sanction the continuation of Presbyterian Church government for three years; and also, that the Assembly should continue to sit and deliberate, his majesty being allowed to nominate twenty Episcopalian divines to be added to it for the purpose of having the whole subject of religion again formally debated. To this proposal the Parliament refused to consent; but it probably tended to prevent them from formally dissolving the Assembly, so long as there remained any shadow of hope that a pacific arrangement might be effected with his majesty.

In the meantime many members of the Assembly, especially those from the country, returned to their own homes and ordinary duties; and those who remained in London were chiefly engaged in the examination of such ministers as presented themselves for ordination, or induction into vacant charges. They continued to maintain their formal existence till the 22d of February, 1649, about three weeks after the king's decapitation, having sat five years, six months, and twenty-two days, in which time they had held one thousand one hundred and sixty-three sessions. They were then changed into a committee for conducting the trial and examination of ministers, and continued to hold meetings for this purpose every Thursday morning till the 25th of March, 1652, when Oliver Cromwell having forcibly dissolved the Long Parliament, by whose authority the Assembly had been at first called together, that committee also broke up, and separated without any formal dissolution, and as a matter of necessity.

As the main object of the Westminster Assembly was, to frame such a system of Church government and public worship as might unite the kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, in religious uniformity; and as the Assembly had completed its task, the next point was to lay the result of its labors before the Church of Scotland, that its consent might be obtained. This was in perfect harmony with the whole procedure of Scotland in this great and sacred enterprise. The Church of Scotland had neither the power nor the wish to force its system upon England; as little would it have submitted to English dictation in a matter so important: and although the English Parliament had not fully ratified all the propositions of the Westminster Assembly, yet, since these were completed, the delay

of England was no sufficient reason why the Church and kingdom of Scotland should also delay, if satisfied with the system which the Assembly of Divines had prepared. Even before the completion of the Westminster Assembly's labors, the Church of Scotland had shown its satisfaction and its readiness to promote the desired uniformity; for, in he General Assembly held at Edinburgh early in the year 1645, an act of Assembly was passed on the 3d of February, ratifying the Directory of Public Worship; and on the 15th of February another act was passed, ratifying the Form of Church Government and Ordination, though these had not yet received the full ratification of the English Parliament. Again, in the General Assembly which met in August, 1647, the Confession of Faith was taken into consideration, copies having been previously distributed throughout the Church, and was solemnly ratified by an act of Assembly passed on the 27th of August, 1647. The Larger and Shorter Catechisms not being ready at that time, owing to the delays which had impeded the progress of the Westminster Divines, were not ratified till the following year, when both of them obtained the full sanction of the General Assembly in July, 1648.

It may be necessary to mention, that so jealous was the Church of Scotland lest her sanction should be given to anything which bore an Erastian taint, or might, by perverse ingenuity, be so construed, that in the act of Assembly which ratified the Confession of Faith, an explanation was inserted, giving the Assembly's understanding of some parts of the second article of the thirty-first chapter, which seemed, or might be interpreted to seem, to grant more power to the civil magistrate in the calling of synods than the Church of Scotland was prepared to admit. And still more completely to guard against the very suspicion of any tincture of Erastianism, the Assembly caused to be printed a series of propositions, or "Theses against Erastianism," as Baillie terms them, amounting to one hundred and eleven, drawn up by George Gillespie, embodying eight of them in the act which authorized their publication. It is impossible to peruse these hundred and eleven propositions without being thoroughly convinced, that the General Assembly never would have ratified the Confession of Faith if they had understood it to contain any such Eras

tian taint as some in modern times have affected to discover in it. Let the third section of the twenty-third chapter be carefully perused by any intelligent and candid person, in connection with the whole proceedings of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, and of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and with the hundred and eleven propositions, and he must conclude that it cannot possibly have an Erastian meaning, even though he should be unable to state what it really does mean; unless, indeed, he were to suppose that the Westminster Assembly and the Church of Scotland did not understand the true meaning of their own propositions. But the truth appears to be, that the learned and able men of that period had so thoroughly studied and mastered the essential elements of the Erastian controversy, that they could state the propositions respecting the duty and power of the civil magistrate circa sacra, about religious matters, without admitting his possession of any duty and power in sacris, in religious matters, in terms which, to their practised minds, marked the boundaries in sharp and narrow but clear and definite distinctions; while men who have not so deeply studied these subjects, and whose mental acumen has not been so much exercised, cannot trace, and are perpetually crossing, these boundary-lines, more, it may be, from want of perspicacity or knowledge, than in wilful perverseness. A full and clear history of the Erastian controversy, stating distinctly the great principles which it involves, and their bearing upon liberty, civil and religious, would be a work of incalculable value at the present time,-that very controversy having again begun to disturb men's minds, and threatening to shake to pieces the most valuable institutions, if not to overturn the entire structure of society.

