been remarkable for their meekness, or for a want of confidence in themselves, should, under circumstances so eminently favourable to their pretensions, have been somewhat elated, and should have claimed an authority even greater than that which was conceded to them. And as this is intimately connected with the subsequent history of Scotland, it will be necessary to collect some evidence respecting their conduct, which will have the further advantage of exhibiting the true character of spiritual domination, and of showing how it works, not only on the intellectual, but also on the practical, life of a people.

According to the Presbyterian polity, which reached its height in the seventeenth century, the clergyman of the parish selected a certain number of laymen on whom he could depend, and who, under the name of elders, were his councillors, or rather the ministers of his authority. They, when assembled together, formed what was called the Kirk-Session, and this little court, which enforced the decisions uttered in the pulpit, was so supported by the superstitious reverence of the people, that it was far more powerful than any civil tribunal. By its aid, the minister became supreme. For, whoever presumed to disobey him was excommunicated, was deprived of his property, and was believed to have incurred the penalty of eternal perdition.25 Against such weapons,

25 The power of those kirk-sessions, which are now private assemblages, in whose meetings and proceedings the public take no interest whatever, is defined to be the cognizance of parochial matters and cases of scandal; but in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, especially during the Covenanting reign of terror after the outbreak of the Civil War against Charles I., the kirk-sessions of Scotland were the sources of excessive tyranny and oppression-were arbitrary, inquisitorial, and revengeful, to an extent which exceeds all belief. It is truly stated by the author of the Memoirs of Locheill' Every parish had a tyrant, who made the greatest Lord in his district stoop to his authority. The kirk was the place where he kept his court; the pulpit his throne or tribunal from whence he issued out his terrible decrees; and twelve or fourteen sour ignorant enthusiasts, under the title of Elders, composed his council. If any, of what quality soever, had the assurance to disobey his orders, the dreadful sentence of excommunication was immediately thundered out against him, his goods and chattels confiscated and seized, and he himself being looked upon as actually in the possession of the devil, and irretrievably doomed to eter

in such a state of society, resistance was impossible. The clergy interfered with every man's private concerns, ordered how he should govern his family, and often took upon themselves the personal control of his household.26 Their minions, the elders, were every where; for each parish was divided into several quarters, and to each quarter one of these officials was allotted, in order that he might take special notice of what was done in his own district.27 Besides this, spies were appointed, so that

nal perdition."" Introduction to The Kirk-Session Register of Perth, in The Spottiswoode Miscellany, vol. ii. pp. 229, 230, Edinburgh, 1845. In regard to the perdition which the sentence of excommunication was supposed to involve, one of the most influential Scotch divines of that time merely expresses the prevailing notion, when he asserts, that whoever was excommunicated was thereby given up to Satan. "That he who is excommunicated may be truly said to be delivered to Sathan is undeniable." Gillespie's Aaron's Rod Blossoming, or the Divine Ordinance of Church Government Vindicated, 1646, 4to, p. 239. "Excommunication, which is a shutting out of a Church-member from the Church, whereby Sathan commeth to get dominion and power over him." Ibid., p. 297. "Sure I am an excommunicate person may truly be said to be delivered to Sathan." p. 424.

26 Clarendon, under the year 1640, emphatically says (History of the Rebellion, p. 67), "The preacher reprehended the husband, governed the wife, chastised the children, and insulted over the servants, in the houses of the greatest men The theory was, that "ministers and elders must be submitted unto as fathers." Shield's Enquiry into Church Communion, 2d edit., Edinburgh, 1747, p. 66. In the middle of the seventeenth century, one of the most famous of the Scotch preachers openly asserted the right of his profession to interfere in family matters, on the ground that such was the custom in the time of Joshua. "The Ministers of God's house have not only the ministry of holy things, as Word and Sacraments, committed to their charge, but also the power of ecclesiastical government to take order with scandalous offences within the familie; both these are here promised to Joshua and the Priests." Hutcheson's Exposition of the Minor Prophets, vol. iii. p. 72, London, 1654. In 1603, the Presbytery of Aberdeen took upon themselves to order that every master of a house should keep a rod, that his family, including his servants, might be beaten if they used improper language. "It is concludit that thair salbe in ewerie houss a palmar.' Selections from the Records of the Kirk Session, Presbytery, and Synod of Aberdeen, printed for the Spalding Club, 4to, Aberdeen, 1846, p. 194. It also appears (p. 303) that, in 1674, the clergyman was expected to exercise supervision over all visitors to private houses; since he ought to be informed, "iff ther be anie persone receaved in the familie without testimoniall presented to the minister."

