self-denying labours, and their indefatigable zeal in the cause of truth and benevolence. Even in the times, then, of their most prosperous fortunes, the friends of Presbytery may safely contend, that in many cases the charge of intolerance was totally groundless, and that in other instances it was criminally exaggerated.

It is somewhat astonishing that these slanderous imputations should have been thrown upon the Presbyterian Church at a period when her zeal for the truths of the Gospel, for purity of Christian communion, and for the best interests of the kingdom, was as commendable as it was remarkable. This fact cannot fail to remind the reader of the scene acting in the religious world at the present moment. At no time has the Synod of Ulster exhibited a more becoming and determined opposition to deadly error than now; yet when were its enemies more active and malignant than what they have lately been? Never since the Church of Scotland had an existence, did her true friends display a more united and formidable prowess, in amputating every diseased member of the body ecclesiastical, and by infusing a healthfulness into the whole of her constitutional system, which excites profound admiration and delight in the souls of her numerous sons; but when did the fury of voluntaries rage to such an extent as in this our day; and when did passion and prejudice, under the sanctified garb of Christianity, send forth a more unhallowed frenzy for the up-rooting of that noble vine which the right hand of Jehovah has planted, and has, amidst many a merciless storm, hitherto protected? Other instances of this kind might easily be adduced, wherein the Presbyterian Church has suffered from the professed disciples of Jesus Christ—and that, too, when she least deserved such treatment. Perhaps, however, in no instance did less ground for raising the cry of intolerance exist, than at the period of England's history, when the abettors of Presbytery, under the smiles of a gracious Providence, introduced an extensive and most beneficial reformation in religion and morals. Soon after the era of the Revolution, however, the church, against which the charge of persecution had been brought, lost all the distinctive features of a Presbyterian body, except the name-then her liberalism protected her from the accusations of bigotry, oppression, and cruelty.

Having asserted that the character of the Presbyterian Church, ecclesiastically considered, had changed for the worse, when the obloquy of her adversaries ceased, it may be proper to

mention the grounds upon which our conviction rests. Previously, however, let it be noticed, that from 1660 to 1688, the Nonconformists of England were so deeply involved in the miseries of persecution, that the essential points of Presbyterianism could not be practically brought into view; and that in instituting a comparison, the spiritual condition of the Presbyterian Church, prior to the Restoration of Charles, when in the zenith of her prosperity, must be brought into contact with her religious state, after the Revolution, when the different denominations of Christians in the kingdom had the freedom of toleration. At these two distinct periods of her history, the character, spirit, and measures of the Presbyterian Church differed widely and most materially. Immediately after the latter remarkable period, the Independents and Presbyterians, sinking their respective differences, formed a union under the designation of "United Brethren;" and the deeds of the chapels belonging to the two denominations were afterwards constructed to suit either party. That the distinctive features of Presbyterianism had now totally disappeared from the kingdom, Dr. Calamy's admission, made when on a visit to Edinburgh, in 1709, in conversation with a pious woman there, who deeply deplored the want of the Gospel in England, decidedly proves. "Ah! sir," said she, "you have with you no Kirk Sessions, Presbyteries, Synods, and General Assemblies, and, therefore, have not the Gospel."* The learned divine smiled at the woman's simplicity, but did not deny the fact, that the English then wanted what every consistent Presbyterian deems essential to the formation of a gospel church-they wanted the scriptural form of ecclesiastical government. And to evince, that by this time the English Presbyterians held discipline in similar contempt with church polity, in the trial of a clergyman, "for being deficient in knowledge and unsound in principle," before the General Assembly of that year, the same eminent doctor made the subsequent reply, in answer to a question put to him by the moderator : "That we in England should reckon this way of proceeding the Inquisition revived." In the year 1719, latitudinarianism had made such rapid strides, that when the Exeter dispute, in regard to the doctrine of the Trinity, came before the Board of the Three Denominations, in London, seventy-three, out of an assembly of one hundred and fortytwo ministers, refused to subscribe this fundamental article of

Calamy's Life, vol. II. page 170.

the Christian religion. Not that the number of Arians and Socinians had as yet increased to such an alarming extent; but the lax notions of nominal Presbyterians had become so prevalent, and their reluctance to creeds so strong, that it did not require much forethought to perceive what, ere long, would be the fate of the Westminster Confession of Faith, and of the doctrines to which subscription was refused. What at that time appeared a reasonable prediction, at the present day fills an enormous page of recorded facts, in respect of the fearful progress and the appaling evils of pernicious heresy. Thus Erastian notions, in regard to church-polity, engendered an abhorrence of all restraint in matters of religion-then the refusal to subscribe any system of revealed truth was speedily succeeded by the rejection of the truth itself.

