ing the orthodox clergy, as was pretended. | pass some beautiful strokes, to this purpose, At this distance then, and when most of in that noble historian Josephus. It will those who were persecuted, and many of be of little use to most of my readers to the witnesses to what passed, are removed by death, it is plain, the following history must appear with not a few disadvantages, and cannot be so full and particular as it might have been at, or a little after the happy revolution. How the author came to engage in this attempt, what were his motives and views, are matters of so little importance to the world, that it is not worth while to take up the reader's time with them: it may be of more use to give some account of the materials I had, and somewhat of the method I have followed in putting them together. Our public records, the registers of the privy council and justiciary, are the great fund of which this history is formed: a great part of it consists of extracts from these, and I have omitted nothing in them which might give light to the state of the church of Scotland in that period; though, in perusing and making extracts out of ten or twelve large volumes, several things may have escaped me. give the original Greek; and therefore I shall insert the passages from the last English translation. Many things lie scattered through the works of that great man, to this purpose; but, in the entry of his first book against Apion, he insists directly upon the necessity of forming history from records. Having taken notice of the lameness of the Greek writers this way, he says, "The Egyptians, Chaldeans and Phenicians, to say nothing of ourselves, have from time to time recorded, and transmitted down to posterity, the memorials of past ages, in monumental pillars and inscriptions, according to the advice and direction of the wisest men they had, for the perpetual memory of all transactions of moment, and to the end that nothing might be lost.—It is most certain, that there is no Greek manuscript extant, dated before the poem of Homer; and as certain, that the Trojan war was over before that poem was written: nay, it will not be allowed either, that Homer ever committed this piece of his to writing at all, but it passed up and down like a piece of a ballad song, that people got by rote, till, in the end, copies were taken on it, from dictates by word of mouth. This was the true reason of so many contradictions and mistakes in the transcripts."He enlargeth, in what follows, upon the faults of the Greek historians, and observes their plain clashing and disagreement. "It is evident (adds he,) that the history they deliver is not so much matter of fact, as conjecture and opinion; and that every man writes according to his fancy, their authors still clashing one with another. The first and great reason of their disagreement, is the failing of the Greeks, in not laying a timely foundation for history, in records and memorials, to conserve the memory of all great actions; for, without these monumental traditions, posterity is left at liberty to write at random, and to write false too, without any danger of being Now, when I am insensibly led into the contradicted."-He further notices, that subject of drawing history from public this way of keeping public registers had papers and records, I cannot altogether been neglected in Greece, and even at It is with pleasure I observe a growing inclination in this age to have historical matters well vouched, and to trace up facts to their proper fountains, with a prevailing humour of searching records, registers, letters, and papers, written in the times we would have the knowledge of. If this temper degenerate not into scepticism, incredulity, and a groundless calling in question such things as, from their nature and circumstances, we cannot expect to meet with in records, I hope, it may tend very much to advance the great interests of religion and liberty: but such is the frailty and corruption of our present state, that men are too ready to run from one extreme to the other, and, because they are imposed upon in some relations, to believe nothing at all, although the evidence brought is all the subject is capable of, and no more can be reasonably demanded. Athens itself: and adds, "without these | body of the history, and matters set in their lights and authorities, historians must necessarily be divided and confounded among themselves." A multitude of other things, to the same purpose, follow, too large to be here transcribed. true and just light, as briefly as I could. Had I been writing a defence of the sufferers in this period, much more might have been said: but, as an historian, I was chiefly concerned to represent facts; and having given the representation of matters, in the very terms used by the persecutors themselves, their severity, and the innocence of the persecuted, will appear the more brightly. When searching the books of parliament, I was much discouraged upon finding the processes against the marquis of Argyle, Mr. James Guthrie, and the lord Warriston, quite left out; and therefore, generally speaking, I have confined myself to the printed acts. It had been a labour too great for me, to have gone through all the warrants; and the iniquitous laws stand full enough in print. Had the council warrants been in order, no question but considerable The The council and criminal court had most of the persecuted people before them; from their books I have given my accounts: and the passages taken from the records are generally marked with commas; this hath drawn out the history to a far greater length than I could have wished. Every body will observe, that several of the passages might have been shortened, and the principal papers themselves abbreviated, and some repetitions and matters of common form omitted; yet I have chosen to give every thing as it stands in the registers and other vouchers, and to insert the principal papers themselves in the history or appendix, rather than abstracts of them, for several reasons. As they now stand, they are self-discoveries might have been made of the vouchers: had I shortened them, and given them in mine own words, perhaps, such as know me might have the charity to believe, I would not knowingly have falsified or misrepresented matters; but it is much better things stand as they are in the records. I design, that as little of this history as may be should lean upon me: let every one see with his own eyes, and judge for himself, upon the very same evidence I have; this is certainly the fairest and justest way. And I am of opinion, even the necessary repetitions, and some lesser circumstances, which might have been omitted, had I compendized the registers, and other public papers, will not want their own use. This method may seem a little to the disadvantage of those whom I would not willingly have misrepresented. It