plantations in America for life; and in case of his return to
Great Britain, to suffer imprisonment for life." All chapels were
to be closed; and even in a private house only four persons
besides the family were allowed to be present at any service. In
1748, no letters of orders, not given by some bishop of England or
Ireland, were allowed in Scotland; and no persons were allowed to
officiate as chaplains in private families, or to preach or
perform any divine services in houses of which they were not the
masters, unless they belonged to the Presbyterian establishment.
These atrocious acts were, undoubtedly, intended to destroy "root
and branch" the Scottish Church. Happily some laws are so
stringent that their very stringency prevents their thorough
execution. It should never be forgotten that the English
Episcopate unanimously opposed the Act of 1748 in the House of
Lords.] In very truth, so far as the worship of God was concerned,
"they wandered"--these churchmen of Scotland--"in deserts and in
mountains and in dens and caves of the earth."

We may not sympathize with the political scruples of the non-
jurors of Scotland. But any men who so possess the courage of
their convictions as not to shrink from loss of goods and danger
of life, and who accept the trials of martyrdom without posing as
martyrs in personal comfort and security, deserve and will receive
the veneration of all true-hearted and right-minded men. And in
this matter, "let all history declare whether in any age or in any
cause, as followers of Knox or of Montrose, as Cameronians or as
Jacobites, the men--aye and the women--of Scotland have quailed
from any degree of sacrifice or suffering." [Footnote: Lord
Stanhope, History of England, in. 210.]