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• Z 6. 7v.a c 
 
 TESTIMONY 
 
 REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 SCOTLAND: \ 
 
 HISTORICAL AND DOCTRINAL. 
 
 " Ye are my witnesses." — Isaiah xliii. 10. 
 
 And they overcame by the blood of the Lamb, and by tin word of their 
 testimony."— Rev. xii. 11. 
 
 FOURTH THOUSAND. 
 
 GLASGOW: 
 PUBLISHED BY JOHX KEITH; 
 
 W. MARSHALL; M. OGLE & SON. 
 EDINBURGH: T. NELSON; C. ZEIGLER. PAISLEY: A. GARDNER. 
 STRANRAER: J. M'COLD. BELFAST: W. M'COMB. 
 
 MDCCCXLII. 
 
GLASGOW: 
 Printed by Bull and Bain, 15 St. Knocb Sqdark. 
 
PAET I.— HISTOEICAL 
 
 A BRIEF SKETCH 
 
 CONTENDINGS OF THE WITNESSES, 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT TIME. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The Church of God is denominated in the Scriptures, 
 " the pillar and ground of the truth." This intimates, 
 that the le ading de sign for which she has been erected, 
 and is permanently preserved in the world, is the ex- 
 hibition of divine truth, and its preservation from age 
 to age. A more important or beneficent design can- 
 not be imagined. The manifestation of the divine glory, 
 and the eternal salvation of immortal souls, are sus- 
 pended on it, and inseparably connected with it. 
 
 This sublime office assigned to the church appears 
 to include in it the following duties: — 1st. That, having 
 ascertained the genuine text of the Holy Scriptures, 
 she adopt measures for obtaining exact and faithful 
 translations of them into the various languages that are 
 spoken among men, and for having them distributed 
 among all nations. -2d. That she provide a constant 
 supply of well-qualified preachers, by whom the doc- 
 trines of salvation may be fully and faithfully unfolded, 
 and the ordinances of divine grace purely and regularly 
 dispensed. 3d. That the truth of God be practieally 
 illustrated and recommended, by the deportment of her 
 members. 4th. That in her united and public capacity, 
 she present an exhibition of the truth in a written Con- 
 fession and Testimony. We have thus a pillar of four 
 sides, each having its own appropriate inscription. 
 These different methods of displaying the truth cannot 
 supersede one another, but in their respective places, 
 do harmoniously co-operate ; and nothing but prejudice 
 or misconception can lead a Christian community to 
 depreciate or neglect any of them. 
 ' a -2 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 The church's Confession of Faith implies an open 
 and public avowal of revealed truth. It is a compend 
 of Scripture doctrines, presented in a systematic and 
 orderly arrangement, and confirmed by a direct refer- 
 ence to the word of God. As a means of detecting 
 error, it contributes to secure harmony of sentiment 
 among the members of a church. By declaring the 
 sense in which a church understands the Holy Scrip- 
 tures — the supreme and infallible standard, and thus 
 showing to the world what are the precise doctrines 
 which she embraces, it is an invaluable help to in- 
 quirers, in their endeavours to discover what church 
 adheres most closely to the inspired record. And it is 
 useful for preventing those frequent changes of opinion, 
 to which every church must otherwise be exposed, from 
 the levity of the human mind, the love of novelty, and 
 the craft and subtlety of plausible heretics. 
 
 In the public formularies of churches, it is not un- 
 usual to find a Confession and a Testimony substan- 
 tially united. Yet each has its peculiar province. Both 
 of them exhibit and defend divine truth; but the Testi- 
 mony contemplates the truth as having encountered, 
 and as being still exposed to opposition. In the Con- 
 fession, the truths of religion are plainly written, as on 
 a tablet erected in a public place, that all may peruse 
 them. In the Testimony, truth is written as on a ban- 
 ner, which conveys the idea of moral warfare — of as- 
 sault and defence. The truths which have been most 
 vehemently denied or opposed, which learning and 
 sophistry have laboured to obscure and pervert, or 
 which cannot be owned without hazard or suffering, 
 must obtain peculiar prominence in the Testimony. 
 
 Nor has the Testimony to deal with the truth only, 
 in the way of distinctly confessing, and fearlessly de- 
 fending it. It is also its province to unmask and con- 
 demn error. It carries on an offensive as well as a 
 defensive warfare. With its own appropriate weapon 
 — the sword of the Spirit — it assails the enemies of true 
 religion wherever they appear. Nor does it spare the 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 errors and inconsistencies even of her sincere but mis- 
 taken friends. Every perversion of divine truth, every 
 corruption of divine ordinances, every course of prac- 
 tical disobedience to the divine authority, must be fear- 
 lessly pointed out and condemned, by whomsoever they 
 may be introduced or defended. In a world at enmity 
 with God, it must very often occur, that talents, learn- 
 ing, and numbers, in formidable array, are leagued 
 against the truth. Riches and honours may be the 
 proffered rewards of unfaithfulness. Great temporal 
 loss and reproach, and sometimes suffering and death, 
 may be the inevitable consequences of fidelity. Hence 
 it is, that only a small proportion, even of true Chris- 
 tians, are distinguished as faithful witnesses. Yet the 
 exalted Redeemer never leaves himself without a com- 
 pany who, by his grace, are strengthened to plead his 
 cause. They overcome by the blood of the Lamb, and 
 by the word of their testimony. And those who are 
 faithful unto death receive, from the hands of their 
 royal Master, the bright reward of a crown of life. 
 
 The first Testimony of the Reformed Presbyterian 
 Church, after the Revolution, was published in the year 
 1761. In the lapse of three quarters of a century, 
 many and great changes have taken place. Truth is 
 immutable; but the forms of error and ungodliness are 
 perpetually changing. That it may confront the vary- 
 ing forms of error, it is, therefore, indispensable that a 
 Testimony be progressive. The times are not the same, 
 the controversies are not the same, the parties are not 
 the same, that they were seventy-eight years ago. In 
 a document published at so remote a period, there must 
 be many things, which, however necessary and appro- 
 priate then, are inapplicable to modern times. The 
 evolutions of Providence during the same period, bring 
 into existence a long train of events, of which it is pro- 
 per that the church should make some improvement. 
 The necessity for a new exhibition of the principles of 
 the church had, therefore, become evident many years 
 ago. 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 The Testimony, as now published, consists of two 
 parts, the one Historical, and the other Doctrinal. 
 In the historical part, there is presented a brief sketch 
 of the contendings of the witnesses, from the earliest 
 period to the present time. It was deemed important 
 to show, that the duty and practice of witness-bearing 
 have not been peculiar to any dispensation, nor con- 
 fined to any one age. 
 
 In a work embracing so large a number of historical 
 facts, unavoidably derived from a great variety of 
 sources, it would be presumptuous to allege, that the 
 utmost care and vigilance can effectually prevent all 
 inaccuracy. The inspired history alone is absolutely 
 free from error or mistake. It is an obvious inference, 
 that when the church requires, of those admitted into 
 her fellowship, an acknowledgment of a work like the 
 present, the approbation expressed has a reference to 
 the principles embodied in it, and the proper applica- 
 tion of them, rather than to the perfect accuracy of the 
 historical details. The history is given as affording an 
 instructive exhibition of the principles for which the 
 church lifts up a testimony, and a practical demonstra- 
 tion of the evil tendency of those doctrines which she 
 condemns. Yet we could not presume to implore for 
 the work the favour and blessing of the God of truth, 
 nor commit it to the care of the faithful and true Wit- 
 ness, had we not the consciousness, that it has been our 
 earnest desire, and honest endeavour, to guard against 
 every degree of error. 
 
 We are fully aware, that a work of this character is 
 peculiarly exposed to censure. The nature and design 
 of a Testimony are little understood in the present age. 
 Laxity of principle, or indifference to divine truth, is 
 unjustly extolled as a proof of liberality, and zeal for 
 truth is stigmatized as uncharitableness. The office of 
 a witness being frequently identified with that of a re- 
 prover, must inevitably incur reproach. The corrupt 
 bias which commonly leads men to embrace erroneous 
 opinions, also disposes them to feel offended, when their 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 errors are pointed out and condemned. The Lord 
 Jesus Christ himself, the faithful and true Witness, did 
 not escape censure. He testified of the world, " that 
 the works thereof are evil; therefore the world hated 
 him." 1 Yet it is an office of genuine benevolence to 
 reprove sin, and to detect and expose error. To " suffer 
 sin upon a brother," is condemned in Scripture as equi- 
 valent to our bearing hatred against him. 2 " The wis- 
 dom that is from above" is indeed " peaceable, gentle, 
 and easy to be entreated ;" but it is " first pure," and 
 also, " without partiality, and without hypocrisy." 3 
 
 Should we have ascribed to professing Christians 
 opinions which they do not entertain, or charged them 
 with evils for which they are not responsible, we shall 
 be ready, on its being pointed out, to retract the accu- 
 sation, and to make due acknowledgment for our mis- 
 take. But should we give offence, or incur resentment, 
 by the exposure of moral evils, or the condemnation of 
 errors, whether they be found with individuals, churches, 
 or civil communities, we shall regret this result for 
 the truth's sake, and for the sake of those who dis- 
 honour it. 
 
 Should we be mistaken in our views, in regard to 
 those questions on which we differ from other divisions 
 of the church, we are every way losers by our opiuions. 
 We have no political party or connections to support; 
 no secular interests to warp our judgment. Our errors 
 are not lucrative errors. 
 
 May the Lord arise and plead his own cause ! May 
 the time to favour Zion — the set time — speedily come ! 
 May peace be within her walls, and prosperity within 
 her palaces ! May the spirit of grace be poured out 
 on all the churches which truly " hold the Head," con- 
 straining them to renounce every error, to purge out 
 every corruption, to abandon every sinful alliance, and 
 to prepare for the solemn but joyful period of his com- 
 ing ! " His fan is in his hand, and he will throughly 
 
 1 John vii. 7. 2 Lev. xix. 7. 3 James iii. 17. 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner ; 
 but the chaff he shall burn with unquenchable fire." 
 
 " But ye beloved, building up yourselves on your 
 most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep your- 
 selves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Now, unto him 
 that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you 
 faultless before the presence of his glory with exceed- 
 ing joy, to the only wise God, our Saviour, be glory 
 and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. 
 Amen." 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Preface, PP- v— x 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The apostacy and rebellion of men, render it proper there should be 
 public witnesses to plead the cause of God — Different classes of wit- 
 nesses — The works of creation — The works of providence — The Holy 
 Scriptures — A certain number of the saints — Distinction between saints 
 and witnesses — Organized communities, both churches and nations, 
 
 pp. 1—6 
 
 PERIOD FIRST. 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST. 
 
 Chap. I. — Contendings of the Witnesses be/ore the Deluge. 1656 Years. 
 Abel — Enoch — Noah — Doctrines embraced in their testimony, pp. 6 — 8 
 
 Chap. II. — From the Deluge to the Giving of the Laic at Mount Sinai. 
 a. m. 1656—2513. 
 
 Tendencies of fallen humanity illustrated by two experiments — Abraham, 
 Isaac, and Jacob, witnesses — Nature of their testimony — Importance 
 of this era — The church receives a more exact organization — Is con- 
 stituted more openly a covenant society — Witnesses not of the family 
 of Abraham — Melchizedeck — Lot— Job and his friends — Jethro — Sepa- 
 ration of the seed of Abraham from the other tribes of men — Sojourn- 
 ing of the Israelites in Egypt — Joseph, Moses, and Aaron, pp. 8 — 12 
 
 Chap. III. — From the Giving of the Law to the Incarnation of Christ. 
 '2513—4004. 
 
 Transactions at Mount Sinai— Tribes of Jacob enter into covenant with 
 God — Are incorporated into a church and a nation, and become wit- 
 nesses for God in both capacities — Testimony of the church — Principles 
 of the divine administration towards civil communities, and the duties 
 they owe to God in their civil relations — Custody of divine revelation 
 committed to the seed of Jacob from the time of Moses — From the 
 Hebrews, some knowledge of divine truth reached surrounding nations 
 —Times of David and Solomon— The Chaldeans — The Medo-Persians 
 — Successive additions to the sacred Scriptures — "Witnesses among the 
 Jews — Testify against their repeated backslidings — Kings and Prophets 
 —Spirit of prophecy withdrawn from the time of Malachi until the 
 
Xll CONTEXTS. 
 
 coming of Christ — Appearance of the apocryphal books — Translate 1, 
 of the Scriptures into the Greek language — Persecution of the church 
 by Antiochus — General expectation of the coming of the Messiah, 
 
 pp. 13—20 
 
 PERIOD SECOND. 
 
 FROM THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST TO THE REFORMATION IN 
 THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 Chap. I. — From the Advent to the time of Constantine. a. d. 1 — 313. 
 
 The Faithful and True "Witness — His Testimony — The office of bearing 
 witness now assigned to the Apostles, and to the churches planted by 
 them — Testimony of the Apostles — Day of Pentecost — Marvellous suc- 
 cess of the Gospel in the first age — Symptoms of Declension — Rise of 
 errors and heresies — Covetousness and ambition of ministers — Relaxa- 
 tion of discipline — Persecutions by the Pagan Roman empire, pp. 20 — 26 
 
 Chap. II. — From Constantine to the Reformation, a. d. 313 — 1517. 
 
 Revolution under Constantine — Not properly improved by the Church — 
 The impediment to the progress of the apostacy now removed — Scrip- 
 tures neglected — Ignorance and superstition gain ground — Contending 
 parties within the church persecute each other — Invasion of the Roman 
 empire by the northern barbarians — Rise of the grand apostacy — Eleva- 
 tion of the Bishop of Rome to the authority of Universal Bishop — Ten 
 horns of Daniel's fourth beast — Prophesying of the two witnesses — 
 Mystery of Iniquity predicted and described by the inspired writers — 
 Testimony against the Romish apostacy — The church usurped dominion 
 over the civil powers, and made them subservient to her own ambition 
 — Picture of the united powers in the 17th of the Revelation — Church 
 and State combined in rebellion against God, and in persecuting the 
 true religion — Witnesses against the apostacy — The Cathari — Donatists 
 — Paulicians — Paterines — Waldenses — Early origin of -Waldenses — 
 Their faithfulness — Persecutions — Wide dispersion — Walter Lollard, 
 John Wickliffe, John Huss, and Jerome of Prague — Union between 
 the Waldenses and Bohemian Church— Eastern or Mohammedan An- 
 tichrist, pp. 26—41 
 
 PERIOD THIRD. 
 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 1517—1688. 
 
 Chap. I. — Reformation in the Sixteenth Century. 
 
 Preparations for it by the revival of learning in the west of Europe, and 
 the invention of the art of printing — Luther and his companions — Won- 
 derful preservation of the Reformers from persecuting powers — League 
 of Smalkalde — Lutheran Churches less pure than those called Reformed 
 — Reformation in England — Disadvantages under which it was effected 
 — Testimony against the English Church — The Church, a creature of 
 the State — The supremacy vested in the crown — Conformity enforced 
 by legal penalties— The hierarchy— Rites and ceremonies— Want of dis- 
 cipline — Error involved in the services appointed for baptism, confirma- 
 tion, the visitation of the sick, and the burial of the dead, pp. 41—53 
 
CONTEXTS. Xlll 
 
 CrAP. II. — Of the state of Religion in Scotland in ike period preceding the 
 Reformation. 
 
 Introduction of Christianity into Scotland — Culdees — Columba — The 
 success of his efforts — Diocesan Episcopacy and the Pope's supremacy 
 established, pp. 53 — 55 
 
 Chap. III.— First Reformation in Scotland. 1527—1592. 
 
 Instances of persecution in the beginning of fifteenth century — James 
 Resby — The Lollards of Kyle — Patrick Hamilton — George Wishart — 
 The nobles favour the Reformation — Permission to the people to read 
 the Scriptures in English — Labours of John Knox — Walter Mill, the 
 last martyr of this period — Protestant ministers summoned to Stirling, 
 but preserved from persecution — Instances of public covenanting— 
 Popery publicly abolished, and the Reformed religion established by 
 law — Testimony to the Reformation — Acts of Parliament — Progress of 
 the Reformation, notwithstanding the arbitrary interference of the 
 civil rulers — Accession of James VI. — National Covenant adopted, 
 
 pp. 5& — 65 
 
 Chap. IV. Interval beticeen the first and Second Reformation. 1592 — 1638. 
 
 King James favours Episcopacy — Resolves to remove the Presbyterian 
 church government and establish Prelacy — Harasses the ministers by 
 legal prosecutions — Invades the freedom of the General Assembly — 
 Ministers banished — John Forbes and John Welsh — James and Andrew 
 Melville — King James ascends the throne in England — Bishops re- 
 stored in Scotland — High Commission Court — Five Articles of Perth — 
 State of religion in Ireland at this time — Colonies remove from Eng- 
 land and Scotland to the north of Ireland — Articles of the Established 
 Church of Ireland — Archbishop Usher — Indulgence extended to 
 Presbyterian ministers in Ulster — Revival of religion under the minis- 
 try of Blair, Livingston, and their companions — Accession of Charles 
 I. — His maxims of government — Suiferings of the Puritans in England 
 under Laud — Church in Scotland greatly distressed, . pp. 66 — 75 
 
 Chap. V. — 77<e Second Reformation in Scotland, and commencement of 
 defection from it. 1638—1660. 
 
 Increasing dislike to Prelacy — Fasting and Prayer for the deliverance of 
 the church — Ecclesiastical canons and liturgy prepared for the church 
 in Scotland — All classes unite in opposing them — Frequent and numer- 
 ous meetings in Edinburgh — The National Covenant renewed — The 
 object and contents of the Covenant — Effects of that measure — Reform- 
 ing Assembly at Glasgow — Prelacy abolished — Presbyterianism re- 
 stored — Act of Parliament enjoining the subscription of the Covenant 
 — Presbyterian ministers banished from the north of Ireland — Dread- 
 ful massacre of the Protestants in that kingdom — Arbitrary govern- 
 ment of Charles and of Laud in England — Meeting of the long Parlia- 
 ment — Civil war — English Parliament promote Reformation in that 
 kingdom — Summon the Assembly of Divines at Westminster — Com- 
 missioners sent to Scotland — The Solemn League adopted — Object and 
 import of that deed — Commissioners from the Church of Scotland to 
 the Westminster Assembly — Works compiled by that Assembly — 
 Testimony to the Second Reformation — Act of Scottish Parliament 
 abolishing Patronage — Acts of the General Assembly — Explanation of 
 certain passages in the Westminster Confession — Parties in the West- 
 
 a 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 minster Assembly — Sectaries in England — Execution of Charles I. — 
 Cromwell usurps the government — Duke of Hamilton's engagement — 
 The Scots proclaim Prince Charles King — Montrose's insurrection — 
 Charles II. crowned at Scoon — Repeal of the Act of Classes — Resolu- 
 tioners and protestors — Malignants admitted to power — Charles ob- 
 liged to flee to the Continent — Government of Cromwell — General As- 
 sembly suppressed — Substantial fruits of the Reformation continue in 
 both kingdoms, pp. 75 — 111 
 
 Chap. VI. — From the Restoration of Charles II. to the Revolution. 1660 — 
 1688. 
 
 Restoration of Charles- -Presbyterians in both kingdoms generally con- 
 cur in the measure — Charles restores the hierarchy — Act of uniformity 
 in England — Sufferings of ejected ministers and their people — Profli- 
 gacy of the court — James Sharpe — King's letter to the Presbytery in 
 Edinburgh — Re-establishment of Episcopacy in Scotland — Acts of 
 Scottish Parliament — Arrogant and despotic claims of the king — Mar- 
 tyrdom of Argyle, Guthrie, and "Warriston — Act of the Council of Glas- 
 gow — Three hundred ministers driven from their flocks — They begin 
 to preach in private houses, and in the fields — High commission courts 
 revived — The Highland host — The Bonds and Tests — Violence of the 
 persecution — Letters of intercommuning — Arbitrary modes of trial — 
 The conflict at Pentland — at Drumclog — at Both well Bridge — Cruelties 
 which succeeded — Success attending the preaching in the fields — In- 
 dulgences — Persecuted Covenanters renounce allegiance to the civil 
 Government — Martyrdom of Cameron — Persecutors attempt to argue 
 from Scripture — Covenanters vindicate their principles — Declarations 
 at Rutherglen, Sanquhar, and Lanark — Informatory Vindication — 
 Death of Charles II.— Succession of James — Indiscriminate loyalty of 
 the Scottish Parliament — The king suspends all laws against non-con- 
 formists, excepting those against field meetings — Many Presbyterian 
 ministers in Scotland embrace James' toleration — Renwick and Shields 
 — Martyrdom of Renwick, pp. 112 — 143 
 
 PERIOD FOURTH. 
 
 FROM THE'EEVOLUTION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 
 
 Chap. I.— The Revolution. 1688. 
 
 Accession of the Prince of Orange — Principles exemplified at the Revolu- 
 tion — Critical period at which it was effected — Attainments of the 
 Second Reformation not restored at the Revolution — Episcopacy re- 
 tained in England and Ireland — Presbyterianism granted to Scotland 
 under restrictions — A number of the persecuted Covenanters declined 
 the fellowship of the Revolution Church — They also dissented from the 
 settlement in the State — "Were deserted by "their ministers, Shields, 
 Linning, and Boyd — Worshipped God in their fellowship socie*ties — 
 Their grounds of* Dissent from the church at the Revolution, 
 
 pp. 143 — 155 
 
 Chap. II. — Grounds of separation from tlie JEstablislied Church since tJie 
 Revolution. 
 
 1st. From the character of the Civil Government with which the Church 
 was allied. 2d. Her subserviency to the State, in regard to the free- 
 dom of her Assemblies — The receiving of the curates into her com- 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 munion— Her submission to Patronage— Yielding deference to the State 
 when it prescribed terms of ministerial fellowship, and usurped for a 
 long period, the exclusive right of appointing days of fasting and 
 thanksgiving. 3d. Many of her ministers unsound in the faith — Mr. 
 Simpson — Condemnation of a book called the " Marrow of Modern 
 Divinity"— Mr. Campbell— Dr. M'Gill of Ayr. 4th. Discipline— Charged 
 with laxity, partiality, tyranny — Last charge, illustrated in the case of 
 Mr. M'Millan — Mr. Erskine and Mr. Gillespie — Comparison between 
 the Church of the Second Reformation and the Revolution Church of 
 Scotland, pp. 156—178 
 
 Chap. III. — Testimony against Public Evils subsequent to the Revolution. 
 
 1st. Incorporating Union between England and Scotland. 2d. Oaths and 
 Tests. 3d. Anti-christian corruptions and alliances — Admission of 
 Roman Catholics into Parliament — Popery propagated by the National 
 funds — College at Maynooth — Popish Missions to the Colonies. 4th. 
 Passion for "VVar. 5th. Traffic in Slaves, and the long continuance of 
 Slavery, pp. 178 — 184 
 
 Chap. IV. — Brief Historical Notices of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, 
 from the Accession of Mr. M'Millan to tlie present time. 1706 — 1839. 
 
 Labours of Mr. M'Millan — Joined by Mr. M'Xeil — Renew the Covenants 
 in 171*2 — Discussion between the Reformed Presbyterian Church and 
 the first Seceders — Mr. Nairne unites with Mr. M'Millan in constitut- 
 ing the Reformed Presbytery — Renew the Covenants at Crawfordjohn 
 — Remarks on Covenant Renovation — Origin of the Reformed Presby- 
 terian Church in the United States — Rev. Thomas Cuthbertson sent 
 out by the Presbytery — Other brethren emigrate from Ireland — Pres- 
 bytery constituted in the States in 1774 — Separation of Messrs. Hall 
 and fnnes from the Reformed Presbytery in Scotland — Act, Declara- 
 tion, and Testimony published — Slow increase of the Reformed Pres- 
 byterian Church — Causes of this — Judicial Testimonies against public- 
 evils — Presbytery divided into three — Synod constituted in 1811 — Also 
 in Ireland and in America in the same year, . . pp. 184 — 192 
 
 Chap. V. — Present Position of the Reformed Presbyterian Oiurch in 
 Scotland. 
 
 Sect. 1. Her position in respect to the Civil Institutions of these lands. 
 
 Continues to Dissent from the Civil Institutions— The supreme authority 
 of Scripture is not recognised, nor the dominion of the Messiah over 
 the Nations— Christ's supremacy over the Church usurped by the Civil 
 Government— The support extended to the Church has been* bestowed 
 on vicious principles — Education long neglected — Sabbath profanation 
 and Intemperance connived at — Protest against public iniquity not 
 incompatible with the love of country — Concerning Praver for rulers, 
 and being incorporated with the State, ... pp. 193 — 204 
 
 Sect. 2. Present Position in regard to the Established Churches. 
 
 Symptoms of Improvement in the Established Churches in England and 
 Ireland — Yet all the principal grounds of protest against them remain 
 unreformed— Increase of orthodox and zealous ministers in the Church 
 of Scotland, and other improvements — Moral and religious destitution 
 at home more carefully investigated— Peculiar obligations of the Church 
 
XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 of Scotland to make efforts to provide for that destitution— Mistaken 
 view of the causes and proper remedy of it — Defective discipline in the 
 Church of Scotland — Lay Patronage continued — Act of General Assem- 
 bly called the Veto Act — Unsound in principle — Declared by the Civil 
 Courts to be inconsistent with the existing law of the land — Present 
 position of the Church of Scotland a result of her improper alliance with 
 an Erastian Civil Government — The reforms required in the Church 
 of Scotland, pp. 205—217 
 
 Sect. 3. Position of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in regard to the 
 United Secession and other Dissenting Churches. 
 
 Original ground of controversy with the Secession Church — Change of 
 sentiment in that Church — Controversy respecting National Establish- 
 ments of Religion — Question stated — Fundamental principle — Scripture 
 testimony to this principle — Precepts and Predictions adduced apply 
 to Civil Rulers in their official, and to Nations in their public corporate 
 capacity — Summary of objections against the system of Voluntaryism — 
 Important results of the controversy — Singular alliances — The Relief 
 Church — Associate Synod of Original Seceders — Testimony of that 
 Church — Exceptions to some things contained in it — The sinfulness of 
 rendering allegiance to Anti-christian powers — Passage in the thir- 
 teenth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans — Passage in twenty-third 
 chapter of Westminster Confession — Independents, or Congregational 
 Union, in Scotland — Discipline in Dissenting Churches — Concluding 
 Remarks on Church Discipline, .... pp. 217 — 246 
 
TESTIMONY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 That the Almighty Ruler of the universe should have 
 suffered disloyalty and rebellion against himself, to pre- 
 dominate in the world for so many ages, is one of 
 the deepest mysteries of Divine Providence. For a 
 period of nearly six thousand years, he has beheld a 
 wide-spreading conspiracy among his rational offspring 
 against his righteous government; he has seen his 
 authority despised, his law trampled under foot, and 
 even his offers of reconciliation treated with insolent 
 contempt. How can this consist with the glory of a 
 Being absolutely perfect in wisdom and in righteous- 
 ness ? 
 
 The Scriptures furnish the answer to this inquiry. 
 We are there informed that the present scene is only 
 introductory, and that the glorious plan of Providence, 
 of which we can trace but a very small part, has its final 
 issues in the eternal world. For God " hath appointed 
 a day in the which he will judge tbe world in righteous- 
 ness;" then shall he render unto every man according to 
 his works. In that day, the glory of the Divine forbear- 
 ance towards a rebellious world will be surpassed only 
 by the still more transcendent glory arising from the 
 redemption of his chosen people. And it must exceed- 
 ingly enhance the riches of redeeming love when it is 
 remembered, that in order to work out that deliverance 
 
 B 
 
1 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 for its objects which their circumstances required, it 
 was necessary that the Holy One, who cannot look 
 on iniquity, should bear with the impiety and scorn of 
 so many ages, until the whole number of the elect 
 should be gathered in. 
 
 Yet even during this long period of insurrection, in 
 which the grand apostate and rebel, the Prince of Dark- 
 ness, seems to have successfully usurped the authority of 
 God, and the honour due to him from his own depen- 
 dent creatures, the Almighty has by no means forsaken 
 the earth, or left his cause without defenders. 
 
 There are several classes of witnesses whom he 
 brings forward to deliver their testimony in this momen- 
 tous controversy. 1st, The works of creation have, in 
 every age and nation, exhibited a testimony for God, 
 so clear and convincing as to leave inexcusable those 
 who disregard -it " For the invisible things of him 
 from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being 
 understood by the things that are made, even his eter- 
 nal power and Godhead." 2d, The works of provi- 
 dence confirm and amplify the testimony given by the 
 works of creation. God leaves not himself without 
 witness to his beneficence, in that he gives to men 
 rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling their 
 hearts with food and gladness. The deliverances 
 which he has so frequently wrought for his people, and 
 the terrible judgments which he has executed on the 
 guilty, whether individuals or nations, have often 
 arrested the attention of the most benighted and 
 depraved of men, and extorted from them the confes- 
 sion, "Verily there is a reward for the righteous; verily 
 he is a God that judgeth in the earth." 3d, The Holy 
 Scriptures may be regarded as principal witnesses in 
 this great cause. Wherever they are circulated they 
 testify to the nations the glory of the one true and eter- 
 nal God, his sovereignty and majesty, the perfection of 
 his nature, the wisdom and equity of his administra- 
 tion, and, above all, the immeasurable greatness of his 
 love, and the unsearchable riches of his grace. 4th, 
 
INTRODUCTION. O 
 
 Another class of witnesses is found among the saints. 
 It is one of the purposes for which God preserves his 
 people for a time on earth, even after their union to 
 Christ has secured their title to heaven, that they may 
 plead his cause before the world. In a qualified sense 
 the whole number of true believers may be regarded as 
 witnesses ; yet this honourable title is commonly con- 
 fined in Scripture to that class of believers whose 
 superior knowledge, zeal, and faithfulness, impart pecu- 
 liar value to their testimony. In a judicial investiga- 
 tion before an earthly tribunal, the persons who come 
 into court and deliver their testimony are denominated 
 the witnesses, although the facts of the case may be 
 known, and attested in private, by many others. In 
 the days of Elijah, there were seven thousand in Israel 
 who had not bowed the knee to Baal, but they were 
 too timid to give their testimony openly against the 
 national idolatry, and were on that account unworthy 
 of the name of witnesses. Whatever number of the 
 seed of Abraham may have been in the plain of Dura, 
 when idolatry was practised in obedience to royal 
 mandate, the three youths who had been Daniel's com- 
 panions were the only witnesses there. Among the 
 chief rulers of the Jews many believed on Christ, but 
 they feared openly to confess him. 1 
 
 The office of the witnesses is of transcendent import- 
 ance. To hold fast and to publish all revealed truth, 
 and to refute and condemn every error, to preserve the 
 purity of all divine ordinances and institutions, to 
 maintain the liberty and independence of the church, 
 which is the spiritual kingdom of Jesus Christ, to 
 assert and defend all the holy and righteous claims of 
 God and of his Son — is a charge that might seem to 
 demand angelic powers. Yet such is the office com- 
 mitted to the saints. 
 
 Intimation was given immediately after the fall, of 
 the protracted and fearful contest that should be main- 
 
 1 John xii. 42. 
 
4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 tained in the world between the seed of the woman 
 and the seed of the serpent, and of the ultimate triumph 
 of truth and righteousness. The witnesses are repre- 
 sented as warriors, the Redeemer himself being the 
 Head and Captain of the band. 1 He enlists them 
 in the service, he inspires them with courage, he fur- 
 nishes them with armour, he gives them a Banner 
 " that it may be displayed because of the truth ; " he 
 girds them with strength for the battle; and when, 
 through his grace sustaining them, they continue faith- 
 ful unto death, he bestows on them a crown of life. 
 
 But the weapons of the witnesses in this spiritual 
 warfare are not such as the world employs. On their 
 part violence is not met by violence, nor stratagem by 
 deceit, nor injury by revenge. On the contrary, 
 violence is baffled by forbearance and patience, fraud 
 and falsehood by an open exhibition of the truth; 
 blessing is returned for cursing, and prayer to heaven 
 for pardon to the oppressor and persecutor is their 
 substitute for revenge. The sword they wield is " the 
 sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. " Their 
 sharp arrows are drawn from the armoury of divine 
 truth. — " By pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, 
 by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, 
 by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the 
 armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the 
 left," the faithful band of Christian soldiers prosecute 
 their warfare, and the strong-holds of sin fall before 
 them. 
 
 The testimony of the witnesses embraces the whole 
 range of revealed truth. But it is their special province 
 to make open confession of those truths that are either 
 ignorantly neglected in the world, or violently assailed 
 by the advocates of error. Hence the peculiar testi- 
 mony of one age or country may be altogether unsuit- 
 able for another. The prophet Elijah was raised up 
 to assert the supremacy of Jehovah, the God of Israel, 
 
 1 John xviii. 37. Rev. i. 5, and iii. 14. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 and to protest against idolatry; but had John the 
 Baptist done no more, his testimony would have been 
 defective. And after the resurrection of Christ, the 
 testimony given by the Baptist would have been 
 incomplete. New events and discoveries required to 
 be proclaimed, and new classes of opposers had risen 
 up, whose errors required to be refuted. 
 
 5th. Organised communities, when constituted in 
 conformity to the Scriptures, must also be regarded as 
 witnesses. This office belongs pre-eminently to the 
 church. To give a public and united testimony for 
 the truth of God, and against the irreligion and idolatry 
 of the nations, is one of the important purposes for 
 which believers have been associated together in a 
 church capacity. The concurrence of two or three 
 intelligent and impartial witnesses, is deemed sufficient 
 to establish the truth of any fact which has come under 
 their cognizance. But when a large body of competent 
 witnesses are united and harmonious in declaring the 
 same truths, the weight and value of their testimony 
 are exceedingly enhanced. The public confession of 
 the church, judicially enacted, is avowedly a testimony 
 for truth. The same object is effectually promoted by 
 the full and faithful preaching of the doctrines of divine 
 revelation, by the joint observance of the Sabbath as a 
 day of holy resting in the service of God, and by the 
 public administration of the Sacraments. When a 
 church has become corrupt in her doctrines, or in her 
 administration, the existence of a number of pious or 
 enlightened men in her communion can confer upon 
 her no claim to be acknowledged as a witnessing church. 
 On the other hand, a church constituted on Scriptural 
 principles, and faithful in maintaining the doctrine, 
 discipline, worship, and government, prescribed by the 
 .Redeemer, is fully entitled to this honourable distinc- 
 tion, although hypocrites and formalists may sometimes 
 intrude themselves into her fellowship. 
 
 Even civil communities, in their own sphere, should 
 fulfil the office of witnesses for God. When a nation. 
 b 2 
 
G WITNESSES BEFORE THE DELUGE. 
 
 or commonwealth, favoured with the light of revelation, 
 is careful to form its constitution and laws in accordance 
 with the Scriptures ; when the sovereignty of God, and 
 the Mediatorial dominion of Jesus Christ, are publicly 
 recognised; when the true religion is countenanced 
 and- protected, and all public countenance withheld 
 from false religion ; when Scriptural education is pro- 
 moted, the church maintained in the full possession of 
 her liberty and privileges, the Sabbath preserved from 
 open desecration, public immorality discountenanced, 
 and the righteous and pacific principles of the gospel 
 scrupulously observed in all international intercourse, 
 the glory of God, and the best interests of mankind 
 are, by such means, exceedingly promoted. A nation 
 acting in this manner would hold the same place 
 among irreligious, anti-christian, and idolatrous nations, 
 which an individual witness does in the midst of an 
 ungodly community. It is a witnessing nation, whose 
 testimony to the cause of God is of incalculable value. 
 The history of the past supplies few examples of nations 
 possessing this character ; but inspired prophecy gives 
 the assurance that this shall be the general character 
 of the nations in the latter days. " The kingdoms of 
 this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and 
 of his Christ." 
 
 PERIOD FIRST. 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OF THE CONTENDINGS OF THE WITNESSES BEFORE THE DELUGE. 
 1656 Years. 
 
 In the first family constituted on earth we observe the 
 commencement of that contest which still continues. 
 Adam's first-born presents a strongly marked specimen 
 
"WITNESSES BEFORE THE DELUGE. 7 
 
 of the character of an ungodly world. Abel affords a 
 pleasing example of a faithful witness for Christ. The 
 absence of a bloody sacrifice in Cain's worship, indi- 
 cates his haughty disregard of the divine institution, 
 and his disbelief in the promise of a Saviour to make 
 atonement for sin. Abel's offering was expressive of 
 his own sense of guilt, of his faith in the promised 
 Messiah, and of his obedience to the divine command. 
 The manifest tokens of the divine favour vouchsafed 
 to Abel wounded the pride of Cain, and the enmity of 
 his heart against the image of God being, at the same 
 time, farther inflamed, probably by the serious admoni- 
 tions addressed to him, he imbrued his hands in his 
 brother's blood. It thus appears that the first redeemed 
 soul that passed to glory, was that of a faithful witness 
 and a martyr. 
 
 However brief the history of Enoch, enough is told 
 concerning him to secure for him a chief place among 
 the witnesses. " Enoch walked with God," while sur- 
 rounded by that generation whose increasing degen- 
 eracy involved the world in ruin. Unmoved by the 
 derision of the scoffers and infidels of his day, he 
 solemnly warned them of the approach of Christ to 
 judgment, when all the ungodly deeds, and all the hard 
 speeches of the wicked, shall receive an appropriate 
 recompense. 1 
 
 The patriarch Noah spent six hundred years of his 
 remarkable life in the old world. At the time when 
 " the earth was corrupt before God, and filled with vio- 
 lence," " Noah was a just man, and perfect in his gen- 
 erations." He descried the coming Saviour in the 
 divine promise, and being fully persuaded of it, he 
 embraced it, and became "an heir of the righteousness 
 which is by faith." Nor did he confront the impiety of 
 the world only by the silent testimony of his own shining 
 example; he was also " a preacher of righteousness." 
 His faith and obedience manifested in preparing the 
 
 1 Jude 14, 15. 
 
8 FROM THE DELUGE 
 
 ark, were calculated strongly to arrest the attention of 
 men, and to give emphasis to his warnings and expos- 
 tulations. Thus Noah " condemned the world." His 
 efforts to reclaim his contemporaries rendered more 
 inexcusable their headlong career of ungodliness, and 
 served to vindicate the righteousness of God in that 
 overwhelming judgment by which they perished. 
 
 Thus we can trace in the contendings of the early 
 witnesses the most important doctrines of divine re- 
 velation. Their testimony manifestly embraced the 
 doctrine of God's moral government over the world — 
 of man's fallen and guilty condition — of his absolute 
 need of an atonement for the removal of sin — of the 
 appointment and the promise of the Son of God to 
 accomplish the salvation of those who should believe — 
 and of the certainty of a future state of retribution, in 
 which the equity of the divine administration shall be 
 displayed in the eternal destinies of the righteous and 
 of the wicked. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 FROM THE DELUGE TO THE GTVING OF THE LAW FROM MOUNT SINAI. 
 A. M. 1656 to 2513. 
 
 For three hundred and fifty years after the flood Noah 
 lived to instruct the new world, of which he was the 
 founder. When men began a second time to multiply 
 on the earth, the force of human depravity was not 
 long restrained by the recollection of the deluge, or by 
 the traces of desolation which it left behind it. The 
 efficiency of tradition, as a means of preserving and 
 extending knowledge, was gradually impaired by the 
 diminished term of human life. Long before the re- 
 moval of those patriarchs who had witnessed the 
 destruction of the old world, idolatry was established 
 among their posterity, and ignorance and immorality 
 
TO THE GIVING OF THE LAW. U 
 
 had reached an alarming height. At this crisis the 
 benevolent scheme which the wisdom of God had 
 arranged, for preventing the universal spread of irre- 
 ligion and ungodliness, began to be unfolded. 
 
 In two grand experiments proof had now been given 
 of the tendencies of fallen humanity, and of the fruits 
 which it yields, both in families and in society at large. 
 The first of these occupied a period of 1600 years : the 
 second about 400. In each case, the entire population 
 of the world proceeded from a single family; and in 
 each case provision was made for securing to this faniily 
 a religious education. Yet, in both instances, as man- 
 kind were multiplied on the eaith, the knowledge of 
 God was gradually lost, and ignorance and impiety 
 were speedily followed by superstition and idolatry. 
 Even the family iu which Abraham was brought up, 
 was not exempted from these enormous evils. 1 As a 
 means of preserving the followers of the true God in a 
 state of separation from the prevailing idolatry, it had 
 now become necessary that the church should receive 
 a more distinct visible organization. 
 
 The calling of Abraham, and the separation of his 
 posterity, in the line of Isaac, from the other families 
 of the earth, were events of high importance in the 
 evolution of the scheme of redemption. One grand 
 result of these transactions was the preservation of a 
 succession of witnesses to the coming of Christ, the 
 Faithful and True Witness. The three patriarchs, 
 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were distinguished wit- 
 nesses for Jehovah. Their frequent removals were 
 made subservient to the wider diffusion of their testi- 
 mony. To whatever tribe they came, they carried 
 their religion along with them. Their worship was 
 openly rendered to the one, living, and true God, the 
 Maker of heaven and earth, whose covenant of promise 
 they had cordially embraced. Their sacrifices pre- 
 figured the sufferings and death of Christ, as the true 
 
 1 Joshua xxiv. 2. 
 
10 FROM THE DELUGE 
 
 and only propitiation for sin. And while they professed 
 their faith in the Messiah to come, their conduct gave 
 practical testimony to the glorious character of the 
 God whom they served. The uprightness of their de- 
 portment attested the righteousness of his government, 
 and the holiness of his law. Their reverence of him 
 bespoke his awful majesty. Their punctual obedience 
 even to the most difficult commands was a confession 
 of his sovereign authority. Their stedfast reliance on 
 his promises, whatever delays intervened, testified to 
 his faithfulness. Their astonishing exploits afforded 
 evidence of his power and superintending providence. 
 Their supreme love to him was a reflection of his in- 
 finite excellence. 
 
 The importance of this era demands a few additional 
 observations. 
 
 1st. The Church of God now received a more com- 
 plete organization than it had possessed hitherto. All 
 true believers, in every age, have an intimate union 
 with each other in Christ their Head; yet there was 
 little of visible union among the scattered servants of 
 God until the time of Abraham. 2d. The church was 
 then openly constituted a Covenant Society. At no 
 period previous to this was there given so clear a 
 revelation of the covenant of grace. Nor was the 
 church, as a visible society, heretofore, so palpably 
 separated from the world and brought into a peculiar 
 covenant relation with God, on the basis of the covenant 
 of redemption. 1 3d. The peculiar privileges of the 
 church of God were secured to this society until the 
 coming of Christ. 
 
 This special grant of church privileges to Abraham 
 and his seed, did by no means limit the sovereign 
 grace of God, so as to prevent the calling and salvation 
 of individuals belonging to other tribes and nations. 
 The Scriptures make known several instances of remark- 
 able illumination and elevated piety, in persons not 
 
 • Gen. xvii. 5—8 j Psalm cv. 8—10. 
 
TO THE GIVING OF THE LAW. 11 
 
 descended from Abraham. Some of these were contem- 
 poraries with that patriarch, and others posterior to 
 him. In this class, Melchizedec, who was king of 
 Salem, and priest of the most High God, holds a con- 
 spicuous place. 1 The character of Lot is marred with 
 some serious blemishes ; yet the Lord, who searches the 
 heart, bears testimony to his uprightness. His resi- 
 dence in Sodom, although improper on his part, served 
 to render the unbounded profligacy of the place more 
 inexcusable, and to vindicate the righteous judgment 
 of God, by which its guilty inhabitants are " set forth 
 for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal 
 fire." Job and his friends must also be regarded as 
 enlightened worshippers of Jehovah, and believers in 
 the promise of a coming Saviour. To these may be 
 added Jethro, the priest of Midian, who gave to Moses 
 such excellent counsel respecting the government of 
 the twelve tribes. 2 All these are with propriety 
 placed among the witnesses. But as the Lord foresaw 
 that the number of such characters among the nations 
 would be continually diminishing, until they should 
 almost disappear, he made provision for preserving the 
 true religion, and for raising up a competent number 
 of faithful witnesses to plead his cause, by separating 
 the seed of Abraham, in the line of Isaac and Jacob, 
 from all the families of the earth, and setting them 
 apart for himself as his peculiar people. 
 
 The sojourning of the Israelites in Egypt brought the 
 time religion very conspicuously into view in that king- 
 dom. The renown of Joseph, combined with his exalted 
 station, must have powerfully attracted the attention of 
 the whole kingdom to himself and his religion. His views 
 respecting the idolatry of that land, and the character 
 and attributes of the true God, could not fail to be 
 extensively known throughout the nation. More than 
 ninety years of his life seem to have been spent in Egypt. 
 The residence of the whole seed of Jacob there, for more 
 
 1 Gen. xiv. 18—20. * Exod. xviii. 21—23. 
 
12 FROM THE DELUGE TO THE GIVING OF THE LAW. 
 
 than two hundred years, tended to diffuse still more 
 widely the knowledge of God, and of the worship accept- 
 able to him. Moses, another illustrious witness, was 
 brought up in the court of Pharaoh. His exalted char- 
 acter, as well as his eminent learning and abilities, must 
 have imparted great weight to his testimony, which his 
 zeal and faithfulness would not suffer him to suppress. 
 The deliberate choice which he made of poverty and 
 contempt in fellowship with the people of God, in pre- 
 ference to the splendid prospects that opened before 
 him in Egypt, was a sublime practical testimony for the 
 truth. In conjunction with his brother Aaron, he was 
 afterwards honoured to plead the cause of God before 
 Pharaoh and his people by miracles, and a succession 
 of plagues, each of which was an infliction of divine 
 wrath on a nation that refused to be reformed. The 
 obstinate attachment of Egypt to her degrading super- 
 stition, amidst so many displays of the being and attri- 
 butes of Jehovah, together with her pride and cruel 
 oppression of the people of God, brought upon her 
 finally two desolating judgments — the death of the first- 
 born, and the destruction of Pharaoh and his army in 
 the Red Sea. 
 
 It may be here remarked, that as Egypt was a mart 
 of nations, her inhabitants would acquire knowledge by 
 the influx of commercial people from other countries, 
 and particularly from Asia — twice the cradle of the 
 human family. It was the opinion of a distinguished 
 philosopher, 1 that the literature and astronomy of 
 Egypt were imported from Asia. Whatever advantages 
 the country afforded, they were enjoyed by Moses, who 
 was " learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians." 
 
 1 Sir Isaac Newton. 
 
FROM THE GIVING OF THE LAW TO THE INCARNATION. 13 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FROM THE GIVING OF THE LAW TO THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST. 
 A. M. 2513 to 4004. 
 
 The transactions at Mount Sinai developed more fully 
 the vast importance of the calling of Abraham, and the 
 separation of his descendants from the other tribes of 
 men. It was a new spectacle that was there exhibited, 
 and one without any parallel from the creation of the 
 world, when a whole nation, amounting in number to 
 millions, was formally brought into solemn covenant 
 with Jehovah. The covenant of grace was the basis 
 of this national covenant. The sacrifices offered afford 
 decisive evidence that the friendship so solemnly 
 ratified was founded on the atonement of Christ, of 
 which they were the appointed symbols. 
 
 By this transaction the seed of Jacob were incor- 
 porated into a church and a nation, and in these 
 capacities became witnesses for Jehovah. And an 
 attentive perusal of their history will show, that their 
 national prosperity was inseparably connected with 
 faithfulness in their public testimony. 
 
 The church erected among the seed of Abraham 
 must be regarded as a witnessing society. The testi- 
 mony of the church was exhibited in her divinely 
 appointed ordinances; in her religious observance of 
 the Sabbath ; in her priests and sacrifices ; in circum- 
 cision and the passover, the public seals of her covenant 
 relation to God ; and in the three great festivals, in 
 which all the males were required to assemble at the 
 tabernacle to worship Jehovah, dwelling among his 
 people on a mercy -seat. These and other observances 
 of their public worship, implied a declaration of their 
 faith in the unity and sovereignty of God, the holiness 
 of his character, and the righteousness of his law. 
 They contained an acknowledgment on the part of the 
 
1-1 FROM THE GIVING OF THE LAW 
 
 worshippers of their own guilt, their need of a Mediator 
 and an atonement, and an expression of their faith in 
 the promised Messiah, by whom guilt should be expi- 
 ated, the wrath of God averted, and the covenant of 
 peace ratified. 
 
 By engaging one entire nation in the service of God, 
 an opportunity was afforded of unfolding the principles 
 of the divine administration towards civil communities, 
 and of giving instruction to them in regard to the duties 
 they owe to the Supreme Ruler. It is admitted that 
 both in the ecclesiastical and political constitutions of 
 the Hebrews, there were many things not intended nor 
 calculated for other ages and nations. Yet, from the 
 procedure of Jehovah towards that people, several 
 most important principles may be clearly deduced, 
 which both reason and Scripture demonstrate to have 
 been neither local nor temporary in their character. 
 Of these we may specify the following : — 
 
 1st. That nations or commonwealths are subjects of 
 the moral government of God, as well as individuals; 
 that he asserts his supremacy over them ; claims homage 
 and submission from them ; takes cognizance of their 
 laws, and of their public national deeds; that he honours 
 and exalts those which revere his authority, but will, 
 sooner or later, execute punishment on every kingdom, 
 however powerful, which resisteth his will, and trampleth 
 under foot his law. 1 
 
 •2d. That the just and lawful authority of civil rulers 
 is derived from God, who is the supreme fountain of 
 all power; 2 and that in ordinary cases, the regular and 
 proper channel through which it is conveyed to men, 
 is the choice and appointment of the people. 3 
 
 3d. That in the election of rulers, a people possessing 
 the Scriptures are bound to select men having those 
 qualifications which God himself has prescribed. 4 
 
 1 Psalms xxii. 28. and lxxxii. 1 — 8. 1 Chron. xvi. 21. Jer. x. 7. 
 
 2 Psalm lxii. 11. Dan. iv. 25. Rom. xiii. 1, 4. Deut. xvii. 15. Hosea 
 viii. 4. 
 
 3 Deut. i. 13. 1 Sam. xi. 15. 2 Sam. ii. 4; v. 1—3. 
 
 4 Exod. xviii. 21. 2 Sam. xxiii. 2, 3. 
 
TO THE IXCARXATIOX. 1 "> 
 
 4th. That in lands enlightened by the word of God 
 civil rulers are bound to frame their laws, and regu- 
 late their whole administration, in strict accordance 
 with that supreme standard. 1 
 
 5th. That it is the duty and privilege of nations, 
 favoured with the true religion, to do homage to the 
 Most High, by making an open and public surrender 
 of themselves to his service; and to confirm that sur- 
 render by solemn vow and covenant. 2 
 
 6th. That although a bond framed for some specific 
 object, ceases to be obligatory when its object is fully 
 accomplished, a national covenant, embracing the per- 
 manent moral duties which the nation owes to God, 
 cannot be annulled, either by the lapse* of time, or by 
 the apostacy of a nation. 3 
 
 7th. By the divine appointment, the Jewish com- 
 monwealth exhibited to the nations a memorable ex- 
 ample of an alliance between chinch and state, and of 
 a civil polity so framed as effectually to promote the 
 interests of the church, without their being blended 
 together, or the one invading the province of the other. 
 The Hebrew church was manifestly distinct from the 
 state. The proselytes of the covenant were admitted 
 as full members of the church, and thus ingrafted into 
 the stock of Abraham, but were not admitted to the 
 same civil privileges as the native Israelites. The 
 proselytes of the gate were admitted to some civil priv- 
 ileges, but not to any participation of the benefits of 
 the ecclesiastical covenant. The courts were also 
 different. The sanhedrim and the synagogue, to judge 
 of religious concerns, were perfectly distinct from the 
 civil sanhedrim, and the courts of the gates, which 
 judged of civil matters. The church had the power of 
 settling controversies which respected the religious 
 character, by the ceremonial law. And to the state 
 
 1 Deut. xvii. 18. Isa. viii. 20. 
 
 2 Exod. xxiv. 7. 2 Kings xxiii. 3. Isa. xix. 18 — 21. Rev. xi. 15. 
 
 3 Deut. v. 2, 3; and xxix. 14, 15, 25. 1 Kincrs xix. 10. Jer. xi. 2— 
 10; andxxii. 8,9. 
 
16 FROM THE GIVING OF THE LAW 
 
 belonged the decision of controversies respecting 
 injuries and property by the judicial law. The priests 
 and Levites were the ministers of religion, acting with 
 the assistance of the prophets sent occasionally by the 
 Lord. The civil officers, judges, and kings, were 
 magistrates; but not, as such, authorized to officiate in 
 religious sendees. And although the civil constitution 
 underwent many alterations during the existence of the 
 Hebrew nation, the ecclesiastical system continued 
 unaltered. 
 
 Although from the time of Moses, the custody of 
 divine revelation was committed exclusively to the seed 
 of Jacob, certain rays of divine truth breaking out from 
 them, alleviated the darkness of neighbouring kingdoms. 
 The power of David and Solomon, as well as of some 
 of their successors, was felt and acknowledged by 
 several of the nations lying contiguous to Judea. This 
 led to intercourse between the Israelites and their neigh- 
 bours, and to a mutual acquaintance with their religious 
 systems, respectively. The same result was extensively 
 and permanently promoted by commerce. To the 
 people of the covenant this intercourse proved exceed- 
 ingly ensnaring ; — the source of frequent backslidings, 
 which were followed by national calamities. Yet it 
 served to exhibit a testimony for Jehovah very widely 
 among the Gentiles ; — such a reflection of the " true 
 light," as should have led them " to seek the Lord," 
 so as " to feel after him and find him." * In the days 
 of Solomon, there was a very extensive intercourse 
 between his subjects and other nations, for the purposes 
 of trade and commerce. It is also recorded that there 
 was a vast concourse at Jerusalem of those among the 
 nations who were distinguished for wisdom or learning, 
 that they might receive instruction from a prince so 
 celebrated. Among the number who were attracted by 
 his fame, the queen of Sheba came to Jerusalem " with 
 a very great train." It is said, that " all the earth sought 
 
 1 Acts xvii. 27. 
 
TO THE INCARNATION. 17 
 
 to Solomon to hear his wisdom which God had put in 
 his heart." l The occurrences recorded in the book of 
 Esther show to what an extent the knowledge of the 
 Jewish people, and of their religion, was diffused 
 throughout the provinces of the Medo-Persian empire. 
 Advantages still more abundant were afforded to the 
 Chaldeans, and to the numerous tribes under their 
 dominion, by the wide dispersion and long residence of 
 the seed of Jacob among them ; by the exalted and 
 commanding position attained by Daniel and his com- 
 panions in the government of the empire ; and by the 
 astonishing displays of the omniscience and Almighty 
 power of Jehovah, exhibited in Babylon, — the most 
 conspicuous theatre in the world. Here, as in Egypt, 
 resistance to the light, and an obstinate continuance 
 in false religion and in crime, consummated the guilt 
 of the haughty Babylonians, and in a short time brought 
 upon them those desolating judgments which laid their 
 magnificent city in ruins. 
 
 The precious treasure of revealed truth was enlarged, 
 from time to time, by the contributions of inspired 
 writers, for a period of more than one thousand years. 
 Malachi was the last of the penmen of the Old Testa- 
 ment, who prophesied about four hundred and twenty 
 years before the coming of Christ. The providence of 
 God was remarkably displayed in the preservation of 
 the sacred volume, during the darkest periods of the 
 apostacy of the Jewish nation, and amidst all the con- 
 vulsions and calamities through which they passed. 
 From the time of Ezra the scribe, means were adopted 
 for increasing the number of copies of the Scriptures, 
 and for having them read in the synagogues, and 
 explained to the people, every Sabbath day. 
 
 When the people of the Jews became so degenerate 
 that they could no longer be recognized as a witness- 
 ing people, the Lord raised up individual witnesses to 
 protest against the abominations of heathen lands, and 
 
 1 1 Kings x. 24. 
 r 9 
 
-- 
 
 
 
: : n "iz l: :.jjijj..T. : : 
 
 :. 
 
20 FROM THE ADVENT OF CHRIST 
 
 were " waiting for the Consolation of Israel." Mention 
 is made of others " who looked for redemption in Jeru- 
 salem." In all ages, from Abel to John the Baptist, 
 the Lord preserved a company of witnesses to plead 
 his cause. They testified their faith in the unity and 
 supremacy of Jehovah, and in a Messiah to come, who 
 should take away sin by the sacrifice of himself; and 
 they testified against the polytheism and idolatry of an 
 apostate and rebellious world. 
 
 PERIOD SECOND. 
 
 FROM THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST TO THE 
 REFORMATION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FROM THE ADVENT TO THE TIME OF CONSTANTINE. 
 A. D. 1 to 313. 
 
 At length the Son of God himself, who is the Amen, 
 the faithful and true Witness, appeared in the world. 
 In the whole of his public ministry, he must be regarded 
 as sustaining the character of a witness. In his know- 
 ledge of the truth, and delight in it; in his zeal for the 
 glory of God ; in the wisdom with which his testimony 
 was at all times adapted to the occasion, and to the 
 character of those whom he addressed ; in the combin- 
 ation of invincible courage with meekness and gentle- 
 ness, and of a holy indignation against sin, with tender 
 compassion for the most atrocious offenders, he alone 
 was perfect before God. He taught the truth, and 
 confuted error; he asserted the authority, and vindi- 
 cated the excellency of the divine law, in his discourses, 
 and by his example. He severely reprimanded the 
 Jews for their manifold corruptions of divine ordinances, 
 and especially for their blindness, hypocrisy, and un- 
 belief. The world hated him, because he testified of 
 
TO CONST AXTIXE. 21 
 
 it that its works were evil. 1 Before the judgment-seat 
 of Pilate he appears as a Confessor, asserting his 
 kingly authority, and proclaiming his high office as a 
 witness for the truth. 9 And on Calvary he becomes a 
 Martyr, sealing his testimony with his own precious 
 blood. 
 
 The death of Christ upon the cross, as an expiatory 
 sacrifice for sin, furnishes the most complete and com- 
 prehensive testimony to the character, and government, 
 and attributes of Jehovah, which has ever been exhibited 
 to mankind. The dispensations of divine Providence 
 which preceded this event may be viewed as prepara- 
 tions for it ; the subsequent history of the divine govern- 
 ment in the world is adapted to illustrate and explain 
 it; and it will continue to afford throughout eternity, 
 to the universe of intelligent beings, the most illustrious 
 display of the glory of the Godhead, and of the harmony 
 of the divine attributes. 
 
 Of those doctrines which constituted the chief ground 
 of controversy between Christ and the Jewish people, 
 we may specify the following: — 1st. That he was the 
 eternal Son of God, equal with the Father in the parti- 
 cipation of all divine perfections, and one with him in 
 his mighty works. 3 2d. That he was the true Messiah, 4 
 the Saviour of the world. And, 3d. That in this char- 
 acter, as "God manifest in the flesh," he was invested 
 by the Father with universal authority, and had a 
 righteous claim on the homage and obedience of all 
 mankind. 5 This doctrine our Lord asserted in the hall 
 of the high priest, and before the judgment-seat of 
 Pilate. 6 
 
 After the ascension of Christ into heaven, the testi- 
 mony of the witnesses was transferred from the Jewish 
 church to the apostles, and to the churches planted by 
 them. Before his decease, the Redeemer delivered 
 ample and varied instructions to his disciples in regard 
 
 1 John vii. 7. 4 John viii. 24. 
 
 2 John xviii. 37. 5 Luke xix. 12, 27. 
 
 3 John i. 18 ; v. 17—30 ; x. 30. 6 Matt. xxvi. 64. John xviii. 37. 
 
22 FROM THE ADVENT OF CHRIST 
 
 to this department of their work, exhorting and charging 
 them to make open confession of his name, even at the 
 hazard of their lives ; and when he showed himself alive 
 to them after his passion, he solemnly renewed the same 
 injunction. Just before his ascension, he said to them, 
 " Ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, 
 and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the utter- 
 most part of the earth." * 
 
 Of the doctrines which entered into their testimony, 
 we may specify the following:— 1st. That Jesus of Naz- 
 areth, whom the Jews and the Romans conspired to 
 nail to the cross as a malefactor, was the Son of the 
 living God, the promised Messiah. 2d. That he rose 
 again from the dead on the third day by his own power, 
 and ascended into heaven. 3d. That the ceremonial 
 law was now accomplished and abrogated, and a new 
 dispensation established. 4th. That the sufferings and 
 death of Christ constitute the only sacrifice by which 
 guilt can be taken away, and his finished obedience in 
 his life and death, the only righteousness through which 
 a sinner can be accepted. 5th. That the blessings of 
 the great salvation are, by divine appointment, now 
 freely offered to the Gentiles of every nation, and kin- 
 dred, and tongue, as well as to the Jews. 6th. That 
 to the Messiah, now exalted to the right hand of God, 
 the whole administration of the kingdoms of providence 
 and of grace is committed; and that all creatures are 
 bound to serve and obey him. 7th. That he will come 
 again at the last day to judge the world, to confer eter- 
 nal life on his people, and to punish with everlasting 
 destruction all the unbelieving and ungodly. 
 
 The marvellous success of the gospel in the first age 
 calls for devout acknowledgment and fervent praise. 
 The deplorable condition of the nations, in regard to 
 religion and morality, at the time of the ascension of 
 Christ, rendered this success the more conspicuous. 
 The whole world was lying in wickedness. The king- 
 
 i Acts i. 8. 
 
TO COK8TANTINE. 23 
 
 dom of Satan was fortified ou all sides with consummate 
 skill, and by the most powerful barriers. The systems 
 of superstition and idolatry which even-' where prevailed, 
 had become venerable in the eyes of men by their very 
 age, and were upheld by all the prejudices and corrupt 
 passions of the human heart. The civil governments 
 of the nations, and an interested and crafty priesthood, 
 were equally resolute in the defence of these systems. 
 Even that nation to which had been committed the lively 
 oracles, and in which the church of God had been so 
 long preserved, had arrived at a degree of wickedness 
 little inferior to that of heathen nations ; and in malig- 
 nant enmity against Christ and his gospel it surpassed 
 them all. 
 
 The day of Pentecost was rendered memorable by 
 the miraculous effusion of the Holy Ghost upon the 
 disciples. The " cloven tongues, like as of fire," which 
 rested on them, were emblematical of the gifts bestowed 
 on them, and of the divine energy that accompanied 
 the preaching of the word. They were instantaneously 
 endowed with the gift of tongues, and with the power of 
 working miracles. Their darkness and carnal preju- 
 dices vanished, and they were supernaturally and 
 infallibly led to the knowledge of divine truth. Un- 
 daunted courage succeeded to their former timidity. 
 Impelled by a holy ardour to preach the gospel to their 
 fellow-men, they were not dismayed by the vastness of 
 the enterprise to which they were summoned, nor by 
 the consideration of their own weakness. Relying on 
 the power and promise of their exalted King, they 
 unfurled the banner which he had committed to them, 
 and went forth to the contest against the ungodliness 
 of the world. They dissipated ignorance by sound 
 instruction; they combated error and sophistry by 
 irresistible argument; and they exposed the vicious- 
 ness of the world's morality, both by their doctrine and 
 by the lustre of a holy life. The hostility and violence 
 with which they were assailed, were met and baffled by 
 their meekness and patience under suffering. The wea- 
 
24 FROM THE ADVENT OF CHRIST 
 
 pons of their warfare proved mighty through God, to the 
 pulling down the strongholds of Satan's kingdom. 
 Churches were planted and multiplied with astonishing 
 rapidity, and replenished with the influences of the Holy 
 Spirit. The extraordinary gifts which were, for a season, 
 granted to the disciples, qualified them to become evan- 
 gelists, pastors, and teachers, independently of superior 
 mental endowments, or of any previous preparation. 
 The people and the teachers were cordially united in the 
 momentous work of spreading the gospel. The same 
 Spirit who sustained the ardour of missionary zeal in the 
 breasts of the preachers, constrained the company of 
 believers to consecrate to the Lord such a portion of 
 their substance as his cause required. Even some of the 
 poorest churches were most conspicuous for their liber- 
 ality. When the church was subjected to persecution, 
 the providence of God overruled this violence to the 
 furtherance of the gospel. Those that were scattered 
 abroad went every where preaching the word. And 
 when the exalted Messiah restrained the enemy and 
 granted rest, the churches " were edified; and, walking 
 in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy 
 Ghost, were multiplied." 
 
 Yet even in the season of greatest prosperity, the ex- 
 perience of the church was by no means of a uniform, 
 or unmingled character. The morning was bright, but 
 dark clouds soon began to give indication of approach- 
 ing storms. From various sources was the infant 
 church exposed to danger; — from popular violence, in- 
 flamed by a bigoted and enraged priesthood ; from the 
 determined hostility of the secular powers ; and from the 
 breaking out of heresies and schisms within her own pale. 
 The most fatal injury arose from the last of these causes, 
 which operated like a malignant distemper among the 
 ranks of a victorious army, paralysing the force which 
 the enemy could not subdue. Yet in one respect it 
 was a merciful dispensation, that most of those perni- 
 cious errors, which have so grievously afflicted the 
 church of God, were suffered to make their appearance 
 
TO COXSTAXTUfE. 25 
 
 while there were yet inspired teachers to confute and 
 condemn them. 
 
 Even at that early period, the apostles perceived and 
 pointed out the working of those elements which, many 
 ages after, introduced the grand apostacy. When the 
 churches became numerous and wealthy, the office of 
 the ministry began to be invaded by men whom the 
 Lord had characterized as "hirelings," and the apostle 
 to the Gentiles as " grievous wolves." The apostle 
 Peter, too, in terms not less emphatic al, predicts the 
 rise of teachers, who would introduce u damnable 
 heresies," and " through covetousness make merchan- 
 dise" of immortal souls. Among tins class of teachers, 
 a most hateful ambition soon sprung up, which in defi- 
 ance of the Saviour's warning, renewed the strife 
 about pre-eminence. 1 Thus was disclosed the first germ 
 of that hierarchy which, in subsequent ages, became the 
 most formidable and tyrannical of powers that ever 
 existed on the earth. 
 
 Another of the early indications of the grand apostacy, 
 was a growing disposition in the church to relax her 
 discipline, especially in regard to the rich. 2 The terms 
 of church-fellowship were laid down by the inspired 
 writers, and especially by the apostle Paul in his 
 epistles to the church at Corinth. In the seven epistles 
 addressed by the Redeemer to the Asiatic churches, the 
 subject of discipline has peculiar prominence. And it 
 deserves to be particularly remarked, that He " who 
 walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks," and 
 who "bears the sharp sword with two edges," has con- 
 nected the subversion of these churches with the relax- 
 ation of their discipline. 3 
 
 Until the end of the third century, the church was 
 subjected to frequent persecutions, which, for their 
 extent and severity, were then without parallel. The 
 most extensive empire which the world had ever beheld, 
 was then in the zenith of its power. Its symbol was 
 
 ' Matt. xx. 20—28. 2 James ii. 3 Rev. ii. 14—16, 20. 
 
 D 
 
2G 
 
 FROM THE TIME OF COXSTAXTIXE 
 
 the fourth beast in Daniel's prophecy, " dreadful, and 
 terrible, and strong exceedingly," which devoured, and 
 brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the 
 feet of it." 1 Had not the Prince of the kings of the 
 earth restrained this monster, both the woman and 
 her seed must have perished. But He who shut the 
 mouths of the lions, when his faithful servant was cast 
 to them for a prey, wonderfully preserved his church 
 in this period of extreme peril ; and in less than three 
 hundred years from the time that the gospel began to 
 be preached at Jerusalem, the empire of pagan idolatry 
 was subverted. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 FROM THE TIME OF CONSTANTINE TO THE REFORMATION IN THE 
 SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 A.D. 313 to 1517. 
 
 The revolution effected under the emperor Constantine, 
 was one of the most astonishing events in the history of 
 the world, and deserves to be commemorated as a glori- 
 ous display of the power of Zion's exalted King. It is 
 very commonly believed that this revolution is predicted 
 by the apostle John, in the last six verses of the sixth 
 chapter of the Apocalypse, where images of amazing 
 grandeur are employed to represent it. That the church 
 did not properly improve the deliverance then wrought 
 for her does not detract from the value of that deliver- 
 ance itself. Under Dioclesian, one of the most power- 
 ful and politic of the Roman Caesars, a sanguinary and 
 dreadful persecution had been carried on for a period 
 of ten years, the avowed design of which was the sup- 
 pression of Christianity. At this crisis the Governor 
 among the nations interposed. " The heathen raged, 
 
 1 Daniel vii. 7. 
 
TO THE REFORMATION. 27 
 
 the kingdoms were moved ; he uttered his voice, the 
 earth melted." 
 
 It is the province of God to bring relief and deliver- 
 ance to his church in her greatest extremities; but it is 
 common for men to abuse the divine beneficence, as an 
 occasion of more aggravated sin. When God rained 
 down manna for his people in their distress, covetous 
 Israelites hoarded it up, until " it bred worms and stank." 1 
 It was so in the period of church history now before us. 
 Constantine had few superiors as an intrepid and suc- 
 cessful general, and he was an eminent instrument in 
 the hand of Divine Providence in overturning the reign 
 of Paganism; but he does not appear to have possessed 
 those qualifications, without which, the exercise of civil 
 power about religion must ever be attended with the 
 most serious danger. Even before this period, very 
 great defections from the purity of the primitive church 
 had taken place ; but the progress of declension became 
 henceforth more rapid and extensive. The discipline 
 of the church being grievously relaxed, multitudes 
 crowded into her communion from corrupt motives, 
 who, with equal alacrity, would have crowded into the 
 heathen temples, had Paganism continued to be the 
 religion of the empire. The wealth which was so 
 incautiously and so lavishly poured into the bosom of 
 the church, from various sources, 1 proved an irresistible 
 attraction to covetous men to intrude themselves into 
 the office of the ministry; and their avarice and ambi- 
 tion were stimulated by the emoluments and honours 
 of a hierarchy having no foundation in Scripture, and 
 altogether incompatible with the simplicity of the New 
 Testament church. The great impediment to the 
 growth and progress of the apostacy — the pagan 
 Roman empire 2 — was now removed, and the tide of 
 error and superstition continued to swell and to extend 
 itself, until the greater part of the visible church was 
 ultimately overwhelmed by it. The Holy Scriptures, 
 
 1 Hallam's Middle Ages, chap. vii. 2 2 Thess. ii. 6. 7. 
 
28 FROM THE TIME OF CONSTANTINE 
 
 which are able to make men wise unto salvation, began 
 to be neglected, and human traditions were exalted. 
 As the people progressively sunk in ignorance, they 
 were the more easily duped and enslaved. The clergy, 
 increasing in wealth and luxury, and neglecting the 
 proper duties of their office, began to domineer over 
 God's heritage, and became fierce and intolerant 
 towards those who presumed to differ from them in 
 their religious sentiments, or to impugn their usurped 
 authority. And what seemed most of all inexcusably 
 wicked, within the pale of the visible church, which 
 had suffered so much from persecution, and, by the 
 almighty power of her Head, had been so marvellously 
 delivered from it, contending parties began to persecute 
 each other. The most powerful empire which ever 
 existed had " taken the sword, and perished by the 
 sword ;" yet the professed followers of Jesus, forgetting 
 their own divine maxim that " the Son of Man came 
 not to destroy men's lives, but to save them," now 
 began " to hate one another, and to kill one another." 
 Thus, in the lap of ease and luxury, and by the inju- 
 dicious and mistaken munificence, both of private 
 individuals and of princes, was nursed into power, that 
 " man of sin, and son of perdition," who in after ages 
 became a terror to the whole earth, and exalted his 
 usurped authority into blasphemous competition with 
 the throne of God. 
 
 As the church had been seduced from her fidelity, 
 and robbed of her independence, by an alliance with a 
 state which was not itself reformed according to the 
 scriptural standard, nor under the regulation of chris- 
 tian principle, so, in the providence of God, she was 
 made to share largely in the extreme sufferings to 
 which the empire was afterwards subjected. A period 
 of about one hundred and fifty years from the close of 
 the fourth century, is marked by historians as one of 
 unexampled misery to the nations. 1 This misery was 
 
 1 Gibbon's Decline and Fall, chap, xxx., et seq.; Robertson's Charles 
 V., vol. I, p. 8. 
 
TO THE REFORMATION. 29 
 
 inflicted by the sword of the northern barbarians, who, 
 by successive irruptions, poured their resistless tor- 
 rents into the heart of the Roman empire, spreading 
 carnage and desolation through its richest provinces, 
 until at last, when all resistance was overpowered, the 
 conquerors were content to settle down among the 
 residue of the aboriginal inhabitants. By this means 
 the vast empire was finally broken up, and divided into 
 a number of independent kingdoms. In the lapse of 
 time, those warlike and barbarous tribes, by whom the 
 Most High had punished the wickedness both of the 
 church and of the empire, adopted the religion of the 
 vanquished, and contributed, by their ignorance and 
 superstition, to increase the growing degeneracy, until 
 the "Mystery of Iniquity" was fully revealed. The 
 elevation of the bishop of Rome to the authority of uni- 
 versal bishop, and his being constituted the supreme 
 head of all churches, placed the top-stone on the New 
 Testament Babylon. There is reason to conclude, that 
 it was at this crisis, the ten horns of Daniel's vision, 
 growing on the seventh head of the fourth beast, sprang 
 up into existence. 1 
 
 From this period we are inclined to date the com- 
 mencement of the prophesying of the two witnesses, 
 who hold so conspicuous a place in the prospective 
 history of the church. 2 For wise and holy purposes, it 
 seemed good to Him who is unsearchable in counsel, 
 to suffer the mystery of iniquity — the profoundest of 
 all the artifices which Satan ever imposed upon the 
 world — to unfold itself for the long period of twelve 
 hundred and sixty years. In the writings of Daniel, 
 of Paul, and of John, the character and history of this 
 apostacy are delineated with such accuracy, and the 
 coincidence between the prophecy and the actual his- 
 tory of the Romish system is so remarkable, as to leave 
 no rational ground for hesitation in applying the one to 
 the other. In prophecy it was foretold, that the most 
 
 1 Daniel vii. 7, 24. 2 R ev# ^ 3 _io. 
 
 D-2 
 
30 FROM THE TIME OF CONSTANTINE 
 
 formidable opposition which the cause of the Redeemer 
 should encounter in the world, would be made under a 
 profession of Christianity ; l that the visible church would 
 become heathenish in her doctrines, her rites, and her 
 worship; 2 that the homage and worship due to the only 
 true God, would be rendered to an impious usurper, 
 placing himself in the temple of God, and exalting 
 himself, in his arrogant claims and pretensions, " above 
 all that is called God, or that is worshipped." 3 From 
 the determined opposition made in this system to the 
 gospel scheme of redemption, and to the authority and 
 glory of the Saviour, protestant writers have commonly 
 applied to it the designation of Antichrist. 4 It is farther 
 predicted, that during the continuance of this system, 
 the apostate church should maintain an unhallowed 
 connection with the immoral secular powers of the 
 nations; 5 that the secular and ecclesiastical powers 
 should mutually support and strengthen each other ; 6 
 that by these two powers combined, the blood of the 
 saints should be shed in vast profusion ; 7 that the true 
 church, which keeps the commandments of God, and 
 the testimony of Jesus Christ, should stand in continual 
 peril of total destruction ; 8 and that as a means of pre- 
 serving her, the Lord would keep her in a state of 
 poverty and obscurity, strongly contrasting with the 
 magnificence and power of the apostate church. 9 It is 
 also expressly foretold, that during the whole period of 
 Antichrist's reign, the Almighty Saviour should provide 
 and sustain a succession of witnesses to give evidence 
 in his cause, and to protest against the usurpation and 
 rebellion of those powers that had conspired against 
 him; that the number of these witnesses should be 
 small, and their condition one of privation and suffer- 
 ing, but that their testimony should be of superlative 
 importance, in vindicating the glory of God, reproving 
 the nations for their guilt, and leaving without excuse 
 
 1 2 Thess. ii. 3. * 1 John ii. 18, and iv. 3. 7 Rev. xvii. 6, 13. 
 
 2 Rev. xi. 2. 5 Rev. xvii. 1, 2. 8 Rev. xii. 3, 4. 
 
 3 2 Thess. ii. 4. 6 R e v. xvii. 3, 7. 9 Rev. xii. 6. 
 
TO THE REFORMATION. 31 
 
 the votaries of the apostacy. 1 The preservation of the 
 witnesses during this dreary period of profound policy 
 and unrestrained cruelty, — of tyranny in the state, and 
 of hypocrisy, impiety, and blasphemy in the apostate 
 church, will be remembered through all ages, as a 
 remarkable demonstration of the power and faithfulness 
 of Zion's King. 
 
 The importance attached in Scripture to this period, 
 and the fact that the mystery of iniquity, after having 
 existed for more than a thousand years, continues to 
 the present day the grand impediment to the coming of 
 Christ's kingdom, involving the nations in guilt, and 
 immortal souls in perdition, demand that we should 
 state somewhat more fully the principal evils of the 
 grand apostacy. 
 
 1st. When examined by Scripture and right reason, 
 the system of Popery is convicted of the guilt of pal- 
 pable idolatry. It teaches and enjoins the religious 
 worship of angels, and departed spirits, and particularly 
 of Mary — the mother of Jesus ; and the giving a super- 
 stitious reverence to images, pictures, relics, and the 
 figure of the cross. 
 
 2d. It is justly charged both with blasphemy and 
 idolatry, in ascribing the titles and attributes of God to 
 those priests who have in succession occupied the papal 
 chair. Under this head may be ranked the pretended 
 infallibity of the church, or of the Pope ; his claim to 
 absolute dominion over the consciences of men; his 
 absolutions, indulgences, dispensations, by which he 
 presumes to annul the obligation of the divine law, not 
 excepting those principles of eternal truth and righte- 
 ousness, which, consistently with his own character, 
 God himself cannot change. In the same class may 
 be placed the monstrous doctrine of transubstantiation, 
 according to which the priest who celebrates mass 
 professes to convert a piece of bread into the body 
 and blood, and soul and divinity of the Son of God, 
 
 1 Rev. xi. 3-12. 
 
32 FROM THE TIME OF CON8TANTINE 
 
 and adores the consecrated wafer which he afterwards 
 eats. 
 
 3d. The church of Rome is guilty of most aggravated 
 rebellion against God, by suppressing, to the utmost of 
 her ability, the testimony of his word; prohibiting the 
 perusal and study of the Scriptures by the people; 
 giving corrupt translations of them; perverting their 
 meaning ; teaching that their authority is subordinate 
 to that of the church, and that the interpretation of 
 them by the church is to be implicitly received, however 
 contradictory to reason and common sense; and by 
 placing uncertain human traditions and apocryphal 
 writings on a level with the inspired records. 
 
 4th. Popery despoils the Saviour of the glory that 
 belongs to him in the various offices he sustains towards 
 his church. His prophetical office is invaded by the 
 arrogant claims specified under the last head. His 
 priestly office is virtually superseded by the priests 
 and intercessors of the church of Rome. His sacrifice 
 is made of no account, by the numerous expedients 
 prescribed in that church for the removal of sin. Of 
 these we may mention auricular confession, penance, 
 pilgrimages, masses, absolutions by the priest, fastings, 
 alms and offerings to the church, holy waters, extreme 
 unction, the fire of purgatory, and the prayers and 
 masses which are offered up for the dead. The Pope 
 and his clergy usurp the kingly office of Christ, by 
 claiming a lordship over conscience; by presuming to 
 absolve men from guilt; by instituting rites, ceremonies, 
 and fictitious sacraments, which have no warrant in 
 the divine word ; and by exercising an absolute spiritual 
 jurisdiction over the church, and, in so far as they have 
 been able, an absolute secular dominion over the 
 nations. This extensive and remarkable opposition to 
 Christ, in his offices, his work, and the glory which 
 belongs to him as the author of salvation to the 
 redeemed, incontestably stamps upon the system the 
 character of Antichristian. 
 
 5th. The office of the sanctifying Spirit is also dis- 
 
TO THE REFORMATION. 33 
 
 honoured and virtually superseded by this system. The 
 whole catalogue of external rites to which Popery 
 ascribes virtue for purifying the soul, may be performed 
 by an unregenerate man, without the aid of the Holy 
 Spirit. The preparation for heaven which it demands 
 is altogether irrespective of faith in Christ, repentance 
 for sin, love to God, or charity toward men. It makes 
 no account of that " holiness, without which no man 
 shall see the Lord." 
 
 6th. It corrupts the divinely appointed rites and 
 ordinances of Christ's house, by a multitude of observ- 
 ances which are entirely of human invention, and for 
 the most part unmeaning, superstitious, and absurd. 
 Baptism is corrupted by the use of salt, oil, spittle, and 
 the sign of the cross ; the Lord's Supper, by the revolt- 
 ing blasphemy of transubstantiation, and by denying 
 the cup to the people; ordination, by superstitious 
 forms, and by the unwarrantable and wicked vows 
 which are connected with it, of which the vow of 
 celibacy has contributed to involve multitudes of the 
 clergy of the Church of Rome in the deepest profligacy. 
 And while the divinely instituted sacraments are cor- 
 rupted, five spurious ones are added, which have no 
 divine authority, namely, confirmation, penance, orders, 
 marriage, and extreme unction. 
 
 7th. It brings the holy law of God into contempt, 
 by presuming to dispense with its solemn obligation, 
 by the paltry rites it prescribes as a satisfaction for 
 sin, and by the doctrines taught concerning human 
 merit and supererogation. 
 
 8th. The system is farther to be testified against, on 
 account of its profound and cruel imposture, in delud- 
 ing myriads of mankind, by false doctrines and false 
 miracles, to neglect the salvation of Christ, and disre- 
 gard the testimony of God in his word, while they give 
 implicit credit to blind and deceitful men, and rest their 
 hope of eternal life on their own paltry performances. 
 
 But the monstrous system of impiety and delusion 
 delineated in prophecy, was not confined to the church. 
 
34 FROM THE TIME OF CONST ANTINE 
 
 The divine ordinance of civil government, intended by 
 its author for the advancement of his own glory, and 
 for preserving the order and promoting the happiness 
 of society, has been equally corrupted. It hath pleased 
 God to place the administration of the kingdom of pro- 
 vidence in the hands of the Messiah, and to command 
 the nations and their rulers to do homage to him, and 
 to promote the interests of his kingdom. But it is the 
 peculiar character of the grand apostacy, profoundly 
 mysterious in iniquity, to engraft the most enormous 
 and fatal errors on the most precious truths. By a 
 dreadful perversion of the doctrine now stated, the 
 secular governments of the nations became at first the 
 allies, and afterwards the servile tools of the idolatrous 
 and persecuting church. The revolting picture of the 
 two united powers is drawn by the pencil of inspira- 
 tion. 1 In the graphic description of the apostle John 
 the woman is obviously the emblem of the apostate 
 church, whilst the scarlet-coloured beast with the seven 
 heads and ten horns symbolizes the Roman empire, 
 divided into ten kingdoms, but actuated by one spirit. 
 Her unfaithfulness to Christ, by the violation of her 
 ecclesiastical covenant, and her unhallowed commerce 
 with the kings of the earth, constitute her an harlot. 
 The inhabitants of the earth are made drunk with the 
 intoxicating cup of her delusions and indulgences. 
 The immense wealth of the church, her worldly pomp 
 and magnificence, are set forth by the gorgeous attire 
 of the woman, " arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, 
 and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls." 
 To show her power of seduction, she is painted as an 
 abandoned woman, alluring the nations to drink of her 
 deceitful and polluted cup. As the rider is supported 
 by the beast that carries him, so has the church been 
 by the Antichristian nations. As the beast is governed 
 and impelled by the rider, so have these nations and 
 their rulers been by the church. The woman and the 
 
 1 Rev. xvii. 3 — 6. 
 
TO THE REFORMATION. 35 
 
 beast are of the same scarlet colour, to denote that both 
 are implicated in the guilt of persecution. But as the 
 church has commonly been the prime mover and insti- 
 gator in this impious work, the Spirit assigns to her 
 the pre-eminence. She is " drunken with the blood of 
 the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." 
 On her forehead she exhibits, in conspicuous characters, 
 her infamous title, " mystery, Babylon the great, 
 
 THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS, AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE 
 
 earth." In short, the complex system is represented 
 as comprehending and concentrating within itself all 
 that has been pre-eminent in wickedness, in all past 
 ages; — the cruelty and oppression of Egypt; the 
 impurity of Sodom ; the luxury, idolatry, and despotism 
 of Babylon; and the bigotry and rancorous enmity 
 against Christ and his people which distinguished the 
 ancient city of Jerusalem. 
 
 Such is the system against which the witnesses of 
 Jesus have been summoned to contend. And notwith- 
 standing the scantiness of original records, during 
 several hundred years usually styled the dark ages, it is 
 still possible to trace a succession of witnesses from the 
 beginning of the seventh century — at which period, 
 according to the judgment of the most approved expos- 
 itors, the saints were given over to the power of the little 
 horn — to the present time. There were not a few indi- 
 viduals, in different ages, distinguished by intelligence 
 and piety, who, although they did not formally with- 
 draw from the fellowship of the Church of Rome, pro- 
 tested with great boldness against many of her corrup- 
 tions and errors ; and the salutary impression made by 
 their preaching and writing was both extensive and 
 permanent. 1 
 
 Nor were there wanting during the same period 
 whole religious communities, who deduced their faith 
 
 1 Of this class we may mention the following highly honoured names; 
 Vigilantius of Lyons, in Aquitaine; Paulinus, bishop of Aquileia; Claude, 
 bishop of Turin ; Peter de Bruys of Languedoc ; Henry of Lausanne, with 
 John Huss, and Jerome of Prague. 
 
36 FROM THE TIME OF CONSTANTINE 
 
 from the scriptures, and who utterly renounced both 
 the pretensions and the fellowship of the Romish Church. 
 So early as the middle of the third century, the loose 
 communion of the church had given rise to a sect of dis- 
 senters in Italy, who are said to have been the first that 
 were distinguished by the name of Cathari, or Puritans. 
 Historians assert that the existence of this sect can be 
 traced for a period of 200 years. In the fourth and 
 fifth centuries, a still more numerous body of separatists 
 existed, chiefly in Africa, under the name of Donatists. 
 Their grounds of dissent were very similar to those of 
 the Puritans. Another sect, greatly extolled for its 
 simplicity, and for the patience and fortitude with which 
 its members endured the most violent persecution, was 
 that of the Paulicians. 1 In the seventh century it spread 
 through Pontus, Armenia, Cappadocia, and the adjoin- 
 ing countries. It was finally suppressed by the Em- 
 press Theodosia, of whom it is alleged, that by the 
 gibbet, fire, and sword, she destroyed of that sect not 
 less than one hundred thousand persons. Another 
 sect which was very numerous in Italy itself in the 
 eleventh century, was denominated the sect of the 
 Paterines. These held no communion with the Romish 
 Church. They rejected many of the most renowned 
 fathers — Jerome of Syria, Augustine of Africa, Gregory 
 of Rome, and even Ambrose of Milan, — as having con- 
 tributed, notwithstanding their eminent piety, to pro- 
 mote the prevailing corruptions of Christianity. They 
 termed the adoration of the cross the mark of the Beast; 
 they neither frequented taverns nor places of public 
 amusement ; they were distinguished for a meek and 
 forbearing temper, and for their indifference to worldly 
 aggrandisement. 2 
 
 It is not alleged that these sects were perfectly har- 
 monious in their religious sentiments, or that the creed 
 of any one of them was unexceptionable. For our 
 
 1 Milner's Church History, Century IX. Faber's History of the 
 Vallenses, Book II., Chap. 1. 
 
 2 Jones' Church History, vol. i., pp. 497—500. 
 
TO THE REFORMATION. 37 
 
 knowledge of them, and of their opinions, we are princi- 
 pally indebted to popish writers who denounced them 
 as heretics, and from them an impartial account cannot 
 reasonably be expected. But even the testimony of 
 their enemies is sufficient to prove, that all of them had 
 the honour of contending for many precious truths, 
 during a most dreary period of the history of the church, 
 and of raising a strenuous protest against the monstrous 
 errors and corruptions of the Church of Rome. 
 
 Of all the communities raised up by the Messiah to 
 testify against the errors and corruptions of the Romish 
 apostacy, the church of the Waldenses in the valleys 
 of Piedmont, and in the south of France, is on many 
 accounts the most remarkable. When the people of 
 other nations drank with avidity the intoxicating cup 
 of the mother of harlots, the inhabitants of these valleys 
 drew water from the wells of salvation — the holy Scrip- 
 tures. When other churches, generally, crouched 
 beneath the yoke of the Man of Sin, the Waldenses 
 asserted their freedom. Here in the wilderness, a place 
 was prepared of God as a residence for the woman, who 
 fled from the face of the dragon. 1 In the fourth century, 
 a body of christians was found in the Cottian Alps, in 
 a state of separation from the church called Catholic, 
 and protesting against prevailing corruptions. They 
 detested the worship of images, of relics, and of saints ; 
 they offered up no prayers for the dead ; their ministers 
 were not forbidden to marry. 2 It does not appear 
 that there are sufficient records from which a connected 
 history of this people can be drawn, during several 
 centuries subsequent to this period ; but it is remark- 
 able that when the inhabitants of the same region attract 
 public notice again, about the middle of the twelfth 
 century, they are found to be still in separation from the 
 Church of Rome, and holding the same sentiments which 
 their ancestors held so long before. It is admitted by 
 Romish writers who flourished at that time that the 
 
 1 Rev. xii. 6. 
 
 8 Gilly: and Faber's History of the Vallenses. 
 E 
 
38 FROM THE TIME OF COXSTANTINE 
 
 origin of the sect was unknown, and that they claimed 
 to be regarded as the true church, having held the 
 doctrine of the Scriptures from the first ages of Chris- 
 tianity. All these circumstances render it highly pro- 
 bable that they had never embraced the superstitions of 
 the Church of Rome. 
 
 The creed of the Waldenses was decidedly evan- 
 gelical; and their form of church government, and 
 administration of discipline, were, in general, agreeable 
 to the presbyterian model. In these churches the 
 Lord not only preserved a seed to serve him, but pro- 
 vided a seminary for the instruction of ministers and 
 saints, who were afterwards instrumental in shaking to its 
 foundations the empire of the papacy. When scattered 
 among the nations by frequent persecutions, they carried 
 with them their knowledge, their piety, and their 
 forms of religious worship. In the thirteenth century 
 their numbers were so great that the Pope resolved 
 to exert his utmost efforts to suppress them. They 
 were found in Germany, Bohemia, Poland, France, 
 and Britain. The frantic zeal which, for nearly two 
 centuries, had moved all Europe against the Turks, 
 and expended itself in fruitless efforts to recover the 
 holy land from their control, was now directed against 
 the Waldenses. It is computed that in France alone, 
 one million of them suffered martyrdom. In the 
 beginning of the fourteenth century, there were about 
 eighty thousand of these witnesses in Austria, and the 
 neighbouring territories. 
 
 Most of those illustrious men, who, before the refor- 
 mation in the sixteenth century, were " as burning and 
 shining lights" in the various countries in which they 
 appeared, derived their knowledge of the truth from the 
 Waldenses. The celebrated Walter Lollard, who 
 suffered martyrdom in the year 132*2, spread their doc- 
 trines through Germany. With him we may join the 
 renowned John Wickliffe, who is justly termed the 
 morning star of the English Reformation, not merely on 
 account of his invaluable writings, but still more from 
 
TO THE REFORMATION. 39 
 
 his translation of the Scriptures into the English 
 language. Having been sent on frequent embassies 
 to the Court of Rome, his eyes were opened to the 
 corruptions of the church. He rejected the Pope's 
 claim to supremacy, denounced him as Antichrist, and 
 exposed the tyranny of the clergy. By means of his 
 writings, his tenets were extensively spread, both in 
 England and on the Continent. He died in the year 
 1384. One of his disciples was John Huss, a man of 
 talents and erudition in the famous university of Prague. 
 He, and his companion Jerome, who was also a man 
 of distinguished ability, revived the doctrines which 
 Peter Waldo had long before taught in Bohemia. 
 They vainly hoped to reform the apostate church. 
 Their writings were more widely circulated, and their 
 doctrines more eagerly embraced, from the heroic and 
 triumphant manner in which they had maintained them 
 before the Council of Constance. By this Council they 
 were both perfidiously murdered, after a safe conduct 
 had been granted to them by the emperor. Many of the 
 Bohemians afterwards united themselves to the church 
 of the Waldenses existing in that kingdom. The two 
 churches adopted one confession of faith. They also 
 agreed upon one covenant, adapted to the existing 
 state of the church, which, according to the established 
 usage of the Waldenses, was subscribed by all the 
 members of the society. Voetius asserts, that both the 
 Waldenses of Thoulouse, and the Hussites of Bohemia, 
 ratified their federal transactions with the solemnity of 
 an oath. 
 
 Thus, while the papal power was at its height, and 
 the kingdoms were of one mind to give their strength 
 to the Beast, divine providence was preparing the way 
 for that remarkable revolution, which took place in the 
 beginning of the sixteenth century, — the Protestant 
 Reformation. 
 
 At this place it seems proper to observe, that besides 
 the Papal, or western Antichrist, it has been customary 
 to speak of a Mohammedan, or Eastern. The system 
 
40 FROM THE TIME OF CONSTANTLY TO THE REFORMATION. 
 
 so denominated had its rise near the commencement of 
 the seventh century. Its adherents believe that there 
 is one God, and that Mohammed is his prophet. It is 
 therefore diametrically opposed to the faith of Chris- 
 tians, who have learned from divine revelation that 
 " there is one God, and one Mediator between God and 
 man, the Man Christ Jesus," who is also " the true 
 God, and Eternal Life." This unitarian, or rather 
 anti-trinitarian system, is Antichristian in its character. 
 " He is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the 
 Son;" and "Whosoever denieth the Son the same 
 hath not the Father." Mohammedans, while they 
 admit that Jesus was a prophet, reject the doctrine of 
 his divinity. Many writers on prophecy entertain the 
 opinion that Eastern Antichrist was foretold by Daniel, 
 under the symbol of the little horn springing up out of 
 one of the four horns of the third beast, or Grecian 
 empire, as the western Antichrist was foretold by him, 
 under the symbol of the little horn springing up among 
 the ten horns of the western Roman empire. It is also 
 commonly believed, that the prediction in the ninth 
 chapter of Revelation relates to the rise and progress of 
 the same imposture. And as prophecy is history anti- 
 cipated, and history is prophecy accomplished, it is a 
 well known fact, that Mohammedanism supplanted 
 Christianity in many parts in the east, and, ultimately, 
 either suppressed it within the bounds of the eastern 
 Roman empire, or rendered the professors of it 
 tributary. Previously to this period, however, the 
 church bearing the Christian name in those regions 
 had become exceedingly corrupt, both in doctrine and 
 in worship. 
 
