er at liberty to range
freely, as they wished it to do, in conducting the devotional
services. It was on this very account that the friends of strong
government _did_ like it. They wished to curtail this liberty, which,
however, they called license, and which they thought made mischief. In
extemporaneous prayers, it is often easy to see that the speaker is
aiming much more directly at producing a salutary effect on the minds
of his hearers than at simply presenting petitions to the Supreme
Being. But, notwithstanding this evil, the existence of which no
candid man can deny, the enemies of forms, who are generally friends
of the largest liberty, think it best to leave the clergyman free. The
friends of forms, however, prefer forms on this very account. They
like what they consider the wholesome and salutary restraints which
they impose.

Now there has always been a great spirit of freedom in the Scottish
mind. That people have ever been unwilling to submit to coercion or
restraints. There is probably no race of men on earth that would make
worse slaves than the Scotch. Their sturdy independence and
determination to be free could never be subdued. In the days of
Charles they were particularly fond of freely exercising their own
minds, and of speaking freely to others on the subject of religion.
They thought for themselves, sometimes right and sometimes wrong; but
they would think, and they would express their thoughts; and their
being thus unaccustomed, in one particular, to submit to restraints,
rendered them more difficult to be governed in others. Laud thought,
consequently, that _they_, particularly, needed a Liturgy. He prepared
one for them. It was varied somewhat from the English Liturgy, though
it was substantially the same. The king proclaimed it, and required
the bishops to see that it was employed in all the churches in
Scotland.

The day for introducing the Liturgy was the signal for riots all over
the kingdom. In the principal church in Edinburgh they called out "_A
pope! A pope!_" when the clergyman came in with his book and his
pontifical robes. The bishop ascended the pulpit to address the people
to appease them, and a stool came flying through the air at his head.
The police then expelled the congregation, and the clergyman went
through with the service of the Liturgy in the empty church, the
congregation outside, in great tumult, accompanying the exercises with
cries of disapprobation and resentment,