McCosh has called "a somewhat heterogeneous mixture of covenanting ministers who had lived in the times of the persecution; of prelatic clergy, whose convictions in favor of Episcopacy were not sufficiently deep to induce them to abandon their living; and of a race of young men zealous for the Presbyterian establishment, but only half-educated and superficially accomplished."" The amalgam proved to be a type of preachers who called themselves Moderates, and ultimately became the dominant party in the Church; when, as Witherspoon said, they showed themselves "very immoderate for moderation." In their discourses the more highly educated of them cultivated the graces of literature and rhetoric to a great degree of excellence, but avoided all distinctively evangelical topics, and confined themselves to the truths which are common to both natural and revealed religion. They were tolerant of everything but evangelical enthusiasm, and it was not uncommon that ministers were placed by them over congregations who were so unwilling to receive them that the military had to be called out to preserve the peace during the in "The Scottish Philosophy," p. 17. James McCosh, DD., LL.D. stallation services. For nearly a hundred years they carried matters with a high hand, and the consequence of their ascendancy was-I quote again from McCosh-that "the common people in rural districts sank into a stupid ignorance of religious truth, and, in the crowded lanes of the rising cities, into utter ungodliness and criminality, except in so far as " these evils were counteracted "by the rapidly increasing Dissenters, or by the Evangelical minority within the Established Church.”* But there was always a "remnant" which was true to the doctrines of grace, and at length the members of that "old guard," led by Sir Henry Moncrief, Dr. Andrew Thomson, of Edinburgh, and afterwards by Dr. Thomas Chalmers, increased in numbers to such an extent that they became the majority. This created a great spiritual revival over the land, led to extraordinary efforts for what Chalmers called the "excavation" of the heathen at home; to the inauguration of missionary enterprise among the heathen abroad; and ultimately, through an effort to get rid of the evils of patronage, and the interference of the civil courts with the spiritual * "The Scottish Philosophy," p. 18. James McCosh, D.D., LL.D. independence of the Church, issued in the memorable Disruption of 1843, when, rather than submit to things which were declared to be inseparable from their connection with the State Church, more than four hundred ministers left their manses and their churches and formed the Free Church of Scotland. To this period belong, on the Moderate side, William Robertson, the historian, Hugh Blair, the rhetorician, Principal Hill, the theologian, Alexander Carlyle, commonly known as Jupiter Carlyle, and others; and on the Evangelical, Dr. John Erskine, the correspondent of Jonathan Edwards, John Maclaurin, John Witherspoon, Andrew Thomson, Thomas Chalmers, and his trusty lieutenants, Candlish, Cunningham, Buchanan, and Guthrie. It may be said to have come to an end with the passing of Disraeli's bill for the abolition of Patronage in 1874. But within these recent years another period, which will be known in history as the Anti-State-Church period, has begun, and of that we may say that the issue is not doubtful, though it may not be immediate. I have confined myself thus far, for the sake of clearness, to the direct course of the Established Church; but now I must go back and trace the rise and progress of the Dissenting denominations. The Cameronians, or Society - men, known more lately as the Reformed Presbyterian Church, never entered into the Church of the Revolution-settlement. They insisted that the monarch and people should accept and subscribe to the National Covenant, and because they could not secure that, they declined to perform all the duties of citizenship, though they maintained a high standard of religious character. Their Church never grew into much strength, and latterly the larger number of their congregations united with the Free Church, leaving not more than half a score-if so many-to perpetuate the name. The first Secession dates from 1733, and is connected primarily with the name of Ebenezer Erskine. In that year a sermon was preached by Mr. Erskine, as retiring moderator of the Synod of Perth and Stirling, in which he protested both eloquently and forcibly against the evils then existing in the Church, and especially against that of Patronage. For this he was by the Synod pronounced worthy of censure, and on appeal to the General Assembly he was, along with three other brethren who by that time had placed themselves by his side, summarily cast out of the Church. These four formed themselves into a Presbytery, and proclaimed the right of the members of the Church to choose their own ministers and office-bearers. By the year 1747 they had grown into a denomination of forty-five congregations; but at that date an unhappy controversy arose among them over the lawfulness of taking an oath which was administered to those who became burgesses in certain cities and towns of the country, and which pledged the obtestant to uphold "the true religion presently professed within the realm." This was supposed by some to refer simply to the Protestant religion, and those who were of that opinion believed that any Seceder might take the oath; but by others it was held to signify the Established Church of the country, and those who maintained that construction believed that no Seceder could consistently come under such an obligation. Between these two parties the contention was so sharp that they parted asunder the one from the other, and the former were popularly known as Burghers, the latter as Anti-Burghers. These two denominations * These names have been much ridiculed, and often very |