off the finger and nose ends of sacred statues, nor in condemning as wicked the eating of mince pies, nor in having their hair cropped so that no man can get hold of it, like the ancient members of the Roundhead family; but in spiritual matters they have a distinct regard for the plain, unceremonious tenets of ancient Puritanism—­for the simplicity, definitiveness, and absolutism of Calvinism.  Some persons fond of spiritual christenings and mystic gossip have supposed that the Presbyterians who, during the past few years, have endeavoured to obtain a local habitation and a name in Preston, were connected with the Unitarians; others have classed them as a species of Independents; and many have come to the conclusion that their creed has much Scotch blood in it—­has some affinity to the U.P. style of theology, and has a moderate amount of the “Holy Fair” business to it.  The most ignorant are generally the most critically audacious; and men knowing no more about the peculiarities of creeds than of the capillary action of woolly horses are often the first to run the gauntlet of opinionism concerning them.  The fact of the matter is, the Preston Presbyterians are no more and no less, in doctrine, than Calvinists.  In discipline and doctrine they are on a par with the members of the Free Church of Scotland; but they are not connected with that church, and don’t want to be, unless they can get something worth looking at and taking home.

Historically, the Presbyterians worshipping in Preston don’t pretend to date as far back as some religious sects, but they do start ancestrally from the first epoch of British Presbyterianism.  Their spiritual forefathers had a stern beginning in this country; they were cradled in fierce tomes, said their prayers often amid the smoke of cannons and the tumult of armies; and maintained their vitality through one of the sternest and most revolutionary periods of modern history.  In the 17th century they were, for a few moments, paramount in England; in 1648 nearly all the parishes in the land were declared to be under their form of church government; but the tide of fortune eventually set in against them; at the Restoration Episcopacy superseded their faith; and since then they have had to fight up their way through a long, a circuitous, and an uneven track.  Their creed, as before intimated, is Calvinistic, and that is a sufficient definition of it.  They believe in a sort of universal suffrage, so far as the election of their pastors is concerned; and if they have grievances on hand they nurse them for a short time, then appeal to “the presbytery.” and in case they can’t get consolation from that body they go to “the synod.”  We could give the history of this sect, but in doing so we should have to quote many “figures” and numerous “facts”—­things which, according to one British statesman, can never be relied upon—­and on that account we shall avoid the dilemma into which we might be drifted.  It will be sufficient for our purpose to state that