[The Declaration, Protestation, and Testimony ... Published against ... George ... 1715.]

TrueCovenanter.com Editor's Introduction.

Our Master said, Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword, Matt. 10.34; and so it has been found, in both church and state, and in every sort of society in this world, that peace, as precious a thing as it is, and much sought after, is yet a rare thing, and of no certain endurance. Such has been found the case in even the best of churches, and other societies, where God's honour was most sought, and his presence most evident for a time. Neither ought we be surprized, that Satan and his servants in this world, should make such peaceful societies the object of their peculiar designs in their attempt to dishonour God, and banish the glory of his name from the earth.

But such cunning must forever, willingly or not, play the subservient part, to a higher wisdom, working through all of these means, to effect that very thing which seems to be in great danger when the peace of God's people is allowed to be broken. Had Satan success in his designs? Had they themselves a hand, by their own foolishness, negligence, pride, defect of charity, or any other sin, in overturning that order and peace, which used to exhibit God's glory? Were other causes conspiring, which seemed no way to tend to the good of God's people or the praise of his name? Yet so it is, that above all, in every one of these things, though they meant it for evil, yet God meant it unto good, Gen. 50.20. His purpose, hidden as it may be to us, is to display the perfection of his strength, through the weakness of his people, and apparent calamities of this life, 2 Cor. 12.9. By such means, he will have all glory and honour ascribed to himself, that no flesh should glory in his presence, 1 Cor. 1.27-29.

So, as it has been seen many times since then, in the year 1715, the Lord was pleased, for wise and holy reasons, to put the suffering remnant of his people in Scotland to a trial for a season. A great many were given over to a scandalous course, and another party, taking offense thereat, chose to separate themselves from their former brethren, including their only pastor. Thus began the first significant work of schism among professing Covenanters.

The occasion was the accession of George, Elector of Brunswick, to the throne(s) of Scotland, England, and Ireland. None of the remnant adhering to the cause of the Covenanted Reformation desired to own him for their lawful King. Yet, some imagined that it was their duty, or perhaps that it would be useful, to follow a seemingly moderate and charitable order, by presenting to the Elector a representation of their grievances, and warning against the sinfulness of the manner in which he was expected to take office in both England and Scotland. Without a general concurrence of the societies, a "Representation of Grievances" was drawn up by some and presented to the Elector by the Duke of Montrose. Thus violating their long-established rule that, nothing relative to the publick, & concerning the whole, should be done, without the consent or at least the knowledge of the whole, their former unity was broken.

Whether this was any actual receding from their testimony or not, it was esteemed as such by some, and, when no actual declaration against the accession of George to his pretended authority was forthcoming from the United Societies, others determined to lift up a testimony against the Proclamation, Accession, and Establishment of George D. of Hanover to be King, &c.. In this they did well, insofar as the times and events did indeed demand such a testimony of the Lord's servants. And within time, the United Societies themselves determined to confess their fault by a Declaration published at Auchensaugh in 1718, declaring their adherence to their old principles, and rejection of any authority in the pretended King George.

It is probable that at that time some, who formerly saw a necessity in separating from the United Societies, then reunited with their former brethren, as they returned from their straying path. Charity, forgiveness, and peaceableness are virtues wrought by the Spirit of God in the hearts of his people, and commanded to be put in practice in the due seasons thereof. The biblical unity which is promoted thereby, amongst God's people, is both beautiful and comfortable. But sadly, many turn to two extremes, both harmful to the people of Christ, and the honour of God. Most often, the sinful nature of man, is drawn to compromise, as zeal and love for the honour of God grow cold. Then he puts in practice what he calls "charity, forgiveness, and peaceableness," when it is rather the due season for the exercise of other virtues. Then, unity is attained among men, by turning away from the Lord, and his cause. But there are times also, when charity, forgiveness, and peaceableness, with like Christian virtues, are called for, and yet are not put in their due exercise. Pride and vain pretensions to a higher degree of zeal than their brethren will easily put men upon such a course. Distrust, Fear, and other principles, will all work to keep the people of God in a broken state, when unity ought to be sought.

In the case of that division which took place in 1715, and was kept up for many years to come, (long after the United Societies returned to their duty in 1718,) it has been customary to point at the harshness and undue vigour of opposition in the party dissenting from the United Societies, as the cause of the schism, and fault which prevented a re-union of the parties. Unquestionably it was at least a cause, as the beginnings thereof may be detected in the following document, and were by no means lessened in years to come. Yet, honesty requires that it be acknowledged that other differences of principle and practice did also give occasion for the continuance of this division. These however, are not evident in the following document, which otherwise presents a testimony conformable to that emitted by the United Societies themselves on previous occasions.

Therefore, although approbation cannot be given to the party keeping up division from the United Societies after 1718, yet their deed itself, in bearing testimony against the Proclamation, Accession, and Establishment of the prelatic pretender, George I., is worthy to be remembered and approven, if not in every expression and accessory matter, yet in its general purpose as a faithful opposition to the sinful intrusion of an heretick and idolater into the throne of a nation solemnly given over to Jesus Christ in Covenant. For a short time this party took up the duty of faithful testimony bearing while others were distracted from their wonted faithfulness,—and their first deed therein will prove both matter of interest and instruction to those who desire to see a faithful testimony uplifted at the present day against the vain pretensions of those presently commanding "authority" within Scotland, England, Ireland, and many other nations formerly blessed with the Light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