Thus it appears that the early Presbyterians of England had something to contend for,-they deemed the form of ecclesiastical government part of divine revelation, they held the prudent exercise of discipline to be indispensable to the prosperity of a Christian Church, and therefore did they consider that the conscience could not be too firmly bound to abide by what they knew to be the unerring, unchanging, and unchangeable word of God. The Presbyterians, however, of a later period had no such faith, and required a greater, though unwarranted, latitude of thought and of religious practice. Because, then, the Presbyterians of an early day were in earnest about matters of the highest importance, and exhibited a practical concern for all the essential parts of revealed Christianity, must they be branded with the epithets of enthusiasts, of intolerant persons, and of persecutors? Dearly has England paid for the undefined notions of its professedly religious population, and for the contempt of the piety, the virtue, and the truth, once maintained by its godly inhabitants. Behold! the ruinous blight which has passed over the community, desolating some of the once most densely filled churches of the land. Look! whither the bewildering shadows of unassisted reason have cruelly misguided many of the young, the opulent, the learned, and the highly gifted of the present age. Be as

tonished! at the baneful effects of pride's intoxicating fumes, ingulphing multitudes in the horrid depths of destructive errors, which preclude them from the honourable appellation of Christians, as well as from any valid claim to that of Presbyterianism. Let the downward course, then, pursued by the misnamed Presbyterians of England, for the preceding hundred years be an effectual beacon, warning all, within the

range of whose vision it comes, to guard against the first wrong step, that they may never enter upon the second, and thereby avoid the road to misery here and hereafter.

The remarks, which a defence of genuine Presbyterians of former days has thus elicited, demonstrate that a sect of totally different sentiments and principles from them, have usurped the name, occupy the chapels, and enjoy the endowments of the old English Presbyterians. In our estimate, therefore, of the Presbyterian Church in England, at the present time, the amount of the whole numerical strength must first be brought into view, and then a brief examination instituted into the claims of the different denominations who take the Presbyterian designation. By following out the details, according to this arrangement, it may afford the greatest satisfaction to present a comparative view of the number of Presbyterian Chapels, at distinct periods, as well as their precise amount at the present time. In the list of dissenting congregations in England and Wales, which was drawn up by Daniel Neal, in 1715, the number appears to have been "ONE THOUSAND, THREE HUNDRED, AND NINETY-SEVEN;" "that both the number and size of the Presbyterian congregations were nearly double to that of the Independents; and that the congregations of the Baptists, though nearly equal to the Independents in number, were inferior to them in size." "At the end of Queen Anne's reign, the Presbyterians formed at least twothirds of the whole dissenting body." From a particular catalogue drawn up by Josiah Thompson, a minister of the Baptist denomination, in 1772, the number of dissenting congregations in England and Wales amounted to ONE THOUSAND, SEVEN HUNDRED, AND ONE; but Presbyterian superiority, which was formerly so greatly pre-eminent, existed now no more. The account furnished by Bogue and Bennett, in 1808, presents the subsequent numbers:-Presbyterian congregations in England and Wales, 270; Independents, 1024; and Baptists, 708; making the number of dissenting congregations in all, at this period, Two THOUSAND AND TWO. In regard to Presbyterian congregations, what a falling off is here!

The state of the Presbyterian Church alone, in point of number, at the present time, approaches, as nearly as can be ascertained, to the following result. The old English Presbyterian congregations, incorrectly so designated, amount to 206, -the congregations of the Secession Church to 32,-and the chapels in connexion with the Established Church of Scotland

to 62; making the total number of Presbyterian congregations in England THREE HUNDRED.

But as

It seems, however, of importance to ascertain how many of these congregations adhere to the doctrines and mode of church-polity which were maintained by the ancient Presbyterians of England, when in their best organized and most prosperous state. The adjustment of this question urges itself upon our attention, inasmuch as an opinion prevails, that the old English Presbyterian Church has become extinct, consequently the occupiers of the chapels, who also hold the endowments and funds, have as equitable a claim to them as any other denomination whatsoever. Had the standards of the ancient Presbyterian Church in this kingdom been lost-had the principles of Presbytery become unknown-and had the records of past times been utterly destroyed, then such an opinion and such claims might have been admitted. long as the proceedings of the Westminster Assembly of Divines are extant; and while it continues indubitably certain, as it at this moment does, "That the Confession of Faith, the Presbyterian Form of Church-government, the Directory for Worship, and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms," constituted the basis of religious uniformity for England, Scotland, and Ireland; and that there does a church exist in England, distinct from all the other denominations in that kingdom, which adheres to the principles and practices of the standards agreed upon by the Westminster Assembly for religious uniformity in this land,then so long must it be morally certain, that the old English Presbyterian Church does exist, and that she has the sole rightful claim to the chapels erected, and the endowments bequeathed by her pious Presbyterian ancestors.

If then the doctrines, government, discipline, and worship, agreed upon by the Westminster Assembly be the test of Presbyterianism in England, let us examine by this standard the most numerous sect in this kingdom that assumes the Presbyterian name. Of the 206 chapels held by this denomination, not fewer than 170 were erected by Orthodox Presbyterians, and many of them liberally endowed by the same persons, or by those of similar sentiments with the godly men who built them. By comparing, however, the religious tenets of the holders of these places of worship, with the sentiments of their founders, a marked difference will, indeed, be discovered. The confession to which the latter class adhered, states:-"That the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament furnish the only sufficient knowledge of God's will which