infatuation, have ventured to impeach the saviours of their country -the martyrs in the cause of all that is dear or valuable to civilized or rational natures-of motives the most iniquitous, and of conduct the most base and degrading. For Crichton, or for the writer of this paper, to attempt a conversion of such men to any thing resembling true patriotism or constitutional feeling, would be at once idle and preposterous. Can the Ethiopian change his skin? But although, in regard to them, the labour may be fruitless, yet, in respect of some who might otherwise be entangled and retained in the meshes and captivity of such degrading principles, we deem it proper to premise a few things, by way of investigation into the origin of this unfortunate revolution of opinion.

In the first place, we may safely refer a very considerable proportion of that reformationary aversion which at present prevails, to the jealousy and disgust with which the very terms expressive of reform have, since the period of the French Revolution, been regarded. Unable or unwilling to discriminate betwixt that restlessness of temper and perversion of principle, that morbid and vitiated feeling which characterised the partizans of liberty and equality, of reformation and confusion, in the latter end of the eighteenth century, and that principled, dispassionate, and regulated spirit, which actuated the reformers of the sixteenth,-confounding the efforts of men in behalf of all that can render the name of home, and kindred, and country, sacred and endearing, with that senseless and misguided resistance which had for its object the disunion of kindred, and the dissolution of every tie of true patriotism and pure religion-many, perhaps well-meaning people, have been gradually, and almost imperceptibly, led to confound opinions and conduct which are diametrically opposite. In the ardour of their zeal for law, and order, and subordination, and peace, things not absolutely, but relatively valuable, such men forget, that it was from a chaos of the most jarring elements, from amidst the fires of martyrdom and the ravages of civil war, that our

present enviable Constitution arose ; and, yielding themselves up entirely to the horror inspired by the enormities of the recent revolution in France, they forget that such enormities are common only to the insurrections of a people in a state of slavery; and that if the Constitution of this country be such as we boast it is,-if we have become, under it, a free, intelligent, and happy people, there can be no danger that any spirit of inquiry and reformation which can ever prevail among us, will lead to measures which reason may not justify, or humanity approve. We are as averse as the most interested and zealous placeman could wish us to be, to any thing pointing towards revolution or disquiet. We rejoice, and we hope we shall long continue to rejoice, in the possession of an unrivalled form of Government; but we love to be grateful for the blessings we enjoy; and we shall never think it a good reason for dishonouring the memory of our ancestors, to whom we owe so much, that a people with whose domestic concerns we have nothing to do, have, in our own time, happened to conduct themselves tumultuously.

Let us pause seriously, for a few moments, over the history of the Romish Church, as it was by law established in Scotland previous to the period of the Reformation. Let us examine her tenets, and explore her sanctuaries, and bring under review the characters and interests of her teachers. Let us trace the invariable connection betwixt Papal bigotry and regal despotism-betwixt that tyranny which enslaves and enfeebles the inind, and that by which the body is held in subjection: and, after having weighed the extent of moral and political evil, arising from a religion and a government of which ignorance, superstition, passive obedience, and non-resistance, constituted the foundation, let us then estimate, if we can, the debt of gratitude which is due to the reformers.

If we would ascend, however, to the source of the evil, exasperated and extended as it undoubtedly has been by the French Revolution, it becomes necessary to refer our readers to that great and comprehensive distinction, in point of political prin

ciples, which, more than any other cause, diversifies and colours the opinions of our countrymen. It was the observation of an eminent statesman, "Tell me whether a Briton is a Whig or a Tory, and I will explain his sentiments on every other subject." Tell us whether a Briton considers, or pretends to consider, the rights and constitution of his country as worth contending for, or gives himself up, with easy and accommodating indifference, respecting law, and privilege, and popular rights, and similar unfashionable topics, to the support and aggrandizement of the crown,-tell us whether a fellow-citizen professes to be a Foxite or a Pittite, and we shall instantly resolve his real or avowed opinions respecting the Reformation.

