The website wasn't updated last month so I have included my column from then for your interest.In September I wrote about our historical links with the Church in Arbroath before the Reformation. There are some episodes of interest which happened after the Reformation, especially in the 18th century when churchmen were identified both by denomination and political loyalty. Those who were convinced Presbyterians supported the Hanoverian rule, and the Episcopalians supported the Stuart cause.The prolonged time of the Reformation had seen Presbyterians and Episcopalians at each other?s throats (sometimes literally) since the 1550?s, through to the later years of the Stuart crown; and each party was in the ascendency at different times. When William of Orange gained the British throne, he was indifferent as to whether the Scottish Church should be Presbyterian or Episcopalian as long as it was loyal to him. The Scottish Bishops had had the opportunity to offer their loyalty and two Bishops were commissioned to go to London though only one, Bishop Alexander Rose of Edinburgh, reached there. He was uncertain of committing to any partnership between William and the other Bishops, and his response, ?Sir, I shall serve you as far as law, reason, or conscience shall allow me.? was not sufficient for the King.It was soon after that under Penal Law of 1719 Episcopacy was banned; although Episcopalian clergy continued to preach and conduct worship, though often in secret. These clergy were regarded as non-jurors since they felt that they could not make new oaths of loyalty to King William, having previously given oaths of allegiance to the Stuart King, James II. For many ordinary people, it did not matter whether worship was led by Presbyterians or Episcopalians, but there was a great deal of animosity between the clergy.At one point in Arbroath, around 1711 when the Earl of Mar and his army were in the field, Presbyterian ministers went into hiding, and as George Hay in his book The History of Arbroath puts it the flocks of the latter accepted, without murmur, the ministrations of Episcopalian intruders who took their places.Two remained and set up Episcopalian meeting houses ? Alexander Guthrie in Arbroath and John Grub at Kirkden. Animosity deepened, especially since increased attendance at Episcopalian services meant less income for the others, and really two denominations could not be sustained financially. The support of the Episcopalians for the failed Jacobite cause in 1715 and 1745 meant that they further lost some popular support from the people in this part of the country.As time went on Episcopal congregations could be served legitimately by juror clergy who gave oaths of allegiance to the now Hanoverian crown. So there existed two groups ? jurors and non-jurors, sometimes distinguished as English Episcopalians and Scottish Episcopalians ? who eventually came together in the early 19th century when the penal laws were lifted and Episcopalian congregations could meet openly.
The Rector's Column from last month's edition of The Messenger
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