love with the ministers who were in possession of the Churches; adding that she would do what she could to relieve their necessities.

Encouraged by these expressions of kindness, as well as by a proclamation of general indemnity which she ordered to be published, many of the Laity, who were known to be staunch ante-revolutionists, took the oath of allegiance to Queen Anne, and obtained seats in Parliament; while numbers of the Clergy who had hitherto stood out, prayed for her Majesty by name, and now began to collect congregations, and to have public worship in separate chapels. This step was ventured on even by those who did not pray for her as Queen, among whom were all the Bishops; and that she was not offended by their conduct is evident from her having bestowed on Dr. Rose, the deprived Bishop of Edinburgh, a pension, which he retained till two years after her death.

No legal toleration, however, could yet be proposed with the smallest chance of success; and the Episcopalians, aware of the jealousies directed against them, enjoyed with thankfulness the mere connivance which the royal countenance had secured to them. It was about this period, too, that the use of the English Book of Common Prayer began to be very general in Scotland, great numbers of which were by some pious and benevolent individuals sent gratis into that country. But the light which had thus risen on the dark estate of the Episcopal communion, was soon after interrupted by a passing cloud. It appears that one of the many obstacles which were created to the union of the two kingdoms, arose from the suspicion entertained by the dominant party in Scotland, that such a measure would endanger the establishment of the Presbyterian Church. To remove those apprehensions, however groundless, an order was sent down most unexpectedly from Court, at once to shut up all the Episcopal chapels; a step which was pursued without reserve or qualification, in all parts of the country.

The union, as it gave a renewed sanction to the establishment of the Kirk, gave birth to more liberal feelings on the part of her members. We draw this inference from the fact that the Queen's government was able, in the year 1712, to procure the enactment of a statute to "Prevent the disturbing of those of the Episcopal communion in that part of Great Britain called Scotland, in the exercise of their religious worship, and in the use of the Liturgy of the Church of England; and for repealing an Act passed in the Parliament of Scotland, entitled an Act against irregular baptisms and marriages;" declaring it to be lawful for all of the Episcopal communion to assemble for divine worship in any place, except in parish Churches, to be performed after their own manner, by Pastors ordained by a Protestant Bishop.

This is the famous Act of toleration of the 10th of Queen Anne; the first instance of favour which the Government could be induced to bestow, or the prevailing party would allow to be conferred, upon the persecuted Episcopalians. It was, indeed, a valuable boon; for though it subjected the Clergy, who should not take the oaths required by law, and likewise pray for the Queen by name, to severe penalties, yet it

prevented them and their congregations from being disturbed during the performance of divine service, imposing a fine of a hundred pounds sterling on all who should raise such disturbances, and repeating the penalty for every offence, and thus gave them a respite from their protracted sufferings.

But the prosperity of this unfortunate Church was never of long continuance. On the death of Queen Anne, on the 1st of August 1714, her ministers were all turned out in disgrace; and a proclamation was immediately issued by the Whigs, for putting the laws in execution against all Papists, Non-jurors, and disaffected persons. These violent measures strengthened against George the First the prejudices with which his accession was announced in many parts of the kingdom, and particularly in the northern division of the island. Insurrections forthwith took place in behalf of the exiled prince, not only in Scotland, but in a very populous district of England; the suppression of which led, as is usual on such occasions, to attainders, confiscations, and exécutions. With these, however, we are at present concerned only as they affected the Episcopal Church; and there can be no doubt that the subsequent alteration in the laws which respected that communion, arose from the political events to which we have just alluded. In the beginning of 1719, an Act was passed in Parliament," for making more effectual the laws appointing the oaths for the security of the Government to be taken by ministers of Churches and meeting-houses in Scotland."

By this Act, every Episcopal minister performing Divine Service in any Meeting-house in Scotland, without having taken the oaths required by the toleration Statute of Queen Anne, and praying for King George and the Royal Family, by name, was to suffer six months imprisonment, during which period his Meeting-house was to be shut up and every house, where nine or more persons, besides the family, should be present at Divine Worship, was declared to be a Meetinghouse, within the meaning of the Act. This law was no doubt severe upon the Episcopal Clergy, but it does not appear to have been vigorously enforced, nor to have affected the political privileges of the nobit and gentry, who still adhered to their communion.

