Protestantism in Scotland - James Aitken Wylie

office.
The two men of all living Scotsmen whom
Middleton and Sharp most feared were now in their
grave, and the way was open for the execution of
the project on which their heart, as well as that of
the king, was so much set -- the institution of
prelacy in Scotland. Accordingly, on the 6th of
September, 1661, Charles II issued a proclamation,
restoring "the ancient and legal government of the
Church by archbishops and bishops, as it was
exercised in the year 1637." The only reason
assigned for so vast a change was the king's good
pleasure. The royal mandate must serve for the
wishes of the people, the law of the country, and
the warrant of Scripture. In the December
following, five ministers set out for London, and
got themselves appointed bishops, and consecrated
in Westminster. The first was James Sharp, who
now, as the reward of his treachery, obtained the
archiepiscopal mitre of St. Andrews. The second
was Fairfoul, who was made Bishop of Glasgow. If
a slender theologian, he had some powers as a
humorist; but his censors said that his morals were
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