p. 13). The following quotations will furnish some idea of the nature of this covenant:

We all and every one of us under-written, protest, That, after long and due examination of our own consciences in matters of true and false religion, we are now thoroughly resolved in the truth by the Spirit and Word of God: and therefore we believe with our hearts, confess with our mouths, subscribe with our hands, and constantly affirm, before God and the whole world, that this only is the true Christian faith and religion, pleasing God, and bringing salvation to man, which now is, by the mercy of God, revealed to the world by the preaching of the blessed evangel; and is received, believed, and defended by many and sundry notable kirks and realms, but chiefly by the Kirk of Scotland, the King's Majesty, and three estates of this realm, as God's eternal truth, and only ground of our salvation. . .

We Noblemen, Barons, Gentlemen, Burgesses, Ministers and Commons under-written, . . do hereby profess, and before, God, His angels, and the world, solemnly declare, That with our whole hearts we agree, and resolve all the days of our life constantly to adhere unto and to defend the aforesaid true religion, and (forbearing the practice of all novations. . .) to labour, by all means, to recover the purity and liberty of the Gospel, as it was established and professed before the foresaid novations. . . And therefore, from the knowledge and conscience of our duty to God, to our King and country, without any worldly respect or inducement, so far as human infirmity will suffer, wishing a further measure of the grace of God for this effect; we promise and swear, by the great name of the Lord our God, to continue in the profession and obedience of the aforesaid religion. ..

And because we cannot look for a blessing from God upon our proceedings, except with our profession and subscription we join such a life and conversation as beseemeth Christians who have renewed their covenant with God; we therefore faithfully promise for ourselves, our followers, and all others under us, both in public, and in our particular families, and personal carriage, to endeavour to keep ourselves within the bounds of Christian liberty, and to be good examples to others of all godliness, soberness, and righteousness, and of every duty we owe to God and man.

And that this our union and conjunction may be observed without violation, we call the Living God, the Searcher of our Hearts, to witness, who knoweth this to be our sincere desire and unfeigned resolution, as we shall answer to Jesus Christ in the great day, and under pain of God's everlasting wrath, and of infamy and loss of all honour and respect in this world: most humbly beseeching the Lord to strengthen us by his Holy Spirit for this end, and to bless our desires and proceedings with a happy success; that religion and righteousness may flourish in the land, to the glory of God, the honour of our King, and peace and comfort of us all. In witness whereof, we have subscribed with our hands all the premises.

The last and most important covenant made in Scotland is that called the "Solemn League and Covenant" of 1643. One of the original copies of this is in the Manuscript Department of the British Museum. It is written on a roll of parchment several feet long, and about eight inches wide. In this document there are six articles, and a seventh, or conclusion. The long closing section is as follows:

And because theis Kingdomes are guilty of many sinnes and proucacons against God and his sonne Jesus Christ, as is too manifest by our present distresses and dangers the fruts thereof wee professe and declare before God and the world our vnfained desire to bee humbled for our owne sines and for the sines of theis Kingdomes, especially that we haue not as wee ought, valued the inestimable Benefitt of the Gospel that wee haue not labored for the purity and power thereof and that wee have not endeauoured to receiue Christ in our harts nor to walk worthy of him in our liues wch are the causes of other sines and transgessions soe much aboundinge amongst vs: And our true and vnfained purpose, desire, and endeauor for our selues, and all other vnder our power and charge both in publike and in priuate in all duties wee owe to God and man to amend our Liues and each one to goe before another in the example of A reall reformacon that the Lord may turne away his wrath & heauie indignacon & establish these Churches and Kingdomes in truth and peace. And this couenant wee make in the presence of Almyghty God the searcher of all harts wth a true intencon to reforme the same, as wee shall answer at the great day when the secrets of all harts shall be disclosed most humbly besseechinge the Lord to strengthen vs wth his holy Spirit for this end, & to blesse our desires & proceedings wth such successe as may be deliuerance and safety to his people & encouragment to other christian Churches groaninge vnder, or in danger of the yoke of Antichristian tyranny to Joyne in the same, or like assocacon and couenant to the glory of God the enlargment of the Kingdome of Jesus Christ and the peace and tranquilitie of Christian Kingdomes and common wealth.

