tirely overfpread that Apoftate Church, and overfhadowed the Purity and Beauty of Chriftianity with Ignorance and Idolatry; but diftinguilhed us from the Nations round about us,by a clear Difcovery of the Doctrine according to Godliness, and giving us open Access to our Bibles, wherein we may read the uncorrupted Words of eternal Life.

Our Church owns her felf under peculiar Ties to the loudeft and ferventeft Praifes of her glorious Deliverer: We were early bleffed with the Chriftian Religion, our Country in other Refpects interior to fome of our Neighbours, was enlightned in the first Ages by the Gospel and, as we received it in its primitive Purity, we enjoyed it in its native Light and Glory longer than most other Nations, which fooner yielded to the growing Power of the Roman Pontiff, and, with a mean Submiffion to that ufurp'd Domination over the Confciences of Men, embraced all the abfurd Opinions and fuperftitious Heathenifh Rites, whereby the Luftre of Chritianity was tarnifhed, and its original Excellency deftroy'd. The Remains of our ancient History make it highly probable, if not certain, that our Ecclefiaftical Government was a long Time enlivened by the Spirit of Liberty, and had fmall Acquaintance with that Hierarchy which had fwelled to an exceffive Bulk, and become an intolerable Burden upon others; our Culdees feem to have breathed that noble Freedom, the expiring Grones of which were fcarce remembred in other Places; our Worship alfo and Doctrine as well as Government enjoyed their primitive Simplicity, and did not without Struggling put on the false Ornaments of worldly Pomp and external Magnificence,

And tho' we at length degenerated, and were carried along with the whole World that wondred after the Beaft; yet we were enlightned with the early Dawn of the Gofpel, the Bleffings of the Reformation were beftowed upon us with diftinguifhing Advantages, and that happy Change made further Advances than it did amongst others; nor did it ftop till with the Tyranny of Rome, it abolished alfo all the Innovations in Worship and Government, which had gradually crept into the Church, and obfcured the Beauty of Religion, till at length they had grown fo thick and numerous, as to occafion that dark Night of Antichriftian Ignorance and Idolatry.

Every thing with us that could not plead the earliest Antiquity and Apoftolical Times, was at once thrown afide, and our whole Conftitution was built alone upon the Model of the Scriptures, which we look'd upon as the only Mealure of the Reformation: Nor did we pretend according to our Fancy to retain fome pickt Ceremo nies, and obferve fome favourite Holy days, while we rejected others which were bottom'd on the fame Foundation, and had the Jike Authority of Councils, and Power of once prevailing Cuftc m to plead in their behalf.

That very fame Doctrine which the Reformation brought into rur Church, was afterwards preferved entire, and is now publifhed in our Confeffior of Faith The fame Spirit of Liberty animates the whole of our Conftitution, which infpired our

Airft Efforts against ROME: We can never therefore enough exprefs our Gratitude to that over ruling Providence, which hath preferv'd thofe Bleffings to us by a Tram of Wonders, and maintain'd a Church that had no worldly Support, nor was calculated for temporal Defigns, amidft a Throng of Dan ers on every fide; fo that neither the Cunning of Politicks, nor the Violence of the fevereft Perfecution, and the Terrors of Laws that became a Reproach to Humanity, were effectual to deftroy it, but it hath furmounted the moft fhocking Difficulties, and outbrav'd the moft turious Affaults of Rage and Cruelty: The Hiftory of our Church, juftifies the Choice the has made of the Bufo burning and never consumed, as an Emblem of her paft State and her future Hopes; we full own our Adherence to this Conftitution, which hath been fo vio ently attacked,and fo gloriously maintain'd and preferved: And now when in the Haven of Tranquillity, we look back with Pleafure and Thankfulnefs upon the Darkness and Horrors of the Land of Egypt, from the Bondage whereof the Reformation brought us up; and calling to mind the Storms and Tempefts which were big with threatened Ruin, and tofled this Church about upon the boiftrous Ocean of Tyranny and Perfecution; we offer up our Sacrifices of Thanksgiving, and being in a like State, account our felves under the fame Obligations with thofe mentioned Pfal. 107. 31, 32. (Who, after being expos'd to the Fury of the winds, and the Rage of the Billows which made them defpair of Safety, were brought to their defired Haven.) To praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful Works to the Children of Men: To exalt him alfo in the Congregation of the People, and praise him in the Afferably of the Elders,

