IV

The work for which the Assembly of Divines was called together was now nearly finished. On April 29, 1647, the Confession of Faith, with Scriptural Proofs, was laid before Parliament, and 600 copies were ordered to be printed for the use of members of the two Houses and of the Assembly. The debates in Parliament on the Confession were interrupted by the political troubles of the year, and no conclusion was reached till March 22, 1647-8. On that day the Commons at a Conference with the Lords presented the Confession of Faith as passed by them, with some alterations, and it was resolved

"That they do agree with their Lordships and so with the Assembly, in the Doctrinal Part, and desire the same may be made Public, that this Kingdom, and all the Reformed Churches of Christendom, may see the Parliament of England differ not in doctrine."

Rushworth adds :

"In some Particulars there were some Phrases altered, as in that of Tribute being due to the Magistrate, they put Dues; to the degree of Marriage they refer to the Law established; Particulars in Discipline are recommitted; and for the Title, they make it not; A Confession of Faith, because not so running, I confess, at the beginning of every Section; but Articles of Faith agreed upon by both Houses of Parliament, as more suitable to the former Title of the ThirtyNine Articles." 27

The sections on Discipline were therefore neither rejected nor confirmed by Parliament, but re-committed; and the report of the Committee was never made. The Assembly's revised copy of Rous's Metrical Version of the Psalms for Public Worship had been sanctioned by the Commons, with some amendments, on April 15, 1646; the Lords were inclined to favour a version by William Barton, but never came to a decision.28

The Longer and Shorter Catechisms were sanctioned by both Houses on September 15, 1648.

27 Rushworth, iv. (2), 1035. And see Neal, iii. 320–321, for a statement of what was included.

28 C. J., iv. 509. L. J. (March 26, 1646), viii. 236; and (April 25, 1646), viii. 283-284.

V

All these documents drawn up by the Assembly-the Directory for Public Worship, the Form of Presbyterial Church Government and Ordination of Ministers, the Confession of Faith, and the two Catechisms-were approved and ratified by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and by the Scottish Estates, and they are still the authorised "Standards" of the Scotch Church. For many generations after the restoration of Episcopacy in England, the Westminster Confession and the Catechisms retained great authority among English Evangelical Nonconformists. The doctrinal parts of the Confession were not infrequently referred to in the trust deeds of Independent chapels; and the Catechisms, within the memory of living men, were learnt by the children of Independent families. As text-books of Calvinistic theology the Catechisms are of incomparable value for the clearness and precision of their definitions; they are penetrated with a spirit of noble, manly, and fervent devotion, and contain a large amount of most admirable practical teaching.

Those members of the Assembly who lived in the country now went home, and rarely attended its meetings; those who lived in London met for the examination of ministers who desired to be ordained or to be appointed to vacant churches. In one of the papers sent by the King to Parliament in the course of the negotiations with him, he proposed to sanction the Presbyterian settlement for three years, and to add twenty Episcopalian divines to the Assembly, that the whole subject of the polity and worship of the national Church might be reconsidered.29 This proposal was not accepted by Parliament, but it may have been a reason for not dissolving the Assembly as long as there remained any hope of a pacific arrangement with the King.

On Thursday, February 22, 1648-9, three weeks after the death of the King, the Assembly met for the last time as an Assembly, and held its one thousand one hundred and sixtythird session. It had sat for five years and six months.

29 Parliamentary History, xv. 368-374 (dated from Holdenby, May 12, 1647), and xvii. 347-352 (dated, Isle of Wight, November 17 1647).

It continued to meet every Thursday morning for rather more than four years as a Committee for examining ministers, and was never formally dissolved; but Cromwell's dismissal of the "Rump" of the Long Parliament on April 20, 1653, was the beginning of a new order, both in the State and the Church, and the Committee never met again.

CHAPTER VIII

THE SETTLEMENT OF THE CHURCH UNDER THE PARLIAMENT, THE COMMONWEALTH, AND THE PROTECTORATE.

