Protestantism in Scotland - James Aitken Wylie

party being then in power, patronage had been
abolished. But now, patronage being restored,
those who had entered the Church by the free
choice of the people, and not by the nomination of
the patron, were called on to retrace their steps, and
begin anew by passing through this ordeal.
Collation from the bishop, which was also required
of them, implied something more than that they
had been informal ministers, namely, that they had
not been ministers at all, nor had ever discharged
one valid function. One of the clauses of that
collation ran thus -- "I do hereby receive him into
the functions of the holy ministry." That certainly
meant that the man now receiving collation had not
till then been clothed with the ministerial office,
and that for the first time was he now validly to
discharge its functions. The principle on which all
these changes proceeded was plainly this, that
government was restoring to Scotland a true
ministry, which it had lost when its ancient
hierarchy was overthrown.
It was not necessary in order to the carrying out
of these edicts that Charles II should leave London,
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