TU MERCEDE CONDUCTI,
MILITANT. To these mercenary soldiers, as well as to the needy gentry
with whom they were mixed in command, and who easily imbibed the same
opinions, the success of the late short invasion of England in 1641 was
a sufficient reason for renewing so profitable an experiment. The good
pay and free quarters of England had made a feeling impression upon the
recollection of these military adventurers, and the prospect of again
levying eight hundred and fifty pounds a-day, came in place of all
arguments, whether of state or of morality.

Another cause inflamed the minds of the nation at large, no less than
the tempting prospect of the wealth of England animated the soldiery.
So much had been written and said on either side concerning the form
of church government, that it had become a matter of infinitely more
consequence in the eyes of the multitude than the doctrines of
that gospel which both churches had embraced. The Prelatists and
Presbyterians of the more violent kind became as illiberal as the
Papists, and would scarcely allow the possibility of salvation beyond
the pale of their respective churches. It was in vain remarked to
these zealots, that had the Author of our holy religion considered any
peculiar form of church government as essential to salvation, it would
have been revealed with the same precision as under the Old Testament
dispensation. Both parties continued as violent as if they could have
pleaded the distinct commands of Heaven to justify their intolerance,
Laud, in the days of his domination, had fired the train, by attempting
to impose upon the Scottish people church ceremonies foreign to their
habits and opinions. The success with which this had been resisted, and
the Presbyterian model substituted in its place, had endeared the latter
to the nation, as the cause in which they had triumphed. The Solemn
League and Covenant, adopted with such zeal by the greater part of the
kingdom, and by them forced, at the sword's point, upon the others, bore
in its bosom, as its principal object, the establishing the doctrine and
discipline of the Presbyterian church, and the putting down all error
and heresy; and having attained for their own country an establishment
of this golden candlestick, the Scots became liberally and fraternally
anxious to erect the same in England. This they conceived might be
easily attained by lending to the Parliament the effectual assistance of
the Scottish forces.