Series 5 > Religious Controversy in Scotland 1625-1639

Historic of Church and State, c.1646
The historie of Church and State of Scotland, from the beginning of King Charles
the First his raigne, untill the end of the yeare of our Lord 1646. Faithfuly col¬
lected from the several! records, bookes, proclamations, protestations, declamations,
and other such, that were put forth in these tymes, and what wee ourselves heard
and saw in these tymes. Wherein allso the estate and condition of England and
Ireland dureinge that tyme is breifly handled:
The second part of the historie of the Scotish kirke and kingdome, beginning
with King Charles the First, monarch of Great Britane, his entrie to his kingdomes,
and containeinge till the end of the yeare 1646.1
The first booke containeinge from Aprile 1625 untill June 1633.
Now I enter into Iliads of evills2 which fell out in all the three kingdoms of
Scotland, England, and Ireland dureinge the raigne of King Charles, who, albeit
naturealy a clement and gratious king, yet stirred up by papists and polititians
against his owne best subjects uppon false surmises. He is verie simple that sees
not whence the originall of all our evills doe flow. There is two sure grounds,
obvious to anie man of witt and understanding, that cannott be denied, which I
propose: first, the Roman strumpet is very industrious to tempt the earth with
her fornicatione, Revelation 19:2.The conventicle ofTrent said their grounds
for extirpation of the Protestant religion, the beginninge shall be in France (say
they) by conductinge of the Catholike King Phillip of Spaine and by some of
the nobility of France, which matter put in executione the whole power of both
together, with the pope’s army and helpe of the duke of Savoy and Ferrar, shall
asault Geneva and shall not leave it till they have put to the sickle, leaveinge in it
no liveinge creature. France and Germany being by these means so [2] chastised,
1 The volume does not go beyond 1645; perhaps the unwritten 11 th book (p. 198) was intended to
do so.
Ironically, a similar term was used by Arminius,‘an Iliad of disasters’. See his Oration V, in Works,
trans.J. Nichols & W Nichols, 3 vols. (London, 1825-75),i, 388.