ALTHOUGH it should be reputed and exploded, by the generality, both of open and vailed Adversaries to the Truth; and by unstedfast, declining or fainting Friends to the Interest of Christ, whether pretended or real, whom the Fear of Man hath brought into a Snare; who meddle with them that are given to Change, and who walk not uprightly, according to the Truth of the Gospel; as a Thing unsuitable, unseasonable, unnecessary and perilous, yea, unreasonable and treasonable, That we, who are so few, small, and despised, scattered as Sheep without a Shepherd, having no Help of Man at all, none to take care for our Soul, to gather, feed, lead, or to rule over us, but the royal Prince Jesus, the chief Shepherd; should in these Circumstances, at this Juncture, when most Part are triumphing and rejoicing at the Causes of our Grief, publish any Thing of this Nature: Yet, when we consider what wonderful and glorious Things the Lord hath formerly wrought for his Church in these Lands, especially in poor Scotland; what blessed Instruments he raised up, both in Church and State, to appear and act for him and his royal Prerogatives, princely Scepter, and glorious Laws and Government, who is the great Lord {2} Law-giver to his Church; whose Inheritance Scotland, England, and Ireland are by the Father's Grant, his own Purchase, and our actual Surrender by Covenant; and what an excellent Reformation in Doctrine, Worship, Discipline, and Government, he brought his Church in Scotland unto; so that she became a Pattern to other Churches, and had this Prerogative above them all, That at once, and from the Beginning, nothing was left unremoved and unreformed, that ever followed from the Man of Sin: And every Part of the Reformation was regulated by the measuring Line of the Sanctuary: And that Reformation was not only established and ratified by the civil Sanction of many righteous and laudable Laws, approving and confirming every Part thereof; and many excellent penal Statutes against the Enemies thereof: But likewise it was enacted that all such as should rule or reign over us, in Places of Power or Trust, supreme or subordinate, should be such as, for their known Integrity, constant Fidelity, Zeal, and good Affection to the Cause of GOD, might safely be trusted with the Defence of that Reformation, and the Execution of the Laws establishing the same; and should at their entry upon the Exercise of such Trust, Power, or Authority, bind and oblidge themselves by the most explicite, full, and solemn Oaths and Covenants, That during their whole Lives they should continue in the Profession and Practice of the true reformed Religion, in their own Persons and Families; and should maintain it to the outmost of their Power, in their Stations, throughout these Dominions and covenanted Kingdoms: And that they should put Laws impartially in Execution, against the Enemies thereof, of whatsoever Designation or Denomination, whether Papists, Prelatists, Malignants, Erastians, or any other Enemy of the Truth: And finally, That this happy Constitution, was engaged to be for ever continued, maintained, and supported, by Persons of all Ranks, high and low, in opposition to all the Adversaries thereof. By all which our Land was dignified to be the Nation, that of all others, had the best civil and ecclesiastick Constitution and Establishment, whilst Truth and Peace most sweetly embrac'd and kissed each other, and while Religion and Liberty, Church and State, went hand in hand together. And when we now, on the other Hand, take a view of the present sad and deplorable Condition of the LORD's broken-down, despised, and buried Work and Interest, in these three Kingdoms, and especially in poor {3} sinful back-sliding and Covenant-breaking Scotland; and how all that glorious and carved Work of Reformation, is broken down with the Axes and Hammers of a perverse Generation of Prelatists and Malignants, in their wicked Laws, and corrupt pretended Parliaments, and trampled upon by a perfideous and treacherous Set of Erastians, tho' professed Presbyterians, in their willingly yielding unto, complying with, and corroborating the said wicked Laws, and the corrupt Spring from whence they proceed; and how by these Means our Covenants and ancient laudable Laws are vilified, despised, and expelled; the lovely ecclesiastick Constitution made to be dependant on the civil Authority, and laid on the same Level with the idolatrous Kirk of England, by many Erastian Encroachments made thereupon, and submitted unto; and by the execrable Treaty of the late incorporating Union, our laudable civil Establishment wholly overthrown, and delivered up to England: And such set up in all the Places of Authority, Dignity, Trust, and Office, as are visibly Enemies, and sworn Adversaries to our Reformation, Vassals of Babylon, maintainers of her Trumpery of a Lordly Hierarchy, and uninstituted Ceremonies; and bound in a Covenant or Oath, manifestly Contradictory to the Sacred Covenants which the Land once entered into with the LORD, that they shall forever maintain and support that wicked Antichristian Hierarchy of Prelacy, and Bastard Rites and Ceremonies of a Superstitious Worship; and who are actually maintaining and supporting all Errors, Sects, and Heresies, that do but peaceably submit to their Government: And all this under the specious shew and pretext of the Protestant Interest. We say, upon review of these Things, what the Land once was, and what Degeneracy it is now arrived to, and more and more confirmed in, we are so far from seeing any such cause of Extraordinary rejoicing and exulting, as the most of professed Protestants, and pretended Presbyterians have lately expressed, at the Proclamation, Accession, and Coronation of their pretended King, that rather we think his Admission and Establishment, with the whole Complex Course, and Carriage of High and Low, in bringing it about, and so far advancing and carrying it on, and their Carousing, Revelling, and Rejoicing therein, may afford all the true lovers of Zion Matter of deep Humiliation and Mourning; and calls for a Testimony from their Hands, against such GOD-provoking, Wrath-procuring, and Land-desolating {4} Courses. Therefore, whatever others do, we being obliged and desirous to confess CHRIST, and own His Interest in opposition to His Enemies and all that maintain contrary Interests, could not let such deeds pass without some Testimony against the same; unless we had forgotten the method of our worthy, zealous, and resolute Reformers and faithful Contenders for Truth, and our Solemn Bands and Covenants to the LORD, and also His great Kindness unto us.

But lest any should so far mistake us, as to think that our dissatisfaction with, and dissent from the present Prelatick Pretender, proceeds from any affection to any Popish Pretender, as some have already branded us; it will not be Impertinent to give a brief hint of our Principles: For, as thereby we are bound to look on both sorts of Pretenders to be Antichristian and Abjured Opposers of the Kingdom and Interest of CHRIST, and helpers of that Beast; so we presume, that none who know our Principles, and believe that we have any regard for Truth, if they love not to speak Lies, will say, that we any ways favour a Popish Pretender; for, as we are bound by our Solemn and Sacred Covenants National and Solemn League, according to the Holy Scriptures, to Oppose him, and all his Complices, in their Attempts of making him King over these Realms; so we Resolve, through Grace, to do, in our Stations, to the utmost of our Power.

As to our Principles, and what we positively own as our Testimony; and what we disown, as prejudicial thereto, and inconsistent therewith, none needs be ignorant thereof; the same being stated and declared in our Inform: Vindication, Reprinted Anno 1707, expressly from Page 29 and forward; which here we Homologate, and give this brief account thereof, at present, as follows, Viz.

We sincerely, unanimously, and constantly Testify and Declare, our avouching the only true and living GOD, in Three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Co-eternal, and equal in Power and Glory, to be our GOD; and our closing with His way of Redemption by JESUS CHRIST, the only Saviour of Elect Sinners, whose Righteousness is only to be relied on by Faith for Justification and Salvation: And hearty Embracing of, and Adherence to the written word of GOD, contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, as the only Rule of Faith and Manners: {5} and whatsoever is founded thereon; and consonant thereto; such as the Confession of Faith, Catechisms larger and shorter; the Sum of Saving Knowledge, and the Practical use thereof; our Covenants National and Solemn League; the Acknowledgement of Sins, and Engagement to Duties; Directory for Worship, Propositions for Church Government and Ordination: Together with all the faithful Acts and proceedings of our General Assemblies (especially from the Year 1638 to 1650) and every piece of the attained to Reformation.

We in like manner Testify and Declare our rejecting and disowning whatsoever is Contradictory or contrary unto the written Word of GOD; or not founded thereupon, either expressly, or by direct, near, and necessary consequence: And more particularly, we sincerely, unanimously, and constantly Testify and Declare our Abhorrence, rejecting, and disowning of Popery, Prelacy, Quakerism, Libertinism, Antinomianism, Socinianism, Pelagianism, Arminianism, Burognianism, and all other Heresies of whatsoever designation; together with the Blasphemies, Heresies, and wild Extravagancies of John Gib, the late false Prophets, or the like: All Errors upon the Right Hand, such as Anabaptism, Independency, Millinarism, and all other Sects and Schisms, together with the sinful divisive courses followed by any others, especially in our Day; and the usurping of any upon the Ministerial Function, not duly called thereunto, and qualified for the same: And all Errors upon the left Hand, as Erastianism and Lutherianism, together with all kinds of Idolatry, Malignancy, Superstition, and Prophaneness; as Atheism, Deism, Blasphemy, Cursing, Swearing, Prophanation of the LORD's Day, Drunkenness, Uncleanness, and whatsoever else is found contrary to sound Doctrine and the Power of Godliness.

In like manner, we Testify and Declare our cordial Adherence unto all the Faithful Contendings, for promoveal & Defence of Reformation, in former Times; as these against the Publick Resolutions, and afterwards: As also to all the Faithful Contendings of Ministers and Professors, since the Work of Reformation was overturned unto this Day; whether against the Sacrilegious Usurpation and Tyranny of the Malignant Party; or against the Compliances, Defections, and Unfaithfulness of Ministers and Professors: {6} Likewise unto all Faithful Protestations, Testimonies, and Declarations, that have been given, in those latter Times, for the Work of Reformation; and against all that is prejudicial thereto.

And expressly, we declare our Adherence unto the Declarations, Published at Rutherglen (May 1679,) at Sanquhair (June 1680, May 1685, August 1692, November 1695, May 1703, and October 1707) and at Lanark (January 1682,) together with the Apologetical Declaration 1684, the Testimony against the Toleration 1688, the Paper found on Mr. Hall at the Ferry (as related in the Hynd. Page 133, &c.) And the Papers affixed on the Cross of Edinburgh, and other Patent Places; at the burning of the Oath of Abjuration, and Acts (28 October 1712.) That against Yule-Vacance, 24 December 1712, and that against the Proclamation and Accession of the Duke of Hanover 5 August 1714, which we repeat and enlarge hereafter:

For the Matter, Substance, and scope of them, as agreeable to the Scriptures, and Accommodated to the Times wherein they were Exhibited;

And as explicate in the Inform. Vind. Head 2. The Substance, Scope, and Strain of them we take to be of this Importance, (which we resume as a Principal part, and the General Import of this our present Declaration) viz.

