Buildings, afterwards Lord Clarendon's house is mad the residence of the
Scottish Commissioners; but Mr. Laing points out that it was Worcester
House or Worcester Place in the City, which had been the mansion of John
Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester.] and they had a special bench of honour in
the Assembly. And from that bench, day after day, week after week, month
after month, they laboured to direct the Assembly, and, to a great
extent, did direct it. For, as the mainly Presbyterian character and
composition of the Assembly at its first meeting had been the result of
the influence of Scottish example and of continued Scottish action in
England for a year or two, so it was to Henderson's Covenant, and to the
presence of the Scottish Commissioners in London, that the Assembly,
while yet in its infancy, was indebted (if it was a debt) for a new
impulse or twist in the strict Presbyterian direction. English
Presbyterianism might be willing, but it was vague and uninformed;
whereas here, in the Scottish Commissioners, were men who knew all about
Presbyterianism, had every detail of it at their fingers' ends, had
studied it nearly all their lives, and had worked it practically for five
years. What a boon to England to be able to borrow for a year or two such
a group of Scottish instructors! It was as if a crowd of Volunteers,
right-minded and willing to learn, had secured a few highly-recommended
regulars to be their drill-sergeants.


DEBATES IN THE ASSEMBLY: PRESBYTERIANISM AND INDEPENDENCY: THE
_APOLOGETIC NARRATION_ OF THE INDEPENDENTS.

It was not till October 12, 1643, that the real debating in the Assembly
began. Till then they had been occupied with matters in which they could
be pretty nearly of one mind, including their revision of the Thirty-nine
Articles. In that business, where we left them at the Tenth Article