This Reformation audio resource is a production of Stillwater Survival Books. There is no copyright on this material and we encourage you to reproduce it and pass it on to your friends. Many free resources as well as our complete mail order catalog containing classic and contemporary Puritan and Reformed books at great discounts is on the web at www.swrb.com. We can also be reached by email at swrb at swrb.com, by phone at area code 780-450-3730, by fax at 780-468-1096, or by mail at 4710-37A, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6L3T5. If you do not have a web connection, please request a free printed catalog. History of the Westminster Assembly of Divines by William M. Hetherington, as read by Leah Domes. Tape number four. And let this also be observed, that the long intermixture of civil and ecclesiastical jurisdictions in England, while it had given to the Parliament a very just dread of permitting ecclesiastical persons to possess civil jurisdiction had both familiarized them with the idea contained in the sovereign's ecclesiastical supremacy of a blended jurisdiction, and had driven them to entertain the conviction that civil rulers ought to rule in ecclesiastical causes equally as in their own peculiar province. Even the fact that there was at the time no legal form of church government in the Kingdom, and that consequently there could be no Assembly of Divines without being called by Parliament, led to the infusion of an Erastean taint into the very calling together of that Assembly, and the framing of the regulations limiting and directing its deliberations. Having now arrived at the actual calling of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, It may be expedient before proceeding to relate its deliberations to give a very brief outline of the leading topics contained in the history and character of the Church of Scotland, so far as it is necessary that these should be known in order to obtain a full understanding of the subject. The Reformation in Scotland began and was carried on in a manner the direct reverse of that which took place in England. In the latter country it began in royal capri, or passion, was at the first rendered subservient to the arbitrary will of a despotic monarch, through the pernicious element of his ecclesiastical supremacy, was checked and turned awry by that element, and in the struggle between those who wished a further and more complete reformation and the courtly and prolatic rulers of the Church. It ended in a civil and religious despotism too heavy and cruel to be any longer endured. In Scotland, it was entirely an ecclesiastical movement from the very beginning. Patrick Hamilton, the noble and youthful friend of Luther and Langton, learned the doctrines of the Reformed faith and taught them to his countrymen, till his testimony was sealed with the blood of martyrdom. Wisher gave an additional impulse to the sacred cause, equally by his teaching and his death. Several of the Popish priesthood were converted, and aided in converting others. John Knox caught up the same testimony, and though by the commanding power of his voice, and the unconquerable energy of his character, he caused the voice of religious reformation to be heard throughout the kingdom equally by prince and peasant, in the palace and the cottage. Still it was simply and essentially a religious reformation, taking its form and impress directly from the word of God alone, and encountering at every step the formidable opposition of civil powers and political intrigues, instead of receiving from them its bias and its external aspect. Believing that God's word contained the only authoritative direction for doing God's work, the Scottish reformers made their sole appeal to the law and to the testimony. And though they respected the great continental reformers, they sought the principles of doctrine, discipline, and church government from no foreign model, but from the holy scriptures alone. Thus it was that the Church of Scotland framed its concession of faith and its first book of discipline, and met in its first General Assembly for its own government, seven years before it had even received the sanction of the legislature. Its first General Assembly was held in 1560. The first Act of Parliament recognizing it as a national church was passed in 1567. From its origin, it had encountered the world's opposition. In its growth, it received little or nothing of a worldly intermixture. And when it reached somewhat of mature form, it still stood opposed to the world's corrupting influence. But a few years elapsed till the rapacity and the overbearing force of the nobility began to pillage and assail the Scottish Church. And where direct power could not prevail, fraud and dissimulation were employed. The first attempt against the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland was that of Regent Morton, who devised the well-known scheme of Tolchean bishops, that by their instrumentality he might at once seize its revenues and corrupt its courts. When King James assumed the reins of government, he followed a similar course, with less energy, but greater cunning. and with unwearied pertinacity. His theory of government was absolute despotism, and he had sagacity enough to perceive that where the civil and ecclesiastical jurisdictions were distinct, his theory could not possibly be realized. And as the Church of Scotland was equally opposed to either aspect of his theory, refusing to intermeddle with civil affairs herself, In refusing to permit civil rulers to intermeddle with matters of a spiritual character, the wily tyrant saw the necessity of subverting the Presbyterian form of church government and establishing prophecy in its stead, well aware that he would easily acquire an influence over titled and wealthy clergy at court, which he could never obtain over a free General Assembly. But neither force nor treachery could succeed till after he ascended the English throne, when by means of the combined power of English wealth and English influence, he so far changed the government of the Scottish Church as to procure the appointment of bishops, the half-submission to certain rites and ceremonies, and the partial suppression of General Assemblies. Still a considerable portion of the nobility the greater part of the ministers, and by far the majority of the people, remained Presbyterians in principle, and bore an insurmountable dislike to prophecy. James had foresight enough to see that it would be hazardous to proceed farther, and refused to comply with the solicitations of Lod, who was eager to impose the whole of his beloved Episcopalian forms on the Church of Scotland. When Charles I ascended the throne, he found England in a state of discontent swelling towards insurrection, in consequence of the long course of tyranny, civil and religious, which it had uneasily endured. Unfortunately for him and for the kingdom, he had imbibed all his father's despotic notions of the absolute and irresponsible nature of the royal prerogative. and to little less than his father's dissimulation and insincerity, he added far greater strength of mind and strength, or rather, obstinacy of purpose. Yielding himself entirely to the counsels of Lod and of his beautiful but imperious and relentless queen, he not only refused to mitigate the sufferings of the English Puritans, but resolved to complete what his father had begun, and to bring the Scottish Church into an entire conformity with that of England. A book of canons and of liturgy were framed by the Scottish bishops, chiefly by Maxwell, a bishop of Wrath, revised by Lod, and sent to Scotland to be at once adopted and used, without even the formality of having them laid before any Scottish civil or ecclesiastical court. The free spirit of Scotland was roused by this mingled insult and tyranny. At first a sudden tumult broke out and rendered the scheme abortive and then followed a