time, the management of Church affairs in Scotland was under the able administration of Archbishop Spotswood, so that no outward rupture took places in opposition to the prevailing Prelacy.It is true, the hearts of the people were secretly opposed to it. The best of their Ministers were quietly fanning the spirit that had been instilled by the labours of Knox and Melville, so that any exciting cause was all that was neces sary to produce an explosion. This was soon furnished by the folly and intolerance of Charles, aided by the ambition and extravagance of Laud. Complete uniformity" in religion, was the object on which the king and his Archbishop had set their hearts, and all the ceremonies of the English Church were to be violently imposed on the Scotch. But this was more than the disciples of Kn Knox and Melville were prepared to bear. They rose up in determined hostility to the new measures, and though at be justified, yet did they soon dismeans of resistance to which

vent detection, even t the gentlemen lent their aid by crying out, that Baal was in the Church. For a time, the fury was directed against the dean. Some cried, He is one of a witch's breeding, and the devil's gette. Ill hanged thief! gif at that time thou wentest to Court thou had been weill hanged, as thou wert ill hanged, thou hadst not been to be a pest to God's Kirk this day!" The courage of the dean failed him, and he paused, when the bishop called on him to proceed with the collect of the day; whereupon Janet Geddes, an old woman who kept an herb stall near the Trone Church, cried, Deil colic the wame of ye!' and, having prefaced a while with delightful exclamations, suiting the action to her words, she threw at the head of the dean the moveable stool she had from this ticket of remembrance, which passed over his head. On this signal, stools, clasped Bibles, to the amount of whole packfuls, stones, sticks, cudgels, and whatever were within the people's reach, were hurled against the dean; thereafter, invading him more nearly, they strove to pull him from the pulpit; others ran out of the Kirk with pitiful lamen. tations.

"Lindsay, Bishop of Edinburgh, who meant to preach after the reading of the Service, now mounted the pulpit, which was placed immediately above the reading-desk filled by the dean. To appease the people, he told them, that the place they occupied was holy ground; he reminded them of their duty to their God and to their King; and he entreated them to desist from their fearful profanation: but the courage, dignity, and eloquence, even of the bishop, were inadequate to still the tumult. In his turn, the bishop was entertained with as much irreverence as the dean had been, and the epithets, crafty fox, false anti-Christian wolfe, beastly belly-god, were the best titles of dignity which were given him. It is also said, that if a stool, aimed to be thrown at him, had not, by the providence of God, been diverted by the hand of one present, the life of the reverend bishop, in that holy place, had been endangered, if not lost. The Archbishop of St. Andrews offered to appease the multitude, but the effort only turned the tide of hitter imprecation on himself. The chancellor, from his seat, then commanded the provost and magistrates of the city to descend from the gallery in which they sat, and, by their authority, to suppress the riot. These, aided by diverse others of the Council, with much ado, in a very great tumult of confusion, thrust out of the Church most part of the congregation, and made fast the doors with bars. But although the secular power thus hurled thir rascals to the Kirk door, yet they became more furious, as directed; they dang at the doors from without, and brake the very glass windows with stones. Still, however, the Service went on, in defiance of the rapping at the doors and breaking of the windows. till the old outery of A Pape! a Pape! pull him down!' from some of the Presbyterians still left

once more to forsake in the Church, compelled the rest of the bailies

places and clear the cathedral.

"Notwithstanding the praiseworthy activity of the magistrates, a good old Christian woman, who had been much desirous to remove, perceiv ing that she could get no passage patent, betook herself to her Bible, in a remote corner of the Church, She carefully stopt her ears against the voice of the Popish charmers from the pulpit; but when a young man, who happened to be seated behind her, began to sound forth Amen to the new composed comedy, (for God's worship it deserved not to be called,)

she quickly turned herself about, and warmed both his cheeks with the weight of her hands, increased by that of her Bible; and she thus shot forth against him the thunder-bolt of her zeal : False thief! is there nae ither pairt of the Kirk to sing mess in, but thou maun sing it in my lug?' The young man, being dashed with such ane hot, unexpected rencounter, gave place to silence, in sign of his recantation. I cannot omit, says the writer of the brief relation of the oroyle, a worthy reproof given, at the same time, by a truly-religious matron. When she perceived one of Ishmael's mocking daughters to deride her for her fervent expressions in behalf of her heavenly Master, with an elevated voice, she thus sharply rebuked her : "Woe be to those who laugh when Zion mourns !'

arose.

