soon died away. The "refractory and seditious"
king eventually surrendered to the Covenanters, abolished courts,
canons, liturgies, and articles, and consented to the calling of a
General Assembly. This was the first free General Assembly of the Church
of Scotland for the last forty two years. It was held in Glasgow, on
21st November, 1638; and its work in the overthrow of Prelacy and the
royal supremacy and in the re-assertion of the spiritual independence of
the Church, was one of the most signal successes in the still
progressing conflict of the second Reformation.

Meanwhile, Charles II. was endeavouring to secure the recognition of his
absolute monarchy in England. There also he rigorously demanded
submission to despotic claims. By abolishing Parliaments, annulling
charters, appointing the star chamber, he introduced a reign of terror.
In the room of those legislative bulwarks of liberty, which the nation
had constructed through the skill and experience of generations, a "grim
tyranny," writes Dr. Wylie, "reared its gaunt form, with the terrible
accompaniments of star chamber, pillory, and branding irons. It reminded
one of sunset in the tropics. There the luminary of the day goes down at
a plunge into the dark. So had the day of liberty in England gone down
at a stride into the night of tyranny." The oppressed people turned to
the Covenanters of Scotland for sympathy and counsel. The negotiations
resulted in the preparation of an international league in defence of
religion and liberty. Against the banner of the King they raised the
banner of the Covenant. Alexander Henderson drafted the new Bond. The
document breathed the spirit of the National Covenant of Greyfriars,
condemned the Papal and Prelatic system, pled for a constitutional
monarchy, and outlined a comprehensive programme for future efforts in
extending the principles of the Reformation. On September 25, 1643, it
was subscribed in St. Margarets Church, Westminster. The members of
Parliament in England and the Westminster Assembly of Divines stood with
uplifted hands, and, as article after article was read, they took this
Oath to God. The Commissioners from Scotland to the Westminster Assembly
united with the people of England in the solemnity of the day. Thus the
representatives of the two nations stood before the Lord. This was the
Solemn League and Covenant, "the noblest in its essential features,"
writes Hetherington, "of all that are recorded among t