's hand, here insert, and which ori- 
 ginal paper the Duke of Lauderdale hath still 
 in his custody. The tenor of it follows, viz. : 
 
 " That the bishops shall manage all church-matters, with 
 the advice, consent, and free vote of presbyters, in their 
 several meetings of presbyteries and synods ; it being always 
 provided, that they shall vote nothing contrary to sound 
 religion, or the established laws of this kingdom, which, though 
 it is scarce to be supposed that they will, yet if any such 
 thing should fall out, in that case the bishop is to enter a de- 
 murrer, till the matter be represented to a superior synod of 
 the church, or to his majesty by the council. 
 
 " And because national synods cannot frequently be held, 
 it were possibly very expedient that the provincial synods 
 were appointed to meet pro re nata, either upon such occa- 
 sions as this, or any other important concernment of the 
 church." 
 
 " Now by all this, an apparent plot was formed, 
 and design laid and contrived to subvert Episco- 
 pacy in the Church of Scotland, and to restore 
 Presbytery under an Erastian regulation ; for 
 bishops here were to have no negation over the 
 meetings or actings of the Presbyters ; nor were 
 these Presbyters to take any oath of canonical 
 obedience, which is cut off by the foresaid orders 
 
 FF'2
 
 436 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 and regulations. All the power in these ecclesias- 
 tical meetings which a bishop was to have, was no 
 more but in case of Presbyteries voting any thing 
 contrary to sound religion and the established 
 laws of the kingdom, to put in or enter a de- 
 murrer, till the matter be represented to a supe- 
 rior synod, or to his majesty, and that not by the 
 bishop himself, but by the council. Is not this 
 a very agreeable proposal from a bishop, in 
 behalf of the church ? 
 
 " His grace the Duke of Lauderdale well per- 
 ceiving the ill tendency of this design and method, 
 which he foresaw would entirely ruin and sub- 
 vert Episcopal power and jurisdiction, had no 
 other way to stave off and prevent the ill effects, 
 but by procuring a private instruction from the 
 king, when he went commissioner to Scotland, 
 whereby the matter is put into his grace's power 
 and choice to publish, or enact these orders and 
 regulations, as he should see cause, in the then 
 parliament which was to be holden in Scotland, 
 and so warded off the blow, which struck at the 
 very root and foundation of the church, by not 
 mentioning, nor enacting them, nor proposing 
 them to be considered or enacted either by par- 
 liament or the privy council. The tenor of this 
 instruction follows in this exact copy, whereof 
 his grace still preserves the original :
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 437 
 
 " Private Instruction. 
 " CHARLES, R. 
 
 " Whereas we have delivered a paper unto you, signed by 
 us, containing some ecclesiastical constitutions and orders, to 
 be recorded in the books of our privy council, and duly pub- 
 lished, you shall either impart the same to be recorded and 
 published, or forbear it totally ; or shall do it soon after your 
 arrival, or delay it to any other time, as you shall judge fit; 
 and if before the end of this session of parliament, you shall 
 think fit to record or publish them, we do hereby authorise 
 you to endeavour to pass such of them into acts of parlia- 
 ment as you shall judge expedient. 
 
 " You shall, with the advice of such as you shall think fit, 
 consider whether or not it be fit, that to the end the memory 
 of the late unlawful Covenants may not be perpetuated, an 
 act be passed, by which the declaration against the Covenants 
 is not to be required of any who were not eleven years old, 
 when the Covenants were last renewed in the year 1650, and 
 so were not in a capacity to have taken them ; nor required 
 of any who shall declare he never took these Covenants, nor 
 any of them, and for the same reasons that the declaration 
 shall not be required of any after the time limited in England, 
 and accordingly, you shall either endeavour that an act be 
 passed to that effect, or forbear the same. 
 
 " You are to require the Lord Archbishop of St. Andrews 
 to allow and authorise the transportation of such ministers as 
 shall be lawfully presented to any of the churches within the 
 diocese of Glasgow, and approved by the Bishop ofDumblane,* 
 out of any church within the diocese of St. Andrews ; and 
 that he inform the bishops within his province to do the like. 
 
 * Dr. Leighton, as Commendator of Glasgow, and Bishop 
 of Dumblane, is here meant.
 
 438 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 " If you find it fit to publish our orders and constitutions, 
 you shall in our name signify to the archbishops and bishops, 
 that our pleasure is, that no minister be prejudiced nor mo- 
 lested for his private opinion concerning church-government, 
 providing he joins with the church-meetings, and submit to the 
 present government, and in his preaching, and all other parts 
 and exercises of his ministry, and in his whole conversation 
 do behave himself peaceably and orderly, as becometh a mi- 
 nister of the gospel. 
 
 " Given at our court at Whitehall, the 7th day of July, 
 1670, and of our reign the 22d year. 
 
 " C. R."* 
 
 This is another of the many evils arising out of 
 the Assertory Act, which, in fact, threw the 
 whole ecclesiastical power into the hands of the 
 sovereign, or the minister for the time being. 
 We are, however, indebted to Lauderdale for 
 detecting and dissipating this Erastian conspiracy. 
 His prudence and good conduct upon this occa- 
 sion is a curious contrast to his threat of thrust- 
 ing the church under her fifth rib, which, if true, 
 we may hope was one of those sins of infirmity, 
 of which it is said he was often guilty, of 
 " speaking rashly and unadvisedly with his lips." 
 Indeed, Lauderdale's whole administration is a 
 problem very difficult to solve : both parties have 
 generally accused him of having betrayed them, 
 and his conduct too frequently gave just grounds 
 
 * MSS. Episcopal Chest at Aberdeen, No. B 4.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHAttP. 439 
 
 for the suspicion. In this instance, however, he 
 rendered the church a real service, which was in 
 a fair way of being betrayed by one of her own 
 pastors. 
 
 1671. There seems to have been some degree 
 of quietness this year ; and Wodrow admits that 
 " neither ministers nor people were much dis- 
 couraged." In January Bishop Leighton held 
 another conference with the Presbyterian minis- 
 ters. In the name of the Presbyterian body, 
 Hutchinson said they had considered the proposi- 
 tions, and were not satisfied in their consciences 
 to accept them. Leighton still urged a public 
 conference, in the hearing of all who wished to 
 be rightly informed ; but this was declined. 
 Leighton then asked Hutchinson whether he had 
 any thing to propose on their side for healing the 
 breach; but he had no proposal to make. " Upon 
 this Leighton. in a long discourse, told what was 
 the design he had been driving at in all this 
 negotiation ; it was to procure peace and to pro- 
 mote religion. He had offered several things, 
 which he was persuaded were great diminutions 
 of the just rights of Episcopacy ; yet since all 
 church power was for edification and not for 
 destruction, he had thought that in our present 
 circumstances, it might have conduced as much 
 to the interests of religion, that Episcopacy should
 
 440 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 divest itself of a great part of the authority that 
 belonged to it, as the bishops using it in former 
 ages had been of advantage to religion. His offers 
 did not flow from any mistrust of the cause : he 
 was persuaded Episcopacy was handed down 
 through all the ages of the church from the 
 Apostles' days. Perhaps he had wronged the 
 order by the concessions he had made ; yet he 
 was confident GOD would forgive it, as he hoped 
 his brethren would excuse it. Now that they 
 had thought fit to reject these concessions, with- 
 out either offering any reason for doing it, or any 
 expedient on their side : therefore, the continu- 
 ance of our divisions must lie at their door, both 
 before GOD and men. If ill-effects followed 
 upon this, he was free of all blame, and had done 
 his part. "Thus was this treaty broken off, to the 
 amazement of all sober and dispassionate people, 
 and to the great joy of Sharp and the rest of the 
 bishops." * 
 
 Dr. Wishart, the pious and exemplary Bishop 
 of Edinburgh, died in July this year. On the 
 29th of August, Lauderdale wrote to the primate 
 respecting his successor ; and stating it as his 
 opinion, that no Presbyter should be raised at 
 once to the dignity of this see. He very justly 
 
 * Burnet's Own Times, vol. i. p. 514.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHAltP. 441 
 
 argued that some of the other bishops who had 
 experience, should be translated to Edinburgh, 
 and a Presbyter consecrated for one of the inferior 
 sees. At the same time he requested to know 
 whom the archbishop judged to be fittest for 
 so important a dignity.* Notwithstanding Lau- 
 derdale's recommendation, Alexander Young, 
 Archdeacon of St. Andrews, was promoted to the 
 bishopric of Edinburgh. Among the Episcopal 
 papers ihecongb d'elire is preserved, to our trusty 
 and well-beloved, the dean and chapter, together 
 with a royal letter, to the bishop elect. Mr. 
 Young possessed this see till the year 1679, when, 
 by the powerful influence of the Duchess of 
 Lauderdale, he was translated to the see of Ross, 
 in order to make room for Dr. Patterson. f An 
 Act of Council ordered all the indulged ministers 
 to confine themselves to their respective parishes. 
 The council instructed the Lord Advocate to 
 execute the provisions of the Conventicle Act. 
 Representations were made to the council of the 
 increase of popery, especially in the north, where 
 four priests were arrested ; but they were not 
 punished. Swarms of Jesuits and seminary priests 
 were dispersed through the kingdom, disseminat- 
 
 * Papers in Ep. Chest, Aberdeen, 
 t Keith's Catalogue, p. 64.
 
 
 442 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 ingTuberville's Catechism, relics, beads, pictures, 
 scapularies, and similar trumpery. The Episco- 
 pal clergy preached zealously against the errors 
 of popery ; but informations against the papists 
 were not much encouraged.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 443 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 1672. Lauderdale created a Duke His offices Severities 
 on the keepers of conventicles Toleration Lauderdale's 
 policy More ministers restored. 1673. Opposition in 
 Parliament. 1674. Prorogation Opposition Welsh 
 Riotous assemblage of women Act of Grace its evil 
 effects Lauderdale his letter to the primate Mitchel's 
 arrest Act of Council Forrester deposed Archbishop 
 Burnet restored King's letter Leighton's letter Agita- 
 tion for a National Synod Primate's letter to Archbishop 
 Sheldon Bishop of Dumblane translated to the isles 
 Conventicles Secret connivance Complaint of the Glas- 
 gow clergy Death of Bishop Hamilton. 1675. Letters 
 of intercommuning Bishop Burnet Archbishop Patter- 
 son's letter to the Primate Bishop Ramsay's letter to the 
 Primate his reply Primate's return Commission of 
 enquiry on the Bishop of Dumblane his defence re- 
 stored to his See Grievance of the Assertory Act Test 
 resisted withdrawn. 1676. Clergy assaulted King's 
 letter restoring the Bishop of Dumblane and clergymen 
 Arrest of Kirkton Further indulgence Remonstrance 
 against it More conventicles Welsh Army kept in 
 readiness in Ireland to enter Scotland Highland Host 
 Transactions in the disaffected counties Death and trans- 
 lation of several bishops. 
 
 1672. THE Earl of Lauderdale was now at the 
 zenith of his power, supported by the king's
 
 444 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 favour and the French interest. It was generally 
 supposed that the chief cause of his greatness 
 arose from his subserviency in attempting to 
 establish an absolute monarchy in England. On 
 the 2d of May he was created a duke, and sent 
 down royal commissioner to hold the third session 
 of parliament. He was a knight of the garter, 
 lord high-commissioner, president of the council, 
 sole secretary of state, commissioner of the trea- 
 sury, governor of Edinburgh-castle, and of the 
 state-prison of the Bass, agent at court for the 
 royal burghs, and an extraordinary lord of session. 
 He pressed the penalties of the Conventicle 
 Act on the Covenanters, who obstinately broke 
 through it when opportunities offered. He arbi- 
 trarily fined many gentlemen ; and then, it is 
 said, he brutally insulted them on payment with 
 the insolent joke, " Now, gentlemen, you know 
 the rate of a conventicle, and shame fall them 
 that tires first." * 
 
 Parliament, which opened on the 12th of June, 
 commenced with laws for the protection of the 
 church, and made the keeping of field-conven- 
 ticles death. To prevent the perpetuation of the 
 schism by new ordinations, they declared the 
 ordainers to be deposed ; and those ordained by 
 such as were deposed, to be punishable with 
 
 * Kirkton, p. 325.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 445 
 
 death !* " The scheme of persecuting the Presby- 
 terians was now taken out of the hands of the 
 prelates, and converted into a fund for supplying 
 the necessities, or gratifying the avarice of Lau- 
 derdale's friends." f An indulgence or tolera- 
 tion having been granted to the non-conformists 
 in England, it was resolved to extend the same 
 to Scotland, and Lauderdale had the king's com- 
 mands in conformity. He has been accused of 
 concealing his majesty's instructions for some 
 time ; but it became public, and about twenty of 
 the Presbyterian ministers met together, and 
 applied to Sir James Dalrymple of Stair. "Their 
 behaviour," says Guthrie, " was indefensible. The 
 letter they drew up to Dalrymple was treasonable 
 in the last degree ; and none could be found mad 
 enough to present it. Three acts of parliament, 
 establishing indulgence, were however passed ; 
 but though it was more extensive than the last, it 
 gave little satisfaction to the leading enthusiasts, 
 who termed all interposition of the civil magis- 
 trates in ecclesiastical affairs downright Erasti- 
 anism. In short, from the account given by 
 Mr. Wodrow himself, there was no satisfying 
 their party ; and that the greater indulgence 
 they met with, the greater was their opposition 
 
 * Memoirs, p. 220. 
 
 t Outline's General History, vol. x. p. 153.
 
 44G LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 to civil authority. This gives some colour for 
 the apologists, for the prelates, and the ministers, 
 who lay the blame of all the sufferings of the 
 Presbyterians on their own frantic behaviour 
 and principles." * Burnet says, Lauderdale 
 looked on nearly two months after he came down 
 to Scotland, waiting for an application for liberty 
 of conscience. " But the designs of the court 
 were now clearly seen into. The Presbyterians 
 understood, thjy were only to be made use of in 
 order to the introduction of popery, so they 
 resolved to be silent and passive ; upon this he 
 (Lauderdale) broke out into frantic fits of fury 
 and rage against them, and carried matters so far, 
 that when he (Burnet) asked him, was that a time 
 to drive them into rebellion ? Yes, said he, would 
 to GOD they would rebel, that so he might bring 
 over an army of Irish papists to cut all their 
 throats. "f But the disappointment experienced 
 by the Presbyterians was owing to the discovery 
 of a correspondence which they held with the 
 Dutch, for raising a rebellion in Scotland. Car- 
 stairs, a Presbyterian minister, came over as bearer 
 of a number of letters ; some of which were 
 written in cypher and others in white ink. The 
 correspondence was very mysterious, and much 
 
 * Outline's General History, vol. x. p. 155. 
 t Own Times, vol. ii. p. 341.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 447 
 
 information was referred to Carstairs himself, who 
 made his escape. Arms and munitions of war were 
 promised, provided they were in a condition to 
 rise and disturb the government. 
 
 In conformity with the first act of this session, 
 3d of September, about eighty of the Presbyterian 
 ministers were inducted into different parishes of 
 the west. Before accepting of this indulgence 
 they held many stormy meetings, and it was not 
 without considerable opposition that they at last 
 agreed to accept it. Indeed they seemed to 
 scruple to do any thing under authority. " And 
 truly," says Kirkton, " the entrance of some of 
 the indulged brethren made some wonder; for 
 some when they entered would not have the bell 
 rung to be a testimony against the evils in the 
 indulgence ; and some, when they had preached 
 the year, and received the stipend, denyed they 
 had taken the indulgence, affirming they had only 
 intruded into the church, and the contentions of 
 the brethren were like the bars of a castle. "* 
 " But after this, great was the discontent, both of 
 the indulged ministers and likewise of the zealous 
 people, reflecting sore upon the ministers' be- 
 haviour in that time of their trial, but they all 
 got home to their churches, except Mr. Alexander 
 Blair, who died in prison. Many of them pre- 
 
 * Kirkton's History, pp. 324 to 3:36.
 
 448 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 sumed upon their people's affections, which in- 
 deed had formerly been very fervent, but now 
 they found the scene altered, and were, to their 
 great grief, treated with no less reproach than 
 the nickname of council-curates.''* So here the 
 poisoned chalice was commended to their own 
 lips ; and the very men whom they had deluded 
 with their anti-social sophistry, and had taught 
 to despise and rebel against all lawful autho- 
 rity now turned round on their teachers, and 
 made them feel, in their turn, the value of their 
 antichristian instructions. 
 
 1673. The history of this year presents little 
 of interest in ecclesiastical affairs, save the de- 
 termined obstinacy of the Covenanters in holding 
 what were now illegal conventicles ; the scrupu- 
 losity also of the indulged ministers, in raising 
 minute and trifling objections to the regulations 
 of the privy council. These were encouraged in 
 their restiveness by a powerful coalition which 
 was formed in parliament against the Duke of 
 Lauderdale, All the acts of that unprincipled 
 minister's maladministration underwent a rigorous 
 scrutiny. Immediately after making his speech, 
 as commissioner, on the opening of parliament, 
 the Duke of Hamilton moved that the state of 
 the nation might be considered, and grievances 
 
 * Kirkton's History, pp. 338, 339.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 449 
 
 redressed. Lauderdale was taken by surprise, 
 having no suspicion of such an opposition. At 
 first he endeavoured to intimidate the members, 
 but the opposition was too firm to be shaken by 
 big words. He then attempted to break it up 
 by short adjournments, and offered to remove 
 some of the principal grievances complained of. 
 This was not thought sufficient, and it was moved 
 that a true state of the nation should be laid 
 before his majesty. Fresh matters of complaint 
 presenting themselves, Lauderdale adjourned 
 them on the 9th of December, after sitting only five 
 times.* There was nothing done in this parlia- 
 ment in ecclesiastical affairs. " The bulk of the 
 Presbyterians were instructed from Holland to 
 look upon all the indulgences that had been 
 offered them as no better than preparations for 
 the toleration of popery ; and' I am inclined to 
 think ; that some very unwarrantable connexions 
 were now formed between the Scotch and the 
 Dutch Presbyterians, "f 
 
 1674. Parliament was still further prorogued 
 on the 25th of January, to the following March. 
 The king desired Hamilton and Tweeddale to 
 come up to London, and give him a true account 
 of the state of affairs. They could not do this 
 with a due regard to their own safety, on account 
 
 * Memoirs, p. 250,262. f Guthrie, vol. x. p. 158. 
 
 G
 
 450 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 of the statute of leasing-making; but an anonymous 
 letter was put into the king's hand, containing their 
 sentiments. They requested that a new commis- 
 sioner should be appointed for the next session 
 of parliament, but that the Duke of Lauderdale 
 might hold his places of president of the council, 
 commissioner of the treasury, and have a full 
 pardon. That the new commissioner should be 
 empowered to redress all grievances, both civil 
 and ecclesiastical, and that a general act of 
 oblivion and indemnity should pass. To coun- 
 teract the combination against him, Lauderdale 
 suddenly attached himself to the Presbyterians, 
 and became intimate with some of their patrons. 
 Burnet says, that he connived at the Presby- 
 terians, in their insolent contempt of the laws ; 
 and allowed them to take possession of one of 
 the principal churches in Edinburgh. 
 
 " Immediately after Lauderdale went to London, 
 the fanatics began to preach openly everywhere ; 
 and one Master Welsh did keep conventicles 
 in Fife, drawing at first the rabble, but at last 
 even the gentry, to follow him. He was a person 
 of much courage, but no parts ; and yet his 
 courage was more raised by the hopes he had, 
 that the chancellor, being dissatisfied, would be 
 pleased to see that the present governors could 
 not suppress these insolencies ; though he and 
 all the other fanatics did pretend that the Duchess
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 451 
 
 of Lauderdale had promised to procure them in- 
 dulgences, and it is probable, that to amuse so 
 strong a party, she had used some such womanly 
 compliances. Nor did these confusions contain 
 themselves long in Fife ; for they soon, like 
 feeding flames, seized Lothian, where many 
 pulpits were entered by their preachers, and even 
 the Magdalene Chapel of Edinburgh, was broke 
 open for them ; and petitions for able ministers 
 were given into the council, by many hundreds 
 of women, who, on the 4th of June, filling the 
 Parliament-close, threatened the Archbishop of 
 St. Andrews, who passed along with the chan- 
 cellor, for whose coming he had waited in his 
 own chamber, and some of them had conspired to 
 set upon him" (that is, to murder him,) "when 
 a woman whom I shun to name, should raise her 
 hand on high as a signal; to prevent which, the 
 chancellor, by entertaining the woman with in- 
 sinuating speeches all the time, as he passed to 
 the council, did divert that bloody design. 
 When they were entered the council-house, 
 they called immediately for guards, and or- 
 dained that the tumult should be inquired 
 into, and its authors punished ; and accordingly, 
 many of them were banished on the 24th of 
 November. The gentry also of Fife were fined 
 for having been at these field-conventicles, 
 
 G G '2
 
 452 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 and forces were raised to prevent future disor- 
 ders."* 
 
 The woman of whose name the author of 
 the Memoirs was so tender, was Johnston of 
 Warriston's daughter. One of the Amazonian 
 patriots seized the primate by the throat, call- 
 ing him Judas Iscariot, and exclaimed, " Ere 
 all was done, his neck behoved to hang for it." f 
 
 Before Lauderdale returned to court, he passed 
 an act of grace, by virtue of a letter from the 
 king, on the 24th of March, wherein all accession 
 to conventicles previous to that day was pardoned. 
 This was proclaimed with great solemnity at the 
 market-crosses, by all the magistrates in their 
 robes. The effect of this indemnity, Kirkton ad- 
 mits, was rather considered an encouragement for 
 the future, than a remission for the past : " and 
 from that day forward, the truth was, Scotland 
 broke loose with conventicles of all sorts, in 
 houses, fields, and vacant churches : house-con- 
 venticles were not noticed, the field-conventicles 
 blinded the eyes of our statesmen so much. So 
 in different places, they fixed so many posts in 
 the fields, mosses, mures, and mountains, where 
 multitudes gathered almost every sabbath, till 
 the time of the defeat at Bothwell-bridgc."^ 
 
 Memoirs, pp. 272, 273. f Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 269. 
 + Kirkton's Hist. p. 343.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 453 
 
 " But this spring began the Presbyterians, both 
 ministers and people, to act very high; almost 
 all of them preached, not only in houses, but 
 went to the fields or vacant churches." 
 
 This then was the system which Lauderdale 
 pursued, encouraging the fanatics at one time, 
 and furiously persecuting them at another ; yet 
 the whole odium has been laid on the bishops, 
 although they were scarcely able to maintain 
 their own ground, far less to persecute others. 
 In fact, Lauderdale's policy, which has been 
 greatly assisted by the pious endeavours of 
 Wodrow, was to attach the blame of all his own 
 tyrannical acts to the bishops. Among the 
 manuscripts in the Episcopal chest there is a 
 letter from that incomprehensible statesman, to 
 the primate, in which he conveys the king's com- 
 mands to him, to suppress all scandalous and 
 seditious conventicles. This letter too is in the 
 face of that indemnity, which he had granted 
 before leaving Scotland ; so that he enjoyed the 
 merit of granting the licence, but threw the whole 
 odium of stopping its enjoyment on the primate. 
 Could we believe the professions of politicians, 
 especially such as he is represented even by his 
 own friends to have been, we might suppose that 
 he had been sincerely attached to the Episcopal 
 church. We might suppose, too, that his threat 
 of " smiting Episcopacy under the fifth rib" was
 
 454 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 a calumny invented by his enemies. Dr. Burns, 
 in one of his notes to Wodrow, in which he 
 always shows his malignant feelings towards the 
 Episcopal church, says, " We have now to ex- 
 press our surprise that he (Lauderdale) should 
 so long have retained the good graces of some 
 good men among the Presbyterians. He seems 
 to have assumed the mask of Presbyterianism 
 from selfish and hypocritical motives, or, at 
 least, his attachments this way were soon made 
 to yield to considerations of crafty policy. He 
 never forgot the supposed indignity that was put 
 on him by the Covenanters, in requiring him to 
 make public profession in the church of Largs, 
 of his repentance on account of his accession to 
 the engagement against England in 1648, under 
 the Duke of Hamilton ; and, in the course of his 
 nine years' confinement in the Tower of London, 
 his mind seems to have undergone a complete 
 revolution, so that by the time of Charles's 
 arrival in London, in 1660, he was prepared to 
 go all the lengths that were required in his keenest 
 adherents. If he seemed for a season to take part 
 with his old friends (the Presbyterians) it was 
 policy, and not attachment which influenced him. 
 His base hypocrisy appears in many instances."* 
 The prelates of that day, whose letters have sur- 
 
 * Burns' note to Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 375, 376.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 455 
 
 vived the storms of the Revolution, speak of both 
 Lauderdale and his brother Hatton, as sincere 
 and unflinching supporters of the church. Never- 
 theless, we cannot think that the measures which 
 these statesmen pursued were calculated to com- 
 mand either the respect or the attachment of the 
 bigoted Covenanters. Both the prelates and 
 the king's government had the grand rebellion 
 constantly before their eyes ; and which seemed 
 to have been to them an everlasting bugbear. 
 This accounts for the seventies practised against 
 the Covenanters ; who were treated not at all 
 as schismatics from the church, but asfomenters 
 of sedition. The government were apprehensive 
 that men holding the same political opinions as 
 the rebels in 1638, would, were opportunity 
 afforded them, enact the same scenes of rebellion 
 and bloodshed as these had done : and hence the 
 severe and irritating measures, to stop these field 
 preachings. The following letter was written by 
 Lauderdale to the primate, on the subject of 
 these seditious meetings : 
 
 " Windsor, 13th June, 1674. 
 
 " My Lord, I have not been able to write to your grace 
 since I received your letter ; but I hope the despatches which 
 the king sent down by my brother will please you better than 
 any thing that I could have written, seeing you will see, that 
 notwithstanding of all the lies with which the faction was en- 
 tertained in Scotland, his majesty has made it appear to all 
 the kingdom, that he will not countenance such who did so
 
 456 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 openly attempt against his authority and against the Ar- 
 ticles,* which is one of the best flowers in his crown of 
 Scotland. You will also have seen how that after the settling 
 of the new commission of council, his first commands were to 
 suppress those scandalous and seditious conventicles, which 
 were (I am sure) too much countenanced by some whose 
 duty should have obliged them to suppress them. And I 
 hope the privy council, as now it is constitute, will vigorously 
 obey the king's commands, and not make remonstrances 
 against them, nor neglect the king's orders, which are so 
 much in pursuance of the law, and so necessary for the peace 
 and honour of the kingdom. Great endeavours have been 
 used of late to alarm all England with the fears of a present 
 rebellion in Scotland; but I hope, when those in authority 
 shall do their duty, those seditious practices will quickly 
 vanish ; and whoever will be slack in that duty, the king will 
 let him know how much he resents it. 
 
 " I did inform the king, soon after the last council-day, 
 what endeavours were used to have engaged synods to pe- 
 tition for a national assembly, and now it is apparent, the 
 design was more against Episcopacy than against conven- 
 ticles, as you will see clearly by a motion was made to the 
 king, with which I desired my brother to acquaint your grace 
 in my last letter to him ; and, I am sorry to see by my last 
 letters of the 4th instant, that that design is still carried on, 
 and that some that t took to be more orthodox, have had too 
 great a hand in carrying on that plot. I had a general ac- 
 count of the address of the Presbytery of Glasgow to that of 
 Edinburgh for a meeting forsooth, which would have looked 
 too like the late commission of the kirk, and of an address 
 made by some ministers about Edinburgh for that effect. 
 This looks too like the petitions of ministers before the late 
 
 * That constitution of the Scottish parliament, called the 
 Lords of the Articles.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 457 
 
 rebellion in the years 1637 and 1638; and I am sorry that 
 some, whom I thought to have been more orthodox, should 
 have had so great a hand in it. Always I did show that 
 letter, which I received from an honest friend of yours and 
 miue, and did read it every word to the king, whom I found 
 very sensible of the danger of such practices, if they should go 
 unpunished ; and I am commanded by his majesty to desire 
 your grace to confer with some of the clergy, of whom you 
 are confident, and to send me your free advice what you 
 think fit for the king to command upon this occasion; by 
 which you will see, that the king will be very careful 
 that the honour and authority of the bishops may be pre- 
 served, and all contrivances against them suppressed and 
 punished. I hope you will be able to inform who have 
 been most guilty, to the end they may know it is not 
 safe to meddle with such edged tools, and them such as 
 have been innocently drawn in, may be passed over. The 
 king goes towards Portsmouth on Monday morning, and is to 
 return hither this day seven-night, against which time, I hope 
 to see a return from the Committee of Council, concerning 
 their endeavours against the conventicles ; and I desire to 
 have as speedy an answer to this letter as may be. And 
 though I am no more commissioner, yet in all stations I shall 
 be found zealous and active for the government of the church, 
 as it is now by law settled, and for its peace and happiness. 
 And that I am, in a true sense of your kindness and 
 
 friendship, 
 
 " My Lord, 
 " Your grace's most humble servant, 
 
 " Lauderdale." * 
 
 The principal incident of this year was the 
 arrest and examination of James Mitchel, " the 
 
 MSS. Episcopal Chest, Aberdeen, No. A. 10.
 
 458 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 pious and exemplary youth," who attempted to 
 assassinate the primate. On the 10th of February 
 the " pious" Mitchel was examined before the 
 lord chancellor, lord register, lord advocate, and 
 Lord Hatton, when he acknowledged having 
 wounded the Bishop of Orkney, but that his aim. 
 was at the archbishop. But as such a grave charge 
 has been preferred against the primate, respecting 
 this pious youth, 1 here insert the minutes of 
 council which I myself copied from the MS. 
 books of council in the register-office. 
 
 " 12th March, 1674. 
 
 " We, &c. The lord commissioner his grace, and lords 
 of his majesty's privy council, having appointed a committee 
 of the council to examine Mr. James Mitchel, prisoner in the 
 tolbooth of Edinburgh, the said Mr. James being brought 
 before the said committee, did make a free and voluntary con- 
 fession of his accession to the rebellion and rising in arms, in 
 the west ; and that after he had notice of the same, he went 
 from Edinburgh with Colonel Wallace to Kyle, and joined 
 with the rebels there, and from thence came alongst and was 
 with them until the night before the fight at Pentland- 
 hills, and that at the desire of Captain Arnot he returned 
 thence to Edinburgh, to speak with some persons the same 
 evening there. And being examined upon the attempt on the 
 Archbishop of St. Andrews, and who shot the pistol at the 
 archbishop when the bishop of Orkney was hurt, in the 
 month of July, 1668, he did declare that at that time, and 
 the day that the said attempt was made, he was in the town 
 of Edinburgh, and that he bought the pistol which he had 
 about him, charged with three balls, when he was apprehended, 
 about that time the bishop was shot, from Alexander Logan,
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 459 
 
 dagmaker, in Leithwynd ; but refused that he was the person 
 that made the said attempt. But having retired apart with 
 one of the said committee, he did there confess upon his knees 
 he was the person, upon assurance given him by one of the 
 committee as to his life, who had warrant from the lord com- 
 missioner and council to give the same. And did thereafter 
 freely confess before all the lords that was upon the said com- 
 mittee that (he) shot the said pistol at the said archbishop, 
 and did subscribe his confession in presence of the said com- 
 mittee, which is also subscribed by them. And thereafter the 
 said Mr. James, in presence of the lord commissioner his 
 grace, and eouncil, did renew and adhere to the said con- 
 fession. Also as to his accession to the rebellion and the 
 attempt foresaid, and acknowledged he made the said attempt 
 because he thought that the archbishop had a hand in troub- 
 ling and prosecuting those that were in the rebellion. And 
 nevertheless being brought before the lords commissioners of 
 justiciary, and asked if he did avow that confession aforesaid, 
 he did altogether refuse to answer, and to adhere to his said 
 confessions, notwithstanding he was told by the lord commis- 
 sioners of justiciary and his majesty's advocate that if he 
 would adhere to his said confessions that he should have the 
 benefit of the said assurance, and if otherways he should 
 LOSE the same. Therefore the lord commissioner his grace, 
 and lords of his majesty's privy council, do declare that they 
 are free, and that the said Mr. James ought not to have the 
 benefit of any such assurance or assurances, and the same is 
 altogether void, and that the lords of justiciary and assize 
 ought to proceed without any respect to the same. And 
 further do declare, that the said Mr. James Mitchel is the 
 person intended and named in the proclamation in the years 
 1666 and 1667, discharging any intercommuning with the 
 rebels therein mentioned, and excepting the said Mr. James 
 and the other persons therein from his majesty's favour and
 
 460 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 indemnity, and no other (is meant) under the name of Mr. 
 James Mitchel, though there had been any other of that name 
 involved in the said rebellion." * 
 
 " For as much as Mr. James Mitchel is now imprisoned in 
 the tolbooth of Edinburgh, as guilty of being in the late re- 
 bellion, in anno 1666, and attempting the assassination of the 
 Archbishop of St. Andrews, by shooting of a pistol, wherewith 
 the Bishop of Orkney was wounded. Therefore the lord 
 commissioner his grace, and lords of his majesty's privy 
 council, doe remit the said Mr. James Mitchel, to the com- 
 missioners of his majesty's justiciary, to be proceeded against 
 for the said crimes according to law ; and grants authority 
 and warrants to his majesty's advocate, to raise ane indict- 
 ment against him for the said crimes, before the lord com- 
 missioner, and to process and pursue him thereupon."! 
 
 On his first examination he confessed that he 
 (" a preacher of the gospel and a pious youth") 
 was engaged in the rebellion and bore arms at 
 the affair of the Pentland-hills. He now, how- 
 ever, denied having made any attempt on the life 
 of the archbishop, although he had formerly con- 
 fessed it. As he had denied his confession, the 
 council withdrew their promise of sparing his 
 life ; and he was committed for trial. There being 
 then no other evidence than his own confession, 
 
 * Act Mr. James Mitchel, Regist. Secreti Concilii. 
 t Act Mr. James Mitchel, Regist. Secreti Concilii, anno 
 1674, folio 55.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 461 
 
 the lords of justiciary deserted the diet ; and he 
 was sent, to the Bass state-prison, where he lay till 
 1678.* Cruickshank's says that " he wrote a 
 large letter from prison to a friend, vindicating 
 his practice, and owning the principles upon 
 which he went!" Vindicating murder! "pious 
 youth," indeed ! 
 
 Another of Wodrow's " pious and learned" 
 men was a Mr. Thomas Forrester, minister of 
 Alva, who had openly set his bishop's authority 
 at defiance, and kept conventicles contrary to 
 law. He is called " the pious and learned Mr. 
 Thomas Forrester, since the Revolution, professor 
 of divinity in the university of St. Andrews, whose 
 memory is savoury in this church, and who being 
 dead yet speaketh, by his solid and learned 
 writings against Episcopacy." He had entirely 
 absented himself from all the diocesan synodal 
 and presbytery meetings, although repeatedly 
 warned and summoned. By directions of the 
 Presbytery of Stirling, their clerk wrote to him in 
 August the preceding year, warning him that un- 
 less he took his place at their next meeting, the 
 Presbytery would take such course because of his 
 contumacy as is incumbent. He still refused, and 
 wrote a defence of his conduct, and attacked the 
 Episcopal government as unscriptural, &c. The 
 
 * Wodrow, vol. ii. pp. 249. 252.
 
