Book Description

Excerpt from The History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland From the Restoration to the Revolution, Vol. 4 of 4 The nature of persecution is progressive and growing, and it can scarce be otherwise; one sin is a native inlet unto another, and the wicked wax worse and worse. Malice, envy, and enmity, against religion and its followers, are insatiable; and the Lord in the depth of his righteous judgment, suffers sinners to harden themselves, and go on from evil to worse, till their cup fill. Success in sin emboldeneth the actors, and thirst after blood, like a fever, still increases till a crisis happen. Accordingly, the reader will find a cruel oppressive spirit mightily upon the increase in Scotland, this year: the work is turning easy, hardships upon Presbyterians ordinary, and the trade is gainful to not a few. Towards the end of the year, a vast many gentlemen, formerly out of their reach, were attacked, and the prospect of having a share of swinging fines, as good, if not better, as forfeitures, made the sentences go glibly on. Some of the best of the nation were attacked, and the duke of York had every thing going in Scotland, according to his wish. We have this year a new scene of blood, and public executions were frequent; and, during this summer, murders in cold blood in the fields are beginning, and we shall meet with great numbers of them next year. The universal pressing of the test, was a noble handle for persecution. Fines and banishments are most frequent. The garrisons and lesser courts, by citations and searches, harass the country; and the larger circuits bring persons of better quality to a great deal of trouble. Great numbers of gentlemen of note and rank, are most exorbitantly fined, to the value of their real estates; and this year is shut up with the martyrdom of that excellent and extraordinary person the laird of Jerviswood. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.