might quote page upon page like the following:-'And thou shalt remember all the way in which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only; but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.'-'Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old: which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children; that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their children; that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God. The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law; and forgat his works and his wonders that he had showed them.'-'O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works. Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord, and his strength; seek his face evermore. Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen.'-'Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.' -The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is honourable and glorious; and his righteousness endureth for ever. He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the Lord is gracious and full of compassion.'-'One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts; and I will declare thy greatness. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all; and his tender mercies are over all his works. All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; to make known to the sons of

men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.'-' And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary; who is so great a god as our God? Thou art the God that dost wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people. Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.'

These are a few of the many passages which might have been quoted, and we find that the whole of scripture is cast in the mould of them, and all the saints acting according to their spirit. Not to refer to commemorative institutions, such as the passover, the ark of the testimony, the devotement of the first-born to the Lord, all of which were intended to keep alive the remembrance of what God had done, we have inspired examples of an historical testimony in the book of Deuteronomy, in the numerous historical psalms, and in the recorded exercise of the church in all times of great revival, such as in the latter days of Joshua, and in the times of Daniel and Nehemiah. And in the New Testament, the continued obligation of this practice may be abundantly demonstrated. It may be so from the history of our Lord and his apostles, contained in the evangelists and in the book of Acts; it may be so from the historical form which was given to the apostolic testimony, a fact in regard to which any one may satisfy himself who reads their discourses, whether to Jews or Gentiles, from the days of Pentecost downward, all, or almost all, of which have an historical basis; and the discourse of Stephen in the seventh chapter is neither more nor less than an historical testimony to the Jews in behalf of what God had done for them from the days of Abraham, with occasional references to their ingratitude and rebellion. The epistles to the churches of the Lesser Asia are written upon the same principle. They all proceed on an historical basis, each of the churches being reminded of the privileges or attainments of the past, as the groundwork of present warnings, exhortations, or reproofs. Remember, therefore,' to use the language addressed to Ephesus, whence thou art fallen, and repent and do thy first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.' A number of additional considerations might have been adduced; but from these, we think, the position, that it is the duty of the church to bear a testimony in behalf of all that God hath done for her, is so established that it never can be overthrown. But God hath done great things for Britain, and for Scotland,— greater things than he has done for any nation since the times of the Jews. From a small island, inhabited by barbarians, Britain has been raised to the foremost place in the civilised world. We have liberty, we have knowledge- war has been long unknown upon our soil, and we have had peace within our walls and prosperity within our palaces. Our name is known through all the earth-our language is spoken in both hemispheres-our commerce encircles the globe-oar

6

sails whiten every sea-our 'merchants are princes, and our traffickers the noble of the earth.' And if from politics we turn to religion, no nation in New Testament times has been so favoured as ours. 'We have heard with our ears, O God, and our fathers have told us, what works thou didst in their days, even in the times of old.' How often has the holy arm of God been 'bared' to redeem the Church of Scotland from captivity-to reform her from corruptions-to recover her from backslidings-to bring her forth from the fires of a frequent persecution! Is it not written in our history-are we not familiar with the recorded deliverances of our Zion from popish, prelatic, and Erastian tyrany? Scotland may sing with as much truth as ever it was done by Israel,- Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. God is known in her palaces for a refuge. For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together. They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled and so they hasted away. Fear took hold of them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail. Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind. As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah.' If, therefore, the church ought to bear a testimony for the gracious appearances of God in behalf of the land, then, surely, the great things which he has done for Scotland ought to be gratefully and devoutly commemorated. And shall the house of Judah be the last to bring home the King?' Shall that church for which he has done such great things in our times, prove reluctant to bear her testimony for the wondrous works done by him of old? We can scarcely allow ourselves to believe that this is possible; and yet, until some further explanation is given, she must be prepared to underlie the charge of declining to raise her testimony for the great things which God hath done for Scotland,-to underlie the charge, not simply of declining to own the abstract doctrine of the continued obligation of scriptural covenants, but to underlie the much graver charge of refusing to raise a testimony for the covenanted reformation. We most firmly believe in the doctrine of the continued obligation of lawful covenants, and feel assured that no evangelical Protestant of competent abilities will ever attempt, in an honest and candid manner, to refute the arguments by which it has been supported. At the same time we freely admit, that, like all abstract questions, when traced to its ultimate principles, it is found connected with difficulties which no one can solve; and we can easily conceive that to persons whose mind have received an adverse bias these difficulties may appear so great as to overshadow the large amount of positive evidence produced for their consideration. But when from the abstract doctrine of the continued obligation of all kinds of covenants having a permanent object, we turn to the covenanted reformation in Scotland, England, and Ireland, this is no abstraction-no mere theory-no subject of doubtful disputation, but a great fact-A WONDERFUL WORK OF GOD; and in withdrawing the document referred to, the Free Church is chargeable, not

merely with not holding the doctrine of continued obligation, but with declining to own as a church the reformation from popery and prelacy. This statement may appear startling, but, so far as we know, it is strictly correct. The only subordinate standard of the Free Church is the Westminster Confession of Faith. But the Westminster Confession of Faith consists of doctrinal propositions, and these propositions, considered in themselves, are not the Reformation, they are so only when considered historically; and the Free Church can only bear a testimony for the Reformation when she adopts these as a part of reformation principles.

