the light of divine truth ;--evil habits the most inveterate were overcome by the power of the divine law, seen in the light of Scripture, and enforced by gospel motives;-long-established associations with the former idolatrous worship ceased to be able to withstand the exposure which was made of their absurdity, to the full conviction of the consciences of men ;-and the simple forms of worship, which were seen stamped with the seal of the divine authority, were hailed with gladness, notwithstanding the strong aversion of the carnal minds of men to a pure spiritual worship.

This distinguished the Reformation in Scotland in a remarkable degree. Here the corruptions of Popery were more thoroughly swept away than in any other Protestant country. And if it be asked to what is this to be ascribed as the more immediate and influential second cause? we have no hesitation in replying, to the measure in which the power of godliness then existed in the nation. It was this that animated the reformers with such zeal to have every thing in the Church conformed to the will of her Divine King, and every thing at variance with His will removed from her constitution and administration. It was this, also, which led them, as patriots, to seek to have all things in the nation conformed to the will of Him who is the Governor among the nations; and the degree of success with which their endeavours were crowned, is to be ascribed to the extent in which religion in its power was diffused among all classes.

Then the ministers of religion were eminently men of God, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith. They were men of deep personal piety, as well as of public spirit. Many, also, of the nobles of the land and of the higher classes of society were persons whose hearts burned with ardent love to Christ, and zeal for the purity of the Church-who adorned the doctrine of God their Saviour in a holy practice; nor can it be doubted that the lower classes of society were largely partakers of the same spirit. Hence the gladness of heart with which so many of all ranks entered into these solemn Covenants, in which Popery was renounced, and the Covenanters bound themselves to hold fast all the scriptural attainments to which they were brought, and conform their practice in all things to the laws of Christ.

The work of moral and spiritual purification with which the Church and nation were then blessed, was not of a superficial kind. It was such as reached the inmost depths of the hearts and souls of men, and produced a radical and thorough change of nature and life; so that there was an extensive verification of the language of the Spirit— "Old things have passed away, all things have become new." There was abounding prayer, deep repentance, and great tenderness as to duty both to God and man. Assemblies of worshippers were melted into tears in hearing the gospel. Assemblies of ministers and elders were dissolved into tears of godly sorrow for their failures in duty, in connection with an unreserved confession of their sins, and in renewing their solemn covenant with God. That the reformers in that period of Scottish history were men of fervent piety, is a fact which shines forth in the light of history so clearly as to be beyond all reasonable controversy, and is readily admitted by those who have

little sympathy with their principles. They had a hard battle to fight, and it was by this that they were strengthened for maintaining it.

Second, It was in connection with the power of godliness that the cause of the Covenanted Reformation at length triumphed in Scotland. It was by a people in whose hearts the law of God was blessfully written, and whom the love of Christ constrained, that the attempts of Charles I. and his coadjutors to introduce abjured Prelacy, and other corruptions of the Church of England, into Scotland, were successfully resisted. It was animated by zeal for the truth and laws of Christ that they assumed such an attitude in the renewal of the National Covenant, and in the bold assertion of the Church's intrinsic power in spiritual matters by the famous Assembly which met at Glasgow in 1638, as compelled the daring invaders of the privileges which had been obtained for them by their ancestors, which had received the highest sanction that national laws could give them, and thus belonged to them by human as well as Divine right, not only to withdraw the innovations, but also to give their sanction to advances in Scriptural reformation beyond what had been previously reached.

Of the degree in which religion, in its power, then pervaded Scotland, we have a remarkable monument in the letters of Rutherford, which, as an expression of the power of godliness, are perhaps without parallel in any language. Nor are we left to suppose that this was peculiar to that distinguished servant of Christ. It is plain that his numerous correspondents, in different parts of the kingdom, and of different ranks in society, were almost all persons of a kindred spirit; and we are bound in charity to take them as a sample, only at farthest a favourable sample, of Christians in Scotland at that period. We have the testimony of friends and foes to the intelligence and the depth of the piety which then distinguished the Scottish nation, and the extent in which it existed and manifested itself in the best fruits. This was the heaven-prepared soil in which the principles of the Reformation acquired such strength, that they triumphed over the most formidable opposition. It was in this that they not only grew and spread till they filled the land, but, as we have already stated, became such objects of attraction to the sister kingdoms, that active measures were adopted to have them introduced into England and Ireland, and the churches in these nations conformed in doctrine and worship, discipline and government, to that of Scotland.

