close, got to his lodgings, changed part of his clothes, and appeared again in the streets, where no one suspected him.1 In the snapping of that pistol the primate should have heard an echo of the hatred with which he was regarded. Assassination is a desperate remedy, but in every down-trodden country there will be desperate men who will resort to it. So all history has proved.

So early as 1667 a proposal to extend an inA.D. 1669. dulgence to some of the ejected Presbyterian ministers had been talked of at court, but it was 1669 before it was matured. On the 7th of June of that year the Earl of Tweeddale laid before the Privy Council a letter from the king, authorizing such an indulgence, and explaining its terms. The Council were to appoint such of the ejected ministers as they thought right to vacant parishes. Those ministers who agreed to take collation from the bishops were to have a right to the stipends; those who did not were to enjoy merely the manse and glebe, and the right to exercise their ministerial office; all were to bind themselves to hold kirk-sessions and attend presbyteries, and not to administer the sacrament of baptism or the Lord's Supper to any but their own parishioners; and further, to discourage the resort of people from other parishes to their preaching. Proceeding upon this royal letter, the Council first admitted twelve ministers to vacant parishes, and, within a short period afterwards, thirty more. Some of these were admitted to the parishes where they had previously ministered, and others to different ones; and all of them, while adhering to their Presbyterian principles, expressed their gratitude for this act of royal clemency.2

It was scarcely to be expected that so scanty a measure of grace would bring peace to the Church. The truth is, it displeased both parties. The uncompromising Covenanters declared it was an attempt to skin over the ulcer without healing it. The ministers who were not included in the indulgence spoke bitter things against their brethren who were. It was found, moreover, that men protected by government are more loyal than men who are treated as outlaws. The indulged ministers no longer inveighed against the king and his bishops, as they had done at their conventicles, and for this they were branded as the king's curates, and as dumb 1 Burnet's History, vol. i. p. 309. Kirkton, p. 279.

2 Burnet's History, vol. i. pp. 314-316. Wodrow, vol. ii. pp. 130-32.

dogs; and the popularity which had once attended them now forsook them. The high Prelatic party were equally wroth. They declared that the measure was Erastian, and more, that it was unlawful. Zealous for the royal prerogative hitherto, they now declared that the king had no business to override acts of parliament. It was in the large diocese of Glasgow that Presbyterianism was peculiarly strong, and Archbishop Burnet and his clergy were peculiarly indignant at the indulgence. A Synod was held at Glasgow in October, and a remonstrance framed in language not quite so fawning as was generally used by the bishops to the king. It was retained, however, for reconsideration, but a copy of it, in some indirect manner, was procured and forwarded to court. king declared it was no better than the western Remonstrance; and Burnet soon afterwards paid for his presumption by the loss of his bishopric.

The

The synod was hardly dissolved when the parliament met. The Earl of Lauderdale, who was a member of the English Court cabal, now acted as his Majesty's Commissioner. On the 10th of November the famous Assertory Act was passed. "The Estates of Parliament," it proceeds, "having seriously considered how necessary it is for the good and peace of the Church and State that his Majesty's power and authority in relation to matters and persons ecclesiastical be more clearly asserted by an act of parliament, .. do hereby enact, assert, and declare, that his Majesty hath the supreme authority and supremacy over all persons, and in all causes ecclesiastical within this kingdom; and that, by virtue thereof, the ordering and disposal of the external government and policy of the Church doth properly belong to his Majesty and his successors, as an inherent right of the crown; and that his Majesty and his successors may settle, enact, and emit such constitutions, acts, and orders, concerning the administration of the external government of the Church, and the persons employed in the same, and concerning all ecclesiastical meetings and matters to be proposed and determined therein, as they in their royal wisdom shall think fit."

Nobody liked this act. It was said that it made Charles both king and pope. The bishops spoke against it, but voted for it. The Presbyterians had little to say in such matters at all. Lauderdale whispered to his brother nobles that it was meant to humble the pride of the prelates, and make the mitre dependent on the Crown; he whispered to others that it was

meant to give legal authority to such acts as the Indulgence. It was said afterwards that Lauderdale knew that the Duke of York was a Papist, and that it was designed to enable him to change the religion of the land by a stroke of his pen.1

The first exercise of Charles's ecclesiastical A.D. 1670. power was unfrocking the Archbishop of Glasgow. This done, Leighton the Bishop of Dunblane was persuaded to become commendator of the vacant see; and about the same time Gilbert Burnet, the historian, was nominated to the professorship of theology in the university. They were very different men-Leighton, retiring, heavenly-minded, inclined to asceticism; Burnet, bustling, officious, fond of mingling in the world; but still they were bound together by a sincere friendship, and were both anxious to heal the Church of her wounds. Leighton set himself to reform and elevate his clergy; and Burnet procured the appointment of a deputation who perambulated the west, and counselled moderation and peace. But the great object of the new archbishop, the burden of his prayers, the end for which he was willing to bear all the obloquy of his position, was a scheme of accommodation between the Episcopalians and Presbyterians. Invited to court, he ventured to lay it before the king, and the king rejoiced the bishop's heart by giving it his sanction, and embodying it in a set of instructions to his Commissioner the Earl of Lauderdale. His proposal was to the effect, that the bishops should be recognised in the Church only as the perpetual moderators of the presbyteries; that ministers should be ordained by the bishop with the concurrence of his presbyters, and not in the cathedral but in the churches where they were to serve; and that synods should be held every third year, in which the bishops might be censured if found guilty of any fault.2

