United States or Anguilla ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
In the southern and western shires, such as those of Dumfries, Galloway, Ayr, Renfrew, and Lanark, the forces which attacked the Engagers had been mustered; these shires had backed Strachan and Ker and Guthrie in the agitation against the king, the Estates, and the less violent clergy, after Dunbar.
In the first of these kingdoms, after the departure of Cromwell, the supreme authority had been exercised by Argyle and his party, who were supported, and at the same time controlled, by the paramount influence of the kirk. The forfeiture and excommunication of the "Engagers" left to their opponents the undisputed superiority in the parliament and all the great offices of the state.
Malignants and engagers continued to be the objects of general hatred and persecution; and whoever was obnoxious to the clergy, failed not to have one or other of these epithets affixed to him. The fanaticism which prevailed, being so full of sour and angry principles, and so overcharged with various antipathies, had acquired a new object of abhorrence: these were the sorcerers.
The forces of the western counties, notwithstanding the imminent danger which threatened their country, were resolute not to unite their cause with that of an army which admitted any engagers or malignants among them; and they kept in a body apart under Ker. They called themselves the protesters; and their frantic clergy declaimed equally against the king and against Cromwell.
The rout was complete, and Leslie had to retreat to Stirling, while the Lowlands fell into Cromwell's hands. Cromwell was conciliatory, and a considerable proportion of Presbyterians took up an attitude hostile to the king's claims. The supporters of Charles were known as Resolutioners, or Engagers, and his opponents as Protesters or Remonstrants.
Their leader was Sir James Turner, a man of some education, but rough and brutal. He had served on the Continent under Gustavus Adolphus, had fought under Leslie in the Presbyterian ranks, and had accompanied Hamilton with the Engagers into England. Turner, in his own memoirs, declares that he not only did not exceed his orders, but was even lenient beyond his commission.
The engagers alleged they were for Christ's interest; but they misplaced it. Christ's interest should have gone before, but they drew it after the interest of a king, which evidenced their want of due respect to Christ's interest. As for the third, who delay duty for fear of preferring the king's interest to Christ's, I shall not take upon me to judge their intentions.
Yet historians admire the statesmanship of Argyll! If the edge which the sword of the Covenant turned against the English enemies of presbytery were blunted, the edge that smote Covenanters less extreme than Argyll and the preachers was whetted afresh. The Engagers were divided into four "Classes," who were rendered incapable by "The Act of Classes" of holding any office, civil or military.
Word Of The Day