nt.

But James had already made his choice between the two forms of
Protestantism, and the basis of his choice was the sacredness of the
royal prerogative. A theology which conflicted with that, was not the
one for his kingdom. He would have no religion in which presbyters and
synods and laymen were asserting authority. The King, God's anointed,
was the natural head of the Church, and should determine its policy.
Such was the theory which even at this early time had become firmly
lodged in the acute and narrow mind of the precocious youth, and which
throughout his entire reign was the inspiration of his policy. In the
proceedings following the "Ruthven Raid," as it is {293} called, he
openly manifested his determination to introduce episcopacy into his
kingdom.

So the conflict was now between the clergy and the Crown. The latter
gained the first victory. Parliament, in 1584, affirmed the supreme
authority of the King in all matters civil and religious. The act
placed unprecedented powers in his hands, saying, "These powers by the
gift of Heaven belong to his Majesty and to his successors." And so it
was that in 1584 the current started which, after running its ruinous
course, was to terminate in 1649 in the tragedy at Whitehall. There
was a reaction from the first triumph of divine right, and in 1592 the
Act of Royal Supremacy was repealed, and the General Assembly succeeded
in obtaining parliamentary sanction for the authority of the presbytery.

The Roman Catholic Church, although no longer conspicuous in the arena
of politics, was by no means extinguished in Scotland. Its stronghold
was in the North, among the Highlands, where it is estimated that out
of the 14,000 Catholics in the kingdom, 12,000 were still clinging with
unabated ardor to the {294} old religion. It was this minority, with
many powerful chiefs for its leaders, which looked to Mary as the
possible restorer of the faith; and this was the nursery and the
hatching-ground for all the plots with France or Spain which for twenty
years were leading Mary step by step toward Fotheringay. Whether the
copies of the compromising letters which convicted her of complicity in
these plots would have stood the test of an impartial investigation
to-day we cannot say; but we know that Mary's tarnished name was
restored almost to lustre by the fortitude and dignity with which she
bore her long captivity, and met the moment of her tragic release
(1587). T