“The late Bishop of London, now Archbishop of Canterbury, and the present Bishop of London, through whom I made many applications, did all that was in their power to forward the object; and if their advice had been promptly followed by the College, we would have had the Books in our possession ten years ago. Indeed, the conduct of these Prelates reflected on them the highest honour.” * * * * * In concluding his Report to the Assembly in May 1820, in reference to these ancient Registers of the Church, Dr Lee thus remarks-- “They exhibit the real character of the internal government of this national church. They display the operation of the principles by which the first Reformers and their immediate successors were actuated. They demonstrate that these men were not more distinguished by zeal for truth, than by loyalty to the head of the government, attachment to true principles, (I do not say of toleration--for that was a term which they certainly did not employ or approve)--of religious liberty and civil subordination. They bear testimony to the strictness and impartiality of ancient discipline. They vindicate the character of those illustrious men whose names have been unjustly aspersed, but who, both by their doctrines and their lives,--by their unwearied exertions and their patient sufferings,--left an example, not indeed of faultless excellence, but assuredly of the most noble, magnanimous, and fearless adherence to the standards of our constitution. “These Registers also contain much that is capable of correcting erroneous representations of historical facts with regard to the internal state of the kingdom--the institutions, habits, and customs, as well as the morals of the people, and the spirit which was most prevalent at particular periods in various districts of the land. They prove, beyond all controversy, that our Reformers, instead of having been at first actuated by an unrestrained spirit of innovation, were rather, in some respects, disposed to retain too much than to reject too much of the practices of the church from which they had separated, and that this very circumstance prevented them from ever attaining that independence at which they aimed. At the same time, they prove, that from the very first moment, it was the determined object of the leaders of the Reformation, to establish such a Presbyterian Government, as was at last, with the utmost difficulty, completed;--and that even when the name of bishop was introduced, the persons holding that title sat in the General and Provincial Assemblies in no higher rank than the humblest presbyter, and in the Kirk-Sessions were named after the parochial minister, under the designation of elder.