330 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



Church tends to inculcate a belief in parity in the State. 

 Hence it is that Presbyterian Scotland is democratic in 

 politics as in religion. And when Charles I. attempted to 

 place Episcopacy in Scotland on a logical basis, he was 

 confronted by a wall of democracy, the foundations of 

 which had been laid so surely by John Knox, that it pre- 

 sented a solid barrier against the encroachments of the 

 monarchy, backed by the full force of prelacy. But the 

 liturgy was the apparently insignificant cause of fanning the 

 embers of discontent into the fierce flame of open rebellion. 

 The rigidity and ornateness of the Episcopal service were 

 alike repugnant to the individuality of the new religious 

 spirit, with which the elasticity and simplicity of the 

 Presbyterian forms were more in accord. The gorgeous 

 ritual of the Church of Rome had shared in the revulsion of 

 feeling against Romanism, and a ceremonial of extreme 

 plainness became the ideal of uncompromising Presby- 

 terianism. The cope had to give way to the gown ; short 

 prayers to long sermons ; feast days to fast days ; Sunday 

 recreation to Sabbatarianism ; and, ultimately, the priest to 

 the presbyter the common origin of both names notwith- 

 standing and the Church of the State to the Kirk of the 

 People. The attempt of Charles to rivet the chains of 

 Episcopacy on Scotland resulted in the consolidation of 

 Presbyterianism, and its final and permanent triumph as 

 the established form of religion of the Scottish people. 

 It does not concern us here to follow the incidents of the 

 great trial of strength between Charles and his Scottish 

 subjects, except so far as they relate to Lewis and its pro- 

 prietor. As a matter of religious significance, the contest 

 was of small importance to the people of the Highlands 

 and Isles, [t was not until many years afterwards, that 

 Presbyterianism obtained a permanent foothold among 

 them, and its final acceptance was preceded by a spirit 

 of uncompromising hostility to its tenets. Even at the 

 present day, the inhabitants of certain districts in the 

 Highlands cling to Episcopacy, as, in certain other dis- 

 tricts in the Highlands and the Long Island, they cling 



