But there can be no doubt that a religious union would have been one of the greatest calamities that could have befallen either kingdom.

The union accomplished in 1707 has indeed been a great blessing both to England and to Scotland.

But it has been a blessing because, in constituting one State, it left two Churches.

The political interest of the contracting parties was the same: but the ecclesiastical dispute between them was one which admitted of no compromise.

They could therefore preserve harmony only by agreeing to differ.