The pious Charles II being restored to the throne of his ancestors, He and his upright administration set themselves about the great works of religion and morality.

A Parliament worthy of such a King and such a ministry having accordingly, in contradiction to, and contempt of, the principles of a great body of the people, vested the King with a power of establishing any form of Church government he chose, it proceeded next to enact statutes against Sabbath-breaking, swearing, drinking, and other profanities and immoralities.   These pious laws being made, another immediately followed, annexing the pain of death to the railing against God, or any of the persons of the Trinity, or denying them, and obstinately persisting therein.

I have hitherto discovered but three prosecutions for the crime of blasphemy.

The first was that of a woman who was tried before the Circuit Court of Justiciary at Dumfries, A.D. 1671.    But as the records of the Circuit Courts previous to this century are lost, all I can say of the matter is, that the act of blasphemy charged against the prisoner was her drinking the Devil's health; that the Court did not find it relevant to infer the crime of blasphemy, but fined the woman in the sum of 500 merks for the offence.

The second prosecution was against Francis Borthwick, second son  to James Borthwick of Harelaw, was served with a criminal indictment for blasphemy, at the instance of His Majesty's Advocate, and of James Cockburne in Dudingstone, informer against him.   As he did not choose to run the risk of a trial, sentence of Outlawry was pronounced against him for his contempt and disobedience.  It set forth, That he had been often cited to appear that day before the Court of Justiciary to answer to a charge of blasphemy:  That he was born of Christian parents, baptised and educated in the Christian Church, and continued in the profession of Christianity, and in communion of the Christian Catholic Church till the fourteenth year of his age:  That he then went abroad to follow the business of a merchant, and was seduced to a shameful apostacy from the most holy faith, and to profess himself openly to be a Jew, and that he was circumcised:   That upon his return to Scotland, he at Edinburgh, and in the neighbourhood thereof, did rail against our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, denying him to be God, and affirming Him to be mere man, and a false prophet, and outrageously reviling him by such other blasphemies as were not fit to be uttered; renouncing and cursing the holy sacrament of his baptism, and imprecating vengeance upon himself if ever he should return to the Christian religion.  If the accused was truly mad enough to undergo circumcision, he was at least not so mad as to appear before the Court of Justiciary; and sentence of outlawry was therefore pronounced against him.

The last trial for blasphemy was that of Thomas Aikenhead.

Thomas Aikenhead appears to have been about twenty years of age; his father*, who had been a surgeon in Edinburgh, was dead.  Sir James Stewart, His Majesty's Advocate, by special order of the Privy Council, served him with a criminal indictment before the Court of Judiciary for blasphemy.   The libel sets forth, that blasphemy against God, or any of the persons of the blessed Trinity, or against the Holy Scriptures, or our holy religion, is a crime of the highest nature, and severely punishable by the laws of God, by those of this and every well governed realm, and particularly by Acts of Parliament, Charles II. parl. I. sess. I. chap. 21.; and by William, Parliament A.D. 1696, sess. 5. c. II.

That notwithstanding, the prisoner had repeatedly maintained, in conversation, that theology was a rhapsody of ill invented nonsense, patched up partly of the moral doctrines of philosophers, and partly of poetical fictions and extravagant chimeras:  That he ridiculed the holy scriptures, calling the Old Testament Ezra's fables, in profane allusion to Esop's Fables;  That he railed on Christ, saying, he had learned magick in Egypt, which enabled him to perform those pranks which were called miracles:   That he called the New Testament the history of the imposter Christ;  That he said Moses was the better artist and the better politician; and he preferred Mahomet to Christ:  That the Holy Scriptures were stuffed with such madness, nonsense, and contradictions, that he admired the stupidity of the world in being so long deluded by them:  That he rejected the mystery of the Trinity as unworthy of resutation; and scoffed at the incarnation of Christ.

**

James Bouden, late Bailie of Edinburgh,

George Clerk, Chancellor or Foreman of the Jury, late Bailie there,

Michael Allan, late Dean of Guild,

Charles Charters, late Bailie,

Robert Forester, late Kirk Treasurer,

Adam Brown, Clerk, late Bailie,

Alexander Thomson, late Deacon conveener,

Jerom Robertson, Periwig maker,

James Maclurg, late Dean of Guild,

Patrick Thomson, late Treasurer,

William Pattoune, late Bailie,

Robert Elphinstoune of Lossness,

George Mossman, Stationer,

George Fullertoun.

Five persons summoned on the Jury refused to attend, and were fined 100 merks each.