We a few Poor despised and reproached Christians, who have not many Wise Men after the Flesh, not any Mighty, not any Noble among us; but are of the Foolish, weak, base, and despicable Nothings in the World; yet having this Ambition to be His Called, Chosen, and Faithful Soldiers, who is King of Glory, King of Heaven, King of Saints, King of Nations, King of Kings; whose Kingdom is everlasting and Universal: Considering the many Insolent Indignities, Affronts, and Reproaches cast upon His Name and Glory, and the many Usurpations, Encroachments and Invasions made upon his Crown and Dignity, by a Pestilent and Malignant Generation of his Papistical, Prelatical, and Tyrannical Enemies, who have Rebelled against Him, and have Renounced, Corrupted, and subverted His Royal Government, both in the Church, and in the World, both in His Kingdom of Grace and of Power: Do bear Witness and Testimony (in our Station and Capacity) against these Antichristian Rebels, from the Highest to the Lowest. And do assert the Interest and Title of our Princely Master, and own Allegiance and Absolute Obedience {7} to Him and His Government, to which He hath manifold and undoubted Rights, by His Eternal GOD-Head, by the Father's Donation, by his own Purchase and Conquest, and by His People's Choice, Surrender, and Dedition by Solemn Covenant, &c.

In a humble Recognizance of all which Rights, we Own and Avouch, that He hath that incommunicable Prerogative of Sole Sovereignty

over His Visible Kingdom as well as Invisible, without any Co-partner or Competitor, either Co-ordinate or subordinate, in prescribing Laws, by no Human Authority to be reversed or inverted; in appointing Ordinances, immutable, without Addition or Diminution, for Matter or Manner; Instituting a Government which no Man or Angel can, without Blasphemy, arrogate a Power either to invert or evert, change or overturn: And constituting Officers, which must be clothed only with His Commission,

and His alone; guided by His Instructions, and his alone, acting according

to his Laws and Prescribed Plat-Form, and His alone, without any Dependance on, Subordination to, Licence, Warrant or Indulgence from any Mortal. And therefore, we disown and detest every thing, that hath not the Stamp of His Authority, either in Doctrine, Worship, Discipline, or Government: And will discountenance Prelacy, Supremacy, Popery, Erastianism, and all Corruption contrary to His Institution, who is Sole and Supreme Lawgiver to the Conscience; and will submit to, or comply with nothing that may directly or indirectly signify our Respect unto them. Hence, we will take none of their Oaths, Subscribe none of their Bonds, yield to none of their Impositions, pay none of their Exactions: Neither will we hear, or receive Ordinances from any Minister, but the Faithful Authorized Ambassadors of CHRIST our King, whatever either Rage or Reproach we Suffer for it. We assert and Affirm also, That our Exalted Prince is King of the whole World, by whom Kings Reign, and Princes Decree Justice, as his Ministers of Justice, in Subordination to Him, whom he hath appointed to Rule over us, with just Boundaries that they may not exceed, and true Characters, by which we should know them, and pay them Deference. And therefore, whosoever shall arrogate to themselves, and extend their Power beyond and above his Prescripts, being neither called to, nor qualified for the {8} Office, nor improving it for the Ends He hath appointed, we will Acknowledge them no otherwise than Usurping Tyrants; and not Magistrates, nor Ministers of Justice, to whom he hath given the Sword, by His Preceptive Will: But only as Lions, Bears, Wolves, to whom He hath given a Rod, by His Providential Will: In that case, we may be passively Subject, when we can do no better; but will never own Conscientious Allegiance to them; nor own them as our Lawful Magistrates. And therefore we will not bow to their Idols they set up, nor prostitute either Conscience or Liberty to their Lust: But will endeavour under our Master's Banner and Conduct, to preserve whatsoever the LORD our GOD hath given us to possess; as they sinfully possess what their GOD gives them: And will maintain a War of constant Opposition to them (against whom as Amalakites, our LORD hath declared a War for ever) without Parly, Treaty of Peace, Capitulation, Composition, Truce, or any Transaction: We will neither meddle or make with them, less or more; nor seek their Favour, nor embrace it, when it is offered on any Terms, that may imply any Obligation to surcease from our Duty to our King, and irreconcileable Opposition to them.

This in general we thought fit to declare, and Testify to all Parties where we stand, and hereunto (through the LORD's Grace, Strength, and Conduct) we Resolve to Adhere and persevere therein.

But more particularly, with reference to the late Occurrences and the present Course; We look upon ourselves bound in Conscience of Duty, for the Glory of GOD, the Vindication of Truth, and for our necessary Exoneration; and the Information of all concerned (lest our Silence should import our Consent) to Protest and bear Testimony against the Proclamation, Accession, Admission, and Coronation of George Lewis Duke of Hanover, &c. to be King over these Covenanted Kingdoms of Scotland, England, and Ireland, and his Acceptance of the Imperial Crown and Dignity thereof, under the sinful Restrictions and Limitations wherein the same was tendered to him; and that upon these Grounds and Reasons following: Which are for Substance, Scope, and Tendency, in effect the same, that were Affixed on the Cross of Edinburgh the 5th of August last.

Viz. 1mo. Because of his being by Education and Profession, one of {9} the Lutherian Persuasion which falls in with Popery, Arminianism, and the Adulterous Church of England, in many weighty Articles of Doctrine and Rites of Worship: For which false Doctrine and Superstition, we in this Nation were by the Mercy of GOD, fully Reformed; and against which, we are by Covenant, Solemnly engaged: And seeing we are by the Word of GOD, Deut. 17.15, to set none over us but a Brother; not only in Nation, which he is not, but more especially in Religion; even one sound and Orthodox, Zealous and well Affectionate to the Cause of GOD, and his Covenanted Interest: And by the Laws of our Nation, (Act 8. Parl. 1. Act 99, Par. 7. Ratified in Act 23. Par. 11. and Act 114. Par. 12. King James 6. and Act 4. of K. Char,) that our K. should be of the same true Reformed Religion with the People; according as it was Established in Purity, when these Laws were made; and that by our Covenants we are only to defend the Persons and Authority of such Kings as defend and preserve the True Religion: And likewise, that we are bound, without Respect of Persons (in which there is no Exception made of Kings) to Extirpate all Heresy and false Religion out of these Kingdoms: It is evident, that without breaking off all these Sacred Obligations, of GOD's Command in His Word, of our Covenants National and Solemn League, and our good and just Fundamental Laws, we cannot set up one of the Lutherian, or any other false Religion to be King over us; nor consent to them that set up such an one, to be their King in these Lands: But must look upon him and them as Rebels and Usurpers; For their Transgressing and Contemning such good Laws Divine and Human, overrunning and overturning such Sacred Boundaries and Prescripts.

2. Because he is educated in, and inured to an absolute tyrannical Way of Government in his own Dominions in Germany; and is a Stranger to our Laws and Constitutions, whereon the Security of our Peace, Liberty, and Property depends; And as it is an unconscientious Betraying of the Interest of Religion, to commit it into the Hands of one of an adverse and heretical Persuasion; so it is an unmanly and imprudent Abandoning of civil Liberty, to put it into the Hands of one of tyrannical Education and Disposition; and one, who has not Acquaintance with the Conditions of our Government, and the Boundaries of the several Rights of Princes and People, as they are fixed by our fundamental Laws: Therefore, he should not [have] been {10} admitted, and far less invited and subjected to, by any in these Lands.

3. Because he is in League with the Emperour, and other Popish Princes and States abroad: And GOD's Wrath being clearly denounced, in his Word, against such Confederacies with his stated Antichristian and ungodly Enemies; as being a giving of their Power, insofar, to the Beast, and a helping the ungodly and them that hate the Lord: His Accession to the Throne of these Realms, while he continues in such a Confederacy, if it be not witnessed against, and mourned over, cannot fail to bring the LORD's Wrath on the Lands, according as he has declared in his Word, even against his own Servants, when guilty of that Sin: And our Confederating with him as our King, while he is thus confederated with, and allied to Babylon, and with the Kings of the Earth, whom the Mother of Harlots hath made drunk with the Wine of her Fornications, would certainly involve us in the same Guilt with him, and make us by too near and direct a Consequence, supporters of the Kingdom of Antichrist.