27 In 1650, it was ordered, "That everie paroche be divydit in severall quarteris, and each elder his owne quarter, over which he is to have speciall inspectioun, and that everie elder visit his quarter once everie month at least, according to the act of the Generall Assemblie, 1649, and in thair visitatioun tak notice of all disorderlie walkeris, especiallie neglectouris of God's worship in thair families, sueareris, haunteris of all houses, espe

nothing could escape their supervision.28 Not only the streets, but even private houses, were searched, and ransacked, to see if any one was absent from church while the minister was preaching.29 To him, all must listen, and him all must obey. Without the consent of his tribunal, no person might engage himself, either as a domestic servant, or as a field labourer.30 If any one incurred the displeasure of the clergy, they did not scruple to summon his servants and force them to state whatever they knew respecting him, and whatever they had seen done in his house.31 To speak disrespectfully of a preacher was a grievous offence to differ from him

ciallie at vnseasonable tymes, and long sitteris thair, and drinkeris of healthis; and that he dilate these to the Sessioun." Selections from the Minutes of the Synod of Fife, printed for the Abbotsford Club, Edinburgh, 1837, 4to, p. 168. "The elders each one in his own quarter, for trying the manners of the people." The Government and Order of the Church of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1690, p. 14. This scarce little volume is reprinted from the edition of 1641. See the advertisement at the beginning.

28 In 1652, the Kirk-Session of Glasgow "brot boyes and servants before them, for breaking the Sabbath, and other faults. They had clandestine censors, and gave money to some for this end." Wodrow's Collections, vol. ii. part ii. p. 74, Glasgow, 1848, 4to.

29"It is thocht expedient that ane baillie with tua of the sessioun pas throw the towne everie Sabboth day, and nott sic as thay find absent fra the sermones ather afoir or efter none; and for that effect that thay pas and sersche sic houss as they think maist meit, and pas athort the streittis.' Selections from the Records of the Kirk Session, Presbytery, and Synod of Aberdeen, p. 26. "To pas throw the towne to caus the people resort to the hering of the sermones." p. 59. "Ganging throw the towne on the ordinar preiching dayes in the weik, als weill as on the Saboth day, to caus the people resort to the sermones." p. 77. See also p. 94; and Wodrow's Collections, vol. ii. part ii. p. 37: "the Session allous the searchers to go into houses and apprehend absents from the kirk."

30 Another peculiarity was the supervision wielded over the movements of people to such a degree that they could neither obtain lodging nor employment except by a licence from the Kirk-Session, or, by defying this police court, expose themselves to fine and imprisonment.' "Lawson's Book of Perth, p. xxxvii., Edinburgh, 1847.

31 In 1652, Sir Alexander Irvine indignantly writes, that the presbytery of Aberdeen, "when they had tried many wayes, bot in vaine, to mak probable this their vaine imaginatione, they, at lenthe, when all other meanes failed thame, by ane unparalelled barbaritie, enforced my serwandis to reweall upon oathe what they sawe, herd, or knewe done within my house, beyond which no Turkische inquisitione could pase." The Miscellany of the Spalding Club, vol. iii. p. 206, Aberdeen, 1846, 4to.

32 In 1656, a servant was ordered to be brought before the Kirk-Session of Aberdeen" for her rayleing againest Mr. Andrew Cant, minister, in saying that becaus the said Mr. Andrew spak againest Yuill, he spak lyke ane

was a heresy ;33 even to pass him in the streets without saluting him, was punished as a crime.34 His very name was regarded as sacred, and not to be taken in vain. And that it might be properly protected, and held in due honour, an Assembly of the Church, in 1642, forbad it to be used in any public paper unless the consent of the holy man had been previously obtained.35

