R. Coke: Detection of the Court and State. London , p. 115, et seq.

Lauderdale .. was taken prisoner after the fight at Worcester, and from that time kept prisoner in Windsor Castle, from whence he was set free upon the king's restoration; but became so poor that it is said he could not meet the king for want of money to pay for a pair of boots. . . . In the late wars between the king and Parliament, he, with sir John Cheesley were ordered commissioners by the Kirk Faction to the Parliament in England for propagating the Presbyterian government; but this being most detestable at court, Lauderdale, to raise himself, set himself with all his skill to oppose it; and by it at first got to be made principal secretary of state of Scotland, and as renegadoes from Christianity become the greatest persecutors of Christians, so was Lauderdale of the Kirk and Presbyterian government. However, Lauderdale seemed zealous for calling a Parliament in Scotland, and demolishing the forts that bridled the Scots, which Monk opposed. hereby Lauderdale became popular in Scotland, so that all applications to the king from thence were by Lauderdale.

In this state it was not easily determined who should be commissioner in Scotland, in case a Parliament should be called; for affairs were not yet ripe to make a Popish one, nor would the court trust a Presbyterian one; and Lauderdale would not forsake his place at court, where he governed all, but continue it, that all the motions in Parliament might receive their life from him, At last it was agreed that Middleton (who first served the Kirk against the king, Charles I, and after changing sides, made some bustle in Scotland after the king left it) should be created an earl, and made a commissioner, and a Parliament should be called in Scotland.

The nobility and gentry of Scotland clearly saw there was no other way to redeem Scotland from being a conquered nation, and a province to England, but by an entire submission to the king. Lauderdale knew this as well as they, and therefore resolved to make them pay dear for their deliverance; and now you shall see the nobility and gentry, which with the Kirk united against Charles I., divide under his son, and sacrifice the Kirk, and all their discipline, to make an atonement for themselves. The first act which was shewed herein was upon this occasion.

The fiery zeal of the Kirkmen burnt up all rules of prudence, or the consideration of the present state of Scotland, so that even in this state, crowns and sceptres must submit to the Kirk; and that the king might know his duty, a company of them met together, and drew up a supplication (as they said), but in nature a remonstrance to the king, setting forth

The committee of estates well knowing how ungrateful this would be to the king, upon the 23rd of August, , sent a party and apprehended these men, whereof one Mr. James Guthrie was the chief (of whom you'll hear more hereafter), and committed them prisoners to Edinburgh Castle, and from thence Guthrie was sent prisoner to Dundee for treasonable and seditious reflecting on his Majesty, and on the Government of England, and the constitution of the committee of State, and tending to raise new tumults, and kindling a new civil war among his Majesty's good subjects.

This was the first spark, which soon burnt into such a flame as totally consumed the whole Kirk party in Scotland and left them in a much worse plight than before, when they suffered under the usurpation (as they called it) of the English.

For during the late usurpation, the Kirk enjoyed a liberty of conscience; but it's the nature of some men, that unless they may persecute other men, to exclaim they are persecuted themselves, and therefore (since they were not able to do it themselves) they minded the king of his covenant with God, to extirpate

For one of the first acts of the first session was an anniversary thanksgiving, to be observed upon every 29th May, with this proëm:

"The states of Parliament of the kingdom of Scotland, taking into their consideration the sad condition, slavery and bondage, this ancient kingdom has groaned under these twenty-three years" (the time when the troubles arose in king Charles the First's reign) "in which under very specious pretences of reformation a public rebellion has been, by the treachery of some, and mispersuasion of others, violently carried on against sacred authority, to the ruin and destruction, as far as was possible, of religion, the king's Majesty and his royal government and laws, liberties and property of the people, and all the public and private interests of the kingdom, so that religion itself hath been prostituted for the warrant of all these treasonable invasions made upon the