4. Because the Laws, Acts, Limitations, and Conditions, by virtue whereof the Crown of England is devolved on him and his Heirs and Successors, are plainly inconsistent with God's Word, and our sacred Covenants; For these Acts and Limitations are intentionally framed and enacted for the perpetual Establishment of the Popish Hierarchy of Arch-bishops, Bishops, &c. and of the set Forms of Prayer, and corrupt Administration of the Sacraments, and other idolatrous Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England: For therein they oblige all their Kings and Queens solemnly to swear, not only that they shall for ever maintain to the Bishops and Clergy of that Realm, and to the Churches committed to their Charge, all such Rights and Privileges, as by their Law do or shall appertain unto them, or any of them; but also, That they shall be personally of that Antichristian Church; the which Oath he hath actually sworn and engaged in, and that after all the Superstitious Customs and Formalities of that Church; and if we should submit to, and concur with him, in his Performance of that Oath, how could we avoid the Sin of manifest Perjury and Covenant-breaking? which all his Supporters, Defenders, and Abetters are chargeable with: And where then is the Reformation of England, which, by the Solemn {11} League and Covenant, we are bound to endeavour? And further, which is a 5th Reason,

5. Because he hath taken that English Oath, after he had, in Council, received and sworn the Coronation Oath of Scotland; which the Wit of Man will never be able to reconcile with the Engagement contained in the English Oath, and with his present Practice: For, in the sound Scots Coronation Oath, he is bound to serve the Eternal God, according to his Word: But by the English Oath and Limitations of Government, he must do it according to the Ceremonies of the idolatrous Kirk of England; which is not according to GOD's Will revealed in his Word. In the Scots Coronation Oath, he is bound to root out of this Realm, all Hereticks and Adversaries to the true Religion; in the English Oath, he is bound to support and maintain the Prelates; which are capital Enemies to the true reformed Religion, and covenanted Reformation of the three Kingdoms: And instead of rooting out, he is already supporting, maintaining, and encouraging them, and many gross Hereticks beside; as appears, in his acceptance of, and kindly Answer to the Address of that abominable Sect called Quakers, &c. And hence it appears, That he hath taken two contradictory Oaths, which involves him in the Guilt of Perjury; and a perjured Person ought not to be a Member of the meanest Court, and far less a Supreme Magistrate. Be it so, That he took not the ancient, right, and sound Coronation Oath of Scotland, but swore "to preserve the Settlement of this Church, as established by Laws made in prosecution of the Claim of Right, and Acts of Parliaments of both Kingdoms, for Union of the two Kingdoms;" yet hence it appears, That his taking of that Oath, can be no real Security to the People of Scotland, for their sacred and civil Concerns; seeing he could not take the right Oath in its true and genuine import, whatever Security it may seem to be, to the present Erastian Church Establishment, and to the execrable Union; which we dare not own.

6. As he is by the foresaid Oath and Limitations, to support the English Erastian and Idolatrous Church, and be of the Communion thereof; so likewise, by the same Laws and Limitations of England, he is to assume to himself, that unallowable Prerogative, Stile, and Title of Head of the Church, and supreme Judge in Causes Ecclesiastick; which, as was said, for Man or Angel to arrogate, is the {12} highest Blasphemy and Usurpation; And by virtue of that horrible Supremacy, he is to maintain and preserve (or further to pervert rather) this degenerate Church of Scotland in her adulterate Constitution and corrupt Establishment, to the Detriment and Obstruction of the LORD's Work in the Land. And may we own, or should we submit ourselves to a Man, that puts the Mediator out of his Throne and Chair of State, and that robs him of his Royal Crown, Sword, and Scepter; and so is a civil Pope, and State Antichrist, or secular Beast.

7. Because all the Right he can claim to the Crown of Scotland, is founded on the late sinful Treaty of Union; which all good Men ought forever to abhor. An Union, which is most directly contrary to our Covenanted Union, and destroys all our Fundamental Laws and Liberties; Establisheth Prelacy in England, and Erastianism in Scotland forever, in their Terms; and has introduced the Service-Book into this Land, and brings on us many other sad Evils, more fully recited and insisted on, in the Protestation emitted against it, at the Cross of Sanquair, October 2d. 1707, And should we, who upon good and relevant Grounds Protested against that Treaty, and all the Traitors that carried it on; and all their Infamous Acts and proceedings, and particularly against that Act of making choice of the Duke of Hanover to Rule over these Lands, now Counteract our own Testimony, and Homologate that woful Treaty, by owning him, when set up, against whose Succession we then Testified? surely in so doing, we should make our selves Transgressors, and Dissemblers with GOD and Man.

8. And as this is all the Right he can claim, so there are none of the Ancient Good Limitations and Conditions of Government, which our Laws make Fundamentally necessary to all that should Reign over this Kingdom, either demanded of him, or had from him: As Namely, there is no security had or sought, that he shall, by and attour the true and full Coronation Oath (which he hath not yet taken) assure and declare by his solemn Oath, under his Hand and Seal, his allowance of the National Covenant, and the Solemn League and Covenant, and his Obligation to Prosecute the Ends thereof, in his Station and Calling; and that he shall for himself and Successors, consent to, and approve the whole Work of Reformation and Uniformity, and Laws enjoyning and establishing the same: And of {13} his firm Resolution to continue therein, all the Days of his Life, and adhere thereunto in his own Practice and Family; and to maintain the same in his Dominions; and to Extirpate out of them, whatsoever is found contrary thereunto: But he neither was nor is in Capacity to give any such Security; being Principled and Preingaged to the contrary. Should we then own any in high place of Trust or Office, who is not, will not, and cannot be duly qualified for the same?

9. Because, he is surrounded with such Counsellors, and served with such Officers, as are undeniably Malignants, and Enemies to our Covenanted Reformation; who, if the best Laws that ever were Established in this Kingdom, were put in due Execution, would, from highest to lowest, be Denude of all Power and Trust, and brought to condign Punishment: And when such are the Men of his Council, how is it Possible his Government should be for the Good and Advancement of Religion? Or how can he be a Terror to Evil Doers, and a Praise and Encouragement to them that do well? Especially considering, what a lax and untender Man he is, in his own Conversation, Profaning the LORD's Holy Day, with Journeying thereon, choosing his Ministers of State, and the like unnecessary Worldly Employments and Recreations: And how can it be expected that a Man, who is so untender and unchristian in his private Walk, being attended and abetted by such Latitudinarians as himself, can prove a Blessing in his Publick Administrations?

From all which, and other such like, weighty Reasons and Causes, it appears he wants the true Characters, and hath exceeded the sacred and just Boundaries Prescribed in the Word of GOD, and examplified in our Covenants and Laudable Laws; hath arrogate a Prerogative above the Divine Prescripts, being neither qualified for, nor duly called to the Office, nor capable to improve it for the Ends GOD hath appointed, for the good of his Church; but is engaged and Sworn to the contrary, even to encourage and maintain Evil Doers, Idolaters, and Abjured Prelates and Malignants; and is himself, by Profession and Practice, an Erroneous and Scandalous Person, giving his Power to the Beast, and joining in affinity with the People of these Abominations. Therefore we will Acknowledge him no otherwise, than in the General part of this Testimony is more fully Expressed. But justly do, in our own Name, {14} and in the Name of all these who shall adhere unto us, upon the same or the like valid Grounds and Reasons, Protest, Testify and Declare against the Election, Proclamation, Coronation, and Admission of him to be King here, as is said above.

Moreover we look upon it, as a necessary Duty, on many just and weighty Causes, for the Ends aforesaid, in Imitation of our worthy Ancestors, who have been honoured to be famous Witnesses and Contenders for the Prince of the Kings of the Earth; and in pursuance and Prosecution of our present Testimony, handed down to us, by the Blood and Sufferings of a Noble Cloud of faithful Witnesses, who loved not their lives unto the Death, in the Cause and Quarrel of their Royal Master, to Publish now to the World, in a way competent to us, in our Stations, with our foresaid Adherence to our former laudable Constitutions both in Church and State, our utter dislike, detestation, and abhorrence of, and dissent from the courses that have been, and yet are carried on in thir [these] Lands, by the bulk and body of Prelates, Malignants, Erastians, and Backsliding Ministers and Professors, in their paving a way for the Accession of their foresaid pretended King to the Throne, and setting him up, submitting to him, and corroborating his Establishment and Authority, contrary to our sacred and civil Rights, and the Obligation of our Covenants.

