1661. own hand, which was all that could be had, considering his imprisonment: they had declared for the king, and raised an army for his preservation. To this the earl of Midletoun, who, contrary to custom, managed the debate himself, answered, that though there was no visible force on the late king in the year forty-one, yet they all knew he was under a real force, by reason of the rebellion that had been in this kingdom, and the apparent danger of one ready to break out in England, which forced him to settle Scotland on such terms as he could bring them to: so that distress on his affairs was really equivalent to a force on his person': yet he confessed, it was just, that such an appearance of a parliament should be a full authority to all who acted under it: and care was taken to secure these 119 by a proviso that was put in the act to indemnify them: he acknowledged the design of the parliament in the year forty-eight was good: yet they declared for the king in such terms, and had acted so hypocritically in order to the gaining of the kirk party, that it was just to condemn the proceedings, though the intentions of many were honourable and loyal for we went into it, he said, as knaves, and therefore no wonder if we miscarried in it as fools ". This was very ill taken by all who had been concerned in it. The bill was put to the vote, and carried by a great majority: and the earl of Midletoun immediately passed it without staying for an instruction from the king. The excuse he made for it was, that, since the king had by his letter to the presbyterians confirmed their government as it was

established by law, there was no way left to get out 1661. of that, but the annulling all those laws.

liked by the

This was a most extravagant act, and only fit to It was not be concluded after a drunken bout. It shook all king. possible security for the future, and laid down a most pernicious precedent. The earl of Lauderdale aggravated this heavily to the king. It shewed, that the earl of Midletoun understood not the first principles of government, since he had, without any warrant for it, given the king's assent to a law that must for ever take away all the security that law can give no government was so well established, as not to be liable to a revolution: this would cut off all hopes of peace and submission, if any disorder should happen at any time thereafter. And since the earl of Clarendon had set it up for a maxim never to be violated, that acts of indemnity were sacred things, he studied to possess him against the earl of Midletoun, who had now annulled the very parliaments in which two kings had passed acts of indemnity. This raised a great clamour. And upon that the earl of Midletoun complained in parliament, that their best services were represented to the king as blemishes on his honour, and as a prejudice to his affairs: so he desired they would send up some of the most eminent of their body to give the king a true account of their proceedings. The earls of Glencairn and Rothes were sent for the earl of Rothes gave secret engagements to both sides, resolving to strike into that to which he saw the king most inclined. The earl of Midletoun's design was to accuse the earl of Lauderdale of mis

1661. representing the proceedings of parliament, and of belying the king's good subjects, called in the Scotish law leasing making, which either to the king of the people, or to the people of the king, is capital.

terians in

120

The presby- Sharp went up with these lords to press the great dis- speedy setting up of episcopacy, now that the greatorder. est enemies of that government were under a general consternation, and were upon other accounts so obnoxious that they durst not make any opposition to it, since no act of indemnity was yet passed. He had expressed a great concern to his old brethren, when the act rescissory passed, and acted that part very solemnly for some days: yet he seemed to take heart again, and persuaded the ministers of that party, that it would be a service to them, since now the case of ratifying their government was separated from the rebellion of the late times: so that hereafter it was to subsist by a law passed in a parliament that sat and acted in full freedom. So he undertook to go again to court, and to move for an instruction to settle presbytery on a new and undisputed bottom. The poor men were so struck with the ill state of their affairs, that they either trusted him, or at least seemed to do it; for indeed they had neither sense nor courage left them. During the session of parliament, the most aspiring men of the clergy were picked out to preach before the parliament. They did not speak out: but they all insinuated the necessity of a greater authority than was then in the church, for keeping them in order. One or two spoke plainer: upon which the presbytery of Edenburgh went to the earl of Midletoun, and complained of that, as an affront to the law and to the king's letter. He dismissed them with good

words, but took no notice of their complaint. The 1661. synods in several places resolved to prepare addresses both to king and parliament, for an act establishing their government. And Sharp dissembled so artificially, that he met with those who were preparing an address to be presented to the synod of Fife, that was to sit within a week after: and heads were agreed on. Honyman, afterwards bishop of Orkney, drew it up with so much vehemence, that Wood, their divinity professor, told me, he and some others sat up almost the whole night before the synod met, to draw it over again in a smoother strain. But Sharp gave the earl of Midletoun notice of this. So the earl of Rothes was sent over to see to their behaviour. As soon as the ministers entered upon that subject, he, in the king's name, dissolved the synod, and commanded the ministers, under pain of treason, to retire to their several habitations. Such care was taken that no public application should be made in favour of presbytery. Any attempt that was made on the other hand met with great encouragement". The synod of Aberdeen was the only body that made an address looking towards episcopacy. In a long preamble they reflected on the confusions and violence of the late times, of which they enumerated many particulars; and they concluded with a prayer, that since the legal authority upon which their courts 121 proceeded was now annulled, that therefore the king and parliament would settle their government, conform to the scriptures and the rules of the primitive church. The presbyterians saw what was

y Does the man write like a bishop? S.

1661. driven at, and how their words would be understood: but I heard one of them say, (for I was present at that meeting,) that no man could decently oppose those words, since by that he would insinuate that he thought presbytery was not conform to these.

In this session of parliament another act passed, which was a new affliction to all the party: the twenty-ninth of May was appointed to be kept as a holy day; since on that day an end had been put to three and twenty years' course of rebellion, of which the whole progress was reckoned up in the highest strain of Primerose's eloquence. The ministers saw, that by observing this act passed with such a preamble, they condemned all their former proceedings, as rebellious and hypocritical. They saw, that by obeying it they would lose all their credit, and contradict all they had been building up in a course of so many years. Yet such was the heat of that time, that they durst not except to it on that account. So they laid hold on the subtilty of a holy day; and covered themselves under that controversy, denying it was in the power of any human authority to make a day holy. But withal they fell upon a poor shift they enacted in their several presbyteries that they should observe that day as a thanksgiving for the king's restoration: so they took no notice of the act of parliament, but observed it in obedience to their own act. But this, though it covered them from prosecution, since the law was obeyed, yet it laid them open to much contempt. When the earls of Glencairn and Rothes came to court, the king was soon satisfied with the account they gave of the proceedings of parliament: and the earl of