it was regarded with much partiality by Knox, did not long continue. It had little hold of the minds of the people; and the poverty of the clergy under it rendered them eager that it might be so modified as that their temporal condition should be improved. When, therefore, in 1572, the Earl of Mar, who was then Regent, was eager, perhaps more from political than religious considerations, to restore the order of bishops, little resistance was made to his wishes; and, with the acquiescence even of Knox, an Episcopalian polity supplanted the Superintendent scheme, or rather was combined with it *.

But it soon appeared that the prejudices which had been early formed against the hierarchy, had not subsided; and the celebrated Andrew Melville, on his arrival in Scotland, from Geneva, in 1574, taking advantage of these prejudices, and of every political event that might facilitate his design, was enabled to effect, in 1592, the introduction of that Presbyterian polity which he found established in Geneva, and which has finally been fixed in Scotland +.

To James the Sixth, although he was occasionally forced to dissemble bis real sentiments, this form of church government was most obnoxious. The boldness with which the ministers defended what they believed to be right, ill corresponded with the deference which he considered to be due to royalty; and having been often thwarted by them in what they deemed the unconstitutional exercise of his prerogative, he was desirous that Episcopacy, as more consonant to Monarchy, should be restored. To effect this he made many efforts, even before his accession to the English throne; and after that event he was enabled to accomplish his object; at the same time gratifying the feelings or the prejudices of his Scottish subjects, by putting restraints upon the bishops, without which he dreaded that he would fail in establishing their authority. His unfortunate son, Charles 1., who was attached to Episcopacy from sincere religious conviction, as well as from views of political expediency, formed the scheme of assimilating in all respects the churches in England and Scotland. With this view, he determined to introduce a liturgy, which in Scotland had never been regularly used; and he insisted upon the reception of a set of canons abolishing

* Dr. Cook's "History of the Church of Scotland," vol. i. p. 174, &c. Bannatine's "Journal," p. 321, &c.

Cooke's History, vol. i. ch. 4-7. Act of Parliement 1592; and Dr. M'Cries "Life of Andrew Melville."

Cooke's History, vol. ii.; M'Crie's "Life of Andrew Melville."

the controul over ecclesiastical measures which the inferior church judicatories had been permitted to exercise. The violence with which all this was resisted is known to every reader of the history of Britain. The zeal of the multitude was inflamed to fury: the clergy were insulted, and Episcopacy was again contemplated as the engine of Popery and of despotism. The dissensions which soon arose in England cherished this state of mind: the discontented in Scotland made a common cause with the disaffected in the southern part of the island: they bound themselves, by the strange deed which they entitled "The Solemn League and Covenant," to exterminate prelacy as a corruption of the Gospel; and they took an active part in those commotions which terminated in the death of Charles, and the erection of the Commonwealth +. Some feeble efforts indeed were made to preserve to Charles II. a shackled sceptre; but he was soon compelled to leave Britain; and under Cromwell the violent Presbyterians, who were denominated Protesters, enjoyed the free exercise of the form of worship and of the power which they had acquired t. Upon the restoration of Charles, to which, it must be admitted, that many attached to Presbytery zealously contributed, although at his coronation at Scone he had solemnly sworn to defend that mode of ecclesiastical government, and had, in the prospect of being restored, renewed his protestations that he would do so, he established Episcopacy in Scotland, under circumstances little calculated to conciliate the affections and to secure the reverence of the people to that ancient and admirable form of church polity. The desertion of Dr. Sharp from the Presbyterians was rewarded by his exaltation to the primacy; and powers were vested in the bishops, much more ample than they had possessed at any time before. The discontent that now prevailed among the Presbyterians was openly displayed, and the attempts to restrain it were conducted with a severity more calculated to divide than to heal. The Presbyterians, undismayed, adhered to their principles; and, upon the abdication of James II. they looked forward with confidence to the triumph of their cause. And, though the Prince of Orange was eager to preserve in both parts of the island the same form of ecclesiastical government, the bishops conceived that

Wodrow's MSS. vol. iii. fol. under life of Spottiswoode, p. 115; Dr. Cook's History of the Church of Scotland, vol. ii. ch. 13.

+ Bailie's "Letters and Journals," vol. i. p. 48, and 15!; Dr. Cook's History of the Church of Scotland, vol. ii. ch. 15, 16.

Dr. Cook's History of the Church of Scotland, vol. iii. ch. 21.

they could not conscientiously transfer their allegiance to him, whereby the way was opened for that establishment of Presbytery which some of his most zealous adherents had pressed upon him, and which was ratified by Act of Parliament in 1690*. Thus, Scotland and England having been separate kingdoms at the time of the Reformation, a difference of circumstances in the two countries led to different sentiments on the subject of religion, and at last to different religious establishments: and when they were incorporated into one kingdom by the Treaty of Union in 1707, the same regard to the inclinations of the commonalty of Scotland +, to which Presbytery owed its first establishment in that country, produced a declaration, to which both kingdoms gave their assent, that" Episcopacy shall continue in England, and that the Presbyterian church government shall be the only government of Christ's church in that part of Great Britain called Scotland.

It is also guaranteed by the fifth Article of the Union with Ireland, not only" that the Churches of England and Ireland, as now established, be united into one Protestant Episcopal church, to be called The United Church of England and Ireland;" but also that "in like manner, the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government of the Church of Scotland shall remain and be preserved, as the same are now established by law and by the acts for the Union of the two kingdoms of England and Scotland §."

DISTINGUISHING TENETS.