And first, we enter our Testimony and Protestation against the Estates of Parliament so called, Noblemen, Barons, and Burrows, who by their Birth and Station, ought to have been the Defenders and Maintainers of the true Religion, and as the Shields of the Earth, to have cast their shaddow over the City of GOD: And also, to have been preservers and promoters of the Liberty, and external Peace and wellfare of the Kingdom: And in order to these Ends, ought to have chosen one to bear Charge over the LORD's Inheritance, who was known to be brought up in the Principles of the true reformed Religion, contained in the Word of GOD, summed up in our Confession of Faith, and Catechisms larger and shorter, and one that had given Proof of his being a Man of approven Integrity, and of a Blameless and Christian Conversation; a Man zealous and honest in, and well affected to the Cause of CHRIST; and one against whom there is no just Ground of Exception, or Cause of Jealousie. Whereas, on the contrary, they being for the most part {15} wicked and ungodly Men themselves, Strangers to the fear of GOD, Enemies to the Truth, and to the Power of Godliness, Persecuters of the Godly, and haters of the Cause and Kingdom of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, and of a most grossly Scandalous Conversation, & of unsound & heterodox Principles, hating to be reformed or reproved; and such as had Palpably broken and rejected GOD's Covenant; and so have forefaulted all Right to be the Representatives of the Kingdom, or to bear any Office or Trust therein; being many of them Men of Death by the Law of GOD, for their heinous Crimes: Having notwithstanding, by unjust Power and Force, intruded themselves into such places, and under the Name and Notion of Laws, have carried on a Combination against the LORD and His CHRIST; against the true reformed Religion and Covenanted Interest; against the Liberty, Being, and Dependency of the Nation; against the Property of the Subjects: And in short, against all that's dear to Men and Christians, as appears Eminently in the late unhappy and unhallowed Union, by which Religion is betrayed and ruined, Prelacy, Heresy, and Erastianism advanced, confirmed, encouraged, & established, the Nation sold and enslaved; the People oppressed and impoverished; and a complex course of Apostacy and Defection, from our once Lovely and Glorious Reformation, more deeply and firmly Strengthened and Rooted in these Lands, than ever Tyranny and Bloodshed, in time of Persecution and Violence, could attain to: in which Treaty also, to Crown all their other Mischiefs, and intail all these Miseries on all succeeding Posterity, so far as in them lay, they in compliance with that Covenant-breaking, Proud, and Perfidious Kingdom of England, made choice of a Man Educate in a strange Land, intirely unacquainted with our Laudable Laws and Constitutions; bred up in the most biguotted Heresies and Errors of these called Lutherians, pretending (but falsely) to derive their Name and Opinions from that honoured Instrument of Reformation, Martin Luther: A People who hate the true Reformed Religion, and Professors thereof, under the Name of Calvinists, and redicule and scoff at many of the true Protestant Doctrines; as Namely, the Doctrine of God's free & absolute Decrees of Election and Reprobation; the Doctrine of Justification by Faith only; and of Man's inability to convert himself, without saving and preventing Grace; of the Perseverance of the Saints, and other the like {16} Fundamental Articles of our Reformed Religion: And who, in many weighty Points of Doctrine and Rites of Worship, fall in with Papists and Arminians and other Heresies; as in their Consubstantiation, or real Presence of CHRIST's Body and Blood, in and under the Elements of Bread and Wine, in the LORD's Supper; and receiving thereof by the Wicked and Bodies of Men; their Ubiquity of CHRIST's Body, which overthrows His Human Nature, and so overturns the whole Foundation of our Christian Faith; their Doctrine of conditionality and indefiniteness of Election and Reprobation; of the Power of Man's Free-will in Conversion, of the final Apostasie and utter falling away of the Saints from a state of Grace; their Exorcisms, and crossings in Baptism; their Common-Prayers, and superstitious Collects and Hymns, conform to the Popish-Mass-Book, (and the English Prelatick Examplication thereof) their retaining Latin singing, Organs, and Images in their Churches: And many other Superstitions, which would be too tedious here to insert: And not only a Man brought up in this strange and false Religion, but inured to the Maxims of Absolute and Tyrannical Government in his own Principalities; which cannot but highly endanger our Lives, Liberties, and Properties, as well as our Religion: A man in strict Alliance and Confederacy with Popish Princes and States Abroad; called the Standard-Bearer of the Sacred (rather Execrable) Roman Empire; and (of late) Bishop of Osnaburg; not only a mark of the Beast, but a Name of Blasphemy on the Secular Beast: A Man wanting all these Qualifications of approven Fidelity, Zeal, and Integrity in, and of known good affection to the Cause of GOD; and of a Blameless and Christian Conversation, which the Word of GOD (Exod. 18.21; Deut. 17.15; 2 Sam. 23.3; 2 Chro. 19.6,7; Psalm 101 throughout; Rom. 13.3,4,6; 1 Tim. 2.2; 1 Pet. 2.13,14.) and laudable Laws and Practicks of this Realm, (the forecited Acts, and Act 15 Febr. 7; Act 26, Febr. 17. 1649 Parl. 2 Char. with Act 5 June 11. 1640) require to be in Kings, Rulers, Judges, and Officers Supreme or Inferior: And a Branch of that Family of Stuarts, whom the Lord's Worthies have declared to be such, as God had devoted to Destruction, for their long Perfidy, Tyranny, Bloodshed, and Apostacy from the Cause and Covenant of the LORD: And that not one Man only, but a whole Family, Race, and Succession, him and his Heirs and Successors being (in their Corrupt Sense) Protestants: And in order to {17} Establish that Succession, they made many wicked Laws and Limitations of the English Parliament, and imposed and took the Abjuration Oath, establishing thereby the corrupt Church of England, together with that Succession; and obliged all their Ministers, both Establisht and Tolerate, in express Words to Pray for him and all his Royal Family: And now, after their Malignant Queen's Death, they have Proclaimed him in all the Capital Towns of these Kingdoms, and admitted him to the actual exercise of the Government, and Crowned him, and Anointed him, after the Abominable and Superstitious Custom of the English-Popish-Church. Upon all which and many other Grounds that might be Enumerate, it is evident, how exceeding Guilty these pretended Representatives have been, in casting off the thing that is Good, and setting up Kings, but not by the Counsel or revealed Will of the LORD, and making Princes that he will not acknowledge [Hos. 8.4.]; for, they have transgressed the sacred Boundaries, which he had Prescribed in his Word: And have betrayed all the Precious Interests, which were handed down to them, by our worthy Progenitors: And so have fallen from, and incapacitated themselves to retain these Places of Trust, Offices, Posts, and Dignities, which otherwise should have been their's by Right. And therefore, we Protest and Declare against their holding them in Possession; and that all Acts, Laws, Sentences, and Executions, inacted, issued, or to be issued from them, in the Capacity of a Parliament, or the Representative Body of the Realm, shall not be looked upon, as binding on us, or any true Subject of the Kingdom.