Although the course of events has led to the statement of the Westminster Assembly's dissolution, with which this narrative might close, yet, as its influence did not at once terminate with its actual duration, it seems expedient to give a brief outline of some of the leading events which still retained its impress, till they became almost indistinguishably blended with the onward movements of the national mind and history. It will be remembered that a new element was introduced into the acting powers of the body politic, when, by means of the "self-denying ordinance,"

members of Parliament were prohibited from holding any post in the army, and new general officers were appointed, while Cromwell contrived to procure a special permission for retaining his military command. From that time forward there was a distinction of aims and interests between the Parliament and the army, although they continued their mutual co-operation till the king's power was laid prostrate. In the Parliament, the Presbyterian party retained the ascendency; in the army, the Independents appeared to do so, although they formed but one of the many sects of which it was almost entirely composed. For some time after the king had taken up his residence at Holmby, the disagreement between the Parliament and the army appeared only in the shape of negotiations in the terms of which the two parties could not agree, the Parliament wishing to disband a large proportion of the troops, and to send a considerable body to Ireland, to suppress the Popish insurrection in that country,-and the army petitioning for an act of indemnity for any illegal actions they might have committed during the war. This petition was stigmatized by the Commons as of a mutinous tendency, subjecting its promoters to be proceeded against as disturbers of the public peace. The army immediately formed a council of the principal officers, to deliberate for their own protection; and to this was added two soldiers out of each company, to assist the officers in their council. To these ́soldiers was given the designation, adjutators, or assistants; but this somewhat pedantic title very speedily degenerated into the more intelligible word, agitators,-by which name, accordingly, they are best known. The disagreement continuing, the army seized possession of the king's person, and marched towards London, declaring their inten tion to new-model the government, as the only method of securing a settled peace to the nation. Eleven of the leading Presbyterian members of the House of Commons were accused as guilty of high treason, and enemies of the army, and, with equally unwise and unmanly terror, left the House.

The city of London prepared to meet the danger,-enrolled the militia, threw up defences, and made ready to repel force by force. But the Parliament was divided. The Speakers of both Houses favored the Independents,

and the absence of the eleven impeached members discouraged their party. The two Speakers and about sixty-two of the members retired to the army. This gave to that formidable power what it wanted-the semblance of being engaged in defence of the Legislature itself-and with increased alacrity it advanced against the city. Strife and confusion had, in the meantime, done their work. Without men of ability and determination to direct and lead them on, the citizens were unable to encounter a veteran army, and London threw open its gates, and submitted to a power, formidable indeed, but utterly unable to have taken forcible possession of the city, had it been boldly and vigorously defended.

The army having thus manifested its power, recoiled a little and allowed the Parliament to continue to sit and deliberate, as if still the supreme authority in the nation, although the king was carefully retained under the superintendence of the military leaders. At length Charles contrived to escape from Hampton Court, with the intention. of withdrawing from the kingdom, and seeking the aid of foreign powers to reinstate him on his throne; but not being able to procure a passage, he entrusted himself to Hammond, governor of the Isle of Wight, by whom he was kept in Carisbrooke castle, in real imprisonment, though treated with respect. A series of negotiations for a treaty was resumed between the king and the Parliament, which, like every preceding attempt, proved abortive, in consequence of that strange peculiarity in his majesty's character, the union of inflexible obstinacy in one point, with boundless and incurable dissimulation in every other. At the very time that the king was treating with the English Parliament for peace, he was framing a private engagement with the Scottish Royalists, by means of which he hoped to recover his power by force of arms. This led to the march into England of another Scottish army, under the command of the Duke of Hamilton, who had obtained a temporary ascendency in the Scottish Parliament, but against the opposition, and under the protest of the true and faithful Covenanters. Cromwell marched against this army, defeated it, and returned to London determined to put an end to the struggle, by putting to death a monarch whose principles were of the most despotic