oppressors that their principles could only be destroyed with the extermination of their persons; and such a conviction, doubtless, exerted an important influence in paving the way to their ultimate deliverance.

And here I must introduce a few observations on the character of the Covenanters as a whole. It serves greatly to aggravate the guilt of persecuting them. The Rev. Dr. Symington, of Paisley, thus writes: "They were distinguished by strict morality, fervent piety, and exemplary practice of the private and public duties of religion, and of the virtues of life. They cultivated the devotion of the eloset, and gave themselves to the reading of the Scriptures, and to prayer in secret; and to habitual watchfulness over their hearts, and the ways of providence and grace towards them. They worshipped God in their families daily, morning and evening, in the exercises of praise, reading the Scriptures, and prayer; and they resorted with greater frequency to these duties on the Sabbath. It appears that the Paisley martyrs were thus employed when they were apprehended. The Covenanters were distinguished by regular attendance upon the public ordinances of religion; and it is manifest from their history, that they waited upon the preaching of the Gospel with special preparation and prayer, and followed it up with faithful, personal self-application. They took heed not only what, and how, but whom they heard. They would not wait upon the ministrations of the curates, regarding them as not properly appointed, and many of their services as unauthorized in the Scriptures; nor would they give countenance even to those ministers whom they considered, by accepting indulgences, to have made a compromise of the authority and the independence of their ministry. They cherished a profound respect for the ministry of the Word, and often waited upon it with great personal sacrifice and hazard. The Sabbath was held peculiarly sacred by the sufferers of these times. They kept it holy, and opposed, by their sentiments and practice, the violation of it by civil employments or amusements. The abuses of the Sabbath that had prevailed in England, and under authority from the time of the publication of the Book of Sports, they testified against. The puritanical Scottish Sabbath is made the jest of the profane, and has been held up to ridicule by legisla tors in the recent discussions in Parliament; but it was the honour of our country. Would to God we saw it back again! Besides waiting on the public institutions of religion, our

fathers held private meetings for prayer and religious fellowship. These associations conduced both to cherish in their hearts the principles of piety, and to keep alive their zeal in the public cause. They were a great blessing to our fathers when deprived of their loved ministers; and many, in their dying moments, testified to the enjoyment they had experienced when waiting on them. I must not omit to notice another practical feature of character. The pious men of these times paid strict attention to the religious education of children. They were painfully and conscientiously diligent in instructing them in Bible knowledge, in Christian doctrine, and in the nature, constitution, and history of the Christian Church, and in prayer. They were persons, too, of correct morality. They were industrious in their callings, just in their transactions, and strict in their morality; and all this upon religious principles. They abstained, indeed, from certain prevailing amusements-cards and dice, theatrical entertainments, dancing, assemblies, and such like; because they viewed them as inconsistent with religion, and trenching upon morality. But there is no just reason to charge them with moroseness and austerity-the accusations which a light generation is ever ready to bring against that unbending nonconformity to favourite indulgences, which offends because it reproves. They were not, indeed, polished in a Parisian school; but they were distinguished, not only for stern regard to integrity and zeal for religion, but for the unaffected simplicity of their character and manners."*

It is common for party writers to attempt to take off the edge of the sympathy which is due to the suffering Presbyterian ministers in Scotland and in England, by reminding us of the sufferings of the Episcopal ministers in England, in the days of Cromwell, when Episcopacy was overthrown. Now, that a considerable share of suffering was endured by many ministers of the Church of England at that period, no one who has read good Bishop Hall's tract, entitled, "Hard Measure," can doubt. There was indeed hard measure meted out to not a few, and every humane and Christian heart must condemn such proceedings. They savoured too much of revenge. But nothing can be more unreasonable, than to compare the persecution undergone by the Episcopal ministers with that endured by their Presbyterian brethren. There is no comparison. At the worst, the one was inflicted

*Vide an excellent discourse, entitled, "The Blood of Faithful Martyrs precious in the sight of Christ,”

