porizing character which would suffer them to connive at vice, in the practices of the prince any more than of the peasant; or to mingle in the dissipating amusements of the day; or to blend characters whose principles were directly opposed to each other. The test of obedience, by which their judgment was regulated, had respect to the unerring word of God-the law and the testimony; consequently, instead of adopting a standard to accommodate the depraved dispositions of men, their's was a rule of faith and practice to raise the members of the church to the dignity and purity of God's sons. To mark more particularly the high-toned morality which pervaded England in those days, let us contemplate some of the measures pursued by the magistrates of London, under the sanction of Parliament, for the suppression of Sabbath profanation. Regard to the duties of this blessed day, or neglect to divine authority in this respect, may be viewed as infallible proof of the piety or impiety of any people. Extraordinary were the exercises of devotion in the times, to which reference is here made; but equally decisive of Christian holiness was the public condemnation of the desecrations of the Lord's day, by the authorities to whom we have referred. The book tolerating sports upon that hallowed day, was ordered, on the 5th May, 1643, to be burnt by the hands of the common hang, man; the Lord Mayor also issued his precept to the Aldermen, requiring them to charge the churchwardens and constables, "that they do not suffer any person or persons, at any time on the Lord's Day, to be tippling in any tavern or inn; nor permit women to stand with fruit, victuals, or wares in any streets, lanes, or alleys, or any other ways to put things to sale at any time of that day, or in the evening of it; nor allow any milk-woman to cry milk; nor to suffer any persons to unlade any vessels of fruit, or other goods, and carry them on shore; or to use any unlawful exercises or pastimes; and it any persons offend in the premises, they are to be brought before the Lord Mayor, or one of his Majesty's justices of the peace, to be punished as the law directs. The city then be gan to wear a different face of religion to what it had formerly done." Did a similar spirit of devotedness to God's authority abound in the present day, and did our civil governors view themselves "as sent by the Almighty for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well," then would very different regulations predominate in the towns and har bours of England, from what take place, in regard to the sale of fruit and other articles of food,-with respect to the sailing of steam-vessels, and of other ships, for the express purpose of obtaining worldly gains upon the Christian Sabbath. Willingly would we, in proof of the spirituality of our Presbyterian ancestors, notice the exertions made by them to purify the schools of learning; and gladly also would we condescend upon the details respecting the exclusion from the church of illiterate, immoral, and worthless clergymen; measures, however, which were accompanied with much lenity in all doubtful cases, and followed by a merciful provision of one-fifth of the incôme for the families of ejected ministers. But, for the present, a reference to their views and practices, in regard to church discipline, must be held as sufficient. While, then, the early abettors of Presbytery in England acknowledged civil authority, in executing the laws of the realm; and maintained that the magistrate ought to protect and cherish the church in his official capacity; yet, they contended that the church had no other head than the Lord Jesus Christ; that while the civil power had a right to punish all sins as crimes tending to disturb the peace and prosperity of the community, the ecclesiastical power had an exclusive, as well as an equally undoubted right to inflict censure for all sins, as scandal, threatening to injure the spiritual interests of Christ's kingdom. This distinction was well understood in those days; and very plainly pointed out the sphere in which the magistrate and the Christian ruler had respectively to move, a distinction for which they contended, went to the entire exclusion of all interference, on the part of civil powers, in the internal management of the church, a distinction, too, so fully warranted in the Scriptures of truth, which excludes the propriety not less than the necessity of a church's appeal to the state, for the final settlement of any case of discipline. This legitimate division, however, of the temporal and ecclesiastical jurisdiction, the Presbyterian Church in this country could never, to its full extent, obtain from the government; for whatever influence the Westminster Assembly had over the Parliament in other matters, both Houses persevered in the Erastian sentiment, that in inflicting censures the church held a power altogether subordinate to the councils of the nation. It seems therefore to have been only by permission from the legislature that the elderships had authority to suspend the grossly ignorant and the scandalously immoral from Christian fellowship in the ordinances of religion. For the unfettered exercise of the keys of church-government and discipline, the Presbyterian ministers did certainly contend, protesting boldly against this encroachment upon the undoubted prerogative of ecclesiastical councils but while they could not obtain all the power that Christ's authority warranted them to expect, the rules and directions for suspension from the communion table, which an ordinance of Parliament confirmed to them, afford decisive proof of the lofty conceptions entertained by them of God's holiness, and of the features of moral character requisite in all who would approach him acceptably in the ordinances of religion.