Church of Scotland. General Assembly

“ It is now high time, under the feeling of so great a burden both of sinne and wrath to humble our uncircumcised heart, to put our mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope, to wallow our selves in ashes, to clothe our selves with our shame as with a garment, to justifie Gods righteous judgements, to acknowledge our iniquitie, to make our supplication to our Judge, and to seek his face, that he may pardon our sinne, and heal our Land. ”

“ So it is our confidence, that the begun Reformation is of GOD, and not of man, that it shall increase, and not decrease; and that he to whom nothing is to hard, who can make mountaines, valleyes, crooked things, straigth, and rough wayes, smooth, shall lead along and make perfect this most wonderful Work, which shall be remembred to his glory in the Church throughout all generations. ”

“ For what hope can there be of Unity in Religion, of one Confession of Faith, one Form of Worship, & one Catechisme, till there be first one Forme of Ecclesiasticall Government? Yea, what hope can the Kingdome and Kirk of Scotland have of a firme and durable Peace, till Prelacie, which hath been the main cause of their miseries and troubles, first and last, be plucked up, root and branch, as a plant which God hath not planted, and from which, no better fruits can be expected then such sower grapes, as this day set on edge the Kingdome of England? ”

“ But the highest of honours and heaviest of burdens is put upon you, to declare out of the sacred records of Divine Truth, what is the prerogitive of the Crown and extent of the Scepter of Jesus Christ, what bounds are to be set between Him ruling in his House, and powers established by God on Earth, how and by whom his House is to be governed, and by what wayes a restraint is to be put on those who would pervert his Truth, and subvert the faith of many. No doubt mountains of oppositions arise, and gulfs of difficulties open up themselves in this your way ”

“ It is no good use of the Lords mercy for such men under pretext of Liberty to make both themselves and others slaves to corruption, and to make all men both in Church and State like the fishes of the Sea, or the creeping things that have no ruler over them. Are these things according to the Word of God, and the pattern of the best Reformed Churches? Or is that the endeavour to bring the three Kingdoms to the nearest uniformity that may be in Doctrine, Worship, Government, and Discipline ”

“ Surely if ever a poor Nation were upon the edge of a most desperate precipice, if ever a poor Church were ready to be swallowed up by Satan and his Instruments, we are that Nation, we are that Church. And in both respects by so much the more miserable, by how much, we expected not a Preservation onely, but an augmentation also, of happinesse in the one, and glory in the other. ”

“ And therfore we Your Majesties most loving Subjects, in name of the whole Kirks of Scotland, represented by us, upon the knees of our hearts, do most humbly and earnestly beg, that Your Majesty in the deep of Your Royall Wisdom, and from Your affection to the true Religion, and the Peace of Your Kingdoms, may be moved to consider, that the God of Heaven and Earth is calling for this Reformation at Your hands, and that as you are his Vice-gerent, so You may be his prime Instrument in it. ”

“ From our own bowels he hath called forth, and strengthened an adversarie against us, a generation of brutish hellish men, the rod of his anger, and the staff of his indignation, under whose cruelties we bleed, and if present mercy step not in, we die. Righteous art thou, O LORD, and just are all thy Judgements! But O the more then barbarous carriages of our enemies, where ever GOD gives any of his hidden ones up into their hands, we need not expresse it unto you, who knows the inveterate and deadly malice of the Antichristian faction against the Members of our Lord Jesus. ”

“ And the time is comming, when a new Song shall be put in our mouths, and we shall say, This is our God, we have waited for him, and he hath saved us. Though the Lord smite us, it is the hand of a Father, not of an Enemy, he is not consuming us, but refining us, that we may come forth as Gold out of the Fire. ”

“ It is no small grief to us, that the Gospel and Government of Jesus Christ are so despised in that Land that faithfull Preachers are persecuted and cryed down, that Toleration is established by pretext of Law, and maintained [pg 473] Military power, and that the Covenant is abolished and buried in oblivion. All which proceedings, cannot but be looked upon as directly contrary to the Oath of God lying upon us, and therefore cannot eschew his Wrath when he shall come in Judgement, to be a swift witnesse against those that swear falsly by his Name. ”

