applicable to the state of things in some parts of Scotland at present. The Bishop says, "It has long been my opinion, and very well known, I believe, to be my opinion, that the laity in Scotland of the Episcopal persuasion, if they understand the genuine principles of Episcopacy which they profess, ought, in the present state of things, to resort to the ministry of their indigenous pastors. And the clergymen, of English or of Irish Ordination, exercising their functions in Scotland without uniting with the Scottish Bishops, are, in my judgment, doing nothing better than keeping alive a schism."[1]
Little more remains for me to add on the subject of the Scottish Church. During a long time the Church of Scotland had no Liturgy, for that of 1637 was never generally adopted. Nor was the English service introduced, until the reign of Queen Anne: and even then its use was left to the discretion of the Clergy. The disputes respecting the usages have been detailed, as well as the particulars relative to the English and Scottish Offices for the Holy Communion. For many years, the Office framed after the model of King Edward's First Book of Common Prayer, and the Book of 1637, was used indifferently with the Anglican Form: but occasionally objections were raised against the former, by persons in England. This was especially the case during the debates in Parliament, respecting the removal of the penal laws. The objection, however, was most unreasonable. "The Episcopal Church in Scotland having adopted the same articles of religion with the united Church of England and Ireland, one would have thought, that even the suspicion of a difference,
- ↑ Skinner's Annals, p. 391.