In consequence of those party distinctions, and of the influence of the Crown having (partly by private management, and partly by public measures) been considerably increased during these last sixty years, it is not surprising to find the love of many, for the good old cause of Civil and Religious Liberty, considerably abated, and their zeal and ardour for the new system proportionably encreased. It is not at all surprising, that men, who are either immediately employed in trimming the wheels of Government, or connected with those who are so,-that their relations, friends, acquaintances, and dependents, unto the third and fourth generation, should endeavour to obscure the fame, or vitiate the virtues of men, whose chief merit consisted in resisting private influence and public oppression. We do not, we are certain, exceed the truth when we affirm, that one-third of the community is at present composed of men, who, to use the emphatic words which were addressed to the unfortunate but immortal Burns, "have no business to think for themselves."

The union of the sister kingdoms, under one form of government, and the consequent approximation of sentiments and manners, may also have had a powerful effect in lowering the general respect for the reformers of Scotland. While every measure under Henry VIII., the avowed father of the Episcopal Church, was effected by the inter

vention and agency of Government,~~~ while the King suggested, and the Parliament most obsequiously seconded, every Anti-Papistical enactment,

while the whole resources of the Secular Clergy were confiscated without a struggle, and almost without a murmur,-the Reformation in Scotland was effected, in direct opposition to, and under the most severe persecution from, the Constituted Authorities of the land. In the latter case, turbulence, civil broils, and bloodshed, marked the progress, and indicated the triumphs of the reformed religion; whilst, in the former, the silent and disregarded remonstrances of a few pensioned monks were the only indications of a change of faith. It is not extraordinary, therefore, that many, among the higher ranks in particular, who have long admired and imitated the manners and sentiments of our Southern neighbours, reflecting on the dreadful convulsions with which Presbyterianism was introduced into Scotland, combined with its present austere and unassuming appearance, should be disposed to prefer the placid looks and more courtly deportment of the sister Church. Episcopacy is the religion of the Court-it is the religion of the King-and, from the shewy nature of its ceremonies and observances, as well as from its dignities and political influence, it has long been esteemed the religion of a gentleman. So long as this continues to be the light in which it is regarded, we fear we shall look in vain for a candid and unprejudiced estimate of the principles, motives, and conduct of the Scottish reformers.

Another cause of that discredit into which the characters of our reformers have lately fallen, may be traced to those numerous and popular secessions which have been made from the Presbyterian Church. By far the greater proportion of our Scottish Seceders profess to believe the doctrines and to follow the steps of Calvin and Knox; while they are disposed to represent the Established Church by terms expressive of apostacy, and dereliction of principle. Without investigating very minutely the truth or falsehood of these assertions, some have been led to join in the Secession,-while by far the

greater number, to whom the conduct of those Seceders appeared preposterous, have associated with the doctrines of the original reformers all that gloomy asperity, puritanical cant, and uncharitable invective, which have been (not altogether, perhaps, without foundation) ascribed to their secession-followers in modern times. Thus have names, which were once mentioned with veneration, love, and gratitude-and doctrines, which, the more thoroughly they are understood, will the more devoutly be adopted and practised, from being identified with other names and other doctrines very dissimilar, been degraded in the imaginations of those who are ever disposed to form conclusions from appearances alone.

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The Scottish reformers have been branded as enthusiasts, austere in their doctrines and manners, glectful of the common civilities, and incapable of exercising the charities of social life. The character of Knox has been particularized as brutally insolent, and rudely disloyal. The tears which he is said to have drawn from the bright eyes of the Scottish Queen, have, in this age of chivalrous sentiment, produced a whole host of Quixotic defenders, backed by all the influence of the drawing-room. Many who are duly qualified for appreciating, as well as practising, those useful and becoming civilities, upon which our very admission into polished society at present depends, are yet altogether incapable of estimating correctly "the form and pressure" of the age in which our reformers lived. Many who would deem it, not only brutal, but treasonable, to insult the majesty of royalty with a look of dissent, forget that, in former times, prince and peasant, layman and priest, chieftain and reformer, frequently associated together with a natural and unconstrained familiarity. Many, too, who prize and defend the privileges we at present enjoy, do not truly estimate that intrepid and inflexible boldness of spirit, without which no reformation ever was, or can be effected, in opposition to established and constituted authority. Had our reformers been less zealous, or less obstinate, in the support of their opinions-had they, ac

cording to the wish of their more polished posterity, blended the mildness of the dove with the cunning of the serpent, the passiveness of the lamb with the strength of the lionhad they, in other words, allowed themselves to be gained over by a few courtly and insidious speeches and promises, or been deterred, by the most dreadful denunciation of vengeance and destruction, from that determined attitude which they so nobly presented—had they, like some modern politicians, varied and fluetuated as party or interest inclined, making shipwreck of all that is manly in character, in order to please, to flatter, to accomplish ;-had the reformer Knox, or any of his fellowlabourers in the cause of eternal truth, acted in this manner; those who now pollute his memory by their recollections, might, at this very hour, have been deprived even of the power of complaint, and subjected to all the miseries of religious and civil despotism.