wide, deep and steady determination to wrench asunder the despotic yoke of prelacy and to restore to Scotland in all its original purity and freedom her own dearly purchased and beloved Presbyterian Church. pledging themselves in a sacred national covenant, the noblest, the wisest and the best of Scotland's sons and daughters prepare to encounter every peril and to sacrifice all that life holds dear rather than yield up their most precious birthright and inheritance, their religious liberty. Provoked to see so bold and firm a front of resistance shown to his despotic designs, In the poorest and least populous part of his dominions, Charles raised an army and marched against his hit or two unconquered Scottish subjects. He was met on the border by an equal array of that high-hearted and intelligent class of men, the Scottish peasantry, who have no parallel in any land, trained as they are from infancy to know, to love, and to fear God, and fearing him to have no other fear. The King could in bitterness mock their poverty, but he shrunk from the encounter with men who knew better how to die in what they believed to be the cause of sacred truth and liberty than how to yield. He framed an evasive peace and returned to England, purposing to conciliate the Parliament so far that he might obtain the means of overwhelming Scotland by a new army too mighty for that small kingdom to resist. But the English Parliament had, with deep interest, marked the power of high principles in the triumph of the Scottish people, and refused to gratify their despotic sovereign, perceiving well that the overthrow of that free country would be speedily followed by the loss of their own remaining liberties. A secret but a constant intercourse was begun and carried on between the English Parliament and the Scottish Covenanters for their mutual support in defending their civil and religious liberties against the aggressions of the King. And when Charles again raised an army for the prosecution of the Bellum Episcopal, the Episcopal War, the Scottish Covenanters no longer acted only on the defensive, but boldly entered England declaring at the same time their Pacific intentions, their friendship towards England, their loyalty to the King, and their desire only to procure the removal from His Majesty's Councils of those persons who were plotting the overthrow of religious and civil liberty in both countries. Charles again was constrained to recoil from their firm front and to recommence a treaty of pacification, first at Ripon and then at London. The Scottish commissioners experienced the most friendly treatment in London, and the preaching of the ministers, who were empowered to treat for the Church, while in the metropolis, attracted crowds, and appears to have produced a deep and favourable impression respecting both themselves and their cause, as even the bitter and contumeliest language of Clarendon sufficiently proves. The King, perceiving that the presence of the Scottish Commissioners in London tended to confirm their intimacy and influence with the Parliament, at length hastily concluded the Treaty of Pacification and set out for Scotland, with the avowed intention of completely terminating all the necessary transactions within the civil and ecclesiastical authorities of that Kingdom. But as afterwards appeared, with a deep design of maturing the embryo plots of Scottish conspirators, and the intended insurrection of the Irish Papists. The intrigues of Montrose, the dark event termed the Incident, the sudden outburst of the Irish Massacre, and the King's attempt, after his return, to seize the five members of the English Parliament, have all been already related briefly, and need not be here retraced. Suffice it to say that, while considered separately, they were sufficiently startling when viewed in the light of the King's previous conduct, and as they occurred in the order of time, they gave to all who valued religious and civil liberty in both England and Scotland a fearful impression of the terrible deeds which the King could do or sanction for the recovery of his shaken power, and the establishing of his desired absolute despotism. They saw with deep regret that they had to deal with a sovereign who regarded treaties but as a species of diplomatic warfare, in which parties strived to overreach each other, and by whom the most solemn stipulations would be observed no longer than till his safety would permit, or his interests induced him to break them. It became, therefore, imperatively necessary for the English Parliament and the Scottish Covenanters, that is, the Scottish nation, to enter into some common bond of union, by means of which they might prevent the danger of being deceived, divided, and overpowered by their unscrupulous antagonists, and both countries reduced to slavery and degradation. In devising this common bond, there was some difference of opinion between the English Parliament and the Scottish Covenanters, though a difference rather of accident than of essence, arising out of the different points of view from which they contemplated the common object. In England, the long course of oppression pursued by Elizabeth, James and Charles fell chiefly on the Puritans, who never, at any time, had formed a majority in the nation, and it was not till spiritual despotism began to produce civil tyranny, as it always does, that England fairly awoke. For that reason, the main aspect of the struggle in England was won in behalf of civil liberty, and, consequently, what they chiefly wished to form with Scotland was a civil league. On the other hand, the contest had from the first, in Scotland, been of a religious character, the king attempting to overthrow the religious liberties of the vast majority, and to place a religious despotism in the hands of a very small minority. And although civil liberty was also assailed inevitably, Yet the primary and main object of attack was religion, so that when the people of Scotland united to defend their sacred rights and privileges, their bond was almost entirely of a religious character, as is proved from the tenor of the National Covenant. And as it had been by means of English influence that the Church of Scotland had been overpowered, the statesmen and divines of Scotland were fully convinced that they could not safely enter into any close alliance with England unless their great enemy prowess were first abolished, and that no secure and lasting intimacy could be maintained between the two countries if there were not at least a close approximation towards uniformity in religious worship, discipline, and government. This idea the Scottish commissioners strenuously, yet most delicately, pressed upon the notice of the English Parliament so early as the beginning of the year 1641, and in this they were supported by nearly all the Puritan ministers, those only accepted who had adopted the congregational system. What Scotland chiefly wished, therefore, was to enter into a religious covenant with the English Parliament, This, then, was the difference produced by these different circumstances. England wished for a civil league with Scotland for the preservation of their mutual civil liberties, but was willing that it should have also a religious aspect and influence. Scotland desired a religious covenant for the preservation of their mutual religious liberties, but was willing that it should have also a civil aspect and influence. and neither country wished to dictate to the other in either subject, but to leave national inclinations and peculiarities untouched. It is evident that in these circumstances a union could be formed, but it is as evident that in directness and sacredness of purpose the superiority was on the side of Scotland, and also that hers must be the greatest danger, from the certainty that thus linked together she must share the fortunes of her mightier neighbor. If the reader has at all attended to the facts