These and similar proceedings, being upheld by public opinion, were completely successful. Indeed, they could hardly have been otherwise, seeing that it was generally believed that whoever gainsaid the clergy, would be visited, not only with temporal penalties, but also with spiritual ones. For such a crime, there was punishment here, and there was punishment hereafter. The preachers willingly fostered a delusion by which they benefited. They told their hearers, that what was spoken in the pulpit was binding upon all believers, and

old fool." Selections from the Records of the Kirk Session, Presbytery, and Synod of Aberdeen, p. 138. In 1642, the Presbytery of Lanark had up a certain James Baillie, because he stated the extremely probable circumstance, that two fooles mett togither, when the Minister and his sone mett togither." Selections from the Registers of the Presbytery of Lanark, printed for the Abbotsford Club, Edinburgh, 1839, 4to, p. 30. 33 In 1644, "If you dissent from them in a theological tenet, it is heresy." Presbytery Displayed, 1644, p. 39, reprinted London, 1663, 4to. In 1637, "If ye depart from what I taught you in a hair-breadth for fear or favour of men, or desire of ease in this world, I take heaven and earth to witness, that ill shall come upon you in end." Rutherford's Religious Letters, p. 116. In 1607, "Mr. William Cowper, Minister, complained upon Robert Keir that he had disdainfully spoken of his doctrine. The (Kirk) Session ordained him to be warned to the morrow." Lawson's Book of Perth, p. 247.

34 In 1619, a man was summoned before the Kirk-Session of Perth, because, among other things, he would not perform "that civil duty of salutation, as becomes him to his pastor;" but "passed by him without using any kind of reverence." The Chronicle of Perth, Edinburgh, 1831, 4to, p. 80. The complaint was preferred by the minister himself. Indeed, the Scotch clergy took these things so much to heart, that they set up a theory to the effect that whoever showed them any disrespect, was prompted thereto by Satan. "It is Satan's great engine to draw men to contemne God and his word, under pretext of disrespect and prejudice against the Messengers only.' "It may let us see their guilt who despise most eminent ordinary Messengers." Hutcheson's Exposition of the Minor Prophets, vol. i. pp. 205, 233.

35 The General Assembly of Saint Andrews, in 1642, passed "an act against using ministers' names in any of the public papers, without their own consent." Stevenson's History of the Church of Scotland, p. 503.

was to be regarded as immediately proceeding from the Deity.36 This proposition being established, other propositions naturally followed. The clergy believed that they alone were privy to the counsels of the Almighty, and that, by virtue of this knowledge, they could determine what any man's future state would be.37 Going still further, they claimed the power, not only of foretelling his future state, but also of controlling it; and they did not scruple to affirm that, by their censures, they could open and shut the kingdom of heaven.38 As if this were not enough, they also gave out that a word of theirs could hasten the moment of death, and by cutt

I

36 Directions for a believer's walk, given by Christ's ministers from his word, are his own, and are accounted by him as if he did immediately speak them himself." Durham's Exposition of the Song of Solomon, p. 102. quote from the Glasgow reprint of 1788. That my references may be easily verified, and any error, if error there be, detected, I mention that the exact edition used will, in every case, be found specified in the List of Authors at the beginning of the volume. But, if it will give the reader any additional confidence, I will venture to observe, that I am always scrupulously careful in reference to quotations, having looked out each passage afresh, as the sheets came from the printer's hands. Some of the circumstances narrated in this chapter are so monstrous, that I hope to be excused in saying that I have taken all possible pains to secure their literal accuracy.

37 "Yea, such was their arrogance, that, as if they had been privy to the councils of God, or the dispensers of his vengeance to the world, they presumed to pronounce upon their future state, and doomed them, both body and soul to eternal torments." Wishart's Memoirs of the Marquis of Montrose, p. 237. "Ye heard of me the whole counsel of God." Rutherford's Religious Letters, p. 16. "I am free from the blood of all men; for I have communicated to you the whole counsel of God." Ibid., p. 191. "This is the great business of Gospel Ministers, to declare the whole counsel of God." Halyburton's Great Concern of Salvation, p. 4. Asserting that he had declared the whole counsel of God, and had keeped nothing back." Life of the Rev. Alexander Peden, p. 41, in vol. i. of Walker's Biographia Presbyteriana.

38

"The power of the keys is given to the ministers of the church, wherewith not only by the preaching of the word, but also to church censures, (sic) they open and shut the kingdom of heaven." Dickson's Truth's Victory over Error, p. 282. "To preach the Word, impugne, rebuik, admonishe, exhort and correct, and that under no less paine then casting both bodie and soull into eternall hell's fire." Forbes' Certaine Records touching the Estate of the Kirk, p. 519. "The next words, 'Whatsoever ye shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven,' being spoken to the Apostles, and in them to other Ministers of Jesus Christ." Gillespie's Aaron's Rod Blossoming, p. 366. "The keys of the kingdom of Heaven" committed and intrusted to the pastors and other ruling officers of the Church." Ibid., p. 260.

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