Not a little of the odium, too, under which our reformers lie, may be traced to the popular, and, in many respects, valuable history of our countryman Hume. In the History of England, we are informed, that superstition and fanaticism are two different species of religion, which stand diametrically opposite to each other-and that, whilst the former is the genius of Popery, the latter is the characteristic of the reformed faith. There, too, with a degree of address worthy the advocate of political oppression and atheistical tenets, we are occasionally admonished of the "fanatical character, the protestant fanaticism, the puritanical and enraged reformers." The character of our Scottish reformer, Knox, is particularly honoured with abuse; and those vices to which his extreme and characteristical virtues appeared to approach, are laid to his charge with the most determined and insidious malignity. We do not stop at present to disprove assertions which are so manifestly marked with absurdity of reasoning and assumption of fact. We shall not offend the good sense and judgment of our readers, with a proof that fanaticism and superstition are blemishes which adhere, in a greater or less degree, to

all religions whatever, and are, in fact, not in opposition to, (as Mr Hume asserts,) but in perfect combination and alliance with each other. But we cannot dismiss this well-known author without an effort, feeble it may be, but certainly well intended, to counteract principles which are equally absurd in politics and in religion. To such of our readers as may yet have to learn, that religious and civil liberty are children of the same parents, and heirs of the same promises, we would raise our voice in caution and admonition,—we would tell them of the tenor and purpose of the whole history-of its almost professed, and certainly undeniable tendency, to justify the most unlawful measures of the most detestable tyrants, we would admonish them against that religious poison to which we have above alluded, and which has already, we fear, operated but too powerfully, in vitiating the very heart's-blood of reformed religion and true patriotism. If ever the period shall arrive, which we earnestly hope never may, when the inhabitants of this country shall generally and cordially coincide in the opinions, and act upon the principles of this Historian, then we may safely aver, that the reformers have lived in vain, and that all for which they contended unto death, is for ever lost to their misguided and degraded posterity.

"The Great Unknown" has now become a term whereby a well-known and justly-admired Novelist is designated and pointed out to posterity; and it is a circumstance not less lamentable than surprising, to find the powers of that mighty mind employed in softening the atrocities and in ridiculing the zeal of these interesting times. The Covenanters are, by him, represented in the light of blind enthusiasts and narrow-minded zealots; and we question much, if all the historical evidence which Mr Crichton has been enabled to bring into the field, in opposition to, and in

Having thus attempted to explain what appear to us to be the true causes of that encreasing and mortifying disrepute into which the Covenanters have lately fallen, it is with pleasure that we now turn the atten tion of our readers to a work which, under a very modest and unpretending aspect, contains much valuable, and authentic, and even original information; accompanied by such observations as evidently tend to put matters to rights again, and to restore the staunch supporters of the Covenant to that high place in public esteem, from which they have been so unceremoniously and indecently pushed.

John Blackader, the minister of the parish of Traqueer, in Galloway, was one of those conscientious and unflinching individuals, who, rather than conform with the measures adopted by Middleton in the year 1662, to introduce Prelacy, chose to relinquish his living, and betake himself to the hill-sides and the glens, there to administer that spiritual instruction and admonition which he was not permitted to dispense within the walls of a church. Nay more,he was one of those composing a class still more limited, who refused to avail themselves of the indulgence some years afterwards offered to their acceptance, but who, without any asperity towards those who did so, con-tinued to contend for a full and unlimited emancipation from all prelatic restraints and observances. After having proved materially useful in opposing tyranny, and in propagating reformed opinions, and after having made many almost miraculous escapes, he was at last sentenced to imprisonment in the Bass, where he died.

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