stated and the principles involved in the preceding introductory pages, he must have perceived their extreme importance in themselves, and also the light which they throw on the subject to which he is now to direct his concentrated attention. In the earliest ages of Christianity, the civil power everywhere was hostile. because it was pagan, that is, idolatrous. When the civil power became avowedly Christian, it did so at a time when all the principles of potpourri were already in existence, and wanted but a favorable opportunity for obtaining ascendancy. This opportunity was furnished by the ignorance of the barbarian overthrowers of the Roman Empire, and thus potpourri arose into full power. One of its distinctive features was its assumption of supremacy in all matters both civil and ecclesiastical. The fatal effect of this blending of jurisdictions was not at once apparent, but it led to absolute despotism and its counterpart absolute slavery. At the Reformation an attempt was generally made to separate the two jurisdictions, the civil and the ecclesiastical. but the importance of the idea was not fully appreciated and the attempt was but partially successful. In England in particular, the sovereign seizing upon the power formerly possessed by the Pope assumed both jurisdictions and became head of the church as well as head of the state. The pernicious consequences were soon apparent in the unsteady and fluctuating progress of religious reformation, in the new forms of persecution, in the complete stop put to further advancement in purity and truth, and in the rapid growth of despotism, civil and religious. These consequences advanced steadily, though with varying rapidity, during the reigns of Elizabeth, James, and Charles I, so they produced the absolute necessity of resistance unless men were willing to submit to the entire loss of natural, national, and religious liberty. For though we have but touched the main points of the events of those reigns, it must be evident to every intelligent person that there was not a single thing in which a human being could claim liberty to act as a man, as a responsible and free agent, and as a member of the Christian Church, which was not directly and violently assailed by the prelates under the authority of the Sovereign's ecclesiastical supremacy. And as man can never be entitled to denude himself or to suffer others to wrest from him his essential characteristics of a responsible and religious being, it had become a sacred duty to assert and defend his natural, national, and religious rights and responsibilities. Further, when prophecy at first avowedly a human invention, arrogated a divine right, it assumed an aspect that could no longer be endured. Men may, in certain circumstances, abstain from asserting their natural rights, but when an attempt is made to abolish these rights, even in God's name, it becomes a duty which they owe to God Himself, to prevent the perpetration of a grievous wrong, so wrought as to involve a violation of His glorious and holy character and attributes. It was, therefore, a holy deed to resist that form of Pilatic tyranny, for it was a vindication of the King Eternal from a despotism usurped as if by His authority. And let it be well observed that the awfully pernicious character here ascribed to the assumed divine right of prelacy cannot be charged against Presbytery. when it, too, claims to be of divine right. Because while it asserts that Christ, the only Supreme Head and King of the Church, has appointed a government and office bearers in His spiritual kingdom, it recognizes equally the religious rights and responsibilities of the people, the free subjects of that kingdom, whose right to liberty of conscience is also a divine right. Nor can it ever become a potpourri by usurping civil authority and exercising a spiritual and civil despotism, because it owns and teaches the divine right of the civil magistrate in his own department as also and equally an ordinance of God. But upon this subject, it is needless to dwell at present. It will come more fully before us as we proceed in tracing the discussions of the Westminster Assembly. Hetherington's summary of Chapter 2 reads as follows. First meeting of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster. List of names, regulations, order of procedure, a fast, the 39 articles revised, commissioners sent to the Scottish Convention of Estates and General Assembly, discussions concerning a treaty between the kingdoms, the solemn Ligon Covenant prepared and assented to, taken in England and in Scotland, remarks, parties composing the Westminster Assembly, Episcopalians, Puritans or English Presbyterians, Independents or Congregationalists, characters of the leaders of that party, Orastians, the leading supporters of that party, the Scottish Commissioners, their characters, sectarians throughout the country, cause of so many sects, prolatic tyranny and neglect of instruction, connection and intercourse between the sectarians and the independents in the Assembly, the misapplication of the term toleration, remarks. Chapter 2. The Ordinance of the Parliament calling the Assembly of Divines to meet at Westminster on the first day of July, 1643, was issued as has been stated on the 12th of June in the same year. On the 22nd of June, His Majesty, by a proclamation, forbade their meeting for the purposes mentioned in the Parliamentary Ordinance, declaring that no acts done by them ought to be received by his subjects, and threatened that if they should meet, he would proceed against them with the utmost severity of the law. This was so far unpropitious even to his own cause as it tended to prevent the greater part of the Episcopalian divines who had been summoned from attending. The Scottish Convention of Estates met in June but came to no definite resolution and public matters were postponed till it should be more clearly known what terms would be proposed by the King and the Parliament. the Covenanters being unwilling directly to interpose if that could be avoided. The following is a list of names contained in the ordinance by which the assembly was called, amounting to 151 in all, namely 10 lords and 20 commoners, as lay assessors and 121 divines. Lords Algernon, Earl of Northumberland, William Earl of Bedford, Philip Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, William Earl of Salisbury, Henry Earl of Holland, Edward Earl of Manchester, William Viscount Say and Sell, Edward Viscount Conway, Philip Lord Wharton, Edward Lord Howard of Eskrick. Commoners. John Selden Esquire, Francis Rouse, Esquire Edmund Predoe, Esquire Sir Henry Vane, Senior John Glynn, Esquire Recorder of London John Witt, Esquire Bolstrode Whitlock, Esquire Humphrey Salloway, Esquire Mr. Sergeant Wilde Oliver St. John, Esquire Solicitor Sir Benjamin Roodyard John Pym, Esquire. Sir John Clotworthy. John Maynard, Esquire. Sir Henry Vane, Jr. William Pierpoint, Esquire. William Wheeler, Esquire. Sir Thomas Barrington. Sir John Ebelin. Walter Young, Esquire. Divines. Herbert Palmer, Bachelor of Divinity of Asheville. Oliver Bowles, Bachelor of Divinity of Sutton. Henry Wilkinson, Bachelor of Divinity of Madison. Thomas Valentine, Bachelor of Divinity of Chalfont-Giles. William Twiss, Doctor of Divinity of Newbury. William Reiner of Egham. Hannibal Gammon of Morgan. Jasper Hicks of Lawrick. Joshua Howell, Doctor of Divinity of Dublin. William Bridge of Yarmouth. Thomas Wincop, Doctor of Divinity of Ellsworth. Thomas Goodwin, Doctor of Divinity of London. John Lay of Budworth. Thomas Case of London. John Pinn of Berra-Farrars. Frances Whidden of Moreton. Richard Love, Doctor of Divinity of Ekington. William Gouge, Doctor of Divinity of Blackfriars. Ralph Brownrake, Doctor of Divinity, Bishop of Exeter. Samuel Ward, Doctor of Divinity, Master of Sydney College, Cambridge. John White of Dorchester. Edward Peel of Compton. Stephen Marshall, Bachelor of Divinity