medieval-atlas/the-church/400

Transcription

The Restoration to the Revolution Charles n's ambivalent promise in 1660 to 'protect and preserve the government of the Church of Scotland, as it is settled by law, without violation', was followed in 1662 by parliamentary legislation restoring episcopacy. At the same time legislation was directed at the covenants, which were declared unlawful, and at conventicles, which were already a problem in areas where opponents of the religious settlement declined to attend their parish churches and worshipped privately, sometimes in groups on the hillsides. Particular danger lurked in one statute which required ministers admitted to charges after the abolition of patronage in 1649 to seek presentation from the patron and collation from the bishop. This scheme was considered by Middleton and like-minded politicians as a wonderful opportunity. to purge the church of a small number of malcontents and extremists who would be caught in the net. In many parts of the country ministers and congregations acquiesced or accepted the proposals; but in the south-west a much higher proportion of ministers than had been anticipated refused to comply with legislation which forced them to recognise both episcopacy and lay patronage. As a consequence they were driven from their charges. Frequently too, congregations followed their 'outed' ministers and met secretly for worship. It has been reckoned that some 274 ministers were deprived from the parishes shown in the map, the bulk of them in 1662, but some also in the 1670s and 1680s. Of these 135 were located in the synod areas of Glasgow, Ayr, Dumfries and Galloway. North of the Tay ( and even north of the Forth) less difficulty was experienced in conformity with the enactments. Parishes where ministers were ejected kms o 25 50 75 100 , ,, , , o 10 20 30 40 50 60 miles Ejections of ministers after the Restoration JK 400

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