against, and the prince came to oppose. We also asso- ciated ourselves, early binding ourselves to proi e his
interest, and were the firsl who openly armed and de- clared our desire to join with him." Put while the Society People welcomed William as an expected de- liverer, they openly dissented from the Revolution set- tlement as defective in various points. In particular, the Covenant, so far from being adopted either in the letter or in the spirit by the State, was not even owned by the Church: and the monarch look oath- in express
contradiction t" it. Presbyterianism, so tar from being established in all his majesty's dominion-, was only established in Scotland, and that under Kra-lian con- ditions, while prelacy was established in England and Ireland, and the king himself became an Episcopalian.
The establishment of these different forms of Church government in different pans of the British dominions was (ileeied by the sole authority of the king and Par- liament, even before the Assembly "f the Church was permitted to meet ; and thus the principle Of the royal
supremacy over the Church continued to be asserted,
and was even incorporated with the Revolution settle- ment. The principal objections, then, which the Soci- ety People alleged against the devolution settlement
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES 527 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES
were. (1) that as it left the Acts Bescissory in full force, it cancelled the attainments of the Second Reformation, together with the Covenants; and ("2) that the civil rulers usurped an authority over the Church which virtually destroyed her spiritual independence, and was at variance with the sole headship of the Redeemer himself.
The defects of the Revolution settlement were due partly to William's Erastian policy, and his desire to re- tain the prelatic clergy within the Established Church of Scotland, but partly also to the temporizing policy of the Church itself. " Though the acts of Parliament," as Dr. Hetherington justly remarks, "made no mention of the Second Reformation and the National Covenants, it was the direct duty of the Church to have declared her adherence to both ; and though the State had still refused to recognise them, the Church would, by this avowal, have at least escaped from being justly exposed to the charge of having submitted to a violation of her own sacred Covenants. In the same spirit of compro- mise, the Church showed herself but too ready to com- ply with the king's pernicious policy of including as many as possible of the prelatic clergy within the Na- tional Church. This was begun by the first General Assembly, and continued for several succeeding years, though not to the full extent wished by William, till a very considerable number of those men whose hands had been deeply dyed in the guilt of the persecution were received into the bosom of that Church which they had so long striven utterly to destroy. It was absolutely impossible that such men could become true Presbyterians; and the very alacrity with which many of them subscribed the Confession of Faith only proved the more clearly that they were void of either faith or honor. Their admission into the Presbyterian Church of Scotland was the most fatal event which ever oc- curred in the strange, eventful history of that Church." It was not to be expected that the Society People could approve of the conduct either of the king or of the Church in the matter of the Revolution settlement. They occupied, accordingly, an attitude of firm and de- cided protest against the principles avowed by William and acted on by the Church ; and they maintained that there had been a decided departure on the part of both the one and the other from the principles of the Second Reformation and the obligations of the Covenant.
Holding such views, it was impossible for the Society People to incorporate themselves with the Established Church of Scotland. They were compelled, therefore, to occupy a separate position as Dissenters from a Church whose constitution was radically vitiated, and as protest- ers against a professedly national government which had violated the most solemn national obligations. Three Cameronian ministers, it is true — Messrs. Shields, Linning, and Boyd — applied for admission into the Na- tional Church for themselves and their people, on con- dition that they might acknowledge breach of Cove- nant, and purge out the ignorant and heterodox and scandalous ministers who had taken part in shedding the blood of the saints. But every proposal of this nat- ure was rejected. After unsuccessful efforts to obtain redress, they at last submitted, and the people who had adhered to them remained in a state of dissent.
For upwards of sixteen years after the avowal of their peculiar principles, the strict Presbyterians had remained without a stated ministry, or without any separate organization as a Church. In 1681, however, societies were formed which, though exercising no ec- clesiastical functions, tended to give unity to the body, and to make such arrangements as were necessary for the maintenance of worship and ordinances, encourag- ing at the same time among the people a devoted at- tachment to Reformation principles. Availing them- selves of these praying societies for nearly twenty 3-ears after the Revolution, the people waited patiently until the Lord should send them pastors. At length, in 1707, their wishes and prayers were answered, the Rev. John
M'Millan. of Balmaghie, having resigned connection with the Established Church, and joined himself to their body. For a few years before, he had been con- tending within the pale of the Church for the whole of the Covenanted Reformation; but instead of meeting with sympathy from his brethren, he was hastily and irregularly deposed. Having joined the Society People, he labored for many years in the work of the ministry among them with indefatigable earnestness and zeal, maintaining the principles of the Second Reformation till his dying day.