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dying testimonies of many martyrs; adherence to the Westminster Standards, not only as warranted by the Word of God, but also as a principal part of the intended uniformity' between the Churches in the three kingdoms, and as a great strengthening of the true reformed religion against the common enemies thereof; the prosecution, on the basis of the Covenants, of a Scriptural reformation in Church and State, and the propagating of the Reformation to other Churches, and of the true Protestant religion to other nations. These two divisions, it must be admitted, intertwine their branches with each other, and cannot well be separated in a complete survey of the period alluded to; but they are here presented in a distinct form, for the sake of arrangement and of reference. All the principles that have just been stated we embrace in our declaration, and desire to exhibit in our testimony. We regard them as vitally important in themselves, and of vast practical application in relation to the greatest and most urgent public questions of our day. But it is those that are classed under the second head that we seek, on the present occasion, to bring forth into special prominence. The most marked feature of the whole period referred to, consists in the construction and renewal of those solemn deeds or Covenants by which our forefathers banded themselves together for the defence of the truth, and by which they prepared themselves for their largest efforts in the prosecution of the work of Scriptural reform, both in Church and State. The whole era, therefore, may be fitly called by the name of the Covenanted Reformation."

After this brief, but faithful exhibition of principles, which it must be gratifying to Original Seceders to see coming from any parties within the Free Church, there is a candid acknowledgment made: “That all the above mentioned principles, it is obvious, have not yet been embodied in the testimony, or recognised within the actings, of the Free Church of Scotland." What a contrast this is to the language and . conduct of a number of Original Seceders who, but a year or two ago, laid down their judicial testimony for all the above mentioned principles, and joined the Free Church. They would fain have persuaded the Original Secession Synod, that all these principles were embodied in the testimony of the Free Church; that there was not the shadow of a shade of difference between the two Churches in point of principle; that in fact they were identical, and with regard to principles, were "in all respects agreeable "the one to the other. Not so the promoters of this movement. "The leading principles asserted under the second head," say they, (the very principles substantially, be it remarked, for the maintenance of which the Original Secession Synod was lately rent asunder) "have either been overlooked or kept in abeyance" by the Free Church. According to Mr M'Corkle and his friends, it appears that the "Free Church has not occupied that ground, in point of testimony and of the advancement of the work of Reformation, on which it was her duty to stand, and on which the principles she already holds may be most firmly and consistently maintained;" that she ought to have taken up this position immediately on her Disruption from the State; that the very year of the Disruption was fitted impressively to remind her of the remarkable deeds, transacted exactly two centuries before, by those Reformers of whom she claims to be the successor and the representative;" that "it was incumbent upon her, in the singularly advantageous situation in which God then placed her, both to hold fast past attainments, and to strive after greater reformation;" and that "this was the course which a true sense of duty and of responsibility should have dictated." While they acknowledge, with

thankfulness, the services which the Free Church has rendered in the exhibition and the defence of great Scriptural principles, they, at the same time, among other things, "lament that there has not been a full and faithful witnessing in our Church; that the work of Reformation has been suffered to linger; that there have been so few tokens of revival in our congregations; and besides, that the position which we occupy as a Church, does not appear to be fixed and well defined; and that there is an existing tendency towards Latitudinarianism and defection from the very principles which we professedly hold." It is then added, "On these grounds, and on other grounds yet to be stated, we consider it expedient that the office-bearers and members of our Church, who are friendly to the principles of the Second Reformation, should join themselves together, in a voluntary association, for the promotion of these principles throughout the Church and the nation. The time has come, we think, for such union and co-operation in the most effective forms in which they can be maintained, if a distinctive Reformation testimony, such as we have indicated, is not altogether to cease in our Church, and if a spirit wholly opposed to such a testimony, and now diffusing its insidious influence amongst us, is not at last to bear down all before it in one resistless current."

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Having presented this statement of principles and views to be adopted and advocated, the objects contemplated in the formation of the proposed Association are next set forth. These, it is very properly remarked, are not confined within the range of the Free Church, but have a wide reference, and embrace the highest interests, both ecclesiastical and civil, of the British nation. From the large amount of truth, though briefly stated, contained under this head, the vast importance of its vivid realisation, and the incalculably beneficial effects which would result, we are persuaded, were it universally embraced and acted upon, we willingly allow the originators of the movement to speak here for themselves:

"The main object of an Association formed for the advancement of the Covenanted Reformation must be to resist and oppose Popery and Prelacy, to defend the true Protestant religion, and to promote the work of Reformation in Church and State, on the basis of the National Covenant and the Solemn League and Covenant, as still binding on these kingdoms. This basis of the Covenants is the true ground on which the great ends now specified have been attained in former days; and notwithstanding all the present divisions and distractions in the Protestant ranks, this is the rallying ground to which we must be driven again. The increasing pressure of the times, and the fast gatheriug power of the enemy, will yet force us back, though it should be through fire and through water, on our ancient muniments. The question will then recur, Whether these lands are not lying under the awful sin of perjury to the Most High because of the breach of Covenant, and whether the worst evils that now assail us may not be traced back, as their cause, to the national neglect and dishonouring of the whole work of the Covenanted Reformation? If, according to the principle of the identity of nations in all the successive periods of their history, we are the same people, and subject to the same law of moral obligation, as those who entered into those federal deeds in past generations,—if the Covenants which were sworn and framed by them, and which received all the public sanction and validity that laws, both civil and ecclesiastical, could give to them, were not only seasonable in themselves, but lawful and Scriptural in regard to the matter of them,- and if the engagements contained in them have never yet been discharged,-then on us rests, at the present day, the whole weight of the

national responsibility with respect to these solemn transactions; and the renunciation or neglect of them, has added much to the accumulated sin that lies at the door of the Church and of the nation. This is an aspect of the question which demands our most earnest and prayerful consideration in the present day; and the very thought of the possibility of our now lying under the sin of perfidy to God on account of violated Covenants, should of itself arouse us from our apathy, and stir within us a spirit of most serious and searching inquiry into the whole subject now presented before us.

"If we are so guilty in the sight of God, it is an additional aggravation of our sin, that we have ceased to remember the years of the right hand of the Most High,'-that the great works which the Lord has wrought for us in days that are past have been regarded with unconcern and requitted with ingratitude,—and that we have failed to record to the generations to come the wonderful doings of Jehovah in the midst of us. It was part of God's controversy with Israel of old, that she thus forgot the signs and wonders of divine interposition by which her whole history was illustrated, and she is called upon by David to remember the marvellous works that he hath done, his wonders and the judgments of his mouth,' and to be mindful always of his Covenant, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations.' The same obligation rests, during all periods of their history, on Churches and nations distinguished by similar deliverances and mercies; and if there be one Church or nation, more than another, resembling Israel in her extraordinary history, and brought under stronger obligations than any other, thus to cherish the remembrance of God's works, and to transmit the know.edge of them from age to age, it is the Church and nation of Scotland. A thousand sacred traditions, shedding forth their fragrance through all time, and worthy of being preserved in an everlasting memorial, are recalled by the very mention of this covenanting land.

"In furtherance of its main object, the Association should endeavour,--1st, To exhibit the sins of the Church and of the nation, with respect to the breach of the above national vows,-to press upon the attention of both the Church and of the nation the duty of repentance, because of the violation of them,-and to seek for, on the part of both, the recognition of the continued obligation and the renewal of these Covenant engagements. 2d, To promote these ends, chroughout the Church and nation, by the instrumentality of the press and other agencies. 3d, To hold periodical meetings of the office-bearers and members for conference, humiliation, and united prayer, for the revival of religion in the Church and land; in the Churches of the Reformation and throughout the world. 4th, To encourage union and cooperation among the friends of the Covenanted cause, not only in Scotiand, but in England and Ireland. All office-bearers and members in communion with the Free Church, friendly to the association, should be eligible as office-bearers and members of the Society.'

Section III. of the "Statement" is occupied with an enumeration of other and very cogent considerations on which the formation of such an Association as the proposed one, in the existing circumstances of society and of the Churches, may be defended. They are such as these: The increasing and alarming aggressions of the Papacy, both at home and abroad; the arrogant pretences of the Prelatic Churches in these lands, and those growing corruptions within them, which are so hastily assimilating them to the worst practices of Rome; the defection from a Protestant profession of many in the higher ranks, and the increasing apostacy, by which both ministers and members of the Church of England have been seduced into the bosom of the Papacy; the power and influence of Romanists in the Legislature and the offices of State; the effect of that insidious and fatal measure of 1829, which is already seen to be fraught with the greatest perils to Church and State, and of which the country must ere long loudly demand the repeal; and the blindness and infatuation of our rulers, with respect to Romish principles and policy, and the highest interests, civil and

ecclesiastical, of this kingdom; while, on the other hand, the existing state of the Protestant Churches and communities, present little to inspire hope and encouragement, from the doctrinal errors which abound in them, and the relaxed state of discipline into which they have fallen; the low tone of moral principle among many professed Christians, and the course of temporising expediency into which, more or less, nearly all the Churches have been drawn; the neglect of the work of the Covenanted Reformation on the part of all the large Presbyterian bodies of the country; the callous and hostile attitude towards the Protestant cause, of many who are called by the name of Protestants, at the very time when the most sacred interests of that cause are imperilled; and the prevailing ungodliness and rampant infidelity of multitudes who dwell beyond the borders of all the Churches. "Are not these things," it is asked, "together with other evils that have been specified, some of the most bitter fruits of our departure from the principles and attainments of former days?"