 462 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Synod of Dunkeld, therefore, deposed him from 
 the ministry on account of " his contumacious, 
 disorderly, and schismatical carriage, in absenting 
 himself of a long time from the meetings of this 
 synod, &c., and under his hand, in a letter dis- 
 owning all our church-judicatories, and declaring 
 them to be unlawful, and their exercise of govern- 
 ment and discipline to be Erastian, and that the 
 politic form of government is contrary to many 
 oaths, vows, and engagements, which he is per- 
 suaded are binding upon these nations and pos- 
 terity, &c." This sentence is signed by George 
 Halliburton, moderator, and Henry Malcom, clerk, 
 and is ratified by Henry Guthrie, bishop of 
 Dunkeld, as follows : 
 
 " We, Henry, by the mercy of GOD, Bishop of Dunkeld, 
 having seen and seriously considered the above written act of 
 our synod, deposing Mr. Thomas Forrester, minister at Alva, 
 and the grounds and reasons thereof : we find the said grounds 
 very weighty and relevant, and the sentence founded there- 
 upon to be just and legal : therefore we do ratify and approve 
 the said sentence, and interpose our authority thereto by 
 thir presents subscribed with our hand at Meigle, the 4th 
 day of May, 1674. 
 
 (Signed) " Henry Dunkeld-"* 
 
 Under the powers conferred by the Assertory 
 Act, the king removed Dr. Burnet from the see 
 of Glasgow, and appointed Bishop Leighton, first 
 
 * Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 258.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 463 
 
 as commendator, and afterwards to be archbishop. 
 But Leighton felt the irregularity as well as the 
 illegality of that step, and took a journey to 
 London and resigned the archbishopric in his 
 majesty's hand. Lauderdale endeavoured to per- 
 suade him against the resignation, but without 
 effect. But having been impeached by the Eng- 
 lish House of Commons, as "a person obnoxious 
 and dangerous to the government," and having 
 such a powerful opposition in Scotland, he at 
 last accepted the resignation. On hearing of the 
 Assertory Act, and the unconstitutional depriva- 
 tion of Archbishop Burriet, the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury and other English bishops, remon- 
 strated with Charles on the unprecedented im- 
 propriety of such a stretch of royal power. They 
 represented to him the danger to the church at 
 large, that the example of Scotland might be 
 extended to England ; and that a hostile monarch 
 and a flagitious minister might, by virtue of the 
 Assertory Act, extinguish the church entirely. 
 Archbishop Sharp was at court at this time, and 
 united with Dr. Sheldon in representing the 
 danger of the Assertory Act. " While these 
 confusions continued and were fomented in Scot- 
 land, the church and parliament of England 
 became mightily incensed against the Duke of 
 Lauderdale, who finding himself in danger, laid 
 aside his ordinary haughtiness, and lowered his
 
 464 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 sails; and in 1674 reconciled himself to Arch- 
 bishop Sharp, who was then at London, by whose 
 means not only Archbishop Burnet returned to 
 his see, but the duke was readmitted to the 
 favour of old Dr. Sheldon, archbishop of Canter- 
 bury ; he giving all the signs of a sincere and 
 humbled penitent, after which he never gave 
 ground to be suspected by the clergy."* 
 
 The king's letter restoring Dr. Burnet to his 
 see, is dated 7th September, and the act of privy 
 council in conformity, is dated the 29th of the 
 same month. 
 
 " Forsamickle the king's majesty, by a letter under his 
 hand to the privy council of the date of the 7th instant, has 
 signified that upon the dimission of Alexander, archbishop of 
 Glasgow, 1669, his majesty did commend to Robert, bishop 
 of Dumblane, the care of the diocese of Glasgow, and after- 
 wards did nominate and present the said Robert to the archi- 
 episcopal see of Glasgow, unto which, as his majesty is 
 informed, he was not formerly translated ; and that now by 
 the dimission of the said Robert, the said archbishopric of 
 Glasgow is become at his majesty's gift and presentation, his 
 majesty has thought fit, on just and important considerations, 
 and for the good of his service in the church, to restore, and 
 doth restore the said Alexander to the possession and enjoy- 
 ment of the archbishopric of Glasgow, &c."f 
 
 Bishop Leighton was altogether unfitted for 
 the see of Glasgow, even if he had acquired it in 
 
 * True and Impartial Account, p. 69. 
 f Keith's Cat. Scot. Bps. p. 268.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 465 
 
 a canonical way, from his easy unsuspicious dis- 
 position. Without the assistance of Bishop 
 Hamilton he never could have managed the 
 fiery Covenanters already fixed in his diocese, 
 and the cunning hypocrites of that sect, who, 
 under shelter of his good nature, were gaining 
 admission. On the 1st of September, 1673, he 
 wrote to the Bishop of Galloway, as follows : 
 
 " My Lord Being remanded back to this station for a 
 little time, I desired the enclosed, though I have found your 
 lordship very ready to assist me upon such occasions as this 
 relates to ; because if they shall frequently occur, as possibly 
 they may, it might seem not so regular and warrantable to 
 trouble you with them, without this signification of his ma- 
 jesty's pleasure which will sufficiently excuse and justify us 
 both in these instances. But at meeting, I may, God willing, 
 give you a fuller account of the business, and the reason that 
 caused such a thing to be desired, by, my lord, 
 
 " Your lordship's affectionate brother 
 
 and humble servant, 
 (Signed) " Ro. Leighton." 
 
 In this letter the bishop enclosed one from 
 Lauderdale to the Bishop of Galloway, requesting 
 him to assist Bishop Leighton in " trying the 
 spirits" of those who wished to enter to the 
 ministry. It is dated Whitehall, the 9th of 
 August, 1673. 
 
 " My Lord I am commanded to show you that, because 
 of the large extent, and the many difficult affairs of the 
 diocese of Glasgow, it is his majesty's pleasure that you do all 
 
 H H
 
 466 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 the assistance you can to the present archbishop in the ordi- 
 nation of intrants to the ministry, and any other business 
 relating to that diocese wherein you may be helpful to him. 
 " I am your lordship's humble servant, 
 
 (Signed) " Lauderdale." 
 
 Bishop Leighton was not unconscious of his 
 own failing, and therefore was glad to accept the 
 assistance of Bishop Hamilton. " Had the above 
 archbishop known men as well as he did books, 
 there had been little need for these letters : he 
 was a very learned man, really pious, and knew 
 nothing of the knave, so that the hypocrite of 
 ordinary letters, from whatever quarter, with a 
 dejecting whining countenance, and a large pre- 
 tence to piety, seldom went away without his 
 designs. But not so with the Bishop of Gallo- 
 way : he had been the butt of their malice too 
 long not to know where their poisonous schisma- 
 tical trash lay. Therefore they were obliged to 
 produce better testimonies and endure more strict 
 examination. 
 
 " This the archbishop knew very well to be 
 his (own) failing, and had no design at all to 
 return to Glasgow, neither would he if he had 
 not got this letter for the Bishop of Galloway's 
 assistance, with a promise of no long stay, so 
 weary was this good soul of that country, and of 
 the obstinacy in it ; yet he abode until he heard 
 of our good Bishop (Hamilton's) death, upon
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 467 
 
 which he immediately laid down his charge and 
 went to London."* 
 
 " I have been told," says Bishop Keith, " that 
 Dr. Leighton, finding his authority in the diocesan 
 synod of Glasgow to be but weak under the title 
 and designation of commendator only, that he 
 might the better establish his authority, did pro- 
 cure a conge d'elire to the chapter of Glasgow, 
 for electing him their archbishop, which was done 
 accordingly 27th of October, 1671. But the 
 Duke of Lauderdale, then prime minister of state, 
 for some political considerations, did not ratify 
 the election by the king's letters-patent, as is 
 usual, though his commendatory letters gave 
 him a right to the revenues of the see. Bishop 
 Rose of Edinburgh told me, that the election 
 flowed from the archbishop himself, and not from 
 a cong6 d'elire, and that was one of the reasons 
 why it was not ratified by the king. Whether 
 this did give a disgust to Dr. Leighton, as some 
 apprehended, or that it proceeded from his pro- 
 found humility and self-denial, it is however 
 certain, that he went up to London and resigned 
 the archbishopric as a burthen too great for him 
 to sustain. The Duke of Lauderdale did all he 
 could to divert him from this step, but to no 
 
 * Account of the Familie of Hamilton, of Broomhill, 
 pp. 59, 60. 
 
 H H 2
 
 468 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 purpose ; for the resignation he would needs 
 leave with the duke, who still declared he would 
 not make use of it, and did so far prevail with 
 Dr. Leighton, as to return to the management of 
 the diocese, as if such a resignation had not been 
 made. And this he continued to do until the 
 year 1674, when the Duke of Lauderdale being 
 impeached by the English House of Commons, 
 thought fit, in order to gain to his interest the 
 bishops of that nation, and by that means to 
 ward off the impeachment, to make use of Bishop 
 Leighton's resignation, and to restore Archbishop 
 Burnet to the see of Glasgow, from which he had 
 been expelled by the great power of the duke 
 ever since the year 1669 ; a proceeding which 
 could not fail to be looked upon by all bishops as 
 too heavy an encroachment upon the church. 
 Dr. Leighton being thus eased of his Episcopal 
 function, retired himself from the world, and 
 followed a life of contemplation and piety. For 
 some space, he lived within the College of Edin- 
 burgh, and then withdrew into England, where 
 he died in the year 1684. It appears that the 
 see of Dumblane had not been filled up till 1673, 
 when James Ramsay, rector of Hamilton and 
 dean of Glasgow, was promoted to this see." * 
 Some of the Episcopal clergy had been for 
 
 * Keith's Cat. Scot. Bps. 267269, and 183.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 469 
 
 some time pressing the necessity of a national 
 synod, "for considering the disorders in the 
 church," and pleaded the law in its favour. The 
 Bishops of Brechin and Dumblane, were the heads 
 of this party, and Messrs. Turner, Cant, Robert- 
 son, and Hamilton were the chief promoters 
 among the inferior clergymen. Their complaints, 
 however, were considered by Lauderdale as 
 evidence of their disaffection to his administra- 
 tion. These all being in the diocese of Edinburgh, 
 petitioned their bishop, Dr. Young, who was 
 much opposed to such a meeting. Wodrow, of 
 course, seizes this opportunity of abusing the 
 primate, who, according to his evidence, was the 
 source and fountain of all evil, as well as its 
 executor. He says, that the division respecting 
 the propriety of holding a national synod, " will 
 be an evidence of that anti-christian spirit of 
 persecution that was in him, not only to his open 
 adversaries the Presbyterians, whom he had 
 deserted and resolved by all means to ruin, but 
 also to those of his own kidney, when they came 
 not up to any thing was his pleasure, as if he 
 had been an infallible, visible head and vicar of 
 Christ, or rather anti-christ, for Scotland." * 
 When this design was first broached, it had a 
 more alarming aspect than it afterwards assumed ; 
 
 Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 300.
 
 470 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 and the primate thought it necessary to write to 
 Archbishop Sheldon, to request the king to refuse 
 his assent to this synod. The letter itself is as 
 follows : 
 
 " May it please your Grace, Albeit, I have kept long 
 silent, and my correspondence with your grace hath not been 
 so frequent as formerly ; yet, like the son of Crassus, I must 
 cry out, when my mother the church is in hazard, and I be- 
 lieve if I should hold my peace, the very stones would speak, 
 for the gospel is now at stake. We are assaulted not only 
 by foreigners, our old enemies the fanatics, who were never 
 of us, but also, alas, my lord, there is a fire in our bed-straw, 
 by sons of our own bowels, who, viper-like, seek to eat that 
 which produced them. They are all crying for a national 
 convocation of the clergy, upon no other account but to shake 
 off our yoke, and break our bands asunder. I hope your 
 grace will consider your own hazard, if disorders followed in 
 England upon our distempers in Scotland; when our neigh- 
 bour's house is on fire, it is time to look to our own. Their 
 great aim and design is against me, who GOD knows, like 
 Paul, have spent myself in the service of the church, and am 
 yet willing to spend what remains. I believe no man can say 
 I have run in vain. If I be not supported by his majesty's 
 special favour, through your grace's recommendation, I shall 
 inevitably suffer shipwreck, and that upon no evil or upon 
 mine own account, but I see, that through my sides the church 
 will be wounded. The only remedy is, to procure his majesty 
 to discharge the convocation, which will calm the storm and 
 quench all those malicious designs which are now on foot to 
 disturb the peace of the church. They are already come 
 to that height, that one Mr. Cant, a presbyter, has shaken 
 off all fear of GOD, and regard for his canonical oath, in 
 calling me a great grievance to this church. My dear lord
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 471 
 
 and brother, bestir yourself in this affair, and remember the 
 words pronounced against those who are at ease, while their 
 brother is in distress. So, recommending this to your care, 
 
 " I am, my lord, 
 " Your grace's affectionate brother, 
 
 " And faithful servant, 
 (Signed) " St. Andrews." * 
 " For his Grace, the 
 " Archbishop of Canterbury." 
 
 Wodrow, is pleased to call the above " a 
 whining- letter." It certainly does not partake 
 of the primate's usual vigorous style ; and I am 
 therefore much inclined to think that Wodrow 
 has taken his usual freedom in adding, inserting, or 
 withdrawing parts of it to answer his own purpose. 
 It had, however, the desired effect. On the 2d of 
 July, the archbishop complained to the privy 
 council of the insolent carriage of Messrs. Turner, 
 Robertson, and Cant ; whereupon they empower 
 the archbishop and some others to examine them, 
 with power to commit them if they see cause. 
 The report of their examination was transmitted 
 to the king, who wrote to the council, dated 
 Windsor, 16th July, 1674, " declaring that it was 
 his royal pleasure, that the Bishop of Dumblane 
 be translated to the isles, that the Bishop of 
 Brechin be appointed to preach at the college 
 kirk at Edinburgh ; and that the Bishop of Edin- 
 
 * Wodrow's MSS., 4to. chap, vii., sec. 3, vol. 41.
 
 472 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 burgh be directed to remove Messrs. Turner, 
 Robertson, and Cant, from the exercise of the 
 ministry in Edinburgh, and to prohibit their 
 preaching in any place within his diocese, without 
 licence ; and that Mr. Hamilton be removed 
 from Leith; and his majesty required the council 
 to oblige the Bishop of Dumblane to repair to the 
 isles within two weeks; and that within ten 
 days Turner remove to Glasgow, Robertson to 
 Auchterless; Cant to Libberton, and Hamilton 
 to Cramond till farther orders." This is another 
 confirmation of the dangerous tendency of the 
 Assertory Act, which in fact made the king a 
 pope, and laid the church prostrate at his feet. 
 In conformity with the royal mandate, the council 
 sent a macer to intimate the king's pleasure to 
 the parties. Keith makes no mention of the trans- 
 lation of Bishop Ramsay to the isles, and which 
 was not then vacant ; for Bishop Wallace did 
 not die till the following year. But the matter 
 did not end here ; and an Episcopal synod met 
 next year at St. Andrews. 
 
 Field-conventicles increased amazingly. The 
 men resorting to them went armed, prepared for 
 hostilities, and determined to resist the lawful au- 
 thorities. But such " pious" conduct cannot be 
 surprising, when it is confessed that Lauderdale 
 secretly encouraged such irregularities. " It is 
 plain this favour (the indemnity) is cramped
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 473 
 
 and not at all full ; however, the common people 
 in Scotland looked upon it as an encouragement 
 as to the time to come, as well as a remission for 
 what was past, in their following conventicles ; 
 and it may be the duke designed somewhat of 
 this by it. It was confidently talked, that his 
 grace, before he left Edinburgh, did secretly 
 encourage conventicles, and promised Presby- 
 terian ministers a full and ample liberty, without 
 restrictions and exceptions; and this was the real 
 spring of their taking so much liberty this year. 
 And yet, when he got up to the king, the blame 
 of them was laid on the other party, who stood 
 by Duke Hamilton, and letter upon the back 
 of letter, as we heard, was sent to the council to 
 bear them down." * The severities on those 
 attending these meetings were consequently 
 increased ; " and indeed every week almost, 
 letlers came down from court, urging a violent 
 prosecution of them, and all the blame of them 
 was laid upon the country party, whereas it 
 was generally thought that Lauderdale himself 
 had as much encouraged conventicles as any- 
 body, "t Lauderdale's duplicity in this has been 
 well seconded by the malignity of Wodrow, who 
 has contrived to fasten all the odium of these 
 measures on the bishops, who are indeed the 
 
 * Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 267. t Ib. p. 270.
 
 474 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 party that is here meant by " the country party." 
 And yet, after all, Wodrow's authority entirely 
 rests on a " may be," a " probably," " as we 
 heard," and " it is generally thought," that 
 Lauderdale had been guilty of the treachery with 
 which he is so roundly charged. 
 
 There was a paper of grievances presented by 
 the several presbyteries in the diocese of Glasgow 
 to their diocesan synod on the 22d of October, 
 to be presented to the commissioner. Wodrovv 
 admits, that it contains several matters of fact, 
 as to the state of the Presbyterians. It com- 
 mences with the allegation that conventicles still 
 abounded more publicly and avowedly than hereto- 
 fore that the indulged ministers broke through 
 all the rules laid down for the regulation of their 
 ministry that, in a conventicle in Kilsyth, the 
 preacher cursed the king, his council, and the 
 whole royal family that both the field-preachers 
 and the indulged ministers preach sedition, and 
 pray to the same purpose that " several horrid 
 crimes are committed at conventicles, as incest, 
 bestiality, child-murder, besides frequent adulte- 
 ries, as our registers at more length bear." "And 
 to sum up all, we cannot but mourn, and do 
 heartily testify to all the world, but more espe- 
 cially to your lordship, that all laws made hereto- 
 fore against these, would not have been so con- 
 temned, were it not for the irregular ministers
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 475 
 
 and multitude with whom we have to do ; so 
 that in the issue, they have proven to the great 
 dishonour of GOD and our disadvantage, altogether 
 ineffectual ; and this only from a perverse prin- 
 ciple of habitual disobedience in the ministers 
 and people, which, as we wish GOD to remove, 
 so we heartily pray and beseech your grace to 
 consider." * 
 
 In August of this year James Hamilton, bishop 
 of Galloway, died after a few days' sickness. 
 " He was a man of a sprightly but ordinary sta- 
 ture, well seen in divinity, especially in polemics 
 and the languages, with a good memory, accurate 
 in the fathers and church-history, yet to be seen 
 by the remarks upon his books. He was very 
 pious and charitable, strictly pure in his morals, 
 most kind to his friends, and most affable and 
 courteous to strangers. He was a Boanerges in 
 the pulpit, and every way worthy of the sacred 
 character he bore. 
 
 " I find by the several letters I have, that there 
 had been a very great intimacy betwixt that emi- 
 nent prelate and martyr Dr. Sharp, archbishop 
 of St. Andrews and him, but mostly with respect 
 to their respective affairs in the church. 
 
 " The bishop was very happy in a pious, fond, 
 and virtuous wife. She knew his constitution, 
 
 * Wodrow, vol. ii. pp. 264, 265.
 
 476 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 and did, under God, as abstemious as he was, 
 keep him in a good state of health during her 
 life ; but for the seven years he lived after, his 
 daughters being very young, and when come to 
 any maturity, married from him, he took the 
 liberty to manage his diet as he pleased, which 
 generally was one roasted egg in the morning ; 
 a little broth, and perhaps nothing (else) about 
 four ; at night a glass of small ale to his pipe in the 
 winter, and for the most part water in the summer. 
 This, with his book, was most of the good bishop's 
 food during the last seven years of his life." * 
 
 John Paterson, minister of the Tron church, 
 and Dean of Edinburgh, was, through the interest 
 of the Duke of Lauderdale, preferred to the see 
 of Galloway, on the 23d of October. He was the 
 son of John Paterson, bishop of Ross, and on his 
 first entrance to the ministry, was presented to 
 the parish of Ellon in the county of Aberdeen, 
 thence he was preferred to the Tron church of 
 Edinburgh. f 
 
 1675. Conventicles now became more frequent 
 than ever, indeed the fifth-ribbed policy rendered 
 their increase inevitable. By the same policy, 
 Lauderdale directed the council to issue letters 
 ofintercommuning against ministers, or other indi- 
 
 * Account of the Familie of Broomhill, pp. 61, 62. 
 f Keith's Catalogue, Bishop Russell's edition, p. 282.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 477 
 
 viduals either attending conventicles, or harbour- 
 ing the ministers. An intercommuned person was 
 proclaimed rebel and traitor at the market-crosses 
 of certain towns, and " all and sundry our lieges 
 and subjects, are charged and commanded, that 
 they nor none of them presume to take upon 
 hand to reset, supply, or intercommune with any 
 of the aforesaid persons our rebels, for the causes 
 foresaid, nor furnish them with meat, drink, house, 
 harbour, victual nor other useful thing, or com- 
 fortable to them, nor have intelligence with them 
 by word, writ, or message, or any other manner 
 of way, under the pain to be repute and esteemed 
 art and part with them in the crimes aforesaid." 
 Such was the privations and penalties with which 
 Lauderdale visited those Covenanters openly, 
 which, it was said, he was secretly instigating 
 them to incur. An act of council peremptorily 
 required the bishops and clergy to depose on 
 oath against such of their parishioners as attended 
 conventicles, which placed them in the most 
 painful position. The design of exasperating 
 the people against the church and churchmen 
 was obvious, and with Wodrow's assistance it 
 has been completely successful. Under one of 
 these letters of intercommuning the Lord Card- 
 ross suffered prosecution, and was both fined and 
 confined for harbouring Mr. King, an intercom- 
 muned preacher, in his house. Though the Eng-
 
 478 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 lish parliament had denounced Lauderdale to the 
 king as " the most dangerous and corrupt 
 minister that ever scourged any nation, " yet 
 Charles still protected him. His great merit, in 
 that easy monarch's eyes, was his assisting him 
 to govern without the aid of parliament. Al- 
 though his arbitrary conduct had been proved at 
 the bar of the House of Commons, by his friend 
 Bishop Burnet, yet Charles created him an 
 English peer, by the title of Earl of Guildford, 
 and gave him a pension of 3,000 per annum. 
 Besides the letters of intercommuning, which 
 were of themselves an intolerable scourge, twelve 
 gentlemen's houses in the disaffected districts 
 were converted into barracks. 
 
 It appears that Burnet had given evidence 
 against Lauderdale, and he had entered into a 
 strict friendship with the Earl of Kincardine, 
 who was on bad terms with Lauderdale and 
 Hatton. In relating an intrigue to ruin Lauder- 
 dale, the author of the Memoirs speaks of Burnet 
 in not the most favourable way. He says, " For 
 understanding whereof (this intrigue) it is fit to 
 know that this Gilbert Burnet, being nephew to 
 Warriston by his sister, had with her milk drank 
 in that mercury which was inseparable from 
 Warriston's family; and being whilst he was 
 very young admitted into a familiarity with 
 Lauderdale, because of the kindness that Lauder-
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 479 
 
 dale had ever entertained for old Master Robert 
 Burnet, his worthy and loyal father, the young 
 man arrived very early at as much learning 
 beyond his years, as he wanted the discretion 
 and solidity that was necessary for his profes- 
 sion. But being encouraged by Lady Margaret 
 Kennedy into an amour, she, to revenge herself 
 upon Lauderdale, because he did not marry her, 
 engaged him into a plot against Lauderdale ; in 
 pursuance of which, Master Burnet finding that 
 the king would not part with Lauderdale upon a 
 naked address, suggested to some of the members 
 of the House of Commons, that he could discover 
 to them Lauderdale's accession to the bringing in 
 of popery ; and being examined, he deponed 
 upon some expressions vented by Lauderdale, in 
 a conversation, at which the Duchess of Hamil- 
 ton and they two were only present. But yet 
 the expressions being so improbable, and so 
 capable of a good construction, even though they 
 had been spoken, and the Duchess of Hamilton 
 having, in a letter under her hand, disclaimed 
 her ever having heard such words, and Master 
 Burnet having, in an epistle dedicatory, posterior 
 thereto, magnified the Duke of Lauderdale, as 
 the chief pillar of the Protestant religion, the 
 odium designed against the Duke of Lauderdale 
 returned to the author, whom the best of his 
 friends acknowledged to have betrayed friend-
 
 480 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 ship, and all indifferent men to have wronged 
 truth."* 
 
 In the end of the year 1674, Archbishop Sharp 
 went to London, where he remained till August 
 this year. Among the Episcopal papers there is 
 a letter from the Bishop of Galloway, addressed 
 to the primate at London, in which he cor- 
 roborates the foregoing anecdote of the prevarica- 
 tions of Gilbert Burnet. 
 
 " Edinburgh, 6th May, 1675. 
 
 " May it please your Grace, The privy council being ad- 
 journed till the 3d of June, I hope to wait on your grace 
 here about that time. Nothing of great importance hath been 
 done at council at this time. The Duke of Hamilton ap- 
 peared much for Greig, the Non-conformist minister, and was 
 well opposed, with calmness and reason, by my Lord Hatton, 
 who never fails the king's nor the church's service ; it were 
 well with both to have many such true friends. The duke 
 appeared much also for the three fined provosts, whose pe- 
 tition is now transmitted to the king. And it is with some 
 complaints anent the Marquis of Douglass's troop hath been 
 all the noise some have been able to make at this time, which 
 is not of any great importance. Sir John Harper came to 
 the town with the duke, whom I spoke with on the street yes- 
 terday, and told him the use Bishop Ramsay had made of 
 what passed 'twixt him and me, on his last being here. He 
 said that bishop was to blame to use my name, as giving the 
 rise to his going to court; for he well knew, that before he 
 saw him or spoke to him, he was determined to make that 
 journey; but withal said, it might be, that apprehending he 
 
 * Memoirs, pp. 315, 316.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 481 
 
 might be tried by your grace, with other bishops, he might 
 the rather be induced to go to prevent it. I said, how could 
 he dream (since he complained of not being heard or tried) 
 to shun being tried by his ordinary and his peers. He said 
 he had no mind to be judged or tried by your grace, and that 
 he might desire to be heard and tried before die council. 
 I said the council was no church judicatory, and a true 
 bishop would not desire to appear so much of Erastus his 
 mind, as to think so. He said, he would not say that the 
 bishop did think so, and so our conversation ended. 
 
 " Mr. Gilbert Burnet hath written to his brother, that it 
 was sore against his inclination that he hath appeared against 
 the duke, but that he was forced into it which ill agrees 
 with his actings, and what he hath signed, since none could 
 force him, not being upon oath, to disclose such secrets as he 
 pretends to reveal, and most look upon as forgeries and vil- 
 lainous contrivances of his own ; and the rather, that the 
 Duchess of Hamilton disowns what he says my lord duke 
 said to her, anent bringing over the Irish papists. A noble- 
 man to whom her grace told it, said to me yesterday, that 
 she utterly disowns it as a lie, and said she never heard it; 
 but when Gilbert Burnet asked of her if the Duke of Lauder- 
 dale had not said so to her, when she absolutely refused that 
 ever his grace had said any such thing to her ; and when a 
 person of honour and malice enough against my lord duke, 
 doth so contradict his testimony in that matter, which 
 Gilbert Burnet says, was spoke to her by that duke, is it not 
 reason to believe all the other accusations and informations 
 to be so many villainous and infamous forgeries ? 
 
 " Though we all long for your grace's presence here, and 
 stand very much in need of it, yet we cannot but be much 
 satisfied with your being now where you are, and see ane 
 happy divine Providence in it, whereby you have had ane op- 
 portunity to do so excellent service to the king, to the 
 
 I I
 
 482 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 churches in both kingdoms, and to so noble and worthy a 
 friend to both as is my Lord Duke of Lauderdale, and 
 thereby so much right to yourself, even in the eyes of your 
 enemies, who, though they malign your grace for so doing, 
 yet cannot but in their hearts acknowledge your integrity, re- 
 solution, and generosity. I can assure your grace of all our 
 prayers, for your long and happy preservation amongst us, to 
 be ane eminent instrument of blessing to this poor, unhappy 
 church, and of none with more heart and fervour than the 
 poor prayers of, may it please your grace, 
 
 " Your grace's most humble and faithful 
 obedient servant, 
 
 " Jo. Paterson." 
 
 " P.S. My good Lady Hatton presents her duty to your 
 grace, and none alive can express greater sense of your kind- 
 ness and greater honour for you than she."* 
 
 It appears that Ramsay, Bishop of Dumblane, 
 under the influence of excited feelings, had fol- 
 lowed the primate to London, and while there, 
 had addressed the following angry letter to him. 
 He took this journey without leave either of the 
 king or of his metropolitan, and in the face of the 
 king's peremptory command, to go to the isles. 
 The letter is in general terms, and brings no 
 specific charge; but seems to have been occa- 
 sioned by a morbid feeling of irritation, arising 
 from personal pique : it is among the papers in 
 the Episcopal chest, as is the archbishop's answer, 
 in his own hand-writing. The correspondence is 
 likewise in Wodrow's history : 
 
 * MSS. Ep. Chest, No. B. 40.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 483 
 
 " London, 7th June, 1675. 
 
 " May it please your Grace, It is not unknown to your 
 grace what obliged me to come to this place, or occasioned 
 my stay so long in it. I have ground to believe it was you 
 who abused his majesty's ears with that account, which his 
 majesty takes notice of in his letter of 16th July, 1674; 
 and was the ground of what his majesty was pleased to order 
 concerning me, both in that, and the letter to the privy 
 council, of the same date. It was you who not only intimated 
 his majesty's pleasure, contained in your own letter, very sur- 
 prisingly to me, and in an extra-judicial and unfatherly 
 manner, without any ghostly exhortations, but also influenced 
 the council to intimate their order, without previously calling 
 me to be heard; and when I gave in my petition to the 
 council, containing my purpose to give exact obedience to his 
 majesty's pleasure, but only prayed them to represent my 
 case to his sacred majesty, that, for the justification of my 
 innocence, (since I was not called before sentence,) I might 
 be put to the strictest trial anent these crimes informed against 
 me, (a desire which, coming from the meanest laic, should for 
 its justice have been kindly entertained by churchmen,) yet 
 you know how vigorously you opposed it; yea, after the 
 council was pleased, notwithstanding your opposition, to 
 transmit my petition to his majesty's consideration, you 
 shortly after came here, where you have stayed since, having 
 no small influence on them who manage public affairs. It 
 might have been reasonably hoped, that, as primate, you 
 should have concerned yourself to help forward a favourable 
 answer to the petition of a bishop of your own province, so 
 just in itself, and so transmitted ; or, though your grace had 
 no regard to me, yet the consideration of the good of the 
 church, in that corner where you know disorders are increased 
 since my restraint, together with the danger of the prepara- 
 tion, should have prompted your grace to do somewhat to 
 
 i i 2
 
 484 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 bear witness, that your zeal for the church was stronger than 
 your private pique at me. But since I came here, I have been 
 amazed to find a person of your character and parts could 
 think it worthy of himself and his pains, to make and spread 
 such reports as I am told you have done. May I be so 
 bold as to ask your grace, if indeed you believe me to be a 
 fanatic, or upon what shadow of ground you either think or 
 report it to others? Have you any letters under my hand, 
 avouching that presbyterial government, even but for its sub- 
 stantials, is jure divino ? or that I was thinking de mutando 
 solo, when the parliament made the first discoveries of their 
 inclination to restore Episcopacy? And your grace may re- 
 member, that I was sequestrate by the usurpers, from the ex- 
 ercise of my charge, till the king's happy Restoration ; and you 
 know how early I discovered my persuasion towards church 
 government, and how I acted for it in the Synod of Lothian, 
 under the eye of the greatest patrons of Presbytery; and do 
 you think I am turned fanatic, because a bishop ? I beseech 
 your grace to consider how unjustifiable those slanders will 
 be, when put to the touch. Wherefore, I desire (I shall not 
 say the favour, but the justice of you,) that you may 
 either choose an indifferent person, who may consider your 
 allegations, with their evidences, and my answers ; or 
 that without more noise (considering that my sufferings 
 already are far above the merits of all you can lay to my 
 charge) you will be pleased to interpose and wipe off the dirt 
 by the same hand that threw it on me, whereby I may be 
 restored to his majesty's favour, and my just right: by doing 
 whereof, you may cross a lust of malice, but can neither 
 wound conscience nor honour. But, if you please neither of 
 these, nor any thing else than my being a holocaust to your 
 revenge, then let me beseech you to allow me the same free- 
 dom in representing you, which you have taken concerning 
 me : and I assure you, though 1 will have foul things to re-
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 485 
 
 present, I will do it in fairer manner than that in which you 
 used me. My lord, if you think strange of the terms and 
 manner of this address, I must be excused ; for I would not 
 put what I was obliged to say in fairer or better expressions ; 
 nor can I believe you should expect I would come to trouble 
 you myself, after you had often discovered your displeasure 
 when 1 waited on you, and required me to be gone out of your 
 own house after you had called me to it, and at length pur- 
 sued me to this height and continuance of suffering, without 
 just grounds. However, my lord, I have a just veneration 
 for your character, and shall be loath to dishonour any that 
 bears it, if you do not constrain me, by continuing to oppress 
 me unjustly, and by continuing to shut up against me all 
 avenues of redress : yet even when this force shall be put 
 upon me, I will endeavour to follow such methods as are 
 agreeable to the canons and practice of the church in such 
 cases, so much as unavoidable circumstances will permit me. 
 And herein I desire not to be mistaken, as if 1 sent this out 
 of any trifling vanity to fret you ; I do it not, but out of duty 
 to warn you. They are no trifles I have to say; and if you 
 contemn this warning, I will be exonered before GOD and men 
 to publish them. But I hope and desire you will prevent me, 
 by taking sober resolutions ; for I declare upon my honesty, 
 that no man knows that (much less what I have written) so 
 that it is in your power yet to make it public or keep it quiet; 
 do which pleases you ; but let me assure you (though you 
 would seem not to believe it) that I am a true son of the 
 church, a zealous lover of order, and due subordination in it ; 
 and wherein you are truly for these, you shall never find me 
 other than may it please your grace, 
 
 " Your grace's most faithful servant, 
 
 " Ja. Dumblanen." 
 
 " If your grace return no answer this or the next day, 
 I will conclude you resolve to give me none."
 
 480 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 To this angry and vituperative letter the arch- 
 bishop returned a calm and dignified answer; in 
 which he denies the charges in the same general 
 terms in which they were made. No light is 
 thrown upon the cause of their misunderstand- 
 ing, but the Bishop of Dumblane seems to have 
 been irritated by some designing enemy of the 
 primate, and to have unjustly suspected that he 
 had rendered him some ill offices. Indeed the 
 Bishop of Dumblane's letters but too evidently 
 show that he " laboured under the infirmities 
 of impotent rage and exasperation of spirit/' 
 The archbishop's answer is mild and temperate, 
 and conveys some just reproofs. 
 
 " Ax-yard, 8th June, 1675. 
 
