reading and deep reflection; and, though it should be granted, that they sometimes pushed conclusions somewhat farther than their premises could fairly warrant, it cannot be doubted but that they were men of God, honoured with much of his

according as it was established in the year 1692, and the ministers not testifying against this deed, seems to impart a disowning all that reformation attained to betwixt 1638 and 1649 inclusive; at least, cowardice in not daring to avouch the same, or their being ashamed to own it, because many famous and faithful acts of assemblies, especially about the year 1648, would have made them liable to censure, even to the length of silencing and deposition for their defection and unfaithfulness during the late times of the land's apostacy, particularly the weakening the hands and discouraging the hearts of the Lord's suffering people, by their bitter expressions and aspersions cast upon them for their zeal and tenderness, which would not allow them to comply with a wicked, arbitrary, and bloody council, as many of them did —their not renewing the covenants, buried for upwards of fifty years by the greatest part of the land, contrary to the former practice of this church, especially after some grosser steps of defection-their receiving of perjured curates into ministerial communion without covenant ties and obligations, and without evident signs of their repentance, contrary to the practice of this church-their receiving some lax, tested men, and curates' elders into kirk offices, without some apparent signs, at least, of their repentance in a public appearance, contrary to the former practice of this church in such like cases, evident by the acts of assemblies-their not protesting formally, faithfully, and explicitly, against the magistrates' adjourning and dissolving of assemblies, and recording the same, contrary to the former practice of this church in our reforming times. We are not concerned to notice the protestation of some few persons at particular times, secing their precipitancy and rashness in this matter (as they accounted it) was afterwards apologized for, and that it was not the deed of the assembly-their not asserting, in any explicit and formal act, the divine right of presbytery, and the intrinsic power of the church, though often desired by private christians, and some several members-their not confirming and ratifying the acts of assemblies that were made in our best times, for strengthening and advancing the work of reformation, contrary to the former practice of this church—their admitting, in many places, ignorant and scandalous persons to the Lord's table, contrary to the acts of former assemblies—their not protesting against the present sinful confederacy with papists, malignants, and other enemies of religion and godliness, contrary to the Word of God, and former practice of this church-their offensive partiality in their respective judicatories as to some particular members, whereby the more lax and scandalous are overlooked and passed by, and the more faithful and zealous are severely dealt with, and handled contrar the rule of equity and former practice of this church-their refusing and shifting to receive and redress the people's just and great grievances, and the little regard had to prevent the giving offence to the

presence, and zealous to promote among men the knowledge of his will. Cold, indeed, must that heart be, and, whatever it may pretend, dead to the nobler sentiments of our nature, which does not sympathize even with scruples apparently so

Lord's people, and small endeavours to have these things removed that are stumbling and offensive to them, contrar to the Apostle's rule and practice, who became all things to all men, that by all means he might save sometheir not declaring faithfully and freely against the sins of the land, former and latter, without any respect of persons, contrar the express precept, Set the trumpet to thy mouth, and show my people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins.'

"Lastly, we bear testimony against ministers' sinful and shameful silence when called to speak and act, by preaching and protesting against this unhallowed Union; which, as it is already the stain, so we fear it will prove the ruin of this poor nation, though some of them, we grant, signified their dislike thereof before, and about the time it was concluded, yet there was no plain and express protestation faithfully and freely given in to the parliament, showing the sinfulness and danger of this cursed Union, being contrar, not only the honour, interest, and fundamental laws and constitutions of the kingdom, and a palpable surrender of the sovereignty, rights, and privileges of the nation; but also a manifest breach of our solemn league and covenant, which was made and sworn with uplifted hands to the Most High God, for purging and reforming the three nations from error, heresy, superstition, and profaneness, and whatever is contrar to sound doctrine, the power of godliness, and the purity of worship, discipline, and government in the same; and so it involves this nation in a most fearful perjury before God, being contrary to the first article of the covenant, wherein we swear, to contribute with our utmost endeavours, in our several places and callings, to reform England in doctrine, worship, discipline, and government; but by this Union we are bound up for ever from all endeavours and attempts of that nature, and have put ourselves out of all capacity to give any help or assistance that way, as ye may see more fully in the late protestation against the Union, published at Sanquhar October 22d, 1707.

"Let none say that what we have now done flows from ambition to exalt ourselves above others, for as we have great cause, so we desire grace from the Lord to be sensible of what accession we have with others in the land to the provoking of his Spirit, in not walking as becomes the gospel, according to our solemn engagements-neither proceeds it from irritation or inclination (by choice or pleasure) to discover our mother's nakedness, or that we love to be of a contentious spirit, for our witness is in heaven, (whatever the world may say) that it would be the joy of our hearts, and as it were a restoration from the dead, to have these grievances redressed and removed, and our backslidings and breaches quickly and happily healed-but it is to exoner our consciences, by protesting against the defections of the land, especially of ministers. And seeing we can neither with safety to our persons, nor freedom in our

conscientiously formed, and execrate the individuals who, from the pride of power, or the paltry hope of a little court favour, instead of eradicating these scruples by soothing persuasives and kindly forbearance, converted them, by harsh and precipitant censures, into fixed principles, and inveterate pre

consciences, compear before their judicatories, while these defections are not acknowledged and removed, so we must so long decline them, as unfaithful judges in such matters-in regard they have in so great a measure yielded up the privileges of the church into the hands and will of her enemies, and carried on a course of defection contrar to the scriptures, our covenant, and the acts and constitutions of this our church. And hereby we further protest and testify against whatever they may conclude or determine in their ecclesiastic courts, by acts, ratifications, sentences, censures, &c. &c. that have been or shall be made or given out by them, and protest, that the same may be made void and null, and not interpreted as binding to us or any who desire firmly to adhere to the covenanted work of reformation.

