he division of
the spoil; and their religious as well as civil disputes agitated the
whole kingdom.

The parliament, though they had early abolished Episcopal authority, had
not, during so long a time, substituted any other spiritual government
in its place; and their committees of religion had hitherto assumed
the whole ecclesiastical jurisdiction; but they now established, by an
ordinance, the Presbyterian model in all its forms of congregational,
classical, provincial, and national assemblies. All the inhabitants of
each parish were ordered to meet and choose elders, on whom together
with the minister, was bestowed the entire direction of all spiritual
concerns within the congregation. A number of neighboring parishes,
commonly between twelve and twenty, formed a classis; and the court
which governed this division was composed of all the ministers, together
with two, three, or four elders chosen from each parish. The provincial
assembly retained an inspection over several neighboring classes,
and was composed entirely of clergymen: the national assembly was
constituted in the same manner; and its authority extended over the
whole kingdom. It is probable, that the tyranny exercised by the
Scottish clergy, had given warning not to allow laymen a place in
the provincial or national assemblies; lest the nobility and more
considerable gentry, soliciting a seat in these great ecclesiastical
courts, should bestow a consideration upon them, and render them, in
the eyes of the multitude, a rival to the parliament. In the inferior
courts, the mixture of the laity might serve rather to temper the usual
zeal of the clergy.[*]

But though the Presbyterians, by the establishment of parity among the
ecclesiastics, were so far gratified, they were denied satisfaction in
several other points on which they were extremely intent. The assembly
of divines had voted Presbytery to be of divine right: the parliament
refused their assent to that decision.[**] Selden, Whitlocke, and other
political reasoners, assisted by the Independents, had prevailed in this
important deliberation. They thought, that had the bigoted religionists
been able to get their heavenly charter recognized, the presbyters would
soon become more dangerous to the magistrate than had ever been the
prelatical clergy. These latter, white they claimed to themselves a
divine right, admitted of a like origin to civil authority: the former,
challenging to their own order a c