 " My Lord, Yesterday, in the morning, while I was going 
 from the Privy-garden to the Park, a serving-man put a letter 
 in my hand from your lordship ; which having read, I shall 
 in gratification of your pressing desire, send this answer. 
 Your lordship knows best what obliged you to come to this 
 place, or occasioned your so long stay in it, having notified 
 neither to me ; and you are mistaken if you think that I came 
 or have stayed in reference to you or your case, or have taken 
 pains to make or spread reports, as you are told I have done : 
 for I declare I have not mentioned your name to the king nor 
 spoke of you to any, before I received your letter, save to 
 those who told me you had been with them, and spoken of 
 me, and my way, in reference to the church and to you; and 
 what I said was in just defence and vindication, against what 
 you had most injuriously laid at my door. Your lordship has 
 charged me with many things of which I am innocent, and
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 487 
 
 for which neither as a privy-councillor nor an archbishop, 
 am I obliged to give an account. I have not made it my 
 business to enquire into your persuasions in former or later 
 years, nor into the meritorious actings or sufferings you value 
 yourself so much upon, before the king's Restoration ; nor am 
 I solicitous whom you mean, who, by letters under his hand, 
 avoucheth that Presbytery is juris divini, or was thinking de 
 mutando solo when the parliament was about to restore Epis- 
 copacy : for better men than either you or I have, without 
 any criminous imputation, changed their sentiments about the 
 form of government and public administrations which they 
 have owned by the press and the sword. I do not think, 
 neither have I said to any, that you are ' turned fanatic be- 
 cause become a bishop ;' but I think there may be a schis- 
 matical and unpeaceable bishop in the church, and have more 
 than once admonished you to take heed of that divisive tem- 
 per, and giving way to that dictating and assuming humour, 
 by which you have been observed to scandalize your superiors 
 and brethren, both before you was a bishop and since; and 
 shall moreover fairly tell your lordship, that since your coming 
 to England, I have heard that some, who think you had no 
 small hand in that persecution, have declared that you con- 
 tributed for promoting the fanatic interest, and have not 
 spared to slander some of your own order, in their absence, 
 which I believe is not unknown to you. I had little oppor- 
 tunity to converse with you in my whole life. I remember 
 when I did you some good offices, but cannot say I had the 
 opportunity to speak with you above twice or thrice, and then 
 overly ; and several years before you were made a bishop and 
 since, I have said nothing but what I said to yourself upon 
 divers occasions, before some bishops and others of the clergy, 
 who have testified I did not require you to be gone out of my 
 house at St. Andrews; and after, at Edinburgh, when you 
 was at my lodging, you did meet witli no uncivil usage from
 
 488 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 me. So that when some told me you made that your excuse, 
 for not paying ordinary civilities to me since you came hither, 
 I said I was not to challenge that strangeness which was 
 noticed by others. It was a strange allegation of your lord- 
 ship, and you are the first clergyman of any degree, whom I 
 ever heard complain of my uncivil usage of any of them. 
 And it is no less strange, that you allege my continuance to 
 oppress you, for endeavouring to shut up against ' you all 
 avenues for redress,' as you phrase it, without any evidence 
 or proof; but that you will set me up as the object of your 
 blustering against, on a pretence to the errand, you know 
 best, you came and stayed here for. I shall further add, that 
 the scolding language and menacing warnings you are pleased 
 to treat me with, by your letter, do not fret or discompose me, 
 though you say they are not trifles which you have to bring 
 against me. And as my own heart tells me, I harbour no 
 malice, pique, or revenge against your lordship, which you so 
 positively charge against me ; so I believe I can justify, to all 
 my brethren of our order, (whose judgment I shall not decline, 
 as to all you can accuse me of,) or to any else who shall be 
 appointed by competent authority, that whatever I have done 
 or said against your lordship, did proceed from no other 
 motive but from the sense of that duty I owe to the king, to 
 the church, and to the office I bear, which in the judgment 
 of my brethren you have violated. And although I might 
 have expected more deference and regard from your lordship, 
 than hitherto I have found : yet, if that the unavoidable cir- 
 cumstances you write that you are under, will not permit you 
 to follow these methods which are consistent with the great 
 veneration you say you have for my character, but that you 
 must endeavour to dishonour the person who bears it, without 
 transgressing the canons and practices of the church, by re- 
 presenting those foul things you say you have against me, I 
 hope GOD will arm me with patience under this injustice, and
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 489 
 
 also from your own hand, wipe off that dirt that shall be 
 thrown upon my integrity, which I will own against all the 
 methods of expressing that bitter and causeless enmity and 
 spite, you have not stuck to confess against me in Scotland 
 and since you came hither. You know I have not been a 
 stranger in the lot of being attempted by the barkings of the 
 malicious defamations and the printed libels of the adversaries 
 to that order, for which I may say, without vanity, I have 
 suffered and done more and longer, than your lordship can pre- 
 tend to, or those who malign me. And now, if you should follow 
 that trade as you have begun, others may think, quamvis ego 
 dignus essem hac contumelia indignus tamen tu quifaceres. 
 And since you are pleased under your hand, to give me warning 
 that you will represent foul things against me, and which you 
 will publish, yet do not mention the particular crimes, but 
 leave it to my choice whether to make it public or to hold it 
 quiet, which is upon the matter to take with the guilt of what- 
 ever malice shall suggest or allege against me : this I confess 
 you may declare upon your honesty is a generous offer from 
 a true son of the church, a zealous lover of order and due 
 subordination, to be made to one to whom you swore canoni- 
 cal obedience, and do now sign yourself ever to be a most 
 faithful servant, but on the honourable terms of his lying for 
 ever at your mercy for his reputation. I will not return you 
 the compliment, nor use that candour you have used to me, 
 by giving me warning of all these hideous things you have to 
 boast (threaten) me with ; but tell you I live under the pro- 
 tection of a just prince, and the laws, which take notice of 
 public libellers ; and I do rejoice in the testimony of my con- 
 science which charges me with nothing in my administrations, 
 for which I have cause to be ashamed before men. And when 
 you consider the hazard of owning yourself as the author of 
 these foul aspersions you warn me to expect, and shall return 
 to a more sober and sedate recollection of mind, and of your
 
 490 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 duty, you shall find, through GOD'S grace, that my carriage 
 shall be such as becomes the duty of my station, which for- 
 bids my entertaining malice, pique, or revenge against any, 
 and enjoins charity, compassion, and long-suffering towards 
 all, especially towards those who labour under the infirmities 
 of impotent rage and exasperation of spirit. In this sense 
 " I am your lordship's very humble servant, 
 
 " St. Andrews." 
 
 " P. S. I have obeyed the intimation by your postscript, 
 with this caveat, that your lordship henceforth forbear troub- 
 ling yourself with addresses by letters to me, for I will not 
 further notice them with returns." * 
 
 Bishop Ramsay seems to have been irritated 
 by the unconstitutional exertion of the Assertory 
 Act; and to have, from morbid sensibility, sup- 
 posed the primate to have been the author of his 
 disgrace. This does not appear to have been the 
 case ; but the primate's reply seems to have 
 added to his discontent, rather than to have 
 allayed it. They both returned to Scotland in 
 the course of the summer. " Archbishop Sharp 
 having done all the service he could for the 
 church, took leave of the king and the court; 
 and this was the last time he had the honour to 
 kiss his majesty's hands : and returning to Scot- 
 land in August 1675, he studied to bring affairs 
 to unity and accommodation, and faithfully dis- 
 charged the functions of his sacred office.''')' 
 
 * MSS. Ep. Chest. Aberdeen, A. 12. 
 f True and Impartial Account, p 69.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 4Q\ 
 
 The king granted a commission to the two 
 archbishops and the rest of the bishops, to make 
 enquiry into the case and conduct of the Bishop 
 of Dumblane. The court met in September ; 
 and after reading his majesty's commission, the 
 following interrogatories were put to Bishop 
 Ramsay : 
 
 " 1. Whether the said Bishop of Dumblane did obtain 
 leave, either of the king's majesty, or of his metropolitan, to 
 repair to court in April last ? 
 
 " 2. Whether the said Bishop of Dumblane did abet or 
 assist the motion and petition for a national synod, without 
 consent of his superior, and the bishops of this church ?" 
 
 Bishop Ramsay withdrew, and returned written 
 answers to these interrogatories on the 4th Sep- 
 tember. He complained of not having received 
 a formal libel or indictment, and of being pro- 
 ceeded against by way of inquisition. To the 
 first he ingenuously acknowledged, that he had 
 not obtained the sanction of either the king or 
 his metropolitan for repairing to court. He 
 thought it reasonable to appeal to his majesty, 
 because he found, that he had been secretly mis- 
 represented to him, and in consequence he had 
 been deprived of his bishopric. That his majesty 
 had admitted him to his presence, and that he 
 had endeavoured to clear himself from the 
 offences charged against him. Previous to his 
 visit to court, he alleged, that he had never been
 
 492 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 a day's journey from his own residence. And 
 yet, the bishops have been accused by the Presby- 
 terians of the most enormous crimes ; but espe- 
 cially a constant instigation of the council to perse- 
 cuting measures ; as if they had been constantly 
 sitting in council ! Whereas, it appears, they 
 were obliged to constant residence within their 
 dioceses. He gives the following reasons for not 
 asking his metropolitan's permission : " 1. Be- 
 cause his lordship had not been in this kingdom 
 for nearly nine months before I took journey ; but 
 was at court, whither I was to go. 2. Because 
 I was by the aforesaid sentence, inhibited the 
 exercise of my function eight months before my 
 journey, and so not tied to that residence, which 
 I suppose brings a bishop under the canonical 
 obligation, to ask his metropolitan's leave to go 
 from his charge. And 3. to deal plainly, I 
 wanted not ground to believe, that he who had 
 injured me by that secret, and, I hope groundless 
 account sent to court concerning me, was so 
 nearly related to my metropolitan, that I could 
 promise myself little success, though I had sought 
 his grace's permission to go, and counteract it 
 before his majesty. However, if in this I neg- 
 lected any part of my duty, I beg his majesty's 
 pardon, and do promise, that if his majesty shall 
 be graciously pleased to restore me to the free 
 exercise of my calling, I shall be as careful to
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 493 
 
 reside at my charge, and not go abroad without 
 permission, as any bishop in this church. And 
 as this was none of the causes of my sentence, 
 (which was some months after it was inflicted,) 
 so I hope it will be no ground to continue it 
 longer." 
 
 In answer to the second interrogatory, he 
 denied entirely, that he either abetted or assisted 
 the petitioners for a national synod. He frankly 
 acknowledged, however, that he considered a 
 national synod to be necessary for " settling a 
 church which wanted an established rule of faith, 
 worship, and discipline," in which "there was 
 not so much as a catechism appointed, nor a rule 
 by which to try the faith and correct the manners 
 of my diocese." Since parliament had passed an 
 act, not only authorising a national synod, but 
 saying " it was necessary and fit, for the honour 
 and service of Almighty God, the good and 
 quiet of the church, and the better government 
 thereof in unity and order;" he never doubted, 
 that he might say as the act says ; that a national 
 synod was necessary. Besides, the king ap- 
 pointed the Earl of Rothes first, and afterwards the 
 Duke of Lauderdale, as his commissioner to such 
 national synod. Likewise, soon after the act 
 passed, the king granted his warrant and com- 
 mand to the bishops, and some others of the 
 clergy, to meet and prepare a Liturgy, canons,
 
 494 LIFE AND TIMES Of 
 
 &c. Before the expiration of the last commis- 
 sion to Lauderdale, some Presbyters in the 
 diocese of Edinburgh, announced publicly in their 
 own synod, that they desired to see a national 
 synod. Notwithstanding, there was no national 
 synod held, and wherever the obstacle lay, it was 
 not with the king, who manifested his princely 
 inclinations and pious zeal to promote it. There 
 were some other queries put to Bishop Ramsay, 
 which he answered in general terms ; and deny- 
 ing any intention to break the peace and unity 
 of the church. He eventually submitted, and 
 dropt his views of a national convocation, and 
 was restored to the full and free exercise of his 
 Episcopal office. The four Presbyters who were 
 removed by the power of the Assertory Act from 
 their several charges were restored, after signing 
 a submission and apology.* 
 
 It is much to be feared, that the statesmen of 
 that period considered the church too much in 
 the light of a state-engine. The Act Assertory, 
 gave them a power which almost annihilated the 
 church's independence; and of which the bishops 
 and clergy complained. Among the papers in the 
 Episcopal chest there is a memorial complaining 
 of that Act, by which the king was impowered 
 to turn out and replace bishops at pleasure, "AS 
 
 * Wodrow.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 4Q5 
 
 A GRIEVOUS SERVITUDE." It states also, that 
 the bishops and clergy were only waiting for a 
 favourable conjuncture of circumstances, to 
 move and persuade the king either to repeal or 
 explain the said act, so that no bishop or presby- 
 ter should be removed or turned out without a 
 fair, open, and legal trial by Ecclesiastical judges 
 and judicatories.* A test was demanded of the 
 Episcopal clergy, which required them to main- 
 tain all the king's privileges granted by the Act 
 Assertory. This was intended as a snare to 
 entrap them into an acknowledgment of this 
 unchristian Act, which exalted the king's supre- 
 macy over the church to an unlimited extent. 
 They saw through the design of the court, and 
 had the Christian courage to refuse the test ; on 
 which account some of them were deprived. But 
 the clergy persisted and resolved to suffer the 
 last extremities, rather than betray the just rights 
 of Christ's church. They rode out the storm and 
 quietly prevailed. Charles, seeing the clergy 
 resolute and willing by suffering to assert their 
 rights, and feeling the odium of such a flagrant 
 usurpation of the church's inherent rights, with- 
 drew his claim. A declaration was therefore 
 published by the king and privy council, wherein 
 all pretences to the intrinsical power of the 
 
 * MSS. Ep. Chest. B. 17.
 
 496 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 church was renounced, " and he left entirely to 
 the church all the Ecclesiastical power, authority, 
 and jurisdiction exercised by the church for the 
 three first centuries, which being the whole that 
 could be asked, the breach was made up, and 
 the deprived clergy were restored. And by this 
 all the Erastian teeth of that Assertory Act were 
 drawn out."* 
 
 1676. In the commencement of this year, 
 several of the Episcopal clergy in the western 
 counties were attacked, their houses plundered, 
 and themselves and wives cruelly beaten by the 
 Covenanters. The indulged ministers could not 
 be kept within the rules prescribed to them by 
 their letters of indulgence, and a new proclama- 
 tion was found to be necessary. Their insubor- 
 dination set the example, and encouraged the 
 ignorant people to disorderly conduct. Yet the 
 precautions of government to keep both ministers 
 and people quiet, and within the prescribed rules, 
 is represented as the most wanton cruelty and 
 persecution. The king wrote to the privy council 
 to restore the Bishop of Dumblane and the four 
 clergymen, which the council did in conformity. 
 The royal letter is dated the 2d of January, and 
 says : " That by a letter from the Archbishop of 
 St. Andrews, he finds that the Bishop of Dum- 
 
 * Case of the Regale, pp. 233, 234.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 497 
 
 blane, now translated to the isles, presented an 
 address to the Archbishop of St. Andrews, and 
 the other bishops with him, containing a decla- 
 ration of his former carriage, and an engagement 
 for his future deportment, that he shall live in all 
 becoming duty and faithfulness to his metropoli- 
 tan and brethren ; and that they have made their 
 humble supplication to his majesty, for extending 
 his clemency to him, and recalling the former 
 order for his translation to the bishopric of the 
 isles." The king declared himself satisfied with 
 this submission, and his readiness to grant the 
 prayer of their petition. He therefore commanded 
 the privy council to remove the restraint from the 
 bishop, and on account of the dutiful address of 
 the four clergymen, he ordered their restraint 
 likewise to be removed, and themselves to be 
 restored to their charges. 
 
 One Carstairs, trepanned Kirkton the historian 
 into a suspicious place, and made him prisoner ; 
 but Bailie of Jerviswood, and some others, rescued 
 him. This affair made a great noise; and the 
 Duke of Hamilton and the Earl of Kincardine 
 spoke in council in Kirkton's favour. Carstairs 
 produced his warrant ; which was alleged to 
 have been antedated. This allegation, is made 
 on the authority of Burnet, to heap odium on the 
 primate ; although it does not appear that he 
 was present in the council. The duke, and the 
 
 K K
 
 498 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Earl of Kincardine, and some others, were, in 
 consequence of their opposition at the council- 
 board, immediately removed from the rank of 
 privy counsellors. Lauderdale came down from 
 court, and brought with him a further indulgence 
 from the king. He wrote to Archbishop Sharp 
 on the 2 1st of March, conveying to him a promise 
 made by the king, that he would not sign a pre- 
 sentation to any see in Scotland, without pre- 
 viously consulting the archbishops. The king 
 likewise promised to prefer such only as should 
 be reccommended by the two archbishops, within 
 their respective provinces.* The indulgence 
 was very strongly opposed by the bishops, as 
 tending to widen and continue a causeless schism. 
 Their sentiments on this head may be better un- 
 derstood from the following " representation of 
 the evils of ane farther indulgence ; " dated, 
 10th of February, 1676, and which was written 
 by Archbishop Patterson, then Bishop of Gallo- 
 way : 
 
 " By ane general indulgence or farther enlargement thereof, 
 ane wider and more dangerous breach and schism will be stated 
 in this church, in allowing such persons to exercise their 
 ministry in ane independent and not accountable manner, 
 than which no engine can be of more force to subvert religion, 
 and which will in a short time either wear out the present 
 
 MSS. Ep. Chest. A. 12.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 499 
 
 establishment of the church, or once more involve the nation 
 in trouble and confusion, through the unwearied endeavours 
 of the so indulged, to obtain their beloved ends of overturning 
 Episcopacy the more effectually, and to level monarchy under 
 the feet of Presbytery. For, 1st. Most of the ministers already 
 indulged, are leavened with the disloyal principles of the western 
 Remonstrance, which are no less pernicious to the crown and 
 to monarchy itself, than those of the Fifth-monarchists be. 
 2d. All of them judge themselves most strictly obliged, under 
 the sacred ties of their Covenant, and by necessary conse- 
 quence as strictly bound to justify the late rebellion, to assert 
 the lawfulness of popular reformation and of defensive arms 
 against the sovereign power of the king, and to endeavour by 
 all means the destruction of the order of bishops; and to 
 bring to condign punishment all of the nobility, gentry, or 
 commons, as the greatest raalignants, who either voted for its 
 restitution, or since have owned and countenanced it, and 
 think they are now to be valued as good and loyal subjects, 
 only because they did not rise and join in arms to destroy 
 those who are zealous for the service and interest of the 
 crown and church, as the law hath now settled them. 3d. All 
 of them discover a singular and noted disaffection to the 
 king's majesty and his government, so that they cannot be 
 moved to observe the anniversary 29th of May, therein to pay 
 solemn thanks to GOD for his majesty's happy restoration, 
 who, as formerly, is still considered by them as the head and 
 life of the malignant party, and accordingly to be treated, 
 whenever they shall become masters of power and oppor- 
 tunity. 4th. They conceive themselves bound to instruct the 
 people and confirm them in the belief of all their old disloyal 
 tenets and opinions, and accordingly their hearers can witness 
 the seditious expressions and insinuations they use in their 
 sermons and prayers, by which, not only the present, but the 
 following generation is in hazard to be debauched and cor- 
 
 K K 2
 
 500 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 rupted, and to receive such disloyal and mutinous prepos- 
 sessions, as may in the issue lead remedilessly to reacting of 
 our late fatal hazards. 5th. Those already indulged do not 
 at all observe the rules prescribed unto them for keeping them 
 within due and moderate bounds, and do as resolutely con- 
 temn the measures prescribed by the king and his council, 
 as if they were the impositions of the bishops, looking upon 
 the former as an equal, if not greater encroachment and in- 
 vasion made upon the rights of the crown and kingdom of 
 Christ as the latter, and this appears sufficiently in their 
 assuming the boldness to assemble in classical meetings, 
 wherein, if nothing be advised as to discipline, yet, thereby 
 they have opportunity to stiffen and encourage one another 
 in their opposition to the king's authority, and to determine 
 by suffrages not to observe the most innocent and necessary 
 constitutions thereof, and to consult of the most conducive 
 means for establishing their idol, Presbytery, for overturning 
 Episcopacy, and for enervating the king's authority and force of 
 the laws ; therein, also, they proceed to take trials of persons 
 whom they licentiate to preach, giving them testimonies and 
 missions for that work, and if themselves do not ordain them, 
 they send them to Ireland to receive ordination ; by which as 
 they assume to themselves an immunity and exemption from 
 the orders and laws of the king and council, as well as from 
 those of the church, so they design to perpetuate the schism 
 and continue a succession of such turbulent preachers as may 
 corrupt the religion and loyalty of the nation. 
 
 " For enlarging the Indulgence, it may be speciously enough 
 pretended that it would prove a very excellent expedient to 
 preserve and secure the peace, by composing the spirits of the 
 people to a dutiful submission to his majesty's government, 
 and to relieve the kingdom of conventicles. But these ends 
 are so far from being to be compassed thereby, that none 
 with any reason can think they are seriously intended ; for
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 501 
 
 those already indulged endeavour nothing so much as to 
 harden the disobedient in their disaffection to the laws and 
 established government, who, so by the constant strain of 
 sedition which runs along their sermons, they cannot but 
 dispose the people, as tinder, to be blown up into flames 
 and commotions, by any who will assume the boldness to 
 put arms into their hands, and conduct them : and as for 
 their influence to secure the peace, and to rid the nation 
 of conventicles, the serious observers of the state of the 
 kingdom, upon a narrow inspection, will find, that since 
 the date of the indulgence already granted, and the general 
 connivance at the humour and ways of the disaffected, the awe 
 of authority, and reg'ard to acts of parliament, and procla- 
 mations of council, are much worn out; and the perverse- 
 ness and distemper of that party hath increased to a greater 
 height of impudence and audacious contempt of the laws, 
 and of authority ; for they are so far from relieving the nation 
 of conventicles, that as themselves are stated in a formal 
 and direct opposition to the church, so they make it their 
 great business to draw and contain the populace to, and in 
 their separation from the received worship, and all manner of 
 conventicles both in fields and houses, have never so much 
 abounded nor infested the nation, as since the date of that 
 favour granted to them ; nay, how much those indulged 
 preachers contribute for inflaming the humour for conven- 
 ticling, is enough apparent in this, that several of them have 
 kept and preached at conventicles themselves, as is notour 
 (notorious,} from the practice of the most leading men 
 amongst them, both at Edinburgh and Glasgow, some 
 whereof have been actually seized preaching in those con- 
 venticles. Again, 
 
 " If the indulgence shall be enlarged, it is to be feared tlmt 
 thereby a disaffected party shall be increased and strength- 
 ened within the kingdom, which will ever be ready to join
 
 502 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 with any discontented faction, and disturb its peace; and so 
 the king and his authority shall still be exposed to the mercy 
 of any malcontented faction, who shall have the policy, by 
 fair pretences and insinuations, to cajole that party (easy 
 enough to be persuaded to any design of trouble,) to side and 
 join issue with them ; and, indeed, without hopes of assistance 
 from it, no faction, of whatever interest or quality, will ad- 
 venture to make the smallest opposition to the king, or his 
 authority in this kingdom ; so that to extend and enlarge the 
 indulgence, seems a proper expedient to advance a seed and 
 nursery of trouble, without which no seditious design or 
 attempt can ever prosper, so as to become formidable to the 
 king or nation. Nor can it be reasonably presumed, that 
 any favour, condescendance, or further indulgence will ever 
 gain that implacable party to be true and cordial friends to 
 the king or church, since they believe they owe favours and 
 indulgences merely to Providence, and to the necessities of 
 the prince, who, they think, cannot otherways rid himself of 
 their trouble, and do offer sacrifice to their own turbulent 
 temper and actings, for any kindness or favour they enjoy ; 
 and so by just consequence, the more they are connived at 
 or gratified, the more turbulent and humoursome will they 
 prove ; since by their seditious temper and turbulent actings, 
 they find they may fairly cut out a way for themselves to 
 have more ample favours and indulgences heaped upon them. 
 King James VI. by his reason, and King Charles I. by his 
 dear-bought experience, learned that none of these fanatically 
 disaffected could ever be won or obliged, by all the effects of 
 the princely munificence and favour ; nor hath any thing yet 
 appeared in the temper and ways of those lately indulged by 
 the present king, which can give his majesty solid ground to 
 believe, that they are of better natures, or of more ingenuous 
 principles, or of truer affection and loyalty to his sacred 
 person, his royal family^ or government ; their predecessors
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 5Q3 
 
 and themselves are sufficient proof, that nothing can satisfy 
 their importunity and encroachments, unless they can grasp 
 and become masters of all power and interest. 
 
 " Now if to preserve, encourage, and increase such trouble- 
 some seminaries and dangerous nurseries be agreeable to the 
 interest, peace, and security of the nation, seems no difficult 
 determination ; nor if it be safe to encourage and increase a 
 company of preachers in the kingdom, whose business is to 
 bring the law into disregard, and the present government into 
 contempt, and so justify and abet the former fatal principles, 
 and withal to inculcate them on the present, and transmit 
 them to the next generation. 
 
 " It would seem beyond probability, if a more effectual 
 course be not followed for extirpating the seditious principles, 
 and that evil spirit of disaffection and separation, than hath 
 been done, it cannot be avoided, but in a short time, the gan- 
 grene will spread, and the distemper will grow to that height, 
 which nothing can cure but extreme remedies ; so that in the 
 end not only shall the ends of religion be subverted, without 
 which no society can long subsist, but the crown shall be 
 deprived, by this subtile artifice, of the great usefulness and 
 assistance of the order of bishops, whose conscience, as well 
 as interest, oblige them to ane absolute dependence upon, 
 and so to the most faithful and sincere service and support 
 of it. 
 
 " These arguments and reasons against enlarging this in- 
 dulgence are obvious enough, such as there appears no profit 
 by, so no necessity thereof, in regard that no seeming scruple 
 can reasonably be entertained by the disaffected, for their ob- 
 stinate separation from the worship practised in this church, 
 it being notourly the same, without variation, as it was under 
 Presbytery, and it deserves remark, that most of them who 
 now separate, did formerly join into the church, so that there 
 seems to be no real scruple in the case, but faction and a
 
 504 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 laid design, to advance the same ; and as there appears no 
 necessity of any further indulgence, so indeed it can be of no 
 use for serving the ends pretended, since the great and lead- 
 ing demagogues are of such perverse humours and principles, 
 that they will not accept of any such indulgence from the 
 king, being persons who declaim and write against such who 
 have embraced their ministry by his majesty's indulgence, as 
 deserters and betrayers of the cause and crown of Christ ; 
 now that these are the person? who are the most obstinate and 
 seditious conventiclers and disturbers of the peace, who were 
 actually upon the late rebellion, and are still ready to stir up 
 ^the people to a new one, is abundantly notour, and such as 
 will ever attempt to set up not only ecclesiam in ecclesia, but 
 also imperium in imperio, so long as the present constitution 
 of church and state is continued, the influence, the method 
 for enlarging, the indulgence will have for advancing of Po- 
 pery and other errors, deserves its due consideration ; nor needs 
 it be added, that to such as may be ready, the king may extend 
 farther indulgence to the disaffected people, and to the non- 
 con form ministers, contrary to the standing legal establish- 
 ment of the church, may, if occasion offer, be found as ready 
 to complain of uncertain, arbitrary, and illegal proceedings, 
 even in that matter, as well as in other things, which they 
 fancy may be contrary to the standing established laws of the 
 kingdom ; and in fine, nothing seems to prove so effectual a 
 mean for his majesty's government, and the peace of the 
 kingdom, as a steady and even, resolute and vigorous execu- 
 tion of the good and wholesome laws thereof." * 
 
 From the connivance of the leading men in the 
 council, conventicles abounded more audaciously 
 than ever ; and the council enacted more laws to 
 
 * MSS. Ep. Chest, B. 8.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 505 
 
 suppress them. A proclamation extended the 
 former one to all the counties in the kingdom, 
 which before only comprehended the shires of 
 Lanark, Ayr, Renfrew, and stewartry of Kirk- 
 cudbright, for the suppression of conventicles. 
 Heritors were subjected to fines, in case any con- 
 venticle was kept on their grounds or in any 
 house belonging to them. The Duke of Hamilton 
 went to London, and made severe complaints 
 to the king against the Duke of Lauderdale and 
 his brother, Lord Hatton. There is a letter in 
 the Episcopal chest, from the Duchess of Lauder- 
 dale to Archbishop Sharp, dated 1st of October, 
 in which she informs the archbishop that her 
 husband's interest at court was as good as ever ; 
 and that the Duke of Hamilton and the Earl of 
 Kincardine had entirely failed in their attempt 
 to prejudice the king against Lauderdale.* 
 
 1677. The Duke of Hamilton, the Earls of 
 Kincardine, Dundonald, and some others, had 
 openly defended the Covenanters in the privy 
 council, in their illegal field-meetings ; and in 
 particular had favoured Kirkton. It is likewise 
 to be feared that, for factious motives, they had 
 given the Covenanters secret encouragement. 
 In consequence, these noblemen were removed 
 from his majesty's privy council, and Hamilton 
 
 * MSS. Ep. Chest, A. 38.
 
 506 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 was stripped of his commissions. The Duke of 
 Lauderdale came down in the beginning of this 
 year, accompanied by his duchess, who had views 
 of uniting her daughters by a former husband to 
 members of the families of Argyle and Moray. 
 As those families were known to favour the Pres- 
 byterians, Lauderdale found it prudent to relax 
 the laws against conventicles for a time, and to 
 bring down a further indulgence from the king. 
 He likewise consented to these noblemen's nego- 
 ciating with the moderate Presbyterians ; but 
 their demands were found to be so insolent that 
 he was compelled to desert the treaty. At the 
 same time the fanatics were led, by the arts of 
 designing men, to expect great favours from 
 Lauderdale ; but rinding their hopes disappointed, 
 they resolved to take by force what they could not 
 obtain by favour.* The great leaders among the 
 Covenanters, Robert Hamilton and Richard Came- 
 ron, with some others, entered into a combination 
 to separate from the indulged ministers. These 
 created a schism, which existed with great virulence 
 among the Presbyterians themselves, before the 
 Revolution. At that eventful epoch it was tem- 
 porarily soldered up, to serve political purposes, 
 but broke out again three years after that era, 
 and has not been healed to this day ; and the 
 
 * Memoirs, pp. 321,322.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 507 
 
 prospect of union among that party seems farther 
 distant than ever. The indulged ministers in 
 the western counties commissioned one Mathew 
 Crawford to go to Edinburgh and consult with 
 John Carstairs, with whose concurrence, and that 
 of some ministers in Edinburgh, he employed 
 Anthony Murray, a relation of the Duchess of 
 Lauderdale, to wait on the duke, and to solicit 
 him to remove the letters of intercommuning, and 
 to release the state -prisoners in the Bass. The 
 duke assured him of his readiness to do himself 
 any service, " but he would grant no favour to 
 that party, being (as he was pleased to say) un- 
 worthy of any." From this answer, the ministers 
 concluded that the duke was not in reality so 
 friendly to their cause as they had been led 
 to suppose. However, the duke began to speak 
 openly of granting a third indulgence, and signi- 
 fied his design to several Presbyterian ministers, 
 through the medium of Lord Melville ; but when 
 the two archbishops represented the impolicy of 
 this step to his grace, he is reported to have 
 said, " that he intended no liberty to the Presby- 
 terians at all ; but it was convenient to keep 
 them in hopes, till he got forces raised to sup- 
 press them, and keep them in order."* 
 
 " The fanatics," says the author of the Me- 
 
 * Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 349. Cruikshanks, vol. i. p. 408.
 
 508 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 moirs, " knowing that they might expect the 
 connivance at least of the party in opposition to 
 Lauderdale, (Hamilton and others,) and the party 
 having blown up their expectations, by assuring 
 them that the parliament of England was by 
 many late elections become more fanatical, they 
 hounded out all their preachers to keep field- 
 conventicles, in such numbers, and so well armed, 
 and to threaten so all the orthodox clergy, and 
 to usurp their pulpits, that the council was much 
 troubled at the clouds which they saw so fast 
 gathering ; and Lauderdale was the more en- 
 venomed, that all these disorders were charged 
 upon the late offers made by him of an indemnity 
 and indulgence, and the news that were indus- 
 triously spread, both at London and Edinburgh, 
 of great sums of money promised to his duchess 
 by the fanatics. Notwithstanding all which Sir 
 George Mackenzie, being lately admitted to be 
 his majesty's advocate, did prevail with the coun- 
 cil to prevent, by the ensuing articles, all the 
 fanatics' just exceptions against the forms formerly 
 used against them. 
 
 " It is thought fit and necessary for his 
 majesty's service, that the laws against such 
 disorderly persons be exactly but regularly put 
 in execution in manner after-mentioned. 
 
 " 1. That his majesty's advocate be special as 
 to time and place, in libelling (indicting) against
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 509 
 
 conventiclers and others pursued ; but so as he 
 may libel any day within four weeks, or any 
 place within such a parish, or near to the said 
 parish, for else conventicles may be kept upon 
 confines of parishes, merely to disappoint his way 
 of libelling. 
 
 " 2. When any person is convened upon a 
 libel, that in that case he be only examined upon 
 his own guilt and accession, seeing nothing can 
 be referred to a defender's oath, but what con- 
 cerneth himself during the defence of a process. 
 
 " 3. That if any person who is cited be 
 ready to depone, or to pay his fine, he be not 
 troubled with taking of bonds, or other engage- 
 ments ; seeing the constant punishment of such 
 as do transgress will supply the necessity of the 
 bonds, and the law itself is the strongest bond 
 that can be exacted of any man." * 
 
 The late show of an indulgence had emboldened 
 the Covenanters to assemble more openly and in 
 greater multitudes than formerly at field-conven- 
 ticles, where they were guilty of some provoking 
 acts of insubordination ; and had even concerted 
 the means of repelling force by force, should they 
 be interrupted by the king's troops. As these 
 field-conventicles were illegal, orders of council 
 were issued, requiring the heritors to keep the 
 
 * Memoirs, pp. 322, 323.
 
 510 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 peace. Field-conventicles became now more 
 numerous and daring thoughout the 'five asso- 
 ciated shires than formerly. At these meetings 
 many thousands have been known to meet, and 
 the men always went well armed ; for which 
 reason the laws proclamed these meetings to be 
 " rendezvouses of rebellion." Many of the mi- 
 nisters, but especially Welsh and Arnot, were 
 attainted traitors, and were actively engaged in 
 the rebellion dissipated at Rullion-green. At a 
 conventicle in the mountainous parts of Ayrshire, 
 Welsh, addressing the multitude, said " that he 
 was confident that GOD would yet assert the 
 cause of Pentland hills," (that is, of rebellion,) "in 
 spite of the curates and their masters the pre- 
 lates ; and in spite of the prelates and their 
 master the king ; and in spite of the king and 
 his master the devil." This is a specimen of 
 the spirit by which these men were actuated, 
 and by which they inflamed their hearers with 
 hatred of the church and of their civil rulers. 
 A spirit, alas ! evidently proceeding from the 
 devil, who certainly presided at these meetings. 
 On these occasions the preachers administered 
 the Solemn League and Covenant to the people 
 made them swear never to hear a curate, that is 
 an Episcopal clergyman, preach and after the 
 popish manner gave them the sacrament, to bind 
 this illegal oath on their souls.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 511 
 
 These Covenanting ministers also held classical 
 meetings, where they ordained other apostles of 
 the Covenant. They likewise received the con- 
 fessions and alleged repentance of those whom 
 they had persuaded to acknowledge the heinous 
 sin of worshiping in their parish-churches. They 
 established lay-elders authoritatively in various 
 places ; and even had the assurance to induct 
 their own fanatical preachers into churches, 
 whether they were vacant or occupied. This they 
 did upon the principle not yet exploded, that 
 patronage is but a relic of popery. Welsh and 
 Arnott rode through the country with guards, 
 amounting to fifty, and sometimes as many as a 
 hundred men, well armed and mounted. In this 
 manner they attacked the houses of the Episcopal 
 clergy, and abused their persons and families. 
 Welsh publicly declared that it was as lawful to 
 kill the Episcopal clergy as it was for the Isra- 
 elites to kill the Canaanites. These violent and 
 repeated outrages so alarmed and distressed the 
 established clergy, that some of the more timor- 
 ous, apprehensive for their own and their families 
 lives, resigned their charges. These barbarities 
 exercised by the Covenanting ministers and their 
 followers in the west of Scotland, were the cause 
 of the severities to which, in self-defence, the 
 government was driven. The privy council, 
 therefore, determined to execute the laws against
 
 512 LIFE AN T D TIMES OF 
 
 these conventicles. They issued proclamations 
 for the capture of Welsh and Arnot, and some 
 other seditious preachers ; but the sheriffs in the 
 seditious districts refused to act. In suppressing 
 these field-meetings they were not only preserv- 
 ing the king's peace, but acting in conformity 
 with an act of a Presbyterian General Assembly. 
 It was the Act of Assembly, 1647, and no Pres- 
 byterian will deny the authority of that assembly, 
 intituled, " Act against such as withdraw them- 
 selves from the public worship in their own con- 
 gregation." It expressly prohibits all the members 
 of their kirk from leaving their own congregations, 
 except in urgent cases, made known to and 
 approved by the Presbytery. And if any con- 
 travened this act, the minister to whom such 
 persons resorted was recommended to advise them 
 to remain in their own parish ; but if still dis- 
 obedient, the minister and session of their own 
 parish were commanded to cite the wanderers 
 before the Presbytery, &c. But separation and 
 schism had now become epidemical, and many 
 went to these field-meetings out of curiosity and 
 over-persuasion of neighbours. The sober part of 
 the community, however, became disgusted with 
 the mixture of sedition and blasphemy, which 
 they heard from the itinerant preachers, and 
 returned quietly to their parish-churches. 
 