Amidst these rapid revolutions in the government of the Scottish Church, the established formulary of faith seems to have remained unchanged; and the only Confession which ap

Bishop Keith's Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops," p. 141, &c.; M'Cormick's "Life of Principal Carstairs," p. 43; and Dr. Cook's "History of the Church of Scotland," vol. iii. ch. 21, &c. in fin.

+ According to the Presbyterians themselves-" at no one period was Episcopacy established in this country but by the strong hand of power, and by the most violent and unchristian measures;" and they insist, that a great majority of the nobility and gentry, as well as of the commonalty, favoured Presbytery at the Revolution. On the other hand, see above, vol. i. p. 425; and Kerr's "Memoirs," part i. p. 16.

See the Appendix to Dr. Hill's "Theol. Institutes," or the Act ratifying the Confession of Faith and settling Presbyterian Church Government in Scotland, being the fifth Act in the second session of the first Parliament of William and Mary, 1690, c. 5. See also the sixth Act in the fourth session of the first Parliament of Queen Anne, 1707, ch. 6, entitled "An Act for securing the Protestant Religion and Presbyterian Church Government." Such likewise is the style of the Coronation Oath, as fixed in this Act of Security, 16th January, 1707.

§ Stat. 40. George III. ch. 67.

pears to have been legally established before the Revolution in 1688, is that which is published in the "History of the Re formation in Scotland," attributed to John Knox. It was compiled in 1560 by that reformer himself, aided by several of his friends, when it was approved by Parliament, and again ratified in 1567. It consists of twenty-five articles, and was the confession as well of the Episcopal as of the Presbyterian church. The Covenanters indeed, during the grand Rebellion, adopted the Westminster Confession; in the compilation of which some delegates from their General Assembly bad assisted +. And at the Revolution, this Confession was received as the standard of the national faith; and the same Acts of Parliament which settled Presbyterian church government in Scotland, ordain, "That no person be admitted or continued hereafter to be a minister or preacher within this church, unless that he subscribe the (i. e. this) Confession of Faith, declaring the same to be the confession of his faith." By the Act of Union in 1707, the same is required of all "professors, principals, regents, masters, and others bearing office" in any of the four universities in Scotland §.

The Westminster Confession of Faith, then, and what are called The Larger and Shorter Catechisms, which are generally bound up with it, contain the public and avowed doctrines of this church; and it is well known that these formularies are Calvinistical, if not Supralapsarian.

"The character of these formularies is, in general, too exclusive, severe, and systematic for certain deliberative minds. Called to the reception of them, they are staggered by

* See above, vol. i. p. 430.

The Assembly of Divines at Westminster met on the 1st of July 1643; and, agreeably to engagements between the Convention of Estates in Scotland, and both Houses of Parliament in England, and upon invitation from the Assembly at Westminster, commissioners were sent from the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland to co-operate with them, "in all such things as might conduce to the better extirpation of Popery, Prelacy, Heresy, Schism, Superstition, and Idolatry, and in uniting this whole island in one form of church government, one confession of faith, one catechism, and one directory for the worship of God." The Westminster Confession of Faith was approved and adopted by the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland, on 27th August, 1647, sess. 23, and was ratified by Act of Parlia ment, 7th February, 1649.

They even declare, in the true spirit of the Council of Trent, that they will" ever adhere to it," i. e. says Dr. Price (Sermons, p. 52), that they will never grow wiser!

The Scottish Universities, which are open to members of all communions, are those of Glasgow, St. Andrews, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh. Some of the professors are now professedly Episcopalians-Query, Do they subscribe the Westminster Confession?

the extent of the requisition. For a time, perhaps, they hesitate to obey the voice of conscience, and to desert the national standard. But, the resolution once taken, and the reputation for orthodoxy and conformity sacrificed, they give loose to their fancy or ingenuity, and at length fashion to themselves a system perfectly at variance with truth and reason. It appears to us, that Scotland, in this respect, furnishes an important lesson to the more dogmatic and exclusive theologians of this country," &c. *

It has indeed been often insinuated, or asserted, that many of the ministers, as well as lay members, of the Establishment, have departed widely from that Confession, holding the Arian or Socinian views of our Lord's person, and the Arminian opinions as to predestination and grace. Such a charge, however, should be received with much caution, and is perhaps entitled to little or no attention. That among so numerous a body of men there may be some diversity of sentiment, as to the mysterious doctrines of Christianity, or the mode of explaining them, is not improbable; but, I believe, no party in the Church avows enmity to the Westminster Confession; and there can be no doubt that the great majority of the clergy are attached to the doctrines which it inculcates. There is a wide difference in the way of preaching these doctrines; but this is not confined to any one party. Amongst those who are denominated the Popular clergy, there are many practical preachers; whilst those who are styled Moderate, not unfrequently inculcate the highest tenets of Calvinism.

In the sermons of Dr. Blair, and of his colleague, Mr. Robert Walker, or in a selection of sermons in four volumes, delivered on particular occasions, and entitled The Scotch Preacher, will be found a pleasing specimen of the pulpit compositions of the Scottish clergy, and of the doctrines which are now taught in the Established Kirk.

WORSHIP, RITES AND CEREMONIES.

In this church the public worship is extremely simple, and but few ceremonies are retained. John Knox, like his master Calvin, seems to have been less an enemy to liturgies and established forms, than their more modern followers; for, though he laid aside the Book of Common Prayer about the

Christian Observer for 1815, p. 685-6, where the "peculiar character of the creed, and of some of the formularies of the Established Kirk," is placed among the first of the sources of that spurious philosophy which has, to a considerable extent, usurped the place of orthodox belief in Scotland, since the days of Hume,