us, that then they had their monthly or quarterly meetings of Presbytery in every county in England. And what a phalanx of godly and right-hearted men must have pervaded England, at the time of passing the Act of Uniformity, in the year 1662, when TWO THOUSAND ministers were found so conscientiously attached to principle, as to suffer instantaneous ejectment from their livings, rather than submit to lordly domination in matters of religion! From this period till the Revolution, the Presbyterian Church could not expect to obtain many accessions of strength; after the Revolution, however, she, under the countenance of God's gracious providence, revived and prospered; making the total number of Presbyterians much larger at the death of Queen Anne than what they were when King William III. ascended the throne of Britain; and "forming, according to Drs. Bogue and Bennett's account, at least two-thirds of the whole dissenting body."

In recounting the prosperous fortunes of the Presbyterian Church, it were inexcusable, did we not allude to an authentic document, drawn up by the author of the history of the Puritans, in the year 1715, in which Mr. Neal states, that the number of dissenting congregations in England and Wales, amounted at that time to "one thousand, three hundred, and ninety-seven. The remarks made upon this document, by the authors of the history of dissent, furnish a tolerably accurate view of the leading denominations of Christians, apart from the Church of England, at the beginning of the eighteenth century. "The Presbyterians were a very large majority. In the Assembly of Divines, at Westminster, while there were scores of Presbyterians, but five Independents were to be found. Thongh they had very considerably increased, they were still far inferior in number. The Baptists were the smallest body of the three, but in a state of gradual increase. It appears that both the number and size of the Presbyterian congregations were nearly double to those of the Independents; and that the congregations of the Baptists, though nearly equal to the Independents in number, were inferior to them in size. The superiority of the Presbyterians is evident, from the arrangements in the meetings of the deputies of the three denominations for business. For one Independent, and one Baptist, there were always to be two Presbyterians."*

Having thus referred to the numerical strength of the Pres

.

Bogue and Bennett, vol. 1, page 358.

byterian Church, tracing her progress from very small beginnings, until she became the national Church of England, let us briefly allude, before proceeding to notice her higher ex cellencies of character, to the sentiments of her adherents in regard to church establishments. The design of the present article, however, does not require us to discuss the arguments adduced in favour of these institutions, or to examine the ac cusations alleged against their expediency and scriptural nature. Yet it appears only befitting to state, in times of agitation like the present, that the Presbyterian Church in England avowed most explicitly, both in practice and by her standards, her sentiments to be in support of religious establishments. Nor does she seem to have inadvertently fallen into this view of the subject. In examining the principles and practices of the Church of Rome, Calvin did unquestionably give this topic, as well as other subjects, his most serious consideration, as his restriction of the civil magistrate's powers in matters of religion decidedly evinces. But how could Calvin and his coadjutors? or how could their followers? or how could any who have implicit regard for the oracles of truth, decide otherwise, than that men, whether in a public or private capacity, lie under the highest obligations to serve the Almighty in the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom? And can those in high places be said to serve Jehovah to the extent of their talents and ability, while the nation's wealth and the magistrate's powers are totally withheld from the protection and aid of the church? The early reformers had been too minutely acquainted with the fact of both the regal and sacerdotal functions being vested in the person of Melchisedek, and they saw how admirably adapted the kingly powers, under the gracious direction of heaven, were calculated to aid the sacred operations of the priest; they had been too much accustomed to contemplate the workings of earthly potentates, under the sanction of divine authority, in connexion with the ordinances of religion during the Mosaic dispensation; and to look at the fostering care with which inspired prophets had foretold that Christian kings would affectionately cherish the church; they had weighed too deliberately the sayings of the unchanging and unchangeable God, whose counsel has always had the same end in view; though differently administered under the patriarchal system, the legal economy and the Christian dispensation, when he taught the apostles to declare that "the civil power is the minister of God to the Christian for good,” and commanded that prayers be made for kings, "that we

may lead a peaceable life in all godliness,"-our Presbyterian ancestors had seen and felt too powerfully the connexion which the Almighty had thus all along preserved between temporal and spiritual matters, ever to doubt the propriety, or even the moral fitness of the magistrate exerting all his power of office, as well as individual influence, to protect and to uphold the interests of religion in the world.*