In consequence of this practical lenity, the Episcopal Church appears to have enjoyed not only repose, but comparative prosperity, down to the year 1746. Her Clergy were numerous, and many of them learned, while her Chapels were frequented by all orders of the people, from the highest peer to the lowest peasant. Even judges and magistrates joined in her worship; for, although the King was not prayed for by name, and by far the greater number of the Clergy were attached to the exiled Prince, political opinions respecting the right of the Sovereign were at no period made terms of her communion. The doctrine of indefeasible hereditary right was, indeed, by no means, generally entertained by the Scottish Episcopalians, even at the time they were chargeable with the greatest deviations from political orthodoxy; and had not the oath of abjuration been imposed, as well as that of al legiance, very few of the Clergy would have been found reluctant to

pledge their faith and truth to the reigning Sovereign. The former oath, however, as it supposed and implied a kind of right, which, if it could be possessed by any one, they could not but think belonged to him whom they were called on to abjure, they resolutely refused to take; and without taking it together with the oath of allegiance, the praying for King George by name would have been of no advantage to them whatever. Of all, the magistrates, to whom was entrusted the execution of the laws, were fully aware; and therefore they seldom enforced the penal part of Queen Anne's Statute.

But on the defeat of Charles Edward, in the year 1746, the spirit of the Government and the conduct of the magistrates assumed a much more unfavourable character. As if none but Scottish Episcopalians had joined the standard of that Adventurer, the fury of the soldiers and even of the mob was let loose against them, in the most savage manner possible. Their chapels were burnt to the ground, wherever that could be done without injuring the property of others; and in large towns they were demolished, desecrated, or shut up, without reserve or appeal. The country, meanwhile, was placed under military law; and immediately upon the return of civil authority, an Act was passed by the irritated and alarmed Legislature, providing, "that from and after the 1st of September, 1746, every person exercising the office of a Pastor or Minister, in any Episcopal Meeting-house in Scotland, with out registering his Letters of Orders, and taking all the oaths required by law, and praying for his Majesty, King George, and the Royal Family, by name, shall, for the first offence, suffer six months' imprisonment, and, for the second, be transported to some of his Majesty's Plantations for life." Every house in which five or more persons, besides the family, or five persons, if the house were not inhabited, should meet for Public Worship, performed by a Pastor or Minister of the Episcopal communion, was declared to be a Meeting-house within the meaning of the Act; and no Letters of Orders, except such as had been given by some Bishop of the Church of England or of Ireland, were allowed to be registered from and after the first of September.

Such punishment for a supposed political aberration was, without doubt, sufficiently severe; but a method was still in reserve, by which the suppression of Episcopacy might be effected more certainly, and with less appearance of rigour. The resentment of the law had hitherto been directed solely against the Clergy; and it was found that so long as their chapels were attended by the first people of the coun→ try, the provisions of the most vindictive penal Statute would remain comparatively a dead letter. It was therefore resolved to point the denunciations of the Legislature against the Laity as well as their Ministers, and to involve both in a common proscription. The above Act, accordingly, farther declared that, if, after the first of September, any person should resort to an illegal Episcopal Meeting-house, (and at that moment there was not, perhaps, a legal one in the whole kingdom) and not give information within five days of such illegal meeting to some proper magistrate, he should be subjected to fine or imprison

ment. It likewise provided, that no Peer of Scotland should be capable of being elected one of the sixteen Peers of Parliament, or of voting at such election; and that no person should be capable of being elected a Member of Parliament for any Shire or Borough, or of voting at such election, who, after the first of September, should, within the compass of a year, have been twice present at Divine Service in any Episcopal Meeting-house in Scotland, not held according to law.

