Protestantism in Scotland - James Aitken Wylie

of the cross. Under this Act it was lawful to
profane God's name every hour of the day, but it
was a crime to mention the name of Jesus without
lifting one's hat. Some have distinguished between
principles and points; in this controversy all the
principles were on one side, and all the points on
the other; for the men enforcing the latter admitted
that for these rites there was no foundation in the
Word of God, and that they were matters of
indifference.
A space for deliberation was allowed. The 24th
of August was fixed upon as the term when they
must express their submission to the Act, or abide
the consequences. That day had already been
marked by a horror unspeakably great, for on the
24th of August, 1572, had been enacted one of the
most terrible crimes of all history -- the Massacre
of St. Bartholomew.
With very different feelings was that day
waited for in the halls of the voluptuous court of
Charles II, in the conclave of a tyrannical
hierarchy, and in the parsonages and homes of the
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