Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/707

SCOTLAND.] PRESBYTERIANISM 683 prelatic rule conventicles had arisen, which after the re storation of Presbyterianism caused great searchings of heart. Whatever he had to say about popery, prelacy, or arbitrary power, the true Presbyterian reserved his fiercest hatred and his most ferocious language for anything which savoured of Congregationalism. At the instance of Henry Guthrie, who under Charles II. became a bishop, the general assembly of 1640 limited family worship to the members of each family, and forbade any one to preach who was not duly ordained and approved. This was but the beginning of dissension. Passing over the events of the next six years, as coming more conveniently under the head of England, we notice that the moment external danger was removed the natural and abiding antipathy between a licentious and entirely selfish aristocracy and a masterful, censorious, and demo cratic church broke out. Two parties showed themselves, that of the ministers, who insisted that no arrangement should be come to with Charles unless he would take the Covenant (compare the French " consistoriaux "), the other, headed by Hamilton, Lanark, Lauderdale, and others, who " engaged " to raise an army for him on condition, ostensibly, that he would confirm Presbyterian church government for three years. The real conditions, as long believed but only just discovered, 1 contain not a word about the church, but .are entirely concerned with the privileges of the Scottish nobility. A vehement disruption of the church at once took place and did not cease until the defeat of Hamilton. Then the ministers were once more masters. Parliament repealed the Act of Engagement and passed the Act of Classes, whereby all those to whom the church deemed it inexpedient to give political power Avere regis tered in four classes according to their faults. It was by this parliament that lay patronage was abolished, and that the rights of the congregation as to election of ministers were settled for the time. After the battle of Dunbar, when troops were being hastily raised, the Act of Classes stood much in the way. In spite of the remonstrances of Patrick Gillespie and the western Covenanters, the com mission of the assembly (which sat en permanence during the recess of the assembly itself) resolved to allow all persons to serve who were not professed enemies to the Covenant or excommunicated. The parliament went further and rescinded the Act of Classes altogether. Against this union of the church with the "malignants" Gillespie s faction protested, and henceforward the rivalry and bitter ness between Kesolutioners and Protesters, the latter being favoured by Cromwell, deprived the church of much of its power of resistance. Both parties, absorbed in their quarrel, looked on while Monk, after the battle of Worcester (1651), took the matter into his own hands by refusing to allow any general assembly whatever to meet, though he per mitted the continuance of the other assemblies. Rtora- Within two years of the Restoration the Presbyterian jjr Church ceased to exist. Weariness, internal dissension, ^ co ~ the indifference or positive hatred of the nobles, and the extremity of treachery in James Sharp 2 brought about the downfall. The steps by which Episcopacy was restored were these. The leaders of the strict Covenanting party were imprisoned, while a quibbling proclamation was issued by Charles which served to keep the Resolutioners in play. Proclamations were issued against all unlawful meetings, and papers such as Rutherford s Lex Rex and Guthrie s Causes of God s Wrath were called in. In January 1661 a bribed and packed parliament passed an oath of allegiance in which the king was acknowledged as supreme over all persons and in all causes. With scarcely an exception, 1 See Lauderdale Papers, vol. i. p. 3 (Camden Society). 2 For proof of his active participation in the re-establishment of Episcopacy, see Lauderdale Papers, vol. ii., App. III. Cassilis being the only one of note, the nobility took the oath. Next the acceptance of the Solemn League and Covenant was declared null and void, and its renewal was prohibited. And, by way of clearing the field entirely, a Rescissory Act was passed annulling all the parliaments since 1633 and thereby suspending the Presbyterian system. The parliament then declared that the church government was to be such as was most agreeable to the word of God, to monarchical government, and to public peace ; re monstrances were disregarded and synods suppressed or corrupted. Argyll and James Guthrie were judicially murdered. Finally, on 14th August 1661, Episcopacy was restored by proclamation ; Sharp, Fairfoul, Hamilton, and Leighton were consecrated in London ; and on 2d January 1662 all Presbyterian assemblies of every sort, unless autho rized by the prelates, were forbidden. On 8th May the proclamation was enforced by Act of parliament. All reli gious covenants and leagues, protestations and petitions, were made treasonable, nor might any one be professor, minister, schoolmaster, or private tutor without a bishop s licence. On 5th September 1662 the abjuration of the National Covenant and all other religious covenants was made a condition for public trust. Finally, the Act of Indemnity, which had been delayed as long as possible, contained a schedule of persons of the Presbyterian interest who were punished with heavy fines. Dangerous ministers were banished from Edinburgh and all were ordered to attend the bishops courts when summoned, while by the Glasgow Act ministers who had taken charges since 1649 were ousted from home, parish, and presbytery unless be fore 1st November they obtained presentation from the patron and collation from the bishop. This led to the ejectment of 400 ministers. Ejectment led, of course, as in England, to conventicling, and on 17th June and 13th August 1663 severe Acts were passed against these meet ings. Presbyterian ministers from Ireland were forbidden to reside in Scotland, and absentees from public worship were vigorously proceeded against. The system of perse cution was now complete, and the triumph was signalized by the execution of Johnston of Warriston, who had been kidnapped in France and who was now put to death with flippant cruelty. In 1664, at the suggestion of the arch bishops Sharp and Burnet, a court of high commission was erected with unlimited powers. Revolt soon followed ; it was crushed at Pentland and ruthlessly punished. But the nobles speedily became jealous of the growing power of the prelates. Lauderdale in especial saw his influence threatened. He reported to Charles that Prelacy was becoming as great a danger to the crown as Presbyterianism had been, " so unwilling are churchmen, by whatever name they are distinguished, to part with power." Sharp was easily threatened and cajoled, and Burnet, after a struggle of three years, was forced to resign. It was not, however, until after the fall of Clarendon in 1667 that indulgence was seriously tried there as in England. In July 1669 ten ministers, of whom Hutcheson was the chief, who were willing to admit the ecclesiastical supremacy of the king and to accept the bishops collation, were allowed to return to their livings, and were henceforth known as the " bishops curates " This subservience caused a renewal of the breach in the ;hurch; from henceforward the feud between the " Indulged " and the " non-Indulged " took the place of that between Resolutioners and Protesters. Forty-two ministers accepted the indulgence. A second indulgence followed in 1672. From Lauderdale s marriage with Lady Dysart until 1687 there ensued a policy of extermination, borne with marvellous fortitude. To Covenanters had succeeded Protesters, to Protesters Conventiclers, to Con-

venticlers now succeeded Hamiltonians, to Hamiltonians