of Fitchingfeld. Obadiah Sedgwick, Bachelor of Divinity at Cogshaw. Thomas Carter of Oxford. Peter Clark of Carnaby or Kirby. William Mew, Bachelor of Divinity of Essington. Richard Capple of Pitchcombe. Theodore Blackhurst of Overton-Wetsville. Philip Nye of Kimballton. Brockett Smith, Doctor of Divinity of Barquay. Cornelius Burgess, Doctor of Divinity of Watford. John Green of Pencombe. Stanley Gower of Brampton. Frances Taylor of Yalding. Thomas Wilson of Oldham. Anthony Tuckney, Doctor of Divinity of Boston. Thomas Coleman of Blighton. Charles Hurl of Winwick. Richard Herrick of Manchester. Richard Creighton of Showell, George Getz of Alliston, Calibra Downing, Doctor of Divinity of Hackney, Jeremy Burrows of Stepney, Edmund Calmey, Bachelor of Divinity of Aldermanbury, George Walker, Bachelor of Divinity of London, Joseph Carraghe of Lincoln's Inn, London, Lazarus Seaman, Bachelor of Divinity of London. John Harris, Doctor of Divinity, Warden of Winchester College. George Morley, Doctor of Divinity of Minden Hall. Edward Reynolds, Doctor of Divinity of Brampton. Thomas Hill, Bachelor of Divinity of Tickmarsh. Robert Saunderson, Doctor of Divinity of Boothby Parnell. John Foxcroft of Gotham. John Jackson of Marsac. William Carter of London. Thomas Thorogood of Massingham. John Aerosmith, Doctor of Divinity of Lynn. Robert Harris, Bachelor of Divinity of Hanwell. Robert Cross, Bachelor of Divinity of Lincoln College. James Usher, Archbishop of Armagh. Matthias Stiles, Doctor of Divinity of East Cheap, London Samuel Gibson of Burleigh Jeremiah Whitaker of Stretton Edmund Staunton, Doctor of Divinity of Kingston Daniel Featley, Doctor of Divinity of Lambeth Frances Coke of Yawks Hall John Lightfoot, Doctor of Divinity of Ashley Edward Corbett of Merchant College, Oxford Samuel Hildersham of Setton John Langley of Wyss-Tutterly Gloucester Christopher Tisdale of Uphurstbourne Thomas Young of Stowmarket John Phillips of Wrentham Humphrey Chambers, Bachelor of Divinity of Claverton John Conant, Bachelor of Divinity of Leamington Henry Hall, Bachelor of Divinity of Norwich Henry Hatton, Henry Scudder of Collingburn, Thomas Bailey, Bachelor of Divinity of Manningford Bruce, Benjamin Pickering of East Holtly, Henry Nye of Clampham, Arthur Salloway of Severn Stoke, Sidrac Simpson of London, Anthony Burgess of Sutton Coldfield, Richard Vines of Calcot, William Greenhill of Stepney, William Morton of Newcastle, Richard Buckley, Thomas Temple, Doctor of Divinity of Battersea, Josiah Shute, Bachelor of Divinity, Lombard Street, William Nicholas, Doctor of Divinity, afterwards Bishop of Gloucester, Thomas Gadiker, Bachelor of Divinity of Rotherhithe, James Welby of Siloton, Christopher Pashley, Doctor of Divinity of Howerton, Henry Tozer, Bachelor of Divinity of Oxford, William Spursthal, Doctor of Divinity of Hampton, Francis Chino, Doctor of Divinity of Petworth, Edward Ellis, Bachelor of Divinity of Galesfield, John Hackett, Dr. Divinity of St. Andrews, London, Samuel De La Place and John De La Marche of the French Congregations, Matthew Newcomen of Deadham, William Lyford of Sherbourne, William Carter of Dinton, William Lance of Harrow, Thomas Hodges of Kensington, Andrew Pern of Wisby, Thomas Westfield, Doctor of Divinity, Bishop of Bristol. Henry Hammond, Doctor of Divinity of Penthurst. Nicholas Prophet of Marlborough. Peter Scurry of London. John Earle of Bishopston. John Gibbon of Waltham. Henry Painter, Bachelor of Divinity of Exeter. Thomas Micklethwait of Cherryburton. John Wincop, Doctor of Divinity of St. Martins in the Fields William Price of St. Paul's Covent Garden Henry Wilkinson, Bachelor of Divinity of St. Dunstan's Richard Holdsworth, Doctor of Divinity of Cambridge William Dunning of Goldiston Scottish Members, Lay Assessors or Elders John Lord Maitland Sir Archibald Johnson of Warston Ministers Alexander Henderson of Edinburgh George Gillespie of Edinburgh Samuel Weatherford of St. Andrews Robert Bailey of Glasgow Scribes or Clerks Henry Robereau Adoniram Byfield John Wallace Of this list, about 25 never appeared at the Assembly, one or two having died about the time of the meeting of the Assembly, and others fearing the displeasure of the King or having a preference for the Prolatic system. In order to supply the deficiency thus caused and also occasionally diminution caused by death during the protracted sittings of the Assembly, The Parliament summoned about 21 additional members, who were termed the Super Added Divines. The following is a list of their names, as far as is known. Mr. John Bond, Mr. Bolton, Richard Byfield, Philip Delme, William Goad, Humphrey Hardwick, Christopher Love, William Massam, Daniel Cawdry of Great Billing, Mr. Johnson, Foss Dillingham of Dean, John Maynard, William Newscore, John Strickland, Bachelor of Divinity of New Sarum, Mr. Strong of Westminster, John Ward, Thomas Ford, John Drury, William Rothband of Highgate, Simeon Ash of St. Bride's, Mr. Moore, There were thus in whole 32 lay assessors, including those from Scotland, and 142 divines, including the four Scottish commissioners. But of these, only 69 were present the first day, and generally the attendance appears to have ranged between 60 and 80. There are 102 divines named in the Common Editions of the Confession of Faith. but several of those there named were not regular in their attendance. Not more than from a dozen to a score spoke frequently, many very learned and able men being contented to listen, to think, and to vote. The three scribes had no votes, being sufficiently employed in recording the propositions brought forward, the progress of the discussion, and the state of the vote when taken. Mr. Twiss of Newbury was appointed prolocutor, and after his death he was succeeded by Mr. Hurrell. Dr. Burgess of Watford and Mr. White of Dorchester were assessor to the prolocutor, to take the chair during his occasional absence. It may serve to show the wish of the Parliament to act with fairness and impartiality to state that they named men of all shades of opinion in matters of church government, in order that the whole subject might be fully discussed. In the original ordinance, four bishops were named, one of whom actually attended on the first day, and another excused his absence on the ground of necessary duty. Of the others called, five became bishops afterwards, and about twenty-five declined attending, partly because it was not a regular convocation called by the King, and partly because the solemn Ligon Covenant was expressly condemned by His Majesty. At length the appointed day came, and on Saturday the first of July the members of the two Houses of Parliament, named in the ordinance and many of the divines therein mentioned, and a vast congregation met in the Abbey Church, Westminster. Dr. Twist, the appointed Prolocutor of the Assembly, preached an elaborate sermon from the text, John 14, 18. