SECT. I.-CHAP. I.

The true Character of the Presbyterian Pastors and People in Scotland.

0

UR blessed Saviour, in his Sermon on the Mount, bids us beware of false Teachers; and tells us, That by their Fruits we may know them: Such Fruits are not open and publick Scandals, for then the simple Multitude (that measure Religion by the Sound and not by the Sense) could not so easily be deluded by them. It must be acknowledged that the End of Preaching, should be the Edification of the Hearers; the Design of it being to perswade Men to Piety towards God, and Charity towards one another, and to draw the Image of God upon the Souls of Men. But it will appear from what follows, That the Scotch Presbyterians Sermons have no such tendency; for the Preachers themselves (who would have the World believe, that they only are the Powerful and Soul-refreshing Gospellers) have not been industrious to draw the Likeness of God upon the Hearts of their Hearers, but merely to impress their own Image there; that is, they labour'd not to make good Christians, but rigid Presbyterians.

That I may not be thought to assert this without Ground, (for I would not slander the Devil) I shall first give you the true Character of the Presbyterian Pastors and People. 2. I shall lay before you, some remarkable Passages taken out of their own printed Books, to confirm this Character. 3. Some special Notes (written from their own Mouths) as they preached them under the happy Reign of King Charles II. and since the late Revolution. Lastly, I shall give you some Taste of that Extemporary Gibberish which they use instead of Prayer, and for which they have justled out, not only all the Liturgies of the Pure and Primitive

•Crotatt, Gilbert.

Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence

DISPLAY'D:

or, the

Folly of their Teaching

DISCOVER'D,

from the

Books, Sermons, and Prayers:

And fome REMARKS on

Mr. Rule's late Vindication of the Kirk,
Interspers'd with

Some genuine Adventures, in Love, &c.

HONOURABLE PURCHASER,-Be aware when in quest of my CHAP BOOKS, issued from the place where I do my business, that you take a view of the Sign over my Door, & of the Painted creatures & figures which represent the venders of my Articles in London City. My emblem of trade is represented below on this Title-page. As I have travelled far to get this ORIGINAL printed with the wedge, you will please not to Buy the uncorrected & faulty Editions, which some Florentines have thrown off in poor imitation of mine, trying to filch my labours, and resorting to imposture. You have only to observe the EXECUTION of the Y & you cannot be Jewed :-the broad leg points to destruction, the narrow to life.-GOD SAVE THE KING.

Imprinted for Mr VAN ANKER, living in the Row called Broompjes, Rotterdam, where the Book is Lettered & Entered; by JAMES WILSON, Laigh Kirk Close, Glasgow; and Published & Sold in London by Mr. CHRISTOPHER BRADDOCK, in Clifford's Lane, Fleet Street, over against Bell & the Dragon; by Mr. THOS. DICAS, next door to the Cock & the Drake, St. Paul's Churchyard; by Mrs. MANBY, living in Bishop's-gate, not far from the The Three Naked Boys; & by Mr. HENRY PARSON, Stationer, at The Three Bibles & Three Inkbottles, near Temple Bar, on the Strand Side, where is to be had the Skin for Pains in the Limbs. Price 2s., and a Protestant Picture, coloured-both for light to sinners & delight to saints.-1738.

9180

.093 1738

13-397905

To the R. H. P. and P. of the K. the most G. and very G. P. of the present P. of the C. in Scotland, E C.

My LORD,

A

S there was never any Book and Patron more suited to one another, than this Book is to your Lordship; so there were never any Reasons more satisfying than those that have induced me to this Dedication: For first, if in this incredulous Age, some Men should charge the following Relations of any Falsehoods; it were an injustice done to your Lordship to pretend, that any Man is so capable to vindicate them as your Lordship, who, amidst the Throng of so much ecclesiastical and civil Business at Court (from which you are now fain to retire for Ease and Refreshment to your wonted Solitude in the Country) have been very constant and close in the Study of those extraordinary Books cited in this Pamphlet; and so unwearied an Hearer of those wonderful Preachers of whom I now treat, that you have every day heard them with Joy for many Hours together; and never failed, with your own Hand, to write those learned and elaborate Discourses I have here published, and many more of the like nature; in which Zeal (to your Glory and to the Shame of other Professors, be it spoken) you had no Equal, but one Reverend Ruling-Elder, a Bonnet-maker in Leithwind.

So that, my Lord, this Dedication is but only the offering to you some few of the rare Sayings, and comprehensive Sentences, which grace and adorn those Papers that your Lordship has been at such Pains to collect and are still so careful to preserve; and which you justly value more than all the Rights and Charters of your very opulent and flourishing Fortune. My Lord, the easy Access which these high and mighty Preachers have ever allowed your Lordship to their Company, joined to that vast Experience which you have now acquired in the Stile of the Curates, by your allowing them so fairly and fully to make their Defences at the Council. Board, gives you such a Title to judge of the Works of these Contending Parties, as none but yourself can pretend to. Your Lordship knows well, 'tis impossible for the ablest Curate or Prelate amongst them all, to imitate the precious, powerful, Soul-ravishing, Heart-searching Elo