It is a Duty which upon all Occafions Chriftians owe to the Truths of the Gofpel, to own them with Confidence, and never to be a ham'd to profefs before Men their Efteem of them; but there are fome Seafons which afford peculiar Motives to the most open Declarations hereof, and call upon them to publish their Faith to the World, and glory in it as their higheft Dignity: If, for Example, any of the Doctrines of our holy Religion hould be expofed to Contempt and Ignominy, run down by Clamour, and loaded with Reproaches; if the Inftitutions of Chrift fhould be look'd down upon with Difdain by the Rich and Great, and reprefented as rude and infignificant by the Wife and Learned; if they were deferted by thofe who once maintain'd them, and Perfons or Churches once famed for their Zeal, fhould fuffer their Purity to be gradually ftain'd, and make Compliances with the Manners and Schemes of the World, it were mean and inglorious in fuch a Cafe, for a Church that hath preferved her Integrity, to be afham'd of her Doarine,and retire into a Corner; then God expects that the fhould openly acknowledge contemned Truth, and the more it is mifreprefented and vilified by others, that the fhould the more warmly embrace it, and the more loudly efpoufe its Interests.

When therefore numberlefs Herefies have crept into the Church, and the Enchantments of Error have bewitched the Minds of Men; 1 that with the greateft part, Ignorance and Falfhood triumph o

ver the Interefts of Truth, and overcloud the Purity of GofpelLight: And when fome of the most important Doctrines of Chriftianity, which were reputed of the highest Value by our Fathers at the Reformation, and embrac'd with the warmeft Affections, are not only disbeliey'd but reproach'd; and fuch as profefs them, branded with the most odious Characters, and contemned as Men of narrow Souls and fhallow Capacities, if not hated and abominated as Blafphemous and Impious: When this is the unworthy State of the Doarines, particularly of electing Love and victorious Grace, of the Independency of God's Decrees and his fupreme irrefiftible Dominion over his Creatures, with others of the fame kind; the Church of Scotland is not afhamed of her Confeffion, where thefe Principles are afferted in their full Extent and Purity; fhe glories in them as her highest Honour, and accounts it an incomparable Privilege that all her Members retain the Faith of the Reformation, efpecially that Doctrine which is calculated for exalting the Sovereignty of Divine Grace, and the attributing every Step in the Salvation and Happinefs of Sinners to God, and no Part of it to apoftate Man; fhe undervalues the Calumnies and the Scorn of infulting Adverfaries, and hopes never to be moved from her Principles by Slander and Ignominy: Clamour and Noife, Contempt and Reproach in fuch a Caufe, fhe takes upon her Shoulders, and binds upon her Head as a Crown of Glory.

And the greater Hazard that the Purity of Divine Truth may be in, of lofing a part of its Luftre and Beauty in fome Proteftant Churches, where it might have been hoped thefe would have fhone with a lafting Brightnefs, free from interpofing Clouds; our Church reckons it the more diftinguishing Honour which the is dignified with, in being enabled fteadily to maintain her old Principles, and being free from the Contagion of Error which proves fo univerfally infectious, and values her felf the higher for this ineftimable Advantage.

We in the fame Manner celebrate the Goodness of God, which carried our Reformation to fuch a high Pitch of Perfection, with refpect to our Government and Worship; and delivered them from all that vain Pomp which darkned the Glory of the GofpelService,and the whole of thefe fuperftitious or infignificant Inventions of an imaginary Decency and Order, which fullied the Divine Beauty and Luftre of that noble Simplicity that diftinguished the Devotions of the Apoftolical Times; and our Church glories in the primitive Plainnefs of her Worfhip, more than in all the foreign Ornaments borrowed from this World, tho' thefe appear indeed incomparably more charming to earthly Minds.

We are fenfible that it is a neceffary Confequence of the Nature of our Reformation in thefe Particulars, that there is nothing left in our Worship which is proper to captivate the Senfes of Mankind, or amufe their Imaginations;, we have no Magnificence and Splendor of Devotion to dazzle the Eye, nor Harmony of inftrumental Mufick to enliven our Worship and footh the Ears of the Affembly; Pomp and Show and Ceremony are entirely Strangers in our Churches; and we have little in common with that Apoftate Church

whofe

whofe Yoke we threw off at the Reformation, or with the exterior Greatnefs and Magnificence of the Jewish Temple and its Service,

For which Reafon we know we muft lay our Account to be defpifed by the Men of this World, who value nothing that is ftripped of the Allurements of Senfe, and fancy that a rich and gaudy Drefs contributes to the Majefty, and raifes the Excellency of religious Service; who feek for the fame dazling Pomp and fplendid Appearances to recommend their Worship, which they are fo fond of injtheir Equipage and Tables, and think that a Veneration and Refpect to the Service of the Church, is to be railed by the fame Methods that procure an Esteem and Fondnefs for a Cont: We have nothing to tempt Perfons of fuch Inclinations; we know they'll entertain the meanest Thoughts, and moft difdainful Notions of a Worship too plain and homely for them, and fit only for the rude and unmannerly Multitude, who have not a delicate enough Taste of what is truly Great and Noble.