The beneficial connexion between the Presbyterian Church and the civil power in England had almost the instantaneous effect of promoting piety and virtue throughout the kingdom. None can refrain from deploring the political turmoil, confusion, and death which occurred under the reign of King Charles I.; yet few right-hearted Christians can refuse to rejoice in the blessed effects of the hallowed union between the Presbyterians and Parliament of that day. Look at the heavenly scene then exhibited, of the noblemen and commons of all sorts in the kingdom in the act of publicly and solemnly undertaking to overthrow the empire of darkness, and to extend the kingdom of the King of kings and Lord of lords; contemplate the everlasting good accomplished by the Westminster Assembly of Divines, in the refutation of dangerous errors; in the compilation of truth in such a masterly manner, as gives peace in the present day to many churches at home and abroad, and occasions dismay to their enemies; and in putting the church in England into such a state of organization and efficiency which she had not reached prior to that time, nor since the overthrow of Presbytery; and behold how the united powers of church and state, under the blessing of the Almighty, drove a licentious clergy from the sacred ground which they criminally occupied, and planted in their stead an enlightened, virtuous, and laborious race of Christian ministers. But for the combined operations of the civil and ecclesiastical rulers, humanly speaking, nothing less than the miraculous powers of the apostolic age could have effected this vital, beneficial, and universal reformation in the church. Most true it is that England has never acknowledged her obligations to Presbyterians for all their benevolent exertions and Christian motives. Not only, however, are they entitled to gratitude for the moral and religious good attempted by them, but upon two momentous occasions did the Presbyterians of England assist in establishing the Episcopal Church,

* Confession of Faith, chap. xxiii.

rather than lend their influence upon the one hand in supporting anarchy, or upon the other in upholding the despotism of Rome. Had they, however, taken care, first, to have secured the comprehensions promised them at the Restoration, and afterwards at the Revolution, they might have been at this moment receiving a portion of the church's revenue, or be in the full enjoyment of her ample endowments.

But instead of dwelling upon former grievances, let us proceed to the rich entertainment further presented to us, in the contemplation of the splendid character of the Presbyterian Church, for talent, piety, and indefatigable zeal. And never were the powers of contrivance more severely taxed, than to represent, in a condensed form, her pious sentiments and almost unparalleled worth. Did men ever evince greater integrity of principle than did the Presbyterians of England in their best and purest days? Did the gigantic minds of any period surpass the talents which they displayed in their profundity of scriptural research? Did the ministers of any other age than that in which they lived, manifest more unwearied attention to the duties of the pastoral office? Did ever martyrs take more cheerfully than they did the spoiling of their goods, knowing that in heaven they had a better and an enduring substance? Did the witnesses for the truth at any different time from their's of the church's existence on earth, submit more readily to privation, banishment, sufferings, and death, than what they did for their attachment to Christ and his glorious cause? If labours the most abundant, sufferings the most cruel, and death the most tormenting, be valid proof of genuine principle and ardent piety, then did the Presbyterians of other days give indubitable evidence that nothing could separate them from the love of Christ.

That the services of the sanctuary, upon the Lord's day, required both bodily exertion and mental vigour, strikingly appears in the subsequent specimen of the mode in which Presbyterians of the Rev. Matthew Henry's time conducted the public worship of God. "His constant work on the Lord's day, at Chester, was to pray six times in public, to sing six times, to expound twice, and preach twice. He went to the congregation exactly at nine, began the public worship with singing the 100th Psalm; then prayed a short, but fervent and suitable prayer; then he read some part of the Old Testament, and expounded it, going through it in course from the beginning to the end; then he sang another Psalm; then he prayed for about half an hour; then preached about an

hour; then prayed, and sang, and gave the blessing. He did the same exactly in the afternoon, only expounding the New Testament. This was," says his biographer, "his constant Lord's day's work." Nor did he and his non-conforming brethren of that day go slovenly and superficially through their work, as if the religious exercises of the Sabbath demanded from them no previous study, and the performance of their public duty furnished them with no pleasurable employment. Consider that their publications upon sacred subjects consisted generally of sermons prepared on ordinary occasions for the pulpit; and, taking into view the many ponderous volumes which then issued from the press, you have demonstration that their weekly preparation must have occupied much of their time, and that their private labours for the instruction of the people under their charge, had unquestionably afforded their own souls exquisite delight. "The huge folios of Manton, Charnock, and others," say Drs. Bogue and Bennett, "show us what was the daily bread with which their congregations were fed. The vast treasure of evangelical truth which they contain, and the rich display of genius, learning, depth of thought, sagacity of judgment, and ardour of piety, must astonish and delight those who are familiarly acquainted with their writings; and cannot fail to excite wonder at the patience of labour, and perseverance of appli cation which are stamped so deeply on all their works." When you attempt, then, to calculate the hours and days which these holy men spent in devotion at their monthly and weekly fasts, as well as upon the Lord's day,-when you think how they toiled in the study, how they visited the sick of their flock, how they catechised the young upon the principles of Christianity, how faithfully they performed the duty of pastoral vi sitation, and how religiously they attended to the duties of family worship, and when you hear them, in strains of unfeigned sorrow, pouring forth their sighs and their tears on account of abounding iniquity, and in the view of impending calamity which threatened the church of Christ in those days, surely you cannot refrain from saying of them that they had indeed attained high spirituality of affection, and that the men who could enjoy the ordinances of the Gospel in such purity, must themselves have felt the powers of the world to come.

Where such talent and ardent piety prevailed, it seems scarcely needful to state that holiness of life must have been of a very exemplary nature. The views of the Puritans, in regard to Christian morality, were certainly not of that tem