The Earl of Kincardine was anxious that these propositions should at once be made law; but the Earl of Lauderdale argued that it would be rash to make so great a change in the constitution of the Church, unless it were to be followed by some practical result. Some of the leading Presbyterian ministers were therefore invited to meet Leighton at Holyrood Chapel, when the plan of the proposed union was explained to them; but they received it coldly, though the archbishop urged it upon them with his most persuasive eloquence. Both 1 Burnet's History, vol. i. p. 317.

2 Burnet's History, vol. i. p. 322-28. Wodrow, vol. ii.

Leighton and Burnet afterwards made several attempts to gain them, but they held that Episcopacy in no guise was allowable, and at length the fond endeavour was abandoned in despair.1

We need not wonder that the Presbyterians resisted the proposed union, though recommended to them by the apostolic piety of Leighton. Episcopacy had never appeared in Scotland in an amiable form-at that moment it was the cause of all its misery; and it could not be forgotten that, at the beginning of that very century, bishops had crept into the Church, under the mask of perpetual moderators, who had afterwards with a high hand lorded it over God's heritage. While, therefore, we admire the catholicity of Leighton, we should be slow to call the Presbyterians either fanatics or fools. But even though they had yielded, it is very doubtful if the plan could have been carried. Among the prelates Leighton was alone. Sharp was violently opposed to the compromise, so derogatory to his primatial dignity. Lauderdale's sincerity was suspected; and it is scarcely probable that Charles, in the face of the English Church, would have touched such a law with his sceptre. Disappointed in his noble effort to bring peace to his country, and sick at heart, Leighton resigned his archbishopric and retired to England.

While these things were doing, conventicles were increasing. Hitherto they had generally been kept in private houses, but now they began to be held in the fields; and the Covenanters in some instances came armed, in case of being surprised by the soldiery who were everywhere scouring the country. Three of these field-meetings during this year excited a great deal of notice from the crowds which gathered at them: the first met at Beithhill, in the parish of Dunfermline; the second at Livingseat, in the parish of Carnwath ; and the third at Torwood, in Stirlingshire. We have an account of the first in the Memoirs of Blackadder, one of the ministers who officiated at it. It gives an interesting glimpse of these strange congregations among the hills.

It was in the month of June that it met. On the Saturday afternoon the people began to gather, and many of them lay all night on the hill-side. Mr Blackadder came the same evening privately from Edinburgh, slept at Inverkeithing, with his clothes on, and starting early next morning, without knowing exactly where the meeting was to be held, learned by the way 1 Burnet's History, vol. i. p. 322-28. Wodrow, vol. ii.

that it had been resolved to hold it on the hill-top, that the country round and round might be seen. A proper spot being fixed upon, a tent was set up, and Mr Dixon began the services. While Dixon was lecturing, Blackadder stationed himself with the men appointed to watch on the outskirts of the crowd to guard against surprise. During sermon some illaffected people were observed to drop in, and, among others, the two sons of the curate; upon which it was resolved that they should be allowed to come, but that they should not be allowed to go, lest they should give the alarm; and men were set to watch their movements. One suspected man was observed making for his horse, but he was followed; he pretended he was merely in search of a drink, and returned to the meeting. The morning service began at eight o'clock, and ended at eleven.

Mr Blackadder was to preach in the afternoon. Before going to the tent, and while revolving his sermon, he heard a considerable noise, and found it was a crowd bringing back the curate's sons, who had attempted to walk off. Blackadder interfered, and told them they might go if they chose, upon which the youths agreed to remain. After the sermon was begun, a gentleman on horseback arrived, followed by a few others. It was the lieutenant of the militia stationed in the district. He dismounted, gave his horse to a man to hold, went into the crowd, and listened quietly for a time. He then returned to his horse, and proceeded to remount; but some of the guard stepped forward, and requested him to remain, lest his departure should disturb the meeting. Finding him determined to go, and dreading his purpose, they laid hold of him as he was putting his foot in the stirrup. Thus rudely handled, he lifted his stick as if to strike, upon which two men, with cocked pistols, rushed upon him with such threatening looks as effectually cooled his courage. Such a scuffle happening in the margin of the crowd, sent a wave of excitement over the whole congregation, which in due course reached the minister. He stopped his sermon, came down from the tent, and persuaded the people to give the lieutenant his horse, and allow him to depart, as a proof of their peaceable intentions. This done, the services were resumed, and brought to a conclusion without any further interruption; but the violence done to the king's servant was afterwards made the subject of much talk, and of several prosecutions.1

1 Memoirs of the Rev. John Blackadder, pp. 144-48.