At the Revolution there were eight hundred and seven parishes
in Scotland filled by ministers of the Episcopal Church. On the
accession of William and Mary and the Abolition of Episcopacy and the
Establishment of the Presbyterian Church, all the bishops refused the
Oath to the new Sovereigns, and a large number of the clergy left their
parishes for the same reason.
At first there was much toleration, but as the bishops and the
Episcopal clergy were all Non-jurors and maintained their allegiance to
the exiled Stuart kings, they gradually became a Jacobite institution.
Although very feeble, they were torn with internal dissension both
doctrinal and ecclesiastical. As the pre-Revolution bishops died
out, it was thought necessary in order to keep up the succession to
consecrate new bishops, but this had to be done with utmost secrecy.
At first these bishops were appointed bishops at large without
any diocese or territorial jurisdiction, and were known as the
College of Bishops, but gradually the clergy demanded some sort of
superintendence. Bishops were consecrated by one party and by others,
but all on the understanding that they owed allegiance to the Stuart
king. To avoid scandal the Jacobite managers and the Jacobite Court
insisted that when bishops were elected the king should be informed
so as to give _congé d’élire_ before consecration. This power was
afterwards compromised by the exiled king permitting the clergy
to select all the bishops except the metropolitans of St. Andrews
and Glasgow, and a Bishop of Edinburgh who might have to act as
metropolitan under the title of Vicar-General of St. Andrews.
In the year 1741 John Murray, as Agent in Scotland for the Jacobite
Court, sent up the name of William Harper, who was incumbent of St.
Paul’s Non-juring Episcopal Church in Carrubber’s Close. He was well
connected, being married to a daughter of Sir David Thriepland of
Fingask, and he was also principal adviser to most of the prominent
Jacobites of the time.
Some of the bishops did not want him, and Bishop Keith represented to
the Chevalier through Murray that Harper was an objectionable person,
and implored the king to withdraw his _congé d’élire_. Mr. Harper
retired from the contest.
After much negotiation John Murray, apparently with the concurrence of
the majority of the bishops, fixed upon Bishop Rattray as a man likely
from his age and rank to put an end to the dissensions; and James
sent from Rome a _congé de lire_ to elect him Bishop of Edinburgh,
apparently with certain metropolitan powers. Rattray, however, died a
few days after this permission was received, and the see was not filled
until 1776.
Bishop Rattray was a Perthshire laird, the head of the ancient
family of Rattray of Craighall. His son John acted as surgeon to
Prince Charles throughout the campaign of 1745-46. A volume recently
published, _A Jacobite Stronghold of the Church_, by Mary E. Ingram
(Edinburgh, 1907), gives much information about William Harper and the
Episcopal Church in Jacobite times.