Protestantism in Scotland - James Aitken Wylie

inhabited by cannibals, and had never known either
civilization or Christianity. It is calculated that
during the twenty-eight years of persecution in
Scotland 18,000 persons suffered death, or
hardships approaching it.
There came a second breathing-time under
James II. This monarch, with the view of
introducing Popery into the three kingdoms,
published a Toleration, which he made universal. It
was a treacherous gift, but the majority of
Nonconformists in both England and Scotland
availed themselves of it. The bulk of the outed
Presbyterian pastors accepted it, and returned to the
discharge of their functions.
There was a party, however, who refused to
profit by King James's Toleration, and who
continued to be the objects of a relentless
persecution. They had previously raised the
question whether the House of Stuart had not, by
their perversion of the Constitution, religious and
civil, and their systematic and habitual tyranny,
forfeited all right to the throne. The conclusion at
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