 Of any succession of faithful or efficient witnesses 
 within the territorial limits of the Mohammedan Anti- 
 christ we have little or no knowledge. The two wit- 
 nesses are not supposed to reside within these limits. 
 They prophesy under the Romish Antichrist ; yet they 
 may be regarded as substantially bearing testimony 
 against both, particularly after the Reformation. The 
 
THE REFORMATION IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 41 
 
 eastern Antichrist is destined to destruction as well as 
 the western ; and as they were nearly contemporaneous 
 in their rise, so, it is supposed, they shall be in their 
 final overthrow. 1 
 
 PERIOD THIRD. 
 
 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 
 1517 to 1688. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE REFORMATION IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 The reformation from Popery in the early part of the 
 sixteenth century must ever be commemorated by the 
 church as a glorious display of the power and goodness 
 of God, and as a happy and sure prelude of the final 
 triumph of the King of Zion over Antichrist. At that 
 period, the usurped supremacy of the Pope over the 
 churches, and his sovereignty over the nations of Europe, 
 seemed established on the firmest foundation. How- 
 ever important the struggles of confessors and martyrs 
 had been in vindicating the glory of God, and rescuing 
 immortal souls from the delusions of the Man of Sin, 
 they had produced no perceptible effect in impairing 
 the strength, or contracting the boundaries of the king- 
 dom of the Beast. A series of violent persecutions 
 had removed many of the witnesses by martyrdom, and 
 the remainder were dispirited, and widely scattered 
 throughout the nations. Yet, while Babylon was most 
 secure, the exalted Messiah, by several arrangements 
 in divine providence, was preparing for a more effectual 
 assault upon her dominions than she had ever experi- 
 enced. Two of these, on account of their immense and 
 permanent importance, deserve to be distinctly specified, 
 
 1 See Hetherington en the Fulness of Time. Faber and Keith. 
 E 2 
 
42 THE REFORMATION IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 — the revival of learning in the West of Europe, and the 
 invention of the art of printing. 1 The corruption of the 
 church at the same time became more gross and offen- 
 sive by her security. However much the blinded nations 
 admired and venerated the gorgeous fabric, yet the 
 haughtiness, rapacity, and unbounded profligacy of the 
 clergy had created almost universal disgust. Several 
 of the illustrious men, whom it pleased God to employ 
 as his instruments in commencing the work of reforma- 
 tion, had been for a time priests in the Romish church. 
 At first they contemplated only a reform of some gross 
 abuses ; but further inquiries convinced them that the 
 whole system was wicked and abominable — destined 
 not to be reformed, but to be destroyed. As the light 
 gradually broke in upon their own minds, they fear- 
 lessly proclaimed the truth to others. The Lord 
 poured out his Spirit upon them, and imparted to them 
 an uncommon measure of zeal and intrepidity. He 
 gave them favour with persons who had power to pro- 
 tect them from the subordinate agents of the Man of 
 Sin. When they were once sufficiently enlightened to 
 understand and to embrace the grand truth, that the 
 Word of God is the fountain of religious know- 
 ledge — the supreme arbiter in every controversy — the 
 infallible criterion by which every doctrine and every 
 practice in religion must be tried — they had obtained 
 possession of the lever by which, in several kingdoms, 
 the enormous fabric of Popery was, in a short time, 
 entirely overturned. Other witnesses had struggled 
 faithfully against Antichrist, but it was reserved for 
 Luther, Calvin, Zuingle, Knox, and their fellow- 
 labourers, to break the yoke of popish bondage from 
 the necks of millions of their fellow-men. 
 
 Here we would record our grateful admiration of 
 those arrangements of divine providence, by which the 
 mutual hostilities of popish and persecuting powers 
 were made the means of preserving the infant reforma- 
 
 1 The first printed book of any importance was an edition of the Latin 
 Vulgate Bible, printed in the year 1462. 
 
THE REFORMATION IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 43 
 
 tion. The harlot church, already drunk with the blood 
 of the saints, would have gladly replenished her cup 
 by the martyrdom of the reformers. They were only 
 at a short distance from the seat of the Roman pontiff, 
 whose powerful arm had hitherto dashed to pieces the 
 objects of his wrath even in the remotest nations of 
 Europe. They were near to France, where so much 
 of the blood of the saints had been shed, and whose 
 monarch, Francis I., was then persecuting the same 
 faith in his own kingdom. They were within the 
 dominions of the emperor Charles Y., a bigoted papist, 
 under whose government it was computed, that about 
 fifty thousand persons were put to death for their 
 religion. To any one of these powers, it would have 
 been an easy matter to crush the German Protestants 
 in the commencement of the reformation. Each of 
 them gave the fullest evidence of its readiness to exe- 
 cute such a design. But the Lord made their mutual 
 jealousies and fierce contendings with one another, the 
 means of protecting his church from ruin. When at 
 length the emperor was in a condition to lead his 
 armies against them, his success was but partial and 
 temporary. An avenger was raised up on their behalf, 
 where it could have been least expected j 1 and a portion 
 of the very army that was raised to overawe them, and 
 bend their necks again under the papal yoke, was, by 
 a surprising revolution, made the instrument of their 
 deliverance. 2 
 
 The reformed churches of the Continent imitated 
 the ancient and laudable practice of the Waldeuses, in 
 entering into public covenants. In the year 1530, the 
 Lutherans framed the famous league of Smalkalde, which 
 was solemnly renewed four years afterwards. Oh the 
 20th day of July, 1537, the capital articles of the Chris- 
 tian faith and discipline were sworn publicly by the 
 senate and people of Geneva. As soon as the reformation 
 had assumed a regular appearance, and the reformers 
 
 1 Maurice of Saxonv. 
 
 2 Robertson's History of Charles V., vol. ii., pp. 351, 376, 389, 395. 
 
44 THE REFORMATION IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 had erected a separate communion, the Waldenses 
 strengthened their hands by uniting themselves to their 
 churches. In regard to the grounds of separation from 
 the Church of Rome, and the views entertained of the 
 leading doctrines of the Christian system, there was a 
 pleasing harmony among the Protestant churches ; ! yet 
 those called Lutheran in general fell short of the 
 attainments of those called Reformed. The latter 
 included the churches of Switzerland, Geneva, France, 
 the Low Countries, and different parts in Germany, 
 Poland, and Transylvania. 
 
 In England the reformation was effected under great 
 disadvantages. The capricious and cruel Henry VIII. 
 was ill qualified for the office of a religious reformer. 
 The reign of Edward was more propitious, but it was 
 of short duration. The extent and the violence of the 
 persecution, under the bloody Queen Mary, afforded 
 unquestionable proof that the principles of the reforma- 
 tion were widely diffused among the people. On the 
 accession of Elizabeth, the protestant religion was 
 restored ; but the persons most competent to the task of 
 organizing a church, in comformity to the scriptural 
 model, were not permitted to have any hand in the 
 work. The queen, with her councillors and her parlia- 
 ment, usurped the right, and undertook the office of 
 settling the religion of the nation by themselves. The 
 gross erastianism of this proceeding merited condem- 
 nation, whatever might have been the personal character 
 of the agents. But the great majority of them had 
 displayed such profligacy of principle, in the course of 
 the abrupt and repeated changes of religion which had 
 taken place from the time of Henry, as to prove them- 
 selves pre-eminently incompetent and unworthy to have 
 any share in such a work. Most of them had been 
 
 1 The German reformers were first called PROTESTANTS, in consequence 
 of a protest entered by them against a decree of the Diet of the empire, 
 held at Spires in 1529, prohibiting the people from abolishing the mass, 
 or making any innovations in religion. — Robertson's History of Charles 
 V., vol. ii., pp. 87, 88. 
 
THE REFORMATION IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 45 
 
 Papists and Protestants, alternately, as interest seemed 
 to dictate, and as the sovereign set the example. 
 
 A few leading errors entertained by those who reared 
 the stately pile of the English Church, so marred and 
 vitiated the whole structure, that it seems improbable 
 the evils of it can ever be rectified without its founda- 
 tions being razed. 
 
 1 st. The church was the mere creature of the state, 
 framed and modelled according to the absolute will of 
 the civil rulers. It is impossible to justify, on any pre^ 
 tence of expediency, a proceeding so repugnant to 
 Scripture. It is competent to civil rulers to excite and 
 exhort ecclesiastical persons to effect a reformation in 
 religion when it is required, and to remove civil barriers 
 out of their way. But it is the province of the church, 
 by her own rulers, to frame her confession of faith, and 
 to regulate her worship, discipline, and government, in 
 conformity with the word of God. 
 
 2d. That supremacy which had recently been wrested 
 from the Roman Pontiff, was usurped by the civil ruler, 
 and without opposition on the part of the church, was 
 declared by statute to be an inherent right of the British 
 crown. This daring and impious usurpation of the 
 authority and prerogatives of the Redeemer, has invol- 
 ved the throne of England in extreme guilt; and the 
 consent of the church to that arrangement has rendered 
 her an accomplice in it. 1 The royal supremacy has 
 had the effect of placing tliat church in fetters. 
 Scarcely a vestige of liberty is left to her in any thing 
 that repects ecclesiastical government. Her creed has 
 been prescribed to her by the state ; 2 her form of church 
 government, 3 the order of public worship, 4 the precise 
 form of prayer to be used, 5 and even the apparel of her 
 ministers, 6 — all are determined and fixed by law, and 
 ratified by the king ; and she has no power to deviate 
 from the prescribed rule in the smallest particular. For 
 more than one hundred years there has been no meet- 
 
 1 Canon 1. 2 King's declaration prefixed to the Articles. 
 
 3 Canon 7. * Canon 14. 5 See book of prayer. 6 Canon 58. 
 
46 THE REFORMATION IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 ing of the clergy of the church in convocation for the 
 transaction of business; without a royal license they 
 have no power to meet even on the most urgent occasion; 
 nor, if met, can they propound or determine any matter 
 respecting the government of the church, without an 
 express warrant under the great seal; nor are their 
 decisions of the smallest ecclesiastical authority, until 
 they have obtained the royal sanction. 1 The principal 
 part of the discipline of the church, even as it respects 
 the offences of ministers, is vested in courts kept by 
 chancellors, commissaries, and other officials, who 
 always may be, and commonly are laymen; and an 
 appeal may be made to the king and council from the 
 decisions of all ecclesiastical courts. 
 
 3d. The state assumed the right of compelling con- 
 formity to the established religion by civil penalties. 2 
 The royal supremacy laid a foundation for this daring 
 usurpation. To concede to the civil magistrate aright 
 to punish as rebels those who dissent from the national 
 church, however inoffensive their deportment may be in 
 other respects, is to invest him with that lordship over the 
 conscience which is one of the most arrogant and blas- 
 phemous of the pretensions of the Man of Sin. The prac- 
 tical application of this doctrine in England subjected 
 the people of God in that kingdom to manifold sufferings, 
 for a period of one hundred and fifty years, and involved 
 the government in the prevailing sin of Antichristian 
 nations — the shedding the blood of the saints. 
 
 4th. The Antichristian hierarchy of the Church of 
 Rome was retained in the Church of England. This 
 term is employed to designate the long gradation of rank 
 which exists among the clergy in these churches; 
 namely, curates, vicars, deans, archdeacons, preben- 
 daries, bishops, archbishops, and primates. It may 
 also comprehend those classes of persons who are styled 
 proctors, chancellors, commissaries, and officials, who, 
 although generally laymen, are admitted by the laws of 
 
 1 King's declaration prefixed to the Articles. 
 
 2 Canons 10, 11, i"2, and the king's ratification of the Canons. 
 
TKE REFORMATION IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 47 
 
 the church to exercise ecclesiastical jurisdiction. This 
 stupendous fabric, which is entirely of human inven- 
 tion, has proved as injurious to the interests of religion 
 as it is repugnant to Scripture. The secular engage- 
 ments of the clergy, and particularly of the dignitaries 
 who have seats in the high court of parliament, and 
 preside in other courts of civil judicature, have with- 
 drawn them from the discharge of ministerial duties. 
 The enormous wealth of the church has fostered 
 luxury and ambition among her ministers. The con- 
 nexion between the church and the state has been of 
 such a character as to place her preferments and 
 splendid revenues at the disposal of the civil rulers. 
 Unprincipled politicians have bartered the wealth of 
 the church as the price of political subserviency. 
 Hence the highest stations have been commonly 
 occupied by men without religion, men holding hereti- 
 cal sentiments while solemnly subscribing an orthodox 
 creed, men who spent their lives amidst the turbulent 
 scenes of earthly ambition, squandering in the pursuit 
 of worldly pleasure the wealth which had been appro- 
 priated to the spread of the gospel. The example of 
 such dignitaries has been of most pernicious tendency, 
 and the corrupt exercise of the high patronage they 
 possessed still more injurious to the interests of the 
 church. That multitudes are appointed to the office 
 of the ministry who are wholly unworthy of that office 
 is evident from the fact, that they often abandon the 
 work while they greedily exact the revenue ; " they 
 eat the fat and clothe themselves with the wool, but 
 they feed not the flock." 
 
 It is also notorious that simony, or the buying and 
 selling of ecclesiastical dignities and livings, although 
 pronounced in the 40th canon " a detestable sin and 
 execrable before God," is of very frequent occurrence 
 in the English Church. While the higher orders of the 
 clergy are pampered, many of the most deserving and 
 laborious of the ministers are left to struggle with 
 penury, and vast multitudes of the people to perish for 
 
48 THE REFORMATION IN TIIE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 lack of knowledge. The manner in which church 
 revenues are exacted in many instances, the very 
 unequal and partial distribution of them, and the worldly 
 pomp and luxury of the clergy, have concurred to 
 excite prejudices in the minds of many not only against 
 the church, but against Christianity itself. The ten- 
 dency of these things to obstruct the progress of the 
 gospel has, for centuries, been practically demonstrated 
 both in England and in Ireland. In the latter country, 
 a branch of the English Church was erected, while the 
 great majority of the people were enslaved by Popery, 
 and was furnished with abundant means for prosecuting 
 a missionary enterprise on a large scale. The experi- 
 ment has been continued for two hundred years, but 
 the cause of Protestantism does not appear to have 
 been promoted, by it. The numerous population con- 
 nected with the Church of Rome in that country at the 
 present day, are commonly represented as more bigoted 
 in their attachment to Popery, and more rancorous in 
 their enmity to Protestants and Protestantism, than any 
 other people in Europe. These facts prove, that an 
 Episcopal hierarchy is not the proper instrument for 
 reclaiming a population held in the chains of a false 
 religion, or for extending the boundaries of the king- 
 dom of Christ. 
 
 5th. In the 20th article of the Church of England it 
 is asserted, that the church has " authority to decree 
 rites and ceremonies in religious worship," not enjoined 
 in the word of God. If this claim were admitted, it 
 would vindicate the greater part of that compound of 
 superstition and absurdity, which deforms the worship 
 of the Church of Rome. If the church has authority 
 to decree and enjoin one rite or ceremony, not appointed 
 by Christ, how can it be shown that she may not decree 
 ten or a thousand ? The fact is, that a large share of 
 the superstitious or senseless pageantry of the Romish 
 Church is retained in the jmblic worship of the Church 
 of England, Of this character we regard the following 
 things, viz., the consecration of churches and church- 
 
THE REFORMATION IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 49 
 
 yards, accompanied with a wicked prohibition from 
 which the clergy are to the present day not fully eman- 
 cipated, against preaching the gospel to perishing 
 sinners, excepting on consecrated ground ; l the sign of 
 the cross in baptism, together with the use of sponsors, 
 while the parents are forbidden to present their own 
 children; 2 kneeling at the sacrament of our Lord's 
 Supper ; bowing when the name of Jesus is pronounced ; 
 the authoritative use of certain vestments in the cele- 
 bration of public worship ; and the stated reading in 
 divine service of apocryphal writings, which impiously 
 lay claim to inspiration. 
 
 6th. It is a fundamental defect in the constitution of 
 this church, that no effectual provision has been made 
 for the preservation of discipline. Hence it arises, that 
 the scandalously immoral are not excluded from her 
 fellowship, and that the most sacred privileges of the 
 church are made an article of merchandise, while the 
 most abandoned characters are frequently the pur- 
 chasers. The penal laws against non-conformists com- 
 pelled multitudes of irreligious persons to become 
 communicants, that they might escape persecution. 
 The test and corporation acts, which were passed in 
 the reign of Charles II., and repealed only in the year 
 1828, involved an immense number of irreligious and 
 ungodly men in the guilt of unworthy communicating, 
 and a great proportion of the clergy in the still more 
 heinous guilt of deliberately desecrating the solemn 
 ordinance of the Lord's Supper. 
 
 7th. In the services appointed for the administration 
 of baptism, for confirmation, for the visitation of the 
 sick, and for the burial of the dead, there are many 
 things highly exceptionable and of dangerous tendency. 
 
 The language employed in dispensing baptism 
 appears unequivocally to convey the doctrine that, 
 when administered by a duly qualified person, it is 
 regeneration, or is necessarily accompanied by that 
 
 1 Canon 71. - Canon 29. 
 
50 THE REFORMATION IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 spiritual change. The words which the officiating 
 minister is commanded to employ, are these : " We yield 
 thee hearty thanks, most merciful Father, that it hath 
 pleased thee to regenerate this infant, with thy Holy 
 Spirit." A doctrine so repugnant to scripture, and dis- 
 proved by so many millions of practical examples, is 
 wholly indefensible. 
 
 The service of Confirmation, used in the Church of 
 England, has no warrant in Scripture. It is enjoined 
 on sponsors to take care, that the children for whom 
 they have unwarrantably become bound, " be brought 
 to the bishop to be confirmed by him, so soon as they 
 can say the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten 
 Commandments, and be further instructed in the church 
 catechism set forth for that purpose." In answer to 
 the second question of that catechism, the youth is 
 taught to say, that in his baptism he was made " a mem- 
 ber of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the 
 kingdom of heaven." The prescribed knowledge may 
 be easily acquired by any child of ordinary parts, what- 
 ever may be the state of the heart. Yet to all thus 
 qualified, the church directs that confirmation be 
 administered. In the service prescribed for the occa- 
 sion, the following expressions occur: "Almighty and 
 everliving God, who hast vouchsafed to regenerate 
 these thy servants, by water and the Holy Ghost, and 
 hast given unto them forgiveness of all their sins."" 
 " We make our humble supplications unto thee for 
 these thy servants, upon whom (after the example of 
 thy holy apostles) we have now laid our hands to cer- 
 tify them (by this sign) of thy favour and gracious 
 goodness towards them." 
 
 In the service for the visitation of the sick it is 
 ordered, that " the sick person be moved to make a 
 special confession of his sins.... after which, the priest 
 shall absolve him (if he humbly and heartily desire it) 
 
 after this sort by his (Christ's) authority committed 
 
 to me, I absolve thee from all thy sins, in the name 
 of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 
 
THE REFORMATION IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 51 
 
 Amen" The inspired apostles never assumed such 
 authority as this. 
 
 The following office for the burial of the dead is to 
 be used for all classes of persons, those only being 
 excepted who "die unbaptised, or excommunicated, 
 or have laid violent hands upon themselves." " Foras- 
 much as it hath pleased God Almighty of his great 
 mercy, to take unto himself the soul of our dear 
 brother here departed, we therefore commit his body 
 
 to the ground in sure and certain hope of the 
 
 resurrection to eternal life." Again : " we give hearty 
 thanks, for that it hath pleased thee to deliver this our 
 brother out of the miseries of this sinful world :" " raise 
 us from the death of sin into the life of righteousness, 
 that when we shall depart this life, we may rest in 
 him, as our hope is this our brother doth." All this 
 must be said publicly over each person committed 
 to the dust, although he may have lived and died an 
 infidel, or a profligate, or has been cut off in a fit of 
 intoxication, or by the hand of the common executioner ! 
 
 How flattering is all this, but how exceedingly 
 ensnaring and perilous to the myriads of carnal and 
 ungodly professors who eagerly substitute it for that 
 faith in the Redeemer, and that "holiness, without 
 which no man shall see the Lord ! " How long will 
 spiritual physicians continue to heal the deadly diseases 
 of the soid slightly, crying, " peace, peace, when there 
 is no peace r " How long will the church herself join 
 with Satan and the sinner's own deceitful heart, in 
 rivetting the chains of spiritual delusion ! By what 
 gentler terms should we denounce formularies which 
 hold forth, froin age to age, to an ignorant, irreligious, 
 ungodly world, that they are " regenerated" in baptism ; 
 " certified of the favour and gracious goodness of God 
 towards them" in confirmation; "absolved from all 
 their sins" by a priest on their sick-bed ; and committed 
 to the grave, whatever course of life they may have led, 
 "in the sure and certain hope of a resurrection to 
 eternal lifer" 
 
52 THE REFORMATION IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 Amidst so much in the original constitution, and sub- 
 sequent history, of the English church, which we cannot 
 but condemn, and against which we are constrained to 
 enter our solemn protest, it is pleasing to acknowledge, 
 that in some other respects, the history of that church 
 furnishes ground of rej oicing and of thanksgiving to God. 
 The separation of England from the faith and obedience 
 of the Romish See, was an event of the greatest impor- 
 tance, and has been rendered of incalculable advantage 
 to the cause of true religion. Even the imperfect refor- 
 mation of England contributed to promote the reform- 
 ation in other kingdoms, and especially in Scotland. 
 By her influence and authority, England frequently 
 spread a shield over the Protestants of other countries, 
 and either screened them from threatened persecution, 
 or mitigated its severity. And , in some instances, Divine 
 Providence employed her great power as a chief weapon 
 in breaking up those formidable combinations among 
 Popish states, by which the Protestant interest through- 
 out Europe seemed brought into danger. It is also 
 ground of thankfulness, that the persons who were 
 selected to draw up a Confession of Faith, or articles 
 of religion for that church, were of evangelical senti- 
 ments. The doctrinal articles of the English church 
 are, in general, scriptural, and in harmony with the 
 creeds of other reformed churches. Among her clergy, 
 too, there has been no inconsiderable number who, for 
 learning, piety, zeal, and devotedness, deservedly stand 
 in the foremost rank of christian ministers. Even among 
 her dignitaries there have been men whose praise is in 
 all the churches ; who earned for themselves the grati- 
 tude of the christian world, by the services which they 
 rendered to the cause of our common Christianity, in 
 illustrating and defending her doctrines, and in baffl- 
 ing the assaults of her most dangerous adversaries. 
 
THE STATE OF RELIGION EN' SCOTLAND, &C. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 OF THE STATE OF RELIGION IN SCOTLAND LN THE PERIOD PRECED- 
 LNG THE REFORMATION. 
 
 We desire gratefully to commemorate the sovereign 
 mercy of God, in sending the gospel at a very early 
 period to this remote island, where extreme ignorance 
 and barbarism aggravated the miseries of the prevailing 
 idolatry. It is not certainly known who first bore the 
 glad tidings of salvation to Scotland. It is recorded 
 that Donald, who was king of Scotland about the 
 beginning of the third century, together with his queen 
 and the members of his court, were publicly baptized; 
 and that he exerted himself to promote the reception 
 of the gospel among his subjects. Cratilinth, another 
 Scottish king, who swayed the sceptre towards the end 
 of that century, is also represented as a christian prince, 
 labouring to eradicate the idolatrous worship of the 
 ancient Druids, a class of priests who had long held an 
 absolute dominion over the minds of the people. The 
 immediate successor of Cratilinth was Fincomiachus, 
 who zealously prosecuted the work of reformation. 
 Under his reign, winch lasted nearly half a century, 
 the gospel is said to have flourished in purity and 
 peace. 1 
 
 A great accession of strength appears to have been 
 brought to the church about the beginning of the fourth 
 century, by the persecution under Dioclesian, the last 
 and most dreadful of all the persecutions that were 
 conducted by the pagan Roman emperors. The name 
 of Culdees was commonly given to those primitive 
 Christians. A most favourable account is furnished 
 by historians of the simplicity of their manners, the 
 sanctity of their lives, and their unwearied assiduity in 
 
 1 Stevenson's History, and David Buchanan's Preface to Knox's His- 
 tory of the Reformation. 
 
 F-2 
 
54 THE STATE OF RELIGION IX SCOTLAND 
 
 diffusing the knowledge of the gospel. It is difficult 
 to ascertain, with any precision, what proportion of the 
 people at that early period had cast away their idols. 
 But it is certain that the cause of Christianity encoun- 
 tered the same difficulties, and experienced the same 
 vicissitudes in Scotland, as in other lands. 
 
 Until the beginning of the fifth century, it does not 
 appear that there was any intercourse between the 
 church in Scotland, and the church at Rome. Nor 
 until the same period was there such an officer as a 
 diocesan bishop in the Scottish Church. 1 The first 
 who assumed the pre-eminence assigned to that office, 
 and whose name was Palladius, was sent by Celestine, 
 bishop of Rome, for the ostensible purpose of expelling 
 the Pelagian heresy, about the year 432. But the 
 result proved that the introduction of Prelacy, and the 
 subjection of the people in Scotland to the control of the 
 church in Rome, were the ulterior objects of his mission. 
 For several centuries, however, the church in Scotland 
 maintained her independence; nor could she be induced, 
 by any efforts, to bend her neck to diocesan episcopacy, 
 for one thousand years after Christ. 2 
 
 The age of Columba forms an era in the history of 
 the Scottish Church. Having ascertained the destitute 
 and miserable condition of the western Isles, where 
 ignorance and barbarism still prevailed, he removed 
 from the scene of his former labours in the north of 
 Ireland, accompanied by a few friends, and arriving in 
 Scotland, in the year 563, fixed his residence in Iona. 
 A remarkable blessing from the Lord attended his 
 efforts ; and being strengthened to labour for more than 
 thirty years, he saw the wilderness converted into a 
 
 1 Stevenson's Church History. 
 
 2 The terms Lishup, and presbyter, are, in the New Testament, applied 
 without distinction to the same persons. 1 Every pastor of a congregation 
 is a bishop, in the Scriptural sense of that term. When ambition and 
 avarice had introduced a gradation of rank among the ministers, unknown 
 in the days of the apostles, the term bishop came to be employed as a 
 name of distinction and pre-eminence. 
 
 1 Acts xx. 17, 28. Tit. i. 5, 7. 1 Pet. v. 1,2. 
 
BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 00 
 
 fruitful field. The rulers of the people sat at his feet 
 to receive the gospel from him. The seminaries which 
 he established for the instruction of youth, furnished a 
 supply of pastors and missionaries for ages after his 
 death. The effects of his labours were not confined to 
 Scotland. The northern counties of England also 
 received a succession of ministers from the Scottish 
 Church. It is evident from the testimony of ancient 
 and most respectable historians, that not only the inha- 
 bitants of Northumberland, but the Middle Angles, the 
 Mercians, the East Saxons, all the way to the river 
 Thames, were converted to Christianity by Scottish 
 missionaries and their disciples ; and for a time acknow- 
 ledged subjection to the ecclesiastical government of 
 the Scots. 1 
 
 In process of time the influence of the Church of 
 Rome began to prevail. The Scriptures were neglected. 
 The power of godliness declined. Superstitious rites 
 and empty forms were multiplied. In the eleventh cen- 
 tury diocesan episcopacy, and the Pope's supremacy 
 were fully established; and the church in Scotland 
 became as grossly corrupted, and as deeply enslaved, 
 as the other churches of the nations. Yet although the 
 people basely and criminally crouched down under the 
 yoke, there was One who beheld their misery and their 
 oppression, and was preparing to work for them a mar- 
 vellous deliverance. 
 
 1 Dr. Jamieson. 
 
56 TIIE REFORMATION FROM POPERY IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 OF TIIE REFORMATION FROM POPERY IN SCOTLAND, COMMONLY 
 TERMED THE FDIST REFORMATION. 
 
 A.D. 1527 to 1592. 
 
 Scotland was among the latest of the nations in sub- 
 mitting to the sway of the Church of Rome. At length, 
 however, the enchantments of the old sorceress pre- 
 vailed, and, like the people of other lands, her inhabi- 
 tants " wondered after the Beast." From the beginning 
 of the eleventh century, the history of the Scottish 
 Church supplies but few honoured names of witnesses 
 against Antichrist, for a period of several hundred years. 
 In the early part of the fifteenth century, the fires of 
 persecution began to blaze, affording sure evidence 
 that the light of truth was beginning to penetrate the 
 dismal gloom. 
 
 The first individual mentioned in history who suf- 
 fered death in Scotland for his opposition to the 
 Romish apostacy, was James Resby, an Englishman by 
 birth, who is said to have derived his opinions from 
 Wickliffe. 1 Towards the end of the fifteenth century 
 under the reign of James IV., we meet with an account 
 of a prosecution for heresy, carried on by the archbishop 
 of Glasgow, before the king and his council, against a 
 number of persons in the district of Kyle, who openly 
 condemned the leading errors of Popery. The body 
 of Christians raised up at that period to plead the cause 
 of truth, are commonly designated the Lollards of 
 Kyle. Yet the first person whose preaching and 
 martyrdom made any extensive or permanent impres- 
 sion on the public mind was Mr. Patrick Hamilton, 
 who was burned at St. Andrews, on a charge of heresy, 
 by Archbishop Beaton, on the last day of February, 
 1528. Having resided for some time on the Continent, 
 
 1 Spottiswood, and David Buchanan's Preface to Knox's History. 
 
THE REFORMATION" FROM POPERY IN SCOTLAND. 57 
 
 he had thoroughly imbibed the sentiments of the Ger- 
 man Reformers. At the hazard of his life, he returned 
 to his native countiy to unfurl the banner of truth. 
 His high birth contributed to awaken attention, as he 
 was connected, not very remotely, with the royal family ; 
 and the ardour and boldness with which he confuted 
 the false doctrines of the Romish Church, condemned 
 the scandulous lives of the clergy, and denounced the 
 Pope as Antichrist, excited astonishment. His lamen- 
 ted death, in the twenty-fourth year of his age, seemed 
 to leave the nation again in darkness. Yet the banner 
 which he was honoured to lift up, was not again suffered 
 to fall. A spirit of inquiry was awakened, which the 
 violent proceedings of the clergy tended only to stimu- 
 late. The conversion of several individuals of their own 
 order, and their patient endurance of sufferings, afforded 
 decisive evidence of the power which accompanied the 
 truth. About ten years after the death of Hamilton, 
 George Wishart was obliged to escape to England from 
 a prosecution for heresy, and after pursuing his studies 
 for several years, both in England and on the Continent, 
 he returned to Scotland in the year 1544. He was a 
 man whom learning, piety, and devoted zeal, eminently 
 qualified for promoting the work of reformation. After 
 a brief period of arduous but very successful labour, he 
 suffered martyrdom at St. Andrews on the first of 
 March, 1546. 
 
 The doctrines of the reformation had now spread 
 widely on the Continent, and many who resorted thither 
 from Scotland, either in the prosecution of commer- 
 cial pursuits, or in quest of a liberal education, became 
 enlightened there, and carried back with them to their 
 native country the faith and the writings of the reformers. 
 Even the partial reformation effected in England under 
 Henry, had a beneficial effect on the state of religion in 
 Scotland ; and when the Scottish nobility visited that 
 kingdom, or were carried thither by the vicissitudes of 
 war, a degree of light was imparted to them, by which 
 their veneration for the Roman See was greatly abated. 
 
58 THE REFORMATION FROM POPERY IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 The state of political parties, too, was overruled by 
 Divine providence for the promotion of the reformation. 
 It was a fixed principle in the policy of James V., to 
 retrench the power of the nobles, who, for ages, had 
 exercised a preponderating influence in the government 
 of the kingdom. In the prosecution of this design, his 
 strongest reliance for support was on the wealth and 
 influence of the Romish clergy. At that period, it was 
 not unusual to fill the highest offices of state with 
 ecclesiastics. The jealousy and resentment of the 
 nobles were strongly excited, when they beheld their 
 own degradation attempted, chiefly through an order of 
 men, whose boundless avarice and ambition were the 
 more detestable that they were clothed in the garb of 
 religion. Thus was averted the most formidable dan- 
 ger to which the reformation could have been exposed, 
 namely, unity of purpose among the chief powers of 
 the nation — the king, the nobility, and the clergy. 
 In the year 1542, under the regency of Arran, a peti- 
 tion to Parliament, by those who favoured the reforma- 
 tion, for permission to the people to read the Scriptures 
 in the English language, was successful, of which 
 public intimation was given throughout the kingdom. 
 The name of Robert Lord Maxwell, who introduced 
 this proposal, deserves to be recorded among those of 
 the greatest benefactors to Scotland. 1 From this time, 
 copies of the Scriptures were freely imported from 
 England, and the knowledge of the truth increased 
 very rapidly. The rod of Christ's strength went forth 
 over the land, and " a willing people were gathered to 
 him in the day of his power." The violent persecution 
 under Mary, queen of England, brought a number of 
 the English Protestants, and among them some excel- 
 lent ministers, into Scotland, by whose exertions the 
 work of God was much promoted. 
 
 But the Reformation was much more extensively 
 advanced, by the remarkable blessing from on high 
 
 1 Stewart's History of the Reformation, p. 35. 
 
THE REFORMATION FROM POPERY IN SCOTLAND. 59 
 
 which attended the labours of the renowned John 
 Knox. He was a burning and shining light, whose 
 qualifications as a minister would have rendered him 
 conspicuous in any age or country, but who was won- 
 derfully adapted for the particular crisis at which he 
 was raised up in his native land. Daring the latter 
 years of the regency of Arran, who became hostile to 
 the cause which, for a time, he had cherished, the 
 work of reformation seemed to languish. Persecution 
 was carried on with rigour. Numbers were fully con- 
 vinced of the horrible corruption of the church of 
 Rome, yet they wanted courage to forsake her religious 
 assemblies. Knox had been residing for some years on 
 the Continent. A visit which he paid to Scotland in 
 the year 1555, was attended with happy results. The 
 friends of truth formed themselves into fellowship 
 societies for mutual edification. Several of the 
 nobility and gentry were greatly confirmed in their 
 attachment to the truth. At first the preachers exer- 
 cised their ministry among smaller assemblages of the 
 people, under the character of chaplains to such of 
 the nobles as afforded them an asylum in their houses. 
 In a brief space congregations began to spring up in 
 all parts, making open profession of the reformed reli- 
 gion. Even some of the priests were honoured to pro- 
 mote, by their preaching and their sufferings, the faith 
 which they had previously sought to destroy. The last 
 person who suffered martyrdom at this period was a 
 converted priest — the aged Walter Mill, who, having 
 renounced Antichrist, and devoted himself to the service 
 of the Redeemer, witnessed a good confession before 
 the bishops, and was committed to the flames on the 
 28th of April, 1558, at the age of eighty -two. The 
 advanced state of public sentiment was demonstrated 
 by the general detestation awakened by his death, and 
 it pleased the Lord from this period to tie up the hands 
 of the murderers. 
 
 Mary of Guise, the queen-dowager of Scotland, had 
 been advanced to the regency of the kingdom in 1554. 
 
60 TIIE REFORMATION FROM POPERY IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 For a time she found it expedient to connive at the 
 proceedings of the reformers, and to court the alliance 
 of those of the nobility who had espoused their cause. 
 When her plans were matured, and she was prepared 
 to enter into a closer conjunction with the clergy for 
 the entire suppression of the Reformation, she found 
 the effort to be beyond her strength. The few Protes- 
 tant ministers then in the kingdom were summoned to 
 stand their trial at Stirling, in May, 1559. Such a 
 body of the nobility and of the people accompanied 
 the ministers, that the purpose of their adversaries was 
 baffled. At this critical juncture Knox returned from 
 Geneva to Scotland, where he continued during the 
 remainder of his life. The progress of the Reformation 
 was henceforth rapid and decisive ; and in a short time 
 the dominion of Popery in Scotland was overturned. 
 
 In conformity to the example of the ancient Wal- 
 denses, and of other Protestant churches, the Scottish 
 reformers frequently entered into religious covenants. 
 This practice can easily be shown to be perfectly con- 
 sonant with both reason and Scripture. And it would 
 be difficult to imagine any purpose to which it could 
 be more appropriately applied, than for the advance- 
 ment of the glorious enterprise in which the reformers 
 were embarked. The first instance of covenanting 
 which we meet with in their history was in the year 
 1556, when a number of the nobility and gentry entered 
 into a bond, in the house of a gentleman in West 
 Lothian. 1 - Similar bonds, accommodated to the occasions 
 on which they were made, were sworn at Edinburgh, at 
 Perth, and at Leith, in the years 1557, 1559, 1560-62. 
 
 The year 1560 is long to be remembered by the church 
 and nation of Scotland. In that year the authority 
 of the Roman Pontiff and of his clergy was renounced ; 
 Popery was abolished; a Confession of Faith, contain- 
 ing an admirable summary of Scriptural doctrine, was 
 compiled; and a Book of Discipline, fixing the order 
 
 1 M'Cries Life of Knox. 
 
THE REFORMATION FROM POPERY IN SCOTLAND. 61 
 
 and government of the church according to the Pres- 
 byterian plan, was drawn up and adopted; — and all 
 this with the general concurrence and consent of the 
 great body of the people, as well as of the nobility 
 and gentry. Well might the church adopt on that 
 occasion the song of Moses and of the Israelites, when 
 recently escaped from centuries of oppression and 
 suffering in Egypt: — " I will sing unto the Lord, for 
 he hath triumphed gloriously: the Lord is my strength 
 and song, and he is become my salvation." 
 
 We may contemplate this revolution, first, as a 
 mighty effect of divine power ; and, secondly, as a work 
 accomplished by the agency of man. In the former 
 point of view, it supplies a theme for devout thanks- 
 giving and fervent praise. The deliverance of a nation, 
 in so short a time, and by instruments apparently so 
 feeble, from the power of a false and idolatrous religion 
 — from the degradation of moral and spiritual darkness 
 — from the double despotism of ecclesiastical and civil 
 domination — demands the devout acknowledgment, 
 " This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our 
 eyes." When we examine the work as the result of 
 human agency, we may discern in it, amidst much that 
 is admirable and in entire accordance with Scripture, 
 those imperfections from which nothing human can 
 claim absolute exemption. Some of the defects of the 
 system then introduced arose from the peculiar circum- 
 stances of the church. The use of superintendents and 
 readers was avowedly a temporary expedient, designed 
 for the diffusion of religious knowledge, until an ade- 
 quate supply of qualified ministers could be obtained. 
 Neither should it be too severely charged against the 
 infant church that patronage was not then abolished, 
 especially as the reformers did exert themselves to 
 escape from that yoke, and boldly asserted the right 
 of the Christian people to choose their own pastors. 
 Of some Acts of Parliament, passed at this time, for 
 punishing the adherents of the abjured system of 
 Popery, we are not called on to undertake the defence. 
 
 G 
 
62 THE REFORMATION FROM FOPERY IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 In judging, however, of the public conduct of the 
 Scottish reformers, it is but fair to take into the account 
 the very trying circumstances in which they were 
 placed, the persecutions they had endured, the plots 
 which were frequently contrived for the subversion of 
 religion and liberty at home, and the formidable com- 
 binations established among the Popish powers on the 
 Continent to overthrow the Protestant interest through- 
 out Europe. When these things are duly considered, 
 it will be conceded by every candid mind, that measures 
 might have been necessary, in their peculiar circum- 
 stances, which would be unwarrantable in a more tran- 
 quil state of society. Yet, that we may guard against 
 all danger of being misunderstood, we deem it proper 
 to state distinctly, that we neither give ourselves, nor 
 require from others, a universal or unqualified appro- 
 bation of all the Acts of Parliament, or of Assembly, 
 during the reforming period. 1 
 
 1 See Doctrinal Part of the Testimony, Note, pp. 162, 163. 
 
 As a specimen of Acts of Parliament to which we cannot give unquali- 
 fied approbation, we mention four : — 
 
 Act 5, Parliament 1, James VI., by which " the sayers and hearers of 
 mass " were rendered liable to confiscation of goods for the first offence, 
 banishment for the second, and death for the third. 
 
 Act 47, Parliament 3, James VI., by which those who refused to profess 
 the true religion were declared rebels against the Government, and pun- 
 ishable as such. 
 
 Act 164, Parliament 13, James VI., according to which, obstinate con- 
 temners of the decrees of the Kirk were to be denounced as rebels, and 
 made liable to letters of horning, &c. 
 
 Act 17, Parliament 16, James VI., which ordains that his majesty's 
 subjects shall communicate once a year, or be subjected to certain fines. 
 One reason assigned for this law in the Act itself was, that some abstained 
 from communicating " under pretext of deadly feud, as a cloak to cover 
 their papistry." 
 
 Although we are far from justifying these Acts, yet many things might 
 be justly and truly said in extenuation of them. No person can form an 
 impartial judgment of them, who does not consider them in connexion 
 with the circumstances in which they were enacted. For this purpose it 
 is particularly necessary to know the principles and history of Popery 
 and Papists, the hostility they cherished towards the reformers, and the 
 institutions which they had established, both in church and state; their 
 plots and conspiracies at home and abroad to undermine and overturn 
 all Protestant churches and governments; their uniform intolerance; and 
 their avowed disregard of oaths and promises, when made to those whom 
 they accounted heretics. For these and similar reasons, the reformers 
 regarded them as being not only enemies to true religion, but as danger- 
 ous to the state; and also on account of their allegiance to a foreign 
 
THE REFORMATION FROM POPERY IX SCOTLAXD. G3 
 
 The happy effects of the Reformation were speedily 
 felt throughout the land. The little stream swelled into 
 a river; the wilderness became fruitful ; and the dead 
 sea of Popish ignorance and superstition was healed. 
 Under the fostering care of the Regent Murray. u the 
 churches enjoyed rest, and, walking in the fear of the 
 Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multi- 
 plied." But the period was not yet come when such tran- 
 quillity could be permanent. lu a short time, the ambi- 
 tion and corrupt worldly policy of the civil rulers began 
 to make encroachments on the liberties of the church. 
 
 The leading reformers were, from the beginning, 
 strenuously opposed to the hierarchy, as essentially 
 unscriptural and Antiehristian ; and it was their steady 
 aim to erect the Presbyterian form of church govern- 
 ment, in all the parts of it, as soon as the circumstances 
 of the church would admit. The temporary offices of 
 superintendents and readers were, therefore, in a few 
 years set aside. The Second Book of Discipline, con- 
 taining a full exhibition of the Presbyterian model, was 
 compiled and adopted by the General Assembly. In 
 the prosecution of these measures, the judicatories of the 
 church were greatly fettered and harassed by the civil 
 powers. Under Popery the clergy were represented 
 in Parliament, a certain number of the dignitaries being 
 always present as an essential part of the legislature. 
 During the minority of James VL, when there was 
 much confusion in the state of public affairs, those who 
 administered the government seemed apprehensive that 
 the absence of the clergy from Parliament might inva- 
 lidate their public measures. This was the first pretext 
 
 power. They regarded Popery as a political svstem as well as a religious 
 one. and inimical to the best interests of civil society. To have granted 
 to Papists the same measure of liberty which they now enjoy, misht have 
 proved dangerous to all the Protestant institutions in the kingdom. And 
 notwithstanding the severity of the enactments specified above, we are 
 not aware of any well authenticated cases in Scotland of persons having 
 suffered death on account of their religion, by the application of these 
 laws. It seems reasonable, therefore, to conclude, that some of them had 
 been intended rather for intimidation than for being carried into execu- 
 tion. The number of Protestants, however, that have suffered death under 
 Popish governments, purely on religious grounds, defies calculation. 
 
G4 THE REFORMATION FROM POPERY IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 for introducing a few of the Protestant ministers into 
 the legislature, having the title of bishops. It was with 
 much reluctance that the reformers yielded to this 
 arrangement, providing at the same time, with the most 
 scrupulous care, that, in the church, those ministers thus 
 distinguished, should have no higher authority than 
 their brethren. From the accession of James to the 
 government, in 1579, there was a strong and unceasing 
 effort on the part of the Court to impose the order of 
 bishops upon the church, which was met by a no less 
 strenuous resistance. In his earlier years, the king 
 himself took a pleasure in being present in the meetings 
 of the General Assembly, to witness the proceedings, 
 and hear the discussions. This contributed to intro- 
 duce the practice of having a royal commissioner at 
 every meeting. In process of time, the presence of a 
 commissioner was regarded by the government as essen- 
 tial to the lawfulness of an Assembly, — a principle 
 wholly inconsistent with the independence of the 
 church. Yet, amidst the vacillating policy of the king 
 and his parliament, by whom salutary measures were, 
 alternately, promoted and resisted, the church advanced 
 in her reformation attainments. — In the year 1580, a 
 General Assembly held at Dundee, condemned the 
 authority claimed by the bishops as an Antichristian 
 usurpation, and declared it void and unlawful, as hav- 
 ing neither warrant nor foundation in the word of God. 
 The same Assembly ordered the Second Book of Dis- 
 cipline, then finally settled, to be engrossed in their 
 records. 
 
 In this year also the short Confession of Faith, com- 
 monly called the National Covenant of Scotland, was 
 compiled. It was drawn up at the desire of the king, 
 by Mr. John Craig, one of the ministers. The strenu- 
 ous efforts made at that period to revive the cause of 
 Popery in Scotland, and the apprehensions awakened 
 by an influx of Jesuits and priests from the Continent, 
 furnished the occasion for this important measure. The 
 Covenant, as then adopted, consisted only of the first 
 
THE REFORMATION FROM POPERY IN SCOTLAND. 65 
 
 division of the deed, as it now stands in the West- 
 minster Confession. It contains a declaration of faith 
 in the gospel, and of adherence and attachment to the 
 public confession of the church in Scotland ; and par- 
 ticularly an explicit renunciation and condemnation of 
 the errors and corruptions of Popery. In the beginning 
 of the following year, the Covenant was sworn by the 
 king and his council, and also throughout the kingdom. 
 Some of the leading propositions in the Second Book 
 of Discipline, relating to the power of church judica- 
 tories, were ratified in Parliament in the year 159*2. l 
 This period is usually referred to as the meridian of the 
 first Reformation. The external order of the church 
 being now happily settled, her efforts were employed in 
 effecting such internal reforms as seemed requisite. 
 The Assembly which met at Edinburgh, 1596, set the 
 example to the church in this work, by a very remark- 
 able humiliation among themselves. Upwards of four 
 hundred ministers, with elders, and a few eminent 
 Christians, devoted a day to solemn religious exercises, 
 — to prayer, the confession of sins, with many tears, 
 and mutual exhortations ; and concluded the work by 
 renewing their covenant with God, with their hands 
 lifted up to heaven. By order of this Assembly, the 
 same work was performed in the different Synods and 
 Presbyteries of the church, and in general throughout 
 all the parishes of the kingdom, with singular marks of 
 the divine presence, and the happiest effects in promot- 
 ing a general revival of religion. 
 
 1 M'Crie's Life of A. Melville, pp. 318, 320. 
 
6G INTERVAL BETWEEN THE FIRST AND SECOND 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 INTERVAL BETWEEN THE FIRST AND THE SECOND REFORMATION 
 IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 1592 to 1638. 
 
 For a period of forty years the church had now been 
 labouring with great zeal and judgment, in advancing 
 the Reformation. For a part of that time she had to 
 contend against the whole power and policy of the 
 Popish clergy, aided by a Popish government. Sub- 
 sequently, her efforts were obstructed by the arbitrary 
 interference of Protestant civil rulers. Yet thus far 
 she was, upon the whole, successful. The blessing of 
 the Lord made her stronger than her enemies. But 
 from the same point we must date another period of 
 nearly forty years of decline. King James had been in 
 many instances offended with the strictness of the 
 church's discipline, and with the fidelity of her minis- 
 ters, in reproving his own vices and those of his court; 
 and, notwithstanding a memorable declaration in favour 
 of Presbyterianism, and of the Church of Scotland, in 
 the General Assembly of 1590, he had given unequivo- 
 cal proofs of his strong partiality for the Episcopalian 
 form of church government. He found it to be much 
 more in unison with the arbitrary maxims of civil 
 government which he had adopted, and he knew it to 
 be more acceptable to the people of England, where 
 he expected in a short time to ascend the throne. He 
 afterwards avowed his belief that Episcopacy was 
 essential to the safety of monarchy. He held firmly 
 that most despotic maxim, which he handed down as 
 a pernicious legacy to his descendants, that it is 
 the prerogative of kings to dictate to their subjects in 
 matters of religion, and to mould the church according 
 to their royal will and pleasure. He felt no scruple, 
 therefore, about adopting the resolution to overturn 
 
REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND. 67 
 
 Presbyterianism, to restore Episcopacy, and to impose 
 on the church of Scotland the whole system of super- 
 stitious and fantastic rites, which was at that time 
 observed in the English church. This scheme was 
 pursued with astonishing pertinacity, by himself, his 
 son, Charles I., and his two grandsons, Charles II., 
 and James II., for a period of about ninety years. It 
 was the prolific source of extreme and extensive suffer- 
 ing to the nation, and led to the effusion of much of the 
 blood of the saints. James appears to have been 
 strengthened in his purpose, and stimulated in his 
 efforts to accomplish it, by his correspondence with the 
 dignitaries of the English church, who, at that period, 
 were carrying on a violent persecution against the non- 
 conformists at home, and were actively employed in 
 increasing the amount of Popery which had been left in 
 that church at its first erection. 
 
 To promote his favourite project, the king had 
 recourse to craft, or violence, as the occasion seemed 
 to require. The first part of his plan was to remove 
 from the church as many as possible of those ministers, 
 whose zeal, and talents, and influence, were most likely 
 to rouse a formidable opposition. Pretexts were soon 
 found for such a proceeding. His arbitrary measures 
 called forth animadversion and protests from many 
 pulpits. For this exercise of ministerial freedom, 
 ministers were summoned to stand their trial before the 
 Privy Council. The freedom of the General Assembly 
 was also invaded. Meetings of that court were sum- 
 moned, adjourned, and dissolved, by royal proclama- 
 tion, in the most arbitrary manner. The Assembly 
 which met at Holyrood House, in 1602, obtained the 
 king's permission that the next meeting should be held 
 at Aberdeen, in 1604. By a new order from court, 
 that meeting was adjourned to July, 1605. Before this 
 period arrived, it was again adjourned, without any time 
 being named for a meeting. A number of ministers, appre- 
 hending a design to suppress the General Assembly, 
 held a meeting at Aberdeen, in 1605, but the meeting 
 
68 INTERVAL BETWEEN THE FIRST AND SECOND 
 
 was discharged in the king's name, under pain of rebel- 
 lion. Six of the ministers were brought to trial before 
 the Court of Justiciary, and pronounced guilty of high 
 treason for having attended that meeting. The sen- 
 tence of death, to which they became liable by this 
 iniquitous decision, was commuted into one of perpetual 
 banishment. John Forbes and John Welsh, two of 
 this number, were afterwards much distinguished by 
 their honourable and useful labours on the Conti- 
 nent. 1 
 
 Shortly after this period, eight other ministers were 
 summoned to London on account of their opposition to 
 the arbitrary measures of the court. Six of them were 
 afterwards permitted to return to Scotland. James 
 Melville, who was one of the number, died in exile at 
 Berwick. And the justly celebrated Andrew Melville, 
 to whom the cause of Presbyterianism in Scotland was 
 so much indebted, after three years confinement in the 
 Tower of London, was permitted to go into exile, and 
 spent the remainder of his life in France. 2 By these 
 violent measures, the more resolute ministers were 
 removed from the church, and others were intimidated. 
 When the Assembly w r as at length permitted to meet, 
 the utmost care was taken that it should consist only 
 of such members as were most likely to sanction the 
 measures proposed by the king. 
 
 The accession of James to the throne of England, in 
 1603, exceedingly increased the power of the monarchy. 
 Both the nobility, and the Scottish Parliament, were, by 
 that means, more completely subjected to the will of 
 the court. First, a number of Presbyterian ministers 
 were introduced into Parliament, to occupy seats as 
 the ancient prelates had done. Then the order of 
 bishops was restored by Act of Parliament. Yet such 
 was the resistance made to these encroachments by a 
 body of faithful ministers, supported by the people, 
 that it was with the greatest difficulty a certain number 
 
 1 Caldervvood, pp. 514, 516. 2 Caiderwood, pp. 518, 537 . 
 
REFORMATION EH SCOTLAND. 69 
 
 of these bishops could be admitted as perpetual moder- 
 ators, iu some of the judicatories of the church. Welsh 
 and Melville were banished to return no more ; but the 
 spirit by which they were actuated still burned in the 
 breasts of many of the ministers. 
 
 Xew measures of aggression were devised. High 
 Commission Courts were erected, composed of bishops 
 and laymen — the creatures of the court, to which unde- 
 fined and unconstitutional powers were committed. ■ 
 Their chief employment was to harass, suspend, depose, 
 and banish those ministers, whose zeal and faithfulness 
 made them most conspicuous. At length, in 1618, an 
 Assembly at Perth, composed of members chosen 
 according to directions from court, passed certain acts 
 for the introduction of a few of the English ceremonies. 
 
 1 The Court of High Commission appears to have been instituted in the 
 reign of Queen Elizabeth. It was composed of forty-four members, twelve 
 of whom were ecclesiastics. Their jurisdiction extended over the whole 
 kingdom, and over all orders of men ; while three of their number were 
 authorized to exercise the whole power of the Court. They were em- 
 powered to take cognizance of, and reform all opinions and practices at 
 variance with the established religion, and to punish every breach of uni- 
 formity in the celebration of public worship. They had instructions to 
 conduct their inquiries not merely according to the settled forms of law 
 and justice, but by all other means that could be devised. If their sus- 
 picion rested upon any person, they might administer to him an oath, 
 binding him to answer all questions which might be put, and thereby, 
 perhaps, to inculpate himself and his most intimate friends; and a refusal 
 to swear that oath incurred the penalty of imprisonment. Inquisition 
 and torture were employed to accomplish their object. The fines imposed 
 were quite arbitrary, and often occasioned the total ruin of the offenders; 
 and the imprisonment to which the delinquent was condemned, was 
 limited by no rule but the pleasure of the judges. In short, this Court 
 was a real Inquistthm ; attended with the iniquities and cruelties insepar- 
 able from that horrid tribunal. It is important to remark, that it was 
 founded on a clause in a statute vesting the ecclesiastical supremacy 
 in the Crown, and empowering the sovereign to appoint Commissioners 
 for the exercise of that prerogative. This Court continued in the exer- 
 cise of its exhorbitant and arbitrary powers during the reigns of Eliza- 
 beth, and James I., notwithstanding a petition against its proceedings in 
 1584, and a remonstrance in 1610, by the Commons of England. In the 
 reign of Charles I. its authority was exercised in the most cruel and 
 tyrannical manner, till it was at length unanimously abolished by Act of 
 Parliament in 1641, the assent of Charles having been reluctantly given 
 to the Bill. 
 
 In the reign of Charles II., this Court was virtually revived, both in 
 England and Scotland, and for some time exercised its unrighteous 
 powers with oppressive violence. 
 
70 INTERVAL BETWEEN THE FIRST AND SECOND 
 
 These have been usually termed the Five Articles of 
 Perth; viz., kneeling at the sacrament; the private 
 administration of baptism ; private communicating ; the 
 observation of holidays; and confirmation. These 
 articles were afterwards ratified in Parliament, not with- 
 out a formidable opposition. They were enforced with 
 rigour ; and a number of excellent ministers were sub- 
 jected to great hardships, and not a few driven from 
 their flocks, for refusing to submit to them, or to 
 acknowledge the lawfulness of the Perth Assembly. 
 
 As in the first age of Christianity, those who were 
 scattered abroad went every where preaching the w r ord, 
 so, at this crisis, the Lord was pleased to provide in 
 other lands spheres of distinguished usefulness for these 
 eminent lights of the Scottish Church. Some of them 
 were welcomed as esteemed ambassadors of Christ, by 
 the reformed churches on the Continent. Others found 
 refuge in the north of Ireland, where in the happy 
 experience of thousands, that scripture was verified in 
 them ; " How beautiful are the feet of them that preach 
 the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good 
 tilings!" 
 
 The Protestant Reformation made little progress in 
 Ireland during the sixteenth century. By an act of 
 the Irish Parliament, the supremacy of the Pope was 
 abolished so early as the year 1536, in the reign of 
 Henry VIII. But this did not result, as in Scotland, 
 from the diffusion of the doctrines of the Reformation 
 throughout the kingdom, nor from the general consent 
 of the nobility and of the people. The change was 
 little more than a nominal one, effected by the arbitrary 
 will of the monarch, whose government was a pure des- 
 potism. The frame-work of a church establishment, 
 similar in its character to that of England, was intro- 
 duced, and supported by civil authority; and the 
 revenues of the church were generally bestowed on 
 those, who, either in reality or by profession, espoused 
 the new system. But no effective measures were 
 adopted, either under Henry or Elizabeth, for enlight- 
 
REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND. 71 
 
 erring the people by education, or providing for them a 
 sound Christian ministry. The ecclesiastical suprem- 
 acy of the sovereign, and the absolute control over 
 church revenues and dignities, were sedulously guarded ; 
 but the deplorable and almost universal destitution of 
 the people, in respect to religious privileges, was viewed 
 with apparent indifference for more than fifty years. 
 The Romish religion was summarily condemned by 
 Acts of Parliament; the profession of the reformed 
 faith was enforced under severe penalties; and the 
 people were compelled to attend public worship cele- 
 brated in a language which the great majority of 
 them did not understand. With a few individual 
 exceptions, however, scarcely an effort was made to 
 convince them of their former errors, or to enlighten 
 their minds in the knowledge of divine truth. Hence 
 the deepest moral darkness continued to cover the land. 
 The people generally were not only the slaves of error 
 and superstition, but full of hatred against the new 
 faith, which had never been exhibited to them but as 
 clothed in the garb of injustice, tyranny, and oppression. 
 In the good providence of God a salutary change 
 was effected in the northern province of the kingdom, 
 in the early part of the seventeenth century. Several 
 of the northern chiefs having risen in rebellion against 
 the government, their estates were confiscated, and 
 placed at the disposal of the crown. A scheme of col- 
 onization was adopted, which proved, in its results, 
 exceedingly advantageous to Ireland, and to the cause 
 of the Reformation there. Both from England and 
 Scotland, but particularly from the latter, many thou- 
 sand people emigrated to the north of Ireland, and per- 
 manently settled in that country. A few godly minis- 
 ters from both kingdoms accompanied or followed the 
 settlers. The efforts made by king James to establish 
 Prelacy in Scotland, and the rigid enforcing of conform- 
 ity in England, compelled many faithful ministers to 
 resign their charges in these kingdoms ; and a number 
 of them found a sphere of usefulness in Ireland. 
 
72 INTERVAL BETWEEN THE FIRST AND SECOND 
 
 In the year 1615 was held the first convocation of 
 the Irish Protestant church. At this period a Confes- 
 sion of Faith, or Articles of Religion, compiled by Dr. 
 James Usher — then professor of divinity in the college 
 of Dublin, but afterwards an Archbishop — having been 
 approved by both houses of the Convocation, and by 
 the Parliament, was published by authority. The 
 articles were decidedly Calvinistic in doctrine, and in 
 several particulars more in accordance with the Con- 
 fession afterwards compiled at Westminster, than the 
 formularies of the Church of England are. No authority 
 was claimed for framing or enforcing ecclesiastical 
 canons, or decreeing rites and ceremonies; nor was 
 any allusion made to the mode of consecrating the 
 higher orders of the clergy; — the disputed distinction 
 between Bishops, and Presbyters being thus kept out of 
 view. The Confession was closed by a decree of the 
 Synod forbidding the public teaching of any doctrine 
 contrary to the articles now agreed on. 
 
 This important measure proved in many respects 
 favourable to the cause of religion in Ireland. Although 
 the same forms of worship which prevailed in the Church 
 of England, were for the most part observed also in the 
 Irish Church, yet those who entertained scruples of 
 conscience respecting these forms, had thus far met 
 with little disturbance. The basis on which the church 
 was now placed, held out farther encouragement to 
 ministers whose principles would not allow them to 
 conform to the English ceremonies. And, in the pro- 
 vidence of God, several of the men who were advanced 
 to authority and dignity in the Church of Ireland at 
 this period, were disposed to interpret in its utmost 
 latitude the liberty allowed by the Articles. Archbishop 
 Usher who had framed them, and a few others like- 
 minded with him, having more love to religion than to 
 the forms of the English Church, used their best 
 endeavours to encourage and protect Non-conformist 
 and Presbyterian ministers, who sought an asylum in 
 the north of Ireland. Hence their numbers gradually 
 
REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND. 73 
 
 and steadily increased ; and their zeal and diligence in 
 the service of the Redeemer were such as might be 
 expected of men who, for conscience sake, had cheer- 
 fully renounced flattering prospects at home. It pleased 
 God abundantly to bless their labours ; and within a 
 period of eighteen or twenty years, more was effected 
 in promoting the cause of true religion in the north of 
 Ireland, than had previously been accomplished from 
 the commencement of the Reformation. 
 
 A few eminent individuals who had either been 
 ministers in Scotland, or educated for the ministry there, 
 bore a conspicuous part in this important work. We 
 gladly render a tribute of honour to these self-denied 
 and laborious men ; — to Cunningham, Blair, Hamilton, 
 Dunbar, and Livingston, who, along with their associates 
 and fellow-labourers, were, under God, the founders of 
 Presbyterianism in the province of Ulster, whence it 
 has never since been eradicated, and where, we rejoice 
 to say, it exists in great vigour aud efficiency at the 
 present day. 
 
 To these men was farther granted the exquisite but 
 rare privilege of being instrumental in producing a very 
 powerful revival of religion, which continued and 
 extended for some years, and was productive of the 
 most excellent fruits in several of the northern counties 
 of Ireland. 1 
 
 The accession of Charles I. to the throne, in 1625, 
 brought no mitigation, but rather an increase of the 
 sufferings of the people of God, in the three kingdoms. 
 The maxims of government which he had adopted ren- 
 dered him a tyrant from principle, even more than 
 
 1 Mr. Blair, an active agent in advancing this work, speaks of it in the 
 following terms : — "The blessed work of conversion, which was of several 
 years' continuance, spread beyond the bounds of Antrim and Down, to the 
 skirts of neighbouring counties ; and the resort of people to the monthly 
 meetings and communion occasions, and the appetite of the people were 
 become so great, that we were sometimes constrained, in sympathy to 
 them, to venture beyond any preparation we had made for the season. 
 And, indeed, preaching and praying were so pleasant in those days, and 
 hearers so eager and greedy, that no day was long enough, nor any room 
 great enough to answer their strong desires and large expectations." 
 
 Dr. Reid's Hist, of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Vol. I. 
 H 
 
/ 4 INTERVAL BETWEEN THE FIRST AND SECOND 
 
 from natural disposition. From his father, and his 
 other instructors, he had imbibed these doctrines, — 
 that monarchy and hereditary succession are sacred 
 and inviolable — that the king is the sole fountain of 
 power in church and state — that by his coronation 
 oath he is bound to God only, but not to his sub- 
 jects — that the king's violation of law is not to be 
 restrained by force, but that subjects are bound actively 
 to obey, and passively to submit, without any other 
 resource than prayers and tears. His ideas of the 
 royal prerogative in civil matters, and of the royal 
 supremacy in religion, were alike extravagant. In the 
 choice of councillors, and high officers of government, 
 the men best qualified for ruling on these despotic 
 principles were promoted. 
 
 Under the administration of Laud, the sufferings of 
 the Puritans in England were manifold and severe. 
 There were several distinct grounds of testimony for 
 which the witnesses in that kingdom were then called 
 to suffer. They had to contend against a flood of 
 Arminian and Pelagian errors, combined with a mass 
 of Popish rites, which Laud and his clergy laboured 
 strenuously to propagate throughout the kingdom. 
 They had also to struggle against a frightful growth of 
 irreligion and immorality, which were partly sanctioned 
 and commanded by the higher authorities. The civil 
 law was prostituted to uphold and extend this compli- 
 cated system of iniquity. To write or preach against 
 Arminianism — to oppose, or refuse to practise, the Pop- 
 ish ceremonies — or to decline the king's injunction 
 to publish from the pulpit on the Lord's day his 
 majesty's recommendation to the people to spend a 
 part of the Sabbath in sports and revels — were all 
 punished as rebellion. Thus the enemy came in like 
 a flood ; yet the Lord preserved an honourable com- 
 pany of witnesses to " lift up a standard against him." 
 
 In Scotland the aspect of public affairs was gloomy 
 in the extreme. Tor a period of twenty years the 
 General Assemblv was not suffered to meet, and there 
 
REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND. 75 
 
 was only one meeting of Parliament in eighteen years. 
 Many of the nobility, and not a few ministers, were 
 seduced from their allegiance to Zion's King, and 
 others made shipwreck of the faith. The bishops sat 
 as constant moderators in the provincial synods. All 
 intrants to the ministry were required to bind them- 
 selves by solemn oath to strict conformity with the 
 existing order, and to practise the articles of Perth. 
 As death removed the pious and faithful ministers, who 
 had not been driven from their parishes by persecution, 
 their places were filled with young men of more pliant 
 principles. Hireling shepherds began to increase, who 
 sought preferment by preaching the doctrines of 
 Arminianism, and passive obedience, and even by 
 palliating the errors of the church of Rome. And the 
 High Commission Courts, in the several dioceses, 
 armed the bishops with power to harass and punish all 
 who presumed to censure their tyrannical proceedings. 
 But man's extremity is God's opportunity. The Lord 
 looked on the afflictions of his church, and wrought 
 deliverance for her when it was least expected. 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 OF THE SECOND REFORMATION IX SCOTLAND, AND THE COM- 
 MENCEMENT OF DEFECTION FROM IT. 
 
 1638 to 1660. 
 
 There was still in the land a numerous band of min- 
 isters, who, although for a time they shrunk from the 
 storm which had broken with violence on the heads of 
 their bolder brethren, were yet enlightened men of God. 
 The abject state of the church, and the growing inso- 
 lence of her oppressors, filled them with sorrow. The 
 Lord poured out his Spirit upon them, and their labours 
 were accompanied with remarkable power. The con- 
 trast between the character of these ministers, and that 
 
7G THE SECOND REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND, 
 
 of the prelates by whom they were oppressed, made a 
 decisive impression. The frame-work of Episcopacy 
 was restored ; but neither the prelates, nor those who 
 by violence imposed them upon the church, had done 
 any thing calculated to convince the judgment, or gain 
 the esteem of the people. The affection of large num- 
 bers throughout the nation to their Reformed, Presby- 
 terian, Covenanted church, remained unshaken. They 
 had recourse to fasting and prayer, — the only resource 
 which Charles could allow to the oppressed. 1 To 
 announce a public congregational fast, without the 
 appointment of the bishops, would have been accounted 
 a crime. It was the practice of a number of the 
 ministers to give private intimation to those persons 
 in their congregations most distinguished for piety and 
 public spirit, once every quarter, or more frequently 
 as occasion required, requesting them to concur in 
 observing special seasons of fasting and prayer on 
 behalf of the church. There was, besides, an inter- 
 esting band of faithful ministers, whom the oppressor 
 had separated from their flocks, but could not shut out 
 from the throne of grace, who lamented their silent 
 sabbaths, and joined importunately in the prayers 
 which the church offered up for deliverance. 2 Their 
 cry came up before God into his temple ; and " by 
 terrible things in righteousness" he gave answer to these 
 prayers. A few years only had elapsed until the stately 
 fabric, which kings and prelates had toiled in rearing 
 on the ruins of the church's liberties, was overturned to 
 its foundation ; and in the course of divine providence, 
 the three chief tyrants, Strafford, Laud, and Charles, 
 who had conspired to oppress the people of God in the 
 three kingdoms, were all removed by the hand of the 
 common executioner ! 
 
 A desire had long been entertained at court, to bring 
 
 1 See page 74. 
 
 2 Among this number were Messrs. Robert Blair and John Livingston, 
 with Mr. Samuel Rutherford, afterwards a member of the Westminster 
 Assembly. 
 
AND COMMENCEMENT OF DEFECTION FROM IT. i i 
 
 the Church in Scotland into the nearest possible con- 
 formity with the Church of England. At the same 
 time the measures pursued by Laud seemed to indi- 
 cate a no less vehement desire to bring both into 
 the nearest possible conformity with the Church of 
 Rome. The success which had attended the efforts of 
 Laud and Strafford to rob the Protestant Church in 
 Ireland of every vestige of liberty, emboldened the king 
 and his councillors to adopt a similar line of policy 
 towards the Church in Scotland. A book of eccle- 
 siastical canons, and a liturgy, intended for that church, 
 had been long under consideration ; and, being com- 
 pleted, they received the royal sanction in the end of 
 the year 1636. By the former of these, the whole 
 structure of ecclesiastical polity hitherto observed in 
 the Church of Scotland, and ratified by many laws 
 solemnly made in the supreme court of the kingdom, 
 was at once overturned: sessions and presbyteries were 
 classed among conventicles, and all ecclesiastical causes 
 were restored to the tribunal of the bishops. The Ser- 
 vice Book was virtually a transcript of the liturgy of the 
 Church of England, with a few alterations bringing it 
 into nearer conformity to the Breviary, or Romish 
 prayer book. It was proposed to introduce these 
 impious innovations by royal proclamation alone, with- 
 out deigning to consult either the church or the nation. 
 The report of the intended overthrow of the church 
 spread dismay and sorrow throughout the kingdom. 
 It was well known that those who had forged these 
 chains for Scotland, had been for many years compell- 
 ing the people of England, by excessive violence, to 
 drink a mingled cup of Anninianism and disguised 
 Popery. Many who had borne without reluctance the 
 yoke of a modified Episcopacy, were roused from their 
 apathy by these outrageous innovations. The conduct 
 of the people fully proved what a clear perception they 
 had of the crisis to which they had come. Thev felt it 
 to be a solemn alternative — to resist their king, or to 
 rebel against God. There were still sufficient patriot- 
 
 h 2 
 
78 THE SECOND REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND, 
 
 ism and piety in the land. to guide them to the proper 
 decision. They believed themselves to be bound by 
 their duty to God, by their love to the church, by their 
 regard to posterity, and by their solemn vow and cove- 
 nant, to refuse to bend their necks to a yoke so grievous. 
 The very first attempt made by the bishops to drag a 
 few of the ministers into the High Commission Court, 
 for declining to introduce the liturgy into their churches, 
 placed the greater part of the nation in a posture of 
 resistance. The nobility, the gentry, the ministers of 
 the gospel, were actuated by one sentiment. Even 
 those who had previously submitted to the bishops, and 
 without scruple had conformed to the Articles of Perth, 
 now took their stand with the old Presbyterians. They 
 held frequent meetings for consultation. These meet- 
 ings, which were often very numerous, embraced a 
 great majority of the leading men of the nation. Yet 
 there was no violence nor bloodshed; no attempt to 
 retaliate, even on the bishops, who, for many years, had 
 oppressed the church, banished the most distinguished 
 and beloved of her ministers, and troubled the nation 
 at large. They proceeded in a calm and regular way, 
 by complaint, remonstrance, and petition, — sometimes 
 addressed to the executive government at home, and 
 sometimes transmitted to court, giving the most earnest 
 protestations of their desire to live in peace, and to yield 
 such obedience to their king as consisted with the pre- 
 servation of their religion and liberty. Meetings to 
 petition were prohibited as illegal, and pronounced 
 conspiracies against the public peace. Tins attempt to 
 rob the people of the last vestige of liberty, strengthened 
 their conviction that the most vigorous measures in 
 their own defence had become indispensable, and 
 increased the multitudes that repaired to the capital. 
 On one occasion, when it was computed that about 
 sixty thousand people from all parts of the kingdom 
 were assembled in Edinburgh, the resolution was adop- 
 ted to seek preparation for the crisis that seemed 
 impending, by renewing the National Covenant. This 
 
AND COMMENCEMENT OF DEFECTION FROM IT. 79 
 
 was done on the 28th of February, 1638, with prayer 
 and fasting. There were mingled emotions of joy and 
 sorrow in that vast assembly, but all merged in one 
 deep feeling of solemnity. Throughout the kingdom 
 the people entered into this bond with the greatest 
 cheerfulness, the Papists and a few adherents of the 
 bishops being excepted. 
 
 It was at this period the National Covenant was 
 enlarged, and received the form which it now bears, as 
 usually bound up with the Westminister Confession. 
 It obviously consists of three parts. The first is the 
 original covenant, without alteration, framed and adop- 
 ted in 1580, and several times renewed afterwards. 
 The middle division consists of a specification of Acts 
 of Parliament made in favour of the reformation. — The 
 measures which the Covenanters were compelled to 
 adopt for the preservation of their religion and liberty, 
 were stigmatized as rebellion. They felt it to be incum- 
 bent on them to refute this charge, and protested that 
 they were unanimously and cordially disposed to yield 
 subjection to their king, in the exercise of legitimate 
 and constitutional authority. But they had the fullest 
 conviction that the recent measures of government 
 were stretches of arbitrary power, not warranted by the 
 constitution; and whatever forbearance they might 
 have exercised had their civil rights only been invaded, 
 their duty to God would not suffer them to submit to 
 the loss of their religious liberty, and the degradation 
 and corruption of their church. The ablest lawyers 
 in the kingdom were consulted, and gave it as their 
 opinion that the proceedings of the Covenanters were 
 strictly legal. To demonstrate to the world that the 
 claims they were defending were explicitly recognized in 
 the constitution, and secured to them by the standing 
 laws of the kingdom, they insert a specification of Acts of 
 Parliament, extending over a period of more than sixty 
 years, by which these rights had been fixed and estab- 
 lished. We do not understand this specification as 
 homologating the laws enumerated ; in other words, as 
 
80 THE SECOND REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND, 
 
 binding those who embrace the Covenant to an appro- 
 bation of these laws themselves ; but as a refutation of 
 the charges of disloyalty and rebellion brought against 
 the Covenanters, by the supporters of Prelacy and 
 arbitrary power in both kingdoms. 
 
 The concluding division of the Covenant, beginning 
 with the words, " We noblemen, barons, gentlemen," 
 &c, was an additional bond, framed at the period now 
 under review, and adapted to the circumstances of the 
 church and nation. In it the Covenanters solemnly 
 bind themselves to adhere unto and defend the true 
 religion, as expressed in the National Covenant, and in 
 the Confession of the Scottish church, and to forbear 
 the practice of the late innovations, both in the wor- 
 ship and in the government of the church. They 
 declare their belief that these innovations were without 
 warrant in the Word of God, contrary to their Confes- 
 sion, and to the Acts of Parliament enumerated in the 
 body of the deed ; that they tended " to the re-estab- 
 lishing of the Popish religion and tyranny, and to the 
 subversion and ruin of the true reformed religion." 
 They swear by the great name of the Lord, " to con- 
 tinue in the profession and obedience of the foresaid 
 religion, to defend the same, and resist all contrary 
 errors and corruptions, to the uttermost of their power." 
 They renew their vows of allegiance to the king, " in 
 the defence of the true religion, liberties, and laws of 
 the kingdom;" and promise that "in public, in their 
 families, and in their personal carriage, they would 
 endeavour to keep themselves within the bounds of 
 Christian liberty, and to be good examples to others 
 of all godliness, soberness, and righteousness, and of 
 every duty which they owed to God aud man." 
 
 The renovation of the Covenant proved, by the 
 divine blessing, eminently beneficial. The ministers 
 were stirred up to an uncommon degree of energy and 
 faithfulness in preaching the gospel, and reproving sin. 
 Religion revived throughout the church. The Cove- 
 nanters felt strong in their sacred union, and in the 
 
AND COMMENCEMENT OF DEFECTION FROM IT. 81 
 
 firm conviction that the cause they had espoused was 
 the cause of God. Every attempt that was made to 
 divide, intimidate, or divert them from their purpose, 
 proved ineffectual. They persisted in their demands 
 for a free and full General Assembly to redress the 
 grievances of the church; and for a meeting of Parlia- 
 ment to inquire into the civil affairs of the nation. 
 With both these demands, the king was ultimately 
 obliged to comply; but not until, by a course of shuf- 
 fling and deceitful negociation, he had entirely forfeited 
 the confidence of the Covenanters. 
 
 The General Assembly met at Glasgow, on the *21st 
 of November, 1638; — an Assembly which, on many 
 accounts, was one of the most memorable in the history 
 of the Church of Scotland. The whole kingdom awaited 
 its decisions with intense anxiety. The abuses of forty 
 years required to be redressed ; but they were abuses 
 which Charles was disposed to defend as essential rights 
 of his crown. Alexander Henderson, whose name is 
 scarcely less illustrious in the history of the second 
 Reformation, than that of Knox in the first, was chosen 
 moderator. For several days the king's commissioner l 
 continued with the Assembly, to embarrass its proceed- 
 ings as much as possible. But finding his efforts in- 
 effectual, he dissolved the Assembly in his master's 
 name, just as the court was about to enter on the trial 
 of the bishops. A protest being entered on the records 
 in behalf of the intrinsic power of the church, derived 
 from the Lord Jesus Christ, her sole King and Head, 
 to hold her own Assemblies independently of the civil 
 power, and the members being encouraged and ani- 
 mated by the moderator, in a seasonable and powerful 
 address, the court proceeded deliberately with the busi- 
 ness before it. Xeither the departure of the commis- 
 sioner, nor a proclamation on the following day, prohi- 
 biting the Assembly from proceeding farther under 
 pain of treason, could deter them from the duty which 
 
 1 The Marquis of Hamilton. 
 
82 THE SECOND REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND, 
 
 they owed to a higher authority. The Assembly went 
 on to sweep away the rubbish of the late innovations, 
 by which the house of God had been so much deformed. 
 The Five Articles of Perth, the Service Book, Book of 
 Canons, Book of Ordination, the civil places and power 
 of churchmen, the High Commission Court, and Epis- 
 copacy itself, as opposed to the Word of God, and 
 abjured by their Covenant, — were all condemned, 
 together with those packed and corrupt Assemblies by 
 which they had been sanctioned. The trial of the bishops 
 was conducted in a very solemn and deliberate manner. 
 They were all convicted of usurping an office which 
 the church of Scotland had utterly renounced, as "with- 
 out warrant or foundation in the Word of God ;" and of 
 practising tyranny in their High Commission Courts. 
 Against many of them, charges of gross error in doc- 
 trine, and of scandalous immorality were fully estab- 
 lished. Sentence of deposition was therefore passed 
 upon the greater part of them; and several of them 
 were laid under the greater excommunication. The 
 Presbyterian form of church government was restored 
 in all its various judicatories. The intrinsic power of 
 the church to convene in her General Assembly once 
 every year, or more frequently as occasion might 
 require, was explicitly asserted. To these were added 
 many other excellent acts, for preserving order and 
 discipline, for promoting education, for preventing 
 the intrusion of ministers against the will of the people, 
 and for carrying forward the work of reformation, now 
 so happily begun. With joy and gladness, and many 
 thanksgivings to God, was the work of this most impor- 
 tant Assembly brought to a conclusion. 
 
 Whatever indignation these bold measures excited 
 at court, the enemies of the church had at this period 
 no power to overturn them. On two several occasions 
 an army was brought down from England to crush the 
 Covenanters ; but, by the good providence of God, both 
 expeditions were ineffectual, although one of them was 
 led by the king in person. What was done in this 
 
AND COMMENCEMENT OF DEFECTION FROM IT. 83 
 
 ibly was fully confirmed by subsequent Assem- 
 blies, and subscribed by his majesty's commissioner, 
 who was present in them; and it was ratified by Parlia- 
 ment in 1640, with the concurrence of the king, who 
 was personally present at the last session of that Par- 
 liament in 164*1 - 1 It is admitted that the king's consent 
 
 1 Objections have been urged against the Act of Parliament. 1640, 
 enjoining the subscription of the National Covenant "under all civil pains." 
 We distinguish between the Covenants themselves, and the means employed 
 for securing their subscription. We are pledged to the former, but not 
 to the latter. We conceive it due to the reformers, however, to subjoin 
 the following remarks: — 
 
 1st. The renovation of the National Covenant by the people of Scotland 
 was voluntary. That the zeal which was displayed in Edinburgh, at the 
 commencement of tbis work, spread through the kingdom with amazing 
 rapidity, is attested by some leading Covenanters of that period. " In this 
 day of the Lord's power." say they, ••'his people have most willingly offered 
 
 themselves in multitudes, like the dew of the morning No threat- 
 
 enines have been used, except of the deserved judgments of God, nor 
 force, except the force of reason, — from the high respects which we owe 
 to religion, to our king, to our native country, to ourselves, and to 
 posterity." l 
 
 2d. Subscriptions in many cases were refused, both in Scotland and in 
 Ireland. Of the former country some of the leading men of the Covenant 
 remark: — " Others of no small note have offered their subscriptions, and 
 have been refused, till time should try that they join in sincerity, from 
 love to the cause, and not from the fear of man.'" When some ministers 
 were sent to Ireland a few years after, to administer the Solemn League to 
 the Presbyterians there, the only complaint was that they were M over- 
 scrupulous" as to those whom they admitted to swear and subscribe. 
 The General Assembly, 1649, Sept 19th, enacted, that those who had 
 violated the Covenant should not be admitted to renew it, until they had 
 given evidence of their repentance after " exact trial." 
 
 3d. The Covenants were employed as tests of attachment to the Reforma- 
 tion, and of admissibility to offices. At the present day it is judged pro- 
 per to administer certain oaths to persons who are admitted to places of 
 power and trust. It is altogether incredible that the men who passed 
 the law usually termed M the Act of Classes." excluding the enemies of 
 their religion and liberties from places of power, should have forced 
 them to qualify for these places by imposing the Covenants on them 
 "under all civil pains."' We are not aware that it has been proved 
 that, in the administration of the Act 1 640, any persons suffered by com- 
 petent authority, any thing further than exclusion from places of 'power 
 and trust, purely for refusing to subscribe the Covenant.'- Nor does the 
 case seem to have been different in regard to a similar Act, passed in 
 1644. The Commission of the General Assembly, in a remonstrance dated 
 April, 1648, against a large declaration of the "Parliament, remarks. a It 
 would be inconsistent to desire the English Parliament to hold all refusers 
 of the Solemn League as enemies to religion and their country, while no 
 such penalty has ever been executed against the shifters of it in Scotland." ' 6 
 
 l Life of A. Henderson, p. 259: and Stevenson's Historv, vol. 2d, pp. 294—256. 
 I MCrie's Unity of the Church, p. 162. 
 3 See also Stevenson. voL 3d. p. 1246. 
 
84 THE SECOND REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND, 
 
 was the fruit of detestable duplicity, and designed to 
 subserve a political object. Yet the hand of the Lord 
 was not the less conspicuous in this surprising revolu- 
 tion. Thus the complex yoke of Prelacy and Erastian 
 supremacy was broken. Many exiled ministers were 
 recalled ; the ordinances of religion were faithfully and 
 regularly dispensed throughout the church ; and many 
 souls were gathered to Christ. To the Scottish Zion it 
 was said, "Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the 
 glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." 
 
 The happy effects of the deliverance wrought for 
 Scotland were, in a short time, extended to neighbour- 
 ing nations. It has been already stated, how remark- 
 ably the cause of the Reformation prospered in the 
 north of Ireland, in the early part of this century. 
 This good work, however, was in a great measure 
 arrested about the year 1634; and, for some time 
 after, the small band of witnesses there was called to 
 endure a great fight of affliction, by the oppression of 
 the bishops, under the administration of Strafford. All 
 the more faithful Presbyterian ministers were chased 
 from their flocks. But, in the adorable providence of 
 God, the people who were left were appointed to pass 
 through a fiery trial of a still more tremendous char- 
 acter, by which multitudes reached the crown of mar- 
 tyrdom. This was the indiscriminate massacre of the 
 Protestants by the Papists, in 1641, who, under the 
 instigation of the priests, and without any provocation 
 from most of those who became victims of their fury, 
 prosecuted the work of slaughter, with frantic ferocity, 
 for several months, and to an extent which has few par- 
 allels in the annals of history. In this dreadful emer- 
 gency, the Scottish Parliament offered to send an effec- 
 tive force into Ireland, to assist in stopping the effusion 
 of blood ; but, from the misunderstanding between the 
 king and his English Parliament, the execution of this 
 benevolent design was unhappily delayed. The tard- 
 iness or reluctance of Charles in every measure pro- 
 posed for the suppression of that rebellion, or the 
 
AND COMMENCEMENT OF DEFECTION FROM IT. 85 
 
 punishment of the murderers, had a decisive effect in 
 alienating from him the minds of multitudes of his 
 subjects. 
 
 In England, the tyranny and misrule of the king and 
 the bishops were becoming every day more intolerable. 
 Men of the most despotic principles were preferred to 
 the highest dignities in the church, and these, by 
 degrees, gained possession of the most important 
 offices in the state. Practical religion was discounte- 
 nanced. Sports and revels on the Lord's day were 
 authorized by royal proclamation, and recommended 
 by the clergy from the pulpit. For testifying against 
 these enormities, many excellent men were not only 
 stripped of their property, and thrust into prison, but 
 maimed and mutilated in their persons, in consequence 
 of sentences of the High Commission Courts and Star 
 Chamber. From the beginning of his reign, Charles 
 had evinced the strongest dislike to meetings of Par- 
 liament, on account of their tendency to limit his own 
 authority. When an exhausted treasury compelled 
 him to convoke that Assembly, his only design seemed 
 to be to obtain pecuniary supplies. But when the 
 Parliament showed a determination to inquire into the 
 grievances under which the nation groaned, it was 
 repeatedly and abruptly dissolved. The crisis at 
 length arrived. The English Parliament being met 
 voted itself permanent, until the grievances of the 
 nation should be redressed. A civil war between the 
 king and the Parliament speedily followed. This was 
 a critical conjuncture to the Scottish nation. Their 
 whole history proves that their attachment to a limited 
 monarchy, and to the house of Stuart, was excessive. 
 Yet, on this occasion, their love to religion and liberty 
 predominated. Their first effort was to effect a recon- 
 ciliation between the king and his Parliament on equit- 
 able terms. Commissioners were dispatched to Eng- 
 land for that purpose. But the temper of the king was 
 too inflexible, and the aspect of his affairs at that time 
 too nattering to admit of their mediation. They were 
 
 i 
 
SG THE SECOND REFORMATION IX SCOTLAND, 
 
 soon convinced, that should he prove successful in the 
 struggle with his Parliament, his former violent measures 
 would be resumed, and that the first use he would make 
 of his recovered power, would be to wrest from his Scot- 
 tish subjects those precious privileges they had so long 
 laboured to secure. 
 
 In proportion as the knowledge of the Scottish Refor- 
 mation was diffused throughout England, the number 
 of those who longed to see a similar Reformation in 
 that country was increased. The English Parliament, 
 from its first sitting clown, manifested a determination 
 to employ every legitimate means for effecting a sub- 
 stantial reform in the church. At first they earnestly 
 sought the king's concurrence in this design; but 
 when the breach became wider, they prosecuted this 
 important work- themselves, with much energy. The 
 High Commission Courts and Star Chamber 1 were 
 abolished ; the bishops were expelled from the House 
 of Lords, and their power to oppress the people was 
 extinguished. Wherever the authority of Parliament 
 extended, the puplic profanation of the Sabbath, and 
 the Popish rites recently obtruded on the churches, 
 were interdicted. Immoral and scandalous ministers 
 were ejected, and their pulpits assigned to those minis- 
 ters who had been silenced for non-conformity, or to 
 other qualified persons. It was also explicitly avowed 
 
 1 The same authority exercised by the Court of High Commission in 
 ecclesiastical affairs was possessed by the Court of Star Chamber in civil 
 matters ; and its methods of proceeding were equally arbitrary and unde- 
 fined. The origin of this court is said to have been derived from very 
 remote antiquity ; and at no time was its power controlled, or its mode 
 of procedure directed by any precise law or statute. It possessed an 
 unlimited discretionary authority, of fining, imprisoning, and inflicting 
 corporal punishment ; and its jurisdiction extended to all sorts of offences 
 and disorders that lay not within the reach of the common law. It con- 
 sisted of members of the Privy Council, and the Judges ; and when the 
 Prince himself was present, he was sole judge, the rest being permitted 
 to interpose only with their advice. By this court the severest restraints 
 were laid upon the press, and the most wanton and shocking cruelties 
 exercised upon offenders. — Calculated at all times to prove an instrument 
 of terrible oppression in the hands of a tyrant, its power was exercised 
 under the infamous administration of Laud to an extent which could no 
 longer be endured ; and, along with the Court of High Commission, this 
 tribunal of cruelty and terror was abolished by Act of Parliament in 1C41. 
 
AND COMMENCEMENT OF DEFECTION FROM IT. bi 
 
 to be the design of Parliament to remove the hierarchy, 
 " as offensive and burdensome to the kingdom, and a 
 great impediment to reformation;" and to substitute 
 such a government in the church as should be " most 
 agreeable to God's holy word," and calculated to bring 
 the church into " a nearer conformity with the Church 
 of Scotland, and other reformed churches abroad." For 
 the better effecting of this design, it was resolved to 
 convene " an Assembly of learned, godly, and judicious 
 divines, to consult and advise of such matters arid 
 things — touching the premises — as should be proposed 
 to them by both, or either House of Parliament, and to 
 give their advice and counsel therein — when required." 
 The ordinance of Parliament prodded, that the Assem- 
 bly should consist of one hundred and twenty one divines, 
 and thirty lay assessors, who had an equal power of 
 debating and voting with the divines. The assistance 
 of Commissioners from the Church of Scotland was 
 also sought with much importunity. This assembly met 
 at Westminster on the first of July, 1643. It was 
 evidently not a national synod, nor invested with any 
 ecclesiastical authority, but a council summoned by 
 civil authority alone, to give advice and assistance to 
 Parliament in effecting that religious reformation which 
 the state of the kingdom, and the desires of good men, 
 so urgently demanded. 
 
 These auspicious beginnings having been made in 
 England, a most important step was taken for uniting 
 it in a closer conjunction with Scotland, and for estab- 
 lishing the religion and liberty of both kingdoms on a 
 more solid basis. In the month of August of that year, 
 a Commission was sent into Scotland, consisting of 
 members of both Houses of Parliament, and of the 
 Assembly of Divines. These Commissioners were in- 
 structed to represent to the General Assembly of the 
 Church of Scotland, and to the Convention of Estates, 
 both of which were at that time sitting in Edinburgh, 
 the various steps of reformation which had been 
 already effected in England, with the earnest desire of 
 
88 THE SECOND REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND, 
 
 the Parliament to advance that work ; and the extreme 
 danger that existed, unless prompt assistance were 
 afforded from Scotland, that the good work would be 
 arrested, and the full tide of former corruptions and 
 oppressions rolled back upon both kingdoms. Com- 
 mittees were appointed both by the Convention of 
 Estates, and by the General Assembly, to consult and 
 treat with the Commissioners from England. The 
 result of their deliberations was a unanimous agree- 
 ment, that the most effectual means for preventing the 
 dangers of the present crisis, was, that both nations 
 should enter into a mutual league and covenant, 
 embracing the interests of the three kingdoms. The 
 draft of " the Solemn League and Covenant, for refor- 
 mation and defence of religion, the honour and happi- 
 ness of the king,, and the peace and safety of the three 
 kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland," pre- 
 pared by Alexander Henderson, passed the General 
 Assembly and Convention of Estates on the same day. 
 Being dispatched to England, it was deliberately 
 examined and debated in the Westminster Assembly, 
 and with some slight alteration, it was adopted. In 
 the church of St. Margaret's, Westminster, both Houses 
 of Parliament being convened, and the Assembly of 
 Divines, with Commissioners from Scotland, the Cove- 
 nant was read over, article by article, and each person, 
 standing uncovered, worshipping the great name of 
 God with his right hand lifted up to heaven, swore to 
 the performance of it. 1 The bond was afterwards sub- 
 scribed by both Houses of Parliament, by the Assembly 
 of Divines, and, generally, by persons of all ranks 
 throughout the kingdom, with the exception of those 
 who had espoused the cause of the king. In Scotland, 
 the Covenant was received with every demonstration of 
 religious joy, and cordially subscribed by the great 
 body of the population. In Ireland, too, although from 
 the disorganized state of the government, and thelament- 
 
 j Baillie. Aikman, vol. 4tli, p. 117. 
 
AND COMMENCEMENT OF DEFECTION FROM IT. 89 
 
 able distractions of the country in genera], it could not 
 possibly obtain the same sanction which it received 
 from the legislative assemblies in England and Scot- 
 land, yet it was welcomed by many Protestants in the 
 south, and almost by the whole body of the Protestant 
 population in the northern counties. It was ratified by 
 Act of the Scottish Parliament in 1644, and afterwards 
 renewed in Scotlaud, with an acknowledgment of sins 
 and engagement to duties, in 1648, and by the Parlia- 
 ment in 1649. By these measures Scotland declared 
 that she regarded the deed as a national one, and 
 permanently binding on her, however others might 
 act who were originally brought under the same 
 bond. 
 