Here it's observable that in , when the Kirk were so zealous, with lifted up hands in the presence of the eternal God, to swear to establish their national covenant, there was not one of the nobility (but the Popish) except the marquis of Hamilton and the earl of Traquair, but joined with the Kirk, expressly against the king's command : Traquair the Kirk party proceeding against as an incendiary ; and after, Hamilton secretly joined with the Covenanters, for which king Charles I. made him prisoner in Pendennis Castle; from whence he was discharged when Fairfax had it surrendered : and not one of the nobility (except Argyll and Cassilis) but declare this, and all the Kirk proceedings since, treasonable rebellion against the laws, liberties and property of the people, and prostitution of religion; and this declaration was celebrated with a double sacrifice, the marquis of Argyll being executed as a traitor for holding correspondence with Cromwell; and his head set where Montrose's stood on the Monday before: and Mr. Guthrie on the Saturday after, for refusing to own the jurisdiction of the judges in ecclesiastical affairs; and his head set upon one of the posts of Edinburgh. This was a sad presage to

. . was the total rooting out of the Presbyterian government in Scotland . . . upon this occasion

... . Mr. James Sharp, Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Fairwell, Mr. Loghton (but whether sent for by the king or sent by the Kirk party I do not find) came in , to London, and were ordained deacons and presbyters, and after, consecrated bishops, by the bishop of Winchester and two other bishops. The acceptance of such a renunciation of their Presbyterian ordination; nay, it was a declaration of the invalidity of their former ordination, and thereupon, the king on the sixth of September, , issued out a proclamation declaring his royal pleasure to be for the restoring the government of the Church in Scotland to be by archbishops and bishops, as it was exercised in the year ; and that he had nominated and presented archbishops and bishops to their several bishoprics, and to have the same authority they had in the reign of his grandfather .

In obedience to this proclamation the Privy Council, the ninth of January following, did discharge all ecclesiastical meetings in synods, presbyteries, and sessions until they be authorised by the archbishops and bishops upon their entry unto the government of their respective sees, which was to be done speedily.

Though this proclamation and intimation of the Privy Council had prevented the Parliament, yet to make sure work of both the Parliament, in their

And another act did ordain all ministers to repair unto their diocesan assembly and concur in all acts of church discipline, and as they should be required by the archbishops or bishops of the diocese under pain of being suspended from their office and benefice till the next diocesan meeting, for their first fault; and if they amended not, to be deprived and the church to be declared vacant. . . Though the high commission which Laud so zealously endeavoured to erect in Scotland was put down by Act of Parliament , in England, yet the king by the inherent right of his crown, and by virtue of his prerogative royal and supreme authority in causes ecclesiastic, erected one in Scotland: the commissioners were partly ecclesiastics and partly laymen, who (or five of them, whereof one to be a bishop) had more arbitrary power given them over the clergy than was practised in England, under Laud, and more than Laud could have expected, for an high commission for Scotland, in the king's father's reign.

Thus you see the Kirk which would be a distinct table and independent upon the crown of Scotland are by the prerogative of it committed to the arbitrary mercy of the prelates, whom for above four-and- twenty years they had been railing against and by many oaths sware to extirpate.

For the year after, viz. . .

Thinking men considered, too, the time when this indulgence was granted; for as the king in the sale of Dunkirk chose to do it in the interval of the sitting of Parliament, so he did grant this indulgence . . . in November, when the Parliament was prorogued to February.

But though the Parliament would take no notice of the sale of Dunkirk, they did of this; and therefore the Commons, upon their meeting, entered into a serious debate about it, and made an address to the king, humbly requesting how it would reflect upon the wisdom of Parliament to have such an alteration made so soon, and that for aught they could foresee would end in Popery; and sure the Commons were true prophets herein. However, whether the fearing the continuance of the indulgence might retard the Commons in giving him money, or that the time was not yet ripe enough to insist upon it at present, he recalled his declaration,

This indulgence may seem more strange where the Irish this very year were contriving a massacre of the Protestants, and holding intelligence with the French king, which you may read at large in Plunket's trial, and this proved by Popish witnesses. I do not find the Irish had any countenance herein by the king, nor do I believe the French king acquainted his brother of England with it; yet the insincerity of the king's intentions of any benefit the Protestant dissenters should have by this indulgence will appear when the Parliament, seeing the danger which the prosecution of Protestant dissenters might bring upon the nation, had prepared bills for the ease of Protestant dissenters that the king would not pass them.