Theology at Orthez, in Bearn, to call on the French Protestants for aid, to "the mother of the pure faith and asylum of the saints;" and so warmly did they respond to his appeal, that though not a little burdened and distracted with their own wants and difficulties, they cheerfully reimbursed the suffering Genevese, and lent both men and pecuniary assistance. Such are some of the leading facts connected with the Protestantism of Bearn and Navarre; and surely every Christian must rejoice in them, as affording fresh confirmation of the power and free grace of God, and bearing out the testimony which we have drawn together, regarding the Christian character of the Protestant Church of France.

NOTICES OF THE CONTEMPORANEOUS HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.

THE reader may be disposed to ask, what is the connection between the Church of France and the Church of Scotland, that I should propose to give "Contemporaneous Notices" of the latter, in a work devoted to the history of the former. I answer, that besides the diversity of God's dispensations towards two Protestant and Presbyterian Churches, which will become apparent on the comparison of their history, and which may suggest important reflections, there was, especial ly in early times, a great degree of intercourse between Scotland and France, which renders a little blending of their histories desirable, and almost essential to a just historical view of either. It may not be generally known, but it is an interesting fact, that from a very early period in Scottish history, long prior to the Reformation, the names of various Scotsmen are to be found among the Professors in the Continental Universities. Whether from the poverty of the soil, or, what is more probable, the superior mind of her people, Scotland even then gave indication of the same diffusiveness as regards her children, for which she has been so remarkable in after ages. Thus, a Dr. Elphinston was Professor of Laws in the University of Paris, in 1471, and afterwards at Orleans. He was a native of Scotland; and after remaining abroad for nine years, returned and obtained an appointment in the Popish Church of Glasgow. He is looked up to as an early promoter of commerce in that city. At the period of the Reformation, it was common for the more intelligent

Scottish gentry to send their sons to finish their education on the Continent. France was then eminent for law and languages. Erskine of Dun, one of the early Reformers, spent part of his time on the Continent, and encouraged a learned Frenchman to settle as a teacher of Greek and Latin at Montrose. Even then, Scotland had the reputation, in Europe, of being a learned nation-learned, as compared with the wide-spread ignorance of others. There can be little question, that this Scottish thirst for knowledge, and the intercourse with learned men on the Continent to which it led, lent an important influence in hastening on the Reformation, and in making it so decided in this country as it proved.

In the destructive pursuit of war, as well as the peaceful pursuit of knowledge, Scotland was connected with France. So early as the reign of Malcolm III., she sent not less than two thousand men to the aid of her French neighbour. Indeed, so frequent and large were these warlike contributions, that, putting them altogether, above thirty thousand Scottish soldiers were, on seven occasions, sent to fight the battles of France. Charles VII. of that country, raised a military company, called the Gens de armes d' Ecosse, consisting of one hundred horse and two hundred archers, and gave them the precedency of all the French troops. So lately as the reign of Louis XIV. there was a royal regiment of Scotchmen in France. On the British Parliament, however, considering it improper that so large a body of their countrymen should be in the service of a foreign power, they were recalled; but so great was the reputation which the Scotch nation had acquired in France, that it was a common saying, "Fidelle comme une Ecossois." When the military tie between the two countries was so strong, we may believe that others, the literary and the mercantile, would be strong also. Nor was the intercourse confined to France. Scotchmen, from various impulses, were scattered over the Continent of Europe. Many Scotch names, such as Bruce, Douglas, Hamilton, Ogilvie, Stuart, Weems, Leslie, the names of leading families, are to be found in Germany, Russia, and Italy, to this day. Part of the town of Dantzic bears the name of "Little Scotland," so numerous were its Scotch inhabitants. With regard, more particularly, to the ministers of the Protestant Churches of the two countries, it is well known, that not a few Scotchmen, and these leading men, sojourned for a time in France. The great Reformer Knox, when in exile, preached in French in her churches; Mel

ville taught in her colleges; George Buchanan wrote his Psalms and other poems in the same country. Boyd, who had studied under the eminent civil lawyer, Cajucius, for four years, in the same country, became a Professor at Saumur. In 1611, he was joined by his relative, Zachary Boyd, who first was a Regent in the College, then a French Protestant minister; and when his congregation was dispersed by war, pastor of the Barony Parish, Glasgow. It is well known that Welch, the son-in-law of Knox, when banished from his charge in Scotland, became a most successful minister of the Church of France: and Cameron, a native of Glasgow, and afterwards Principal of the University, was, in the first instance, Professor of Divinity at Saumur; and was so highly esteemed by the learned men of Europe, that he passed among them by the name of "Cameron le Grand," speaking Greek extempore with as great ease as the scholars of those days spoke Latin. Many other names could be mentioned; but let these suffice to show, that a very important connection subsisted between Scotland and France in early times; and that, therefore, there is no impropriety, when treating of the Church of the one, in making a parallel reference to the Church of the other.

