They publifhed indeed proclamations of fuch a tendency, as, together with the conventions which they immediately called of their adherents, amounted in fact to a violation of the treaty on their parts. This is candidly admitted by the hiftorian, who, with his wonted impartiality, gives a fair account of the preparation of both parties for war; of the fortification of Leith by the regent; of the arrival of forces to fupport her from France; of the defection of the Duke of Chatelherault and his fon to the congregation; of the army of the congregation marching to Edinburgh, and threatening Leith; of the regent's charging them, under the pain of high treafon, to depart from Edinburgh; and of their taking upon themselves, in return, to fufpend her, in the name of their fovereigns, from her offices, and to advife her to withdraw with her army of itrangers from the kingdom. They could not have been fo bold in their rebellion, had they not looked for fupport from England; but as we mean not to animadvert upon the political events of that eventful period, we shall not accompany the author through the account which he gives of the connection between Elizabeth, and the lords of the Scottish congregation. We shall only fay that he writes with great impartiality, though he mentions with fomething like refpect a memorial of Cecil's, which we have elsewhere characterized in very different terms. We muft obferve likewife, that in relating the origin of Elizabeth's hatred of the queen of Scots, he has fallen into a mistake, which he will do well to correct in any future edition. of his work. It is not true, as he fuppofes, (P. 207.), that Edward VI. was by any party deemed illegitimate, becaufe his father's divorce from queen Catherine was not sanctioned by the pope. Elizabeth was indeed confidered as illegitimate by every member of the Romish church; because Henry had married her mother, and the herself was born before the death of Catherine; but Catherine having been dead three or four months before Henry married the LadyJane Seymour, no objection was ever made to the lawfulness of that marriage, or to the legitimacy of Edward's birth. The lords of the congregation were obliged to raise the fiege of Leith; and they retired to Stirling in difgrace and difmay. They were roufed however from this defpondency by the preaching of Knox, and the favourable reception of their ambaffador at the court of England. Into the merits of the treaty which Elizabeth made with the Scottish rebels, See our review of Sadler's State Papers in our volume 37. for for fuch the lords of the congregation certainly were; the principles on which the acted; and her profeffed withes to maintain the independence of Scotland, and the dutiful obedience of all parties in that kingdom to their own sovereign, we mean not to enter. The prefent author, while he gives an im partial detail of facts, attributes to the English queen a purity of intention, which we cannot difcover in her conduct; but he likewife admits the queen dowager of Scotland to have poffeffed great merit, and exhibits her on her death-bed, in a point of view, in which no man can behold her without being deeply affected. She died on the 10th of June, 1560, in the caftle of Edin. burgh, while the English army and the Scotch congregation were befieging the town of Leith. Her death probably facilitated the iffue of thefe negociations into which Elizabeth, Francis and Mary had entered for a general peace; for a treaty was concluded at Edinburgh on the 6th of July, and peace proclaimed on the day following. By that treaty, "The bishops and abbots were reftored to their property their perfons were protected, and their most important privilege, that of fitting in Parliament, was not wrefted from them. But in relation to the peculiar fentiments of the reformers, there is nothing but one general article, alluding to a determination of the (English and French) commiffioners not to enter upon the subject of religion. By that article, the facred caufe for which they had fo long ftruggled, was trufted to the effect of such reprefentations as might, after the meeting of Parliament, be prefented to a bi gotted court, and to a fovereign devoted to the See of Rome." (P. 313.) The lords of the congregation however were fatisfied with this article, vague as it is. They were confident, fays this author, that the attachment to the proteftant faith had become. fo general, as to place it beyond a doubt that the free voice of Parliament would pofitively demand that this faith should become the religion of Scotland. The common people were fincerely attached to the new preachers; and "The more numerous part of the nobles, though from different motives, were equally eager for the introduction of a pro testant establishment. That fome of them looked on this inte refting revolution as connected with the wide diffemination of principles of pure religion, cannot be doubted; and on this account they gave to it their unwearied fupport; but too many of them promoted it chiefly from fecular views. They faw that bý giving power to its votaries, they would undermine the founda tions of the church, and that thus annihilating the neceffity or the propriety propriety of munificently fupporting the popish clergy, the enor mous wealth which had been appropriated to this purpose, would receive a different deftination, and might be feized by thofe of their own number, who were most artful or most active in getting it into their poffeffion." (P. 315.) This we believe to have been the real motive which influenced the conduct of a great majority of thofe nobles, who defigning themselves lords of the congregation, had laboured fo trenuously to overthrow the established church. Their object was now nearly accomplished; for the parliament, to which, the flate of religion had been referred, in the treaty between England on the one part, and Scotland and France on the other, met for bufiness in the month of Auguft, and was uncommonly numerous. It had no fooner affembled, however, than a question was keenly agitated refpecting its legality, a queftion into which we fhall no further enter than to fay, that there feems to have been much false reasoning on both fides. Keith's objection to the personal attendance of all the leffer Barons, does not appear to us to be anfwered by our author," or indeed to admit of a fatisfactory answer. Keith has proved that for upwards of feventy years, hardly one of those men had occupied feats in Parliament; and on the prefent occafion, none were fummoned by the council, but such as by law and ancient custom had a right to attend. But had law and ancient