What, then, were they to do? In the first place, as they believed Noah to
be within _their_ ark, they were to trust to his power, and the
veneration that would be accorded to him, when he should re-emerge. In
other words, they were to press on the Presbyterian theory in the
Assembly, allowing "the Five Dissenting Brethren," as they were now
called, the most prolix liberty of speech and reasoning, but always
beating them in the final vote so as to secure a thoroughly Presbyterian
report to Parliament at the last. But, in the second place, as the
Independents had appealed to public opinion against such a contingency,
it was necessary not only to carry Presbyterianism within the Assembly,
but also to argue for it out of doors. Hence, through the year 1644,
among the shoals of pamphlets that came from the London press (including
Fast-day Sermons, Sermons before the Lords and Commons, &c., by the most
eminent members of Assembly) there were not a few pleas for Presbytery,
intended to counteract the effects of the _Apologetical Narration_
and other pleas for Congregationalism. Rutherford's _Temperate Plea for
Paul's Presbytery in Scotland, or Modest Dispute touching Independency of
particular Congregations_, and the same author's _Peaceable Plea for the
Government of the Church of Scotland_, had preceded the _Apologetical
Narration_; but the express answers to the _Narration_ were numerous. One
of the most celebrated of these was a pamphlet entitled _Some
Observations and Annotations upon the Apologetical Narration,_ addressed
to the Parliament and the Assembly by a writer who signs himself merely
"A. S.," but is known to have been a certain Dr. Adam Steuart, a Scot
residing in London, but who soon afterwards received a call to Leyden. To
this pamphlet there were replies on the part of the Independents,
especially one entitled _M. S. to A. S._ (a title changed in a second
edition into "_A Reply of Two of the Brethren to A.S._"); again "A.S."
responded; and so the controversy went on, pamphlets thickening on
pamphlets. [Footnote: Lowndes's Bibl. Manual, by Bohn, Article "Steuart,