cessarily to refer to the present laws known, and to import subjection to the Sovereign, ruling according to them, otherwise, I know not well what it's meaning is; and I need not enlarge on the difficulties which follow from this.

In October last, the Oath was before our Synod, and the matter referred to a Committee, one out of each Presbytery. We talked freely about it, and I observed none in that meeting, save Mr Linning, and he fell from it, very fond of the draught sent from Edinburgh; then the matter was remitted to Presbyteries to talk freely among themselves, and ours were all unanimous, that it was safest for us Non-jurants to lie still till attacked. This was the [judgment,] as far as I mind, of the rest of the Presbyteries, and we heard no more about it. I heard of a letter from Mr Mitchell to one of different practice from us, wishing this affair were delayed a little; which, if true, was posterior to our dropping of it, as I heard.

Last week, I ended the toilsome work of writing the History of the Sufferings I have been on these four or five years. I wish I may be under the Lord's conduct what to do next. I am sensible nothing that flows from my pen is fit for the public view. It's turned large, and will be chargeable, and subscriptions are uncertain. I have much need of sympathy, in order to conduct in this. I design to be in Edinburgh, if the Lord will, in March, and bring · it to some point. I am, yours, most affectionately.

Eastwood, Jan. 12, 1719.

LETTER CXXVI.

BILL ABOUT THE ABJURATION OATH.

Lord Ross to Wodrow.1

[WILLIAM LORD Ross was the eldest son of Charles, eleventh Lord Ross, by Lady Grizel Cochrane, only daughter of William, first Earl of Dundonald. He was born about 1656, and took an opposite side

Letters to Wodrow, vol. xiv. No. 5.

in politics from his father, who was one of the Privy Council of Charles II., and Lieutenant-Colonel of the Royal Regiment of Guards. William succeeded his father in 1682. He was a zealous friend of the Revolution, and was made a member of the Privy Council, both under King William and Queen Anne. In 1704, he was her Majesty's High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Being friendly to the union of Scotland with England, he was one of the Peers nominated by her Majesty to treat on that subject in 1706. In 1715, he was chosen one of the sixteen representatives of the Scottish Peerage in Parliament, and appointed Lieutenant of the county of Renfrew that same year. He died on the 5th of March 1738, in the 82d year of his age.-(Crawford's History of Renfrewshire, pp. 56, 323; Douglas' Peerage of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 421.)-ED.]

London, Jan. 9, 1719.

REV. SIR, I had yours of the 26th past, with full account of the election of Clydesdale; for which I thank you. Whom the Commons will determine, time will show. Though the bill about the oath be not presented, yet I find it is drawn according to the desire of the Commission; so am surprised you wish it not, for fear of new flames. Yet the Moderator of the Commission writes to me, he believes all the ministers are agreed in what they desire. So I entreat, so soon as you receive this, you will let me know the grounds of your fears. God's Providence is working miracles for us, both at home and abroad; and if nothing will satisfy our ministers, but they will run from one excess to another, afraid, perhaps, to offend their people, into whom they have imprinted these notions, or to seem more strict; if this they do, they will discourage their best and firmest friends, who cannot hold up their faces to appear for unreasonable notions. I discoursed fully Colonel Erskine; he hopes few will refuse it; but I hope for good accounts from you; and lay out yourself for unity, as you would advance the peace of our Church. I shall buy you the Bishop of Bangor's book on the Sacramental Test. It's a pretty large book. I know not yet how to get it sent down. My humble service to all at Pollock. I am, Reverend Sir, your affectionate humble servant,

Ross.

The Commons sat yesternight till ten; then the question put, Count or Not. The first carried by 42 votes. There were long, many, and hot speeches. Much said of the year 42, which makes it remarkable the vote carried 42.

LETTER CXXVII.

ABJURATION OATH.

To the Right Honourable my Lord Ross, at London.

MY LORD, I have the honour of yours of the 9th instant, for which I return my most hearty thanks, and I am satisfied that my last came to hand.

At the close of it, I remember I did express my fears with respect to new flames in this Church, upon any new stir about the re-imposition of the Oaths. I thought I had expressed myself with all softness in this matter, and if I have erred in running to any excess upon it, I am heartily sorry for it; but I thought only I had let a word fall upon it only by the by.

