yterians of England the wrongs of the Episcopalians of
Scotland. It could not be denied that even the highest churchmen had,
in the summer of 1688, generally declared themselves willing to give
up many things for the sake of union. But it was said, and not without
plausibility, that what was passing on the other side of the Border
proved union on any reasonable terms to be impossible. With what face,
it was asked, can those who will make no concession to us where we are
weak, blame us for refusing to make any concession to them where we are
strong? We cannot judge correctly of the principles and feelings of a
sect from the professions which it makes in a time of feebleness and
suffering. If we would know what the Puritan spirit really is, we must
observe the Puritan when he is dominant. He was dominant here in the
last generation; and his little finger was thicker than the loins of the
prelates. He drove hundreds of quiet students from their cloisters, and
thousands of respectable divines from their parsonages, for the crime of
refusing to sign his Covenant. No tenderness was shown to learning, to
genius or to sanctity. Such men as Hall and Sanderson, Chillingworth and
Hammond, were not only plundered, but flung into prisons, and exposed
to all the rudeness of brutal gaolers. It was made a crime to read fine
psalms and prayers bequeathed to the faithful by Ambrose and Chrysostom.
At length the nation became weary of the reign of the saints. The fallen
dynasty and the fallen hierarchy were restored. The Puritan was in his
turn subjected to disabilities and penalties; and he immediately found
out that it was barbarous to punish men for entertaining conscientious
scruples about a garb, about a ceremony, about the functions of
ecclesiastical officers. His piteous complaints and his arguments in
favour of toleration had at length imposed on many well meaning persons.
Even zealous churchmen had begun to entertain a hope that the severe
discipline which he had undergone had made him candid, moderate,
charitable. Had this been really so, it would doubtless have been our
duty to treat his scruples with extreme tenderness. But, while we were
considering what we could do to meet his wishes in England, he had
obtained ascendency in Scotland; and, in an instant, he was all himself
again, bigoted, insolent, and cruel. Manses had been sacked; churches
shut up; prayer books burned; sacred garments torn; congregations
dispersed by violenc