 The object of the Solemn League was to promote 
 uniformity in the profession and practice of the true 
 religion in the three kingdoms, and to unite them in the 
 maintenance and defence of all their civil and sacred 
 privileges and institutions. A foundation was laid for 
 this important measure in a treaty between the king- 
 doms of England and Scotland, begun at Ripon in 
 1640, and concluded at London in the following year. 
 The ninth article of this treaty expressed the earnest 
 desire of Scotland " for unity in religion, and uniform- 
 ity of church government, as a special means for pre- 
 serving of peace betwixt the two kingdoms." 1 The 
 answer given by the king, in conjunction with the 
 English Parliament, cannot fairly be interpreted other- 
 wise than as a virtual assent to this article: — "That 
 his majesty, with the advice of both Houses of Parlia- 
 ment, doth approve of the affection of his subjects of 
 Scotland, in their desire of having conformity of church 
 government between the two nations; and as the Par- 
 liament hath already taken into consideration the refor- 
 mation of church government, so they will proceed 
 therein, in due time, as shall best conduce to the 
 glory of God, the peace of the church, and of both 
 kingdoms." The treatv was fully ratified bv the king. 
 
 i 2 
 
90 THE SECOND REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND, 
 
 with the consent of both Houses of Parliament, in 
 August, 1641. 1 
 
 The Solemn League was in perfect accordance with 
 the provisions of this treaty, and may be viewed as an 
 advancing step in the prosecution of the objects of it. 
 Many entertain the opinion that the English would 
 have been satisfied with a civil league ; but the Scottish 
 reformers, ever zealous for the interests of Christ's king- 
 dom, were anxious that the nations should enter into a 
 Covenant having a religious as well as a civil charac- 
 ter, and in this they were successful. The parties who 
 embraced the Solemn League bound themselves, " in 
 their several places and callings, to endeavour the pre- 
 servation of the reformed religion in the church of 
 Scotland, in doctrine, worship, discipline, and govern- 
 ment; the reformation of religion in the kingdoms of 
 England and Ireland, in doctrine, worship, discipline, 
 and government, according to the Word of God, and 
 the example of the best reformed churches; the extir- 
 pation of Popery, Prelacy, superstition, heresy, schism, 
 profaneness, and whatsoever shall be found contrary to 
 sound doctrine and the power of godliness ; the preser- 
 vation of the rights and privileges of the Parliaments, 
 and liberties of the kingdoms, and of the king's person 
 and authority, in the preservation and defence of the 
 true religion, and liberties of the kingdoms." The fourth 
 article respects the discovery and punishment of incen- 
 diaries ; the fifth, the preservation of peace among the 
 three kingdoms; and the sixth contains an engage- 
 ment to union, steadfastness, and zeal in prosecuting 
 the ends of the Covenant. The calumny sometimes 
 circulated against this Covenant, that it sanctioned 
 persecution, requires no other refutation than a refer- 
 ence to the language of the deed itself, by which it 
 appears very distinctly, that it is principles, not persons, 
 which the Covenanters engaged to extirpate. 
 
 1 Stevenson, Book hi., Chap. 5. 
 
AXD COMMENCEMENT OF DEFECTION FROM IT. 91 
 
 The CornmissioueTS from the church of Scotland, so 
 earnestly desired in England, took their seats in the 
 Westminster Assembly, in November, 1643. Of the 
 eight individuals who had received a commission, five 
 were ministers, and three ruling elders. 1 In all the 
 more important labours of that Assembly, for a period 
 of nearly five years, they deservedly held a very con- 
 spicuous place. Their eminent abilities, their intimate 
 acquaintance with church order, and above all, their 
 extensive and accurate knowledge of the Scriptures, 
 rendered them an invaluable accession to the Assembly. 
 They appear, moreover, to have been instrumental in 
 diffusing throughout England, and particularly in the 
 city of London, more correct views of the independence 
 of the church, as the spiritual kingdom of Jesus Christ, 
 and of the Presbyterian form of church government, 
 than had hitherto prevailed in that country. 
 
 In conformity with the engagements entered into 
 between the two kingdoms, an effective inilitary force 
 was sent up from Scotland, about the beginning of the 
 following year, to assist the English Parliament in their 
 struggle with the king. In mercy to the three king- 
 doms, it pleased God to crown the efforts of the united 
 armies with success. In a series of decisive engage- 
 ments, the troops which the king had raised for the 
 overthrow of the constitution, and the establish- 
 ment of an arbitrary despotic power, were wholly 
 discomfited. 
 
 In prosecuting the design of the Covenant, the West- 
 minster Assembly continued their endeavours, with 
 unceasing prayers and labours, to construct the platform 
 of religious reformation and uniformity for the three 
 kingdoms. They compiled a Confession of Faith; a 
 Larger and Shorter Catechism ; Propositions for Church 
 Government; and a Directory for Public Worship. 
 
 1 Their names were Alexander Henderson of Edinburgh; Robert 
 Douglas of Edinburgh; Samuel Rutherford of St. Andrews; Robert 
 Baillie of Glasgow; George Gillespie of Edinburgh — ministers. John, 
 Earl of Cassilis; John, Lord Maitland, afterwards Duke of Lauderdale; 
 Sir Archibald Johnston of Warriston — ruling elders. 
 
92 THE SECOND REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND, 
 
 In these works they have left imperishable monuments 
 of their own piety, discrimination and fidelity ; and fur- 
 nished the church with the most admirable summaries 
 of religious doctrine, which uninspired men were ever 
 honoured to inscribe on the pillar of truth. 1 All these 
 were received and approved of by the church of Scot- 
 land, as parts of the covenanted uniformity of the three 
 kingdoms. To guard, however, against a construction 
 being put on certain passages which might seem to 
 question the intrinsic power of the church to manage her 
 own affairs, independently of the civil power, the Gen- 
 eral Assembly, in their Act, 27th August, 1647, approv- 
 ing the Confession, accompanied the reception of these 
 passages with an explanation of the sense in which they 
 were adopted. And as the Presbyterian form of church 
 government is not specifically laid down in the Confes- 
 sion, they insert in the same Act the following declara- 
 tion : — " That the not mentioning in this Confession 
 the several sorts of ecclesiastical officers and assem- 
 blies, shall be no prejudice to the truth of Christ in 
 these particulars, to be expressed fully in the Directory 
 of Government." 
 
 The interval between 1638 and 1649, has been com- 
 monly styled the period of the Second Reformation. 
 We deem it proper to specify here some of the grounds 
 on which we declare our approbation of, and adherence 
 to, that Reformation. 
 
 1st. Care was taken to recover and restore the valu- 
 able attainments of the first Reformation, many of which 
 had, for a time, been buried under a mass of unscrip- 
 tural innovations. 
 
 2d. We admire and approve of the ready homage 
 which was constantly rendered by the reformers to the 
 authority of Scripture, in rearing their ecclesiastical 
 structure. In regard to doctrine, worship, discipline, 
 and government, it was their fixed principle to make 
 
 1 The metrical translation of the Psalms of David, commonly used in 
 Scotland, was principally composed under the superintendence of that 
 Assembly. 
 
AND COMMENCEMENT OF DEFECTION FROM IT. 93 
 
 human authority, antiquity, and apparent utility, to 
 bow to the supremacy of the inspired record. 
 
 3d. Another great principle asserted and maintained 
 by the reformers at this period, was the supremacy and 
 exclusive headship of the Lord Jesus Christ over the 
 church. They contended that, by virtue of her intrin- 
 sic right derived from her divine Lord, the church has 
 power to convene her assemblies, and exercise her 
 spiritual jurisdiction, independently of the permission 
 or appointment of the civil rider. Although sincerely 
 desirous to obtain the countenance and protection of 
 their earthly king, in propounding and adopting mea- 
 sures for the advancement of the Redeemer's king- 
 dom, they were far from regarding his presence or 
 sanction as necessary to the lawfulness of their pro- 
 ceedings. 
 
 4th. This period is distinguished by the efforts made 
 to preserve *and establish the Presbyterian form of 
 church government, and by the successful resistance 
 made to the usurpations of Prelacy. At the famous 
 Assembly held in Glasgow in 1638, the censures of the 
 church were inflicted on those who had usurped or 
 exercised Episcopal authority. Nor was Presbyterian- 
 ism embraced and defended merely on the ground of 
 expediency, as being more agreeable to the feelings and 
 habits of the Scottish people than any other form of 
 church government, and, on that account, better adap- 
 ted to the circumstances of the Church in Scotland ; 
 but it was held to be possessed of divine right, inasmuch 
 as its leading principles are inculcated in the word 
 of God, and its rules exemplified in the conduct of the 
 Apostles and primitive Christians. 
 
 5th. The sedulous care employed at that period to 
 obtain for the church an efficient and well qualified 
 ministry, demands our approbation. Salutary regula- 
 tions were enacted and enforced, in regard to a course 
 of preliminary study at the University; and it was 
 required of expectants not only that they should give 
 proof of their talents, learning, and soundness in the 
 
94 THE SECOND REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND, 
 
 faith, but that they should be apt to teach, skilful in 
 controversy, prudent and circumspect in their deport- 
 ment, and ardently devoted to the great objects of the 
 gospel ministry — the advancement of the cause of 
 Christ, and the salvation of immortal souls. Special 
 injunctions were laid on each minister to be diligent 
 and regular in visiting and catechising his flock, as well 
 as in preaching the word ; and Presbyteries were 
 required to exercise a vigilant superintendence over 
 their respective members, and call them to a strict 
 account, for error in doctrine, remissness in the dis- 
 charge of pastoral duties, or irregularity in their per- 
 sonal deportment. 
 
 6th. The Reformers of this period were equally 
 zealous in their endeavours to promote Scriptural edu- 
 cation. The establishment of schools in every parish 
 for the education of the young, had always been regarded 
 by them as an object of primary importance ; and vig- 
 orous measures were now adopted for the accomplish- 
 ment of that scheme. It was ordained that the schools 
 should be placed under the management of able teachers, 
 and that the children should be instructed in the grounds 
 of religion, as well as in the elements of a secular edu- 
 cation. To the successful efforts then made, we must, 
 no doubt, chiefly ascribe the fact stated by a contem- 
 porary historian, when speaking of the period imme- 
 diately antecedent to the restoration, — that in almost 
 every part of the country, all the children of the proper 
 age, were able to read the Bible. Care was also taken 
 to have the different Chairs in the Universities filled 
 with men not less distinguished for their piety, and 
 soundness in the faith, than for their learning. 
 
 7th. We testify our high esteem of that Reformation, 
 on account of the superlative importance which it 
 attached to practical religion, and its singular efficiency 
 in promoting it. That the power of godliness was at 
 that period extensively prevalent throughout the king- 
 dom, and the grosser immoralities which now abound 
 in society of comparatively rare occurrence, are facts 
 
ASD COMMENCEMENT OF DEFECTION FROM IT. 95 
 
 attested by well-informed and impartial historians. This 
 was no doubt owing, in a great measure, to the diligence, 
 fidelity, and zeal, with which the duties of the pastoral 
 office, in general, were discharged, and particularly to 
 the earnestness and assiduity with which the exercises 
 of secret and family worship were inculcated ; and to 
 the faithful exercise of discipline toward those who 
 neglected these duties, as well as those who were con- 
 victed of overt acts of immorality. 
 
 8th. We avow our adherence to the Scottish Refor- 
 mation, because it extended to the State as well as to 
 the Church. According to the measure of their know- 
 ledge, the Reformers applied the standard of God's 
 word to the civil institutions of the nation, as well as to 
 the ecclesiastical. With most scrupulous care they 
 laboured to fence the throne, the legislative assembly, 
 and the bench of justice, with wholesome laws, exclud- 
 ing from places of power and trust the enemies of reli- 
 gion and liberty. It was then lofty aim, and in Scot- 
 land, at least, they were to a great extent successful in 
 it, to render the civil authority at once effective for 
 preserving the peace and external order of the com- 
 munity, and subservient to the interests of true religion ; 
 that the nation, as such, might do homage and yield 
 allegiance to him who is " the Governor among the 
 nations," and " the Prince of the kings of the earth." 1 
 This principle was distinctly recognized in the National 
 Covenant of Scotland, and in the laws which were 
 made for the maintenance and defence of the true 
 religion. 
 
 Many of the Acts of the Scottish Parliament during 
 the Reformation period, were, in our judgment, emin- 
 ently calculated to promote the interests of true religion. 
 As being of this character we would specify the legal 
 sanction given to the Reformation in the year 1640 ; the 
 cordial concurrence of the State with the Chinch in 
 Scotland, and with the Parliament of England, in the 
 Solemn League, and in the various steps of reformation 
 in both kingdoms, which were consequent on that deed ; 
 
96 THE SECOND REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND, 
 
 the entire removal of the heavy yoke of lay patronage 
 from the Scottish Church, in 1649 ; l with a variety of 
 Acts passed in that year for suppressing vice and pro- 
 faneness, for excluding from places of power and trust, 
 both in the civil and military departments of the State, 
 men of immoral lives, or who were known to be inimical 
 to the reformed religion. No relaxation of this rule 
 was admitted even in regard to the supreme civil magis- 
 trate. Agreeably to the law then in force, no person 
 could be advanced to the throne, whatever might be his 
 claims or pretensions in other respects, who was not 
 avowedly and cordially attached to the true religion. 
 
 To guard ourselves against misconstruction, we sub- 
 join the following observations: — 
 
 We disclaim all design to represent the Scottish 
 Reformation as free from blemish or defect. Nothing 
 could be more remote from the thoughts of the excel- 
 lent men who were the principal instruments in effecting 
 it, than such an unwarrantable claim: — a claim which 
 forms so large a part of the impiety of the Church of 
 Rome. 
 
 We do not declare our approbation of all the Acts 
 of Parliament or Assembly, which were passed in that 
 period, in reference to religion. Some of the Acts of 
 which we cannot approve, were, in fact, never carried 
 into execution; and although much may be said in 
 
 1 " Considering that patronages, and presentation to kirks, is an evil 
 and bondage under which the Lord's people and ministers of this land 
 have long groaned, and that it hath no warrant in God's word, but is 
 founded only on the common law, and is a custom Popish, and brought 
 into the kirk in times of ignorance and superstition; and that the same is 
 contrary to the Second Book of Discipline, and unto several Acts of Gen- 
 eral Assembly; that it is prejudicial to the liberty and planting of kirks, 
 and to the free calling and entrance of ministers into their charges; . . . 
 that every thing in the house of God may be ordered according to his 
 word and commandment," the Estates of Parliament " do therefore dis- 
 charge for ever hereafter all patronages and presentation of kirks, whether 
 belonging to the king, or any lay patron, presbyteries, or others within this 
 kingdom, as being unlawful and unwarrantable by God's word, and con- 
 trary to the doctrines and liberties of this kirk; and that no person nor 
 persons shall, either on behalf of themselves or others, procure, receive, 
 or make use of any presentation to any kirk within this kingdom." — Act 
 of Scottish Parliament, 9th March, 1649. 
 
AND COMMENCEMENT OF DEFECTION FROM IT. 97 
 
 extenuation of their severity, from the very peculiar 
 circumstances in which the Reformers were placed, and 
 from the character of the enemies with whom they had 
 to deal, we admit that some of them were unjustifiable. 1 
 
 1 The formula of questions proposed to ministers at their ordination, in 
 the Reformed Presbyterian Church, requires of them an acknowledgment 
 of the Acts of Assembly between 1638 and 1649, ratifying and approving 
 the work of reformation; but this is not understood by the Church in 
 Scotland as implying an unqualified approbation of these Acts, individually. 
 We desire to cherish a proper sense of the obligations we owe to the 
 church judicatories of the Second Reformation, and particularly to the 
 General Assemblies of that period, for their noble struggles against arbi- 
 trary power, and their successful endeavours to promote education and 
 true religion ; and more especially because their proceedings were stigma- 
 tized in language of strongest contempt, and in so far as could be done 
 by civil authority, were entirely cancelled at the Restoration: and also, 
 because they were passed over in silence, and left under a load of obloquy, 
 at the Revolution. Yet we would not be understood as regarding the 
 proceedings of either Church or State, during the reforming period, as 
 free from blemish. AVe refer to some Acts of Assembly during that 
 period, as specimens of Acts of which we do not approve: — 
 
 Assembly 1638, Session 23d, Act 11th, in which it was enacted, u that 
 all persons, of whatsoever state and condition, be obliged to swear and 
 subscribe the Confession of Faith, and to frequent the word and sacra- 
 ments in the ordinary diets and places." 
 
 Assembly 1G42, Act entitled, " Overtures against Papists and non- 
 communicants." 
 
 Assembly 1643, Act "concerning an order for using civil execution 
 against excommunicate persons." 
 
 The Reformers lived in turbulent and trying times. The general 
 character of their measures was defensive not offensive. Popery, Prelacy, 
 and arbitrary power, were in close conjunction against them. The mas- 
 sacre of the Protestants in Ireland, in 1641, shocked and inflamed the minds 
 of Protestants throughout the three kingdoms. In that year, the English 
 Parliament, in a remonstrance addressed to the king, employ these expres- 
 sions: " Seeing the religion of Papists has such principles as certainly tend 
 to the destruction and extirpation of all Protestants, when they have 
 opportunity to effect it, — it is necessary to keep them in such a condition 
 that they may not be able to do us any hurt." In 1642, England was 
 involved in civil war. It was understood that the king had given commis- 
 sions to several eminent and known Papists to raise forces in his cause. 
 Multitudes of them were in arms both in England and in Ireland. A plot 
 of a very atrocious complexion was detected and baffled, which had been 
 concerted by some of those desperate characters who then surrounded 
 the king, the object of which was to cut off the leading Covenanters, and 
 suppress the Reformation; and the plan proposed for effecting this project 
 was, to bring over an army of Irish Papists, and unite them with the 
 barbarians of the north. It was also fully ascertained, that before the 
 end of the year 1643, the king had given his consent to the introduction 
 of 10,000 Irish Papists in arms, of whom a considerable number were 
 actually transported into Scotland, and composed part of that army which, 
 under the Marquis of Montrose, spread slaughter and devastation through 
 different parts of the kingdom for many months. 
 
 K 
 
U8 THE SECOND REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND, 
 
 We shall only add here, that as some have, from 
 ignorance, or from more unworthy causes, reproached 
 us as holding persecuting principles, we meet the 
 charge with a calm but firm denial. We do not indeed 
 exalt conscience to be a rival of the most High, nor 
 recognize those presumptuous claims for it, which tend 
 to abrogate his authority. But we distinctly teach, that 
 God only is the Lord of conscience ; and that to have 
 recourse to a system of pains and penalties, — to employ 
 civil coercion of any kind, for the purpose of inducing 
 men to renounce an erroneous creed, or to espouse and 
 profess a sound scriptural one, is incompatible with the 
 nature of true religion, and must ever prove ineffectual 
 in practice. 
 
 It has been urged as an objection against the West- 
 minster Confession, that certain passages in it are 
 favourable to persecution, and would invest the civil 
 magistrate with power to punish good and peaceable 
 subjects for their religious opinions and practices. As 
 this is a doctrine we disavow and detest, we beg to offer 
 a few observations explanatory of the sense in which 
 we understand those passages on which the charge has 
 been founded. 
 
 The twentieth chapter of the Confession treats " of 
 Christian liberty, and liberty of conscience." In the 
 second section it is asserted, that " God alone is Lord 
 of the conscience, and hath left it free from the doc- 
 trines and commandments of men which are in any 
 thing contrary to his word, or beside it in matters of 
 faith." The third and fourth sections are designed to 
 define the bounds of Christian liberty, and to guard 
 against the abuse of it, — to distinguish between liberty 
 and licentiousness. " To practise any sin, or cherish 
 any lust," is no part of Christian liberty. "And 
 because the powers which God hath ordained, and the 
 liberty which Christ hath purchased, are not intended 
 by God to destroy, but mutually to uphold and preserve 
 one another; they who, upon pretence of Christian 
 liberty, shall oppose any lawful power, or the lawful 
 
AND COMMENCEMENT OF DEFECTION FROM IT. 99 
 
 exercise of it, whether it be civil or ecclesiastical, resist 
 the ordinance of God. And for their publishing of such 
 opinions, or maintaining of such practices, as are con- 
 trary to the light of nature, or to the known principles 
 of Christianity, whether concerning faith, worship, or 
 conversation; or to the power of godliness; or such 
 erroneous opinions or practices, as either in their own 
 nature, or in the manner of publishing or maintaining 
 them, are destructive to the external peace and order 
 which Christ hath established in the church, they may 
 lawfully be called to account, and proceeded against 
 by the censures of the church, and by the power of the 
 civil magistrate." The object of this section is to 
 define the bounds of liberty of conscience, in relation to 
 public authority. The Lord of conscience has insti- 
 tuted authorities in Church and State, and it were 
 absurd to suppose that he has given to men a liberty to 
 resist or contemn them, when they are exercised in 
 accordance with his word. It is not asserted that good 
 and peaceable subjects may be punished by the civil 
 magistrate, on account of their religious opinions or 
 practices ; but such as, under the imposing but hollow 
 pretence of liberty of conscience, " oppose lawful power, 
 or the lawful exercise of it." And who will deny that 
 there are opinions and practices so contrary to the light 
 of nature, and the known principles of Christianity, 
 and so injurious to society, as fully to warrant magis- 
 tratical coercion and punishment? 
 
 Another passage that has been supposed liable to the 
 same objection, is contained in Chapter xxiii., section 
 3d, where it is said, that " the civil magistrate hath 
 authority, and it is his duty to take order, that unity 
 and peace be preserved in the church, that the truth of 
 God be kept pure and entire, that all blasphemies and 
 heresies be suppressed, and all corruptions and abuses 
 in worship and discipline prevented or reformed." But 
 how is he to effect these ends ? Not by coercion, or 
 any direct exercise of civil authority ; for " the Lord 
 Jesus, as king and head of his church, hath therein 
 
100 THE SECOND REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND, 
 
 appointed a government in the hand of church officers, 
 distinct from the civil magistrate." In the section 
 from which the quotation is made, it is expressly said, 
 that " the civil magistrate may not assume to himself 
 the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven," that 
 is, authority in the church of Christ ; and the close of 
 the section indicates how he may lawfully endeavour to 
 accomplish the important ends specified ; namely, by 
 the " calling of Synods," and using the influence of his 
 high station, that through their instrumentality, dis- 
 orders in religion may be rectified, and the interests of 
 truth promoted. 
 
 Certain passages have also been objected to as con- 
 ceding to the civil magistrate an Erastian power over the 
 church. It is known that a few individuals in the West- 
 minster Assembly held Erastian sentiments, and defended 
 them with great learning and ingenuity. But their argu- 
 ments were promptly and triumphantly refuted, and it 
 is certain that their sentiments never acquired an ascen- 
 dancy in that house. It is also a well-known fact, that 
 the two Houses of the English Parliament, although 
 exceedingly favourable to the Reformation in general, 
 were disposed to retain in their own hands a control over 
 the proceedings of the church which was incompatible 
 with her entire freedom and spiritual independence; 
 and that, on this head, they were strenuously opposed 
 by the Assembly. These facts render it highly improb- 
 able that the Assembly, after fullest deliberation, and 
 the utmost freedom cf debate, should have given their 
 sanction to Erastian principles. The section last 
 quoted from the 23d chapter, with the view of obviating 
 an objection of a different nature, has been supposed 
 liable also to the charge of Erastianism. Let the fol- 
 lowing principles, elsewhere laid down in the Confes- 
 sion, be duly considered : — " There is no other head of 
 the church but the Lord Jesus Christ ;" ] — He " hath 
 therein appointed a government in the hand of church 
 
 > Chap. 25, sec. 6. 
 
AND COMMENCEMENT OF DEFECTION FROM IT. 101 
 
 officers, distinct from the civil magistrate. To these 
 officers the keys of the kingdom of heaven are com- 
 mitted." 1 — " It belongeth to synods and councils minis- 
 terially to determine controversies of faith, and cases of 
 conscience ; to set down rules and directions for the bet- 
 ter ordering of the public worship of God, and govern- 
 ment of his church ; to receive complaints in cases of 
 mal-administration, and authoritatively to determine the 
 same." 2 And even in the section to which the objec- 
 tion is made, it is distinctly asserted, " that the civil 
 magistrate may not assume to himself the administra- 
 tion of the word and sacraments, or the power of the 
 keys of the kingdom of heaven ;" 3 that is, power ox 
 authority in the church. We cannot conceive a more 
 explicit or unequivocal condemnation of Erastianism 
 than is contained in these quotations. Let the pas- 
 sage objected to be viewed in connexion with these 
 statements : — the civil magistrate " hath authority, and 
 it is his duty to take order, that unity and peace be 
 preserved in the church, that the truth of God be kept 
 pure and entire, that all blasphemies and heresies be 
 suppressed, and all corruptions and abuses in worship 
 and discipline prevented or reformed." — But what is 
 the order he may lawfully take for effecting these, 
 purposes ? He may not do it by his own proper 
 authority, for " Christ, the head of the church, has 
 appointed therein a government in the hands of church 
 officers, distinct from the civil magistrate." It is there- 
 fore only by the instrumentality of proper church 
 courts that he may lawfully seek to accomplish the 
 objects here specified. — " It belongeth to synods and 
 councils ministerially to determine" such matters. It 
 is farther said, in the passage objected to, that he 
 " hath power to call synods, to be present at them, and 
 to provide that whatsoever is transacted in them be 
 according to the mind of God." This, however, cannot 
 mean, in any consistency with the principles quoted 
 
 *Chap. 30, sec. 1,2. 2 Chap. 31, sec. 3. s Chap. 23, sec. 3. 
 K2 
 
102 THE SECOND REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND, 
 
 above, that he may, in his official character, or by the 
 exercise of civil authority, prescribe or dictate to 
 ecclesiastical assemblies, or sustain himself as judge of 
 their decisions ; because this would imply a palpable 
 assumption of the keys — an express usurpation of the 
 government, which the Head of the church hath placed 
 in the hands of church officers. 
 
 In respect to the authority conceded to him both in 
 this section, and in the second section of Chapter xxxi., 
 that he may lawfully call synods or ecclesiastical 
 assemblies, it may be remarked, 1st, That the Confes- 
 sion determines the purpose for which he may convene 
 them, namely, that he may " consult and advise with 
 them about matters of religion;" and 2d, That the 
 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, in their 
 Act, 27th August, 1647, adopting and ratifying the 
 Confession, — an Act to which we adhere, — laid down 
 the following limitation : — " It is further declared, that 
 the Assembly understandeth some parts of the second 
 article of the thirty -first chapter only of kirks not 
 settled, or constituted in point of government; and 
 that although, in such kirks, a synod of ministers, and 
 other fit persons, may be called by the magistrate's 
 authority and nomination, without any other call, to 
 consult and advise with about matters of religion ; and 
 although, likewise, the ministers of Christ, without 
 delegation from their churches, may of themselves, and 
 by virtue of their office, meet together synodically in 
 such kirks not yet constituted, yet neither of these 
 ought to be done in kirks constituted and settled." 
 
 The time was not yet come when the lofty purposes 
 and the sanguine hopes of the British reformers, could 
 reach their consummation. The deceiver of the nations 
 was not yet bound in his appointed prison. The Man of 
 Sin retained his ascendancy in most of the nations of 
 Europe. It was not yet the fit season for the Woman to 
 leave her retreat in the wilderness, or for the witnesses 
 to lay aside their sackcloth. For wise and benevolent 
 purposes, the Supreme Ruler of the world had raised to 
 
AND COMMENCEMENT OF DEFECTION FROM IT. 103 
 
 temporary power and influence a number of most 
 enlightened and pious men, both in England and in 
 Scotland. The result was extremely happy. The 
 outbreakings of ungodliness were restrained ; the inter- 
 ests of true religion were greatly promoted ; and there 
 is the best evidence for believing, that large numbers, 
 individually, as well as socially, joined themselves to 
 the Lord in a perpetual covenant not to be forgotten. 
 But the events which speedily followed in both king- 
 doms, gave sad demonstration that the profession of 
 multitudes had been insincere. 
 
 The first steps of defection from the solemn engage- 
 ments lately entered into, must in justice be charged 
 against England. In the day of her distress, she 
 appeared very earnestly to inquire after the Lord; but 
 when the danger which threatened her civil liberty was 
 averted, her apparent zeal for religious reformation 
 rapidly declined. She had felt the yoke of the bishops 
 to be heavy ; yet, from the extensive prevalence of irre- 
 ligion, the yoke of Christ seemed to be regarded by her 
 as more intolerable. The tide of ungodliness had, 
 indeed, been wonderfully rolled back for a time, but the 
 reflux soon became irresistible. 
 
 Even in the Westminster Assembly, and in the Par- 
 liament with which it was associated in the work of 
 reformation, it is easy to discover, from an early period, 
 the working of those elements which were calculated to 
 defeat the design of a covenanted uniformity. There 
 was a general harmony of sentiment among the mem- 
 bers of the Assembly, in regard to the great fundamen- 
 tal doctrines of the Christian system ; but in reference 
 to the government and discipline of the church, the 
 house was divided into three parties. The majority of 
 the members were decidedly, and from the fullest con- 
 viction, attached to Presbyterianism, as founded in the 
 Scriptures, and manifestly calculated, above every 
 other system, to secure the unity of the church, the 
 christian liberty of her ministers, and the efficiency 
 and purity of all religious ordinances. 
 
104 THE SECOND REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND, 
 
 A few of the members had embraced the doctrines of 
 Erastianism. They held that there is no precise form 
 of church government of divine authority, and that it 
 belongs to the civil magistrate alone to construct such 
 a government as expediency, or the peculiar circum- 
 stances of the church may require. In this section 
 of the Assembly, there were men of eminent talents 
 and most extensive learning, who greatly embarrassed 
 and retarded the proceedings of the house. They also 
 exerted a most injurious influence on the two Houses 
 of Parliament, and, in conjunction with the Indepen- 
 dents, ultimately succeeded in preventing the establish- 
 ment of the Presbyterian church government in its 
 purity, and in its own divine authority. For a few 
 years that government had the sanction of public au- 
 thority in England; but the church courts were fettered 
 with Erastian restrictions, and the Parliament reserved 
 to itself a remnant of that supremacy of which it had 
 divested the king. 
 
 There was also in the Assembly a small number of 
 divines, who strenuously maintained the doctrines of 
 Independency. They held that each congregation con- 
 stitutes a church, having the power of government with- 
 in itself; and that there is no warrant in Scripture for 
 Presbyteries, Synods, or any other Ecclesiastical As- 
 sembly, exercising judicial authority over several con- 
 gregations. They differed, however, from modern In- 
 dependents, inasmuch as they acknowledged the office 
 of ruling elder; and, in common with the Erastians, 
 they were disposed to concede to the civil magistrate a 
 control over the discipline of the church, inconsistent 
 with her proper spiritual independence. 1 The divines 
 of this class were at first few in number, but much re- 
 spected for their talents and piety. By degrees their 
 sentiments were propagated very extensively in the 
 army, partly through the influence of a few popular 
 leaders who had adopted them, and partly from the lay 
 
 1 Neal's History of the Puritans. 
 
AND COMMENCEMENT OF DEFECTION FROM IT. 105 
 
 preaching which, from the want of a well-qualified minis- 
 try, greatly abounded in it. Throughout the country, 
 also, new sects and heresies sprang up incessantly, many 
 of which were extravagant and pernicious in the extreme; 
 and, by the wild anarchy which they produced, they 
 shocked and alarmed the sober part of the nation, and 
 prepared the way for Prelacy and arbitrary power to 
 recover their lost sway, and to renew all their former 
 oppressions with increased vigour. 
 
 When, in the progress of the war between the king 
 and the Parliament, the royal forces were finally van- 
 quished and driven from the field, and the troops from 
 Scotland had returned home, the English army, being 
 decidedly hostile to the religious system which was now 
 introduced, refused to comply with the order of Parlia- 
 ment requiring them to disband; and, under the direc- 
 tion of Cromwell, who had acquired a wonderful ascen- 
 dancy over the troops, they proceeded by degrees to 
 usurp the authority and the functions of the supreme 
 civil government of the nation. They expelled or se- 
 cluded from the House of Commons those members 
 who were most capable of counteracting their designs, 
 and deprived the House of Lords of all share in the 
 government. Having brought the king to London, 
 they instituted a court to try him on a charge of high 
 treason ; and, in disregard of the most earnest remon- 
 strances, both from Scotland, and from multitudes of all 
 ranks in England, they hurried on his trial and execu- 
 tion. They finally vested the supreme direction of 
 affairs in Cromwell, under the title of Protector. 
 The extreme irregularity and violence of these pro- 
 ceedings were the more reprehensible, that the princi- 
 pal persons by whom they were conducted, had delib- 
 erately, and with apparent cordiality, entered into the 
 Solemn League, the whole design and provisions of 
 which they now so unscrupulously subverted. 
 
 In Scotland, too, a series of unhappy errors in the 
 management of public affairs, combined to disunite the 
 two kingdoms, and to obstruct the work of reformation, 
 
106 THE SECOND REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND, 
 
 at the time when its progress seemed most encouraging. 
 In the year 1648, the majority of the Scottish Parlia- 
 ment determined on sending an army into England, 
 y under the command of the Duke of Hamilton, with 
 the professed design of rescuing the king out of the 
 hands of the sectaries. The more enlightened part of 
 the church and nation disapproved of this proposal. 
 They considered it indispensable that the king should 
 give security for the religion and liberty of the nation, 
 before any measures should be adopted for restoring 
 him to power. They suspected the fidelity of those 
 who were the chief promoters of this expedition ; and 
 they condemned these hasty hostilities against England, 
 as a breach of the Solemn League. The Commission 
 of the General Assembly laboured strenuously to pre- 
 vent the war. Many of the nobility entered their pro- 
 test against the resolution, when it was carried by a 
 majority in the Parliament. The Duke's engagement 
 was subsequently condemned by the Assembly which 
 met in the same year, and by the Parliament in the 
 year following. The enterprise issued in the defeat 
 and ruin of its projectors. 
 
 But an error far more grievous, and in its conse- 
 quences proportionally disastrous, was committed with 
 the general consent of all parties, in the following year. 
 Six days after Charles I. was beheaded, the Scottish 
 Parliament proclaimed his son, Charles II., King of 
 Great Britain, France, and Ireland, promising their 
 fidelity, and pledging themselves to the defence of his 
 person and authority, according to the National Cove- 
 / nant and Solemn League. The culpable rashness of 
 / this step did not pass unpunished. They could scarcely 
 be ignorant that, according to the contract made at 
 the marriage of his father with a princess of the house 
 of Bourbon, it was stipulated, that all the children of 
 Charles by that marriage, should be brought up in the 
 principles of the Popish religion, until they should be 
 eleven years of age. 1 They had abundant cause to 
 
 1 Stevenson's History, vol. i. p. 8. Rapin, Book xix. 
 
AND COMMENCEMENT OF DEFECTION FROM IT. 107 
 
 know, that if he adopted maxims of government from 
 his father, he would not fail to insist on absolute 
 authority, both in Church and State, as an inherent 
 right of his crown. In addition to these reasons for 
 extreme caution, their own Commissioners, whom they 
 sent to treat with him, first at the Hague, and after- 
 wards at Breda, had palpable evidence of his disaffec- 
 tion to the great cause in which they were embarked, 
 if not also of his duplicity, before he took ship for 
 Scotland. To rely on the efficacy of oaths and pro- 
 mises to bind a man about to be invested with supreme 
 power, of whose integrity, piety, or principle, they had 
 no sufficient evidence whatever, was an error which 
 cannot be too severely reprehended. 
 
 It was the earnest desire of Charles to reach the 
 throne of Scotland without being fettered by any con- 
 ditions. With this view, he protracted the negociation 
 with the Commissioners sent to treat with him, and 
 secretly encouraged the Marquis of Montrose to hasten 
 a project which had been concerted between them, for 
 establishing the prince's authority by the sword. But 
 when the insurrection raised for that purpose in the 
 north of Scotland was crushed, and Montrose had suf- 
 fered the punishment of a traitor against his country, 
 Charles consented to give the securities for religion 
 which were required of him. 1 Just before his landing 
 in Scotland, 2 and in presence of the Commissioners, 
 he solemnly declared his adherence to the Covenants, 
 and, with his right hand lifted up to heaven, bound 
 himself by oath to prosecute the ends of them, to the 
 utmost of his power. The more effectually to lull sus- 
 picion, he, some time after, issued a declaration from 
 Dunfermline, in which he publicly lamented the opposi- 
 tion made by his father to the work of reformation, the 
 idolatry of his mother, and his own former enmity to 
 the cause of God. He protested his perfect sincerity 
 in taking the Covenants, and his fixed purpose to abide 
 
 1 Aikman, vol. 4th, Book xi. 2 June, 1650. 
 
108 THE SECOND REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND, 
 
 by them " really, constantly, and sincerely, all the 
 days of his life." This career of deliberate perjury 
 was consummated a few months after, at his corona- 
 tion. On the first of January, 1651, in the presence 
 of the Parliament, the Commissioners of the General 
 Assembly, and a numerous congregation, the Covenants 
 were again administered to him, 1 in the same solemn 
 manner, and afterwards the coronation oath, according 
 to the eighth Act of Parliament first, James VI. The 
 horrid impiety, perfidy, and cruelty of his subsequent 
 reign, would have wanted their darkest finishing, had 
 not his course begun in such heaven-daring hypocrisy. 
 And here we must record a third unhappy error of 
 this period, which displays very forcibly the danger 
 incurred by the church, when she contracts an alliance 
 with unprincipled and ungodly civil rulers. The recent 
 invasion of England, under the Duke of Hamilton, and 
 still more, the conduct of Scotland in espousing so 
 rashly the cause of young prince Charles, naturally led 
 to a war between the two kingdoms. In the month of 
 September, 1650, an English anny, commanded by 
 Cromwell, gained a decisive victory over the Scottish 
 forces at Dunbar. This seemed to the king and Ins 
 favourite counsellors a happy opportunity for obtaining 
 the repeal of two Acts of Parliament, which had been 
 passed in the preceding year. By one of these Acts, 
 persons who had incurred the censures of the church, 
 by the scandalous immorality of their lives, or by their 
 manifest hostility to the Reforma tion, were debarred 
 from important stations in the army ; and by the other, 
 the same classes of persons were rendered incapable of 
 any office of trust or power in the State, until they 
 should afford satisfactory evidence of their repentance. 
 Through the solicitation of the king and Parliament, 
 the Commission of the General Assembly, by two se- 
 veral resolutions, virtually gave their consent to the 
 repeal of these Acts ; and their decision was approved 
 
 1 At Scoon, in the neighbourhood of Perth. 
 
AND COMMENCEMENT OF DEFECTION FROM IT. 109 
 
 of by a majority of the members of the next General 
 Assembly. And here may be dated the first serious 
 and decided departure from her own avowed principles, 
 by the Church of Scotland. There was a numerous 
 body, however, in the church, both of ministers and 
 others, who condemned these resolutions, as unjusti- 
 fiable and dangerous, and protested against the deed of 
 Assembly by which they were confirmed. In the vehe- 
 ment controversy which ensued, the majority, who 
 approved of the conduct of the Commission, were styled 
 Resolutioners ; the minority who condemned it, were 
 named Protesters. A lamentable division was created, 
 at a time when increasing danger pre-eminently required 
 the most cordial union. The result was every way 
 gratifying to the king. He was pleased to see the 
 Covenanters enfeebled by their mutual contentions, 
 and he rejoiced to have obtained the consent both of 
 Church and State, to gather around him men of his 
 own spirit and character. After a most disgusting 
 scene of mock repentance on the part of the malignants, 
 in order to their being absolved from church censures, 
 they were crowded into the most important stations, 
 both in the army and in the civil government. When 
 it is recollected, that the cause for which Scotland had 
 been struggling for a period of twelve years, was that of 
 religion and liberty, and that the men who, by means of 
 the public resolutions, were now called to power, were 
 the most dangerous enemies to both that were in the 
 kingdom, the extreme impolicy and sinfulness of these 
 resolutions must appear obvious. It is matter of history, 
 that the very men into whose hands Charles now put 
 the reins of government, became his ready instruments, 
 ten years afterwards, in virtue of the authority with 
 which they were now invested, both in the outrages 
 which were committed on civil liberty, and in overturn- 
 ing the work of Reformation. 1 
 
 At this juncture, the efforts of Charles to force his 
 
 1 Wodrow, Vol. i., Book I., Chapter 1. 
 L 
 
( 
 
 110 THE SECOND REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND, 
 
 way to the throne of England were unsuccessful. The 
 army which he led into England was totally routed ; 
 and, as Cromwell still kept possession of the capital of 
 Scotland, there was no alternative left for the king but 
 an inglorious flight. With much difficulty he escaped 
 to France, and, during the ten years which he spent on 
 the Continent, gave ample proof of his hypocrisy in 
 those engagements which he made in Scotland. 
 
 To the church and people of Scotland, the Protec- 
 torate of Cromwell was less acceptable than the govern- 
 ment of Charles, yet it was immeasurably less inju- 
 rious. In the means which he employed to raise him- 
 self to power, he does not appear to have been scrupu- 
 lous. It must be admitted, however, that the energy 
 of his government repressed disorders at home, and 
 made the power of Britain be respected abroad. His 
 prompt and effectual interposition to save the persecuted 
 Waldenses from extermination, was a splendid achieve- 
 ment, which should not be buried in oblivion. 1 
 
 Different causes conspired to render the government 
 of Cromwell somewhat more rigorous in Scotland, than 
 in other parts of the empire. The people of that 
 country were almost unanimous in proclaiming their 
 attachment to the exiled king, and their decided hos- 
 tility to the authority of Cromwell, which they denoun- 
 ced as a usurpation. They ascribed to him, too exclu- 
 sively, the blame of having defeated the Covenanted 
 uniformity. He was jealous of their ecclesiastical 
 judicatories, as capable of exercising an influence on 
 the nation, which might endanger the stability of his 
 government. The meetings of the General Assembly 
 were for several years interdicted, 2 and other injurious 
 
 1 Jones' Church History. 
 
 2 When the Assembly was met, at its usual time and place, in July, 
 1653, one of the officers of the English army at that time in Edinburgh, 
 repaired to the Assembly house, attended by a company of horse and foot, 
 and immediately after the court had been constituted by the Moderator, 
 informed the members that he had orders to dissolve the meeting; and 
 having led them out of town, he discharged them from holding any far- 
 ther meetings without the consent of the English Parliament. — Baillie, 
 Vol. ii., Letter 193. 
 
AND COMMENCEMENT OF DEFECTION FROM IT. 1 L 1 
 
 restraints on ministerial freedom imposed. Cromwell 
 very improperly assumed and exercised the right of 
 appointing days of fasting and thanksgiving, by his 
 sole authority. Endeavours were also made by his 
 agents, to propagate in Scotland the principles of Inde- 
 pendency, to which he himself was warmly attached. 
 Yet he never offered the violence to the church, to which 
 she had been accustomed for forty years, under the 
 house of Stuart — by silencing, suspending, and banish- 
 ing the best of her ministers, on account of their faith- 
 fulness. 1 There seems to be good ground for believing, 
 that notwithstanding the impediments which arose to 
 the progress of the Reformation, particularly in Eng- 
 land, the system of church polity which had been par- 
 tially introduced into that country, and fully established 
 in Scotland, continued to produce abundant and excel- 
 lent fruit in both kingdoms during the greater part of 
 the Protectorate. The fact that at the close of this 
 period, there were found occupying the pulpits in Eng- 
 land about 2000 ministers, who, for conscience' sake, 
 deliberately exposed themselves and their families to 
 poverty and reproach, by relinquishing their livings, and 
 what they prized more highly, the privilege of exercis- 
 ing their ministry for the edification of their flocks, 
 furnishes a testimony to the power of principle scarcely 
 surpassed in the annals of history. Of the state of 
 religion in Scotland at that period, we may give one 
 testimony from an historian, who was a minister of the 
 Church of Scotland in the time of which he writes. 
 " I verily believe there were more souls converted to 
 Christ in that short period of time, than in any other 
 season since the Reformation, though of treble its dura- 
 tion ; nor was there ever greater purity and plenty of 
 the means of grace than was in that time." 
 
 1 Aikrnan, Vol. iv, pp. 446, 456. Kirkton.p. 56. d 
 
112 FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 FROM THE RESTORATION OF CHARLES H. TO THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 A. D. 1660 to 1688. 
 
 During a period of twenty years, appearances seemed 
 to justify the sanguine hope of the Reformers, that the 
 sway of Antichrist in Britain was at an end. About 
 the beginning of that period, the raging monster had 
 given an appalling display of his power and cruelty, in 
 the massacre of the Protestants in the north of Ireland. 
 And in England, too, the efforts made to maintain his 
 ascendancy, by the first Charles and his adherents, 
 composed of Roman Catholics, cavaliers, and malig- 
 nants, 1 led to the effusion of much blood. Yet during 
 the time specified, the principles of social order which 
 prevailed, were more in accordance with Christianity 
 than they had formerly been, and the cause of true 
 religion was, upon the whole, progressive. But the 
 advancement of Charles II. to the throne of Great 
 Britain, in the year 1660, made it evident, that the 
 scarlet-coloured Beast had not been dead, but merely 
 overpowered ; and by the violence with which he then 
 arose " to devour, break in pieces, and stamp the residue 
 with his feet," 2 he seemed anxious to be avenged for 
 the temporary restraint which had been imposed upon 
 him. It would be puerile to ascribe to Charles alone, 
 or to the few men of Belial who were the chief instru- 
 ments of his despotism, the enormous mass of crime, 
 which, under the name of government, was perpetrated 
 in Britain and Ireland during that period. Had there 
 not been a multitude to whom the government of 
 Charles was acceptable, just because it gave vent and 
 
 1 The persons known to be enemies to the Reformation, and favourable 
 to the exorbitant claims of the civil rulers, were, in that period, commonly 
 denominated Malignants. 
 
 2 Daniel vii. 7. 
 
FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 113 
 
 indulgence to their unhallowed passions; and, perhaps, 
 a still larger number, who were criminally and sordidly 
 lukewarm, in regard to the best interests of their 
 country, the prosperity of the church, and the righteous 
 claims of the Redeemer, — the two royal brothers had 
 not been suffered, during a period of twenty-eight years. 
 to trample so proudly on the civil and religious liber- 
 ties of the nations, and to make havoc in the heritage 
 of God. The spirit of Antichrist was still among the 
 people, and Charles and his government were merely 
 the instruments by which it displayed itself in active 
 operation. 
 
 We have specified some of the errors, by which even 
 the people of God in Scotland had exposed themselves 
 to divine correction. Nor were their brethren in Eng- 
 land, at the same period, blameless. They were, as a 
 body, excessively and blindly desirous of the king's 
 return, and concurred, actively and passively, in hi^ 
 restoration, without insisting on any stipulations what- 
 ever. And now the king, for whose sake they put such 
 weighty interests at hazard, was the principal instru- 
 ment in their sufferings. It may also be remarked, 
 that a large number of them, who had either been 
 brought up as Presbyterians, or had embraced that 
 form of church government, seemed inclined, at the 
 Restoration, to entertain a proposal for a compromise 
 with the Episcopalians. They would have submitted 
 to a modified Episcopacy, according to a model sup- 
 plied by the venerable Usher. But this unwarrantable 
 and dangerous concession brought them no advantage : 
 and it deserves to be remarked, that throughout the 
 whole protracted period of their sufferings, the bishops 
 were their unwavering and implacable enemies. 
 
 As soon as Charles found himself securely seated on 
 his throne, had tried the temper of his Parliament, and 
 rilled his court with men, most of whom would shrink 
 from no villany, he laid aside all restraint. His former 
 declarations and promises, especially to the Presbyte- 
 rians, were violated without scruple. The ancient hier- 
 L2 
 
114 FROM TIIE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 archv was restored, without modification. The surviv- 
 ing Episcopal clergymen, who had been ejected by 
 the Parliament, many of them for gross error in doc- 
 trine, and notorious immorality of life, were indiscrim- 
 inately restored, and the Presbyterian ministers expelled 
 to make room for them. The Act of uniformity soon 
 followed, by which about 2,000 ministers in England, 
 were driven from their flocks in one day, 1 and dis- 
 charged from the exercise of their ministry. When 
 they ventured to preach in the fields, or in private 
 houses, they were apprehended and cast into prison, 
 where not a few of them perished. Oaths and declara- 
 tions were imposed, requiring, under severe penalties, 
 the renunciation of the Solemn League, as an unlawful 
 bond, and an acknowledgment that it was unlawful to 
 resist the king, under any pretence whatever. By the 
 conventicle Act, in 1664, the people who countenanced 
 their ministry were subjected to heavy penalties. At 
 any meeting for religious exercises, not in accordance 
 with the rules of the established church, and where 
 more than five persons were present above sixteen 
 years of age — in addition to the members of the family 
 at whose house the meeting took place — each individual 
 became liable, for the first offence, to three months' 
 imprisonment; for the second, to six months; for the 
 third, to transportation for seven years ; and should the 
 offender return before the expiration of that term, the 
 offence was pronounced a capital crime. This was 
 followed by another Act, which exceedingly aggravated 
 the sufferings of the ejected ministers, forbidding them 
 to approach within five miles of any city, or borough 
 town, or of any place where they had, at any time, 
 statedly exercised their ministry. This had the effect 
 of removing them to a distance from those friends whose 
 kindness would have alleviated their extreme destitu- 
 tion. And as we have deemed it proper to make 
 explicit mention of their errors, which exposed them to 
 
 1 1st August, 1GC2. 
 
FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 115 
 
 chastisement, we feel ourselves equally bound to express 
 our conviction, that the cause for which they contended 
 was supremely worthy of the most arduous struggle, 
 and to record our admiration of their patience and con- 
 stancy under all the hardships they were called to endure. 
 Driven, as they were, from place to place, stripped of 
 their property and of the means of earning a subsistence, 
 their families broken up and dispersed, surrounded by 
 spies and informers, who swanned in every quarter like 
 the foul carrion bird in the field of recent carnage, 
 harassed by incessant lawsuits, mocked and brow-beaten 
 by the minions of power who occupied the bench of 
 justice — they bore all, not only with patience and firm- 
 ness, but with a meekness and gentleness which often 
 confounded their persecutors, and which nothing but 
 the mighty power of divine grace could have inspired. 
 
 In the meantime, the unbounded profaneness and 
 profligacy of the court, were diffused throughout the 
 country. The salutary laws against vice and open pro- 
 faneness, which were passed in the former period, were 
 annulled, or became a dead letter. The magistrates 
 and public functionaries very frequently took their 
 model from the court. The change made in the pulpits 
 was lamentably for the worse. The most effectual 
 restraints upon the out-breakings of human depravity 
 were removed or broken down, and a tide of ungodli- 
 ness and debauchery overspread the nation. 
 
 The reign of terror in Scotland during the same 
 period, was even more fierce and bloody than in Eng- 
 land. The Committee of Estates, appointed in 1651, 
 was instructed by Charles, at his restoration, to assume 
 the government until the meeting of Parliament. 1 The 
 members of this committee had all professed zeal for 
 Scotland's Reformation, and sworn the Covenants, 
 let on the very first day of their meeting, they com- 
 mitted ten ministers to prison, whom they found in the 
 act of drawing up an address and supplication to the 
 
 1 Wodrow, Vol. i, Book I, Chap. 1 . 
 
11G FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 king ; and, by a proclamation issued on the following 
 day, prohibited all such meetings as unlawful, unless 
 held by the king's special authority, and all petitions 
 and remonstrances, as tending to sedition. These were 
 the first fruits of the Public Resolutions. 
 
 At this crisis the notorious James Sharpe returned 
 from London, where he had been playing a game of 
 profound and successful treachery, which has seldom 
 been equalled. When the proposal to recall the king 
 began to be generally agitated, in both parts of the 
 kingdom, a few of the leading ministers of the Church 
 of Scotland, being favourable to that proposal, resolved 
 to send up to London one of their own number, in whose 
 prudence and fidelity they had the fullest confidence, 
 to be a medium of intercourse between them and their 
 brethren — the Presbyterian ministers of England, to 
 watch the progress of public events, and to give to his 
 friends at home prompt and explicit intelligence of 
 every tiling as it occurred. Sharpe was chosen for this 
 delicate and very important business. The main design 
 of his mission was evidently to take care that, in the 
 arrangements made for settling the government of the 
 empire, either by restoring the king or otherwise, the 
 interests of religion should be secured, and especially 
 the liberties and privileges of the Church of Scotland. 
 But Sharpe was covetous, unprincipled, and ambitious, 
 and eagerly embraced an opportunity which presented 
 itself of securing his own personal aggrandizement, by 
 betraying his country, and the church of God. Having 
 entered into the scheme of a political faction, who, from 
 selfish views, desired to have the king restored without 
 any conditions whatever, he managed, by consummate 
 address and duplicity, to keep his brethren in ignor- 
 ance, and so effectually to delude them into the belief, 
 that the safety of the church consisted in confiding all 
 to the justice and generosity of the king, that no single 
 step was taken in Scotland to guard against the impend- 
 ing danger. The Protesters alone appear to have under- 
 stood the king's character, and to have formed a just 
 
FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 117 
 
 conception of the inexpressible folly and wickedness of 
 placing the destinies of three kingdoms so rashly in his 
 hands. But it was a part of Sharpens policy to vilify 
 the protesters, to fasten on them the charge of being 
 factious and turbulent, and to cause their strong expres- 
 sions of alarm to be treated with contempt. By these 
 means the Church of Scotland was placed at the king's 
 mercy, before any suspicion of danger was generally 
 entertained. When the craftiness of the fox was to be 
 superseded by the ferocity of the lion, then this apostate 
 and traitor appeared on the stage, to guide the move- 
 ments of the executive government, as yet unpractised 
 in the work of persecution. As it was still desirable, 
 however, to preserve, for a short time, the delusive se- 
 curity of the church, he brought with him a letter from 
 the king, addressed to the Presbytery of Edinburgh, in 
 which Charles declares his determination " to protect 
 and preserve the government of the Church of Scotland, 
 as it is settled by law, without violation." * The fulfil- 
 ment of this promise consisted in the speedy restoration 
 of the bishops, by virtue of the royal supremacy alone, 
 and in the appointment of the perfidious Sharpe to be 
 Archbishop of St. Andrews. A higher testimony of the 
 estimation in which his services were held by the king, 
 could not have been given, than in the fact, that when 
 he himself usurped the Popedom of the churches in his 
 dominions, Sharpe was advanced to the Primacy of the 
 Church in Scotland. 
 
 The Parliament met in January, 1661, and proved 
 every way qualified for the infamous work which its 
 master intended it to perform. The king's Commis- 
 sioner found little difficulty in obtaining its sanction to 
 all the measures which the court chose to prescribe. 
 After reviewing what was achieved by the Scottish 
 nobility and gentry, during the twenty years immediately 
 preceding, it is a humiliating and melancholy spectacle 
 to behold the members of this Parliament, almost all of 
 
 1 AVoodrow, vol. i, p. 80. 
 
f 
 
 118 FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 whom had come under the sacred bonds of the National 
 Covenants, most of whom had witnessed, and many of 
 whom had shared in the magnanimous struggle of their 
 country for her rights, now so utterly degraded and 
 apostate, so reckless of their own solemn engagements, 
 so recreant to their country's dearest liberties, so eager 
 to sacrifice the church at the shrine of avarice and am- 
 bition, so complaisant and servile to royalty, so haughty, 
 oppressive, and inexorable to their fellow-countrymen. 
 The first work of this Parliament was to annul and 
 overturn, with every mark of contempt, those venerable 
 institutions and wholesome laws which their royal mas- 
 ter, as well as most of themselves, had solemnly sworn 
 to maintain inviolate. After the Commissioner had 
 made sufficient trial of the character and principles of 
 the Parliament, first, by substituting, at the commence- 
 ment of the proceedings, an oath of allegiance and dis- 
 guised supremacy, instead of requiring the members to 
 subscribe the Covenant, as, by the standing laws of the 
 kingdom, they were bound to do ; and next, by passing 
 a few Acts in which hostility to the Reformation was 
 more cautiously displayed, he immediately introduced 
 the measure which may be regarded as the main work 
 of that session. This was what has been usually termed 
 the act rescissory, ! by which all the meetings of 
 Parliament, which had been held since the year 1640, 
 were condemned as illegal, and all the Acts of these 
 Parliaments declared null and void. The second ses- 
 sion of this Parliament, held in May, 1662, declared, 
 in its first Act, that " the ordering and disposal of the 
 external government and policy of the church, doth 
 properly belong unto his Majesty as an inherent right 
 of the crown, by virtue of his royal prerogative and 
 supremacy in causes ecclesiastical;" and, in the exer- 
 cise of this assumed right, the king and Parliament 
 restored the " state of bishops" to their " ancient places 
 and undoubted privileges in Parliament; and to all their 
 
 1 Act 15th, Parliament 1st. Charles II. 
 
FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 119 
 
 other accustomed dignities, privileges, and jurisdic- 
 tions." They next proceeded to condemn and annul 
 " all Acts of Parliament, or Council, which might he 
 inteqn'eted to have given any church power, jurisdic- 
 tion, or government, to the office-hearers of the church, 
 other than that which acknowledged a dependence 
 upon, and suhordination to, the sovereign power of the 
 king, as supreme," to whom the archbishops and bishops 
 were to be accountable for their administrations. By 
 the second Act of this session, the Covenanted Refor- 
 mation, and all that was done in accomplishing it from 
 1638 to 1650, were declared to be treasonable and re- 
 bellious. It was further enacted, that it is " treasonable 
 and rebellious" to maintain, that it is lawful to subjects, 
 M upon pretence of reformation, or on any other pre- 
 tence, to enter into leagues and covenants, or take up 
 arms against the king, or to put limits upon the due 
 obedience or allegiance of his subjects." The public- 
 Covenants were cancelled, " as in themselves unlawful 
 oaths," and " imposed upon the subjects against the 
 fundamental laws and liberties of the kingdom;" and 
 " all Acfs and Constitutions, ecclesiastical or civil, 
 approving of" the Covenants, especially the Acts of 
 the Assembly at Glasgow in 1638, which was pronounced 
 an * unlawful and seditious meeting," all whose pro- 
 ceedings, from the beginning, were declared to be " un- 
 lawful, null, and void." At a more advanced period of 
 the reign of Charles, the vehement enmity of the court 
 and Parliament against the Covenants was further ex- 
 pressed, by the order to burn them publicly at Edin- 
 burgh, as had been done previously at London, and 
 other places. 1 It was, moreover, enacted, that all who 
 administered or took the Covenants, or wrote in defence 
 of them, or acknowledged their obligation, should be 
 punished as traitors. 
 
 Before proceeding with the narrative, it may be here 
 
 1 They were burnt at Linlithgow, with even- mark of profane contempt, 
 on the -29th May, 1662. 
 
120 FROM TIIE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 observed, that in the enactments which have now been 
 quoted, may be found embodied the leading principles 
 on which the government of the Stuarts was conducted 
 in Britain and Ireland, for about one hundred years ; 
 although neither James I. of England, nor his son 
 Charles, had power to carry their principles fully into 
 practice. Under the reign of Charles II., however, and 
 under his brother James, they were brought into opera- 
 tion with great vigour. Whether we regard these 
 principles in theory, or as they were illustrated in prac- 
 tice, we feel constrained to condemn them, and to lift 
 our testimony against them, as despotic, antichristian, 
 and impious. These principles are comprised under 
 two heads: — 1st, the unqualified supremacy of the 
 king over the church ; 2d, his absolute sovereignty over 
 the nation. As these claims constituted the entire 
 ground of controversy between the government and the 
 steadfast Covenanters, for a period of twenty-eight years, 
 it seems proper to analyze them, and to state somewhat 
 more fully what was commonly understood, by both 
 the contending parties, as included in them. 
 
 1st. In virtue of Ins supremacy, the king claimed an 
 
 , / uncontrollable right to give to the church such a con- 
 
 \ stitution and government as he should choose ; in the 
 
 exercise of which right he could be fettered by no 
 
 human laws, and was answerable to no earthly tribunal. 
 
 2d. A right to enforce this government on the churches 
 
 throughout his dominions, and, by the whole weight of 
 
 the civil power, to compel universal and unqualified 
 
 submission to it. 3d. The claim brought along with 
 
 it the competency of the king to absolve these nations 
 
 from the obligation of the most solemn bonds. It was, 
 
 accordingly, by the exercise of the supremacy alone, 
 
 \y without any other sanction, that the king restored the 
 
 / Episcopal hierarchy, notwithstanding that almost all 
 
 the religious part of the nation were, from their inmost 
 
 soul, opposed to it, as unscriptural and unlawful. 4th. 
 
 The claim farther brought with it patronage, in its 
 
 rankest form, whereby the king, in concurrence with 
 

 FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 121 
 
 his own creatures, the bishops, might appoint ministers 
 for a large proportion of the parishes throughout the 
 kingdom. It does not appear how a ruler, to whom is 
 conceded such an authority over the church, could 
 encounter much difficulty in establishing throughout 
 his dominions any religious system whatever — Popery, 
 Mahometanism, or Paganism; or how his subjects 
 could possibly prevent such a result, without setting 
 themselves in opposition to the king's authority, 
 which it was declared damnable to resist. 
 
 But when we add to this the other claim mentioned, 
 as explained by the government then existing, the 
 mighty chain becomes strong enough to bind all 
 subjects to the chariot wheels of their rulers. To 
 maintain that it is lawful for subjects to offer resistance 
 to the sovereign will of their king, or to take arms 
 against him, or any bearing his commission, on any 
 pretence whatever, was declared to be treasonable and 
 rebellious. Without the special consent and permis- 
 sion of the king, it was pronounced to be unlawful to 
 form any association, or hold any meeting, even for the 
 purpose of presenting a supplication or remonstrance; 
 and all " writing, printing, preaching, praying, against 
 his majesty's royal prerogative," as thus denned, or 
 against such a church government as he might choose 
 to introduce, were prohibited under severe penalties. 
 
 The combination of these two claims forms a power 
 which swallows up the chief rights both of God and 
 man. It embodies in it the whole essence and impiety 
 of Antichrist. The property, liberty, and religion of 
 the entire community, are placed at its sovereign dis- 
 posal. It forges a commission from heaven, to leave to 
 men nothing to do in religion but to submit implicitly 
 to the will of their prince, and thus annihilates the right 
 of private judgment, the rights of conscience, and 
 man's responsibility to God. Besides robbing the Re- 
 deemer of the rights of his crown, it would dethrone 
 the King Eternal, transferring to a sinful mortal the 
 highest homage which rational creatines can render to 
 
 M 
 
122 FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 the Supreme Being. It has sometimes been ignorantly 
 alleged, that the matters about which the persecuted 
 Covenanters contended were of trivial importance; if it 
 be so, there is nothing in the whole range of human 
 rights as regards the present life, nor of the privileges 
 which the divine benignity has furnished to man that 
 he may prepare for eternity, which can be deemed 
 important. In all the past struggles of patriotism and 
 piety, it would be difficult to name an instance where 
 resistance to unrighteous claims was more imperative. 
 
 The king's representatives in Scotland seemed im- 
 patient to prove that they were prepared to reduce to 
 practice the principles they had adopted. With this 
 view, it was determined to make a few examples, which 
 might serve not only as a warning to others, but to 
 gratify the private personal malice of the king, and of 
 some of his favourite counsellors. The first sufferer, 
 who led up the noble train of martyrs, was the Marquis 
 of Argyle, 1 who, ten years before, had placed the crown 
 on the head of the king ; a peer more ennobled by his 
 magnanimity, patriotism, and piety, than by his exalted 
 rank. A few days after, one of the brightest lights of 
 the Church of Scotland, the Rev. James Guthrie, was 
 executed, on grounds equally honourable to himself, 
 and disgraceful to his murderers. A brief interval 
 elapsed, until these were followed by an individual 
 every way worthy to be associated with them, — the 
 eminently pious and learned Lord Warriston, 2 who had 
 been one of the Commissioners from the Church of 
 Scotland to the Westminster Assembly. 
 
 When the enemy thus broke in like a flood, there 
 were but few prepared to lift up a standard against him. 
 While the protesters only were the sufferers, whose 
 vigilance and fidelity marked them out as the first sac- 
 rifices to the fury of the oppressor, the great body of 
 the people looked on, with an apparent unconcern, 
 which it is impossible to justify. In some instances, 
 
 » May 27th, 1661. -' July 22d, 1 663. 
 
FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 123 
 
 Presbyteries and Synods allowed themselves to become 
 tools in the hands of the civil rulers, for harassing and 
 oppressing their protesting brethren. How sad was 
 this spectacle, as contrasted with that which the Church 
 of Scotland exhibited twenty -two years before, when an 
 attempt was made to introduce the Service Book ! But 
 this temporizing policy, of so large a number of the 
 people of God, was visited with speedy retribution. 
 
 As soon as the church began to be undeceived, and 
 Presbyteries and Synods were preparing to express 
 their disapprobation of public measures, in the form of 
 supplications and remonstrances, their meetings were 
 forcibly dissolved, and, in a short time, entirely inter- 
 dicted. Next, by an Act of Privy Council, 1 above 
 three hundred ministers were ejected from their pulpits 
 in one day; and, shortly after, all the ministers of the 
 kingdom were strictly prohibited from the exercise of 
 their ministry, excepting those who should take out a 
 presentation from the patrons, and accept of collation 
 from bishops. 
 
 The persons who were introduced as successors to 
 the ejected ministers were, with few exceptions, most 
 unworthy of the ministerial office. Even Burnet, who 
 afterwards became a bishop, describes them as having 
 been so " grossly ignorant, mean, and despicable, and 
 many of them so openly immoral, that they were a dis- 
 grace to their sacred profession." When the first con- 
 sternation was somewhat allayed, and the people had 
 learned something of the character and doctrines of 
 their new teachers, the attendance at the parish churches 
 rapidly diminished. 
 
 For a time, the ejected ministers confined their 
 instructions to those of the people who could conve- 
 
 1 At Glasgow, October 1, 1662. 
 In the preceding year, the Prelates in the north of Ireland had ejected 
 from their pulpits the greater part of the Presbyterian ministers, who 
 were settled in that kingdom. Of sixty- eight who were associated in 
 Presbyteries in the province of Ulster, only seven conformed to Prelacy, 
 and sixty-one were ejected. — Reid's History of the Presbyterian Church 
 in Ireland, vol. ii., p. 350. 
 
124 FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 niently join with them in family worship ; subsequently, 
 many of them resumed the exercise of their ministry, 
 both in private houses and in the fields. It had been 
 declared by Charles and his Parliament, that all 
 ecclesiastical power and authority are lodged in the 
 king, as an essential right of his crown. In the exer- 
 cise of this authority, he had commanded these ministers 
 to desist from preaching, and had put others, bearing 
 his own commission, in their stead. He had also com- 
 manded the people to give punctual attendance on the 
 ministrations of the curates. Such meetings for reli- 
 gious worship, therefore, as were now held by the 
 ejected ministers, could not fail to be regarded by the 
 king as so many instances of palpable disobedience to 
 his authority. They were, accordingly, condemned as 
 unlawful and seditious, and interdicted under severe 
 penalties. Thus Charles and his associates addressed 
 themselves to an enterprise which had baffled all the 
 tyrants who had embarked in it, from the days of Nero 
 up to that time, — an attempt to coerce, by the strong 
 arm of violence, the consciences of the people of God 
 into compliance with their own despotic will. 
 
 The offices of goverment were soon filled with the 
 vilest men in the nation. The work to be done was too 
 horrid for men of principle or integrity to have any 
 hand in it. Or if, at any time, individuals less de- 
 praved were introduced to office, their influence and 
 counsel were entirely neutralized by their profligate 
 associates, and by the overwhelming force of the royal 
 prerogative. As the spoils of the persecuted were 
 divided between the governors and their agents, and 
 pillage and brutal oppression were sanctioned by law, 
 a multitude of persons who, in a well ordered com- 
 munity, would be the inmates of a prison, thronged 
 around the government for employment. On the other 
 hand, those men who, by their intelligence, uprightness, 
 and piety, form the strength and ornament of a well 
 ordered community, were now compelled to wander up 
 and down as outlaws, were crowded into prisons, or 
 
FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 125 
 
 banished as criminals into distant colonies, where they 
 were subjected to extreme privations and sufferings. 
 
 The ejected ministers, who could neither make a 
 compromise with Prelacy, nor lay down their office at 
 the command of the king, were the first to feel the 
 effects of royal vengeance. At an early period, they 
 were compelled to remove with their families, each at 
 least twenty miles from the parish in which he had been 
 settled ; and they were forbidden to approach within 
 six miles of Edinburgh, or of any royal borough. But 
 the penalties denounced against preaching in private 
 houses, and especially in the fields, increased in sever- 
 ity, until it was decreed to be a capital crime. Nor 
 were those who countenanced the ministry of the field 
 preachers long exempted from suffering. High Com- 
 mission Courts were erected, which, for a time, exercised 
 all the severities for which these courts have been so 
 remarkable. These being discontinued, other courts 
 were multiplied, contrived and adapted for executing 
 unjust and cruel laws. The military forces were sum- 
 moned to the aid of the civil authorities : and, although 
 the people continued to endure their sufferings with 
 exemplary patience, the army was increased by new 
 levies, and by the addition of several regiments of 
 Highlanders. These forces were dispersed over those 
 counties, where dissent was most prevalent, that they 
 might compel the people to give punctual attendance 
 in their parish churches, and fine, and conduct to 
 prison, those who should be guilty of hearing the eject- 
 ed ministers. Under the false and wicked pretence 
 that these districts were in a state of insurrection, the 
 soldiers were instructed to take free quarters among 
 the inhabitants. One class of the soldiers were rude 
 and ignorant, and the others were trained to emidate 
 them in rapacity, and unfeeling oppression. And -lest 
 the design of the managers should be marred by any 
 remnants of humanity among the soldiers, the com- 
 mand was entrusted to such men as Turner, Dalziel, 
 and the bloody Claverhouse. 
 M -2 
 
12G FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 But these were modes of oppression which savages 
 might have practised. There wanted something more 
 refined and exquisite in cruelty, to answer to the char- 
 acter of the present actors. The hardships thus far 
 enumerated reached only the property, and the per- 
 sonal liberty, and sometimes the lives of men. But it 
 might be expected that apostate and perjured Cove- 
 nanters — and this was the character of Charles, Sharpe, 
 and Lauderdale, the chief authors of the persecution — 
 would accomplish something more profound in iniquity, 
 by attempting to reach the consciences of their victims. 
 The history of their efforts does not disappoint such an 
 expectation. A strenuous endeavour to involve the 
 people in the guilt of dissimulation, falsehood and per- 
 jury, by means of insidious and wicked declarations, 
 bonds, and oaths, presented to them under circumstances 
 of the strongest temptation, constituted a principal 
 feature of this persecution, from beginning to end. By 
 taking the bonds, the people were involved in guilt; for 
 refusing them, they were commonly stripped of their 
 entire property, and often subjected to more grievous 
 hardships. As a specimen of these detestable contri- 
 vances, we may name, first: — 
 
 The oath of allegiance, 1 which involved in it also an 
 acknowledgment of the kings supremacy. — Secondly, 
 the declaration? which exalted the royal prerogative, 
 required a renunciation of the Covenants, and of the 
 whole work of Reformation, and an acknowledgment 
 that it is high treason for subjects to rise in arms with- 
 out the king's permission, on any ground whatever. 
 Thirdly, the bond for peace, 3 which imposed imprac- 
 ticable conditions on masters and heritors; and was 
 understood as containing an engagement not to hear 
 the ejected ministers. Fourthly, the bond for con- 
 formity or regularity* by which noblemen, barons, 
 heritors, and all masters, were bound for themselves, 
 their wives, and children; their servants, and their 
 
 1 Wodrow, vol. i., p. 92, (1661.) 3 Ibid, vol. ii„ p. 93, (1667.) 
 
 2 Ibid, vol. i., p. 268, (1662.) * Ibid, vol. ii., p. 390, (1678.) 
 
FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 127 
 
 wives and children; their tenants, and their wives and 
 children, that they would not attend " any illegal meet- 
 ing," or, in other words, the preaching of the gospel by 
 ejected ministers; that they would hold no intercourse 
 with field preachers, or iutercommuned persons, but 
 endeavour to apprehend them, and deliver them up to 
 justice ; and if their own wives, children, or servants, 
 should offend in these particulars, that they would, with- 
 out fail, present them before the judge ordinary, that the 
 legal penalties might be executed upon them. Fifthly, 
 the Test, 1 which being self-contradictory, made per- ^ 
 jury inevitable. For, while the swearer is made, in the s 
 first place, to declare his adherence to the first Scottish 
 Confession of Faith, ratified by the first Parliament of 
 James VL, in which it is explicitly asserted, that Jesus 
 is the only Head of the Church, and that obedience is 
 owing to magistrates only in the due exercise of their 
 legitimate authority, he is required, in the second part 
 of the oath, to acknowledge Charles, the existing ruler, 
 as supreme Head of the Church, and that it is unlawful 
 for subjects to enter into Covenants without the king's 
 permission ; — and to bind himself that he shall never 
 decline his majesty's power and jurisdiction. 
 
 By degrees, the whole frame of government seemed 
 converted into one vast court of inquisition, in which 
 the Episcopal clergy of all ranks held a conspicuous 
 place, as informers, witnesses, or judges. Of fining 
 and imprisoning there was scarcely any cessation. 
 From the privy councillor down to the common soldier, 
 pillage was the universal practice. Multitudes who had 
 possessed a comfortable abundance, or who had lived 
 in affluence, were stripped of their entire property, and 
 became houseless wanderers. The prisons of the king- 
 dom were often crowded to excess ; and, although death 
 was continually removing numbers of prisoners, by the 
 cruel treatment to which they were subjected, and by the 
 busy hand of the public executioner, it was frequently 
 
 1 Wodrow, vol. iii., p. 295, (1681.) 
 
128 FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 neccessary to make room for new companies, by banish- 
 ing hundreds to foreign plantations, where many of 
 them were sold into perpetual slavery. By what were 
 termed letters of inter -communing, issued by the 
 government, great numbers, both of ministers and of 
 private Christians, were proclaimed outlaws, and cut 
 off from the common rites of hospitality. In such 
 cases, it was declared to be a capital crime to hold any 
 communication with these persons, byword or writing; 
 to afford them food or lodging, or the smallest relief or 
 assistance, — no exception being made in favour of those 
 who stood in the nearest relation to them. According 
 to this law, if an individual was denounced by govern- 
 ment as having been guilty of hearing a sermon in the 
 fields, the nearest relative could not offer him a morsel 
 of bread but at- the hazard of life. To establish the 
 crime of treason, it was not necessary, in the more 
 advanced stage of this persecution, to prove any act of 
 resistance to the laws, nor even to find evidence of an 
 intention to resist the law, however tyrannical; the 
 opinions of the persecuted Covenanters were pro- 
 nounced treason. By all the various tribunals that 
 were erected, multitudes were condemned to die for 
 owning the obligation of the Covenants ; for refusing 
 to acknowledge the king's ecclesiastical supremacy; 
 for avowing the sentiment, that it is lawful in subjects 
 to make resistance to tyrannical government ; for refus- 
 ing to call the death of bishop Sharpe murder ; or the 
 rising at Pentland, or at Bothwell, rebellion. Neither 
 was it deemed always requisite for convicting an offen- 
 der, that competent witnesses should be produced 
 against him. Whether it was before the supreme court 
 of justiciary that any suspected person was arraigned, 
 or one of the circuit courts, or a sheriff, or his deputy, 
 or his under-deputy, or a military officer, — there was 
 commonly but one mode of procedure. The pannel 
 was interrogated first in regard to his conduct, and next 
 in regard to his opinions; if, on these heads, nothing 
 was elicited, he was immediately required to take the 
 
FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 129 
 
 Test, or the current oath of the day ; and if the fear of 
 God would not allow hini to renounce Ins principles by 
 compliance, the process was immediately closed. He 
 might, perhaps, in the first instance, be deprived of all 
 his property, and shut up in prison, or sent to the Bass; l 
 but at one period of the persecution, such an examin- 
 ation was frequently followed by a speedy execution. 
 Even the common soldier was at last pennitted to adopt 
 the same mode of trial, in the case of any person whom 
 he suspected, or pretended to suspect, of disloyalty ; 
 and having his eye on the plunder, to become at once 
 witness, judge, and executioner. 
 
 During the continuance of the persecution, there 
 were two occasions on which a considerable number 
 of the Covenanters rose in arms, with the view of 
 defending themselves against oppression. The first of 
 these efforts commenced near the village of Dairy, 
 in Galloway, in 1666. It originated in the act of a 
 few individuals,who, prompted by humanity, interposed 
 to rescue an unhappy fellow-creature, whom some bar- 
 barous soldiers were preparing to torture with fire. 
 The whole district had, for a long time, been suffering 
 extreme hardships, both frorn the ravages, and from 
 the brutal insolence of the soldiers which had been quar- 
 tered among them, under the command of Sir James 
 Turner. In the excitement produced by the incident 
 above mentioned, the people rose suddenly, and dis- 
 armed the troops ; and having marched to the neigh- 
 bourhood of Edinburgh, were attacked and defeated with 
 much slaughter at the Pentland Hills. The second 
 attempt to break the yoke of the oppressor, which was 
 followed by still more disastrous consequences, took 
 place after an interval of nearly thirteen years. At this 
 period, the soldiers had orders to disperse by violence 
 every meeting for religious worship not authorized by 
 law; to seize the property, and even the garments of 
 the worshippers; and were indemnified for whatever 
 
 1 An insulated rock near the entrance of the Firth of Forth. 
 
* 
 
 130 FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 blood might be shed in the execution of these orders. 
 From this state of the law, it had become the practice 
 among the persecuted Covenanters, when they met for 
 worship, to assemble in large numbers, and to come 
 armed for their own defence. One of these meetings 
 was held at Loudon Hill, in Ayrshire, on the first 
 Sabbath of June, 1679; and, while public worship was 
 proceeding, notice was given that Claverhouse was 
 approaching, carrying along with him a number of 
 prisoners, including Mr. King, one of the ministers. 
 To prevent an attack on the promiscuous congregation, 
 a resolution was adopted by the men to stand on the 
 defensive. On this occasion, Clav erhouse was repulsed, 
 and the prisoners liberated. 
 
 The persons who had concurred in this affair were 
 convinced that it would be visited by the government 
 with a terrible revenge. This kept them together for 
 about three weeks, during which time they had received 
 a considerable accession of numbers. But they were, 
 unhappily, divided among themselves on several points, 
 and especially about the propriety of owning the king's 
 authority, in their public declaration of the cause in 
 which they now appeared in arms. They were not 
 properly united under the command of any one leader. 
 They wanted discipline, and the necessary equipments 
 of war. Being attacked by the king's forces at Both- 
 well Bridge, on the 22d of June, a small company of 
 them made a brief but spirited resistance : these, how- 
 ever, being overpowered, the troops proceeded to 
 spread slaughter among the multitude without farther 
 resistance. 
 
 It deserves to be remarked, that both these efforts of 
 the Covenanters were, in their origin, wholly unpre- 
 meditated. The first of them was occasioned by a 
 revolting outrage on an individual ; the second by a 
 hostile aggression of an armed force on a peaceable 
 congregation, met for public worship on the Lord's-day. 
 In the circumstances in which the Covenanters were 
 placed, the subsequent prosecution of these enterprizes 
 
FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 131 
 
 might be imprudent. Even in the most important 
 cause, it is unwarrantable to place lives in peril, with- 
 out a rational and strong probability of success. But 
 the principle on which the Covenanters acted, is one 
 which we cannot disown, viz., that there is a point 
 beyond which it is not required of Christians by the 
 divine law, nor can justly be required of them by any 
 human law, to yield themselves up as the unresisting 
 victims of wanton oppression. Nor can it reasonably 
 be questioned, that such a crisis had now come in 
 Scotland, where murder was sanctioned by statute, 
 hospitality was a capital crime, and even the common 
 courtesies of life among the nearest relations, were 
 punishable with death ; to petition was treason ; and to 
 talk of legal redress, or even to utter a complaint, was 
 the way to a prison. 
 
 In both the instances mentioned, the punishments 
 inflicted under colour of law, on those who were taken 
 prisoners on the field of battle, or charged with being 
 accessary to these engagements, were vindictive and 
 barbarous in the extreme. After the defeat at Bothwell, 
 from twelve to fifteen hundred persons were confined 
 in the Grey friars' church-yard in Edinburgh, most of 
 them for a period of about five months, exposed to the 
 inclemency of the weather by day and night. Many 
 died from the hardships and privations to which they 
 were subjected there, and not a few by the hand of the 
 public executioner. Between two and three hundred 
 were sentenced to be transported to distant colonies ; 
 but the vessel in which they were embarked having 
 struck on a rock, in one of the northern isles of Scot- 
 land, about two hundred of them perished. Their 
 death is ascribed to the inhumanity of the captain and 
 the crew, who, although they found the means of escap- 
 ing from the danger themselves, are reported to have 
 chained down the hatches of the sinking vessel upon 
 their prisoners. 
 
 Amidst all the convulsions and dangers of this period, 
 there was a band of faithful ministers, who continued 
 
132 FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 to proclaim among an oppressed and impoverished 
 people the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to dis- 
 play a banner for truth. At a time when the rulers 
 and their hireling clergy conspired to set open the 
 flood-gates of ungodliness, these despised wanderers 
 were honoured to conduct many sinners to the fountain 
 "whose streams make glad the city of God." Their 
 patience under sufferings, their holy and exemplary 
 lives, and the fervour and solemnity with which they 
 set forth salvation by the cross of Christ, were, by the 
 divine blessing, made effectual for the conversion of 
 thousands. The high principle and intelligence of the 
 martyrs, who, at the hazard of their lives, persevered in 
 their attendance on the field meetings, afforded ample 
 demonstration of the power which accompanied the 
 preaching of the ejected ministers. Neither the example 
 nor the doctrine of those ministers who crouched under 
 the yoke, had any tendency to prepare men for mar- 
 tyrdom. 
 
 Here it becomes necessary for us to state our senti- 
 ments in regard to one or two of the questions which, 
 at this period, led to divisions in the Presbyterian 
 Church of Scotland. The first of these respects the 
 Indulgence. At the restoration of Charles, there were 
 found, alas ! among the ministers, a large number who, 
 to escape suffering, and retain their emoluments, made 
 a sacrifice of their principles. There were also, as 
 formerly stated, several hundreds who were carried 
 honourably through this trial, and from their uncom- 
 promising fidelity were banished from their homes and 
 from their flocks. But a new trial of a more insidious 
 nature awaited them, before which many of them fell. 
 In the year 1669, an offer was made to a number of 
 them, that on their becoming bound to observe certain 
 conditions, they should be permitted to resume the 
 exercise of their ministry, by an act of royal favour, 
 entitled an Indulgence. A number of good men, who, 
 for many years had bome poverty and persecution for 
 conscience' sake, were taken in this snare, and after 
 
FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 166 
 
 some feeble attempt to exonerate themselves by a pro- 
 testation, accepted of the Indulgence. On two subse- 
 quent occasions during the reign of Charles, 1 Acts of 
 Indulgence were repeated. The particular conditions 
 annexed to each were not precisely the same ; but they 
 all came through a polluted channel, and were fettered 
 with limitations, which were wholly inconsistent with 
 ministerial freedom. If they did not directly subject 
 the indulged ministers to the Prelacy, they at least 
 destroyed the whole essence of Presbytery. 
 
 From his throne of lordly supremacy, the king issued 
 orders to his privy council to employ a certain number 
 of the ejected ministers in the work of preaching, pre- 
 scribing the law by which their ministrations must be 
 regulated. In the exercise of this deputed authority, 
 the council made choice of the individuals to be so 
 indulged, and selected the places where they were to 
 labour, planting and transplanting them at pleasure. 
 These ministers were commanded, in the king's name, 
 to constitute and hold sessions, and to attend the Pres- 
 byteries, all of which were held under the authority of 
 the bishops. But should they refuse to attend these 
 Episcopal Presbyteries, they were not permitted to hold 
 any Presbyteries of their own, nor take cognizance of 
 any case of discipline which it had been customary to 
 refer to Presbyteries, all such cases being reserved for 
 the bishops' courts. They were forbidden, under severe 
 penalties, to preach beyond the limits of their own 
 parishes, respectively; to travel out of them, without a 
 license obtained from the bishop ; to mam' or baptize 
 persons belonging to another parish, unless that parish 
 should be a vacancy; or to countenance persons of 
 other parishes in withdrawing from the curates to fre- 
 quent their ministry. They were commanded to hold 
 their communion all on the same day ; not to admit 
 into their pulpits any minister not indulged ; and not 
 to lecture or ex pound the_ Scriptures — it not being the 
 practice of the Episcopal clergy so to do. 
 
 1 In 1672 and 1679. 
 > 
 
134 FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 We cannot, therefore, hesitate to condemn these 
 Indulgences, and to approve of the conduct of those who 
 rejected them: 1st. Because the acceptance of them 
 implied an indirect acknowledgment of the royal supre- 
 macy, against which the ministers had all lifted up a 
 decided practical testimony. 2d. Because the condi- 
 tions on which they were granted were grossly Erastian, 
 and inconsistent with ministerial faithfulness and free- 
 dom. 3d. Because they were manifestly offered with 
 the crafty and sinister design of dividing the Cove- 
 nanters, that it might be the more easy to reduce the 
 whole of them into abject submission. 4th. Because 
 the indulged were brought into an indirect alliance with 
 the persecutors, which was exceedingly ensnaring to 
 themselves, and tended to extenuate in the eyes of the 
 people generally the enormous guilt of the persecution. 
 5th. Because the compliance of so many presented a 
 stumbling block in the way of the more faithful, and 
 increased the torrent of odium and of suffering to which 
 they were subjected. It is not, therefore, among the 
 indulged, but among those who, in a state of separation 
 from them, kept up the proscribed and persecuted field 
 meetings, that we are henceforth to look for the true 
 testimony for " Christ's crown and Covenant." 
 
 Another question of very grave importance began to 
 be agitated among the suffering Presbyterians, about 
 the year 1679, and proved the occasion of division 
 among them, during nearly ten years of the persecution. 
 This question respected the propriety of yielding alle- 
 giance to the then existing government. The whole 
 body of the Presbyterians had condemned the claim of 
 unlimited obedience advanced by Charles, as despo- 
 tical, and subversive of their rights, both as men and as 
 Christians. They could neither be induced to pro- 
 nounce resistance to tyranny as unlawful, nor to bind 
 themselves that they would never, under any pretence 
 whatever, take arms against the king, or decline his 
 jurisdiction and authority. They perceived very dis- 
 tinctly, that if these principles were admitted, and if it 
 
FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 135 
 
 should please the king to set up a graven image, and 
 command his subjects to worship it, they should have 
 no resource left but unqualified submission or death. 
 Yet although Charles did what was precisely the same 
 in principle, by compelling conformity to an unscrip- 
 tural Church Establishment, to which a vast majority 
 of the people were conscientiously opposed, it is aston- 
 ishing that for a period of eighteen years, amidst oppres- 
 sions and sufferings which have rarely had a parallel, 
 they never seriously thought of disowning his authority. 
 About the time of the rising at Bothwell, however, 
 a number of the Covenanters became convinced, that it 
 was one of the grievous sins of the nation to have done 
 homage to the oppressor so long. This view was held 
 by Cameron, Douglas , and Cargill, and was afterwards 
 adopted into the testimony of the intrepid and pious 
 Renwick. The grounds on which they vindicated their 
 sentiments and conduct on this head, were these: — 
 That Charles had been received by Scotland as a sworn 
 supporter of the Covenanted Reformation, and, by his 
 coronation oath, was bound to maintain the religion and 
 liberties of the nation inviolate; but that the whole 
 course of his reign had been a deliberate and outrage- 
 ous violation of his oath ; that he had invaded the pre- 
 rogative of the Son of God, by usurping a blasphemous 
 supremacy over the church ; had overturned the whole 
 fabric of Scotland's Reformation ; had violently restored 
 Episcopacy, which the nation was sworn to reject and 
 extirpate; had changed the civil government into an 
 intolerable despotism, filling all the principal offices of 
 state with men profligate in principle, and cruel in dis- 
 position; had poisoned the sources of justice, and 
 multiplied sanguinary laws ; that the best subjects of his 
 kingdom, of all ranks, for peaceably assembling to 
 worship God, had been proscribed, plundered, harassed 
 by a brutal soldiery, immured in filthy dungeons, sold 
 into slavery, and multitudes of them executed as felons 
 upon the scaffold. Such were their arguments ; and 
 who that reads the history of that period can deny that 
 
136 FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 they were founded on fact ? We are aware that the 
 conduct of that division of the Church, which refused 
 allegiance to the Stuarts, has been viewed by many as 
 an unwarrantable extreme, to which they were driven 
 by intolerable oppression. To us it does not appear 
 in this light. We are unable to discover any plausible 
 ground on which to found an argument condemnatory 
 of their conduct, unless it be made to rest on the doctrine 
 of passive obedience and non-resistance, — a doctrine 
 which the genuine friends of the Scottish Reformation 
 utterly disclaim. 
 
 It was to be expected that the open renunciation of 
 allegiance by the sufferers, as well as the rising at Both- 
 well, would have the effect of increasing the violence 
 of the persecution. The fury of the oppressor became 
 so terrible, that none of the surviving Presbyterian min- 
 isters who had been accustomed to preach in the fields, 
 could be induced to persevere in the service, except- 
 ing the few who had fearlessly cast off the tyrant's yoke. 
 These, one after another, fell into the hands of their 
 enemies, and sealed their testimony with their blood. 
 Mr. Richard Cameron, one of the most devoted of them, 
 whose intrepid zeal in disowning the government, and 
 preaching the gospel in the fields, had rendered him 
 peculiarly obnoxious to the persecutors, while reposing 
 in a moor near Airdsmoss, in company with a number 
 of his friends, was suddenly attacked by a troop of horse- 
 men, and gained the crown of martyrdom on the 20th 
 f Vof July, 1680. Yet the standard which had been 
 erected for the royal prerogatives of the exalted Re- 
 deemer was not suffered to fall. Like the three chil- 
 dren, when threatened with a furnace seven times 
 heated, the witnesses displayed increasing fortitude as 
 the danger became more appalling. Although the 
 three kingdoms conspired, or through cowardice con- 
 sented, to support an idol of jealousy in the person of 
 their king; these good soldiers of Jesus Christ would 
 not dishonour their Divine Master, nor degrade them- 
 selves by doing homage to the usurper. As they 
 
 X' 
 
FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 137 
 
 beheld inscribed on his diadem the complex title — 
 Perjury, Tyranny, Blasphemy, they would not join in 
 the shout of loyalty, nor bend the knee in token of 
 reverence. When it was demanded of them by their 
 unrighteous judges, "Why will you contradict the 
 Scriptures, by refusing to acknowledge and pray for 
 the king? There is no power but of God; he that 
 resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God;" 
 their reply was to this effect — " We do not contradict 
 the Scriptures; but your interpretation of them is as 
 false as your conduct is repugnant to the whole tenor 
 of God's blessed Word. The powers that are from 
 God can mean only lawful authority ; otherwise, as the 
 Pope is a power, the people who reside in Popish 
 countries would be bound to yield implicit obedience 
 to the Man of Sin. There is no lawful authority but 
 of God; but no power which, in the habitual course of 
 its administration, is in a state of determined hostility 
 to God and to his law, can be of God — excepting as the 
 power of Satan is of God. The authority which God 
 owns, is a terror to evil doers, and a praise to them who 
 do well ; but your government spreads its shield over 
 the vilest malefactors, — perjurers, robbers, and mur- 
 derers, and employs them in its service, while its main 
 work consists in persecuting and destroying the people 
 of God. We are aware that it is our duty to pray for 
 all men, not excepting our enemies and persecutors; 
 but when prayer is demanded as a test of loyalty to a 
 government of this character, it would be, in our judg- 
 ment, an act of impiety before God, and of disloyalty 
 to the Messiah to present it." 
 
 In the briefest sketch of the contendings of the wit- 
 nesses at this period, it would be improper to overlook 
 the joint public testimonies which they emitted, con- 
 taining both a protestation against prevailing defection, 
 and an explicit statement of their own principles. To 
 this duty they were imperatively called in self-defence. 
 Not only did their enraged enemies seek to justify their 
 own cruelties, by holding up the persecuted party to 
 n2 
 
138 FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 execration, as fanatics, abettors of anarchy, and ene- 
 mies to all government and social order; but even their 
 former friends and companions in affliction, who now- 
 deserted them in the hour of extreme danger, gave 
 currency to the reproaches of the persecutors. But 
 these joint public testimonies, as well as those which 
 were given by individuals at their death, an ample col- 
 lection of which has been preserved in a work named 
 the Cloud of Witnesses, served other purposes of great 
 importance. They were calculated to prevent the true 
 state of the controversy between the tyrant and the 
 persecuted Covenanters from being forgotten; and they 
 contributed, in a high degree, to preserve the nation 
 from sinking into a state of abject and hopeless servi- 
 tude, at a time when the voice of faithful preaching was 
 almost silenced. The government itself helped to pro- 
 mote this design, however unintentionally, by giving 
 extensive circulation to the testimonies of the sufferers. 
 As specimens of the documents to which we refer, we 
 may mention the Declarations at Rutherglen, in 1679, 
 at Sanquhar in 1680, and at Lanark in 1682, to which 
 we may add the larger paper, styled the Informatory 
 Vindication. From the haste in which some of these 
 papers were drawn up, and the extraordinary circum- 
 stances in which the writers were placed, it should not 
 be deemed surprising, although something intemperate 
 in language, or even exceptionable in statement, were 
 contained in them; yet a candid examination will show, 
 that while, in these respects, there is no serious ground 
 of complaint against them, they exhibit a distinct and 
 energetic view of the true grounds of the pending 
 contest. 
 
 In recording our approbation of these public appear- 
 ances for the cause of the Reformation, made at a most 
 perilous season, we would not be understood as espous- 
 ing every sentiment or expression contained in the 
 testimonies we have mentioned. But notwithstanding 
 imperfections, from which nothing human is wholly 
 exempted, we behold in these demonstrations the same 
 
FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 139 
 
 hallowed zeal for the cause of God, the same surpass- 
 ing love to the church, and magnanimous contempt of 
 danger, which the martyrs generally evinced before 
 their judges, and at their execution. 
 