"But let none look upon what we have here said to be a vilipending or rejecting of the free, lawful, and rightly constitute courts of Christ, for we do acknowledge such to have been among the first most effectual means appointed of God for preserving the purity, and advancing the power of reformation in the church of Christ; the sweet fruits and blessed effects whereof this church hath sometimes enjoyed, and which we have been endeavouring and seeking after, and are this day longing for.

"We detest and abhor that principle of casting off the ministry, wherewith we are odiously and maliciously reproached, by those who labour to fasten upon us the hateful names of schismaticks, separatists, despisers of the gospel --but herein as they do bewray their enmity to the cause we own, so, till they bring in their own principles and practices, and ours also, and try them by the law and the testimony, the measuring line of the sanctuary, the Word of God, and the practice of this church, when the Lord keeped house with, and rejoiced over her as a bridegroom over his bride, they can never prove us schismaticks, or separatists from the kirk of Scotland, upon the account of our noncommunion with the backslidden multitude, ministers, and others. Finally, that we may not be judged by any as persons of an infallible spirit, and our actions above the cognizance of the judicatories of Christ's appointment, we appeal to the first free, faithful, and rightly constituted assembly in this church, to whose decision and sentence in the things libelled against us we willingly refer ourselves, and crave liberty to extend and enlarge this our Protestation, Declinature, and Appeal, as need requires."

The above was dated at the Manse of Balmaghie, September the twentyfourth, 1708, subscribed by Messrs. John Mackmillan and John Macneil, en. closed under cover, directed to Nicol Spence, one of the clerks of assembly, and by him delivered in to the commission, September the twenty-ninth,

judices, which truth has not hitherto been able wholly to correct, nor charity altogether to overcome.

But there was, as we have said, another party, not so well defined, nor having its object so specifically one, as that we have just been tracing, but far more numerous in its members, more moderate in its views, having its status in the church, and destined, after a while, to produce a far more important revolution, to which it will also be necessary a little to attend. At the head of this party was Mr. John Hepburn, who had been ordained to the work of the ministry, privately, in London, some time previous to the year 1680, in which year, he received a call from the parish of Urr, in Galloway, where he continued preaching, as circumstances would permit, till 1686, when the same people gave him another call, but more generally subscribed; and again in 1689, when the revolution had set the country free from the oppression of the Stuarts, they gave him a third call, with all the legal formalities, which he accepted, before there was any formal presbytery of ministers at Dumfries. Being thoroughly presbyterian in his principles, and, of course, like many excellent ministers of that day, not at all satisfied with the settlement which the church obtained under William and Mary, he, with his adherents, presented a paper to the General Assembly, 1690, entitled, "The Complaint and Humble Petition of many Presbyterian People, living in the several Shires of Scotland,"+ which, though not treated with the same severity as that given in by Messrs. Linning, Shields, and Boyd, was passed over, with

• Humble Pleadings for the good old way, &c. pp. 241, 242.

This is a most interesting paper, and, while it exhibits distinctly the various public evils which lay heavy upon the minds of the petitioners, breathes much of a humble and pious spirit. We cannot refrain from quoting the concluding paragraph:-" To conclude, Right Reverend, we expect and entreat, that ye will not be offended at our freedom, in what we here represent; but our meaning and end to have differences satisfyingly removed, will move you to put a favourable construction upon that which a critical disposition might be ready to censure for rashness and ignorance, and meddling in matters wherein we are not concerned. But though we should be condemned and censured with the greatest severity, and be counted yet more vile, we must seek, we must cry for the removing of these stumbling blocks, and condemning these courses, which have done our Lord Jesus Christ so much

but any thing like a distinct reply.* A paper of grievances, was also, by him and another commissioner, given in, in the name of his people, to king William, at London, in the beginning of the year 1693, to which, after waiting for some considerable time, it does not appear that he received any answer. He was summoned before the synod of Dumfries in the month of October, the same year, to whom he delivered a paper of grievances, which the synod transmitted to the General Assembly, and, in the mean time, laid him under some restrictions with regard to the exercise of his ministry, which he determined not to observe; and, lest they should have proceeded rashly to censure him, he took an appeal "to the next free and lawfully convocat, and rightly constitute assembly." He was accordingly summoned to answer, at the instance of the synod of Dumfries, before the assembly, to meet at Edinburgh December the sixth, the same year; but the assembly being adjourned by royal proclamation to the month of March following, Mr. Hepburn took a formal protest, that he should not be obliged to answer without a new citation.

When the assembly met in March 1694, his case was referred to the commission, before which, being previously summoned, he appeared in the month of September following, where, besides the people who went with him as his adherents, the Rev. George

wrong, and his children so much hurt, in the standing in the way of their comfortable and edifying communion with the church. Let the famishing and starving case of our souls, through want of the blessed gospel, and our hungering to hear it preached by you, prevail with you to consider our complaints, and let the wounds of our bleeding mother, panting to be healed by the hand of the tender-hearted Physician, have weight with you, not to slight or despise our desires. But if ye shall shut your eyes and ears at them, then we know, at the time, no remedy left us but to complain and protest unto judicatories, and cry, sigh, and groan to the Father of Mercies, who is tender of all his little ones, and is the hearer of prayer, that he may see to it, and heal our backslidings and breaches in his own time and way, and not lay it to your charge that ye have had so little regard to the stumbling and saddening of so many of his poor, broken, bruised, and scattered sheep; and that ye have not had greater care to strengthen the diseased, and to heal that which was sick, and to bind up that which was broken, and to bring again that which was driven away, and to seek that which was lost." Humble Pleadings, p. 151. * Ibid, p. 154. Plain reasons for presbyterians dissenting from the revolution church, p. 151.