liberties, ...... of the Middle Ages and of modern times, in order to decide their transformation.

It was necessary that all the elements of feudality, of corporations, of classes, whose rights and privileges constituted the liberty of the Middle Ages, should be mingled and confounded together, in order that a new power, the power of the common-law, should rise above and rule over them. The liberty of the Great Charter and of the Middle Ages was, in an especial manner, that of the aristocracy. The liberty of the people was now to be inaugurated. The charter of the thirteenth century was the emancipation of the Barons; the revolution of the seventeenth century was the manumission of the Commons. Freedom is

as necessary for the people as for the peers. The commons had been too long trodden under foot alike by prince and baron. They then took their place at the side of these two powers, and there Westminster still beholds them seated and enjoying great influence. The nobles had often been more despotic over the people, than the king. Do we not see this, even in the present day, in Scotland, where, while the crown asserts and nobly maintains religious liberty, a small number of landed proprietors, among whom are men of noble character and of great respectability, refuses to a portion of the poor the liberty of assembling in peace to sing their psalms and worship God?* Notwithstanding the revolution of the seventeenth century and the two centuries which have since elapsed, aristocratic despotism is not entirely effaced in Great Britain; and while, generally speaking, liberty has no more noble defenders than the powerful lords who are to be found immediately below the throne, there are still here and there in certain castles a few dark recesses, in which absolutism lies concealed. But it is at its last gasp; it can no longer defend itself, and the attack made upon it by the progress of the age will no doubt soon drive it from its gloomy lair, to * The refusal of sites, against which some of the chiefs of the present ministry have protested in the Commons.

be sacrificed in the open light of day. I may be mistaken, but I hope the victim will fall by the hands of these noble lords themselves.

Thus the French absolutism, thrust by the Stuarts on the people of England, produced the effect of those iced waters which, being poured over the body, excite immediately a powerful reaction, increase the circulation of the blood, and give to the entire man a new warmth and a new life.

The despotism of Charles I. brought on the transition from an imperfect state, which still lived on privileges, to a real and rational state, in which liberty was proclaimed a common good.

If Charles began this transformation by following the lessons of despotism, which he had learnt of a popish court, Oliver Cromwell accomplished it by the principles of Christianity and true liberty, which he had found in the Gospel.

He accomplished it not only by spurring the coursers so long as they had to climb the hill, but by holding them back when the summit was reached and they had to descend. It will no doubt be urged that he sometimes had recourse to the same means as Charles I., and that he also could dismiss the Commons. We do not absolve him from all blame; but it should be remembered, that the same act in different circumstances may have very contrary meanings. By sad experience in our age, the idea has become a truism, that liberty may be preserved, not only by combating despotism, but also by saving it from its own excesses. The soldier who defends his flag against the enemies who attack him in front, may afterwards face round and defend it from those who attack him from behind. He has certainly turned his back; but he still wields his sword in the same cause; he is still faithful to the same colors.

CHAPTER IX.

ORGANIZATION OF CHURCH AND STATE.

Necessity of Organization-Ecclesiastical Commission-Errors-Impartiality-Baxter's Testimony-Cromwell's-The State-DiscontentsLetter to Fleetwood-Bridget's Anxiety-Indulgence-The MajorGenerals-Cromwell's System in Ireland-Official and Popular Protestantism-Puritan Mannerism-A better Christianity.

CROMWELL was not the only one who thought he had received a call from heaven: many of the greatest men of the kingdom were of the same opinion. Milton in particular believed that the Protectorate was a thing required by the necessities of the times and the everlasting laws of justice, and that the Protector ought now to fulfil the duties of the charge to which he had been summoned by the nation, like a Christian hero, as he had been used to do in things of less importance. It is an honor to Oliver to have received this testimony of respect and approbation from the bard of Paradise Lost. He knew how to satisfy such great expectations.

In a country like England, after a revolution which had just shaken it to its foundations, it was of primary importance to regulate religion and the clergy. Episcopacy was nearly overthrown, and Presbyterianism was not yet established. Old abuses frequently existed by the side of new errors. Cromwell did not think the Church capable of organizing itself, and he felt it his duty to put his hand to the work. We should have preferred his leaving to the Church the power of self-government, but must in all truth acknowledge, that without this mighty aid it would have

been difficult to bring order and regularity out of the chaos in which the country was then laboring. It was therefore one of the first objects of the Protector's solicitude.

Even before the dissolution of parliament, he had been seriously engaged in the organization of the Church. On the 20th of March, 1654, he had nominated thirty-eight chosen men, the acknowledged flower of puritanism, who were to form a Supreme Commission for the Trial of Public Preachers. Any person pretending to hold a church-living, or levy tithes or clergy-dues, was first to be tried and approved by these men. Of these thirty-eight, nine were laymen, and twenty-nine were clergymen. The Protector had no wish that this Commission should be composed of Presbyterians alone, fearful that in this case they would admit none but men of their own persuasion. It contained Presbyterians, Independents, and even Baptists. He had cared for one thing only, that they should be men of wisdom, and had the love of the Gospel in their hearts. Among their number were Owen, Sterry, Marshall, Manton, and others. To this ordinance he added another on the 28th of August following, nominating a body of commissioners selected from the Puritan gentry. These latter, who were distinct from the former, were from fifteen to thirty in each county of England; and it was their duty to inquire into "scandalous, ignorant, and insufficient ministers," and to be a tribunal for judging and ejecting them. In case of ejection, a small pension was to be allowed those who were married. These commissioners judged and sifted until by degrees they had winnowed the Church. This was undoubtedly a very republican arrangement, but it was found in practice to work well.

Of the lay inquisitors not a few were Cromwell's political enemies; but that mattered not; they were men of pious probity, and that was enough for him.

The task assigned to these persons was by no means easy, and nothing was more calculated to excite discontent. And accordingly, loud complaints were heard both from Episco

palians and heterodox dissenters. These Triers, as they are sometimes called, were charged with paying little attention to knowledge or learning, and with inquiring too much into the internal marks and character of the grace of God in the heart. No doubt they committed many errors-inevitable errors; but a great number of cases might be produced in refutation of the charges brought against them. For example, the celebrated historian Fuller, who as the king's partisan, had lost his place under the Parliament, and whose principles were not only Episcopalian, but High Church, who afterwards showed such activity for the recall of Charles II., who became this king's chaplain, and who would have been made a bishop if death had not cut short his career in 1661, -this very man was presented to a living by the Triers at Cromwell's recommendation, although they could find no other evidence of the grace of God in him than this: That he made conscience of his thoughts.

The excellent Richard Baxter has left us the following fair and candid account of these Commissioners :-"Because this assembly of Triers is most heavily accused and reproached by some men, I shall speak the truth of them, and suppose my word will be taken, because most of them took me for one of their boldest adversaries: the truth is, though some few over-rigid and over-busy independents among them were too severe against all that were Arminians, and too particular in inquiring after evidences of sanctification in those whom they examined, and somewhat too lax in admitting of unlearned and erroneous men, that favored antinomianism or anabaptism; yet, to give them their due, they did abundance of good to the Church. They saved many a congregation from ignorant, ungodly, drunken teachers, that sort of men who intend no more in the ministry than to read a sermon on Sunday, and all the rest of the week go with the people to the alehouse, and harden them in sin; and that sort of ministers who either preached against a holy life, or preached as men that were never acquainted with it: these they usually