is plain, very harsh names and epithets are given to presbyterians; and the sufferers are represented in the most odious colours, in the registers, proclamations, indictments, and the ordinary course of the minutes of the council. Many facts are set in a very false light; a vast deal of misrepresentations, ill grounded and idle stories, are inserted; and every thing unaccountably stretched against the persecuted side. Some notice is taken of this in the iniquity of this time; but those being un- In the first and second books, the reverend Mr. James Kirkton's Memoirs were useful to me, and some short hints of the reverend Mr. Matthew Crawford, my worthy predecessor, in the charge where I serve; these he did not live to complete, as he had done the former part of the history of this church to the restoration. I had communicated to me likewise a considerable collection of my people, and discoursing to them in my informations, and other papers relative to sermons, as much as I can, according to the persecution of this church, lodged, after their capacity, hath brought me insensibly the revolution, in the hands of the reverend to express myself in a manner which in Mr. David Williamson, late minister of the print may appear low and flat: besides, west kirk. I have had access also to some such a heap of informations from different =valuable papers belonging once to the persons, and in various styles, as I was reverend Mr. Alexander Sheils, mostly obliged to make use of in this work, may be written before the revolution. Not a few supposed would have altered a better expres: gentlemen and ministers, relations of the sion than ever I was master of. Indeed I sufferers in this period, have sent me well have kept as much by the papers I made attested accounts of the hardships particular use of, as possibly I could; and there is but persons met with. My brethren and friends, a small part of the history in my words, who have been helpful to me in procuring which, I presume, may be understood even those materials, and the gentlemen by whose by English readers, who, it is hoped, will favour I had access to the records, will bear with me, though I come not fully up : please to accept of this public and general to the propriety of the English language, acknowledgment of their goodness. I am nor to the accuracy and neatness of their a debtor to so many, as renders it imprac- writers. ticable for me to be more particular; if the following history in any measure answer its design, I know this will be the best return my friends wish for. C Any thing further necessary to be observed, as to my vouchers and materials, will fall in upon the history itself. My part, in putting those together, is what I should next speak | of, though I reckon myself the unfittest of any to say much upon this head. Since I began to reflect upon things, I still judged writing of history a very difficult work, and now I find it so: It is a harder province still, to write accounts of times a man hath not personally known, and when the greatest part of them were elapsed before he was born; the task grows, when one has none going before him, nor any thread to guide himself by; especially when the times are full of heat, rents, and divisions, and any accounts that remain are various, according as the several parties stood affected; which occasions very different representations of facts themselves in such a case, nothing but honesty and integrity, with labour and diligence, can carry a writer through. My style, I know, is what cannot answer the taste of this age; apologies for it are of no great use. I never affected, or had much occasion to attain any delicacy of style; all I purpose to myself, is to be understood. A country life for eighteen years, with my necessary converse among The general method I have used in this work, was what I was some way obliged to take, and to me it appeared most natural. In this period which I have described, I had no line to direct me, or any history of affairs in Scotland during those two reigns: I walked in an untrodden path, and was obliged to make a road for myself the best way I could. All left me to do, was to class my materials, informations, acts of parliament and council, with my transcripts from the registers, and to join together what the agreement of the matter required to be connected. This led me to divide the work in chapters and sections, and those obliged me to make some repetitions and resumptions, which otherwise might have been spared. Had I been permitted to keep this history some longer time by me, I might have pared of those, and cast the matter in one continued discourse, without such breaks; but even these may perhaps not want their advantage, and may be breathing places to stop at, in so great a heap of matter as is here collected. After I had formed this history, and published my proposals for printing it, many informations were sent me, and I had access to some records I wanted before; yea, even during the time of printing this volume, some papers of consequence came to my hand: the inserting of what was necessary from these, in the proper places, hath not a f little altered this work, and made the con- | proceeded from a peculiar abhorrence, I cannot help entertaining at a persecuting spirit, wherever it discovers itself, especially in churchmen. nection of purposes in some parts less natural than it might have been, if all my materials had been under my view at first. And my later informations being fuller and more circumstantiate, there may perhaps be some seeming differences betwixt them and the shorter hints given in other places; but, I hope, no real inconsistency will be found, truth being what I had still in mine eye. In this collection, I have taken in many things which might have been omitted, had there been any history of church or state affairs published, relating to this interval; but when gathering materials, and searching our records, I thought myself at liberty to insert every thing that offered, which might afford any light to the history of this period. This hath indeed considerably enlarged the bulk of the work: yet, I flatter myself, it may be of some use to supply our want of a history of this time, at least be materials for others to work upon with less labour than I have been at: it will likewise render the melancholy history of sufferings and persecution a little more pleasant to the reader, when other things are mixed with it. Most part of the principal papers, and the facts here inserted, have never yet been published; and therefore, I am ready to apprehend, they may be the more entertaining to this inquisitive age: from those judicious readers cannot but have the best view of this unhappy time. If, in my inferences from them, I have any where erred, I shall take it most kindly to be set right. I have been very sparing in any thing which might bear hard upon