“But I think it of some consequence to vindicate the claims of the Assembly 1638 to the character of a learned Assembly. Well, then, what is the fact? It is ascertained that in that Assembly there were 140 Ministers; 2 Professors, not being ministers; and 98 Ruling Elders from Presbyteries and Burghs. Of these Ruling Elders, 17 were Noblemen of high rank; 9 were Knights; 25 were landed Proprietors, or lesser Barons, of such station as entitled them to sit in Parliament; and 47 were Burgesses, generally holding the principal offices of authority in their respective towns—men who were capable of representing their communities in the Parliament. There was not a peasant, as has been insinuated, or even a farmer or yeoman, in the number. About the least considerable persons present were, Mr Alex. Hume, bailie of Lawder, and Mr Patrick Hume, burgess of North Berwick. Both of these, as well as many others of the members from the burghs, were masters of arts, having had a complete university education, and having obtained their degrees after regular examination. From what I know of the personal history of many of these men, and from documents which I have seen and now possess, I could undertake to prove that not one was illiterate. About twenty years ago, I acquired most of the original commissions of the members of the Assembly 1638. These documents are subscribed generally by the whole constituents of the Commissioners—namely, by Ministers, by Elders, by Magistrates, and Councillors. The signatures are, for the most part, in a superior style of penmanship; and it is not credible that such men would elect persons to represent them who were less educated than themselves. Moreover, the signatures of the Elders who sate in the Assembly might have been known by Bishop Burnet to be appended to the National Covenant—that great bond by which the people of this land engaged to maintain the true principles of the Reformation, as founded in the Word of God. Many of these documents, studded with innumerable subscriptions, are still extant.