66 'Thirdly. That this God, who is the Creator, is eternally distinct from all creatures in His being and blessedness. "Fourthly. That this God is one in three persons or subsistences. 66 Fifthly. That Jesus Christ is the only Mediator between God and man, without the knowledge of whom there is no salvation. 66 66 Sixthly. That this Jesus Christ is the true God. Seventhly. That this Jesus Christ is also true man. Eighthly. That this Jesus Christ is God and man in one person. 66 Ninthly. That this Jesus Christ is our Redeemer, who, by paying a ransom, and bearing our sins, has made satisfaction for them. 66 Tenthly. That this same Lord Jesus Christ is He that was crucified at Jerusalem, and rose again, and ascended into heaven. 66 Eleventhly. That this same Jesus Christ, being the only God and man in one person, remains for ever a distinct person from all saints and angels, notwithstanding their union and communion with Him. 66 Twelfthly. That all men by nature are dead in sins and trespasses, and no man can be saved unless he be born again, repent, and believe. "Thirteenth. That we are justified and saved by grace, and faith in Jesus Christ, and not by works. "Fourteenth. That to continue in any known sin, upon what pretence or principle soever, is damnable. 66 'Fifteenth. That God is to be worshipped according to His own will, and whosoever shall forsake and despise all the duties of His worship cannot be saved. "Sixteenth. That the dead shall rise; and that there is a day of judgment, wherein all shall appear, some to go into everlasting life, and some into everlasting condemnation." Whatever might be the exact intention of the Divines who drew up these propositions, we cannot but conclude -looking at the circumstances of their appointment, and at the use made by a party in the House of what they did, which they could scarcely fail to foresee-that they really meant to confine toleration within the limits indicated by these theological propositions. But the scheme fell to the ground. It was moved that the Articles brought in as "fundamental and necessary to salvation might pass the approbation of the House, and the Lord Protector's consent. But upon perusal of the Articles they were laid aside, and not thought fit to be further proceeded with at that time."2 The temper of the Parliament appeared in its proceedings against John Biddle. This man had published a book entitled "The Twofold Catechism," in which he maintained wild and monstrous opinions respecting the Almighty; and denied the doctrines of the Trinity, of the Atonement, and of Eternal punishment. The House condemned the book as blasphemous; sentenced it to be burnt by the hangman; and referred to a committee the preparation of a Bill for the punishment of the author.3 'Neal, iv. 98. Baxter says twenty propositions were printed, but in Neal's copy, taken from Scobell, there are but sixteen. Cromwellian Diary, i. p. cxix. After a careful consideration of what Baxter says, compared with Goddard's Journal in Cromwellian Diary, vol. i. (Introduction), I am brought to the conclusion above expressed, notwithstanding the attempt of Mr. Orme in his Life of Owen, p. 115, to give a different version of the affair. John Goodwin attacked the principle involved in the measure in his Thirty Queries modestly propounded in Order to the Discovery of the Truth and Mind of God in that Question or Case of Conscience, whether the Civil Magistrate stands bound by Way of Duty to interpose his Power or Authority in Matters of Religion and Worship of God. 1653. "Soon after the rising of the first Protectorate Parliament, Biddle was Cromwell met his Parliament on the 22nd of January, 1655, and told them that dissettlement and division, discontent and dissatisfaction had been more multiplied during the five months of their deliberations than for years before. Seeds were being sown by them for the renewal of old troubles. Briers and thorns were nourished under their shadow. In connection with the fostered confusions-on which he emphatically dwelthis Highness touched upon the spirit which the House had manifested in endeavouring to abridge the amount of religious liberty; although he did not seem at all to disapprove of the treatment which John Biddle had received. He ended his speech by formally dissolving the Assembly. The released, but getting again into trouble, after much suffering and imprisonment in Newgate, the poor man became an exile for life. Protector allowed him a hundred crowns per annum for his subsistence, and in 1658 permitted a writ of habeas corpus in his favour. Notwithstanding his errors, Biddle seems to have been an honest and devout man, and certainly the treatment which he received was most unrighteous. UPON ment, the supreme management of affairs once more relapsed into the hands of Cromwell and his Council. They constituted an ultimate tribunal, before which all ecclesiastical, as well as all secular matters had to be brought, if any doubt arose respecting the decisions of inferior authorities. Notices of questions referred to them, or of matters in which they saw it proper to interfere, are found in such of the Minute Books as are still extant. But, excepting these occasional and revisionary interpositions, the Commissioners for approving godly preachers, and the Commissioners for ejecting scandalous ones, undertook the entire superintendence and discipline of the Clergy. The former sat at Whitehall. There country ministers, summoned from various parts, were obliged to attend; and, in numerous cases, where the benefice was distant and the living poor, the hardship of travelling all the way up to the metropolis became very great. As might be expected, men forced to pass through the ordeal complained of arbitrariness and oppression. There were frequent grumblings about " super-metropolitan" and "hyper-archiepiscopal" tyranny, and of despotism worse than the Bishops'-even "overtopping Laud." Clergymen, out of all sympathy with their judges, entered the Court full of prejudices; and by their known character were likely to excite a corresponding prejudice on the part of those who decided their destiny. They walked into the room full of suspicion; they met at the Board with abundant annoyance; and then came out irritated at the judgment pronounced upon their case. Oftentimes they complained of delay, and said they had "to wait the leisure of the underlings, clerks, or registrars". a complaint which probably was not without foundation, for much business was thrown into a few hands, to be transacted far away from the residence of the parties most interested. Tales respecting the alleged ignorance and malignity of the Triers met with extensive currency; and, coloured as they might be by the parties themselves who complained of their wrongs, they were more deeply coloured still by the prejudice or the carelessness of those who afterwards repeated these stories to their neighbours. Hence, after passing from one Episcopalian to another, they assumed the darkest hues and the most monstrous proportions. Some of them, which have been reduced to writing, exhibit the examiners in a ridiculous light-pressing points connected with Election, Perseverance, the Work of Grace, and the marks of the New Birth, after a fashion the most absurd which can be imagined. One clergyman, for instance, declared that he was asked whether Regeneration were a substance or an accident, and in what predicament it ought to be placed? Mystical questions were put touching the life of grace, to which mystical answers were returned, about the breath and the heat and the sense of the soul. It was said, that enquiries of this nature were continued until |