In Section IV. of the "Statement," the utter inadequacy of the efforts which have been lately made for resisting the aggressions of Popery, and the recent attempts to unite, by heterogeneous associations, the disjointed Protestant forces against the incursions of Rome, is clearly pointed out. And here the following weighty Scriptural truth is laid down, which it were well if all the Protestants of the empire were brought seriously to ponder and to reduce to practice :

"Every evangelical or Protestant union must fail in the accomplishment of its chief design that seeks to establish itself at the expense of truth, or of the consistency of ecclesiastical testimonies, or by the neglecting or disguising the necessity of that scriptural reformation and revival which are essential elements of all true Christian union, and which were never more strongly demanded than in the present day. It is not difficult, besides, to see that Rome, with all its power, and skill, and combination, might easily march through such broken ranks to certain victory."

But then it is added, and we joyfully accord with the important sentiments:

"While we anticipate little effective Protestant union from such associations as these, we remember with the greatest encouragement, the testimony which the Reformers and Martyrs of the times of the Covenant have left behind them, when they tell us, in their acknowledgment of the breach of the Covenant and their engagement to Reformation, that this duty, when gone about out of conscience and in sincerity, hath always been attended with a reviving out of troubles, and with a blessing and success from heaven.' The counsels of enemies were then frustrated, and their confederacies defeated; the Protestant army, animated by one spirit, rose up as one mighty and resistless host; thousands were converted to the Lord, and joined themselves to the ranks of the soldiers of the cross and the faithful witnesses of Jesus; the Church entered on her most vigorous course of godly discipline and spiritual reformation, and shone forth in the light and beauty of the garments of salvation; and Jehovah owned the land as his own inheritance, and delighted in the allegiance and the worship of his willing and obedient people. These seals of heaven's approval may be said to constitute the divine argument, in opposition to all the objections of man, in favour of the Covenant engagements of our forefathers, and their binding obligation on their posterity. If the Church and the land have not been visited by abundant showers of reviving in the present day, or in preceding generations, let the question be asked, Whether they have not failed to realise the truth, that the nation has been devoted to God, and whether a returning to the ancient Covenants may not be at once the way of duty and the way of Scotland's reviving?""

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The last Section describes in brief terms the kind of union and uniformity which is sought to be brought about. From this we can only afford to make the following short extract :—

"It is no mechanical or constrained uniformity we aim at, when we seek for a Protestant union on the foundation of the National Leagues of old. Uniformity in religion is the end, but Christian unanimity is the only means by which the end is to be attained; and this, so far from being an impracticable achievement, we believe to be one of those signal promises of the Word of God which his own zeal will fulfil; and we desire to wait for its accomplishment in answer to prayer, and in the exercise of faith in the predicted effusion of that spirit of truth, of holiness and of love, who can give the same mind and the same judgment,' and 'one heart and soul,' to the watchmen and the worshippers in Zion."

And in the same humble and trustful spirit do the originators of this movement commit the work in which they are to engage to Him whose glory they seek to exalt in the promotion of it, fully assured that though their beginning should be small, if they have the tokens of His presence and favour in connection with it, they shall greatly rejoice.

Such is a condensed account of this proposed movement on behalf of the Covenants and the Covenanted Reformation within the pale of the Free Church. And in subjoining a few remarks in reference to it, we need scarcely say, that the promoters of the movement have our heartiest wishes for their success. The object contemplated is substantially none other than that which the Original Secession Church from the beginning has sought to attain; which Original Seceders have all along, and earnestly, laboured to accomplish; and for adhering to which they have frequently been subjected to no small measure of obloquy and reproach, both from professed friends and open enemies. Being an object, however, in their estimation, not only most desirable and worthy in itself, but intimately connected with the truth, and cause, and interests of Christ and his kingdom in the world, as well as with the highest interests of man, they cannot but seek its advancement, and they are ready to rejoice in the employment of every warrantable means for its promotion. Whether the formation of an Association such as is proposed-of office-bearers and members of the Free Church-be the best method for the attainment of the object in view by the parties who have originated this movement, is a question as to which different views may be held; but being a habile means, it, along with others equally effective, and which, we trust, will also be resorted to, may be fairly tried. Perhaps we may be permitted to remind the promoters of this movement, that the work in which they are to engage is not only an important, but a most difficult and arduous one. It has been experienced to be such by all who have put their hands to it in times past. It cost much labour and pains, much precious treasure and blood, to bring the Covenanted work of Reformation to the height to which it was brought when it was in the ascendant; and it has cost no small struggling and contending to keep even the remembrance of it alive, and to preserve it from being utterly destroyed since that time. present promoters cannot expect that it will be easier to them than it has been to those who have gone before them. It will require, there

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