 As the sheriffs had refused to seize the persons
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 513 
 
 of Welsh, Arnott, and other seditious preachers, 
 and they were so well guarded by their armed 
 retainers in public, and in private were sheltered 
 by some of the more fanatical of the party, the 
 government resolved to employ military force in 
 support of the law. The proclamations of the 
 privy council were rendered ineffectual by the 
 means just named. The disorders increasing 
 with impunity, the council laid a state of affairs 
 before his majesty, requesting him to order his 
 troops in Ireland to move towards the maritime 
 frontier of Scotland. These lying opposite 
 Galloway and Ayrshire, could soon be transported, 
 should their services be required. Accordingly 
 the king ordered three thousand men, under the 
 command of the Viscount Granard, to be quartered 
 in the north of Ireland, to be ready to cross the 
 channel at the command of the Scottish privy 
 council. The fanatics were not a little surprised 
 and alarmed at this movement; as they had been 
 led to believe that Lauderdale's interest was 
 entirely gone at court. After this demonstration, 
 to show the fanatics their danger, the council 
 still endeavoured to suppress them without the 
 aid of the military. Letters therefore were directed 
 to the heritors, or landed proprietors, in the dis- 
 affected counties, to enquire whether they would 
 undertake to reduce the disorderly on their estates 
 with their own power, backed by the king's au- 
 
 L L
 
 514 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 thority. At that time the proprietors of the soil 
 had a patriarchal power and authority over their 
 tenants and vassals, and could easily have com- 
 plied with the request of the privy council. 
 Indeed without their connivance not one of these 
 meetings could have taken place. None did take 
 place where the owners of the soil were well 
 affected. In consequence of the mistaken policy 
 in 1662, of banishing the ministers who deserted 
 their charges to Morayshire, they had infected 
 many in that county with their schismatical 
 sentiments ; but the Earl of Moray, by his 
 feudal authority, completely preserved the peace 
 of that county, and did not allow a single con- 
 venticle to meet in it. The same powers were 
 vested in the gentry in the west, and in addition 
 they would have had the assistance of government 
 to strengthen their hands ; but there were great 
 men who secretly encouraged them to wink at 
 the disorders on their lands. The heritors in the 
 counties of Ayr and Renfrew met in their different 
 counties, and after two days' consultation, returned 
 an answer to the council, " that they could not 
 undertake by their own power to keep their 
 counties free from conventicles, or any disorders 
 that might ensue thereupon." 
 
 This answer was considered unreasonable, be- 
 cause the western counties had enjoyed more 
 liberty than any other part of the kingdom, by
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 515 
 
 having the laws dispensed with in their favour, 
 and had Presbyterian ministers settled in their 
 parishes. Therefore the field-conventicles were 
 unnecessary, to say the least, while there were 
 settled Presbyterian ministers to resort to. But 
 it is to be feared that there was more meant than 
 always met the eye or the ear, at these conven- 
 ticles. Materials were there preparing which 
 burst out at Bothwell-bridge, and were consum- 
 mated in the Revolution. The council now 
 thought the time had arrived when it became 
 necessary to resort to' force. Still they desired 
 rather to reduce the west by native forces than 
 to call in the assistance of the Irish. To the 
 king's standing forces, which consisted of about 
 fifteen hundred men, they added the militia of 
 the loyal county of Angus. The noblemen on 
 the Highland borders were ordered to call out 
 their vassals, and rendezvous at Stirling. The 
 whole of these were united under the command 
 of the Earl of Linlithgow, who marched into the 
 western counties. According to the uncharitable 
 system pursued by Wodrow and Kirkton, of misre- 
 presentation, this act of the government is charged 
 as an atrocious crime against the church " a 
 contrivance worthy of bishops." It was now 
 charged upon the bishops, or rather on the 
 primate, by the same author who, a short time 
 before, gave the whole merit of this "contrivance" 
 
 L L 2
 
 516 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 to Lauderdale. Their malice against the Epis- 
 copal order makes the historians of that period 
 fall into the most obvious inconsistencies and 
 contradictions : in short, the most audacious 
 falsehoods, and the mere suspicions of their 
 diseased imaginations were recorded by these 
 authors, and unhappily followed without reflec- 
 tion by others, for the sole purpose of maligning 
 and misrepresenting the prelates of that day. 
 
 That the intentions of government might be 
 carried into effect in a legal manner, a committee 
 of the privy council was sent along with the army. 
 This committee, consisting of eleven of the mem- 
 bers, were invested with sufficient power, civil 
 and criminal, to punish all sorts of offenders. 
 They maintained a regular correspondence with 
 the privy council, from whom they received 
 instructions from time to time. The committee 
 commenced with disarming all suspected persons, 
 and planting garrisons in different places. They 
 pulled down all the meeting-houses which had 
 been built for the disaffected ministers. Wodrow 
 gratuitously asserts that the primate was over- 
 joyed at this turn in affairs ; but shows no other 
 authority than his own malicious surmises. He 
 further asserts that " there was no provocation 
 given by the Presbyterians, nor any occasion for 
 this terrible instance of the prelate's fury, in the 
 unprecedented oppression, save the preaching
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 517 
 
 and the hearing of the gospel, to which they 
 wanted not altogether ENCOURAGEMENT from 
 some who went in heartily in this inroad upon 
 them, and which they reckoned their civil as well as 
 religious right."* In this short sentence we have 
 ample evidence that the Covenanters were in- 
 stigated to their unlawful conduct by some of the 
 great men of the day ; and that these fanatics 
 deserted the sober Presbyterian ministers, who 
 were settled in parishes, for the purpose of pro- 
 voking their rulers by a turbulence which no 
 government could tolerate. 
 
 A complete set of instructions were prepared 
 and signed by the whole privy council, except the 
 archbishops, for the committee which directed 
 the military. f It is somewhat surprising, that 
 Wodrow admits that the two archbishops did not, 
 though privy counsellors, sign these instructions. 
 And yet, with that inconsistency which his 
 malice frequently betrays, he accused them of 
 contriving and advising the whole mystery and 
 plot of the " Highland host." However, we 
 have here an unwilling evidence, that the arch- 
 bishops and the bishops had no concern in this 
 severe measure, which the seditious conduct of the 
 covenanters rendered absolutely necessary. The 
 committee were empowered to exact a bond from 
 
 * Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 378. f Ibid. p. 387.
 
 518 LIFE AND TIMES Of 
 
 the heritors, wherein, as masters of families, they 
 became bound for themselves, wives, children, 
 and servants, and as landlords, for their tenants 
 and cottagers, that they should not go to con- 
 venticles, nor receive, nor supply conventicle 
 ministers, but live orderly, in obedience to the 
 law. So that if their wives, or any of their 
 children or servants transgressed, they became 
 bound to suffer the legal penalties for them. In 
 case their tenants or cottagers transgressed, they 
 were bound to present them to justice, or to turn 
 them off their lands or tenements, or else suffer 
 the penalties which they incurred. Lest the 
 force of this bond should be eluded, the privy 
 council declared, that every landowner that 
 should receive the tenants, or servants of any 
 other proprietor into his lands or service, without 
 a certificate from the latter or the minister of his 
 parish, that they had conformed to the law in this 
 particular, should be subject to such fines as the 
 council should think fit to inflict, and repair the 
 damage that shall accrue to the proprietor or 
 master whose tenants or servants they received. 
 All the lords of the council, the judges, advocates, 
 and all connected with the law signed this bond ; 
 and the landed gentry everywhere, except in the 
 five disaffected shires, signed it readily. 
 
 " Such was the state of affairs in Scotland 
 from the Restoration," says an anonymous
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 519 
 
 author, " that never any nation nor people had 
 a more merciful and mild king, who loved 
 nothing more than the ease and happiness of all 
 mankind, but more particularly of his own sub- 
 jects. But on the contrary, let us look over all 
 history, yea, romance and fable too, there is not 
 to be found such a mutinous and factious race, 
 and addicted to such tumultuary and seditious 
 practices against all society and government, as 
 some of the subjects were during that reign. All 
 the acts of grace, favour, and indulgence had no 
 effect on them, or could make them capable of 
 the protection of laws, such poisonable principles 
 and practices were rooted in them. Now and 
 then, law took place against some of the most 
 notorious offenders among them, but where one 
 suffered an hundred were winked at. But this, 
 instead of curbing and restraining, heightened 
 and increased the malice and rage of the rest, 
 particularly from 1675 to 1679, insomuch that 
 the furiosos of the party laid aside all respect for 
 the laws of GOD and nature, and of those of the 
 land, so that murdering of common soldiers, 
 barbarous invasions upon the persons and families 
 of the ministers of GOD, and affronting every thing 
 that was in the least subservient to authority, 
 were familiar to them, and become their common 
 practice. It was only want of opportunity and 
 power that preserved the sacred persons of the
 
 520 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 bishops, nay, and of the king himself too, (whom 
 they had excommunicated, and designed the 
 devil's vicegerent,) from being assassinated by 
 their bloody hands. Of all these fathers of the 
 church, their prejudice and rage was mainly 
 levelled against Archbishop Sharp. They knew 
 him to be an Atlas for his order, and no less 
 useful in the state. They thought, if they could 
 once destroy him, they should shake the very 
 fabric and unity of the government itself. These 
 fears and threatenings little troubled that great 
 and good man and the rest of his order, while 
 they were conscious to themselves they were 
 acting nothing without their sphere ; and if these 
 threatenings had any effect upon them, it was to 
 strengthen and confirm them in the practice of 
 their Christian virtues and habits, which prepared 
 them for all events." * 
 
 Such it appears was the temper of the times ; 
 and marching an army into the disaffected 
 districts, was rendered necessary by the sedi- 
 tious principles preached by the Covenanting 
 ministers. Another anonymous writer of that 
 period, speaking of the Highland Host, says; 
 "All this hath been done under the wise conduct 
 of the Duke of Lauderdale, to whose presence 
 among us, next under GOD, this poor church and 
 
 * True and Impartial Account, pp. 70, 71.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 521 
 
 religion are redeemable, that they have been pre- 
 served from confusion and blood. And I question 
 not, but his vigorous endeavours to suppress this 
 schism (the like whereof in all respects was 
 never yet heard of in any age or nation) have, 
 by this time, effectually confuted all the lying 
 reports that were sent into England by our men 
 of schism and faction, with a design to render 
 him odious in our neighbour country, and dis- 
 credit his administration here." * 
 
 Henry Guthrie, Bishop of Dunkeld, died this 
 year, and was succeeded by William Lindsay, 
 minister at Perth. Bishop Lindsay was the son 
 of James Lindsay of Dovehill ; and was conse- 
 crated Bishop of Dunkeld on the 7th of May, 
 1677.f In February Bishop Mackenzie was 
 translated from the see of Moray to that of 
 Orkney, vacant by the death, the preceding year, 
 of Bishop Honeyman, who never recovered the 
 wound which he received from the assassin Mitchel, 
 when attempting the life of the primate. The 
 levity with which Presbyterian writers speak of 
 the attempt to assassinate the archbishop is very 
 disgusting, and gives reason to imagine that they 
 only regret his ill success. " Sir James Stuart 
 talks of Honeyman ' as captious from his green 
 
 * Fanatical Moderation, &c. pp. 42, 43. 
 t Keith's Catalogue, p. 99.
 
 522 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 wound, which he got per accidens because of ill 
 company /' " Bishop Honeyman " died in Fe- 
 bruary 1G76, with great peace and composure, 
 contrary to what has been asserted by some 
 pamphlet- writers, as can be attested by several 
 gentlemen who were witnesses to his death. He 
 was buried in the cathedral church at Kirkwall."* 
 His successor, Murdoch Mackenzie, formerly the 
 Bishop of Moray, died in the year 1688, at the 
 extraordinary age of one hundred years, and yet 
 enjoyed the perfect use of all his faculties till 
 the very last. 
 
 James Aitken, son of Henry Aitken, sheriff 
 and commissary of Orkney, was consecrated 
 Bishop of Moray at the translation of Mac- 
 kenzie. He was born in Kirkwall, received 
 part of his education at Edinburgh, and studied 
 at Oxford. He was chaplain to the Duke of 
 Hamilton, when he was royal commissioner to the 
 General Assembly of 1638 ; in which station he, 
 conducted himself with so much prudence, that 
 the duke procured from the king a presentation 
 to the church of Birsa, in Orkney, where he was 
 much respected and esteemed. When the great 
 Montrose landed in Orkney, in 1650, Mr. Aitken 
 was chosen by his brethren to draw up a decla- 
 ration of their loyalty and firm resolution to 
 
 * Keith's Catalogue, p. 99.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 523 
 
 adhere constantly to their dutiful allegiance. 
 For this act of loyalty, and the crime of having 
 conversed with the Marquis of Montrose, the 
 whole presbytery were deposed, and Mr. Aitken 
 excommunicated by the General Assembly ! The 
 council granted a warrant to apprehend him ; but 
 his relation, Sir Archibald Primrose, then clerk 
 of council, sent him secret warning of his danger, 
 and he fled to Holland. There he found refuge 
 till the year 1653, when he returned to Edin- 
 burgh, and lived obscurely till the Restoration. 
 At that auspicious event, he accompanied Bishop 
 Sydserf to London, to congratulate the king on 
 his return in peace. The Bishop of Winchester 
 at that time presented him to the rectory of 
 Winfrith in Dorsetshire, which he held till the 
 year 1677, when he was elected by conge d'elire, 
 and consecrated to the bishopric of Moray.* 
 Robert Laurie, Bishop of Brechin, died this year. 
 The revenue of this bishopric was very small ; 
 and he was therefore permitted to retain the 
 deanery of Edinburgh, and he continued to ex- 
 ercise a particular ministry at the church of the 
 Holy Trinity in Edinburgh till his death. He 
 was succeeded by George Halliburton, minister of 
 Cupar- Angus, who was consecrated in the follow- 
 ing year, f There is a letter from the Duke of 
 
 * Keith, p. 154. t Ibid.
 
 524 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Lauderdale to Archbishop Sharp, dated 2d of 
 June, 1677, respecting the disputed right of pre- 
 sentation to a church in Aberdeenshire. He also 
 acquaints the primate, that he had procured a 
 royal dispensation in favour of Andrew Wood, 
 Bishop of the Isles, to retain his former living at 
 Dunbar.* 
 
 * MSS. Epis. Chest, No. A. 39. It is also mentioned by 
 Keith, p. 310.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 525 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 1678. James Mitchel his arrest Threatening letter to the 
 Primate Mitchel's trial Lord Advocate's address to the 
 Court Interlocutor Mitchel's confession Depositions of 
 witnesses Defence Argument Verdict Reflections 
 Ravaillac Redivivus Prison-hours His written speech 
 Reflections Threatening letters sent to the Primate 
 Mitchel's execution Kingsland's Curates Law-burrows 
 Duke of Hamilton repairs to London Highland Host dis- 
 banded Convention of Estates Cess Mrs. Smyth of 
 Methven. 1679 Primate's letter to Mrs. Smyth Bishop 
 of Galloway Translations Assault on Major Johnston 
 Soldiers murdered County address King's letter Opi- 
 nions of his adversaries Murderers' names Preliminary 
 proceedings Balfour of Burley Anonymous papers 
 dropped Transactions of the assassins their delusion 
 Russell's revelation Letter to Sir W. Sharp Primate 
 crossed the Forth slept at Kennoway His deportment 
 first alarm the attack cut in the wrist his death Miss 
 Sharp Robbery Cargill's letter Privy Council's letter to 
 the King Same to Lauderdale King's letter to the Privy 
 Council Proclamation Dr. Burns Hind let Loose Re- 
 flections De Foe Sir William Sharp's letter Surgeon's 
 post mortem report Funeral procession Personal ap- 
 pearance Domestic habits Character. 
 
 1678. THE principal events of this year were the 
 trial and execution of Mitchel, the assassin.
 
 52() LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 This miserable man has obtained a greater 
 notoriety than his crimes and fanaticism deserve ; 
 and I should not be so particular in recording his 
 end had not the archbishop's character been so 
 traduced on his account, by the Presbyterian party. 
 The wailings of Wodrow show evidently that he 
 would have rejoiced, had Mitchel's attempt been 
 successful ; and he vituperates the primate's me- 
 mory, as if he had actually formed a conspiracy to 
 take away his intended assassin's life. He insists, 
 that because a promise of life was given by Lord 
 Rothes, conditionally, to Mitchel, that therefore 
 this promise should have been kept, even although 
 Mitchel not only failed to perform the condition, 
 but continued to watch for an opportunity to 
 execute his murderous design against the life of 
 the primate. He says, " after the people who 
 had been concerned in the promise of his life 
 were prepared to elide that defence, at the pri- 
 mate's instigation." This is a gratuitous piece 
 of malice and false witness, for which he gives no 
 authority, only it serves to inflame and maintain 
 that popular hatred against the archbishop, 
 which he himself has been the chief means of fo- 
 menting. If the reader will turn back to the year 
 1674, and peruse the minute of council which 
 I copied from the manuscript books of council 
 in the Register-office, it will be found that 
 Mitchel forfeited the promise given him, at his
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 527 
 
 first examination. He then made a full confes- 
 sion that he fired a pistol with the intention of 
 assassinating the archbishop, and likewise sub- 
 scribed the confession in the presence of the 
 privy council. When put to the bar of the court 
 of justiciary, and being there asked if he adhered 
 to his confession, he absolutely retracted it, and 
 denied that he attempted the primate's murder, 
 or that he had made such a confession. The 
 court urged him to adhere, assuring him that he 
 should have the benefit of the promise given him 
 by one of the council. But he persisted in re- 
 tracting his confession, and therefore the council 
 withdrew their promise, and declared the same to 
 be altogether void. There is, therefore, no justice 
 in maintaining that Mitchel should enjoy the 
 benefit of an indemnity, the conditions of which 
 he did not fulfil ; and, on the other hand, the 
 council to be held bound, while he himself still 
 meditated the primate's murder. This alleged 
 breach of promise must therefore be entirely set 
 aside, as unworthy of notice, it being only used 
 by his enemies as a convenient subject of clamour 
 against the archbishop. Sir John Nisbet, then 
 lord advocate, immediately withdrew the prose- 
 cution, and moved the court to adjourn, and 
 would never proceed against him afterwards. He 
 was committed to the state-prison of the Bass, 
 where he continued till December of the preced-
 
 528 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 ing year, when he was brought to Edinburgh for 
 trial. "About this time, it was rumoured about 
 town and country, that the Whigs, (for so we 
 call the fanatics,) designed to take off both the 
 archbishops, and some other bishops, by assassi- 
 nation ; and likewise vehement suspicions and 
 presumptions were formed, that they had the like 
 design on other eminent persons, who were most 
 concerned and resolved to see them reduced to 
 order and obedience. And therefore the council 
 thought it expedient to prevent such barbarous 
 attempts, and secure the lives of his majesty's 
 faithful ministers, to bring Mr. Mitchel to public 
 justice, that the Remonstrator Presbyterians of 
 our country might see what these Clements and 
 Ravaillacs were to expect." ! 
 
 Before proceeding with the trial of this " pious 
 youth" I will insert an extract from the " Me- 
 moirs of the Affairs of Scotland :" " These 
 irreligious and heterodox books, called ' Naph- 
 thali' and ' Jus Populi,' had made the killing of 
 all dissenters from Presbytery seem not only 
 lawful, but even duty amongst many of that pro- 
 fession ; and in a postscript to ' Jus Populi,' it 
 was told, that the sending the Archbishop of 
 St. Andrews' head to the king, would be the 
 
 * Fanatical Moderation; or, Unparalleled Villany dis- 
 played, &c., London, 17 11, page 3.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 529 
 
 best present that could be made to Jesus Christ ! 
 Animated by which principles, one Master James 
 Mitchel, a profligate fellow, who, for scandal and 
 ill-nature, had been thrown out of the Laird of 
 Dundas's house, where he served as chaplain, 
 did, in July 1668, watch to kill that archbishop, 
 till wearied with want of opportunities, he at last 
 shot at him in his own coach, upon the public 
 street, and at the foot of his stairs. But Provi- 
 dence so ordered it, that he missed him, but shot 
 the Bishop of Orkney, who was in the coach with 
 him, leaving* the small leads in his arm, of which 
 wound he languished till his death. Mitchel 
 having in the crowd escapt, every man running 
 to the archbishop, he lurkt that night in the 
 garden that belonged to the Lord Oxenford, in 
 the Cowgate ; and from thence, pursued by his 
 own conscience, fled to Holland ; but was by 
 divine Providence, which designed him for a sa- 
 crifice, instigated to come home, where, being 
 taken at a burial, he denied the fact, albeit the 
 pistol was taken about him ; and being brought 
 to the council, in February 1674, he was referred 
 to a committee ; but desiring to speak with the 
 chancellor, and he having taken ,him into an- 
 other room, he fell upon his knees, and confessed 
 the whole matter, without asking either life or 
 promise of any favour. When his lordship re- 
 turned, Sir John Nisbet, who was then advocate, 
 
 M M
 
 530 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 and one of the committee, prest that he might 
 sign his confession, which he did, and renewed 
 his confession before the council, the Duke of 
 Lauderdale, then commissioner, being present, 
 without interceding for his life on either of these 
 occasions ; whereupon the council, who were 
 jealous that he might retract his confession, or- 
 dered him to be pursued criminally, having only 
 designed to cut off his right hand, if he should 
 adhere to his confession : but he being persuaded 
 that extra-judicial confession was not binding, 
 resiled ; whereupon the council declared, that he 
 had forfeited any promise that was made to 
 him; and being sent prisoner to the Bass, he 
 continued there till December 1677 ; at which 
 time, new discoveries having been made of a 
 design to kill the archbishop, Sir George Macken- 
 zie, his majesty's advocate, was ordained to pro- 
 ceed against him, under a libel (indictment,) 
 being given him, founded upon the 4 Act of 
 16 Parl. Ja. VI., whereby the invading privy 
 councillors is death. Sir George Lockhart was, at 
 my lord advocate's earnest desire, appointed to 
 plead for him ; and he having raised an exculpa- 
 tion, in which he offered to prove that if he 
 emitted any confession, it was upon promise of 
 life et spe Venice, (and hope of pardon,) this was 
 admitted to his probation : and having led the 
 Duke of Lauderdale, the chancellor, Hatton, and
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 631 
 
 some others, they all deponed, that they knew of 
 no promise given antecedently to his confession, 
 and so he could not be said to have confessed 
 upon promise of life : after which, his advocates 
 desiring that the Act of Council might be read, 
 for proving their exculpation, that was justly re- 
 fused, because no man can make use of both 
 writ (writing) and witnesses ; and the truth was, 
 that the Act of Council being posterior to the 
 confession, could not prove that the confession 
 was emitted upon promise of life ; and that act 
 designed to annul the confession, and so could 
 not be made use of for astructing it. Probation 
 being thus led, and his majesty's advocate having 
 spoken to the assize, Sir George Lockhart refused 
 to speak for Mitchel, being unwilling to offend 
 Lauderdale ; for which many blamed him in 
 this, as they did his management of the process, 
 in not adducing the Act of Council first; and 
 the assize having all in one voice found the pannel 
 guilty, he was hanged, railing against the king 
 and the council, without any contrition for his 
 personal sins."* 
 
 Mitchel's trial was conducted with great deli- 
 beration, and he himself was allowed the best 
 counsel at the bar. His trial lasted four days, 
 and Sir George Lockhart was appointed to plead 
 
 * Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, pp. 326329. 
 
 M M 2
 
 532 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 for him ; and Wodrow gives a long and powerful 
 pleading for the prisoner, both by Lockhart, 
 and also by Mr. Ellis. After his return from 
 Holland, Mitchel had married, and they occupied 
 a small shop at the foot of the common stair, 
 where the archbishop resided when in town, who 
 had often remarked Mitchel as a person whom 
 he thought he had formerly seen, and was often 
 alarmed at his menacing looks and gestures. 
 Mitchel was constantly on the watch, whenever 
 the archbishop entered or left his own door ; and 
 at last, his extraordinary and menacing conduct- 
 created a suspicion that he was the man who had 
 formerly attempted his life. He accordingly 
 communicated his suspicions to the privy council, 
 who gave orders for his apprehension, when a 
 pistol, loaded with three balls, was found on his 
 person. It would thus appear that he still medi- 
 tated the primate's murder, and only waited for 
 an opportunity. It was deposed on oath, that he 
 said, when speaking of the attempt to several 
 persons, " Shame fall the miss ; he should make 
 the fire the hotter the next time :" and at another 
 time, " Let me but shoot at him again, and I '11 
 be content to be hanged if I miss." Dr. Burns 
 quotes from Law's Memorials, that "when it was 
 reported that he (Mitchel) was to be tortured in the 
 other leg, some it seems of his friends, dropped in 
 a letter to Archbishop Sharp, that if he persisted in
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 533 
 
 the torturing of him, he should have a shot from a 
 steadier hand."* It is much to be regretted that 
 the law at that time permitted the use of torture ; 
 and that at his first examination, Mitchel suffered 
 the torture of the boot. To this, however, the 
 archbishop was no party ; but Dr. Burns, with 
 the design of blackening the archbishop, has 
 recorded the above murderous threat, which looks 
 exceedingly like approbation. Although the trial 
 of Mitchel is in Wodrow's History, yet I copied 
 what follows from the MS. statement of the 
 trial, in the library of the Writers to the Signet. 
 He was indicted for his attempted assassination 
 of the Archbishop of St. Andrews, being at the 
 same time a privy counsellor, which was an ag- 
 gravation of his crime. The prisoner pleaded not 
 guilty ; and peremptorily denied ever having 
 made any confession at all. It appears very 
 oddj that he should deny the confession, and at 
 the same time cling with such tenacity to the 
 promise of life given as the condition of making 
 that confession. And it is equally strange that 
 the party which espouses the tenets and the 
 crimes of Mitchel, should demand the fulfilment 
 of a promise, while they show no disapprobation 
 of his resolute determination to commit the 
 murder, and of his dying not only unrepentant, 
 
 * Note to Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 458.
 
 534 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 but absolutely glorying in his detestable crime. 
 Such inconsistent and unchristian conduct gives 
 reason to suspect that their chief regret is the 
 failure of his murderous design. Lord Fountain- 
 hall says, that " Sir George Lockhart defended 
 him with admirable strength of reason and ex- 
 pression, but he would not communicate counsels 
 with Mr. Ellis, though commanded to it by the 
 lords ; and some thought his late producing that 
 act of secret council was an oversight; others 
 judged it a design to entrap the duke and the 
 other witnesses, and to reflect on them. The 
 debate on the adjournal books well deserves 
 reading ; for it was one of the most solemn 
 criminal trials had been in Scotland these hun- 
 dred years."* 
 
 In addressing the court, Sir George Macken- 
 zie, the king's advocate, said, " The said Mr. 
 James owns himself to be of a profession who 
 hates and execrates that hierarchy ; and of which 
 sect the unhallowed pen of Naphthali declares 
 it lawful to kill those of that character. 2. It is 
 notour (notorious,) and offered to be proved, that 
 Mr. James himself defended that it was lawful to 
 kill such, and endeavoured, by wrested places of 
 Scripture, to defend himself, and gain proselytes 
 
 * Fountainhall's MSS.,vol. i. cited by Kirkpatrick Sharp, 
 Esq. ; Kirkton's Hist. p. 387.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 535 
 
 thereby ; and if need were, as there is none, it is 
 specifically and distinctly offered to be proven, 
 that he acknowledged, that the reason why he 
 shot at the archbishop was because he thought 
 him a persecutor of the nefarious and execrable 
 rebels, who appeared on the Pentland Hills :" 
 and also, " Likeas his confession was made in 
 presence of his majesty's privy council and the 
 king's commissioner, in whom all the judicatories 
 of the kingdom do imminently reside, and who 
 might have sent the pannel to the scaffold without 
 an assize." 
 
 The principal proof alleged against him was 
 his confession in the year 1674. The debates 
 continued so long, that the court adjourned to the 
 9th, when the court pronounced the following 
 INTERLOCUTOR : 
 
 " Edinburgh, 9th day of January, foresaid, the Interlocutor 
 following, was pronounced : The lords commissioners of jus- 
 ticiary having considered the dittay and debate relating 
 thereto, find that article of the dittay founded upon the 
 4 Act. 14 Par. Ja. VI., bearing the pannel's invading by 
 shooting, and firing a pistol at his grace the Archbishop of 
 St. Andrews a privy councillor, for doing his majesty's ser- 
 vice, relevantly libelled, his majesty's advocate proving the 
 presumption in his reply, viz., that the said pannel said he 
 did make the said attempt and invasion, because of the arch- 
 bishop his persecuting those that were in the rebellion at Pent- 
 land, or some words to that purpose, relevant to infer the pain 
 contained in the foresaid act of parliament, and remits the 
 same to the knowledge of an assize. And likewise finds that
 
 536 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 part of the dittay anent the invading of bishops and ministers, 
 relevant to infer an arbitrary punishment, and remits the 
 same to the knowledge of an assize. And sicklike that ar- 
 ticle of the dittay anent the wounding, invading, and muti- 
 lating of the Bishop of Orkney, relevant to infer an arbitrary 
 punishment, and remits the same to the knowledge of an 
 assize. And also, having considered that part of the debates 
 anent the pannel's confession, made and emitted before a 
 committee, appointed by authority of council to receive it ; 
 and thereafter adhered to and renewed in presence of his ma- 
 jesty's high-commissioner, and lords of privy council, con- 
 vened in council, finds it is judicial, and cannot be retracted ; 
 and also having considered the debate and defence against 
 the said confession, viz., that the same was emitted upon pro- 
 mise or assurance of impunity of life and limb, finds the same 
 relevant to secure the pannel as to life and limb, referring 
 to the commisioners of justiciary, to inflict such arbitrary 
 punishment as they shall think fit, in case the defence shall 
 be proven, and remits the same to the knowledge of an 
 assize." 
 
 " The jury being sworn, Mitchell's confession was produced 
 and read as follows : ' Edinburgh, 10th February, 1674. In 
 presence of the lord chancellor, lord register, lord advocate 
 and treasurer depute, Mr. James Mitchell, preacher, being 
 called did freely confess he was the person who shot at the 
 Archbishop of St. Andrews when the Bishop (of Orkney) was 
 hurt thereby, in the year 1668, and depones upon oath that 
 no living creature did persuade him to it, or was upon the 
 knowledge of it.' 
 
 " Sic Subscr. J. Mitchell. 
 " Rothes. H. Primrose. Jo. Nesbett. Ch. Maitland. 
 
 " MR. CHARLES PATERSON, advocate, purged of partial 
 council and solemnly sworn, depones he met a man with a 
 pistol in his hand, in Blackfriars-wynd, immediately after the
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 537 
 
 pistol was shot at the archbishop, but knows not the pannel, 
 nor if he was the person that shot. 
 
 " PATRICK VANSE, keeper of the tolbooth of Edinburgh, 
 &c. depones, that a day or two before or after the pannel 
 (prisoner) was examined by the council, he confessed to the 
 deponent, that he shot a pistol at the Archbishop of St. 
 Andrews, escaped down Blackfriars-wynd, went up the Cow- 
 gate, and into Mr. Fergusson's house, and put on a periwig, 
 and then came to the street and searched for the man that 
 shot the pistol. Being demanded if he heard Mr. James 
 Mitchel justify the deed, he depones he remembers it not. 
 
 " MR. JOHN VANSE, son to the, keeper of the tolbooth, &c. 
 being interrogated if he heard the pannel acknowledge the 
 deed of shooting at the bishop or defend it, depones that 
 being in conference with the paunel in the prison-house, he 
 enquired at him how he or any man could be accessory to so 
 impious an act as to kill a man in cold blood, who had not 
 wronged him : he said it was not in cold blood, for the blood 
 of the saints was reeking at the Cross of Edinburgh. 
 
 " JOHN, BISHOP OF GALLOWAY, deponed that the first time 
 he saw the pannel was in Sir William Sharp's outer-room, 
 where he saw a pistol, which was said to have been taken 
 from him, out of which (as he supposes) there were three balls 
 taken, and that the pistol was like the pistol now produced. 
 Depones that at that time the pannel did not confess any 
 guilt, but seemed to be in a great consternation, and fell a 
 trembling ; and that the deponent hearing that he had made 
 a confession, went to prison to speak to him about it, who 
 acknowledged to the deponent that he had made confession 
 of that attempt against the archbishop before the chancellor 
 and some others of the council, and that he had hopes of life, 
 and desired the deponent to intercede for him ; and the de- 
 ponent having asked him how he could do such a deed against 
 an innocent man ; he answered that he thought him an enemy
 
 538 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 to the godly, and that they would not be in security so long 
 as he was alive ; and the deponent having enquired at him 
 if he was sorry for it, he did not say he was sorry for it, but if 
 it were to be done again he would not do it. 
 
 " DR. CHRISTOPHER IRVINE depones that he was the first 
 chirurgeon that came to the Bishop of Orkney after he re- 
 ceived the shot, and that he did see a ball fall out of his 
 sleeve, so that he knew that it was with a shot, and that the 
 bones were fractured, and that they cured him so that he was 
 able to lift his hand towards his head, but there were still 
 scales coming out of the orifice of the wound ; depones the 
 bishop said he got the wound when he was laying his hand 
 upon the archbishop's coach. 
 
 " JOHN JOSSIE, chirurgeon, depones that he was called to 
 the Bishop of Orkney's cure, and that he had a wound be- 
 twixt the wrist and the elbow, which did cast out several 
 small bones at the two small orifices, and that the bishop was 
 able to lift his hand towards his head. 
 
 " WM. BORTIIWICK, surgeon, also swore to the same 
 effect. 
 
 " JOHN, EARL OF ROTHES, lord high chancellor of Scotland, 
 being sworn, and the confession under Mr. James Mitchel's 
 hand being shown to him, depones that he was present and 
 saw the said Mr. James Mitchel subscribe that paper; and 
 depones that he heard him make the confession contained 
 therein, and that he thereafter heard him ratify the same at 
 the council-bar, in presence of the king's commissioner and 
 lords of privy council sitting in council, and that his lordship 
 subscribed the said confession. Depones that his lordship 
 and treasurer depute were appointed by the privy council to 
 examine the said Mr. James, and being interrogated if after 
 they had removed the pannel to the council-chamber, whether 
 or not his lordship did offer to the pannel upon his confession 
 to secure his life in these words, ' upon his lordship's life,
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 539 
 
 honour, and reputation.' Depones that he did not at all give 
 any assurance to the pannel for his life, and that the pannel 
 never sought any such assurance from him, and his lordship 
 does not remember that there was any warrant given by the 
 council to his lordship for that effect, and if there be any 
 expressions in any paper which may seem to infer any thing 
 to the contrary, his lordship conceives it has been inserted 
 upon some mistake. 
 
 " CHARLES MAITLAND, of Hattoun, lord treasurer depute, 
 being sworn, and the confession under Mr. James MitchePs 
 hand being shown to his lordship, depones he was present 
 when Mr. James Mitchel made that confession, and his lord- 
 ship first heard him make it verbally, and then he saw him 
 subscribe it, and that his lordship subscribed it also, and at that 
 time there was nothing spoken of any assurance. But when 
 the pannel was asked by some of the committee upon what 
 account he committed that fact, he seemed at first unwilling 
 to answer, but thereafter said it was because the archbishop is 
 an enemy to the good people, or godly people in the west. 
 Depones that within a few days thereafter a meeting of the 
 council, where the Duke of Lauderdale, then his majesty's 
 commissioner was present, the pannel being brought to the 
 bar and the confession produced being shown to him, he 
 acknowledged the same to be his hand-writing, adhered 
 thereto, and renewed the same in presence of his majesty's 
 commissioner and council ; and depones that he did not hear 
 the pannel either seek assurance of his life, or any person 
 offer the same to him. 
 
