Title: The Scottish Reformation - Its Epochs, Episodes, Leaders, and Distinctive Characteristics
Author: Mitchell, Alexander F.
Language: English
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THE SCOTTISH REFORMATION


[Illustration: [Handwritten: yrs always cordially Alex F. Mitchell]]



THE
SCOTTISH REFORMATION

Its Epochs, Episodes, Leaders, and
Distinctive Characteristics

(Being the Baird Lecture for 1899)

BY THE LATE
ALEXANDER F. MITCHELL, D.D., LL.D.

EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF CHURCH HISTORY
IN ST. ANDREWS UNIVERSITY

EDITED BY

D. HAY FLEMING, LL.D.

_WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR
BY JAMES CHRISTIE, D.D._

WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS
EDINBURGH AND LONDON
MDCCCC



PREFACE.


Few men have shown more indomitable application to an arduous duty, amid
physical weakness and bodily pain, than did the author of these Lectures
in their preparation and revision. In the MS. there are a goodly number
of additions and minute alterations in his own hand--some of them very
tremulous, some of them in ink, some of them in pencil. He intended to
revise them still more carefully ere they were published; but expressed
the desire that, if he were not spared to do so, I would see them
through the press. The Master, whom he served so long and so faithfully,
having released him from the work he loved so well, and from the
suffering he so patiently endured, the final revision has devolved upon
me.

On the suggestion of Professor Robertson the book has been arranged in
chapters. The sixth lecture having temporarily gone amissing before its
delivery, Dr Mitchell prepared a rescension of it. The original and the
rescension are now combined in chapter x. He intended to devote an extra
lecture to Alesius, and another to Andrew Melville, but unfortunately
was unable. The chapter on Alesius is therefore taken from two of his
class-lectures, some of the longer extracts being thrown into
appendices, and a few passages being slightly compressed. This is at
once the fullest and the best account of Alesius that has yet been
published. The facts concerning Melville in chapter x. are supplemented
to a small extent in the paper quoted in Appendix A.

Comparatively few of the authorities were entered in the MS. when it was
placed in my hands. I have filled in many, and have taken care, in
almost every instance where volume and page are given, to check the
quotations with the originals. My notes, and my additions to Dr
Mitchell's notes, are enclosed within square brackets; but when I have
merely supplied authorities, they are not so distinguished. The list
which he had drawn up of the works of Alesius was partly in an obsolete
form of shorthand, which to me was quite undecipherable. Having been
privileged to examine a good many of these rare treatises in various
public libraries, I have been able, though only to an inconsiderable
degree, to supplement the list; these additions being marked like those
in the notes and other appendices. In revising the Lectures themselves,
I have corrected a number of trifling slips, but have made no alteration
of which Dr Mitchell would not have cordially approved had his attention
been drawn to it.

In preparing the Lectures, Dr Mitchell availed himself of elaborate
articles he had written at various times for periodicals and other
publications. The present volume is valuable in several ways, not the
least of these being that it embodies, on many obscure and important
points, the matured views of one of the most competent and cautious of
historical students--of one who grudged no time and spared no labour in
eliciting and elucidating the truth.

D. H. F.

_December 1899._

[Illustration: (signed) yrs always cordially Alex. F. Mitchell]



THE SCOTTISH REFORMATION CONTENTS.


                                                                    PAGE

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF DR MITCHELL                                  xiii

CHAPTER I.
THE NATURE AND NEED OF THE REFORMATION                                 1

CHAPTER II.
PATRICK HAMILTON                                                      19

CHAPTER III.
THE OPPRESSED AND THE OPPRESSORS                                      34

CHAPTER IV.
GEORGE WISHART                                                        56

CHAPTER V.
KNOX AS LEADER OF OUR REFORMATION                                     79

CHAPTER VI.
THE OLD SCOTTISH CONFESSION OF 1560                                   99

CHAPTER VII.
THE BOOK OF COMMON ORDER                                             123

CHAPTER VIII.
THE FIRST BOOK OF DISCIPLINE                                         144
  SECT.   I. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH                            145
         II. THE DISCIPLINE OF THE CHURCH                            162
        III. THE PREROGATIVES AND DUTIES OF CHURCH MEMBERS           169
         IV. EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG AND UNIVERSITY REFORM            174
          V. CARE OF THE POOR                                        179

CHAPTER IX.
THE LAST DAYS OF JOHN KNOX                                           184

CHAPTER X.
THE SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE                                        214

CHAPTER XI.
ALESIUS                                                              239

APPENDICES.

A. THE PÆDAGOGIUM, OR ST MARY'S COLLEGE, ST ANDREWS                  285

B. CITATIO PATRICII HAMILTON                                         289

C. CARDINAL BETOUN'S INCONTINENCE                                    292

D. CONDITIONS ON WHICH THE USE OF THE CHURCH OF THE WHITE LADIES
   AT FRANKFORT WAS GRANTED TO THE ENGLISH EXILES                    294

E. THE THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL OPINIONS OF ALESIUS            295

F. THE DREAM OR VISION OF ALESIUS CONCERNING THE DECAPITATION OF
   ANNE BOLEYN                                                       297

G. THE DEPARTURE OF ALESIUS FROM ENGLAND                             298

H. ALESIUS' INVITATION OF MELANCHTHON TO HIS DAUGHTER'S WEDDING      300

I. THE WORKS OF ALESIUS                                              301

       *       *       *       *       *

ADDENDA                                                              307

INDEX                                                                311



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

OF

THE VERY REV. ALEXANDER FERRIER MITCHELL, D.D., LL.D., PROFESSOR OF
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY IN ST MARY'S COLLEGE, ST ANDREWS.


A pathetic and almost melancholy interest attaches to this volume of the
Baird Lectures. Their scholarly and accomplished author may be said to
have entered on the last stage of the malady to which he succumbed when
they were read for him in Blythswood Parish Church, Glasgow, by his
friend and former student, Professor Robertson, the closing one, indeed,
having been delivered but a few days before his death. In proof of the
deep interest which he took in the subject of these Lectures, and of his
desire to present them in as perfect a form as possible, it may also be
mentioned that he employed his time in revising them while confined to
bed during the protracted and painful illness through which he passed.
The editing of them he intrusted to another friend, Dr Hay Fleming of St
Andrews, with whom he had much in common--similarity of tastes and
interest in the same literary pursuits having led to an intercourse
between them which ripened into mutual confidence and esteem. Had
Professor Mitchell lived to see the work through the press himself,
there is hardly room to doubt that, as in the case of most of his other
publications, additional explanatory and supplementary notes on obscure
points would have been appended by him. As it is, the editor in
executing his task has done what he could in this respect.

When the decease of the venerable Professor took place at St Andrews
towards the end of March of this year, it was felt that the Church of
Scotland had been bereft not only of one of her ablest and most trusted
leaders, but of one of the wisest and warmest friends of her missions;
and the many tributes paid to his memory, both from the pulpit and in
the press, were all expressive of the high regard in which he was held,
and of the sense of public loss caused by his removal. But the loss was
not that of his own Church alone, nor of the University with which his
name had been so long and so honourably associated. There are those in
other communions who had learned to look upon him as "a master of
Israel," and in all Presbyterian Churches especially he was recognised
as one of the ablest and most learned exponents of the principles which
they hold in common, and as one of the most earnest defenders of "the
faith once delivered to the saints."

As many of those who are familiar with Professor Mitchell's writings may
know little or nothing of his personal history, it has been suggested
that a short biographical sketch of him would form an appropriate
introduction to this posthumous volume. The particulars woven together
in the following narrative have been collected from various sources,
some of them having been furnished by members of his own family.

Alexander Ferrier Mitchell was born on 10th September 1822 in the old
ecclesiastical city of Brechin, with which his ancestors had had an
honourable connection for several generations. His grandfather,
Alexander Mitchell, and his father, David Mitchell, were both known as
Convener Mitchell, probably as having succeeded each other in the
convenership of the local guilds. On the maternal side he was descended
from another Brechin family, some of the members of which had in their
day served in various capacities abroad, one of his granduncles,
Alexander Ferrier, after whom he was named, having been a doctor in
India, and another, Captain David Ferrier, "a brave and bold
sailor,"--in memory of whom there is a tablet on the east door of the
old Cathedral,--having made a voyage round the world in the Dolphin, in
which also he ran the blockade in time of war into some of the French
ports. Elizabeth, daughter of James Ferrier at Broadmyre, the
Professor's mother, was a woman of good judgment and deep piety, and
from her he seems to have inherited some of the most prominent features
of his character. He was one of a family of three, his brother and
sister having died, the former at Bloemfontein in South Africa, many
years ago. In childhood he had a narrow escape, a cart having run over
his body. He was picked up and carried home by the minister of the
Episcopal church. As a boy he passed through more than one severe
illness, and when taken for a change to Glenesk one summer he was
described by a sympathetic friend as "a deein' laddie." To a mother's
unwearied care and attention he owed, under the divine blessing, the
recovery of his health, and to a mother's religious training he owed in
no small degree that knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and that pious
disposition by which he was distinguished from his earliest years. His
elementary education he received at the grammar-school of his native
town, and when fifteen years of age he proceeded to St Andrews to
prosecute his studies with a view to the Christian ministry.

In those days the journey thither was not made with the comfort and
facility with which it is now accomplished; and the Professor himself
has told how, on landing from the North off the ferry-boat at Newport,
he walked all the way to St Andrews--a distance of eleven miles--along
with the carrier's son by the side of the cart which conveyed his
luggage to its destination. Widely different as were the future careers
of those two youths, there were various interesting points of contact in
their lives, the one becoming an eminent doctor in the University, and
the other filling the honourable position of a magistrate in the ancient
city, while both were associated as members of the kirk-session of the
Town Church.

At the very outset of his career at St Andrews the young student from
Brechin gained the highest distinction, having won the first bursary
open to students entering the University, as the result of a competitive
examination in classical scholarship. Throughout his course, both in
Arts and Divinity, he maintained a highly honourable place in all the
classes, distinguishing himself particularly by proficiency in Hebrew
and other Oriental languages; while he won the commendation of his
professors and the esteem of his fellow-students not more by his
attainments in learning than by the sterling integrity of his character
and the example of his consistent Christian life. Among his
contemporaries at College were not a few who in after-life rose to
prominent positions in the Church, one of these being his future
colleague, the late Principal Tulloch, with whom he continued to have
most cordial relations during a lifelong friendship.

On completing the usual curriculum of study at the University, Mr
Mitchell was in 1844 licensed to preach the Gospel, and after acting for
some time as an assistant, first to the minister of the parish of Meigle
and then to the minister of the parish of Dundee, he was in 1847
ordained by the Presbytery of Meigle to the pastoral charge of the
parish of Dunnichen in his native county.

The Professor had been no passive spectator of the exciting and
momentous events which were taking place in the Church of Scotland in
the years which immediately preceded and followed his entrance on the
work of the ministry; and in his address as Moderator of the General
Assembly, four decades afterwards, he gives a graphic account of the
impressions made upon him by his visits to the Supreme Court of the
Church during that period of acrimonious controversy and painful
separation. He says: "My first view of the General Assembly was gained
in 1840, where from the public gallery of the Tron Church, in near
proximity to Dr John Ritchie, of the Potterrow (whose thoughts were
already running in the same direction as those of his successors are
now), I listened to the thrilling eloquence of Chalmers, and the calm,
thoughtful utterances of Cook, and witnessed the first of those titanic
encounters between Cunningham and Robertson, which the pen of Hugh
Miller and the histories of the period have made classical. My next
glimpse of the Assembly was in 1843, when, from the students' gallery of
St Andrew's Church, beside my friend William Smith, afterwards of North
Leith, I witnessed that sad sight which was never to fade from our
memories, nor cease to influence the course of our thought and
action--the scene when Welsh, Chalmers, Gordon, and many more good and
devoted ministers, abandoning in despair the contest of ten years,
withdrew from the Church of their fathers, to rear another in which they
hoped to enjoy greater freedom and peace. My next view of the Assembly
was in 1848, when, along with Dr Tulloch, and two or three other college
friends, I took my place for the first time as a member of the House,
and when my old preceptor, then Professor of Church History in St Mary's
College, filled the chair. The Church at that time was but slowly
recovering from the staggering blow she had received in '43, and the
great Dr Robertson was shaping out the splendid scheme which was to
constitute her mission for the immediate future, and give to her the
consciousness and confidence of reviving life. There were plenty of aged
men there, whose lives had been honourably worn out in her service; a
goodly band of young men, with not a little of the ardour and enthusiasm
of youth; not a few of riper years, who, after weary waiting, had at
last been promoted to pastoral charges. But that class which is the
mainstay of a Church--the men who have attained to experience by years
of labour in her service, and are still able to bear the burden and
heat of the day--was more scantily represented."

