To Mr William Spang. Edinburgh, Jan. 1647.
Dear Cousin,—I wrote to you at length before I came from London. I have had a long and tedious, but, thanks to God, prosperous journey. I am now here well. I have made my report in the commission of the church to all their contentment; our errand in England being brought near a happy period, so far as concerned us the commissioners of the church; for, by God’s blessing, the four points of uniformity, which was all our church gave us in commission to agent in the assembly at Westminster, were as good as obtained. The Directory I brought down before. The model of government we have gotten it through the assembly according to our mind: it yet sticks in the hands of the Houses. They have passed four ordinances at least about it, all pretty right, so far as concerns the constitution and erection of general assemblies, provincial synods, presbyteries, and sessions, and the power of ordination. In the province of London and Lancashire the bodies are set up. That the like diligence is not used long ago in all other places, it is the sottish negligence of the ministers and gentry in the shires more than the parliament’s. That the power of jurisdiction in all things we require, excepting appeals from the general assembly to the parliament, is not put in ordinances long ago, it is by the coming of the Independents and Erastians in the House of Commons; which obstacle we trust will now be removed by the zeal of the city of London; so much the more, as our nation are taken away sooner and more easily than any did expect. All grounds of jealousy of our joining with the King, the greatest prop of the sectaries power in the House. However, in the jus divinum of Presbytery, printed by the ministry of London, you may see that burden taken off our shoulders; the body of the ministry of England, not the assembly and Londoners only, being fully leavened with our sense in all the point of government, and become willing, and able abundantly, to manage that cause, without us, against all opposites. The third point, the Confession of Faith, I brought it with me, now in print, as it was offered to the Houses by the assembly, without considerable dissent of any. It is much cried up by all, even many of our greatest opposites, as the best Confession yet extant. It is expected the Houses shall pass it, as they did the Directory, without much debate. Howbeit the retarding party has put the assembly to add scriptures to it, which they omitted only to eschew the offence of the House, whose practice hitherto has been, to enact nothing of religion on divine right or scriptural grounds, but upon their own authority alone. This innovation of our opposites may well cost the assembly some time, who cannot do the most easy things with any expedition; but it will be for the advantage and strength of the work. The fourth part of our desired and covenanted uniformity is the Catechism. A committee has drawn and reported the whole.
The assembly ere I came away had voted more than the half. A short time will end the rest; for they study brevity, and have voted to have no other head of divinity into it than is set down in the Confession. This ended, we have no more ado in the assembly, neither know we any more work the assembly has in hand, but an answer to the nine queries of the House of Commons about the jus divinum of divers parts of the government. The ministers of London’s late jus divinum of Presbytery does this abundantly. Also a committee of the assembly has a full answer to all these queries ready. The authors repent much of that motion. Their aim was, to have confounded and divided the assembly by their insnaring questions; but finding the assembly’s unanimity in them, the Independents principles forcing them to join with the rest, in asserting the divine right of these points of government, whereupon the parliament does most stick, the movers of these questions wishes they had been silent. There is no more work before the assembly. The translation of the psalms is passed long ago in the assembly; yet it sticks in the Houses. The Commons passed their order long ago; but the Lords joined not, being solicited by divers of the assembly, and of the ministers of London, who love better the more poetical paraphrase of their colleague Mr Burton. The too great accuracy of some in the assembly, sticking too hard to the original text, made the last edition more concise and obscure than the former. With this the commission of our church was not so well pleased; but we have got all those obscurities helped; so I think it shall pass. Our good friend Mr Zachary Boyd has put himself to a great deal of pains and charges to make a psalter, but I ever warned him his hopes were groundless to get it received in our churches; yet the flatteries of his unadvised neighbours makes him insist in his fruitless design.
When I took my leave of the assembly, I spoke a little to them. The prolocutor, in name of the assembly, gave me an honourable testimony, and many thanks for my labours. I had been ever silent in all their debates; and however this silence sometimes weighted my mind, yet I found it the best and wisest course. No man there is desired to speak. Four parts of five do not speak at all; and among these are many most able men, and known by their writs and sermons to be much abler than sundry of the speakers; and of these few that use to speak, sundry are so tedious, and thrusts themselves in with such misregard of others, that it were better for them to be silent. Also there are some eight or nine so able, and ready at all times, that hardly a man can say any thing, but what others, without his labour, are sure to say as well or better. Finding, therefore, that silence was a matter of no reproach, and of great ease, and brought no hurt to the work, I was content to use it, as Mr Henderson also did.
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It is very like, if he had done any duty, though he had never taken the covenant, but permitted it to have been put in an act of parliament in both kingdoms, and given so satisfactory an answer to the rest of the propositions, as easily he might, and sometimes I know he was willing, certainly Scotland had been for him as one man; and the body of England, upon many grounds, was upon a disposition to have so cordially embraced him, that no man, for his life, durst have muttered against his present restitution. But remaining what he was in all his maxims, a full Canterburian, both in matters of religion and state, he still inclined to a new war; and for that end resolved to go to Scotland. Some great men there pressed the equity of Scotland’s protecting of him on any terms. This untimeous excess of friendship has ruined that unhappy prince; for the better party, finding the conclusion of the King’s coming to Scotland, and thereby their own present ruin, and ruin of the whole cause, the making the malignants masters of church and state, the drawing the whole force of England upon Scotland for their perjurious violation of their covenant, they resolved by all means to cross that design.
So when others proposed to the parliament the assistance of the King to recover his government in England, notwithstanding any answer he might give to the propositions, the better sort, before they should give answer to so high a question, desired a publick fast in the parliament, and the advice also of the commission of the church. Both with some difficulty were obtained. But after that fast, and the distinct answer of the church, that it was unlawful for Scotland to assist the King for his recovery of the government in England, if he approved not the covenant, the parliament was peremptor to refuse the King free access to Scotland, unless he satisfied the propositions. This much they signified to him by their commissioners, which we met at Newcastle. It was easy to be grieved, and to find what to reprehend in this resolution; for indeed it was clothed with many dangers and grievances; but to fall at that nick of time on any conclusion, free of more dangers and grievances, seemed impossible.
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July 13, 1647.—These matters of England are so extremely desperate, that now twice they have made me sick. Except God arise, all is gone there. The imprudence and cowardice of the better part of the city and parliament, which was triple or sextuple the greater, has permitted a company of silly rascals, who call themselves yet no more than 14,000, horse and foot, to make themselves masters of the King, parliament, and city, and by them of all England: so that now that disgraced parliament is but a committee to act all at their pleasure, and the city is ready to fright the parliament at every first or second boast from the army. No human hope remains but in the King’s unparallelled wilfulness, and the army’s unmeasurable pride. As yet they are not agreed, and some write they are not like to agree: for in our particular I expect certainly they will agree well enough, at what distance soever their affections and principles stand. Always if the finger of God in their spirits should so far dement them as to disagree, I would think there were yet some life in the play; for I know the body of England are overweary long ago of the parliament, and ever hated the sectaries, but much more now for this their unexpected treachery and oppression. On the other part, the King is much pitied and desired; so if they give him not contentment, he will overthrow them. If he and they agree, our hands are bound: we will be able, in our present posture, and humour of our highly distracted people, to do nothing. And whom shall we go to help, when none calls? but the King, parliament, and city, as their masters command, are ready to declare against us if we should offer to arm. But if the King would call, I doubt not of rising of the best army ever we had, for the crushing of these serpents, enemies to God and man.
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To a friend in Kilwinning. Edinburgh, August 20, Friday night.