I own, my Lord, it was my opinion, and still is, till I see ground to alter it, that if matters were let alone among us, our miserable rents would very soon dwindle to nothing; and if we that are ministers be not such fools as to mix in with parties in the State, and political differences which lie not in our road, we shall very soon be entirely one. When I say this, I hope your Lordship will not think I in the least mean we should not appear against the Pretender, and Jacobitism in all the shapes of it. I reckon he does not deserve the name of Protestant, and ought not to be in the holy office of the ministry, who will not renounce and declare, in the strongest terms, against the Popish Pretender, and all Papists whatsoever, their claim to any rule over these Reformed nations. And I know no Presbyterian minister in this Church, (if there be any, sure

I am they ought to be thrown out,) who do not in the greatest sincerity own and acknowledge our only rightful and lawful Sovereign, King George, and pray for him in secret and public, and bear all the love and regard for him that the best of kings deserve from the most loyal subjects. But the longer I live, the more I grow in the thoughts that ministers should closely mind their great work, and keep themselves at distance from all parties, save Protestants and Papists, and the friends of King George and his enemies.

For my own share, if my heart deceive me not, I have no other views before me but the peace and unity of this poor Church, from which if we swerve, we counteract the divine law and our great trust as ministers, and extremely weaken this Church, and sink her reputation in the eyes of such who wait for our halting. And I join heartily with your Lordship in blaming any who run to excess, affect strictness beyond others, or instil notions into their people which all their interest cannot remove again, and, as far as I am conscious to myself, I have still abhorred such courses.

Yet, my Lord, when I wrote last, and still, I cannot altogether get free of my fears, though I wish I may be mistaken of them. When once a bill is brought in in relation to our Church, I cannot help being afraid that some clause or other may be cast up, that may be choaking to several, even though at first the bill may be framed in the best way that friends can propose it. When the reference is taken out which so many stuck at, I cannot but be concerned lest something may be put in its room that may be straitening, not only to such who did not formerly qualify, but even to some who did take the oaths; and I have heard some of them say very publicly, that if the reference were removed, they would have a difficulty, because it was then an illimited oath.

Besides, in conversation, I have had occasion to observe several persons of great worth, and as firm friends to the government as in the kingdom, and no enthusiasts either, who want not their difficulties as to all public oaths in this degenerate age, as being no real tests of loyalty to the King and Government, and no proper marks of distinction 'twixt the King's friends and foes; neither necessary

from such who every day attest their loyalty by their hearty prayers for King George and his family; and I need not add, their thoughts of an unnecessary oath.

These, and many other things I have observed now these six years since our breaches began upon this head, too long to trouble you with, will lessen your Lordship's surprise that I was afraid of new flames, and in my own mind wished that there were no re-imposition, but our differences suffered to die away. I know the strait with relation to the Jacobite Non-jurors in the North, of the Episcopal way; but the difference is vast, and the laws we have against such who don't pray for King George nominatim, or if the laws be not plain, they may be made clearer, do effectually reach them; and there is not one among that set who will pray for his Majesty, but will take the oaths too, though that is not the case of the West and South, or of any Presbyterian Non-jurors I know of. My great ground of expressing my fears, in the event of re-imposition, was, that after I have considered the matter as far as I could, I did not perceive that form of an oath, but what would divide the real and hearty friends of the King in their practices, and so endanger the peace of the Church; while at present, as far as I can judge, if mixing in with different state parties don't prevent it, we are upon the point of healing among ourselves, and all differences will be buried.

I am very sensible, my Lord, how tender a point this is that I have presumed to write upon, and should not have ventured on it if your Lordship had not signified your desires, which shall still be commands upon me, to have full accounts from me on this head.

What the reverend Moderator of the Commission writes to your Lordship, that we are all agreed on the draught sent up from the Commission, I make no doubt, is according to the information he hath; and I do not doubt but the form sent up from the Commission will satisfy the greatest part of such who did not formerly qualify. And if this tend to the healing of the rent of this poor Church, as I am persuaded it's designed, I can say I am as heartily for it as any minister of the Church of Scotland; though some few

VOL. II.

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