“ All which the Assembly hath taken to their serious consideration, being most heartily willing to sympathize with every Member of Christ his body, although never so remote, much more with that plantation there, which for the most part was a branch of the Lord his vine, planted in this Land. In which solicitude, as they would be loath to usurpe without their own bounds, or stretch themselves beyond their own measure, so they dare not be wanting to the inlargement of Christs Kingdome, where so loud a cry of so extreme necessity, could not but stir up the bowels of Christian compassion. ”

“ We know that there is a generation of men who retard the work of Uniformity, and foment jealousies betwixt the Nations, studying if it were possible, to break our bands asunder; But we trust, that he that sits in the Heaven will Laugh, and that the Lord shall have them in derision, that he shall speak to them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure, and notwithstanding of all that they can do, set his King upon his holy [pg 322] hill of Sion, and make these Nations happy in the sweet fruits of Unity in Truth and Peace. ”

“ Although our land be filled with sin, yet we have not been forsaken of the Lord our God, but he hath alwayes had compassion upon us, and delivered us in all our distresses; Although some of understanding fall, it is but to try, and to purge and to make white even to the end, because it is yet for a time appointed; Although many cleave to us by flatteries, yet there be a remnant who keep their integrity, and the Lord shall doe good to these that be good, but such as turn aside to crooked wayes, shall be led forth with the workers of iniquity. ”

“ And few walk as becometh the Gospel, and imitate our Holy Lord in Humility, Meekness, Self-denial, Heavenly mindedness, Zeal for GOD, and Charity towards Men: But as there is even untill now, a great contempt of the Gospel, a great Barrenness under it; So a deep Security under our sin and Danger, a great want of Piety toward God, and Love towards Men, with a woful Selfishness, every one seeking their own things, few the things of Christ, or the publick Good, or one anothers welfare: And finally, the most part more ready to Censure the sins of others, than to Repent of their own. ”

“ While we think of these things, For Sions sake we will not hold our peace, and for Jerusalems sake we will not rest: trusting that GOD will give, though nor to all, yet to many, a seeing Eye, a hearing Ear, and an understanding Heart: For who is wise and he shall understand these things, prudent and he shall know them ”

“ We do for our part not only admit and allow, but most heartily and gladly embrace the Directory of Worship, as a common Rule for the Kirks of GOD in the three Kingdoms, now more straitly and firmly united by the solemne League and Covenant; And we do all in one voice blesse the Lord, who hath put it in the hearts, first, of the Reverend, Learned, and Pious Assembly of Divines and then, of the Honourable Houses of Parliament. To agree upon such a Directory as doth remove what is none of Christs, and preserve the purity of all his Ordinances, together with Uniformity and Peace in the Kirk. ”

“ It is now more nor evident to all the Kirks of Christ, with what implacable fury and hellish rage, the bloud-thirstie Papists, as Babylon without, and the Prelaticall Faction, the children of Edom within, having adjoyned to themselves many malignant adherents, of time-serving Atheists, haters of holinesse, rejecters of the yoke of Christ, (to whom the morning light of Reformation is as the shadow of death) have begun to swallow up the inheritance of the Lord, and are not easily satisfied in making deep and long furrowes on your backs. ”

“ The Declaration of the Parliament of England, sent to the Assembly. The Lords and Commons in this present Parliament assembled, finding to their great grief, that the distractions of this Kingdome dayly increase, and that the wicked Counsels and practises of a malignent party amongst us (if God prevent them not) are like to cast this nation into bloud and confusion, To testifie to all the World how earnestly they desire to avoid a Civill Warre, they have addressed themselves in an humble Supplication to His Majestie, for the prevention thereof. ”

“ The Lords people in England and Ireland, who adhere to the cause and Covenant, may be perplexed, but shall not despair; they may be persecuted, but shall not be forsaken; they may be cast down, but shall not be destroyed: And although uniformity, and the work of Reformation in these lands, seem not only to be retarded, but almost pluckt up by the roots, and the foundation thereof razed; Yet the seed which the Lord hath sowen there, shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward, The zeal of the Lord of Hosts shall performe this. ”