 In the month of February, 1685, Charles II. went 
 to his account. 1 Immediately on the demise of the 
 king, the Scottish Council, and afterwards the Par- 
 liament, both of which had become more and more 
 slavish, welcomed James, Duke of York, an avowed and 
 bigoted Papist, to the throne. So intoxicated were they 
 with sentiments of loyalty, that, in an address to the 
 king, they declare " their detestation of all principles 
 which are derogatory to the king's sacred, supreme, 
 sovereign, and absolute power and authority, of which 
 none can partake, whether individuals or collective 
 bodies, but in dependence on him, and by commis- 
 sion from him." This declaration, strictly taken, not 
 only recognized a supremacy over the Protestant 
 Church, as being vested in a Popish king, but stripped 
 the parliament of all authority, excepting what was 
 derived by delegation from him. It was not long 
 until James put their sincerity to the test, by the 
 actual exercise of that unlimited authority which they 
 had ascribed to him. But when it became evident, 
 notwithstanding all his protestations to the contrary, 
 that his design was to subvert the Protestant religion, 
 and to restore Popery to its long lost ascendancy ; 
 
 1 To those who are acquainted with the history of Charles' government, 
 the fact must appear extraordinary, that the Church o x ' England con- 
 tinues to the present day to observe the anniversary of his restoration as 
 a day of public thanksgiving. On the 29th of May every year, her congrega- 
 tions are summoned, by authority, to meet in their churches, to offer public 
 thanks to God for advancing this prince to the throne ! Is it thus the 
 church expresses her abhorrence of bloody persecution, and of impiety, 
 profligacy, and tyranny in kings I ! 
 
 A day of fasting is also appointed by that church to deplore the decease 
 of Charles I., who was put to death by the sectaries in England, and to 
 confess the guilt of the nation on account of what is termed the mar- 
 tyrdom of that king. But there is neither sorrow nor contrition 
 expressed on account of the protracted sufferings of the people of God 
 in the three kingdoms, during the reign of the first Charles; or for the 
 shedding the blood of thousands of the saints b>' persecution under 
 Charles II. 
 
140 FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 when the bishops began to feel their dignities insecure, 
 and the leading nobility were dismissed from office, to 
 make room for such as embraced the " king's religion," 
 both parties refused to render that unlimited obedience, 
 which they had so vehemently inculcated. The Par- 
 liament proved averse to gratify the king, by a repeal 
 of all the laws which had been passed, as barriers 
 against Popery. When he found that there would be 
 difficulty in granting a full toleration to the Roman 
 Catholics, without extending it also to the Presbyterians, 
 he commanded the Privy Council to issue a proclama- 
 
 Ktion, in 1687, declaring that "by his sovereign authority, 
 prerogative royal, and absolute power," he suspends 
 and disables all laws against any for refusing confor- 
 mity to the established religion; and grants to all 
 /classes the liberty of holding their own religious assem- 
 / blies, on the condition that nothing shall be preached 
 or taught that shall tend to alienate the hearts of the 
 people from his government. The import of this con- 
 dition was commonly understood to be, that nothing 
 should be spoken from the pulpit against Popery or 
 arbitrary power. The only exception made in this 
 ■/' toleration was in regard to the field-meetings, "against 
 which all the laws and Acts of Parliament were left in 
 full force and vigour." 
 
 It was undeniably evident that this measure was a 
 
 gross violation of the constitution; that it annihilated 
 
 the authority of Parliament, and set the king above all 
 
 law ; that the design of it was not to favour any form 
 
 of Protestantism, but to introduce Popery; and that it 
 
 overturned all the legal secmities for the Protestant 
 
 religion which had been erected since the Reformation. 
 
 \J Yet it is to be lamented, that the Presbyterian ministers 
 
 / -generally accepted of this toleration, and that a large 
 
 7 '*- number of them concurred in sending up to the king a 
 
 loyal address, expressive of their gratitude for " his 
 
 majesty's gracious and surprising favour," and engaging 
 
 that they would " preserve an entire loyalty in their 
 
 doctrine and practice." Such were the effects of the 
 
FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 141 
 
 indulgence in destroying the patriotism, and enlightened 
 zeal for civil and religious liberty, which formerly ani- 
 mated the great body of Presbyterian ministers. 
 
 Yet, even at this time, the Lord left not himself 
 without witnesses for his cause. For about two years 
 after the martyrdom of Cargill, the scattered and per- 
 secuted remnant who held fast their principles, were 
 left entirely destitute of a public ministry. In this 
 emergency, they formed themselves into fellowship 
 societies for mutual edification, and these societies 
 were united in one for general correspondence. " By 
 the rivers of Babylon they sat down and wept, when 
 they remembered Zion." Their affection towards the 
 church burned the more intensely as dangers thickened 
 around her. If the sacrifice of their lives could have 
 saved her frorn the fury of her enemies, and from the 
 treachery of professed friends, they were ready to lay 
 down their lives with cheerfulness. The time of 
 deliverance was not yet come ; but the Lord was pleased 
 to grant them a reviving in their bondage, by the return 
 of Mr. James Renwick from Holland, whither he had 
 gone to complete his education, and to receive ordina- 
 tion to the office of the ministry. In the year 1683, he 
 accepted a call from the societies, and became their 
 pastor. By him the banner for " Christ's crown and 
 covenant" was once more publicly displayed on the 
 mountains and moors of Scotland ; and the Lord remark- 
 ably blessed his ministry, for comforting and reviving 
 a torn and bleeding church. From the number of 
 martyrs that suffered during two or three years at this 
 period, it was emphatically denominated " killing 
 time." But Renwick and his followers had counted 
 the cost of the enterprise in which they were embarked, 
 and neither sufferings nor reproaches could compel 
 them to abandon it. He was joined by Mr. Alexander 
 Shields, a licentiate, who was a valuable auxiliary in 
 the cause, both by his preaching and writing, at the 
 time when that cause was at its lowest point of depres- 
 sion. It was only by these men and their associates, 
 
142 FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 that there was displayed a full and faithful testimony 
 against all the defections and backslidings of that 
 unhappy time. In a second declaration published at 
 Sanquhar, in May, 1685, they lamented the inordinate 
 affection which the nation had borne to the deceased 
 tyrant, Charles the Second, and deliberately and unani- 
 mously entered their protest against the advancement 
 of his brother James to the crown, because he was " a 
 murderer, who had shed the blood of the saints ; " an 
 " idolater," with whom a Christian people could not 
 lawfully form any such confederacy; because it was in 
 opposition to " many laudable Acts of Parliament," 
 which had determined that no Papist could sit on the 
 Scottish throne; and "inconsistent with the safety, 
 faith, conscience, and Christian liberty of the people." 
 They subjoined an affectionate appeal to the churches 
 in England and in Ireland, urging them to consider their 
 breach of covenant, and repent. And in the sight of 
 God, angels, and men, they disclaimed the foul charges 
 which had been preferred against them, as persons who 
 pleaded for a right to rob, injure, or assassinate others, 
 in retaliation for the injuries inflicted on themselves. 1 
 
 Whatever mitigation of suffering was brought to 
 other divisions of the Presbyterian church, by the 
 deceitful toleration of the tyrant James, toward Ren- 
 wick and his followers there was little abatement of the 
 rage of persecution. They were denounced as rebels, 
 intercommuned, a price set on their heads, hunted from 
 place to place with untiring assiduity ; " in perils in 
 the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils among 
 false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watch- 
 ings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in 
 
 1 " We positively disown as horrid murder the killing of any, because 
 of a different persuasion and opinion from us, albeit some have cast this 
 odious calumny upon us. But we maintain, that it is both righteous and 
 rational, in defence of our lives, liberties, and religion, after an orderly 
 and Christian manner, to endeavour, by all means lawful and possible, 
 to defend ourselves, rescue our brethren, and prevent their being mur- 
 dered, — in a martial posture against wicked persecutors, who are daily 
 seeking to destroy them and us, and imbrue their hands in our blood." — 
 Informatory Vindication, published 1687. 
 
THE REVOLUTION. 143 
 
 cold and nakedness." At length, the leader of this 
 intrepid band was apprehended in the city of Edin- 
 burgh, and having witnessed a good confession, he 
 suffered martyrdom on the 17th of February, 1688, 
 having just completed the 26th year of his age. He 
 was the last who suffered martyrdom in the cause of 
 Scotland's Reformation. He departed, rejoicing in 
 the full assurance of faith, and in the confident hope, 
 that the period of deliverance for the church was at 
 hand. Before the end of the year in which he suffered, 
 the principles for which he and his brethren contended, 
 respecting the duty of disowning unlawful authority, 
 were practically sanctioned and confirmed by the three 
 kingdoms. 
 
 PERIOD FOURTH. 
 
 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE REVOLUTION. 
 1688. 
 
 The Revolution which placed the Prince of Orange on 
 the throne of Great Britain, affords a memorable ex- 
 ample of the application of principles, for which Pres- 
 byterian Covenanters had so long contended. The 
 Scottish Convention unanimously declared, that " King 
 James VII., being a professed Papist, having assumed 
 the regal power without taking the oath required by law, 
 having invaded the fundamental constitution of the 
 kingdom, and changed the government to an arbitrary 
 despotic power, to the subversion of the Protestant reli- 
 gion, and violation of the laws and liberties of the king- 
 dom, had forfeited the crown." The English Parliament 
 declared, that "King James II., having endeavoured to 
 subvert the constitution, by breaking the original contract 
 
144 THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 between the king and the people, did abdicate the crown." 
 By these acts, both kingdoms gave their solemn sanc- 
 tion to these two principles: — 1st. That the right to 
 exercise power may be forfeited by the abuse of it; and 
 2d, that a people may depose their rulers. For main- 
 taining these sentiments, Scottish Presbyterians had 
 suffered indescribable hardships, and many of them had 
 been put to death. The same grounds which were held 
 sufficient to justify the deposition of James, had been, 
 almost in every point, equally strong against the govern- 
 ment of his brother, for a long series of years. In 
 regard to religion, it would be difficult to determine 
 which of the brothers had the advautage. The same 
 vows by which Scotland was bound to reject Popery, 
 were equally peremptory against the admission of Pre- 
 lacy. Had Charles refused the coronation oath, as his 
 brother James did, his character had been less odious. 
 The hypocritical perjurer was more unworthy of a 
 nation's confidence, than an avowed Roman Catholic. 
 The charge of invading the fundamental constitutions 
 of the kingdom, was common to both. Yet it was a 
 remarkable display of the providence of God, that the 
 very men who had multiplied laws against the Cove- 
 nanters, and sat as judges to condemn them to banish- 
 ment, torture, and death, should have been now com- 
 pelled to justify them before the world, by avowing the 
 very principles for which the martyrs suffered. The 
 Lord brought forth " their righteousness as the light, 
 and their judgment as the noon-day." 1 
 
 1 At this juncture, all classes seemed to have adopted suddenly a new 
 political creed. The most vehement royalists, the Episcopal clergy, the 
 keenest disputers for passive obedience, — all conspired in welcoming the 
 Prince of Orange. The University of Oxford furnishes an example for 
 the rest. They had given the solemn sanction of their authority to the 
 maxim inculcated by Mahomet, that ' obedience is due to the authorities of 
 a nation, whether they be constituted tiponjust or unjust principles.' The di- 
 vines of the University drew up twenty-seven propositions, extracted from 
 the writings of Buchanan, Baxter, Owen, Milton, and others, who had 
 maintained, that the people might examine whether those in power have 
 a right to rule; — and that when kings forfeit their right to government, 
 they may be resisted. — They passed a decree, in full convocation, con- 
 demning these principles as damnable doctrines, — as destructive to all 
 
THE REVOLUTION. 145 
 
 The change produced by the Revolution in 1688, 
 deserves ever to be commemorated as a remarkable 
 instance of the goodness of God to these lands ; and the 
 crisis at which it was accomplished, enhances the value 
 of the deliverance. At home, the spirit of the nation 
 seemed broken. Religion and liberty were trampled 
 under foot. Abroad, the Popish powers had established 
 one of the most formidable combinations against the 
 Protestant interest, which had existed in Europe since 
 the Reformation. In the year 1685, the edict of 
 Nantz, 1 which had given security for religious liberty 
 to the French Protestants, was perfidiously revoked; 
 and by a course of violence and cruelty on the part of 
 the government, which has few parallels in history, the 
 reformed church in that kingdom was reduced to deso- 
 lation. These things confirmed the hope of the bigoted 
 Papist on the British throne, that he should effectually 
 accomplish his darling project of re-establishing Popery 
 throughout his dominions. But " He that sitteth in 
 the heavens," turned his efforts into derision. Just 
 when his measures seemed ripe for execution, his autho- 
 rity and dignity were transferred to another ; and from 
 being one of the most powerful princes in Europe, he 
 suddenly became a fugitive and a wanderer in foreign 
 lands. Thus, the design of restoring the British isles 
 to the domination of the Roman Pontiff was baffled. 
 The sword of persecution, which had so long shed the 
 blood of the saints, was sheathed. Many unjust and 
 oppressive laws were repealed. The fines and forfeit- 
 ures to which many were obnoxious, were made void. 
 And above all, the sacred and inestimable privilege of 
 
 human society, and declaring them to he impious, seditious, heretical, 
 and blasphemous. Yet, four years after, they resisted the authority of the 
 king, and, refusing to practise that passive obedience which themselves 
 had taught, by consenting to the violation of their charter, the president, 
 and all the fellows, excepting two who had complied, were expelled the 
 college. As soon, however, as the king invaded their property, these 
 ecclesiastics invited the Prince of Orange to their rescue; they signed an 
 agreement to support him; they offered to him their plate, and declared 
 for him in a body, even while their sovereign was still upon the throne. 
 1 Issued by Henry IV. in 1598, recalled by Louis XIV. in 1685. 
 O 
 
146 THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 adopting and avowing their own religious profession, 
 was secured to the people ; and they were allowed to 
 meet together in larger or smaller assemblies, in 
 churches or in fields, to worship the God of heaven 
 without hazard or molestation. 
 
 Yet it is to be lamented exceedingly, that the nations 
 did not improve the precious opportunity again afforded 
 to them, of restoring those excellent constitutions, in 
 Church and State, which Charles had overturned. 
 Happy had it been for Scotland, whose obligations to 
 steadfastness were so numerous, had she then complied 
 with the divine injunction ; " Remember whence thou 
 art fallen, and repent, and do thy first works !" Happy 
 had it been for England, bound as she was in the 
 same Solemn League with Scotland, had she now 
 strenuously applied herself to fulfil her sacred vow; 
 "to endeavour the reformation of religion in the king- 
 doms of England and Ireland, according to the word 
 of God, and the example of the best reformed 
 churches I" 1 And how happy had it been for Ireland, 
 where the progress of the truth was alternately obstructed 
 by Popish violence, and by Prelatic persecution, and 
 where the blighting influence of a covetous, inefficient, 
 political clergy, still continues to present an insuperable 
 obstacle to the advancement of the reformation ! But 
 the men who possessed the power of dictating to the 
 new ruler the terms on which these nations were hence- 
 forth to be governed, were altogether averse to imple- 
 ment the engagements of their fathers. There was not 
 in these nations that measure of scriptural illumination 
 and piety, which could have taught the nobility and the 
 principal men, to apply themselves, in a Christian 
 spirit, to the momentous work they were summoned to 
 discharge. The church was still viewed by them, as 
 she has commonly been by civil rulers, as the most 
 powerful political engine in their possession; as a 
 lever to move and control the national mind at pleasure ; 
 
 1 Solemn League. 
 
THE REVOLUTION. 147 
 
 and the only subject of intense anxiety was how to 
 render her effectually subservient to the will of the 
 State. Episcopacy was therefore retained in England 
 and in Ireland, and new securities devised to perpetuate 
 and defend it. And Scotland, forgetful of the Solemn 
 League, seemed glad to obtain a modified Presby- 
 terianism, conceded to her for no higher reason than 
 the inclinations of the people; and placed under Eras- 
 tian restrictions, whereby its value and efficiency have 
 ever since been exceedingly impaired. 
 
 There was a small minority in Scotland, with whom 
 a portion of the Presbyterians in the north of Ireland 
 concurred in sentiment, to whom these things were 
 matters of deepest sorrow and disappointment. They 
 had hailed the arrival of William, Prince of Orange, with 
 a more fervent joy than any other class, because they 
 had been the greatest sufferers under the late tyranny. 
 They gave unequivocal evidence of their readiness to 
 hazard their lives in the cause of their country's 
 deliverance, by the effectual aid which they rendered 
 in quelling an insurrection, raised in favour of the 
 exiled king. But when they beheld, in the progress 
 of the Revolution settlement, that the best interests of 
 religion were to be compromised; that many of the 
 persons employed in erecting the new fabric, were such 
 as had acted a prominent part in demolishing a more 
 noble structure, and even in shedding the blood of the 
 saints; when they perceived a deliberate design, to 
 leave buried under the rubbish of iniquitous laws, a 
 large share of what was most valuable in Scotland's 
 Reformation, their sanguine hopes were suddenly 
 blighted, and the painful conviction was forced upon 
 them, that the time of complete deliverance for the 
 church was not yet come. While others rejoiced at 
 the completion of this new temple this class — some of 
 whom had witnessed, and all of them highly appreciated 
 the glory of the former — wept for sorrow, and espe- 
 cially when they beheld the modern structure to be 
 still surmounted with the hated top-stone of a royal 
 
150 THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 By the apostacy of their ministers, the people were once 
 more left as sheep without a shepherd. In this emer- 
 gency, their fellowship meetings and general corres- 
 pondence were diligently maintained. They believed 
 it to be inconsistent to join in partial or occasional fel- 
 lowship with a church, with which they could not join 
 in full communion; and they perceived clearly, that 
 attendance on public ordinances in the places where 
 they respectively resided, must, in a short time, lead to 
 the breaking up of their union, and, in so far as they 
 were concerned, to the suppression of their testimony. 
 Yet they would not violate the order of Christ's house, 
 to obtain ministers by any irregular course. When 
 their faith and patience had been tried for a period of 
 sixteen years, their prayers for a faithful minister were 
 answered, by the accession of the Rev. John M'Millan 
 from the Established Church, in the year 1706. 
 
 Here it becomes necessary to specify the principal 
 grounds on which these resolute Covenanters rested 
 their refusal, to embrace the communion of the Revo- 
 lution Church : — 
 
 1st. Because her judicatories were composed of men 
 against whom they had weighty objections. The Gen- 
 eral Assembly, 1690 — the first that met after the Revo- 
 lution — consisted, 1st. Of ministers who had espoused 
 the cause of the public resolutions in 1651, by which 
 the public offices, civil and military, were first filled 
 with malignants. — 2. Of ministers who, during the last 
 reign, had complied with one or more of the wicked 
 bonds and oaths imposed by government; many of them 
 having bound themselves to abstain from preaching, at 
 a time when faithful preaching was so much required. — 
 3. Of ministers who had accepted the various indul- 
 gences granted by Charles, every one of which was 
 clogged with Erastian restrictions, and the acceptance 
 of which was, virtually, the taking out a new commis- 
 sion for the exercise of their ministry, from an impious 
 usurper of the prerogatives of the Messiah. — 4. Of min- 
 isters who had grasped at the deceitful toleration given 
 
THE REVOLUTION. 151 
 
 by James, and concurred in returning a fulsome letter 
 of thanks for it, although manifestly springing from the 
 corrupt source of a royal supremacy, and designed to 
 be a preparation for the introduction of Popery. — 5. 
 Of elders, many of whom had been implicated in the 
 guilt of the late persecution. These classes, together 
 ^ith a few ministers now returned from exile, composed 
 the first Assembly ; and all of them were received as 
 members, without having afforded any evidence of 
 repentance, or offered one expression of contrition for 
 their former sins. 
 
 2d. Because the Assembly, when met, submitted 
 tamely to the dictation of the civil rulers, in matters of 
 great importance, which belonged exclusively to its 
 own jurisdiction. Before the Assembly was permitted 
 to meet, the king and Parliament, by their own authority, 
 had abolished Episcopacy in Scotland, restored Pres- 
 byterianism, and adopted and ratified the thirty-three 
 chapters of the Westminster Confession of Faith, " as 
 the public and avowed confession of the church." l 
 By these acts the civil rulers practically assumed the 
 right to prescribe to the church both her Confession, 
 and her Form of church government; nor did the Assem- 
 bly, when met, presume to offer protestation or remon- 
 strance against this invasion of its liberty, or to alter 
 or amend, by one jot or tittle, what was clone for it by 
 the State. It is true, that the Confession then enacted 
 by the State, and adopted by the Church, asserts the 
 doctrine of Christ's sole headship over his church ; but 
 this great principle was violated in practice by both 
 parties; — by the State in claiming and exercising an 
 Erastian power over the Church, and by the Church 
 in tamely submitting to that power. Yet the members 
 of the Assembly were fully aware, that to the usurpa- 
 tions of the civil powers in religious matters, and to this 
 cause alone, were to be ascribed, the enormous wrongs 
 
 1 Act 5th, Sess. 2d, Parliament 1st, William and Man,-. 
 
150 THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 By the apostacy of their ministers, the people were once 
 more left as sheep without a shepherd. In this emer- 
 gency, their fellowship meetings and general corres- 
 pondence were diligently maintained. They believed 
 it to be inconsistent to join in partial or occasional fel- 
 lowship with a church, with which they could not join 
 in full communion; and they perceived clearly, that 
 attendance on public ordinances in the places where 
 they respectively resided, must, in a short time, lead to 
 the breaking up of their union, and, in so far as they 
 were concerned, to the suppression of their testimony. 
 Yet they would not violate the order of Christ's house, 
 to obtain ministers by any irregular course. When 
 their faith and patience had been tried for a period of 
 sixteen years, their prayers for a faithful minister were 
 answered, by the accession of the Rev. John McMillan 
 from the Established Church, in the year 1706. 
 
 Here it becomes necessary to specify the principal 
 grounds on which these resolute Covenanters rested 
 their refusal, to embrace the communion of the Revo- 
 lution Church : — 
 
 1st. Because her judicatories were composed of men 
 against whom they had weighty objections. The Gen- 
 eral Assembly, 1690 — the first that met after the Revo- 
 lution — consisted, 1st. Of ministers who had espoused 
 the cause of the public resolutions in 1651, by which 
 the public offices, civil and military, were first filled 
 with malignants. — 2. Of ministers who, during the last 
 reign, had complied with one or more of the wicked 
 bonds and oaths imposed by government; many of them 
 having bound themselves to abstain from preaching, at 
 a time when faithful preaching was so much required. — 
 3. Of ministers who had accepted the various indul- 
 gences granted by Charles, every one of which was 
 clogged with Erastian restrictions, and the acceptance 
 of which was, virtually, the taking out a new commis- 
 sion lor the exercise of their ministry, from an impious 
 usurper of the prerogatives of the Messiah. — 4. Of min- 
 isters who had grasped at the deceitful toleration given 
 
THE REVOLUTION. 151 
 
 by James, and concurred in returning a fulsome letter 
 of thanks for it, although manifestly springing from the 
 corrupt source of a royal supremacy, and designed to 
 be a preparation for the introduction of Popery. — 5. 
 Of elders, many of whom had been implicated in the 
 guilt of the late persecution. These classes, together 
 with a few ministers now returned from exile, composed 
 the first Assembly ; and all of them were received as 
 members, without haviug afforded any evidence of 
 repentance, or offered one expression of contrition for 
 their former sins. 
 
 2d. Because the Assembly, when met, submitted 
 tamely to the dictation of the civil rulers, in matters of 
 great importance, which belonged exclusively to its 
 own jurisdiction. Before the Assembly was permitted 
 to meet, the kiug and Parliament, by their own authority, 
 had abolished Episcopacy in Scotland, restored Pres- 
 byterianism, and adopted and ratified the thirty-three 
 chapters of the Westminster Confession of Faith, " as 
 the public and avowed confession of the church." ! 
 By these acts the civil rulers practically assumed the 
 right to prescribe to the church both her Confession, 
 and her Form of church government; nor did the Assem- 
 bly, when met, presume to offer protestation or remon- 
 strance against this invasion of its liberty, or to alter 
 or amend, by one jot or tittle, what was done for it by 
 the State. It is true, that the Confession then enacted 
 by the State, and adopted by the Church, asserts the 
 doctrine of Christ's sole headship over his church ; but 
 this great principle was violated in practice by both 
 parties ; — by the State in claiming and exercising an 
 Erastian power over the Church, and by the Church 
 in tamely submitting to that power. Yet the members 
 of the Assembly were fully aware, that to the usurpa- 
 tions of the civil powers in religious matters, and to this 
 cause alone, were to be ascribed, the enormous wrongs 
 
 1 Act 5th, Sess. 2d, Parliament 1st, William and Mary. 
 
152 THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 and oppressions which the church had suffered for 
 twenty-eight years. 
 
 3d. Because the Scottish Reformation, in its most 
 advanced and mature state, was deliberately abandoned 
 in the Revolution settlement. The late government, 
 in its public deeds, had condemned the principles on 
 which that Reformation was conducted, as " rebellious 
 and treasonable," and declared the measures used for 
 carrying it forward " unlawful and seditious." The 
 same epithets were applied to the reforming Assembly 
 at Glasgow, 1638, and all its " acts and decisions, and 
 all confirmations of the same," were pronounced " null 
 and void." 1 All the meetings of Parliament during the 
 
 1 Act 2d, Sess. 2d, Parliament 1st, Charle3 II. 
 " And since the rise and progress of the late troubles, did in a great 
 measure proceed from some treasonable and seditious positions infused 
 into the people, that it teas lauful to subjects for reformation, to enter into 
 Covenants and Leagues, or to take up arms against the King, or those com- 
 missioned by him, and such like, and that many wild and rebellious courses 
 were taken and practised in pursuance thereof, by unlawful meetings and 
 gatherings of the people, by mutinous and tumultuous petitions, by inso- 
 lent and seditious protestations against his majesty's royal and just com- 
 mands, by entering into unlawful oaths and covenants, by usurping the 
 name and power of council tables, and Church Judicatories, after they 
 ■were by his majesty discharged, by treasonable declarations, that his 
 majesty was not to be admitted to the exercise of his royal power, until 
 he should grant their unjust desires/' (that is, give security that he would 
 not renew his efforts to rob them both of their religion and liberty); 
 " therefore the King's Majesty, and Estates of Parliament, do declare 
 these positions (above mentioned) to be rebellious and treasonable, and 
 that all these gatherings, convocations, petitions, protestations, and 
 erecting and keeping of council tables, that were used in the beginning, 
 and for carrying on of the late troubles, were unlawful and seditious; 
 and particularly, that these oaths, whereof the one was commonly called 
 the National Covenant, as it was sworn and explained in the year 1638, 
 and the other, entitled a Solemn League and Covenant, were, and are, 
 in themselves, unlawful oaths, and were taken and imposed on the sub- 
 jects of this kingdom, against the fundamental laws and liberties of the 
 same; and therefore, annuls all acts and constitutions, ecclesiastical or 
 civil, approving the same, or either of them. And also, it is hereby 
 declared, by his Majesty and Estates of Parliament, that the pretended 
 Assembly, kept at Glasgow, in the year 1638, was, in itself, (after the 
 same was by his Majesty discharged under the pain of treason,) an unlaw- 
 ful and seditious meeting; and that all acts, deeds, sentences, orders, or 
 decreets, past therein, were in themselves from the beginning, are now, 
 and in all time coming, to be reputed unlawful, void, and null, and that 
 all ratifications or confirmations of the same, past by whatsoever author- 
 ity, or in whatsoever meetings, shall from henceforth be void and null. 
 
THE REVOLUTION. 153 
 
 reforming period, had been condemned as without 
 authority, and all their acts rescinded as " testimonies 
 of disloyalty, reproaches upon the kingdom, and unfit 
 to be any longer on record." 1 Multitudes of patriots 
 and martyrs had been barbarously put to death for 
 their steadfast adherence to that Reformation. Yet 
 nothing effectual was done at the Revolution, to rescue 
 the precious attainments of that period from the load 
 of infamy under which they lay buried. The Act 
 Rescissory was not repealed. The legality of the reform 
 ing Parliaments was not acknowledged by the State, 
 nor the authority of the reforming Assemblies explicitly 
 owned by the Church. The charges of treason and 
 rebellion against the measures of the Second Reforma- 
 tion, and against the men who had laid down their 
 lives in defence of them, were left in the Statute-book, 
 without qualification or contradiction. To gratify 
 those who still retained a lingering attachment to that 
 ancient work, a few stones were gathered from the 
 wreck of it, to be incorporated with the new structure, 
 but the venerable fabric itself was left in ruins. No 
 entreaties could induce the Assemblies of the Revolu- 
 tion Church to recognize, by any explicit act, the per- 
 manent obligation of the Covenants ; and the name of 
 the Solemn League never once occurs in any of their 
 public deeds. All attempts made by individuals, either 
 at the Revolution, or afterwards, to revive the memory 
 of the Second Reformation, were repulsed by the 
 Assembly with evident marks of displeasure. In pro- 
 cess of time, it became a more perilous course for a 
 minister to vindicate the attainments of that Reforma- 
 
 And further, it is enacted, that if any person, or persons, shall, by writ- 
 ing, printing, praying, preaching, publish any words or sentences to stir 
 up the people to the hatred of his Majesty's royal prerogative and 
 supremacy in causes ecclesiastical, or of the government of the Church 
 by Archbishops and Bishops, as it is now settled by law; or to justify 
 any of the deeds, actings, practices, or things above-mentioned, shall be 
 incapable to enjoy any place, civil, ecclesiastical, or military, in this 
 Church and kingdom, and shall be liable to such further pains as are 
 due by the law in such cases." 
 
 1 Act 15th, Sess. 1st, Parliament 1st, Charles II. 
 
 1 
 
 K 
 
154 THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 tion, or condemn defections from it, than to make an 
 open avowal of the most fatal errors. The model of 
 the Second Reformation being entirely set aside, the 
 Revolution church was erected after the pattern of the 
 first, as exhibited in the year 1592, when the church 
 was yet in her minority. At that time, the National 
 Covenant had not been explained as condemning 
 Prelacy, and the civil places and power of churchmen. 
 The law of patronage had not been abolished. The 
 Solemn League and Covenant, by which these king- 
 doms became bound to preserve and promote the 
 Reformation, and to extirpate Prelacy, as well as 
 Popery, had then no existence. The acceptance of a 
 constitution resting on this basis, from a government 
 which retained the Act rescissory in its full authority, 
 combined with the studied neglect of the Second 
 Reformation by the Revolution Church, must be 
 regarded as a virtual renunciation of that Reformation. 
 The principal attainments for which the martyrs con- 
 tended and suffered, were consigned to oblivion or con- 
 tempt, in direct violation of the Covenants, and of that 
 divine injunction, " whereto we have already attained, 
 let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same 
 thing." 
 
 4th. The avowed principles on which the Revolution 
 settlement was conducted, were of a political, rather 
 than of a religious character. In the reforming period, 
 Prelacy was condemned, not merely on account of its 
 inutility, nor because it fostered ambition and avarice 
 among the clergy, nor even because it had been the 
 " ladder by which Antichrist mounted his throne," but 
 because it had " no warrant nor foundation in the word 
 of God." On the other hand, Presbyterianism was 
 established, not chiefly on account of its peculiar fit- 
 ness for preserving the unity and purity of the church, 
 and the efficiency of all divine ordinances, but because 
 it was the only form of church government which, in 
 the judgment of the Reformers, was capable of being 
 supported by an appeal to Scripture. But the reasons 
 
THE REVOLUTION. 155 
 
 adduced for the Revolution settlement were of a very 
 different complexion. Whether we examine the " claim 
 of right" by the Convention of Estates, or king 
 William's letter to his Parliament, or the Act of Par- 
 liament itself, we find no better reason for abolislnDg 
 Prelacy, than that " it has been a great and insupport- 
 able grievance to this nation, and contrary to the 
 inclinations of the generality of the people." 1 At the 
 same time " the King and Queen's majesties do declare, 
 that with the advice and consent of the Parliament, 
 they will settle, by law, that church government in this 
 kingdom, which is most agreeable to the inclinations 
 of the people." In the Act establishing the Presby- 
 terian form of Church Government in Scotland, and in 
 subsequent Acts, that form of government is acknow- 
 ledged to be " agreeable to the word of God." But 
 this is not assigned as the ground of its being estab- 
 lished; nor will any one attach much importance to 
 this concession, who knows, that it is one great prin- 
 ciple of Erastianism, to hold every form of church 
 government as agreeable to the word of God, which 
 conduces to general utility, and has the sanction of the 
 civil government. 2 
 
 These are some of the grounds on which a number 
 of conscientious and devoted Christians felt themselves 
 compelled to dissent from the Revolution church, when 
 it was first established. In our judgment, the causes 
 assigned were sufficient to warrant this dissent ; and if 
 a charge of schism is applicabe to any party in this 
 case, it must, in justice, fall on those who abandoned 
 the scriptural and valuable attainments of the Reformed 
 Church of Scotland, not on those who continued un- 
 shaken in their attachment to them, and who embodied 
 them in their public testimony under every change of 
 circumstances. 
 
 1 Parliament 1st, William and Mary, Chap. 3d. 
 
 2 In the "Westminster Assembly, the Erastians were willing to acknow- 
 ledge the Presbyterian Church Government, as " agreeable to the uvrd of 
 God" while they strained every nerve to prevent its being established in 
 England. 
 
156 GROUNDS OF DISSENT SINCE THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 GROUNDS OF SEPARATION FROM THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH SINCE 
 THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 The importance and validity of those reasons which 
 induced our fathers to decline the fellowship of the 
 Church of Scotland, at the Revolution, were speedily 
 demonstrated in her subsequent history. When we 
 undertake to justify them for maintaining a continued 
 separation from that church, while they themselves held 
 the principle of an establishment, we are bound to pre- 
 sent a summary of the grounds on which we rest their 
 vindication. 
 
 First. It was obvious at the commencement, and 
 became continually more so, that the civil government 
 with which the church had consented to be united, did 
 not possess the character which might justify that 
 alliance. Compared with the tyranny of the two pre- 
 ceding reigns, the government which succeeded the 
 Revolution has, doubtless, strong claims to our respect 
 and gratitude. We freely admit that it was from the 
 beginning, and continues to be, the best of the govern- 
 ments of modern Europe. Believing, as we do, on the 
 combined evidence of Scripture prophecy and authentic 
 history, that the kingdoms within the limits of the 
 " Latin earth," or Western Roman Empire, have been 
 all along " of one mind to give their strength and power 
 to the Beast," and that the time of the breaking up of 
 that impious confederacy has not yet fully come, a 
 question arises of superlative importance, whether Bri- 
 tain itself has ceased to be, what it undoubtedly once 
 was, one of the horns of the Beast. 
 
 Apart, however, from the decision of this question, 
 our conviction is, that whatever excellencies may belong 
 to the British Constitution, however adapted it may be 
 
GROUNDS OF DISSENT SINCE THE REVOLUTION. 157 
 
 for the preservation of outward social order, for the 
 promotion of trade and commerce, and even for the 
 administration of justice, still, it wants those Scrip tural 
 qualifications, without which a union between Church 
 and State can neither be lawful nor beneficial. The 
 constitution provides, that a certain number of Epis- 
 copal clergymen, under the title of " lords spiritual" 
 shall form a constituent part of the legislature. It pro- 
 vides for the perpetual establishment of Prelacy in 
 England and Ireland. It provides that an undisguised 
 supremacy over the churches in these kingdoms, shall 
 be perpetually maintained, as an inherent, right of the 
 crown ; and that the ultimate control over all ecclesi- 
 astical matters in them, shall belong to the King and 
 Parliament. All these things we regard not only as 
 immoral and pernicious, but as palpably antichristian ; 
 and as having produced to a lamentable extent, even 
 under the profession of a Protestant faith, and an ortho- 
 dox creed, the very same effects which, for centuries, 
 have flowed from the corruptions of Romanism. We 
 protest against the formation of a union between the 
 Church of Christ and a State which embodies such 
 flagrant immoralities in its constitution; which con- 
 founds the distinction between Church and State ; which 
 robs the churches of their liberty ; and places the reins 
 of government, indiscriminately, in the hands of the 
 pious or the profane, the Christian or the infidel, as 
 they may possess talents or influence to raise them- 
 selves to power. To men possessing Scriptural quali- 
 fications, the very terms of office in Britain have been 
 such as to render power wholly inaccessible. That 
 good men have, occasionally, co-operated in carrying 
 on the government, we have no disposition to deny. It 
 is sufficient to justify our position to observe, that even 
 these good men, on receiving office, must have bound 
 themselves to maintain inviolate an immoral constitu- 
 tion, and to perpetuate those laws, by the operation of 
 which the church and religion have suffered incalcul- 
 able injury. 
 
158 GROUNDS OF DISSENT SINCE THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 It was, therefore, in our view, a capital error in the 
 Revolution church, to cleave to an alliance with a civil 
 government, which was not constituted in conformity to 
 Scripture, and which was composed of men altogether 
 unworthy of such an alliance. This laid the founda- 
 tion for a long series of errors. 
 
 Secondly. Our fathers testified against the Church 
 of Scotland, on account other habitual submission to 
 the Erastian encroachments of the State. 
 
 The successful aggressions of the civil rulers on her 
 ecclesiastical jurisdiction, have appeared, 
 
 1st. In regard to her Assemblies: — 
 
 In the 23d Act of Assembly, 1647, approving of the 
 Westminster Confession of Faith, an explanation is 
 given of the 2d article of chapter xxxi. of that Confes- 
 sion, for the avowed purpose of asserting the intrinsic 
 power of the church to hold her own Assemblies, both 
 ordinary and extraordinary, as often as occasion may 
 require, even without the consent of the civil magistrate. 
 By neglecting to revive the authority of this Act, the 
 Revolution church left herself exposed to the continual 
 and arbitrary interference of the civil magistrate with 
 the freedom of her Assemblies. Every meeting of the 
 General Assembly has been summoned and dissolved 
 in the name of the sovereign. Nor can this be truly 
 represented as an empty form, which does not imply 
 any claim of authority by the civil magistrate. In no 
 single instance, since the Revolution, has the church 
 ventured to convene and hold an Assembly in virtue of 
 her own intrinsic power, without the concurrence of his 
 Majesty's Commissioner; nor has the Assembly ever ven- 
 tured to sit longer than the ten days prescribed by law. 
 This matter is now conducted without any needless dis- 
 play of authority on the part of government ; but this 
 was not the case until the church was taught, by many 
 painful and mortifying lessons, that her own authority 
 was subordinate, and that of the king supreme, in 
 regard to this most important privilege. The second 
 Assembly after the Revolution, was appointed to be 
 
GROUNDS OF DISSENT SINCE THE REVOLUTION. 150 
 
 held in November, 1691, but was prorogued by royal 
 proclamation, until January, 169*2. When met, it was 
 suddenly dissolved by the king's commissioner, without 
 being allowed to transact any business, or to fix another 
 diet. A verbal protest was, indeed, offered by the 
 moderator against this piece of tyranny, and another 
 time for meeting was nominated ; but the issue served 
 only to prove, that the church had, on this head, com- 
 pletely surrendered her privilege into the hands of the 
 civil government, as the diet was deserted; 1 and a large 
 number of ministers concurred in sending up a peni- 
 tential address to the king, on account of the protest 
 offered by the moderator. After an interval of nearly 
 two years, the king was pleased to summon an Assembly 
 to meet in December, 1693, but did not permit the 
 meeting until March, 1694. And in order that there 
 might be no farther uncertainty nor dispute, in all time 
 to come, to whom the absolute right belonged t)f sum- 
 moning, proroguing, and dissolving the Assembly, the 
 next meeting, which was appointed for April, 1695, was 
 adjourned by proclamation three several times, before 
 it was suffered to take place. 2 In 1703, under the 
 reign of Queen Anne, the General Assembly, appar- 
 ently sensible of this degradation, was about to intro- 
 duce an Act asserting the supremacy of Christ, the 
 intrinsic power of the church, and the divine right of 
 Presbytery; but the proposal to pass so good an Act 
 was fatal to that Assembly. It was abruptly dissolved 
 
 1 Aikman's History, vol. v., pp. 401, 428, 429. 
 
 * See Proclamations, W. S. Library, Edinburgh, 1676-93, and 1694-99. 
 
 The following is a specimen of the style in which these adjournments 
 were declared and published: — ' ; William, by the grace of God, king. 
 
 &c to our Lyon King at arms, and his brethren, Heralds. Macers of 
 
 our Privy Council, Pursuivants, Messengers at Arms, Sheriffs, &c, greet- 
 ing; Forasmuch as we, by our Commissioner to the last General 
 
 Assembly, did interdict a new Assembly to meet the — day of April next, 
 and our affairs not allowing it to meet at that time; It is "our will, and we 
 have thought fit to adjourn the meeting of the General Assembly from 
 the said — day of April next, to the eleventh day of July thereafter. 
 Therefore, we, with the advice of the Lords of our Privy Council, do here- 
 by adjourn the said General Assembly, until the said 11th day of July 
 next ensuing, (1695) and then to meet at Edinburgh, requiring all the 
 members of the said Assembly to attend the said day." 
 
160 GROUNDS OF DISSENT SINCE THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 by the Queen's commissioner, without any recorded 
 protest. Since that time, the matter has been fairly 
 given up by the church ; and the paramount power of 
 the crown remains undisputed. What a contrast 
 appears in this respect between the General Assemblies 
 of the church since the Revolution, and the reforming 
 Assembly at Glasgow in the year 1638 ! 
 
 2. The Erastian interference of the State, and the 
 subserviency of the Church, were farther exemplified 
 in the admission into her fellowship of a large body of 
 the Episcopal curates. This was a measure so sinful, 
 and so full of peril to her best interests, that no con- 
 sideration of expediency could justify it. The terms 
 of admission were adjusted by the king, and consisted 
 in their taking the oaths prescribed by the civil govern- 
 ment for its own security, and promising to conform to 
 the Presbyterian government now established by law. 1 
 It is indeed true, that the right of the church " to try 
 and purge out all insufficient, negligent, scandalous, 
 and erroneous ministers, by due course of ecclesiasti- 
 cal process," was recognized by act of Parliament; 
 but this right was, in a great measure, nullified, by the 
 overwhelming influence employed by government to 
 secure the admission of the Episcopal clergy. The 
 success which attended this endeavour is fully attested 
 by an address of the Assembly's Commission to Queen 
 \ Anne, in 1712, in which they somewhat boastingly 
 
 / \mention it to her Majesty, as a "pregnant instance" 
 , of their " moderation," that hundreds of these curates 
 
 V^ had been admitted " on the easiest terms" 2 The terms 
 were, indeed, easy, to a degree altogether inconsistent 
 with faithfulness. To make room for these men, the 
 Presbyterian ministers had been violently ejected, 
 banished, and imprisoned. They had all taken a 
 solemn oath, that the government of the church is an 
 inherent right of the crown. Many of them had been 
 forced upon their parishes by military violence, and 
 
 1 Carstairs' State Papers, p. 44, ct scq. 
 
 2 Recorded in the 10th Act of Assembly, 1712. 
 
GROUNDS OF DISSENT SINCE THE REVOLUTION. 161 
 
 the people dragooned into their churches by guards, 
 fines, and tortures. Some of them had acted the part 
 of spies and informers; and the whole body, of which 
 they were a part, had been in the closest alliance with 
 the late government in its long course of sanguinary 
 oppression. Yet they were not required by the church, 
 when they were received into her fellowship, to con- 
 demn Episcopacy, to renounce the Erastianism which 
 they had avowed upon oath at their ordination, or to 
 express any contrition for their criminal courses during 
 the period of the persecution. So large an addition of 
 time-serving ministers, whose conduct afforded little 
 indication either of piety or principle, could not fail to 
 prove unspeakably injurious to the church. They soon 
 strengthened themselves by the alliance of a number, 
 previously in her fellowship, who were of a kindred 
 spirit with themselves. The result was the formation 
 of that well-known party in the church, which held a 
 constant ascendancy in her judicatories for more than 
 one hundred years. 1 
 
 3d. A very deplorable instance of the compliance of 
 the church, appears in her submission to the grie- 
 vous yoke of patronage. This remnant of Popery 
 was among the last from which the church, in the 
 reforming period, wrought out her deliverance. It was 
 felt, however, and opposed as an intolerable grievance, 
 even at a time when the exercise of it was subject to 
 several restrictions, and when its mischievous effects 
 were not developed, as they have subsequently been. 
 Yet we do not justify the Church of the Reformation 
 for having submitted to it so long. The liberty of the 
 church of Christ ought never to be bartered for secular 
 advantages. Long and sad experience has proved, that 
 civil rulers have not miscalculated the mighty power 
 of this instrument, for rendering the church subser- 
 vient to their own will. Hence the tenacious grasp 
 with which they have held it. No society can justly 
 
 1 The moderate part v. 
 N 2 
 
162 GROUNDS OF DISSENT SINCE TIIE REVOLUTION. 
 
 pretend to freedom, if some foreign power possesses the 
 right of selecting the men who shall fill its principal 
 offices. No shadow of support can be derived from 
 Scripture for such a practice. The right of the 
 Christian people to choose their own office-bearers we 
 believe to be sanctioned both by Scriptural example, 
 and by the practice of the primitive church for more 
 than three hundred years. It is shocking to reason 
 and to decency, to make the charge of immortal souls 
 a marketable commodity, which may be set up to sale, 
 and transferred to the highest bidder; — to suffer any 
 man, but especially the irreligious and ungodly — 
 libertines or infidels, to select a spiritual instructer for 
 a Christian congregation. 
 
 Although lay-patronage was set aside at the Revolu- 
 tion, the right of election was not lodged, as it ought 
 to have been, in the whole body of the communicants, 
 but in an aggregate meeting of heritors and elders. In 
 1711, the law of patronage was restored in its most 
 unqualified form. For some time after the re-enact- 
 ment of this law, the judicatories of the church did not 
 concur in the grosser aggressions of patronage on the 
 rights of the people. But in the lapse of a few years, 
 when the moderate party had gained a complete ascend- 
 ancy, the law began to be enforced with great rigour. 
 Although the clergy had cast off the Episcopal habit, 
 they seemed to retain in full vigour the persecuting 
 spirit of their fathers. It was henceforth no uncommon 
 thing for a minister, professing himself an ambassador 
 of the Prince of Peace, to be forced on an aggrieved 
 and reclaiming parish at the point of the bayonet. For 
 a time, the more godly ministers who disapproved of 
 these proceedings, were not compelled to take any 
 active part in them. The dominant party had recourse 
 to Committees, and other courts of an unconstitutional 
 character, to perpetrate the violence which the regular 
 courts declined. But, in a brief space, the tyranny 
 was canied to such an extreme, that ministers were 
 commanded, on pain of deposition, to take their part 
 
GROUNDS OF DISSENT SINCE THE REVOLUTION. 163 
 
 in carrying into effect every presentation, however 
 unpopular. It is lamentable that the Church of Scot- 
 land should have suffered this yoke to be re-imposed 
 upon her, after having been, by divine mercy, delivered 
 from it. But it is still more lamentable and astonish- 
 ing, that so large a number of enlightened and godly 
 men as have been foimd in the minority of that church, 
 who in their consciences condemned, and in their souls 
 abhorred this unrighteous law, should, in even* age, 
 have given their practical sanction to it, either by 
 accepting presentations themselves, or by becoming 
 the tools of the church, in league with an Erastian 
 civil government, for carrying it into general operation. 
 4th. The civil riders have, in some instances, usurped 
 the right of prescribing the terms of admission to the 
 office of the ministry, and even of wielding the cen- 
 sures of the church. In the year 1693, king William 
 and his Parliament ordained, 1 "That no person be 
 admitted or continued to be a minister, or preacher of 
 this church, unless he subscribe the oaths of allegiance 
 and assurance : " and farther, they u statute and ordain, 
 that uniformity of worship, and of the ad mini stration 
 of all public ordinances, within this church, be observed 
 by all the said ministers and preachers, as the same 
 are at present performed and allowed therein, or shall 
 be hereafter declared by the authority of the same ; and 
 that no minister or preacher be admitted, or continued 
 for hereafter, unless that he subscribe to observe, and 
 do actually observe, the foresaid uniformity." Church 
 courts were not at liberty to confer license to preach, 
 or ordination, on any person, however qualified in 
 other respects, unless he had taken the oaths prescribed 
 by government, some of which were very exceptionable. 
 At a subsequent period, ministers who scrupled com- 
 pliance with a most vexatious order of government, to 
 read from their pulpits on the first Lord's day of every 
 month, for one whole year, a proclamation concerning 
 
 1 Parliament 1st, Sess. 4th, Act 22d. 
 
164 GROUNDS OF DISSENT SINCE THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 the death of Captain Porteous, were declared by the 
 civil government " incapable of sitting or voting in any 
 ecclesiastical judicatory." 
 
 5th. The church has contracted sin by her indis- 
 criminate compliance with the orders of the Govern- 
 ment, respecting the observance of days of fasting and 
 thanksgiving. We do not question the propriety of a 
 Government summoning a nation to such exercises at 
 fitting seasons. But we conceive it to be unwarrant- 
 able to enforce the observance of such appointments 
 by the church, when she has had no opportunity of 
 exercising her own judgment respecting them. The 
 instances are not numerous in which the Church of 
 Scotland has summoned her people to such exercises 
 by her own proper authority; and, on the other hand, 
 her undistinguishing compliance with the orders of the 
 State in these particulars, has frequently tended to 
 involve her ministers and congregations in the guilt of 
 public men, and their iniquitous policy ; especially by 
 giving the sanction of their benedictions and their 
 prayers, to the unchristian and destructive wars which 
 have been carried on, sometimes in the support of 
 foreign despotism, and in close alliance with the Man 
 of Sin. 
 
 Thirdly. The fact that, at every period of her 
 history since the Revolution, a large number of the 
 ministers of the Church of Scotland have been unsound 
 in the faith, renders communion with her incompatible 
 with a full and faithful testimony for the truth. This 
 fact has been confessed and deplored by many who 
 continued in her communion. The church is " the 
 pillar and ground of the truth." But if the inscrip- 
 tion on this pillar does not contain the doctrines of 
 grace; if the church's confession, or the habitual strain 
 of doctrine taught by her ministers, gives a false view 
 of the gospel plan of acceptance with God, thus far 
 she becomes a pillar of error and delusion. When we 
 specify examples of heretical teachers in the Church 
 of Scotland, we wish it to be distinctly understood, that 
 
GROUNDS OF DISSENT SINCE THE REVOLUTION. 165 
 
 we do not consider them, singly or combined, as con- 
 stituting the principal weight of the charge which we 
 prefer against that church on the head of doctrine. 
 The importance of individual instances consists, chiefly, 
 in the evidence they furnish of the very extensive pre- 
 valence in the church, of errors of the same class and 
 character, with those which are screened by the church 
 courts; and of a most culpable indifference to the 
 truth, even among those who have not themselves 
 embraced the prevailing error. The incorporating 
 union with the Episcopal clergy, shortly after the 
 Revolution settlement, deeply infected the constitution 
 of the Church of Scotland, and produced a spreading 
 leprosy, of which she has never since been healed. 
 But for this fatal step, the sounder part of the ministry 
 might, perhaps, have been able to maintain their 
 ground against those of looser principles. In conse- 
 quence of the union, however, the corrupt party were 
 raised to that ascendancy in the judicatories, and 
 especially in the General Assembly, which enabled 
 them to give law to the church for more than a cen- 
 tury. 
 
 In the year 1714, Mr. John Simpson, Professor of 
 Divinity in the University of Glasgow, was brought 
 before the judicatories, on a charge of having taught 
 his students Arminian and Pelagian errors. It was 
 proved that he had discarded the doctrines of original 
 sin, and of man's inability, by nature, to perform works 
 spiritually good; and that he had depreciated divine 
 revelation, as not absolutely necessary to instruct 
 fallen man how to obtain supreme blessedness. Yet 
 he was dismissed from the bar of the General Assem- 
 bly without any censure whatever. Having received 
 some counsels and cautions, he was continued in the 
 chair of Divinity for fifteen years, from the commence- 
 ment of the first process against him. A second pro- 
 cess, however, proved that, during all that time, he had 
 persisted in teaching his former errors — thus poison- 
 ing the very fountain whence the streams of religious 
 
166 GROUNDS OF DISSENT SINCE THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 instruction were to flow, and that he had added to his 
 former heresy some of the principal errors of the Arian 
 school ; exalting human reason above revealed truth, 
 denying the necessary existence of the Son of God, 
 and maintaining that the three persons of the adorable 
 Godhead are not numerically one, in substance or 
 essence. Yet even then, the Assembly gave only a 
 feeble expression of its disapprobation of his conduct ; 
 for although he was deprived of Iris Professorship, he 
 was neither deposed from the office of the ministry, nor 
 excluded from the fellowship of the church. 
 
 In the year 1720, the Assembly showed much zeal 
 in pronouncing sentence of condemnation on several 
 important scriptural doctrines, under the false imputa- 
 tion of Antinoniianism. These were gathered from a 
 book then re-published, entitled, " the Marrow of Modern 
 Divinity." We do not maintain that this work was 
 wholly unexceptionable in point of doctrine; but in 
 the selection of doctrines condemned by the Assembly, 
 were included these precious scriptural truths, — that in 
 the gospel, Jesus Christ is offered by the Father to 
 simiers of mankind, as such, with a full warrant to 
 every one who hears the gospel to believe on him for 
 salvation; that personal appropriation is included in 
 saving faith ; and that believers are entirely freed from 
 the law, as a co vena nt of works, although it still con- 
 tinues to be a rule of life in the hand of the Mediator. 
 The Assembly commanded that this book should be 
 denounced from all the pulpits throughout the church. 
 To a number of the more orthodox ministers these 
 decisions were very grievous, and a representation was 
 given in to the Assembly, signed by twelve of them, of 
 the injury that was done thereby to the cause of truth; 
 but for this seasonable and friendly warning, the Assem- 
 bly directed that these ministers should receive a public- 
 rebuke, 
 
 A few years after, a process was commenced before 
 the judicatories, against Mr. Archibald Campbell, Pro- 
 fessor of Church History in the University of St. Andrews. 
 
GROUNDS OF DISSENT SINCE THE REVOLUTION. 167 
 
 It was proved that he had taught and published — "that 
 self-love is the sole and universal motive to virtuous 
 actions ; that men, without revelation, cannot discover 
 that there is a God. and yet that the laws of nature are 
 a certain and sufficient rule to direct rational minds to 
 happiness." Of the first of these tenets, he offered to 
 the Assembly a vague and equivocal explanation, 
 which was accepted; and he was dismissed without 
 censure, and without being pronounced guilty of any 
 error. 
 
 About fifty years after the case last mentioned, Dr. 
 M'Gill, one of the ministers of Ayr, in a publication 
 entitled, "A Practical Essay on the Death of Christ," ' 
 avowed and defended most of the leading errors of Socin- 
 ianisru; viz. that the supernatural mysteries of religion 
 must be brought to the test of human reason ; that 
 Christ was a person of our own order only ; that his 
 priestly office and his sacrifice must be viewed as merely 
 figurative; that there was no necessity for atonement 
 by the death of Christ, as man's obedience is more 
 acceptable to God than Christ's blood; that repentance 
 is the proper atonement for past transgressions, and 
 faith and sincere obedience a solid foundation of hope 
 for future happiness. Four years after the publication 
 of this book, the Synod of Glasgow and Ayr gave 
 deliverance on the case, by dismissing Dr. M'Gill 
 without the slightest censure, and without requiring 
 him to retract any one of his errors. He was, indeed, 
 persuaded to offer to the Court the following apology : 
 "that there are in his publication ideas which may appear 
 improper, and modes of expression, with respect to 
 some things, ambiguous and unguarded, which he dis- 
 claims, and for which he is heartily sorry." That such 
 an apology should have been sustained as satisfactory, 
 after a most atrocious attack on all that is precious in 
 the gospel, abundantly shows what were the sentiments 
 prevalent in the Church Court before which the case 
 
 1 Published in 1786. 
 
168 GROUNDS OF DISSENT SINCE THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 was tried. Some time after, an attempt was made to 
 bring the same case before the General Assembly ; but 
 that court absolutely refused to give it a hearing. The 
 effect produced on the orthodoxy of the church by such 
 decisions as these, could not fail to be incalculably 
 pernicious. They proved to demonstration, that how- 
 ever orthodox the confession of the church, a majority 
 of her ministers, who had all subscribed that confes- 
 sion, had " made shipwreck of the faith, and of a good 
 conscience ;" and that the friend of truth had little to 
 hope, and the heretic little to fear, from a prosecution 
 before the Church Courts. 
 
 Fourthly. Our fathers felt constrained to continue 
 their separation from the Church of Scotland, also, on 
 account of her unfaithfulness in discipline. In their 
 judgment, the discipline of the Revolution Church was 
 liable to the threefold charge of laxity, partiality, and 
 tyranny. 
 
 The extreme laxity of her discipline was evident in 
 the composition of her first General Assembly; and 
 especially in the admission of persons as ruling elders, 
 who had taken an active part in executing the bloody 
 decrees of the tyrannical house of Stuart. It was mani- 
 fest in the terms on which the conforming curates were 
 received into fellowship. It was manifest in the coun- 
 tenance shown to the most dangerous errors. There is 
 no instance on record, in so far as we know, of any 
 minister having been deposed, by any one of her judi- 
 catories, for preaching the doctrines of Arminianism, 
 or Pelagianism, however extensively these errors have 
 been published from her pulpits. Even the blasphe- 
 mous tenets of Arianism and Socinianism, have been 
 taught in her without check or restraint. 
 
 The partiality of the church's discipline is proved 
 by the fact, that while heretics and scandalously im- 
 moral persons have either been slightly censured, or 
 have escaped with impunity, the heaviest censures have 
 sometimes been inflicted on other deviations from strict 
 orthodoxy, immeasurably less dangerous. The pro- 
 
GROUXDS OF DISSENT SINCE THE REVOLUTION'. 169 
 
 ceedings of the Assembly in regard to the book named 
 i; the Marrow," furnish one striking example of this. 
 But the charge might be substantiated by the enumera- 
 tion of a long list of cases, in which the Church Courts 
 prosecuted, with extreme rigour, those who were con- 
 scientiously pleading the cause of truth, and striving 
 against sin. The persecutors were received into the 
 first Assembly without challenge. Shields, Linning, 
 and Boyd, who condemned the persecution, and pleaded 
 for Reformation attainments, were not admitted without 
 admonition. Mr. John Simpson, the Arian Professor, 
 was screened and caressed. Mr. John Hepburn, who 
 sought to have the Covenants revived, and who con- 
 tended against defection, was deposed. 1 
 
 The materials supplied in history which serve to 
 establish the charge of tyranny against the adminis- 
 tration of this church, are lamentably abundant. The 
 first efforts of her despotism, after the Revolution, fell 
 on a class of ministers who cherished a warm attach- 
 ment to the attainments of the Second Reformation. 
 These ministers were not insensible to the defects of 
 the Revolution settlement from the beginning ; but thev 
 continued for a number of years to cherish a fond hope 
 of reformation. From time to time, papers were pre- 
 sented to the Church Courts, complaining of what was 
 defective in the original settlement, and condemning 
 various acts of corrupt administration; respectfully 
 but earnestly urging, that the obligation of the Cove- 
 nants should be explicitly acknowledged, that the sole 
 headship of Christ over the church, the divine right of 
 Presbyterian church government, and the intrinsic 
 power of the church to summon her own Assemblies, 
 and transact all her own business, without the interfer- 
 ence of the civil magistrate, should be distinctly as- 
 serted. To this class of ministers, the oath of abjura- 
 tion, the law of patronage, and the violent intrusion of 
 ministers on reclaiming parishes, were all, in their turn, 
 
 1 Dr. Thomas Murray's Literary History of Galloway. 
 Q 
 
170 GROUNDS OF DISSENT SINCE THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 subjects of complaint and remonstrance. The agitation 
 of such questions as these, however, was reputed by the 
 Church Courts to be heresy of the worst description ; 
 and sentences of suspension, deposition, and excom- 
 munication, were passed against men of eminent piety, 
 and unblemished deportment, for no other offence than 
 that they had disquieted the judicatories by pleading 
 the cause of truth. To have given countenance to 
 these honourable contendings for the purity and inde- 
 pendence of the church, however required by the autho- 
 rity of Christ, would have given umbrage to her earthly 
 masters. To betray the church, and to screen heresy, 
 however provoking to Christ, gave no offence to the 
 civil rulers. There is no difficulty in deciding to which 
 authority the church courts yielded the greater defer- 
 ence. But we shall confine our notice to three instances 
 of their despotism, on account of the remarkable con- 
 sequences that resulted from them. 
 
 The first of these occurred in the case of the Rev. 
 John M'Millan, minister of the parish of Balmaghie, 
 in Galloway. In conjunction with two of his brethren, 
 he gave in to the Presbytery of Kirkcudbright, in the 
 year 1703, a paper craving the concurrence of the Pres- 
 bytery in seeking the redress of grievances, and in 
 adopting measures for preserving from oblivion some 
 of the precious attainments of the Reformation. The 
 efforts employed to induce the two brethren to with- 
 draw from this proceeding were successful, and Mr. 
 M'Millan was left alone in pleading the cause of 
 truth. No attempt was made to establish a single charge 
 against either his life or doctrine. Neither did he 
 plead for any novelties in religion, but that the church 
 should " remember whence she had fallen, and repent, 
 and do her first works." For this freedom he was visited 
 with the heavy sentence of deposition. It is sufficient 
 to vindicate him from the charge of faction or obstinacy, 
 that he so far respected such a sentence, as to abstain, 
 for a time, from the exercise of his ministry. It was 
 soon evident, however, that his protest and appeal to 
 
GRODNDS OF DISSENT SINCE THE REVOLUTION. 171 
 
 the General Assembly would bring him no redress, 
 unless he should consent to abandon what he believed 
 to be important truth ; and having the most entire con- 
 viction, that the sentence pronounced upon him was 
 unjust, he soon became satisfied, that to lay down his 
 ministry would be unfaithful to his Lord and Master, 
 and an act of homage to unjust and tyrannical autho- 
 rity. He forthwith resumed the exercise of preaching, 
 and was cordially welcomed by the people of whom he 
 had taken the pastoral charge. But the Lord had des- 
 tined him to a higher distinction than that of being the 
 pastor of a single congregation. The United Societies, 
 which had all along borne with them a testimony for 
 the whole of the Covenanted Reformation, had now 
 been for sixteen years without a living teacher to break 
 for them the bread of life. They had watched, with 
 intense interest, Mr. McMillan's faithful struggle for 
 Reformation attainments. They satisfied themselves 
 that his views of the Scottish Reformation, both in 
 Church and State, were enlarged and correct. They 
 gave him a harmonious call to become their pastor; 
 and in the year 1706, this witnessing remnant once 
 more enjoyed the privilege of having the ordinances of 
 their Redeemer dispensed to them by a minister, of 
 whose zeal and faithfulness they had received ample 
 satisfaction. This occurrence marks an important 
 era in the history of the Reformed Presbyterian 
 Church. 
 
 The second case we shall mention, is that of the 
 Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, minister of Stirling, which 
 occurred in the year 1732. At that period, the domi- 
 nant party in the church were carrying their measures 
 with a high hand. While affecting to regard the law 
 of patronage as a grievance, 1 they forfeited all claim 
 to sincerity, by refusing to interpose such checks as 
 were still in their power, and by giving effect to every 
 
 1 For more than half a century the Assembly gave annual instructions 
 to the Commission, to embrace every favourable opportunity of endeavour- 
 ing to obtain from the civil government the removal of patronage. 
 
172 GROUNDS OF DISSENT SINCE THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 presentation, whatever resistance might be made by the 
 people. At the same period an act of assembly was 
 passed, 1 which divested the people of any fragment of 
 liberty which the State had left. By this act it was 
 determined, that in those cases in which patrons did 
 not exercise their rights, the power of election should 
 belong to a conjunct meeting of elders and heritors, 
 providing only that the latter should be Protestants. 
 This act made it evident, that the Assembly was 
 scarcely more favourable to the rights of the Christian 
 people, than the Civil Government. In proportion as 
 its proceedings became arbitrary and indefensible, it 
 became impatient of complaint or remonstrance. It 
 passed a law that reasons of dissent, by members of 
 court, should not be recorded in its public registers ; 2 
 and when petitions and remonstrances were sent up by 
 the people, the Assembly absolutely refused to hear 
 them read. At this juncture, Mr. Erskine was called 
 to preach before the Synod of Perth and Stirling. 
 He embraced the opportunity, the only one now 
 accessible, of testifying from the pulpit against the lead- 
 ing defections of the Church. The Synod decided 
 that he should be rebuked for this offence. The case 
 came before the General Assembly, which affirmed the 
 decision of the Synod. Against this sentence Mr. 
 Erskine gave in a protest, in which he was joined by 
 three other ministers holding similar sentiments with 
 himself. They were ultimately deposed from the office 
 of the ministry ; and having formed themselves into a 
 Presbytery, under the name of the " Associate Presby- 
 tery," became the founders of the Secession Church. 
 The third case we shall mention was that of the 
 Rev. Thomas Gillespie, Minister of Carnock, which 
 occurred in the year 1752. It was at that time the 
 law of the Church, that however repugnant it might be 
 to a minister's conscience and feelings, he should, 
 nevertheless, be compelled to act the part assigned to 
 
 1 Assembly 1732, Sess. 11. 2 Assembly 1730, Sess. 15. 
 
GROUNDS OF DISSENT SINCE THE REVOLUTION. 173 
 
 him in any case of violent settlement. 1 Mr. Gillespie 
 had been commanded to co-operate in intruding a 
 presentee on the parish of Inverkeithing. With this 
 wicked order he refused to comply. His refusal was 
 visited with the heavy sentence of deposition from the 
 office of the ministry. He felt himself entitled, as 
 others had done before him, to disregard this sentence, 
 and, being joined by another minister, they constituted 
 a distinct religious fellowship, under the title of the 
 " Presbytery of Relief." 
 
 How little did it enter into the conceptions of those 
 lordly rulers in the Established Church, whose exces- 
 sive tyranny led to these breaches, that they were pre- 
 paring honours for the men whom they sought to load 
 with infamy ; that the bonds of their unchristian cen- 
 sures should confer new ministerial freedom ; and that 
 their efforts to reduce the entire population of Scotland 
 to a state of ecclesiastical vassalage, should open a 
 door of escape for hundreds of thousands of the most 
 serious and conscientious people in the land, and 
 secure to them a larger amount of Christian liberty 
 than the Church had enjoyed, with the exception of 
 one short period, since the reformation from Popery. 
 That Scotland has been indebted, to a very large ex- 
 tent, to the exertions of different bodies of Dissenters for 
 the preservation of evangelical doctrine and practical 
 religion, ample testimony might be adduced ; and the 
 fact has been fully acknowledged in the writings of 
 ministers of greatest eminence in the Church of Scot- 
 land. 
 
 We rejoice to believe, that He who reserved for 
 himself in Israel seven thousand persons, who had not 
 bowed the knee to Baal, at a time when defection 
 appeared almost universal, has never left himself with- 
 out a band of truly evangelical and devoted ministers 
 in the Church of Scotland, whose labours have been 
 made effectual for the conversion of many souls. In 
 
 1 Exemplified in the settlement of Torphiehen. 1750; Inverkeithing. 
 1752; and of Nigg, 1756. 
 
 Q2 
 
174 GROUNDS OF DISSENT SINCE THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 their own pulpits, they preached the unsearchable 
 riches of Christ ; and in spite of the fetters by which 
 they were clogged, they made occasional public appear- 
 ances in the cause of their Redeemer, against abound- 
 ing defection. Yet, on the most deliberate review of 
 the position they occupied, it is our conscientious 
 belief, that a larger measure of the spirit of the wit- 
 nesses would have constrained these godly men to 
 " come out and be separate " from so intimate a fellow- 
 ship with a multitude " who were enemies of the cross 
 of Christ." 
 
 We hold it to be an exercise of genuine kindness to 
 a church to exhibit to her, with the greatest possible 
 distinctness, the defections that call her to repentance, 
 and the evils that need to be reformed. There is an 
 increased probability that advantage will arise from 
 such a service, when there is a large and growing num- 
 ber of her members evincing a strong desire for refor- 
 mation. This we believe to be the case at present in 
 the Church of Scotland. The preceding testimony 
 against her defections, which seemed to us necessary 
 for the vindication of truth, is, at the same time, in per- 
 fect harmony with the warmest desire for her welfare. 
 Even should we reprove with undue sharpness, it would 
 be an evil of trifling character, when compared with 
 the sin of attempting to flatter and deceive her. And 
 it is our decided impression, that several of her warmest 
 friends have fallen into this hurtful error. Statements 
 are frequently met with, chiefly in the controversial 
 writings of modern advocates of the church, in which 
 it is assumed or implied, that there is no essential dif- 
 ference between the Revolution Church and that of the 
 Second Reformation — that the principles of the present 
 Church of Scotland are the identical principles for 
 which the Scottish martyrs suffered and bled. We 
 have already assigned the reasons which shut us up to 
 a contrary conclusion; and avowing it to be our sin- 
 cere desire to exhibit the difference as plainly as pos- 
 sible, we beg to submit the following comparison by 
 
GROUNDS OF DISSENT SINCE THE REVOLUTION. I/O 
 
 way of summary. The Church of the Second Refor- 
 mation we hold to be different from, and superior to 
 the Revolution Church : — 
 
 1st. In faithfulness to preceding Reformation. The 
 Second Reformation embodied and approved of what 
 was valuable in the First. The Revolution Church, 
 on the contrary, left the attainments of the Second 
 Reformation under the public disgrace and infamy, to 
 which they had been subjected by the persecuting 
 government of the Stuarts. Xo protest was entered 
 against the unrighteous and daring Act by which the 
 Reformation had been overturned. The church received 
 from the State a constitution in winch the Second 
 Reformation was overlooked, and, apparently, for the 
 express purpose of evading those excellencies in it, 
 which were inconsistent with the Revolution settle- 
 ment. 
 
 2d. In respect to the independent authority and 
 intrinsic power of the Church. The Second Reforma- 
 tion originated with the church, and was prosecuted by 
 her in the exercise of her own intrinsic authority. All 
 that she desired or permitted the State to do, was to 
 remove civil barriers out of the way, and to give its 
 public sanction to the different steps of Reformation to 
 which she had attained. At the Revolution, the State 
 took the lead in abolishing Prelacy, and establishing 
 Presbyterianism ; and authoritatively appointed the 
 church's Confession of Faith. Against this Erastian 
 usurpation the church made no remonstrance ; nor did 
 she presume, by any formal act of her own, to vindicate 
 her intrinsic right by abolishing Prelacy, enacting 
 Presbyterianism, and adopting her Confession by her 
 own proper authority — all of which was done by the 
 church in the Reformation period. 
 
 3d. In recognizing the divine right and original of 
 the Presbyterian form of church government, as being 
 founded directly on the word of God. At the Revolu- 
 tion, this form of church government was claimed by 
 the nation, and conceded by the civil government, as 
 
176 GROUNDS OF DISSENT SINCE THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 more agreeable to the inclinations of the people, " they 
 having reformed by Presbyters." In language common 
 to the Erastians of the day, it is acknowledged to be 
 " agreeable to the word of God;" but not more agree- 
 able than other forms of church government. 
 
 4th. In faithful opposition to Prelacy. In the 
 period of the Reformation, Prelacy was condemned, as 
 " having no warrant nor foundation in the word of 
 God ; " — as a branch of the " worldly monarchy and 
 wicked hierarchy of the Roman Antichrist." At the 
 Revolution, the State, in compliance with the Claim of 
 Right, abolished Prelacy in Scotland, because it was 
 declared to be " contrary to the inclinations of the 
 generality of the people." In disregard, however, of 
 the engagements of these nations by the Solemn 
 League, the government established Prelacy in the 
 Churches of England and Ireland, without any effort 
 being made by the Church of Scotland to prevent it. 
 
 5th. In asserting and maintaining the freedom of 
 ecclesiastical Assemblies. In the Reforming period, 
 the church asserted and exercised her intrinsic right 
 to convene her Assemblies, and to transact such matters 
 as were within her province, independently of the Civil 
 Government. On the contrary, to the Erastian and 
 arbitrary interference of the civil rulers with the free- 
 dom of her Assemblies, the Revolution Church yielded 
 tame submission. 
 
 6th. In regard to lay patronage. This intolerable 
 grievance was totally abolished in the Reformation 
 period. At the Revolution, it was left in abeyance, and 
 after the lapse of a few years it was restored by the 
 civil government. And, notwithstanding the enormity 
 of the evil, and the incalculable injury it has done to 
 the interests of religion, the church still bears this gall- 
 ing yoke. 
 
 7th. In respect to Covenanting. At the commence- 
 ment of the Second Reformation, the national Cove- 
 nant was renewed, with an express and pointed appli- 
 cation to Prelacy. A few years after, the Solemn 
 
GROUNDS OF DISSENT SINCE THE REVOLUTION. 177 
 
 League was framed and adopted. By these deeds, the 
 three kingdoms, but particularly England and Scot- 
 land, as well as the churches in them, were dedicated 
 to God. At the Revolution, the Covenants were left 
 among the ruins of the Second Reformation. The 
 Church of Scotland obstinately refused to revive the 
 memory of these sacred bonds, and acquiesced in that 
 deed, at the Union Settlement, by which the Solemn 
 League was a second time rescinded. 
 
 8th. In the principles on which allegiance to civil 
 authority was inculcated. In the Second Reforma- 
 tion, subjection was pledged and yielded to authority 
 4i in the maintenance and defence of the true religion, 
 and the liberties of the kingdom ; " and the laws which 
 excluded from power men of immoral character, or who 
 were disaffected to the Reformation, distinctly prove 
 that, in the judgment of the Reformers, it was a matter 
 of paramount importance that their rulers should possess 
 scriptural qualifications. At the Revolution, subjec- 
 tion was yielded and allegiance pledged to authorities 
 which, in many important particulars, were constituted 
 on the veiy principles, and invested with the very 
 powers, against which the Covenanters had contended 
 even to death. 
 
 9th. In regard to purity of doctrine. In the Refor- 
 mation period, much care was employed that the doc- 
 trines taught from the pulpit should correspond to the 
 standards of the church, and to the word of God, on 
 which these standards were founded. Since the Revo- 
 lution, the Confession of Faith has been the avowed 
 standard of the Church of Scotland ; but it is a lament- 
 able fact, that a large number of her ministers, not- 
 withstanding that they solemnly subscribed that Con- 
 fession, have rejected important doctrines taught in it, 
 and exhibited from the pulpit and the press pernicious 
 errors which it condemns. 
 
 10th. In respect to purity of discipline. The faith- 
 ful removal from the church of persons avowing 
 unsound principles, or openly immoral in their deport- 
 
178 TESTIMONY AGAINST PUBLIC EVILS 
 
 ment, in the reforming period, presents a striking con- 
 trast to the administration that followed. The unfaith- 
 fulness of the Revolution Church on this head, we have 
 already traced, in the composition of the first General 
 Assembly, in the prompt admission of the curates into 
 her church courts, and in the sinful connivance at 
 error which has prevailed since the Revolution. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 TESTIMONY AGAINST PUBLIC EVILS SUBSEQUENT TO THE REVOLU- 
 TION. 
 
 In the public measures of these nations, also, during 
 the period which followed the Revolution, there were 
 many things against which the witnesses were called to 
 bear testimony. Of these we may specify the follow- 
 ing:— 
 
 1st. The incorporating union between England and 
 Scotland in the year 1707. Without pronouncing any 
 opinion on the policy of the union itself, or calling in 
 question the political advantages that are believed to 
 have arisen from it, we complain that the terms on 
 which it was effected involved a serious violation of the 
 solemn engagements of these lands. The moral obli- 
 gation of the public Covenants of our ancestors was, in 
 our judgment, not impaired, by the unrighteous Act 
 of Charles' government repealing these deeds. We 
 hold that these nations were mutually and permanently 
 bound by the Solemn League," to preserve the reformed 
 religion in the Church of Scotland, in doctrine, worship, 
 discipline, and government, and to promote the refor- 
 mation of religion in the kingdoms of England and 
 Ireland, in doctrine, worship, discipline, and govern- 
 ment ; and to endeavour to bring the churches of God 
 in the three kingdoms to the nearest conjunction and 
 uniformity in religion, confession of faith, form of church 
 
SUBSEQUENT TO THE REVOLUTION. 179 
 
 government, and directory for worship and catechising:" 
 and farther, " to endeavour the extirpation of Popery 
 and Prelacy, — that is, church government by arch- 
 bishops, bishops, &c, — and whatsoever should be 
 found contrary- to sound doctrine." In total disregard of 
 this solemn bond, Prelacy was retained in England and 
 Ireland at the Revolution; and by the terms of the 
 Union, new bulwarks were raised for its defence, with 
 the express consent of the kingdom of Scotland. The 
 treaty of Union, in which Scotland was a consenting 
 party, provides, as far as human laws can do, that in 
 England and Ireland, Prelacy shall be perpetually 
 preserved and established. The Act of Union, more- 
 over, abolishes all laws and Acts of Parliament which 
 were in any respect contrary to itself. Thus it became, 
 in effect, a new act rescissory, as it virtually annulled 
 the Solemn League, and most of the public proceedings 
 of both kingdoms that were consequent on that deed. 
 The removal of the government to London has also had 
 the effect, of drawing the Scottish nobility and gentry 
 to a more frequent residence in that metropolis, and of 
 multiplying the motives by which so many of them 
 have been induced to abandon the faith of their fathers, 
 and connect themselves with the Church of England. 
 Another result of the Union has been, to increase the 
 obstacles by which the Church of Scotland has been 
 prevented from making any vigorous efforts to propa- 
 gate her principles in England, and from receiving into 
 full ecclesiastical fellowship those Presbyterian con- 
 gregations in that kingdom, which are anxious to be 
 represented in the General Assembly, as a branch of 
 the Church of Scotland. 
 
 2d. Much guilt has been contracted by the oaths and 
 tests imposed by Government during the same period. 
 The legal mode of swearing in England and Ireland, 
 by kissing a book, containing the whole or a portion of 
 sacred Scripture, we condemn as superstitious, and of 
 heathen origin. Many serious people have been sub- 
 jected to the loss of property, and some to temporarv 
 
180 TESTIMONY AGAINST PUBLIC EVILS 
 
 imprisonment for refusing to make oath in this manner. 
 The extreme frequency of oaths, particularly in the 
 excise and custom-house departments, and the hurried 
 and irreverent manner in which they have been admin- 
 istered, have had a most hardening tendency, and have 
 involved great numbers in aggravated iniquity. The 
 revolting and sanguinary character of the penal laws, 
 which annexed capital punishment to a multitude of 
 offences affecting property only, had the effect, in 
 numberless instances, of involving both witnesses and 
 juries in perjury — a crime often committed deliberately, 
 that they might avoid what seemed to them the more 
 heinous crime of legal murder. In the same rank may 
 be placed what have commonly been termed the Test 
 and Corporation Acts, passed in the reign of Charles 
 II., and happily abolished in 1828. By the Test Act 
 every person holding an office, civil or military, under 
 the king, in any place of command or trust in England 
 or Ireland, was required to qualify for office by receiv- 
 ing the Lord's Supper according to the form of the 
 Church of England. For some time an annual 
 indemnity was passed, by which persons not belonging 
 to the English Church were exempted from the penal- 
 ties incurred by disobedience to this law. But the 
 Act led to the systematic and most criminal profana- 
 tion of one of the solemn ordinances of the church of 
 Christ, and it fixes indelible disgrace on the clergy of 
 the English Church, that for a period of 150 years 
 they should have dispensed the Lord's Supper, indis- 
 criminately, to every candidate for office, however 
 notorious for profligacy or impiety, and that they 
 should have so pertinaciously resisted the repeal of a 
 law which involved themselves and others in so much 
 
 3d. Many things in the constitution, and in the 
 administration of Government, have concurred to 
 bring Great Britain into a perilous connection with 
 the Anti-christian system. The Episcopal hierarchy, 
 which we believe to be Anti-christian in its character, 
 
SUBSEQUENT TO THE REVOLUTION. 181 
 
 forms an essential part of the constitution. The 
 ecclesiastical supremacy of the crown involves in it 
 one of the most impious pretensions of the Man of Sin. 
 The blending and intermingling of things civil and 
 ecclesiastical — making the dignitaries of the church an 
 essential branch of the legislature, and vesting in the 
 civil government almost the whole authority which pro- 
 perly belongs to the church — affords a striking example 
 of that unhallowed commerce which the ten kingdoms of 
 Western Europe are represented in Scripture prophecy 
 as maintaining with the apostate church. 
 
 In the alliances contracted with foreign nations, 
 political expediency alone appears to have guided the 
 policy of the British government for ages. It does not 
 seem to have entered into the conceptions of the rulers, 
 that to form leagues with Anti-christian powers, the 
 tendency of which was to strengthen and preserve the 
 reign of Popery on the Continent, or to give stability 
 to a general system of government throughout Europe 
 inimical to true religion and the liberties of mankind, 
 was an act of rebellion against God, and that in doing 
 so, they were expressly placing Britain in the position 
 of those kingdoms of which it is predicted that they 
 would be " of one mind, and give their strength and 
 power to the Beast." In the early pan of the present 
 century, when the convulsions of revolutionary France 
 had placed the authority of the Roman Pontiff, and 
 that of the House of Bourbon, in the greatest peril, it 
 was chiefly by the gigantic efforts of Great Britain, 
 that both were preserved. 
 
 The relation between the British Government and 
 Popeiy at home, has also become progressively more 
 intimate, particularly since the passing of the Act of 
 Parliament in 18*29, by which members of the Church 
 of Rome were declared eligible to seats in both 
 Houses of the Legislature, and also to the highest offices 
 in the State, with a few exceptions. The effect of this 
 measure has been, the admission into Parliament of a 
 large number of Roman Catholics, who, from the 
 
 R 
 
182 TESTIMONY AGAINST PUBLIC EVILS 
 
 balance of political parties in the State, have commonly 
 been able to exert a preponderating influence on the 
 decisions of Government. However much it is to be 
 lamented, that the destinies of Protestant Britain should 
 be, to a large extent, under the control of Popish 
 demagogues in matters purely political, it is still more 
 to be deplored in the settlement of questions which 
 vitally affect the Protestant churches, and the interests 
 of Protestantism throughout the empire. 
 
 But there has been another class of public measures 
 which have indentified Britain still more closely, 
 perhaps, with the Anti-christian system. She has, for 
 a long series of years, employed her power in protect- 
 ing, and her treasure in propagating the Romish faith. 
 Her kings have been nursing-fathers and her queens 
 nursing-mothers to Popery. In the Ionian Islands the 
 Popish religion has been long under the fostering care 
 and patronage of Britain. In the province of Lower 
 Canada she confers on it a legal establishment. In 
 Ireland she munificently endows the Popish college 
 at Maynooth, in which thousands of persons are trained 
 up to propagate the soul-destroying principles of that 
 horrid system. And a large and increasing sum is 
 voted by her representatives, out of the public treasury, 
 for the support and propagation of Popery in her more 
 distant colonies. 
 
 4th. Britain has acted a distinguished part in that 
 system of almost incessant warfare which, for several 
 ages, has deluged the nations with blood. In all cases, 
 war is a dreadful alternative, and cannot be vindicated, 
 unless when it has become inevitable in necessary self- 
 defence. It is our conviction, that ambition, avarice, 
 and revenge, can no more fte justified in the proceedings 
 of nations than in the conduct of individuals ; and that 
 a nation, governed by Christian principle, can no more 
 be prompt to plunge into war, on every occasion of 
 insult or injury, than that a Christian man may war- 
 rantably avenge himself by single combat. Yet it may 
 be doubted, if any one of the nations of Europe has 
 
SUBSEQUENT TO THE REVOLUTION. 183 
 
 displayed more of the passion for war than Great 
 Britain, or has more recklessly hurried immortal heings 
 into eternity. The criminality of this conduct was 
 greatly aggravated when wars were undertaken, as they 
 have frequently been, in alliance with foreign despots, 
 or for re-establishing the tottering pillars of New 
 Testament Babylon. 
 
 It affords cause for thankfulness, that the nations of 
 Europe, generally, have of late enjoyed a breathing 
 time from the horrors of war, and that a feeling of aver- 
 sion to it has been gaining strength, both in Britain 
 and in other nations. Yet there is reason to fear, that 
 this change of sentiment is rather a dictate of prudence, 
 than the result of an enlightened perception of the 
 unholy and dreadful nature of war, and its contrariety 
 to the character and kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 5th. To these things must be added, the large share 
 which Britain has had, for ages, in the Anti-christian 
 traffic " in slaves and souls of men." ■ We fully par- 
 ticipated in the joy experienced by all humane and 
 Christian people, when, by an Act of the Legislature 
 in 1807, this diabolical traffic in human beings, by 
 subjects of the British Government, was abolished. We 
 witnessed, with satisfaction, the efforts that have been 
 subsequently employed to induce other nations to 
 abandon that traffic . We cordially united with all the 
 friends of freedom in thankfulness to God, when that 
 Act of Parliament was passed, in 1834, which has 
 happily led to the extinction of Slavery in all the 
 British Colonies. But, in cleaving so long to a system, 
 in which avarice, injustice, impiety, and cruelty, are 
 combined in then rankest forms, Britain has contracted 
 guilt of a very awful character. When " the earth 
 shall disclose her blood, and no more cover her slain, 11 
 the wrongs of oppressed, and the blood of murdered 
 Africans, shall not be unavenged, and we tremble to 
 
 1 Rev. xviii. 13. 
 
184 BRIEF HISTORICAL NOTICES 
 
 think how large a share of that solemn reckoning 
 belongs to Britain. 1 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 SOME BRIEF HISTORICAL NOTICES OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTE- 
 RIAN CHURCH, FROM THE ACCESSION OF MR. M'MILLAN TO THE 
 PRESENT TIME. 
 
 1706 to 1839. 
 
 It was a source of fervent joy and praise to the scattered 
 societies, to have the ordinances of divine grace once 
 more dispensed to them by a pastor, whose ministra- 
 tions they could own without abandoning any part of 
 their testimony, and without embracing an ecclesias- 
 tical fellowship which they justly regarded as exceed- 
 ingly defective and corrupt. The toils and privations 
 to which Mr. M'Millan cheerfully submitted, often 
 imbittered by calumny and reproach, in visiting and 
 feeding a flock so widely scattered, proved him not 
 unworthy to take up the mantle, and the ministerial 
 charge, which Cargill and Renwick had left behind. In 
 a short time he was joined by Mr. John M'Neil, a 
 licentiate of the Established Church, who, while he con- 
 tinued in the fellowship of that Church, contended for 
 the same truths for which Mr. M'Millan had bome tes- 
 
 1 It is inconsistent with the principles of the Reformed Presbyterian 
 Church, to retain in ecclesiastical fellowship any person holding property 
 in Slaves. In the North American Republic, wbich has contracted so 
 much guilt by Slavery, and in many of the States of which it still prevails 
 to a vast extent, and without any abatement of its horrid injustice and 
 cruelty, this decided practical protest against the iniquity of the system, 
 was maintained by our sister church from an early period of her history. 
 By a judicial enactment of her highest Church Court, in the year 1800, 
 persons holding Slaves, or trading in Slaves, were declared inadmissible 
 to the fellowship of the church. 1 
 
 1 Reformation Principles Exhibited. American edition, p 138. 
 
OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 185 
 
 tiinony, and had passed through the same ordeal of 
 ecclesiastical persecution to which that excellent man 
 was subjected. In 1708, they concurred in laying 
 before the Commission of the General Assembly a joint 
 protestation and declinature, in which they presented 
 an explicit statement of the grounds of their controversy 
 with the Established Church. Mr. M'Neil laboured 
 as a preacher with much acceptance until his death. 
 The high veneration which all parties entertained for 
 the established order of Presbyterian government pre- 
 vented any attempt to obtain ordination for Bir. M'Neil 
 in an irregular way. Neither would they make the 
 least compromise of their principles, in order to gain 
 the co-operation of other ministers, who had been ex- 
 pelled from the Established Church for pleading, to a 
 certain extent, the same cause with themselves. Their 
 ardent love to the truth, the testimony of an approving 
 conscience, the manifest tokens of a blessing from on 
 high resting on their labours, supported them amidst 
 all present trials and discouragements. 
 
 After the incorporating union with England in 1707, 
 and the restoration of patronage in 1711, had presented 
 fresh instances of the apostacy of the nation, they 
 adopted the resolution of renewing the Covenants, both 
 as a means of confirming the faith of the Church, and 
 of giving a public testimony for the cause of Scotland's 
 Reformation. After much serious preparation, the 
 solemn work was performed at Auchensach, near to 
 Douglas, in the year 1712. 
 
 When the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine and his associates 
 seceded from the judicatories of the Established Church 
 in 1733, Mr. M'Millan and the people under his care 
 conceived strong hopes, that the cause for which they 
 had contended would be adopted by the Seceders. 
 The testimonies emitted on both sides against the cor- 
 ruptions of the Established Church, seemed very much 
 to harmonize. But it soon appeared that the same 
 harmony did not exist in the views which they enter- 
 tained, respectively, in regard to the civil government 
 
 e 2 
 
186 BRIEF HISTORICAL NOTICES 
 
 of these nations. It was freely admitted by the Se- 
 ceders, that many grievous defects existed in those civil 
 institutions which were erected at the Revolution ; that 
 the qualifications required by the Scriptures, and by 
 the Covenants, were not possessed by the civil rulers ; 
 and that the complex system in Church and State 
 entirely excluded, and was calculated to bury in 
 oblivion, the Covenanted Reformation of the three 
 kingdoms. Yet they believed it to be their duty to 
 yield allegiance to the government, as the ordinance of 
 God, to ofTer up stated prayer for it, and to render to 
 it their active support. On the other hand, Mr. 
 M'Millan and his people, being convinced that the 
 conduct of these nations at the Revolution involved a 
 breach of their mutual engagements, and of their solemn 
 Covenant with God ; and perceiving that the support 
 of an Anti-christian hierarchy, and of a usurped supre- 
 macy over the Church, were made essential to the con- 
 stitution ; that the door of admission to the most import- 
 ant offices in the government was open to unprincipled 
 and ungodly men; and that the relation subsisting 
 between Church and State gave to such men, when in 
 power, a dangerous ascendancy over the Established 
 Churches, could not believe it to be incumbent on them 
 to render to a government which " established iniquity 
 by law" the allegiance which is due to institutions 
 framed in accordance with the inspired volume. A 
 controversy ensued, which, it must be admitted, was 
 managed with some asperity on both sides, and which 
 served to prove, that the two parties could not be 
 advantageously united into one communion. It was 
 some consolation to Mr. M'Millan and his people 
 under this disappointment, that the accession of the 
 Rev. Mr. Nairne to their cause enabled them to obtain 
 a Presbytery. This minister had been a member of 
 the Associate Presbytery ; but as his sentiments on the 
 subject of magistracy were not in unison with those of 
 that body, he gave in his reasons of dissent, and with- 
 drew ; and having declared his adherence to the cause 
 
OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 187 
 
 of the Reformation as held by Mr. McMillan and his 
 people, he was received by them into church fellowship, 
 and concurred with Mr. M'Millan and some ruling 
 elders in constituting a Presbytery at Braehead, in the 
 parish of Carnwath, on the first of August, 1743, under 
 the appellation of the Reformed Presbytery. This 
 designation they assumed as expressive of their attach- 
 ment to the Reformation cause, and of their desire, 
 through divine aid, to contend for all those Scriptural 
 attainments, both in Church and State, to which these 
 nations were so solemnly pledged. 
 
 A door was now opened for the admission of young 
 men to the ministry ; and Alexander Marshall, having 
 passed the usual pieces of trial before the Presbytery, 
 was' licensed to preach the gospel on the following 
 year. To the aged father who, for a period of nearly 
 forty years, had stood almost alone in maintaining this 
 cause, and whose heart must have frequently trembled 
 for the ark of God, it was a delightful spectacle to see 
 the church assuming a regular organization, and enjoy- 
 ing the visible prospect both of permanence and increase. 
 Nor could any thing be more appropriate, as a means 
 of confirming the faith of the church, and of fortifying 
 the minds of the more youthful labourers, in whose 
 hands the testimony was shortly to be left, than a 
 renewal of the exercise in which this band of witnesses 
 had engaged about thirty -three years before. The 
 solemn work of Covenant-renovation was, accordingly, 
 once more performed by the church at a place called 
 Crawford -John, in Lanarkshire, in the year 1745. 
 
 As this was the last instance in which the public 
 Covenants were renewed in the Reformed Presbyterian 
 Church, we beg here to offer the following observa- 
 tions: — 1st. That covenanting is an occasional duty, 
 to be performed as the circumstances of the church, or 
 of a nation may seem to demand ; and that the per- 
 manent obligation of the Covenants of these lands 
 depends on their moral and scriptural character, rather 
 than their being publicly recognized or renewed. 
 
188 BRIEF HISTORICAL NOTICES 
 
 2d. Yet we believe, that where a church or people have 
 been brought under the bond of such engagements, it 
 is a duty warranted by reason and scripture occasion- 
 ally to renew them, as the aspects of divine providence 
 may require. 3d. We believe that the defection of a 
 great majority of a church or nation from such Cove- 
 nants, does not cancel their obligation ; and that the 
 call upon a minority, who adheres to them, to bring 
 them up to remembrance, becomes the more urgent 
 when the public acts of the majority have a tendecny 
 to bury them in oblivion, 4th. We approve of the 
 zeal and faithfulness which prompted our fathers to 
 engage in this work at seasonable times, and admit that 
 we are placed under superadded obligations to adhere 
 to these Covenants in consequence of their deeds of 
 renovation. 
 