cuftom authorized every freeholder or petty baron to fit per fonally and vote in Parliament, the legiflature of Scotland would have been a democracy of the worst kind; for it is to be remembered that the Parliament of that kingdom, like the conflituent affembly of France, confifted of but one house or chamber. The Parliament, however, having voted itfelf legal, immediately entered on the ftate of religion; and the decided majority favouring the reformation, fome of the barons, in conjunction with the most eminent preachers, were enjoined to compofe a fummary of thofe tenets which they wished parliament to fan&tion, as conflituting the effence of the reformed religion. In the fpace of four days thefe men produced a confeffion of faith, which, though it delivered, as the unquestionable dictates of infpiration, opinions on fome of the moft metaphyfical and intricate points that have ever employed the mind of man, was adopted, fays Dr. C. with as little hesitation as if it had been a collection of intuitive truths; and folemnly pronounced to be the ftandard of proteftant belief in Scotland! "Having thas commenced the attack against the ancient reli Li BRIT. CRIT. VOL. XXXIX, MAY, 1812, gion, gion, parliament renewed their efforts for its deftruction. They paffed three other acts, by the firft of which they aholished the power and jurifdiction of the Pope in Scotland; by the fecond, they repealed all the acts in favour of the church; and by the third, they ordained, that all who faid mafs, or were prefent at. the celebration of it, fhould be punished for the first offence by confifcation of goods, or bodily fuffering, for the fecond, by ba nifhment from the kingdom, and for the third, by death. "Over this ftatute every friend to true religion, to the influ." ence of the mild fpirit of Chriftianity, and to the facred rights of men, would wish to caft a veil. It too plainly fhews, that the worst part of popery had not been taken from the hearts of those who fo vehemently oppofed it, that while they declaimed against the infallibility of popifh decrees, and confidered thofe decrees as impofing a grievous yake upon the understandings and the faith of Chriftians, they wished to break this yoke only that it might he fucceeded by one which they themselves had prepared. They thus arrogated a right to decide upon what the fundamental. maxim of the proteftant religion declared fhould be left to the decifion of all who examined it; and they juftified, in as far as fimilar conduct could juftify it, the atrocious cruelty of the priesthood to thofe unhappy men who had been convicted of heretical pollu tion." P. 333. These reflections do honour to the head and heart of Dr. Cook; but we are not fure, that the rights of private judg ment, were then thoroughly understood, or admitted as the fundamental maxim of the proteftant religion by any deno mination of Chriftians. Some confufed notion that the Mofaic laws againft idolatry are obligatory on Chriftians," prevailed univerfally at that period, and was the fource of much intolerance. Indeed, it feems not even yet to be perfectly underflood, that Chriftians converted from Gentiles never were fubject to any other part of the Mofaic law than that, which, being purely moral, has been obligatory on all men from the beginning of the world, and will continue obligatory until the day of judgment. Were it clearly perceived that we have no concern whatever with the ritual or municipal law of the Jews, the minds of private Chriftians could neverhave been perplexed by thofe ufelefs diftinctions, between the covenant of works, and the covenant of grace, which' encumber the creeds of fo many churches; nor would the doctrines of St. Paul and St. James refpecting juftification,' have ever been fuppofed to be in the fmalleft degree at variance. But to return from this digreffion; The acts of the parliament overturning the Romish church, and establishing the faith of the congregation, were sent to France France for the royal fanction, which was abfolutely refused by Francis and Mary. This was probably foreseen by the lords of the congregation and their friends; for an embassy was fent at the fame time to Elizabeth to thank her for her good offices; and to propofe to her to marry the Earl of Arran, whom they took care to reprefent, as indeed he was, heir to the crown of Scotland, fhould their Queen die without iffue. Elizabeth, though the declined to enter into the marriage which had been proposed to her, expreffed the happiness which the felt at having been useful to their country, and declared her refolution to renew her affiftance, fhould it be required, at any future period. This promife tended to fupport the fpirits of the congregation in the profpect of a new war with their own fovereign; but their alarms on that head were quickly difpelled altogether, by the death of the French king, which lett Mary with no other fupport than, the affections of her own fubjects. During the interval which elapfed between the diffolution of parliament and the death of Francis, the Council of Scotland directed their attention toEcclefiaftical arrangements; and. what the prefent author calls the firft book of difcipline was produced by Knox, and a few other minifters deemed moft eminent for their talents. To the analyfis of that book, and of the confeffion of faith Dr. Cook devotes two chapters of his hif tory, juftly obferving, that by fuch an analy is only, can a full light be thrown on the commencement and progrefs of the Scottish reformation. He enters first on the Scottish Confeffion of Faith, which must not be confounded with the Weftminfler Confeffion, now fubfcribed as the ftandard of doctrine in the Church of Scotland. The confeffion, drawn up by Knox and his affociates, confifts of only twenty-five articles or chapters, and' contains very little of thofe doctrines which diftinguifh the followers of Calvin. It certainly mentions the elect and the reprobate, but not in terms that would authorize any man to conclude that the Scottish reformers adopted in all its ri gour the arbitrary decree of Calvin, or that philofophical ne ceffity which fome of the ableft Divines in the Scottish church have lately wished to fubftitute in its flead. The object of Knox and his friends, as Dr. Cook obferves, was to ftate clearly and with precifion their own opinions, on all thofe points, in which they had taught the people that the Church of Rome had erred; and the inferences which he draws from this fact ought to be kept fteadily in the view of him who wishes to interpret fairly the confeflion of any reformed church, which was drawn up immediately after the fepara |