No one offered to resist: a protestation
was hastily entered on the minutes; and the whole body was marched between
two files of soldiers through the streets, to the surprise, and grief,
and horror of the inhabitants. At the distance of a mile from the city,
Cotterel discharged them with an admonition, that, if any of them were
found in the capital after eight o'clock on the following morning, or
should subsequently presume to meet in greater numbers than three persons
at one time, they would be punished with imprisonment, as disturbers of the
public peace. "Thus," exclaims Baillie, "our general assembly, the glory
and strength of our church upon earth, is by your soldiery crushed and
trode under foot. For this our hearts are sad, and our eyes run down with
water."[1]
[Footnote 1: Baillie, ii. 370.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1654. July 20.]
Yet after this they were permitted to meet in synods and presbyteries, an
indulgence which they owed not to the moderation of their adversaries, but
to the policy of Vane, who argued that it was better to furnish them with
the opportunity of quarrelling among themselves, than, by establishing a
compulsory tranquillity, allow them to combine against the commonwealth.
For the ministers were still divided into resolutioners and protestors, and
the virulence of this religious feud appeared to augment in proportion as
the parties were deprived of real power.
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