 A few years after, the church was enabled to take a 
 step of some importance for extending the knowledge 
 of her principles in the New World. During the per- 
 secution, many Presbyterians who were driven from 
 their native country, found an asylum in North America. 
 These exiles, and their descendants, were accustomed, 
 when it was practicable for them, to unite themselves 
 into praying societies, as they were wont to do in their 
 own land, on the footing of Reformation principles. 
 In the same year in which the Reformed Presbytery 
 was constituted in Scotland, a number of them, residing 
 in the State of Pennsylvania, held a meeting for the 
 renovation of their covenants. At that time they en- 
 joyed the labours of a minister who seemed to hold Re- 
 formation principles very firmly, and'to propagate them 
 with uncommon zeal. 1 He proved deficient in stead- 
 fastness, however, and the United Societies there were 
 left for many years, as their brethren had been in 
 Scotland, without a public ministry. In the year 1752, 
 the Scottish Presbytery was enabled to comply with 
 their importunate entreaties for help, by sending to 
 
 1 The Rev. Mr. Craighead. 
 
OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 189 
 
 them the Rev. Thomas Cuthbertson, who, during a 
 period of twenty years, was the only minister on that 
 Continent who displayed a banner for the whole of the 
 Scottish Reformation. By the assistance of some 
 brethren who emigrated from Ireland, a Presbytery was 
 at length constituted in the year 1774. 1 The same 
 causes which retarded the progress of Reformation 
 principles in the British Isles operated also in America ; 
 yet, in process of time, the Lord crowned the labours 
 of his servants there with most encouraging success. 
 
 About the time of Mr. Cuthbertson's departure for 
 America, the Reformed Presbytery suffered a severe 
 trial from a quarter whence danger was least appre- 
 hended. It was discovered that two of its members, 
 who, only a short time before, had given a solemn de- 
 claration of their attachment to the principles of the 
 church, had been teaching sentiments not in accord- 
 ance with her acknowledged standards. The most 
 prominent error which was at first avowed by them 
 was, the doctrine of an indefinite atonement, as opposed 
 to that of a particular redemption. After a protracted \ 
 discussion, the Rev. Messrs. Hall and Innes, who had 
 imbibed this initiatory error of the Arminian school, 
 were separated from the fellowship of the church. 
 By this event she was again reduced in numbers; but 
 her character for orthodoxy was vindicated, and the 
 vigilance of her ministers and members in guarding 
 against every appearance of error was increased. 
 
 The Act, Declaration, and Testimony of the Re- 
 formed Presbyterian Church, was published in the 
 year 1761. An acknowledgment of this document 
 was, thenceforward, required, as a term of ministerial 
 and Christian communion in the church. It has 
 proved, by the divine blessing, a most valuable and 
 efficient instrument in explaining, vindicating, and re- 
 commending the principles of the Covenanted Refor- 
 
 1 The first Presbytery consisted of the Rev. Messrs. Cuthbertson, Linn, 
 and Dobbin, with ruling elders. 
 
190 
 
 BRIEF HISTORICAL NOTICES 
 
 mation, not only in Scotland and Ireland, but in the 
 United States of America. 
 
 The increase of members in the Reformed Presby- 
 terian Church has been, at all periods, and in all 
 countries, comparatively slow. We do not hesitate to 
 confess, that, in one respect, this furnishes ground of 
 humiliation before the Lord. Had there been in the 
 church a larger amount of faith in the gracious promises 
 of Zion's King, more of the fervour and importunity 
 of believing prayer, in the pulpit, in the family, and in 
 the closet ; had her ministers been more distinguished 
 for unwearied, self-denying labour in the Lord's service, 
 and the patient prosecution of well-concerted schemes 
 for the diffusion of the truth, we doubt not that her in- 
 crease and prosperity would have been proportionately 
 more abundant. For our own shortcomings, and those 
 of our fathers, in these most important duties, we 
 desire to feel abased before God, and to supplicate his 
 merciful forgiveness. Yet it is a fact too little remem- 
 bered, that the popularity of a church affords no 
 conclusive evidence either of her orthodoxy or of her 
 general fidelity. If a religious profession may be esti- 
 mated by the standard of numbers, the truth of God 
 would have small honour. Among Protestant churches 
 it will be found that the most corrupt can boast of the 
 greatest number of members. Popery, also, in this 
 respect, outstrips Protestantism; and Paganism out- 
 strips them both. Had the judicatories of this church 
 been chiefly solicitous for an increase of numbers, they 
 would have adopted a line of policy, in many respects, 
 the reverse of what they have actually followed. They 
 would have embraced no principle which could 
 encumber any man in the pursuit of worldly honour 
 and distinction. They would have been more tender 
 of the vices of men, and especially of the opulent and 
 powerful. They would have contented themselves 
 with recommending the practice of religion to their 
 people ; but by no means have insisted on the actual 
 performance of religious duties, in the family and in 
 
OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 191 
 
 the church, as an indispensable qualification for church 
 fellowship. They would have preached against sin, 
 while, with little scruple, they dispensed the special 
 privileges of Christ's house to almost every class of 
 transgressors, without demanding, or waiting for satis- 
 factory evidence of repentance, or subjecting offenders 
 to public censure. By such expedients as these, we 
 feel confident that a larger share of popular favour 
 might have been secured ; but in the same proportion 
 should this church have forfeited all claim to be 
 regarded as a witnessing church, and have failed in 
 answering the design for which, as we conceive, she 
 has been heretofore preserved. 
 
 Under the deep conviction that the world is in a 
 state of revolt from the authority of God, and of active 
 opposition to the kingdom of his Son, it has been the 
 constant study of this church to mark and testify against 
 the varied outbreakings of disaffection and disloyalty, 
 which have been exhibited in society. And as the 
 complex system of Anti-christian delusion is the great 
 master- contrivance of the Prince of Darkness, it has 
 been her earnest endeavour to testify against this 
 system, in all its forms and ramifications — whether 
 appearing in the Church or in the State, whether in 
 the unmitigated grossness and deformity of Popery 
 itself, or in the more specious and deceptive combina- 
 tions by which the elements of it have been incorpor- 
 ated with Protestant institutions. In such an employ- 
 ment, it would have been unwarrantable to expect a 
 multitude of companions. Nothing can be more 
 clearly indicated in prophecy, than that, during the 
 whole period of the reign of Antichrist, the number of 
 true Christians within the territory of the Man of Sin 
 shall be small ; and the number of those who shall keep 
 themselves free from all fellowship with the corrupt 
 system still smaller. While the exalted Redeemer pre- 
 serves for himself two witnesses clothed in sackcloth to 
 plead his cause, the whole world wonders afterthe Beast. 1 
 
 1 Rev. xi. 3, compared with xiii. 3. 
 
192 BRIEF HISTORICAL NOTICES, &C. 
 
 Besides the testimonies that have been statedly given 
 by the ministers of this church from the pulpit, it has 
 been her ordinary practice to lift up more formal pro- 
 tests against prevailing iniquity, in the judicial enact- 
 ments of her ecclesiastical courts. Many of these have 
 been directed against Popery, and the public coun- 
 tenance given to it in this nation, particularly in the 
 measures of the civil government. Other dangerous 
 errors, and flagrant vices, were condemned as they 
 gained currency. Wherever the enemy broke in like 
 a flood, it was the aim and endeavour of the church to 
 lift up a standard against him. When the issue of the 
 process against Dr. M'Gill of Ayr, had proclaimed to 
 the world the extent to which heresy had spread in the 
 Church of Scotland, the Presbytery published a testi- 
 mony against Arian and Socinian errors. This was 
 soon followed by a specific warning against the pre- 
 vailing immoralities of that period ; a document which, 
 like its predecessor, is calculated to be of permanent 
 utility. 
 
 In the early part of the present century, the number 
 of ministers and congregations had so far increased, as 
 to admit of a division of the Presbytery, which, from 
 the extent of country over which the church was scat- 
 tered, had become exceedingly desirable. In the year 
 1810, three distinct Presbyteries were constituted, which 
 met in a general Synod in the following year. This era 
 in the history of the church was rendered the more mem- 
 orable, that in the good providence of God, the sister 
 churches in Ireland and in America were in a condition 
 to take the same important step at the same time. In 
 the year 1811, these three Synods, all adhering to the 
 same Testimony, were constituted in their respective 
 churches ; and it hath pleased the Lord to grant them 
 all considerable enlargement since that time. 
 
POSITION OF THE CHURCH, &C. 193 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PRESENT POSITION OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 HER POSITION IN RESPECT TO THE CIVIL INSTITUTIONS OF THESE KINGDOMS. 
 
 It is now more than one hundred and fifty years, since 
 the most steadfast band of witnesses for the Covenanted 
 Reformation in Scotland were led to the conclusion, 
 that it was incumbent on them to adopt the position of 
 dissent from the civil government of these lands, as well 
 as from the churches, which were at once established 
 and corrupted by it. The extreme tyranny of the 
 government then in existence, was only one of the 
 grounds on which they rested that dissent. They fur- 
 ther complained, that the government was erected on 
 the ruins of a Scriptural Reformation, to the preserva- 
 tion of which these nations were most solemnly bound; 
 that the ecclesiastical establishments were the mere 
 creatures of the State ; and that the principles and the 
 policy of the great Romish apostacy were so conspicuous 
 in the constitution and administration of both Church 
 and State, as to stamp the whole with the character of 
 Antichrist. At the Revolution, these nations adopted 
 and acted upon the views of the Covenanters, in regard 
 to the first ground of complaint only. The tyrannical 
 government was indignantly overturned, and one of a 
 much more equitable and moderate character was sub- 
 stituted in its stead. But while the public spirit and 
 energy of the nations were displayed, in shaking off the 
 yoke of oppression, and in asserting their own rights, no 
 effectual attempt was made to vindicate the rights of 
 the Redeemer. The Covenanters were not ungrateful 
 for the large increase of liberty and privilege secured to 
 them by the Revolution ; but they could not accede to 
 
 s 
 
194 POSITION OF THE CHURCH 
 
 an arrangement, however beneficial to themselves, of 
 which these were made essential conditions — that the 
 crown rights of the Messiah should be compromised, 
 and the Anti-christian corruptions interwoven with the 
 constitution both of Church and State, should remain 
 undisturbed. 
 
 The lapse of a century and a half has, in our view, 
 produced nothing to prove the judgment of our ances- 
 tors, on this important question, to have been erroneous. 
 The following considerations appear to us to justify 
 their decision, and to impose upon us an obligation to 
 maintain the same position of dissent: — 
 
 First. There is no direct or explicit acknowledg- 
 ment of the supreme authority of the Scriptures, in the 
 constitution and administration of civil government 
 in these lands. It is not our judgment that civil 
 government is founded in grace, or that the right of 
 nations to establish government depends on their 
 possessing divine revelation ; yet, wherever God's word 
 is known, his authority, in this matter as in all others, 
 should be recognized as supreme and infallible. It is 
 incontestible, that the Scriptures do contain many 
 passages which treat of civil government, delineate the 
 qualifications requisite for civil rulers, and unfold the 
 great principles by which men in power should be 
 guided, in framing their laws, and in the whole course 
 of their administration. To maintain that civil commu- 
 nities and their rulers may warrantably disregard 
 these divine directions, would be virtually to disown 
 the authority of the Most High over the nations. 
 Where divine revelation is not possessed, the light of 
 nature is the only guide. Whatever is not determined 
 in Scripture, must be regulated by enlightened reason 
 or public utility, agreeably to the general principles 
 and rules of the word. But every jot and tittle of what 
 God has actually determined, must be acknowledged 
 to be of perpetual obligation, in every community 
 where the laws of Heaven have been promulgated; 
 those things only being excepted, of which it can be 
 
IX RESPECT TO THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 195 
 
 shown, that they were designed for some particular 
 locality, or intended to be only of temporary applica- 
 tion. In the actual administration of the government 
 of these kingdoms, it seems to us that this principle 
 has been practically disregarded It does not appear 
 that the responsibility of nations to the moral Governor 
 of the world, is fully understood or felt. No strenuous 
 attempt has, heretofore, been made, by almost any class 
 of society, to select men possessing scriptural qualifica- 
 tions to occupy the halls of legislature, or to fill public 
 offices; and it has rarely occurred, we believe, that any 
 course of policy has been abandoned, merely because 
 it was condemned in the word of God. Here we rest 
 our first complaint — that the authority of Jehovah is 
 virtually set aside, while the homage and allegiance of 
 the nations have been tendered to the great idol of 
 
 POLITICAL EXPEDIENCY. 
 
 Second. At no period, since the Revolution, have 
 these nations and their rulers formally acquiesced in 
 the divine decree, which has invested the exalted Mes- 
 siah with the government of the nations. The eternal 
 Son of God, as a divine person, and one with the Father 
 and the Holy Spirit, possesses an unlimited authority 
 which is underived and unchangeable. But this is alto- 
 gether distinct from the dominion which belongs to him 
 as Mediator. It hath pleased the Most High, that the 
 administration of his moral empire, in its widest extent, 
 should be conducted by him whose name is Immanuel. 
 " All power is given unto him in heaven and in earth." 
 The Father hath put all things under his feet, and has 
 left nothing that is not put under him. " The kingdom 
 is the Lord's, and he is the Governor among the nations." 
 To him belong " dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, 
 that all people, nations, and languages should serve 
 him." He is also the " Prince of the kings of the 
 earth;" " the King of kings, and Lord of lords." The 
 Sovereign of the universe has issued his command to 
 all kings and judges, in these terms: " Be wise now, 
 therefore, O ye kings ; be instructed ye judges of the 
 
196 POSITION OF THE CHURCH 
 
 earth ; serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with tremb- 
 ling. Kiss the Son lest he be angry, and ye perish 
 from the way." We know of nothing, either in the deeds 
 of constitution, or in the administration of the govern- 
 ment of these kingdoms, which can justly be regarded as 
 a proper acquiescence in this authoritative appointment. 
 There is no formal recognition of the supremacy of 
 Christ, as Mediator, over the nations ; no acknowledg- 
 ment of those vows of allegiance that were formerly 
 pledged to him in the period of the Reformation ; no 
 care employed to make the interest of his kingdom the 
 primary object of concern. The favour that has been 
 extended to churches in these lands, has been mani- 
 festly vicious in its principle, and has tended to corrupt 
 these churches rather than to advance the cause of 
 religion. 
 
 Third. With these evils may be conjoined the open 
 and arrogant invasion of Christ's supremacy over his 
 church. If it is offensive to the Son of God to be refused 
 the homage that rightly belongs to him as " Governor 
 among the nations," it must be still more provoking, 
 when a finite, fallible being, usurps his authority over 
 the church. In this department of his kingdom he is 
 peculiarly jealous of his prerogatives. He has solemnly 
 commanded his disciples to own no other master. He 
 claims the exclusive right of prescribing a government 
 and laws to his church ; and there is not a single hint 
 in the sacred volume, of his having appointed an eccle- 
 siastical viceroy, to whom he has delegated his own 
 authority. The usurpation of such a dominion consti- 
 tutes one of the highest charges against the Man of 
 Sin. His conduct, in this matter, is denounced as a 
 blasphemous assumption of the prerogatives of Deity. 
 The Son of perdition exalteth himself, " so that he, as 
 God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that 
 he is God." And shall civil rulers be held blameless 
 when they imitate this example, and make themselves 
 Popes to the churches in their respective dominions; or 
 the people, when they acquiesce in such impious USUI- 
 
IX RESPECT TO THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 197 
 
 pation? Yet, according to the statute laws of the 
 empire, an Erastian supremacy over the churches of 
 England and Ireland, is held to be an essential right 
 of the British crown. The power of the State to model 
 and remodel, to overturn and reconstruct the church 
 at pleasure, to decree rites and ceremonies in her, to 
 form canons for the regulation of her government, to 
 select the persons who shall fill all her most important 
 offices, and even to determine her confession or creed, 
 remains indisputable. While we cannot but condemn 
 this as grossly Erastian, and essentially immoral in 
 principle, the evil has been greatly aggravated, by the 
 usual character of the rulers in whom this extraordinary 
 power has been vested. It is at once repugnant to 
 religion and to common sense, that the Church of 
 Christ should be subjected to the arbitrary will, or 
 caprice, of a legislative assembly composed of Protes- 
 tants and Papists, of Christians and libertines, of sin 
 cere believers and scoffing infidels; and in which the 
 enemies of religion so greatly outnumber her friends. 
 
 Fourth. The support that has been extended by 
 the State to the Church, however munificent, has been 
 so managed, that the cause of true religion has been 
 more injured than promoted by it. In proof of this 
 position, we offer the following considerations: — 1st. 
 This support has been lavished most abundantly on 
 those Protestant churches which have been most ineffi- 
 cient and coiTupt; and even in them, it has been 
 employed to pamper luxury, and gratify ambition, while 
 a large proportion of those ministers by whom pastoral 
 duties were actually performed, have been left to 
 struggle with poverty, and multitudes of the people to 
 perish through lack of knowledge. 2d. It has invariably 
 been used as an instrument for reducing the church into 
 a condition of political subserviency. The revenues of 
 the church have been dealt with as a spoil, which civil 
 rulers have distributed among their political partizans 
 and supporters. They have been employed to sustain 
 a lordly aristocracy, rather than to feed the people 
 
198 POSITION OF THE CHURCH 
 
 with the bread of life. They have largely contributed 
 to silence the voice of faithful remonstrance, which it 
 is the duty of the church to raise against the iniquitous 
 measures of public men, and to influence the clergy to 
 inculcate upon the people lessons of indiscriminate and 
 slavish submission, whatever aggressions have been 
 made upon their liberties — civil or religious. 3d. The 
 mode of levying the revenues of the church, both in 
 England and Ireland, has been unhappily calculated to 
 excite odium against her and her ministers, and to call 
 into exercise a class of passions exceedingly unfavour- 
 able to the progress of the gospel. 4th. The principle 
 on which that bounty has been bestowed upon the 
 churches, is essentially corrupt and vicious. In all 
 the measures of government respecting the church, we 
 have searched in vain for any higher principle than 
 political expediency as the prime mover. It is impos- 
 sible to believe that an enlightened regard to the 
 authority of God, a discriminating love of divine truth, 
 an earnest desire for the promotion of true religion, can 
 dispose a government to patronise every system of reli- 
 gion — be it true or false. Yet it does not appear that 
 the British government, since the revolution, has ever 
 withheld its fostering care from any religious system, 
 merely on the ground of its falsehood. Presbyterianism 
 is conceded to the inclinations of the people in Scot- 
 land ; Episcopacy, more in favour with men in power, 
 is established in England and Ireland, and more richly 
 endowed than any church in Europe: but when a 
 wretched expediency seems to require it, Popery is taken 
 under the fostering care of government in the Ionian 
 Isles; its corrupting seminary at Maynooth magnifi- 
 cently endowed ; successive companies of its priests, 
 directly supported from the public treasury, sent out 
 to propagate its destructive errors in the British 
 colonies ; and it is honoured with a legal establishment 
 in Lower Canada ! Nor is the climax of inconsistency 
 and iniquity complete, until the functionaries of a Pro- 
 testant government are degraded into tax-gatherers for 
 
IN RESPECT TO THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 199 
 
 the wooden Gods of Hindostan, and the priests of a 
 debasing and bloody superstition l 1 The same atheis- 
 tical principle has regulated the whole procedure of 
 government in those vast dominions, which, in the 
 providence of God, have been brought under British 
 sway in India. For a time, the preaching of the 
 gospel by Christian missionaries was positively inter- 
 dicted; 2 and even after the removal of this interdict, 
 the dislike of government to missionary operations 
 there was strongly expressed, by the enactment of 
 legal disabilities against converts from Heathenism. 
 Public offices and employments were open to natives, 
 which would have been instantly forfeited by their 
 embracing Christianity. For a long series of years, 
 infant murder — and for a still longer period, the burn- 
 ing of widows on the same funeral pile with the bodies 
 of their deceased husbands — were connived at, or sanc- 
 tioned, by law. 
 
 Fifth. In the domestic policy of these nations, there 
 are many things which awaken regret, and merit repre- 
 hension. While millions have been expended in de- 
 structive wars, the education of the people has been 
 neglected. Until a very recent period, this has been 
 lamentably the case, both in England and in Ireland. 
 An irreligious government, and an ambitious and pam- 
 pered church, have looked on with equal apathy, while 
 successive generations have grown up in the grossest 
 ignorance. In England a revenue has been expended 
 annually on cathedrals, and on the swarms of idle ec- 
 clesiastics that are attached to them, which, under 
 judicious management, might have secured the educa- 
 cation of all the poor in that kingdom. 3 From the ex- 
 tensive prevalence of ignorance has arisen a most 
 frightful growth of infidelity and of crime. 
 
 How little has been done to check the alarming pro- 
 gress of the national sin of Sabbath profanation. The 
 
 1 Memoir of Dr. Carey, p. 581. 2 Idem, pp. 349, 367, 484, et seq. 
 
 3 The revenues connected with the cathedrals of the Church of Eng- 
 land are commonly estimated at £300,000 per annum. 
 
200 POSITION OF THE CHURCH 
 
 very letter of the divine command, as it appears to us, 
 peremptorily requires of magistrates to guard that day 
 from open desecration. Yet most of those laws, which 
 were formerly enacted to restrain this wickedness, have 
 been suffered to become obsolete, while many of the 
 regulations of government, both in the civil and mili- 
 tary departments, as well as the example of men high 
 in power, have greatly contributed to encourage a vice 
 which forms so large an item in our national guilt. 
 
 With this may be conjoined the apparent apathy with 
 which government has contemplated, from age to age, 
 the dreadful ravages of intemperance. It may be 
 questioned if even war, with all its horrors, has been 
 more prodigal of blood and treasure, than this giant 
 vice. Yet no strenuous effort has been made by 
 government to arrest its progress; while the whole sys- 
 tem of laws, respecting the manufacture and sale of 
 spirituous liquors, tends to perpetuate the fatal delusion, 
 that their general use is beneficial to the community. 
 Some palliation may be pleaded for the past, from the 
 misconceptions which prevailed on this subject; but, 
 in this land, it can no longer be a sin of ignorance to 
 have any share in extending or perpetuating this deso- 
 lating scourge. The effects of spirit-drinking are every 
 where demonstrated, by the wretchedness of ruined 
 families ; by crowded prisons and lunatic asylums ; by 
 multitudes of convicts, whose crimes were perpetrated 
 under the maddening influence of strong drink ; by the 
 lamentable ignorance and depravity bequeathed to 
 children by drunken parents ; and by the appalling 
 mortality which it occasions in cities, towns, and vil- 
 lages. To give any direct encouragement to the manu- 
 facture and sale of these dangerous liquors, or to make 
 laws with the view of facilitating or promoting the prac- 
 tice of spirit-drinking, while the dreadful results of that 
 practice are ever in the view of government, would, in 
 our judgment, be a moral delinquency, for which the 
 largest amount of revenue would form no excuse. The 
 temporal misery, and premature death of thousands, 
 
IN RESPECT TO THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 201 
 
 are but a small part of the price that is paid for this 
 accursed revenue. It flows through a channel that is 
 polluted by myriads of crimes; and the practices which 
 produce it, are, every day, and throughout the whole 
 empire, involving thousands in eternal ruin. 
 
 The views we have adopted of the office and duty as- 
 signed to the witnesses, imperatively called for these re- 
 marks. And while we honestly and emphatically ex- 
 press our sentiments respecting the constitution and 
 administration of government, we repel the imputation 
 of any unkind feeling. To disguise or extenuate the 
 public delinquencies, which provoke the Most High, 
 and expose a nation to divine judgments, affords no 
 proof either of patriotism or of Christianity. We love 
 the land which gave us birth, and which has nourished 
 us hitherto — the land of our fathers' sepulchres. We 
 love it on account of the general equity of its laws, the 
 impartiality of its courts of justice, and the effectual 
 protection which it affords both to life and property. 
 "When we review the history of our fathers of a former 
 age, we endeavour to be thankful for the measure of 
 civil and religious liberty which we enjoy. We love 
 our country for our friends' and brethren's sakes who 
 reside in it. It is endeared to us by the large number 
 of the saints who, in different ages, have been prepared 
 in it for a blessed immortality; and by the struggles of 
 patriots, confessors, and martyrs, whose names adorn 
 its history, and whose monuments are scattered over its 
 surface. We love it as a land once dedicated to God 
 in solemn Covenant, and appropriately styled Hephzi- 
 bah, and Beulah. 1 We love it as containing, at the 
 present day, a larger number of the people of God than 
 any other nation. We love it on account of those 
 Christian institutions, which for forty years have been 
 increasing in number and efficiency, whose object is to 
 disseminate the glorious gospel, and accelerate the 
 coming of Christ's kingdom. If other evidence were 
 
 1 Isaiah lxii. 4. 
 
202 POSITION OF THE CHURCII 
 
 wanting, these things would be sufficient to prove, that 
 the privileges enjoyed by Britons are pre-eminently great 
 and precious. It would be to us a source of joy inex- 
 pressible, if, from such considerations, we could venture 
 to deduce the happy conclusion, that Britain has re- 
 pented of her confederacy with Antichrist, and of her 
 rebellion against God ; and to cherish the hope, that 
 when the seven last plagues shall be poured upon guilty 
 nations, Britain may be mercifully spared in the day 
 of wrath. 
 
 But of national repentance we can find, alas! no con- 
 vincing evidence whatever. The rights of man are, 
 indeed, as well secured, and as faithfully guarded, in 
 Britain, as, perhaps, in any nation on earth; but the 
 rights of God and of his Son, if they are not as 
 grossly outraged, are, in many particulars, little more 
 respected in it than in other nations, which still 
 give their strength and power to the Beast. Those 
 Christian institutions which have been labouring to 
 extend the boundaries of Christ's kingdom, have usually 
 received little support or encouragement from the 
 government of the nation. On the contrary, the ma- 
 jority of those who preside in the national councils, 
 have commonly regarded their efforts with apparent 
 indifference. And it is a solemn reflection, that the 
 unexampled light and privilege which Britain enjoys, 
 render her national sins proportionally more criminal 
 and alarming. 
 
 The particulars specified above, in connection with 
 what is contained in the third chapter of this Fourth 
 Period of our narrative, express the principal reasons 
 why we feel compelled to maintain the position of 
 dissent from the civil government of these lands, in 
 which our fathers have persevered for nearly 150 years. 
 To us they seem to afford descisive proof that, during 
 that period, Britain has never been divested of the spirit, 
 nor disentangled from the fellowship, of Anti-christian 
 powers. We do not come to this conclusion lightly. 
 We are aware that it must bring with it a train of con- 
 
IN RESPECT TO THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 203 
 
 sequences of a serious and painful nature. With some 
 of these consequences we are already familiar. To 
 avow the sentiment, that the British government em- 
 bodies immoralities of that peculiar description, which 
 stamp it with the character of Anti-christian, will appear 
 to many, even of those who acknowledge its faults, as 
 an unwarrantable extreme. More moderate opponents 
 will condemn the sentiment as unpatriotic and unchari- 
 table ; and others may denounce it as dangerous and 
 tending to sedition. But the guilt and danger of hold- 
 ing fellowship with the principles, or the policy, of the 
 Anti-christian system — with the head or the horns of 
 the Beast — are represented in Scripture as of such 
 magnitude, that no temporal loss or suffering can 
 counterbalance them. 1 Under these impressions, we 
 cannot proclaim attachment, nor vow allegiance to 
 institutions, which many good men extol and admire : — 
 1st. Because, in viewing them by the light of Scripture, 
 we believe them to be immoral. 2d. Because we hold 
 them to be Anti-christian. 3d. Because they were 
 erected on the ruins of a more excellent system, both in 
 Church and State, and in opposition to those solemn 
 vows, by which these nations were pledged to preserve 
 that system inviolate. 4th. Because the immoralites of 
 existing institutions were originally introduced, and 
 are still upheld, in opposition to the clearest light of 
 revelation with which any people were ever favoured. 
 
 This explanation of our sentiments will supply the 
 reason, why we do not adopt those forms of prayer for 
 the government of these lands, which are publicly pre- 
 scribed, or commonly used throughout the churches. 
 We fully recognise the obligation that lies on us, to 
 pray for the peace and prosperity of the land that sus- 
 tains us, and for the temporal and spiritual welfare of 
 all classes of its inhabitants. Towards the persons of 
 the rulers we cherish no feeling but that of unfeigned 
 good will. Our heart's desire and prayer to God for them 
 
 1 Rev. xvii. 3, 12, 13. 
 
204 POSITION OF THE CHURCH 
 
 is, that they may be saved. But we cannot warrant- 
 ably employ forms of prayer, that would even seem to 
 express approbation of institutions which we believe to 
 be essentially defective and immoral. We cannot pray 
 for the stability of a system which, as long as it is unre- 
 formed, is dishonouring to Christ, and an impediment to 
 the coining of his kingdom. 
 
 ^The same reasons are still more cogent to forbid our 
 being incorporated or united with the State, so as to 
 become accomplices in, or morally responsible for, its 
 iniquitous public policy. Such as are in ecclesiastical 
 fellowship with us, cannot, without a breach of their 
 testimony, hold fellowship with the civil government, 
 by composing a part of the legislature, or by taking 
 those oaths, for the maintenance and defence of the 
 complex constitution, which are required of members 
 of Parliament, and others filling public offices both in 
 Church and State. And as the members of our church 
 cannot sit in Parliament themselves, neither can they, 
 consistently, sit there by their representatives ; or com- 
 mission others to do for them what it would be unwarrant- 
 able and immoral for them to do in their own persons. 
 Neither can they compose a part of the executive 
 government, by holding offices under the crown, civil 
 or military, which might require them to co-operate 
 in carrying into practice any branch of an unscriptural 
 code of law. Yet we do not feel debarred from doing 
 what may be in our power, as private individuals, for 
 strengthening those wholesome laws, which are neces- 
 sary for the security of life and property, or for promot- 
 ing the administration of justice, when permitted to do 
 so without being identified with a corrupt constitution. 
 Should these principles subject us to the charge of 
 uncharitableness, or want of patriotism, we would study 
 to confute the charge by the blamelessness of our 
 deportment, and by a life of active benevolence. 
 
a RESPECT TO THE ESTABLISHED CHTRCHES. 205 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 PRESENT POSITION OF TEE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN REGARD 
 TO THE ESTABLISHED CHURCHES OF THESE LANDS. 
 
 Ocr position in regard to the Established Churches in 
 the empire remains unaltered. In some particulars 
 there are symptoms of improvement about them, which 
 we observe with pleasure and thankfulness to God. 
 For several years past, there has been a gradual, and 
 verv considerable iucrease of evangelical and godly 
 ministers, in the Established Churches of England and 
 Ireland. By these, the glorious gospel is preached, 
 and the eternal interest of men promoted. Among a 
 portion of the people connected with the Church of 
 England, there has also been evinced, of late years, a 
 laudable zeal for the spread of the gospel, and for the 
 conversion of the heathen. Large sums have been 
 raised to promote the circulation of the Scriptures, both 
 at home and abroad. The Missionary Society, sup- 
 ported by ministers and members of that church, has 
 been honoured with encouraging success. Several of 
 the missionaries connected with that Society, have dis- 
 played a zeal and devotedness not surpassed by any 
 class of missionaries. Should it please God still farther 
 to increase the number of sound and faithful preachers 
 in that church, we feel persuaded that other salutary 
 changes would follow, and many abuses and corruptions 
 would be reformed. 
 
 But all the weightier grounds of complaint against 
 that establishment continue undiminished. Her Anti- 
 christian connection with an Erastian state ; her slavish 
 submission to the royal supremacy, which has left her 
 scarcely a vestige of freedom or ecclesiastical authority; 
 her Popish hierarchy; her superstitious ceremonies; 
 the Arminianism and other unsound doctrines of a vast 
 
206 rosmoN of the church 
 
 majority of her clergy; 1 her simony ; her worldly pomp 
 and luxury ; her pluralities and sinecures, especially in 
 the multitudes of indolent ecclesiastics attached to her 
 cathedrals; her gross prostitution of sacred ordinances, 
 by the indiscriminate administration of them to all 
 applicants ; — all these enormous evils are not only un- 
 redressed, but no single step has yet been taken by any 
 competent authority towards their reformation. The 
 terms of her union with the State are such, as to deprive 
 the clergy of all power to accomplish any constitutional 
 or substantial reform; and at their entrance to office, 
 they are universally bound, by solemn oath, to uphold 
 and maintain the royal supremacy, — the prolific and 
 fatal source of all her worst abuses. According to 
 existing statutes, any of her clergy who should neglect 
 to use the liturgy, or presume to utter any thing pub- 
 licly against it, or against the royal supremacy, is liable 
 to be deprived of his benefice. In addition to these 
 things, a spreading leprosy of Popish error has lately 
 broken out in one of her universities, and has been pro- 
 pagated with most alarming success among the minis- 
 ters and members of that church ; and although the 
 sounder part of her clergy, including some of her dig- 
 nitaries, contemplate its advances with dismay, they 
 have no power to arrest its progress. 
 
 In the Church of Scotland, the number of orthodox 
 and zealous ministers has, for several years, been steadily 
 increasing. This improvement has been very conspic- 
 uous in the cities and larger towns. The sound in- 
 struction that has of late been delivered in her princi- 
 pal theological seminaries, seems to have been blessed 
 to a number of those young men who have been recently 
 ordained to the ministry. Churches have been rapidly 
 
 i It is computed that there may be about three thousand evangelical 
 ministers in the Church of England. It is lamentable, however, to reflect 
 that even this calculation, made, we believe, by the friends of that church, 
 shuts us up to the conclusion, that there must be thirteen or fourteen 
 thousand of her ministers who do not preach the gospel. Less than one- 
 fifth of the whole number of her ministers feed the people with the bread 
 of life. More than four-fifths of them starve the people for want of spiri- 
 tual food, or poison them by errors! 
 
IX RESPECT TO THE ESTABLISHED CHURCHES. 207 
 
 increasing in number, and their pulpits rilled with zeal- 
 ous and efficient ministers. The removal of the odious 
 restriction which debarred ministers of chapels of ease, 
 and of newly erected churches, from all exercise of 
 ecclesiastical authority, was a step of sound constitu- 
 tional reform; and has contributed materially to 
 strengthen the evangelical party in the judicatories. 
 An encouraging beginning has been made by the church 
 in the prosecution of several schemes of beuevolent 
 exertion. We shall rejoice to find, that what has been 
 already done, in ascertaining and providing for the 
 spiritual destitution which exists at home, and in dif- 
 fusing the gospel in distant lands, is only the com- 
 mencement of a new era of enterj)rize and exertion 
 heretofore unexampled. Efforts of this nature, in so 
 far as they are made in a truly charitable and Chris- 
 tian spirit, claim not only our warmest approbation, 
 but our earnest prayers. 
 
 The church has been awakened to the alarming fact, 
 that in this land of Bibles and religious ordinances, 
 there is still a vast amount of ignorance and irreligion. 
 All true disciples of Christ, and all Christian communi- 
 ties in the land, will cheerfully acknowledge the obli- 
 gation that lies on them to exert their energies to have 
 tins frightful evil redressed. But, in many respects, 
 the obligations lying on the Church of Scotland to do 
 so, are peculiarly weighty and solemn. 1st. Because 
 she has been receiving a large and regular support 
 from the State, for the express purpose that she should 
 provide religious instruction for the ignorant and the 
 poor. 2d. Because a large share of the existing 
 heathenism of the land is to be ascribed to her own 
 past inactivity and unfaithfulness. While men sleep 
 the enemy sows his tares; and had not the Church of 
 Scotland indulged a most criminal slumber, for more 
 than a century, while the population was rapidly increas- 
 ing, and other churches, destitute of her great advan- 
 tages, making strenuous efforts to avert the growing 
 evil, this vast arrear of duty would not now require to 
 
208 POSITION OF THE CHURCH 
 
 be discharged. 3d. Because her resources are so 
 extensive. By far the larger part of the opulent inhab- 
 itants of Scotland are in her communion ; and the great 
 majority of her members are exempted from the burden 
 of providing religious ordinances for themselves, by 
 the legal provision already made for their ministers. 
 On both these accounts, the wealth at her disposal is 
 manifold greater than that of all the religious commu- 
 nities in Scotland that decline her fellowship. 4th. To 
 whatever extent she may fail in applying an effectual 
 remedy to the existing destitution, either by inactivity, 
 or by retaining in office unsound and unfaithful minis- 
 ters, thus far, the existence of her congregations pre- 
 sents an impediment that is all but insuperable to other 
 religious bodies. The bad moral condition of a people 
 that are deceived by erroneous, or lulled asleep by 
 unfaithful teachers, is, in many respects, less suscep- 
 tible of cure than that of those who have no teachers. 
 The mistaken belief that they are already supplied 
 with the gospel, will, in most cases, restrain a people 
 from making any efforts to obtain it, and lead them to 
 discountenance and repel any attempts that may be 
 made to introduce it. 
 
 From the remarks already made it will appear, that 
 we cannot adopt the opinion of those, who ascribe the 
 abounding ignorance and heathenism of our land, wholly 
 or principally, to the scantiness of those funds secured 
 to the Church of Scotland; and who labour to direct 
 public attention to the increase of revenues, and of 
 endowed ministers, as the only effectual remedy. We 
 are convinced, that the ignorance and heathenism of 
 Scotland are to be ascribed to the past supineness of 
 the church, more than to the smallness of her revenues ; 
 to the inefficiency and unfaithfulness of a large num- 
 ber of her ministers, both as regards doctrine and dis- 
 cipline, more than to the want of a sufficient number 
 of them. It is undoubtedly of essential importance, 
 that the increase of churches and ministers in a country 
 should keep pace with the increase of population. But 
 
DT RESPECT TO THE ESTABLISHED CHURCHES. 209 
 
 when a church is inefficient or corrupt, the increase of 
 wealth, and of the number of her ministers, only 
 increases the power of doing evil. If splendid church 
 revenues, or a numerous clergy, could be safely relied 
 on for renovating the moral condition of a people, the 
 kingdom of England might have been a moral paradise. 
 Yet it is generally admitted, that the amount of heathen- 
 ism which still exists in that land is appalling ; and of 
 the religious knowledge and piety which it contains, a 
 large share must be ascribed, under God, to the strenu- 
 ous exertions of the different bodies of Dissenters. 
 Unless the extension of the Church of Scotland be 
 accompanied with a corresponding and effectual refor- 
 mation, the moral improvement which our country 
 requires must still be very remote. It is a fact appar- 
 ently too little regarded by the advocates of Church 
 Extension, that a large share of the prevalent ignorance 
 and irreligion in Scotland, exists in rural districts, 
 amidst a population immediately under the eye of min- 
 isters who have undertaken the pastoral charge of them, 
 and who receive national support that they may instruct 
 them. These considerations lead us to the conclusion, 
 that the Church of Scotland requires to be purified 
 more than to be extended; and if this be not done, the 
 heathenism of our land may go on to accumulate, 
 although the number of ministers, and the amount of 
 church revenues, were doubled. It is with deep regret, 
 therefore, we have observed, that the efforts heretofore 
 made to purify the church, from those evils which con- 
 strain enlightened and conscientious men to separate 
 from her fellowship, have, in no degree, corresponded 
 to those made for extending her boundaries. We should 
 regard it as a result to be greatly lamented, should the 
 extension of the church be so managed, that, while it 
 left her corruptions and abuses almost unimpaired, the 
 principal effect of it should be to counteract and 
 enfeeble the exertions of evangelical Dissenters. 
 
 The discipline of the church is still lamentably 
 defective. * We are aware, that her recent history fur- 
 
 t *2 
 
210 POSITION OF THE CHURCH 
 
 nishes several instances of decided measures having 
 been adopted, towards ministers who had dishonoured 
 their sacred profession by open immorality. Of this 
 faithfulness we greatly approve, and should be glad to 
 see it imitated by the judicatories generally. There 
 have also been several cases of discipline being exer- 
 cised towards ministers convicted of teaching error, 
 commonly known by the name of the Row heresy. 
 While we do not question the propriety of these deci- 
 sions, we cannot resist the conviction, that the error, or 
 extravagance of sentiment, condemned, was not more 
 dangerous in its character, while it was much less 
 extensive in its range throughout the church, than 
 other errors which have heretofore been overlooked. 
 It was well to check the growth of tenets calculated to 
 foster enthusiasm, and disfigure the doctrines of grace ; 
 but why should not the church be purged from teachers 
 who either discard the docrines of grace, or give them 
 small share in their discourses? A cold, withering, 
 unevangelical strain of preaching, has been the plague 
 sore of the church for ages. The manner in which 
 the Assembly dismissed a complaint brought against 
 Dr. David Ritchie, one of the ministers of Edin- 
 burgh, who was charged with having published Armin- 
 ian tenets, was by no means in unison with the zeal 
 manifested in suppressing the Row heresy. Instead 
 of adopting measures to have the true character of the 
 book ascertained, the Assembly was pleased to accept 
 of an ambiguous declaration of orthodoxy by the author. 
 In respect to the membership of the church, we are 
 inclined to believe that, in some districts, the standard 
 of discipline has, of late years, been elevated. Church 
 privileges are frequently refused to persons guilty of 
 notorious or scandalous immorality. In this depart- 
 ment of reformation, however, comparatively little has 
 yet been effected. Very unscriptural and pernicious 
 opinions on the subject of discipline are frequently 
 avowed, by persons belonging both to the Established 
 and to Dissenting churches. The danger* of giving 
 
a RESPECT TO THE ESTABLISHED CHTRCHES. 211 
 
 offence, and banishing people from public ordinances, 
 is pled as a reason for dispensing church privileges to 
 an ungodly multitude, who have not even a decent 
 form of religion. Thus, scriptural principle is sacri- 
 ficed to expediency. A distinction is frequently drawn 
 in practice between the two seals of the covenant, hav- 
 ing no foundation in reason or scripture — baptism being 
 freely dispensed to the children of persons who are 
 acknowledged to be unworthy to partake of the Lord's 
 Supper, or who live in the habitual neglect of that ordi- 
 nance. Very many parishes have been long destitute 
 of any regular session. In other cases, the session is 
 merely nominal, consisting of persons not chosen by 
 the people, and who are totally regardless of the duties 
 and the responsibility of the office. This state of 
 things is found to exist most commonly where pastoral 
 duties are not discharged, and from both causes, the 
 exercise of discipline has sunk into utter neglect and 
 contempt. In many places the ordinance of discip- 
 line is commonly made a subject of profane ridicule 
 among church members. 
 
 How little care is employed in dealing with persons 
 addicted to fashionable amusements, which are immoral 
 in their nature, or corrupting in their tendency ; such 
 as card-playing, and other games of chance, theatrical 
 exhibitions, balls, and revels ! Many are admitted to 
 church privileges, who, in their ordinary conversation, 
 take God's name in vain ; who make the Sabbath a day 
 of carnal indulgence, by giving or receiving entertain- 
 ments, or making complimentary visits ; who seldom 
 enter the house of God, excepting when they come to 
 receive special privileges to which they have no proper 
 title ; who make excursions for pleasure, frequent public 
 news-rooms, transact secular business, or trarfic in 
 spirituous liquors on God's holy day. By such unfaith- 
 fulness, the sanctuary is profaned, the church is greatly 
 corrupted by the fellowship of unworthy members, and 
 a deadly snare is laid for the souls of men. The irre- 
 ligious multitude, observing so many of the forms of 
 
212 POSITION OF TIIE CHURCH. 
 
 iniquity connived at within the church, are confirmed 
 in their neglect of God; and the fatal delusion is 
 strengthened, that the hope of heaven may consist 
 with a carnal ungodly life. This evil is further aggra- 
 vated by the private administration of baptism, which 
 is still the general practice in the church. 
 
 Even in those places where the duty of preserving 
 a distinction between the church and the world is ac- 
 knowledged, the true standard of scriptural discipline 
 is not applied. Regarding, as we do, the daily obser- 
 vance of family worship as an essential and important 
 part of Christian practice, we hold it to be unwarrant- 
 able to retain in church fellowship those who habitually 
 neglect that duty. It also tends to confound all order 
 and discipline, when Episcopalians, who rarely deign 
 to enter a Presbyterian house of worship when in 
 England, are admitted, without scruple, as communi- 
 cants in the Church of Scotland, and even sit as elders 
 in her church courts. While such an example is set 
 at home, and while the Church of Scotland continues 
 to make common cause with Prelacy, abjured by both 
 kingdoms in the Solemn League, it should not seem 
 surprising, that so many of her children, when they 
 remove within the bounds of the Church of England, 
 embrace the fellowship of that corrupt establish- 
 ment. 
 
 The intolerable yoke of lay patronage is still on the 
 necks of the people. The General Assembly has been 
 frequently urged by the most zealous and faithful of 
 its own members, as well as by numerous petitions 
 from the people, to apply to the legislature to repeal 
 that unrighteous law; but it has hitherto obstinately 
 refused to make such application. What was at first 
 submitted to with great reluctance, is now cherished as 
 a privilege. Town Councils, consisting of persons of 
 different denominations, — proprietors of land, many of 
 whom are Episcopalians, — even Roman Catholic land- 
 lords, through the intervention of Protestant factors, 
 may, all of them, select ministers for the Presbyterian 
 
IN RESPECT TO THE ESTABLISHED CHURCES. 213 
 
 congregations of the Church of Scotland ! No degree 
 of profligacy or ungodliness disqualifies a patron for 
 exercising his legal right to present a minister. An 
 association existed for a few years, named the Anti- 
 patronage Society, composed of ministers and members 
 of the Church of Scotland, by whose instrumentality 
 the evils of patronage were publicly exposed and repro- 
 bated ; but it embodied in its constitution the erroneous 
 principle that patronages may lawfully be bought and 
 sold. 
 
 The Act of the General Assembly, 1834, commonly 
 termed the Veto Act, was ostensibly designed to prevent 
 the intrusion of ministers, by securing to each congre- 
 gation the right of rejecting an unacceptable presentee. 
 Thus far the intention of the Act was commendable; 
 but when viewed as an attempt at reformation, the whole 
 history of it has been most unpromising. Instead of 
 asserting the unfettered choice of a pastor to be the 
 undoubted right of the Christian people, it fully recog- 
 nizes lay-patronage, as a law to be retained and re- 
 spected by the church. It neither condemns the law 
 as mischievous, nor utters any complaint concerning 
 the injustice of it. Even the right of refusal, the only 
 privilege it professes to secure, is not conceded to com- 
 municants, but only to male communicants ; and not 
 even to all male communicants, but only to male heads 
 of families. The female members of the church, and 
 male communicants not being heads of families, are not 
 permitted to interfere. The meagre privilege conferred 
 by this Act, fettered as it is by a complicated system 
 of jealous regulations, is also most liable to prove de- 
 lusory. Even had the church been able to maintain 
 the Veto law, therefore, we should have regarded it as 
 vicious in principle, inasmuch as it substitutes the right 
 of refusal for the right of choice, and contemplates the 
 continuance of patronage. Whatever may have been 
 the intention of the Assembly, the law bears the aspect 
 of an ingenious device to reconcile the people to that 
 grievous yoke; and it was not concealed by some of 
 
214 
 
 POSITION OF THE CHURCH 
 
 the principal promoters of the measure, that their in- 
 tention was, not to impair or destroy, but to secure and 
 strengthen the rights of patrons. 
 
 But it now appears that the Veto law was beyond 
 the powers of the Church; that the character and terms 
 of her relation to the State did not admit of her adopt- 
 ing such a measure. A decision of the supreme court 
 of law in Scotland, which has been recently confirmed 
 by the House of Peers, has determined, that the mea- 
 sure was an infringement of the rights of patrons, and 
 of the laws which control the Church of Scotland, as 
 an established church. To those who have carefully 
 examined the original settlement of that church at the 
 Revolution, and traced the subsequent history of civil 
 interference and ecclesiastical submission, this result 
 will occasion no surprise. Bat to those who pro- 
 claimed their belief, that the church was perfectly free 
 and independent, possessing ample powers to manage 
 all ecclesiastical matters, and accomplish all requisite 
 reforms, the decision must prove embarrassing and 
 mortifying in the extreme. A majority of the Lords of 
 Session, in delivering their opinions, informed the As- 
 sembly, that it had no power to enact such a law, with- 
 out the concurrence of the State. Other judges ex- 
 pressed an opposite opinion ; but the ultimate decision 
 in the House of Lords has proved, that the former, and 
 not the latter class, have been the correct interpreters 
 of the law in this matter. It appears perfectly evident, 
 therefore, that the recent declarations of independence 
 by the church, must be regarded as an expression of 
 the wishes of the reforming party in her, or of their 
 judgment of what she ought to be, rather than as a cor- 
 rect description of her actual condition, either at the 
 present time, or at any period of her history since the 
 Revolution. 
 
 The position in which the church has been placed by 
 the recent decision of the House of Peers, however 
 perplexing, appears to us a natural result of her alliance 
 with an Erastian civil government. Our fathers testi- 
 
IN RESPECT TO THE ESTABLISHED CHURCHES. 2l5 
 
 fied against that alliance, both on account of the char- 
 acter of the government with which it was contracted, 
 and because the church entered into it with culpable 
 precipitation, or inexcusable negligence, without re- 
 quiring or obtaining any sufficient security for her 
 ecclesiastical freedom. The recent decisions by the 
 law courts of the kingdom, furnish a new and convinc- 
 ing proof that the judgment of our fathers was well- 
 founded. 
 
 There are many ministers in the established church, 
 whose known principles must lead them cordially to 
 acquiesce in these legal decisions, although tending to 
 rivet the church's fetters. But there is also a large 
 number of ministers, and a multitude of her private 
 members, who begin to understand and appreciate the 
 independence of the church, as the spiritual kingdom 
 of Jesus Christ. What these may now regard the path 
 of duty we presume not to determine. They professed 
 attachment to the church, notwithstanding many ac- 
 knowledged corruptions in her, because they believed 
 she possessed both the power and the disposition to 
 purge out these corruptions. Until the existing laws 
 be changed, however, it is now evident that she does 
 not possess the power. Nor have we, heretofore, been 
 able to discover any convincing evidence of a disposi- 
 tion to escape from patronage. Perhaps the Most 
 High, in his adorable providence, and in kindness to 
 the Church of Scotland, is about to force her into mea- 
 sures of reform, which she had not the faithfulness or 
 the courage to undertake spontaneously. To us it ap- 
 pears evident, that until she break those fetters by 
 which she has been so long trammelled, any effectual 
 reformation is impracticable. The friends of religion 
 may labour to purify her, but their efforts must still be 
 liable to fatal obstruction. So long as the original 
 channels of corruption are kept open, whatever partial 
 reforms may be effected, we have not the slightest se- 
 curity that a new deluge of abuses and errors shall not 
 
2fiG rosmox OF THE CHURCH 
 
 be poured in upon her, by which all the present indica- 
 tions of improvement shall be overwhelmed. 
 
 What, then, it may be asked, are the reforms which 
 the church requires ? We respectfully suggest the fol- 
 lowing, as being, in our judgment, indispensable: — 
 She should renounce her connection with the State, 
 until it shall be reformed agreeably to the word of God ; 
 and employ such exertions as are competent to her for 
 effecting a thorough reformation in the civil institutions 
 of these lands. She should forthwith break the bands, 
 and cast away the cords of patronage, in whatsoever 
 hands it may be vested, and extend to the Christian 
 people the right and privilege of choosing their own 
 pastors. She should exert her utmost energies to purge 
 out from her pulpits the leaven of legal doctrine, and 
 Arminian error. She should expel from her fellowship, 
 by a vigorous and impartial discipline, an irreligious 
 multitude, who are almost as much strangers to the 
 form of godliness as they are to the power of it. She 
 should revive the memory, and acknowledge the obli- 
 gation of the Covenants— the national Covenant of 
 Scotland, and the Solemn League, both of which were 
 cordially embraced by the Church of Scotland, during 
 that period of her best reformation, which modern church 
 reformers profess to admire, and which were owned by 
 the martyrs at the hazard of their lives. She should 
 exclude Burgh elders, and non-resident elders, from her 
 judicatories, as incompatible with the representative 
 character of Presbyterianism, and as having contributed 
 in time past, to secularize the church, and bring her 
 into bondage. She should labour to restore family 
 worship in all the families, and fellowship societies for 
 prayer and religious improvement, in all the congrega- 
 tions under her jurisdiction. Were these important 
 changes effected, others would follow ; and the Church 
 of Scotland would once more stand forth a Reformed 
 and Covenanted Church, conciliating and securing the 
 affections of the faithful, and having few enemies ex- 
 
IX RESPECT TO OTHER DISSENTING CHURCHES. 217 
 
 cepting the enemies of truth and godliness ; universally 
 acknowledged as "a blessing in the midst of the land," 
 " the house of the living God, the pillar and ground of 
 the truth." 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 PRESENT POSITION OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, IN REGARD 
 TO THE UNITED SECESSION, AND OTHER DISSENTING CHURCHES. 
 
 The grounds of difference between the Reformed Pres- 
 byterian, and the United Secession Church, have been 
 very much changed since the origin of the Secession. l 
 
 1 The history of the Secession Church is remarkable for the number of 
 separations, or divisions, which it records. The first of these originated 
 in a controversy respecting an oath which, in some of the Scottish Burghs, 
 was administered to persons claiming the privileges of Burgesses, — one 
 party maintaining, that the religious clause in that oath was inconsistent 
 with the testimony of Seceders, while others considered it as unexception- 
 able. This first rupture took place in the year 1747, only fourteen years 
 after the commencement of the Secession. The Synod, composed of those 
 who held the lawfulness of swearing the burgess oath, was commonly 
 denominated i( The Associate, or Burgher Synod." The other division 
 was generally known by the name of " The General Associate, or Anti- 
 burgher, Synod. 1 ' 
 
 Each of these bodies was again subdivided. Towards the end of the last 
 century, the church under the care of the Burgher Synod, was violently 
 agitated by a controversy respecting tbe continued obligation of the public 
 Covenants, and the nature of that obligation; and also, respecting the 
 power assigned to the civil magistrate in matters of religion, in certain 
 passages in the Westminster Confession. On this occasion, the Synod 
 deemed it necessary to prefix to the formula of questions, usually put to 
 ministers at their ordination, a preamble, explanatory of their views on 
 these two points. Thi3 preamble was considered, by a minority, as im- 
 plying a departure from the principles of the Secession. The dissatisfied 
 members withdrew; and in the year 1799, constituted themselves into a 
 court commonly named * The Original, or Old Light, Burgher Pres- 
 bytery." A few years after, when the number of its members had 
 increased, it was constituted into a Synod, known as the u Original 
 Burgher Synod." 
 
 The Synod termed " The General Associate, or Anti-burgher, Synod," 
 was divided on a question respecting the power of the civil magistrate in 
 matters of religion. The division took place in the year 1806. The 
 minority that separated, including the late Dr. M'Crie of "Edinburgh, and 
 Mr. Bruce, who had been Professor of Divinity in that body, constituted 
 a court, which they denominated " The Constitutional Associate Pres- 
 bytery." 
 
 U 
 
218 POSITION OF THE CHURCH 
 
 In regard to most of the leading principles of the 
 Scottish Reformation, there was no essential difference 
 between our fathers and the first seceders. The chief 
 subject of controversy between the two churches, for a 
 long series of years, respected the duty of Christians 
 towards the civil government of these lands, and what 
 should be accounted essentially necessary, in reformed 
 and Christian nations, to constitute a lawful magistracy. 
 The fathers of the Secession admitted, that there were 
 many serious errors and defects in the Revolution 
 settlement, in the State as well as in the Church, and 
 testified against them. They declined taking the oaths 
 which were prescribed by government as tests of loyalty. 
 But they believed it to be incumbent on them to recog- 
 nize the government as the ordinance of God, and to 
 yield to it the benefit of their prayers, and of their 
 active support. Neither did they rest the claims of 
 the government to allegiance on any amelioration of its 
 character at the Revolution. Their doctrine was, that 
 whatever magistrates are, in the providence of God, 
 and by the consent of a majority of the inhabitants of 
 a land, in the possession of the supreme civil power, 
 should be recognized as lawful magistrates, and entitled 
 to the allegiance of the whole community. They 
 admitted that it would be for the advantage of a nation, 
 
 The two principal bodies of the Secession, after a separation of seventy- 
 three years, were re-united in 1820, forming the Synod now known as 
 " The United Secession Synod." 
 
 This union, however, was attended with another separation. A mino- 
 rity were dissatisfied with the basis of union which had been adopted by 
 the two Synods, and having entered their protest against the measure, 
 withdrew. They constituted a Presbytery which, for a short time, was 
 commonly known by the name of " The Presbytery of Protesters." In 
 the course of a few years, this Presbytery, and " The Constitutional Pres- 
 bytery," were united, and constituted that body now entitled "The Asso- 
 ciate Synod of Original Seceders." 
 
 Under the general name of Secession, therefore, there are included 
 three distinct bodies at the present time: — The United Secession Synod, 
 the Associate Synod of Original Seceders, and the Original Burgher 
 Synod. Of this last section of the Secession, a considerable number of 
 Ministers and Congregations have recently entered into the fellowship of 
 the Church of Scotland, and the question of re-union with that Church, 
 is still under consideration with the remainder. 1 
 1 1840. 
 
IN RESPECT TO OTHER DISSENTING CHURCHES. 219 
 
 were the constitution of its government, and the 
 character of its rulers, in conformity with the divine 
 law; and that Christians are not bound to yield 
 obedience to those commands which are inconsistent 
 with the command of God. But in testing the claims 
 of a government to allegiance, they would allow no 
 question to be raised in regard to its moral character, 
 in heathen, or in Christian lands. 
 
 The reasons why we cannot assent to this doctrine 
 have been already assigned, in our defence of the Cove- 
 nanters who rejected the government of Charles, and 
 that of his brother James; and in what has been sub- 
 sequently offered, as the ground of our dissent from the 
 present British government. If the doctrine were 
 correct, we should feel it to be impossible to vindicate 
 those persons by whom the Revolution was brought 
 about in the year 1688, from the charge of a deliberate 
 and criminal rebellion against a legitimate government, 
 which they were bound to submit to as the ordinance 
 of God. Neither could we account for the terms of 
 vehement condemnation employed in the New Testa- 
 ment, in regard to those who, during the prevalence 
 of the Anti-christian powers, render homage to the head, 
 or any of the horns of the Beast. 1 
 
 But there were principles of very extensive and per- 
 manent value, lying at the foundation of the Scottish 
 Reformation, concerning which there was the most 
 entire harmony between our fathers and the first 
 Seceders, which have been brought into debate in 
 modern times. In the controversy which has been 
 agitated with so much keenness, for several years past, 
 respecting national establishments of religion, the 
 United Secession Church has taken a prominent place. 
 And the principal writers by whom the controversy has 
 been conducted, have propounded doctrines tending to 
 bring the whole of the Scottish Reformation — in so far 
 as it was a national work — into discredit. As the ques- 
 
 1 Rev. xiv. 9—11. 
 
220 POSITION OF THE CHURCH 
 
 tion is one of paramount importance, and has awakened 
 an interest more general and intense, than any that has 
 been debated for a century past, and as we cannot 
 range ourselves under the banners of either of the con- 
 tending parties, it is proper that we should state our 
 sentiments respecting it as distinctly as possible. 
 
 We are most deeply sensible that the union which, 
 for so many ages, has subsisted between the Church of 
 Rome, and the civil governments of European nations, 
 was an unlawful and criminal union ; that it contributed 
 largely to corrupt both parties so united; that the 
 effect of it was to uphold and perpetuate error, to 
 obstruct the progress of the gospel, to fasten down upon 
 the nations the iron yoke of a double despotism, and to 
 occasion the shedding of the blood of the saints, in 
 lamentable profusion. 
 
 It is farther conceded, that the union which has sub- 
 sisted between the British government and the Church 
 of England, has been much of the same character, and, 
 to a large extent, productive of similar results. Arbi- 
 trary power has derived from it its firmest support. 
 The reformation of the church has been prevented. 
 Civil and ecclesiastical authority have been wickedly 
 blended and intermingled. Fierce and bloody perse- 
 cutions have been perpetrated. And the immense 
 revenues, which were ostensibly raised for the religious 
 instruction of the people, have commonly been expended 
 upon a host of irreligious and heretical teachers, or as 
 the price of political subserviency on the part of the 
 clergy. 
 
 Neither would we be understood as having any 
 sympathy with the opinion, avowed by some advocates 
 of Church Establishments, that it is a privilege to the 
 people, generally, to be exempted from all pecuniary 
 charge in connection with religion. Statements have 
 been published, and arguments employed on this sub- 
 ject, which we believe to be unscriptural and pernicious ; 
 appealing to the selfishness of the human heart, and 
 exalting into a virtue the spirit of religious pauperism ; 
 
IN RESPECT TO OTIIER DISSENTING CHURCHES. 221 
 
 representing it as undesirable and injurious that the 
 labouring population should give any thing for the 
 regular support of the gospel. We are fully persuaded 
 that it is a Christian duty of unalterable obligation, 
 which no human legislation can set aside, to contribute 
 voluntarily and liberally, according to the ability that 
 God giveth, for the support of religious ordinances at 
 home, and for the diffusion of the gospel among the 
 nations; and, having in our view the case of the poor 
 widow, whose generous contribution was commeDded by 
 the Redeemer, we should be unwilling to fix the degree 
 of poverty at which the obligation may be supposed to 
 cease. The promises contained in Scripture, confirmed 
 by long and attentive observation, fully convince us 
 that cheerful spirited exertions for the support of reli- 
 gion, even by those in limited circumstances, have a 
 tendency to promote the temporal as well as spiritual 
 prosperity of those who make them. True piety prompts 
 the believer, and the Divine law requires it of him, to 
 " honour the Lord with his substance." Such liberality 
 tends to exercise and invigorate one of the most 
 excellent of the Christian graces, and affords a valuable 
 testimony to the truth and power of religion. While 
 we hold, therefore, that it is the duty of nations to ren- 
 der support to the church, we would account it a posi- 
 tive injury to have it conferred in such a manner as 
 would tend to extinguish or repress the spirit of Chris- 
 tian liberality. 
 
 We have already declared our belief, that a union 
 between the church of Christ and an immoral or Anti- 
 christian State, is essentially unlawful and pernicious. 
 All past experience serves to prove, that a church, so 
 united, cannot long maintain her independence, her 
 orthodoxy, or efficiency. We are also decidedly 
 opposed to such a union as would subject the church, 
 or the consciences of men, to civil control. That any 
 civil government, however enlightened or reformed, 
 may assume the right of legislating for the church ; 
 prescribing her form of government; delegating authority 
 u2 
 
222 rosmoN of the church 
 
 to her judicatories ; interfering with her discipline, or 
 the appointment of her office-bearers ; dictating, review- 
 ing, altering, or annulling the decisions of her church 
 courts, or giving validity to them as ecclesiastical deeds ; 
 or of employing any civil coercion whatever to compel 
 men to adopt what they regard as the true religion, are 
 doctrines which we renounce and condemn. 
 
 Yet in the things specified we can discover nothing 
 more than the abuse — a very extensive, no doubt, and 
 fatal abuse — of a sound and most important principle. 
 That principle may be stated thus: — That by the 
 sovereign appointment of Jehovah, nations and their 
 rulers are placed in subjection to the Messiah; and 
 are solemnly bound by that high authority, wherever 
 divine revelation is enjoyed, to have a supreme regard 
 to the interest of the Redeemer's kingdom, in framing 
 their civil constitutions, in the appointment of rulers, 
 in the enactment of laws, and in their whole admini- 
 stration. 
 
 It is most evident that nations, in their united poli- 
 tical character, are moral agents, and accountable to 
 the supreme Moral Governor of the world for their 
 public conduct; and it is inconceivable that they 
 could be innocent in neglecting to make open acknow- 
 ledgment of the being of a God, and of his righteous 
 authority over them; or in refusing to make his 
 revealed will their supreme law, and the advancement 
 of his kingdom the ultimate end of their government. 
 The refusal must stamp upon a nation, even if it were 
 composed of Christian men, the character of political 
 atheism, or infidelity. In the holy Scriptures, the 
 Most high addresses to nations and rulers a variety of 
 commands, warnings, and instructions. One class of 
 Scripture lessons, addressed particularly to them, is 
 designed to show them their duty to Christ and 
 his church. They are informed that by the unchange- 
 able appointment of the Father, Jesus is made "Gover- 
 nor among the nations," — "the King of kings and Lord 
 of lords." They are commanded to do homage to him, 
 
IN RESPECT TO OTHER DISSENTING CHURCHES. 223 
 
 and submit to him. They are further informed, that 
 one grand design of the advancement of the Mediator 
 to the throne of universal dominion, is for the benefit 
 of the church. " He is made head over all things to 
 the church." He has received power over all flesh, 
 that he might give eternal life to as many as the Father 
 hath given him. The kingdom of Providence is 
 administered by the Redeemer, in subserviency to the 
 interests of the kingdom of grace. In the advancement 
 of that stupendous work of mercy, which brought him 
 from heaven to earth, he requires the active and cor- 
 dial concurrence of all the subjects of his moral empire. 
 He condemns neutrality as equivalent to undisguised 
 opposition. " He that is not with me, is against me." 
 And there is not a shadow of reason for maintaining, 
 that while it would be criminal in individuals, possess- 
 ing the light of the Scriptures, to affect neutrality in 
 regard to the interests of true religion, yet as soon as 
 these individuals are constituted into civil society, all 
 further obligation to serve Christ, and promote his 
 cause is at an end. 
 
 In respect to civil communities, such a supposition 
 is especially guarded against in the Scriptures. It is 
 there foretold, " that all kings shall fall down before 
 him; all nations shall serve him." In times past, they 
 have often professed to serve Christ, when they have 
 been supporting the cause of Antichrist, or shedding 
 the blood of the saints; but the time is approaching 
 when this counterfeit homage shall be succeeded by 
 genuine subjection. " The kingdoms of this world 
 shall become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his 
 Christ." Nor will they affect any neutrality towards 
 the Church. " The sons of strangers shall build up thy 
 walls ; and their kings shall minister unto thee." " The 
 nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; 
 yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted." " The sons 
 also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto 
 thee." " Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles ; 
 
224 POSITION OF THE CHURCH 
 
 and slialt suck the breast of kings;" 1 for "kings shall 
 be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing 
 mothers." How can the divine will in these particulars 
 be ever obeyed, or these predictions be accomplished, 
 if, in the full blaze of gospel light, the civil govern- 
 ments of enlightened nations must observe a most rigid 
 neutrality in regard to religion — do no more homage 
 to Christ than they do to Mahomet — and show no more 
 favour to his church, than to the apostate and idolatrous 
 Church of Rome ? 
 
 Should it be alleged, that the predictions, of which 
 we have given a specimen, contemplate nothing farther 
 than the general prevalence of the true religion among 
 the inhabitants of the diiferent countries ; and that what 
 is enjoined upon kings and judges, or predictedrespecting 
 them, must be accomplished by them in their private 
 capacity only, we account the interpretation inadmis- 
 sible. We cannot perceive that language more explicit 
 and unequivocal could have been employed to show, 
 that not individuals merely, but nations in their public 
 and corporate capacity, — and that rulers, not in their 
 private character merely, but in their public official 
 station, shall serve Christ, and his church. The limi- 
 tation of the meaning of these passages to individuals, 
 and to private station, is altogether forced and gratui- 
 tous. 
 
 When the command is addressed to kings and judges 
 in the second Psalm, to do homage, or yield allegiance 
 to the Messiah, there is not a shadow of evidence that 
 the language should be restricted to their individual, or 
 private, capacity. The terms employed distinctly refer 
 to their official character ; and terms of similar import, 
 used in the beginning of the Psalm, are so interpreted 
 by the inspired apostle, when he applies the passage to 
 those rulers who concurred in condemning and cruci- 
 fying the Saviour. 2 It was not in their private capa- 
 
 1 Isaiah, chap, lx., and xlix. 23. 2 Acts iv. 25 — 28. 
 
Dl RESPECT TO OTHER DISSENTING CHURCHES. 225 
 
 city that the Jewish Sanhedrim, and Herod, and Pilate, 
 fulfilled this prophecy. When it is predicted in the 
 book of Revelation, that the kingdoms of this world 
 shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his 
 Christ, l it would be not only a groundless, but most 
 unreasonable assumption, that the prophecy should be 
 understood merely of the individuals composing these 
 kingdoms. The improvement of individual character, 
 at the period specified in the prophecy, is, no doubt, 
 presupposed or implied; but that is not the event con- 
 templated in this prophecy. It is the renovated char- 
 acter of these kingdoms in their public national capa- 
 city that is obviously intended. Daring the Anti-chris- 
 tian period, the ten kiugs or kingdoms, were united in 
 their opposition to Christ, and in giving their power 
 and strength to the Beast. Was this done merely by 
 the homage rendered to the See of Rome by the people 
 generally r Most certainly not; but by the public 
 national support which these kingdoms gave to Popery, 
 and by the homage rendered by the rulers in their 
 official capacity. And it would be preposterous to 
 maintain, that when the kingdoms of this world shall 
 become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, the 
 change implies nothing farther than that the inhabitants 
 of these nations, and rulers in their private capacity 
 only, shall do service to Immanuel. If this was the in- 
 tention of the passages quoted, no language could be 
 more calculated to mislead than that which is employed. 
 But if, as we believe, it was the intention of the inspired 
 writers to teach, that rulers in their official character, 
 and nations in their public capacity, should do homage 
 to Christ, and promote the interests of his kingdom, no 
 language could be more explicit or appropriate. 
 
 In so far, therefore, as the system of principles 
 usually expressed by the term Voluntaryism, rests on 
 this basis, that in lands possessing the Scriptures, civil 
 rulers, as such, have nothing to do with religion, and 
 
 1 Rev. xi. 15. 
 
226 POSITION OF THE CHURCH 
 
 that nations, in their public capacity, can do no hom- 
 age to Christ, nor make exertions to promote his cause, 
 we oppose and testify against it, for the following among 
 other reasons : — 
 
 1st. Because it tends to confirm the nations in revolt 
 from the authority of God. Unless we wholly mis- 
 apprehend the system, it would sanction these danger- 
 ous doctrines : — that in their public corporate capacity 
 the nations owe to the Most High no allegiance ; that 
 in constructing their civil constitutions they are not 
 under obligation to regard his revealed will, or to render 
 those constitutions subservient to the interests of true 
 religion ; and that in the choice of persons to whom 
 political power is to be entrusted, no man should be 
 held disqualified, or ineligible, either on account of the 
 falsehood of his religious tenets, or his known hostility 
 to true religion. We are aware, that among those by 
 whom these sentiments are embraced and advocated, 
 there are many whose reputation is deservedly high, 
 both for talents and piety ; but this increases the danger 
 attending their erroneous opinions, and renders a so- 
 lemn testimony against them the more indispensable. 
 However ardently we desire to see the unhallowed and 
 unscriptural connection, which has so long subsisted 
 between corrupt churches, and immoral civil govern- 
 ments, totally and for ever destroyed, we could not with- 
 out dread and sorrow, contemplate the prospect of its 
 being succeeded by a system of national atheism or 
 infidelity. 
 
 2d. We protest against this system, because it robs 
 the Messiah, also, of his supremacy over the nations. 
 If the avowed enemies of the Redeemer may, without 
 guilt, be promoted to places of the highest authority; 
 if the church which he has redeemed by his blood, and 
 whose benefit is perpetually regarded by him in regu- 
 lating the concerns of his kingdom, must receive no 
 countenance from civil rulers, beyond what may be 
 extended to a society of infidels ; if even Christian 
 men, when invested with political power, although 
 
IN RESPECT TO OTHER DISSENTING CHURCHES. 227 
 
 bound on all other occasions to live to Christ, and for 
 the advancement of his kingdom, must here discard the 
 governing principle of their lives, and know nothing of 
 Christ, or of his people, or of his cause, we cannot per- 
 ceive how it is possible that the divine promise could 
 ever be fulfilled, that the kingdoms of this world shall 
 become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. 
 
 3d. We protest against this system as being dia- 
 metrically opposed to a Scriptural reformation, com- 
 menced, and considerably advanced, in these lands. 
 We are aware that the Scottish Reformation had its 
 defects; and we account them injudicious friends who 
 undertake to vindicate or excuse them; but the system 
 against which we are now contending would bury many 
 of its excellencies and its defects in the same grave. 
 The Scottish Reformation provided, as far as human 
 laws could do, that the supreme civil ruler of the nation 
 should be a friend of true religion, " a just man, ruling 
 in the fear of God ;" but this system would offer no ob- 
 struction to the appointment of a Papist, an ungodly 
 man, or an infidel, to sway the sceptre over a Christian 
 people. The Scottish Reformation provided, that sub- 
 ordinate places of trust and power should be filled with 
 "able men, men fearing God, men of truth and hating 
 covetousness;" 1 but this system condemns every restric- 
 tion which would exclude from office, either in the 
 legislative or executive departments of government, the 
 openly irreligious, or the slaves of superstition. The 
 Scottish Reformation presented the sublime spectacle 
 of nations making a public surrender of themselves to 
 the service of God, and binding themselves by vows 
 and Covenants, as under divine direction the seed of 
 Abraham formerly did, to adhere steadfastly to the true 
 religion. But this system not only disowns the obli- 
 gation and authority of the Covenants of our ancestors, 
 but would prohibit all national Covenanting, as un- 
 warrantable under the Christian dispensation. The 
 
 1 Exodus xviii. 21. 
 
228 POSITION OF THE CHURCII. 
 
 Scottish Reformation recognized the principle, that a 
 Christian nation should, with common consent, and 
 through the medium of its representatives, devote a 
 portion of its wealth to the service of the Lord, by pro- 
 viding education and religious instruction for the desti- 
 tute at home, or by diffusing the knowledge of salva- 
 tion by Christ in other lands, unprovided with the Gos- 
 pel. But this system, while it very properly allows full 
 scope to private and individual liberality, would pro- 
 hibit a nation from consecrating any portion of its 
 national funds to religious purposes, under any circum- 
 stances, or on any occasion. 
 
 4th. We condemn this system as calculated to exert 
 a baneful influence on religion and morality. The 
 political atheism, or avowed neglect of God, which 
 must characterize a government constructed on its 
 principles, could not fail to produce an effect on the 
 public mind inexpressibly injurious. The example of 
 irreligion and ungodliness in those whom this system 
 would, without scruple, admit to power, would be the 
 more dangerous from the exalted station in which it 
 would be exhibited. " The wicked walk on every side 
 when the vilest men are exalted." To these sources 
 of moral evil an immense addition would be made, when 
 the holy Sabbath had ceased to receive any public 
 countenance or protection; when every description of 
 secular business, and every species of public amuse- 
 ment, would be openly carried on without fear or 
 restraint. Even were there no danger of bringing 
 divine judgments on the nation that should deliberately 
 refuse, in its national capacity, to recognize the autho- 
 rity of God's holy day, we feel it impossible to resist 
 the conviction, that the abolition of a national Sabbath, 
 by a removal of all the laws which guard it from open 
 desecration, would have the effect of setting open the 
 flood-gates of iniquity and licentiousness, in any 
 country whose government should make the dreadful 
 experiment. 
 
 If we are reminded of the rapid and triumphant pro- 
 
IX RESPECT TO OTHER DISSENTING CHURCHES. 229 
 
 gress of the gospel in the first ages of Christianity, 
 when it received no favour from civil rulers, it is 
 answered, we never imagined, that the success of the 
 Redeemer's cause is suspended on the favour of princes. 
 If they are disloyal, He will find other instruments for 
 accomplishing his merciful designs. But the fact 
 specified is no more a proof, that it is not the duty of 
 nations and their rulers to favour the church, and 
 strenuously to promote true religion, than that the most 
 efficient way to propagate the gospel is by persecution. 
 
 If we be reminded of the divided state of public 
 opinion in religious matters, and the difficulty, under 
 these peculiar circumstances, of giving national support 
 to any one division of professing Christians, without 
 awakening the jealousy and resentment of others, and 
 that giving support to one church, may impose a 
 necessity on the government of making offer of support 
 to all — that it must bring with it the alternative of 
 kindling in the community interminable civil strife, or 
 of compelling the government to become the patron 
 and supporter of the grossest systems of error and 
 delusion, it is answered, that a country may be placed 
 in circumstances which render the erection and support 
 of a formal establishment impracticable. There is need 
 for much prudence and discrimination, that no pre- 
 judices or animosities may be raised against the true 
 religion. The apostle Paul would not exercise his 
 undoubted right to support in the church at Corinth, 
 when he perceived, from the temper of that church, 
 that it might obstruct the success of his ministry there. l 
 But what may be expedient in a disordered state of 
 society, should not be made a rule for a community in 
 a well regulated condition. The system we are oppos- 
 ing, would condemn all countenance being given to 
 the true religion by the civil government, even if the 
 people were united in one religious profession. 
 
 If we are reminded that the endowments granted to 
 
 * 2 Cor. xi. 7—12; and xii. 13—18. 
 X 
 
230 POSITION OF THE CHURCH 
 
 churches by the State have been, for ages, a lure to a 
 covetous ministry, and have cast the great majority of 
 those who received them into a deep slumber, from 
 which the cry of great spiritual necessity among their 
 people could rarely awaken them; our reply is, that 
 we do not undertake the defence of any existing estab- 
 lishment. The extent to which, or the occasions on 
 which, it may be proper for the State to bestow regular 
 support on the ministers of religion, are questions about 
 which the decided friends of establishments may differ 
 in opinion, and which we do not deem it necessary to 
 attempt definitely to settle. We are as much opposed 
 to the prostitution of public money, by which endow- 
 ments are bestowed as the reward of indolence, or as 
 the price of political subserviency, as any of those from 
 whom we differ on the general question. Our declared 
 principles respecting the character of the civil govern- 
 ment with which the church may lawfully contract an 
 alliance, and our views regarding the existing institu- 
 tions of these lands, should secure us from the imputa- 
 tion of selfishness, when we advocate the general prin- 
 ciple, that nations should do homage to the Messiah. 
 In Ireland, where all other divisions of the Presbyterian 
 Church, with the exception of a few congregations 
 belonging to different sections of the Secession, have 
 long received support from the public treasury, the 
 Reformed Presbyterian Church has uniformly declined 
 to apply for or accept of such support; and we have 
 no reason to doubt, that had our brethren desired it, 
 they might long since have been sharing the comforts 
 of royal bounty along with the ministers of other deno- 
 minations, who, if we regard the wealth, or the average 
 number of the members of their congregations, had 
 much less reason for soliciting public support. 
 
 The progress of the great controversy respecting 
 national establishments of religion, has already pro- 
 duced several remarkable results. Some of these are, 
 apparently, of a beneficial character, while others are 
 ominous and alarming. 
 
IN RESPECT TO OTHER DISSENTING CHURCHES. 231 
 
 The contest appears to have been over-ruled to be a 
 principal means of awakening the Established Churches 
 from a protracted and criminal slumber. Of this 
 change we have already taken notice in the preceding 
 section. Nor is this quickening and increase of exer- 
 tion confined to the Established Churches, although 
 in them it contrasts more strongly with former inactivity. 
 The different bodies of Dissenters have been stimulated 
 to new enterprizes, and to prosecute plans of useful 
 labour, formerly in existence, with redoubled vigour. 
 Pleasing examples of Christian liberality are exhibited, 
 where single congregations, after defraying all the 
 expences connected with their own religious ordinances, 
 do, besides, voluntarily raise the funds necessary for 
 the support of a missionary among the heathen. We 
 regard this as among the most interesting and pleasing 
 of the signs of the present time. 
 
 Whatever indirect advantage to the cause of religion 
 may have arisen from this controversy, should be as- 
 cribed to the power of Him " who maketh the wrath of 
 man to praise him." The more direct and obvious 
 results of it are of a character to be deplored. Where 
 there is bitter envying and strife in the heart, the 
 graces of the Spirit of God cannot flourish. The plant 
 of piety is scorched and withered by the fire of religious 
 animosity. The eternal interests of men are endangered, 
 by their mistaking the fervour of party strife for the 
 warmth of true piety. Religious institutions, also, 
 whether of a local or general nature, which depend for 
 their prosperity on the harmonious co-operation of 
 Christians of different denominations, are often left to 
 languish or expire. 
 
 Xor are the singular alliances to which this contro- 
 versy has given rise, among the least remarkable of its 
 results. A sense of common interest, and of common 
 danger, has drawn the established and other endowed 
 churches, into a new bond of brotherhood, from which, 
 in a past age, they would have shrunk with mutual 
 aversion. The tone of cold indifference, or of contempt, 
 
232 POSITION OF THE CHURCH 
 
 with which the high-minded Church of England was 
 accustomed to speak of the Scottish Church, has, in 
 some instances, given way to something like kindness 
 and respect. Yet this courtesy would be the less 
 merited, should it appear to be accompanied, as we 
 much fear it is, with a corresponding unfaithfulness in 
 the Scottish Church, in suppressing her testimony 
 against the manifold corruptions of that secular and 
 Semi-popish establishment. There was a time when 
 the Scottish Church was accustomed to speak of Pre- 
 lacy in terms of just reprehension, and when her prayers 
 were directed against it. On this head we have wit- 
 nessed a very palpable change. Prelacy is now treated 
 with great tenderness, if not with affection. Our com- 
 plaint on this head falls most heavily on many of the 
 sound and orthodox part of the Church of Scotland, 
 who, while they profess to venerate the memory, and 
 espouse the principles of the Scottish reformers, are 
 frequently found palliating that Prelacy which these 
 reformers were sworn to extirpate, and against which 
 they contended even to death. 
 
 It is a subject for deepest lamentation, when the 
 great body of the friends of the gospel throughout a 
 kingdom, are divided into hostile camps, and present 
 the spectacle of contending armies. In such a warfare, 
 Satan finds the best guarantee for the safety of his 
 kingdom. The power of Christ's kingdom lies in the 
 demonstrations of love and kindness. The prevalence 
 of strife and malevolence affords sure indication of the 
 successful efforts of the adversary. The sin and dan- 
 ger of such, a warfare are greatly increased, when 
 Christians are seduced to fight their battles on the 
 stormy and perilous sea of worldly politics. The pre- 
 sent contest has lost its original simplicity of character. 
 The question now is, not whether existing religious 
 establishments should be preserved, or whether it is for 
 the advantage of religion, that any Church should be 
 taken into so intimate a connection with the State. 
 These questions have become blended and complicated 
 
IN RESPECT TO OTHER DISSENTING CHURCHES. 'Jdo 
 
 with many others that are purely of a political character. 
 Adverse systems of political government have, unhap- 
 pily, long divided the community. Of late years, the 
 struggle between contending parties in the State, has 
 much increased in violence. At length the question 
 respecting national establishments of religion, has been 
 superadded to all former grounds of strife, and has 
 imbittered the contest, by a large infusion of religious 
 animosity. 
 
 It was a natural but unhappy result, that each of 
 the religious bodies should attach itself to that party 
 in the State, which seemed most favourable to its 
 peculiar views. The established and endowed churches 
 have, in the hour of danger, fled for support to that 
 party which, for a loug period, has generally held the 
 reins of government, and which has never appeared 
 reluctant to befriend any church, whatever might be its 
 creed or character, which could be made an efficient 
 instrument for securing its own political ascendency. 
 On the other hand, the religious communities who are 
 opposed to church establishments, have, with equal 
 alacrity, embraced the alliance of that political party, 
 who strive to retrench the power of the aristocracy, and 
 to place the civil institutions of the empire more com- 
 pletely under popular control. 
 
 On both sides the alliance is most anomalous and 
 ensnaring. " What fellowship hath righteousness with 
 unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with 
 darkness?" Who coidd have anticipated, that any 
 great question should arise, most intimately affecting 
 the interests of religion throughout the empire, in which 
 Papists, Socinians, Infidels, and evangelical Protestant 
 Dissenters, should be cordially united ? Yet the 
 co-operation of these parties in the struggle now going 
 on, presents at least the appearance of harmony and 
 alliance. It is painful to read on this side of the con- 
 troversy, the most fallacious representations of Popery, 
 as if it had changed its character, or were under a pro- 
 cess of thorough reformation; or as if the essential, 
 x-2 
 
234 POSITION OF THE CHURCH 
 
 and almost only evil and danger of it, consisted in its 
 being in league with the civil powers. Such statements 
 would be in character, if found in the writings of the 
 spurious liberals, or disguised infidels of the day ; but 
 when they appear in the productions of Protestant 
 Dissenters, they awaken our astonishment, as well as 
 merit condemnation. Yet the same spirit of odious 
 partizanship on the other side, impels many sincere 
 Christians to shut their eyes to the accumulated crimes 
 of their political allies; to employ a mischievous 
 ingenuity in defending them ; and to strain every nerve 
 to secure to them the possession of a power which, for 
 ages past, they have so grievously abused. It is the 
 present policy of that party in the State to profess 
 much zeal for religion, and great veneration for the 
 Church ; but it is well known that the party compre- 
 hends a large share both of the irreligion and infidelity 
 of the nation. Their past conduct cannot fail to 
 awaken the suspicion, that their present noisy zeal for 
 the church is hypocritical and selfish ; that they wish 
 still to degrade her as an handmaid to their ambition, 
 or to pamper and adorn themselves with her spoils. 
 
 In the view of a scene so dark and complicated, 
 when the friends of religion are fatally alienated from 
 each other, and embarked in a contest which presents 
 so little hope of being terminated without some fearful 
 convulsion ; when in the vehemence of their contention, 
 they have not scrupled to call, in to their aid, on both 
 sides, a multitude of the ungodly, who, if their own 
 quarrel were adjusted, could readily combine to per- 
 secute the followers of Jesus, as each of the parties has 
 often done before, how much does the serious Christian 
 require the support of this divine assurance ; " The 
 Lord shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto 
 all generations." 
 
 The system of principles on which we have been 
 animadverting, has also obtained favour with that body 
 of Christians in Scotland, distinguished by the name 
 of the Relief Church, the origin of which has been 
 
IX RESPECT TO OTHER DISSENTING CHURCHES. 235 
 
 already noticed. 1 That church, although Presbyterian 
 in its constitution, never evinced, as the Secession did, 
 an attachment to the distinguishing peculiarities of the 
 Scottish Reformation. Its members, generally, we 
 believe, disapprove of the public Covenants. They 
 also disapprove of creeds and confessions, as tests of 
 orthodoxy, or as terms of ecclesiastical communion. 
 Neither the founders of that church, nor their suc- 
 cessors, appear to have ever embraced the sentiment, 
 that it is the duty of a church, in its united ecclesias- 
 tical capacity, to exhibit a public judicial testimony in 
 behalf of truth, and against the prevailing errors and 
 corruptions of the day. The principal, if not the sole 
 object contemplated, in erecting a separate religious 
 fellowship, was to afford a refuge to those who felt con- 
 strained to withdraw from the Church of Scotland, on 
 account of patronage. The ministers and elders in 
 the Relief Church are elected by the communicants; 
 and at their ordination, declare, that they "believe and 
 own the doctrine of the Westminster Confession of 
 Faith, to be founded on, and consonant with, the word 
 of God, except where said Confession recognizes the 
 power of the civil magistrate in religious concerns." 
 They are understood to hold the doctrine of free com- 
 munion, among Christians of different denominations. 
 We are happy to cherish the belief, that the ministers of 
 the Relief Church are evangelical in their sentiments, 
 and that, by many of them, the gospel is preached with 
 much zeal and earnestness. 
 
 The people composing that division of the Secession 
 Church, whose supreme judicatory is named — " The 
 Associate Synod of Original Seceders," we have always 
 regarded as among the firmest and most intelligent 
 friends of the Scottish Reformation. We have perused 
 with satisfaction the latest exhibition of the Testimony 
 of that church, both on account of its faithfulness to 
 truth, and from the persuasion, that there is a sensible 
 
 1 See page 173. 
 
236 POSITION OF THE CHURCH 
 
 approach to harmony of sentiment between that body 
 and ourselves, on subjects which furnished topics of 
 serious controversy to our fathers. We have read 
 attentively that portion of the work, which treats of the 
 understood grounds of difference between the two 
 churches. We freely admit, that to create or prolong 
 separations on slight or imaginary grounds, is unjusti- 
 fiable ; and that, in an age of defection from Reforma- 
 tion principles, it is peculiarly desirable, that those 
 who are honestly attached to them should strengthen 
 each others hands, in maintaining the common cause. 
 
 In that part of the Testimony already noticed, we 
 meet the following statements : — " That magistracy, 
 like every thing belonging to the kingdom of Provi- 
 dence, is put into Christ's hand, to be ordered in sub- 
 serviency to the -good of his church." And farther: — 
 " That it is the duty of Christians, and of Christian na- 
 tions and their rulers, to regulate the whole of their 
 conduct by the revealed will of God." These, we ac- 
 count most important and precious principles : and if 
 we cannot adopt some of the other positions with which 
 they are accompanied, it is because they do not appear 
 to us to be in harmony with the passages quoted. 
 This remark applies both to some things in the con- 
 text, and in the explanatory note at the bottom of the 
 page. 1 
 
 That in lands enjoying the clearest light of 
 revelation, for it is of these exclusively we now speak, 
 "the public good of outward and common order, to the 
 glory of God," is " the only end" which the civil 
 magistrate can propose to himself in the exercise of 
 his office ; that " the whole institution and end of that 
 office, are cut out by, and lie within the compass of 
 natural principles;" that "the body politic, or majority 
 of a nation," have any right to erect civil constitutions 
 of an immoral and unscriptural character; or that, 
 when they do so, a minority who disapprove of their 
 
 1 Historical Part of Testimony, p. 50. 
 
IX RESPECT TO OTHER DISSENTING- CHURCHES. 237 
 
 conduct are bound to yield allegiance to these consti- 
 tutions, are sentiments, apparently contained in the 
 part of the work specified, which we cannot reconcile 
 either with the Scriptures, or with the Scottish Refor- 
 mation. 
 
 We have already declared our belief, that cases may 
 occur, in which it becomes the duty of Christians to 
 decline fellowship with a corrupt civil government, as 
 well as with a corrupt church, notwithstanding that it is 
 supported by a majority of the inhabitants of a land. 
 At the same time, we have not the most distant idea, that 
 a minority of Christian men, dissenting from the civil 
 constitution, have any warrant to disturb the peace of 
 society, by offering physical opposition to government, 
 when they are suffered to live in peace, and the sacred 
 rites of conscience are not invaded. However much 
 they may desire a Scriptural reformation, it must be 
 sought only by moral and scriptural means. Out of 
 regard to the authority of God, and the welfare of society, 
 they will conscientiously practise a quiet and peace- 
 able submission, in all matters where sin is not com- 
 manded. But we account allegiance to be somethiug 
 of a much higher character — an expression of attach- 
 ment and loyalty — a pledge of desire and endeavour 
 for the permanence and stability of the system to 
 which it is rendered. Our views of the character of 
 the civil institutions of these lands, as formerly explain- 
 ed, and a dread of having fellowship in the guilt of 
 Antichrist, forbid us to render such allegiance. When 
 the Most High is calling his people to come out, we 
 are afraid to take refuge in Babylon, lest we should 
 partake of her sins, and be exposed also to her 
 plagues. 1 
 
 The prophecies of the New Testament lead us to ex- 
 pect that the kingdoms of Western Europe, marked 
 out as the ten horns of the Beast of the Revelation, 
 would be for several ages, in an impious confederacy 
 
 1 Rev, xviii. 4. 
 
238 POSITION OF THE CHURCH 
 
 with the apostate church, and in a state of hostility to 
 Christ and his cause. These prophecies have now 
 been illustrated and confirmed, by the events recorded 
 in authentic history. In consequence of the guilt here- 
 by incurred by the nations, judgments are denounced 
 against them of the most tremendous character. 1 The 
 governments who form this wicked confederacy — being 
 of " one mind to give their strength and power to the 
 Beast" — and the people who support them in it, are ac- 
 complices in rebellion against God and his Son. It 
 seems incontestible, that the framing of such govern- 
 ments on the part of the nations, and sustaining them 
 in power, by yielding to them a general and cordial al- 
 legiance, constitute the chief guilt on which the Re- 
 deemer has threatened to take vengeance. The general 
 consent of the /people to their sway, is the foundation 
 of their power. That power is habitually exerted 
 against Christ and his cause. To us, therefore, it ap- 
 pears unquestionable, that the general consent of the 
 people to their dominion, and the general allegiance 
 yielded to them, are highly criminal, notwithstanding 
 that by these governments certain descriptions of wicked- 
 ness are restrained, and "outward and common order" 
 preserved. Nor can we conceive that what is impious 
 and criminal, in the conduct of the whole population 
 of a kingdom, can become innocent in any particular 
 class of the inhabitants. If the body of the people in 
 any European nation contract guilt, in erecting an 
 Anti-christian government over it, a minority among 
 them, who disapprove of their conduct, cannot be in- 
 nocent, either in giving their concurrence to the original 
 deed, or in subsequently declaring their consent when 
 the majority has so decided. 
 