In the next place, we enter our Testimony and Protestation against the Unfaithful and Backsliding Ministers of this Erastian Church: As for all their former Unworthy and Unchristian Compliances, Faintings, and Yeildings to CHRIST's Enemies; in their Burying the Holy Covenants and Covenanted Work of Reformation; Settling their present Constitution upon that Act in 1592, keeping Erastian Assemblies; Observing Diets and Causes of Fasts and Thanksgiving, and Forms of Prayer, Indicted and Imposed by the prophane Secular Powers and Abjured Prelates; being silent at all their other sinful Acts and Impositions Establishing Defection and Multiformity, in Religion; and Oppression and Robbery in the LORD's Lands; taking their illimited and Unlawful Oaths of Allegiance, Assurance, &c. (Testified against in our former Declarations and Practice) and their defending all these evils, and the late sinful Confederacies {18} and Peace, as Duties: So more expressly, for their Combination with, and Strengthening the Hands of these pretended Representatives of the Kingdom, in this complex course of abandoning our most Valuable Concerns, to the Lust and Will of the English, in the late unhappy Treaty of Union; and in their chusing of this Man, who is now advanced (in the LORD's Anger, Hosea 13.11.) to be King in thir [these] Lands. As it was the Duty of Faithful Watchmen (providing they had been such) to have Warned, Beseech'd, and Obtested them, in the Name of the LORD JESUS, that they should not desert the Cause and Work of GOD themselves; nor betray it into the Hands of a perfidious, selfish, and imperious Nation, who had formerly broken Covenant with GOD and us; and returned to their Vomit, to embrace the Superstitious Rites of the Church of Rome, and her Worldly Monarchy and wicked Hierarchy: And that they should not have made choice of one, unto whose Hands they would commit all the Precious and Great Concerns of Religion and Liberty, who was not only a Stranger, but an Adversary to both? Alas! was this all the Care that the Professed Servants of JESUS CHRIST (but really the Ministers of Men) shewed for His lovely Spouse, to give her up into the Hands of a Stranger, not only of a Strange Nation, but, which is far more considerable, of a Strange Religion! Ah! what Sin and Disgrace it is, for us, after so long and sad Experience of the People of these Abominations! What Pricks they have been in our Eyes, and Thorns in our Side! and how they have laid waste the LORD's Heritage, that yet we should put into their Hands the Supreme Power, and make them Guardians of Religion, Liberty, and Property, who cannot in Reason or Conscience be judged cordial Friends to either: But only seekers of their own Grandure, Honour, Interest, and Authority! Had we not sufficient Trial of Charles 2d tho' he was more strictly Bound, than ever was any Monarch to be for GOD; how his Education, Principles, Lusts, and Interest brake through all Bonds and Tyes, of the most Sacred Nature? Had we not abundant Experience in the late pretended King William how his Erastian Education, &c. inclined him to exercise a Tyrannical, Erastian Power over the Church, in Dissolving and Adjourning the Supreme Courts thereof, at his Pleasure, with an Absolute and uncontrouled Supremacy? Might we not been enough convinced, how dangerous it was, to Trust one of a strange Religion, with Sovereign Power, from the late perfidy and {19} Treachery of the pretended Queen Ann, who, being Educate in the Bigotted Principles of their High-Church, and encompassed with Counsellours and Servants of that Stamp, sought to draw all her Dominions to be of that Opinion? as appears by her bearing down the Dissenters in England and Ireland, her Tolerating and Encouraging the English-Service-Men in Scotland, and her carrying on a Peace with France, for bringing in the Pretender and Popery; which is but a fairer and correcter Edition of their High-Church? were not all these, with her persisting in and practising the Erastian Encroachments of her Predecessor, enough to put the Backsliding Ministers of Scotland to have Protested and Testified against the Accepting of any such for the future? Especially a whole Race and Succession of such. Did the Prelates of England appear so firm and forward for their Church (if it deserve the Name of a Church) their wicked Hierarchy, for their Lordly Dominions, their fat Benefices, and Rich Revenues, their Superstitious Set-Forms, Rites, and Ceremonies of Men's Invention; that they would rather want a King, than have one that were not of their Communion? And were the pretended Presbyterian Ministers of Scotland less concerned for the Ancient Glorious Reformation of this Church; the true Doctrine, the Instituted Worship and Government and the well Ordered Discipline, all according to the Pattern shewed in the Mount? Alas! tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the Streets of Askelon, lest the Daughters of the Uncircumcised rejoice, lest Babylon, Rome, France, Spain, Papists, and Malignants lift up their Head, and sing their Song of Triumph, over the once Famous and Zealous (but now degenerate) Church of Scotland. Nor was their Unfaithfulness all, in not Warning of these that had the Power in their Hands, to beware of such a choice, that if possible they might turn them from that Evil course by Protesting and Testifying against them, and declaring to them what Plagues and Judgments would overtake them, and the People that should go alongst with them in their forsaking GOD's Covenant, and casting His Laws behind their Back. But beside all this, the Hands of the Ministers have been all alongst actively chief in this Trespass, by counseling and Advising the Nobles to this choice, in Compliance with England, by their contributing to that accursed Treaty of Union, as the best Means for getting the Crown devolved on this Man and his Family: And many of them Owning that this was the chief thing, together with the clatty Security of their Erastian Constitution, that engaged them {20} to appear for that Treaty; and to Oppose all Resolutions among the People for hindering its being carried on and commenced: By their sinful Silence, when the English Oath of Abjuration was imposed upon all Persons in civil Office; Because that Oath was made and imposed for the Security (not only of the Church of England, but) of that Succession in the House of Hanover: By their taking it themselves, tho' it was so clearly and convincingly against their own Profest Principles, that several of themselves, for common shame could not but forbear it: Yet such was their violent Desire, for the carrying on of that Course of Defection, and strengthening this woful Succession, that they maugre all Oppositions, took that sinful Oath, in conjunction with, and Submission to the Prelates of England, and their Tolerated Hirelings in Scotland, for the perpetual standing and Settlement of that Episcopal Church Government and Liturgy, which we are bound by Covenant to Extirpate: And when they had taken it, varnished all over with the fair pretext of its being only designed to exclude Popery and the Pretender: As if there had been no means left for excluding the Pretender, except joining Hands with Hanover; nor for preventing Popery, but by joining with Lutherianism: And by their State Pamphlets under the specious Title of a solemn Warning (most unlike to the Solemn and seasonable Warnings of this Church formerly, as may be seen in their Acts 12 Feb. 1645, and 31 July 1648, and 27 July 1649.) contributing what they could, to make all the People to be of their Party, Side, and Faction; (accounting all others Jacobites:) wherein they among other Things, used this deceitful Artifice, to blind the People; namely a Recounting what was commendable in some of this Man's Progenitors, to set him up in, and endear the People's Affections unto him: But never telling them what sort of a Man himself is, both as to his erroneous Principles, dreadful Associations, and tyrannical Actings. By their Acts of Assembly, ratifying the malignant Magistrates Erastian Encroachments on the Church's intrinsick Power of Appointing the Dyets & Causes of Fasting, &c. enjoining all their People to a religious Observance of these Erastian extrinsick Appointments; and their Submission to Erastian Acts of Parliament, and Proclamations of their late Queen and her Council, enjoining all Ministers in their publick Prayers, in every publick Congregation or Assembly, to pray in express Words for him, and all his pretended Royal Family, under the pain of Court {21} Censure, even to Deprivation: By their active Concurrence with the whole rable of Prelatists and Malignants, Noblemen and Gentlemen, in Proclaiming him King, without any the least Demand of Security for Religion or Liberty; and making extraordinary Demonstrations for Joy, as Ringing some of their Church Bells, putting on Bonfires, setting up Illuminations in their Windows, and carousing and Drinking of Healths, huzzaing, breaking of Glasses, and encouraging the Mob to the like Revelling and Drinking, both by their Example, a Thing inconsistent with moral Honesty, and contrary to ministerial Gravity in any Case, and much more at the Accession of such a Man to tyrannize over the Lands: And likewise some of them, by Contributing Money for the Rabble, to drink the Healths of the Day, as they profanely speak: And Repeating all these, and the like Revellings, at his Proclamation, Arrival, and Coronation. And when these light and treacherous Persons, who have polluted the Sanctuary, and done violence to the Law, who have seen, for these Lands, false Burdens and Causes of Banishment, saw fit to hold a solemn (but mock) Thanksgiving, for the Accession of him, whose coming is in the LORD's Wrath, as a Plague to these apostate Lands; they would not appoint a Day by their pretended Ecclesiastick Authority, but sent up to their Master, that he, with Advice of his Prelates, might do it by his Erastian Supremacy; which accordingly, by the Advice foresaid, he indicted in his Name and Authority, to be observed the 20th Day of January last, by sound of Trumpet, &c. as his late Predecessors had usually done before. Whereby these Men-pleasers (not the Servants of Christ) do thrust the Prerogatives of Christ, and Priviledges of his Church into the Man's Hand, before he had sought, or actually arrogate the same, as to the Exercise thereof: And thereby evidenced, That they were dealing deceitfully and falsely with the Lord and his People, while formerly they pretended that the Power of the Keys was violently wrested out of their Hands, by preceeding Dominators; which now, without Temptation, they wilfully surrender: A Practice, both Antiscriptural, and contrary to the Testimony subscribed by famous and faithful Witnesses, in the Years 1658 and 1659, wherein they Testify against the civil Powers, their Prescribing publick Humiliation and Thanksgiving, with the Causes and Dyets thereof, to all the Ministers and Members of the Church; as being contrary to the well warranted Privileges and constant Practice of this Church, and in its {22} Nature introductory to greater Incroachments, and putting into the Hands of the civil Power, the Modelling of the publick Worship of God, and Things most properly Ecclesiastick. And finally, by their Addressing him, as their Lawful and Rightful Sovereign, and leige Lord, in such flattering and complementing Terms; whereby their Unfaithfulness to him appeared, in not showing plainly from the Word of the Lord, to one whom they owned as their King, The Sin and Danger of his Associations and Confederacies with Idolaters, and helping the Beast; of the erroneous and heterodox Principles of the false Religion he hath been educate in, and yet professeth; and how certainly the mighty and terrible God will destroy all Kings and People, that put to their Hand, to alter and destroy the House of God; especially how terrible he will be to the Kings of the Earth, that have usurped Christ's royal Prerogatives, altered his Institutions, changed his Ordinances, and undertaken to maintain the Corruption thereof, and a lordly Prelacy, contrary to his express Prohibition: For surely the Lord's Anointed in Zion, shall, as with a Rod of Iron, dash all such in Pieces, like a Potter's Vessels. [Psalm 2.9.] Now had they been, as they would be accounted, the Servants of Christ, they would not, they durst not seek to please Men, as they sinfully do, even one loaden with Iniquity, set down upon, and entered Heir to a Throne of Iniquity; but would strive to be found faithful to Christ, and the Souls for which they pretend to watch. Nor did these blind Guides, or unfaithful Watch-men, present to their King (whom yet they pretend to be in Capacity to receive and redress them) the many sad Grievances that this Land lies under; even these that are confessedly such to themselves; as the Patronage Act, and the Toleration of the English Service, & the Act Prohibiting all Justices of Peace, and other civil Officers, to concur with this Church, in Corroborating any Sentences or Censures thereof; and the like. By all which Instances, to say nothing of their daily preachings and Prayers, holding forth his Accession to be so great a Mercy, Blessing, and Deliverance to these Nations; it appears plainly, how great an Hand the Ministers of this Erastian Establishment have had in this whole complex Course of Defection and Apostasy from the covenanted Reformation, and ancient laudable civil Constitution of this Land: And also how many valid Grounds, we and all the Lovers of Truth, have for our Protesting and Declaring against them; and for Declining them, and standing off from any Concurrence {23} with them in this their new Course and crooked Way, by hearing them, or receiving Ordinances as dispensed by such unfaithful Stewards, or paying them any thing, or observing any of their Appointments, compearing before their Kirk Sessions, Presbyteries, Synods, or Assemblies; and for our continuing to protest and testify (as hereby we do) against the Constitution, Acts, and Proceedings of all these their Ecclesiastick Meetings, as not bearing the Stamp, nor cloth'd with the Authority of Jesus Christ; nor they acting for, or depending on him alone.

