which they were able to dwell with great force. They showed the cruel oppression endured by holy men, at the hands of prelates, who sought to revive in this country the ceremonies renounced, and the doctrines condemned at the Reformation; and they insisted upon the obvious fact that the Church was then in danger of becoming thoroughly Romanized, under the pernicious culture of superstitious teachers. The Revolution accomplished by the Long Parliament, the Presbyterians were prepared to defend as a political and ecclesiastical necessity, arising out of previous corruptions; whilst they pointed, with satisfaction and thankfulness, to the progress of spiritual religion under the Commonwealth, in spite of sectarianism, and the other evils of the times,--all of which they condemned, and deplored quite as much as any of the Episcopalian clergy could do. Ecclesiastical discipline in the parishes of England--for attempting which they had been so much blamed--the Presbyterians could show, rested on a principle conceded by Prelatists; and though it failed to produce all the fruits which its administrators could wish, yet it had turned many a town and village from a wilderness into a garden of the Lord. And when they contended against the Prelacy of former days, and protested against its restoration they distinctly stated, as we have seen, that they had no objection to a modified Episcopacy, to the rule of a Bishop, with his co-Presbyters, over dioceses of such dimensions as would admit of careful oversight and efficient rule; nor did they condemn all liturgies--not even the Book of Common Prayer, if certain things in the formularies and the rubric, which they and their Puritan fathers had complained of as superstitious, were now altered. The Presbyterian party, moreover, professed the most affectionate loyalty to the Crown, and the warmest attachment to the English Constitution; and in support of that profession could point to valuable services rendered by them at the Restoration. Lastly, they were in possession of incumbencies, to which they had been introduced according to the law of the land, some of them before the late troubles began. They had been educated at the Universities, had been many of them episcopally ordained, had led quiet lives in their respective parishes, had preached the Gospel for many long years, and had gathered round them large and affectionate congregations. Hence they urged, that for them now to suffer expulsion, to be turned adrift on the wide world without subsistence, to be silenced, and to have an end put to their spiritual influence, would be, in the sight of the world, of the Church, and of God, a burning shame. [Sidenote: 1660.] [Sidenote: THE CONTROVERSY.]