 It is our settled conviction, that Britain is one of the 
 kingdoms marked out in this prophecy ; and it is almost 
 universally admitted by the most approved expositors, 
 not excepting the warmest friends of the British consti- 
 
 1 Rev. xiii. 10, and xvii. 14, and xix. 17 — 21. 
 
Of RESPECT TO OTHER DISSE>*TI>"G CHURCHES. 239 
 
 tution, that at one period, it was one of the horns of the 
 Beast. We have already assigned reasons for the ap- 
 prehension, that whatever may have been the case in 
 regard to Scotland, Britain, as a whole, has never de- 
 cidedly ceased to be so, notwithstanding that, for several 
 centuries, the Protestant religion has had the ascend- 
 ancy in it. In some of the continental nations, partic- 
 ularly in France, the reformed religion has at times 
 prevailed very extensively; yet it is not imagined that 
 France ever ceased to be one of the And- christian king- 
 doms. The Church of England, with which the British 
 Government has allied itself, retains in it a large share 
 of the corruption of the Church of Rome. Besides, 
 the alliance subsisting between Church and State is of 
 that imscriptural kind, which fastens upon Anti-chnstian 
 nations the charge of spiritual adulter}-. Church and 
 State have conspired to rob the Redeemer of his titles, 
 and proper prerogatives ; to secularise and corrupt re- 
 ligion ; to prostitute divine ordinances ; to promote and 
 pamper a priesthood who do not preach the gospel; to 
 disregard the commandments of Christ while they rig- 
 orously enforce the inventions of men; to depress and 
 discountenance all zeal for the truth ; and they have 
 frequently been united in that fearful wickedness which 
 consummates the guilt of Antichrist — the shedding the 
 blood of the saints. In the movements of government 
 in modern times, a spurious and infidel liberality seems 
 ever ready to sacrifice the most important principles at 
 the shrine of ambition or political expediency, and the 
 bonds that unite us with Popery, are progressively mul- 
 tiplying. On account of these, and similar reasons 
 formerly specified, we cannot incorporate ourselves with 
 the State, by holding offices which would mix us up 
 with the constitution or administration ; or involve us 
 in responsibility for the acts of a government whose 
 public policy is habitually, and to so great an extent, 
 dishonouring to the Redeemer, and provoking in the 
 sight of God. 
 In regard to those passages of Scripture which en- 
 
240 POSITION OF THE CHURCH 
 
 join obedience to civil powers, we feel persuaded, that 
 they must be understood with limitations and excep- 
 tions ; otherwise, it would be as unwarrantable to with- 
 hold allegiance from the most impious and tyrannical 
 government which ever existed, as from the most equit- 
 able. And we conceive that those governments which 
 are marked out in Scripture as in league with Antichrist, 
 and in a state of open rebellion against the Redeemer, 
 may be viewed as exceptions. 
 
 The passage in the 13th chapter of the Epistle to the 
 Romans, which has been often adduced in this contro- 
 versy, contains not only a command of subjection, but 
 a description of the powers to which subjection for 
 conscience' sake, is due. 1 It must be explained in 
 consistency with itself, and with other parts of the sacred 
 record. That there was any specific reference to the 
 Roman government then in existence appears to us 
 highly improbable. The passage lays down general 
 principles, intended to direct the conduct of Christians 
 in every age. If there be those who maintain, that the 
 command of subjection is absolute and unlimited, with- 
 out admitting any reference to the character of the rulers 
 to whom it is rendered, we cannot here dispute with 
 them, as their interpretation would establish the doctrine 
 of passive obedience and non-resistance. But with 
 those who admit that the passage must be interpreted 
 as a whole, and that regard must be had to the character 
 of the government, as regulating the nature of the sub- 
 jection required, we have no farther controversy respect- 
 ing this portion of the divine word. Nor do we know 
 any passage of Scripture inculcating obedience to civil 
 powers, which does not require to be interpreted with 
 the same limitations. 
 
 There is also a passage in the Westminster Confes- 
 sion of Faith, which has been understood in a sense 
 opposed to our peculiar views, on the subject of magis- 
 tracy. It is as follows : — " Infidelity, or difference in 
 
 1 Rom. xiii. 1 — 7. 
 
IN RESPECT TO OTHER DISSENTING CHURCHES. 241 
 
 religion, doth not make void the magistrate's just and 
 legal authority, nor free the people from their due obe- 
 dience to him." Chap. 23, Sec. 4th. 
 
 The " infidelity, or difference in religion," here men- 
 tioned, may be supposed to exist either in the ruler, or 
 in the people. In the former case, the doctrine could 
 not be intended to apply to a reformed or Christian 
 state. The whole conduct as well as the known senti- 
 ments of the Reformers, tended to refute the supposition. 
 If in a reformed and Covenanted nation, " infidelity 
 or difference of religion" in the ruler, could not impair 
 his claim to the obedience of the people, how could the 
 Reformers or the compilers of the Confession, be justi- 
 fied, in pledging their own allegiance to the king, only 
 " in the preservation and defence of the true religion, 
 and liberties of the kingdom," as they did in both their 
 Covenants? Nor was it in theory merely they made 
 this limitation. The parliaments of England and Scot- 
 land, with the consent of the people generally, resisted 
 the first Charles, when he invaded their civil and reli- 
 gious liberties, and refused to restore him again to the 
 exercise of government, because he declined to give 
 those securities, both for the religion and liberties of 
 the kingdoms, which were deemed necessary. The 
 second Charles was not admitted to sway the sceptre 
 in Scotland until he had granted these securities, al- 
 though in doing so he acted the part of a perjured de- 
 ceiver. Both kingdoms united in expelling his brother 
 James from the throne, at the Revolution, on religious 
 as well as on political grounds. Even at the present 
 day, the fundamental law of the land prohibits a Papist 
 from sitting on the throne of Great Britian. But if 
 the clause of the Confession under review is well-founded, 
 and if the interpretation we are opposing is the correct 
 one, the law imposing this restriction must be unwar- 
 rantable and unjust. 
 
 That the interpretation is not correct, however, nor in 
 unison with the intention of the compilers, will appear 
 evident, still further, from a consideration of the context. 
 
 Y 
 
242 tosition of the church 
 
 In the preceding section of the Confession it is asserted, 
 that the magistrate-" hath authority, and it is his duty 
 to take order, that unity and peace be preserved in the 
 church, that the truth of God be kept pure and entire, 
 that all blasphemies and heresies be suppressed, all 
 corruptions and abuses in worship and discipline pre- 
 vented or reformed, and all the ordinances of God duly 
 settled, administered, and observed." Must we suppose, 
 that the Reformers intended that all this might be done 
 by an infidel or a Papist ? The supposition is too ab- 
 surd. It appears, therefore, to us perfectly manifest, 
 that if the infidelity or difference of religion here speci- 
 fied were designed to have any application to the ruler, 
 it must be only in heathen countries, or in lands emerg- 
 ing from Papal or Pagan darkness, where the true reli- 
 gion has not obtained a footing. The compilers seem 
 to have had in their view the existence of infidelity, or 
 a different religious faith, among the people, and not in 
 the ruler; and the concluding part of the section, 
 where the claims of the Romish clergy to be exempted 
 from civil obligations, on account of their allegiance to 
 a foreign power, and the arrogant pretensions of the 
 Roman Pontiff to absolve men from their allegiance to 
 civil magistrates, are condemned, manifestly favours 
 this interpretation. No sentiment can be more opposed 
 to the views of the Reformers, than that every power 
 existing in the providence of God is to be acknowledged 
 and obeyed. 
 
 The religious community known by the name of In- 
 dependents, is not numerous in Scotland, but we believe 
 it deservedly ranks high, in respect to the intelligence 
 and religious character of its members. The doctrines 
 taught by its ministers, are understood to be evangelical. 
 The members of this body disapprove of creeds and 
 confessions, and of every kind of alliance between 
 Church and State. Their system of church govern- 
 ment appears to us unscriptural, in as much as it con- 
 founds the distinction between rulers in the church, 
 and those who are ruled ; and lodges, theoretically at 
 
IN RESPECT TO OTHER DISSENTING CHURCHES. 243 
 
 least, the power of ordination in the people, and not in 
 the Presbytery. By setting aside all courts of review, 
 to which parties aggrieved may carry an appeal, it vests 
 the supreme power of government in the majority of 
 each particular congregation. The system also appears 
 to us deficient in energy, and incompatible with the 
 proper unity of the church. Yet the periodical meet- 
 ings of the ministers, along with a number of the private 
 members of the church, in what is termed the Congre- 
 gational Union, to attend to the religious interests of 
 the community, and the conducting of cases of discip- 
 line in particular congregations, by committees of 
 deacons, display an evident approach to the practice of 
 Presbyterianism, and serve, in some degree, to supply 
 the want of a more regular government. As this body 
 does not exhibit any public or authorized document, 
 declaring its principles or church order, it is difficult 
 to speak on these subjects without incurring the danger 
 of inaccuracy. It affords us pleasure, however, to re- 
 mark, that its members appear to be actuated by a 
 warm and lively zeal for the diffusion of the gospel ; 
 and that, we have reason to believe, much care is gen- 
 erally employed in that community, to ascertain the 
 moral and Christian character of those who are admit- 
 ted to the enjoyment of church privileges. 
 
 In speaking of the Established Church of Scotland, 
 we have felt it to be our duty to testify against the 
 relaxation of discipline, which has so long and so ex- 
 tensively prevailed in her. This great evil, however, is 
 by no means confined to the Established Church. The 
 same looseness of sentiment and of practice is fre- 
 quently met with in Dissenting Churches. It is but 
 justice to remark, that much more care is employed in 
 some Dissenting communities to preserve purity of dis- 
 cipline than in others ; and a great difference is fre- 
 quently observed in the discipline of different congre- 
 gations, even in the same community. But is it not 
 the fact, that many persons do find admission into Dis- 
 senting Churches, and have sealing ordinances dispen 
 
244 POSITION OF THE CHURCH 
 
 sed to thern, who can with no propriety be accounted 
 religious, or even moral characters ? — who do not wor- 
 ship God in their families, who are profane in their 
 conversation, who openly desecrate the Sabbath, either 
 in the prosecution of business, or of carnal pleasure, or 
 who are occasional drunkards ? In many Dissenting 
 congregations, to be a seat-holder appears to be 
 regarded as the only essential qualification for church 
 membership ; and few persons are debarred from church 
 privileges who bear their share in the pecuniary burdens 
 of the congregation, excepting those whose offences are 
 peculiarly flagrant. Church censures are rarely admin- 
 istered, even in cases of public scandal, excepting for 
 offences of one particular class; and even in these 
 cases, a modern construction has been put on the divine 
 precept which enjoins public censure, and a practice 
 adopted in some Dissenting churches, by which the 
 censure is administered in comparative privacy. 
 
 It is our conviction, that great guilt is contracted, by 
 the indiscriminate admission of applicants into the fel- 
 lowship of the churches. The revealed will of the 
 Messiah, the church's glorious Head, must be acknow- 
 ledged as a complete and authoritative directory, for 
 organizing, and building up his church. But his law 
 supplies no warrant for admitting into it the ignorant, 
 the openly immoral, such as are tainted with error, or 
 who live in the habitual neglect of any ordinance which 
 he has appointed. It is Christ's own province to search 
 the heart, and he will not suffer church officers to invade 
 it; but they are solemnly bound to take cognizance of 
 that which may be known and discovered, about the 
 character and conduct of church members. If the pro- 
 fession of faith in Christ made by applicants, stands 
 free from suspicion, arising from any known incon- 
 sistency of conduct, the rulers of the church are en- 
 titled to accept of that profession. But if it is known — 
 or by a little honest inquiry might be known — that 
 applicants, or church members, are profane swearers, 
 Sabbath-breakers, habitual or occasional drunkards, or 
 
IX RESPECT TO OTHER DISSENTING CHURCHES. 245 
 
 addicted to any other vice, how can church rulers be 
 justified in receiving them? Must it not be offensive 
 to the Lord Jesus Christ, to prostitute the privileges 
 provided for his disciples, by bestowing them on the 
 ungodly; to cast the children's bread to dogs; and 
 bring into his sanctuary those who bear in their fore- 
 heads the unequivocal marks of a loathsome moral 
 leprosy ? Must not the example of these persons prove 
 exceedingly dangerous to others, and the false lenity 
 of the church towards them exceedingly ensnaring to 
 their own souls? Does it not open the mouths of 
 scoffers, and bring religion into reproach ? The divine 
 injunction addressed to each believer is, " if any man 
 who is called a brother, be a fornicator, or covetous, 
 or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extor- 
 tioner ; with such an one no not to eat." l It is further 
 required, that each disciple should take on Christ's 
 yoke, by the punctual observance of all commanded 
 duties. But if those who refuse this yoke — living with- 
 out personal, or practical religion; whose tables are 
 unsanctified by the divine blessing, because that bless- 
 ing is never sought ; whose children and domestics can 
 testify that family instruction, and family worship, are 
 habitually neglected, or very rarely performed, do, 
 nevertheless, receive the right hand of fellowship, is not 
 the law of Christ's house violated, the sanctuary pol- 
 luted, and the church and the world wickedly blended 
 and confounded ? 2 
 
 Moral evil is exceedingly infectious; and even 
 where there is an honest purpose on the part of a 
 church, or of a particular congregation, to raise discip- 
 line to the scriptural standard, the difficulty of doing 
 so is immensely increased by the general unfaithfulness. 
 But no extent of example, no considerations of expe- 
 diency, suggested by the desire to enlarge a church, 
 or to conciliate the unbelieving, and induce them to 
 place themselves under the influence of gospel ordin- 
 
 1 ICor.v. 11. 2 Ezek. xliii. 12. 
 
246 rosinoN of the church, &c 
 
 ances, can sanction what is r rally wrong. The 
 favour and blessing of Christ are of more value to a 
 church than any amount of members. The neglect 
 of discipline was one chief ground of controversy with 
 the churches of Asia, and appears to have been one 
 principal reason of their fearful rejection. 
 
 The church is preserved in the world that she may 
 present a living and palpable exhibition of true reli- 
 gion; that the hearts of men may be attracted and 
 won, by the lovely spectacle of truth, and love, and 
 purity, which they behold in her. But when the irre- 
 ligious world is received into her fellowship, this glo- 
 rious end is, to a large extent, frustrated and lost. As 
 long as parents who neglect family religion are sus- 
 tained as church members, and their ignorant children 
 admitted to communion; as long as church officers 
 deliberately connive at the undisguised and known 
 immorality of church members, or strengthen the 
 hands of evil doers by their own disorderly practices; 
 as long as the censures of Christ's house are laid aside, 
 or commuted for money, or withdrawn into privacy, 
 whereby the benefit of the example is lost; as long as 
 fugitives from discipline in one church are cordially 
 welcomed into the communion of another ; it would be 
 vain to expect any abundant measure of that divine 
 blessing, on which all fruitfulness depends, or that the 
 church will put forth that hallowed and mighty influ- 
 ence on society, by which she is destined, ultimately, 
 to make a conquest of the nations for the exalted Re- 
 deemer. 
 
 May the solemn intimations of Zion's glorious King 
 be regarded by ourselves, and by every Christian 
 community ! — " Behold I come quickly ;" " and all the 
 churches shall know that I am he who searcheth the 
 reins and hearts; and I will give unto every one of 
 you according to your works." " He that hath an ear, 
 let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." 
 
0(1 
 
 PAKT II.— DOCTRINAL 
 
 TESTIMONY, 
 
 BY 
 
 THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 IN 
 
 SCOTLAND. 
 
Extract from Minutes of Reformed Presbyterian 
 Synod, — Glasgow, May 15, 1837. 
 
 " The Overture formerly prepared and submitted to 
 Sessions, and returned with their approbation, is, after 
 full and deliberate consideration, unanimously adopted 
 as the doctrinal part of the Church's Testimony." 
 
 (Signed,) 
 
 A. M. Rogerson, Moderator. 
 Joseph Henderson, Clerk, p. t. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 No privilege conferred upon a people is to be compared, 
 in magnitude and in the responsibility which it involves, 
 with that of having had " committed unto them the 
 oracles of God." The word of God, wherever it comes, 
 brings along with it a solemn obligation to examine its 
 claims, to know well its contents, and to believe and 
 obey it. And it is the incumbent duty of every be- 
 liever in the gospel, to avow his faith, to hold fast the 
 truth, to defend it from the attacks of adversaries, to 
 disseminate it in every direction, and to transmit it to 
 the succeeding generation. He is a stranger to its 
 spirit, who does not feel these obligations. The honour 
 of its author and the good of man are equally involved 
 in these things. 
 
 That it is also the duty of Christians to unite in 
 holding forth the word of life, and to aid one another in 
 its preservation, diffusion, and transmission to posterity, 
 none will deny. Christianity not only unites its sub- 
 jects to one another, in a bond of affection and sym- 
 pathy, but it brings them under a new, and peculiarly- 
 z 2 
 
CClii PREFACE. 
 
 enforced, obligation to love their neighbour as them- 
 selves. Besides the common connection arising from 
 relation, and dependence upon others, Christians are 
 linked to the race of man, by the law of love ; a law 
 obligatory, as it is pleasing and powerful wherever it 
 is felt. Every individual can, and should do some- 
 thing. Some individuals may do much. But, in gen- 
 eral, single and insulated effort can do little, in com- 
 parison of social and well combined operation. 
 
 It is more immediately to our present purpose, to re- 
 mark, that it is the duty of the church, in her organized 
 and collective capacity, to exhibit a Confession of faith, 
 and to give a faithful Testimony to the truths of the 
 word of God, and to the cause of Christ. The ecclesi- 
 astical union is distinguished by peculiar characteris- 
 tics, from societies erected upon the ordinary principles 
 of human association, and has special advantages. A 
 society, however wisely constructed, and however mul- 
 tiplied in its members, is only an accumulation into one 
 great agency of the power that is in the individuals 
 composing it; securing an extent of result, which the 
 efforts of all the individuals apart could not produce, 
 but never acquiring authority above what is constituted 
 by conventional arrangement. But the church is the 
 positive institution of Jesus Christ. Her objects, laws, 
 and offices, are specifically and authoritatively defined 
 — the places and duties of her members, official and 
 
PREFACE. CCliii 
 
 private, are respectively laid out — when acting lawfully, 
 in an organized capacity, she has authority from Christ 
 — and she has the promise of his special presence and 
 benediction. The church is not, therefore, a merely 
 spontaneous association, like the numerous societies 
 erected among Christians, for specified objects, and 
 formed upon the simple principle of co-operation ; but 
 she is an association instituted by Christ, and receiving 
 from him her constitution and laws, and having the pro- 
 mise of his special blessing. Other societies may, in 
 certain circumstances, be called to co-operate with the 
 church, but they can never supersede her, nor are they 
 to receive a preference, or be put in comparison with 
 her. This association, as such, and with the sanction 
 of that authority which Christ has delegated to her, 
 should exhibit a Testimony for the truth. 
 
 The testimony of the church should embrace divine 
 truth, in its bearings upon the relations of man to God, 
 and of man, as a moral and fallen creature, placed un- 
 der a moral and a gracious dispensation. It should 
 comprehend the constitution and ordinances of the 
 church, the privileges and duties of her fellowship, and 
 the relation of the individual Christian to the church. 
 It should also include the original natural and moral 
 relations of man to man, bringing them all under law 
 to Christ. And it should comprehend also, the rela- 
 tions of man to the eternal world. The truth, on these 
 
Ccliv PREFACE. 
 
 subjects should be stated wirh perspicuity, and faith- 
 fully defended from present attacks made upon it; and 
 the testimony of the church should be exhibited with 
 all due publicity, and in the proper season. And in 
 times of reformation, it should embrace, under the di- 
 rection of Scripture, the attainments which the church 
 has reached, and faithfully protest against all departure 
 from truth. 
 
 Impressed with these views, the Reformed Presby- 
 terian Church submit their humble Testimony to the 
 truths of the Word of God, and covenanted profession 
 of the Reformed Church of Scotland. In doing this, 
 they request that the following things be understood: — 
 
 1. They avow their faith, in the doctrines and insti- 
 tutions of religion, on the direct evidence of their au- 
 thority in the Scriptures. The word of God, and this 
 alone, is the object of a divine faith. It is, accordingly, 
 adduced under the respective articles. 
 
 2. They view the Reformation to have been a work 
 of God, and a great blessing to the land, which it is 
 their duty faithfully to record, and to tell to posterity. 
 They refer to the Covenants, to the Westminster stand- 
 ards, and to the testimonies of the Martyrs, as illustra- 
 tive of the principles of the reformation, approving of 
 them under the authority and correction of the Supreme 
 Standard. They acknowledge the moral obligation of 
 the national covenants against Popery and Prelacy, and 
 
PREFACE. CClv 
 
 lift their testimony against these systems, which still 
 sway such an influence in our land. They have re- 
 ceived as their subordinate standards, the Westminster 
 Confession and Catechisms, and have accordingly re- 
 ferred, under the different articles, to the chapters in 
 the Confession, and the questions in the Larger Cate- 
 chism. 
 
 3. The departure from the Reformation, by church 
 and state, particularly at the Revolution, is the imme- 
 diate occasion of their Dissent and Testimony. The 
 period and place in which God has cast their lot, have 
 laid them under the necessity of embracing, according 
 to the best of their knowledge, the scriptural cause of 
 the Reformation, and of vindicating it, in some impor- 
 tant points in which they consider it to have been un- 
 faithfully dealt by, or abandoned. "Asking for the 
 old paths and the good way," they are not chargeable 
 with schism; nor have they originated the divisions by 
 which the church has been rent ; but they continue to 
 this day, witnessing, both to small and great, none other 
 things than those for which their fathers contended and 
 bled. 
 
 4. They have found it necessary to refer to errors, 
 not only in the abstract propositions containing them, 
 but in connection with the names under which they are 
 known and propagated. In doing this, nothing is more 
 remote from their minds, than indulging malevolent 
 
CClvi PREFACE. 
 
 feeling, or invidious personality. They have, indeed, 
 declared the truths in which they believe, they have 
 condemned the opposite errors, and they have testified 
 against persons who have abandoned truth, and em- 
 braced error; but they have done all this, they hope, 
 in the spirit of that " charity, which is not easily pro- 
 voked, which thinketh no evil — which rejoiceth not 
 in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth." 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chap. Page. 
 
 I. Of Divine Revelation, 259 
 
 II. Of God, the Divine Purposes, and Works, . . . 264 
 
 III. Of the law of God — Covenant of Works — Man's transgres- 
 
 sion — His present state, 269 
 
 IV. Of Election, and the Covenant of Grace, . . . 274 
 
 V. Of the Mediator — His Person, Satisfaction and Merit — and 
 
 his Dominion, 277 
 
 VI. Of the Revelation and the Dispensation of the Covenant of 
 
 Grace, 287 
 
 VII. Of the Holy Spirit, 290 
 
 VIII. Of the Initiatory Blessings of the Covenant of Grace, 293 
 
 IX. Of the Privileges and Duties of the Covenant of Grace, 297 
 
 X. Of Christian Practice, 302 
 
 XI. Of the Church of Christ, 308 
 
 XII. Of Christian Worship, 319 
 
 XIII. Of the Natural Relations of Life, and Civil Magistracy, 327 
 
 XIV. Of Oaths and Covenants, 338 
 
 XV. Of a Testimony, for Truth, 342 
 
 XVI. Of Scripture Prophecy, as affecting the Church's Testimony, 
 
 and Practice, 346 
 
 XVII. Death,— Future State,— Last Judgment,— Eternity, 351 
 Conclusion, 354 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 I. Election, 369 
 
 II. Sonship of Christ, 370 
 
 III. Covenant of Redemption and Grace, .... 371 
 
 IV. Saving Faith, 372 
 
 V. Church Government, 373 
 
 VI. Patronage, 376 
 
 VII. Liberty of Conscience, 377 
 
 VIII. Magistracy, 380 
 
 IX. Covenanting, 384 
 
 X. Testimony for Truth, 385 
 
 Terms of Ministerial and Christian Communion, agreed upon by 
 
 the Reformed Synod, 386 
 
TESTIMONY, &c. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OF DIVINE REVELATION. 
 
 1. The most diligent improvement of human rea- 
 son, and study of the works of creation and providence, 
 are inadequate to direct man, in his present state of 
 guilt and depravity, to glorify and enjoy God. 1 Re- 
 flection on the state of the human mind, observation 
 of the history of the world, and the fact that God has 
 given a supernatural revelation, demonstrate that the 
 light of nature is utterly insufficient to impart to man 
 that knowledge of God which is necessary to salva- 
 tion. 2 
 
 1 1 Cor. i. 21. The world by wisdom knew not God. 2 Rom. i. 21. 
 When they knew God they glorified him not as God. Prov. xxix 18. 
 Where there is no vision the people perish. — Confession of Faith, Chap- 
 ter I. Section 1. Larger Catechism, Question 2. 
 
 •2. It has pleased God, in his gracious condescen- 
 sion, at sundry times, and in divers manners, to give 
 amply authenticated revelations of his will respecting 
 the salvation of man. 1 For the preservation and dif- 
 fusion of these revelations, they have been, by special 
 divine direction, committed to writing in successive 
 ages, 2 and are now brought to that state of complete- 
 ness and perfection in which God designed to give 
 them. 3 
 
 1 Heb. i. 1. God who at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake 
 in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days 
 spoken unto us by his Son. 2 Exod. xvii. 14. and the Lord said unto 
 Moses, "Write this for a memorial in a book. Isa. xxx. 8. Note it in 
 a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever. Jer. 
 2 A 
 
260 
 
 xxx. 2. Write thee all the words I have spoken to thee in a book. 3 Rev. 
 xxii. 18, 19. If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add 
 unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man 
 shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall 
 take away his part out of the book of life. — Con. I. I. 
 
 3. The writings usually called the Old and New 
 Testaments, and these alone, are given by inspiration 
 of God; holy men having been infallibly guided in 
 the matter and language of them, writing as they were 
 moved by the Holy Spirit. 1 The Holy Scriptures, 
 in their originals or faithfully translated, are in them- 
 selves, without interpretation, addition, or sanction, 
 from man, a clear, perfect, and authoritative rule of 
 faith and duty, and obligatory on men individually and 
 socially. The genuine text of the Old Testament in 
 Hebrew, and of the New Testament in Greek, is 
 the supreme, infallible, and ultimate standard in all 
 matters of religion. 2 
 
 1 2 Tim. hi. 16. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. 2 Pet. 
 i. 21. Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, 
 2 Isa. viii. 20. To the law and to the testimony ; if they speak not accord- 
 ing to this word, it is because there is no light in them. Psalm, cxix. 
 105. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path, John v. 
 9. Search the Scriptures. 1 Thes. ii. 13. When ye received the word of 
 God — ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word 
 of God.— Con. I. 2, 3, 4 ; Cat. 3. 
 
 4. Arguments taken from miracles, prophecy, and 
 the remarkable preservation and success of the sacred 
 writings, and from the doctrines, precepts, manner, 
 scope, harmony, and effects of these writings, afford 
 rational evidence, and may produce rational persuasion 
 of the truth of revelation; 1 but the special divine in- 
 fluences of the Holy Spirit are necessary to impart to 
 the mind that discernment and persuasion of the infal- 
 lible truth of the Word of God, and produce that 
 sense of its divine authority, and submission to it, 
 which are included in believing it to salvation. 2 
 
 1 1 John v. 9. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is 
 greater. 2 1 Cor. ii. 14. But the natural man receiveth not the things of 
 the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know 
 them, because they are spiritually discerned. John xvi. 13. The Spirit 
 of truth will guide you into all truth. — Con. I. 5; Cat. 4. 
 
•261 
 
 5. God has granted to every man the right of judg- 
 ing for himself on all subjects that come within the 
 reach of his faculties. 1 He is entitled, without per- 
 mission from any human authority, to read the Holy 
 Scriptures,' 2 to inquire into their meaning, 3 and to adopt 
 whatever doctrines they teach. 4 In the exercise of 
 this right, he ought to cherish an ardent love of truth, 5 
 profound reverence to the authority of revelation, 6 and 
 humble dependence on the gracious illumination of the 
 Holy Spirit, 7 to avail himself of all the assistance which 
 preceding inquiries may have supplied, to exert to the 
 utmost extent all the powers of his mind, to guard 
 against the influence of the passions, 8 and ever to re- 
 member that he is accountable to God for the opinions 
 he embraces, as well as for the words he utters, and 
 the actions he performs. 9 
 
 1 Rom. xiv. 5. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. 
 2 Acts xvii. 11. And searched the Scriptures daily, whether those 
 things were so. 3 1 Cor. x. 15. I speak as to wise men, judge ye what 
 I say. 4 Rom. xiv. 10. But why dost thou judge thy brother ? or why 
 dost thou set at nought thy brother ? for we shall all stand before the 
 judgment-seat of Christ. 5 2 Thess. ii. 10. Because they received not 
 the love of the truth that they might be saved. 6 2 Cor. x. 5. And 
 bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. 7 1 
 Cor. ii 12. Now we have received the Spirit which is of God, that we 
 might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 8 James i. 
 21. Therefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, 
 and receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save 
 your souls. 9 John hi. 18. He that believe th not, is condemned al- 
 ready. 1 Cor. iv. 5. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until 
 the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of dark- 
 ness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall 
 every man have praise of God. — Con. I. 8, 10. 
 
 6. The communication of divine revelation does 
 not supersede the exercise of human reason. 1 Man 
 is bound to employ his rational faculties in examining 
 the evidences of the divine authority of the Scriptures, 
 ascertaining the meaning of the language of Scripture, 
 comparing one part with another, deducing inferences 
 from Scripture statements, and trying what he thinks, 
 speaks, reads, hears, sees, or practises, by this infal- 
 lible test. 2 Reason cannot predetermine what God 
 shall, or shall not reveal, may not mould into its own 
 
262 
 
 conceptions the contents of revelation, but ought im- 
 plicitly to receive, on the veracity and authority of 
 the divine testimony, the doctrines which God has 
 actually revealed, how much soever they exceed the 
 comprehension of the mind. 3 The testimony of God 
 being greater than that of men, it is highly reason- 
 able and dutiful to receive, and highly unreasonable 
 and criminal to reject, any thing he has revealed. 
 The doctrines of revelation are clearly discerned by 
 reason, to be contained in the Scriptures, and are 
 mysterious, not from any thing unintelligible in the 
 language, but from the intrinsic sublimity of the sub- 
 jects themselves, and from the necessary limits, as 
 well as present obscurity, of the human mind. The 
 spiritual discernment of divine truth, which maketh 
 wise to salvation, is a result, not of the unassisted 
 effort of human reason, but of the special illumination 
 of the Holy Spirit. 4 
 
 1 1 Pet. iii. 15. And he ready always to give an answer to every man 
 that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you. 2 Acts xvii. 2. Paul 
 reasoned out of the Scriptures. 1 Cor. x. 15. I speak as to wise men, 
 judge ye what I say. 3 Mat. xiii. 11. Unto you it is given to know the 
 mysteries of the kingdom of God. 4 Col. ii. 2. To the acknowledgment 
 of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ. Eph. iii. 3. 
 By revelation he made known unto me the mystery, — whereby when 
 ye read ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. 
 J Tim. iii. 9. Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. — 
 Con. I. 5. 
 
 Believing and confessing the above first principles 
 on the subject of a revelation from God, we condemn 
 the following errors: — That the light of nature is 
 sufficient to direct man to perfection and happiness, 
 and that men framing their lives according to it shall 
 be saved; — that the Old and New Testaments are 
 not the inspired word of God; — that the books known 
 by the name of the Apocrypha, are of equal authority 
 with the Holy Scriptures ; — that it is proper to read 
 them as a part of the public worship of God; — that 
 there are authoritative oral traditions ; — that the Scrip- 
 tures are not to be put into the hands of the common 
 people; — that the Scriptures are not fully and infal- 
 
•263 
 
 libly inspired of God, and that some parts of them are 
 more inspired than others; — that reason is the stand- 
 ard of religious truth, and that there are no incom- 
 prehensible mysteries in the Holy Scriptures; — that 
 the Scriptures are to be believed only in accordance 
 with the interpretation of the church; — that the tradi- 
 tions and writings of the ancients, and decrees of the 
 church, are to be admitted in whole or in part, as 
 supreme authority in religious controversy; — that an 
 internal light in the human mind in any respect 
 supersedes the necessity or use of the Divine Word, and 
 sets aside the visible institutions of the church of 
 Christ; — that there are still new revelations of the 
 Spirit besides the Word of God; — and that the Old 
 Testament is not of equal authority with the New, 
 and is of comparatively little use to the Christian 
 church. 
 
 In the errors testified against, under this chapter, 
 we have in view — the Infidel who denies revealed 
 religion — Romanists who claim the authoritative in- 
 terpretation of the Scriptures, have sanctioned Apo- 
 cryphal books, and maintain the authority of oral 
 traditions — Episcopalians who, though they do not 
 admit the inspiration of the Apocrypha, retain it along 
 with the Holy Scriptures, and ordain that it be read 
 in their churches — Socinians who deny the plenary 
 inspiration of the Scriptures, and ridicule the idea that 
 there are mysteries in the Bible — the Friends, or 
 Quakers, who give to Christ alone the title of the 
 Word of God, and refuse it to the Scriptures, although 
 they profess highly to esteem them, in subordination 
 to the Spirit; and who have set aside the visible 
 institutions of Baptism and the Lord's Supper — and 
 visionaries who pretend to new and authoritative reve- 
 lations of the Spirit. Although no denomination have 
 avowed that the Old Testament is not of equal 
 authority with the New, or is of comparatively little 
 use in the Christian church, yet in conversation, and 
 in books, on certain branches of controversy, the Old 
 •2 A 2 
 
264 
 
 Testament is much overlooked and slighted. Without 
 distinguishing whether a passage belongs to the 
 moral, ceremonial, or judicial law, it is often thought 
 sufficient to reject it, when adduced in proof of a doc- 
 trine or principle, that it is taken from the Old Tes- 
 tament. This, however, is inconsistent with a full 
 belief in the New Testament, for it explicitly and 
 largely recognizes the divine authority of the Old. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 OF GOD, THE DIVINE PURPOSES, AND WORKS. 
 
 1. There is, distinct from the universe, an un- 
 created, infinite, eternal, self-existent, independent, 
 and immutable Being; the creator, preserver, and 
 governor of all things, the true and living God. 1 God 
 is a most pure spirit, 2 invisible, almighty, omniscient, 
 omnipresent, most wise, most holy, most free, most 
 just, most gracious and merciful. 3 He is in and of 
 himself all-sufficient, having all goodness, glory, and 
 blessedness in himself, not standing in need of any of 
 his creatures, not deriving any essential glory from 
 them, but manifesting his glory by them, unto them, 
 and upon them. .His ultimate end in all things is 
 his own glory, in the exercise and manifestation of 
 the perfections of his nature. It is unworthy of God, 
 as it is inconsistent with the whole tenor of Scripture, 
 to represent his ultimate end as terminating in his 
 creatures. 
 
 1 1 Tim. ii. 5. There is one God. Heb. xi. 6. He that cometh unto 
 God must believe that he is. Job xi. 7. Canst thou by searching find 
 out God? Psal. xc. 2. From everlasting to everlasting thou art God. 
 Rom. xi, 36. Of him, and through him, and to him are all things. 
 Exod. iii. 14. I AM THAT I AM. Psal. cxlvii. 5. Great is our Lord 
 and of great power; his understanding is infinite, Psal. cxxxix. 7. 
 Whither shall I flee from thy presence? Mai. iii. 6. I change not. 
 Rev. iv. 11. Thou hast created all things. Heb. i. 3. Upholding all 
 things. Psal. ciii. 19. His kingdom ruleth over all. Jer. x. 10. The 
 
•265 
 
 true God, the living God. 2 John iv. 24. God is a Spirit. 3 1 Tim. i. 
 17. The King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God. Rev. 
 iv. 8. Holy, holy, holy. Eph. i. 11. Who worketh all things after the 
 counsel of his own will. Exod. xxxiv, 6, 7. The Lord God, merciful 
 and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 
 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, 
 and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty. Job xxii. 2. Can 
 a man be profitable unto God? Prov. xvi. 4. The Lord hath made 
 all things for himself. Rom. xi. 36. For of him, and through him, and 
 to him are all things: to whom be glory for ever. — Con. II. 1, 2; 
 Cat. 7. 
 
 2. The invisible and eternal Godhead is numeri- 
 cally oxe, a strict and proper unity. 
 
 Deut. vi. 4. The Lord our God is one Lord. James ii. 19. Thou 
 believest there is one God. 1 Cor. viii. 6. To us there is but one God. 
 —Con. II. 1. 
 
 3. The one true and living God subsists in three 
 distinct and equal divine persons, the Father, the Son, 
 and the Holy Spirit; distinguished by necessary 
 personal relations, but the same in substance, and 
 equal in all divine glory. 
 
 Mat. xxviii. 19. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of 
 the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 2 Cor. xiii. 14. The grace of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the 
 Holy Ghost, be with you all. 1 John v. 7. For there are three that 
 bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; 
 and these three are one. — Con. II. 3; Cat. 9, 10, 11. 
 
 4. According to his own most free and wise counsel, 
 and for his glory, God has, from eternity, ordained 
 all the events of time, and unchangeably determined 
 the final states of all his creatures. 1 He has estab- 
 lished such a connection between means and ends, as 
 not to supersede nor destroy the agency of secondary 
 causes ; so that he is not the author of sin, and offers 
 no violence to the will of his moral creatures. 2 
 
 1 Acts xv. 18. Known unto God are all his works from the begin- 
 ning of the world. Eph. i. 11. Who worketh all things after the 
 counsel of his own will. Rom. xi. 33. O the depth of the riches both 
 of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judg- 
 ments, and his ways past finding out! 2 James i. 13. Let no man say 
 when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. Acts ii. 23. Him, being 
 delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye 
 have taken,* and bv wicked hands have crucified and slain. — Con. III. 
 1; Cat. 12. 
 
>266 
 
 5. It pleased the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, 
 for the manifestation of the divine glory, to create, or 
 make out of nothing, the world and all things in it; 
 thus imparting a finite existence to the various orders 
 of creatures, adapting their natures to the place and 
 purpose assigned them among the Divine works. 
 
 Gen. i. 1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 
 Heb. xi. 3. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed 
 by the word of God. John i. 3. All things were made by him; and 
 without him was not any thing made that was made. Job xxvi. 13. 
 By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens. Psal. civ. 24. O Lord, 
 how manifold are thy works, in wisdom thou hast made them all! 
 1 Cor. xv. 38. God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to 
 every seed his own body.— Con. IV. 1 ; Cat. 15. 
 
 6. As the last and finishing part of creation in this 
 world, God made man, consisting of a material body 
 formed of the earth, and organized on principles of 
 astonishing wisdom, and of a soul, distinct from the 
 body, immaterial, rational, and immortal, endowed with 
 noble faculties, capable of knowing, fearing, loving, and 
 serving God. 1 The greatest glory of man consisted in 
 being made after the image of God, in knowledge, 
 rectitude, and holiness. 2 He was placed in a state of 
 moral subjection and responsibility to God. 3 
 
 1 Gen. i. 27. So God created man in his own image; ii. 7. God formed 
 man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath 
 of life. 2 Job xxxv. 11. Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the 
 earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven. 3 1 Cor. ix. 21. 
 Being not without law to God.— Con. IV. 2; Cat. 17. 
 
 7. The Creator of the ends of the earth has a 
 necessary propriety in all things, and sovereignty over 
 them; 1 upholds them in being by the word of his 
 power, 2 and by a secret, wise, and holy providence, 
 directs, restrains, overrules, and disposes all his crea- 
 tures, all their changes and actions, and all the events 
 of time, to his own glory. 3 He employs a variety of 
 subordinate agencies, which are under his absolute 
 control; and his providence extends to the actions of 
 moral agents without violating their nature or abetting 
 their sin. 4 
 
267 
 
 1 1 Chron. xxix. 1 1. All that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; 
 thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head over all. 
 2 Heb. i. 3. Upholding all things by the word of his power. 3 Mat. x. 29. 
 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing, and one of them shall not fall 
 to the ground without your Father? 4 Prov. xxi. 1. The king's heart is 
 in the hand of the Lord ; as the rivers of water he turneth it whitherso- 
 ever he will. James i. 13. Neither tempteth he any man. Psal. lxxvi. 
 10. Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee, the remainder of wrath 
 sbalt thou restrain. — Con. V. 1; Cat. 18. 
 
 8. The providence of God maintains not only the 
 natural order of the material world, but a moral do- 
 minion in the kingdom of men. The material and 
 moral worlds are so balanced in the hands of the Crea- 
 tor and Ruler, that the one is made subservient to the 
 other, the natural to the moral. Both having the 
 same Governor, and the scheme of both being deter- 
 mined in the same everlasting purposes, the physical 
 or material world is placed in subordination to the 
 moral, and thus subordinated in the hands of God, it 
 is affected by the state of the moral world ; the whole 
 being so ordered as to manifest a moral character in 
 the divine government. 1 The sin of man is, accord- 
 ingly, often punished by the operation of the natural 
 laws by which the world is governed, without chang- 
 ing these laws f and it is impious, as well as unrea- 
 sonable, to make the immutability of the laws of 
 nature an objection to the obligation and efficacy of 
 prayer and religious duty. 3 
 
 1 Psal. Iviii. 11. Verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth. 2 Psal. 
 cvii. 33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the water springs 
 into dry ground; a fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of 
 them that dwell therein. Hos. ii. 21, 22. I will hear saith the Lord, 
 I will hear the heavens; and they shall hear the earth; and the earth 
 shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear 
 Jezreel. 3 Zech. x. 1. Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the 
 latter rain ; so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers 
 of rain.— Con. V. 1. 
 
 Believing these doctrines of the Holy Scriptures, 
 we condemn ; — the folly of the atheist who says there 
 is no God, maintains that the world is eternal or an 
 effect of chance, and is governed by fate, and that 
 man has no immaterial and immortal soul which sur- 
 vives the dissolution of the body; — the pernicious 
 
268 
 
 heresy of those who hold that the names Father, Son, 
 and Holy Spirit, are merely official names of one 
 person, and of those who maintain that the Father 
 alone is supreme God, and that the doctrine of the 
 Trinity is an impossibility and contradiction; — the 
 arrogance of those who deny the decrees of God, and 
 hold them incompatible with the moral character of 
 God and liberty of man ; — as well as the impiety of 
 those who deny that the providence of God is partic- 
 ular, that man's sin has no influence on the course of 
 events, and who refuse the efficacy of prayer as incon- 
 sistent with the established laws by which the world is 
 governed, and ascribe events to chance, or fate, or 
 fixed laws, so as to exclude the moral character of the 
 providential administration. 
 
 The distinction of persons in the Godhead does not 
 arise out of the system of redemption, but is brought 
 into clear light by it. And the sentiments of the 
 Sabellian, Arian, Socinian, and Unitarian, must be 
 testified against as subverting the fundamental doc- 
 trines of revelation. Persons denying the doctrine 
 of Trinity may assume the name of Arius, Socinus, 
 or any other human leader, but they have no exclu- 
 sive claim to the designation Unitarian, in so far as 
 this term denotes belief in the divine unity. Nor does 
 the doctrine of a distinction of persons in the God- 
 head involve, as is alleged, a contradiction, inasmuch 
 as God is not held to be one and three, in the same 
 sense ; one referring to nature, and three to personal- 
 ity. While there is so much in finite being to con- 
 found, we should not feel offended that infinite being 
 is unsearchable. The doctrine of Trinity is essentially 
 connected with the peculiar doctrines of redemption, 
 which the system of Unitarians does not embrace, 
 being principally a system of natural religion. The 
 doctrines of natural religion cannot be satisfactorily 
 confirmed and illustrated without the Scriptures. In 
 this sense, then, the doctrines of natural religion be- 
 long to revealed religion; and though they do not 
 
•269 
 
 constitute the doctrines of redemption, yet they arc 
 alwavs supposed to be understood and acknowledged 
 in the scheme of salvation. The exclusion of the 
 peculiar doctrines of redemption, and the reducing of 
 them to a system of natural religion, are entirely sub- 
 versive of the designs of revelation, and incompatible 
 with its language and spirit. The whole system must 
 be regarded as one of masked infidelity, which, as it 
 has renounced the peculiar doctrines of Christianity, 
 has no claim to its name. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 OF THE LAW OF GOD — COVENANT OF WORKS — MAX 8 
 TRANSGRESSION HIS PRESENT STATE. 
 
 1. God is the moral Governor of all intelligent 
 creatures 1 — he has placed them under law to him- 
 self — and holds them universally responsible. The 
 scriptures make known to us two orders of moral crea- 
 tures, angels and men. 2 
 
 1 Psal. ciii. 19. His kingdom ruleth over all. Rom. xiv. 12. Every- 
 one of us shall give account of himself to God. Acts xvii. 31. He will 
 judge the world in righteousness. 2 Bless the Lord, ye his angels that 
 excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the 
 voice of his word. Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts, ye ministers of 
 his that do his pleasure. Bless the Lord ail his works in all places of 
 his dominion. — Con. III. 3, 4; Cat. 16. 
 
 •2. Angels were created pure spirits, excelling in 
 knowledge and strength, holy and immortal. A part 
 of them have fallen into sin and condemnation, the 
 others are established in moral excellence and feli- 
 city. 
 
 Psal. civ. 4. Who maketh his angels spirits. Mat. xxii. 30. But are 
 as the angels of God. Mat. xxv. 31. And all the holy angels. 1 Tim. 
 v. 21. The elect angels. Jude 6. The angels which kept not their first 
 estate.— Con. III. 3 : 4; Cat. 19. 
 
 3. Man is a free moral agent, bound under the 
 
270 
 
 penalty of eternal death, to yield universal obedience 
 to the law of God, and accountable to him for all his 
 thoughts, words and actions. 1 The rule which God 
 at first revealed to man, and inscribed on his heart, 
 was the moral law, afterwards promulgated and sum- 
 marily comprehended in the ten commandments. 2 
 
 1 1 Cor. ix. 21. Being not without law to God. Rom. vi. 23. The 
 wages of sin is death. Rom. ii. 15. Which shew the work of the law 
 written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness. Psal. 
 cxix. 96. Thy commandment is exceeding broad. 2 Mat. xxii. 37. 
 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy 
 soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great command- 
 ment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as 
 thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the pro- 
 phets.— Con. IV. 2; Cat. 17. 
 
 4. God created man male and female; and, hav- 
 ing designed that mankind should exist by descent 
 from Adam and Eve, he thus connected the whole 
 human family by a bond of nature. 1 It pleased God 
 to graft upon this natural relation a moral and federal 
 connection, by constituting Adam the representative 
 of the human race, and entering into a covenant with 
 him, in behalf of himself and all his natural posterity, 
 promising life and blessedness on the condition of 
 obedience. The obedience of man to the authority and 
 law of God at large, was subjected to a trial, by the 
 positive prohibition of the fruit of the tree of the know- 
 ledge of good and evil, and enforced by a special re- 
 velation of the penalty of death in case of disobedience. 2 
 Reasonable creatures owe universal obedience to 
 God as their creator and governor ; and it was a fruit of 
 sovereign goodness on the part of God to propose 
 everlasting felicity unto man, by way of covenant, as 
 the reward of his obedience — a reward which there was 
 nothing in the obedience of man intrinsically to merit 
 or claim. This constitution of things, called the law or 
 covenant of works, manifested the condescension and 
 favour of God, and was holy, just, and good; and 
 viewed antecedently to the event, presented to the 
 human family easier terms, a nearer prospect of feli- 
 
271 
 
 city, and greater security for obedience and the at- 
 tainment of happiness, than could have been afforded 
 by distinct individual responsibility. It was a consti- 
 tution of things not only in every respect beyond the 
 reach of objection, but claiming to be readily and cor- 
 dially embraced, as a display of the divine favour and 
 condescension. 
 
 1 Gen. i. 27. Male and female created he them. And God blessed 
 them, and God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply, and replenish 
 the earth. 2 Gen. ii. 17. But of the tree of the knowledge of good 
 and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest there- 
 of thou shalt surely die. Rom. v. 14. Adam — who is the figure of him 
 that is to come. Rom. vii. 10. The commandment was ordained to 
 life. Rom. x. 5. Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the 
 law, that the man which doeth these things shall live by them. Gal. iii. 
 12. And the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live 
 in them.— Con. VII. 1, 2; Cat. 20. 
 
 5. Adam, being created holy, must have consented 
 to the law and covenant of God. He was morally 
 able to obey; but not being confirmed in a state of 
 holiness, and being left to the liberty of his own will, 
 through the temptation of Satan, he violated the condi- 
 tion of the covenant, by eating the forbidden fruit: and, 
 thus throwing off all moral subjection to God, involved 
 himself and all his natural posterity in guilt and 
 misery. 
 
 Gen. iii. 6. She took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also 
 unto her husband with her, and he did eat. 1 Cor. xv. 22. In Adam 
 all die.— Con. TI. 1; Cat. 21. 
 
 6. The guilt of Adam's first transgression is, ac- 
 cording to a righteous constitution of God, imputed 
 to all his natural posterity ; and is as really their guilt 
 in the account of the divine law, as if they had com- 
 mitted the transgression in their own persons. Adam 
 and his posterity being, by that constitution, feder- 
 ally as well as naturally, one, are guilty in the sight 
 of God ; and being found so, are by a righteous and 
 legal imputation, declared guilty of the first transgres- 
 sion; the act of imputation declaring, not constituting 
 this guilt. 
 
 2b 
 
•272 
 
 Rom. v. 18, 19. By the offence of one judgment came upon all 
 men to condemnation. By one man's disobedience many were made 
 sinners. — Con. VI. 3; Cat. 25. 
 
 7. In consequence of the entrance of sin into the 
 world, all mankind are born in a state of guilt, are 
 destitute of original rectitude, are depraved and op- 
 posed to what is good, in the faculties of their souls, 
 sin reigning even in the members of their bodies. l 
 They are utterly without moral ability to serve or en- 
 joy God, are subject to disease and death, and liable 
 to everlasting punishment in the world to come ; and 
 they are unable, as they are indisposed, by any effort, 
 to restore themselves to the favour and fruition of 
 God. 2 
 
 1 Eph. ii. 3. And were by nature the children of wrath. Rom. iii. 
 9. Jews and Gentiles are all under sin. Eph. iv. 18. Having the un- 
 derstanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through 
 the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart. 
 - Rom. viii. 7, 8. The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not 
 subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they 
 that are in the flesh cannot please God. Rom. vii. 5. For when we 
 were in the flesh, the motions of sin which were by the law, did work 
 in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. Eph. ii. 1. Dead in 
 trespasses and sins. Rom. v. 17. By one man's offence death reigned. 
 Rom. v. 6. For when ye were yet without strength. — Con. VI. 3, IX, 3; 
 Cat. 25. 
 
 Holding these humbling but obvious truths con- 
 cerning man, we condemn the sentiments of those ; — 
 who deny, and impugn as unjust, the constituting of 
 Adam to be the representative of his posterity; — who 
 deny the imputation of the guilt of the first transgres- 
 sion of Adam to all mankind ; — who hold the absolute 
 innocence and moral purity of infants ; — who maintain 
 that man becomes sinful only by imitation of evil ex- 
 ample ; — and who deny that actual sin flows from de- 
 pravity of nature. We also condemn the sentiments 
 of those who hold that the penalty annexed to the 
 disobedience of Adam, and entailed on his posterity, is 
 only temporal death ; — and of those who contend that 
 man is still morally free to do all good, and retains 
 moral power of himself to act faith and repentance, 
 and to yield acceptable obedience to God. 
 
•273 
 
 Just views of the present moral state of man are 
 essential to a right understanding of the gospel. The 
 remedy is adapted, in divine love and wisdom, to the 
 disease. If we form mistaken views of the disease, if 
 we apprehend it to he less deep and dangerous than it 
 is, our views of the remedy must, in like manner, he 
 defective and mistaken. 
 
 The infidel makes the doctrine of original sin the 
 object of his virulent opposition and profane jesting, 
 and is joined in this by Socinians and others, whose 
 doctrines have a nearer affinity to infidelity than to re- 
 vealed truth. The Arminian school, while admitting 
 to a certain extent the doctrine of human depravity, 
 rejects the representative character of Adam and the 
 imputation of the guilt of his transgression to his pos- 
 terity, and maintains the moral ability and freedom of 
 man to save himself. 
 
 The spring of all this opposition to the truth is the 
 pride of the human heart. The doctrine of original sin 
 and of human depravity is humbling to man, and he 
 will not humble himself. It should be remembered, 
 that the language of inspiration draws an analogy, be- 
 tween the doctrine of our connection with Adam, and 
 the method of our deliverance by Christ. Rom. v. 12 
 — 21. If we be ignorant of the one, we can have no 
 proper knowledge of the other. And if we deny the 
 one, we reject the other. The comments of enemies 
 on these parts of the divine word are most deceitful, 
 and are all calculated, at the expense of plain Scripture 
 language, to flatter the human heart, and to bring down 
 the divine dispensations to the views and dispositions 
 of man — a deeply criminal and interested party, who 
 cannot form an impartial judgment on the ways of God. 
 
274 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OF ELECTION, AND THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 
 
 1. God, of his sovereign good pleasure, to the praise 
 of his glorious grace, has before the foundation of the 
 world, chosen in Christ Jesus, and ordained a certain 
 number of mankind to eternal salvation, through sanc- 
 tification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. 1 The 
 rest of mankind, being left in a state of sin, are by the 
 retributive justice of God, in terms of the divine law, 
 appointed to the punishment of their transgressions. 2 
 
 1 Eph. i. 4. According as he hath chosen us in him, before the foun- 
 dation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before 
 him in love. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children 
 by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 
 to the praise of the glory of his grace. 2 Thess. ii. 13. God hath from 
 the beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit, 
 and belief of the truth. 2 Rom. ix. 22, 23. AVhat if God— willing to shew 
 his wrath and make his power known, endured with much long-suffering 
 the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and that he might make known 
 the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore pre- 
 pared unto glory. — Con. III. 3, 4, 5; Cat. 13. 
 
 2. This election is not founded upon foreseen faith or 
 good works; 1 — it is an election not of communities to 
 temporal and external privileges, but of persons to 
 spiritual and eternal salvation ; 2 — it connects the use 
 of means with the end, in a way worthy of the divine 
 perfections, and without superseding the diligent exer- 
 cise of the human faculties ; 3 — and it is absolute and 
 unchangeable. 4 
 
 1 Rom. ix. 11. For the children being not yet born, neither having done 
 any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might 
 stand; not of works, but of him that calleth. 2 Acts xiii. 48. Ordained 
 to eternal life. 3 Eph. ii. 10. Good works which God hath before or- 
 dained that we should walk in them. 2 Pet. i. 10. Give diligence to 
 make your calling and election sure. Psal. xxxiii. 11. The counsel of the 
 Lord standeth. 4 2 Tim. ii. 19. The foundation of God standeth sure. 
 Rom. viii. 30. Whom he did predestinate them he also called, &c. — Con. 
 III. 5, 6. 
 
 3. According to the good pleasure and everlasting 
 counsels of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and for 
 
275 
 
 the manifestation of the divine glory in the salvation of 
 sinners, it pleased the Father, from eternity, to enter 
 into a covenant transaction with Ins Son, the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, promising to him great mediatorial glory, and 
 the eternal life of the elect, upon condition of his ful- 
 filling all righteousness as their surety. 1 To this cove- 
 nant the Lord Jesus most voluntarily and graciously 
 acceded, and, being accepted as the head and repre- 
 sentative of the elect, was invested with mediatorial 
 offices, and by the oath of God, constituted the surety 
 of the everlasting covenant. 2 The Holy Spirit, one 
 with the Father and the Son in the counsels of redemp- 
 tion, concurred in the federal arrangements, and is es- 
 sentially connected with the execution of them. 3 In 
 this covenant there is not only a display of the divine 
 perfections of Godhead, but of these perfections as sub- 
 sisting in the persons of the Father, Son, and Holy 
 Spirit, — a mystery exhibited in its certainty and pecu- 
 liar glory in the federal economy. 
 
 1 Psal. lxxxix. 3. I have made a covenant with my chosen. Tit. i. 2. 
 Eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began. 
 1 Cor. xv. 22. As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made 
 alive. Isa. tin. 10. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he 
 shall see his seed. 2 Psal. xl. 7. Then said I, Lo, I come. Heb. to. 22. 
 By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. 3 Isa. una. 
 16. The Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me. Isa. lix. 21. As for me, 
 this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord, my Spirit that is upon thee, 
 and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of 
 thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, «tc— Con. TIL 3; Cat. 30,31. 
 
 4. This covenant was in respect of Christ a cove- 
 nant of redemption, nothing being promised to him 
 excepting upon a condition fully adequate to the most 
 extensive demands of justice; 1 yet, in respect of the 
 persons interested in it, it is a covenant of pure and 
 absolute grace, all its blessings being dispensed to 
 them by promise and testament, exclusively of every 
 consideration of merit. 2 
 
 1 Heb. ix. 15. He is the mediator of the new testament, that by 
 means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were un- 
 der the first testament, they which were called might receive the 
 promise of eternal inheritance. 2 Gal. iii. 17. And this I sav, that the 
 
 2 b 2 
 
276 
 
 covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which 
 was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should 
 make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the 
 law, it is no more of promise. Rom. iii. 16. Therefore it is of faith 
 that it might be of grace. 
 
 Believing in these blessed mysteries of revelation 
 respecting the origin of human redemption, we con- 
 demn the following errors : — That there is no election 
 of particular persons to eternal life; — that it is unjust 
 in God to choose some to salvation, and leave others 
 to punishment; — that the election mentioned in the 
 Scriptures is of nations, and merely to external privi- 
 leges; — that it is conditional; — that the doctrine of 
 election supersedes, or in any respect lessens, the 
 obligation to use the means of salvation; — that any 
 of the elect shall be lost; — that Christ is not the re- 
 presentative of the elect ; — that there was no covenant 
 from everlasting about the salvation of sinners ; — and 
 that the righteousness of Christ was not the only 
 meritorious condition of the covenant. 
 
 There is not a more common and fruitful topic of 
 opposition and ridicule against the gospel, than the 
 doctrine of divine decrees. The Bible is rejected 
 altogether, because it contains the doctrine of election, 
 and strong appeals are addressed to the feelings of 
 men, on its implication of the divine character. It 
 would not be difficult to establish this doctrine, as 
 well as that of decrees in general, on the principle of 
 the knowledge, wisdom, and supremacy of God. But 
 this is unnecessary; the objection is, so far, an evi- 
 dence that the doctrine is contained in the Scripture ; 
 and it were to be wished that opposition to it were 
 confined to the enemies of revelation. 
 
 Socinian and Arminian writers enter fully into the 
 views and spirit of the unbeliever on this subject. 
 And all this is done with a view to vindicate the 
 character of God, from the imputations of injustice 
 and severity; while, at the same time, the persons 
 spoken of cast into the shade the doctrine of the 
 divine sovereignty, and subvert the gracious character 
 
277 
 
 of the gospel, by suspending the enjoyment of its 
 benefits upon human merit. 
 
 This doctrine is sometimes a matter of great diffi- 
 culty to persons of tender minds. They perceive it 
 revealed in the Scripture, and they are filled with a 
 fear, that they may not be personally interested in 
 election. Such persons ought to consider, that it is 
 not their province to know the particular secret designs 
 of God, respecting themselves or others — that the 
 same objections are equally applicable against the 
 decrees of God, respecting the formation and govern- 
 ment of the world — and that there is an inseparable 
 connection between the end purposed, and the means 
 leading unto it. To think, or to speak, of being saved 
 without the means of salvation, argues ignorance of 
 the doctrine — is a most guilty and unwarrantable pre- 
 sumption — and, when used as an objection against the 
 gospel, is often the hollow pretext of a mind not feel- 
 ing greatly the importance of salvation, and under 
 deceitful aversions against the holy means by which it 
 is enjoyed. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 OF THE MEDIATOR — HIS PERSON, SATISFACTION AND 
 MERIT AND HIS DOMINION. 
 
 I. PERSON, OFFICES, INCARNATION OF CHRIST. 
 
 1. The Lord Jesus Christ is the true God. 1 The 
 Scriptures ascribe to him all the names, perfections, 
 titles, works, and worship of supreme godhead, equally 
 with the Father and Holy Spirit. 2 
 
 1 1 John v. 10. This is the true God. 2 Col. ii. 9. In him dwelleth all 
 the fulness of the Godhead bodily. Phil. ii. 6. Who being in the form of 
 God thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Isa. xl. 3. Prepare 
 ye the way of Jehovah. Isa. ix. 6. His name shall be called the Mighty 
 
278 
 
 God, the Everlasting Father. Rom. ix. 5. Who is over all, God blessed 
 for ever. Heb. i. 6. Let all the angels of God worship him. Rev. v. 11. 
 Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and 
 wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. — Con. VIII. 
 2; Cat. 11. 
 
 2. Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God. 
 This glorious personal distinction is ascribed to him 
 — not in consequence of mediatorial office — not as 
 become man — not as raised from the dead — not in the 
 sense in which angels, men, or believers, are the sons 
 of God — but on account of the necessary and ineffable 
 relation he sustains to the person of the Father, a rela- 
 tion expressed in the Scriptures by the terms, " the 
 only begotten of the Father," but infinitely transcend- 
 ing the comprehension of creatures. 
 
 John i. 14. We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten 
 of the Father. John iii. 16. He gave his only begotten Son. John xx. 
 31. That ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God. Gal. 
 iv. 4. God sent forth his Son. Heb. v. 8. Though he were a Son, yet 
 learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. — Con. II. 3; Cat. 
 10. 
 
 3. The Lord Jesus Christ, the true God, and the 
 only begotten of the Father, was chosen and set up, in 
 the eternal purposes and counsel of God, to be media- 
 tor between God and men, the Prophet, Priest, and 
 King of the Church. 
 
 Prov. viii. 22. 1 was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or 
 ever the earth was. 1 Pet. i. 20. Who verily was fore-ordained before 
 the foundation of the world. — Con. VIII. 1. 
 
 4. In the fulness of the time the Son of God 
 became man, taking into union with his divine person 
 a true and perfect human nature, consisting of a ma- 
 terial body and rational soul, wholly without sin. 1 — 
 This human nature, appointed for him by the Father, 2 
 and miraculously formed by the Holy Spirit, 3 was 
 assumed by the personal voluntary act of the Son. 
 He was born of the Virgin Mary, called Immanuel, 
 and continues to be God and man in one person. 4 
 

 •279 
 
 1 Gal. iv. 4. But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent 
 forth his Son, made of a woman. 1 John hi. 5. In him is no sin. Heb. 
 ii. 14. Forasmuch, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, 
 he also himself likewise took part of the same. Ver. 16. He took on him 
 the seed of Abraham. - Heb. x. 5. A body hast thou prepared me. 
 3 Luke i. 35. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee. 4 Mat. i. 23. 
 Immanuel. Heb. x. 12.*But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice 
 for sins, for ever sat down on the right hand of God. — Con. VIII. 2 ; 
 Cat. 36. 
 
 5. In his holy humanity the Lord Jesus Christ 
 received an immeasurable unction of the Holy Spirit, 
 by which he was extraordinarily and perfectly furnished 
 for the work of mediation. 
 
 John hi. 34. God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. Isa. vi. 
 1. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. — Con. VIII. 3; Cat. 42. 
 
 6. The human nature of Christ retains its essential 
 properties 1 — remains in its actings perfectly distinct 
 from the divine nature 2 — and is constantly united 
 with the Son of God, never having had a separate 
 subsistence. 3 All its moral and mediatorial actings, 
 being performed in a state of union with the Son of God, 
 are ascribed to him personally, and derive their value \ 
 and efficacy in the redemption of sinners, from the 
 infinite dignity of his one divine person. 4 
 
 1 1 Tim. hi. 16. God was manifest in the flesh. - Rom. ix. 5. Of 
 whom as concerning the flesh Christ came. 1 Pet. hi. 18. Being put to 
 death in the flesh. 3 Acts xx. 28. Feed the church of God which he 
 hath purchased with his own blood. 4 Heb. i. 3. He by himself purged 
 our sins. 1 John i. 7. The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us 
 from all sin.— Con. VIII. 2 ; Cat. 38, 39, 40. 
 
 7. In contemplating this great mystery of godli- 
 ness, we are to keep in view — the truth of the supreme 
 deity of Christ — the reality of his human nature 2 — 
 the unity of his person 3 — the continued distinct- 
 ness of the two natures, although united in one 
 person 4 — and the ascription of the properties and 
 actings of both natures, in the work of mediation, to 
 the one person; so that, by reason of the unity of 
 the person, that which is proper to one nature, is 
 sometimes in Scripture attributed to the person denorai- / 
 nated from the other nature. 5 
 
280 
 
 1 Rom. ix. 5. Of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is 
 over all, God blessed for ever. 2 Luke xxiv. 39. Behold my hands, 
 and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit hath 
 not flesh and bones as ye see me have. 3 Eph. iv. 5. One Lord. 
 4 1 Pet. hi. 18. Put to death in the flesh. & Acts xx. 28. The church of 
 God which he hath purchased with his own blood. John iii. 13. The 
 Son of man which is in heaven. 1 John iii. 16. Hereby perceive we 
 the love of God, because he laid down his life for us. — Con. VIII. 7 ; 
 Cat. 40. 
 
 8. The offices of Prophet, Priest and King, are 
 distinctly and emphatically ascribed to the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and are comprehended in the one office of 
 Mediator. These offices are distinguished by their 
 particular reference to God and man, and by the rela- 
 tive order in which they stand to one another; but 
 they are all inseparably executed by the one incarnate 
 mediator for the good of the elect. Christ is a true 
 Prophet, revealing the will of God for salvation — a 
 true Priest, making atonement by the sacrifice of 
 himself, interceding for his people, and blessing them 
 — and a true King, ruling in the heart, in the church, 
 and in the world. 
 
 Deut. xviii. 15. The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet 
 from the midst of thee. Psal. ex. 4. Thou art a priest for ever. Psal. ii. 
 6. Yet I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. Zech. vi. 13. He 
 shall be a Priest upon his throne Rev. v. 6. A Lamb as if it had been 
 slain, having seven horns and seven eyes. John xiv. 6. I am the way, and 
 the truth, and the life.— Con. VIII. 1 ; Cat. 42. 
 
 II. SATISFACTION AND MERIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 1. The determination to save sinners, results from 
 the sovereign good pleasure of God; 1 yet, in order to 
 the accomplishment of that purpose, the holiness and 
 justice of God, the tenor of his law, and the ends of 
 his moral government, rendered it absolutely neces- 
 sary, that a true and proper satisfaction be made to 
 him for all the sins of those who shall be saved. 2 
 
 1 Exod. xxxiii. 19. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and 
 I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy. 2 xxxiv. 7. That will by 
 no means clear the guilty. Heb. ix. 22. Without shedding of blood is 
 no remission. Heb. ii. 10. It became him, for whom are all things, 
 
281 
 
 and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make 
 the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. — Con. III. 5; 
 Cat. 30. 
 
 2. Having for this end assumed a holy human na- 
 ture, the Son of God was made under the law in the 
 place of the elect ' — he gave a perfect obedience to 
 the precept of the law - — he suffered the curse of the 
 law, the just for the unjust, enduring in his soul un- 
 utterable sufferings, which no creature could inflict or 
 sustain; 3 and by obedience and suffering, conjoined 
 in the same acts in his life, and perfected in his death, 
 he has made reconciliation for iniquity, and brought in 
 everlasting righteousness. 4 
 
 1 Gal. iv. 4. Made under the law to redeem them that were under the 
 law. 2 Rom. v. 19. By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. 
 3 1 Pet. iii. 18. Christ hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. 
 Gal. iii. 13. Being made a curse for us. Luke xxii. 44. And being in an 
 agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was as it were great 
 drops of blood falling down to the ground. Phil. ii. 8. And became 
 obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. * Dan. ix. 24. To make 
 reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness. — 
 Con. VIII. 4, 5; Cat. 38, 39. 
 
 3. Jesus Christ the true and great High Priest, 
 has offered himself to God, one perfect sacrifice of 
 infinite value ; l on the ground of which he intercedes 
 with God in heaven, in the behalf of his people, and 
 imparts to them his gracious benediction. 2 He, in his 
 priesthood and sacrifice, is the consummation of all 
 that was prefigured and signified by the priests and 
 sacrifices that were under the law: these, being in 
 themselves of no value to take away sin or purge the 
 conscience, excepting as they pointed to Christ, are 
 now abrogated for ever by his death. 3 
 
 1 Heb. iv. 14. "We have a great High Priest, x. 12. But this man after 
 he had offered one sacrifice for sins. vii. 27. He offered up himself. 
 2 Heb. ix. 12. By his own blood he entered in once into the holy place. 
 5 Heb. x. 1. The law having a shadow of good things to come, and not 
 the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices, which they 
 offered year by year continually, make the comers thereto perfect. 
 Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared 
 me. Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that 
 he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through 
 
282 
 
 the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. — Con. VIII. 5; 
 Cat. 44. 
 
 4. Christ Jesus has not only made atonement for sin 
 by his sufferings, but, by his obedience, has merited 
 for his people eternal life. 1 The tenor of the law, the 
 scriptural account of the righteousness of Christ and of 
 the privileges of believers, confirm the doctrine of the 
 meritorious obedience as well as satisfactory suffer- 
 ings of Christ. 2 The law has a precept as well as a 
 penalty. 3 Jesus obeyed as well as suffered, and be- 
 lievers are not only pardoned the guilt of their offences, 
 but are accepted as righteous, and made heirs accord- 
 ing to the hope of eternal life. 4 
 
 1 Rom. v. 21. Even so might grace reign through righteousness unto 
 eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. 2 Rom. x. 4, 5. For Christ is the 
 end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. For Moses 
 describeth the righteousness of the law, that the man which doeth those 
 things shall live by them. 3 Dan. ix. 24. To make reconciliation for ini- 
 quity, and bring in everlasting righteousness. Mat. iii. 15. Suffer it to be 
 so now ; for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. 4 Tit. iii. 7. 
 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to 
 the hope of eternal life.— Con. VIII. 5; Cat. 39. 
 
 5. From the dignity of the Son of God, the blood of 
 Christ is necessarily of infinite intrinsic value ; l it was, 
 however, according to divine purpose, and according 
 to compact between the Father and the Son, shed for 
 the elect only. 2 They only enjoy spiritual blessings, 
 and shall inherit eternal life, through the blood and 
 mediation of Christ. 3 
 
 1 1 Pet. i. 19. The precious blood of Christ. 1 John i. 7. The blood of 
 Jesus Christ his Son. 2 John x. 11. The good shepherd giveth his life 
 for the sheep. Eph. v. 2.5. Christ who loved the church and gave him- 
 self for it. Acts xx. 28. The church of God, which he hath purchased 
 with his own blood. 3 1 Cor. iii. 21. All things are yours, things present 
 or things to come, all are yours and ye are Christ's. Rev. v. 9. Thou 
 hast redeemed us to God by thy blood. 1 Tim. iv. 8. Godliness is pro- 
 fitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of 
 that which is to come. 2 Cor. i. 20. The promises of God in him are yea, 
 and in him amen. — Con. VIII. 5; Cat. 30, 31. 
 
 6. The preservation of the world in its present 
 state ] — the bestowment of temporal favours and the 
 protracted forbearance of God 2 — the suspension and 
 
2S3 
 
 the shortening of judgments 3 — the dispensation of the 
 gospel, and its beneficial influence on society — and 
 much outward peace 4 — are consequences of the media- 
 tion of Christ, and of the special favour of God to the 
 redeemed, in which men in general participate; yet 
 the redeemed only enjoy the proper fruits of the death 
 of Christ, and possess, by right acquired from him, the 
 good things of the present life. 5 
 
 ! Psal. Ixxv. 3. The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: 
 I bear up the pillars of it. Isa. xlv. 1. I/will go before thee, and make the 
 crooked places straight, and I will give thee the treasures of darkness 
 and hidden treasures. 4. For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine 
 elect. - Gen. sviii. 25. Then will I spare all the place for their sakes. 
 
 3 Mat. xxiv. 22L For the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. 
 
 4 Mat. v. 13. 14. Ye are the salt of the earth. Ye are the light of the 
 world. 5 Isa. lxv. 8. As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one 
 saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants' 
 sake, that I may not destroy them all. 2 Tim. ii. 10. I endure all things 
 for the elect's sake. Acts xviii. 9, 10. Be not afraid, but speak, and hold 
 not thy peace. For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt 
 thee; "for I have much people in this city. 
 
 III. DOMINION OF CHRIST. 
 
 1. Jesus Christ, whose dominion as God is over all, 
 equally with that of the Father and Spirit, has received, 
 for the execution of his mediatory trust, a fulness of 
 power and authority. He undertook the care of the 
 church from the beginning of her existence, and the 
 government of the world, in subserviency to her in- 
 terests; and he is now, in human nature, exalted to all 
 power in heaven and in earth. 
 
 John v. 22. The Father hath committed all judgment to the Son. Isa. 
 lxiii. 9. The angel of his presence saved them. Mat. xxviii. 18. All power 
 is given unto me in heaven and in earth. — Cop. Till. 8. 
 
 •2. Jesus is King of saints, ruling in the hearts of his 
 children by his gospel and Spirit, subduing graciously 
 to the obedience of the faith, and preserving and fur- 
 thering by his providence and grace, the kingdom of 
 God within, which cometh not with observation. 1 He 
 is King in Zion — beiug the only Head of the church, 
 having authoritv in her as her supreme legislator and 
 2 c 
 
284 
 
 judge. 2 — He has also a dominion over all things — over 
 angels, principalities and powers 3 — over all mankind 4 
 — over the kingdoms of the world and their rulers 5 — 
 and over the whole residue of creation, 6 — administer- 
 ing the vast kingdom of providence in subserviency to 
 the display of the divine glory in the redemption of the 
 church. 
 
 1 Rev. xv. 3. King of saints. Psal. xlv. 5. Thine arrows are sharp in 
 the heart of the king's enemies; whereby the people fall under thee. 
 Luke xvii. 21. The kingdom of God is within you. 2 Eph. i. 22. And 
 hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all 
 things to the church. 3 1 Pet. iii. 22. Angels and authorities and powers 
 being made subject to him. 4 John xvii. 2. As thou hast given him 
 power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou 
 hast given him. 5 Psal. lxxxii. 1. God standeth in the congregation of 
 the mighty: he judgeth among the gods. Dan. vii. 14. And there was 
 given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, 
 and languages, should serve him. 6 Psal. viii. 6. Thou madest him to 
 have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things 
 under his feet— Con. VIII. 8; Cat. 45. 
 
 3. All intelligent creatures, in every possible relation, 
 are placed in a state of subjection to the mediator, and 
 are bound to acknowledge and obey his revealed will, 
 when made known to them. The mediator possesses 
 a power, not only of universal providential government, 
 but of unlimited moral dominion, giving him a claim 
 to the voluntary obedience of every creature capable 
 of yielding it. His authority is extended to all angels 
 and men, to men as individuals, and in all the relations 
 of life, to communities and their representatives and 
 office-bearers, to judges, to governors, and to the whole 
 family of the nations of the world. He only is excepted 
 who did put all things under him. 
 
 Phil. ii. 10. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things 
 in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. Psal. ii. 1 0. 
 Be wise now therefore, O ye Kings; be instructed, ye judges of the earth. 
 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish. Heb. ii. 8. Thou hast put 
 all things in subjection under his feet; for in that he put all in subjec- 
 tion under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. 1 Cor. xv. 27. 
 But when he saith, All things are put under him, it is manifest that he 
 is excepted which did put all things under him. 
 
 Opposed to the testimony of Scripture concerning 
 the person and office of Christ, are the doctrines of the 
 
285 
 
 Aiian and Unitarian, who deny that supreme deity 
 belongs to Christ, and hold him to be inferior in glory 
 to the Father; and of the Socinians who deny that 
 Christ existed before his incarnation, holding that he 
 is only a person of our own order, and that he was pec- 
 cable, that is, might fall into sin — all which sentiments 
 we most pointedly condemn, as subversive of the whole 
 scheme of revelation. 
 
 We also condemn the following errors ; — That retri- 
 butive justice does not belong to God, and is inconsist- 
 ent with his love and mercy ; — that God may pardon 
 sin by an act of his sovereignty, without satisfaction to 
 his justice; — that Christ died only as a martyr and ex- 
 ample, and did not make a true and proper atonement ; 
 — that he did not suffer the wrath of God, this being 
 inconsistent with divine mercy and justice; — that he is 
 not a true and proper Priest, who has offered a real 
 sacrifice to God for sin ; — that he has made an atone- 
 ment for all men ; — that believers do not enjoy temporal 
 blessings through the mediation of Christ. 
 
 And it is greatly opposed to the testimony of the 
 Scriptures, and to the glory of the Lamb that was slain, 
 to restrict his mediatorial power to the saints, or to the 
 church of God. To admit any ecclesiastical or civil 
 ruler to be vested with the title of the Head of the 
 church, and to prescribe the doctrines of her faith, or 
 institutions of her worship, on the one hand; and on the 
 other, to deny that the kings of the earth are, in their 
 official character, subject to the Messiah, and bound to 
 recognise his revealed will, and promote the interest of 
 his kingdom — are errors equally inconsistent with the 
 divine word, and incompatible with the true character 
 and welfare of the church of Christ. 
 
 In the errors which we have condemned, on the 
 person and work of Christ, we have in view, chiefly, 
 Arians, Unitarians, and Socinians, who deny the 
 proper divinity of Christ, ridicule the mystery of the 
 incarnation, and reject the truth of the atonement; 
 thus leaving nothing in the gospel on which a guilty 
 
286 
 
 trembling sinner can repose his confidence. Recon- 
 ciliation to God by the death of his Son is an essen- 
 tial and distinctive doctrine of the gospel. 
 
 On the part of those admitting the doctrine of the 
 atonement, views are entertained of its extent and 
 design, inconsistent with the truth. Arminians hold 
 that a general atonement has been made for the hu- 
 man race, in consequence of which, they have been 
 brought into a state in which they may be saved. 
 The doctrine of a universal atonement has been pled 
 by imposing appeals to the feelings, founded on the 
 goodness, the justice, and the sincerity of God. And 
 it has been urged chiefly from those passages in which 
 the terms all and world occur, regarding more the 
 sound than the, sense, as elicited from the true scope 
 of the passages. The words all and world are often 
 taken in the sense of " all of every sort and without 
 difference;" where to interpret them as signifying 
 absolute universality, would involve absurdity. It is 
 evident from the word of God that the design of the 
 death of Christ was special. " He giveth his life for 
 the sheep. Christ loved the church and gave himself 
 for her." The interpretation of the words all and 
 world as signifying every sort, when applied to those 
 objects for which Christ died, harmonizes with the 
 above declarations; whereas the sense of absolute 
 universality cannot be reconciled with those passages 
 in which the design of the death of Christ is repre- 
 sented as particular; because we do not read of a 
 redemption of the human race, and also a redemption 
 of some out of every kindred, and people, and tongue. 
 And we condemn the doctrines of the universal salva- 
 bility of the human race, and of universal pardon, as 
 unscriptural, and giving false views of the actual pre- 
 sent condition of man, and subverting the doctrines 
 of special and sovereign grace. 
 
287 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 OF THE REVELATION AND DISPENSATION OF THE 
 COVENANT OF GRACE. 
 
 1. The covenant of grace was revealed immediately 
 after the fall of man. 1 All revelations of this covenant 
 have been made by the Lord Jesus Christ, the great 
 Prophet of the church. By a voice in Eden — by 
 his appearances in human form and otherwise to 
 patriarchs — by extraordinary interview with Moses 
 on Mount Sinai — by the inspiration of the prophets 
 — by his own personal ministry — and by the inspira- 
 tion of the Evangelists and Apostles, he has given 
 successive revelations of the divine mercy and grace 
 to men. 2 And these successive communications of 
 the divine will, in the Patriarchal, Mosaical, and New 
 Testament ages, have been made effectual by the 
 Holy Spirit, to the salvation of them that believe. 3 
 Differing in extent and clearness, they have increased 
 in light as they were multiplied, and now form one 
 revelation of the covenant of grace. 
 
 1 Gen. iii. Id. I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and be- 
 tween thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt 
 bruise his heel. Heb. xi. 4. By faith Abel offered unto God a more ex- 
 cellent sacrifice than Cain. 2 Gen. vi. 18. With thee will I establish my 
 covenant. Gal. iii, 17. The covenant that was confirmed before of God 
 in Christ. Luke xxiv. 44. All things must be fulfilled which were written 
 in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning 
 me. Gal. iii. 8. The scripture preached before the gospel unto Abra- 
 ham. 3 1 Pet. i. 10. Of which salvation the prophets have inquired, 
 and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come 
 unto you. 11. Searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of 
 Christ, which was in them, did signify, when it testified beforehand the 
 sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 12. Unto whom it 
 was revealed, that not unto themselves but unto us, they did minister 
 the things which are now reported unto you, by them that have preached 
 the gospel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. Heb. 
 xi. 13. These all died in faith. Luke i. 72. To perform the mercy pro- 
 mised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant. Acts iii. 22. 
 Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God 
 raise up unto you, of your brethren. — Con. VII. 5; VIII. 6; Cat. 34, 43. 
 
 2. The covenant of grace was made with Christ 
 
 2 c 2 
 
288 
 
 upon condition of making his soul an offering for sin, 
 and bringing in everlasting righteousness; 1 but it 
 has been established, made, or dispensed, to men, by 
 a free unconditional promise and testament. 2 The 
 promises are yea and amen in Christ. The blessings 
 contained in them, being purchased, and received by 
 him in the behalf of his people, are freely disponed 
 by promise, and bequeathed by testament; which 
 testament, as it was ratified by his death, he lives to 
 execute and administer. That which was a proper 
 covenant between God and Christ, has become, by 
 the death of Christ, a true and proper testament of 
 Christ to the church. 3 
 
 1 Isa. liii. 10. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he 
 shall see his seed. 2 Eph. ii. 12. Covenants of promise. Heb. viii. 10. 
 This is the covenant- that I will make with the house of Israel — I will put 
 my laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts; and I will be to 
 them a God, and they shall be to me a people. Heb. viii. 6. Covenant 
 established upon better promises. Gal. iii. 18. For if the inheritance be 
 of the law, it is no more of promise. 3 Heb. ix. 1G. For where a testa- 
 ment is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. — Con. 
 VII. 4. 
 
 3. In the gospel there is an exhibition of the plan 
 of salvation by a Redeemer, and a call, invitation, or 
 offer, addressed to all who hear it. 1 The obligation 
 to believe is not made void by the sinner's disinclina- 
 tion and spiritual inability, nor is the universality of 
 the gospel offer inconsistent with, or contradictory to, 
 the particular purposes of God, or limited extent of the 
 redemption of Christ. 2 Man's inability is of a moral 
 nature, and does not arise from external physical re- 
 straint; and the infinite merit of Christ abundantly 
 warrants the gospel call; the gospel offer fully au- 
 thorising the acceptance and embrace of faith, with- 
 out laying any obstacle whatever in the way of the 
 sinner. 3 
 
 1 1 Tim. i. 15. This is a faithful sa)'ing, and worthy of all acceptation, 
 that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. 2 Cor. v. 20. 
 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech 
 you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. Prov. 
 viii. 4. Unto you, O men, I call. Isa. lv. 1. Ho, every one that thirsteth, 
 come ye to the waters. Mat. xi. 29. Come unto me all ye that labour, 
 and are heavy laden. Mark i. 15. Repent ye, and believe the gospel. 
 
•289 
 
 Mark xvi. 15. Preach the gospel to every creature. 2 Deut. xxix. 29. 
 The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which 
 are revealed belong unto us. 3 John in. 36. He that believeth on the 
 Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see 
 life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. John vi. 37. All that the 
 Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me, I will 
 in no wise cast out. — Cat. \59, 160. 
 
 4. Sinners obtain by faith an interest in Christ, take 
 hold of his covenant, and actually participate in its 
 blessings. 1 The believer, having an actual interest in 
 the constitution and dispensation of the covenant, by 
 relation to him who engaged in it, not for himself, but 
 in the behalf of sinners, may say, in the language of 
 David: " The Lord hath made with me an everlasting 
 covenant, ordered in all things and sure." 2 
 
 1 Isa. lv. 3. Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul 
 shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the 
 sure mercies of David. Isa. xlii. 6. I will give thee for a covenant of the 
 people. Isa. lvi. 6. And taketh hold of my covenant. 2 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. 
 He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things 
 and sure.— Con. XII. 3; Cat. 32, 69. 
 
 We condemn the following errors ; — That there was 
 no revelation of the covenant of grace under the Old 
 Testament dispensation; — that there is not a free offer 
 of Christ in the gospel to all who hear it; — that faith 
 and imperfect obedience are the condition of this cove- 
 nant, and of man's salvation. This is the sentiment 
 of the Arminians, who hold, that in the gospel a cove- 
 nant is made, or offered to be made, with the sinner, 
 upon the condition of faith and obedience, and that 
 these now take the place of that perfect obedience, 
 which the law originally required. But to make faith 
 a condition in this sense, is to make another covenant 
 of works, and to overturn the doctrine of faith and 
 grace. Rom. iv. 16. Therefore it is of faith, that it 
 might be by grace. Eph. ii. 8. For by grace ye are 
 saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it 
 is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should 
 boast. We testify against these views as equally mis- 
 taken and dangerous. 
 
290 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 1. The Holy Spirit is a true and proper person, and 
 not an attribute or influence of deity. 1 He is distinct 
 from the person of the Father and of the Son, and is 
 distinguished by a necessary personal relation. He 
 is in scripture said to proceed from the Father, and is 
 called the Spirit of the Son. 2 He is, equally with the 
 Father and the Son, the Supreme God, the Creator, 
 Preserver, and Ruler of the world. 3 
 
 1 1 Cor. xii. 11. But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit 
 dividing to every man severally as he wills. John xiv. 16. He will give 
 you another Comforter, even the Spirit. 2 John xv. 26. But when the 
 Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even 
 the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of 
 me. Gal. iv. 26. The Spirit of his Son. 3 Gen. j. o # The Spirit of God 
 moved upon the face of the waters. Job. xxxiii. 4. The Spirit of God 
 hath made me. Mat. xxviii. 19. Baptizing them in the name of the 
 Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Isa. xxxiv. 16. His 
 Spirit it hath gathered them. — Con. III. 3; Cat. 11. 
 
 2. The Holy Spirit, necessarily participating in the 
 purposes and covenant of redemption, sustains an 
 essential and glorious part in the sublime economy. 1 
 He formed and endowed the human nature of the 
 Saviour, and still rests upon him in an abundant mea- 
 sure. 2 And it is by his special influences that the dis- 
 pensation of the covenant of grace is made effectual to 
 the salvation of sinners. 3 The blood of Christ was not 
 more necessary to harmonize the divine attributes, than 
 are the special influences of the divine Spirit effectually 
 to apply redemption to the souls of men. The Holy 
 Spirit worketh secretly, powerfully, supernaturally, and 
 irresistibly, in the hearts of men. 4 His work upon and 
 in the faculties of the soul, is carried on by means of 
 the word ; yet is in itself so distinct and so essential, 
 that without it no evidence of truth — no power of argu- 
 ments—no persuasion of love or of terror — no human 
 eloquence — no combination of the most favourable cir- 
 
291 
 
 cumstances can be effectual in producing conviction, 
 imparting illumination, or rendering the soul savingly- 
 obedient to the faith. 
 
 1 Hag. ii. 5. According to the word that I covenanted with yon when 
 ye came out of Egypt, lo, my Spirit remaineth among you. Isa. lix. 21. 
 As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord: My Spirit that 
 is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not de- 
 part from thee. 2 Luke i. 35. The holy Ghost shall come upon thee. 
 John i. 32. It abode upon him. Psal. xlv. 7. God thy God hath anoin- 
 ted thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. 3 Zech. it. 6. Not by 
 might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. 4 John 
 xvi. 7. If I depart, I will send him unto you. And, when he is come, he 
 will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. 1 
 Cor. ii. 5. My preaching was in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. 
 Eph. i. 17. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ may give unto you the 
 Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. The eyes of 
 your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the 
 hope of his calling. 2 Cor. hi. 17. Now the Lord is that Spirit; and 
 where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. — Con. VIII. 8; X, 1, 2, 4. 
 
 3. By the Holy Spirit the revelation of grace has 
 been made effectual for the salvation of sinners, from 
 the earliest age of the church of God. 1 There is now 
 a more full and clear revelation of his office and work ; 
 and the promise of the Spirit is the great promise of 
 Christ to the church. 2 By appropriate means, and by 
 his influences on the soul, he teaches, guides, sanctifies, 
 and comforts the children of God ; dwelling in them, 
 the author of all good — the helper in all their infirmi- 
 ties — the witness of their adoption — and the earnest of 
 their inheritance. 3 
 
 1 Gen. vi. 3. My Spirit will not always strive with man. Acts ix. 20. 
 Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them. 2 John vii. 39. But 
 this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive; 
 for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet 
 glorified. Acts ii. 33. Having received of the Father the promise of the 
 Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear. Gal. 
 iii. 14. That we might receive the promise of the Spirit. 3 John xiv. 26. 
 He shall teach you all things. Rom. viii. 14. For as many as are led by 
 the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Rom. xv. 16. Being sancti- 
 fied by the Holy Ghost. John xiv. 17. He dwelleth"with you, and shall 
 be in you. Gal. v. 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long- 
 suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Rom. viii. 
 26. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. Rom. viii. 16. The 
 Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of 
 God. 2 Cor. i. 22. And given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. — 
 Con. VII. 3; XII, 1; XVIII. 2; Cat. 32, 59. 
 
 4. Persons enjoying great external advantages, and 
 
292 
 
 who have never savingly believed the gospel, may, by 
 aggravated iniquity, resist the common influences of 
 the Holy Spirit in their minds, to their awful condemna- 
 tion; 1 but his special and saving influences are irre- 
 sistible. 2 Believers also, by negligence and sin, grieve 
 the Spirit of God, and quench his influence in their 
 souls. It is their duty to watch against such crimin- 
 ality, and to maintain a habitual dependence on the 
 person, office, and work of the Holy Spirit. 3 
 
 1 Gen. vi. 3. My Spirit will not always strive with man. Acts vii. 51. 
 Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost. Heb. x. 29. And hath done despite 
 nnto the Spirit of grace. Mat. xii. 31, The blasphemy against the Holy 
 Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. 2 1 Thess. i. 5. Our gospel came 
 not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost. 
 Psal. xlv. 5. Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies ; 
 the people fall under thee. Psal. ex. 3. Thy people shall be willing in 
 the day of thy power. 3 1 Thess. v. 19. Quench not the Spirit. Eph. iv. 
 30. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God. 
 
 On this head we condemn the following errors; — 
 That the Holy Spirit is not a distinct divine person ; 
 — that reliance on the influences of the Spirit is enthu- 
 siasm ; — that man has an ability to do spiritual good 
 without the Spirit ; — that the saving influences of the 
 Spirit may be finally resisted ; — that there is no irre- 
 missible sin against the holy Ghost. 
 
 Unitarians deny the personality of the Holy Spirit, 
 and treat with despite the doctrine of his influences. 
 Arminians, that they may vindicate their sentiments on 
 the liberty and power of the human will, hold that the 
 influences of the Spirit may be resisted. It is deplor- 
 able to think how this doctrine is not only neglected, 
 but secretly ridiculed by many who have not openly 
 disavowed Christianity. 
 
•293 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 OF THE INITIATORY BLESSINGS OF THE COVENANT OF 
 GRACE. 
 
 1. All mankind are by nature children of wrath, 
 and dead in trespasses and sins. In this state they are 
 utterly incapable of producing that spiritual change of 
 character, denoted in the Scriptures by the term regen- 
 eration, and without which they cannot enter into the 
 kingdom of God. 1 The truths, arguments, calls, and 
 motives of the gospel, may affect the rational mind, 
 and move the natural affections; but the Holy Spirit 
 alone can convince of sin, illuminate in the knowledge 
 of Christ, and produce saving submission of will and 
 of heart to the righteousness of God in the gospel. 2 
 This is regeneration, and is the commencement of 
 spiritual life. The change is supernatural, spiritual, 
 and universal. From the nature of the case, the sinner 
 must, in the commencement of this life, be the passive 
 subject of divine power; but he is instantaneously made 
 alive unto God. 3 
 
 1 Eph. ii. 1, 3. Dead in trespasses and sins, and by nature the children 
 of wrath. John hi. 3. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the 
 kingdom of God. - John i. 13. Which were born not of blood, nor of the 
 will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. James i. 18. Of his 
 own will begat he us with the word of truth. Gal. ii. 19. I through the 
 law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. 3 Rom. vi. 13. Alive 
 from the dead.— Con. IX. 3. 4; X. 1; Cat 67. 
 
 •2. Under the influence of the Spirit, by the call of 
 the gospel, the sinner that is born again believes in 
 Christ Jesus to the saving of his soul ; * not only admit- 
 ting the testimony of the gospel to be truth, but receiv- 
 ing the word of God with all readiness, and embracing 
 and resting on Christ for salvation, on the ground of 
 the gospel offer. 2 Saving faith, in its own nature, or 
 in its immediate operation, includes the exercise of the 
 will and affections in submitting to and embracing the 
 Saviour. 3 This faith is not simply believing that the 
 
294 
 
 gospel is true — nor is it a person's believing that he is 
 particularly elected to eternal life, or that he has an 
 interest in Christ — but a personal taking hold of Christ, 
 on the offer of the gospel, for salvation. It does not 
 necessarily include a subjective assurance of a person's 
 interest in Christ, but an objective assurance that he is 
 able to save, and, under this persuasion, the actual em- 
 bracing or appropriating of hirn for salvation. 4 
 
 1 John v. 1. Whosoever believe th that Jesus is the Christ is born of 
 God. Col. ii. 12. Ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation 
 of God. 2 Acts xvii. 11. They received the word with all readiness of 
 mind. John i. 12. But as many as received him to them gave he power 
 to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. 3 Isa. 
 xxvii. 5. Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace 
 with me. Heb. vi. 18. AVho have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the 
 hope set before us. Heb. vii. 25. He is able also to save them to the 
 uttermost that come unto God by him. 4 John iv. 42. "We believe not 
 because of thy saying, for we have heard him ourselves, and know that 
 this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world. Heb. xi. 13. And 
 were persuaded of them, and embraced them. — Con. XIV. 2; Cat. 72. 
 
 3. Assurance that a person is in a state of salvation 
 is not inseparably connected with true faith. 1 This 
 privilege being attainable by the proper use of means, 
 it is the Christian's duty to give all diligence to make 
 his calling and election sure. 2 Faith is ascertained 
 by its fruits — love, repentance, zeal, and holiness. 3 
 The want of assurance may arise, not from rejecting 
 the offer of the gospel, but from a person's doubting the 
 work of grace in his own soul. 4 Without excusing 
 the indolence which is very frequently the cause of the 
 want of assurance, it may be asserted that the truly 
 pious are sometimes perplexed with doubts, when the 
 presumptuous and enthusiastic are inflated with false 
 confidence. 3 
 
 1 2 Cor. xiii. 5. Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith. 1 John 
 v. 13. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of 
 the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life. 2 2 Pet. i. 
 12. Give diligence to make your calling and election sure. 3 James ii. 
 18. I will shew thee my faith by my works. 4 Isa. i. 10. Who is among 
 you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that 
 walketh in darkness and hath no light I Let him trust in the name of 
 the Lord, and stay upon his God. Heb. x. 35. Cast not away, therefore, 
 your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. 5 Luke xviii. 
 14. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the 
 other; for every one that cxalteth himself shall be abased; and he that 
 humbleth himself shall be exalted.— Con. XVIII. Cat. 80, 81. 
 