with whips, the other with scorpions and death. Out of the ten thousand clergy of the Church of England, it never could be proved that more than two thousand were deprived of their livings; and this number, it is to be remembered, comprehended the ignorant and the scandalous, who were a disgrace to their order-who ought never to have been intrusted with parishes; and these were very numerous. Moreover, those who were displaced were allowed to retain a fifth part of their sequestered livings, for their temporal provision. How different the character and condition of the Presbyterian sufferers in Scotland and in England! Those in the former country were almost one half the entire Church in number. In both countries they were men not of doubtful but of the highest character and attainments, and no provision whatever was made for their support. How many of them were robbed of any private property which they possessed of their own! How happy would they have been to have escaped so easily as their Episcopal brethren! I have already referred to the fearful cruelties in Scotland, under the royal brothers, Charles II. and James II.-to the ejection of nearly four hundred faithful ministers-not in a time of confusion, such as the civil wars in England, but in days of peace-in days of public joy on the restoration of a long exiled monarch-and to the nearly twenty thousand sufferers to deprivation and death in the same bloody reigns. But the Presbyterians of England, though less afflicted than their Scottish brethren, had their full share of woe. The Act of Uniformity which was passed in the House of Commons only by six votes, and was strongly opposed in the House of Lords, at once ejected two thousand of the best ministers from their churches and homes; and there were aggravations in the cruelty. It was intentionally passed at such a period of the year as deprived the sufferers of the salary of the eleven preceding months, for which they had faithfully laboured; nor were they allowed, by keeping schools and acting as tutors in private families, to compensate in some measure for the change in their circumstances: they were expressly shut out from such employments. With all these disadvantages, and though the straits of many were very severe, it is a remarkable fact, recorded by one who knew them well-by Philip, the father of the well-known commentator, Matthew Henry, "that he never heard of a single nonconformist minister being in prison for debt." Such was the watchful providence of God over his own people--such

the Christian liberality and kindness of the friends whom He raised up in their behalf. How different the result in the case of the agents of the persecution-the hired informers who were employed in detecting the proscribed meetings for nonconformist religious worship. Of them it is related, that the money obtained in this way never prospered; that being spent in taverns, gaming, and debauchery, most of the informers died in prison or poverty, and not a few were brought to a miserable and untimely end. It is a beautiful illustration of the over-ruling providence of God, that the plague and great fire of London which were the source of so much alarm and suffering, and death to multitudes, were the means of bringing the afflicted Presbyterian clergy into public fa vour and repute. While many of their oppressors fled in the hour of danger, they faithfully remained at their post, and had facilities for discharging ministerial duty of which they had long been deprived. The public sympathy was excited in their behalf. Their meetings were attended by crowds, and their adherents and influence visibly increased. Yet, strange to relate, such was the blind, infatuated, atrocious spirit of persecution, that, during the worst days of the plague, which cut off one hundred thousand inhabitants of the metropolis in a few months, the Five Mile Act was passed by the Parliament met at Oxford-an act intended to separate and banish the faithful ministers who were hazarding their lives for the souls of their fellow-men. Such were the oppressions and sufferings of the Presbyterian ministers;and how fared their people? The Rev. Mr. Cornish, in his "Brief History of Nonconformity," gives the following summary:

"It is impossible to make an exact computation of the number of sufferers, or of the damages sustained by the Dissenters in the space of twenty-five years, under the reigns of Charles II. and James II.;-how many families were reduced to beggary-how many lives were lost in loathsome jails-how many pastors were driven from their congregations, and forced to live as they could, five miles from them or from any corporation; how many industrious tradesmen were cut off from their employments, their substance plundered by rude soldiers, and divided amongst idle, infamous informers. The vexatious suits in spiritual courts also, and the expenses attending them, were immense. One writer

quoted in the preface to Delanne's 'Plea,' says, "That near eight thousand perished in prison during the reign of Charles

II., merely for dissenting from the Church in some points, which they were able to give good reason for; and that, within the compass of three years, they suffered at least in their trades and estates two millions.' Mr. Jeremy White had carefully collected a list of the dissenting ministers and their sufferings, with the names of sixty thousand persons, who had suffered on a religious account, between the Restoration and the Revolution, five thousand of whom died in prison. King James offered him one thousand guineas for this manuscript, but he resolved to conceal it, that it might not appear to the disreputation of the Church of England when in real danger. For this generous conduct some of the clergy thanked him, with the offer of an acknowledgment, which he to his further honour declined accepting, though not in affluent circumstances. Besides those who suffered at home, multitudes retired to Holland and America. Reckoning the dissenting families at that time in England to be no more than one hundred and fifty thousand (no extravagant computation,) and that each family incurred the loss of three or four pounds per annum, the whole will amount to twelve or fourteen millions, a prodigious sum for these times! • But these,' adds Mr. Neal, are bare conjectures. The damage done to the trade and property of the nation was immense, and the wounds made in the estates of private families were deep and large, many of whom, to my certain knowledge, wear the scars of them to this day.' The loss of such as emigrated, was in some degree supplied by the many industrious Protestant refugees, of whom the abominable cruelties of Louis XIV. and his clergy, drove from France, merely on account of their religion, since their loyalty was unimpeached. King James, though a bigot, yet, from political motives, encouraged these valuable members of society to settle in his dominions, which they enriched by the introduction of their manufactories, and improved by their virtuous examples."

6

From these statements it is abundantly obvious, that while the sufferers of no denomination, at any period of British history, are disparaged-while the sincerity of all religious sufferers is honoured-the Presbyterians in Scotland and in England were the great and leading witnesses, even to martyrdom, for the truth and kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. To them the privilege spoken of by the Apostle Paul was awarded, "Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake."