The law calls it "wicked idolatry" and provides that "no manner of person nor persons say mass, nor yet hear mass, nor be present thereat under pain of confiscation of all their goods movable and immovable and punishing their bodies at the discretion of the magistrate." The penalty for the third offence was made death, and all officers were commanded to "take diligent suit and inquisition" to prevent the celebration of the Catholic rite.

In reality, persecution was extremely mild, simply because there was hardly any resistance.

Scarcely three Catholic martyrs can be named, and there was no Pilgrimage of Grace.

This is all the more remarkable in that probably three-fourths of the people were still Catholic.

The Reformation, like most other revolutions, was the work not of the majority, but of that part of the people that had the energy and intelligence to see most clearly and act most strongly.
For the first time in Scotch history a great issue was submitted to a public opinion sufficiently developed to realize its importance.