"At the dismissal of the congregation, a greater uproar than before The crowd formerly ejected had provided themselves with weapons of destruction. The dean, having already exposed himself to his full share of the outrage, did not feel inclined to trust himself a second time in the hands of the matrons, but skulked into the nearest shelter he could find. The first assault was made on a little clerical friend of the bishop. This voluntary, who had come officiously to say Amen, and who had been noticed as a special actor in the service, got his back, bones, and bellyful of buffeting distributions. His gown was rent, his service-book taken from him, and his body so pitifully beaten, that he cried often for mercy, and vowed never after to give his concurrence to such clogged devotions. They cast stones at him, and trees, and rungs, to the great peril of his life. The bishop thought to remove himself peaceably to his lodgings, but no sooner was he seen on the street, than the multitude rushed upon him like a hive of bees. When attacked with the railing and clodding, he advanced too far to retreat, but he tried to make his way to a friend's house near by. A female servant of that familie, taking notice of his coming, made the door cheeks and his mouth to be in ane catagorie. Whereupon his greatness was straitened with such danger, that he had never more need to have put the Pope's keys to his trial. Thus repulsed, he had nothing for it but again to take the crown of the causeway. A. Thompson, the common pastor of the Old Church, and D. Mitchell, merchant, were officious in backing the bishop; but, from his great corpulency, and the dense crowd through which he had to press himself, it was long before he could reach his lodgings; and, during the protracted endeavour, his ears were stunned with all the reproaches thir rascal women could invent. Besides many curses, and the old watchword, 'A Pape, a Pape,' they accused him of bringing superstition into the kingdom, and of making the people slaves. < A certain woman cried, Fye, if I could get the thrapple out of him.' Another answered, that although she obtained her desire, yet there might presently come a much worse in his room. With a knowledge of history beyond her station, the first replied, that after Cardinal Beaton was sticket, we had never another cardinal sinsyne; and that, if that false Judas were now cut off, his place would be thought so ominous, that scarce any man durst hazard to be his successor. In all probability, the bishop would have been trodden to death, had he not gained the lodgings. When he began to ascend the steps of the outside stair, leading up to the second story of the house, a tall mansion in the High Street, the rude rout were like to tumble him backwards. With great difficulty he got up the stair to the door of his own apartment; but here he was mortified to find the door not only shut, but locked

against him, so he had to turn round, and plead his apology with the rabble. In agony he exclaimed he had not the wyte of it. Disregarding his protestations of innocence, and entreaties for mercy, he was cruelly hustled again into the street. In the end, he was rescued by the servants of the Earl of Weems, who carried him, panting for breath, into his lordship's lodgings. I persuade myself,' says one of the narrators, 'that these speeches proceeded not from any inveterate malice which could be conceived against the bishop's person, but onlie from a zeal to God's glorie, wherewith the women's hearts were burnt up.'

