Page:History of the Nonjurors.djvu/483

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History of the Nonjurors.
465

themselves respecting the usages. We have seen, that the Scottish Bishops were divided in opinion, when Collier and Spinkes consulted them on the subject; but no decision was given on the question which had so agitated the Anglican Nonjurors. And though the section, adhering to Collier and Brett, adopted the New Communion Office; yet no such measure seems to have been contemplated for some years in Scotland. On the contrary, it is a well established fact, that the English Liturgy, in all its parts, was generally used in Scotland, without any hesitation, for several years subsequent to the disputes in England. For some time the Clergy had to contend with the Presbyterians, in favour of the English Liturgy.[1] The old slander was revived, that the Prayer Book was the Mass Book in English: and one fanatical Preacher ventured to assert that the devils, who had previously been chained up, had broke loose since the introduction of the English Service Book.[2] The Citizen of Aberdeen, however, after a general defence of the Liturgy against the cavils of the Presbyterians, admits his preference for the First Communion Office: from which we may infer, that he and others, who used the English Book, were inclined to the Usages, though they did not deem them matters of so much importance, as to break the unity of the Church in consequence. Skinner says, that the Scottish Office was not introduced at first on account of the scarcity of the Book of 1637, and the


  1. See as a specimen: "An Apology for the Use of the English Liturgy and Worship against the Cavils and Exceptions of the Presbyterians in North Britain, &c. &c. By a Citizen of Aberdeen. 8vo. London 1718."
  2. Ibid. p. 1, 2.