The substance of the following Sketches was origi nally delivered in the form of lectures; and the first portion of them, embracing the period preceding the restoration of Charles IL, appeared some time since in a popular religious periodical. The author hav ing been requested to publish the whole in a sepa rate volume, they now appear in a somewhat altered form, and with considerable additions; presenting a connected and concise history of the church of Scot land from the reformation to the revolution.