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come unto you. After the sermon, all the members present adjourned to Henry VII's chapel, and the roll of members being called It appeared that there were 69 clerical members present on that the first day of the Westminster Assembly. But as there had been no specific instructions given, nor any subject prepared for their immediate discussion, the Assembly adjourned till the following Thursday. This very fact points out one peculiarity of the Westminster Assembly, to which allusion has been made. It was neither a convocation nor a Presbyterian Synod or General Assembly, and it could not be either the one or the other, for the Pilate's form of church government had been abolished, and there was no other yet in existence. The true theory of the Westminster Assembly comprises two main elements. There was a Christian Church in England, but not organized, and the civil power of vowing Christianity had called an assembly of divines for the purpose of consulting together respecting those points of government and discipline which require the sanction of civil authority for their full efficiency. Such an assembly could have been called only by a Christian civil magistrate and only in a transition state of the church when disorganized or not yet duly constituted. In such a state of matters, the problem to be solved was this. On what terms could a national church be constituted so as neither to encroach upon civil liberty as the papal and pilatic churches had done, nor to yield up those inherent spiritual rights, privileges, and liberties which are essential to a church of Christ. And for that purpose, it was almost indifferent whether the state should first mention the terms on which it would establish a national church, or the church specify the terms on which it would consent to be established. Only that the latter would have been the simpler and the purer method of making the arrangements. The former, however, was the plan adopted, and for that reason the statement of the propositions came from the Parliament. When the Assembly again met on the Thursday, the following instructions were laid before them as general regulations directed by the Lords and Commons and Parliament assembled. 1. That two Assessors be joined to the Prolocutor to supply his place in case of absence or infirmity. 2. That Scribes be appointed to set down all proceedings and those to be divine who are out of the Assembly, namely Mr. Henry Roburrow and Mr. Adoniram Byfield. 3. Every member at his first entry into the Assembly shall make serious and solemn protestations, not to maintain anything but what he believes to be truth and sincerity, when discovered to him. 4. That no resolution be given upon any question the same day wherein it is first propounded. 5. What any man undertakes to prove as necessary, he shall make good out of Scripture. 6. No man to proceed in any dispute after the prolocutor has enjoined him silence, unless the assembly desire he may go on. 7. No man to be denied to enter his dissent from the assembly, and his reasons for it, in any point after it has been first debated in the Assembly, and thence, if the dissenting party desire it, to be sent to the Houses of Parliament by the Assembly, not by any particular man or men, in a private way, when either House shall require. 8. All things agreed on, and prepared for the Parliament, to be openly read and allowed in the Assembly, and then offered as the judgment of the Assembly if the major part assent, provided that the opinion of any persons dissenting and the reasons urged for it be annexed thereunto, if the dissenters require it, together with the solutions, if any were given to the Assembly to these reasons. Footnote, Lightfoot's Works, Volume 13, pages 3 and 4. End of footnote. To these general regulations, the Assembly added some for their own guidance. 1. That every session begin and end with prayer. 2. That after the first prayer the names of the Assembly be called over, and those that are absent marked. But if any member comes in afterwards, he shall have liberty to give in his name to the scribes. 3. That the appointed hour of meeting be ten in the morning, the afternoon be reserved for committees. 4. That three of the members of the Assembly be appointed weekly as chaplains, one to the House of Lords, another to the House of Commons, and a third to the Committee of both Kingdoms. It was also resolved that every member of the Assembly, both Lords and Commons, as well as the Brines, before his admission to sit and vote, should take the following vow of protestation. I do seriously promise and vow, in the presence of Almighty God, that in this assembly, whereof I am a member, I will maintain nothing in point of doctrine, but what I believe to be most agreeable to the Word of God, nor in point of discipline, but what I shall conceive to conduce most to the glory of God and the good and peace of His Church. This protestation was appointed to be read afresh every Monday morning, that its solid influence might be constantly felt. In order that business might proceed regularly and expeditiously, the whole assembly was cast into three equal committees, the Divines according to the order in which their names stood in the ordinance, and the Lords and Commons into three corresponding divisions, according to their order also. Each committee chose for itself a chairman. The first chose Dr. Cornelius Burgess, the second Dr. Staunton, and the third Mr. Given. The account of the Assembly's order of procedure given by Bailey is at once so graphic and so complete that we cannot do better than extract the entire passage, merely modernizing any peculiarities in spelling or obsolete expressions. The like of that assembly I did never see, and as we here say, the like was never in England, nor anywhere is shortly like to be. They did sit in Henry VII's chapel, in the place of the Convocation, but since the weather grew colder, they did go to the Jerusalem Chamber, a fair room in the Abbey of Westminster, about the size of the college front hall, but wider. At the one end nearest the door and along both sides are stages of seats, as in the new Assembly House at Edinburgh, but not so high, for there will be room but for five or six score. At the uppermost end there is a chair set on a frame, a foot from the earth, for the Mr. Prolocutor, Dr. Twist. Before it, on the ground, stand two chairs for the two Mr. Assessors, Dr. Burgess and Mr. White. Before these two chairs, through the length of the room, stands a table, at which sits the two scribes, Mr. Byfield and Mr. Rowborough. The house is all well hung with tapestry, and has a good fire, which is some dainty's at London. Opposite the table, upon the prolocutor's right hand, there are three or four ranks of benches, On the lowest we five do sit, upon the other at our backs the Members of Parliament deputed to the Assembly. On the benches opposite us, on the Prolocutor's left hand, going from the upper end of the house to the chimney, and at the other end of the house and back of the table, till it come about to our seats, are four or five stages of benches, upon which their Divines sit as they please. albeit commonly they keep the same place. From the chimney to the door there are no seats but a void space for passage. The Lords of the Parliament used to sit on chairs in that void about the fire. We meet every day of the week but Saturday. We sit commonly from nine till one or two afternoon. The prolocutor at the beginning and end has a short prayer. The man, as the world knows, is very learned in the questions he has studied, and very good, beloved of all, and highly esteemed, but merely bookish, not much, as it seems, acquainted with conceived prayer, among the unfittest of all the company for any action. So after the prayer he sits mute. It was the canny convoyance, skillful management, of those who guide most matters for their own interest to plant such a man of purpose in the chair. The one assessor, our good friend Mr. White, has keeped in of the gouts since our coming. The other, Dr. Burgess, a very active and sharp man, supplies, so far as is decent, the prolocutor's place. Ordinarily there will be present above three score of their divines. These are divided into three committees, in one of which every man is a member. No man is excluded who pleases to come to any of the three. Every committee, as the Parliament gives order in writing to take any purpose to consideration, takes a portion and in their afternoon meeting prepares matters for the Assembly, sets down in their minds in distinct propositions backing the propositions with texts of scripture. After the prayer, Mr. Byfield the scribe reads the proposition and scriptures, whereupon the assembly debates in a most grave and orderly way. No man is called up to speak, but whosoever stands up of his own accord speaks so long as he will without interruption. If two or three stand up at once, that the divines