"During the interval of the morning and evening's devotion, such of the council as were in town met, with eight or nine of the bishops, at the lodgings of the Lord Chancellor, and, along with the magistrates, took precautions for securing the peaceable reading of the Service Book in the afternoon. In the afternoon, the people resorted to the Kirk at the ordinary time, to hear sermon; but there were neither reader nor minister there. About three o'clock, or thereby, to give, as if by possession, life and being to the Liturgy, some of the bishops and ministers returned privately to the Church, accompanied by a strong guard. A sufficient guard was also placed at the door of St. Giles, who admitted into the Church only such as were known to be favourable to Episcopacy. The crowd having, in this way, been detained in the streets, were ready to renew the riot at the dismissal of the congregation, about five o'clock. The guard appointed to protect the bishop on his way home to Holyrood House, where he meant to go for safety, proved to be insufficient to control the mob; but when the forenoon's attacks were in the act of being renewed against the bishop's person, he escaped by getting into the Earl of Roxburghe's coach. An attempt to press on the carriage, and drag forth the bishop, was repelled by servants and guards with drawn swords, and the drivers cleared their way so speedily, that the people could not again overtake them. But as there happened to be a ready supply of stones near the Trone Church, which was then building, the carriage was pelted in showers thick as hail, and the Lord Privy Seal, bishop, and servants, nearly suffered the death of St. Stephen, the first martyr. The bishop's footman, and his mantled Lorse, received, for their lordly master's sake, many stonie rewards. It was satirically stated, that no collectors were needed to gather up the people's liberality, for, since the first reformation of religion, the prelates and Church canonists got never readier payment. The coachman received plenty of hard lapidary coyne for drink silver. The symptoms of terror, on the part of the bishop, which some of the Presbyterian historians of the day give in triumphant details, cannot be repeated, but the saying of a nobleman who merrily brake his silence when he saw the multitude running after the coach, may be mentioned, as indicating how far the whole affair was rather coarsely and cruelly ridiculous than vindictive,—I will writt up,' said he, (probably Rothes) to the King, and tell him that the Court here is changed, for my Lord Traquair used ever before to get the best backing, but now the Earl of Roxburgh and the Bishop of Edinburgh have by far the greatest number of followers." "

·

After the events of this day, Henderson was fairly committed to the Reform of his adopted Church, and nobly did he prose cute it while he lived. His labours are minutely and well related; but we can only glance at his most prominent measures,

the blessings of some of which are richly enjoyed by ourselves, at the present hour. The first that demands our notice, was the NATIONAL COVENANT, consisting of the Old Covenant, the Acts of Parliament in favour of their Confession against Popery, and a special application of these to present circumstan ces. By means of this Covenant, those who were in danger of disagreeing on other points, were united in a common object, and all were committed to its prosecution, This is justly described as "a masterly stroke of policy, decisive and effectual beyond precedent." It was signed by all parties with the utmost enthusiasm, as the following extract will sufficiently

attest:

“Long before the appointed hour, the venerable Church of the Greyfriars, and the large open space around it, were filled with Presbyterians from every quarter of Scotland. At two o'clock, Rothes, Loudon, Henderson, Dickson, and Johnston, arrived with a copy of the Covenant, ready for signature. Henderson constituted the meeting by prayer, verrie powerfullie and pertinentlie' to the purpose in hand. Loudon, then, in an impressive speech, stated the occasion of their meeting. After mentioning that the courtiers had done every thing in their power to effect a division among the Presbyterians, and, when thus weakened, to introduce innovation, and that they should, therefore, use every lawful mean for keeping themselves together in a common cause, he said, that, in a former period, when Papal darkness was enlightened only from the flaming faggot of the martyr's stake, the first Reformers swore, in Covenant, to maintain the most blessed Word of God, even unto the death. In a later period, when apprehensions were entertained of the restoration of Popery, King James, the nobles, and people throughout every parish, subscribed another Covenant, as a test of their religious principles. The Covenant now about to be read had a similar object in view, and had been agreed to by the Commissioners. In conclusion, be, in their name, solemnly took the Searcher of Hearts to witness, that they intended neither dishonour to God, nor disloyalty to the King. The Covenant was next read by Johnston, out of a fair parchment, about an elne squair.' When the reading was finished, there was a pause and silence still as death. Rothes broke it, by requesting that if any one of them had objections to offer, he would now be heard. They were told, that if these objectors were of the south and west country, they should repair to the west end of the Kirk, where Loudon and Dickson would reason with them; but if they belonged to the Lothians, or to the country north of the Forth, they were to go to the east end, where he and Henderson would give them every satisfaction. Feu comes, and these feu proposed but feu doubts, which were soon resolved. These preliminaries occupied till about four o'clock, when the venerable Earl of document. Opp andrew Murray, minister of Body, in Fife, was the second who subscribed. After it had gone ibed. Afte round of the whole Church, it was taken out to be signed by the crowd in the church-yard. Here it was spread before them, like another roll of the prophets, upon a flat gravestone, to be read and subscribed by as many as could get near it.) Many,

Sir