 " JOHN, DUKE OF LAUDERDALE being sworn, depones that 
 his grace was present as the king's commissioner, when Mr. 
 James Mitchel was brought to the bar. Depones his grace 
 saw the pannel's former confession, made at the committee of 
 the council shown to him, and he acknowledged it to be his 
 confession, and that he did adhere thereto and renew the
 
 540 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 same, in presence of his grace and the council ; his grace 
 heard no assurance given to him, and that his grace did not 
 give him any assurance, nor give commission to any others to 
 give him any assurance, and could not do it, having no 
 particular warrant from his majesty for that effect. 
 
 " JAMES, ARCHBISHOP OF ST. ANDREWS, being sworn, de- 
 pones that that day the pannel did fire the pistol at his grace, 
 he had a view of him passing from the coach and crossing the 
 street, which had such impression upon his grace that upon the 
 first sight he saw of him after he was taken he knew him to 
 be the person that shot the shot. Depones that his grace saw 
 him at the council-bar, in presence of his majesty's commis- 
 sioner and the council, acknowledge his confession made 
 before the committee, and heard him adhere thereto and renew 
 the same, and that there was no assurance of life given him, 
 nor sought by him there. Depones that his grace himself did 
 never give him any assurance, nor give warrant to any others 
 to do it, only he promised, at his first taking, that if he would 
 freely confess the fault and express his repentance for the 
 same, at that time, without farther troubling judicatories 
 therein, his grace would use his best endeavours for favour 
 to him, or else leave him to justice, but that he neither gave 
 him any assurance nor gave warrant to any to give it. It is 
 a false and malicious calumny, and that his grace made no 
 promise to Nichol Somerville, other than that it was best to 
 make a free confession, and this is the truth, as he shall 
 answer to God. 
 
 " Sic subscr. St. Andrews. H. Primrose, J. P. D.* 
 
 " The pannel, after swearing the assize, produced a copy o fa 
 pretended act of council, and craved that the register of coun- 
 
 * Each of the witnesses subscribed their deposition in the 
 same manner.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 541 
 
 cil containing the said act might be produced, and after the 
 examination and depositions of the witnesses upon the dittay 
 and exculpation, the pannel and his procurators farther urged 
 that the register of council might be produced, being an in- 
 strument signed Mr. Thomas Hay, one of the clerks of coun- 
 cil, for giving an extract thereof, the pannel and his procura- 
 tors alleged that the register of council containing the said 
 act was produced in court the day before, and that the said 
 act was read by several members of the court, and being once 
 produced, and an instrument taken against one of the clerks 
 of council, who with the other clerk were cited as witnesses 
 by his majesty's advocate, the clerks ought to be ordained 
 either to give an extract or produce the register containing the 
 foresaid act ; and the pannel and his procurators desire to be 
 heard in writing upon the said act of council. His majesty's 
 advocate answers, that he was not obliged to produce a register 
 for the pannel, and if any such pretended act was he should 
 have used a diligence and cited the clerks of council for pro- 
 ducing the register or giving an extract, which the pannel not 
 having done, he cannot be allowed a diligence in this state of 
 the process ; and if any such act of council was it was un- 
 warrantable, and could not be made use of after the lord 
 chancellor, Duke of Lauderdale, and the lord treasurer de- 
 pute, and other lords of council, had deponed that there was 
 no such assurance given as is either pretended by the excul- 
 pation or insinuated by the pretended act of council, and by 
 the copy produced, it is evident that the design thereof is to 
 take from the pannel any pretended favour he pleads; and 
 if the act be founded on it cannot be divided, so that a mere 
 narrative must prove, and the statutory words should not 
 prove, especially seeing there is nothing more notour and 
 ordinary than for the council not to consider a narrative if the 
 statutory words be right ; and as the pannel pretends that liis 
 confession cannot be divided from the assurance given, but
 
 542 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 that it must be taken with the quality ; so much less must this 
 act be divided, and the pretended act is long posterior to the 
 pannel's confession, and even posterior to a former diet in the 
 justice court appointed for the pannel's trial for the said 
 crime ; and farther, no such assurance could have been granted, 
 seeing none but his majesty can grant remissions. The pannel 
 and his procurators desired the copy produced to be read. 
 His majesty's advocate consents to the reading of the pre- 
 tended copy of the act of council, and which being publicly 
 read, is of the terms following : * 
 
 " The pannel and his procurators renew the desire, and crave 
 to be heard to debate upon the act of council in writing. 
 The lords commissioners of justiciary, considering that the 
 copy of the pretended act of council produced was never 
 urged nor made use of, nor any diligence craved for producing 
 the register of council until this afternoon that the assize was 
 sworn, after which no diligence can be allowed or granted in 
 this state of the process, by the law of the kingdom and prac- 
 tique of this court, especially seeing it appears by the said 
 copy that the design was to take away any assurance that the 
 pannel could have pleaded, and that the truth of the narrative 
 of the copy founded upon, insinuating that there was an as- 
 surance, is cancelled by the depositions of the Duke of Lau- 
 derdale, then his majesty's commissioner, the lord chancellor, 
 and other members of the committee and council. The said 
 lords therefore ordain the assize to enclose and return their 
 verdict to-morrow at two o'clock in the afternoon. 
 
 " Edinburgh, the said 10th January, 1678. The assize 
 gives in their verdict conform to their written deliverance, 
 whereof the tenor follows. As to the first part of the libel 
 founded upon the 4th Act 16 p. Ja. VI., the chancellor and 
 whole assize with one voice, find it proven, conform to the 
 
 * The same as is given before.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 543 
 
 lords' interlocutor. As to the invading of bishops and minis- 
 ters, and wounding the Bishop of Orkney sicklike, proven 
 with one voice. As to the third part of the lords' interlocutor, 
 concerning his confession, first before a committee and there- 
 after before his majesty's high commissioner and council, the 
 whole assize with one voice find it proven conform to the lords' 
 interlocutor. As to the fourth and last part of the interlocu- 
 tor, concerning the exculpation, the whole assize, with one 
 voice, find it noways proven ; and farther concerning excul- 
 pation, when the pannel was pressing it strongly upon my 
 lord chancellor, the whole assize heard his confession and 
 acknowledgement of the fact. 
 
 " Sic subscr. John Hay, Chancillor. 
 
 " After opening and reading of whilk verdict the lords of 
 justiciary, by the mouth of Adam Auld, Dempster of Court, 
 decerned and adjudged the said Mr. James Mitchel to be 
 taken to the mercat-cross of Edinburgh, upon friday, the 18th 
 day of January instant, betwixt two and four of the clock in 
 the afternoon, and there to be hanged on a gibbet till he be 
 dead, and all his moveable goods and gear to be escheat and 
 inbrought to his majesty's use, which was pronounced for 
 doom."* 
 
 The Act of Council certainly does show that 
 the conditional promise was made to Mitchel; 
 but it is alleged that John Hay, the clerk of 
 council inserted that promise in the act without 
 authority, and his being removed from his office 
 after this trial, gives reason to believe the allega- 
 
 * MSS. Narrative of the Trial, in tlie Writers to the 
 Signet's Library, Edinburgh.
 
 544 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 tion. It is hardly credible that so many men of 
 the highest rank and office in the kingdom would 
 have perjured themselves for the purpose of 
 taking the life of such a worthless, though dan- 
 gerous man. Although Mitchel confessed and 
 signed his confession in the presence of the privy 
 council ; yet he immediately afterwards denied 
 that he had ever made any such confession, and 
 continued this denial up to the last moment of 
 his life. At the same time he clung with the 
 utmost pertinacity to the alleged promise of the 
 privy council to spare his life, provided he would 
 make such a confession. His admirers since have 
 never ceased to dwell on this promise as one of 
 their gravest accusations against the primate. In 
 the first place, if any such promise was made, he 
 forfeited its benefit by his retracting his confes- 
 sion, and of which he was warned at the time by 
 the privy council. In the next place, the primate 
 was not implicated in this promise, and on his 
 oath he deposed that he heard no such promise 
 given at the council-board. Now this promise 
 was not alleged to have been given at the board, 
 but was said to have been a private transaction 
 between the assassin and the lord chancellor, in 
 another apartment, and which in the lapse of five 
 years may have escaped his memory. Our ideas 
 however of the sacredness of an oath would lead 
 us to condemn any trifling with such a solemn
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 545 
 
 obligation, whilst we are left to decide betwixt 
 the solemn oaths of so many illustrious individuals, 
 and the simple averment of a convicted traitor 
 and assassin. 
 
 Sir George Mackenzie, who was the prosecutor, 
 says, " As to Mitchel's case, whereas it is said 
 that he was executed after he confessed the crime 
 upon promise of life, it is acknowledged by all 
 that Mitchel, having upon the High-street of 
 Edinburgh fired a pistol at the archbishop, with 
 a design to murder him, he wounded the Bishop 
 of Orkney with a shot, of which he never re- 
 covered ; and being thereafter apprehended, 
 confessed the crime : but continuing still to glory 
 in it, and very famous witnesses having deponed 
 that he was upon a new plot to kill the same 
 archbishop, he was brought to trial, and his 
 defences were, that the Earl of Rothes, to whom 
 he confessed it, had promised to secure his life ; 
 and that the privy council had afterwards pro- 
 mised the same. For proving this the Earl of 
 Rothes and others, who were upon the committee 
 of the council, and all the other members of 
 council whom he desired to be cited, were fully 
 examined upon all his interrogatories ; and the 
 registers of council were produced ; but nothing 
 of a promise was made to appear by either : and 
 is it to be imagined by any man of common sense 
 that they all perjured themselves, or that the 
 
 N N
 
 546 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 registers of the council were vitiated to take the 
 life of such an execrable villain as this fellow 
 was, who died glorying in his crimes, and re- 
 commending to others the sweetness of such 
 assassinations ? " * 
 
 But it is against the archbishop that all the 
 reproaches of those who thirsted for his blood 
 were heaped. In his evidence he says there was 
 no assurance given to Mitchel at the council- 
 bar. This agrees with the Act of Council, which 
 says that Rothes took him aside into another 
 room, and there made this promise. Again, the 
 primate was accused of having made privately to 
 Nicol Somerville, Mitchel's brother-in-law, a pro- 
 mise or assurance of life on his confession. Now 
 it must be evident the archbishop had no such 
 power; that was the alone prerogative of the 
 crown. The primate on his oath denies that he 
 ever made any such promise; but he frankly 
 owns, " that he promised, at his first taking, that 
 if he would freely confess the fault, and express 
 his repentance for the same at that time, (but 
 which he never did,) without any further troubling 
 judicatories therein, he would use his best en- 
 deavours for favour to him, or else leave him to 
 justice ; but that he either gave him assurance, or 
 gave warrant to any one to give it, is a false and 
 
 * Sir G. Mackenzie's Works, vol. ii. p. 343.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 547 
 
 malicious calumny ; and that his grace made no 
 promise to Nicol Somerville, other than that it 
 were best to make a free confession." The arch- 
 bishop's evidence pointed to the private commu- 
 nication with Somerville, and he must be acquitted 
 of the charge of perjury, with which he has been 
 accused. 
 
 Dr. Burns has expressed his horror at this 
 " mass of depravity, as is not, he believes, to 
 be found in the history of any other European 
 country ;" and he ends by showing his sympathy 
 for this convicted assassin and rebel, by calling 
 him " poor Mitchel" * Another author, however, 
 who is not so tender of " wounding the Presby- 
 terian cause through the sides of poor Mitchel," 
 as the reverend doctor is, says, " The impudent 
 villain likewise desired the judges that the pri- 
 mate himself might be cited into the court, to 
 declare upon oath, if he did not encourage him 
 to confess upon a promise to endeavour to procure 
 his pardon ; to which, being sworn, he answered, 
 that immediately after his apprehension he took 
 him aside to discourse with him in private, when 
 he did assure him he forgave him, and would 
 endeavour to save him from public justice, if he 
 would confess the fact ; but that upon this en- 
 couragement he would make no confession, nor 
 
 Note, p. 470. 
 
 N N 2
 
 548 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 ever after offered any to him ; so that though he 
 still forgave him, yet he did not conceive himself 
 bound to endeavour his preservation, after more 
 than five years obstination in his crime. 
 
 " There were many other witnesses ready to 
 depone, of which there was no need. One of 
 them could have testified, that he heard him say 
 that he would do the fact, if it were to be done 
 again : and another could have deponed that he 
 heard him say, ' Let me but shoot at him again, 
 and I'll be content to be hanged if I miss.' The 
 jury, which consisted of fifteen gentlemen, unani- 
 mously found him guilty ; and when sentence 
 was pronounced, that he should be carried to the 
 common place of execution, and there be hanged, 
 he told the judges that ' he took it as from GOD, 
 but not from them.' 
 
 " Since he was condemned, he desired that 
 some conventicle ministers that were imprisoned 
 with him might be admitted to give him comfort, 
 and obstinately refused the assistance of the 
 ministers of our church. However, one of them 
 went to him to remind him of the murder he was 
 guilty of in the eyes of GOD, though he suffered 
 him not to effectuate his design. But instead of 
 making any impression on his hardened heart, 
 or receiving common acknowledgements for his 
 good-will, he received nothing from him but 
 reproaches, being told by him he was a murderer
 
 ARCHJJISHOP SHARP. 549 
 
 of souls, and had the blood of souls to answer 
 for, with many more rude and enthusiastic 
 expressions. 
 
 " He was a lean, hollow-cheeked man, of a 
 turbulent countenance, and had the air of an 
 assassin as much as a man could have. He came 
 with his periwig powdered to the bar, and be- 
 haved himself there with as much assurance as 
 men devoted to do mischief by their principles 
 and complexion, resolve before-hand always to 
 do."* 
 
 Some days before Mitchel's execution, Mr. 
 Annand, dean of Edinburgh, out of compassion 
 to the unhappy man's spiritual delusion, addressed 
 a very pious and affectionate letter to him. He 
 endeavoured to show him, from the gospel, how 
 contrary his principles and practices were to the 
 spirit of Christianity. Not discouraged by his 
 rejection of another clergyman's consolations, he 
 exhorted him to repentance for his unchristian 
 attempt on the life of the archbishop, and causing 
 the death of Dr. Honeyman. His praiseworthy 
 endeavours only excited the spiritual pride of 
 this unhappy convict. In his letter the dean 
 urged that the impulse which he alleged he felt 
 so many years to murder the primate could not 
 be from GOD, like Phineas, when he transfixed 
 
 * Fanatical Moderation, pp. 5 and 7.
 
 550 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Zimri and Cosbi, else he would not have failed. 
 A really divine commission or impulse like that, 
 he said, could not be unsuccessful. Whether he 
 was unable to answer this argument, or felt the 
 force of it is uncertain ; but in the following 
 reply he takes no notice of it : 
 
 " Sir, I received yours, and since my time is very short 
 and so very precious, I can only thank you for your civility 
 and affection, whether real or pretended ; and I tell you, 
 I truly close with all the precepts of the gospel, to love and 
 peace ; and therefore pray I both for Mr. Sharp and you. 
 But knowing Mr. Sharp's wickedness, and my own sincerity, 
 and the Lord's holy sovereignty to use his creatures as he 
 pleases; I can only refer the manifestation of my fact, to the 
 day of GOD'S righteous and universal judgement, praying 
 heartily that GOD may have mercy on you, and open your 
 eyes to see both the wickedness of all your ways, and of your 
 godless insulting over an unjustly condemned dying man, 
 and grant unto you repentance and remission of your sins. 
 " I am in this your well-wisher, 
 
 " James Mitchel." 
 
 He was informed, that permission would not 
 be granted to address the people from the scaffold. 
 He therefore transcribed several copies of his 
 intended speech, in which there is little else than 
 vain-glory and spiritual pride. It contained like- 
 wise libellous reflections on the privy council, 
 the judges, and the king's advocate. In it he 
 refers to" his letter to a friend, written in gaol in 
 February, 1674. The sentiments which he there
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 551 
 
 expresses, are very far from being the fruits of 
 the Spirit : nevertheless, such were held in as 
 great veneration by the frequenters of conven- 
 ticles, as were the apostolic epistles by the 
 primitive church. 
 
 " The shooting that shot," says he, " intended against the 
 Bishop of St. Andrews, whereby the Bishop of Orkney was 
 hurt, to which I answered my lord chancellor in private, 
 viz, that I looked upon him to be the main instigator of all 
 the oppression and bloodshed of my brethren that followed 
 thereupon, and the continual pursuing after my own : and my 
 lord chancellor, as it was creditably reported to us, (the truth 
 of which your lordship knows better than wee,) that he kept 
 up his majesty's letter, inhibiting any more blood to be shed 
 upon that account, until the last ten were executed." 
 
 It is somewhat remarkable that he suppresses 
 the chancellor's answer to this plain appeal. 
 Had the chancellor assented to the allegation 
 that the archbishop had kept up the letter, as a 
 known truth, there cannot be the least doubt but 
 that Mitchel would have been very careful to 
 record it, and Wodrow no less careful to hand it 
 down to posterity. But as only the accusation 
 is made, it is fair to conclude that the chancellor 
 denied the truth of this most atrocious slander. 
 
 " And I, being a soldier," he continues, " not having laid 
 down arms, but being still upon my own defence, nor having 
 any other quarrel nor aim at any man, but according to my 
 own apprehension of him ; and that as I hope, in sincerity, 
 without fixing either myself or any one upon the Covenant
 
 552 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 itself, and as it may be understood by many thousands of the 
 faithful, besides the prosecution of the ends of the same Coven- 
 ant, which was and is, in that part, the overthrow of prelates 
 and prelacy ; and I being a declared enemy to him on that 
 account, and he to me in like manner, so I never found my- 
 self obliged, either by the law of GOD or nature, to set a 
 sentry at his door for his safety : but as he was always ready 
 to take his advantage of me, as it now appeareth, so I of him, 
 when opportunity offered. Moreover, we being in no terms 
 of capitulation, but on the contrary, I by his instigation being 
 excluded from all grace and favour, thought it my duty to 
 pursue him upon all occasions." " Where the seducers (to 
 idolatry) father or mother, shall put him to death." Ezek. 
 xiii. 3. I take this to be meant of the Christian magistrate. 
 But when he is withdrawn by the seducer, from the exercise 
 of his office and duty, and he is become utterly remiss and 
 negligent in putting the seducer to death, according to GOD'S 
 express law, which is not to be expected of him, (for then he 
 should do justice on himself,) but is become a protector and 
 defender of the idolater, then I doubt not, but it doth become 
 the duty of every Christian, to the uttermost of his power 
 and capacity, to destroy and cut off both idolatry and idola- 
 ters. Yea, these presumptuously murthering/?re/afes, ought 
 to be killed by the avenger of blood " (to wit, every private 
 Christian,) " when he meeteth them, by the express law of GOD, 
 seeing the thing is manifestly true, Numb. xxv. 21 ; and not 
 have liberty to flee to such cities of refuge, as the vain pre- 
 text of lawful authority ; but they should be taken even from 
 the horns of such altars, and be put to death." " The king 
 himself, and all the estates of the land, and every individual 
 therein, both were and are obliged, by the oath of GOD upon 
 them, to have, by force of arms, extirpated perjured prelates, 
 and Prelacy; and in doing thereof, to have defended one 
 another with their lives and fortunes, the Covenants being
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 553 
 
 engaged unto them, upon these terms, viz. the extirpation and 
 overthrow of prelates and prelacy." " To which, if we may 
 add their (the prelates) abominable pride, and blasphemous 
 perjury, then their gods will be equal in number to the 
 
 w e their mother, from whom they have their being, 
 
 strength, and standing, and from the devil their father, who 
 was a deceiver, liar, murderer, from the beginning ; and now 
 seeing the prelates possess whatsoever their gods Chemosh, &c. 
 giveth them to possess, then why should not we possess what 
 the LORD our GOD giveth us to possess, viz., his eternal 
 truths, manifested to us in his revealed will ? for sure I am 
 that GOD once dispossessed the prelates and malignants of 
 these, and should they again possess through our defect ? 
 GOD forbid."* 
 
 Neither the archbishop's life, nor the lives of 
 any of the other bishops were safe, with men 
 avowing and teaching such sentiments. This 
 " pious youth" spoke the language of all the 
 Covenanters ; and each man considered himself 
 as called of GOD to be an " avenger of blood," 
 that is, to murder the bishops when opportunity 
 offered. This " pious youth" and military saint, 
 had been watching for an opportunity, for several 
 years, to shoot the archbishop, and actually tells 
 us that " he thought it a duty to pursue him on 
 all occasions ;" and when taken, he had a pistol 
 on him loaded with three balls, for the purpose 
 of murdering him. And further, he adds, what 
 indeed is very well known, that he was bound to 
 
 * Fanatical Moderation, pp. 1420.
 
 4 
 
 554 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 murder the prelates, by the never-ceasing obliga- 
 tion of the Solemn League and Covenant. He 
 actually did murder Bishop Honeyman, or, at 
 least, caused his death ; yet it is the cant of the 
 present day to say, that we are indebted to such 
 men, holding such atrocious principles, for our 
 civil and religious liberty ! A community hold- 
 ing and teaching such " works of the flesh," 
 cannot be the religion of the meek and lowly 
 Jesus ; neither can " such works of the flesh in- 
 herit the kingdom of Heaven." It is well known 
 that the Covenant was the work of some French 
 Jesuits, and has been the cause of much misery 
 and bloodshed to these kingdoms. It was most 
 righteously burnt by the hands of the common 
 hangman, after the Restoration ; but after the 
 Revolution, the present religious establishment of 
 Scotland revived it. Under the withering aus- 
 pices of this popish document, we read, by its 
 own votaries, that, " Instead of an establishment 
 of faith and truth, we swarm with noisome errors, 
 heresies, and blasphemies : instead of unity and 
 uniformity in matters of religion, we are torn in 
 pieces with destructive schisms, separations, di- 
 visions, and subdivisions: instead of true piety and 
 the power of godliness, we have opened the very 
 flood-gates to all impiety and profaneness: in- 
 stead of submitting to the government of Christ, 
 we walk in a Christless looseness and licentious-
 
 AltCHBISilOP SHAR1'. 555 
 
 ness : and, instead of a reformation, we may say 
 with sighs, what our enemies have before said of us 
 with scorn we have a deformation in religion." * 
 In the interval between his sentence and the 
 scaffold, Mitchel always spoke of his approach- 
 ing execution as a martyrdom and a murder, and 
 gloried in what he ought to have been ashamed. 
 His fellow Covenanters exhorted him to die with 
 courage in the good cause of murder and rebel- 
 lion ; and to seal the Covenant with his blood. 
 What between brandy, with which he was plen- 
 tifully supplied, and enthusiasm, he kept his 
 courage up to the last. The fanatics sent threat- 
 ening letters to the archbishop, assuring him 
 that, although Mitchel were hanged, another 
 should complete his design, and murder him; 
 and it was the universal design of the fanatics, 
 to revenge Mitchel 's execution on the whole 
 bench of bishops. When Mitchel fired at the 
 archbishop, it was made a jest amongst the Cove- 
 nanters ; and even in the present day he is de- 
 fended by Dr. Burns of Paisley : " In the case of 
 Mitchel," says the doctor, " there was absolutely 
 
 * A Testimony to the Truth of Jesus Christ, and to our 
 Solemn League and Covenant ; as also against the Errors, 
 Heresies, and Blasphemies of these Times, and the Toleration 
 of them. Subscribed by the Ministers of Christ within the 
 province of London, 14th December, 1647.
 
 556 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 no proof whatever, except that founded on his 
 supposed confessions ; and the leading men of 
 the nation must perjure themselves, in order to 
 bring in the poor man guilty. With Mitchel's 
 private character we have nothing to do." * 
 Indeed, then why is not the same allowance made 
 to the bishops, when the whole venom of himself 
 and the fanatics is poured out on their private 
 characters ? When it suits his convenience, too, 
 Mitchel's confession is treated as supposititious ; 
 nevertheless, the promise of life on confession, 
 and the charge of perjury, are pertinaciously main- 
 tained. It might naturally occur to any one, but 
 especially to a learned divine, that if the confes- 
 sion was " supposed," so might the promise of life 
 be, which is founded on that " supposed confes- 
 sion ;" and consequently, that the charge of per- 
 jury is in the same degree supposititious. 
 
 The day preceding his execution, he sent a 
 message to the lord provost, requesting that the 
 scaffold might be constructed larger than usual, 
 because a great concourse of his friends intended 
 to appear on it. This vain-glorious request was 
 refused. He died justifying and glorying in his 
 intended murder of the primate, and in the odour 
 of spiritual pride, presumption, and fanaticism. 
 When his body was cut down, it was conveyed 
 
 * Burn's Notes to Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 458.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 557 
 
 by his friends to the Magdalene Chapel, whence it 
 was carried in great pomp to the grave, attended by 
 upwards of forty mourners. The fanatical women 
 in Edinburgh, had formed a design to rescue him, 
 between the prison and the gallows. In conse- 
 quence of information to this effect, the guards 
 were doubled ; but the concourse of that sex was 
 observed to be greater than upon any similar 
 occasion.* 
 
 " This execution," says Mr. Guthrie, " raised 
 great horror against the government, but espe- 
 cially against Sharp, who has been chiefly loaded 
 with its infamy. I am far from vindicating that 
 prelate, as to the share he took in the public 
 transactions of that time, and yet I doubt his con- 
 duct has been exaggerated. He had certainly 
 raised many enemies, even among those who 
 seemed most devoted to his will, and perhaps he 
 had no real friend at the council-board. His 
 memory, soon after the Revolution, became de- 
 testable ; and it was then fashionable for the 
 friends of the government to lay on him the 
 blame of many measures, in which they them- 
 selves concurred or directed. Hence it is, that 
 the chief charges against Sharp rest upon Bishop 
 Burnet's private anecdotes, provincial traditions, 
 and inflamed narratives, which ought to be 
 
 * Fanatical Moderation, &c. p. 44.
 
 558 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 adopted with caution. Where such a man as 
 Lauderdale governed, it is needless and in vain 
 to load any other person with state crimes. In 
 short, making allowances for party resentments, 
 too much guilt of the times appears upon record, 
 to prove this to have been one of the worst 
 governments that ever existed in any civilized 
 country, and gives but too much countenance to 
 the wicked facts alleged to have been committed, 
 though not recorded."* 
 
 In the autumn of this year, a minister of the 
 name of Kingsland, formed a party amongst the 
 Covenanting ministers, to bring the indulged 
 ministers into contempt and odium with their 
 own people. Cameron, Kidd, Hogg and Dickson 
 were leaders of this band, and were commonly 
 called " Kingsland 's curates ;"f indeed, division 
 was their crime, and division has been their 
 punishment. 
 
 Notwithstanding the occupation of the country 
 by the 4< Highland host," many of the nobility 
 and gentry refused to subscribe the bond ; and 
 some strong papers were drawn up against their 
 legality. The council obliged the gentry, and 
 some of the inferior people, to sign " law- 
 burrows ;" which was similar to one man giving 
 
 * Gen. Hist. vol. x. pp, 173, 174. 
 
 f MS. Papers in Ep. Chest, No. B 45.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 559 
 
 bail to keep the peace towards another. The 
 law-burrow, therefore, was a bond or engagement 
 by the party, by which he engaged to keep the 
 king's peace ; and likewise he engaged for his wife, 
 bairns, (children,) men, tenants, and servants. 
 This was complained of as a great hardship, 
 which, in conjunction with the rapacity of the 
 Highlanders, irritated the minds of the people. 
 The Duke of Hamilton repaired to Edinburgh, 
 and with him a number of the western no- 
 bility, and represented the distressed state of the 
 country. Their representations being fruitless, 
 these noblemen undertook a journey to London, 
 notwithstanding the law prohibiting them from 
 leaving the kingdom without permission. Charles 
 had written to the council, approving of all the 
 measures which it had adopted for suppressing 
 the conventicles in the west, " which we and our 
 laws think the rendezvous of rebellion." 
 
 The king refused to see Hamilton and the 
 other lords, because they had left contrary to the 
 Act of Council. Their journey, however, was not 
 without effect ; for the Highlanders were ordered 
 back into their mountains. The plunder which 
 these Highlanders carried with them was immense ; 
 the full particulars of which is recorded, with 
 great appearance of exaggeration, by Wodrow. 
 The king likewise ordered the proceedings by 
 law-burrows to be stopt. The council published
 
 560 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 a narrative of the proceedings, in vindication of 
 the measures which they had pursued, grounded 
 on the allegation that those counties where the 
 " Host" had been quartered, were in a state of 
 rebellion. The Duke of Hamilton, the Earls of 
 Roxburgh, Haddington and Perth, and the Mar- 
 quis of Athole, with General Drummond, once 
 more disobeyed the council, and went to London 
 without license. Perth and Athole were prin- 
 cipal officers in the highland army ; they had 
 been firm friends of Lauderdale, but now united 
 against him. They were attended by Sir George 
 Lockhart, one of the ablest lawyers of the time. 
 Their representations were effectual, and the 
 king ordered the law-burrows and the bond 
 formerly mentioned to be suspended till his 
 further pleasure. All the forces likewise, except 
 the household-troops, were ordered to be im- 
 mediately disbanded. The king received the 
 Scottish noblemen with great sternness, and re- 
 fused to suffer Hamilton to kiss hands, though he 
 solicited permission on his knee. 
 
 Lauderdale ran some risk of losing the king's 
 favour at this time. A convention of estates was 
 summoned, which voted money for the pay of a 
 new regiment of foot, and three troops of cavalry. 
 Before breaking up, the estates addressed the 
 king in favour of Lauderdale, which was answered 
 by the king approving of his administration. The
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 561 
 
 Presbyterians were divided in their opinions on 
 the propriety or impropriety of paying the cess 
 laid on by the Convention. Those who were 
 opposed to it contended, that their paying it was 
 a sharpening of the sword of persecution ; while 
 others esteemed it lawful to pay a small sum, 
 rather than have a larger taken by distress to be 
 applied to the same purpose. " They were too 
 much sharpened by the invectives that continually 
 came from their brethren in Holland, and were 
 adopted and propagated by their warm brethren in 
 Scotland, till numbers of them not only scrupled to 
 accept of any indulgence from the government, 
 but to pay the assessment for the new-raised 
 troops." * 
 
 In the western parts, the epidemic of attend- 
 ing field-conventicles increased with the means 
 taken by government to suppress them, and the 
 secret encouragement given to the ministers and 
 people to disobey the laws. This evil spirit had 
 broken out at Perth in ihe end of this year, as we 
 learn from the correspondence of Anne Keith, 
 wife of Patrick Smythe of Methven, by courtesy 
 of the time, styled Lady Methven. Her husband 
 was at London, but her ladyship maintained the 
 king's peace in his absence. As formerly men- 
 tioned, the owners of the soil had at that time a 
 
 * Guthrie, Gen. Hist., vol. x. p. 183. 
 
 o o
 
 562 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 feudal or patriarchal authority over their vassals 
 and tenants. This lady shows that the bond 
 exacted by the government was no hardship on 
 those who were well disposed. Mr. Kirkpatrick 
 Sharp has given several of her letters to her 
 husband, descriptive of the means she adopted 
 with success in suppressing conventicles at- 
 tempted to be held on his lands of Methven. 
 She marched at the head of her husband's vassals, 
 armed with pistol and sword, and fairly drove 
 the Whigs off her ground. She assured her 
 husband that, " if everie master kieped as strick 
 an eye over their ground as ye allow me to doe, 
 there wold be no conventickells in the land ; they 
 ar an ignorant, wicked pack, the LORD GOD 
 clier the nation of them." This lady complains 
 that, " Our governors are made up of Machiavel's 
 principles. There is much envy and hatred for 
 crossing the conventicles, but no encouragement 
 to a faithful, true-hearted subject. I have got no 
 thanks from the council, neither is any parish 
 commanded to do the like." In short, the laws 
 were made powerless by the secret encourage- 
 ment given to restless separatists to assemble in 
 spite of them, and from the discountenance given 
 to those who supposed they were made to be 
 maintained. The following letter addressed to 
 her " heart-keeper," gives a lively picture of the 
 times, and how a little firmness might have pre-
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 563 
 
 vented all that is now falsely called persecution, 
 had the gentry been disposed to support the laws. 
 
 " For my Heart-keeper, 
 
 " My precious love, A multitude of men and women from 
 east, west, and south came, the 13th day of this October, to 
 hold a field conventickell two bows' draft above our church ; 
 they hade their tent set up before the sun on your ground. 
 I seeing them flocking to it, sent through your grund, and 
 charged them to repair to your brother David, the baillie and 
 me, to the Castell-hill, where wee hade butt 60 armed men. 
 Your brother with drawn sword, and bentpistoll, I with the 
 light horseman's piece bent on my left arm, and a drawn tuck 
 in my right hand, all your servants well armed, merched for- 
 dert, and keeped the one-half of them fronting with the other, 
 that wer garding their minister, and their tent, which is their 
 standert. That rear partie, that we yocked with, most of 
 them wer St. Johnston's (Perth) people; many of them hade 
 no will to be known, but rid off to sie what we wold doe. 
 They merched towards Basleie, we merched be west them, 
 and gained ground before they could gather in a body. They 
 sent off a partie of 100 men to sie what we meant by hindering 
 them to meet ; we told, if they wold not goe from the parish 
 of Methven presantlie, it should be a bluddie day, for I pro- 
 tested, and your brother, before GOD, we wold ware our 
 liffes upon them befor they sud preach in our regalitie or 
 parish. They said they wold preach. We charged to 
 fycht or flee. They drew to a counsell amongs themselff's 
 what to doe ; at last about 2 hours in the afternune, they 
 wold goe away if we wold lett the bodie that was abuve the 
 church, with the tent, march frielie after them; we was con- 
 tent, knowing they was ten tymes as manie as we was, and our 
 advantage was keiping the one half-a-mylle from the other, 
 be merching in order betwix them. They, seeing we was 
 
 o o2
 
 564 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 desperat, marched ower the Pow ; and so we went to the 
 church, and heard a feared minister preach. They have 
 sworn not to stand with such ane affront, but resolves to come 
 the next Lord's-day ; and I, in the LORD'S strenth, intends 
 to accost them with all that will come to assist us. I have 
 caused your officer warn a solemn court of vassals, tenants, 
 and all within our power to meet on Thursday, when I intend, 
 if GOD will, to be present, and there to order them in GOD, 
 and our king's name, to convene well armed to the kirk-yard 
 on Sabbath morning by 8 ours, when your brother and I, 
 with all our servant-men and others we can mak, shall march 
 to them, and, if the GOD of heaven will, they shall either fecht 
 or goe out of our parish ; but alesse ! there is no paroch 
 about us will doe the lyke, which discuradges our poor hand- 
 ful ; yett if the eritors in the parish be loyall and stout, we 
 will mak 500 men and boys that may carrie armes. I have 
 written to your nevo, the tressoror of Edin. to send me twa 
 brasse hagbutts of found, and that with the bearer. If they 
 come agains setterday, I will have them with us. My love, 
 present my humbell dewtie to my lord Marquis (of Montrose) 
 and my lady, lykwayes all your friends, and, my blessed love, 
 comfort yourself in this, if the fanatics chance to kill me, it 
 shall not be for noucht. I was wounded for our gracious 
 king, and now in the strength of the LORD GOD of Heaven, 
 I'll hazard my persone with the men I may command before 
 these rebels rest wher ye have power ; sore I miss yow, but 
 now mor as ever. 
 
