CHAP. LXXXV. HISTORICAL MINUTES RESPECTING THE SCOTTISH CATHOLICS SINCE THE REFORMATION. IT was also the wish of the writer of these pages, to present his readers with a short historical account of the Scottish catholics since the reformation; but his endeavours to procure materials for it have absolutely failed*. Greatly is it to be wished that some gentleman, possessed of necessary talents and leisure, would give his attention * The antient glories of the illustrious kingdom have been celebrated by Buchanan, in verses of uncommon splendor and energy, in the epithalamium which he composed on the marriage of Francis the second of France, with the unfortunate Mary of Scotland. "Illa pharetratis est propria gloria SCOTIS, "Cingere venatu saltus, superare natando "Flumina, ferre famem, contemnere frigora et æstus ; "Artibus his, totum fremerent cum bella per orbem, Nullaque non tellus leges mutaret avitas "Externo subjecta jugo;-gens una vetustis "Sedibus antiquis sub libertate resedit. "Substitit hic Gothi furor, hîc gravis impetus hæsit "Non piget annales,-hîc et victoria fixit "Præcipitem Romana gradum :-quem non gravis auster Reppulit, incultis non squallens Parthia campis, "Non æstu Meroë, non frigore Rhenus et Albis to such a work. It can only be accomplished by an examination of the different repositories of the ecclesiastical establishments of Scottish catholics in foreign countries. Such a work, produced by an able writer, having competent materials, would bring to light a mass of information at once new and instructive.-That the present work may not be altogether destitute of an article,-(we are fully sensible how meagre it will be),-on a topic, so nearly connected with the immediate subject of these historical memoirs, we shall present our readers, I. With the summary accounts given by Mr. Keith, in his History of the Church and State of Scotland, and by Dr. Maclaine, the translator of Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History*, of the introduction of Calvinism into Scotland, and of the subsequent variations of the religious discipline of the church of that kingdom: II. With some minutes, respecting the condition of the Scottish catholics since the reformation;-chiefly compiled from the Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire ecclesiastique pendant le xviii Siècle:-III. With some account of the riots in Scotland in 1780:-IV. With some account of the act passed for the relief of the Scottish catholics in 1793-V. And with some obsertions on the oath contained in that act. * Vol. iv. p. 381, note k. LXXXV. 1. Mr. Keith and Dr. Maclaine's summary Accounts of the Introduction of Calvinism into Scotland. MR. KEITH, in the history, which we have mentioned, thus expresses himself: "Tis true, a supine negligence had possessed "the clergy, and egregious abuses had crept into "the church: nothing indeed was more wanted "than a reformation in both; yet our religion tells us, and the practice of our Saviour and his apos"tles fully manifests unto us, evil is not to be "done that good may come of it. Horman, bishop "of Cologne, made a pious and christian attempt "for recovering the primitive and apostolic insti"tutions, and purging from error and superstition "the house of God; for which he was deprived of "his spiritual authority by the pope, and of his temporal possessions by the emperor; yet the "method he took was highly religious and com"mendable. Nay, Henry the eighth of England, "in the reformation begun by him, (if he can be "said to have made any reformation, further than "from the assumed absolute authority of the bishop "of Rome), though few suppose his motives either holy or just, yet, in so far as his legal supremacy was interposed, and his management authorised by the laws of the land, and followed forth by "his son and successor king Edward, and after A valuable work: the narrative is perspicuous, and it "wards by his daughter queen Elizabeth; the "affair of religion was managed in that kingdom " on a legal foundation, and to much a better pur"6 pose than here in Scotland, where all was car"ried on from a principle of covetousness in some "great ones, and where popular fury was egged "forward by hot-headed zealots, who thought "there could be no reformation without pulling up some good, and all indifferent things, together "with the bad; and so totally defaced the eccle"siastical polity, and trampled under foot all "civil authority, that the wounds given to the one " and the other, at that time, are rather a scandal "than an ornament both to our reformation and "its authors. Nor ought any to be traduced and "censured, as enemies to a reformation, merely "because they cannot approve of the false steps "so taken to bring it about: for had the earl of "Arran, during his regency, stood firm to the new "doctrines, and brought matters regularly before "the parliament, it might have been hoped that "several of the bishops would have concurred in a reformation of such things as were most blame"able; by which means we might have enjoyed a true christian ministry, and the service of God "might have been performed with that decency "and beauty, which the nature of it requireth. "But when the bishops saw things carried on by open rebellion and mobbing, when they saw such "universal rapine and levelling, and when nothing "would please but a renunciation of their own "sacred orders, and a truckling under some of the "meanest mechanics, to be either received or not "received as ministers of the church of Christ, according as they should think proper; what "wonder is it that such a reformation looked "formidable and detestable unto them, and in very "deed no better than an utter overturning of all "that was sacred!" We shall now transcribe Dr. Maclaine's account of the event, which has been mentioned. "The indignation of the people, which had "been excited by the vices of the clergy, was soon "transferred to their persons, and settled at last, 66 66 by a transition not unusual, upon the offices they enjoyed; and thus, the effects of the reformation "extended not only to the doctrine, but also to "the government of the popish church. But in Germany, England, and the northern kingdoms, its operations were checked by the power and policy of their princes, and the episcopal hierarchy, (which appears to be the most conform"able to the practice of the church, since chris"tianity became the established religion of the "Roman empire), was still continued, in these "countries, under certain limitations. The eccle"siastical government was copied after the civil ; "and the dioceses and jurisdiction of patriarchs, "archbishops, and bishops, corresponded with "the division and constitution of the empire. "In Switzerland and the Low Countries, the nature "and spirit of a republican policy gave fuller scope to the reformers; and thus, all pre-emi"nence of order in the church was destroyed, |