persons or families; but, when narrating facts, it was impossible to evite giving the names and designations of the actors. This is what needs offend nobody, and they stand open to every one's view, in our public records and proclamations. I have charged our prelates with being the first movers of most parts of the persecution of these times: this is a matter of fact, fully known in Scotland; and I could not have written impartially, had I not laid most part of the evils of this period at their door. If I have anywhere used any harshness in speaking of this subject, it hath Since we want a Scots biography, and have nothing almost of the lives of eminent ministers, gentlemen, and private Christians in this church, I have been the larger in my accounts of such worthy persons as fell in my way, since I cannot but reckon that one of the most useful and entertaining parts of history: this has led me to give several instances of sufferers upon the very same account, when fewer examples might otherwise have answered the ends of this history; but I thought it pity that any thing, which might do justice to the memory of those excellent confessors and martyrs, should be lost. From the same consideration, some principal papers are inserted in the history and appendix, relative to the same subject, where, it may be, fewer might have sufficed; but I judged it worth while to preserve as many of the valuable remains of this time, as I could. All of them contain something or other different; and the true sentiments, deliberate views, and undissembled principles of good men, appear most naturally in their own words and papers. Such as think them tedious and irksome, may overlook them with less pain than I have been at in collecting and inserting them. In the following work, I have taken some notice of the accounts of our Scottish affairs, during the interval before me, by the most noted English historians, Dr Sprat, Bishop Kennet, Mr Collier, Mr Archdeacon Eachard, and others of lesser name. This, I hope, is done with a temper and deference due to their merit. Their gross escapes in our affairs I could not altogether overlook no doubt, most of them have written according to the information they had; and I am sorry we have been to blame, in part, for their want of better information. nation and church have suffered not a little by this: I persuade myself, our neighbours will do us more justice, when they have a fuller view of our affairs. This There is another writer, the author of the Memoirs of the Church of Scotland, 8vo. London, 1717, who deserves some considera tion by himself. As far as he had our it to a little better bearing: but, after the printed historians to guide him, he hath given proposals were printed, the subscribers a very distinct and fair account of matters; pressed my publishing of it; and I found, he hath likewise done the sufferers in the the longer I delayed, the more it was like period before me, some justice, in stating to swell on mine hand. Since that time the grounds of their sufferings: but how he near a hundred sheets have been added, hath fallen into some very gross blunders and I did not know where this would end; I cannot imagine. He talks of the indul- so that it comes abroad very much as it gence, as a contrivance of the prelates and dropt from my pen, in the midst of other their friends; which is a plain mistake. necessary parochial and ministerial work, His making the indulged ministers to accept and without those amendments I would a license from the bishops, is yet much have desired. I know well enough this worse; and indeed, his whole account of lands upon myself, but necessity hath no this matter seems to be a satire upon some law, and, I can sincerely say, I have more of the most eminent ministers of this church, ways than one crossed mine own inclinations who had freedom to fall in with it. In in this affair. I did very much incline, both other places, this writer bewrays an un- in the proposals and history, to have concommon ignorance of our Scottish affairs: cealed my name, as conceiving this of very he speaks of the Highland host as brought little consequence in a work of this nature; down upon the west some time after Both- but my friends overruled me in this, and well-bridge, and says, that the reverend would not have the History of the Sufferings professor Hamilton and Mr. Mitchell were of this Church, published in an anonymous sent up to London, 1717, to get the act for way. The work now comes to the public Yule vacance repealed; whereas that was view, and must have its fate according to done some time before. These are of a the different tempers and capacities of its piece with several misrepresentations of fact, readers. in the History of the Union, generally believed to be written by the same hand. A great number of other mistakes might be noticed, as to the circumstances of the risings at Pentland and Bothwell, yea, even as to our printed acts of parliament; but, I hope, those flow from inadvertency, whereas his account of the indulgence looks like somewhat worse; and the following history will sufficiently set the facts he hath misrepresented, in their true light. Perhaps, an apology will be here expected for the imperfections in this history; but I see very little use of this in a preface, however fashionable it may be. As I am sure there are no wilful and designed mistakes in it, so any that may have happened in so great a heap of materials, through haste or misinformation, and in the transcribing a vast multitude of papers, shall be cheerfully acknowledged and corrected. Indeed I could have wished this work had remained by me some time longer, that I might have smoothed it a little, cut off some things, necessary in the first forming of it, from a heap of unconnected papers, and brought Some of my friends have urged me to draw down the thread of our history, in the introduction which follows, from the time where our printed historians end, and in some measure to fill up the gap we have from the death of king James VI. to the restoration. I have been of opinion now of a considerable time, that the whole of our church history since the reformation, is too large a field for one hand, if he have any other business or employment; and that it ought to be parcelled out among different persons, if we have it done to any purpose. Even that period, already described by Mr. Knox, bishop Spotiswood, and Mr. Calderwood, is capable of great improvement. Many valuable original papers, memoirs, and some formed histories, either not known to those historians, or overlooked by them, are recovered since the revolution, and will afford a just light to that time: and there is no want of excellent materials for forming full accounts from king James his death to the restoration. Several of my very good friends have large collections of papers during both those periods, and |