confusedly call on his name whom they desire to hear first, on whom the loudest and manliest voices call, he speaks. No man speaks to any but to the prolocutor. They harangue long and very learnedly. They study the questions well beforehand and prepare their speeches. But withal the men are exceeding prompt and well spoken. I do marvel at the very accurate and extemporal replies that many of them usually make. When, upon every proposition by itself, and on every text of Scripture that is brought to confirm it, every man who will has said his whole mind, and the replies, due plies, and true plies, are heard, then the most part call to the question. Bifield, the scribe, rises from the table and comes to the prolocutor's chair, who, from the scribe's book, reads the proposition and says, As many as are of opinion that the question is well stated in the proposition, let them say A. When A is heard, he says, As many as think otherwise, say no. If the difference of A's and no's be clear, as usually it is, then the question is ordered by the scribe. and they go on to debate the first scripture alleged for proof of the proposition. If the sound of A and No be near equal, then says the prolocutor, as many as say A stand up. While they stand the scribe and others number them in their minds. When they sit down the No's are bidden to stand and they likewise are numbered. This way is clear enough and saves a great deal of time which we spend in reading our catalog When a question is once ordered, there is no more debate of that matter. But if a man will wander from the subject, he is quickly taken up by the Mr. Assessor, or many others, confusedly crying, speak to order, to order. No man contradicts another expressly by name, but most discreetly speaks to the prolocutor, and at most holds to general terms. the Reverend Brother who lately or last spoke, on this hand, on that side, above or below, I thought meet once for all to give you a taste of the outward form of their assembly. They follow the way of their Parliament. Much of their way is good and worthy of our imitation. Only their lonesomeness is woeful at this time, when their Church and Kingdom lie under a most lamentable anarchy and confusion. They see the hurt of their length but cannot get it helped, forebeing to establish a new platform of worship and discipline to their nation for all time to come. They think they cannot be answerable if solidly and at leisure they do not examine every point thereof." Footnote, Bailey Volume 2, pages 108 and 109. End of footnote. Having made these preliminary arrangements, the Parliament sent the Assembly an order to revise the 39 articles for the purpose of simplifying, clearing, and vindicating the doctrines therein contained. The discharge of this task was begun in the committees and reported from time to time in the Assembly. On the first of these meetings to receive and consider reports, July 12th, a letter says Lightfoot came from Dr. Brownrigg, Bishop of Exeter, to Dr. Featley, or, in his absence, to Dr. Gouge, which was openly read wherein he excuses his non-appearance in the Assembly from the tie of the Vice-Chancellorship in the University that lay upon him. Footnote, Lightfoot, page 5. End of footnote. The tenor of his excuse shows that he at least did not condemn the calling of the Assembly, nor thought his Episcopal function of divine institution. Indeed, there were many Episcopalians who had not embraced the high theory of Bancroft and Loud. Otherwise, none could have appeared in the Assembly at all. And yet, even Clarendon admits that about twenty of them were reverend and worthy persons and Episcopal in their judgments. Footnote. Clarendon. End of footnote. And Fuller says that Dr. Westfield, Bishop of Bristol, and some few others, seemed the only non-conformists among them for their conformity, whose gowns and canonical habits differed from all the rest. Footnote. Fuller, Volume 3, page 448. End of footnote. From this it appears that at least one bishop gave his presence to the meeting of that assembly, which so many of his Prolatic brethren since have termed impious and rebellious. A new disaster having befallen the arms of the Parliament, in the defeat of Waller, the assembly petitioned the houses to appoint a fast throughout London, Westminster, and the suburbs. requesting that measures might be speedily adopted for promoting reformation, so that the divine wrath might be averted, and the wounds and miseries of the kingdom healed. This petition was granted the 21st of July was set apart as a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer. Mr. Hill, Mr. Spursdale, and Mr. Vines were appointed to preach before the houses and a day was observed with great solemnity within the specified boundaries. From this time forward, it was customary to appoint similar fasts and public sermons before the Houses of Parliament, which sermons were printed by order of Parliament, frequently with prefaces before or postscripts appended to them by their authors. And having been preserved, they form an admirable mass of information regarding the actual sentiments and state of feelings predominant in both the Parliament and Assembly, characterized by all the freshness and trembling earnestness, and intensity of hopes and fears called forth by the varying vicissitudes of those eventful and fluctuating times." Footnote. For the use of perhaps the most complete collection of these sermons extant, the author is indebted to the kindness and courtesy of the Reverend Mr. Craig of Rossay. End of footnote. The same circumstance proves that on the part of the Parliament the struggle in which they were engaged was by themselves regarded as to the full as much of a religious as of a political character and that they were not ashamed to acknowledge that they looked to the favor and the protection of God for ultimate success in the perilous and important contest. It may be added that however vehemently the king and his adherents asserted the divine source of the royal prerogative, we do not find that they attempted to hallow their cause, or to seek divine aid by solemn religious acts. But on the contrary, that in order to draw the utmost possible breath of distinction between themselves and the Puritans, They delighted to indulge to excess in every kind of licentiousness and immorality, so that they frequently alienated those counties which were otherwise friendly to the royal cause, and drove the oppressed people into the ranks of the parliamentary armies, as the only way to rescue themselves and their families from the vicious brutalities of the proud and tyrannical cavaliers. The Assembly continued to discuss the thirty-nine Articles, and expended ten weeks in debating upon the first fifteen. But upon the arrival of the Scottish Commissioners, or rather soon after the signing of the solemn Laking Covenant, a new direction was given to the whole course of discussion, so that it was unnecessary to trace that part of the proceedings which led to no particular result, and which, terminating abruptly and unfinished, cannot properly be said to form any part of the Assembly's actual proceedings. Let us rather direct attention to the formation of the Psalm-Latent Covenant itself. When the English Parliament determined upon the abolition of the Polatic Hierarchy, they at the same time suggested the calling of an Assembly of Divines to deliberate respecting the new form to be established, and they also applied to the Church of Scotland to send commissioners to the intended assembly. The Scottish Church nominated some ministers and elders to be in readiness, but the English Assembly, not having been called till nearly a year had elapsed, serious doubts began to be entertained in Scotland respecting their sincerity, especially when no authorized person appeared at the Convention of Estates held on the 22nd June and prolonged during a fortnight. At length a messenger arrived stating