PARLIAMENT REDUCES AND REORGANISES THE ARMY-THE SECTS AND THE SOLDIERS-THE ARMY LEADERS AN INDEPENDENT POWER IN THE STATE-PARLIAMENT FAVOURS PRESBYTERIAN UNIFORMITY : THE ARMY AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY-VOTE OF THE COMMONS FOR LIMITED TOLERATION-SECRET TREATY BETWEEN THE KING AND THE SCOTTISH COMMISSIONERS-ROYALIST PLOTS AND RISINGSORDINANCE FOR SUPPRESSION OF HERESY AND BLASPHEMYSECOND CIVIL WAR ENDS IN VICTORY FOR CROMWELL-FRESH BUT FUTILE NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE KING THE KING ARRESTED -PRIDE'S PURGE TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF CHARLES I.— CHARLES II. PROCLAIMED KING-ROYALIST DEFEat at WORCESTER -THE "AGREEMENT OF THE PEOPLE "PROPOSALS OF INDEPENDENTS FOR A SETTLEMENT OF RELIGION-CROMWELL EXPELS "THE RUMP "-THE "BAREBONES PARLIAMENTCROMWELL LORD PROTECTOR-THE INSTRUMENT OF GOVERNMENT-THE "TRIERS "-TOLERATION AND FUNDAMENTALS OF FAITH-CROMWELL REFUSES THE CROWN-THE 'HUMBLE PETITION AND ADVICE "ARTICLES DEALING WITH RELIGIONCROMWELL'S RELIGIOUS POLICY-THE EXTENT OF TOLERATIONEXCEPTIONS AND EXCLUSIONS.

I

THE

N Saturday, January 30, 1646-7, the Scottish army

of the Commissioners of the English Parliament. Rather more than a fortnight later (February 16), he was lodged at Holmby House in Northamptonshire.

The war was over; all that remained was to make the best possible settlement with the King. Parliament determined that the time had come for giving security to its own authority, and to the Presbyterian settlement, by reducing and reorganising the army. After many debates extending through February, March, and the early part of April, it was resolved:

(1) That all the Foot not required for garrison duty should be disbanded. (2) That the Horse under Fairfax should consist of nine regiments of 600 each. (3) That all members of the two Houses of Parliament should be deprived of their commands. (4) That all officers should be required to take the Covenant and conform to the Presbyterian form of church government. Colonels for the nine regiments were nominated. Cromwell's regiment was to be commanded by Huntingdon, a staunch Presbyterian. Fairfax was so distrusted that he almost lost the appointment of Commander-in-Chief. An army for Ireland was to be recruited as far as possible from the existing English army; and Sir William Waller was appointed to the command instead of the Lord LieutenantLord Lisle-who was a friend of Cromwell's.1

For the army which had broken the power of the King had theories about the Church, and the duty of the civil magistrate in relation to the affairs of the Church, which were wholly irreconcilable with the theories of the Presbyterian majority in the House of Commons. "Never under the sun had there been such an army before." It was largely composed of men who had a grave belief that they had been called of God to rescue the nation from the tyranny of the King, and to secure for the "saints " liberty to worship God according to the will of God, and not according to the commandments of men. At the root of their religious life was an intense faith in the illumination granted by the divine Spirit to every Christian man, and in the direct responsibility of every Christian man to Christ for the doctrine, discipline, and worship of the Christian Church. They saw, or thought they saw, that the usurpation by the clergy and the civil magistrate of the powers and responsibilities which Christ had entrusted to all godly men, had been the cause of immeasurable evils. By the authority of the bishops, sustained by the Crown, superstitious ceremonies had been forced on the nation. Godly ministers who refused to submit were silenced, and subjected to cruel persecution, while men of scandalous lives, who knew nothing of the power and glory of Christ, were suffered to retain their pulpits and

1 C. J. (March 5, 8, 1646-7), v. 107-108. L. J. (May 27, 1647), ix. 207-208. Parliamentary History, xv. 377-378.

2 For an account of the religious condition of the army, see Masson, Milton, iii. 522-529.