And it was the degree in which true godliness existed at that time in England, and also among the Protestants in Ireland, that disposed so many in these kingdoms to embark so cordially in this glorious undertaking. The deep and fervent piety of the Puritans of England is too well known to admit of dispute. This characterised the divines in England in that period in no ordinary degree, and through their instrumentality was extensively diffused among the people; or, though there was a mixture of persons of a different description, it was especially by such that the object of the Solemn League was promoted in that kingdom, and its principles warmly embraced and

supported. The degree in which the Westminster Assembly was imbued with the spirit of prayer, the time which they spent in this, combined with other godly exercises; the single respect which they had to the authority of God speaking in his Word; and the vows by which they bound themselves to fidelity in their work, is incontestible proof of the degree in which religion, in its power, existed among the body of ministers from whom they were selected; and it is to this, more than to their talents and erudition-which were of the first order that we are indebted for these noble productions, the Westminster Standards for covenanted uniformity, which are, in various respects, unrivalled in the Christian Church, and have exerted a more extensive and salutary influence than any other class of symbolical books. In the Protestant Church of Ireland, religion was also, at that time, in a comparatively flourishing condition. Under the auspices of the godly and learned Usher, who was evangelical in his sentiments and friendly to Presbyterianism, and through the instrumentality of some faithful Presbyterian ministers, multitudes in that Island were prepared to enter cordially into the spirit and objects of the Solemn League.

Thirdly, Nothing is better attested as matter of fact, than the enlightened and deep piety of the Covenanters, as they are called by way of eminence, in Scotland, who endured so much in adhering to the Covenanted Reformation during twenty-eight years of bloody persecution.

In the annals of the sufferings of our illustrious ancestors, during that season of trial, we have the clearest evidence that it was in godliness, in no ordinary power, that the principles of the Reformation had taken root and flourished in Scotland. It was by no mere party feeling, no mere attachment to old forms and customs, that they offered such determined resistance to the attempts of the persecutors to impose another religion on them than they had solemnly received. They were persuaded that the Covenanted Reformation was, in all its parts, agreeable to the Word of God; whilst the new religion was, in many respects, the invention of men, and not only without warrant from, but contrary to, the Word of God. They were fully satisfied that the principles of the Reformation were those of the Bible-that the truth contained in the Standards was the truth of Christ-that the ordinances of worship and the rules of administration, which had been restored in their primitive purity, were the ordinances and laws of the Church's King, and therefore they felt constrained to cleave to them by the love of Christ and respect to his high authority. They were convinced, also, that there was much in the system which men sought to impose on them that was hateful to their divine Lord, and, consequently, which they could not countenance without sinning against him. They knew, moreover, that the welfare of themselves and of posterity was deeply concerned in having religion in purity preserved in the land; and they felt above all this-for they were capable of feeling the obligation of a vow and an oath-that they could not cease to adhere to the Reformation, or give countenance to that by which men sought to supplant it, without being guilty of

perjury. Those who look on truth and error with almost equal indifference, and can, without remorse, countenance the inventions of men in the worship of God, and give positive support to what Christ hates in the administration of the ordinances of divine grace, may be unable to account for the zeal which led our godly forefathers to expose themselves to many perils in waiting on the ministrations of the faithful Presbyterian ministers, and to suffer the loss of all things, even of life itself, rather than countenance a corrupt system. But the secret of this is found in the godliness by which our fathers were distinguished, and to which so many now, who bear the Christian name, are strangers. They had truth in their hearts as well as in their heads. They had consciences at once enlightened and tender. They saw sin where the seared conscience cannot; and whether it was sin of omission or commission, they were ready to suffer rather than be chargeable with it.

