ly binding on all classes in the
realm,--"the marriage tie," which no power on earth could dissolve--that
all departure from the principles of these federal deeds was sinful, and
involved the land in the guilt of national apostacy and perjury,--and
that the authority of the Scripture was supreme in constituting the
national society, in enacting and administering the laws, and in
regulating the lives and official acts of the rulers.

The Revolution Settlement, in both its civil and ecclesiastical
departments, instead of being the exemplification and carrying forward
of the work of the Second Reformation,--for the maintenance of which the
Scottish martyrs shed their blood,--was a deliberate abandonment of it,
and was established in open opposition to its grand and distinguishing
principles. The faithful companions and followers of Renwick refused to
incorporate with this Settlement, on the ground of adhering firmly to
the scriptural vows of the nation, and the testimonies of illustrious
martyrs. While giving the best proof of their genuine patriotism, they
withheld allegiance from the government of William, and they took the
name and position of "Old Dissenters," for reasons which they clearly
stated, which those who opposed and misrepresented them, were unable to
answer, and the greater part of which are as applicable to the present
British government, and existing ecclesiastical systems, as they were to
the Settlement of the Revolution. Several of the political changes which
have taken place in recent times, have supplied strong additional
grounds for faithful Covenanters maintaining the position of public
protest against, and active dissent from the establishments, civil and
ecclesiastical, of the nation. The reasons of separation from the
Revolution Church and State, as given by the "Society People," are
presented in a lucid and convincing manner, in the work entitled--"Plain
Reasons for Presbyterians dissenting from the Revolution Church in
Scotland, as also their Principles concerning Civil Government, and the
difference betwixt the Reformation and Revolution Principles." They are
likewise exhibited in a condensed form in the "Short Account of Old
Dissenters," emitted with the sanction of the Reformed Presbytery, and
in very luminous terms in the Historical part of the "Testimony of the
Reformed Presbyterian Church."

No person who peruses these works, and ponders their carefully prepared
statements, can with cando