It

It is unnecessary to say any thing of the moral and religious condition of Scotland, prior to the Reformation. was deplorable in the extreme. Ignorance, especially ignorance of God's Word, was paramount; and vice, in a vast variety of forms, was, of course, corresponding. When almost half the property of the nation, and all the power, was in the hands of the Church of Rome, the patron of superstition, and idolatry, and licentiousness-when even in Roman Catholic countries it was necessary to pass the law of mort main, restraining the donations of devotees, on their death-bed, to the Church, lest the whole property of the country should be swallowed up by ecclesiastics-we may well believe that the degradation of the Scottish nation, which was eminently Popish, in its submission, was complete. I find that there were connected with the Cathedral of Glasgow alone, eighteen baronies of land, in nine counties, and two hundred and forty parishes, besides an immense estate in Cumberland; and that there were either thirty-two or thirty-nine prebendaries, and as many parsonages, connected with the same church. As to the moral character of the people, it may be estimated from what is recorded by Wodrow, in his MS. collections of a life of Gordon, Bishop of Ork

ney, regarding Shetland, ten years after the Reformation had begun, viz. "that all vice and horrible crimes were there committed, so that six hundred persons were convicted of fornication, incest and adultery." It is true that there were thirty-two parishes in Shetland, but the population was comparatively small. Hence, the moral picture is appalling; and if this was the state of things in the remote and quieter districts, even after the light of Reformation had begun to shine, what must have been the general condition of the population in the more populous districts, where temptations to sin were stronger, before the restraint of the reformed doctrine and discipline had begun to be felt. Such was the working of Popery with all her power. Surely the Church of Rome had great reason to be ashamed. But no. She boasted of her excellence, and as in France, so here, raised up the most determined opposition to the propagation of the Gospel. The Scottish martyrs, down to 1560, were few, compared with those of France at the same period; but they were noble men, and with God's blessing, wrought out the salvation of their country. So early as 1527, Patrick Hamilton was burnt at St. Andrews; and shortly after, two gentlemen at Glasgow, Jeremiah Russell, a Grey friar, and John Kennedy, of Ayrshire, a young man not eighteen years of age, shared the same fate. But, as an old writer remarks, "their death was the very death of Popery in Glasgow and the five adjacent shires, in so far, that the people were so greatly enraged, that thereafter, resolving openly to profess the truth, they bound themselves by promise and oath, which they subscribed, that if any of them should be called in question for matters of religion at any time thereafter, they would take up arms; which the citizens of Glasgow did." While persecution was powerfully teaching in one way, faithful men were not less zealous and laborious in other ways; so that, before the year of the Reformation, (1560,) much had been done to enlighten and concentrate the public mind. For instance, Wodrow, in his MS. collections, speaking, in 1558, of Willock, who had been a Franciscan friar, and received ordination in England, whither he had fled for safety from his Popish oppressors, says, "Such was the greedy appetite now prevailing after the sincere milk of the Word, and the unwearied diligence of Mr. Willock, that every day he taught and exhorted great multitudes of nobility, barons, and others, who

* M'Ure's History of Glasgow. 1737.

came to hear him in his room, yea, from his bed, when he was unable to rise." It was this previous preparation of years which made the great public change so decided and harmonious when it came. With regard to the actual Reformation of 1560, great was the revival of true religion which it indicated. The Spirit of God was poured down, though not perhaps in so visible a form as in particular places in after times; yet as really and powerfully. The facts descriptive of progress are inexplicable, except upon the supposition of a wonderful descent of the Holy Spirit. At the first General Assembly, which met in Edinburgh in the close of 1560, there were, according to Row's MS. only twelve ministers, and thirty ruling elders. Other persons, forty-three in number, were appointed; some to read the word in the mother tongue, the people being unable to read themselves, and some to exhort: the one class were called readers, the other exhorters. The whole official moral force might be rated therefore at eighty-five. Wodrow, in his MS. Life of Spotswood, says, that in the same year there was a meeting of the well-affected noblemen, barons, and burghers, who had hitherto been carrying on the Reformation, for the purpose of fixing the few ministers above spoken of in the burgh towns, as the most important spheres. Eight of them were appointed to the leading towns; the remainder, with the addition of another, making five, were appointed superintendents or commissioners, for the purpose of planting the desolate rural districts as pastors could be procured. In the mean time, they were themselves to visit them, and stir up the nobles and people to make provision for the coming teacher. It would seem, over the whole wide, and peopled, and fertile country of the Lothians, in the vicinity of the metropolis, there were only six churches available for Protestant worship, and they were not all supplied with pastors. Such was the paucity of the ministers, that the General Assembly parcelled them out in different parts of the country for a few months, sometimes for half a year at a time. No commencement of a National Church could be more humble. And what, under the blessing of the Spirit of God, was the result in seven short years? I learn from the Register of the ministers, exhorters, and readers of 1567, an important document lately printed, like some of the Wodrow MS. collections, by the Maitland Club, though not published, and therefore inaccessible to the general reader,—I learn, that instead of 12 ministers there were 252; and in