done either by pastor or teacher, in the deacons' seat, the most eminent place in the church, next under the elders' seat. The pastor most commonly makes a speech or exhortation to the church and parents concerning baptism, and then prayeth before and after. It is done by washing or sprinkling. One of the parents being of the church, the child may be baptized. No sureties are required.

" Which ended, follows the contribution, one of the deacons saying, Brethren of the congregation, now there is time left for contribution, wherefore as God hath prospered you, so freely offer. Upon some extraordinary occasions, as building and repairing of churches, or meeting-houses, or other necessities, the ministers press a liberal contribution, with effectual exhortations out of Scripture. The magistrates and chief gentlemen first, and then the elders, and all the congregation of men, and most of them that are not of the church, all single persons, widows, and women in absence of their husbands, come up, one after another, one way, and bring their offerings to the deacon at his seat, and put it into a box of wood for the purpose, if it be money or papers; if it be any other chattel, they set or lay it down before the deacons, and so pass another way to their seats again. This contribution is of money, or of papers promising so much money. I have seen a fair gilt cup with a cover offered there by one, which is still used at the communion. Which moneys and goods the deacons dispose towards the maintenance of the ministers, and the poor of the church, and the church's occasions, without making account ordinarily.

“ Also when a minister preacheth abroad, in another congregation, the ruling elder of the place, after the psalm sung, saying publicly, 'If this present brother hath any word of exhortation for the people at this time, in the name of God let him say on. This is held prophesying. Also

' when a brother exerciseth in his own congregation, taking a text of Scripture, and handling the same according to

6

his ability. Notwithstanding, it is generally held in the Bay by some of the most grave and learned men among them, that none should undertake to prophesy in public, unless he intend the work of the ministry."*

Here we close these chapters of attempted historical and illustrative notices of the developments of God's providence and grace. In recounting some of those particulars upon which we have dwelt, I have quoted from the historian Grahame. The reperusal of a part of the Poet Grahame's fine descriptive sketches of the Sabbath in Scotland brings to mind a class of Christians, with whom the stern experiences and noble qualities of our Pilgrim Fathers link them in many points of resemblance. And I know not how I can more fitly end this volume, than with Grahame's beautiful description of the character and Sabbath of the Scottish CoVENANTERS, hunted and persecuted, because they would be free to worship God.

On which the angel said, See where the Lord
Was laid, joyous arose ; to die that day
Was bliss. Long ere the dawn, by devious ways,
O'er hills, thro’ woods, o'er dreary wastes, they sought
The upland moors, where rivers, there but brooks,
Dispart to different seas. Fast by such brooks,
A little glen is sometimes scoop'd, a plat
With
green
sward
gay,

and flowers that strangers seem
Amid the heathery wild, that all around
Fatigues the eye: in solitudes like these
Thy persecuted children, Scotia, foil'd
A tyrant's and a bigot's bloody laws:
There, leaning on his spear (one of the array,
Whose gleam, in former days, had scathed the rose
On England's banner, and had powerless struck
The infatuate monarch and his wavering host),
The lyart veteran heard the word of God
By Cameron thunder'd, or by Renwick pour'd
In gentle stream: then rose the song, the loud
Acclaim of praise: the wheeling plover ceased
Her plaint: the solitary place was glad,
And on the distant cairns, the watcher's ear*
Caught doubtfully at times the breeze-borne note.
But years more gloomy follow'd ; and no more
The assembled people dared, in face of day,
To worship God, or even at the dead
Of night, save when the wintry storm raved fierce,
And thunder peals compell’d the men of blood
To couch within their dens; then dauntlessly
The scatter'd few would meet, in some deep dell
By rocks o'er-canopied, to hear the voice,
Their faithful pastor's voice : He, by the gleam
Of sheeted lightning, oped the sacred book,
And words of comfort spake: Over their souls
His accents soothing came,-as to her young
The heathfowl's plumes, when, at the close of eve,
She gathers in, mournful, her brood dispersed
By murderous sport, and o'er the remnant spreads
Fondly her wings; close nestling 'neath her breast,

They, cherish'd, cower amid the purple blooms.
* Sentinels were placed on the surrounding hills, to give warning of the
approach of the military.

Men are

There is now a Free Church in Scotland, as there is in New England, because the ancestral piety of both countries was that of a free, voluntary covenant with God.

The Old World are even yet but beginning to learn the nature, the truth, and the power, of a voluntary piety, a voluntary covenant, and voluntary churches. beginning to see that a state can be religious only in proportion as the individuals who compose it are true voluntary Christians, and the acts and laws that emanate from it and manifest its character are in correspondence with the Gospel ; that the grace of God alone, and not an Ecclesiastical or State-Sacrament, can make Christians; that the grace of God is free, and makes men freemen; that the Church does not include the State, except as God, by his grace, brings the subjects of the State into Christ's fold ; and that the State does not include the Church in its spiritual existence and privileges, as contained in its charter in God's word, and has no authority over it, and no responsibility in regard to it, except to protect the Christian and civil liberties of all its members, as of all citizens, from all annoyance and all injury. When these principles are thoroughly learned, and prevalent, then, and not till then, will the fever of intolerance and the fire of persecution die out of existence. When Christ reigns, then, and not till then, will the world rest.