But how muchfoever upon this Account we may be defpifed by the Great and the Learned, the Church of Scotland, we hope, will allways publickly own the Simplicity and Plainnefs of her Worship as her peculiar Glory; and believe, that thefe to a fpiritual Eye are beautified with a Luftre which external Objects are incapable of, and of too elevated a Nature for the Senfes to look at; fhe is not afhamed to acknowledge her Sentiments, That the Devotions of Chriftians ftand in no Need of the outward Helps afforded to the Jews, and that the Triumphs of All-conquering Love, the mighty Acts of a Redeemer, all the Powers and Glories of an immortal Life, that are reprefented to our Wonder and Meditation under the Gofpel, are far nobler Springs of Devotion, and fitter to animate with a cheerful Zeal, and infpire the moft fervent Affections, than the meaner Helps afforded under the Law, the Coftlinefs of Pontifical Garments, the Glory of a magnificent Temple, the Ceremony of Worthipand the Power of Mufick.

Our Church believes it to be one Defign of the better Reformation of Things, to raise the Chriftian Worshippers above the airy Grandeur of Senfe, and in ftead of a laborious Service, to introduce a Worship worthy of the Father of Spirits, that fhould be truly great and manly, the Beauty and the Power whereof fhould be Spirit and Life, and which in stead of a fervile Imitation of the Temple fhould be all purified Reafon and Religion, and make the nearest Approaches to the Devotion of the heavenly State, where there is no Temple, and how defpicable foever this may appear to earthly Minds, and distasteful to the Senfes that are pleafed with Show and Appearance; we are not afraid to own, That we believe that an Imitation of our Bleffed Redeemer and his Apoftles in the Plainnefs and Spirituality of their Devotions, and an Endeavour to copy after the Example of thefe truly Primitive Times, will ever bear us up to all the juft Decency and Order of the Gospel-Church; and that in a Conformity hereto, the naked Simplicity of our Worship is beautified with a fuperior Luftre, and shines with a Brightness that is more worthy of it,

than

than when drefs'd in the gayeft Colours, and busk'd up with the richest and most artful Ornaments of humane Fancy and Contri

vance.

Were we in this Nation poffeffed by a juft Value for these incomparable Advantages of our Reformation,and had a due Efteem for its Purity, and the uncommon Advances it hath made in our Church with what pleasure would we celebrate thefe heavenly Bleffings with the loudeft Songs; animated by a noble Pride we would value our felves beyond others, and boaft that we were raised to a more elevated and happy Situation than thofe Kingdoms that can fpeak of the Glory of Victories, and the Pomp of Triumphs.and the Splendor of Greatnefs; without any Repinings of Envy we'd look back upon the Fertility of Soil, the Affluence of Pleafures which other Countries exceed us in; upon their Trade and Luxury and Riches when flowing in with the higheft Tide of Plenty: How incomparably would we think thofe temporal Advantages overbalanced by the Bleffings of our Reformation, by his Word which he Shewed unto us, and the Statutes and Judgments that with fo bright a Light he hath difcovered: And thus while the Wife gloried in their Wisdom, the Mighty in their Might, or the Rich in their Riches; in this would we glory with a nobler Triumph, that the Lord hath given us in fuch a manner to know and understand him.

Before we leave this Subject, we hall obferve one Thing which poffibly might influence our Reformation, and be in fome Measure the Reafon of its making a happier Progrefs with us than it did with others.

Amongst the feveral Proteftant Churches that departed from Rome, there was this remarkable Difference, that with fome the Alteration of Religion happened under the Protection and by the Affiftance of the Civil Government; fuch as were in Authority fell in with the Defign, and Kings and Princes were the Chief who promoted it, and put themselves at the head of the Reformation; fo that a Change was made in the eftablished Religion without any Confufion or Irregularity; and this was in particular the fo much boasted of Privilege of the Church of England.

In other Places, the Prince fuck clofs to the old Way, adher'd to the Idolatry and Tyranny of Popery, and employed his Power and Authority in crufhing the Reformation, and perfecuting thofe who embraced it; which brought the Profellors of the true Religi on under a Neceffity to maintain by Arms the Freedom of their Confciences,and the Liberties of their Country, against the Fury of their arbitrary Sovereigns; whereby the Conftitution was expos'd to mighty Convulfions and Disorders, and the Light of the Gofpel, which then begun to fhine in its Brightnefs, feemed to be obfcured by the Blood and Confufion which accompanied its Rife and Progrefs: Yet, through the admirable Management of Divine Providence, the uncommon Purity of our Reformation feems to be in fome Measure owing to thefe difadvantageous Circumftances of it. A mighty Zeal animated our Fathers, who had been enlightned by the Gospel, and were making their Way out of Babylon; their

Breafts