this subject is also explicit. The assembly were to deliberate on "all things" necessary for "the peace and good government of the church," and to "represent the result of their consultations to the parliament, to be there allowed of and confirmed, and receive the stamp of authority." Again, the ordinance appointing it declared it to be "for the settling of the government and liturgy of the Church of England;" while in the body of the bill we find the following terms"Whereas it hath been declared and resolved by the lords and commons assembled in parliament, that the present church government by archbishops, bishops, their chancellors, commissaries, deans, deans and chapters, archdeacons, and other ecclesiastical officers depending upon the hierarchy, is evil, and justly offensive and burdensome to the kingdom; a great impediment to reformation and growth of religion; and very prejudicial to the state and government of this kingdom; and that therefore, they are resolved that the same shall be taken away, and that such a government shall be settled in the church, as may be most agreeable to God's holy word, and most apt to procure and preserve the of the church at home, and nearer agreepeace ment with the Church of Scotland, and other reformed churches abroad; and for the better effecting thereof, and for the vindicating and clearing of the doctrine of the Church of England from all false calumnies and aspersions, it is thought fit and necessary to call an assembly of learned, godly, and judicious divines, to consult and advise of such matters and things, touching the premises, as shall be proposed unto them by both or either of the houses of parliament."* *"An Ordinance, &c." 1648; Hanbury, ii. 199. From this it is evident that parliament had determined upon two things: first, that a reformed religion should be established; and secondly, that the assembly's advice and counsel should be followed in the reformation to be made; reserving to itself the power of review and final authorisation. The last point was a matter of course. To have acted otherwise would have been constituting the assembly an arbitrary court, with powers greater than those of the abolished. hierarchy. Yet on this very point the advocates, or rather apologists, of the assembly, from Baxter downwards, have mainly rested their defence. It cannot be questioned that, in so far as the calling of the assembly was a bona fide measure, it was the design of parliament to make its decisions theirs. Every member of that assembly entered upon his duties as a virtual legislator in matters ecclesiastical. Every member, moreover, was actuated by a conviction of this nature; and to suppose otherwise is to impute to the whole synod the most solemn trifling, and to characterise their labours as the most learned child's-play, the world has ever witnessed. If any thing further were needed upon this point, it might be asked, why were members of both houses added to the assembly, and the power of nominating its clerical members confined to knights of the shire? The presence of the thirteen peers and twenty commoners might have been dispensed with, if the opinion of the godly divines was all that was required. But the proceedings of the assembly, as they come under our notice, will show the real nature of the powers with which they were invested. Various opinions have been entertained respecting the composition and merits of this celebrated body. Praise and blame have been administered with equal lavishness. Some, with Clarendon, have decried it in the most unworthy invectives; others, following the judgment of the too latitudinarian Baxter, have become its warmest apologists ;t while a third party, occupying the lofty position of John Milton, and impatient of every thing that might be regarded as redeeming merely, have considered exclusively the general character and tendency of its proceedings. Unquestionably, some few of the members of the assembly were men of genius, and a greater number men of learning; but as a body, they were not above the average character of the clergy of the day. Selected from various parts of the kingdom, on personal grounds quite as much as any other, it would have been impossible to pronounce a judgment beforehand on the kind of appearance they would make on their first gathering; and yet it would not have been difficult, could their protracted session also have been foreseen, to predict that five years incessant discussion on matters of a serious and pressing nature, would operate as a powerful if not healthy stimulus on the minds of all, and probably bring into notice some rarer spirits, whose energies might otherwise have slumbered amidst the quiet duties of parochial life. The last mentioned result was in fact realized. Seldom has the world beheld a more animating scene than was to be witnessed every day of the week, * Clarendon writes: "Some of them infamous in their lives and conversations, and most of them of very mean parts in learning, if not of scandalous ignorance." Hist. of Rebellion, i. 531. + Baxter writes: "The divines there congregated were men of eminent learning, godliness, ministerial abilities, and fidelity, &c." Life, i. 93. Saturdays and Sundays excepted, in the Jerusalem Chamber, where the assembly for the most part held its sessions. The hall in which Henry the Fourth breathed his last became a theatre of life, in which passions, thoughts, and purposes as earnest, and, if suffered to prevail, as sanguinary as those of the royal crusader, contended for the mastery; passions, thoughts, and purposes which the rising power of Cromwell, strong as death itself, could scarcely compose.* The ground of the contest was narrow, and the combatants comparatively few; but on the issue depended the religious and political welfare of a whole nation. The great majority of the assembly were presbyterians, whose views were formed more or less nearly upon those of John Knox and the kirk of Scotland. object of this party, headed by the Scotch commissioners, Henderson, Gillespie, Rutherford, and Baillie,† was to assimilate the ecclesiastical condition of England to that of Scotland. Next to them were the Erastians, a considerable body, and rendered respect* Shakspeare, in his "King Henry the Fourth," thus makes this the scene of the monarch's death : "K. Henry. Doth any name particular belong Unto the lodging where I first did swoon? Warwick. 'Tis called Jerusalem, my noble lord. I should not die but in Jerusalem; But bear me to that chamber; there I'll lie; In that Jerusalem shall Harry die." The †The Scotch Commissioners had no vote in the assembly; but a deference was paid to them, on account of their relation to the General Assembly of Scotland, which in its results was more potent than the power of voting. They were the real leaders of the presbyterian party in the assembly. able by the alliance of the great John Selden, as well as by the learning of such men as Coleman, and Lightfoot. Their object, however, was quite undefined throughout. Hence, the course they might take could not be reckoned upon, excepting at a later period, when presbyterian bigotry compelled them to join the Independents. The last named were a very small minority, respecting whom further details will be afforded presently. Besides these were a few episcopalians, of Archbishop Usher's school, who, however, never acted as a party, but, preserving their individuality at first, gradually died away, and finally disappeared from the assembly altogether.* The lay members of the assembly were pretty equally divided amongst all these parties. The principal of those who took an active part in the proceedings were the Earls of Manchester and Pembroke, Viscount Saye, and Philip, Lord Wharton, from the upper house; and Sir Harry Vane, junior, St. John, Selden, Rouse, and Whitelocke, from the lower. Such, in general terms, was the composition of the famous convention by whom the religious affairs of the nation were to be settled. It was hardly probable that from an assembly thus called and constituted satisfactory measures would proceed. Containing within itself the elements of division, it was not likely to be unanimous on matters of importance; and from the fact that the majority were presbyterians of an intolerant school, it might be inferred that every disputed point would be pressed to a division, and carried with a high hand. This, it might have been anticipated, would call forth resistance, not only from within, * Many of the episcopalians summoned to the assembly refused to appear, in obedience to an injunction from the king to that effect. |