All the Clergy, who refused to take the Oath of Allegiance to the new Sovereigns, were removed from their Parishes; and "from their refusal, they soon acquired the appellation of Nonjurors."[1] Mr. Laing even makes Presbytery the condition, on which William was admitted to the throne, thereby insinuating, that the people of Scotland would not have received him on any other terms. Yet, had the Bishops yielded to the King's wishes, the government would have been settled on such conditions as would have prevented Presbytery from being established. "As Presbytery was the condition on which he was admitted to the throne, an Act was passed to abolish prelacy and pre-eminence in Ecclesiastical Office."[2] Undoubtedly William was placed in circumstances of difficulty.[3] By favouring the Episcopal Clergy, he immediately gave offence to the Presbyterians. The mistake, however, in Scotland, as well as in England, was the imposition of the Oath upon the Clergy, who were in possession of benefices. It would have been sufficient for the safety of the government to have enjoined the Oath in all new appointments; but this wise and moderate course did not suit the views of either the Scottish, or the English advisers of King William: and hence the sad and lamentable schisms and divisions in both countries.
Such Episcopal Clergymen as took the Oath of Allegiance, and acknowledged Presbytery as the only legal establishment, were allowed by the State to retain their churches, and also to be admitted, with the Presbyterian Clergy, to a share in the Ecclesiastical government. To assent to Presbytery, as established
