A LETTER FROM The Bishops of Scotland, to the Bishops of England.
May it please Your GRACE and Your LORDSHIPS,
SInce the lamentable Suppression of the Apostolical Order of Bishops in this Kingdom,
some hundreds of the inferior Clergy, have been turn'd out of their Cures and Benefices,
and thereby reduc'd with their poor Children and Familles to such deplorable Misery,
as it does extort Compassion from their bitterest Enemies, and as hitherto they have
been almost altogether supported, by the pious Bounty of good People, amongst our
selves, so now the Scarcity of Money here, and the Poverty of this Nation is such,
that it is not able to afford them what may be necessary to preserve them from the
last extremities, and unless they be assisted from abroad, we don't see by what other
human Means they can be preserved from starving.
Wherefore as it is our indispensable Duty, and that with the greatest Fervor, to recommend
them to Your Grace's and Your Lordships Care, so hereby we most earnestly beseech
You, in the Bowels of our common and most adorable Saviour, to commiserate their sad
and desolate Condition, and to contribute to their Relief, not only by Your own Christian
and fraternal Charity, but also by exciting the Clergy in Your respective Provinces
and Diocesses, to do the like, as God shall enable them, and open their Hearts and
Hands in so pious and necessary a Work.
Your Lordships well know, that in the Apostolical Age, not only did the flaming Love
to God possess the Souls of the Primitive Christians, but that a Sympathizing Charity,
warm'd them to all their fellow Christians, which vigorously exerted it self in liberal
Contributions, for the Relief even of Lay-Professors in their Sister Churches, who
were in Want; And it may be easily conjectur'd, how much more warm and enlarg'd it
would have prov'd, towards an intire Body of Persons consecrated to Christ at his
Altars, reduced to such inexpressible Straits as ours are now. Wherefore as Almighty
God, who in the Depths of his Wisdom and Justice has so Sadly visited us, has been
pleas'd to preserve Your Church in a prosperous and plentiful State; So we doubt not
but Your Lordships will be ready on this extraordinary and crying Occasion, to follow
so glorious and charitable an Example and will not fail to maintain the Character
of Your Church, so famous over the World (besides many other excellent things) for
its liberal and extended Charity.
What shall be collected may be trusted to Such as your Lordships think fittest to
transmit it to us, who shall be careful to apply it to the Relief of our Presbyters,
and their desolate Widows, according to their several Sad Circumstances, and to Send
back an Account of the Distribution thereof according to the Ends and Purposes of
the pious Donors.
There are no more of these few now surviving of our Order here in this City of Edinburgh, Save we, who by reason of that circumstance, are not only best acquainted with our
Clergy's condition, but have also the burden of this concern of theirs immediately
devolv'd upon us; Wherefore we hope, seeing our Colleagues live at a great distance,
and their Subscriptions cannot be conveniently got, your Lordships, will take no exception,
that this most Serious and passionate application comes only from us who are
One directed to his Grace of Canterbury, and the Bishops of his Province, with another of the same Tenor to his Grace of York, and the Bishops of his Province, and both to the Care of the Reverend Dr. Scott.
May it please your Grace and your Lordships,
Your most Affectionate Brethren and most Humble Servants,
- Jo. Glascow
- Alex. Edenburgen.
Credentials to the Reverend Doctor Scott.
THE infinitly wise God, having in his unsearchable Providence, permitted some hundreds
of our Episcopal Clergy in Scotland, to be violently rabbl'd out of their Cures and Benefices, by armed Companies of furious
Men, acting without Commission, contrary to the known Right of the Lieges, and Establish'd
Laws of the Nation, by which they and their Families are reduc'd to extreme Wants
and Necessities, and have continu'd under this grievous Affliction, now, for many
Years, which the present impoverish'd Condition of our Country is not able any longer
to relieve in any tolerable Measure. Therefore to prevent the utter starving of so
many good Ministers, with their Children and Families, which cannot now be otherwise
reliev'd, than by the pious Charity of good Christians from abroad whose Hearts God
shall open and incline to so good a Work which will be graciously accepted and rewarded
by God.
These are humbly and earnestly to recommend their sad and deplorable Conditon, to
the Compassion and Charity of all good Christians, very fervently beseeching them
in the Bowels of Jesus Christ to extend their pious Charity on this bleeding and crying
Occasion. And because our Reverend Brother Dr. Robert Scott Dean of Glasgow and Parson of Hamilton, hath consented to collect what the Bounty of the Well-dispos'd and Charitable-affected
shall allow, for the Relief and Subsistance of the said suffering indigent Clergy:
We whose Names are subscrib'd do recommend him, as a Person of such Piety, and Integrity,
as none may in the least scruple to trust him with their Bounty and Beneficence, as
he shall have Occasion to apply himself for the same; He being to send his Collections
to us, and to the other Administrators of the Charities which devout Christians contribute
for the Relief of our said suffering Clergy. In Testimony whereof, (written by the
Hand of the Arch-Bishop of Glasgow) these Presents are subscrib'd by us, to which we affix our little manual Seals,
- Jo. Glasgow.
- Geo. Aberdon.
- Will. Moravien.