that the Assembly had met, and renewing their application for the presence of Scottish Commissioners. Footnote, Bailey Volume 2, page 80. End of footnote. As the General Assembly was to meet on the 2nd of August, and the Convention of the States at the same time, the matter was deferred till then, that it might be fully and authoritatively arranged. After several days of anxious expectation by the Scottish General Assembly, the English Commissioners arrived on the 7th of August and were received by a deputation of the Assembly on the following day. The English Commissioners were, from the Lords, the Earl of Rutland and Lord Grey of Wark, the latter of whom declined the journey. From the Commons, Mr. William Armand, Sir Harry Vane, the younger, Mr. Hatcher, and Mr. Darley, and from the Assembly of Divines, Mr. Marshall and Mr. Nye. They presented their commission, giving them ample powers to treat with the Scottish Convention and Assembly, a declaration of both the English Houses, a letter from the Westminster Assembly, and a letter subscribed by above 70 of their Divines, supplicating aid in their desperate conditions. This letter, says Bailey, was so lamentable that it drew tears from many. The leading statesmen and advisors of Scotland immediately took these matters into serious and most anxious deliberation. All were of opinion that it was necessary to assist the English, but how that assistance should be given they could not so readily determine. At one time the prevalent idea was that Scotland should interpose as a mediating power, without altogether taking part with the Parliament, but a more careful and full deliberation convinced them that this was impracticable. They have learned, by sad experience, that the King's most solemn treaties could not be depended upon, when they had seen the treaty concluded at Dunce, ordered to be burned by the hands of the hangman, and themselves denounced as rebels. And as the English Parliament had not hitherto exhibited any similar insincerity, there was no reason for equal distrust with regard to their declarations. while the Scottish statesmen and ministers could not but perceive that if the King should succeed in subjugating his English Parliament, he would then be able to assail Scotland with an irresistible force. Still, there was one difficult point. The English commissioners sought to enter into a civil league with Scotland, for the defence of the civil liberties of both countries. But as the entire spirit of the contest in which Scotland had been engaged was of a religious character in defense of religious liberty, and had been conducted to a prosperous issue by the strength of a religious covenant into which the nation had entered, the Convention and Assembly insisted upon a religious covenant between the two kingdoms. To this the English Commissioners at length assented, on the suggestion of Sir Harry Vane, that the two ideas might very properly be combined. and hence the bond of union between the two countries was so framed as to embrace both subjects and receive the appropriate designation of the solemn League and Covenants. This important document was framed by the celebrated Alexander Henderson, moderator of the assembly, and laid before the English commissioners. At first they startled somewhat at its terms, some of them wishing for a greater latitude of expression to leave room for the introduction of the independent or congregational system. In this, too, a slight compromise was made, no specific plan for the reformation of religion in England and Ireland being stated, except that it should be according to the word of God and the example of the best reformed churches. With this mode of expressing the general principle, all were satisfied. And after receiving the approbation of the private committees, the Saul Ligon Covenant was submitted to the General Assembly on the 17th of August, 1643, passed unanimously. Footnotes. The Lord High Commissioner, Sir Thomas Hope, declined assenting to the covenant in his official capacity, but personally he gave his cordial concurrence. End of footnotes. amidst the applause of some and the bursting tears of a deep, full and sacred joy of others, and in the afternoon with the same cordial unanimity passed the Convention of the States. This, says Bailey, seems to be a new period and crisis of the most great affair which these hundred years has exercised these dominions. He was not mistaken. It was indeed the commencement of a new period in the history of the Christian Church, though that period has not yet run its full round, nor reached its crisis, a crisis which will shake and new mold the world. It is customary for a certain class of writers to say that in the discussion respecting the solemn latent covenant, there was a contest of cunning between the English commissioners and the Scottish covenanters. and that the superior subtlety of Sir Harry Vane enabled him to beguile the Scottish negotiators, who, in their blind attachment to their own Presbyterian system, could not conceive that anything else was meant by the expression, the best reformed churches. This is but a weak invention of the enemy. In the beginning of the year 1641, the Scottish commissioners had both suggested the idea of a closer agreement between the Churches of England and Scotland, and disclaimed the presumption of urging their system upon the mightier kingdom. Footnote. See appendix. End of footnote. And in the ordinance summoning the Assembly, one object is said to be to obtain a nearer agreement with the Church of Scotland and other Reformed Churches abroad. Further, the Church of Scotland had delayed the framing of a directory very much that she might be the more at liberty to accommodate her procedure to what might be resolved upon by the English Assembly, when it should have accomplished its task. It would appear, therefore, that there was no craft nor overreaching on either side, and that, so far as there was a compromise, it was one of candour and frankness. well understood by both parties, for the purpose of leaving matters open to a full and fair discussion. When the solemn Lincoln Covenant had thus received the assent of the Scottish Convention of Estates and General Assembly, a copy of it was sent to the English Parliament and the Westminster Divines for their consideration. Commissioners were appointed to attend that Assembly, partly elders and partly ministers. The Elders were the Earl of Castellus, Lord Maitland, and Johnston of Worson. The Ministers were Messrs. Henderson, Daly, Gillespie, Rutherford, and Douglas. But neither the Earl of Castellus nor Mr. Robert Douglas ever attended, so that the Scottish Commissioners were sixth in all. When the document reached Westminster, several days were spent by the English divines in considering its various propositions, and some slight verbal alterations were made for the sake of explanation, particularly the specific statement of what is meant by prelacy, and at last it was agreed to by all except Dr. Burgess, who continued to resist it and to refuse his assent for several days, till he incurred the serious displeasure of both Assembly and Parliament, which he at last averted by yielding. Footnote. The angry language of Dr. Lightfoot is positively ludicrous. A wretch that ought to be branded to all posterity, who seeks for some devilish ends, either of his own or others, or both, to hinder so great a good of the two nations. Lightfoot, Volume 13, page 12. Immediately after the rising of their own General Assembly, three of the Scottish Commissioners, Lord Maitland, Alexander Henderson, and George Gillespie, set off for London. The other three followed about a month afterwards. On the 15th of September, the Scottish Commissioners were received into the Westminster Assembly with great kindness and courtesy, and welcomed in three successive speeches by the Prolocutor, by Dr. Howell, and by Mr. Case. Mr. Henderson replied, expressing