presented to them in the petition. But there the business ended, for the subject was never afterwards called

up.

Beside their synod, or provincial Assembly, the London ministers had their weekly meeting at Sion College, to consult about the affairs of the church; in one of which they resolved, as they could do no more, to bear their public testimony against the errors of the times. They accordingly drew up and published a paper, entitled, "A TESTIMONY TO THE TRUTH OF JESUS CHRIST, and TO THE SOLEMN LEAGUE AND CO-· VENANT; AS ALSO AGAINST THE ERRORS, HERESIES, AND BLASPHEMIES OF THESE TIMES, AND THE TOLERA

TION OF THEM: to which was added a catalogue of the errors referred to. This Testimony bore date, December 14, 1647, and was signed by fifty-eight of the most eminent ministers in London, and not long afterwards, sixty-four ministers of Gloucestershire, published their concurrence. The ministers of Lancastershire did the same, where the number of subscribers was eighty-four; and in Devonshire, eightythree; and in Somerset, seventy-one-so that the whole number of ministers, who joined in this TESTIMONY, was no less than three hundred and sixty.

In the preface to this Testimony, they declared their assent to the Westminster Assembly's Confession of Faith, and expressed a cordial desire, that it might receive the sanction of authority, as the joint Confession of the three kingdoms, in pursuance of the Solemn League and Covenant. In regard to heresies, they declared their abhorrence and detestation of the following among others:

1. That the Holy Scriptures are not of Divine authority, and the only rule of faith.

2. That God hath a bodily shape-that God is the name of a person, and that God is the author of sin; having a greater hand in it than sinners themselves.

3. That there is not a Trinity of persons in the Godhead; that the Son is not co-equal with the Father; and that the Holy Ghost is only a ministering spirit.

4. That God has not elected some to everlasting life, and reprobated others; and that no man shall perish in hell for Adam's sin.

5. That Christ died for the sins of all mankind; that the benefits of his death were intended for all, and that natural men may do such things to which God has promised grace and acceptance.

6. That man hath a free will, in himself, and power to repent, to believe, to obey the gospel, and do every thing that God requires unto salvation.

7. That faith is not a supernatural grace; and that faithful actions are the only things by which man is justified.

8. That the moral law is not the rule of life; that believers are as clean from sin as Christ himself, and that such have no occasion to pray for pardon of sin; that God sees no sin in his people, nor does he ever chastise them for it.

9. That there is no church, nor sacraments, nor Sabbath, as is maintained by the Seekers, now called Quakers.

10. That the children of believers ought not to be baptized, nor baptism to be continued among Christians; and that the meaning of the third commandment is, "thou shalt not forswear thyself."

11. That persons of the next kindred may marry; and that indisposition, unfitness, or contrariety of mind, arising from natural causes, are a just reason of di

vorce.

12. That the soul of man is mortal;-that it sleeps with the body, and that there is neither heaven nor hell until the day of judgment.

13. The last error against which they testified was that of TOLERATION. "Patronizing and promoting all other errors and blasphemies whatever, under the abused name of liberty of conscience. And here they complain that men should have liberty to worship God in that way and manner which shall appear to them as most agreeable to the word of God, as a very great grievance; and they consider it a crying evil that men should be allowed to exercise

such liberty without being discountenanced or punished for the same. They also testify against the opinion, that an enforced uniformity of religion, throughout a nation or state, confounds the civil and religious powers, and denies the very principles of Christianity and civil government.

From the foregoing testimony we have additional evidence of the various kinds of errors which prevailed at that period; and it is humiliating to learn, that whatever progress religious liberty had made among others, it had made none among Presbyterian ministers. For here we have no less than three hundred and sixty, including a number of the most pious and learned theologians in the country, who solemnly bore their testimony against that religious freedom which is now assumed by all, at least in our country, as a self-evident truth. That as every man must give account of himself to God, so every man has an inherent and unalienable right to worship and serve God according to the light of his own mind, and not according to the opinions and dictates of others, however invested with authority in church or state. But a further consideration of this sentiment will, in another place, receive our attention.

CHAPTER XIX.

Conclusion of the Assembly.

WHEN the Assembly had brought to a close the important work of preparing formularies of doctrine and discipline, and a directory for public worship, Mr. Rutherford moved that it might be entered on record in the minutes of their proceedings, that the Scottish ministers had attended and given their assistance during the whole time they had been discuss ing and perfecting these four things mentioned in the covenant, namely "A DIRECTORY FOR PUBLIC

WORSHIP-A CONFESSION OF FAITH-A FORM OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT AND DISCIPLINE, and A PUBLIC CATECHISM; some of their number being present during the whole of these transactions. The record requested was accordingly made, when the Scottish commissioners took leave of the Assembly. Before they left the House, Mr. Herle, the prolocutor, rose up, and in the name of the Assembly, thanked the honourable and reverend commissioners for their assistance. In his speech, he excused, as well as he could, the neglect of the observance of the directory, and lamented the want of power in the Assembly, to call offenders to account. He confessed that they were very much embarrassed, and that they were still in a chaos of confusion;-noticed the distresses of the Parliament, while the common enemy were high and strong, and concluded by saying that their extraordinary successes, hitherto, were owing to the prayers of their brethren in Scotland, and other Protestants abroad, as well as their own.

The Scottish commissioners went home under a heavy concern for the storm which they foresaw to be gathering over England, and for the hardships the Presbyterians lay under respecting their discipline; but having succeeded in accomplishing the important work for which their assistance had been needed and called for, and yet deeply sensible of their own defects, the first thing which they did after returning home was to hold a solemn fast to lament their own defection from the solemn league and covenant.

If the Parliament had dissolved the Assembly at this time, as they ought to have done, they had broke up with honour and reputation; for afterwards, they did little more than examine candidates for the ministry, and dispute about the jus divinum of Presbyterian church government. For as soon as the provincial synod of London was established, all consultations respecting the public affairs of the church were transferred to this body, and to the weekly meeting of the London clergy at Sion college. From this time, also, the members of the Assembly were

daily diminished, for the main business for which they had been convened, being finished, most of the country ministers, who had left flocks behind them, returned home to attend to their pastoral duties, and to take care of their families, and the daily allowance was so small, and so badly paid, that necessity compelled those who had no resources of their own, to retire. Those who remained were principally such as had charges in, or about London, and as was said, their principal employment now was the examination of candidates for ordination, or for sequestered livings. Thus they continued until the 22d of February, 1649, about three weeks after the king's death. The whole time which they were in session was FIVE YEARS, SIX MONTHS and TWENTY-TWO DAYS. During which time, they held one thousand, one hundred, and sixty-three sessions.

The

There never was any formal dissolution of the Assembly by act of Parliament. After the time just mentioned, those members who remained, met every Thursday to examine candidates, until the year 1652, at which time Cromwell, having assumed the reins of government, and having put an end to the long Parliament, the remnants of this venerable Assembly were of course without authority, the body which had called them into existence being defunct. works which they performed have been already mentioned. Other works have been attributed to them, in which, as an Assembly, they had no concern. The "Annotations on the Bible," which are commonly entitled "The Annotations of the Westminster Assembly," were never submitted to them, nor in any manner received their sanction. Some of the members of the Assembly, it is true, were concerned in this work, as they were in many other publications, for which the Assembly are in no degree responsible. This is not said to disparage the work, which is believed to be valuable, but to state a historical fact which ought to be generally known.

The authors of this work, according to Neal, were the following. The annotations on the Pentateuch