The young minister, with so many conspicuous gifts and graces, was not
allowed to remain long in the quiet pastoral charge at Dunnichen, where
his ministry had been very acceptable; and in 1848--only one year after
his ordination, and when not more than twenty-six years of age--he was
appointed to the chair of Hebrew in St Mary's College, St Andrews,
through which he had so recently passed as a student. He has himself
told of the cordial welcome which he received from the venerable
Principal Haldane and the other members of the professorial staff, and
of the harmony with which they co-operated in the work of the College.

It was not then a common thing that so young a minister should be called
to occupy such a position of dignity and responsibility, nor was Hebrew
then so popular a branch of study as it has, for various reasons, since
become in our Divinity Halls; but the ability and success with which the
Professor discharged the duties of his chair, and the salutary influence
which he exerted in many ways upon the students, more than justified the
appointment. He was one of the first in Scotland to introduce a
scientific method in the teaching of Hebrew, and his class-room became a
place of very real work, necessitating careful preparation on the part
of the students. Some of these, perhaps, thought him rather exacting,
and the strict discipline which he enforced was not altogether to their
liking; but there were very few who did not value his good opinion, or
who would not have considered it a kind of degradation to incur his
displeasure; while many, imbued with something of his own spirit,
attained under his guidance to such a degree of proficiency in the
knowledge of the sacred tongue as made the reading of the Old Testament
in the original a source of interest and pleasure to them in subsequent
years. Dr William Wright, one of the greatest of Orientalists, was one
of his students, and two others of them are occupants of Hebrew Chairs
in Scottish Universities.

The appointment of the Professor to the Convenership of the Committee on
the Mission to the Jews in 1856 marked a new era in its history, in
respect both of the method of its operations and the field in which
these have ever since been carried on. One of the results of the Crimean
war, which had then but recently closed, was the opening of the Turkish
empire for evangelistic enterprise; and it may be said that the
Professor laid the foundations of the Mission in the Levant at the
several stations occupied by the Church of Scotland, which are now known
not only as places of great historic interest but as important centres
of missionary activity in which the Church bears an honourable part. In
the autumn of 1857 he undertook a journey to the East at the request of
the Committee, and in the course of his travels there visited not only
the principal Turkish cities on the coast, but Jerusalem and other
places in Palestine and Syria, collecting information with a view to
find openings for the planting of the Mission at suitable stations in
addition to the two which had been already occupied. The report which he
presented on his return led by degrees to a great expansion of the
Mission, and several of his own students and others were through his
influence induced to enter the service of the Committee. With many other
claims on his attention, he ungrudgingly gave up a great part of his
time to the administration of the affairs of the Mission, over which for
nineteen years he continued to preside with great zeal and wisdom,
pressing its claims on the members of the Church, and guiding and
encouraging the missionaries by an intelligent and sympathetic interest
in their arduous work. When in 1875 he retired from the Convenership,
the General Assembly expressed its sense of the value of the
distinguished services which he had rendered to the Church in this
department of her work in the following terms: "The Assembly are
satisfied that the present prosperity of the Jewish Mission, and the
remarkable progress which it has made, has been mainly owing to the
great labour, the learning, enthusiasm, and warm and intelligent
Christian interest which Dr Mitchell has devoted during these years to
the cause of Jewish conversion in connection with the Church of
Scotland." After his retirement from the Convenership he but seldom
attended the meetings of the Committee, for the reason, as he was once
heard to say, that he did not wish to appear to hamper his successors;
but he never ceased to take a deep interest in the Mission, and none
rejoiced more than he in its growing prosperity.

While the Professor still occupied the Hebrew Chair, he had shown a
special aptitude for another branch of learning, in which he was yet to
make a reputation for himself in the Churches not only of Britain but of
America. In 1866 he published a lecture, primarily addressed to his
students, on 'The Westminster Confession of Faith: A Contribution to the
Study of its Historical Relations and to the Defence of its Teaching,'
which, as a reply to views then current in certain quarters, attracted
no little notice at the time of its publication, and which is not only
of special interest as illustrating his theological standpoint, and the
calm and temperate, yet earnest and vigorous, manner in which he could
defend it, but is of permanent value as a contribution to the literature
of the subject with which it deals. In the following year he published
'The Wedderburns and their Work, or the Sacred Poetry of the Scottish
Reformation in its Relation to that of Germany'--a subject which was
treated by him much more fully in one of his most recent works.

The Professor was known to possess a most extensive and accurate
knowledge of Church History in general, and of Scottish Church History
in particular; and when in 1868 he was called to occupy the Chair of
Ecclesiastical History in St Mary's College, the appointment was hailed
with satisfaction alike by the University and the Church. With an
absorbing interest in his subject, and with the true instinct of the
historian, he was most painstaking in ascertaining historical facts,
never reaching his conclusions but as the result of patient and careful
investigation; and those who knew him intimately can tell how little he
grudged the trouble of a journey to Edinburgh or London, or even of an
occasional excursion to the Continent, in order to prosecute his
researches in libraries there with the view of verifying a statement, or
of obtaining indubitable evidence on some controverted point. Besides
those who had the privilege of listening to his prelections from the
professorial chair, there are many in the Churches on both sides of the
Atlantic who have profited by his great erudition; and his published
writings, which all bear the impress of a master-hand, will always be
reckoned standard works in Ecclesiastical History.

It is no part of the purpose of this notice to describe his various
works in detail, but the mere enumeration of them will show what a life
of unremitting study he lived. Besides those already referred to, he
edited, along with the late Dr Struthers, in 1874, 'The Minutes of the
Westminster Assembly from November 1644 to March 1649,' to which is
prefixed an elaborate Historical Introduction written by himself; in
1882 he wrote a 'Historical Notice of Archbishop Hamilton's Catechism'
(first printed at St Andrews in 1551), prefixed to Paterson's
black-letter reprint of the same; in 1883 he published his Baird
Lecture, 'The Westminster Assembly: Its History and Standards'; in 1886
he published 'The Catechisms of the Second Reformation'; in 1888 he
edited, for the Scottish Text Society, 'The Richt Vay to the Kingdome of
Heuine,' by John Gau, the earliest known prose-treatise in the Scottish
dialect setting forth the doctrines of the Reformers; and in 1897, for
the same Society, 'The Gude and Godlie Ballads,' reprinted from the
edition of 1567, with a full and most interesting Introduction. For the
Scottish History Society he also edited in 1892 and 1896, along with the
writer of this sketch, two volumes of 'The Records of the Commissions of
the General Assembly,' covering the period 1646-1650, from the original
manuscript in the Assembly library, with an introduction, notes, and
appendices by himself. To these must be added the present volume of the
Baird Lecture, 'The Scottish Reformation.'

The Baird Lecture on the Westminster Assembly was received with great
favour in America as well as in this country, and a new edition of it
was published at Philadelphia in 1897, in a notice of which in the
'Presbyterian and Reformed Review' the following statement occurs: "The
book at once took its rank as the most trustworthy and sympathetic
account of the Westminster Standards in existence, and rapidly ran out
of print. The public is to be congratulated that Dr Mitchell has
permitted himself to be persuaded by the [Presbyterian] Board to revise
the text and allow a new edition to be issued to meet the present
demand. The revision does not much alter the text. A phrase is more
felicitously turned here or rendered a shade more exact or emphatic
there; a few additional references are added in the notes; and a few
additional citations and remarks incorporated in them: that is about
all. But so good a book needed only these little touches of betterment."

The Professor also contributed to various journals and encyclopædias
many important articles, chiefly on historical topics relating to
Scotland, which, if collected, would form a volume of miscellaneous
papers of great interest and value. The most important of these are
included in the subjoined list: In the 'British and Foreign Evangelical
Review,' January 1872, "Our Scottish Reformation: Its Distinctive
Characteristics and Present-Day Lessons," pp. 87-128; October 1875, "Dr
Merle D'Aubigné on the Reformation in Scotland," pp. 736-760; October
1876, "Killen's Ecclesiastical History of Ireland," pp. 713-741: in the
'Catholic Presbyterian,' March 1879, "Calvin and the Psalmody of the
Reformed Churches": in the 'Scottish Church,' November 1886, "St Andrews
in Covenanting Times": in the 'Year-Book of the Church of Scotland,'
1886, "Brief Sketch of the History of the Reformed Church of Scotland":
in 'St Giles' Lectures,' First Series, 1880-81, "Pre-Reformation
Scotland"; and in Fourth Series, 1883-84, "The Primitive or Apostolic
and Sub-Apostolic Church," being the first of the lectures entitled,
"The Churches of Christendom." To Dr Schaff's Encyclopædia he
contributed separate articles on "St Columba," "The Culdees," "Patrick
Hamilton," "Iona," and "The Keltic Church"; and to the 'Presbyterian and
Reformed Review,' published at Philadelphia, he contributed a review of
Dr Hume Brown's 'John Knox.' Besides many Reports on various matters
presented to the General Assembly, he issued for special purposes a
"Statement regarding the Eldership," and a "List of Acts of the Scottish
Parliament, and of Acts, Overtures, and Resolutions of the General
Assembly of the Church of Scotland, adopted at various times for the
Acknowledgment of the True Reformed Protestant Religion, the Maintenance
of Sound Doctrine, and the Subscription of the Confessions of Faith of
1560 and 1647." When at Geneva, on one of his visits to the Continent,
he prepared for private circulation, from the original, which is still
preserved among the historical treasures in the Hotel de Ville, "Livre
Des Anglois, or Register of the English Church at Geneva under the
pastoral care of Knox and Goodman, 1555-1559," with a Prefatory Notice
and a Facsimile of pp. 49, 50. To this list of his minor works may be
added a sermon on "The Unsearchable Riches of Christ," published in
1879.

The Professor accorded a generous and helpful sympathy to those who were
workers in the field in which he laboured himself with so great
assiduity and success; and he was not only a member both of the Scottish
History Society and of the Scottish Text Society, but took an active
interest in their affairs. He was also one of the representatives of the
Church of Scotland in the General Presbyterian Alliance from the date of
its formation, and took part in the business of all its General
Councils, at the first of which, held at Edinburgh in 1877, he laid on
the table a paper which he had drawn up on "The Harmony between the
Bibliology of the Westminster Confession and that of the earlier
Reformed Confessions, exhibited in parallel columns." He was appointed
Convener of the Committee on the Desiderata of the History of the
Presbyterian Churches; and at the following General Council, held at
Philadelphia in 1880, it fell to him, in consequence of the death of
Principal Lorimer, who was Convener of the British section of the
Committee on Creeds and Formulas of Subscription, to give in the report
containing "Answers to Queries regarding Creeds and Confessions." The
Answers as regards the Church of Scotland, which had been prepared by
himself, are to be found in the Report of the Proceedings of the
Council, pp. 969-984. When in America he also delivered a course of
lectures at Alleghany. His connection with the Alliance brought him into
close contact with some of the leading Presbyterian divines of Britain
and America, with whom his opinions on the history of the doctrine,
worship, and government of the Church carried great weight; and Dr
Schaff has acknowledged his obligations to him, among others, in his
well-known work entitled 'The Creeds of Christendom.'

In 1885 the Church showed her appreciation of the Professor's character
and work by electing him to the Moderatorship of the General Assembly,
an office which he filled with a union of dignity and authority which
reflected honour upon the Church. If there are parties in the Church of
Scotland, he never identified himself with any of them, and had learned
to call no man master but Christ. He knew his own mind, and could give
forcible expression to his convictions when occasion required. Naturally
of an unassuming disposition and unobtrusive manners, he never courted
popularity nor sought to thrust his opinions upon others; and it was for
this reason, perhaps, that he was deferred to even by those whose views
were in some respects widely divergent from his. It was doubtless for
this reason also, as well as for others, that he wielded so great an
influence in the counsels of the Church, and probably few men had more
to do than he with the shaping of her policy in recent years. In paying
a tribute to his memory at a meeting of the Presbytery of Edinburgh a
few days after his decease, the Very Rev. Dr Scott of St George's said
that "by Professor Mitchell's death the Church had lost a laborious,
faithful, successful, and honoured minister and professor, and perhaps
one of the soundest and wisest counsellors that the Church ever had. He
was a man who had friends in all the Churches. He knew how powerfully
his influence had told in the Church--always for conciliation, not only
so far as those without their own Church were concerned, but those
within the Church also. Had it not been for Dr Mitchell's influence the
relaxation of the formula regarding the subscription of elders would
never have been carried through."

A man of a very catholic spirit, and a lover of peace and concord, the
Professor, like many others who longed for a comprehensive union of the
Scottish Churches, would willingly have made all reasonable concessions
for the attainment of so desirable an object. But he was too loyal a son
of the Church of Scotland to consent to any unworthy compromise, and in
the hour of danger no one was more ready than he to exert all the
influence at his command in her defence. Readers of Dr Boyd's
'Twenty-five Years of St Andrews' may remember the account there given
of the impression made by the Professor's sermon in the Town Church in
the height of the contest in 1885, when the question of Disestablishment
was brought so prominently before the electors of the St Andrews Burghs.
Dr Boyd says: "It had been intimated at the services during the day that
Dr Mitchell, our Professor of Church History, would lecture in the
parish church in the evening on 'Some aspects of the Church Question
deserving of consideration in the present crisis.' Dr Mitchell was that
year Moderator of the Kirk: and he very seldom preaches. The church was
filled by a great congregation. I should not in the least degree have
been surprised to hear Dr Mitchell preach wisely and devoutly: that is
his usual way. But it did surprise me to find that man of calm and
well-balanced mind fire up into a pathos and vehemence which I have
rarely seen equalled and never surpassed. The question of
disestablishment had been raised: and one was made to realise how it
stirs the blood of good men here. And not merely were there this evening
a fire, a keenness, a power of stirring a multitude to the depth of
their nature, which are rare indeed, but an incisive severity of
denunciation which few had expected from that calm, cautious man. And if
the preacher was at white-heat, so was the congregation long before he
was done. Several times there would have been loud applause, had it not
been hushed."

The attitude which the Professor maintained in regard to the doctrine
and worship of the Church was a strictly conservative one, and may be
best described in his own words, taken from an article included in the
list of his minor works. In that article, after quoting the advice
tendered by an eminent minister of the Church of England to a minister
of the Church of Scotland--"Stick by your own Kirk: it is an honest
Kirk, one of the few that has fairly rid itself of sacerdotalism and
ritualism, and you have no cause to be ashamed of it"--he goes on to
say: "The advice is not unneeded in the present day by others than he to
whom it was originally tendered, and I give it this publicity for the
benefit of all whom it may concern. The Reformed Church of Scotland from
the first rid herself of these medieval corruptions, and the attempt to
bring her again under the yoke issued in dire disaster to those who made
it. This surely is no time for the Presbyterian Churches to swerve from
the testimony they have so long and resolutely borne against all such
errors. When we think of the mischief they are now causing in the Church
of England, and the grief they are occasioning to many of her most loyal
sons, rather does it become us to bear more decided testimony to the
truths, that under the New Testament there is but one Priest, who ever
liveth to make intercession for us, and one sacrifice once offered,
which perfects for ever them that are sanctified; that He has not
communicated His priestly office to His ministers either by succession
or delegation, nor authorised them to repeat or continue that sacrifice
which is the propitiation for sin; and that He has neither Himself
imposed, nor warranted others to impose, a load of 'fondly' invented
ceremonies in His worship."

If the Professor thus strenuously opposed sacerdotalism on the one hand,
he had as little sympathy with Broad Churchism on the other. The
non-natural sense in which the narratives of the New Testament miracles
are understood and interpreted by some of the modern critics he rejected
as subversive of Christian truth, a common saying of his being, "If the
Gospel is not true historically, it is not true at all: 'If Christ be
not raised, your faith is vain'"; and while he mellowed with advancing
years, he never wavered in his deep religious convictions, nor for a
moment relaxed the tenacious grasp which he had of the doctrines of
Christianity as set forth in the standards of the Reformed Churches. One
of his latest sayings was, "I die in the faith which I have always
professed."

From his _Alma Mater_ the Professor had received the degree of D.D. in
1862, and in 1892 the University of Glasgow conferred upon him the
degree of LL.D. in recognition of his eminence as a teacher and an
author. A young minister of the Church, himself one of his most
distinguished students, has drawn a picture of him as he appeared about
the latter of these dates, which is so true to the life that no excuse
is needed for introducing it here. He says: "St Andrews and Professor
Mitchell are inseparable. For forty-four years he has taught in the
University: first the Hebrew Tongue; next the History of the Church of
Christ. As a Professor, Dr Mitchell comes into contact with a
comparatively small number of students. The classes in St Mary's are
diminutive--in some ways a source of much gratification to the writer
and others--consequently he is little known by most men here. Of course,
all are familiar with the Figure pacing the town in the bright of the
forenoon; or, arm-in-arm with a youthful Professor, walking as far as
the Swilcan; or, at a Graduation Ceremony, scanning the audience, if
perhaps he may get a glimpse of some old pupil among the crowd of
interested spectators. For many of his students have risen high: and
some of them have a weight of years to bear. But all are not aware that
in the Church History Class-Room English is spoken as she is nowhere
else in St Andrews. The beautifully rounded and perfectly balanced
sentences, and the elegance of the language, will hardly be excelled. To
make the study of Church History what is called popular is one of the
few impossibilities of life, but there is no man living who can invest
the subject with more interest; for Professor Mitchell is thoroughly up
to date with all his facts, and loses no opportunity of visiting the
great German authorities.... To be reproved in class by the Professor is
not to be desired: to be 'spoken to' in his ante-room still less so.
Many men stand in awe of him--I have always thought unnecessarily so."

The Professor continued to take a warm interest in his students after
they had left the Divinity Hall, and had entered on the work of the
ministry; and when attending the General Assembly he could generally
tell how many of its members had passed through one or other of his
classes in St Mary's College. When he retired from the duties of his
Chair in 1894, the occasion was regarded as affording a suitable
opportunity of giving public expression to the esteem in which he was
held by his friends, and to their grateful appreciation of his services
both to the Church and the University; and in 1895, while the General
Assembly was in session, he was presented, in name of a large number of
his former students and other friends, with an illuminated address, a
cheque for 200 guineas, and his portrait by Sir George Reid--acknowledged
to be one of the best that have yet come from the studio of the
President of the Royal Scottish Academy. The Right Hon. James A.
Campbell of Stracathro, M.P., with whom he had long had intimate
relations, presided at the ceremony and made the presentation. The reply
of the Professor, as containing many interesting reminiscences, and as
showing the view which he took himself of his life and work, is here
inserted _in extenso_. He said:--

"Mr Campbell, I thank you, sir, with all my heart, for the many kind
things--far more kind than I deserve--which you have just said of me,
and for the many kind services which you have rendered to me in the
course of our lifelong friendship; and I thank, with all my heart, you,
my many esteemed friends and pupils, who have united in presenting me
with this address expressive of your warm affection, this speaking
likeness and munificent gift. Kindness far more than I have merited has
followed me all my life through--never more conspicuously than at the
close of my public career; and now in retiring from the professorial
work I loved, and from the College for which almost for half a century I
lived and laboured, it is a consolation to me to know that I carry with
me into my retirement the esteem of so many honoured friends and the
affectionate regard of so many former pupils. Some have been speaking
lately of the loneliness of a Scottish student's college life. I can
only say for myself that the years I spent as a student in St Mary's
College were among the happiest of my life, and that the friendships
then formed within the little band of my fellow-students were among the
most valued and lasting of those I have enjoyed. I have but to name John
Robertson, afterwards minister of Glasgow Cathedral; John Tulloch,
afterwards Principal of St Mary's College; William Milligan, afterwards
Professor of Biblical Criticism in Aberdeen; William Dickson, afterwards
Professor of Divinity in Glasgow; Drs W. H. Gray, Gloag, and Herdman,
and with these some who afterwards joined the Free Church: Dr Thomson,
long at the head of the Free Church Jewish Mission at Constantinople; Dr
Thomas Brown, younger brother of my late colleague, Dr William Brown,
agent for the Turkish Missions Aid Society; and Edward Cross, afterwards
Free Church minister at Monifieth, with whom I laboured in happiest
intercourse in Dundee, he being assistant to the Free Church minister in
the same district of the town when I was assistant to the Parish
minister. When in my twenty-sixth year I returned as a Professor in the
College where so shortly before I had been a student, I can never forget
the kindness with which I was received by my aged instructors there,
especially by Principal Haldane, whose kind counsels were then
invaluable to me, nor the kindness of Professors Duncan and Alexander,
the only two of my instructors remaining in the Old College. St Andrews
about that time had the reputation of being rather a hot place. The
conviction that I was a man of rather placid temper, who would not add
fuel to the flame, I believe weighed considerably with Lord Advocate
Rutherfurd in finally recommending me for the Chair. Within St Mary's
College we were a happy family, and the youth of twenty-six and the two
aged Professors beyond threescore and ten continued to work in unbroken
harmony--the youth deeming it a special privilege to aid the venerable
Principal in his class-work during the last year of his life, as well as
to aid him and his aged colleague in their pulpit work. It was soon
after this that I began to take an active part in Church work, attending
the General Assembly as an elder and as Convener of the Jewish
Mission--doing what I could to reorganise it in Turkey, first in
conjunction with such venerable fathers as Drs Muir, Hunter, Grant, and
James Robertson, and with several brethren nearer my own age, who were
bearing the burden and heat of the day--Drs Crawford, Nicholson, Nisbet,
William Robertson, and Elder Cumming, and such laymen as Sheriff Arkley,
David Smith, Henry Cheyne, John Elder, John Tawse, and the good Edmund
Baxter, all now gone to their rest and their reward. Principal Haldane
was succeeded by my old class-fellow, Principal Tulloch, in harmony with
whom I wrought for thirty years in the College, occasionally taking part
of his work, as I had of his predecessor's, when he was laid aside by
ill-health, and also taking part with him in Church work, especially in
the work of the Anti-Patronage Committee, on whose success so many in
the Church had set their hearts. After his untimely removal, though I
had served for seven or eight years beyond the statutory thirty, I
continued at my post, and in the most kind and cordial relations both in
Church and University work with his successor, Principal Cunningham,
heartily co-operating with him in the repeal of what has been termed the
Black Act of 1711, and in the restitution of the old formula for
ministers and elders, which are now so generally welcomed, and have been
acknowledged by one at least of the three who protested against the
change to be a great boon. I have often spoken of the pleasure I have
had in superintending the work of my students, and my gratification at
the zest with which they took to the study both of Hebrew and Church
History. The circumstances which led to my resignation are already well
known to you all, and I need only say that it was to me a very regretful
necessity. I leave in each of the three other Divinity Faculties at
least one distinguished pupil, and in St Mary's College two who, with
their younger colleagues, I trust will strive to make it more than ever
a School of the Prophets, a nursery for earnest, faithful, scholarly,
and devoted ministers, who shall set high above all passing isms Christ
the personal Saviour, and those great truths as to His divine nature,
incarnation, atoning death, and glorious resurrection, to which the
historic Church of Christ through so many centuries has clung as her
life and strength and joy. Christ before, Christ behind,--according to
St Patrick's prayer,--Christ above, Christ beneath, Christ in the
heart, Christ in the home. I heartily thank you all for your great
kindness, and especially Principal Stewart and Mr Wenley, and one who
once said I had been as a father to him, and of whom I may truly say
that he has been as a son to me."

In 1852 the Professor married the eldest daughter of the late Mr Michael
Johnstone of Archbank, near Moffat, who belonged to an influential
yeoman family that has been connected with Annandale for the last two
hundred years. The late Mr Peter Johnstone, brother of Mrs Mitchell's
father, who was a proprietor as well as a large farmer, is still
remembered as having done a great deal to promote the cause of education
in the district where he resided; and her brother, the late Mr James
Johnstone, was tenant of Bodsbeck farm, which is the scene of the
Ettrick Shepherd's well-known Covenanting story--"The Brownie of
Bodsbeck." How much Mrs Mitchell did to brighten the life and to
minister to the happiness of the Professor can be known only to those
who have had the privilege of being admitted into the inner circle of
their friends, and there are not a few who have very pleasant
reminiscences of delightful intercourse with them in their house at 56
South Street, where the duty of entertaining strangers seemed never to
be forgotten. Their family of four sons and two daughters all survive,
with the exception of the eldest son, Robert Haldane, who died several
years ago in Australia, to which he had emigrated along with his brother
Johnstone.

Probably few are aware that the Professor spent many of his happiest
days, and did much of his literary work, at Gowanpark, his country
residence near Brechin, which, with its charm of seclusion and
restfulness, no one who has visited it can ever forget, and which his
family came to regard as their home almost as much as St Andrews. There
he found relaxation in the interest which he took in the work of his
little farm, which was his own property, and as long as he had health he
enjoyed a ramble among the neighbouring hills, or a walk, varied by an
occasional drive, along the quiet country roads. His home in the
country, however, was with him no mere place of recreation, still less
of idleness, and there, as elsewhere, he never failed to find his chief
source of pleasure in the prosecution of his favourite studies.

When the Professor retired from the duties of his Chair he did not cease
to take an interest in the affairs of the College, of which he was an
ornament while he lived, and with which, as was said in a notice of him
at the time of his death, his name will always be associated--like those
of Andrew Melville, Samuel Rutherford, and others in remote and
troublous times, and that of Principal Tulloch in our own more peaceful
days. Nor did he cease to interest himself in the work of the Church
which he loved so well and had served so faithfully. Perhaps it was to
show his love for the Church as much as to gratify his own feelings
that, amid great bodily infirmity, he undertook the journey to
Edinburgh, in May 1898, to attend the General Assembly. He was unable,
indeed, to be present there more than once or twice, and when on one
occasion he occupied the Moderator's chair for a few minutes, a thrill
of respectful sympathy passed through the House. In a letter written a
few days after his return home he says, "I am very pleased to have been
able to give even such limited attendance," adding, with a touch of
pathos, as if anticipating that the visit would be his last, "in the
fiftieth year since Mr John Tulloch and Alex. F. Mitchell were first
returned as members."

Soon afterwards he removed to his loved retreat at Gowanpark, but his
health did not improve, and he was but seldom able to leave the house.
Most of the letters he wrote at this time, some of them in pencil, with
his head resting on the pillow, were evidently intended to be his
parting words to those to whom they were addressed. In one of these,
written in the middle of September, he says, "For the first fortnight
after I came here I was able to go out of doors, and in my invalid chair
bask in the sun for an hour a-day. I am still keeping my bed in the hope
of being able to return without risk to St Andrews in the end of the
month;" and then, alluding to a subject his interest in which seems to
have helped to keep him alive, he says, "I have got five of my six
Baird Lectures transcribed. Of course I must get some one to read them
for me."

When he returned to St Andrews, the burden of his infirmities grew
heavier, and as the spring approached it was manifest that he was
nearing the end. He was greatly affected by the tidings of the tragic
death of Dr Boyd, who had paid him a visit shortly before his departure
for the south. On the Monday before he died he repeated the words of the
second paraphrase in a clear, strong voice, and quoted almost the last
recorded words of St Paul, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished
my course, I have kept the faith." On Tuesday evening he desired some
one to sing to him, and as Miss Mitchell was unable to control her
feelings to do so, Mr Smith, his amanuensis, who had come in, was asked
by him to sing "Jesus, Lover of my Soul." When this was done he turned
to Miss Mitchell, and said, "What would you like?" and they sang
together "Rock of Ages." With uncomplaining patience he had suffered
much, but welcome rest came to him on the morning of Wednesday, 22nd
March. Having served his own generation by the will of God, he fell
asleep amid the tender regrets of his family, leaving behind him a
memory that will always be held in honour, and an example of laborious
service, of deep piety, and of fervent trust in Christ.

In compliance with his own wish, his remains were conveyed to Brechin,
where they were laid to rest beside those of his fathers under the
shadow of the old Cathedral, the members of the local Presbytery, in
token of their respect, being present on the occasion. "The world
passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God
abideth for ever."

_Gilmerton Manse, December 1899._



THE SCOTTISH REFORMATION.



CHAPTER I.

THE NATURE AND NEED OF THE REFORMATION.


[Sidenote: Its Animating Principle.]

With the single exception of the period which covers the introduction
and first marvellous triumphs of Christianity, the Reformation of the
sixteenth century must be owned as perhaps the greatest and most
glorious revolution in the history of the human race. And the years of
earnest contendings and heroic sufferings which prepared the way for its
triumph in many lands and issued in its cruel suppression in others, and
the story of the men who by God's grace were enabled to bear the brunt
of the battle and to lead their countrymen on to victory or to
martyrdom, will ever have a fascination for all in whose hearts faith
in the great truths, then more clearly brought to light, has not yet
altogether evaporated. The movement then initiated was no mere effort to
get quit of acknowledged scandals, which had long been grieved over but
never firmly dealt with; no mere desire to lop off a few later
accretions, which had gathered round and obscured the faith once
delivered to the saints;[1] no mere "return to the Augustinian, or the
Nicene, or the Ante-Nicene age," but a vast progress beyond any previous
age since the death of St John--a deeper plunge into the meaning of
revelation than had been made by Augustine, or Anselm, or St Bernard, or
À Kempis, or Wycliffe, or Tauler. Its object was to get back to the
divine sources of Christianity,--to know, and understand, and
appropriate it as it came fresh and pure from the lips of the Son of God
and His inspired apostles, not excluding that chosen vessel to whom the
grace had been given "to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable
riches of Christ." It was, in fact, a return to the old Gospel so
attractively set forth by him in his Epistles, and verified to the
reformers by their own inmost spiritual experience under deep
convictions of sin and shortcoming. The cry of their awakened
consciences had been, How shall we sinners have relief from our load and
be justified before God? And this, as has been said, was just the old
question put to the apostle himself by the jailer at Philippi, What must
I do to be saved? And the answer their own experience warranted them
with one accord to proclaim was still, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
believe in the riches of His pardoning mercy, in the merit of His
atoning death, in the freeness and power of His efficacious grace. By
believing, however, they meant, and were careful to explain that they
meant, not a mere intellectual assent to the truth of the facts, but
such an assent as drew with it the trust of the heart and the personal
surrender of the soul to Christ; or--to use language of somewhat later
origin--the individual _appropriation_ of the freely offered Saviour,
with all His fulness of blessing, pardon, and righteousness by His one
offering once offered, and renewal into His own image by the continuous
indwelling of His Holy Spirit.

[Sidenote: Infusion of a New Life.]

Such was the animating principle which gave power to the teaching of the
reformers in all lands, and which constitutes still the central article
of a standing or a falling church to all their true-hearted
successors--Christ crucified for our sins, raised again for our
justification, and now exalted to the right hand of the Majesty in the
heavens as Prince and Saviour, to give repentance and remission of sin
and all needed grace to those who thus believe in Him, and are brought
into union with Him. And the Reformed Church will never perish or decay
while it continues to set forth this Gospel, and is honoured by its
divine Head to bring it home to the hearts and consciences of men, with
the same power as its first teachers were honoured with in the brave
days of old. For it must never be forgotten, I repeat, that the
Reformation movement was not only the introduction of a more scriptural
and scientific method of exhibiting Christian doctrine, and simple
unfolding of its teaching as to man's fallen state and the remedy their
heavenly Father had in His love provided for them; not only the
reassertion of the supremacy of the written Word of God over human
traditions, as well as of the right of all Christian men and women to
have direct access to that blessed Word; not only the translation into
the vernacular--German, English, Danish, Dutch, French, Italian,
Spanish--and the circulation throughout Western Europe of that which for
ages had been to the Christian laity as a book that is sealed; but it
was also, above all this, the infusion of a new and higher life into the
churches. We fall short of a full comprehension of the movement if we
fail to recognise that the God of all grace and blessing was then
pleased to "send a plentiful rain to confirm His inheritance when it was
weary," to grant a second Pentecost to the church, to make the people
willing in the day of His power, and to pour out His Spirit in rich
abundance upon men.

With all the conscious and unconscious preparation which had paved the
way for them, the men who were God's chosen instruments at that crisis
were made deeply to feel and humbly to own that it was God Himself who
had led them on--at times by ways they had not thought of; that it was
He who had upheld them in their extremity when all human power seemed to
be arrayed against them; that it was He who, when their resources were
exhausted, was pleased, in the day when they cried unto Him, to hear
their prayer and revive their hopes by the plentiful outpouring of His
Spirit. How feelingly this was acknowledged by Luther at various crises
in his life is known to all who are in any measure acquainted with his
thrilling story. No one could have more constantly in his heart or more
frequently on his lips the Hebrew psalmist's song of holy confidence,
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the
mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.... There is a river, the
streams whereof shall make glad the city of God." There was also that
other which, under reverses and discouragements, was the solace of our
own reformer, "If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men
rose up against us: then they had swallowed us up quick.... Blessed be
the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth." As they mused
the fire burned and found expression in such songs of holy confidence
as--

    "A sure stronghold our God is He,
      A trusty shield and weapon;
    Our help He'll be, and set us free
      Whatever ill may happen.

           *       *       *       *       *

    Through our own force we nothing can,
      Straight were we lost for ever,
    But for us fights the proper Man,
      By God sent to deliver.
          Ask ye who this may be?
          Christ Jesus named is He,
          Of Sabaoth the Lord
          Sole God to be adored,
      'Tis He must win the battle."[2]

    "If God were not upon our side
      When foes around us rage,
    Were not Himself our help and guide
      When bitter war they wage,
    Were He not Israel's mighty shield,
    To whom their utmost crafts must yield,
      We surely must have perished."[3]

[Sidenote: Decay of the Medieval Church.]

By the time at which reforming influences began manifestly to show
themselves in Scotland, that grand medieval organisation, which had
supplanted the simpler arrangements of the old Celtic church, had in its
turn exhausted its life powers, and shown unmistakable signs of
deep-seated corruption and hopeless decay. Whatever good it may have
been honoured to do in times past,--in keeping alive the knowledge of
God and of things divine in the midst of "a darkness which might be
felt," in promoting a higher civilisation than the Celtic, in
alleviating the evils of the feudalism which Anglo-Norman settlers had
brought in, in founding parishes and universities and some other
institutions which, with a purified church and revived Christian life,
were to be a source of blessing after it was swept away,--yet now at
last it had grossly failed to keep alive among the common people true
devotion, or to give access to the sources at which the flame might have
been rekindled; it had failed to provide educated men for its ordinary
cures, to raise the masses from the rudeness and ignorance in which they
were still involved, and even to maintain that hearty sympathy with them
and that kindly interest in their temporal welfare which its best men in
its earlier days had shown. It continued to have its services in a
language which had for ages been unintelligible to the bulk of the
laity, and was but partially intelligible to not a few of its ordinary
priests. It had no catechisms or hymn books bringing down to the
capacities of the unlettered the truths of religion, and freely
circulated among them.[4] It did not, when the invention of printing put
it in its power, make any effort to circulate among them the Holy Book,
that they might read therein, in their own tongue, the message of God's
love. No doubt it had its pictures and images, its mystery plays and
ceremonies, which it deemed fit books for children and the unlearned.
But it forgot that these children were growing in capacity, even if
allowed to grow up untrained; that "to credulous simplicity was
succeeding a spirit of eager curiosity, an impatience of mere authority,
and a determination to search into the foundation of things"; and that,
if it was to maintain its place, it must not only keep abreast but ahead
of advancing intelligence and morality. But the old church began greatly
to decline just as the laity began to rise. Bishop Kennedy, I suppose,
was almost its last preaching bishop; and the character of the
preaching, so far as preaching was still continued by the friars and
some of the inferior clergy, was not generally fitted to supply the lack
of Bibles and catechisms, and other vernacular books of instruction. It
never grappled, as it ought, with the problem of lightening the burdens
it had long exacted of the peasantry; but refused almost to the last
moment to ease even the most galling of them. It never grappled, as it
ought, with the problem of the education of the masses; and what was
done for those of the community in more fortunate circumstances was done
more by the efforts of a few noble-minded individuals than by any
corporate action of Church or State. There is not among all its codes of
canons anything approaching to the clear ringing utterances of our
First Book of Discipline concerning the necessity and advantages of
education.[5]

[Sidenote: Lethargy of the Medieval Church.]

Not only had the life powers of the medieval church been exhausted and
decay set in, but corruption, positive and gross corruption, had reached
an alarming height. There were the indolence and neglect of duty which
wealth too often brings in its train; the covert secularising of that
wealth, just as in the old Celtic church, by various devices, to get it
into the hands of unqualified men and minors; luxury, avarice,
oppression, simony, shameless pluralities, and crass ignorance; and
above all that celibate system, which nothing would persuade them
honestly to abandon, though it had proved to be a yoke they could not
bear, and was producing only too generally results humiliating and
disastrous to themselves and to all who came under their influence. The
proof of this does not rest merely or even mainly on the statements of
Knox, Alesius, and Spottiswood, nor on the representations of Lindsay
and the Wedderburns. The fact, as both the late Dr David Laing and Dr
Joseph Robertson have shown, and the late Bishop Forbes has sorrowfully
acknowledged, is confessed and deplored in the canons of their councils,
in the Acts of the Scottish Parliament, and in the writings of their
own best men.[6] The harsh measures to which men themselves so
vulnerable had recourse to maintain their position, the relentless
cruelties they perpetrated on men of unblemished character, amiable
disposition, deep-seated conviction and thorough Christian earnestness,
could not fail in the end to turn the tide against them, and arouse
feelings of indignation which on any favourable opportunity would induce
the nation to sweep them away.

[Sidenote: Corruption of the Medieval Church.]

The corruptions in the doctrine of the church were hardly less notable
than those in the lives of its clergy. The sufficiency and supremacy of
the written Word of God were denied, and co-ordinate authority was
claimed for tradition. The Virgin Mary and the saints departed were
asserted to share the office which Scripture reserves for the one
Mediator between God and man. Penances and other external acts of
work-righteousness were alleged to co-operate in the pardon of sin with
the "one obedience" by which "many are made righteous." The sacraments
were asserted to produce their effect _ex opere operato_,--not by the
working of the Spirit in them that by faith receive them. Belief in the
literal transubstantiation of the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper
was rigidly enforced and substituted for that spiritual presence and
spiritual manducation which the earlier church had maintained. The
doctrine of a purgatory after this life was invented, and the virtue of
masses for the dead therein detained was persistently taught and
required to be believed. The Roman church was affirmed to be the mother
and mistress of the churches, and its head to be the successor of St
Peter and the Vicar of Christ.

[Sidenote: The Reforming Priests.]

Yet it must never be forgotten that, even in these degenerate days,
there were those among the ministers of the church who wept in secret
over the abominations that were done, who longed for the dawn of a
better day, and, in their parishes or cloisters or colleges, sought to
prepare the way for it, and who succeeded in doing so with many of
their younger comrades, and only made up their minds in the end to
abandon the old church when all their efforts for its revival proved
vain. Nay, the men who initiated and carried to a successful issue the
struggle for a more thorough reformation than the others desired, the
martyrs, confessors, and exiles, were almost all from the ranks of the
priesthood of the old church--from the regular as well as from the
secular priesthood; from the Dominican and Franciscan monasteries as
well as from the Augustinian abbeys; and from none more largely than the
Augustinian Priory of St Andrews, and the College of St Leonard founded
in connection with it, notwithstanding that its prior for the time being
was so far from what he ought to have been. At least twenty priests
joined the reformed congregation of St Andrews in 1559-60, and among
them more than one who had sat in judgment on the martyrs and assisted
in their condemnation.[7] A much larger number were ultimately admitted
as readers in the Reformed Church.

[Sidenote: Precursors of the Reformation.]

How was the great revolution which was to bring the church back from
these corruptions of life and doctrine prepared for? Ebrard supposes
that witnesses for holy living and simple faith, but partially connected
with the dominant church, were never from Celtic times entirely wanting
in Britain; and it may have been that, through Richard Rolle and a few
other hermits, the feeble spark in the smoking wick continued to
smoulder on till it was blown into a flame by Wycliffe. At any rate it
was blown into a flame by him and his poor priests; and from their time
witness after witness arose to contend for the right of the laity to
read the Word of God, and to maintain that men were saved by the merits
of Christ and should pray to Him alone, that there was no purgatory in
the popish sense, and that the pope was not the Vicar of Christ.
Wycliffe's poor priests, when persecuted in the south, naturally sought
shelter among the moors and mosses of the north. The district of Kyle
and Cunningham was "a receptakle of Goddis servandis of old," where
their doctrines were cherished till the dawn of the Reformation. In 1406
or 1407 James Resby, one of these priests, is found teaching as far
north as Perth, and for his teaching he was accused and condemned to a
martyr's death. A similar fate is said to have befallen another in
Glasgow about 1422, in all probability the Scottish Wycliffite whose
letter to his bishop has recently been unearthed in a Hussite MS. at
Vienna; and in 1433 Paul Craw or Crawar, a Bohemian, for disseminating
similar opinions, was burned at the market cross in St Andrews. These
were not in all probability the only grim triumphs of Laurence, Abbot of
Lindores, one of the first rectors in the University of St Andrews, who
during so many years "gave no rest to heretics," but they are all of
whom records have been preserved to our time. The fact that every Master
of Arts in the University of St Andrews had to take an oath to defend
the church against the Lollards,[8] and the other fact that the Scottish
Parliament in 1425 enjoined that every bishop should make inquiry anent
heretics and Lollards, and that where any such were found, they should
be punished as the law of holy church requires,[9] speak more
significantly of the alarm they had occasioned than these sporadic
martyrdoms. Still more, perhaps, does the abuse Fordun, or rather his
continuator, heaps on them, bear witness to the alarm they had caused.
Yet at the very close of the century, and in the old haunt, we find no
fewer than thirty processed, and through the kindness of the king more
gently dealt with than the ecclesiastical authorities wished; three of
the most resolute--namely, Campbell of Cessnock, his noble wife, and a
priest who officiated as their chaplain and read the New Testament to
them--being released when at the stake.

[Sidenote: John Major.]

Reforming tendencies in the sixteenth century, it has been said, first
showed themselves in Scotland in the reassertion of "those principles,
catholic but anti-papal," which had been maintained in the preceding
century in the Councils of Constance and Basle. The decisions of the
former were received in Scotland in 1418, and allegiance to Benedict
XIII. was finally renounced.[10] A Scottish doctor[11] had taken a
rather prominent part in the proceedings of the latter, though the
Scottish Church, like the others, ultimately fell away from that council
and the pope elected by it, and under Bishop Kennedy was reconciled to
the Roman See and to Pope Eugenius.[12] Scotland had had no Grosteste,
no Anselm or Bradwardine among its prelates in the middle ages, no
Wycliffe among its priests. Duns Scotus, the one theologian before the
sixteenth century who claimed Scottish birth and European fame, never
seems to have taught in his native land. Chief among its doctors in the
beginning of the sixteenth century stood John Major, a native of East
Lothian, who taught with distinguished success, first in Paris, then in
Glasgow, after that in St Andrews, then once more in Paris, and finally
in St Andrews again. Melanchthon, while ridiculing his scholastic ways,
places him at the head of the doctors of the Sorbonne. The remembrance
of his early labours in Montaigu College had not died out when Calvin
entered it, and probably he had returned to it before Calvin left.
Patrick Hamilton and Buchanan may possibly have been brought into
contact with him while there, as they, Alesius, and John Wedderburn
afterwards were in St Andrews, and John Hamilton and Knox in Glasgow. He
was a true disciple of D'Ailly and Gerson, but like them was warmly
attached to the dominant church and opposed to the heretics of his time.
He taught, as they had done, that the church, assembled in general
council, may judge and even depose a pope and reform abuses in the
church; that papal excommunications have no force unless conformed to
justice, and do not necessarily prevent a man who dies under them from
going to heaven. He sharply censured the vices of the Roman court, and
of the bishops and clergy of his time, particularly those of his native
land. He is especially severe in censuring their immorality and
ignorance; and, like Wycliffe, condemns the monks and friars for
inveigling into their order young novices who had no vocation for a
celibate life, and ought rather to have been encouraged to enter into
honest wedlock. But he was a stern opponent of heresy--Lutheran as well
as Wycliffite--a subtle defender of Roman doctrine; and in dedicating to
Archbishop Betoun his Commentary on St Matthew's Gospel, he
congratulated him on the success of his cruel measures against Hamilton
and the heretics.[13]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] As Lord Acton has so well said, "The modern age did not proceed from
the medieval by normal succession, with outward tokens of legitimate
descent. Unheralded, it founded a new order of things, under a law of
innovation, sapping the ancient reign of continuity. In those days
Columbus subverted the notions of the world, and reversed the conditions
of production, wealth, and power.... Luther broke the chain of authority
and tradition at the strongest link; and Copernicus erected an
invincible power that set for ever the mark of progress upon the time
that was to come.... It was an awakening of new life; the world revolved
in a different orbit, determined by influences unknown before. After
many ages, persuaded of the headlong decline and impending dissolution
of society, and governed by usage and the will of masters who were in
their graves, the sixteenth century went forth armed for untried
experience, and ready to watch with hopefulness a prospect of
incalculable change" (Lecture on the Study of History, 1895, pp. 8, 9).
"There are no true 'cycles' in human development; history never repeats
itself; the Greco-Roman world has only distant analogies with the
Feudal-Catholic world, just as this has only distant analogies with the
Revolutionary world. The great phases of human civilisation are
contrasted rather than compared; they differ as infancy, childhood,
manhood, and senility differ in the individual" (Harrison on "Freeman's
Method of History," in the 'Nineteenth Century' for November 1898).

[2] Miss Winkworth's Christian Singers of Germany, pp. 110, 111.

[3] Ibid., p. 117.

[4] [Hamilton's Catechism, which was not intended for indiscriminate
circulation among the laity, was not published until 1552; and The
Twopenny Faith was not issued until the spring of 1559.]

[5] [For these utterances see _infra_, chap. viii. sec. iv.]

[6] Because of its permanent importance, I deem it best to insert here a
note from my Introduction to 'The Gude and Godlie Ballatis,' p. lxiv:
"We do not need to call in Knox, or Lindsay, or the satirists, in
evidence of this humbling fact. The testimony of their own councils, of
the Acts of Parliament, and of some of their best men, as Principal Hay
in his congratulatory address to Cardinal Betoun, and Ninian Winzet in
the sad appeals and confessions inserted in his 'Tractates,' as well as
that of impartial modern historians like Tytler and Dr Joseph Robertson,
is more than sufficient to establish it beyond contradiction. The
testimony of Conæus, who died when about to be raised to the purple,
covers almost all that Alesius and Knox have averred: 'In multorum
sacerdotum aedibus scortum publicum ... nec a sacrilego quorundam luxu
tutus erat matronarum honos aut virginalis pudor.' More notable still is
the representation given in the 'Memoire' addressed to the Pope by Queen
Mary and the Dauphin, evidently at the instance of Mary of Guise, in
which the spread of heresy is expressly attributed to the ignorance and
immorality of the clergy. See Appendix B, vol. ii., of Mr Hume Brown's
recent biography of Knox."

[7] [So early as the 23rd of June 1559, Knox wrote to Mrs Anna Lock:
"Diverse channons of Sanct Andrewes have given notable confessiouns, and
have declared themselves manifest enemies to the pope, to the masse, and
to all superstitioun" (Laing's Knox, vi. 26). In all probability some of
these canons were included among the fourteen canons of St Andrews
Priory who are mentioned as Protestants in January 1571-72, and of whom
twelve were then parish ministers ('Booke of the Universall Kirk,'
Bannatyne Club, i. 222). None of these fourteen is found signing the
General Band of 13th July 1559, which in St Andrews was adopted as "the
letters of junctioun to the Congregatioun"; but eighteen priests did
sign it; and of the other thirteen ecclesiastics who there made sweeping
recantations, at least six may be held to have joined the congregation,
for they not only confessed that "we haif ower lang abstractit ourselfis
and beyne sweir in adjuning us to Christes Congregatioun," but they
promised "in tyme cuming to assist in word and wark with unfenyiet mynde
this Congregatioun" ('Register of St Andrews Kirk-Session,' Scot. Hist.
Soc., i. 10-18). In 1573 it was stated that "the most part of the
persons who were channons monks and friars within this realme have made
profession of the true religion" ('Booke of the Universall Kirk,' i.
280).]

[8] [Enacted by the University on 10th June 1416 (M'Crie's Melville,
1824, i. 420).]

[9] [Enacted by Parliament on 12th March 1424-25 (Acts of Parliament,
ii. 7).]

[10] Robertson's Concilia Scotiæ, vol. i. p. lxxviii.

[11] [For an account of this Scottish cleric--Thomas, Abbot of
Dundrennan--who so greatly distinguished himself at the Council of
Basle, see 'Concilia Scotiæ,' vol. i. pp. xcvii-xcix.]

[12] [The bull of Eugenius the Fourth, addressed to Bishop Kennedy, and
dated 6th July 1440, orders the excommunication of the followers of the
anti-pope, Felix the Fifth, elected by the Council of Basle, to be
published in Scotland (Ibid., p. c.)]

[13] [Dr Mitchell, no doubt, had the Commentary itself before him. Those
who have not access to it will find the dedication in the Appendix to
Constable's 'Major,' Scot. Hist. Soc., pp. 447, 448.]



CHAPTER II.

PATRICK HAMILTON.


It has not been very clearly ascertained how or when the opinions and
writings of Luther were first introduced into Scotland. M. de la Tour,
who in 1527 suffered in Paris for heresy, was accused of having vented
various Lutheran opinions while in Edinburgh in attendance on the Duke
of Albany. This, of course, must have been before 1523. On the 9th June
1523, the same day that John Major was received as Principal of the
Pædagogium, or St Mary's College,[14] Patrick Hamilton was incorporated
into the University of St Andrews;[15] and on 3rd October 1524 he was
admitted as a member of the Faculty of Arts. If he did not from the
latter date act as a regent in the University, he probably took charge
of some of the young noblemen or gentlemen attending the classes. At
that date he was probably more Erasmian than Lutheran, though of that
more earnest school who were ultimately to outgrow their teacher, and
find their congenial home in a new church.

[Sidenote: His Studies.]

Patrick Hamilton was born in 1503 or 1504 at Stonehouse in Lanarkshire,
or at Kincavel near Linlithgow. His father, a natural son of the first
Lord Hamilton, had been knighted for his bravery, and rewarded by his
sovereign with the above lands and barony. His mother was a daughter of
Alexander, Duke of Albany, the second son of James II., so that he had
in his veins the noblest blood in the land. His cousins, John and James
Hamilton, were in due time raised to episcopal rank in the unreformed
church of Scotland, and several others of his relations received high
ecclesiastical promotion. Marked out for a similar destiny, Patrick was
carefully educated, and, according to the corrupt custom of the time,
was in his fourteenth year appointed to the Abbacy of Ferne in
Ross-shire, to enable him to maintain himself in comfort while
continuing his studies abroad. Like many of his aristocratic countrymen
he went first to the University of Paris, and probably to the College of
Montaigu, where Major, the great Scottish scholastic doctor, was then
teaching with much _eclat_, and gathering round him there, as afterwards
at St Andrews, an ardent band of youthful admirers, several of whom in
the end were to advance beyond their preceptor, and to lend the
influence of their learning and piety to the side of Luther and the
reformers. Before the close of 1520 he took the degree of M.A. at the
University of Paris, and soon after left Paris for Louvain, to avail
himself of the facilities for linguistic studies provided there, or to
enjoy personal intercourse with Erasmus, the patron of the new learning.
He is said while there to have made great progress in the languages and
in philosophy, and to have been specially attracted towards the
philosophy of Plato. With the Sophists of Louvain, as Luther terms them,
he could have had no sympathy. But there were some there, as well as at
Paris, whose hearts God had touched, to whom he could not fail to be
drawn. He may even have met with those Augustinian monks of Antwerp whom
these Sophists so soon after his departure sent to heaven in a chariot
of fire, and whose martyrdom unsealed in Luther's breast the fount of
sacred song. In the autumn of 1522, or the spring of 1523, he returned
to Scotland, and, after a brief visit to his relatives in
Linlithgowshire, appears to have come on to St Andrews. Probably, along
with Alesius, Buchanan, and John Wedderburn, he there heard those
lectures on the Gospels which Major afterwards published in Paris and
dedicated to the Archbishop of St Andrews and other prominent churchmen
in Scotland. But his sympathies were more with the young canons of the
Augustinian priory than with the Old Scholastic; and probably it was
that he might take a place among the teachers of their daughter college
of St Leonard's that he was received as a member of the Faculty of Arts.
Skilled in the art of sacred music, which the _alumni_ of that college
were bound specially to cultivate, he composed what the musicians call a
mass, arranged in parts for nine voices, and acted himself as leader of
the choir when it was sung in the cathedral. He is said to have taken on
him the priesthood about this time, that he might be formally admitted
"to preach the word of God." But he was not then of age for priests'
orders, and Dr David Laing is doubtful if he was in orders at all, and
certainly no mention is made of his degradation from orders before his
martyrdom, and the final summons of Betoun seems to imply that he had
never been authorised to preach at all.

[Sidenote: Parliament and Heresy.]

The years 1525 and 1526 were very unquiet years in Scotland, various
factions contending with varying success for the possession of the
person of the young king. It was on the 17th July of the former year
that his Parliament passed its first Act against the new opinions, in
which, after asserting that the realm had ever been clean "of all sic
filth and vice," it enacted, "that na maner of persoun strangear that
hapnis to arrife with their schippis within ony part of this realm bring
with thaim ony bukis or werkis of the said Lutheris his discipillis or
servandis, desputt or rehers his heresyis or opunyeouns bot geif
[_i.e._, unless] it be to the confusioun therof, and that be clerkis in
the sculis alanerlie, under the pane of escheting of ther schippis and
gudis and putting of ther persouns in presoun."[16] In consequence of a
letter from the pope, urging the young king to keep his realm free from
stain of heresy, the scope of the Act was extended in 1527 by the
chancellor and Lords of Council so that it might apply to natives of the
kingdom as well as to strangers resorting to it for purposes of
commerce.[17]

[Sidenote: James Betoun's Motives.]

In 1526 the primate, Archbishop James Betoun, uncle of the cardinal,
having taken a keen part in the political contentions of the day with
the faction which lost, had to escape for a time from St Andrews, and,
disguised as a shepherd, to tend a flock of sheep for three months on
the hills of Fife, on the high grounds of Kennoway, immediately to the
east of where the railway now reaches its summit level.[18] It was at
this juncture that copies of the New Testament of Tyndale's translation
were brought over from the Low Countries by the Scottish traders to the
seaports of Aberdeen, Montrose, St Andrews, and Leith. Most of them are
said to have been taken to St Andrews and put in circulation there in
the absence of the archbishop. One was present there at that time who
had long treasured the precious saying of Erasmus, "Let us eagerly read
the Gospel, but let us not only read, but live the Gospel"; and who
seized the golden opportunity to impress the saying on others, and
invite longing souls to quench their thirst at those wells of living
water which had so marvellously been opened to them for a season. During
the months when the primate was in concealment, and in those which
followed his return, Patrick Hamilton came out more earnestly than he
had done before as an evangelist and an advocate of the great truths,
for which ultimately he was to be called to lay down his life. His
conduct could not long escape the notice of the returned archbishop. I
do not suppose that he was naturally cruel, nor after his recent
misfortunes likely, without consideration, to embroil himself with the
Hamiltons, with whom in the tortuous politics of the times he had often
acted. But he had those about him who were less timid and more cruel,
especially his nephew, the future cardinal. He was himself ambitious and
crafty, and about this very time was exerting all his influence to
obtain special favours from the pope without the sanction of the
king.[19] He knew that the holy father had written the sovereign
requiring him to keep his realm free from heresy, and no doubt he and
his scheming nephew thought that by their zeal in this matter they would
discredit the opposition of the king and his advisers to their ambitious
schemes at the papal court. Still, he was anxious to perform the
ungrateful task in the way least offensive to the Hamiltons. So while
issuing his summons against the reformer to appear and answer the
charges which had been brought against him, he did not attempt at once
to restrain his personal liberty; he would rather, if he could, rid the
kingdom of his presence without imbruing his hands in his blood. And
that was the result actually attained.

[Sidenote: Final Return to Scotland.]

Some of Hamilton's opponents even, touched by his youth, his illustrious
descent, his engaging manners and noble character, joined with his
friends in urging him to avoid by flight the danger which impended. He
yielded to their counsels, and, along with two friends and a servant,
made his escape to the Continent. The story of his residence there has
been graphically told by Principal Lorimer and Dr Merle D'Aubigné; and
the latter has the merit of explaining why Hamilton did not carry out
his original intention of visiting Luther and Melanchthon at Wittenberg,
as well as Frith, Tyndale, and Lambert at Marbourg. At the very time he
arrived on the Continent, the plague was raging in Wittenberg. "Two
persons died of it in Melanchthon's house." Luther himself was suddenly
taken ill. "All who could do so, and especially the students, quitted
the town."[20] Thus the absence of documents bearing on his alleged
sojourn at the Saxon university is naturally explained. He went to the
younger University of Marbourg in Hesse, and prepared there, and
publicly disputed, those theses that most fully and systematically set
forth the doctrines which he mainly taught, and for which at last he
suffered. He was warmly beloved by Lambert of Avignon, who was then the
most distinguished theological professor in the infant university, as
well as by others with whom he was brought into contact; and he would
have been gladly retained by them, could he have been persuaded to
remain in Germany: but his heart yearned to return to his native land,
and once more proclaim there the truths which had now become to him more
precious and engrossing than before. His faith had been confirmed, and
his spirit quickened, by living for a time among earnest and decided
Christians; and in the autumn of 1527 he set out once more for Scotland,
prepared for any fate that might await him, not counting even life dear
unto him if he might finish his course with joy, and bear faithful
witness to his Master's truth, where before he had shrunk back from an
ordeal so terrible. He appears first to have resorted to his native
district, and made known to relatives, friends, and neighbours about
Linlithgow that Gospel of the grace of God which gave strength and peace
to his own spirit. In his discourses and conversations he dwelt chiefly
on the great and fundamental truths which had been brought into
prominence by the reformers, and avoided subjects of doubtful
disputation. His own gentle bearing gained favour for his opinions and
success in his labours, and it won for him the heart of a young lady of
noble birth, to whom he united himself in marriage, following in this
the example of Luther and others of the German reformers.

[Sidenote: In St Andrews.]

Archbishop Betoun being then on the other side of the Forth, in the
neighbouring abbey of Dunfermline, could not fail to hear of his doings
or to desire to silence him. But neither could he fail, in the state of
the political parties in Scotland at the time, to recognise "that a
heretic with the power of the Hamiltons at his back was more to be
dreaded than Luther himself," and must be dealt with very cautiously. It
was long supposed that, if not at the king's express desire, as Bishop
Lesley seems to suggest,[21] then certainly from his own wariness, the
archbishop did not at first venture formally to renew his old summons,
but invited the reformer to St Andrews to a friendly conference with
himself and other chiefs of the church on such points as might seem to
stand in need of reform, and that Hamilton accepted the invitation. At
first, it has been said, he was well received: "All of them displayed a
conciliatory spirit; all appeared to recognise the evils in the church;
some of them seemed even to share on some points the sentiments of
Hamilton."[22] He left the conference not without hope of some other
than the sad issue he had at first anticipated. He was permitted for
nearly a month to move about with freedom in the city, to dispute in the
schools of the university, and privately to confer with all who chose to
resort to him at the lodging which had been provided for him. It was
evidently the intention of those who were deepest in the plot against
him, that he should have ample time allowed him to express his
sentiments fully and unmistakably, and even should be tempted by
dissemblers, like Friar Campbell, to unbosom himself in private on
matters as to which he refrained from saying much in public--the many
alterations required in doctrine and in the administration of the
sacraments and accustomed rites.

It is said that the archbishop still desired that he should again save
himself by flight, and there is nothing in the summons flatly
inconsistent with this;[23] but he and his friends took the credit of
the terrible deed as promptly as if they had planned and intended it
from the first. They also assembled their armed retainers, that when the
days of truce had expired they might be able to hold their prisoner
against all attempts to rescue him. The reformer refused to flee,
affirming that he had come to the city for the very purpose of
confirming, if need be, by the sacrifice of his life, the doctrines he
had taught. He even anticipated the time fixed for his appearance, and
had one more conference with the archbishop and his doctors, who even
then had come to a formal decision that the articles charged against him
were heretical. The same evening he was seized and imprisoned in the
castle, and next day was brought out for public trial and condemnation
in the Abbey Church or cathedral of St Andrews.

[Sidenote: His Martyrdom.]

[Sidenote: Effects of his Constancy.]

Among the articles with which he was charged, and the truth of which he
admitted and maintained, the most important were: "That a man is not
justified by works, but by faith alone;" "That faith, hope, and charity
are so linked together, that he who hath one of them hath all, and he
that lacketh one lacketh all;" and "That good works make not a good man,
but that a good man doth good works."[24] On being challenged by his
accuser with having avowed other heretical opinions, he affirmed it was
not lawful to worship images or to pray to the saints; and maintained
that "it is reason and leisome to all men that have a soul to read the
Word of God, and that they may understand the same, and in special the
latter-will and testament of Christ Jesus."[25] These truths, which have
been the source of life and strength to many, were to him the cause of
condemnation and death; and on the last day of February 1527-28, the
same day the sentence was passed, it was remorselessly executed before
the gates of St Salvator's College. "Nobly," as I have said elsewhere,
"did the martyr confirm the minds of the many godly youths he had
gathered round him, by his resolute bearing, his gentleness and
patience, his steadfast adherence to the truths he had taught, and his
heroic endurance of the fiery ordeal through which he had to pass to
his rest and reward." The harrowing details of his six long hours of
torture have been preserved for us by his friend Alesius, himself a
sorrowing witness of the fearful tragedy. "He was rather roasted than
burned," he tells us. It may be that his persecutors had not
deliberately planned thus horribly to protract his sufferings--though
such cruelty was not unknown in France, either then or in much later
times. They were as yet but novices at such revolting work, and all
things seemed to conspire against them. The execution had been hurried
on before a sufficiency of dry wood had been provided for the fire. The
fury of the storm, which had prevented the martyr's brother from
crossing the Forth with troops to rescue him, was not yet spent. With a
fierce wind from the east sweeping up North Street, it would be a
difficult matter in such a spot to kindle the pile and keep it burning,
or to prevent the flames, when fierce, from being so blown aside as to
be almost as dangerous to the surrounding crowd as to the tortured
victim. They did so endanger his accuser, the traitor Campbell, and "set
fire to his cowl, and put him in such a fray, that he never came to his
right mind." But, through all his excruciating sufferings, the martyr
held fast his confidence in God and in his Saviour, and the faith of
many in the truths he taught was only the more confirmed by witnessing
their mighty power on him.[26]

FOOTNOTES:

[14] See Appendix A.

[15] [The entry in the Register of the University occurs at the bottom
of a page, and is preceded and followed by entries of 1521, as if it had
been inserted there to save space. The entries of 1521 are distinct and
easily read, but in this of 1523 the ink is very faint, and the surface
of the vellum has a rubbed appearance. It runs thus: "Die nono mensis
Junii anno Domini I^{m} V^{c} xxiij incorporatus erat venerabilis vir
Magister noster Magister Johannes Major doctor theologus in Parisiensis
et thesaurarius capelle regis. Eodem die incorporati sunt Magister
Patricius Hamilton et Magister Robertus Laudar in nostra Universite"
(_sic_).]

[16] Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, ii. 295.

[17] [The Act as thus extended was ratified on the 12th of June 1535
(Ibid., ii. 342).]

[18] Pitscottie's History, 1778, p. 216; Lesley's History, p. 136.

[19] Soliciting legatine powers over the whole of Scotland, instead of
over his own province of the archdiocese, so as to render nugatory the
exemption granted to the king's old tutor and favourite prelate the
Archbishop of Glasgow.

[20] D'Aubigné's Reformation in the Time of Calvin, vi. 42, 43.

[21] [The only passage, so far as I know, in which Lesley speaks of the
king in connection with the martyr is the following: "Suae pertinaciae,
ac flagitii poenas igni luebat, adhortante magno Catholicae Religionis
protectore Rege ipso, quem et sanguinis propinquitate attigerat"
(Lesley's 'De Origine,' 1578, p. 427; 1675, p. 407). This is rendered by
Dalrymple: "For his obstinacie and wickednes committed, he is burnte at
command of the king selfe gret Catholik protectour, to quhom Ferne als
was neir of kin and bluid" (Dalrymple's Lesley, Scot. Text Soc., ii.
215, 216).]

[22] D'Aubigné's Reformation in the Time of Calvin, vi. 57.

[23] In an old manuscript book of forms used in ecclesiastical processes
by the archbishops of St Andrews before the Reformation, I found and
have been able to decipher the recorded copy of the summons issued by
Archbishop James Betoun against Hamilton after his return from Germany.
It is addressed specially to the Dean of the Lothians, and refers only
to the preaching of the reformer in West Lothian, so that there can no
longer be any doubt that his compearance in St Andrews before the date
appointed in the summons must be regarded as a resolute avowal of his
determination to defend his teaching at all hazards. The summons is
inserted at length in Appendix B. [For an account of the manuscript
Formulare see Robertson's 'Concilia Scotiæ,' vol. i. pp. cxcv, cxcvi.]

[24] Spottiswoode's History, i. 124, 125.

[25] Pitscottie's History, 1778, p. 206.

[26] The older sources for the facts of Patrick Hamilton's career and
martyrdom are the references to them by his friend Alesius in two or
three of his works, and especially in his 'Commentary on the First Book
of Psalms,' under Psalm xxxvii.; by Lambert in his 'Commentary on the
Apocalypse'; and by Gau in the latter part of his treatise on 'The Richt
Vay to the Kingdom of Heuine'; and after those by Foxe, Knox,
Calderwood, Pitscottie, and Spottiswoode in their histories. The only
satisfactory formal biography of him is that by Principal Lorimer
entitled, 'Patrick Hamilton, the first Preacher and Martyr of the
Scottish Reformation.' His story has also been told by Dr Merle
D'Aubigné, in his own dramatic way; and still more recently it has been
made the subject of a veritable drama by the Rev. T. P. Johnston,
minister of Carnbee.



CHAPTER III.

THE OPPRESSED AND THE OPPRESSORS.


[Sidenote: Henry Forrest.]

Archbishop Betoun thought that by Patrick Hamilton's death he had
extinguished Lutheranism in Scotland. The University of Louvain
applauded his deed; and so also, I regret to say, did John Major, the
old Scottish Gallican, then resident at Paris, and preparing for the
press his Commentary on the Gospels, the first part of which was to be
dedicated to his old patron in Scotland, and was emphatically to express
his approval of what that patron had done to root out the tares of
Lutheranism.[27] But, according to the well-known saying, "the reek of
Patrick Hamilton infected all on whom it did blow."[28] His martyr death
riveted for ever in the hearts of his friends the truths he had taught
in his life. This was especially the case with the younger _alumni_ in
the colleges, and the less ignorant and dissolute inmates of the priory
and other monastic establishments in the city. As at a later period it
was felt certain that a stern Covenanter had been detected when a
suspected one refused to own that the killing of Archbishop Sharp was to
be regarded as murder, so in these earlier days it was thought a
sufficient mark of an incipient Lutheran if he could not be got to
acknowledge that Hamilton had deserved his fate. On the charge that he
had a copy of the English New Testament, and had been heard to say that
Hamilton was no heretic, Henry Forrest was subjected to a rigorous
imprisonment and a violent death. Forrest was a native of the county of
Linlithgow, and had associated with Hamilton in St Andrews, and was the
first to share his bloody baptism there. He was burned at the north
kirk-style of the Abbey Church, that the heretics of Angus might see the
fire and take warning from his fate.[29] One for simply touching in his
sermons with a firm hand on the corruptions of the clergy had to escape
for his life.[30] Another, whose history after being long forgotten has
been again brought to light in our own day, for a similar offence was
subjected to cruel imprisonment, and at last forced to flee from his
native land.

[Sidenote: Alesius and the Scriptures.]

The name of this confessor was Alexander Alane, and it is so entered in
the Registers of St Andrews University; but it is by the name of
Alexander Alesius, imposed on him by Melanchthon, that he has been
chiefly known to posterity. It may admit of some doubt whether he was
absolutely the first after the death of Hamilton to abandon his
country[31] and all he held dear, rather than renounce the faith the
martyr had taught him, or crouch before the lecherous tyrant who had
destined him to a filthy dungeon and a lingering death. But it admits of
no doubt that he was the most notable of all the band of young Scottish
exiles who had to leave their native country between the martyrdom of
Hamilton and that of Wishart, and who were honoured to do faithful
service in the cause of the Reformation in England and on the Continent.
The story of Alesius, of the shameless cruelties which drove him from
his native land, of the hardships he had to bear in the earlier years of
his exile, of the high place he gained in the affections of Melanchthon
and Beza, and the great work he was to do by his writings and
prelections for the Protestant churches of Germany, is one of the most
interesting in the great movement of the age. But to be appreciated it
must be told in detail, and as most of his work was done out of
Scotland, I have decided to reserve it for a supplementary lecture. I
must not, however, omit to mention here one special service which he was
honoured to do for the cause in his native land soon after he left it,
as it casts fresh light on the origin of the Reformation in Scotland.
His first publication, printed in 1533, was entitled 'Alexandri Alesii
Epistola contra decretum quoddam episcoporum in Scotia, quod prohibet
legere Novi Testamenti libros lingua vernacula.' It brought into bold
relief, and set high above all minor issues, what had been taught by
Wycliffe in the fourteenth century, and maintained by the Lollards of
Kyle in the fifteenth, and what had actually been urged as an additional
charge against Patrick Hamilton. Save for this epistle of Alesius, and
the controversy it occasioned, we might not have known that even in
ignorant Scotland the bishops had been so far left to themselves as to
issue such a decree.[32] It is still more melancholy to think that even
among the better informed controversialists of Germany one was found to
champion their cause, and to maintain that there was nothing at variance
with sound doctrine in the decree; that nothing but harm could come from
the practice of allowing laymen to read the Scriptures in their own
tongue; and that it could not fail to make them bad Christians and bad
subjects, as Luther's translation had done in Germany.

[Sidenote: Norman Gourlay and David Stratoun.]

[Sidenote: Fugitives and Martyrs.]

From the time that Alesius fled from Scotland down to the death of
James V. in the end of 1542, there was almost continual inquisition made
for those who were suspected of having in their possession heretical
books, including the New Testament in the vernacular, or who otherwise
betrayed a leaning towards the new opinions. In 1532, we are told,
"there was ane greit objuratioun of the favouraris of Mertene Lutar in
the Abbay of Halyrudhous;"[33] and of course their goods were forfeited
to the crown. In 1534 a second great assize against heretics was held
in the same place. The king, as the great Justiciar of the realm, was
present in his scarlet robe, and took a prominent part in the
proceedings. Betoun was also present and taking part. About sixteen are
said to have been convicted and to have had their goods forfeited. James
Hamilton, brother of the martyr, had been ordered by the king to flee
the country, as he could not otherwise save him. His sister was
persuaded to submit to the church. Two were reserved for a fiery
death--Norman Gourlay and David Stratoun. Gourlay was a priest in
secular orders, and "a man of reassonable eruditioun,"[34] who had been
abroad, and there imbibed the new opinions. These he abjured,[35] and
was, it seems, really burned for the greater crime of having married a
wife.[36] Stratoun was the brother of the Laird of Laureston in the
Mearns, and had been reclaimed from his former godless life by his
neighbour, Erskine of Dun, but by some free speeches had incurred the
resentment of the notorious Prior Hepburn. They were burned at the Rood
of Greenside, on the northern side of the Calton Hill. In the same year,
Willock, M'Alpine, and M'Dowal had to escape into England. In 1536, when
the king and Betoun were abroad, there was comparative peace. In 1537
several were convicted at Ayr, and had their goods forfeited, among whom
was Walter Steward,[37] son of Lord Ochiltree. In 1538-39 many were
accused and convicted in various burghs in which by that time reformed
opinions were spreading, and many had to seek safety in flight. Among
these last were Gavin Logie, principal regent in St Leonard's
College,[38] who for a number of years had been exercising a marked
influence on the students under him; John Fyfe, who under the
designation of Joannes Faithus matriculated at Wittenberg in 1539, and
under that of Joannes Fidelis was incorporated into the University of
Frankfort on the Oder, and appointed Professor of Divinity there in
1547; George Buchanan, who at the king's command had exposed the
hypocrisy of the friars; and George Wishart, who had taught the Greek
New Testament in Montrose; also Andrew Charters, John Lyne, and Thomas
Cocklaw, John and Robert Richardson and Robert Logic, canons of the
Augustinian Abbey of Cambuskenneth. Nearly all of these fugitives took
refuge in England. Cocklaw, Calderwood tells us, for marrying a wife had
been mewed up within stone walls, but his brother came with crowbars and
released him. His goods, as well as those of his wife, were forfeited to
the Crown. Large numbers of the wealthy burgesses, even after they had
consented to abjure their opinions, were stripped of their possessions,
among whom the burgesses of Dundee were conspicuous. "Nor was the good
town of Stirling far behind Dundee in the same race of Christian glory.
She had less wealth to resign, ... but she brought to the altar a larger
offering of saintly blood."[39] On 1st March 1538-39, no fewer than four
of her citizens were burned at one pile on the Castle Hill of Edinburgh.
On the same day with them, and in the same place, perished one of the
most sainted and interesting of Scotland's martyrs--Thomas Forret, canon
of the Augustinian Abbey of Inchcolm, and thereafter vicar of Dollar,
who was universally admired for his attractive character. He taught his
parishioners the ten commandments, penned a little catechism for their
instruction, and caused a child to commit it to memory and to repeat it
publicly, that it might be impressed on the hearts of his parishioners
who could not read. He succeeded in leading several of the younger monks
in the abbey to more evangelical views; but the old bottles, he said,
would not take in the new wine. He preached every Sunday to his people
on the epistle or gospel for the day, and showed them, in opposition to
the teaching of the friars, that pardon for sin could only be obtained
through the blood of Christ.