295 
 
 I. All believers are vitally united to the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, by the Holy Spirit and by faith. 1 In conse- 
 quence of this real though mysterious union, they 
 have not only a representative, but a vital, oneness 
 with the Saviour — participate in the blessings of his 
 death — receive divine grace from him as their living 
 Head — have communion with him in grace and glory 
 — and have fellowship with one another as members of 
 the same body.- 
 
 1 2 Cor. v. 17. If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature. 
 John xv. 5. I am the vine, ye are the branches. Eph. v. 30. For we are 
 members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 1 Cor. vi. 17. Ee 
 tha* is joined to the Lord, is one spirit. - 2 Cor. v. 14. We thus judge, 
 that if one died for all, then were all dead. CoL ii. 12. Buried with him 
 in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith. Eph. 
 ii. 6. And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in hea- 
 venly places in Christ Jesus. Gal. iii. 28. Ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 
 Rom. xii. o. So we being many are one body in Christ, and every one 
 members one of another. — Con. XXV. 1 ; XXVI. 1 ; Cat. 79. 
 
 5. Believers in Christ Jesus are justified. 1 In justi- 
 fication they obtain the full remission of all their iniqui- 
 ties, the acceptance of their persons as righteous with 
 God, and a title to eternal life. The righteousness of 
 Christ, his active obedience and voluntary sufferings, 
 or his obedience unto the death, is the only meritorious 
 ground of this privilege. 2 Justification is the act of 
 God imputing the righteousness of Christ to the sinner 
 believing in him. There is a necessary and intimate 
 connection between justification and faith. 3 The sin- 
 ner is united to Christ by faith, and is thus interested 
 in him as the Lord his righteousness. 4 Justification is 
 altogether of grace, and in no sense founded upon good 
 works; these following and giving evidence of it. 5 From 
 the first it is complete and irrevocable. 6 
 
 1 Rom. v. 1. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 18. By the righteousness of one, the 
 free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. Rom. hi. 24. Being 
 justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ 
 Jesus. 3 Rom. viii. 33. It is God that justifieth. Rom. v. 1. Being justi- 
 fied by faith. Rom. iv. 24. But for us also to whom it shall be imputed, 
 if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. 26. 
 The justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. 4 Rom. viii. 1. There is, 
 therefore, now no condemnation to them that are in Christ. Jer. xxiii 6. 
 
 2 D 
 
296 
 
 This is the name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our Righte- 
 ousness. 5 Tit. iii. 5—7. Not by works of righteousness which we have 
 done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regen- 
 eration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abund- 
 antly, through Jesu3 Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, 
 we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 6 Rom. 
 viii. 33, 34. It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth ? — Con. 
 XI; Cat. 70. 
 
 6. It is also the honourable distinction of those that 
 are justified, to be made, by adoption, the sons of God ; 
 and to receive from him, as a gracious Father, the Spirit 
 of adoption, instruction, protection, provision, chastise- 
 ment, liberty, and other privileges of children here, and 
 an eternal inheritance hereafter. 
 
 Gal. iv. 5. To redeem them that were under the law, that we might 
 receive the adoption of sons. 2 Cor. vi. 18. And will be a father unto 
 you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. 
 Heb. xii. 7. God dealeth with you as with sons. Rom. viii. 17. And if 
 children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ. — Con. 
 XII; Cat. 74. 
 
 Believing in these truths, we condemn the following 
 errors; — That water baptism is regeneration; — that 
 regeneration consists simply in moral reformation; — 
 that it depends on the free will of man ; — that it is a 
 result merely of moral arguments or persuasion ; — that a 
 mere acknowledgment of the authority of the Scriptures, 
 or an assent to the truth of the doctrines they contain, 
 is saving faith ; — that there is no reception or appropria- 
 tion of Christ in saving faith ; — that an assurance of an 
 interest in Christ is essential to faith ; — that men are 
 justified before God, by their repentance and obedience, 
 or by their faith, regarded as a meritorious work; — that 
 an unbeliever is justified; — that Christ did not fulfil 
 the precept of the law as well as endure its penalty; — 
 that justification is incomplete and uncertain till the 
 last judgment. 
 
•297 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 OF THE PRIVILEGES AND DUTIES OF THE COVENANT OF 
 GRACE. 
 
 1. It is the peculiar excellency of the constitution 
 of the covenant of grace, that the duty of tbe Chris- 
 tian is secured as his privilege; the duty being in the 
 covenant a matter of promise. As promised by God, 
 it is a grace and privilege — as prescribed by him, it 
 is a duty. Thus we find the commandment, " Make 
 you a new heart and a new spirit ;" and we have a 
 corresponding promise, " and a new spirit will I put 
 within you." We have the precept, u Wash you, 
 make you clean ;" and the promise, " I will sprinkle 
 clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean." 1 We 
 have both connected in the words, " Work oat your 
 own salvation with fear and trembling : For it is God 
 that worketh in you, both to will and to do of his 
 good pleasure." 2 
 
 1 Ezek. xviii. 31: Ezek. xxxvi. 26: Isa. i. 16. Ezek. xxxvi. 25: - Phil, 
 ii. 12. 13. 
 
 2. Inseparably connected with regeneration and 
 faith, is repentance unto life — a gracious principle 
 wrought in the soul by the Holy Spirit. 1 There may 
 be convictions, alarms, and regrets, on account of the 
 dishonour, loss, or pain connected with sin : but there 
 is no repentance unto life, or toward God, without 
 faith in Jesus Christ. 2 Contemplating the divine holi- 
 ness, and especially the love and mercy of God mani- 
 fested in the sufferings of Christ, the believing soul 
 is led to hate sin, and to be grieved and ashamed on 
 account of it in the sight of God; his painful convic- 
 tions and alarms are succeeded by penitential sorrow, 
 which works by love and hope in God, and by turn- 
 ing from sin unto God with a holy purpose of, and 
 endeavour after new obedience. 3 The blood of Christ 
 alone, not penitence, is the ground of pardon. 4 Re- 
 
298 
 
 pentance is not a transitory emotion, bat a habitual 
 principle wrought in the soul, the exercise of which 
 the Christian is called daily to cherish, in cleansing 
 himself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and 
 perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 5 
 
 1 Acts xi. 18. Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance 
 unto life. 2 Mat. xxvii. 3. Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when 
 he saw that he was condemned, repented himself. 3 Jer. xxxi. 19. Surely 
 after that I was turned I repented. Zech. xii. 10. And they shall look 
 upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn. 2 Cor. vii. 10. 
 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of; 
 but the sorrow of the world worketh death. Luke vii. 47. Her sins which 
 are many are forgiven; for she loved much. 4 Eph. i. 7. In whom we 
 have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to 
 the riches of his grace. 5 Psal. li. 3. My sin is ever before me. 2 Cor. 
 vii. 1. Having, therefore, these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all 
 filthiness of the flesh, and of the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of 
 God.— Con. XV; Cat. 76. 
 
 3. Although believers are delivered, by the death 
 of Christ, from the condemning and preceptive power 
 of the law as a covenant of works, they are still under 
 law to God. 1 The original obligation of the law is 
 not made void, but established by faith : and believers 
 are indispensably bound, by superadded obligations, 
 to yield obedience to the law as a rule of life and a 
 standard of holiness. 2 United to Christ, they must, 
 in the strength of his grace, study universal conformity 
 to the law of God ; this being the original glory of man, 
 the design of the death of Christ, and required by the 
 obligations of gratitude and love. Good works are 
 necessary to give evidence of grace, to express grati- 
 tude, to strengthen assurance, to edify the brethren, to 
 adorn the profession of Christianity, to silence adver- 
 saries, to prepare for the fruition of God in heaven, and 
 promote the divine glory. 3 
 
 1 Rom. vi. 4. For ye are not under the law, but under grace. 2 Rom. 
 iii. 31. Do we then make void the law, through faith I God forbid; yea, 
 we establish the law. 1 Cor. ix. 21 . Under the law to Christ. 3 Tit. iii. 
 8. These things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have 
 believed in God might be careful to maintain good works: these things 
 are good and profitable unto men. — Con. XVI. 2. 
 
 4. It is the unspeakable privilege of those who are 
 justified, to be also sanctified. 1 Sanctification is the 
 
299 
 
 work of the Holy Spirit, in and by believers themselves, 
 whereby they are renewed after the image of God, and 
 enabled progressively to die unto sin and live unto 
 righteousness, and advanced unto the consummation 
 of holiness, which will be the glory and felicity of man 
 in a future state. 2 
 
 1 1 Cor. i. 3. Christ Jesus is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, 
 and sanctification. 2 1 Pet. i. 2. Elect according to the foreknowledge of 
 God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit. 1 Thess. v. 23. And 
 the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. Eph. iv. 22. That ye put off, 
 concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt. And 
 be renewed in the Spirit of your mind: And that ye put on the new man, 
 which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Rom. vi. 
 22. Ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life. — Con. 
 XIII; Cat. 75. 
 
 5. Justification and sanctification, though insepar- 
 ably connected, are distinct from one another. 1 The 
 one has a respect to the state of the person in the 
 reckoning of the law, the other to his nature and life. 
 The one is perfect at once, the other progressive. The 
 one is the same in all, the other is of different degrees. 
 Though always to be contemplated in their connection 
 and order, it is erroneous and dangerous to confound 
 them with one another. 2 
 
 1 1 Cor. vi. 1 1. Ye are sanctified, ye are justified. 2 Rom. hi. 20. By 
 the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. Rom. 
 viii. 1. There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them who are in 
 Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Phil. i. 
 6. Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good 
 work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.— rCat. 77. 
 
 6. However externally conformed to the letter of* 
 the law, useful to society, or amiable in the eyes of 
 men, the works of the unregenerate may be, they can- 
 not be pleasing and acceptable in the sight of God, nor 
 effect any thing toward their salvation. 1 The law is 
 nevertheless obligatory upon all, and by the omission 
 of its requirements or violation of its prohibitions, guilt 
 is contracted. Yet no obedience is acceptable to God 
 which does not proceed from a heart purified by faith, 
 which does not accord to the spirituality of the divine 
 law, nor is directed to the divine glory. 2 
 
 •2 d 2 
 
300 
 
 1 Heb. xi. 6. Without faith it is impossible to please hiin. Rom. viii. 
 B, So then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Hag. ii. 14. 
 And so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer is unclean. 
 2 Rom. vii. 14. The law is spiritual. Mat. xxiii. 23. These ought ye to 
 have done, and not to leave the other undone, xxv. 45. Inasmuch as ye 
 did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. — Con. XVI. 7. 
 
 7. The best works of the saints in this life are defiled, 
 and afford no claim of merit, or ground of glorying. 1 
 The unfeigned though imperfect obedience of God's 
 people is, from their relation to Christ, acceptable and 
 well-pleasing to God ; and though it cannot deserve 
 the smallest favour, it receives a gracious reward. 2 
 The saints are imperfect in this world. Their sins are 
 offensive to God, peculiarly aggravated, and provoke 
 his fatherly chastisements; which, nevertheless, are 
 blessed by the Spirit, as means of turning them from 
 iniquity, and of making them partakers of his holiness. 3 
 
 1 Psal. cxix. 96. I have seen an end of all perfection: but thy command- 
 ment is exceeding broad. Luke xvii. 10. We are unprofitable servants. 
 2 Rom. xiv. 18. For he that in these things serveth Christ, is acceptable 
 to God. Rom. iii. 27. Where is boasting then ? It is excluded. Rom. 
 iv. 2. For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, 
 but not before God. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reck- 
 oned of grace but of debt. Heb. xi. 26. He had respect to the recom- 
 pense of the reward. 3 Rom. vii. 23. I see another law in my members, 
 warring against the law of my mind. Psal. lxxxix. 32. Then will I visit 
 their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Heb. 
 xii. 10. That we might be partakers of his holiness. — Con. XVI. 6; XVII. 
 3. 
 
 8. Mournful observation and Scripture facts show 
 that the professors of religion may fall into a hatred and 
 contempt of it, draw back unto perdition, and perish for 
 ever. 1 And the saints of God may fall into grievous 
 sins, and continue for a time under their power, to the 
 great dishonour of God, the offence of others, and pre- 
 judice of their own souls; 2 yet the divine purposes, the 
 constitution of the everlasting covenant, efficacy of the 
 merit and intercession of Christ, and the abiding influ- 
 ences of the Holy Spirit, render it impossible that any 
 who have been called and accepted in the Beloved 
 should finally perish. 3 This doctrine gives no encour- 
 agement to indolence or security in the Christian life; 
 but, as revealed in the divine word, is a most powerful 
 
301 
 
 incentive to the study of universal holiness, and to 
 press, by all appointed means, toward the mark for the 
 prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 4 
 
 1 1 John ii. 19. They went out from us, but they were not of us. Heb. 
 x. 38. But if any man'draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. 
 '69. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition. Mat. xii. 45. 
 And the last state of that man is worse than the first. 2 Mat. xxvi. 72. 
 And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. Mic. vii. 9. 
 I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against 
 him. 2 Sam. xii. 14. By this deed thou hast given great occasion to the 
 enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. 3 2 Tim. ii. 19. Nevertheless the 
 foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth 
 them that are his. Jer. xxxii. 40. I will make an everlasting covenant 
 with them — that they shall not depart from me. Heb. x. 14. By one 
 offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified, vii. 25. He 
 is able to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him, seeing 
 he ever liveth to make intercession for them. John xiv. 1G. And I will 
 pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may 
 abide with you for ever. * I Cor. xv. 53. Therefore my beloved brethren, 
 be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, 
 forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. 
 
 9. There is a glorious and indissoluble connection 
 between the purposes, covenant, and privileges of sal- 
 vation ; for whom God did predestinate, them he also 
 called; and whom he called, them he also justified; 
 and whom he justified, them he also glorified: these 
 are links of a golden chain which cannot be broken. 
 Rom. viii. 30. 
 
 Believing in these important doctrines, we condemn 
 the following errors : — That the unregenerate can exer- 
 cise evangelical repentance; — that repentance unto 
 life precedes faith in Jesus Christ; — that repentance is 
 the proper foundation of the pardon of sin; — that 
 believers are not under the obligation of the moral law 
 as an authoritative rule; — that the gospel of divine 
 grace encourages inattention to holiness ; — that sancti- 
 fication is not the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit ; 
 — that the human will can accomplish sanctification ; — 
 that there is perfection in holiness in this life ; — that a 
 saint of God may at any time become totally destitute 
 of grace and finally perish ; — that perseverance in reli- 
 gion rests wholly on our own resolution ; — that the doc- 
 trine of the perseverance of the saints is inimical to 
 holiness. 
 
302 
 
 On the subjects of these two chapters there exists a 
 great variety of error. The absolute impotency of man 
 to effect his regeneration is denied. Instead of view- 
 ing justification as an act of God, absolving the sinner 
 from all guilt, and adjudging him to eternal life, on the 
 ground of the righteousness of Christ, it is suspended 
 on the condition of faith. It has been distinguished 
 into jirst and secondary, the former grounded on faith, 
 the latter on works. It has been denied, that it com- 
 prehends the forgiveness of future sins — the active 
 righteousness of Christ and the imputation of it to the 
 believer have been opposed — and it has been denied 
 that justification is final. Against these false and self- 
 flattering views of Arminians, we are constrained to 
 give our dicided testimony. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 OF CHRISTIAN PRACTICE. 
 
 1. The doctrine of God our Saviour is not only to 
 be known, and believed, and professed, but obeyed and 
 adorned. 1 The gospel of Christ displays its proper 
 power in the visible beauties of universal holiness. 2 
 
 1 Rom. vi. 17. Ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine 
 which was delivered you. Titus iii. 10. That they may adorn the doctrine 
 of God our Saviour in all things. 2 James ii, 17, 20. Even so faith, if it 
 have not works, is dead, being alone. Rom. vi. 21. Ye have your fruit 
 unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 
 
 •2. The whole law of the ten commandments, the 
 positive institutions of Christianity, and the practical 
 precepts of Christ, his own example, and the approved 
 examples of the saints, form the standard of Christian 
 practice ; to which those who believe in Christ are, in 
 dependence upon the grace of God, to study universal 
 conformity. 1 Christian practice embraces all our duties 
 to God, to man, and to ourselves. 2 The violation of 
 
303 
 
 morality is inconsistent with Christianity; but mere 
 external morality is not practical Christianity, nor 
 evangelical holiness. 3 
 
 1 Rom. iii. 31. Do we then make void the law through faith ? God 
 forbid: yea, we establish the law. John xv. 14. Ye are my friends, if ye 
 do whatsoever I command you. 1 John ii. 6. He that saith he abideth 
 in him, ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. Heb. vi. 12. 
 That ye be followers of them who, through faith and patience, inherit the 
 promises. - Titus ii. 12. Teaching us, that, denying ungodliness and 
 worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this pre- 
 sent world. Mat. xxii. 37. Thou shalt love the Lord thy" God with all 
 thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38. This is the 
 first and great commandment. 39. And the second is like unto it, Thou 
 shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40. On these two commandments 
 hang all the* law and the prophets. 3 1 Cor. xiii. 3. And though I be- 
 stow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be 
 burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. 
 
 3. Prayer in the closet, and the worship of God in 
 the family, on the morning and evening of every day ] 
 — reading the Scriptures 2 — habitual reverence in our 
 conversation, of the name, word, and providence of 
 God 3 — the sanctification of the Lord's day — the cele- 
 bration of the public worship of God 4 — the orderly 
 observation, in their seasons, of Baptism and the Lord's 
 Supper, belong to the visible practice of the Christian, 
 as duties which he owes to God. 5 
 
 1 Psal. xcii. 2. To shew forth thy loving-kindness in the morning, and 
 thy faithfulness every night. - Acts xvii. 11. And searched the Scriptures 
 daily. 3 Exod. xx. 7. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God 
 in vain. * Lev. xix. 30. Ye shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my 
 sanctuary-. 5 Acts ii. 38. Repent, and be baptized every one of you. 39. 
 For the promise is unto you and to your children. Luke xxii.* 19. This 
 do in remembrance of me. 
 
 4. While the Christian, in dependence on the grace 
 which is in Christ Jesus, must study to mortify his 
 members which are on the earth, cleansing himself 
 from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, he owes to 
 himself watchful care over his own life j — strict sobriety 
 and temperance ~ — purity in speech and conduct 3 — 
 government of spirit 4 — dutiful attention to his civil 
 affairs 5 — regard to his moral and Christian character, 
 and to his privileges civil and religious 6 — and unre- 
 mitting attention to the best interests of his immortal 
 soul. 7 
 
304 
 
 1 Col. iii. 5. Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth ; 
 fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and 
 covetousness, which is idolatry. Eph. v. 29. No man ever yet hated his 
 own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it. 2 2 Pet. i. 6. And to know- 
 ledge, temperance. 3 James iii. 2. If any man offend not in word, the 
 same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. Mat. v. 
 37. But let your communication be Yea, yea; Nay, nay. 4 Prov. xxv. 
 28. He that hath no rule over his own spirit, is like a city that is broken 
 down and without walls. 5 Rom. xii. 11. Not slothful in business. Prov. 
 xxvii. 23. Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well 
 to thy herds. 6 3 John 12. Demetrius hath good report of all men. 
 Eccl. ix. 1. A good name is better than precious ointment. Acts xxii. 
 25. Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman \ 28. But I 
 was free born. Gal. ii. 4. Who came in privily to spy out our liberty 
 which we have in Christ Jesus. 7 2 Pet. iii. 14. Be diligent that ye may 
 be found of him in peace. Mark xiii. 37. And what I say unto you, I say 
 unto all, Watch. 
 
 5. Under the obligation of the precepts, " Thou shalt 
 love thy neighbour as thyself," and " Whatsoever ye 
 would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to 
 them," the Christian owes unto his fellow-creatures, not 
 only veracity in speech, 1 and integrity and equity in all 
 his transactions, 2 but charity, courteousness, sympathy, 
 help, protection, and other good offices. 3 
 
 1 Zech. viii. 16. Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour. 
 3 Mark x. 19. Defraud not. 3 1 Pet. iii. 8. Be pitiful, be courteous. Luke 
 x. 36, 37. Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto 
 him that fell among the thieves \ And he said, He that shewed mercy. 
 Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. Mat. v. 44. But 
 I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to 
 them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and 
 persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in hea- 
 ven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and 
 sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 
 
 6. As the precepts of Christianity extend to all the 
 common relations of life, so its principles and spirit 
 ought to have their influence in the discharge of the 
 relative duties of the Christian husband and wife, l 
 parent and child, 2 master and servant, 3 ruler and sub- 
 ject, 4 neighbour and neighbour. 5 The Christian, in 
 these relations, ought to manifest in his practice his 
 subjection to the law of Christ, discovering by the love 
 and fidelity with which he attends to his duty, that true 
 religion affords the strongest motives and best security 
 for the discharge of the relative obligations. 
 
305 
 
 1 Col. iii. 18. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it 
 is fit in the Lord. 1 9. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter 
 against them. a 20. Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is 
 well-pleasing unto the Lord. 21. Fathers, provoke not your children to 
 anger, lest they be discouraged. 3 22. Servants, obey in all things your 
 masters, according to the flesh: not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, 
 but in singleness of heart, fearing God. iv. 1. Masters, give unto your 
 servants that which is just and equal, knowing that ye also have a Master 
 in heaven. 4 Rom. xiii. i. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers; 
 for there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 
 3. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. 2 Sam. 
 xxiii. 3. The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He.that 
 ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. 5 Rom. xiii. 10. 
 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour, xii. 18. If it be possible, as much 
 as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Tit. iii. 1. Put them in mind 
 to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready 
 to every good work. 2. To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but 
 gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men. 
 
 7. It belongs to the practice of Christians, to walk in 
 the fellowship of the gospel, 1 by a due attendance on 
 the private and public ordinances of religion, 2 a dutiful 
 submission to those who are set over them in the Lord, 3 
 the regular observation of the decency and order of the 
 Christian church, 4 and, in compliance with the new 
 commandment, a faithful discharge of the stated and 
 occasional duties of brotherly love. 5 
 
 1 1 John i. 3. That ye also may have fellowship with us, and truly our 
 fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. Phil. i. 5. 
 For your fellowship in the gospel, from the first day until now. 2 Heb. 
 x. 25. Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together. 3 Heb. xiii. 
 17. Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for 
 they watch for your souls as they that must give account.* 1 Tim. v. 17. 
 Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour. 
 4 Col. ii. 5. Yet I am with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your 
 order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. 2 Thes. iii. 6. With- 
 draw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly. 5 Eph. v. 2. 
 Walk in love. John xiii. 35. By this shall all men know that ye are my 
 disciples, if ye have love one to another. John xiii. 31. A new command- 
 ment I give unto you, that ye love one another. 
 
 8. Christian practice is not confined to one branch 
 of the divine precepts, or to some of them ; but must 
 extend unto them all, in their time, place, and due 
 proportion. The obedience of the Christian should be 
 universal. 
 
 Psal. cxix. 128. Therefore, I esteem all thy precepts concerning all 
 things to be right. 6. Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect 
 unto all thy commandments. Luke i. 6. And they were both righteous 
 before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord 
 
306 
 
 blameless. Luke xi. 42. These ought ye to have done, and not to have 
 left the other undone. Col. iv. 12. That ye may stand perfect and com- 
 plete in all the will of God. 
 
 9. The life of the believer should adorn the doctrine 
 of God the Saviour, by manifesting the peculiar virtues 
 and graces of the Christian character, in the fruits of 
 the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, 
 gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, — bowels of 
 mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind. He must add 
 to faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to 
 knowledge, temperance ; and to temperance, patience ; 
 and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly 
 kindness ; and to brotherly kindness, charity. 1 While 
 he is diligent in providing things honest in the sight 
 of all men, he, is to study to be crucified to the world; 
 and as the Lord prospers him, to consecrate his gain 
 to the God of the whole earth, by devoting of his sub- 
 stance to works of mercy, and to the support and 
 extension of the Redeemer's kingdom. 2 He is not 
 called to go out of the world, but should observe a con- 
 scientious, though not an affected or ostentatious, 
 separation from it. 3 He is not prohibited necessary 
 and lawful recreations, yet he should study a particular 
 tenderness and circumspection of conduct; denying 
 himself to the vanities and sinful customs of the world ; 
 abstaining from even the appearance of evil; and endea- 
 vouring to maintain a habitual heavenliness of aim and 
 pursuit. 4 
 
 > Gal. v. 22, 23. Col. iii. 12. 2 Pet. i. 5. 2 p rov . jji. 9. Honour the 
 Lord with thy substance. 3 Rom. xii. 2. Be not conformed to this world. 
 John xv. 19. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but 
 because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, 
 therefore the world hateth you. 4 Phil. iv. 8. Whatsoever things are true, 
 whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever 
 things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of 
 good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on 
 these things. 1 Thess. v. 22. Abstain from all appearance of evil. Heb. 
 xi. 13. And confessed that they were pilgrims and strangers on the earth. 
 Phil. iii. 20. Our conversation is in heaven. 
 
 We testify against the following practical evils, as 
 incompatible with the purity of the gospel, and the holi- 
 ness and circumspection of the Christian character: — 
 
307 
 
 The neglect of secret prayer, and of family worship ; — 
 the neglect of the public ordinances of religion ; pro- 
 fane swearing in its various degrees and forms ; per- 
 forming, by vocal or instrumental music, for public 
 entertainment, passages of the Holy Scriptures, as is 
 done in oratorios ; or acting the most solemn scenes 
 recorded in the Bible: — Profanation of the holy Sab- 
 bath, by idleness; pleasure walking ; visiting friends; 
 convivial parties ; reading newspapers ; attending coffee- 
 rooms or other reading-rooms ; receiving and answer- 
 ing letters of civil business: — Drunkenness, tippling ; 
 gambling; playing cards and dice; private or public 
 lotteries; horse-racing; brawling and fighting; duel- 
 ling; cruelty to fellow-creatures, or to the inferior 
 animals ; resentful and implacable spirit or conduct : — 
 Unchaste conversation; immodest apparel; promiscu- 
 ous dancings; theatrical exhibitions: — Idleness; all 
 dishonesty between man and man: — Lying, equivoca- 
 tion, deceit, back-biting, evil-speaking, envious and 
 malicious conduct. 
 
 We have enumerated some of the most prevailing 
 practical evils; but it is impossible to specify every 
 evil, and every shade of evil. It is matter of regret, 
 that public sentiment and the discipline of the church, 
 do not treat sins with more impartiality ; many being 
 overlooked which are as fit objects of reprobation and 
 censure, as others which are viewed and treated as 
 scandalous. And though much sin, by its secrecy, 
 disguise, commonness, and through inadvertency, may 
 evade the censures of the church, yet it is offensive in 
 the eyes of divine purity, and is hurtful and reproach- 
 ful to Christian character. 
 
 2 E 
 
308 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 1. In its most comprehensive sense, the term church 
 includes all the elect whom Christ has redeemed with 
 his blood, who have been, or shall be gathered into one 
 in him. 
 
 Eph. v. 26. Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it. — Con. 
 XXV. 1. 
 
 2. To understand the Holy Scriptures, it is necessary 
 to distinguish between the visible and invisble church, 
 because what is affirmed of the one cannot always be 
 affirmed of the other. 
 
 John xv. 2. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away. 
 Eph. v. 27. A glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such 
 thing.— Con. XXV. 1. 2; Cat. 62, 64. 
 
 3. All true believers, savingly united to the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, belong to the invisible church — the 
 spouse, body, or fulness of Christ; have communion 
 with him in grace and glory, and a real and spiritual 
 fellowship with one another. 
 
 Rom. xii. 5. So then we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every 
 one members one of another. Eph. v. 30, 32. For we are members of 
 his'body, of his flesh, and of his bones. This is a great mystery; but I 
 speak concerning Christ and the church. — Con. XXV. 1 ; Cat. 65. 
 
 4. The visible church stands in an external relation 
 to Christ, in the dispensation of the covenant of grace. 
 It comprehends all adults, professing the doctrines, 
 observing the institutions, and obeying the precepts of 
 Christ, together with their children. 
 
 Acts ii. 38, 39, 47. Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be bap- 
 tized in the name of Jesus Christ — for the promise is to you and to your 
 children — and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be 
 saved. 1 Cor. i. 2. Unto the church of God which is at Corinth. — Con. 
 XXV. 2; Cat. 62. 
 
 5. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Living Head of every 
 believer, and of the whole church, united to him by the 
 
309 
 
 Spirit and by faith. He also is the only King and Head 
 of the visible church, having authority to prescribe the 
 doctrines of her faith — the institutions of her worship 
 — the principles of her fellowship, order, government, 
 and discipline. 
 
 Eph. i. 22. And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be 
 the head over all things to the church, v. 23. Christ is the head of the 
 church. Isa. xxxiii. 22. The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver. 
 the Lord is our king; he will save us. Rev. hi. 7. He that hath the key 
 of David; he that openeth and no man shutteth; and shutteth and no 
 man openeth. — Con. XXV. 6. 
 
 6. The Lawgiver in Zion has not left his church to 
 be organized and governed by the maxims of human 
 policy, as expediency may dictate ; but has appointed 
 a definite government to his church, distinct from, and 
 altogether independent of, civil government. 
 
 Isa. ix. 6, 7. The government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name 
 shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting 
 Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and 
 peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David and upon his king- 
 dom to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice. 
 Psal. cxxii. 3. Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together. 
 Tit. i. 5, 6. For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in 
 order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city. Heb. 
 xiii. 17. Obey them that have the rule over you. 1 Cor. xi. 2. And keep 
 the ordinances as I delivered them to you. 1 Cor. xiv. 33. For God is 
 not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the 
 saints.— Con. XXX. 1. 
 
 7. The Lord Jesus has committed the government 
 of the church, in subordination to his own authority and 
 law, into the hands of Presbyters, or Elders, chosen 
 by the members of the church, and regularly ordained. 
 These elders are of two kinds, the elder labouring in 
 word and doctrine, and the elder who only rules: and 
 these are the ordinary and permanent rulers in the 
 Christian church. 
 
 Heb. xiii. 17. Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit your- 
 selves: for they watch for your souls as they that must give account. 1 
 Tim. v. 17. Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double 
 honour; especially they who labour in the word and doctrine. Acts xiv. 
 23. And when they had ordained [margin — with lifting up of hands had 
 chosen them] elders in every church. Tit. i. 5. And ordain elders in 
 every city.— Con. XXX. 2. Act of Assembly at Edinburgh, Aug. 27, 1647, 
 Sess. 23. Form of church government. 
 
310 
 
 8. The Christian minister, or pastor, is an ordinary 
 officer in the church. 1 The supernatural gifts of the 
 Spirit having ceased, it is proper that the minister he 
 well acquainted with the original languages of the Holy 
 Scriptures, with the principles of theology, and with 
 the general literature and science of the times in which 
 he lives. 2 He must give evidence of talent, soundness 
 in the faith, and piety ; 3 and he must be called by the 
 people over whom he is set, and ordained by the lay- 
 ing on of the hands of the presbytery. 4 It is his duty 
 to preside in the public worship — to pray and praise 
 with his flock — to read the Scriptures and expound 
 them — to preach the gospel, and apply it for doctrine, 
 reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness 5 — 
 to administer the sacraments, and church censures 6 — 
 to pronounce publicly the apostolical benediction 7 — 
 to catechise 8 — teach from house to house 9 — visit the 
 sick 10 — and, along with the other elders, rule in the 
 church. 11 
 
 1 Jer. iii. 15. And I will give you pastors according to my heart. 2 1 
 Tim. iv. 13. Give attendance to reading. 3 1 Tim. iii. 2. Apt to teach. 
 2 Tim. ii. 2. The same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to 
 teach others also. 4 1 Tim. iv. 14. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, 
 which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of 
 the presbytery. 5 2 Tim. iv. 2. Preach the word. 6 1 Cor. x. 16. The 
 cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of 
 Christ ? 1 Tim. v. 20. Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also 
 may fear. 7 Num. vi. 23. with 2 Cor. xiii. 14. The grace of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost 
 be with you all, Amen. s Heb. v. 12. For when for the time ye ought, 
 to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first 
 principles of the oracles of God. 9 Acts xx. 20. And have taught you — 
 from house to house. 10 James v. 14. Is any sick among you ? let him 
 call for the elders of the church. n l Tim. v. 17. The elders that rule 
 well. — Form of church government. Pastors. 
 
 9. The elders who only rule, being chosen by the 
 people, proved and ordained by the session, are to be 
 associated as helps with the pastor in the whole duties 
 of government, and to unite with him in the admission 
 or exclusion of members — in investigating scandals 
 and adjudging censures — in visiting the sick and the 
 poor — in the official oversight of the congregation — 
 
311 
 
 and judicial deliberation on the public interests of the 
 church. 
 
 Acts xiv. 23. And when they had ordained elders in every church. 
 Rom. xii. 8. He that ruleth with diligence. 1 Cor. xii. 28. Helps, gov- 
 ernments. Acts. xi. 30. Which also they did, and sent it to the elders 
 by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. Acts xv. 2. Apostles and elders. — 
 Form of church government. 
 
 10. In every regularly organized church, or congre- 
 gation, assembling for public worship and fellowship, it 
 is requisite that there be at least one pastor, with a 
 plurality of ruling elders ; these form the session, are 
 vested with the judicial charge of the congregation, and 
 are authorized to meet in the name of Christ, for govern- 
 ment and discipline. 
 
 Acts xiv. 23. They had ordained them elders in every church. Mat.xviii. 
 15, 20. If he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if 
 he shall neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen — 
 whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven : — and what- 
 soever ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven: — For where two 
 or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of 
 them. Tit. i. 5. Ordain elders in every city. — Form of church govern- 
 ment. Congregational assemblies. 
 
 11. Deacons are ordained, upon the choice of the 
 congregation, and are associated with the teaching 
 and ruling elders in distributing to the necessities 
 of the poor, and managing other temporalities in the 
 church. 
 
 1 Tim. iii. 8. Likewise must the deacons be grave. Phil. i. J. To all 
 the saints which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons. Acts vi. 
 2, 3. It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve 
 tables — look ye out men; whom we may appoint over this business. — 
 Form of church government. Deacons. 
 
 12. The New Testament exhibits several distinct 
 worshipping assemblies, with their regular office- 
 bearers, as one church; and thus gives authoritative 
 sanction to the principles of representation, subordina- 
 tion, and union, in the government of the house of 
 God. The rulers of several congregations may meet 
 by their representatives in a presbytery ; presbyteries, 
 again, in like manner, in synods; and synods, in a 
 provincial, national, or even ecumenical assemblv. 
 
 2 e -2 
 
312 
 
 Each of these courts is a consistory of elders, a pres- 
 bytery; and the highest a meeting of them all by 
 representation. 
 
 Acts ii. 42. They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and 
 fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers, xxi. 20. Thou seest 
 brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe. Acts 
 xiii. 1. Now there were in the church that was at Antioch, certain pro- 
 phets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and 
 Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen. Acts xix. 6, 7, 20. They spake with 
 tongues, and prophesied — and all the men were about twelve— So 
 mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. Acts xx. 17. He sent to 
 Ephesus and called the elders of the church. 25, 28. Rev. ii. 1. 1 Cor. 
 i. 2. Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, xiv. 34. Let your 
 women keep silence in the churches. Acts xv. Throughout.— Form of 
 church government. Of classical assemblies. 
 
 13. In the present circumstances of the church on 
 earth, there must be distinct congregations, and dis- 
 tinct judicatories: yet, according to the institution of 
 Christ, the visible church is one among all nations. 
 This principle ought, therefore, to be recognized, and 
 as much as possible, kept in view in administering her 
 government. 
 
 Eph. iv. 3, 4. Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond 
 of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one 
 hope of your calling, i Cor. xii. 12. For as the body is one, and hath 
 many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are 
 one body, so also is Christ. 1 Cor. xii. 13. For by one Spirit we are all 
 baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be 
 bond or free. 1 Cor. iii. 3. For ye are yet carnal; for whereas there is 
 among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk 
 as men { — Form of church government. Of the church. 
 
 14. It belongs unto the elders of a congregation, 
 as necessity and edification require, irpon the choice 
 of the people, to prove and ordain others to be asso- 
 ciated with them in government: and it belongs unto 
 a presbytery, upon the call of the people, to try and 
 ordain to the holy ministry, faithful men who shall be 
 able to teach others also. 
 
 Acts xiv. 23. And when they had ordained them elders in every church. 
 1 Tim. iii. 10. And let these also first be proved, v. 22. Lay hands sud- 
 denly on no man. 2 Tim. ii. 2. The same commit thou to faithful men, 
 who shall be able to teach others also. 1 Tim. iv. 14. The laying on of 
 the hands of the presbytery. — Form of church government. Doctrine of 
 ordination. 
 
313 
 
 15. Among the ministers of the gospel there is a 
 perfect parity in the power with which they are in- 
 vested; and among them and the elders that rule in 
 the church there is, in respect of government, an equa- 
 lity of power. And this delegated power even in the 
 highest judicatory, is not legislative nor compulsory 
 but ministerial, regulated by the law of Christ, and 
 spiritual, being addressed to the conscience, and affect- 
 ing only the ecclesiastical standing of the persons con- 
 c erned . 
 
 Mat. xx. 25, 26. Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise do- 
 minion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. 
 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among 
 you, let him be your minister. Acts xx. 28. Take heed, therefore, unto 
 yourselves, and *to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made 
 you overseers, to feed the church of God. Heb. xiii. 17. They watch for 
 your souls, as those that must give account. 1 Thes. v. 12. Over you in 
 the Lord. 
 
 16. All ecclesiastical courts have an intrinsic 
 power, independently of all foreign authority, to ap- 
 point, continue, and adjourn their meetings, as they 
 see cause, and to discuss and determine all matters 
 within their province, and to give them full authority as 
 ecclesiastical deeds, independently of the concurrence 
 or sanction of the civil powers. 
 
 Acts iv. 19. "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto 
 you more than unto God, judge ye. Gal. v. I. Stand fast in the liberty 
 wherewith Christ hath made us free. — Con. XXX. 1. Act of Assemblv at 
 Edinburgh, Aug. 27, 1647, Sess. 23. 
 
 17. The church must have explicit terms of commu- 
 nion, to which every member gives his assent. A per- 
 fect unity of mind about every object of thought is not 
 to be expected in the present state. But Christians 
 cannot co-operate for all the ends of christian fellow- 
 ship, unless they be of one mind about the great prin- 
 ciples of religion, and the institutions and government 
 of the church. Terms of communion should embrace 
 nothing but divine truth, and reject no scriptural truth 
 for which the church has faithfully contended. 
 
314 
 
 Amos. iii. 3. Can two walk together except they be agreed ? Phil i. 7. 
 With one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. Jude 3. We 
 should earnestly contend for the faith. Rev. iii. 10. Thou hast kept the 
 word of my patience. Acts ii. 42. And they continued steadfastly in the 
 apostles' doctrine and fellowship. Phil. iii. 16. Nevertheless whereunto 
 we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the 
 same thing.— Con. XXV. XXVI. 
 
 18. It is the duty of every Christian to enter into the 
 communion of the church ; and in its present divided 
 state, while he prays for the peace, and seeks the good 
 of Jerusalem, it is his duty to inquire what department 
 of it adheres most closely to the Scripture rule, and to 
 join in that communion which is most pure, in which 
 he may best promote his own edification, and prove 
 most useful to the kingdom of Christ. 
 
 Acts xxi. 47. And the Lord added daily to the church such as should 
 be saved. 1 Thes.' v. 21. Prove all things: hold fast that which is good. 
 Psal. cxxii. 6. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Peace be within thy 
 walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. Because of the house of the 
 Lord I will seek thy good. 1 Cor. xi. 2. Keep the ordinances as I de- 
 livered them to you. 34. That ye come not together to condemnation. 
 
 19. Persons giving satisfactory evidence of know- 
 ledge, soundness in the faith, repentance of sin, and 
 obedience to the precepts and institutions of Christ, 
 are admissible to the fellowship of the visible church. 
 Church rulers can receive only a profession of reli- 
 gion, and judge of the externa] evidences of its truth; 
 but persons greatly deceive themselves and others, who 
 seek membership in the church, without having believed 
 in Jesus to the saving of the soul. 
 
 Acts viii. 37. If thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest. Gal. 
 v. 22, 23. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentle- 
 ness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no 
 law. Acts xxvi. 20. And do works meet for repentance. Psal. xxiv. 3, 
 4. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? and who shall stand in 
 his holy place ? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart; who hath 
 not lifted up his soul unto vanity. Mat. vii. 20. By their fruits ye shall 
 know them. 2 Tim. iii. 5. Having a form of godliness but denying the 
 power thereof: from such turn away. 
 
 20. All true believers have spiritual fellowship with 
 one another in Christ. Christians may have commun- 
 ion with one another in what is common to them in 
 their private Christian capacity. But ecclesiastical 
 
315 
 
 fellowship in the ordinances and privileges of the church 
 cannot be maintained, in purity and power, without 
 submission also to the government and discipline of 
 the church. It is the design of church fellowship not 
 only to promote spiritual edification, and prepare the 
 saints for heaven, but to exhibit a system of sound 
 principles, and to maintain the ordinances of the gospel 
 church as they are delivered by her Head, and faith- 
 fully to transmit the knowledge of them to posterity. 
 
 Eph. iv. 12. For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the mini- 
 stry, for the edifying of the body. Col. ii. 2. Being knit together in love, 
 to the acknowledging of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of 
 Christ. Phil. i. 27. Stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving to- 
 gether for the faith of the gospel. Psal. lxxviii. 5. For he established a 
 testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded 
 our fathers that they should make them known to their children. 
 
 21. Jesus has instituted discipline in his church. 
 Heresy, immorality, and neglect and contempt of the 
 ordinances of religion are to be proceeded against by 
 judicial censures, to vindicate the honour of Christ, 
 preserve the purity of the church, avert the displeasure 
 of God, as well as to promote the good of the individuals 
 concerned. 
 
 2 Cor. x. 8. Our authority, which the Lord hath given us" for edifica- 
 tion. Tit. iii. 10. A man that is an heretic, after the first and second ad- 
 monition reject. 1 Cor. v. ] 1. If any man that is called a brother, be a 
 fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an 
 extortioner; with such a one, no not to eat. 2 Thes. iii. 6. Withdraw 
 yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly and not after the 
 tradition which he received of us. Rom. xvi. 17. Mark them which cause 
 divisions contrary to the doctrines which ye have learned, and avoid 
 them.— Con. XXX. 2, 3. 
 
 *2'2. It is competent to Christians in their private 
 capacity, prudently and faithfully, to reprove one 
 another: but the administration of church censure be- 
 longs exclusively to the authorized judicatories of the 
 church. It admits of various degrees — admonition, 
 suspension, rebuke, and excommunication, according 
 to the aggravations and publicity of the scandal, and 
 the penitence or contumacy of the offender. 
 
 Rom. xv. 14. Able also to admonish one another. Mat. xviii. 17. Tell 
 it unto the church. 2 Cor. v. 4. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 
316 
 
 when ye are gathered together. Tit. hi. 10. The first and second admoni- 
 tion. 1 Tim. v. 20. Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also 
 may fear. Tit. hi. 10. Reject. 1 Cor. v. 13. Therefore put away from 
 among you that wicked person. — Con. XXX. 4. 
 
 We condemn the prevailing sentiment; — That Christ 
 Jesus has given no intimation of his will on the subject 
 of the government of his Church, but has left it to be 
 modelled by human prudence according to circumstan- 
 ces. And we testify against; — all dominion usurped 
 over the church of God by ecclesiastical or civil rulers; 
 — the blasphemous supremacy Of the Roman Pontiff; — 
 the exclusive right of ordination, and of government 
 over the ministers and church of Christ, claimed by 
 Archbishops and Bishops; — the headship over the 
 church, ranked among the prerogatives of the British 
 crown ; — and the union of civil and ecclesiastical offices 
 in the same persons, as in the case of the Lord's Spiri- 
 tual, and of ministers of the gospel acting as justices 
 of the peace. We testify against patronage, in present- 
 ing ministers to vacant congregations, whether exercised 
 by king, by bishops, town councils, or landed proprie- 
 tors ; and against the practice of selling or purchasing 
 the right of patronage, either on the part of individuals, 
 or of the members of a congregation. We also testify 
 against submission to these encroachments on the privi- 
 leges, and liberty, and spirituality, of the church of 
 Christ. 
 
 We also testify against the practice of persons, while 
 laudably interesting themselves in the erection of houses 
 of worship and formation of new congregations, taking 
 it upon them to present a candidate, or candidates for 
 the choice of the people ; — and against the practice of 
 permitting persons, on the mere qualification of con- 
 tributing to the property, or renting seats, to exercise 
 the privilege of choosing a minister. Although the 
 continuance of these things be not vindicated ; yet they 
 cannot be justified upon the principle of expediency, 
 even in the peculiar circumstances in which a congre- 
 gation is erected. In all cases the initiative, or 
 
 
317 
 
 originating movement, should be in strict accordance 
 with the free and spiritual constitution of the church of 
 Christ. 
 
 We testify against the lamentable relaxation of 
 ecclesiastical discipline which so extensively prevails 
 among the churches — by the admission of the ignorant, 
 immoral, or profane, into fellowship — the conniving at, 
 or but slightly animadverting on, heretical doctrines — 
 the administration of private censures, even in the case 
 of flagrant and notorious offence — and the substitution 
 of pecuniary fines for public censures. 
 
 We must also testify against preaching the gospel, 
 or dispensing the ordinances of religion, without an 
 orderly appointment ; — and against ordaining ministers 
 to preach, and dispense the sacraments, without powers 
 to exercise the government and discipline of the church. 
 And we also testify against those who hold ; — that real 
 saintship is the only condition of church fellowship ; — 
 that government or rule is vested in the whole body of 
 a congregation; — that there is no ruling elder instituted 
 in the church ; — nor any institution of a presbytery, or 
 court of review ; — and that the government of the church 
 is a matter of inferior importance, about which Chris- 
 tians are not bound particularly to inquire, or concern 
 themselves ; — that church fellowship may be extended 
 to all professing saints, whether or not they are objects 
 of judicial oversight; — and that occasional church fel- 
 lowship may be allowed to those who cannot be received 
 into stated communion, or held with those churches 
 from which there is just ground of maintaining a 
 separation. 
 
 On the subject of church fellowship we are anxious 
 to guard against two opposite extremes. As it is not 
 the province of man to search the heart, we account it 
 both unwarrantable and impracticable to make actual 
 saintship the ground of admission to the communion of 
 the church. The visible church, although one in pro- 
 fession, is mixed in respect of real character, being a 
 net in which good and bad are caught — a floor contain- 
 
318 
 
 ing corn and chaff. On the other hand, as the special 
 privileges of the church belong to the children of God 
 only, it is the solemn duty of ecclesiastical rulers to 
 guard with the utmost vigilance against the intrusion of 
 unworthy persons. It is dishonouring to the Saviour, 
 it tends to defeat one principal design for which the 
 church has been erected in the world ; and it is exceed- 
 ingly dangerous to the souls of men, when, either 
 through negligence, or with the view of extending a 
 church, the solemn privileges of the house of God are 
 dispensed to those who are manifestly destitute of Chris- 
 tian character. It is therefore absolutely unlawful for 
 church rulers to admit persons to the enjoyment of seal- 
 ing ordinances, until they shall have obtained satis- 
 faction by careful examination and inquiry, that they 
 possess a correct knowledge of the doctrines of salva- 
 tion by Christ, and of the principles of religion generally 
 — that they are sound in the faith — and that in their 
 deportment they are not only free from any charge of 
 known immorality, but that they actually take on the 
 yoke of Christ, by observing all his ordinances, in private, 
 in the family, and in the congregation. Nor do we 
 admit into the fellowship of the church, upon a general 
 profession of what is alleged to be essential to salvation ; 
 the distinction between essentials and circumstantials, 
 as it is usual to speak, it is impossible to draw; and 
 though it were possible, it would be presumptuous to 
 attempt it, in connexion with making any part of the 
 revealed will of Christ indifferent in the Christian pro- 
 fession and practice. The distinction supposed is un- 
 defined and arbitrary, and does not apply to the Chris- 
 tian's duty. The doctrines, institutions, and precepts 
 of the gospel, form a connected whole, reflecting the 
 glory of the Saviour, conducing to the real interests of 
 the church ; and they are committed to her fidelity, to 
 be preserved inviolate, exhibited, and transmitted, 
 according to the measure of her attainment. 
 
 On this subject we must also testify against the 
 practice of dispensing baptism to the children of parents 
 
319 
 
 who habitually neglect the Lord's Supper. The cen- 
 sures of the church are often made a matter of mere 
 formality, and by being administered in comparative 
 privacy, do not give that testimony against sin, nor that 
 vindication of the purity of the Christian church, nor 
 that evidence to the church of the penitence of the 
 offending, nor produce that salutary fear upon the minds 
 of others, which should be contemplated in the censures 
 of the house of God. 
 
 We cannot approve of the practice of admitting to 
 the communion of the Lord's Supper, persons not pro- 
 fessing the same faith, nor submitting to the govern- 
 ment of the church. Catholic communion may, by an 
 appearance of Christian charity, commend itself to the 
 feelings ; but it violates one design of the Supper, the 
 joint profession of the name of Christ, the partakers 
 of one bread being one body. Even the interests of 
 practical holiness must be marred, when communicants 
 are not followed with faithful inspection. Spiritual 
 profit is to be expected in observing the ordinance, with 
 a due regard to all its ends. And it is to be borne in 
 mind, that individual edification is not exclusively con- 
 templated in the ordinance. The celebration of the 
 Supper is church communion, and a public profession 
 of the name and cause of the Saviour. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. 
 
 1. The true God is the only object of religious wor- 
 ship. Now made known in the glorious gospel, he is 
 to be worshipped, through a mediator, according to the 
 prescriptions of his revealed will, and by the help of the 
 Holy Spirit. 
 
 Mat. iv. 10. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it 
 is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt 
 2 F 
 
- 
 
 1 r::-;;::-T: 
 — Cen.XXL L:Ca*.l«l 
 
 ±e dmr of c ristian to cherish habi- 
 
 tually in Ins heart die fear of God, 1 and to devote at 
 
 .-.-■>: " ; :.~ - .--.- m :i.^j ml r:™;. :: -i;;~: 
 prayer. 5 Reading die Scriptures, 3 meditation on the 
 word and providence of God, 4 praise, self examination. 
 - :- -ill:::::, ml r.imim ml mmi^'m Lim : : ;>;; r. - 
 are exercises required of the private Christian, 
 lv- and intimately connected with the existence 
 .; :—jl ::' 7 ms mil jimr 
 
 hi the fear of the Lord all the dzr kos. 
 
 --: 
 
 
 . : .-. - .. - _ - 
 
 i_ -._- - -- ; :--.,. :-- : '. 
 
 fkrsenaat. « Mat. *i. 17, 18. What that fastest, 
 
 . :: i_" " -: :--.- ±~ ::_- -_:_ - - ^.:- ■- i 
 :^-i-- :--:-. ?,...-:._. : 
 ■- l.:r: I-.:":: iz _■--_,,- •.-: . 
 ;:- _; ^:-. I. 
 
 3. It is the duty of every Christian family to worship 
 
 - - 
 and prayer, in the morning and evening of every day. 
 
 Ami :m L-i> :: :m_:m- mmm m '.::_ m 1 :-: mi: - 
 the regular attendance of all die members. 
 
 At the same thne, saitli the LonLwiD I be tie God of 
 
 ;:. 77, -:.- ::- :::.:: - ; =a- 
 
 up. Jer.x.'23.Poar 
 
 -, : :- 1..:; :-_:... - . m.: 
 I rig ■£ ^or Hn 1 |Jl , ftj =An-er^n% mm itj 
 Ler.xm.3. It is the Sabbath of the Lord m all jamr 
 
 ■ —-L :.- -.----- :r. :..' m — : ■: :i ^ 
 fccsrckUm. EfA^LBriagthemup 
 of the Lord. Zeeh. xi. 12. And the land 
 
 1-:: ... I-" .1.. i_i.: .- :•;- :"_•; . 
 
321 
 
 4. The members of the church ought to meet to- 
 gether in private, for devotional and instructive exer- 
 cises, to strengthen the faith, promote the comfort, and 
 quicken the piety and zeal of one another. 
 
 :■:-,:. „. :■;. Tzz-z :z.±j±*::*^l :z?'L:?l ?z^- ■**- -'^ ~- ■ 
 
 Acts in. 13u And on the Sabbath we went out of the cittyby arii 
 where prayer was wont to be made. CoL in. 1CL Admomshmg 
 other in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs. Heb. x, 25. Not for- 
 
 XXVI. 2. 
 
 The first day of the week, the Christian Sabbath, 
 is to be sanctified, by resting from all civil labour and 
 recreation, and by being exclusively devoted to the 
 public and private exercises of religion, excepting in 
 works of necessity and mercy. The Sabbath is a 
 whole day from midnight to midnight, and is of univer- 
 sal moral obligation. It should be sanctified in families. 
 On that day children and servants are to be carefully 
 instructed in the principles and duties of religion, in 
 the family, as well as enjoined attendance upon the 
 public institutions. 
 
 Exod. xx. 8, 10. Remember die Sabbath day to keep it taly— iniftthou 
 
 shah not do any work. Isa. lvm. 13. If thou torn away thy foot from the 
 
 Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, i 
 
 a i-:lirz:. :n zz'.~ ::' :ir L.ri. L:-: _ri':'.=. s-z. jLzz. x_:. '.'... 
 tan, it is li-srfi: lodo well on ±r Sabbath lays. A:t> xx. '. . Upon Ik 
 first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, 
 Paul preached unto them. John xx. 19. Then the same day at 
 
 zz-zzz :ir ir>: iij ::' z'zz -•—>.— ::.\,~r „-:.>_? iz i r,z-z>i zz zn 
 
 s^zz'S zzzzz :'zizzz.'?z-iz-i ':•; zzzz -;^— _-_- ■-■zz-.r-r :';: ;r_- '>'>zn'zzz. 
 
 Sect. Yin. 
 
 6. It is the duty of Christians to wait upon the 
 ordinances of public worship, celebrated according to 
 the will of God. 1 Persons who have been regularly 
 sent, and these only, are authorized publicly to read 
 and expound the Scriptures, and preach the gospel for 
 the instruction and edification of the hearers. 3 Ser- 
 mons ought to be delivered from recollection, after 
 careful study, and in dependance upon the Holy Spirit. 3 
 And the preached gospel is to be attended with dili- 
 gence, preparation, and prayer, received with faith and 
 love, remembered and obeyed. 
 
322 
 
 1 Lev. xix. 30. Ye shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. 
 
 2 Rom. x. 15. And how shall they preach except they be sent? Acts x. 
 33. Now, therefore, we are all here present before God, to hear all things 
 that are commanded thee of God. 3 Acts xx. 7. Paul preached to them, 
 and continued his speech until midnight. Tit. ii. 1. But speak thou the 
 things that become sound doctrine. — Con. XXI. 5; Cat. 158 — 160. / 
 
 7. Praises are to be offered to God in worship, with 
 the understanding and the Spirit, in a grave and melo- 
 dious manner, the whole congregation joining in this 
 part of worship. The Book of Psalms having been 
 given by inspiration for this purpose, and being richly 
 fitted to direct the individual and the church, in every 
 variety of condition, is to be appropriated to this service. 
 
 Psal. xcv. 1. O come let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise 
 to the Rock of our salvation. Eph. v. 19. Singing and making melody 
 in your heart to the Lord. 2 Chron. xxix. 30. Sing praise unto the Lord 
 with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. 2 Sam. xxiii. 1. The 
 sweet Psalmist of Israel said, the Spirit of the Lord spake by me. Eph. 
 v. 19. Speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, 
 (songs dictated by the Spirit.) Mark xiv. 26. And when they had sung 
 an hymn. James v. 13. Is any merry, let him sing psalms. — Directory 
 for Public Worship. 
 
 8. Prayer is to be presented to God, by the Christian 
 minister, as the mouth of the congregation, in a solemn 
 and reverent manner, and in faith in Christ Jesus ; the 
 whole congregation joining in the attitude of prayer, 
 and giving close attention. 1 It ought to precede and 
 follow the preaching of the word. It ought not to be 
 read from a book, nor servilely repeated from memory, 
 but presented to God after thoughtful premeditation, 
 and in dependence on the Spirit. 2 And that all present 
 may join, it ought always to be in a known tongue. 3 
 
 1 Acts ii. 42. And they continued steadfastly in prayers. 1 Chron. xvi. 
 36. And all the people said, Amen. Mat. vi. 7. But when ye pray, use 
 not vain repetitions, as the heathen do. 1 Cor. xiv. 12. Even so ye, for- 
 asmuch as yc are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the 
 edifying of the church. 2 Rom. viii. 26. The Spirit also helpcth our infir- 
 mities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the 
 Spirit maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 
 
 3 1 Cor. xiv. 14. For, if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, 
 but my understanding is unfruitful. 15. What is it then ? I will pray 
 with the spirit, I will pray with the understanding (with meaning) also. 
 16. Else, when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occu- 
 pieth the room of the unlearned say, Amen, at thy giving of thanks,^see- 
 in£ he understandeth not what thou sayest \— Con. XXI. 34; Cat. 178— 
 196. 
 
323 
 
 9. It pertains to the office of the Christian minister, 
 immediately before dismissing the public assembly, 
 solemnly to pronounce the apostolical benediction ; 
 during which the congregation should stand, and with 
 reverence and faith wait on the blessing from the Lord. 
 
 Num. vi. 23—27. Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this 
 wise ye shall bless the children of Israel — and I will bless them. Deut. 
 x. 8. "Separated to bless in his name. 2 Cor. xiii. 14. The grace of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy 
 Ghost, be with you all. Amen. — Form of church government. Pastors. 
 
 10. The ordinance of Baptism belongs to the public 
 worship of God. It is to be dispensed by an ordained 
 pastor, to unbaptized adults upon their profession of 
 faith and repentance, to their infant children, and to 
 the infants of church members. 1 Sprinkling with water, 
 in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is the 
 appropriate visible sign. Baptism is a seal of the 
 covenant of grace, signifying regeneration, union to 
 Christ, and participation of the blessings of the cove- 
 nant. It ought to be administered without any ceremony 
 of human device. It is not essential to salvation, nor 
 is it to be regarded as equivalent with regeneration, 
 nor as certainly imparting regenerating grace ; but it 
 is to be celebrated in obedience to the divine command, 
 as a public sign and discriminating badge of relation 
 to Christ, and distinction from the world, and as a 
 special means of grace. The preaching of the gospel, 
 or other public instruction, and prayer, should accom- 
 pany the administration of baptism ; and, in ordinary 
 cases, it ought to be celebrated in the presence of the 
 congregation assembling for worship. 2 Baptism is not 
 to be repeated. 
 
 1 Mat. xxviii. 19. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing 
 them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 
 Mark xvi. 16. He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved." Acts ii. 
 38, 41. Repent, and be baptized. — Then they that gladly received his word 
 were baptized. Acts ii. 39. The promise fs unto you and to your child- 
 ren. Mat. xix. 14. Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not 
 to come unto me; for of such is the kingdom of heaven. Rom. iv. 11. 
 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of 
 faith. Gal. vi. 15. In Christ Je3us neither circumcision, availeth any 
 
 2 f 2 
 
324 
 
 thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. 2 Mat. xxviii. 19. Teach 
 all nations, baptizing them. 1 Cor. xii. 13. We are all baptized into one 
 body.— Con. XXVIII; Cat. 165—167. 
 
 11. Jesus Christ has instituted the Lord's Supper in 
 commemoration of his death. 1 It is to be administered 
 by an ordained pastor, who, having taken the simple 
 elements of bread and wine, after the example of Christ, 
 is to give thanks ; then breaking the bread, and giving 
 it to the members of the church, and in like manner 
 giving the cup to all the communicants ; pronouncing, at 
 the same time, the words of institution, as Paul received 
 and delivered them from the Lord, to shew the significa- 
 tion of the ordinance; and addressing appropriate 
 exhortations, to direct the views, confirm the faith, and 
 elevate the devotion of the communicants. 2 The ele- 
 ments undergo no material change in their substance, 
 by being set apart to the service, but are to be used as 
 external signs, assisting and confirming faith in the 
 body and blood of Christ, and representing participa- 
 tion of the benefits of the covenant of grace, bequeathed 
 by the testament of Christ to the children and heirs of 
 God. 3 In this ordinance God confirms to the heirs of 
 promise their interest in Christ, while they, on the foot- 
 ing of the covenant of grace, surrender themselves in 
 solemn profession and engagement to the Lord. This 
 ordinance is a precious means of furthering the spiri- 
 tual life in the soul, a visible bond of fellowship in the 
 church, and a public confession of the name of Christ. 
 The Lord's Supper is a standing ordinance in the 
 Christian church. When celebrated, it is to be observed 
 ordinarily on the Christian Sabbath, but it is not an 
 essential part of ordinary Sabbath sanctification. 4 Spe- 
 cial exercises of humiliation and self-examination are 
 required to the worthy and profitable celebration of this 
 ordinance. 5 
 
 1 Luke xxii. 19. This do in rememberance of me. 2 1 Cor. xi. 23. For 
 I have received of the Lord, that which also I delivered unto you, That 
 the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread : 
 And, when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat; this is 
 my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After 
 
3-25 
 
 the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This 
 cup is the new testament in my blood; this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in 
 remembrance of me. For, as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this 
 cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore, whosoever 
 shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be 
 guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 3 1 Cor. x. 16. The cup of 
 blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ \ 
 The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? 
 Mat. xxvi, 26, 27, 29. Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and 
 gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. And he 
 took the cup and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all 
 of it. — I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day 
 when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. * Acts xxvi. 7. 
 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to 
 break bread. 5 1 Cor. xi. 28. But let a man examine himself. — Con. 
 XXIX; Cat. 168. 
 
 12. It is competent to individuals and families to 
 appropriate time to fasting and other religious exercises. 
 When the divine goodness is remarkably withheld or 
 expressed, when the divine displeasure is inflicted, 
 continued, or removed, congregations, churches, and 
 even nations, are called to the occasional duties of 
 public Fasting or Thanksgiving. Such appointments, 
 when made by lawful authority, are obligatory, and 
 should be religiously observed. But, with the exception 
 of the weekly Sabbath, there is no periodical holy-day 
 in the Christian church. 
 
 Mat. vi. 17. When thou fastest anoint thy head, and wash thy face, that 
 thou appear not unto men to fast— and thy Father which seeth in secret 
 will reward thee openly. Joel ii. 12. Turn ye even to me with all your 
 heart and with fasting. Neh. xi. 17. And Mattaniah was the principal 
 to begin the thanksgiving with prayer. Psal. cxvi. 17. I will offer to 
 thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving. — Con. XXI. 7; Cat. 116. 
 
 13. The law of God, and not the dictate of con- 
 science, is the supreme rule by which we are to be di- 
 rected in offering worship. Conscience, instructed from 
 the law of God and in submission to it, ought freely to 
 offer to him the worship he requires, and no human 
 being may prescribe unto it. Although the Lord Jesus 
 Christ has purchased a glorious liberty to believers, 
 yet, inasmuch as conscience is only a subordinate rule 
 under law to God, none can, without manifest sin, under 
 pretence of conscience or Christian liberty, reject any 
 of the divine ordinances, or change or corrupt them, by 
 
326 
 
 mixing with them human inventions. To plead for a 
 liberty of this kind is to plead for licentiousness. 
 
 Rom. ii. 14. These, having not the law, are a law unto themselves, their 
 consciences also bearing witness; and their thoughts, in the mean while, 
 accusing or else excusing. 1 Tim. i. 5. The end of the commandment is 
 charity, out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience. 19. Holding 
 faith and a good conscience. Gal. ii. 4. And that because of false bre- 
 thren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty, 
 which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage. 
 To whom we gave place by subjection, no not for an hour. Gal. v. 13. 
 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only, use not liberty for 
 an occasion to the flesh. 2 Pet. ii. 19. While they promise them liberty, 
 they themselves are the servants of corruption. 1 Pet. ii. 16. As free, 
 and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the ser- 
 vants of God. James ii. 12. So speak ye and so do, as they that shall be 
 judged by the law of liberty. — Con. XX. 
 
 On the subject of the worship of God, we condemn 
 the following errors; — that there is no obligation to 
 maintain secret prayer, family worship, and private 
 social prayer; — that persons supposed to be in a state 
 of unregeneracy, ought not to be called to engage in 
 the duties of prayer and praise; — that to worship God in 
 any way that conscience may dictate, is the right of all 
 men; — that all worship which is offered to God accord- 
 ing to conscience is acceptable to Him: sentiments at 
 variance with, and destructive of, the obligations of the 
 divine law. 
 
 We also condemn the following errors; — that the 
 Sabbath is not obligatory under the New Testament ; 
 — that it has not been changed from the seventh to the 
 first day of the week; — that the sanctification of the 
 Sabbath does not require a total rest from civil labour 
 and recreations, excepting in works of necessity and 
 mercy, and that the keeping it holy respects only, or 
 chiefly, the time of public worship; — and we testify 
 against the celebration of Christmas, or other festivals 
 of the Papal or Episcopal church. 
 
 We also condemn the sentiments, and testify against 
 the practice, of those who deny the suitableness of the 
 Psalms of David to New Testament worship, and, on 
 this account, introduce into their place, songs of human 
 composition. 
 
3*27 
 
 We testify against those who hold; — that water-bap- 
 tism is not an institution of Christ; — that the infants of 
 church members are not to be baptized ; — that baptism 
 is essential to salvation; — that it necessarily imparts 
 regenerating grace; — that immersion of the body is 
 essential to baptism; — and we condemn the ceremony 
 of crossing, and other superstitions of the church of 
 Rome, in the celebration of this ordinance. And we 
 testify against the prevailing practice of private bap- 
 tism, and the administration of it to the children of the 
 ignorant and scandalous. 
 
 We condemn; — the transubstantiation of the Romish 
 church; — the consubstantiation of the Lutherans; — 
 the giving of the bread only to the laity ; — the celebra- 
 tion of the ordinance kneeling; — and the promiscuous 
 admission of persons to it, as inconsistent with the 
 scriptural institution, design, and purity of the ordi- 
 nance. 
 
 The persons and practices referred to, and testified 
 against, under this chapter, will be readily recognized. 
 The Roman Catholic, and Episcopalian churches — the 
 Baptists, or more correctly, antepedobaptists — certain 
 abuses among Presbyterians — and a prevailing vague- 
 ness of sentiment on liberty of conscience, are severally 
 alluded to. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 OF THE NATURAL RELATIONS OF LIFE, AND CIVIL 
 MAGISTRACY. 
 
 1. Christianity does not destroy those relations 
 which have their foundation in the law of nature ; but 
 reveals them anew, and brings them under the regula- 
 tion of Christian, as well as of clear moral principles. 
 
 1 Cor. ix. 21. Being not without law to God, but under the law to 
 Christ. Rom. iii. 31. Yea, we establish the law.— Cat. 124—133. 
 
328 
 
 2. Marriage is an ordinance of God, instituted when 
 man was in a state of innocence, and designed, in sub- 
 serviency to the divine glory, to promote the mutual 
 help and comfort of the individuals, and to serve other 
 obvious purposes in society. It is a solemn vow, or 
 covenant, between one man and one woman, to live 
 together in mutual love and fidelity. To prevent 
 abuses, and to give due solemnity to the ordinance, the 
 celebration of it should be committed to duly qualified 
 office-bearers. And from the Christian principles and 
 duties necessary to be enjoined on such occasions, it is 
 proper that, in all ordinary cases, marriage be solem- 
 nized by a regular Christian minister. The parties 
 must not be within the degrees of consanguinity, or 
 affinity, prohibited intermarriage in the divine word. 
 Marriage is inviolably binding on the parties, excepting 
 in the case of adultery or of irremediable wilful deser- 
 tion ; and can be dissolved, while both parties are living, 
 only by a regular bill of divorcement. Although mar- 
 riage is common to all sorts of people, yet Christians 
 are under obligation, in entering into this relation, to 
 connect themselves with Christians. 
 
 Gen ii. 18. It is not good that man should be alone. Mat. xix. 4. Have 
 ye not read that he which made them at the beginning, made them 
 male and female. And said, for this cause shall a man leave father and 
 mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh. 
 Mai. ii. 14. Yet is she the wife of thy covenant. Mat. xix. 6. Wherefore 
 they are no more twain but one flesh. Deut. xxiv. 1. When a man hath 
 taken a wife and married her. xxii. 16. The damsel's father shall say 
 unto the elders of the city, I gave my daughter to this man to wife, <fcc. 
 Lev. xviii. 24. Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things, for in all 
 these the nations are defiled which I drive out before you. Mat. xix 3. 
 Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause ? They are no 
 more twain but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let 
 not man put asunder. Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be 
 for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery. 1 Cor. 
 vii. 39. The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but 
 if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will ; 
 only in the Lord. 2 Cor. vi. 1 4. Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers. 
 Epii. v. 22. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto 
 the Lord. 25. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the 
 church, and gave himself for it.— Con. XXIV; Cat. 20. 
 
 3. Christian parents are bound, not only to provide 
 for their children, and train them up for the employ- 
 
3-29 
 
 ments of life, and, in good morals ; but to dedicate them 
 to God, pray for them, instruct them in religion, and 
 prepare them for membership in the Christian church. 
 Children are bound to honour and obey their parents in 
 the Lord. 
 
 1 Tim. v. 8. But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those 
 of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. 
 2 Cor. xii. 14. But the parents for the children. Prov. xxii. 6. Train 
 up a child in the way he should go. Eph. vi. 4. Bring them up in the 
 nurture and admonition of the Lord. vi. 1. Children, obey your parents 
 in the Lord.— Cat. 129. 
 
 4. The principles of equity and mercy, revealed in 
 the gospel, bind Christians when related as masters and 
 servants, and should influence them in the performance 
 of their respective duties. 
 
 Eph. vi. 5, 9. Servants be obedient to them that are your masters ac- 
 cording to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, 
 as unto Christ. — And ye masters, do the same things unto them — know- 
 ing that your Master also is in heaven. — Cat. 126 — 130. 
 
 5. It is the will of God, declared in the constitution 
 of human nature, and clearly revealed in the Scriptures, 
 that mankind should voluntarily associate together in 
 civil society for their mutual help, protection, and 
 happiness, in subserviency to godliness and honesty. 
 Mankind, thus associated, should be governed by 
 definite laws, and the administration of these laws 
 committed to qualified rulers. Civil goverment is not 
 merely the suggestion of necessity, nor the invention of 
 man, like the arts and sciences, but a moral ordinance 
 of God, for the divine glory, and individual and social 
 good. 
 
 1 Cor. xi. 14. Doth not even nature itself teach you ? Rom. xiii. 2. 
 Whosoever resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God. Exod. 
 xviii. 21. Thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear 
 God, men of truth, hating covetousness. 22. And let them judge the 
 people. 1 Tim. ii. 2. For kings and all that are in authority; that we 
 may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.— Con. 
 
 6. The Scriptures reveal the will of God respecting 
 this ordinance of the law of nature : and it is the duty 
 
330 
 
 of all communities enjoying these Scriptures to sub- 
 mit to the authority of the divine word, framing their 
 constitution, enacting their laws, appointing their gover- 
 nors, and regulating their obedience, by the certain 
 moral dictates of this infallible standard. 
 
 Deut. xvii. 15. Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom 
 the Lord thy God shall choose. 18. And it shall be, when he sitteth up- 
 on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law 
 in a book, out of that which is before the priests — the Levites. Psal. 
 cxix. 138, 144. Thy testimonies, that thou hast commanded, are righteous 
 and very faithful. The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting. 
 Hosea viii. 3. Israel hath cast off the thing that is good. 4. They have 
 set up kings, but not by me. Rom. xiii. 1. Let every soul be subject unto 
 the higher powers; for there is no power but of God: the powers that be 
 are ordained of God. 2. Whosever, therefore, resisteth the power, re- 
 sisteth the ordinance of God; and they that resist shall receive to them- 
 selves damnation. 3. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to 
 the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power ? Do that which is 
 good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. 4. For he is the minister 
 of God to thee for good.— Cat. 129. 
 
 7. The constitution of the relation between rulers 
 and ruled, is voluntary and mutual. The lawful appoint- 
 ment of civil magistrates is by the election of the people, 
 and the consent of those that are chosen, with certain 
 stipulations, according to Scripture and right reason, 
 obliging both to the duties of their respective rela- 
 tions. To such magistrates Christians are bound to 
 give conscientious subjection and obedience, in their 
 lawful commands, to pray for the divine blessing upon 
 them in their official character, to pay them tribute, 
 and to defend them in the lawful exercise of their 
 authority. 
 
 Deut. i. 13. Take you wise men and understanding, and known among 
 your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you. 2 Kings xi. 17. Ana 
 Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the peo- 
 ple, that they should be the Lord's people; between the king also and 
 the people. 1 Sam. xi. 15. And all the people went to Gilgal, and there 
 they made Saul king before the Lord. Rom. xiii. 5. Wherefore, ye must 
 needs be subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. 1 Tim. 
 ii. 1, 2. That prayers be made for kings, and for all that are in authority, 
 that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 
 Rom. xiii. 7. Render therefore to all their dues; tribute to whom tribute 
 is due. Tit. iii. 1. Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and 
 powers, to obey magistrates, to be readv to every good work. — Con. 
 XXIII. 1; Cat. 127. 
 
331 
 
 8. Nations are placed in a state of moral subjection 
 to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of the kings of the 
 earth ; and they are under obligation to acknowledge 
 his mediatorial authority, and submit to his sceptre 
 framing their laws, appointing their rulers, and regu 
 ting their obedience, in agreeableness to the moral prin 
 ciples of the gospel, and in subserviency to the interests 
 of the kingdom of Christ. 
 
 Heb. ii. 8. Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For 
 in that he put all things in subjection under him, he left nothing that is 
 not put under him. Psal. ii. 10. Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings; be 
 instructed, ye judges of the earth. 12. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, 
 and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Dan. 
 vii. 14. There was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that 
 all people, nations, and languages, should serve him. 27. And all do- 
 minions shall serve and obey him. Psal. lxxii. 11. Yea, all kings shall 
 fall down before him; all nations shall serve him. Rev. i. 5. The Prince 
 of the kings of the earth. Isa. xlix. 23. And kings shall be thy nursing 
 fathers. Rev. xxi. 24. And the nations of them that are saved, shall walk 
 in the light of it; and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and 
 honour into it. 
 
 9. The Christian civil ruler cannot lawfully be vested 
 with a power in and over the church, as she possesses 
 an intrinsic and independent power from the Lord 
 Jesus, and is not placed in subjection to any other. 
 He may not, by his authority, call or adjourn her meet- 
 ings — he may not interfere with her proceedings, when 
 these do not injure the public peace — he may not pre- 
 scribe to her a confession of faith, or forms of worship 
 — he may not enforce the profession of religion bv the 
 sword — nor assume any manner of power or authoritv 
 in the church of Christ. But it is his duty to see that 
 the violation of the moral law — in open contempt of 
 the being of God — in gross and public idolatry — in 
 open blasphemy of the name of God — or in open pro- 
 fanation of the Sabbath — as well as by injustice, 
 licentiousness, and violence, be duly restrained, as 
 scandalizing to religion and the church of God, as 
 hurtful to the peace and good order of society, and as 
 provoking the displeasure and rebukes of the Almighty 
 against the nation. He also ought to remove external 
 impediments to the progress of Christianity — to protect 
 
 2 G 
 
 re ; V 
 
332 
 
 the church in the enjoyment of her liberties, from the 
 abuse and contempt of the profane and malignant — 
 and make regulations for the external support and 
 welfare of the church of Christ — but he must not 
 assume authority, nor presume to legislate, in her 
 internal concerns. In order to all this, the civil ruler 
 must personally profess and exemplify Christianity, 
 and officially give his power and his strength to the 
 Prince of the kings of the earth. In certain states of 
 the church and of the world, it may be difficult to point 
 out the manner and extent, in which he may be, law- 
 fully and constitutionally, authorized to exercise his 
 power for the visible interests of religion. Yet this 
 principle is not, on this account, to be rejected. The 
 Scriptures enjoin that kings shall kiss the Son; and 
 they prophetically exhibit a time when, without any 
 improper blending of civil and ecclesiastical authority, 
 each shall, in its own sphere, promote, and both, in a 
 friendly manner, co-operate in advancing the glory of 
 God and the interest of the kingdom of Christ, and 
 the happiness of mankind. 
 
 Mat. xxiii. 10. One is your Master, even Christ. Mat. xvi. 19. And I 
 will give unto tbee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Eph. v. 23, 24. 
 Christ is the head of the church. The church is subject to Christ. 
 2 Chron. xxvi. 18. It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense 
 unto the Lord. Rom. xiii. 4. For be beareth not the sword in vain; for 
 he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that 
 doeth evil. 2 Chron. xiv. 2. And Asa did that which was good and right. 
 3. He took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and 
 brake down their images. 1 Kings xv. 12, 25. And he took away the 
 Sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols which his father had 
 made. Exod. xx. 10. Nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. Isa. lx. 
 10. Kings shall minister unto thee. 12. For the kingdom and nation 
 that will not serve thee shall perish. 2 Chron. xxix. 2. And he did right 
 in the sight of the Lord. 4. And he brought in the priests and the 
 Levites and gathered them together. 15. And they gathered their bre- 
 thren and sanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment 
 of the king, by the words of the Lord, to cleanse the house of the Lord. 
 Dan. vii. 22. And the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. 
 Psal. ii. 12. Kiss the Son. Rev. xi. 15. The kingdoms of this world are 
 become the kingdoms of our Lord, and his Christ. 
 
 10. When Christians do not enjoy a constitution of 
 civil society, founded on the basis of scriptural mor- 
 ality, and recognizing the interest of true religion, it is 
 
333 
 
 still their duty from a conscientious regard to the ordi- 
 nance of God, as much as in them lies, to promote all 
 the scriptural ends of civil government, by peaceable 
 deportment, and by the support of whatever is moral 
 and praise-worthy, when they are permitted to do so, 
 without being required to acknowledge the lawfulness 
 of authority constituted on immoral principles. In 
 nations not illuminated with the light of the word of God, 
 civil authority should be recognized when it does not 
 violate the law of nature. In these nations the design 
 of God by the institution of magistracy, as a moral 
 ordinance, for the divine glory and human good, is not 
 fully accomplished, nor can the chief purpose for which 
 it has been placed under the feet of the Redeemer be 
 secured. The introduction, and application of scrip- 
 tural light should, therefore, be an object of earnest 
 desire, and even of conscientious and prudent aim and 
 endeavour. In parts of the world enjoying revelation, 
 when a people in framing their civil constitutions and 
 appointing their magistrates, overlook, reject, or relin- 
 quish the Scriptures as the supreme standard, enact 
 laws inimical to the kingdom of Christ, and favour the 
 interests of antichrist, the constitutions and authorities, 
 becoming thus immoral and antichristian, cannot 
 innocently be recognized. In this case, the Christian, 
 having entered his protest, and continuing to testify 
 against authority so constituted and administered, still 
 regarding the ordinance of G od as it is delivered in the 
 Scriptures, will conscientiously perform things moral 
 and just, and promote the peace and good order of 
 society. To imposts, even of an oppressive nature, if 
 not exacted expressly for an immoral purpose, nor 
 required as a pledge of subjection to authority, Chris- 
 tians may submit, for wrath's sake. But they cannot 
 swear allegiance to, nor recognize as the moral ordi- 
 nance of God for good, authority that is immoral and 
 antichristian. 
 
 1 Pet. ii. 12. Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles. 13. 
 Submit yourselves to everv ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. 16. As 
 
334 
 
 free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness. Rom. ii. 14. 
 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things 
 contained in the law, these having not the law, are a law unto themselves. 
 Jer. xxix. 4. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all 
 that are carried away captives. 5. Build ye houses and dwell in them. 
 6. Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters. 7. And seek the peace 
 of the city, whither I have caused you to be carried away captive ; for in 
 the peace thereof, ye shall have peace. Acts iv. 19. Whether it be right 
 in the sight of God, to hearken unto you, more than unto God, judge ye. 
 Rev. xvii. 14. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall 
 overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they that 
 are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. Hab. i. 12. O Lord, 
 thou hast ordained them for judgment: and O mighty God, thou hast es- 
 tablished them for correction. Neh. ix. 37. And it yieldeth much increase 
 unto the kings whom thou hast set over us, because of our sins: also they 
 have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and 
 we are in great distress. Mat. vi. 10. Thy kingdom come. Isa. i. 26. 
 And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as 
 at the beginning; afterwards thou shalt be called, The city of righteous- 
 ness, The faithful city. Num. xxiii. 9. Lo, the people shall dwell alone, 
 and shall not be reckoned among the nations. Rev. xi. 3. And I will 
 give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand 
 two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. 
 
 11. Christians living in peace, and, in their private 
 capacity, furthering the ends of civil government and 
 good order, while they do not incorporate with the 
 national society, and are submitting to certain dis- 
 abilities and privations on this account, are nevertheless 
 entitled to protection in their lives, property, and liberty, 
 having contributed their proportion of the common 
 taxations. Christians may live within the limits of the 
 soil, and enjoy the protection of strangers within the 
 gates, without being incorporated with the national 
 society, or involved in the guilt that may attach to its 
 constitution or administration. To compel them to do 
 those things which are inconsistent with their declared 
 conscientious dissent, would be cruel and unjust. In 
 this case, it will be their duty to submit to temporal 
 privations, rather than forego or contradict their testi- 
 mony. 
 
 1 Tim. ii. 2. That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, in all godli- 
 ness and honesty. Exod. xxii. 21. Thou shalt neither vex a stranger nor 
 oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Esth. iii. 8. 
 And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, there is a certain people scattered 
 abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy king- 
 dom; and their laws are divers from all people; neither keep they the 
 king's laws; therefore it is not for the king's profit to suffer them. 9. If 
 
335 
 
 it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed. Heb. xi. 
 36. And others had trial of cruel mockings, and scourgings, yea, more- 
 over of bonds and imprisonments. 38. (Of whom the world was not 
 worthy) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens, and in 
 caves of the earth. Rev. xi. 3. They shall prophesy clothed in sackcloth. 
 7. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that 
 ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and 
 shall overcome them, and kill them. 
 
 We testify against the folio wing errors ; — That mar- 
 riage is not an ordinance of God, nor necessary to par- 
 ties living together as husband and wife ; — that vows of 
 celibacy may be entered into ; — that polygamy is lawful ; 
 — that marriage is unlawful to the ministers of religion ; 
 — that a man may marry any of his wife's kindred 
 nearer in blood than he may of his own ; — or, that a 
 woman may many any of her husband's kindred, nearer 
 in blood than she may of her own; — and that divorce 
 is lawful in other cases than adultery, or irremediable 
 desertion. 
 
 More particularly, on the subject of civil government, 
 we testify against the following errors; — That civil 
 goverment is not the moral ordinance of God; — that 
 Christians are not bound to submit to civil authority; 
 — that the light of nature is sufficient to direct man to 
 glorify God in the natural and moral relations of life ; 
 — that divine revelation is not the rule by which Chris- 
 tians ought to direct their civil conduct, even in nations 
 possessing the Scriptures ; — that magistracy is founded 
 on grace ; — that a government existing by the provi- 
 dence of God, and by the consent of the people, is, 
 independently of its moral character or conformity to 
 the divine law, to be fully recognized as the moral 
 ordinance of God; — that infidel, heretical, or immoral 
 persons may be lawful civil magistrates, in aland enjoying 
 the Bible; — that a magistrate, as such, has no concern 
 whatever with religion, or the kingdom of Christ; — that 
 the repression of gross outward public acts of idolatry or 
 blasphemy is persecution ; — that a magistrate may be 
 constituted the Head of the church; — that blasphemy 
 and idolatry maybe authoritatively and legally tolerated 
 in a kingdom; — that allegiance may be sworn to 
 2g -2 
 
336 
 
 immoral antichristian constitutions ; — that prayers are 
 to be offered up to Godfor the establishment of such con- 
 stitutions ; — that Christians are bound to effect a change 
 in the moral state of the nations by the sword, or to 
 attempt reformation by other than moral means ; — that 
 the doctrine of magistracy does not come within the 
 province of the pulpit, and should form no part of a tes- 
 timony for the truth ; — that it is lawful for civil rulers to 
 sanction the sale or purchase of human beings as an 
 article of traffic ; — that it is unlawful, in any case, to 
 wage war in defence of liberty or religion. 
 
 In the present day, it is, perhaps, unnecessary to 
 say any thing on the exploded doctrine of passive 
 obedience and non-resistance. This is a doctrine of the 
 Romish school ; and it has operated most prejudicially 
 to the cause of Christianity, particularly in those coun- 
 tries where Christianity and Popery are not known to 
 be different. The claim to indiscriminate and absolute 
 submission, winch has been set up by civil and eccle- 
 siastical rulers, the one often supporting the other, has 
 led many to disavow, and to reprobate Christianity 
 altogether. And it has been attempted to support these 
 unreasonable claims by an appeal to those passages 
 which enjoin obedience, exhibited apart from those 
 which describe the character of the powers and autho- 
 rities to which that obedience is due. The legitimacy 
 of existing powers has always been assumed, rather 
 than confirmed by an appeal to scriptural authority. 
 The principles of Episcopacy, acknowledging the su- 
 periority of Archbishops and Bishops, their subjection to 
 the Crown, and close incorporation with the State,natively 
 lead to the doctrine of passive obedience, and foster the 
 spirit of arbitrary power. These principles have, in 
 former times, led to the oppression, and even persecu- 
 tion to the death of those who dared to try the claims 
 of rulers by the infallible standard of right and wrong. 
 Under the accusation of rebellion and treason, many of 
 the saints have been put to death, because they would 
 not acknowledge, nor give allegiance to unlawful powers, 
 
337 
 
 nor yield obedience to their unrighteous mandates. 
 The tide of opinion ran high in this matter, and obed- 
 ience was inculcated in the strongest, and most indis- 
 criminate terms ; while no care was shown to ascertain, 
 by a scriptural test, the character of the powers for 
 which this obedience was claimed. Recent political 
 discussions have produced a considerable change in the 
 public sentiment on this subject. It is matter of 
 regret that this has arisen more from the current of 
 political opinion, than from a direct regard to scriptural 
 authority ; many in the Christian community remaining 
 strongly averse to bring the subject to the test of scrip- 
 tural principle. The exceeding broad commandment 
 of God embraces this branch of duty as well as others ; 
 and the Christian, esteeming all the precepts of God 
 concerning all things to be right, yields himself to the 
 divine authority, and is not ashamed when he has a 
 respect to all God's commandments. 
 
 In this part of our testimony, we have in view the 
 sentiments ; — That " whatever power is set up by the 
 majority of the people, and exists by the providence of 
 God, is to be acknowledged and obeyed for conscience 
 sake ; — and that there is no distinction, in respect of 
 obligation, between magistrates set up by the preceptive 
 will of God, and such as exist by his providential will 
 only; all providential magistrates being also preceptive." 
 The protracted argument of our fathers, on this subject, 
 did not arise, as must appear from the history of the 
 controversy, from strange fancies and abstract views, on 
 their part, but from an endeavour to abide by the entire 
 interest of the covenanted reformation, and to give a 
 faithful testimony against defections from it, in the state 
 as well as in the church. Although the controversy led 
 into abstract reasoning, we have not lost sight of the 
 original objectof their testimony on this subject — a duti- 
 ful adherence to the scriptural excellencies of the refor- 
 mation, as embraced by the state as well as by the church. 
 Recent discussions have brought this argument into 
 greater publicity and popularity, in certain departments 
 
338 
 
 of the Christian church, than it obtained in former times. 
 And, on this account, it may be less necessary to revive 
 it, in all its bearings. While the general principle of 
 the subjection of the nations to God and his Anointed 
 is by many conceded and ably pled, it is also desirable 
 that it were faithfully applied to the conduct of the 
 nation at the Revolution, at the Union, in recent public 
 acts tending to subvert our Protestant constitution, and 
 to our present national character, as a means of point- 
 ing out our sin, and recalling us to the path of duty. 
 And O ! how much is it to be desired, that persons, who 
 are of one heart and of one soul in these matters, were 
 so united, as to give unity and effect to their testimony, 
 prayers, and endeavours, that the Lord may heal the 
 breaches with which our land shakes, restore us judges 
 as at the first, and counsellors as at the beginning, and 
 make us again a "habitation of justice and mountain 
 of holiness." 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 OF OATHS AND COVENANTS. 
 
 1. Swearing is an ordinance of God, founded on the 
 moral law, revealed in the Scripture, and not abrogated 
 in the New Testament. By an oath, the person is 
 brought under a distinct, and superadded obligation. 
 When lawful in their matter and manner, and lawfully 
 required and administered, oaths are to be sworn to the 
 glory of God, for confirming evidence, strengthening 
 obligation, and terminating strife. An oath is to be 
 taken in the plain and obvious sense of the words, with- 
 out equivocation or mental reservation, in the name of 
 God, with the lifting up of the right hand. It is an act 
 of religious worship, and is a solemn appeal to the 
 omniscience and retributive justice of God. 
 
339 
 
 Deut. vi. 13. Thou shalt fear the Lord — and shalt swear by his name. 
 Exod. xx. 7. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. 
 Mat. v. 33. Thou shalt not forswear thyself; but shalt perform unto the 
 Lord thine oaths. Heb. vi. 16. An oath for confirmation is to them an 
 end of all strife. Gen. xiv. 22. I have lifted up my hand unto the Lord, 
 the most high God. Rev. x. 5, 6. And the angel — lifted up his hand to 
 heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever and ever. 2 Cor. xi. 31. 
 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ — knoweth that I lie not. 
 Num. v. 19. And the priest shall charge her bv an oath. — Con. XXII. 1. 
 2, 4; Cat. 112, 113. 
 
 •2. Xo man should be admitted to make, or to ad- 
 minister an oath in an official character, who does not 
 understand its nature, and who does not appear to 
 know and fear God. Oaths are to be sworn only on 
 just and weighty occasions, and with due solemnity 
 and reverence. 
 
 Exod. xx. 7. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in 
 vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in 
 vain. Eccl. ix. 2. The good — the sinner — he that sweareth — he that 
 feareth an oath. Exod. xxii. 9. The cause of both parties shall come be- 
 fore the judges. Then shall an oath of the Lord be between them both. 
 Xum. v. 19. And the priest shall charge her by an oath. Deut. xix. 15, 
 17. At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, 
 shall the matter be established. Then both the men between whom the 
 controversy is, shall stand before the Lord, before the priests, and the 
 judges which shall be in those days. Exod. xviii. 21, 22. Thou shalt pro- 
 vide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hat- 
 ing covetousness; and place such over them, and let them judge the 
 people at all seasons. — Con. XXII. 3. 
 
 3. Mutual oaths may be sworn by rulers and people, 
 for the glory of God, and their mutual security — rulers 
 binding themselves to put in faithful execution the laws 
 of God — and people binding themselves to maintain 
 and defend righteous rulers, in the lawful exercise of 
 their authority. 
 
 2 Kings xi. 17. And Jehoiada made a covenant — between the king also 
 and the people. 4. And Jehoiada fetched the rulers and took an oath of 
 them in the house of the Lord. Eccl. viii. 2. I counsel thee to keep the 
 king ? s commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God, or, but ac- 
 cording to tlte word of the oath, of God. — National Cov. Sol. League. 
 
 4. It is competent to the individual Christian, and 
 it is his duty, to dedicate himself to God, by solemn 
 vow, or oath. In this case a vow, or oath, assumes a 
 Christian or spiritual character, and is not merely 
 civil, or moral. It is the taking hold of the everlast- 
 
340 
 
 ing covenant of God, and engaging in the strength 
 of grace, to perform all the duties which it requires. 
 No Christian may bind himself to do any thing which 
 is forbidden in the word of God, which would hinder 
 any commanded duty, which is not in his power, or 
 for the performance of which there is no promise of 
 ability. 
 
 Num. xxx. 2. If a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or swear an oath to 
 bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word. Psal. lxxvi. 11. 
 Vow, and pay unto the Lord your God. Isa. xliv. 5. One shall say, I am 
 the Lord's. Zech. xiii. 9. They shall say, the Lord is my God. Isa. lvi. 
 6. Every one that taketh hold of my covenant. — Con. XXII. 7. 
 
 5. It is the duty of the Christian church, in her 
 social capacity, occasionally, to vow to the Lord; em- 
 bracing the covenant of grace, for the maintenance 
 of truth, the observance of the ordinances of religion, 
 and performance of all commanded duties, to confirm 
 her unity, and maintain her stability in the Christian 
 cause. 
 
 Exod. xix. 8. And all the people answered together and said, All that 
 the Lord hath spoken we will do. Isa. xix. 21. Yea, they shall vow a 
 vow unto the Lord. Jer. 1. 5. Come, and let us join ourselves to the 
 Lord, in a perpetual covenant. 2 Cor. viii. 5. And this they did not as 
 we hoped, but first gave their ownselves to the Lord, and unto us by the 
 will of God. Heb. viii. 8, 10. I will make a new covenant with the house 
 of Israel, and with the house of Judah. — I will be to them a God, and 
 they shall be to me a people. 
 
 6. Nations, being necessarily under the moral 
 law, and having received and embraced the Christian 
 religion, ought, in their social capacity, to enter into 
 solemn covenant with God, for the preservation of 
 their liberties, and for maintaining the interests of the 
 kingdom of Christ, as the surest basis of public peace 
 and prosperity. 
 