the deep sympathy felt by the Kingdom and Church of Scotland for the sufferings of England, and the readiness with which they would, to the utmost, assist the good work of religious reformation thus begun. The solemn leading covenant was then read over, clause by clause, and explanations given where it seemed of doubtful import. so the whole received the sanction of the Assembly. It was then appointed by the Parliament and assented to by the Assembly that the Covenant should be publicly taken by these bodies on the 25th of September. On that day, accordingly, the House of Commons, with the Assembly of Divines and the Scottish Commissioners, met in the Church of St. Margaret, Westminster, and the Reverend Mr. White of Dorchester, one of the assessors, commenced the solemnity with prayer. Mr. Nye then addressed the dignified and brave audience in a speech of an hour's duration, pointing out the scripture authority of such covenants, and the advantage of which they had been productive to the Church of God in all ages. Mr. Henderson followed in a speech considerably shorter, but of great dignity and power. Mr. Nye then read it from the pulpit, slowly and aloud, pausing at the close of every article, while the whole audience of statesmen and divines arose, and, with their right hands held up to heaven, worshipped the great name of God and gave their sacred pledge. Then the members of the House of Commons ascribed the Covenant on one roll of parchment. This roll was subscribed by 228 members of the House of Commons, whose names may be seen in Rushworth Volume 5, pages 480 and 481. On that roll appears the name of Oliver Cromwell. End of footnote. And the assembly on another. And when this was done, the solemn scene was closed by prayer and praise to that omniscient God to whom they had lifted up their hands and made their vows. To complete in one view the account of this matter, the covenant was taken by the House of Lords on the 15th of October after a sermon by Dr. Temple and an exhortation by Mr. Coleman. It was taken also by the congregations in and around London on the following Lord's Day. on the 9th of October the King issued a proclamation from Oxford denouncing this document as in truth nothing else but a traitorous and seditious combination against us and the established religion of this kingdom. Straightly charging and commanding all his loving subjects upon their allegiance that they presume not to take the said seditious and traitorous covenant. Footnote, Rushworth Volume 5 page 482. End of footnote. And at last an order was issued by the Parliament in February 1644 commanding the covenant to be taken throughout the Kingdom of England by all persons above the age of 18 years, which order was accompanied by an exhortation prepared by the Assembly of Divines. In Scotland as soon as information was received of what had taken place in London the Committee of the States ordered the Covenant to be subscribed by all ranks and conditions of people, on penalty of the confiscation of property, or such other punishment as His Majesty and the Parliament might resolve to inflict. This harsh command was intended to bear against that faction of the nobility who were known to have entered into a secret confederacy with the King, and its effect was to drive some into flight and all into more desperate opposition. But this, it will be observed, was the act of the civil, not the ecclesiastical authorities in Scotland, and it proceeded mainly upon the principle that the bond thus enforced was not only a religious covenant, but also a civil league. It was unfortunate that civil and religious matters should have been so blended, because whatever civil measures were adopted, or civil penalties were inflected, were sure to be unfairly charged against the religious element, instead of the civil, to which they truly owed their origin. But even this unpropitious circumstance was forced upon the Covenanters, partly by the fact that the proceedings of the King were equally hostile to civil and to religious liberty, and partly by their unavoidable union with the English Parliament. in which the struggle was even more directly for civil than for religious liberty. The importance of the solemn Ligon Covenant, thus agreed upon and subscribed by the ruling constitutional authorities, civil and ecclesiastical, in both Scotland and England, renders it necessary that it should be presented to the reader in the body of the work, rather than in an appendix. The solemn Ligon Covenant for reformation and defence of religion, the honour and happiness of the King, and the peace and safety of the three Kingdoms of Scotland, England and Ireland, agreed upon by Commissioners from the Parliament and Assembly of Divines in England, with Commissioners of the Convention of Estates and General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, approved by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and by both Houses of Parliament and the Assembly of Divines in England, and taken and subscribed by them, Anno 1643, and thereafter by the said authority, taken and subscribed by all ranks in Scotland and England the same year, and ratified by Act of the Parliament of Scotland, Anno 1644, and again renewed in Scotland with an acknowledgement of sins and engagement to duties by all ranks, Anno 1648, and by Parliament 1649, and taken and subscribed by King Charles II at Spey, June 23, 1650, and at Schoon, January 1, 1651. We noblemen, barons, knights, gentlemen, citizens, burgesses, ministers of the gospel, and commons of all sorts, in the kingdoms of Scotland, England, and Ireland, by the providence of God living under one King, and being of one Reformed religion, having before our eyes the glory of God and the advancement of the Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the honour and happiness of the King's Majesty and His Posterity, and the true public liberty, safety and peace of the Kingdom, wherein everyone's private condition is included, and calling to mind the treacherous and bloody plots conspiracies, attempts and practices of the enemies of God against the true religion and professors thereof in all places, especially in these three kingdoms, ever since the Reformation of religion. And how much their rage, power and presumption all of late, and at this time, increased and exercised, were of the deplorable state of the Church and Kingdom of Ireland, the distressed state of the Church and Kingdom of England, and the dangerous state of the Church and Kingdom of Scotland, are present and public testimonies. We have now at last, after other means of supplication, remonstrance, protestation, and sufferings, for the preservation of ourselves and our religion from utter ruin and destruction, according to the commendable practice of these kingdoms in former times, and the example of God's people and other nations, after mature deliberation, resolved and determined to enter into a mutual and solid legion covenant, wherein we all subscribe, in each one of us for himself, with our hands lifted up to the Most High God, do swear, one, that we shall sincerely, willy, and constantly, through the grace of God, endeavor in our several places and callings, the preservation of the Reformed religion, in the Church of Scotland, in doctrine, worship, discipline and government, against our common enemies, the reformation of religion in the kingdoms of England and Ireland, in doctrine, worship, discipline and government, according to the word of God and the example of the best reformed churches, and shall endeavour to bring the churches of God in the three kingdoms to the nearest conjunction and uniformity in religion, confession of faith, form of church government, directory for worship and catechizing that we and our posterity after us may as brethren live in faith and love and the Lord made the light to dwell in the midst of us. 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