660 



SCOT LAND. 



cal state. 



Statistics. First, transferred almost the whole crown lands to the 

 *~*~^'~~~ J . church. The clergy were daily loaded with new pos- 

 Ecclesiasti- sess j O ns, until they became so powerful that they paid 

 the full half cf the national taxes. Their influence pro- 

 cured the erection of magnificent temples, and their 

 opulence furnished them with showy apparatus for 

 worship, which fascinated the senses, and imposed on 

 the imaginations of the people. These nurseries of 

 superstition and indolence universally degenerated, 

 and became the notorious haunts of debauchery. 

 Exempted from secular jurisdiction, and corrupted 

 by wealth and idleness, the immoralities of the cler- 

 gy were become a scandal to religion, and an out- 

 rage on decency. Though nominally separated from 

 the world by the law of celibacy, the clergy of all 

 ranks were shamefully profligate ; the bishops openly 

 kept their harlots, provided their sons with benefices, 

 and married their daughters to the sons of the nobility 

 and gentry. 



The ignorance of the clergy respecting religion was 

 as gross as their morals were dissolute. Until the re- 

 formed doctrines had made some progress, neither 

 Greek nor Hebrew was taught in any seminary in 

 Scotland. Even bishops were not ashamed to confess 

 that they never read any part of the sacred Scriptures, 

 except what they found in their missals. So ignorant 

 were the clergy even on the continent, that they pub- 

 licly accused Luther of composing a wicked book call- 

 ed the " New Testament," and inventing two new 

 languages, the Greek and the Hebrew. 



The haranguts delivered for sermons by the monks 

 were ludicrous and contemptible. They consisted of 

 legendary tales concerning the fr-mder of some reli- 

 gious order, his sanctity, the miracles that he perform- 

 ed, his watchings and combats with the devil, the vir- 

 tues of charms, holy water, and the horrors of pur- 

 gatory. 



For many centuries before the Reformation, the ne- 

 cessity of an ecclesiastical reform was generally ad- 

 mitted by the Catholics themselves. In the thirteenth 

 century, the preaching friars were instituted with the 

 view of restoring that duty so generally neglected by 

 the superior clergy, and of opposing the popular preach- 

 ing of the Lollards, as the Jesuits were afterwards 

 founded to oppose learning to the Protestants. 



Waldus in the twelfth, Wicldiff in the fourteenth, 

 and Huss in the fifteenth century, inveighed with great 

 boldness against the errors of popery. Their success 

 in confuting these was complete ; but being prosecuted, 

 their followers were not numerous. The long and 

 scandalous schism which divided the Romish church 

 during the latter part of the fourteenth and the begin- 

 ning of the fifteenth centuries, greatly diminished the 

 popular veneration for the papal dignity. 



In Scotland, at the end of James the Fifth's reign, 

 the same contempt for the clerical authority and in- 

 difference to religion were universal. Few attended 

 mass on Sundays, much less on other occasions; and 

 of those who attended, some scoffed and behaved ir- 

 reverently, while others busied themselves in merchan- 

 dise even at the church porch. 



While such a state of things could not well be con- 

 templated without an eager desire for reformation, it 

 should not be forgotten that the hand of an overruling 

 providence was conspicuous in the combination and 

 concurrence of circumstances, in raising up and qua- 

 lifying zealous and resolute champions to bear witness 

 to the truth, and suffer for its sake. 



The most efficient cause was the translation of the 



Scriptures in the vernacular languages. By means of Statistics. 

 the art of printing, invented a short time before the " > f-*~* 

 Reformation, copies of the Scriptures were multiplied ; EcclesiastU 

 and notwithstanding the clergy interdicted the perusal cal state. 

 of the sacred volume, it was procured and read with 

 great avidity. To the instruction derived from the 

 Scriptures, and not to any injury offered to his order, 

 must be ascribed the vigorous and unwearied exertions 

 of Luther in exposing and combating the abominations 

 of Rome. All Saxony, all Germany, all Europe, was 

 in a short time filled with the voice of this bold re- 

 former. He soon acquired the decided support of 

 many of the German princes, who protected him from 

 the vindictive policy of Rome and from the violence of 

 imperial persecution. Before the name of Luther was 

 known in Switzerland, Zuinglius had begun to explain 

 the Scriptures to the people, and to censure the errors 

 of the Romish church ; and he actually called in quesi 

 tion the supremacy of the pontiff before Luther ver> 

 tured to attack any corruption except the sale of in* 

 dulgences. 



To prevent the dissemination of scriptural know^ 

 ledge, the Catholic clergy employed every artifice and 

 expedient : but their vigilance was unavailing ; by 

 means of the English merchants who traded to the 

 continent, the Scots procured Tindal's translation of 

 the Scriptures, with many Protestant books. The ut- 

 most circumspection in perusing them was indispen- 

 sable ; one copy of the Bible or of the New Testament 

 supplied several families. The midnight hour was 

 chosen for perusing the sacred oracles. When the 

 trembling auditors were assembled, the Bible was 

 brought from its concealment, and while one read, the 

 rest listened with much attention. In this manner 

 was knowledge diffused, at a period when there ap- 

 pears not to have been any public teacher of the truth 

 in Scotland. 



The reformed doctrines were early introduced in* 

 to Scotland. John Resby and Peter Craw suffered 

 martyrdom at St. Andrews about the end of the 14-th 

 century for exposing the absurdities of the Romish 

 faith. And the inhabitants of Ayrshire, including most 

 of those of high rank, having embraced reformed doc* 

 trines, were so formidable to the popish religion, so 

 early as 14-16', that it was enacted by the university 

 of St. Andrews, that no person should obtain the dew 

 gree of master of arts, unless he swore to resist all ad- 

 herents of the sect of Lollards, the name by which the 

 reformers were designated. Patrick Hamilton was 

 brought to the stake in 1528 ; and the new opinions 

 continued to gain ground so rapidly, that in 1559 the 

 papal jurisdiction was abolished by act of parliament. 

 A confession of faith drawn up by Knox and his bre- 

 thren was passed by the same parliament ; and the 

 Protestant religion ratified as that of the state. At 

 this period the form of ecclesiastical government was 

 not minutely determined ; but the presbyterian pre- 

 vailed, as introduced by Knox from Geneva. In 

 1581, the presbytery of Edinburgh, the first in Scot- 

 land, was erected ; and, in 1592, the presbyterian 

 form of worship received the sanction of parliament. 

 James VI. wishing to establish uniformity of religion 

 in the northern and southern dominions, and disre- 

 garding the sentiments of his Scottish subjects, at- 

 tempted to introduce episcopacy. But the modified 

 species of episcopacy which he and his successor had 

 established, was overthrown by the decisions of tho 

 famous presbytery held in Glasgow in ifiSS; deci- 

 sions which were in the subsequent year confirmed 



