Printed by R. & R. Clark FOR LONDON CAMBRIDGE DAVID DOUGLAS, EDINBURGH SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT AND CO., LIM. GLASGOW.. JAMES MACLEHOSE AND SONS HISTORY OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH BY W. STEPHEN RECTOR OF ST. AUGUSTINE'S, DUNBARTON VOL. I EDINBURGH: DAVID DOUGLAS All rights reserved PREFACE THE present age has been marked by great activity in the field of Scottish Church History, and by much painstaking research into original records, which form the safest groundwork of history. In this way our knowledge both of the Celtic and of the Mediæval Church has been largely extended by the labours of our recent antiquaries and historians. The writings of Drs. Reeves, Skene, Todd, Stokes, and others, have thrown much fresh light on the Celtic Church; and Dr. Joseph Robertson by his publication of the Statuta Ecclesiæ Scoticana, and Dr. Theiner by that of his Vetera Monumenta-papal bulls, etc., from 1216 to 1547-have added not less valuable information on the Church of the Middle Age. As the works of these writers are not generally accessible, it seemed to the present author that a plain statement of the results in the form of a continuous narrative would not be unacceptable at this time. He does not profess to be colourless in his opinions; but he has honestly endeavoured to be fair and impartial in the treatment of documentary evidence and in the narration of historic facts. How far he has succeeded in this endeavour it is left for the reader to judge. |