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daily increasing , all the 'Scojfc ' tyho ' : ted- ff i ^^ J ^ d " attVbrig ; ' tfi ^ Aif ^ l ' ^ ith ^ r conformed to these , or rfeturhecf Wt ^ t own country . " '' It has already been observed , that the Romish See did not eteri throughout the Saxon kingdoms maintain that complete and unqualified supremacy and conformity which it desired ; and that not only the old British churches retained considerable vestiges of their rules and observances , but even those
of the Saxons bore traces of that mediating system by which Augustine had been allowed to concede , where he could not persuade or compel . Thierry ( the historian of the Norman conquest ) has very properly pointed out the policy by which Rome availed itself of the opportunity to strengthen its authority and extirpate the remnants of disaffection . The Norman princes , in return for papal assistance to their cause , every where expelled both British and Saxon ecclesiastics , and carried with them the protection and special favour of the Roman Church in their works of pillage . Even the Saxon saints were warred against by the new ecclesiastics . These assistances accompanied the conquerors to Ireland , where the poor natives were excommunicated for trying to protect themselves against robbery aM p lunder . The Synod of Cashel decreed uniformity and subjection ; and Hvith the final success of the Norman settlement , perfect church discipline slnd supremacy were at last established in the British isles .
Perhaps the best evidence of the spirit of independence and attachment to old institutions , which long survived the days of practical resistance to Roman supremacy , is displayed in the speech with which we shall conclude these observations . It is that of Gilbert Murray , a young Scotch clerk , delivered in the presence of Hugo , a cardinal legate in 1176 . Malcolm , surnamed the Maiden , and his brother William , having done homage to our Henry I . for the lands they held of England , the opportunity was seized
for a consultation as to the more effectually asserting and extending the claim of ecclesiastical subjection . In tfie year following , the Scotch bishops were summoned before rihe Legate at Northampton , who , not satisfied with the admission of the piapal authority , endeavoured to persuade them to go still further , and to aeknowtedge t ^ Archbishop of York as their Metropolitan . The bishops were silent , but young Gilbert is recorded to have thus spoken :
" It is true , English nation , thou nrightest have been more noble than some other nations , if thou hadst not craftily turned the power of thy nobility , and the strength of thy fearful might , into the presumption of tyranny , and thy knowledge of liberal science into tfae shifting glosses of sophistry . But thou disposest not thy purposes as if thou wert led by reason ; and being puffed up with thy strong armies , and trusting in thy great wealth , thou ith
attemptest , n y wretched ambition and lust of domineering , to bring under tftjp jurisdiction thy neighbour provinces Bnd natrons , more noble , I will not say in multitude or power , but in lineage and antiquity ; unto whom , if thou wilt consider ancient records , tfoou shouldst rather have beeri humbly obedient ^ or , at least , laying aside thy rancour , have reigned together in perpetual love . And now , with all wickedness of pride that thou shewest , without any reason or law , but in ttvy ambitious power , thou seekest to oppress thy
rtmther , the Ckurch of Scotland , which from the beginning hath been Catholic and fhee , and which brought thee , when thou wast straying in the wilderness of Heathenism , into the safeguard of the true faith and way unto life , even unto Jesus Christ 1 , the author of eternal rest ; She did'wash thy kings , and- princes , and people , in the , laver of * tioly baptism j she taught thee theeommandknefcte of GodyHTid instructed tbee it / morai duties : sh&did accept many of thy nobles , and others of meaner rank , when they were
Untitled Article
cat 866 The CMee * of Ma .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1827, page 866, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1803/page/10/
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