“ If we should weigh this your heavie grief in the scales of common reason, we behoved either to stand aloof from your plague as men astonished, or sink down in heavinesse and be swallowed up of sorrow: but when we ponder your sad condition in the Ballance of the Sanctuary, we finde that nothing hath as yet befallen unto you, save that which hath been the exercise of the Saints in former times, who have been made to sit down for a while in the shadow of death before the day of their deliverance. ”

“ We are very confident in the Lord, that you will be faithful to Jesus Christ, in the work committed to you by him in all his ordinances, and taking neither foundation, corner stone, nor any part of the rubbish of Babel to build the City that is called, The Lord is there: But measuring all with the golden reed of the Sanctuary, you may more closely be united to the best Reformed Kirks, in Doctrine, Worship, and Government, that you may grow up in him in all things which is the head, even Christ. ”

“ The God of Love, the Prince of Peace, with all the Providences that have gone over Us, and Circumstances that We are under, as well as Your Majesties most obliging Pleasure, Require of Us a Calme and Peaceable Procedure, And if after the Violence for Conscience sake, that We have Suffered, and so much Detested, and these Grievious Abuses of Authority, in the late Reigns, Whereby through some Mens Irregular Passions, We have so sadly Smarted ”

“ Although the building of the House of the Lord in England be not yet, after so long expectation, finished, and now also the work ceaseth, Yet wee doe from our hearts blesse the Lord for the laying of the Foundation, and for so much progresse as hath been made in the Work; Having still confidence in the Almighty, to whom nothing is impossible or too hard, that every Mountaine which doeth or shall stand in the way shall become a plaine, and that the Head-stone shall bee brought forth with shoutings of Joy, Grace, Grace unto it. ”

“ This whole national Kirk is so much concerned in that Reformation and Unity of Religion in both Kingdomes, that without it we cannot hope for any long time to enjoy our puritie and peace, which hath cost us so dear, and is now our chiefest comfort and greatest treasure: Which one cause (beside the Honour of God, and the happinesse of the People of God in that Kingdome, more desired of us then Our lives) is more then sufficient to move us, To contribute all that is in our power for bringing it to passe. ”

“ Hath not the Word of God prescribed to the Christian Magistrate the Rules of a Lawfull War, And doth it not belong, to particular Ministers, much more to the Assemblies of the Kirk, to declare the minde of God from Scripture, for all sorts of duties, and against all sorts of sins. And if the present War be a case of conscience, and alledged to be the most fit and necessary means for preservation of Religion, who seeth not that the Kirk hath an undoubted interest in resolving and determining such a case of Conscience from the word of God. ”

“ The God of glory thundereth, and the Highest uttereth his voice, hailstones and coales of fire, who will not fall down and fear before him? The fire waxeth hot, and burneth round about us, and shall any sit still and be secure? ”

“ Concerning one Confession of Faith, and Forme of Catechisme, we apprehend no great difficultie: And to that which remains to be perfected in the matter of Kirk-government, we do believe, and both you and we know by experience, that there is no word impossible with our God. He that hath begun a good work among you, will also perform it of his good pleasure. ”

“ Desiring in all things, to Approve our selves unto God, as the true Disciples of Jesus Christ, who, though most Zealous, against all Corruptions in his Church, was most Gentle towards the Persons of Men: And to maintain as much as in us lyes, Peace and Concord with all the Reformed Churches: As likewise to comply in all obsequious Duty, with all that Your Majesty enjoynes, for the Real Advantage of true Piety, and the Peace or all Your Kingdoms. ”

“ The case and condition of your bleeding Kingdome is no lesse sensible to us, than if our selves were in affliction with you; but we trust all is working to your best, and to our Lords glory: That some of you hes fallen, it is to try you, purge you, and make you white: If the Lord by those means be with that Reformation of his Ordinances, bringing also alongst that other Reformation of hearts and lives should it not be welcomed with all joy, although it bee upon the expence of blood and lives? ”