Next, we judge it our Duty, to Protest, Declare, and bear Testimony against the Bulk and Body of the professing People of these Lands, and chiefly in this covenanted Kingdom; for their willingly Walking after the Commandment of their pretended Rulers and great Ones; and Strengthening their Hands, by their Concurrence with them, in all these sinful Courses; whereby they do, in their Stations, contribute what lies in their Power, to the Carrying on of all this Course of Apostasy; Submitting to their Laws and Ordinances, contrary to the Word of God, (Jer. 3.20; Hos. 11.7; Prov. 14.14. with Jer. 5.5,6; and 8.4,6,9.) and our ancient fundamental Laws, which are the People's great Charter and Security for Religion and Liberty: And also, for their being implicitly led and persuaded by these Ministers, even while many of them were not ignorant of the Tendency and Design of the Course that they were leading them into; and while they were in some Measure sensible of the many Sins and Grievances they were thereby like to be involved in: And for their Concurring so Chearfully at this Juncture, in showing such Demonstrations of Joy and Satisfaction (or rather Madness) at the Accession of such a Man, to the Government, as if all their Desires of Reformation were obtained, their Wishes granted, and all their civil Interests for ever secured to them: While yet, there appears no Alteration to the better, in the Face of Affairs; but rather a Lengthening out and confirming of our Defection and Deformation, a Corroborating and Perpetuating of our Slavery, under the Yoke of English Erastian Tyranny. Alas! how sad and deplorable is it, to see the Bulk and Body of a professing [Christian] Nation, once in Covenant with God, to be so far blinded and misled, that no Means will awaken them; but that rather they are sitting down in a profound Security and Satisfaction under all, and rejoicing in their outward Peace, while Truth {24} and Godliness are so far at under. Neither will it excuse them from having an active Hand in the Trespass, that they are but common People, and cannot go out of their Station, for Advancing Reformation and Preventing Defection: For, seeing these, who by Birth and Place ought to have been the Representatives of the Nation and Managers of publick Affairs, have so visibly forfaulted their Right thereunto, the People may not only refuse their active Consent and Submission to their pretended Laws; but, if they have Power, may remove them, & place others in their Room, that will act for the Good of Religion, and the Liberty of the People: And therefore, as we cannot but testify against the professing People, for their sinful Compliance with the Wicked Rulers, and unfaithful Guides, whom they obey and follow: so we do most earnestly beseech and obtest them, to lay Matters seriously to Heart, and consider how they are stated, and what their Case, Cause, and Course is: (For we are fully persuaded, that our Lord Jesus Christ, is as really suffering in His Truths, Cause, and Interest, always since the Revolution, as he did when his People suffered to Death for them:) and that it is their Duty to search and try their Ways (Lam. 3.40.) to abandon their former backsliding Courses, and return to the Lord, acknowledging their Sins, with a true Repentance and godly Sorrow for them; to renew the Covenants with God, and one with another, and prosecute the Ends of them, in a Conjunction with us, or any who so do, for the getting Reformation advanced; seeing it is so palpably manifest, That such as are in Places of Eminency this Day, whether in Church or State, have the same very little at Heart.

And finally, we Protest, Declare, and Testifie, against all, who not being included in the former Ranks, are engaged in the same sinful course of Defection: As against the whole Militia, Military, Commanders in Chief and Inferiour, with all the Soldiers; not only for their Malignancy and gross Profanity; but also for their hazarding Soul and Body in serving so ill a Master, in such an ill Cause and Quarrel, Guarding, Supporting, and Strengthening him, and these that Act in his Name and Authority, contrary to the Law of GOD, contrary to the Covenanted Work of Reformation, and contrary to the best Laws of the Land, which were conform to the Word of GOD and our Sworn Covenants; by which no Person of a Profane, Malignant, or Scandalous Carriage; none that maintained any Error, or Practice contrary to the Doctrine, Worship, and {25} Discipline of the Kirk (as then reformed) or against the Civil Government as then Established, according to the Covenant, &c. should be suffered to abide or Serve in the Army, whether Officer or Soldier, but must be removed and cashired. (Acts for Purging of the Army, 1649.) Their being now under such Command and pretended Authority, will not excuse them from the Guilt of the course and carriage here justly condemned; nor deliver them from the Wrath and Curse of a Holy Jealous and Sin-Revenging GOD, who is a consuming Fire to the Workers of Iniquity, and will come in Flaming Fire, to take Vengeance on all that know not GOD, and obey not the Gospel [2 Thess. 1.8]; which Vengeance, their Practice, Cause, and Course do justly procure, and without due and timeous Repentance, will certainly be inflicted. So likewise we Testify against all Levying of Men, to Fight in their Unnecessary, Sinful, and Antichristian Quarrels; as against these Levies that have been in former Years, whereby Men were drawn, as Sheep to the Slaughter, to Fight and Fall in a Popish and Foreign War, helping the Pillars and Limbs of Antichrist, in and by their sinful Confederacies with the LORD's Stated Enemies: So against all Levying for the Time to come, by these Malignant Powers now in Place; and all joining with them, in their ill Cause and wrong stated Quarrel; it not being according to the Ancient Covenanted Plea, against Popery, Prelacy, Sectarianism, and Erastianism, and all things contrary to sound Doctrine and the Power of Godliness: Declaring also that we will, by the Grace and Assistance of our GOD, join with none of them, until we be satisfied in our Conscience with the Evidences of their Repentance and Reformation, and that their Cause and Plea is Good and Rightly stated, and their Camp duly Purged.