 Dan. vii. 14. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a king- 
 dom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him. Isa. lxii. 
 4. Thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah ; for the Lord 
 delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. Psal. lxviii. 31. Princes 
 shall come out of Egypt: Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto 
 God. Rev. xi. 15. The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms 
 of our Lord, and of his Christ. Zech. ii. 11. And many nations shall be 
 joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. 
 
341 
 
 7. The oaths, or covenants, of a church or nation, 
 when lawful in their matter, and founded on the word 
 of God, continue binding, until the design of them has 
 been fully accomplished, and their obligation descends 
 upon the posterity of those who have entered into them ; 
 which distinct descending obligation arises — not only, 
 from the unchangeable obligation of moral and Chris- 
 tian duty — nor only from the social body remaining, 
 virtually, the same moral subject, though the individuals 
 are changed — but from the divine will, as revealed in 
 the Holy Scriptures. God may bring his moral sub- 
 jects under obligation unto him, in whatever way he 
 pleases ; and it is no injury, but an advantage and hon- 
 our, to have privileges thus entailed, with their corres- 
 ponding obligations. 
 
 Eccl. v. 4. When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it. 
 Better it is that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow, 
 and not pay. Deut. xxiii. 21. When thou shalt vow a vow unto the Lord 
 thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the Lord thy God will surely 
 require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee. Deut. v. 2, 3. The Lord 
 our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this 
 covenant with our fathers, but with us, even with us, who are all of us 
 here alive this day. Deut. xxix. 14. Neither with you only do I make 
 this covenant and this oath. But with him that standeth here with us 
 this day before the Lord our God, and also with him that is not here with 
 us this day. Josh. ix. 15. And Joshua made a league with them, to let 
 them live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them. Com- 
 pared with 2 Sam. xxi. 1. It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because 
 he slew the Gibeonites. Jer. xi. 10. The house of Israel, and the house 
 of Judah have broken my covenant, which I made with their fathers. 
 
 We testify against those who maintain that it is 
 unlawful in any case to make an oath : — we condemn 
 the unnecessarily frequent use, and gross profanation of 
 this ordinance in the ordinary affairs of trade and com- 
 merce ; — the superstitious form of swearing, by laying 
 the hand upon, or kissing, the Gospels ; — the appoint- 
 ment of irreligious men to offices in which they are 
 called to administer oaths; — and all oaths of allegiance 
 to immoral and antichristian constitutions. We must 
 also testify against those who deny; — that religious 
 covenanting in the Christian church is a moral duty; — 
 that nations should embrace the interest of the king- 
 dom of Christ, and vow allegiance to Him ; — and that 
 
342 
 
 the scriptural oaths of the church, or of the nations that 
 have embraced Christianity, continue obligatory on 
 their posterity. 
 
 The Society called Friends, or Quakers, deny the 
 lawfulness of swearing an oath in any case. In Eng- 
 land and Ireland, an oath is administered by the per- 
 son kissing, or laying his hand upon the Gospels or New 
 Testament. This is a custom of heathen origin. It 
 was adopted by the Romish church, and has been re- 
 ceived from her by the church of England. The 
 multiplication of oaths in civil business, particularly in 
 custom-houses, and in the department of the excise, 
 has long been matter of deep regret to Christian obser- 
 vers. There is reason to fear that there is not only an 
 unnecessary and irreverent use of this ordinance, but 
 that thousands are involved in the guilt of perjury. 
 But our testimonj ? , under this head, has a special refer- 
 ence to the National Covenants. 
 
 The National Covenant of Scotland, and the Solemn 
 League of Scotland, England and Ireland, held a con- 
 spicuous place in the memorable reformations, by which 
 our land was distinguished. It may justly be expected 
 that these national deeds should be brought into hon- 
 ourable and prominent view, in connexion with a testi- 
 mony for the great cause, in behalf of which they were 
 framed and sworn. Adherence to the grand object of 
 these covenants, the scriptural reformation of the two 
 great moral associations of Church and State, and to 
 the obligation lying upon these lands, from these deeds, 
 which were repeatedly renewed, forms a chief ground of 
 our distinct ecclesiastical standing. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 OF A TESTIMONY FOR TRUTH. 
 
 1. Every Christian should be a witness for Christ. 
 It is his duty to make a decided and public profession 
 
343 
 
 of the truths of his gracious Master, to the glory of 
 God, the gaining of disciples, and the conviction of 
 gainsay ers. 
 
 Isa. xliii. 10. Ye are my -witnesses, saith the Lord. John xv. 27. And 
 ye also shall bear witness*. Acts i. 8. But ye shall receive power, after 
 that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto 
 me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the 
 uttermost part of the earth. Mat. x. 32. Whosoever, therefore, shall con- 
 fess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in 
 heaven. Rom. x. 10. With the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 
 Heb. iv. 14. Let us hold fast our profession. 1 Cor. i. 6. The testimony 
 of Christ was confirmed in you. 2 Cor. ix. 13. They glorify God for your 
 professed subjection to the gospel of Christ. 
 
 2. The ministers of the Christian church, being set 
 for the defence of the gospel, are doctrinally to state 
 and defend the truths of the Scriptures, in particular 
 opposition to the contrary and prevailing errors. And 
 it is their duty, in conjunction with the helps and gov- 
 ernments set in the church, acting in the name of 
 Christ, and as the representatives of the church, to ex- 
 hibit a public confession, or testimony, in behalf of the 
 truths of the gospel, the ordinances of God, the institu- 
 tions of Christ, and the universal interests of the king- 
 dom of the Redeemer. 
 
 Acts xxvi. 16. I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make 
 thee a minister and a witness. Phil. i. 7. Knowing that I am set for the 
 defence of the gospel. 2 Tim. i. 8. Be not thou, therefore, ashamed of 
 the testimony of our Lord. Acts xv. 16. And the apostles and elders 
 came together, for to consider of this matter, xvi. 4. The decrees that 
 were ordained of the apostles and elders, w T hich were at Jerusalem. Rev. 
 ii. 2. Thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and 
 hast found them liars. 1 Tim. iii. 15. The church of God, the pillar and 
 ground of truth. Zech. viii. 3. Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth. 
 Isa. lxii. 10. Go through, Go through the gates: prepare ye the way of 
 the people; cast up, cast up the high way; gather out the stones; lift up 
 a standard for the people. 
 
 3. This testimony should comprehend all the truths 
 of the Bible, in so far as they have been ascertained. 1 
 In the discernment and profession of divine truth, the 
 church has hitherto been only in a state of progress. 2 
 Her testimony should embrace all her past attainments, 
 the truths which have been confessed by faithful mar- 
 tvrs, and sealed bv their blood, 3 the present truth or 
 
 2 H 
 
344 
 
 word of Christ's patience, 4 together with a faithful expo- 
 sure of prevailing errors. 5 
 
 1 John xvi. 13. When he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you 
 into all truth, xv. 26, 27. He shall testify of me. And ye also shall bear 
 witness. 2 Phil. iii. 16. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, 
 let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. 3 Rev. ii. 1 3. 
 Thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those 
 days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr. 4 Rev. iii. 10. Thou hast 
 kept the word of my patience. 2 Pet. i. 12. Though ye know them, and 
 be established in the present truth. 5 1 John iv. 6. Hereby know we the 
 spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. Phil. iii. 18. Many walk of whom 
 I have told you often, and now tell you, even weeping, that they are the 
 enemies of the cross of Christ. Rom. xvi. 17. Now I beseech you, bre- 
 thren, mark them which cause divisions and offences, contrary to the 
 doctrine which ye have learned, and avoid them. Tit. iii. 10. A man 
 that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject. 
 
 4. The testimony of the church, although founded 
 upon the Holy Scriptures, is, in various particulars, 
 distinct from them. The Scriptures are inspired, 
 infallible, perfect, invariable, and the foundation of the 
 church's testimony. The testimony of the church is 
 uninspired, imperfect, variable, and built upon the 
 foundation of the apostles and prophets; and because 
 it must be adapted to the movements of error, and the 
 evolution of the scheme of providence, it is progressive. 
 And it ought to be exhibited in the form that is most 
 eligible, and best fitted to promote the various uses of 
 a testimony for the truth. 
 
 Rev. vi. 9. I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for 
 the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. 2 Tim. i. 13. 
 Hold fast the form of sound words. Rev. xii. 11. And they overcame 
 him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony. Rev. 
 iii. 10. Thou hast kept the word of my patience. Col. i. 10. Increasing 
 in the knowledge of God. Heb. vi. 1. Let us go on unto perfection. Isa. 
 viii. 20. To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to 
 this word, it is because there is no light in them. 
 
 5. The church is not at liberty to recede from a more 
 clear and particular testimony, to one more general and 
 indefinite. She ought not to suffer important truths, 
 to the knowledge and profession of which she has at- 
 tained, to drop from her testimony, even with the view 
 of promoting union and enlargement ; but holding fast 
 that which is good, it should be her endeavour to go 
 forward unto that state of comparative perfection, which 
 
345 
 
 there is reason to expect she shall attain, even on the 
 earth. 
 
 1 Thes. v. 21. Prove all things: hold fast that which is good. Rev. ii. 
 25. But that which ye have already, hold fast till I come. Rev. xi. 7. 
 And when they shall" have finished their testimony. Isa. xxx. 26. More- 
 over the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light 
 of the sun shall be as the light of seven days. Rev. xx. 4. And judgment 
 was given unto them — and they lived and* reigned with Christ a thousand 
 years. 
 
 Accordingly we testify against the following senti- 
 ments : — That a person acknowledging Christianity 
 may live without making any particular profession of 
 it ; — that the Bible is the only testimony of the church; — 
 that creeds and confessions are of no use in the church, 
 but are unwarrantable and pernicious ; — that the church 
 has nothing to do with the faithful contendings and 
 testimonies of the witnesses of Christ in former genera- 
 tions; — that testimony — bearing is inconsistent with 
 faithfully attending to the interests of practical religion 
 in the soul ; — that it is lawful, in order to enlarge the 
 church and extend her communion, to recede from a 
 more particular scriptural testimony, to one more gen- 
 eral and undefined. 
 
 The Reformed Presbyterian Church has been organ- 
 ized, on an adherence to the principles of the Protestant 
 Presbyterian Covenanted Church of Scotland. These 
 principles have been exhibited in the Covenants, West- 
 minster Confession, Catechisms, the Form of Presby- 
 terial Church-Government, the Directory for Worship, 
 and in the Testimonies of the Martyrs ; and we believe 
 them to be substantially founded on the Bible. When 
 we specify these writings, we are not pledged to defend 
 every sentiment, or expression, to be found in them. 
 We have given a declaration of the scriptural prin- 
 ciples to which we adhere. And while we have endea- 
 voured to give the reason of our faith from the Holy 
 Scriptures, we cheerfully refer to the testimonies of the 
 Church of Scotland, in proof that these principles have 
 been embraced by her, and of our approbation of her 
 zeal and fidelity. 
 
346 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 OF SCRIPTURE PROPHECY, AS AFFECTING THE CHURCH'S 
 TESTIMONY AND PRACTICE. 
 
 1. Besides the light which the Scripture throws upon 
 every subject of morals and religion, and upon the 
 grand designs of Providence, it comprehends in it a 
 scheme of Prophecy — a prospective outline of the whole 
 duration of time, in relation to the kingdom of Christ. 
 It has pleased Him, who declares the end from the 
 beginning, to give a prophetical view of the kingdom of 
 Christ, from its commencement, to the consummation 
 of all things. Besides what is scattered through the 
 sacred volume at large, the Book of Daniel and the 
 Revelation of John exhibit a regularly digested scheme 
 of divine prediction. In the latter particularly, the 
 scheme of prophecy, as relating to the kingdom of 
 Christ in the last days, is carried forward through its 
 several stages, to the end of the world ; with the design 
 of affording increasing evidence of the truth of divine 
 revelation, light and comfort to the saints in the study 
 of divine providence, special direction in duty, and, by 
 strengthening the faith, hope, patience, and zeal of the 
 saints, to give particular preparation for the events fore- 
 told. These prophecies, besides announcing future 
 events relating to the kingdom of Christ, embody in 
 them moral and Christian principles, to direct the faith 
 and practice of the saints. 
 
 Isa. xlvi. 10. Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient 
 times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, 
 and I will do all my pleasure. Amos hi. 7. Surely the Lord God will 
 do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. 
 2 Pet. i. 19. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye 
 do well that ye take heed: as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, 
 until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts. Mat. xxiv. 25. 
 Behold, I have told you before. John xiv. 29. And now I have told you 
 before,— that when it is come to pass, ye might believe. Rev. i. 19. 
 Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and 
 the things which shall be hereafter. Rev. xiii. 10. Here is the patience 
 and the faith of the saints. Rev. xix. 10. The testimony of Jesus is the 
 spirit of prophecy. 
 
347 
 
 2. It is the duty of every Christian, and of the 
 Christian church, to study the prophecies — comparing 
 them with other parts of the divine word — carefully 
 observing the movements of providence — and, in depen- 
 dence upon the Holy Spirit, endeavouring to derive 
 from them confirmation to faith, direction in prayer and 
 duty, and patience and comfort under the most trying 
 aspects of the divine dispensations. Rash dogmatical 
 explanations, fanciful and illiterate interpretations, pre- 
 mature and sanguine expectations, and partial and 
 political expositions, form no just objection, or ground 
 of prejudice, against the study of the inspired predic- 
 tions. The moral principles and Christian doctrines 
 implied in them, equally with the other parts of Scrip- 
 ture, are profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and 
 instruction in righteousness. And although it is not 
 for us to know the times and the seasons with perfect 
 chronological precision, it never having been intended 
 that the prophecies should be perfectly understood 
 before the events, yet so much of their meaning may 
 be learned by the humble inquirer, as is sufficient to 
 give him present direction in maintaining a testimony 
 for the truth, and to inspire him with patience and hope, 
 while waiting for the events. 
 
 Rev. i. 3. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that keep the words of 
 this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the 
 time is at hand. Dan. xii. 10. But the wise shall understand. 12. Bles- 
 sed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and 
 five and thirty days. 
 
 3. At this advanced period of the history of the world, 
 we are sufficiently assured, by comparing the predic- 
 tions with the events, that the apostacy described by 
 Paul, in his second epistle to the Thessalonians, and in 
 his first epistle to Timothy, is that gross corruption of 
 Christian doctrines and institutions, and abuse of eccle- 
 siastical and civil power, which have so long existed in 
 the Romish church. And there is ample evidence to 
 prove that the same corruption is represented in the 
 book of Daniel, and in the Revelation of John, under 
 
 2h2 
 
348 
 
 various striking symbols. There is no reason to sur- 
 render the position that was assumed by the faithful 
 Waldenses, and afterwards by the whole succession of 
 Protestants : " That the church of Rome is the Babylon 
 described in the book of the Revelation." These pro- 
 phetical books ought to be employed, in connection 
 with other parts of Scripture, in confirming the Protes- 
 tant cause, and in giving authority to a faithful testi- 
 mony against the perversions of Christian doctrine and 
 institutions by the church of Rome. They are valuable, 
 not merely for an ultimate confirmation of the truth of 
 Christianity by their fulfilment in the events, but for 
 present direction and comfort in the Christian testimony 
 and practice, till the Lord shall consume that Wicked 
 with the spirit of his mouth, and destroy him with the 
 brightness of his coming. 
 
 2 Thes. ii. 3—12. 1 Tim. iv. 1—3. Dan. xi. 36—38. Rev. xii. xiii. xiv. 
 &c. &c. Rev. xviii. 4. Come out of her, my people, that ye be not par- 
 takers of herjsins, and that ye receive not of her plagues, xi. 3. They 
 shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in 
 sackcloth. 10. These two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the 
 earth. 
 
 4. We believe that a period approaches, in which 
 the kingdom of Christ shall triumph over all opposition, 
 and have a universal diffusion, influence, and pros- 
 perity. 1 The Romish antichrist shall be destroyed, 
 and shall cease not only to exert a malignant influence 
 of any kind, on the ecclesiastical and social institutions 
 of those countries where it has prevailed, but to have 
 an organized existence on the face of the earth. 2 The 
 Jews shall be converted to Christianity, and added to 
 the church. 3 The greater fulness of the Gentiles shall 
 be brought in. 4 Mohammedan and Pagan nations shall 
 embrace the religion of Jesus, and all mankind shall 
 possess the knowledge of revealed truth. There is 
 reason to believe, that the truth shall be felt in its 
 illuminating, regenerating, and sanctifying efficacy, by 
 the greater number of those who profess it. Knowledge, 
 love, holiness, and peace shall extensively prevail, 
 under the copious effusions of the Holy Spirit. Arts, 
 
349 
 
 sciences, literature, and wealth shall be consecrated to 
 the service of Christ. The social institutions of men 
 shall be erected and administered under the influence 
 of scriptural principle. 5 Oppression and tyranny shall 
 terminate; wars shall cease from the earth, and the 
 nations be united in peace. The inhabitants of the 
 world shall be exceedingly multiplied, and pure and 
 undefiled religion shall exert supreme dominion over 
 the hearts and lives of men, and diffuse universal felicity. 
 This happy period shall be of long duration. It will 
 be succeeded by a general defection from truth and 
 holiness, and the prevalence of irreligion and crime, 
 which will immediately precede the second coming of 
 the Son of man from heaven. 6 
 
 1 Dan. vii. 14. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a 
 kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his 
 dominion is an everlasting dominion. 27. And the kingdom and domi- 
 nion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be 
 given to the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting 
 kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. Psal. Ixxii; Isa. 
 lx. throughout. 2 Dan. vii. 11. I beheld even till the beast was slain, and 
 his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. 26. But the judg- 
 ment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to 
 destroy it unto the end. 2 Thess. ii. 8. And then shall that "Wicked be 
 revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and 
 destroy with the brightness of his coming. Rev. hi. 15. The kingdoms 
 of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ: 
 and He shall reign for ever and ever. xix. 20. And the beast was taken, 
 and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him. — These 
 both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone, xviii. 2. 
 Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen. 3 Rom. xi. 27. For this is my cove- 
 nant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. 4 Rom. xi. 15. For 
 if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall 
 the receiving of them be, but life from the dead ? 25. Until the fulness 
 of the Gentiles be come in. 5 Isa. ii. 4. And he shall judge among the 
 nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords 
 into plough-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not 
 lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. Isa. 
 xi. 6 — 9. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall 
 lie down with the kid, <fcc. Zech. xiv. 9. And the Lord shall be king 
 over all the earth: In that day shall there be one Lord, and his name 
 one. 6 Rev. xx. 4. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand 
 years. 7, 8. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be 
 loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations. 11. And 
 I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the 
 earth and the heaven fled away. — Cat. 191. 
 
 Embracing these views of the nature and design of 
 Scripture prophecy, we testify against; — those who ne- 
 
350 
 
 gleet to read and study the inspired predictions, as if 
 nothing certain or profitable could be learned from 
 them ; — those who refuse to admit the canonical autho- 
 rity of the book of Revelation ; — those professing Chris- 
 tians who do not point their testimony against the errors 
 of the Romish Antichrist. We also testify against the 
 introduction of the corruptions of Popery into either 
 civil or ecclesiastical constitutions; and particularly 
 against the usurpation of a supremacy over the church 
 by the civil magistrate — against the legal establishment, 
 or authoritative toleration of Popery — against all con- 
 tributions and alliances for its support and establish- 
 ment — and against the omission of prayer for its final 
 overthrow. 
 
 We would not be confident, or dogmatical, in the in- 
 terpretation of unfulfilled prediction. At the same 
 time, we condemn all interpretations of the prophecies 
 of the Old Testament, which are inconsistent with the 
 exposition given of them in the New, and all interpre- 
 tations of Scripture prophecy which are inconsistent 
 with the established doctrines of revelation. We testify 
 against those who interpret the predictions of the future 
 glory of the kingdom of Christ on earth, in the sense of 
 a temporal kingdom, which Jesus Christ is to descend 
 to earth to possess and administer along with his saints, 
 to be raised from the dead for this end : views incom- 
 patible with the nature of the kingdom of Christ, and 
 with the doctrines of the resurrection of the dead and 
 eternal judgment, as set forth in the Scriptures — to say 
 nothing of the errors and extravagance, which have 
 usually attended these sentiments in every age, in which 
 they have, under some temporary excitement, been 
 revived. 
 
351 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 DEATH FUTURE STATE LAST JUDGMENT — ETERNITY. 
 
 1. Death entered into the world by sin, and passes 
 upon all men, because all have sinned. It is, there- 
 fore, in the first view, a legal consequence of sin; and 
 though changed in its character to the believer by- 
 Christ, its universal prevalence is a standing monu- 
 ment of the displeasure of God against sin, and a so- 
 lemn confirmation of the doctrine of Scripture, respect- 
 ing the first transgression. 
 
 Gen. iii. 19. Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return. Rom. v. 
 12. By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so 
 death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. 1 Cor. xv. 22. In 
 Adam all die. 
 
 2. Man is possessed of an immortal spirit, which 
 survives the dissolution of the body, and, retaining all 
 its consciousness, returns immediately to God who gave 
 it. The souls of men at death enter upon a state of 
 felicity in heaven, or of misery in hell. 
 
 Eccl. xii. 7. The spirit shall return unto God who gave it. Mat. x. 28. 
 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. 
 Luke xxiii. 45. To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise, xvi. 22, 23. 
 The beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom ; 
 the rich man also died, and was buried. And in hell he lifted up his eyes, 
 being in torments. — Con. XXXII. 1. 
 
 3. The souls of the righteous are, at death, made 
 perfect in holiness, and are immediately received into 
 the highest heavens. 1 There they are with Christ, and 
 behold the face of the Lord in light and glory, and wait 
 the redemption of their bodies, which, continuing united 
 to Christ, rest in their graves till the resurrection. 2 
 And the souls of the wicked are at their death cast into 
 hell, where they remain in torments and utter darkness, 
 and their bodies are kept in their graves, as in prisons, 
 till the resurrection and judgment. 3 
 
 1 Heb. xii. 23. And to the spirits of just men made perfect. 2 Cor. v. 
 8. Willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the 
 Lord. 2 Phil. i. 23. Having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; 
 
352 
 
 which is far better. 1 Cor. xiii. 12. For now we see through a glass, 
 darkly, but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know 
 even as also I am known. Rom. viii. 23. And not only they, but ourselves 
 also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan 
 within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our 
 body. Psal. xvi. 9. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth; 
 my flesh also shall rest in hope. 3 Luke xvi. 23. And in hell he lifted up 
 his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in 
 his bosom. Acts i. 25. That he may take part of this ministry and apos- 
 tleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his 
 own place, Jude 6, 7. And the angels which kept not their first estate, 
 but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains, 
 under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom 
 and Gomorrha, and the cities about them, in like manner, giving them- 
 selves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth an 
 example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. — Con. XXXII. 1 ; Cat. 
 86. 
 
 4. " God hath appointed a day in which he will judge 
 the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath 
 ordained ; whereof he hath given assurance unto all 
 men, in that he raised him from the dead." For this 
 end Jesus will descend from heaven, in glorious ma- 
 jesty. Then there shall be a resurrection of the dead, 
 both of the just and of the unjust. Those bodies which 
 were deposited in the graves, shall be re-united to the 
 spirits that left them at death; and the dead being raised, 
 shall, along with all those who shall then be alive on the 
 earth, appear before the judgment-seat of Christ. 
 
 Acts xvii. 31. xxiv. 15. John v. 28, 29. Marvel not at 'this: For the 
 hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his 
 voice, and shall come forth ; they that have done good, unto the resurrec- 
 tion of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of dam- 
 nation. 1 Cor. xv. 31. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. 
 2 Cor. v. 10. For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ. 
 —Con. XXXIII; Cat. 88. 
 
 5. The righteous shall be raised in glory, and, their 
 bodies being fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body, 
 they shall be separated from the wicked, honourably 
 acquitted, and adjudged to everlasting life, on account 
 of the meritorious righteousness of Christ, and accord- 
 ing to their works; — their works being evidences of 
 their gracious state, as distinguished from the wicked, 
 and of the degrees of their faithful services to Christ, as 
 distinguished from one another. They shall be asses- 
 sors with Christ in the judgment of men and angels. 
 
353 
 
 Whereas the wicked, raised to shame and everlasting 
 contempt, shall be adjudged to everlasting punishment, 
 on account of their guilt and depravity, and their pun- 
 ishment apportioned according to their wickedness. 
 
 Rev. xx. 12. And I saw" the dead small and great, stand before God; 
 and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the 
 book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were 
 written in the books, according to their works. 1 Cor. xv. 43. Raised in 
 glory. Mat. xxv. 33. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand. 3-4. 
 Then shall the King say unto them on the right hand, Come, ye blessed 
 of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation 
 of the world. Mat. xxv. 28. Take, therefore, the talent from him, and 
 give it unto him which hath ten talents. 1 Cor. vi. 2. Do ye not know 
 that the saints shall judge the world ? 3. We shall judge angels. Mat. 
 xxv. 31 — 46. Luke xii. 47. And the servant which knew his lord's will, 
 and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be 
 beaten with many stripes. Mat. xi. 24. But I say unto you, that it shall 
 be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for 
 you.— Con. XXXII. 2, 3; Cat. 89, 90. 
 
 6. The saints and holy angels shall triumphantly 
 pass into glory, whereas the wicked shall be cast into 
 the place of everlasting punishment. The blessedness 
 of the righteous, and the punishment of the wicked, 
 shall be everlasting, in the fullest extent of the meaning 
 of the word, as expressive of duration absolutely with- 
 out end. 
 
 Mat. xxv. 46. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment but 
 the righteous into life eternal. Job xxxvi. 18. Because there is wrath, 
 beware lest he take thee away with his stroke, then a great ransom can- 
 not deliver thee. Rev. xiv. II. And the smoke of their torment ascen- 
 deth for ever and ever. Rom. v. 21. That as sin hath reigned unto death, 
 even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by 
 Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Thess. iv. 17. And so shall we ever be with the 
 Lord. Mark viii. 14. Where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not 
 quenched— Con. XXXIII. 1; Cat. 90. 
 
 Believing in these truths concerning the future and 
 final state of man, we condemn the following errors: — 
 That death is a debt of nature ; — that at death the soul 
 of a man sinks into a state of unconsciousness and in- 
 activity until the resurrection ; — that there is an inter- 
 mediate state, or purgatory. While we condemn the 
 sentiments held on those subjects by Socinians, Rom- 
 anists, and others, we also condemn the views of those 
 who represent the doctrine of the felicity of the saints 
 
354 
 
 in the state of separate spirits to be cold and shadowy, 
 airy and fantastical — views which are inconsistent with 
 the Scripture testimony, and with the hopes and conso- 
 lations of the saints of God. While the saints look for 
 a consummated felicity on the appearing of the great 
 God and Saviour, they ought not to he derided when 
 they believe that, to be absent from the body is to be 
 present with the Lord, and that to depart and to be with 
 Christ, is far better. 
 
 We testify against the following errors : — that there 
 shall be no resurrection of the dead ; — that there shall 
 be no resurrection of the wicked; — that the bodies 
 which shall be raised at the resurrection shall differ in 
 identity from those which were laid in the grave ; — that 
 the wicked shall, after suffering punishment in hell for 
 a time, be liberated, and brought to the enjoyment of 
 happiness; — that the punishment of the wicked shall 
 issue in their annihilation. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Having thus exhibited our testimony, and given reasons 
 of the hope that is in us, we trust with meekness and 
 fear, we conclude with a few general observations. 
 
 1. We have endeavoured to found our testimony for 
 truth on the word of God. In common with other pro- 
 fessors, we put forth the plea, that our confession is 
 Scriptural, and we submit it to this test. To Scripture 
 we make our appeal, we regard it as the first and para- 
 mount authority. Nor do we reckon ourselves justly 
 liable to the imputation of substituting the Confession, 
 or Testimony, of the church in the place of the word of 
 God, and of receiving, or calling upon others to receive 
 it with a divine faith. No, the word of God alone is 
 the foundation of faith. The testimony of the church 
 is only the declaration of her faith in the truths of the 
 divine word. It is adopted as compared with, and 
 
355 
 
 found agreeable to, the Scriptures, and is always subject 
 to revision. " To the law and to the testimony ; if they 
 speak not according to this word, it is because there is 
 no light in them." 
 
 •2. We trust that our testimony is strictly Evangeli- 
 cal. It embraces the great doctrines of the gospel of 
 Christ, respecting man's sinful state and character, the 
 necessity, reality, and efficacy of the atonement, the 
 fulness and riches of divine grace, the influences of the 
 Holy Spirit for regenerating and sanctifying the human 
 character, and the essential importance of faith in the 
 christian life. While we hold the word to be the rule 
 of the christian profession, we equally contend for pre- 
 cious faith in the soul, as the grand subjective princi- 
 ple of this profession, in the absence of which it is im- 
 possible to please God, and the strictest profession is 
 hypocritical and vain. We solemnly enjoin upon the 
 members of the church, the love of God and of Christ, 
 as the grand impelling principle, the word of God as 
 the directing rule, and the glory of God and the Sav- 
 iour, as the ultimate end, in the profession of Christian- 
 ity, and in every department of the christian life. 
 
 3. We regard our testimony as Protestant. In the 
 authority ascribed to the word of God, and in the light 
 in which it regards its doctrines and institutions, it 
 claims this character. The reformation originated in a 
 testimony against the errors, idolatries, and usurpations 
 of Popery. Against these the National Covenant was 
 particularly directed, as were the faithful contendings 
 of the Reformers. We consider the testimony of the 
 witnesses in western Europe, as specially pointed 
 against the Romish Antichrist. Here is the faith and 
 the patience of the saints. We lament that some of the 
 evils of this system remain incorporated with our civil 
 and ecclesiastical establishments, and involve us still 
 in a sinful connexion with Antichrist. We testify 
 against the legal establishment of Popery in our col- 
 onies, against unhallowed alliances with Antichristian 
 powers, against expending the public treasurv in the 
 
 2 i 
 
356 
 
 maintenance of Popery, and the violation of our con- 
 stitution, in the admission of its votaries to the legisla- 
 tive councils. We have no doubt on the subject of its 
 final overthrow, but we cannot behold with apathy its 
 recent visible increase in Britain. The general discon- 
 tinuance of the application of the divine predictions to 
 this system, and of particular prayer to God for its re- 
 moval is ominous. The aspects of the times, and the 
 universal agitation which is shaking society to its basis, 
 give emphasis to the divine call, " Flee out of the midst 
 of Babylon, and deliver every man his own soul ; be 
 not cut off in her iniquity ; for this is the time of the 
 Lord's vengeance ; he will render unto her a recom- 
 pense." Jer. li. 6. " And I heard another voice from 
 heaven, saying, come out of her, my people, that ye be 
 not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her 
 plagues." Rev. xviii. 4. 
 
 4. Our testimony is also Presbyterian. A primary 
 place is to be given to vital Christianity ; and it should 
 be the first care of the christian, to be added to the 
 Lord. But he has a social as well as an individual 
 character, and it should be his care also, for his own 
 sake, and for the glory of the Saviour, to be added to 
 the church. In the performance of this part of chris- 
 tian duty, the injunctions of the Holy Scriptures are to 
 be obeyed, as well as in matters of faith, and of per- 
 sonal religion. The institutions, communion, and 
 government of the church, pertain to the law of Christ, 
 as well as the doctrines and precepts of the gospel, and 
 may not be regarded with indifference. They conduce, 
 under the blessing of the Spirit, to advance vital Chris- 
 tianity in the soul ; they give visibility and influence to 
 christian character, and they enable christians to work 
 together, in accomplishing the great ends for which the 
 church is erected in the world. Provision is made for 
 this purpose in the intimations of the Redeemer's will 
 respecting the government of his house. We have 
 stated, above, our reasons for adopting the presbyterial 
 regimen ; and regarding it, in its grand principles, as 
 
357 
 
 the will of Christ, we view it on this account, as im- 
 portant, obligatory, and, of course, more than any sys- 
 tem of human device, conducive to the prosperity of 
 the church. Alas that it should so often have been re- 
 garded merely as the suggestion of human wisdom, and 
 a device of worldly policy, to be modified as circum- 
 stances may seem to render expedient ! We cannot 
 regard in this light the kingdom of Jesus Christ. 
 Presbyterianism we view as adapted to the nature and 
 circumstances of man — as agreeable to the principles 
 upon which society conducts its affairs, more or less 
 important — as providing for the order, purity, unity, 
 extension and perpetuity of the church — as happily re- 
 moved from the despotism of episcopacy and the an- 
 archy of Congregationalism. By such considerations 
 as these Presbyterian government is recommended. 
 But we are constrained to recognize it on a still higher 
 consideration, and to submit to it as the Institute of 
 Christ, and as such, having the sanction of his high 
 authority, and the promise of his special blessing. 
 
 5. The testimony which we have exhibited also, em- 
 braces the Civil relations of man. It is not political, 
 in the popular sense of this word; but we are not 
 ashamed to avow the sentiment that the word of God is 
 the supreme standard of the political conduct of men, 
 in every thing respecting morality and religion, whether 
 they be viewed individually, or in a corporate capacity; 
 and this sentiment is founded upon the fact, that God 
 has given in his word, plain, numerous, and diversified 
 precepts, in reference to man's civil relations, which 
 we are not at liberty to disregard. The acknowledged 
 importance of this subject, and the difficulty felt in all 
 discussions on it, would suggest the wish, that divine 
 wisdom and authority should interpose their sanction. 
 The goodness of God might foster the expectation that 
 it would be so. And when he has interposed, it is due 
 to the divine authority to receive and obey his will, and 
 to the divine goodness to regard this will as making the 
 best provision for human happiness. Nor have the 
 
358 
 
 civil communities of men, or those who rule them, any 
 thing to fear from genuine Christianity. It does not 
 interfere with previous moral obligations and institu- 
 tions, excepting in so far as it throws upon them a 
 clearer light, and confirms them with its peculiar sanc- 
 tions ; it will supply the surest bond of social union, 
 nourish and cherish the social virtues, afford the most 
 salutary and effective check against the abuse of power, 
 and promote obedience and subordination. It will 
 give dignity to the throne, energy and stability to the 
 government, and promote and diffuse peace and 
 felicity among the people. Hypocrites, who are desti- 
 tute of religion, may assume its garb to deceive and 
 oppress, and persons under the influence of false views, 
 may, in the name of Christianity, persecute and destroy; 
 but these things are not to be laid to the charge of un- 
 corrupted Christianity, whose spirit breathes peace on 
 earth, and good-will toward men. Prevailing ignorance, 
 immorality, infidelity, and division, may place society 
 in a state that it cannot avail itself of the advantages 
 to be derived from the ascendancy of the christian re- 
 ligion in the laws and counsels of nations. But is not 
 such a state to be deplored ? What Christian can sup- 
 press the wish and the prayer, that the principles of 
 pure and undefiled religion may so leaven mankind, 
 that they shall enact their laws, and appoint their rulers, 
 in agreeableness to it ? Why should we argue from a 
 disordered state of things, and from prevailing abuses, 
 against a principle which all christians wish to see 
 adopted and acted upon, and which the word of God 
 assures us shall finally prevail ? For communities and 
 their rulers absolutely to neglect the interests of reli- 
 gion, and of the kingdom of Christ, is to be wanting in 
 duty to the Redeemer, and to omit that which above all 
 things is calculated to promote their prosperity. We 
 avow, then, the obligation of the word of God, over the 
 nations and their rulers, and the subjection of both to 
 the Head of all principality and power. We have pro- 
 tested against the violation of this principle, in different 
 
359 
 
 particulars, by the nation at the Revolution. We still 
 protest against abuses of every description ; but we dare 
 not proscribe a sacred principle, which equally involves 
 the divine glory, the honour of Messiah, and the inter- 
 ests of mankind. When we cast an eye upon the dis- 
 tracted state of the kingdoms, we cannot help regard- 
 ing religion as that alone which can heal them, and the 
 kingdom of Christ, appreciated and embraced, as that 
 alone which can consolidate their peace, and union, 
 and prosperity. "He shall judge thy people with 
 righteousness and thy poor with j udgment. The moun- 
 tains shall bring peace to the people ; and the little 
 hills by righteousness. Yea, all kings shall fall down 
 before him, all nations shall serve him. For the nation 
 and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish, yea, 
 these nations shall be utterly wasted." It is true, the 
 special kingdom of the Redeemer is not of this world ; 
 but it is equally true, that the kingdoms of this world 
 shall become the kingdoms of ourLord and of his Christ. 
 6. We have also to remark, that the great and lead- 
 ing truths of our testimony, have been embraced in 
 solemn covenant with God. Ours is a testimony for 
 the covenanted Reformation in Britain and Ireland. 
 Divine truth has, in itself, a supreme authority over all 
 to whom it is revealed. It has a claim to be believed 
 with the heart and confessed with the mouth. But a 
 distinct and superadded obligation arises from a solemn 
 profession and engagement. This obligation is recog- 
 nized in the word of God, in the transactions between 
 man and man, and in those between God and man. It 
 is specially brought into view in the transactions be- 
 tween God and Israel, in the capacities of a church 
 and a commonwealth: the successive generations of 
 which were held identified with their predecessors, both 
 in respect of privilege and obligation. " He found him 
 in Bethel, and there he spake with us. He turned the 
 sea into dry land. They went through the flood on 
 foot: there did we rejoice in him. The Lord our God 
 made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made 
 2 I 2 
 
360 
 
 not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, 
 who are all of us here alive this day." Hos. xii. 4. Psal. 
 lxvi. 6. Deut. v. 2, 3. How can posterity claim privi- 
 leges, and plead promises, if they cast obligations be- 
 hind their back ? 
 
 Our fathers in the ages that are past consulted not 
 only for themselves but for posterity, in the reformation 
 which they achieved, and to the prosecution of which 
 they pledged themselves. In the National Covenant of 
 Scotland, the errors, idolatries, and tyranny of Rome, 
 were renounced, and a solemn pledge given to defend 
 and preserve the Reformed religion. In the Solemn 
 League, a similar pledge was given for the preservation 
 of the reformed religion in the church of Scotland, in 
 doctrine, worship, discipline, and government, against 
 common enemies, and the reformation of religion in 
 the kingdoms of England and Ireland, according to the 
 word of God. The National Covenant of Scotland was 
 directed against Popery, and the Solemn League and 
 Covenant was specially directed against Prelacy, or the 
 government of the church by Archbishops, Bishops, 
 and all other unauthorized officers belonging to that 
 hierarchy. Viewing Popery and Prelacy in the light 
 of the Scriptures, we find them condemned by their 
 letter and spirit; and contemplating them in the light 
 of history and observation, we know that they have ex- 
 ercised, and do exercise, a most pernicious influence 
 upon the church, and upon society. Our forefathers 
 were warranted, from the evil character and tendencies 
 of these systems, to renounce them as they did ; and 
 they were loudly called by the peculiar circumstances 
 in which they were placed, to put themselves in an at- 
 titude of defence against that ascendancy which these 
 systems, sought, plotted, and attempted to obtain, under 
 the secret countenance of rank, and wealth, and power. 
 In doing so they did well ; and we owe to them, under 
 God, our present civil and religious liberties. As we 
 profess to identify ourselves with the generations that 
 are past, in their covenants, and in their subsequent 
 
361 
 
 contendings for the truth, so we should recognize and 
 feel the obligation of truth, and of vows. These cove- 
 nants have been treated with the utmost contempt, and 
 those adhering to them persecuted unto death; and 
 even when Providence did put a stop to bloody perse- 
 cution, the nation set them aside, and the church suf- 
 fered them to fall into neglect. We fear to participate 
 in the guilt of this conduct; and we lift our testimony 
 against the sin; and we call upon ourselves and others 
 to remember that the God with whom we have to do, is 
 the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and 
 mercy to them that love him and keep his command- 
 ments, and the jealous God who visits the iniquities of 
 the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth 
 generations of them that hate him; a God who brings 
 his sword, or other instrument of his displeasure, to 
 avenge the quarrel of his covenant. Shall we break 
 the covenant and escape? 
 
 7. Our testimony has been sealed with the blood of 
 faithful martyrs. This indeed is not the first con- 
 sideration by which any doctrine is commended to our 
 approbation. A martyr's blood can give no authority 
 to error. But when scriptural truth is held fast to the 
 death, the blood of martyrs supplies a special obligation. 
 "The blood of thy martyr Stephen." "Antipas was 
 my faithful martyr." It cannot be denied that our land 
 is stained with martyrs' blood. Without going back to 
 the period of the reformation from Popery, we refer to 
 the blood that was shed from the time of the restoration 
 of the 2d Charles, till the Revolution, comprehending 
 a period of twenty-eight years, during which it is com- 
 puted, eighteen thousand Presbyterians were sub- 
 jected to severe sufferings. And for what did they 
 suffer r They could not acknowledge the supremacy 
 which the king had usurped over the church, and which 
 was confirmed to him by national acts — they could not 
 submit to the Episcopal hierarchy and superstitions — 
 they could not renounce, as treasonable and unlawful, 
 the covenants in which prelacy had been abjured — they 
 
362 
 
 could not give allegiance to power vested with suprem- 
 acy over the church, depriving her of her liberties, and 
 persecuting her members to the death. The page of 
 impartial history testifies that these were the chief 
 grounds on account of which the martyrs suffered. 
 Their blood was shed like water in our land. The ad- 
 herents to episcopacy, and the flatterers of royalty, 
 basking in its sunshine, may chime the stale charges of 
 rebellion and treason, and contrive apologies for a bar- 
 barous persecution, which should make them blush, and 
 feel appalled; but these things will no longer deceive. 
 The Presbyterians in Scotland know, or should know, 
 and feel otherwise. And the moral and scriptural 
 question in connexion with this subject is, At whose 
 hands is this blood to be required ? Has the nation 
 repented of it, has the professing church of God given 
 a faithful testimony against it ? or do we in days of 
 comparative ease remain silent, and content ourselves 
 with building the tombs and garnishing the sepulchres 
 of the righteous, and saying, if we had been in the days 
 of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with 
 them in the blood of the prophets ? The subject is so- 
 lemn. The moral Ruler makes inquisition for blood. 
 He will avenge the blood of his servants. The lapse 
 of a century of years or more will not remove the guilt 
 of shedding innocent and righteous blood, nor exempt 
 posterity, if found partakers in it, from the conse- 
 quences. Blood cries to God from the ground, and 
 will continue to cry till it is heard. And if God do 
 not find repentance, we may expect that he will as- 
 suredly avenge the blood of his servants. 
 
 8. We have yet to remark, that important truths in 
 our testimony have been publicly departed from, and 
 the cause of the reformation seriously injured. This is, 
 indeed, the immediate occasion of our assuming, and oc- 
 cupying our position of Dissent. Believing it to be our 
 duty to identify ourselves with our fathers, in times of 
 reformation, and in times of suffering for the truths of 
 Christ, we are constrained, from conviction, to adhere 
 
363 
 
 to the views of the minority, who dissented from the 
 conduct of the nation and the church at the Revolution. 
 Xot to say any thing here of the sin of overlooking 
 entirely the acts of the Reforming Scottish Parliament, 
 and of leaving them under the degradation of an in- 
 famous rescission, we cannot shut our eyes from the 
 fact, that in direct opposition to the public covenants, 
 to the word of God upon which they were founded, and 
 to the struggles and blood of the martyrs, Prelacy was 
 re-established in England and Ireland, and the crown 
 of Britain re-invested with supremacy over the church. 
 We also disapprove of the Church of Scotland having 
 received her presbyterian Constitution, and her Confes- 
 sion, from the state, instead of actiDg on her own in- 
 trinsical authority, and immediately recognizing the 
 supremacy of Jesus and of his law. We disapprove of 
 her refusing to recognize the work of God in the refor- 
 mation, commencing in the year 1638, and of her not 
 condemning its subsequent sinful overthrow, and the 
 cruel persecution of those who adhered to it. The civil 
 supremacy over the church was not condemned, nor 
 the exclusive headship of Christ asserted, as they should 
 have been. The public covenants were not acknow- 
 ledged ; and after a short time, the liberty of the church, 
 in the election of her ministers, was timidly and faith- 
 lessly surrendered into foreign hands. The evils re- 
 sulting from these departures from scriptural truth and 
 reformation have been great, and continue still to be 
 felt; and they loudly call, "Remember whence thou 
 art fallen, and repent, and do the first works." We 
 rejoice to observe that the minds of many are now awak- 
 ened to these things, and shall still more rejoice to see 
 faithful efforts prosecuted till they shall be crowned 
 with success, and the scattered friends of the Redeemer 
 rallied, and united under one standard for his interest. 
 We cannot view the re-establishment of Episcopacy, 
 and of the civil supremacy over the church, the neglect 
 of the public covenants, and the surrender of the 
 church's liberty as minor concerns. A dissent, under 
 
364 
 
 a testimony for the truth, however painful in itself, we 
 still consider to be our present duty, and we view it as 
 intimately connected with the glory of Christ, the good 
 of Zion, the prosperity of our country, and the happi- 
 ness of man. 
 
 7. In closing our general observations, we beg to 
 remark, that we view the principles which we have ex- 
 hibited, as forming an excellent ground-work for fur- 
 ther reformation. Attached as we are to the Reforma- 
 tion, we do not hold it out as perfection. The word of 
 God is perfect. It admits of no improvement. We 
 may neither add to it, nor diminish from it, nor change 
 it in any way. It is not so with the Reformation. As 
 compared with the state of religion in these lands, 
 antecedently to its commencement, it was a great at- 
 tainment. And when we compare it with the state of 
 things which has succeeded, it retains a decided supe- 
 riority ; and it were equally the duty and the wisdom 
 of the church and nation to return to it. Still the re- 
 formation was not perfect. It had been little more than 
 begun. There was not time to have it completed and 
 consolidated, when, in the mysteries of Providence it 
 was stopped, undermined, and persecuted. But it con- 
 tains, in our views, the great elementary principles 
 which lie at the basis of the prosperity which we expect 
 in future days. It provides for the duty and interest of 
 man as an individual, and as a member of society. It 
 provides for the prosperity of the church, and of the 
 kingdoms of the earth. And it provides for all this, by 
 subjecting men, in all relations, to a perfect rule, and 
 to one rightful Sovereign ; and by bringing the original 
 law of love to God and to man into full operation, in 
 appropriate institutions, offices, relations, and duties, 
 it promises to bind up the wound of the daughter of 
 Zion, and to heal the breaches of society, under the 
 reign of Him who is the Truth and Peace. This 
 blessed consummation may the Lord hasten in his 
 time ! 
 
 We make no apology for exhibiting our Testimony, 
 
365 
 
 having acted from a conviction of truth, and a sense of 
 duty. Other Christians will allow to us the liberty 
 which they claim for themselves, of professing that sys- 
 tem of divine truth which we deem to be in nearest ac- 
 cordance with the supreme standard, and of adhering 
 to it, till one more comprehensive and faithful shall 
 appear. The doctrines of our testimony have not the 
 charm of novelty; they have been confessed by our 
 fathers, and some of them sealed with their blood. It 
 is not, however, their antiquity, nor the blood of our 
 fathers, but their accordance with the Scriptures, which 
 is the primary ground of our attachment. — In making 
 this profession, we arrogate to ourselves no superiority 
 in Christian character and attainment; as if we were 
 holier and did more than others. We appreciate the 
 talent, piety, and benevolence of Christians in other 
 churches. We lament the divisions which unhappily 
 prevail, and would mourn over them as tokens of the 
 divine displeasure. And, while we assign a reason for 
 the preference which we give to the reformation cause, 
 we are humbled, when we behold the defects in vital 
 spirituality and visible sanctity which attach to our- 
 selves as well as others. — We cannot admit that the 
 views which we have taken are contracted, and illiberal. 
 They comprehend the whole range of faith and practice, 
 and provide, in a greater extent, than any other system 
 we have seen, for the personal, the social, the temporal, 
 the spiritual, and the eternal interests of the human 
 family. — Nor can we admit the justice of the charge 
 that our sentiments are unpatriotic or anarchical. We 
 love the country that has given us birth and privileges, 
 and know not how to consult better for its prosperity 
 and happiness, than by striving to diffuse the know- 
 ledge of pure and undeflled religion. We are friends 
 of order and peace ; and we know not how to give better 
 security to these interests, in the adjustment and sub- 
 ordination of society, than by a faithful application 
 of the principles of Scripture, in all their amplitude 
 
366 
 
 and impartiality. We are not ignorant of the odium 
 that has long been attached to the cause we have pro- 
 fessed. But not judging of a cause, by the popularity 
 or reproach in which it is held, we wish to prove all 
 things, by the infallible standard, and to hold fast that 
 which is good. Having endeavoured to ascertain, by 
 an application of the proper test, the cause of the Re- 
 deemer, we esteem it our duty and honour to go forth 
 to him, even without the camp, bearing his reproach. 
 And assured that truth shall yet prevail, we endeavour 
 to be faithful to her interests. 
 
 In thus exhibiting our Testimony, for what we con- 
 sider to be the cause of Christ, we have our eyes on 
 the past, on the present, and on the future. In the 
 light of history we have learned, and our fathers have 
 told us, the great things which the Lord hath done for 
 his Church, and we gratefully record them. In the 
 light of observation we reverentially regard the signs 
 and events of the present day. And in the light of 
 prediction, we look forward to the future, with tremb- 
 ling, and with high anticipations. Viewing all these 
 aspects of time, in the light of the Scriptures, we desire 
 to do our part in serving our generation, according to 
 the will of God. We call upon ourselves to know well 
 the truth, to yield ourselves to its sanctifying influence, 
 and steadfastly to profess and adorn it. We cast 
 an affectionate and earnest look to our rising youth, 
 inviting them to come to the help of the Lord, and to 
 take our place. And we cast an anxious eye over the 
 agitated face of Christian society, and beseech the friends 
 of Christ to declare themselves, and to do their duty. 
 And we lift up an imploring eye to heaven, that the 
 Lord may look down and behold from the habitation of 
 his holiness, and of his glory. " Thou shalt arise and 
 have mercy upon Zion ; for the time to favour her, yea, 
 the set time is come. For thy servants take pleasure 
 in her stones, and favour the dust thereof." May the 
 Lord, in the never-failing resources of his providence 
 
367 
 
 and Spirit, cause " the old wastes to be built, and raise 
 up the former desolations — the desolations of many 
 generations." 
 
 " Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the 
 towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider 
 her palaces; that ye urny tell it to the generation follow- 
 ing. For this God is our God for ever and ever, he will 
 be our guide, even unto death." 
 
 " Unto him be glory, in the Church, by Christ 
 Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end. 
 Amen." 
 
 •2 K 
 
NOTES. 
 
 I. Election. — Chap. IV. 
 
 Human pride is the chief spring of objection to this doctrine. 
 The existence of the objection which the apostle Paul so tri- 
 umphantly repels, has the force of a thousand arguments on the 
 subject: " Thou wilt then say unto me, Why doth he yet find 
 fault ? for who hath resisted his will ? Nay, but man, who 
 art thou that repliest against God ? Shall the thing formed, 
 say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 
 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump, to 
 make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour ? ' ' 
 Rom. ix. 19 — 21. This passage clearly evinces that the above 
 doctrine is taught in the Scripture; for it is the only one 
 against which such an objection could have the most distant 
 semblance of plausibility. And the manner in which the 
 apostle answers it, confirms the doctrine, as a nail fastened in 
 a sure place. He answers the objection, not by explaining and 
 modifying the doctrine, as if it had been misapprehended,J)ut 
 by a direct challenge on the subject of divine sovereignty. The 
 objection and the answer are equally absurd, on any other prin- 
 ciple than the truth of the doctrine in question. The fact that 
 it is still upon the same principle, that the doctrine is chiefly 
 objected against, shows the sameness, in all ages, of the depra- 
 vity of the human mind, and of the objections made against 
 the doctrines of the gospel. Writers and preachers of the Ar- 
 minian school, represent election as merely national, yet seem 
 to forget that even this is liable to the very same objection as 
 a sovereign personal election. If the sovereignty which con- 
 fers salvation on one individual, and not on another, be liable 
 to objection on the score of the divine character, the extension 
 of this to a great multitude of individuals, a district, or a people, 
 is liable, even in a greater degree, to the same objection. Nor 
 will the matter be mended by having recourse to the doctrine 
 of an election only to the external means of salvation ; for this, 
 though it seems to reserve something for human merit, by no 
 means removes the difficulty, inasmuch as the means of salva- 
 tion are privileges denied to others. These views are very 
 dangerous, as they hide from the eye of man the true doctrine 
 of sovereign grace, conferring upon the unworthy the gift of 
 eternal life by Jesus Christ. 
 
370 
 
 II. Sonship of Christ. — Chap. V. 
 
 When bearing our testimony to the doctrine of the person of 
 Christ, we are constrained not only to declare our belief in the 
 divinity of Christ, but in his proper sonship. Our belief rests 
 on the direct evidence of the Scripture testimony. The ex- 
 pression, tlie only begotten of the Father, is used synonymously 
 with the Wordr—a, character which Christ had antecedently to 
 his incarnation. John i. 14. " The Word was made flesh and 
 dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the 
 only begotten of the Father.)" Christ Jesus is the Son of God 
 antecedently to his mission, incarnation, or manifestation, 
 " God sent forth his Son." Gal. iv. 4. " God sent forth his Son 
 into the world to condemn the world." John in. 17. " For 
 this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might de- 
 stroy the works of the devil." 1 John iii. 8. His character as 
 the Son of God is represented in the Scriptures as preceding 
 the constitution of his official character — giving dignity to his 
 office — and efficacy to his sufferings. " The law maketh men 
 high priests which have infirmity ; but the word of the oath, 
 which was since the law, maketh the Son (High Priest) who is 
 consecrated for evermore." Heb. vii. 28. " We have a great 
 High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of 
 God." Heb. iv. 14. " The blood of Jesus Christ his Son 
 cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John i. 7. This name stands as- 
 sociated with divine persons in the administration of baptism, 
 and signifies the divine person of the Saviour. Mat. xxviii. 19. 
 And the love of God is represented as receiving an inexpres- 
 sible character from the relation to himself of him whom he 
 gave to save the world. " God so loved the world that he gave 
 his only begotten Son." John iii. 16. 
 
 Every believer should be able to answer his Lord's question, 
 " But whom say ye that I am?" in the words of Peter, " Thou 
 art Christ the Son of the living God ;" or in the language of 
 the eunuch, " I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." 
 This view of Christ is greatly important, as bearing upon the 
 revealed character of the immediate object of faith, and 
 entering into the first confessions of faith. John vi. GO. iii. 18. 
 xx. 31. Acts viii. 37. 1 John iv. 15, &c. How will the confes- 
 sion of a believer in the deity of Christ be distinguished from 
 that of him who refuses it, if there is nothing in the term Son, 
 expressive of divine character ? It is true, that faith does not 
 fix merely upon the abstract idea of the peculiar divine person- 
 ality of Christ Jesus. It contemplates this personality invested 
 with office, manifested in flesh and blood, and having made 
 atonement for sin. But there is not one of these ideas that 
 is an object of faith, or a source of comfort to the sinner, if 
 
371 
 
 abstracted from the deity of Christ. The Messiah is divine, which 
 is the same with his being the Son of God ; only the latter ex- 
 pression points out the distinctive character of his divine person. 
 Jesus Christ is called, in the Scriptures, the Son of God, and 
 this Son of God is sent to be the Saviour of the -world '• We 
 have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the 
 Saviour of the world." 1 Johniv. 14. 
 
 III. Covenant of Redemption and Grace. — Chap. VI. 
 
 A dispute has been maintained on the subject of two distinct 
 covenants ; a covenant of redemption between the Father and 
 the Son, on the condition of his fulfilling all righteousness, and 
 a covenant of grace between the sinner and God, on the condi- 
 tion of faith. In correct language, this distinction cannot be 
 vindicated; yet it does not involve any essential error, as it is 
 admitted that faith is connected, by divine appointment, in the 
 order of means, with our actual interest in the covenant. 
 
 The unity of the covenant of grace ought ever to be kept in 
 view. It is always spoken of in the singular number, except- 
 ing in some passages, where the different dispensations of it are 
 alluded to. Rom. ix. 4. Eph. ii. 12. \Ve read particularly of 
 the blood of the covenant. The covenant is one, and the way 
 of our acceptance with God is one : and it is important that 
 Christ and his seed should always be viewed as one ; a fact 
 which the doctrine of two covenants is calculated to obscure. 
 Christ had no private personal relation to the covenant. He 
 acted as the representative of the elect. To make faith the 
 condition of the covenant is improper, because it was not the 
 condition required of Christ — because the unregenerate cannot 
 believe — because faith itself is provided in the covenant — and 
 because it is not of the nature of a condition, for the office of 
 faith is to receive, and not to render unto God any thing in the 
 way of merit. 
 
 The covenant is not made with us, as it was made with 
 Christ, in the way of proposing conditions. We have to do 
 solely with its blessings, as exhibited in the promises and offer 
 of the gospel. Nor is there a secret mysterious making of the 
 covenant with the soul, distinct from the revelation of it to faith 
 in the gospel. Christ is given for a covenant of the people. 
 God says, in the gospel, " I will make with you an everlasting 
 covenant, even the sure mercies of David." Such is the gospel 
 testimony, by which the covenant is made with us. And we 
 are called only to believe it. There is a difference, indeed, be- 
 tween the gift offered and the gift received. The former is the 
 privilege of all who enjov the dispensation of the gospel : the 
 2k2 
 
372 
 
 latter, the benefit only of those who believe. The former is a 
 visible external privilege, the latter an invisible and internal 
 benefit. The sinner does nothing more than believe in that 
 testimony, in which God is said to make the covenant with us. 
 It is by faith in the covenant, as revealed in the gospel, and 
 not by some new making of it with the soul, that the believer 
 is actually interested in it, and may say, " The Lord hath made 
 with me an everlasting covenant." At the same time, it is not 
 denied, that faith is the appointed means of interest in the 
 covenant — or that covenanting with God, upon the footing of 
 the covenant of grace, belongs unto the nature and exercise of 
 true godliness. Nor is it designed to accuse those, who retain 
 the terms covenant of grace and covenant of redemption, of 
 holding views radically erroneous of the doctrines of grace. 
 When the terms are explained, the views entertained on both 
 sides identify. The chief objection is against the phraseology. 
 
 IV. Saving Faith. — Chap. IX. 
 
 Great disputes' have been agitated on the subject of saving 
 faith. Many resolve it into merely the assent of the mind to 
 the speculative truths of the gospel testimony, denying that 
 faith appropriates its object, the Lord Jesus Christ. This 
 general view of saving faith seems to be alike incompatible 
 with the nature of the case, and with the Scripture representa- 
 tions of the subject. The Scriptures address man upon subjects 
 of the last importance, affecting most deeply his personal and 
 eternal interest. He cannot truly believe in his danger, with- 
 out fear — in the way of escape, without fleeing to it — in the in- 
 estimable blessings of the gospel offered to him, without accept- 
 ing them. The sinner is called to look unto Christ, to incline 
 his ear and come unto him, to Jlee from the wrath to come. 
 The believer receives Christ Jesus the Lord, Col. ii. 6. He eats 
 the flesh of the Son of man, John vi. 53. He is persuaded that 
 Christ is able to keep what is committed to him, 1 Tim. i. 12, 
 He embraces the promises, Heb. xi. 13. he trusts in Christ, Eph. 
 i. 12. He believes with the heart unto righteousness, Rom. x. 9. 
 Saving faith includes an intellectual belief of the doctrines of 
 the gospel ; but this is not all. Faith is an exercise of the soul 
 as possessed not only of understanding, but of will and affec- 
 tion. It is an embracing, and resting on the Lord Jesus Christ 
 for salvation. A persuasion of the truth of the divine mission 
 of Jesus Christ, and of the speculative doctrines of the gospel, 
 may be in the mind without saving faith. Simon believed and 
 was baptized, while his heart was not right with God. A man 
 may believe that food can nourish him ; yet if he have no 
 
373 
 
 appetite and do not eat, he will die of want. A person may 
 believe that garments would cover him ; yet if he feel no in- 
 convenience from nakedness and do not put them on, he may 
 perish from cold. One may see a refuge that would shelter 
 him from evil ; yet if he see no danger, and do not run for pro- 
 tection, he may be at last surprised with destruction. It is 
 worthy of notice, that the blessings of the gospel are repre- 
 sented under the images of food, clothing, and protection from 
 danger ; and faith by the corresponding acts of eating, putting 
 on, and fleeing for refuge. As unfeigned precious faith is es- 
 sentially connected with an interest in salvation, it is the im- 
 perative duty of every one to examine himself whether he be 
 in the faith," by considering its Scripture characters and evi- 
 dences. " Hast thou faith ? have it to thyself before God." 
 
 V. Church Government. — Chap. XII. 
 
 The sentiment, that there are no intimations of the will of 
 Christ on the subject of church government, appears to us in- 
 compatible with the necessities of the church — with the love 
 and wisdom of her Head — with his revealed character, as hav- 
 ing the key of David, ordering and establishing his kingdom 
 with judgment and with justice — and is contrary to the fact 
 that the Scriptures do contain declarations on this subject, that 
 are neither obscure nor ambiguous. The Redeemer, knowing 
 well all the circumstances in which the church can be placed, 
 has given in his word certain principles of order and govern- 
 ment, wisely adapted to every situation. These principles, 
 distinguished by their wisdom, and sanctioned by the gracious 
 authority of Christ, ought to be ascertained, acted upon, and 
 preserved inviolate. 
 
 Episcopalians claim for Bishops authority over many con- 
 gregations and ministers, regarding them as vested with an ex- 
 elusive right of ordination, and assigning to them great secular 
 power and dignity. The overseers or JBisJwps, of whom we read 
 in the New Testament, are the same with presbyters or elders ; 
 the terms, being used synonymously, are convertible titles for the 
 same office. Acts xx. 17, 28. The persons called elders in the 
 17th verse, are called overseers (or bishops) in the 28th. Tit. 
 i. 5, 7. Titus is directed to ordain elders, persons of certain 
 qualifications, assigning as a reason for this specification of 
 character, that a bishop ought to be blameless as the steward 
 of God. 1 Pet. v. 1, 2. The elders are exhorted to feed the 
 flock of God, taking the oversight thereof ; i. e. according to the 
 meaning of the original word, exercising the office or functions 
 of a bishop over them. The three orders in the church of 
 
374 
 
 England, Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, have no appointment 
 in the New Testament ; Bishop being the same with the Pas- 
 tor ; Priest being never applied to office ; and Deacon being 
 another office altogether. There is not, in the Christian 
 church, any officer, having power or superiority above the 
 teaching presbyter. The principle upon which this superiority 
 is claimed, is in express contradiction to the precept of the 
 Saviour, Mat. xx. 25—27; and the fact of the possession of 
 such superiority cannot be established from the Scriptures, 
 either in the case of Peter, or of any other apostle. It is vain 
 to found such a claim upon the infallible inspiration, and extra- 
 ordinary powers, of the apostles. And as to Archbishops, 
 Diocesan bishops, Archdeacons, Deans, Prebendaries, &c. it 
 is enough to say, that they have neither a name, nor the sha- 
 dow of a place, in the Scriptures. 
 
 From a strong perception of the unrighteousness of prelatic 
 or papal authority, and from a sense of the incompatibility of 
 subjection to such authority with Christian liberty and a good 
 conscience, the mind may run to an opposite extreme, and con- 
 tract an aversion to the legitimate authority which Christ has 
 ordained for edification. Here Presbyterians have walked 
 between the opposite extremes into which Episcopalians and 
 Independents have gone. 
 
 Presbyterians derive their principles from a few plain Scrip- 
 tural facts. 1st. They find a distinction between rulers and 
 ruled, 1 Thess. v. 13. Heb. xiii. 7, 17, &c. 2d. They find the 
 work of ruling connected with elders, 1 Tim. v. 17. 3d. They 
 find in the regular organization of the Christian church a 'plu- 
 rality of elders, Acts xiv. 23. Tit. i. 5. 4th. They find a dis- 
 tinction between elders who only rule, and those who labour in 
 word and doctrines. 1 Tim. v. 17. From the duties required 
 of the teaching elder, and from the support which he must re- 
 ceive from the church, that he may give exclusive attendance 
 on the duties of his office, it is unreasonable to suppose, that 
 there could be a plurality of them, in each of the primitive 
 churches. 
 
 On the subject of superior courts, presbyterians not only 
 reason, from the unity of the church, and the necessity of a 
 government embracing the whole — and, from the reasonable- 
 ness, propriety, and advantages of such institutions — but they 
 appeal to facts recorded in the New Testament. 1st. The 
 Scriptures speak of the church at Jerusalem — at Antioch — at 
 Ephesus — and at Corinth. Acts viii. 1. xiii. 1. xx. 28. Rev. ii. 
 1. 1 Cor. i. 2. 2d. In each of these places, there were several 
 distinct worshipping assemblies. This latter fact is not asserted 
 in so many words, but it is deduced from the Scripture state- 
 ments in the respective cases. Take, for example, the case of 
 the church at Jerusalem. Three thousand on one day ; five 
 
375 
 
 thousand on another ; and after this, multitudes, men and 
 ■women, were added to the church. Acts ii. iii. iv. The num- 
 ber of disciples still greatly increased. Multitudes were added 
 to the Lord, and they remained in peace at Jerusalem, until 
 the persecution recorded Acts viii. Again, "the churches had 
 rest throughout all Judea." The word of the Lord increased 
 and multiplied. There were in Jerusalem several myriads, 
 Acts xxi. 20. The doctrine is confirmed by considering the 
 diversity of languages, which required their meeting in different 
 places — the multitude of apostles, prophets, and elders that re- 
 mained at Jerusalem — as also, the limited accommodations which 
 they had for assembling. This vastnumber of persons/who could 
 not assemble under one roof, form the church at Jerusalem, 
 and are never called the churches. Acts ii. 47. v. 11. viii. 1. 
 xii. 5. xx. 4. And by a similar process of reasoning from the 
 facts in the other cases, the same conclusion will be drawn. 
 
 "We refer to the Scriptures for the authority of a congrega- 
 tional session ; Acts xiv. 23. There must be elders in every 
 church. Mat. xviii. 15 — 20. The church in this passage, sig- 
 nifies not the multitude, but the two or three gathered together 
 in the name of Christ, for judgment. That the term church 
 should signify the elders of the church, is no uncommon use of 
 language. Xation often signifies the rulers of the nation. The 
 ' at ion and the elders are used synonymously, as may be 
 seen by comparing Nam. xxxv. 24, 25, with Deut. xix. 11, 12. — 
 And with respect to a Presbytery, we distinctly refer to the 
 Holy Scriptures for the name and the thing. 1 Tim. iv. 14 ; 
 Acts xx. 17, 28 ; xv. 2, &c. — And with respect to higher courts 
 than a Presbytery, we consider that we have authority in the 
 example recorded in the 15th chapter of the Acts of the 
 Apostles. 1st. "We cannot suppose that assembly acting under 
 the extraordinary inspiration of the Holy Ghost ; for upon this 
 supposition it was altogether unnecessary, one apostle delivering 
 an inspired decision, being sufficient to "determine the question. 
 In the original discussion at Antioch, Paul and Barnabas acted 
 as ordinary ministers — the reference was made, not only to the 
 apostles, but to the elders — and the reference was discussed. 
 " Synods," says Dr. Owen, " are consecrated unto the use of 
 the church, in all ages, by the example of the apostles, in their 
 guidance of the first churches of Jews and Gentiles." 2d. The 
 whole members of the church at Jerusalem did not enact the 
 authoritative decree. This is impossible ; they could not meet 
 in one assembly. Besides, they had no authority over the 
 churches of Syria. 3d. It was a meeting of the elders of the 
 church. The reference was made to the apostles and elders — 
 the apostles and elders came together — the decrees were or- 
 dained of the apostles and elders. The whole church and the 
 
376 
 
 brethren, as they cannot signify the whole church literally, must 
 be explained in harmony with the scope of the passage. 
 
 It would not be difficult to expatiate on various excellencies, 
 by which the presbyterian government is recommended ; but it 
 is the divine authority, expressed as above, that binds our con- 
 sciences. For the evils, which men may have associated with 
 it, we are not accountable. For its grand principles of repre- 
 sentation, union, and subordination, we contend ; not for every 
 iota of the forms which churches may have adopted. It is 
 against the abuses of presbytery, chiefly, that objections have 
 been raised. Separate the things of man improperly connected 
 with it, remove from it the reproaches which its professors, by 
 the improper management of it, or by their personal conduct 
 otherwise, have brought upon it ; and let it be seen in its scrip- 
 tural simplicity and purity, and its enemies will not be so 
 numerous. The approaches to presbyterian practice among 
 Independents, in the formation of associations and unions, the 
 education of youth for the ministry, and the recommendation 
 of them to the church, and in the ordination of pastors by the 
 imposition of the hands of presbyters of other churches, afford 
 hope that the time is coming, when the grand principles of 
 presbyterianism shall form a foundation for keeping the unity 
 of the Spirit in the bond of peace in the church of God ; the 
 prejudices and alienations which the collisions of party have 
 produced and cherished being laid aside. 
 
 We give our testimony in behalf of Presbyterian church- 
 government, because its principles are laid down and exempli- 
 fied in the Scriptures. It is commended to us, not merely by 
 the wisdom and profession of our forefathers, but by the love 
 and wisdom of the King of Zion, and by the sanction of his 
 supreme authority. And we contend for it in its scripture 
 purity and liberty. We protest against all dictation to the 
 church, by the civil authorities, on the subject of her faith and 
 government — against all civil control in things spiritual over 
 her ministers, and over the assemblies of her ministers and 
 elders — and against all interference whatever with the liberty 
 of her people to choose their office-bearers. 
 
 VI. Patronage. — Chap. XI. 
 
 The rights vested in patrons we protest against, as — a viola- 
 tion of natural equity — incompatible with the liberty of the 
 gospel — hurtful to christian edification — and contrary to scrip- 
 
377 
 
 tural principle and example, Acts i. 15 — 2G; vi. 2 — 7; xiv. 23.* 
 — to the practice of the primitive church — and to the principles 
 of our Reformation. The amount of injury produced by pa- 
 tronage under its various forms, it is impossible to declare. In 
 despite of -worldly policy and unworthy timidity, the church is 
 called to assert and touse her liberty without compromise or 
 foreign control, leaving all consequences in the hands of her 
 Head. 
 
 YII. Liberty of Conscience. — Chap. XII. 
 
 We pointedly declare that conscience is subject to no Lord 
 but Christ. Every disciple has liberty to profess all the truths, 
 to observe all the institutions, and to obey all the precepts of 
 Christianity. This is at once his right, and duty, and privilege. 
 Kings, and bishops, and ecclesiastic officers, have no authority 
 to prescribe to conscience. It is subject to Christ alone, and 
 is entirely free from all subjection to the traditions and com- 
 mandments of men. To worship God — to erect and organize 
 congregations — to furnish them -with pastors — to celebrate all 
 the ordinances of religion — and to meet in the consistories of 
 judgment, -without control from man, are sacred immunities of 
 the Christian church. But we must not confound the rights 
 of a good conscience -with the claims of an evil one. " k God 
 alone is Lord of the conscience, and has left it free from the 
 doctrines and commandments of men, -which are in any thing 
 contrary to his word, or beside it, in matters of faith and -wor- 
 ship. So that, to believe such doctrines, or to obey such com- 
 mands, out of conscience, is to betray true liberty of conscience : 
 and the requiring of an implicit faith, and an absolute and 
 blind obedience, is to destrov libertv of conscience and reason 
 also.' —Con. XX. 2. 
 
 But it is necessary, in pleading the rights of conscience and 
 private judgment, to guard against destroying the exercise of 
 lawful power. All delegated power is under law to Him, from 
 -whom it originates, and is to be submitted to, only as agreeable 
 to this law. To resist lawful power in the exercise of lawful 
 authority, is to resist God: " Whosoever, therefore, resisteth 
 the power, resisteth the ordinance of God." Conscience is not 
 without law to God, and of consequence cannot resist with im- 
 punity, the lawful exercise of divinely instituted and constituted 
 authority. That God has delegated the parental, ecclesiastical, 
 and magistratical authorities ; and that these are to be obeyed 
 for conscience sake, cannot be denied Eph. vi. 1 ; Heb. iii. 
 
 * The word rendered ordained, Acts xiv. 23. signifies chosen, by lifting up the 
 hand, and is so translated, 2 Cor. viii. 1&. 
 
378 
 
 17 ; Rom. xiii. 5. " And because the powers which God hath 
 ordained, and the liberty which Christ hath purchased, are not 
 intended by God to destroy, but mutually to uphold and pre- 
 serve one another ; they who, upon pretence of Christian lib- 
 erty, shall oppose any lawful power, or the lawful exercise of 
 it, whether it be civil or ecclesiastical, resist the ordinance of 
 God." Con. xx. 4. To resist the lawful exercise of lawful 
 authority, under pretence of liberty of conscience, is obviously 
 to set the authority of God in opposition to itself. Man has no 
 natural inherent rights of his own. All his rights are derived 
 from God, are of course subject to his law, and are to be defined 
 and regulated by it. A right in opposition to his own law, 
 God does not, cannot give ; nor is it competent to any power to 
 impart and sanction such a right. It is no more the right of a 
 man to worship an idol, or to blaspheme the name of God, 
 than to kill or to steal, although he may judge it proper do all 
 of them. In such a case, the exercise of ecclesiastical author- 
 ity, in excluding idolatrous and profane persons from the com- 
 munion of the church, is not esteemed an infringement upon 
 the rights of conscience. Sentiments declared in opposition to 
 the righteous terms on which a society is formed, exclude from 
 its privileges. And may not the same reasoning apply to the 
 exercise of magistratical authority, in restraining overWans- 
 gressions of the law of God? When civil society has, by its 
 own consent, embodied in its constitution the laws of God in the 
 first table, as it is under obligation to do, as well as those in 
 the second, it is inconsistent with the subjection of conscience 
 to the divine law, as well as with the principles upon which 
 society is formed, to plead for a right to violate these laws. A 
 civil ruler [cannot prosecute any offence as a scandal in the 
 church exposing to her censures ; but an open immorality, in 
 direct violation of the law of God, as embodied with the civil 
 constitution, he may restrain as a crime. And that not merely 
 upon the principle of utility, because the evils restrained are 
 prejudicial to society, but from the subjection which civil so- 
 ciety, as such, owes to God. We are assured from the good- 
 ness and wisdom of God, that no laws are so good for the in- 
 terests of society, as the laws which he has given. But this is 
 not the primary reason of the obligation to obey them, as is 
 well expressed in the following words : " That whatever is 
 punishable by man, is injurious to man, is true ; because all 
 sin in some way or other is so ; but to make this the sole ground 
 or reason of punishment is selfish and atheistical. It is making 
 ourselves the chief end ; whereas this is what God claims to 
 himself at the hand of every man, and body of men. In pun- 
 ishing man for immorality, he ought not merely to regard his 
 own safety, nor even that of the community, but the honour of 
 God ; and, if he be a good man, he will do so. If he regard 
 
379 
 
 merely his own safety, punishing crimes only in so far as they 
 endanger it, the people will soon perceive that he is a selfish 
 tyrant, and cares not for the general good ; and if he regard 
 only the public safety, punishing crimes merely on account of 
 their being injurious unto man, it is still a spirit of selfishness, 
 only a little more extended, and God will disapprove of this as 
 the people do of the other. ' ' 
 
 The authority of the civil magistrate respects chiefly exter- 
 nal actions, and these evidently opposed to the law of heaven, 
 and the constitutional laws of the kingdom. It is objected 
 against all magistratical interference, in any thing connected 
 with the first table of the law, that it is persecution. But the 
 restraint of an open and gross immorality is not persecution. 
 In this restraint no right is invaded. Were the magistrate to 
 act upon his own private opinion, and by a despotic sovereignty, 
 in violation of the law of God and the constitution, the com- 
 plaint would be well-founded. But while he only exercises the 
 power committed to him, the charge alleged cannot apply to 
 him, but to the constitution, and to the community framing 
 and adopting it. The evil does not arise from the employment 
 of magistratical authority ; for upon the same principle every 
 exercise of parental or ecclesiastical authority might be called 
 persecution. The question of persecution resolves itself into 
 another, respecting the rights of man ; and this brings us to 
 the law of God, the standard of these rights. And as no man 
 has a right to violate the law of God, the restraint of an open 
 violation invades no right, is no persecution. But it is asked, 
 Who is judge ? This question may be answered by another : 
 Who is judge in ecclesiastical law ? Who is judge in the case 
 of the breaches of the second table of the law ? If there is a 
 competence to judge and act in the one case, why not in the 
 other ? Is the law of God that unintelligible, ambiguous, and 
 convertible thing, that no definite meaning can be assigned to 
 it ? The judge is, first, God himself the great Lawgiver ; and, 
 secondly, it is the nation recognizing the divine law, embodv- 
 ing it in their constitution, and empowering their represen- 
 tatives to carry it into effect. It is not an individual usurping 
 a right over society, but society, according to the ordinance of 
 God, exercising authority over individuals, in terms of the 
 divine law and mutual compact. To plead for liberty to vio- 
 late the law, would be to give an individual a negative over 
 the voice of society, in those things which it has judged neces- 
 sary for its safety and prosperity. — Nor is this compulsion. 
 The restraint, or punishment, of an immorality does not com- 
 pel to the performance of the contrary virtues. If this were 
 the case, there would be compulsion in the practice of honesty 
 and veracity, because fraud and falsehood are interdicted and 
 punished. 
 
 2l 
 
/! 
 
 J380 
 
 While jealous of the liberty of the church, and tender on the 
 subject of liberty of conscience, we cannot acquiesce in the pre- 
 vailing sentiment, that it is the common right of all men to 
 worship God in the way they think proper. We speak here of 
 man, not in the retirements of his chamber, where no human 
 eye seeth him, but as a member of society, and visibly exerting 
 an influence upon it. And in this view, few will assent to the 
 above sentiment, without excepting from the liberty granted, 
 principles and practices hurtful to society, or subversive of it. 
 We go a little farther, and except from the above liberty, prin- 
 ciples obviously in opposition to the moral law, and subversive 
 of the moral government of God. Principles of this kind, are 
 hurtful to society ; but this consideration, though necessarily 
 connected with the subject, and important, is not to take the 
 precedence of that honour which is due to God. We know 
 that conformity to the will of God conduces to individual 
 happiness and to the general good, in the highest degree ; but 
 we dare not lay utility, expediency, or self-interest, at the foun- 
 dation of moral obligation. This foundation lies in the perfec- 
 tion of the divine nature, and in the revealed will of God. And 
 when God has, in one department of his law, extended protec- 
 tion around the honour, and life, and purity, and property, and 
 character of man, it is not easy to perceive that society owes 
 nothing to God, or to the claims he has put forth, in another 
 part of his law, in behalf of his own character and worship. 
 Indeed, the interests of man and the divine glory are essen- 
 tially connected with one another, although the one has a neces- 
 sary precedency. Civil society, as an institution of God, owes 
 it both to God and to itself, to define the rights of man and of 
 the community, in agreeableness to the divine law ; and to de- 
 fend the rights of both from gross invasion, under whatsoever 
 imposing pretence it may be made. This is, truly, a matter 
 widely different from enforcing religion by civil pains, and pro- 
 pagating it by carnal weapons ; things which we disavow and 
 condemn ! 
 
 VIII. Magistracy.— Chap. XIII. 
 
 In some particulars, the subject of this chapter is a peculiarity 
 in our testimony for the truth. It is a part of Scripture revela- 
 tion, and that too, a considerable part. It belongs to the Chris- 
 tian's daily duty, and is necessary to furnish the mind with pro- 
 per principles and ends in the discharge of it — it is intimately 
 connected with the happiness of man — it affects, very nearly, 
 the prosperity or adversity of the church of Christ — it is con- 
 nected with the honour, and with the administrations of 
 
.381 
 
 Messiah — and there are striking indications in Scripture of the 
 future extensive subjection of the kingdoms of the world unto 
 Christ — it has been embraced, in some parts of its principles, 
 by those who have been honoured in advancing reformation — 
 it has even, in some things connected with it, been a ground of 
 suffering, and has thus been sealed with blood. It thus exten- 
 sively involves the cause of the divine glory, the good of Zion, 
 the happiness of man, and Christian duty. And we are not to 
 be understood as contending for any particular form according 
 to which civil government may be modelled, but for the moral 
 and Scriptural principles upon which it should be based. 
 
 On this subject, there is a question, at present widely and 
 keenly agitated. It is the poAver of the magistrate, in matters 
 of religion. While we peremptorily disclaim that the civil ruler 
 has power in and over the church of Christ, we cannot admit 
 that, in his office, he has absolutely nothing to do with religion. 
 From the evidence of Scripture, and in conformity with the 
 sentiments of the churches of the reformation, we contend that 
 communities, and their rulers, enjoying and professing Chris- 
 tianity, are under obligation to recognize and protect the king- 
 dom of Christ ; and this not only in their private and insulated, 
 but in their official and corporate capacity. As explanatory 
 of our views, we submit the following brief observations. 
 
 1 . It is acknowledged to be difficult to define, precisely, the 
 line and extent of the magistrate's power about religion. In 
 everything connected with religion, the power of the magistrate 
 is to be exercised with great caution and prudence, and in 
 reference to evils viewed chiefly as violations of the divine law, 
 or immoralities. At the commencement of an age of inquiry 
 and reformation, and in an unsettled state of things, the people 
 cannot be supposed to have matured their views, so as to frame 
 a constitution empowering the magistrate to act in this matter : 
 and acting officially on his own private views is entirely out of 
 the question. But when religious reformation has been happily 
 attained, and prosperity enjoyed under the blessing of God, it 
 becomes the duty of a people to provide for its preservation 
 and extension. And more especially in the case of attempts 
 to subvert religious reformation, it is imperatively required of 
 a people to enact laws for its defence. 
 
 2. It ought to be observed in all reasoning upon this ques- 
 tion, that although the term " magistrate's power" be used, it is 
 not to be understood that the sword is to be employed against 
 those who refuse to make a particular profession of religion. 
 Exclusion from official place, where an undue influence against 
 religion might be employed, is, ordinarily, all the length that 
 civil power should go. Nor does this affect the life, property, 
 common liberty or peace, of persons who are otherwise inoffen- 
 sive members of society. If any find themselves aggrieved in 
 
382 
 
 this matter, it is not by magistratical usurpation, but by the exe- 
 cution of the law, which the people have put into the hands of the 
 magistrate. Persons who, from scruples of conscience, cannot 
 acquiesce in the constitution of the state, in things affecting 
 religion, will not be the readiest to complain in this matter ; 
 while it will be for the interest of society, that ambitious and 
 ungodly aspirants after dominion and power be intercepted, in 
 their progress to places, where then principles, administration, 
 and example, would have a demoralizing and pernicious influ- 
 ence. Nor, in this matter, are we to confound the just restraint 
 of an obstinate and contemptuous blasphemer of religion, of 
 God, and of everything sacred, and the exclusion of men of 
 bad principles, from places of power, with allowing them to 
 enjoy the protection of those rights which are common to men, 
 while they do not, in the propagation of their principles, offend 
 openly against the laws of God, and of society, and thus threaten 
 the subversion of the one and the other. When such distinc- 
 tions are kept out of sight, and it is assumed, without any just 
 view of the appointment and limitation of the magistrate's 
 power, that he is to be sole judge and umpire in matters 
 of religion, a very unfair, a very false view is taken of the sub- 
 ject ; a view, however, which serves well the purpose of decla- 
 mation, which is too often substituted, on this subject, for 
 candid and dispassionate argument. How indiscriminately 
 have intolerance and sanguinary principles been imputed to 
 those, who powerfully pled, and valiantly laid down their lives 
 for those very liberties, which are abused to revile their 
 memories! 
 
 3. It must be admitted, that the sentiment that excludes all 
 concern with religion from the duty of the civil magistrate, is 
 not the principle of the Wesminster Confession.* Candour 
 requires that the passages which have been objected against 
 as Erastian, and as subjecting the church, in matters purely 
 religious and ecclesiastical, to the civil magistrate, be explained 
 in consistency with other parts of the Confession, and with the 
 known sentiments of those who compiled and adopted it. For 
 example, the power conceded to magistrates to call synods is 
 explained by the Act of Assembly prefixed to the Confession, 
 as applying to an unsettled state of things, while the intrinsic 
 power of the church to assemble her synods is asserted. And 
 the same thing is necessary in explaining those passages which 
 have been construed as favouring magistratical compulsion in 
 religion. 
 
 It is true that, in the reformation from Popery, provision was 
 made for the preservation of the protestant religion ; a thing 
 required in itself, and specially called for, when the restless 
 
 xx. 4; xxiii. 3; xxxi. 2. Cat. 108, 100. 
 
383 
 
 spirit of Popery was covertly putting forth all its energies to 
 subvert the Protestant cause. Something is due to the memory 
 of those who have done worthily in Ephratah, and been famous 
 in Bethlehem, in the magnanimous struggle for religion and 
 civil libertv. They were men, and had their faults, and are not 
 to be held up as perfect, in all they said and did. In judging of 
 the public conduct of the Scottish Reformers, it is but fair to 
 take into the account the very trying circumstances in which 
 they were placed, the persecutions they endured, the plots which 
 were frequently contrived for the subversion of religion and 
 liberty at home, and the formidable combinations established 
 among the popish powers on the continent to overthrow the 
 protestant interest throughout Europe. "When these things 
 are duly considered, it will be conceded by every candid mind, 
 that measures might have been necessary, in their peculiar 
 circumstances, which would be unwarrantable in a more tran- 
 quil state of society. Yet, that we may guard against all dan- 
 oeing misunderstood, we deem it proper to state distinctly, 
 that we can neither give ourselves, nor require from others, a 
 universal or unqualified approbation of all the acts of Parlia- 
 ment, or of Assembly, during the reforming period. 
 
 But we cannot aquiesce in the charge which some prefer 
 against the Westminster Confession and Catechisms, that they 
 teach compulsory and persecuting principles in religion. If 
 certain passages be at all liable to such unfavourable construc- 
 tion, candour requires that they be specified, explained by the 
 connection in which they stand, by other passages in the Con- 
 fession, and by the avowed principles of the Church of S fc- 
 land. But all exercise of civil authority about religion is not to 
 be condemned ; just provision for the defence of the Protestant 
 religion and liberties, must not be stigmatized as intolerance and 
 persecution ; nor are the standards to be left under a vague 
 and indefinite injurious allegation, which every enemy may turn 
 against them as it pleases him. 
 
 It is not, however, primarily because it was the opinion of 
 our fathers, and is the doctrine of the standards, that we con- 
 tend for the subjection of civil communities and their rulers to 
 the Messiah, and the obligation lying upon them to respect 
 the religion of Jesus. To scripture authority we have made 
 our appeal, acknowledging no other supreme authority over 
 our consciences. Isa. xlix. 23: lx. 10. 12: Psal. ii. 10. 12: 
 Dan. vii. 14: Psal. lxxii. 11; Rev. i. 5, &c And while we 
 r that legal protection ought to be given to the religion 
 of Christ, we cannot plead the same for the mysteries of Pagan- 
 ism — the rites of Mohammed — or the idolatry of Antichrist. 
 And in contending for the principle upon which we make 
 xceptions. we cannot think that we expose ourselvc- to 
 the charge of intolerance and persecution. 
 
384 
 
 IX. Covenanting.— Chap. XIV. 
 
 We find the principle of social covenanting illustrated in the 
 ordinary practices of men, and of communities. We view cove- 
 nanting as a moral duty, based originally on the moral law ; 
 and we find it commanded and exemplified in the Scriptures. 
 We have intimation of it in the predictions relating to the 
 times of the New Testament. It has been exemplified in the 
 history of the church ; and especially in the churches abroad, 
 that separated from the communion of the church of Rome, 
 and were distinguished by the names of Protestant and Re- 
 formed. And it has been exemplified, with the most happy 
 effects in the public federal deeds of our own land. 
 
 Viewing covenanting as a moral duty, prescribed and exem- 
 plified in the word of God ; considering that the design of the 
 public covenants is an adherence to the Protestant Reformed 
 religion, in opposition to Popery and Prelacy : and regarding 
 the church, and the nation, as perpetuated in their posterity, 
 and inheriting precious privileges, we cannot see that the obli- 
 gation of these deeds has ceased with the age in which they 
 were taken. The party sworn unto is the true God, the ever- 
 lasting God, whose name and memorial are through all gene- 
 rations. The church and the nation, the parties that have lifted 
 up their hands to the Lord, corporately considered, still exist. 
 They have plighted their faith to maintain and promote the 
 ends of these covenants in the most formal and solemn manner 
 in which this could be done. An individual or a community, 
 having even less valid claims upon the nation, would be war- 
 ranted to assert and pursue them. And shall God, to whom 
 we owe all our privileges, have no claims, or overlook them ? 
 Shall it be a matter of indifference to us, whether God "remem- 
 ber the covenant of our ancestors," or charge us with break- 
 ing the covenant which he made with them? Lev. xxv. 45 ; Jer. 
 xi. 10. 
 
 The obligation, thus lying upon the church and the nation, 
 has been criminally neglected and violated. At the revolution, 
 the covenants were overlooked, and a civil supremacy over the 
 church and prelacy in England and Ireland re-established, in 
 direct opposition to the terms of these covenants. The obliga- 
 tion of them has been consigned to general neglect and oblivion. 
 Many of those who contended for it, have now relinquished 
 their testimony on this point, while not a few violently oppose 
 their obligation altogether. In other cases the attention has 
 been too exclusively confined to their ecclesiastical objects, and 
 a sufficiently explicit testimony has not been lifted up against 
 the violation of them by these nations. 
 
 Feeling ourselves still bound to testify to the permanent 
 
385 
 
 obligation of the Public Covenants, and to prosecute their grand 
 object to the utmost of our power, we cast a wishful eye to all 
 the friends of the covenanted reformation in church and state, and 
 lift up a prayer to God that he may put it into their and our 
 hearts, to embrace, in a solemn covenant, the entire interests 
 of the reformation, according to our circumstances. This would 
 secure greater unity, publicity, confidence, and strength, in the 
 profession of the cause of Christ; it would deepen the sense of 
 obligation on our own minds ; it might arrest the attention of 
 youth, and of a secure generation ; it might serve to rally the 
 friends of truth around one standard ; and to preserve our own 
 fidelity, and a testimony for the work of reformation, till the 
 Lord arise to plead the cause that is his own, " Come and let 
 us join ourselves unto the Lord in a perpetual covenant, that 
 shall not be forgotten." 
 
 X. Testimony for Truth. — Chap. XV. 
 
 Many, in the present age, have imbibed strong prejudices 
 against a public written Confession and Testimony. The 
 churches which deny the use of creeds altogether, unless they 
 admit every applicant who acknowledges the Bible, and does 
 not openly and grossly violate its precepts, must act upon the 
 principle of a creed. The dispute with them does not, there- 
 fore, turn upon the principle itself, but upon the manner in 
 which it is to be carried into effect. 
 
 The propriety of exhibiting a testimony for truth will appear 
 from the following things : — 1 . The character of witnesses given 
 to the church, Isa. xliii. 10, 12. Acts i. 8. Rev. xi. 3. — 2. Scrip- 
 ture injunctions, Mat. x. 32. Heb. iv. 14. x. 23. — 3. The scrip- 
 tural representations of the church, Zech. viii. 3. Psal. lx. 4. 
 Song vi. 4. Isa. lxii. 10. 1 Tim. iii. 15. — 4. The Scriptures re- 
 cognize a testimony, 2 Tim. i. 8. Rev. vi. 9. xii. 17. xix. 10. 
 xx. 4. — 5. The conduct of enemies. They exhibit error and 
 oppose truth. Ought not the church, and her ministers, set 
 for the defence of the gospel, to lift up a standard against 
 them? 
 
 A profession, or testimony, founded upon Scripture — evan- 
 gelical in its principles, and bearing on the interests of univer- 
 sal holiness—directed against error — sealed with the blood of 
 faithful martyrs — embracing the particular word of Christ's 
 patience — and all centering in Christ himself, will be eminently 
 subservient to the glory of Christ, by uniting his friends, ex- 
 hibiting truth to the world, counteracting error, and transmit- 
 ting the knowledge of truth to posterity. Whether such a tes- 
 timony should be left to float on tradition, and to be vaguely 
 
386 
 
 gathered from the writings of individuals, or should be ex- 
 hibited in a written document, by the church in her collective 
 capacity, can scarcely admit a doubt. Excepting for the pre- 
 servation of the sacred Scriptures, we cannot suppose a nobler 
 end to which the arts of writing and of printing can be devoted. 
 The history of the Reformation illustrates how important to 
 the interests of truth the Confessions or Testimonies of the re- 
 forming churches have been. 
 
 TERMS 
 
 MINISTERIAL AND CHRISTIAN COMMUNION, AGREED UPON 
 BY THE REFORMED SYNOD. 
 
 I. The acknowledgment of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- 
 ments, to he the "Word of God; and the alone infallible rule of faith and 
 practice. 
 
 II. The acknowledgment of the Westminster Confession of Faith, and 
 Catechisms, Larger and Shorter, to be founded upon, and agreeable to 
 the Word of God. 
 
 III. The owning of the Divine right, and original, of Presbyterian 
 Chu rch -government. 
 
 IV. The acknowledgment of the perpetual obligation of our Covenants, 
 National and Solemn League. And in consistency with this, the duty of 
 a minority adhering to these Vows, when the nation has cast them off; 
 and under the impression of Solemn Covenant obligations, following our 
 worthy ancestors, in endeavouring faithfully to maintain and diffuse the 
 principles of the Reformation. 
 
 V. The owning of all the Scriptural Testimonies, and earnest contend- 
 ings of Christ's faithful witnesses; whether martyrs, under the late Per- 
 secution, or such as have succeeded them, in maintaining the same cause; 
 and especially of the Judicial Act, Declaration and Testimony, emitted 
 by the Reformed Synod. 
 
 VI. Practically adorning the doctrine of God, our Saviour, by walking 
 in all his commandments, and ordinances, blamelessly. 
 
 BELL AND BAIN, PRINTERS, GLASGOW. 
 
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