 " On Monday the 14th your brother, the baillie, and I 
 rade into the toune, and I callit on the provost, who cam to 
 Lady Margarat Hays to me. I tould him how mailers went 
 the day befor with us. He promises to caus garde the ports 
 (gates) Setterday and Sonday next, to keep in the rabble of 
 rebells. The sheriff was away to Edin. else I had spock to 
 him that he would charge Balgowan and Tippermallo to caus
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 565 
 
 their men assist us. More of this ye will hear the nixt week. 
 This is the first opposition that they have rancountered, so as 
 to force them to flie out of a parish ; GOD grant it be good 
 hansell : there would be no fear of it if we were all steel to 
 the back. My precious, I am so transported with zeal to 
 beat the Whigges, that I almost forgot to tell yow, my Lord 
 Marquis of Montrose hath 2 virtuous ladys to his sisters, and 
 it is one of the loveliest sights in all Scotland, their nunrie. 
 I sie many young gentlewomen there helping them to close a 
 verie fine pice of sowing. Our onest Bishop Lindsay is 
 laying sick of the gutt in his knies, and down to his futt; he 
 was heartily remembered to yow. So is all I miet with. I 
 wrote to yow formerlie to expeck me up, if ye wold not come ; 
 now I have engadged with the Conventickels, from whom I 
 will not flie. I know ye will allow me to doe what I am abell 
 to suppress them ; I'll doe good will, GOD give the blessing, 
 is the prayer of your, &c. 
 
 " Anne Keith." 
 " Methven Wood, 
 " the 15th instant, 1678." 
 
 In a subsequent letter, Mrs. Smythe, who, ac- 
 cording to the Scottish fashion, signs by her maiden 
 name, complains to her " heart-keeper" that " it 
 was a grievous matter we dare not drawe their 
 blude, yett must disperse them; how should 
 that be if they come weill armed to fight ? The 
 acts against them are for and against ; riddles 
 indeed, not easie understood. My love, if everie 
 parish were armed, and the stout loyall heads 
 joining, with orders to concur, and liberty to 
 suppress them as enemies to our king and the
 
 566 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 nation, these raging gypsies wold settle." 
 Here then we see the policy of the times. Laws 
 were made against these "raging gypsies," which 
 were neither intended nor allowed to be put in 
 execution. The loyal gentry were commanded 
 to subdue them by force of arms, but yet were 
 prohibited from " drawing their blude." And as 
 her ladyship well remarks, how could that be 
 avoided when the fanatical Whigges appeared in 
 the field better armed and in greater strength than 
 their opponents. There does not appear to have 
 been any sincerity in the government to suppress 
 the seditious Whigges, who met now more fre- 
 quently and in greater numbers than ever. 
 Charles himself was deceived. He truly believed 
 the conventicles to be " rendezvouses of rebel- 
 lion," and" nurseries of sedition ;" and was really 
 desirous of their suppression. The continual 
 agitation in which conventicles kept the nation, 
 answered the political views of some of the great 
 men of the day, and the fugitives in Holland 
 kept up that excitement which had its consum- 
 mation in the total subversion of the national 
 church, and the rabbling and persecution of the 
 clergy, at the Revolution. In short, the same 
 agitation existed in Scotland at that time as is 
 now practised in Ireland by the papists, and 
 where, perhaps, there will be similar results, if 
 they continue to receive a similar connivance.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 567 
 
 1679. In another letter, Mrs. Smythe informs 
 her husband that the Provost of Perth and the 
 Dean of Guild had waited on the Archbishop of 
 St. Andrews to present a minister for the town. 
 The archbishop " was verie sifFel to them, and 
 after he had tryed at the provost all the way of 
 my proceeding against the conventickell, which 
 was trewlie repeatted, the archbishop drank my 
 good health, and said the clargie of this nation 
 was obliged to me. But it was the LORD GOD'S 
 doing, who made me his instrument ; praise, 
 honour, and glorie be to his great name." The 
 archbishop appreciated the merits of this loyal 
 and religious lady, and wrote to her the following 
 letter : 
 
 " To the Lady Methven. 
 
 " St. Andrews, 27th March, 1679. 
 
 " Madam, I had the favour of your ladyship's letter, 
 signifying to me your purpose that Mr. John Omey be pre- 
 sented to the church of Methven, vacant by the decease of 
 Mr. Hew Ramsey. I am well satisfied with Mr. Omey, who 
 is a good man and a worthy minister, and shall be ready to 
 goe along with your husband, the laird of Methven his design 
 in reference to him. I am glad to find that your husband, 
 a gentleman noted for his loyalty to the king and affection to 
 the church, is so happy as to have a consort of the same 
 principles and inclination for the public settlement, who has 
 given proof of her aversion to join in society with separatists, 
 and partaking of that sin, to which so many of that sex do 
 tempt their husbands in this evil time, when schism, sedition, 
 and rebellion are gloried in, though Christianity does condemn
 
 568 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 them as the greatest crimes. Your ladyship, in continuing 
 the course of your examplary piety and zeal for the apostolic 
 doctrine and government, shall have approbation from GOD 
 and all good men, which is of more value than a popular 
 vogue from an humourous silly multitude, who know not what 
 they doe in following the way of seduction. You are com- 
 mended to the establishment of GOD'S grace in truth and 
 peace, by 
 
 " Honored madam, 
 " Your ladyship's humble servant, 
 
 " St. Andrews." 
 
 In January of this year, John Paterson, Bishop 
 of Galloway, obtained the king's license to reside 
 in Edinburgh, because he had not a manse or 
 competent dwelling-house within his diocese. 
 From this document, as well as from the prose- 
 cation of Ramsey, Bishop of Dunkeld, we in- 
 cidently learn that the Scottish bishops were 
 rigorously compelled to reside within their re- 
 spective dioceses. "Whereas," says the license, 
 " none of our archbishops or bishops may lawfully 
 keep their ordinary residence without the bounds 
 of their respective diocese, unless they have our 
 royal dispensation, warrant, and license for that 
 effect : those are, that in regard John, Bishop of 
 Galloway, is not provided in a competent manse 
 or dwelling-house in the diocese of Galloway, and 
 for the better promoving of our service in the 
 church, to allow and authorize the said bishop to 
 live in or near the cities of Edinburgh or Glasgow,
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 569 
 
 or in any other convenient place, where he may 
 be able to attend the public affairs of the church, 
 &c." Here then we have a refutation of the 
 scandalous assertions of the church's adversaries, 
 that the bishops were continually plotting the 
 persecution of the Covenanters, by their residence 
 in Edinburgh, and stimulating the privy council. 
 So much the contrary, that it appears they could 
 not leave their own dioceses without license. In 
 March of this year, Alexander Young, bishop of 
 Edinburgh, was translated to Ross, vacant by 
 the death of the elder Bishop Paterson, by the 
 powerful interest of the Duchess of Lauderdale. 
 This translation was for the purpose of making 
 room for Bishop Paterson, son of the late Bishop 
 of Ross, who was translated from Galloway to 
 the see of Edinburgh, on the 29th of March. In 
 September, Arthur Ross was translated from the 
 see of Argyle to Galloway, and Colin Falconer, 
 minister of Forres, was consecrated Bishop of 
 Argyle.* 
 
 As a prelude to the meditated rebellion which 
 was quelled at Bothwell-bridge, the Presbyterians 
 murdered several soldiers and severely beat some 
 officers. A Major Johnston, with some of his 
 men, were trepanned into a house, under pretence 
 of discovering to them a conventicle, where they 
 
 * Keith's Cat. of Scot. Bishops.
 
 570 LIFE AND. TIMES OF 
 
 were severely wounded and nearly murdered by 
 armed fanatics, who had come there for the 
 purpose. Wodrow admits that they were severely 
 beaten ; but they were wounded by pistol-shots 
 and swords, and menaced with instant death, 
 unless they swore never again to disturb a 
 conventicle. 
 
 In April, two soldiers were barbarously mur- 
 dered in their beds by a number of Presbyterians. 
 Three soldiers were quartered on a farmer near 
 Loudon-hill, because he had refused to pay his 
 cess. Wodrow admits that they were quiet, 
 peaceable men, and gave no unnecessary trouble. 
 The farmer's wife warned them one day of danger, 
 and advised them to leave the house. They 
 answered, that having been sent there by autho- 
 rity, they dared not leave without orders, or 
 payment of the cess. One of the three, however, 
 suspicious of danger, went to Newmilns, and 
 remained absent from the farm-house all night. 
 The other two went to sleep in the barn as usual. 
 About two o'clock on Sunday morning, the 20th 
 of April, five men on horseback, and as many on 
 foot, beset the barn where the soldiers slept ; and 
 knocked at the door. One of the soldiers, think- 
 ing it was their comrade returned, incautiously 
 opened the door. " He was saluted," says 
 Wodrow, " with reproachful words, ' Come out 
 you damned rogues,' and was shot through the
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 571 
 
 body, and fell down dead without speaking one 
 word. The other got up upon this, to put to 
 the door, and received a shot in the thigh from 
 the same hand. The assassin alighted from his 
 horse, and came in upon the soldier, who grap- 
 pled a little with him, till another came up and 
 knocked him down. He was perfectly dammished 
 (stunned) with the stroke ; and when he recovered 
 his senses, he thought it convenient to lie still in 
 the place as dead. The murderers came into the 
 barn, and took away the soldiers' arms and clothes, 
 and in a little went off. This soldier lived till 
 the Friday or Saturday after, and then died of 
 his wounds." * 
 
 The soldier recognised his murderer to be one 
 John Scarlet. Wodrow says, he was first one of 
 Welsh, a field-preacher's, guards, and at the 
 time of the murder was one of the armed guards 
 that protected Cameron, another field-preacher. 
 Here then is a cool, deliberate, premeditated 
 murder, committed by ten armed fanatics, the 
 principal actor being one of the confidential 
 attendants on a notorious Presbyterian preacher. 
 This horrid crime was committed as a preparative 
 for a field-conventicle, which was held that same 
 day in the neighbourhood. This was the natural 
 consequence of the murderous tenets inculcated 
 
 Wodrow, vol. iii. pp. 36, 37.
 
 572 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 by the field-preachers. Even Wodrow himself is 
 compelled to acknowledge, " that about this time 
 matters were running to sad heights among 
 the ARMED followers of some of the field-meet- 
 ings." The Covenanters considered and stated 
 themselves to be in a state of war with the king, 
 they took every opportunity to murder his sol- 
 diers, and they formally excommunicated himself. 
 " They looked upon the king," says De Foe, " as 
 an enemy and persecutor of GOD'S people ; as a 
 prince perjured by his breaking and renouncing 
 the Covenant ; and guilty of involving the whole 
 nation in the same detestable crime of perjury ; 
 also they looked upon him as a persecutor of 
 GOD'S church, and a bloody destroyer of his 
 people. And for these reasons they could not 
 satisfy themselves to pray for him, or to say to 
 him, GOD speed." * 
 
 The nobility and gentry of Ayrshire met and 
 drew up an address to the council, disavowing 
 any countenance to the crimes of these Presby- 
 terians. In this address they accuse the Cove- 
 nanting ministers of preaching doctrines that 
 necessarily and inevitably led to the crimes of 
 murder and rebellion. These crimes, and the 
 assembling of armed men at field-conventicles, 
 they said, were " occasioned by a few unsound, 
 
 * Memoirs of the Ch. of Scotland, p. 213.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 573 
 
 turbulent, and hot-headed preachers, most part 
 whereof were never ministers of the Church of 
 Scotland, making it their work to draw people to 
 separation and schism from pure ordinances, and 
 instil in them the seeds of rebellion, by their 
 informations, exhortations, and doctrine, as we 
 are informed."* These accusations are the truth, 
 and are borne out by such of their speeches and 
 letters as have been so faithfully recorded by 
 their martyrologist, Wodrow. When Richard 
 Cameron was sent as a missionary into Anandale, 
 Welsh, after laying his hands on him at his 
 ordination, said, " Go your way, Ritchie, and 
 set the FIRE of HELL to their tails ! " f 
 
 The intemperate and seditious conduct of the 
 field-preachers alarmed the government. Welsh, 
 Cameron, Kidd, and others, rode through the 
 western counties attended by multitudes of 
 armed men, who set law and order completely 
 at defiance. A proclamation was consequently 
 issued, commanding Lord Linlithgow, the com- 
 mander of the forces, " to give money for 
 intelligence where those conventicles are ap- 
 pointed, that thereby they may be able to seize 
 and apprehend such as shall be found at the said 
 conventicles ; and in case of resistance, to pursue 
 
 * Wodrow, vol. iii. p. 38. 
 
 t Scot's Worthies : Life of R. Cameron.
 
 574 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 them to the death ; declaring the said officers and 
 soldiers shall not be called in question therefore, 
 civily or criminally." A very frequent subject of 
 these preachers' sermons was the duty of making 
 war on the king, the bishops, and the curates, as 
 they contemptuously called the established clergy. 
 Wodrow, as usual, charges the primate with the 
 whole guilt of this necessary caution ; but which 
 the author of the True and Impartial Account 
 says, is " neither more nor less than a manifest 
 falsehood." He cites Wodrow, who says, " That 
 this proclamation may be reckoned the primate's 
 legacy, and an earnest of what he would have 
 essayed had he got up to court, which still in- 
 sinuates a further vindication of the murder." 
 Wodrow however, as usual, gives no authority, 
 but only his own insinuations. The king signed 
 the proclamation of his own free motion, and not, 
 as Wodrow maliciously asserts, to be a " warrant 
 to the council, if afterwards called to account for 
 it ;" the truth of which may be seen from the 
 following letter from the king to the privy 
 council, in answer to theirs, submitting the pro- 
 clamation to him previous to its being issued : 
 
 " CHARLES REX. 
 
 " Right trusty, &c. Having seen and considered the 
 proclamation (for the suppression of field-conventicles) which 
 in your letter of the 1st instant, to the Duke of Lauderdale, 
 you sent hither for our perusal and approbation before the
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 575 
 
 publication thereof; we are so well pleased with it, and do 
 judge it so fit for that purpose, as that we do give you our 
 hearty thanks for that good effect of your care and diligence 
 to promote our service, and preserve the peace of that our 
 ancient kingdom; and do return it to you without any delay, 
 to the end that no time may be lost in the prosecution of so 
 good a work ; whereof that you may have our full and solemn 
 approbation, we have thought fit ourself to sign the draft 
 you sent up as you have it here enclosed ; and we are fully 
 resolved upon all occasions to assert and maintain our autho- 
 rity, and to put the laws in execution as well against those 
 who by private and underhand dealings, endeavour to create 
 any disturbance to our government there, either in church or 
 state, (where the same shall be made manifest to us,) as against 
 those who of late have assumed the boldness more openly to 
 attempt the raising of a rebellion there, by frequent and 
 numerous convocations in arms at field-conventicles, (these 
 nurseries of rebellion,) and many other irregular and illegal 
 courses ; so we do hereby give you our assurance that you shall 
 have all due countenance, encouragement, and protection from 
 us, in the discharge of your duties in our service, against all who 
 shall traduce or asperse any of your proceedings, which have 
 been so agreeable to law and reason, as we cannot but admire 
 the impudence (no less than the malice) of such persons as 
 study to create a contrary opinion of your actions. We did 
 receive such full satisfaction from these lords, you sent up 
 last year, to inform us, when there was some noise raised 
 (indeed very injustly) against your procedure, as we do now 
 think fit to desire that some of your number may repair hither 
 with all convenient expedition, to the end we may not only 
 receive from them a full account of the state of our affairs 
 there, but also may have an opportunity to signify our plea- 
 sure in many things (after conference with them) which at 
 present we cannot impart in a letter. And because the noble-
 
 576 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 men who are employed in our service are either of our privy 
 council or have command of our forces, or both, and therefore 
 cannot well be absent at this time, we have thought fit rather 
 to require you to send three of our officers of state ; viz. our 
 clerk-register, our advocate, and our justice-clerk, together 
 with the president of our college of Justice, and Sir George 
 Mackenzie, of Tarbert, our justice-general, seeing from them 
 we can have full information, as well in matters of law as in 
 fact. So expecting from them a ready compliance with this 
 our pleasure, and not doubting the continuance of your care 
 and diligence in all things that concerns our service, and the 
 peace and quiet of that our kingdom, we bid you heartily 
 farewell. 
 
 " Given at our court at Whitehall, the 6th day of May, 
 1679, and of our reign the thirty-first year. 
 
 " By his majesty's command, 
 
 (Signed) " Lauderdale." 
 
 We come now, in the melancholy conclusion of 
 this history, to record one of the blackest deeds 
 which disgraces the annals of any country. It is 
 the more disgraceful, inasmuch as it has been 
 sedulously inculcated into many otherways good 
 people, that this sacrilegious murder was a lawful 
 deed, and just punishment. The guilt of this 
 foul murder still rests on those who approve of 
 it ; and the sacred blood of that father of the 
 church still cries to heaven. Punishment soon 
 followed this unparalleled crime, by having, as a 
 nation, both the candle and the candlestick re- 
 moved from the land. A moral cloud has hung 
 over it for a century and a half; but which is
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 577 
 
 now beginning to be dispelled. An ignorant and 
 fanatical race of barbarous field-preachers has 
 been succeeded by a body of respectable minis- 
 ters, among whom learning is beginning to 
 revive. A remnant of that church planted by 
 Archbishop Sharp, and watered with his blood, 
 has survived the shock of revolution, and the fire 
 of a persecution unparalleled since the pagan 
 persecutions of the primitive church, and has again 
 taken root downward, and is now bearing fruit 
 upwards ; while scarce a vestige of its sworn 
 enemies, the Covenanters, is now to be seen; 
 that particular sect having dwindled into a few 
 congregations, very small in number, and still 
 smaller in respectability, and holding no com- 
 munion with the other Presbyterian sects in that 
 divided country. They occasionally hold a so- 
 lemn fast for renewing the League and Covenant, 
 but although they retain its spirit, its actual 
 obligations they are unable, from change of cir- 
 cumstances, to fulfil. The Antiburgher and 
 Burgher seceders still cherish the Covenant, 
 and the latter periodically renew it. Although 
 that document stands in the Westminster Con- 
 fession of Faith, yet it is but justice to the 
 Scottish establishment to say that it is a dead 
 letter. Nevertheless, decency requires that they 
 should expunge it from their formulary, before 
 they lay claim to what however has never 
 
 p P
 
 578 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 been conceded, the character of a " sister 
 church." 
 
 The murder of Archbishop Sharp had been 
 long premeditated, and, in fact, was a natural 
 consequence of the murderous doctrines taught 
 by the field-preachers. Wodrow delicately calls 
 his execrable murder, " a violent death," and 
 himself, "a bloody and perfidious man."* Russell, 
 in his account of this " fact," as it is likewise 
 cautiously denominated, calls his murder a " duty" 
 " They resolved to fall upon Carmichel at St. 
 Andrews," that is, to murder him. " Some ob- 
 jected, what if he should be in the prelate's house, 
 what should be done in such a case ? whereupon 
 all present judged duty to hang both over port, 
 (gate,) especially the bishop, it being by many 
 of the LORD'S people and MINISTERS judged 
 a DUTY long since, not to suffer such a person 
 to live, who had shed and was shedding so much 
 of the blood of the saints, and knowing that other 
 WORTHY CHRISTIANS had used means to get 
 him upon the road before."^ So determined 
 were these " saints " in their bloody work, that a 
 short time before, they sent John Archie and 
 Henry Corbie into the western counties, " to 
 
 * Vol. ii. p. 40. 
 
 t Russell's Account of the Murder of Archbishop Sharp, 
 appended to Kirkton's Hist. pp. 407, 408.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 579 
 
 know the minds of other ministers and Chris- 
 tians, which was evidently enough made known, 
 by what was coming to their ears every day, of 
 their resisting of soldiers, both at meetings and 
 for paying cess." Going armed to their con- 
 venticles, resisting the troops, and murdering the 
 soldiers, were therefore parts of an organised 
 plan for the extirpation of the bishops. We 
 have here their own authority to say, that these 
 fanatics went armed, not as Wodrow falsely al- 
 leges, for self-defence, but for the bloody pur- 
 pose of murdering their adversaries, when oppor- 
 tunity offered. Russell continues " One Alex- 
 ander Smith, a weaver, at the Scruther Dyke, a 
 very godly man, after prayer anent* their clear- 
 ness in the matter about (the murder of) Car- 
 michel, desired all to go forward, seeing that 
 GOD'S glory was the only motive that was moving 
 them to offer themselves to act for his broken- 
 down work ,- and if the LORD saw it meet to de- 
 liver Carmichel into their hands, he would 
 bring him in their way, and employ them 
 in some piece of work more honourable to 
 GOD and them both"^ This more honourable 
 
 * A vulgar Scotticism, which means " respecting-," " re- 
 garding," " opposite to," " over against." 
 
 f Russell's Account of the Murder of Archbishop Sharp, 
 appended to Kirkton's Hist. pp. 409, 410. 
 
 P P 2
 
 580 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 piece of work was the murder of the arch- 
 bishop, which these " very godly men" pre- 
 meditated. 
 
 The party engaged about this " very godly" 
 work, chose Haxton of Rathillet, for their cap- 
 tain in his absence, and " blessed the LORD that 
 had put it into the minds of his people to offer 
 themselves for carrying on the LORD'S work !" 
 " and appointed the next Saturday for seeking 
 the LORD'S mind further into the matter, and 
 that the LORD would stir up the minds of his 
 people to appear for his cause." Haxton declined 
 to act as captain, because he had a personal 
 quarrel with the primate. The archbishop's 
 chamberlain had arrested him for embezzling the 
 property of one Lovel, of Cannuchie, to whom he 
 was guardian. This Lovel was the archbishop's 
 vassal, and left Haxton guardian to his children, 
 who was confirmed in his office by the primate, 
 as the superior, in February 1677. The rents of 
 the estate of Cannuchie were due to the primate 
 by decree and sentence of the judges ; but out 
 of kindness to Level's children, he authorised 
 Haxton to collect the rents, and sell the produce, 
 that he might allow them an annual maintenance. 
 Haxton collected the rents and sold the produce, 
 but instead of accounting for the proceeds, he 
 purchased arms for the Covenanters. The pri- 
 mate accepted his bond for the money, but
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 5$1 
 
 Haxton still evaded the payment. In March 
 1678, during the primate's absence, and without 
 his knowledge, his grace's chamberlain arrested 
 Haxton for the debt. When the archbishop 
 was informed of this transaction, he would not 
 have consented to his imprisonment, had he not 
 been credibly informed, that the rents of Can- 
 nuchie, and the produce sold had been disposed 
 of by Haxton for horses and munitions of war, 
 for equipping the conventicle saints, which they 
 considered only as a spoiling the Egyptians. He 
 continued in prison till Dr. Falconer, his relation, 
 became bound for the sum due. " Private 
 pique, aggravating Presbyterian rancour, in- 
 named him against Sharp." Declining to act as 
 captain, John Balfour, commonly called of Burley, 
 was therefore chosen to command this body of 
 very godly men, and whom Wodrow always 
 delicately terms " the captain," but carefully 
 abstains from naming ; and Mr. Kirkpatrick 
 Sharp says, that Balfour was a ferocious en- 
 thusiast, " although he was by some reck- 
 oned none of the most religious. He was a 
 little man, squint-eyed, and of a very fierce 
 aspect!" 
 
 They commenced operations, by drawing up 
 the following paper, which Haxton posted on the 
 church-door of Cupar in Fife, on Wednesday, the 
 3()th of April :
 
 582 LIFE AND TIMES Of 
 
 " To all and sundry to whose hands these presents shall 
 come, but especially to the magistrates and inhabitants 
 of the town of Cupar in Fife. 
 
 " Be it known to all men, that whereas under a pretext of 
 law, though most falsely, there is most abominable, illegal 
 and oppressive robberies and spoils committed in this shire, 
 by Captain Carnegie, and his soldiers, by virtue of a precept 
 from that adulterer William Carmichel, held on to it by that 
 perjured apostate, Prelate Sharp, a known enemy to all god- 
 liness : These are therefore to declare to all that shall any way 
 be concerned in this villainous robbery and oppression, either 
 by assisting, resetting, levying, or in any manner of way coun- 
 tenancing the same, (however they thought themselves at pre- 
 sent guarded by a military force, and these persons spoiled, 
 despicable,) that they shall be looked on as accessory to the 
 robbery, and should meet with a punishment answerable to 
 the villainy, and that by a party equal to all who durst own 
 them in these courses ; and that so soon as GOD shall enable 
 them thereto, whose names they shall find under subscribed, 
 in these following letters, A, B, C, &c."* 
 
 Next morning, the above paper struck terror 
 into the whole inhabitants of Cupar, but particu- 
 larly those employed in the execution of the 
 laws. Three days before the murder, some of the 
 assassins had a meeting, at Millar's house in 
 Magask, where they concerted the plan of the 
 assault. The following night, the 2d of May, 
 they lodged in Robert Black's house in Baldinny, 
 
 * MSS. Ep. Chest. Russell's Account, p. 411. True and 
 Impartial Account, Appendix to the- Preface, p. liii.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 583 
 
 whose wife eagerly instigated them to murder the 
 archbishop. One of the murderers kissed this 
 amiable lady at parting, when she prayed that 
 GOD would bless and prosper them. She added, 
 besides, " If long Leslie (the minister of Ceres) 
 be with him, lay him on the ground also ;" that 
 is, murder him. The ruffian, holding up his 
 hand, exclaimed, " There is the hand that shall 
 do it." They were further encouraged in their 
 bloody purpose by Andrew Turnbull, who in- 
 formed them, that " all the west was already in 
 arms." These facts were deposed on oath before 
 the privy council ; and the following document, 
 among the Episcopal manuscripts, confirms the 
 above : 
 
 " On Thursday, the first day of May, in the morning, there 
 were three or four of the villains at John Millar's house in 
 Magus, and they had a discourse of my lord St. Andrews, 
 and that his daughter was a high-handed gentlewoman, in- 
 deed, who refused the laird of Barns, who was seeking to 
 marry her : he was a well-born gentleman, and they were not 
 so good, but lower than he. Another answered, We shall 
 make him lower ere it be long. Then they fell all a whis- 
 pering for some space, and thereafter one of them broke out 
 thus : ' We will be able to do it amongst ourselves, we need 
 no other help ; Robert Black will be one. John Millar was 
 present all the while ; and this Robert Black is the tenant in 
 Baldinny, at whose house either all the nine, or most part of 
 them, were either all the night before, or breakfasted with him 
 in the morning; and it is reported, that at their parting, 
 Black's wife, (when one of them kissed her,) did bid GOD
 
 584 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 bless him and prosper him ; and if long Lesslie be with him, 
 lay him on the green too : at which he answered, ' There is 
 the hand shall do it.' 
 
 " It is also reported for a certainty, that Andrew Turnbull, 
 tenant to Broomhall, crossed the water the same tide with my 
 lord, and was the man that came to Kennoway, asking if my 
 lord was quartered there, and thereafter was present at the 
 fact, and encouraged the rest to it; and said that all the west 
 was up already. 
 
 " When the murderers returned from the spot, John Millar 
 spoke with them, and his first expression was, Lord forgive 
 YOU, sirs, for doing this so near my house, for it will herry 
 me ; and thereafter he and his servants gave them their two 
 cloaks and coat, which they dropped at his dykes, when they 
 rode to the action. 
 
 " Some four hours after my lord's corpse was brought 
 into St. Andrews, Henderson in Kilbrachmont his son rode 
 through St. Andrews on a bay horse, and at the Abbey- gate 
 asked twice at one Habistone, if the good man of the abbey 
 was dead ? and then rode peaceably away, and now talks of 
 it freelie enough, and the most part of this time since hath 
 kept his father's house unquestioned until this hour, although 
 it- be not doubted that he was an actor. 
 
 " The night before the murder, John Balfour and Rathil- 
 let came to the house of Rathillet, with a webster in Balma- 
 rino parish, and stayed no longer but till the horses were 
 baited, and Rathillet changed his breeches, and immediately 
 horsed. John Balfour had his beard long, at least ten weeks 
 grown ; and there was no mention of the murder at Rathillet, 
 till about nine o'clock at night the next day, at which time 
 there came in a person to the house, and rounded (whispered) 
 something to John Balfour's wife, who, within a little, 
 (without any change of countenance,) said, the bishop has 
 taken a sleep in the home-going. For certain, John Balfour
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 585 
 
 was not at Kinloch since the murder, nor for two days 
 before. 
 
 " In the beginning of the week after the murder, John 
 Balfour's wife fled from Rathillet, leaving behind her a child 
 to whom she gave suck, and was dislocate in one of the arms, 
 whereof the child was like to die : within two days after, all 
 the servants about the house fled, except one lass that 
 attends that child. Robert Dingwall, son to William Ding- 
 wall, in Coldhame, near Leslie, is reported to have been at 
 the murder ; and his father being examined at Cupar, de- 
 pones, that on the Saturday morning, young Inchdairnie and 
 Henry Shaw took away his son, well mounted and armed, 
 but whither he knew not, and that he had not seen him since. 
 
 " There is also one Robert Forrest a bonnet-maker, who 
 left Dundee for adultery, who drinking that Saturday morn- 
 ing with William Leslie, my Lord Chancellor's gardiner, and 
 John Colville his ryder, refused to drink a health with this 
 expression : ' Ere 48 hours ye shall get a health to drink 
 indeed ; ' and before the news came the length of Leslie, he 
 fled and hath not since appeared. 
 
 " Robert Black and John Miller, with their servants, knows 
 all the persons, and for certain have prevaricated in their ex- 
 aminations at Cupar, and ever will, except the truth be ex- 
 torted ane other way, for it is well known that the murderers 
 are als dear to them as their nearest relatives, and their 
 giving in delations against them, is called by them and their 
 party, a betraying of the godly." * 
 
 The plot to murder the primate was of long 
 standing ; and it appears that his grace was not 
 the only one marked out for slaughter. There is 
 no doubt but that they intended to have mur- 
 
 * MSS. papers in the Ep. Chest. A. 18.
 
 586 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 dered Mr. Carmichel, as well as Mr. Leslie, the 
 minister of Ceres, and made many efforts, both on 
 the 2d and 3d of May, to fall in with the former, 
 in which they were happily disappointed. These 
 blood-thirsty saints intended to commit three 
 murders on Saturday, the 3d of May, as a 
 preparative to keeping a field-conventicle on 
 Sunday, the 4th, " resolving to resist such as 
 should offer to oppose the meeting, and there 
 was one away for bringing of a minister." * This 
 is a lively commentary on their principles ; and 
 shows with how little reason the government of 
 Charles II. has been accused of tyranny, in sup- 
 pressing such " rendezvouses of rebellion," and 
 " nurseries for murder." 
 
 On Friday night, the 2d of May, the thirteen 
 murderers met on the moor, north-east from Gil- 
 ston, one of whom was sent away, the rest " not 
 being clear to reveal to him what was designed." 
 He knew of their intention to murder Carmichel ; 
 but it seems they did not consider it prudent 
 to communicate to him their intention of mur- 
 dering the primate. The twelve conspirators 
 names were : David Hackston of Rathillet, John 
 Balfour of Kinlock, James Russell in Kettle, 
 George Fleman in Balbathie, Andrew Hender- 
 son and Alexander Henderson in Kilbrachmont, 
 
 * Russell's Account, p. 411.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 587 
 
 William Dalziel in Caddam, James Alexander 
 and George Balfour in Gilston, Thomas Ness in 
 
 P , and Andrew Guillon, weaver, in Balmari- 
 
 nock. " These after a whiles advise what to do, 
 and no more coming, and fearing they should be 
 discovered, there being troopers and soldiers in 
 Cupar, Luderney, Balchristy, Largo and Auch- 
 termuchty, they went all to Robert Black's in 
 Baldinny, himself being absent for fear of being 
 taken, where, putting up their horses, and pray- 
 ing (!) they laid down in the barn to sleep." 
 They afterwards, went eastwards, and were met 
 by Andrew Guillon, who advised them where to 
 go, so as to fall in with the archbishop. At this 
 time " Balfour said, he was sure they had some- 
 thing to do, for he being at Paris, his uncle's 
 house, intending towards the Highlands, because 
 of the violent rage in Fife, was pressed in spirit 
 to return ; and he enquiring the Lords mind 
 anent it, got that word borne in upon him, Go 
 AND PROSPER. So he, coming from prayer, 
 wondering what it could mean, went again," (to 
 enquire the Lord's mind,) " and got it confirmed 
 by that scripture, Go, HAVE NOT I SENT YOU? 
 whereupon, he durst no more question, but pre- 
 sently returned." * So here these murderers 
 proceed under a strong delusion, and by the insti- 
 
 Russell's Account, p. 413.
 
 588 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 gation of the devil, who was a murderer from the 
 beginning, as if acting under as divine a warrant 
 as that under which Saul went forth to " slay 
 both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox 
 and sheep, camel and ass." Searching for Car- 
 michel was a mere pretence ; and as a proof of 
 this, that amiable lady, Mrs. Black of Baldinny, 
 sent a boy on Saturday morning, to enquire how 
 they had sped, and to inform them that the arch- 
 bishop's coach was approaching ; " which they 
 seeing betwixt Ceres and Blebo-hole, said, ' Truly 
 this is of GOD, and it seemeth that GOD hath 
 delivered him into our hands ; let us not draw 
 back, but pursue ; for all looked on it, considering 
 the former circumstances, as a clear call from 
 GOD to fall upon him." * 
 
 Here Rathillet surrendered his command of the 
 party, saying, " as he had a private quarrel with 
 the primate, his revenge would mar the glory of 
 the action." James Russell said, " it had been 
 borne in upon his spirit some days before in 
 prayer, having more than ordinary overlettings of 
 the Spirit, that the LORD would employ him in 
 some piece of service, or it was long, and that 
 there would be some great man, who was an 
 enemy to the kirk of GOD, cut off. He was 
 forced to devote himself to GOD, and enter in a 
 
 * Russell's Account, p. 414.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 589 
 
 covenant with the LORD, and renew all his former 
 vows and engagements against papists, prelates, 
 indulgences, and all that was enemies to the 
 work of GOD, and opposed the flourishing of 
 CHRIST'S kingdom ; and that he should not refuse 
 nor draw back, whenever the LORD should enable 
 him and give him strength, though there be never 
 so much seeming hazard ; upon the 2d day of 
 May at Lessly, 1679. And seeing he had been 
 at several meetings, with several godly men in 
 other places of the kingdom, who not only 
 judged it their duty to take that wretch's life, 
 and some others, but had essayed it TWICE be- 
 fore, and came to the shire (of Fife) for that 
 purpose, and once wonderfully he escaped at the 
 Queensferry, for he went down to Leith with the 
 chancellor in a boat ; in the mean time they were 
 on the other side coming over, but knew nothing 
 of it ; and the LORD had kept them back at that 
 time, he having more blood to shed, for this was 
 about eight days before Mr. James Mitchel 
 was execute ; but he said, he was sure that he 
 had a clear call at that time, and that it seemed 
 the LORD had delivered that wretch into their 
 hand, and he durst not draw back but go forward, 
 considering what engagements the LORD had 
 taken from him the day before ; for though 
 the LORD had kept him back formerly, he
 
 590 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 doubted not but his offer was acceptable to the 
 LORD." * 
 
 This is the language of one of the principal 
 actors in this horrid drama. Mitchel's attempt, 
 was not the solitary act of a desperate fanatic, 
 impelled by a sudden impulse and a favourable 
 opportunity; but the formed and systematic 
 design of the whole party. Those who were 
 capable, and whose religious principles taught 
 them to premeditate, and make so many attempts 
 to take away the primate's life, as well as the 
 lives of the other bishops, had no right to com- 
 plain of the severities of the government. Such 
 ruffianism, which would disgrace a horde of 
 Tartars, ought not to have been tolerated by any 
 government. Those men who justify and ap- 
 plaud the murder of the archbishop in the 
 present day, are partakers of the guilt of the 
 fanatical ruffians who actually imbrued their 
 hands in his blood. And what must we think of 
 the ministers of the Solemn League and Cove- 
 nant, who taught and inculcated such bloody 
 tenets as works well pleasing and acceptable to 
 GOD ? and, alas ! I have myself heard Presby- 
 terian ministers applaud and justify that savage 
 and sacrilegious deed. 
 