And also, we bear Testimony against all that receive Pensions and Sallaries from or under the said pretended King George; all his Receivers, Collectors, Surveyers, Guagers, Waiters, and all the rest Superior or Inferior, that depend on him, or act in his Name and Authority; because, as he hath no just Right Divine or Human to Rule here, or Employ them; so, they can have none to Officiate for and under him: Also, their Malignity and Profanity does incapacitate them for these Posts, Offices, and Employments: And the Customs, Taxations, and Exactions, which they are Employed about, are but Oppression and Robbery.

From all we have said, it plainly appears, that we do not, and {26} can by no Means, consent unto the foresaid Wicked Laws and Limitations, whereby the said George is de facto made King over these Realms of Scotland, England, and Ireland; nor any way concur, combine, or comply, with these Abjured Prelates and Malignants, who have made choice of, brought in, set up, and do Establish him, who is of the same Stamp and Designation with themselves: Nor with any others, who do Confirm, Support, or Countenance him in the Government, or who do Address him, or crave Redress of Grievances from him; who is no way qualified, or capable to Redress our greatest and most important Grievances. And here, we may not dissemble our Grief, Horrour, and Astonishment, not so much at these (designed the Primores Regni) whose Principles, evident in their Practice, never led them to be for the Covenanted Work of Reformation; nor yet at these, who pretending to be Guides and Teachers of the People, shew themselves satisfied to abide in their Breaches, by their sinful and shameful Addresses; But at such as would appear more refined, and who professedly had sufficient Grounds of Withdrawing from, and disowning both this degenerate Church and State; to see or hear of these Addressing this Stranger of a false Religion, an Helper of Christ's open Enemies, and an Opposer of his Interest and Work of Reformation in these Lands, being engaged to maintain the Enemies and Opposites thereof; For Professors of the Truth and the Testimony of Jesus, to represent Grievances to such an Enemy, and humbly crave Redress from him, and thereby homologate his unlawful Election & unhappy Accession to the Government, is dreadful and horrible. But that none be hereby stumbled, they should advert, That as the Cause of God, viz. The Covenanted Work of Reformation, is to be distinguished from the Persons, who do espouse, or formerly did own the same; So it is the Cause we desire to contend for, and not the Justification of Persons: Therefore, whatever personal Infirmities, or Scandals of any Sort, have appeared among these, who profess to own the same Cause with us, when not vindicate by the whole, ought not to reflect upon the Cause, nor be imputed to all its honest and stedfast Lovers. As we have been frequently confessing and bewailing before the Lord, that sinful Attempt, in any of our Brethren, Minister, or others, who have advised or consented to, defended or palliated, pleaded for or connived at that foul and shameful Step of Defection from the Truth, the Covenanted Cause and Testimony, and from their own professed Principles, in and by {27} their Representative and Supplicatory Address: For the sin whereof we endeavoured to Afflict our Souls and be humbled: So, we desire (which is just and equal) that the Scandalous Transgressions and Extravagances, that any among us, or lately of us, have fallen into, to the Detriment of the Cause; either by Addressing, as aforesaid, contrary to Truth and our Testimony conform, and contrary to their Professed Principles, and former Practice; Or by defending, extenuating, and conniving at such Defection, to the great Offence of Friends and others, may not be made use of, as an Occasion of an ill Report or Reproach; either upon the Cause, or the Stedfast Owners thereof. We desire to Mourn, that these things are to be mentioned, and that we are necessitate to make such a sad and unpleasant Relation of them: But we look upon their Course in that Defection and Vindication thereof, and retarding this necessary Testimony and Declaration so long and unseasonably thereby, as attended with many Aggravations that others are not capable of: And so, as being more loathsome to GOD, ought to be more detestable to us. And as we Testify against such departings from the LORD, and Unstedfastness in His Covenant; so we look on these as the Fruits and Effects of the same Persons' Unsoundness in Judgment and Unfaithfulness in their several Stations and Relations: Wherefore the Lord seems to have given them up to walk in Counsels of their own. We desire to Witness against all such Unfaithfulness, and all healing of the hurt of the Daughter of Zion slightly [Jer. 6.14]; whereby the Lord receives not the Glory due unto His Name; nor His People their Offences duly removed: For, we love the Laws of our Father, and the Ordinances of our Mother, the once Famous Church of Scotland, tho' now betrayed into the Hands of her Enemies, and delivered up to a Strange Lord to Domineer over her. But we further Protest, that we (through Grace) will not submit to that Dominator, nor own his Government, Or Strengthen his Hands, by paying him Cess, or any other Exactions that are, or may be imposed upon us, as Badges of Loyalty and Subjection to his unjust Government. Nor by doing any other thing, that in Law or Reason, can be interpreted an embracing, or Accepting of, or submitting to him; otherwise than a Plague and just Judgment from the LORD upon us for our sins, under which we should groan to our GOD. Neither will we look upon any of his Laws, Statutes, or Acts as Obligatory to, or binding upon us in any respect: Nor Own the {28} pretended Right of his Son, now Created Prince of Wales; Or any other of the Heirs of his Body, to Succeed to him, after his Decease; if they come to the Regiment, or Government as he hath done, serving themselves Heirs to all the Iniquities of that Throne of Iniquity (as he also hath done) by walking according to the Statutes of Omri, in the Steps and wicked Works of the House of Ahab, and in the ways of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin. And withal we Protest, that it be Lawful for us, and all that Adhere to us in this Testimony, and hereby declare that we resolve, to enlarge this our Protestation, against him and his Heirs, as his or their Acts of Tyranny, Injustice, or Oppression, which we have too just Grounds to expect, will be the Consequents of his Illegal Investiture, shall afford us cause and Occasion of so doing.

And finally, We Protest, that none may justly construct, that this our Testimony, Protestation, and Declaration doth proceed from any Seditious, Factious, or Anarchical Principles; as if we disowned all Magistrates and Magistracy: For, as we have all alongst, in our former Declarations, Testified, that we are willing to own Rulers in the LORD; Namely, such as are true Presbyterians in Principle and Practice, and maintain the true Reformed Religion, in all its Parts, viz. Doctrine, Worship, Discipline, and Government, and Gainstand and Extirpate all false Religions, contrary thereto, according to the Word of GOD, the Tenor of our Confession of Faith, Covenants, Coronation Oath, and Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom: So now likewise we declare, that we will chearfully Own and Submit to them, whenever it shall please the LORD to grant us such: And as He hath promised in His Holy Word, so we believe and wait in hope, that He will give us, or His People after us, Judges, Rulers, and Kings, having Scripture Qualifications, and answering the Designations and Characters, and pursuing the Ends prescribed and specified in His Word.

And that this our Protestation, Declaration, and Testimony, may be brought to the View of the World, we have thought fit to publish and leave Copies of the same affixed upon several Market Crosses of chief Burghs, and other patent Places of the Kingdom, by a Part of our Number, having the Consent of the whole so to do.

Given in Scotland the 6th Day of Aprile, Anno 1715.

Let Zion's Omnipotent King JESUS Reign, and let all his Enemies be scattered. But let them that love him be as the Sun, when he goeth forth in his Might. AMEN.