God has done much for our country, but our country is chargeable with much ingratitude to God, and with apostacy from its former attainments. We have vaunted ourselves against the Lord, ascribing our victories to our valour, our dominion to fortune, our greatness to commercial industry and enterprise. At the ever-memorable period of the Reformation from popery, the progress of divine truth was arrested in England by national authority. The powers that were said concerning it, 'Hitherto shalt thou come, but no farther.' Popery was abolished, but prelacy, out of which popery had sprung, was retained with all its anti-christian hierarchy, and burdensome ceremonies. The authority of the Pope was renounced, but his supremacy was transferred to the sovereign, who, from that period, has always been the temporal head of the Church of England. During three centuries, the people connected with the Church of England have been totally deprived of their christian liberties; the church herself during that period has been a half secular, half ecclesiastical corporation, created and preserved by the State; and the sovereigns of Great Britain, during all that time, have presumptuously claimed authority and titles which can never, without profanation, be assumed by any creature, belonging, as they do, inalienably to Him who is 'King of kings and Lord of lords.' When, in connection with these things, we reflect upon the enormous sums that have been expended by the country in maintaining this system in Britain and Ireland, and upon the unequal, unrighteous, and persecuting laws by which it has been upheld-when we thus think on the constitution and history of the Church of England, and judge of the matter by the principles of scripture, how can one escape the conviction that, because of her conduct in connection with that church, a fearful amount of guilt must be lying upon Britain-guilt which has been accumulating for many generations-which has never been repented of, and which is even unacknowledged? And this guilt is greatly aggravated in consequence of the violation of those solemn covenants which were entered into between Scotland and England, in which prelacy was abjured, and the parties bound themselves to promote a national reformation agreeably to the word of God. By the overthrow of this great and good work, at the Restoration, the country showed that it preferred the darkness to the light, and was involved in the sin of perjury, aggravated by the cruel and sanguinary treatment of all such as remained faithful to their God and to their vows. Thus, in England, during three centuries, has prelacy been upheld in the Church, and Cæsarean

popery exercised by the State in opposition to the word of God; and during two centuries this has been done in violation of the solemn covenant and oath of the nation, by which it became bound to seek its extirpation. The upholding of the prelatic church, with the royal supremacy over it, we regard as the grand central sin of Britain since the Reformation, which has been the bane of religion, and is likely, in the end, to prove like the millstone around the neck of our empire, by which it will be brought to ruin. In Scotland, notwithstanding many defects, it may be said that the church always kept her face towards reformation till the Revolution. But at that memorable period she began to look back, and directing her eye courtward, she learned to steer by the light which shone from thence. It is unnecessary to dwell on the Erastianism, which, disguise it as men may, entered into the very foundations, and permeated all the arrangements of the Revolution settlement, nor to dwell upon the dishonour done to the Son of God, and the oppression perpetrated against his people, during last century, by unprincipled statesmen, and supple, sycophantish, time-serving ecclesiastics, who together degraded the church, until she became like Issachar, a strong ass crouching down between two burdens.' Great was the guilt caused by these heaven-daring proceedings; and the land has refused to repent. So far from repenting, those now constituting the Free Church were driven to the necessity of leaving the Established Church, because they had attempted a very moderate reformation without the consent of the State. What has all this to do, it will be said, with the Free Church testimony? Why repeat these things for the hundredth time? They may be true, but surely they are irrelevant; and it will be better now to return to the subject from which you have wandered, or else tell us at once what bearing these threadbare statements have upon the subject. Well, the Erastianising processes pursued by the State towards the churches of Scotland and England are great sins against God, and taken as a whole, constitute what we would call THE BRITISH APOSTACY. Now, it is the duty of the church, as the instructress of the nation in matters of sin and duty, to keep all great and leading acts of national sin continually and prominently before the public eye. All must admit that this is the duty of the church, who hold that there is such a thing as national sins, and national judgments; for if there be such a thing as national sins, it must be the church's duty particularly to point out these, and to continue to warn and testify against them until they are repented of and forsaken. And when these sins become systematised, and are perpetuated from generation to generation, there ought to be a formal and systematic testimony continued against them from age to age, so that organisations against the Redeemer, may be confronted by organisation among his people as complete and effective. Now, if she persist in withdrawing this historical testimony, we think that the Free Church will lamentably fail in the duty which she owes, both to truth and to the nation. That church will admit the unscripturalness of prelacy, and the sinfulness of the royal supremacy, and the guilt that is lying on the land in consequence of the long tract of national defection from God, by the civil