 * Russell's Account, p. 415.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 591 
 
 The following letter, without any signature, 
 addressed to the archbishop's son, is among the 
 Episcopal papers : 
 
 " That the late execrable murder was premeditated by the 
 actors and many more, is clear from the letters found about 
 young Inchdairney, * and other letters found in the chest of 
 James Russell in the Kettle, a prime actor, both which are 
 supposed to be in the custody of the laird of Findhaven, or 
 Baillie Carmichel at Cupar. 
 
 " It is certain, that my lord archbishop's way was be-laid 
 by diverse parties of horse, one whereof came alongst by the 
 south side of Tarvit-hill on the Saturday morning, to the 
 number of twelve or fourteen ; and it is most probable that 
 this was the partie who stood at the Green-cross, a place be- 
 twixt Dura and the Quires, and lay in wait for his grace's re- 
 turn, whither it was by Cupar to St. Andrews, or by Kenno- 
 way to the Craig : but what they were is not known. 
 
 " As for the party that perpetrated the murder, they were 
 seen on Friday night at a landward place, within a mile of 
 Craighall, called Hurleswynd, where Thomas Glover dwelt 
 some years ago ; and it is certainly reported, that two of 
 these came to Kennoway about midnight, enquired if my Lord 
 St. Andrews was lodged at Capt. Seaton's, and presently 
 turned bridle. Where the rest were on that Friday's night 
 is not yet known at this place. But on Saturday morning 
 they were first seen in Teasemoore, and intended to have set 
 upon the coach in that heath be south Ceres, where it is 
 certain they were in some confusion, for Rathillet's horse run 
 from him, and was taken and given back to him by the gar- 
 diner of Struthers, and John Balfour with one man, entered 
 
 * Andrew Aytoun, Esq., younger, of Inchdairny.
 
 592 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 so far into the town of Ceres in pursuit of the coach, that 
 through a mistake he rode to the minister's gate and quickly 
 retired. They had breakfasted some time before, and given 
 their horses corn at Robert Black's house in Baldinny, a place 
 within two miles of that where the fact was committed, whose 
 house being since searched, there was found in it in a chest, 
 baked meat, short-bread, and some bottles of brandy. 
 
 " Thereafter having the coach in view, they kept half a 
 mile to the south of the coach, till they came to Kininmonth, 
 the coach then being about Blebo-hall. Immediately they 
 came down from the height, and galloped throw a little valley 
 at Ladeddie lime-kills, having the top of the coach still in 
 view, with a purpose to commit the deed at the double-dikes 
 of Magus. In order thereto, and to gain so considerable an 
 advantage, John Balfour came at a high rate through Magus 
 town to have stopped the coach there, while the rest rode 
 about the dikes, through a shed of peas, dropping, hard by 
 the dikes, two cloaks and one riding-coat. But the coach 
 being a little past that place, John Balfour came some little 
 time before the rest, (and here first, did my lord's servants 
 see the rogues,) stopped the coach, wounded the postilion, 
 and shot and strake at the foremost horse. By (the time) 
 this was done, the coach was surrounded, and immediately 
 the nefarious villainy committed ; which done, the ruffians 
 quietly rode back the way they came, at a slow pace, took up 
 their cloaks and coat, and were spoken to by the servants at 
 Magus. 
 
 "For the number of villains, some country-people say, 
 they were but nine in number that assaulted the coach, 
 whereof one in a grey hat, one in a velvet cap, one in a livery 
 cap, the rest for the most part in cloth caps. 
 
 " For the men it is certain that John Balfour and Rathillet 
 were two and most active ; there were also the above-named 
 James Russell, George Balfour, brother to the Balfours in
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 593 
 
 Gilston, and one Henderson, son to John Henderson, tenant 
 in Kilbrackmonth. 
 
 " More of the rogues and more of the design and fact, and 
 their retreat, is not yet certainly known at this place, bot the 
 informer is hopeful, once on Sunday or Tuesday next at 
 farthest, to get a more full discovery. In the mean time, it 
 is to be presumed, that Bailie Carmichel, from the examina- 
 tions at Cupar, can give more light, although it be extremely 
 doubted, if John Millar at Magus and all his servants, men 
 and women, be so strictly examined as they ought to have 
 been. 
 
 "It is certain, Rathillet only joined with the party on 
 Friday morning." 
 
 " For Sir William Sharp, these." * 
 
 We must now leave the murderers, and return 
 to the archbishop. It was surmised by Govern- 
 ment that the fanatics had some dangerous 
 projects in contemplation at this period, and 
 that they were encouraged in their seditious 
 designs by some noblemen who kept themselves in 
 the back ground. The Covenanters were merely, 
 in the language of the times, the <c under-spur 
 leathers," while "in the court itself, there were 
 then an Absalom and an Achitophel too, who 
 were stealing away the hearts of the people : and 
 they did not want many abettors, some of whom, 
 perhaps, were the king's own servants." f To 
 
 * MSS. Ep. Chest, A. 19. 
 f True and Impartial Account, p. 72. 
 
 Q Q
 
 594 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 complain of these, and to warn the king of his 
 danger, Archbishop Sharp resolved to make a 
 journey to court. But previously, it was neces- 
 sary for his affairs, to return to St. Andrews. 
 On Friday, therefore, the 2d of May, he crossed 
 the Forth, accompanied by his eldest daughter 
 Isabel. On the evening of that day, he reached 
 Kennoway, where he remained all night. Two 
 of the murderers came into that village about 
 midnight, and made anxious enquiries whether 
 the archbishop slept at the house of Captain 
 Seton. Upon receiving the required information, 
 they hastily rode off and joined the conspirators, 
 who, it will be remembered, were on the alert 
 next morning. Dr. Monro waited on the primate 
 on Saturday morning, previous to his leaving Ken- 
 noway, and found that his spirits were very much 
 depressed. It was remarked, that on Friday 
 night and Saturday morning he ate and drank 
 very sparingly. He was likewise longer and 
 more fervent than usual in his private devotions ; 
 as if he had had a presentiment of his approaching 
 and fearful end. His religious deportment on 
 Saturday morning was so impressive that the 
 learned and pious Dr. Monro said, he believed 
 he was inspired. On Saturday morning, about 
 nine o'clock, they continued their journey, and 
 the primate, in his conversation, dwelt entirely on 
 the vanity of life, the certainty of death and
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 595 
 
 judgment, the necessity of faith, good works, 
 repentance, and daily growth in grace ; and as 
 if presaging sudden death, he gave his daughter 
 such pious counsel and advice, as if he had been 
 on his death-bed ; her answers to which were 
 so satisfactory, that he embraced and formally 
 blessed her, about half an hour before he was 
 assaulted. As he passed a farm-house, called 
 Magus, he remarked to his daughter, " There 
 lives an ill-natured man : God preserve us, my 
 child." The name of this ill-natured man was 
 John Miller, and he was certainly in the secret 
 of the murderers' intentions. When the con- 
 spirators passed his house, they inquired at him, 
 if that was the bishop's coach ; but from fear 
 he made no answer. His servant-woman ran up 
 to Russell, who made the enquiry, and assured 
 him that it was. It was in Millar's house that 
 the conspirators concerted their sacrilegious pur- 
 pose. Although he did not join them in perpe- 
 trating the murder, yet there is no doubt that 
 he wished them success. The conspirators, ex- 
 cept Rathillet, dropt their cloaks at this man's 
 house, when pursuing the archbishop, and he, 
 like Saul, kept them till their return. This " ill- 
 natured man" was on the watch for their return, 
 and delivered their cloaks, remarking " LORD 
 forgive you, sirs, for doing this so near my house, 
 for it will harrie me." Not for doing the bloody 
 
 Q Q2
 
 596 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 deed itself, but for doing it so near his house, 
 and by consequence implicating him. 
 
 As the archbishop's equipage drove past the 
 Struthers, he sent a servant to say to the Earl of 
 Crawford, that it was not in his power to wait on 
 him at that time. Soon after passing the farm- 
 house at Magus, between eleven and twelve 
 o'clock, the coachman, looking round, saw the 
 conspirators riding at full speed, pistols in hand, 
 and swords drawn, and hanging from their wrists, 
 He immediately called to the postillion to drive 
 on, for he suspected their pursuers had evil in- 
 tentions. Finding his coach driven at such an 
 increased speed, his grace looked out to see 
 what was the cause. Russell was by this time 
 so near, as to see and recognise the archbishop ; 
 and he immediately fired, and called to the rest 
 to come up. The primate urged the coachman 
 to drive on, and he kept on for half a mile before 
 they overtook it. On this, the archbishop, turn- 
 ing to his daughter, exclaimed, " LOUD have 
 mercy upon me." " My poor child, I am gone ! " 
 During the pursuit, the murderers fired several 
 shots without any effect. Henderson was best 
 mounted, and got a-head of the postillion, 
 wounded him in the face, and cut his horse's 
 hams ; by which means, the coach was stopped, 
 and the conspirators came up. They then fired 
 into the coach, and wounded his grace two
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 597 
 
 inches below the right clavicle or collar-bone, the 
 ball entering betwixt the second and third ribs. 
 This pistol was fired so close to his body that 
 the wadding burnt his gown, and was rubbed off 
 by Miss Sharp. This shot, which alone would 
 have caused his death, was fired by George Fle- 
 man, who saw his daughter rub off the wadding. 
 Fleman then rode forward, and seized the horses' 
 bridles on the near side, and held them till George 
 Balfour had fired into the coach. James Russell 
 alighted, and taking Fleman's sword, opened the 
 coach-door, and desired " Judas" to come forth, 
 calling him " dog, betrayer of the godly ! 
 persecutor of Christ's church, &c." The ac- 
 count published by the privy council, says, that 
 one wounded him with a small sword in the 
 region of the kidneys. Russell, when he opened 
 the coach-door, furiously desired him to come 
 forth, for the blood he had shed was crying to 
 heaven for vengeance on him, and thrust his 
 shabel or hanger at him. It was Russell, there- 
 fore, that wounded him with the sword. Ac- 
 cording to his own account, he could not resist 
 the temptation of making a speech ; he " de- 
 clared before the LOUD, that it was no particular 
 interest, nor yet for any wrong that he had done 
 to him, but because he had betrayed the church 
 as Judas, and had wrung his hands these eighteen 
 or nineteen years in the blood of the saints, but
 
 598 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 especially at Pentland, and Mr. Guthrie and Mr. 
 Mitchel, and James Learmonth ; and they were 
 sejit by GOD to execute his vengeance on him 
 this day, and desired him to repent and come 
 forth." * John Balfour, who was still on horse- 
 back, also commanded him to come forth, and fired 
 his pistol; James Russell desired him again to 
 come forth " and make him for death, judgment, 
 and eternity." f They called to him to " come 
 out, cruel bloody traitor," to which he answered, 
 that he never wronged any man, and added, 
 " Gentlemen, you will spare my life, and what- 
 ever else you will please to do, you shall never 
 be questioned for it." They told him there was 
 no mercy for a Judas, an enemy and traitor to 
 the cause of Christ. Balfour again ordered him 
 to come out of the coach. Upon this, Miss Sharp 
 sprung out, and falling on her knees, with tears 
 and prayers, begged her father's life. This 
 tender appeal had no effect on the fanatical en- 
 thusiasts ; they threw her down, trampled on 
 her, and wounded her. Seeing the brutal treat- 
 ment of his daughter, the archbishop came com- 
 posedly out of the coach, and calmly told them, 
 " he did not know that he had ever injured any 
 of them, if he had, he was ready to make repa- 
 ration ; beseeching them to spare his life, and he 
 
 * Russell's Account, p. 417. t Ibid. p. 417.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 599 
 
 would never trouble them for that violence ; but 
 prayed them to consider, before they brought the 
 guilt of innocent blood upon themselves." 
 
 "The reverence of his person, and his composed 
 carriage, surprised and awed the villains, and 
 one of them relenting, cried, Spare those grey 
 hairs, but their hot zeal consuming their natural 
 pity reply ed ' He must die, he must die,' calling 
 him, ' traitorous villain, Judas, enemy to GOD 
 and his people (/) and telling him, he must now 
 receive the reward of his apostacy, and enmity 
 to the people of GOD.' " * He now said, " Well, 
 then, I shall expect no mercy from you ; but 
 promise me to spare my poor child." 
 
 Russell says, that the primate said to John 
 Balfour, " I will come to you, for I know you 
 are a gentleman and will save my life ; but I am 
 gone already, and what needs more ? " By this 
 time his grace felt the pain of his wounds in- 
 creasing, and that death would ensue even though 
 the blood-thirsty murderers had done no more. 
 The privy council's account says, that he directed 
 his speech to spare his daughter's life to one 
 whom it is supposed that he recognised as he 
 looked him full in the face. Reaching out his 
 hand to him, the bloody villain started back, and 
 by a mighty blow cut him more than half through 
 
 * Fanatical Moderation, Second Letter, p. 65.
 
 COO LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 the wrist. Russell says it was Henderson who 
 cut his wrist. The villainous accounts given by 
 Wodrovv and Dr. Burns say, the archbishop 
 could not be prevailed on to pray ; and that 
 there was no sign of contrition in him. This was 
 rather an awful moment for the calm exercise of 
 prayer ; notwithstanding, such was the compo- 
 sure of this good man in his present peril, that 
 he did pray, and that for his murderers too. The 
 falsehood of saying he refused to pray was 
 fabricated for the purpose of blackening his 
 character, and keeping up the delusion in the 
 public mind, that he was familiar with the devil, 
 and practised necromancy. But so far was he 
 from refusing to pray, as they falsely and ma- 
 liciously allege, that seeing all hope of softening 
 the barbarians vain, he requested a short space 
 for prayer. But this the assassins refused, ex- 
 claiming " GOD would not hear the prayers of 
 such a dog" " I hope," says he, " ye will give 
 me some time to pour out my soul to GOD, and 
 I shall pray for you ; and presently falling on 
 his knees, he said, LORD forgive them for I do : 
 LORD JESUS receive my spirit" 
 
 While thus engaged in prayer, one of the 
 traitors who was some paces off, called to the 
 rest to " spare those gray hairs." This was 
 
 * Account by the Privy Council.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 601 
 
 Haxton of Rathillet, who never dismounted, but 
 when the others threw away their cloaks, wrapt 
 his round the lower part of his face. By Wod- 
 row's account, it is said that the dying martyr 
 addressed to him the words, " Sir, I know you 
 are a gentleman, you will protect me." He 
 represents Rathillet as answering, " Sir, I shall 
 never lay a hand on you," * and then rode a 
 little way off, for all this time he did not alight. 
 By Russell's account, however, which agrees more 
 closely with that of the privy council, this personal 
 appeal, as if to a gentleman, was addressed to 
 Balfour of Burley, who had formerly been his 
 chamberlain, and whom he recognised. While 
 his hands were lifted up to heaven in the attitude 
 of prayer for himself and his murderers, they cut 
 at him furiously on the hands. Balfour gave 
 him one tremendous cut above the left eye, on 
 which his grace exclaimed, " Now you have done 
 the turn." He then fell forward, and his head 
 rested on one of his arms, as if he had been to 
 compose himself for sleep. The murderers then 
 cut and hacked the back of his head, as he lay 
 extended on the ground, and gave him sixteen 
 wounds on the head, till they gashed it into one 
 hole. " In effect, the whole occipital part was 
 but one wound." Some of them, to make sure 
 
 * Wodrow, vol. iii. p. 44.
 
 602 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 work, stirred his brains in his skull with the 
 points of their swords. 
 
 In the acting of this dreadful tragedy, Miss 
 Sharp was held fast by Andrew Guillon, from 
 whom she struggled hard to escape. She 
 screamed, and said, " This is murder." To whom 
 Guillon replied, " It is not murder, but GOD'S 
 vengeance on him for murdering many poor 
 souls in the kirk of Scotland." In her efforts to 
 save her father, she was severely wounded in the 
 thigh, while she threw herself between the mur- 
 derers and her father ; but by whom it is not 
 said. Likewise one of the assassins wounded her 
 in one of her thumbs with his sword, while she 
 was clinging to his bridle-rein, vainly beseeching 
 him to spare her father's life. After this, they 
 rifled his grace's pockets, in which they found 
 some papers. They then robbed the coach, in 
 which they found a dressing-case belonging to 
 Miss Sharp, containing some gold and other 
 articles. They carried off his grace's night-bag, 
 bible, girdle, and some important papers. They 
 disarmed and robbed his servants, one of whom 
 named Wallace, offered to make resistance, but 
 he was severely wounded in the face by Russell, 
 and his pockets rifled by the pious and godly 
 executors of GOD'S vengeance. There was no 
 money found on the archbishop nor in the coach, 
 save what they stole from Miss Sharp. It is
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 603 
 
 singular that the eulogists of this parricide are 
 indignant at being accused of robbery. This 
 is indeed straining at gnats and swallowing 
 camels. 
 
 "Thus fell," says the account published by 
 authority of the privy council, " that excellent 
 prelate, (whose character and worthy acts deserve, 
 and no doubt will find some excellent pen,) by 
 the hands of nine fanatic ruffians. That they 
 were so is not to be doubted, their names being 
 all now known, and all of them denounced or 
 intercommuned, for frequenting field-conventicles, 
 and the known champions of that party in the 
 shire of Fife. Besides, their bloody sanctified 
 discourse at the time of their bloody actings, 
 shews what temper and spirit they were of. I 
 have done with my relation (attested to me be- 
 fore famous witnesses, by my lord's daughter, and 
 those of his servants that were so unfortunate as 
 to be spectators of this execrable villainy) when 
 I have observed, how ridiculous the author of the 
 pretended true one is, when he endeavours to 
 discover the occasion of that murder of the Arch- 
 bishop of St. Andrews ; for what need was there 
 of anything more to provoke them, than his 
 being an archbishop, and the primate of Scot- 
 land ; and the most active as well as the most 
 reverend father of this church ? Was it not for 
 this reason that he was, on the streets of Edin-
 
 604 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 burgh, shot at by Mr. James Mitchel, while in 
 his own coach ? Was not this the reason that 
 these fanatical books from Holland, both some 
 time ago, and of late, marked out his 'sacrum 
 caputj as they term it, and devoted him to a 
 cruel death, and gave out predictions that he 
 should die so ? which they easily might, being 
 so active in stimulating and prompting instru- 
 ments to fulfil their own prophecies. * O Lord, 
 how unsearchable are thy judgments, and thy 
 ways past finding out !' " 
 
 The following is an attested copy of a letter 
 written by J. Cargill to his brother Donald, one 
 of the most fanatical and violent of the Presby- 
 terian ministers. The original was intercepted, 
 and sent with other papers to the Duke of Lau- 
 derdale at London, to be communicated to the 
 king. From which it would appear, that there 
 had been a regular conspiracy to murder several 
 others, as well as the archbishop, as a prelude to 
 rising in rebellion. The conspirators were so 
 full of their hellish project, that they scarcely 
 made any secret of their intentions. 
 
 * Narrative of the manner of the execrable murder of the 
 late Lord Archbishop of St. Andrews, published by authority 
 of the privy council, in folio, in the Advocate's Library, and 
 likewise attached to the True and Impartial Account, 
 pp. 140144.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 605 
 
 " Dearly beloved Brother, I am glad to hear of your 
 welfare, and that you continue in the faith, which I wish you 
 may retain, and persevere in to the end. You shall know 
 that our forces daily encrease, and are now surmounted to 
 the number of 10,000, and there are daily adding to the 
 number of those who shall be saved. I hope you have heard 
 of the dreadful death of the old fox, who was clothed with 
 the sheep's skin, and countenanced with the king's authority. 
 The same was intended for others also, but it seems GOD 
 hath not altogether forsaken them, and given them over to 
 themselves ; but it may be supposed that they are referred 
 to a greater judgement, which GOD in his own appointed time 
 will cause fall upon them, and send deliverance to his people, 
 which shall be the daily prayers of him who greets you in the 
 Lord. I am informed that the king is sending down 5,000 
 English, under the command of the Duke of Monmouth, to 
 assist the prelatical party, and to suppress the godly : but 
 GOD knows how to deliver the just from the hand of their 
 enemies. But I hope within a few months we shall see an 
 end of thir things ; and then shall the righteous flourish like 
 a palm-tree, which shall be the evening, morning, and mid- 
 day prayers of your beloved brother in the Lord. 
 
 3d May, 1679." "J.C." 
 
 " Directed to Mr. D C 1, minister of the gospel 
 
 at Glasgow. With care deliver these." 
 
 " Edinburgh, 10th May, 1679. Hcec est vera copia 
 epistolce suprascriptte, cujus principalis est ad ducem 
 LauderdalicB transmissa. 
 
 (Signed) " Jo. Edinburgen, &c. 
 And. Sodoren. 
 Arth. Lismoren." 
 
 Immediately on the rumour of the archbishop's 
 murder reaching the capital, the privy council
 
 606 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 assembled, and addressed the letter below to his 
 majesty, acquainting him with the sacrilegious 
 deed. 
 
 " May it please your Grace, The Archbishop of St. 
 Andrews, primate of this your majesty's ancient kingdom, one 
 of your majesty's privy council, having been yesterday as- 
 sassinated upon your majesty's highway, at noon-tide, by ten 
 or eleven fanatick ruffians, bare and open faced, by so many 
 wounds as left one of many instances of their unparalleled 
 cruelty, most of his wounds having been given after he was 
 visibly dead. We could not but acquaint your sacred ma- 
 jesty by this express, by which your majesty may easily con- 
 sider whether we have been needlessly jealous of the cruelty 
 of that sect, that is by our enemies said to be so unnecessarily 
 persecuted by us : and by which, and the many late murders 
 committed upon your soldiers, and others, for doing your 
 service, your majesty may, and we may certainly conclude 
 these of that profession will be insatiable, till by crimes and 
 cruelties they do all that in them lies to force your majesty 
 from your royal government ; this being the natural product 
 not of their humours, but of their principles, out of which 
 these flames will undoubtedly at last arise, that will consume 
 even those who accuse the necessary zeal of your servants, as 
 illegal, oppressing of tender consciences, albeit we never 
 straitened the liberty of any religion save that which 
 dissolved the principles of human society, and unhinged 
 your majesty's royal government ; nor can we omit upon this 
 occasion to inform your majesty, that this assassination has 
 been revived by a paper lately spread here, whereby the just 
 execution of Mr. James Mitchel, who died for attempting 
 formerly the same crime, is charged upon your ministers and 
 judges as als illegal a murder as that which he designed to 
 commit, though he died inveighing to the greatest height of
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. G07 
 
 bitterness against your majesty in his last speech. And there- 
 fore we humbly beg that your majesty would enquire into the 
 authors, spreaders, and abettors of that villainous and trea- 
 cherous paper, and would send them (if of this kingdom) 
 hither to be judged here, or (if subjects of your majesty's 
 other kingdoms) that your majesty may, for the security of 
 your own crown, and the just vindication of your judicatures, 
 and the encouragement of others to serve you, require your 
 respective judges to bring them to condign punishment, as 
 we would do to such as defame their judicatures amongst us. 
 The proclamation herewith sent will inform your majesty of 
 the utmost endeavours that we could use upon this dreadful 
 occasion. And we hope that your majesty, who takes such 
 effectual means to punish the murder of one of the meanest 
 servants of your laws in England, will use all endeavours to 
 punish the murderers of one of your majesty's chief ministers 
 here, whose affection to your royal interest has occasioned 
 his being brought to this fatal period. 
 
 " Your majesty's most humble, faithful, and 
 
 most obedient subjects and servants, 
 " Subscribitur ut sederunt. Chancellor, Glasgow, 
 Douglass, Montrose, Mar, Glencairn, Moray, 
 Wigton, Linlithgow, Edinburgh, Elphinston, 
 President of Session, Depute Register, Advocate, 
 Colington, General Dalzell, Abbots-hall, Rossie, 
 Mr. Maitland, Lundy, Tarbit." 
 
 The council's letter to the king was enclosed 
 in one to the Duke of Lauderdale, of the same 
 date : 
 
 " May it please your Grace, Upon notice of the horrid as- 
 sassination committed yesterday, upon the person of the Lord 
 Archbishop of St. Andrews, the council being frequently met
 
 608 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 this day, have by a letter acquainted his majesty therewith, 
 and sent a copy of the proclamation past on this occasion to 
 your grace, with a copy of the depositions of the lord arch- 
 bishop's servants taken by the council, to be offered to his 
 majesty. In time of the sitting of council now at seven hours 
 at night, the justice-general and laird of Lundy, having re- 
 turned from Fife, gave us a new account of that bloody 
 tragedy, and that some of the forces have overtaken two 
 suspect persons, who having resisted, one of them was shot in 
 the back, and taken prisoner, who is found to be young 
 Inchdairney, and it is thought will die in his wounds. And 
 another, Henry Shaw, in Kirkaldy, an intercommuned person, 
 who was also then taken. The council has appointed their 
 next meeting to-morrow in the forenoon. The enclosed 
 (already given) copy of a declaration was dropt in Cupar, 
 some few days before the murder. 
 
 " Signed as above." 
 " Edinburgh, 4th May, 1679." 
 
 In reply to their letter the king wrote the 
 following answer altogether with his own hand : 
 
 " CHARLES R. 
 
 " Right trusty, &c. we greet you well. It was with no 
 less abhorrence than surprisal, that in your letter of the 4th 
 instant, (in a flying packet,) we received an account of that 
 cruel and barbarous murder committed the day before, by 
 ten fanatic ruffians, upon the person of the late Lord Arch- 
 bishop of St. Andrews, within two miles of that place : an 
 action attended with so many circumstances of inhumanity 
 and barbarity as that, were it not certified unto us from so 
 good hands, we could not have believed, that in any nation 
 civilized (much less where Christianity is professed) there 
 could have been such a hellish design contrived, much less 
 put in execution : a villainy so abominable to us (and must
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 609 
 
 certainly be so to all good men) that were committed but upon 
 the meanest of our subjects, in place of the metropolitan of 
 that our ancient kingdom, and one of our privy council, we 
 could not but resent it with the most severe effects of our 
 displeasure and abhorrence ; and therefore we cannot but 
 highly commend (and return you our hearty thanks for) 
 your great care and forwardness (even upon the first notice 
 of that horrid fact) to take the most effectual course, for 
 discovering and apprehending those barbarous assassins,. in 
 order to their exemplary punishment, and the terror of others 
 of the same bloody and hellish principles, from ever daring 
 to attempt such a villainy hereafter : and particularly the 
 proclamation you have published upon that occasion, with 
 which we were so well pleased, that we did immediately order it 
 to be printed here. We have also seen the deposition of the 
 witnesses, and the copy of that scandalous and seditious 
 paper that was dropt in the town of Cupar. By which last 
 we perceive that (in all appearance) the design of that horrid 
 murder was laid some time before, by a more considerable 
 number of men than the assassins were; and therefore we do 
 in a particular manner recommend to you to make all the 
 enquiry and search that is possible, for all persons that you 
 have reason to suspect any manner of way guilty of contriving, 
 consulting, abetting, or furthering that horrid villainy. For 
 we do look upon them as no less guilty thereof, than the 
 wretches that assumed the boldness and impiety to shed that 
 innocent blood, and that to so high a degree of cruelty and 
 barbarity, as can hardly be paralleled in any nation ; which 
 we do so much abominate, as we cannot but again earnestly 
 desire you to take the most effectual courses (consistent with 
 law) for punishing (to the utmost severity) all such as shall be 
 found guilty of, or accessory to that horrid and execrable 
 crime ; for doing whereof, this shall be to you and all others 
 that may be therein concerned, a full warrant. By a former 
 
 R R
 
 610 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 letter we sent for some of your number to come hither, and 
 after we have spoke with them, you shall find that we are fully 
 resolved to maintain and assert the authority exercised by 
 you ; and that we will not cease to afford you our counte- 
 nance and protection, in the faithful discharge of that great 
 trust we have committed to you ; and so we bid you heartily 
 farewell. 
 
 " Given at our court at Whitehall, the 10th day of May, 
 1679, and of our reign the 31st year. 
 
 " By his majesty's command, 
 
 (Signed) " Lauderdale." 
 
 The proclamation, to which allusion is made 
 in the king's letter, is added below. 
 
 " CHARLES, &c. 
 
 " To our lyon king-at-arms, &c. greeting. We being fully 
 and by legal proofs assured of the late horrid and bloody 
 murder committed upon Saturday last, being the 3d day of 
 May instant, by ten or eleven fanatic assassinates, upon the 
 person of the most reverend father in GOD, James, late Arch- 
 bishop of St. Andrews, primate of all Scotland : which bar- 
 barous and inhuman assassination and parricide will (we 
 doubt not) spread horror and amazement in all the hearts of 
 such as believe that there is a GOD, or a Christian religion ; 
 a cruelty exceeding the barbarity of pagans and heathens, 
 amongst whom the officers and ministers of religion are re- 
 puted to be sacred, and are by the respect borne to the deity 
 which they adore, secured against all such bloody and execra- 
 ble attempts ; a cruelty exceeding the belief of all true Pro- 
 testants, whose churches have justly stigmatised with the 
 marks of impiety, all such as defile with blood those hands 
 which they ought to hold up to heaven ; and a cruelty 
 equal to any with which we can reproach the enemies
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 611 
 
 of this true and reformed church, by which also not only 
 the principles of human society, but our authority and go- 
 vernment, (the said archbishop being one of our privy council,) 
 is highly violated, and example and encouragement given 
 for murdering all such as serve us faithfully, according to 
 the prescript of our laws and royal commands, daily in- 
 stances whereof we are to expect, whilst field- conventicles, 
 those rendezvouses of rebellion, and forges of all bloody 
 and JESUITICAL principles, are so frequented and followed, 
 to the scandal of all government, and the contempt of our 
 laws: and which murder is, as far as is possible, rendered yet 
 more detestable, by the unmasked boldness of such as durst 
 openly, with bare faces, in the midst of our kingdom at 
 mid-day, assemble themselves together to kill, in our high- 
 way, the primate of our kingdom, and one of our privy 
 council, by so many strokes and shots, as left his body as 
 it were but one wound ; and many of which being given 
 after they knew he was dead, were remarkable proofs they 
 were actuated by a spirit of hellish and insatiable cruelty. 
 We have, therefore, with advice of our privy council, thought 
 fit hereby to command and charge all sheriffs, &c. to search, 
 seek, take and apprehend the persons guilty of the said horrid 
 murder, or any suspect by them, and to imprison them, until 
 they be brought to justice; and all our good and faithful 
 subjects to concur in the taking and securing, as far as is in their 
 power, these assassinates. And in respect, there is a com- 
 pany of vagrant and skulking ruffians, who, to the great con- 
 tempt of all government, do ride thorow this our kingdom, 
 killing our soldiers, deforcing such as put our laws in execu- 
 tion, and committing such horrible murders, who might be 
 easily discovered, if all such amongst whom they converse, did, 
 according to their duty, endeavour to apprehend them, or 
 give notice where they haunt or resort : we have, therefore, 
 thought fit conform to the 144th Act Par. 12 K. James VI., 
 
 R R 2
 
 C12 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 to command and charge all our subjects, that whensoever any 
 unknown men or vagabonds shall repair amongst them, that 
 they, with all possible speed, certify any of our privy council, 
 officers of our forces, or any having trustunder us thereof; with 
 certification to them, that if they omit the same, they shall be 
 punished with all rigour conform to the said act. And since seve- 
 ral of the said assassinates are known to have been tenants in the 
 shire of Fife, whose faces will be known to such of the witnesses 
 as were present ; we hereby require and command all the 
 heritors and masters of the said shire of Fife and Kinross, to 
 bring their tenants, cottars and servants, and others dwelling 
 in their lands, to the respective towns at the diets after-men- 
 tioned, viz. those within the Presbytery of St. Andrews, to the 
 town of St. Andrews, upon the 13th day of May instant ; 
 those within the presbytery of Cupar to the town of Cupar, 
 upon the 16th day of the said month ; those within the pres- 
 bytery of Kirkaldy, to the town of Kirkaldy, upon the 20th 
 day of the said month ; and those within the presbytery of 
 Dumfermline, to the town of Dumfermline, upon the 23d of 
 the said month, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, upon each one 
 of the said days, there to continue and abide till they be ex- 
 amined by the sheriff deputes of the said shire, who are 
 hereby commissioned to that effect, and to be seen by the 
 said witnesses ; with certification to such of the said tenants, 
 cottars, servants, and others aforesaid, as shall be absent, 
 they shall be reputed as accessory to the said crime ; and the 
 masters, if they produce them not, or if hereafter they harbour 
 any that shall not compear, they shall be reputed favourers of 
 the said assassination. And whereas, there are some persons 
 under caption or intercommuning in the said shire, for seve- 
 ral causes ; and lest persons who are innocent of that horrid 
 crime may be thereby debarred from appearing and vindi- 
 cating themselves, we have thought fit hereby to sist and su- 
 persede all execution upon any letters of caption, or jnter-
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. G13 
 
 communing, or any other warrant for securing of any persons 
 for any cause, for the space of forty-eight hours before and 
 after the said diets of appearance, that they may safely come 
 and go, without any trouble or impediment whatsoever : and to 
 the end the said cruel murder may be the more easily dis- 
 covered, we do hereby offer and give full assurance of our in- 
 demnity, to any one of the said assassinates, who shall dis- 
 cover his accomplices, and such as hounded them out, and 
 of present payment the sum of ten thousand rnerks, to any 
 who shall inform who were the said assassinates, if upon 
 his information, they or either of them can be apprehended, 
 that they may be brought to condign punishment : and 
 ordains these presents to be printed and published, at the 
 market-crosses of all the royal burghs in the shires of Fife and 
 Kinross, and to be read at all the parish kirks of the said 
 shires and jurisdictions within the same, upon Sunday next, 
 being the eleventh of this instant, immediately after the ordi- 
 nary time of divine service in the forenoon, that the same may 
 come to the knowledge of all persons concerned. 
 
 " Given under our signet at Edinburgh, the fourth day of 
 May, 1679, and of our reign the thirty-one year. 
 
 " Alexander Gibson, Cl. Sti. Concilii." 
 
 It is something suspicious that Wodrow cites 
 none of the preceding documents, except the 
 proclamation, although he deals so largely in 
 the council-registers, that his book is almost 
 entirely made up of such public papers. Although 
 he pretends not to approve of the murder of the 
 archbishop, yet he " relates all its circumstances 
 with the most fraternal sympathy and apologetic 
 tenderness, like a genuine disciple of John
 
 614 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Knox."* This just though severe remark, ap- 
 pears to have offended Dr. Burns, and roused 
 his sympathy. " It is true," the doctor says, 
 " he does not deal in the harsh invective of the 
 high cavalier party on such an occasion, and he 
 would be far from maintaining that the prelate 
 did not, in point of fact, deserve to die. But he 
 does not defend the manner of the deed, and 
 much less the dangerous principles which led to 
 it. He takes just that view of it which every 
 moderate and fair man, on a proper knowledge 
 of the dreadful state of the country at the time, 
 and the agency of Sharp in the persecutions, will 
 be inclined to take : I acknowledge he is wrong, 
 in stating that no party of Presbyterians in Scot- 
 land, at the time, approved of the deed. The 
 author of the ' Hind let Loose,' p. 635, vindicates 
 it on the plea of necessity, and speaks of all 
 such ' attempts for cutting off such monsters' 
 as ' lawful and (as one would think,) laudable, 
 in the circumstances of the country at the time.'" f 
 It is a pity that the learned doctor did not cite the 
 whole passage, when he had the "Hind let Loose" 
 before him. The author, Shiels, spoke the known 
 sentiments of all his communion at the time, and 
 which is so deeply rooted, that even to this day 
 
 * Note to Russell's Account, by K. Sharp, Esq., p. 407. 
 f Burn's Notes to Wodrow, vol. iii. p. 49.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 615 
 
 the archbishop's murder is reckoned an act of 
 justice : 
 
 " Nevertheless," says Shiels, such lawful, (and as one would 
 think,) laudable attempts for cutting off such monsters of 
 nature, beasts of prey, burthens to the earth, as well as ene- 
 mies to the commonwealth, are not only condemned as mur- 
 ders and horrid assassinations, but criminally punished as 
 such; and upon this account, the sufferings of such, as have 
 left a conviction upon the consciences of all that knew them, 
 of their honesty, integrity, soundness in the principles, and 
 seriousness in the practice of religion, have been several, sin- 
 gular, and signally severe, and owned of the Loan, to the 
 admiration of all spectators ; some being cruelly tortured and 
 executed to the death for essaying such execution of judg- 
 ment, as Mr. Mitchel ; others for accomplishing it, as Mr. 
 Hackston, of Rathillet, and others, who avowed their acces- 
 sion to the cutting off that arch-traitor, Sharp, prelate of 
 St. Andrews, and others, for not condemning that act of 
 justice, though they were as innocent of the fact as the child 
 unborn." " However this may be exploded by this genera- 
 tion as odious and uncouth doctrine, yet in former periods of 
 this church, it hath been maintained with courage, and 
 asserted with confidence. How the ancient Scots, even after 
 they received the Christian faith, served their tyrants and op- 
 pressors how in the beginning of the Reformation, the killing 
 'of the Cardinal (Beaton,) and of David Rizzio were and are 
 generally to this day justified:' * 
 
 These were the sentiments of " every moderate 
 and fair man" among the fanatical party at the 
 time, who " could not but observe and adore the 
 
 Hind let Loose, pp. 635638.
 
