g victim of their rage more secure, is a question to which
this answer may be returned, That had they been sincere, the
consciousness that Mr. Hamilton spoke truth, would perhaps have warded
off the blow, for, at least some longer time, or divided their councils
and measures against him. That neither of these was the case will now
appear.--He was apprehended under night, and committed prisoner to the
castle: at the same time, the young king was, at the earnest
solicitation of the clergy, prevailed upon to undertake a pilgrimage to
St. Dothess in Ross-shire, that he might be out of the way of any
applications made to him for the life of Mr. Hamilton, which there was
reason to believe would be granted. This measure affords full proof,
that notwithstanding the friendly conferences which they kept up with
him for some time, they had resolved on his ruin from the beginning: but
such instances of Popish dissembling were not new even in Mr. Hamilton's
time.

The next day after his imprisonment, he was brought before the
arch-bishop and his convention, and there charged with maintaining and
propagating sundry heretical opinions; and though articles of the utmost
importance had been debated betwixt him and them, they restricted their
charge to such trifles as _pilgrimage_, _purgatory_, _praying to
saints_, and _for the dead_; perhaps because these were the grand
pillars upon which Antichrist built his empire, being the most lucrative
doctrines ever invented by men. We must, however, take notice that
Spotswood afterwards arch-bishop of that see, assigns the following
grounds for his suffering, 1. That the corruption of sin remains in
children after their baptism. 2. That no man by the power of his
free-will can do any good. 3. That no man is without sin so long as he
liveth. 4. That every true Christian may know himself to be in a state
of grace. 5. That a man is not justified by works but by faith only. 6.
That good works make not a man good, but that a good man doth good
works, and that an ill man doth ill works, yet the same ill works, truly
repented of, make not an ill man. 7. That faith, hope and charity are so
linked together, that he who hath one of them hath all, and he that
lacketh one lacketh all. 8. That God is the cause of sin, in this sense,
that he withdraweth his grace from man; and grace withdrawn, he cannot
but sin. These articles with the following make up the whole charge,
(1.) That auricular confession is not