Fourthly, History also attests the fact, that it was among the godly that attachment to the Covenanted Reformation was cherished subsequent to the Revolution.

Many proofs could be adduced of the degree in which the godly who survived the persecution were filled with sorrow, that so many of the leaders at that important epoch failed in their duty to the cause of Christ, and shrunk from the duty of lifting up a faithful testimony in behalf of the attainments of the Church during the Second Reformation period; in witnessing for which so much of the blood of the best of Scotland's sons and daughters had flowed like water on the high places of the field. The Hoggs and Davidsonsthe Wilsons and Bostons of that period, and others, distinguished for deep piety, were also remarkable for their love of the Covenanted Reformation, lamented the defections from it, and longed to see it revived. Almost, if not all, the Marrow men, were Covenanters in spirit. And among the best of the people there were perhaps a still greater proportion that cherished love to the cause for which their martyred ancestors suffered.

Fithly, It was in close connection with the power of godliness that the cause of the Covenants and of the Covenanted Reformation was revived in the Secession.

It was in some measure of the spirit of their covenanting fathers that the first Seceders took their stand against the prevailing corruptions of the times, and it was in behalf of the whole of the Covenanted Reformation, as well as against the evils in the administration of the judicatories of the Church at that time, that they lifted up their testimony. It is well known, also, that it was the godly throughout the land that flocked to the standard which they then raised, and bound themselves anew by solemn covenant and oath to abide by the cause which their fathers had bequeathed to them; in defence of which they had so nobly acquitted themselves in following their divine Leader fully at every hazard, and laid down their lives rather than betray the trust committed to them. The degree in which, for a considerable time, the principles and practice of the Covenanted Church of Scotland were held and exemplified in the

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Secession, is attested by ample evidence, to which there is access in all the parts of the country in which Secession congregations existed. The discipline of the Church of Scotland in her best days, and her terms of fellowship, were maintained; and these are such as could only be carried out by a Church among the members of which religion existed in its power. There was no such thing in the memory of many still alive as the head of a family in communion with the Secession Church by whom the worship of God was not regularly observed in his family; or who did not make conscience of fulfilling his vows in instructing his household; and no member that did not maintain a walk and conversation becoming the gospel of Christ. The desecration of the Sabbath, by devoting any of its hours to recreation, was almost unknown; immorality of any kind was rare, and subjected to faithful discipline. Fellowship meetings for prayer and conference were very generally attended, and there were few members of the Church who were not qualified for visiting and praying with the sick and dying-nor was this duty left to the elders. Such were the evidences of religion in its power by which the Secession Church was pervaded, so long as she continued firmly attached to the Covenanted Reformation; and we believe this is equally true, and perhaps in a higher degree true, of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, which has hitherto been the staunch adherent and supporter of the Covenanted Reformation.

Sixthly, It was when religion in its power began to decline in the Secession, that a spirit of alienation from the Covenanted Reformation This is, we think, an manifested itself in the Secession Church. incontrovertible fact, whatever difference of opinion there may be as to the inference to be drawn from it. It was not till the line of demarcation between the members of that Church and the world came to be less clearly defined, that they came to be dissatisfied with the breadth of their profession, embodying, as it did, the whole of the Covenanted Reformation, and to seek to have it assimilated to the taste of the age. If we mistake not, ample proof could be adduced that it was when the practice of renewing the Covenants in a bond suited to their circumstances ceased to be practised in that branch of the Secession in which this duty was observed, that symptoms of negligence in the duties of practical religion in general made their appearance in the different congregations; and the extent in which such duties are now neglected, or very partially observed among those who have ceased to walk in the steps of their fathers as witnesses for the Reformation in its integrity, is a subject which we are not disposed to discuss, and is best known to the parties themselves. All will be ready to admit, that in this respect, there is a sad change to the worse; and perhaps the worst-the most discouraging thing in our own condition, as a Church-is the great decay of vital religion and practical godliness among the adherents of a still unmutilated testimony in behalf of the Covenanted Reformation. various important lessons, which we think this induction of facts and illustration of principles teaches, with considerable force and clearness, such as,

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