 616 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 holy and righteous providence of GOD, in the re- 
 moval of this violent persecutor, and spring of 
 the most part of the former severities."* 
 
 There were twenty-seven men engaged in this 
 execrable conspiracy, who divided into three 
 parties, there being as many roads, by which the 
 archbishop might have travelled, and each party 
 took their position on a different road, so deter- 
 mined were they to commit this execrable murder. 
 All the three rendezvoused the afternoon of that 
 memorable day, after the murder, at a place 
 called the Tewchits : here the whole party went 
 to prayer, first together, and afterwards indi- 
 vidually, " with great composure of spirit, and 
 enlargement of heart more nor (than) ordinary, 
 blessing the Lord, who had called them out, and 
 carried them so courageously through so great a 
 work, and led them by his Holy Spirit in every 
 step that they stepped in that matter, and prayed 
 that, seeing he had been pleased to honour them 
 to act for him, and to execute his justice upon 
 that wretch, (whom all who loved the welfare of 
 Zion ought to have striven who might have had 
 their hand first on him,) might let it be known, 
 by keeping them out of the enemy's hands, and 
 straight in his way; that they did nothing out of 
 any self-prejudice nor self-interest, but only all 
 
 * Wodrow, vol. iii. p. 48.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 617 
 
 they were commanded of God ; and as now he 
 had been pleased to lead and guide them by his 
 Spirit, and made them act valiantly as soldiers of 
 Jesus Christ, not being ashamed of what they had 
 done, but desiring to glorify GOD for it, and was 
 willing, if he should be pleased to see it for his 
 glory, they were willing to seal the truth of it 
 with their blood, through his grace and strength 
 enabling them, who would send none a warfare on 
 their own charges."* It is shocking to think what 
 a " strong delusion" possessed the minds of these 
 murderers, and not only them, but the minds of 
 the whole party ever since. These men truly 
 verified our blessed Lord's prophetic words, 
 " Yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth 
 you," (and their successors,) "will think that 
 he doth GOD service" The reason which Christ 
 assigned for so treating the apostles, is fully as 
 applicable to those who killed their successor as to 
 them " because they have NOT KNOWN the 
 Father nor me" St. John, xvi. 2, 3. Had 
 they known the Father, or been guided by the 
 gospel of his Son, they would have obeyed those 
 who were set in authority over them, and held 
 such in estimation, they would have obeyed 
 every ordinance of man for Christ's sake, and 
 would have known that the prayers of un- 
 
 * Russell's Account, p. 422.
 
 618 LIFE AN'D TIMES OF 
 
 repentant murderers, and of men swollen with 
 spiritual pride, are an abomination to the 
 LORD. 
 
 Mr. Kirkpatrick Sharp has published a letter 
 from Sir William Sharp, the archbishop's son, to 
 Sir James Baird at Banff, in which he gives an 
 account of his father's barbarous murder, of which 
 the following is a copy : 
 
 " Honoured Sir, This horrid and stupendous murder has 
 so confounded me, that I am not able to give a suitable re- 
 turn to your excellent and kind letter. What I have learnt 
 of that execrable deed is, that on Friday, the 2d of this instant 
 month, my worthy father crossed the water, lay at Kennoway 
 all night, next morning set out for St. Andrews. Being two 
 miles off, twenty-seven of those villainous regicides had a full 
 view of the coach, and not rinding the opportunity, divided 
 into three parties, which took up the three ways he could 
 take homewards. Nine of them assaulted the coach within 
 two miles of this place, by discharging their pistols and se- 
 curing his servants. The coachman drove on for half a mile, 
 until one of his horses was wounded in three places, and the 
 postilion wounded in the hand. Then they fired several shot 
 at the coach, and commanded my dearest father to come out, 
 which he said he would. When he had come out, (not being 
 yet wounded,) he said, " Gentlemen, I beg my life." " No ! 
 bloody villain, betrayer of the cause of Christ, no mercy !" 
 Then said he, " I ask none for myself, but have mercy on my 
 poor child," (his eldest daughter was in the coach with him,) 
 and holding out his hand to one of them, to get his, that he 
 would spare his child, he cut him in the wrist. Then falling 
 down upon his knees, and holding up his hands, he prayed 
 that GOD would forgive them ; and begging mercy for his sins 
 from his Saviour, they murdered him, by sixteen great
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 619 
 
 wounds in his back, head, and one above his left eye, three 
 in his left hand, when he was holding them up, with a 
 shot above his right breast, which was found to be powder. 
 After this damnable deed, they took the papers out of his 
 pocket, robbed my sister and their servants of all their 
 papers, gold, and money ; and one of these hellish rascals 
 cut my sister in the thumb, when she had him by the 
 bridle, begging her father's life. GOD of his infinite mercy 
 support this poor family, under this dreadful and insup- 
 portable case, and give us to know why GOD is thus angry 
 with us, and earnestly beg not to consume us in his wrath, 
 but now that his anger may cease, and he may be at peace 
 with us, through the blood of a reconciled Saviour; and also 
 may have pity on this poor distressed church, and that he 
 may be the last sacrifice for it, as he is the first Protestant 
 martyr bishop in such a way. 
 
 " Dear Sir, as my worthy father had always a kindness and 
 particular esteem for yourself, son, and family, so I hope you 
 will be friendly to his son, who shall ever continue, 
 " Worthy sir, 
 
 " Your most faithful, &c. 
 
 " W. Sharp." 
 
 " St. Andrews, 10th May, 1679, 
 Half-hour after receipt of yours." 
 
 " On Saturday next is the funeral." 
 
 The privy council sent Dr. Patillo and three 
 surgeons to St. Andrews, to examine and embalm 
 the body of the archbishop. They declared that 
 his constitution appeared vigorous, and perfectly 
 sound, indicating the appearance of long life. 
 The following is a copy of their official report to 
 the privy council. 
 
 " We, under subscribers, being called to visit the corpse of 
 the late Lord Archbishop of St. Andrews, do find that he had
 
 620 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 received a wound by a sword over the left eye, extending two 
 inches above, and one below, making a great suffusion of 
 blood upon the cheek, and upper and lower eye-lid. Next 
 we found many wounds upon the posterior part of his head, 
 insomuch, that the whole occipital bone was shattered all in 
 pieces, and a part of the brain lost thereby upon the place, 
 which certainly being so great, could not but occasion his 
 present death. There were only two wounds to be seen upon 
 the body ; the first, two or three inches below the right 
 clavicle, betwixt the second and third rib, which was given by 
 a shot, not reaching the capacity of the breast. The next 
 was a small wound upon the region of the kidneys, given by 
 a small sword. Likewise, we found three wounds upon his 
 left hand, which might have proved mortal, though he had 
 escaped the former. Also another upon the right hand, as 
 dangerous as the former ; as witness our hands at St. Andrews, 
 the 5th day of May, 1679. 
 
 " George Pitillo, M. D. 
 
 . . William Borthwick, Chiruryeon. 
 
 Henry Spence, Ckirurgeon, 
 James Pringle, Chirurgeon" 
 
 As this great and good man fell a martyr to 
 the detestable principles engendered by the 
 Solemn League and Covenant, and by the 
 bloody hands of its votaries, the privy council 
 determined to honour his remains with a public 
 funeral. It was performed with the utmost mag- 
 nificence, agreeable to a programme issued by 
 the government, the original of which is in the 
 "Episcopal Chest," at Aberdeen. The order 
 directs, that the prebends and clergy of the 
 metropolitical church shall meet the body in 
 their robes, in good order, at the door of the
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. G21 
 
 church. The respectable inhabitants were di- 
 rected to be drawn up in two lines, betwixt the 
 abbey and the place of interment, for keeping off 
 the crowd, so that the procession might pass 
 through a lane betwixt two files, without inter- 
 ruption or disorder. The privy council appointed 
 the Archbishop of Glasgow to act as chief mourner, 
 assisted by the other bishops in deep mourning. 
 The privy council were to walk in a body, and 
 the macers of court were to walk bare-headed, as 
 a guard to the honours of purse and mace. * 
 
 The procession as marshalled by order of the 
 privy council, proceeded in the following order : 
 
 Sixty-one old men, corresponding to the years of the defunct's 
 age, each in mourning-hoods and cloaks, and bearing on 
 staves the arms of the archiepiscopal see, impaled with 
 those of the defunct, one preceding and bearing a little 
 gumphion, f the rest following two and two. 
 
 The Horse of State, 
 equipped in furniture, as for the riding of parliament, 
 
 led by footmen in the defunct's livery ; 
 
 Two close trumpets, with mourning banners ; 
 
 A horse in mourning, led by footmen in mourning ; 
 
 The Great Gumphion borne on a lance ; 
 
 * MSS. Epis. Chest, No. A. 20. 
 
 f I cannot discover what a " gumphion" is. Such anti- 
 quaries and heralds as I have consulted, are equally at a 
 loss ; but it is imagined to be a banner hanging straight 
 down, in the manner seen on the stage, with arms, &c. of the 
 deceased, and the insignia of mourning.
 
 622 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 The great mourning pencil, borne 
 
 by Sir John Strachan ; 
 The defunct's servants, and those of the nobility 
 
 and gentry in mourning ; 
 
 The magistrates of St. Andrews; 
 
 The magistrates of the other royal burghs ; 
 
 The magistrates of Edinburgh ; 
 Professors of the University of St. Andrews ; 
 
 Clergymen of the diocese ; 
 
 Doctors and other dignitaries in the church ; 
 
 The rector of the university, ushered by his three maces ; 
 
 Gentlemen and knights, two and two ; 
 
 The lords of session, 
 
 ushered by their four ordinary macers ; 
 
 The nobility according to their rank, two and two; 
 
 Two close trumpets ; 
 
 A mourning standard, borne by Sharp of Houston ; 
 Four coats-of-arms, two paternal, and two maternal, borne 
 
 each after the other ; 
 The great mourning banner, borne 
 
 by Cunningham of Barnes; 
 
 His grace's physician, secretary, and chaplain ; 
 
 Six pursuivants in their coats, 
 
 two and two ; 
 Six heralds in their coats, 
 
 two and two ; 
 
 The first bearing, on an antique shield, the arms of the see, 
 
 and of the defunct, impaled ; the second, that of the 
 
 see ; the third, the crosier ; the fourth, the 
 
 scarf; the fifth, the gown ; 
 
 the sixth and eldest, the mitre on a velvet cushion ; 
 The lord-lyon, king-at-arms in his coat; 
 
 The lord high-chancellor, 
 preceded by the purse and great mace ;
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 623 
 
 THE COFFIN, 
 
 ^ '3 adorned with scutcheons of the defunct's 2. 
 
 arms, impaled with those of the See, 
 
 Js ^ and with a mitre placed on a velvet cushion, g " 
 H ' fringed and lasseled with gold, 
 
 and covered with crape ; 
 Chief mourners, Sir William Sharp of Scot's Craig, 
 
 the deceased's only son, and 
 Sir William Sharp of Stoneyhill, the deceased's brother. 
 
 Over the coffin 
 
 a canopy, adorned with a mitre, with small escutcheons, 
 mort-heads and cyphers, borne by six Moderators 
 
 of Presbyteries. 
 
 The Archbishop of Glasgow, and all the bishops of Scotland ; 
 The bloody gown in which his grace was slain, borne 
 
 by the chaplain of his household ; 
 
 The coach out of which he was taken and murdered, with the 
 coachman, horses, and postillion, all in deep mourning. 
 A troop of horse-guards. 
 
 " The church was all in mourning ; the pulpit, and before 
 it a table covered with black velvet, on which the coffin was 
 placed. The funeral sermon was preached by John, Bishop 
 of Edinburgh. The body was laid in the grave with the sound 
 of open trumpets. Over the grave a canopy was erected, covered 
 with black cloth, and adorned with the Gumphion, standards, 
 banners, &c., which had been carried in the procession." 
 
 The remains of Archbishop Sharp were de- 
 posited in the south aisle of the High-church of 
 St. Andrews, where his son erected a handsome 
 monument of white marble, representing the mar- 
 tyrdom. He at the same time settled a small sum
 
 624 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 to be paid annually for keeping it in repair, and 
 the overplus to be given to the poor of the city of 
 St. Andrews. Nearly the whole of this sum 
 " was expended in a foolish attempt to paint 
 and gild the figures on the monument, and the 
 rest of it in effacing what had been badly exe- 
 cuted." " The monument is included in the 
 modern church, which was built on the site of 
 the former one, and is an object of great interest 
 to strangers." And " not anticipating the over- 
 throw of an established Episcopacy, the arch- 
 bishop presented to the parish church of St. 
 Andrews, a few years before his death, a massy 
 silver baptismal basin and cup, which are still 
 used in that church on all occasions of public 
 baptism." * It weighs 64 oz. 5 dwts. ; also a 
 massy silver communion-cup, weighing 37 oz. 
 12 dwts. The following inscription is on each : 
 " In usum ecclesice parochialis Sti. Andrea 
 donavit Jacobus ejusdem archiepiscopus, anno 
 1675." 
 
 On the monument there is the following 
 inscription, by his familiar and intimate friend 
 Dr. Andrew Bruce, then Bishop of Dunkeld, and 
 afterwards Bishop of Orkney : 
 
 * Rev. C. J. Lyons' History of St. Andrews, note, pp. 
 13.1, 134.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 625 
 
 SACRATISSIMI ANTISTITIS, PRUDENTISSIMI SENATGRIS, 
 
 SANCTISSIMI MARTYRIS. 
 
 Cineres pretiosissimos 
 
 Sublime hoc tegit Mausolseum. 
 
 Hie namque jacet 
 
 Quod sub sole reliquum est, 
 
 Reverendissimi in Christo Patris, Domini 
 
 JACOBI SHARPII, 
 Sti Andrece Archiepiscopi, 
 totius Scotise Primatis, &c. 
 
 Quem 
 Philosophise et Theologise Professorem, Academia; 
 
 Presbyterum, Doctorem, Prcesulem, Ecclesia ; 
 Turn Ecclesiastici, turn Civilis status Ministrum primarium, 
 
 Scotia ; 
 Serenissimi Caroli Secundi, Monarchicique imperii 
 
 restitutionis suasorem, Britannia ; 
 
 Episcopalis ordinis in Scotia instauratorem, Christianus orbis ; 
 
 Pietatis exemplura, pacis Angelum, sapientiae oraculum, 
 
 gravitatis imaginem, boni et fideles 
 
 Subditi ; 
 Impietatis, perduellionis et schismatis hostem acerrimum 
 
 Dei, Regis et gregis Inimici, 
 Viderunt, agnoverunt, admirabantur. 
 
 Quemque, 
 
 Talis et tantus cum esset, 
 Novem conjurati parricides, 
 
 Fanatico furore perciti, 
 
 In Metropoliticse suse civitatis vicinio, 
 
 Lucente meridiano Sole, 
 
 Carissima filia primogenita 
 
 et domesticis f'amulis 
 
 Vulneratis, lacrymantibus, reclamantibus, 
 
 Ingenua, ut pro ipsis etiam oraret, prolapsum, 
 
 S s
 
 626 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Viginti duobus vulneribus confossum, 
 
 Sclopetis, gladiis pugionibus, 
 
 Horrendum in modum 
 
 Trucidarunt, 
 III Mail. MDCLXXIX.* 
 
 In stature the primate was of the middle size, 
 with broad shoulders, a full chest, and strong 
 limbs and arms, but not any tendency to 
 obesity. When his body was opened the sur- 
 geons declared that he had every appearance 
 of a strong and vigorous constitution, and no 
 symptom of unsoundness or decay. He had a 
 fine capacious forehead ; his eyes a little sunken, 
 but full of vivacity. He had a cheerful gravity 
 of countenance, and a noble presence that com- 
 manded both respect and awe. His address was 
 excellent, and he had great tact in suiting it to 
 the rank or condition of the party with whom he 
 conversed. He was extremely temperate, and 
 none of his greatest enemies have ever thrown 
 out the slightest hint of any failing in that virtue, 
 which considering their malice, and the system of 
 enormous lying to which they were addicted, 
 they would not have failed, had there been the 
 slightest tendency to that vice in their victim. 
 
 In point of charity he was far beyond the age 
 
 * True and Impartial Account, p. 83 to 84.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. G27 
 
 in which he lived, and might have put his enemies 
 to shame, whose utter want of that virtue which 
 is the very bond of peace and of all godliness, 
 was notorious. Although they had signed and 
 kept and fulfilled all the obligations of the Solemn 
 League and Covenant ; yea, if they had given 
 their bodies to be burned, yet being deficient of 
 that heavenly virtue, which is superior to faith 
 and hope, they were merely as tinkling brass and 
 sounding cymbals good for nothing. The pri- 
 mate's usual sentiments of those who treated him 
 with railing and malice and attempts at murder 
 were, " Woe I am for these unhappy people, for 
 they might live at ease, and have the protection 
 of laws, and differ as much from us as they will. 
 But alas ! their crimes against the state are such, 
 that no set of heretics, much less orthodox Chris- 
 tians, have attempted in any age of the church. 
 Their punishments are the natural issues of trea- 
 son, and their blood lays on their own heads. 
 GOD help the misled people who follow such 
 teachers." 
 
 In almsgiving and supplying the wants of the 
 poor and necessitous, his benevolence was exten- 
 sive. In the practice of this virtue, simplicity, 
 prudence, and self-denial were his regulating 
 principles, and he avoided as much as possible 
 all appearance of ostentation and vain-glory. His 
 charity was so universal that his benevolence was 
 
 s s 2
 
 628 LIFE AND TIMF.S OF 
 
 not confined to the household of faith, but was 
 liberally extended to those who needed of the 
 Covenanting sect. When he did discriminate, 
 his bounty was bestowed on those who having 
 seen better days, were unable to dig and ashamed 
 to beg, and that too without the least respect of 
 party. " I had it," says his biographer, " from 
 a wise, aged, and reverend Presbyter, who had 
 the advantage of knowing him very well, that to 
 his certain knowledge he hath caused to be dis- 
 tributed by his trustees, fifty crowns in a morning 
 to the orphans and widows of the Presbyterian 
 brethren, without their being acquainted from 
 what hand it came. And it is now very well 
 known, that a certain Presbyterian lady (whose 
 father was the third and most eminent, except 
 one that suffered after the Restoration) * was 
 entrusted by him in dispensing no small sums of 
 secret charity to the most needful of that party 
 which differed so much from him. And his con- 
 duct in his family, and on other occasions to the 
 poor, was suitable to discretion and the true laws 
 of charity." t 
 
 He disapproved of pluralities, and considered 
 residence within his diocese one of the indis- 
 
 * The daughter of Sir Archbald Johnston, of Warriston, 
 to wit. 
 
 f True and Impartial Account, p. 78.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 6'29 
 
 pensable duties of a bishop. He himself was 
 never absent from his diocese, except when his 
 public duties either to the church or state re- 
 quired. He preached regularly on every Sunday, 
 arid when his duties as a privy counsellor required 
 his presence in Edinburgh he regularly preached 
 there on all the anniversary fasts and festivals of 
 the church, and other holidays. " For that part 
 of the evangelical function he was happily qua- 
 lified ; for his sermons were methodical, grave, 
 and persuasive, altogether free from enthusiastic 
 flights and bitter invectives ; which were then 
 the most admired talents of those denominated 
 a gospel- gifted ministry. That which made all 
 ecclesiastical performances easy to the arch- 
 bishop, was the great progress he had made 
 from the days of his youth, in the study of the 
 Greek and Latin fathers, the ancient liturgies, 
 councils and canons of the church : neither was 
 he a stranger to the learning of the schoolmen." 
 
 In his private and family devotions he was 
 devout and regular, an instance of which we have 
 already seen, as recorded by the prejudiced pen 
 of Dr. M'Crie. For his private devotions, his 
 closet was his first and last resort, morning and 
 evening; and where he always devoted a con- 
 siderable portion of his time to spiritual exercises. 
 
 When he was at St. Andrews, and the clergy 
 visited him, they lived in his house, which " was
 
 030 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 as it were a college" for them. When in health 
 he always conducted the family devotions himself, 
 but during his absence or ill-health his chaplain 
 officiated morning and evening. He daily read 
 the holy scriptures aloud to his family before 
 dinner and supper, and, " by way of preparative 
 and conclusion, he never failed to bring into 
 conversation some excellent, useful, and agree- 
 able remarks " in connexion with the subject 
 which he had just read. After supper it was his 
 usual custom to converse with his wife and 
 children on moral and religious topics. 
 
 He was very favourable to the public use of the 
 Book of Common Prayer; but was of opinion that 
 the period had not then arrived when it could be 
 generally introduced into the church in Scotland. 
 It is evident however, from various incidental 
 circumstances, that the Liturgy had been used by 
 many congregations, especially in Edinburgh. 
 And it was a general custom to read the scripture 
 in most of the churches in the order in which it 
 is appointed to be read in the Prayer-Book. 
 
 " In the most tender sense he was a true father 
 of the church, and her great support. His great 
 wisdom backed with great resolution made him 
 dear to the clergy, and dreadful to their enemies. 
 He was a firm friend, a great encourager of learn- 
 ing and learned men, a sure patron of societies, 
 particularly of the city and university of St.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 631 
 
 Andrews. He was a kind and affectionate hus- 
 band, and happy in a virtuous wife; a tender 
 and indulgent father, and blessed with dutiful 
 and obedient children." 
 
 He married Helen, daughter of William Mon- 
 crief, esquire, of Randerston, at Randerston- 
 house, in 1657, an ancient and respectable 
 family; by whom he had a son, Sir William 
 Sharp, of Scots Craig, who married Margaret, 
 daughter of Sir Charles Erskine, of Cambo, in the 
 county of Fife, who at that time held the office of 
 lyon king-at-arms ; by whom he had a numerous 
 family. 2. Isabel, who was in the coach with 
 her father when he was barbarously murdered, 
 and who was herself severely wounded by the 
 assassins ; she married John Cunningham, esquire, 
 of Barns, in the county of Fife, and had issue. 
 3. Margaret, who married the honourable Lord 
 Saltoun, and had issue. 
 
 In 1650 he was translated from Crail to Edin- 
 burgh, and in 1655 he was a member of a synod 
 which met at Kirkcaldy, and which was broken in 
 upon by a Major Davidson, and other English 
 officers, and dispersed. In 1669 he purchased 
 the estate of Strathtyrum, and afterwards Scots 
 Craig, all in the county of Fife. 
 
 Mr. George Martine, of Claremont, who was 
 commissary clerk of St. Andrews, and one of the 
 primate's household, says of him, that " he was a
 
 632 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 man of profound wisdom, great courage, wonder- 
 ful zeal for God and his church, prudent in con- 
 duct, and indefatigably laborious. By an un- 
 usual sagacity, piety, sense of duty, foresight and 
 providence, he revived and cherished the small 
 remainder of loyalty that remained amongst the 
 ministry of this church ; and, for seven years, 
 maintained the same in life and being, against 
 all the invidious insinuations, and secret and 
 open practices of the undermining party, till the 
 happy change. And then he piously and dexte- 
 rously contributed his effectual endeavours most 
 successfully to the resettling of the Church of 
 Scotland, in its ancient and primitive officers and 
 government, maugre all the opposition which he 
 met with from diverse parties and persuasions ; 
 and by God's blessing, and the king's favour on 
 his labours, he effectuated that great work, as if 
 he had been born thereunto, which, it is thought, 
 hardly any other could have done. He got the 
 highest and greatest ecclesiastical dignity in the 
 kingdom from King Charles II., after his resto- 
 ration to the throne, as a debt to his great abili- 
 ties, and as a reward to his merits and services, 
 in labouring might and main to effect and com- 
 pass the king's restoration ; and he no sooner 
 acquired this honour, but the enemies of kings 
 and bishops in Scotland, persecuted him with 
 slanders and invectives, and the streets swarmed
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 633 
 
 with libels against him, and all because of his 
 endeavours to set up Episcopacy, which was 
 subverted by the Solemn League, and the usurper 
 Cromwell. Of this fabric he was the sole Atlas ; 
 upholding the same by his extraordinary pru- 
 dence, watchfulness, courage, prayers and tears, 
 against all its enemies, secret and avowed, in the 
 state and in the church ; disappointing their de- 
 signs, and defeating their projects. Supported 
 by his own innocency and duty, with the reve- 
 rence, constancy, and magnanimity proper to 
 himself and his character, (undervaluing all perils 
 and dangers,) he encouraged some, and awed 
 many into compliance ; which eminent services to 
 God, the king and the church, wrought and 
 brought him to a crown of martyrdom : for 
 these procured him the inveterate, irreconcileable 
 envy of the fanatic, turbulent party." 
 
 The same faithful servant wrote the following 
 elegy on the murdered archbishop : 
 
 IN MERITISSIMUM STI. ANDREW ARCHIEPISCOPUM. 
 
 3. "I Mail trucidatum, 
 17. J 1679 tumulatum; 
 
 ELOGIUM ET ELEGJA, 
 
 Potius quam nesciant posted, 
 Quis aut qualis vir hie situs sit, 
 Lapis e muro exclamabit, 
 Eique succinet lacunar.
 
 634 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 HIC INHUMATUR, 
 
 Eximius et perillustris D. D. JACOBUS SHARPIUS, 
 
 Septentrionalis Scotise alumnus ; 
 Apud D. Leonardum Philosophise Professor ; 
 
 Ecclesise Caraliensis Pastor, 
 S. S. Theologiee in Lyceo D. Marise Professor, 
 
 Academies Rector, et Cancellarius, 
 
 Sancti Andrese Archiprsesul et Protomysta, 
 
 Ecclesise Scoticanee et Ecclesiasticorum 
 
 Metropolita, Primas, ac longe primus, 
 Priscorum Pontificum, et avitorum Antistitum nulli 
 
 secundus, 
 Forsitan et multis anteferendus. 
 
 QUIPPE QUI 
 
 Consilio, nixu, et ausis felicibus, 
 
 Regem exulem populo, et populum regi restituit, 
 
 Utrique restituto fidelem operam navavit, 
 
 Ruinas nostras reparavit, 
 Rempublicam labefactatam redintegravit, 
 
 Vulnera democratise per monarchiam, 
 
 Presbyterianismi per Episcopatum, unicus sanavit, 
 
 Religionem prope obsoletam reformavit, 
 
 Ecclesiam fsedatam purgavit, 
 
 Purgatam instauravit, 
 
 Instauratam rexit, protexit; 
 
 Orthodoxos ministros fovendo, 
 
 Regimen ecclesiasticum propugnando, 
 
 Vineae sepem integram conservando, 
 
 Hipocrysi, fuco, et dolo obviam eundo, 
 
 Novationes, et novaturientes fanaticismos debellando. 
 
 Verse igitur ecclesise, religionis primeevae, rectseque fidei 
 
 Propugnaculum, assertor, vindex ad extremum spiritum.
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 635 
 
 IDCIRCO. 
 
 Inter operarios divinos Deo perquam gratus, 
 
 Atque magnum ipsius erga ecclesiam curse exemplum : 
 
 Inter consiliarios, regi in primis intimus, certus et fidus. 
 
 Gloriam quamvis nactus, neutiquam tamen captans : 
 
 Ecclesise, patrise, propter indefessos labores carus, 
 
 Omnibus, prteterquam a fsedis sacrilegis, 
 
 Et scelestis, sicariis, desideratus, 
 A quibus passus est parricidium, martyrium. 
 
 QUORUM. 
 
 Livorem, immanitatem, rabiem. 
 
 Feritatem, ictus, et vulnera, 
 Patientia, caritate, prsecibus, 
 
 Pietate, sequanimitate, 
 
 (Deo, regi, et ecclesiae sacratus) 
 
 Tulit, sprevit, fregit, et superavit. 
 
 At plagis confossus, perfidorum, perditorum, manibus 
 
 occubuit. 
 A sole, coalo, quatriduo deploratus, omnibus sanctis in secula 
 
 deflendus. 
 Hinc migrans tiaram linquens, aureolam adeptus est. 
 
 Ita parentat pristinus cliens 
 
 Cujus nunc jubilum in gemitum, 
 
 Et gaudium in planctum versum est. 
 
 In reviewing the public life of Archbishop 
 Sharp, it appears to me, that he was a man more 
 sinned against than sinning. His public and 
 private virtues, his talents and abilities, his favour 
 with the king, and his elevated position in both 
 the church and state, procured him the envy 
 of inferior and less successful men. The oft-
 
 636 LIFE AND TIMES Ot 
 
 reiterated accusation, that he betrayed the Pres- 
 byterians, is evidently false, from the whole tenor 
 of his correspondence with Douglass, and from 
 the confidence that the presbytery of Edinburgh 
 reposed in him, by voting him public thanks. 
 The charge of treachery, likewise, was never 
 broached, till the king, of his own unbiassed in- 
 tention, restored the church to its lawful establish- 
 ment, which was not till nearly two years after 
 the Restoration. The majority of the Resolu- 
 tioners, to which party the primate adhered, 
 were not Presbyterians, although, from the extir- 
 pation of the Episcopal order, they were obliged 
 to resort for the time being to the Presbyterian 
 form of government. The petition of the synod 
 of Aberdeen, and the cheerful acquiescence of the 
 whole body, in the restoration of the church, and 
 their recognition of the Episcopal government, is 
 an undeniable proof that they were not Presbyte- 
 rians. A few sober Presbyterians, among whom 
 was Douglass the primate's correspondent, were 
 attached to the Resolutioners, who were the loyal 
 party. The Protestors or Covenanters, were the 
 real Presbyterians, who took possession of many 
 parishes by force and violence during the usurpa- 
 tion, and turned out the Episcopal clergy : these 
 again factiously deserted their unlawfully ac- 
 quired livings, opposed both the civil and eccle- 
 siastical government, inflamed the ignorant people
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 637 
 
 against both, and collected armed rebels toge- 
 ther, under pretence of religious ordinances, and 
 were the origin and the cause of all the divisions 
 and schisms which have distracted that country 
 ever since. So far are we from owing our civil 
 liberties to the Covenanters, that their turbulence 
 was the cause of all the severe laws which were 
 enacted during the reigns of the two royal brothers. 
 
 The accusation of apostacy is equally ground- 
 less, and it appears singular, that the primate 
 alone, of all the bishops and clergy, should bear 
 the odium of this charge. It might, with much 
 greater appearance of truth, have been brought 
 against Bishop Leighton, who certainly was a 
 Presbyterian, and the son of one ; yet we hear 
 nothing against his integrity. Gillespie, too, fell 
 under the same imputation ; for he offered to go 
 all lengths to assist in introducing Episcopacy 
 into Scotland ; yet not a word of censure is 
 breathed against him. The Covenant produced 
 all the works of the flesh, those of malice 
 and envy in an extraordinary degree. In the 
 principal historian of that period, these diabolical 
 passions are so openly exhibited throughout his 
 work, as to render much of his evidence, and all 
 of his opinions, totally unworthy of credit. 
 
 One of the primate's murderers published what 
 he called a life of his victim, which is a tissue of 
 falsehoods from beginning to end. He accuses the
 
 638 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 primate of adultery, infanticide and incest, all of 
 which his biographer has proved to be false, and 
 without the slightest foundation. His accusers 
 were themselves notoriously addicted to the works 
 of the flesh, especially to the unchaste vices; 
 and as out of the abundance of the heart their 
 mouth spoke, so, being notoriously addicted to 
 the works of uncleanness themselves, they falsely 
 accused the primate. 
 
 The charge of perjury is entirely false respect- 
 ing the confession of the " pious" Mitchel the 
 assassin, or " poor Mitchel," as Dr. Burns sym- 
 pathisingly calls him. The primate's examination 
 was as to what passed in the council chamber, 
 and to his own private promise to the assassin's 
 brother-in-law ; and all the evidence on both 
 sides agree in the correctness of the primate's 
 deposition. But the assassin was himself guilty 
 of perjury, by denying to the last that he had 
 ever made a confession at all, although a written 
 one, with his own signature attached, was sworn 
 to, and produced in court : but as his piety and 
 holiness consisted of adultery, rebellion, murder, 
 and perjury, Presbyterian sympathies were wholly 
 enlisted on his side. His just execution they 
 termed a martyrdom ; and the most foul and sacri- 
 legious murder on record of the primate, they call, 
 even to this day, a just and righteous judgment. 
 
 The most persevering attempts are made
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 639 
 
 throughout the whole of Wodrow's history, to 
 rivet on the primate the charge of sorcery and 
 witchcraft, some ridiculous instances of which 
 have been given in the preceding narrative. To 
 add malice to cruelty, it is asserted that his sacred 
 body was shot-proof; and where he had been hit 
 by bullets, that there were only blue or black 
 marks, but no wounds. This most atrocious 
 calumny is contradicted by the post-mortem 
 examination and report of four surgeons. 
 
 In the restoration of the church, Charles was 
 perfectly sincere ; and in his patriotic efforts, was 
 ably and effectually supported by the primate. 
 Lauderdale's conduct is often very inconsistent 
 and suspicious ; and he is accused of treachery 
 by both parties. He had a powerful opposition 
 in the Duke of Hamilton, against whom appear- 
 ances are very strong, of having secretly pro- 
 tected the Covenanters, and instigated them to 
 much of their unlawful proceedings. 
 
 In fact, the church appears to have been 
 trampled under foot by the royal supremacy, 
 which was carried to the most tyrannical extent. 
 Government seemed to imagine that the bishops 
 and clergy were merely state functionaries, to be 
 controlled and regulated by the sovereign or the 
 minister of the day, according to their secular 
 policy. From detestation of that rebellious and 
 refractory spirit, which the Covenanters exhibited,
 
 640 LIFE AND TIMES OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 
 
 the clergy went to the other extreme, and suf- 
 fered the intrinsic powers of the church to be too 
 much encroached upon. To the naturally fac- 
 tious and mutinous tempers of the Presbyterians, 
 was added the secret intrigues and machinations 
 of some of the nobility, who made them instru- 
 ments of their private revenge and resentments. 
 Notwithstanding; the unrelenting fury of the Pres- 
 byterian persecution of that church, which was 
 watered with the blood of Archbishop Sharp, it 
 still remains a monument of divine mercy as a 
 witness against the crimes and the apostacy of 
 the Presbyterians, from both the doctrine and the 
 fellowship of the apostles. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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 Ix THE PRESS, 
 
 VOL. I. OF THE CONTINUATION, 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 DEATH OF GEORGE II. TO THE ACCESSION 
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