* But in fine, let us observe that the sufferings of our Presbyterian ancestors in the cause of truth, give valid proof of genuine sincerity, fervent piety, and unshrinking steadfastness. If scorn be persecution, under the reign of different monarchs, they had long trial of cruel mockings, in the reproachful epithets then applied to them-if banishment for attachment to the pure doctrines of the Gospel, be evidence of principle, thousands of them became exiles in a foreign land—if imprisonment evince determined adherents to a religious profession, multitudes of the nonconformists in England, in former days, lay immured in dark and damp dungeons, until death terminated their earthly sufferings-if submission to unheard-of tortures be a decisive mark of true discipleship, many, in by-gone days, surrendered life cheerfully, rather than renounce the doctrines of England's covenanted Reformation-and if the privation of worshipping God according to the dictates of Scripture and conscience be more painful than death itself, then also had our Presbyterian forefathers this species of persecution in all its burning pressure. To mention here a few facts, in regard to the appalling sufferings of the Presbyterian Church, may produce in our hearts gratitude to heaven for the blissful privileges of the present time, as well as furnish proof of our ancestors' stability in the work of God. What a monument, then, of rapacity and cruel oppression does St. Paul's Cathedral in London exhibit, when you reflect that the enormous fines exacted in the reign of Charles II. gave rise to the saying, "The church was built with the sins of the people." Think also, O reader! of the heart-rending torture inflicted in the case of Dr. Leighton-a tragedy frequently acted in those days:- "His ears were cut off, his nose slit, his face branded with burning irons; he was tied to a post, and whipped with a treble cord, of which every lash brought away his flesh. He was kept in a pillory near Neal, vol. 3, p. p. 245, 246. two hours, in frost and snow. He was then imprisoned, with peculiar severity, for about eleven years; and when released by the parliament, he could neither hear, nor see, nor walk." And the horrid tale has yet to be told, "That King James II. began his reign by persecuting the nonconformists with tenfold greater fury than his predecessors had done; he turned his kingdom into a slaughter house, of which judge Jeffreys was the grand butcher. After his western circuit, the quarters of several hundred persons were hung up all over the country, for fifty or sixty miles." But the amount of spoilation and suffering must be stated in these few lines :-" Mr. Jeremy White," say Drs. Bogue and Bennett, "collected a list of SIXTY THOUSAND persons, who had suffered for dissent, between the restoration and the revolution, of whom five thou sand died in prison. Mr. Delaune is said to have been one of nearly eight thousand, who had, for dissenting from the Church of England, perished in prison. It is added, that within three years, property was wrung from them, to the amount of two millions sterling. But who could calculate the total loss of lives, and of substance, from the rise of the Puritans to the triumph of toleration under King William ? But from these accumulated injuries, at that latter period, the Dissenters rose little diminished in strength or numbers, and capable of turning either scale, into which they might choose to throw their numbers." This brief epitome of the Christian principles, the piety, the labours, and the sufferings of the Puritans, seems to corroborate the statement which was advanced at the sixty-seventh page in favour of Presbytery. But in drawing the conclusion, that vital godliness and genuine Presbyterianism have almost, if not always, existed together," we shall principally introduce the language of the authors of the history of dissent, whose fondness for the Presbyterian form of church-government will not be considered as likely to betray them into the use of unwarranted terms of commendation. "The ministers who were ejected for their nonconformity in 1662, amounted to about 2000; and for learning, for soundness in the faith, for piety, for zeal, and for skill and gifts in preaching, the church of Christ has never seen such a body of confessors. To say that they far excelled any whom England can produce at the present day, in learning and worth, would not be flattery, but faint praise." Let it then be recollected, that in those days, * Vol. 1, page 353. when learning and worth so far prevailed over what can be discovered among the nonconformists of England in the present time, "the Presbyterians formed at least two-thirds of the whole dissenting body; at present, they, perhaps, do not exceed a twentieth part of the three denominations."+ Consider, also, that the Independents of the seventeenth century approached much nearer to the views of Presbyterianism, upon the subject of church polity, than what they now do,and if the receding from "learning and worth" corresponds with their departure from the principles of Presbytery, then this testimony not only becomes an evidence in favour of our views of ecclesiastical government, but it lifts a loud and a warning voice to all who differ from the Presbyterian Church, to give the subject of difference a candid, impartial, and devout consideration. But Had our limits permitted, it was our anxious desire to have attempted, in the present article, a vindication of the Presbyterian Church from the alleged charge of intolerance. reserving this topic for a subsequent essay, we hasten to conclude, by stating that the genuine sons of Presbytery in England, at the present day, may well boast of their ancestors, whose prosperous fortunes have just occupied our attention, whose principles have survived the fiery ordeal, to which allusion has been made, and the framework of whose church appears to have admirably suited the genius of the English. nation, and to have been honoured by God, in rapidly diffusing the light and holiness of the Gospel throughout the whole kingdom. ." She stood Troubled on every side, but not distressed; 15th March, 1834. R. E. ON THE CHARACTER OF ZACCHEUS. AMONG the many instances recorded in Scripture of the power of divine grace, its freeness and sovereignty, there are none which strike the mind with more delight and admiration, than that displayed in the conversion of Zaccheus. Ib. vol. 2, page 545. |