The object contemplated by this unmerciful Statute was realized to a great extent. It acted, not so much by depriving the Episcopal Laity of Clergymen, as by depriving the latter of their congregations. It drove away the noble and the wealthy, and thereby annihilated the support and countenance, which had carried the suffering body through all their former adversities. In such a condition of things, accordingly, it was not wonderful that some of those Pastors, who, though steady and zealous Episcopalians, had always declared themselves not to be Jacobites, should feel it their duty to render their Chapels legal Meeting-houses, by taking the oaths, and registering their Letters of Orders. This step was taken in several instances; but no sooner was it discovered by the people in power, than a resolution was formed to render such compliance altogether unavailable. In May, 1748, the Act of 1746 was amended, when it was fixed by the authority of Parliament, "that no Letters of Orders, not granted by some Bishop of the Church of England or of Ireland, should, from and after the 29th of September, 1748, be sufficient to qualify any Pastor or Minister, of any Episcopal Meeting in Scotland, whether the same had been registered be fore or since the first of September, 1746; and that every such registration, whether made before or since, should, from and after the said 29th of September, be null and void."

It was impossible for legislative vengeance to proceed further. In the more happy days in which we live, it is not easy to procure belief for these historical facts, or to point out any reason why a British Parliament should so pertinaciously pursue a plan for the extirpation of a religious body, who were chargeable with no fault but that of political constancy to the line of their ancient Sovereigns! Besides, the statute of 1748 precluded the Episcopalians even from political repentance. Their religion was become the main object of attack; and nothing less would satisfy their enemies, than that they should be completely unchurched; their clergy silenced and reduced to beggary; their Ecclesiastical Constitution broken down, and their spiritual authority trodden under foot. To the honour of the English Bishops, it is recorded, that they vigorously and unanimously opposed this unchristian Bill. Even Hoadley would not support it; while Sherlock, Secker, Maddox, and others spoke strenuously against it, as a most flagrant attack on the leading principles of Christian liberty. The amended Act, however, passed through the Commons with little opposition; but through the Peers, not without great management by the Lord Chancellor Hardwick, and by the small majority of thirty-seven against thirty-two.

The complying Clergy among the Episcopalians were thus subjected

to the same persecution which afflicted the rest of their brethren; and one of them, certainly the most respectable for learning and genius of the whole body, and at the same time the most consistent in his conduct and principles, was actually imprisoned six months, although he had prayed during two years for the King by name, according to the letter of the Law, enacted in 1746. Other Clergymen suffered similar punishments; and several were glad to take refuge in England and America, in order to escape the penalties with which they were threatened.

The accession of the late King to the throne of these realms checked the fierce spirit which had prevailed during the reign of his prede'cessor. Peers and lay gentlemen, no doubt, who frequented Scottish Episcopal Meeting-houses, continued to be deprived of some of their most valued political privileges; but no encouragement was now given by the Court to officious informations against the Clergy; and some of the Chapels which had been shut up were allowed to be opened. Such, indeed, was the mildness and impartiality of the government of George the Third, who took an early opportunity of declaring himself the King, not of a party, but of all his people, that, if the oath of abjuration had been abolished, as it is said he wished it to be, in the commencement of his reign, there would not, it is probable, in the course of a few years, have been found in all Scotland, except among very old men who had acted a conspicuous part in their youth, one Jacobite to keep alive the ancient political attachment.

That oath, however, and others which militated against the Scottish Episcopal Church, continued to be exacted of all who held offices in the State, and thus prevented the attendance of many of the most respectable of her members on the ordinances of Divine Worship. Chapels, too, were opened in all the considerable towns, and even villages of Scotland, by Clergymen ordained in the sister kingdom, and such Laymen as preferred their civil privileges to their religious principles, or were ignorant that there could not be an Episcopal communion where there were no Bishops, attended the ministry of those strangers. Hence the origin of what in the North, were called English Chapels, as distinguished from those of the indigenous Clergy. They took their rise from the necessity of the times, when no man holding a public office was permitted to worship God, in the Meeting-house of a Scottish Episcopalian; and thus, though their character was anomalous, and the principles on which they were maintained, if viewed in reference to strict Ecclesiastical practice, utterly destitute of all such authority, as would satisfy a regular Churchman, they will be allowed to have served a good purpose at a very critical period. In general, too, the anomaly passed away with the circumstances in which it originated; and if there be still some exceptions in the case of certain congregations which belong neither to the Church of England nor to the Episcopal communion in Scotland, the fault, we are told, is not so much to be attributed to the officiating ministers as to the ignorance and prejudices of their people. But of this we may perhaps write at greater length hereafter.