[Dated Mar: 3. 1643.]

It is important to bear in mind that the Scotch covenants were not local church covenants, and in that important respect they differ from the covenants of the early Anabaptists and Congregationalists. They were signed by the inhabitants of cities or districts, and later they were endorsed by the people of the nation; the Solemn League and Covenant was even adopted by Parliament. But these covenants have an impor

tant relation to the church life of Scotland. They involve the recognition of the sovereignty of the individual soul and his right to enter into covenant relations with his God. They were written and signed documents, and their extension in Scotland marks an advance in the evolution of the covenant, particularly as compared with the practice of the Anabaptists on the continent. It is on these covenants that the national Scottish Presbyterian Church is founded.

IV. EARLY ENGLISH COVENANTS

In his History of Plymouth Plantations, Governor Bradford mentions a certain Mr. Fytz as pastor of a Congregational Church in London before the days of Robert Browne. We are fortunate in being able to discover something about him, and even to be able to produce a short article from his pen. The article itself is very brief, but the story about it requires some space, and is well worth reading. For this little fragment from the pen of Richard Fytz may be the earliest covenant of an English Congregational church that has come down to us.

The history of covenants in Congregational Churches. practically begins with Robert Browne, but modern Congregationalism had its beginnings before his day. The first of the Puritans was Bishop John Hooper, who was born in Somersetshire about 1495, only three years after the discovery of America. In the persecution under Mary Tudor he died for his faith, being burned at the stake. Next in succession was Thomas Cartwright, who was born in Hertfordshire in 1535, to whom, as Doctor Dexter has well said, "must be assigned the chiefest place in bringing Puritanism in England to the dignity of a developed system." Under his leadership, by tongue and pen, it gained many adherents among both clergy and laity. By 1752 both Presbyterianism and Independency were fairly well defined as two varying aspects of this movement, and both grew until the Act of 1593 which made refusal to attend the established church, or any attempt at persuading others not to attend, an offense punishable with fine and imprisonment. From that time on those who would worship God otherwise than according to the will of Queen

Elizabeth had the choice of silence, exile, or secret and dangerous meeting. All three of these courses were pursued by some of those who had been Puritans.

On June 19, 1567, the Plumbers' Hall in London was hired, ostensibly for the celebration of a wedding. The police, inspecting the names of parties interested, may have been of opinion that weddings had become rather frequent in that group; at any rate they resolved to be among those present. Probably there was a wedding; we cannot suspect the good people of deliberate falsehood in the matter; but if so, the wedding was not the only affair of interest that night. The police made a raid and discovered, what they anticipated, that the tenants of Plumbers' Hall were not engaged in the laudable occupation of drinking themselves drunk at a marriage celebration, but were holding a religious meeting. About a hundred persons were present, of whom twenty-four men and seven women were arrested. The next day these appeared before the Lord Mayor of London and the Bishop Grindal of London, who was a Puritan at heart. The record of that hearing is preserved. The demeanor of Grindal and of the Lord Mayor was not unduly severe, but they failed to shake the accused in their conviction that the Church of England was wrong in the matter of vestments and other "idolatrous practices."

In the report of the trial of the Plumbers' Hall company there is no evidence of a church organization, but that does not prove that no such organization existed; the charge against them did not concern organization, but the separate meeting or conventicle. In this trial one of the accused said, "So long as we might have the Word freely preached, and the Sacraments administered, without preferring of idolatrous gear above it, we never assembled together in houses." But there was an organization. In June, 1568, Bishop Grindal wrote to Bullinger concerning his discovery of a secret church, meeting sometimes in houses, sometimes in open fields, some