NOTE.

The following discourse was originally prepared without any design of sending it to the press. But as many that heard it have expressed a strong desire for its publication, I have yielded to their wishes. And I have yielded the more readily, because of my desire that the history of the church which I have the honour to serve should be known, and that the absurdity of certain high claims to ecclesiastical pre-eminence should be exposed.

The authorities on which reliance is placed for the truth of the statements made in this discourse, are, Neal's History of the Puritans, Brook's Lives, The Nonconformists' Memorial, Burnet's History of the Reformation, Hume's History of England, Clarendon's Rebellion, Brown's Church History, Hill's Divinity, Dr. Miller's Life of Dr. Rodgers, and the History of the Westminster Assembly by the Board of Publication. I prefer this general acknowledgment, to the cumbering of the pages with notes of reference; and when treating of matters of fact, the very words of the authors relied on are frequently quoted without any acknowledgmont.

It is a matter of thankfulness that the second centenary of this Assembly occurs at a time when the worst errors of the Protestant Church in the days of Elizabeth are revived; and when the high and exclusive claims of Bancroft and Laud to apostolical pre-eminence, are unblushingly put forth by diocesan bishops. It will lead to a review of English Church History from the Reformation to the Revolution, the most eventful period in the world's annals, and which exhibits the tendencies of Popery and Prolacy in bold relief; tendencies equally at war with doctrinal purity, mental independence, religious toleration and civil liberty. N. M.

SERMON.

But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; partly, while ye were made a gazing-stock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, while ye became the companions of them that were so used.-HEBREWS x. 32, 33.

A PRIME object of the apostle Paul, in his epistle to the Hebrews, is, to admonish against the sin of apostacy the converted Jews; and this admonition he enforces, in our text, by encouragements drawn from the experience of former days. The first converts to Christianity were from among the officers and members of the Jewish church; and the persecutions they endured because of their dissent from the order established at Jerusalem, were exceedingly severe. Our great and glorious Redeemer was crucified. "They stoned Stephen, calling upon God." "There was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem." "Herod, the king, stretched forth his hand to vex certain of the church. And he killed James, the brother of John, with the sword." Paul was persecuted in all the ways which religious intolerance, blind yet burning zeal, and desperate depravity could devise. The Gospel, because it proclaimed the Jewish system as at an end, and laid the axe at the root of all the systems of the Gentiles, arrayed against itself both the Jew and the Greek. And, hence, its adherents, whether within or without Judea, "had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings; yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonments; they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword; they wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented; they wandered in deserts and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth." But yet they

maintained their integrity, and confessed Christ amid the fires; and, the greater their persecutions, the more rapidly did the church grow, both as to numbers and influence. And now, that after a little repose new storms are seen arising, and faggots are collecting for the kindling of fiercer fires than had yet burned, and the hearts of many are waxing faint because of the prospects before them, the apostle calls upon them to remember "the former days;" and he encourages them to hope, that, 'as the Lord gave them and their cause signal deliverance in all their past fights of affliction, so they might expect his interposition amid all the future trials of their faith and patience.

There is much profit, every way, connected with calling to remembrance the dealings of God in former days with his church and people, and with ourselves individually. It will convince us that there is nothing new under the sun, and will keep us from asking, in a querelous tone, Why were the former days better than these? If we go back to the days of Judaism, and compare our state and circumstances with those of the good men then serving God, we will find much for which to be thankful. They had the shadow, the promise, the dawn; we have the substance, the fulfillment, the day. If we call to remembrance the days of the Reformation, we again see much over which to rejoice. Then, the pure light of truth was hid from the people. Despotism ruled the state; superstition, the church. Knowledge was locked up in cloisters, and was sedulously guarded from the common people by muttering monks; and nothing but priestcraft and king-craft were permitted to peep. Now, the truth shines as does the sun in heaven, and is abroad among the people. And if we call to remembrance the former days, when, amid a great fight of affliction our fathers laid the foundations of our own beloved Zion; when amid fines, imprisonments, tortures and death, they stated, defended and extended the great Gospel truths embodied in our standards, we will see much over which to rejoice. And the review will strengthen our confidence in God, and will invigorate our faith and our hope that against all the opposition of despotism, superstition and error, the truth as it is in Jesus will gild all lands with its light.

It is well known to you all that we are indebted, under God, for the standards of our Church, which consist of a Confession of Faith, the Larger and Shorter Catechism, a Form of Government and a Directory for Worship, to what is usually called the Westminster Assembly. That body, composed of men illustrious in the state and in the church, and equally famed for their patriotism, their learning and their piety, met in Henry VII.'s chapel at Westminster, in London, on Saturday the first day of July, 1643. Two hundred years completed their course on the first of the present month, since that assembly first met; and with a singular unanimity the great Presbyterian brotherhood of Great Britain and America have resolved to celebrate its bi-centenary. Upon this subject, the last General Assembly of our church passed the following resolution:

"Resolved, That an accurate acquaintance with the history of the past trials, persecutions and faithfulness of the true church, and especially of our own branch of it, should be diligently sought, particularly by those who are office-bearers in the church; and as one method of accomplishing this object, it is recommended that the first of July, when convenient to do so, and when not convenient, on such other day during the current year as may be deemed expedient, be observed as a season specially devoted to the general instruction of our people, by the ministers, in the great facts connected with this subject."

And, as the first of July was not convenient, we devote this day, as recommended by our Assembly, to the object stated in the above resolution.

The better to obtain our object, and to fix the matter of this discourse in your minds, we shall,

I. REVIEW THE EVENTS WHICH LED TO THE CALLING OF THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY.

II. STATE ITS LABOURS AND RESULTS. And,

III. PLACE BEFORE YOU SOME OF THE LESSONS TAUGHT

US BY THE WHOLE SUBJECT.

These are topics, as all must see, which open before us a wide field of discussion, and which necessarily lead us to tread on controverted ground. They bring us immediately into one of the most stormy periods of the world's history, when the great battles between liberty and despotism, between hoary superstition and the religion of the Bible, were fought. Of many of the men and events of the period now about to pass under review, different minds will form different opinions. They have been drawn in very different colours by the Cavalier and the Puritan. But at this distance of time, when we can trace up results to their sources, and test the truth of principles by their effects, after making a due allowance for human infirmity, we conceive that there is room but for one opinion in reference to the leading men and events of that period. We can do little more than give you a mere synopsis of events, and the conclusions formed by a careful review of them; premising, that our object is to make Presbyterians acquainted with "the trials, persecutions and faithfulness of that portion of the church of God with which they are connected."

I. WE SHALL REVIEW THE EVENTS WHICH LED TO THE CALLING OF THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY.

The taking of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, an event which spread sadness and sorrow all over Europe, seems to have been the leading instrumentality in the civil and religious regeneration of the world. The capital of the Greek empire was the residence of the scholars of that age, and its fall was the means of their dispersion all over christendom. Unable to stem the torrent of barbarism that rushed in with the triumphant arms of Mahomet II. they fled in every direction; and wherever they wandered they devoted themselves to the business of instruction. And thus they became the promoters of the revival of learning which immediately succeeded the fall of the city of Constantine. In 1455 the art of printing was invented, worth more than the gift of tongues to the church and the world. In 1492 this Western world was discovered by Columbus; and in 1517 the immortal Luther blew the trumpet of the Reformation. These four