ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates female religious authority in Scottish Presbyterianism. The central and local authorities imposed considerable penalties on those found to have participated in illegal Presbyterian worship. The re-establishment of Episcopalian government at the Restoration brought about a religious crisis in Scotland, dividing the country's clergy and alienating many of the laity. In the early decades of the eighteenth century, then, prayer societies provided a space in which lay people could criticize the established Church. The Secession Church was the product of the separation from the Church of Scotland, in 1733, of four ministers led by Ebenezer Erskine. The re-establishment of Presbyterian government in 1690 changed the place of lay activism in Scottish religious life. Episcopalian clergy in southern and central Scotland encountered violent crowds, armed burglars in their manses, and more trivial insults and intimidation. Restoration statutes against unlawful assembly and sedition made it difficult for opponents of the crown's policies to represent their views to the authorities.