[Sidenote: Cardinal Betoun.]

During all these anxious years the severe measures against the
reformers had really been directed by the man who comes more prominently
into public view toward their close. This was David Betoun, the nephew
of the primate, and, like him, a younger scion of the house of Balfour
in Fife, who by this time was not only Abbot of Arbroath and Bishop of
Mirepoix in France, but also coadjutor to his aged uncle in the
Archbishopric of St Andrews, and cardinal, with the title of St Stephen
on the Cœlian Mount. "Paul III.," says D'Aubigné, "alarmed at seeing
the separation of England from Rome, and fearing lest Scotland--as she
had a nephew of Henry VIII. for her king--should follow her example, was
anxious to have in that country one man who should be absolutely
devoted to him. David Betoun offered himself. The pope created him
cardinal in December 1538, and thenceforth the _red_--a colour
thoroughly congenial with him--became his own, and, as it were, his
symbol. Not that he was by any means a religious fanatic: he was versed
neither in theology nor in moral philosophy. He was a hierarchical
fanatic. Two points, above all, were offensive to him in evangelical
Christians: one, that they were not submissive to the pope; the other,
that they censured immorality in the clergy, for his own licentiousness
drew on himself similar rebukes. He aimed at being in Scotland a kind of
Wolsey, only with more violence and bloodshed. The one thing of moment
in his eyes was that everything in church and state should bend under a
twofold despotism. Endowed with large intelligence, consummate ability,
and indomitable energy, he had all the qualities needed to ensure
success in the aim on which his mind was perpetually bent without ever
being diverted from it. Passionately eager for his projects, he was
insensible to the ills which must result from them. One matter alone
preoccupied him, the destruction of all liberty. _The papacy divined his
character and created him cardinal!_"[40]

This is one of the few attempts made fairly to estimate the character of
the man whom one party seemed to have thought they must make out to be a
very monster of iniquity, and of whom the other party seemed to have
felt that the less they said the better; and to a certain extent
D'Aubigné's estimate is correct, but it requires to be supplemented. The
cardinalate was rather eagerly sought by him and his friends on the
ground of what he had already done, and was expected yet to do, for pope
and king, than voluntarily offered by the pope. Two, if not three,
letters, extremely urgent, were written regarding it by the king to the
pope, to the King of France, and to Cardinal Farnese, in the favour of
all of whom he stood high.[41] The pope consented to bestow on him the
cardinalate he so much coveted; but the office of legate _a latere_,
without which the other was rather an office of dignity than of power,
was not granted till 1544,[42] by which time neither the papacy nor any
others needed to divine his character. Betoun was a man not only of
large intelligence, high ability, unremitting energy, and unbounded
ambition, but also of considerable scholarly attainments. He did not
belong, it is true, to the school of Pole and Contarini, who would have
made concessions to the reformers in regard to doctrine, nor to that of
the disciples of D'Ailly and Gerson, who were pressing for a reformation
within the old church in regard to morals. His associations and
sympathies were rather with the laxer Italian and French humanist
school, both in their virtues and vices, and he seems to be lightly
referred to in their gossip as _ille latinus Juvenalis_.[43] He was a
great stickler for the liberties of holy church, and for years refused
to pay the tax imposed on him for the support of the College of
Justice.[44] It was no doubt by his counsel that heretical processes
from the first were carried on under the canon law, and that that code
and French consuetudinary ecclesiastical law were more completely
naturalised in Scotland than they had been before. Most of his time from
1514 to 1524 was passed abroad--the later years in the diplomatic
service of his country; and he had acquitted himself with much credit
and success. He had been subsequently employed in the negotiations for
the marriage of the king, first with the daughter of the King of France,
and after her death with Mary of Guise, and in both missions had given
high satisfaction to his sovereign. He had no sooner returned home in
1524-25, than the same measures of cruel restraint against the reformers
began to be adopted here which had already been put in practice in
France; and he was a member of the various Parliaments in which the
rigour of these measures had been increased. Even some of the hardest
sayings of the Scottish king against heretics were but the echo of those
of his father-in-law, the King of France.

Like too many of the high dignitaries of the Scottish church of his
time, Cardinal Betoun was of notoriously incontinent habits;[45] but he
was never, so far as I know, guilty of such shameless excesses as were
the boast of his comrade, Prior Hepburn, nor did he ever allow himself
to sink into the same indolence and unredeemed sensuality. He was above
all a "hierarchical fanatic," devoted to the cause of absolutism, who
would shrink from no measures, however cruel, to preserve intact the
privileges of his order, and to stamp out more earnest and generous
thought, whether that thought was aiming at the reformation of the old
church or the building up of another on her ruins. If we may not say
that he had sold himself to France--which had pensioned him with a rich
bishopric and helped him to his honours--we must say he had lived so
long in it, and had got so enamoured of it, that he was at any rate
three parts French, and all popish. He had mingled not only with her
scholars but with her nobles, loved and determined to imitate their ways
even down to their scandalous laxity of morals and merciless treatment
of so-called heretics. He made no earnest effort to reform the old
church, and so help her to weather the gathering storm; and it was not
till towards the close of his life that he laid out on the building of
St Mary's College part of the money which his uncle had carefully
hoarded for that purpose.

[Sidenote: The Cardinal and James V.]

For the forcible suppression of the new opinions the cardinal needed the
unflinching support of his sovereign, and he spared no efforts to gain
him over completely to his side, and to detach him from his
nobility,--turbulent and self-willed, but fondly clinging to what
remnants of liberty were still left to them,--and to alienate him from
his uncle, not unfrequently well-meaning but always over-impetuous, and
often in his later years selfish and untrustworthy. There was much in
the king's character to encourage such efforts. With good natural
abilities and a frank and amiable disposition, he had for their own
selfish ends been encouraged by his early guardians in sensual
pleasures, and never to the last freed himself from his evil habits.
"Dissolute as a man, prodigal as a king, and superstitious as a
Catholic, he could not but easily fall under the sway of superior
minds,"[46] who undertook to free him from the worries of business, to
provide him with money, and to regard his failings with indulgence, and
on easy terms to absolve him from those grosser excesses which could not
fail at times to trouble his conscience. These things Betoun and his
clerical party endeavoured to do; and, lest he should be tempted to
follow the example of his uncle, and appropriate the property of the
monasteries and other religious institutions, or set the church lands to
feu, as he had threatened, they once and again presented lists to him of
those who were suspected of heresy, urging that they should be
prosecuted without delay, and their goods, on conviction, be escheated
to the Crown. They made large contributions from their own revenues to
aid him in the wars with England, which obedience to their counsels had
brought on him. They procured dispensations from the papal court to
enable his sons, though illegitimate and infants, to hold any
ecclesiastical benefices inferior to bishoprics, and on reaching a
certain age to hold even the highest offices in the church. In this way
they largely added to his revenues during the minority of his sons, and
buoyed him up with the hope that when these sons came to years, and were
formally invested with their dignities, he would have wealthy allies on
whom he could thoroughly depend in his contests with his nobles.

[Sidenote: James the Fifth.]

But though James showed little indulgence to the reformers, and little
favour for their doctrines, he seems to the last to have had less real
liking for the priests of the old faith. No bribery, no flattery, no
solicitations could reconcile him permanently to those who for their own
selfish ends dragged him into courses from which his own better impulses
at times made him revolt. "He incited Buchanan to lash the mendicant
friars in the vigorous verse of the 'Franciscanus.' He encouraged by his
presence the public performance of a play" which, by its exposure of the
vices of the clergy, contributed greatly to weaken their influence. "He
enforced the object of that remarkable drama by exhorting the bishops to
reform their lives, under a threat if they neglected his warning that he
would deal with them after the fashion of his uncle of England" or his
cousin of Denmark. "He repeated the exhortation in his last Parliament,
declaring that the negligence, the ignorance, the scandalous and
disorderly lives of the clergy, were the causes why church and
churchmen were scorned and despised."[47]

So, notwithstanding all measures of repression, the desire for a
reformation quietly grew and spread throughout the nation, especially
among the smaller landed proprietors in Angus and Mearns, in Perthshire
and Fife, in Kyle and Cunningham, as also among the more intelligent
burgesses in the various burghs, and, above all, among the _élite_ of
the younger inmates of the monasteries and of the _alumni_ of the
University. When the poor monarch, as much sinned against as sinning, at
last died of a broken heart,[48] and the Earl of Arran, who claimed the
regency, looked about for trusty supporters to defend his claims against
the machinations of the cardinal and the queen dowager, he deemed it
politic to show not a little countenance to the friends of the
Reformation and of the English alliance. We are not warranted to assert
that he meant to declare himself a Protestant; but he chose as his
chaplains preachers who showed themselves favourably inclined to the new
faith. He encouraged the chief men among the Protestants to frequent his
court, and he ventured to lay hands on the unscrupulous cardinal, who
had striven to exclude him from the regency. He consented to pass
through Parliament an Act expressly permitting the people to have and
to read the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments in the vulgar
tongue, and despatched messengers to all the chief towns to make public
proclamation of the Act. The little treatises of Alesius had thus done
their work, and he himself thought of returning and completing what he
had so well begun.

[Sidenote: Arran's Deceit.]

The friends of the Reformation imagined that the hour of their triumph
was at hand. They did not know on what a treacherous prop they were
leaning, or what sore trials were yet in store for them ere that triumph
should be gained. They knew the regent to be weak and timid; they did
not know him to be deceitful--so deceitful that, within six weeks after
the last of the messengers were despatched with the above-named
proclamation, immediately on the return from France of his brother, the
Abbot of Paisley, others were secretly sent off to inform the holy
father of his accession to the regency, to put himself and the kingdom
under his protection, and to ask permission to have under his control
the income of the benefices of the king's sons till they should come of
age.[49] The love of money was with him the root of this evil; as the
fear of man was of others which soon followed, and were fraught with
dire calamities to the nation. And so he went from bad to worse, till
in the dim light of the Franciscan chapel at Stirling,[50] "that weak
man, to whom people had been looking for the triumph of the Reformation
in Scotland, fondly fancying that he was performing a secret action,
knelt down before the altar, humbly confessed his errors, trampled under
foot the oaths which he had taken to his own country and to England,
renounced the evangelical profession of Jesus Christ, submitted to the
pope, and received absolution of the cardinal."[51]

Even in June he had entered in the books of the Privy Council an Act
against Sacramentaries holding opinions on the effect and essence of the
Sacraments tending to the enervation of the faith catholic, in which
they were threatened with "tinsale of lif, landis, and gudis."[52] He
had not dared to proclaim this openly, though perhaps his ally, Henry
VIII., would not have blamed him greatly for doing so. But no sooner was
he in league with, and under the power of, the cardinal, than he showed
in open Parliament "how thair is gret murmure that heretikis mair and
mair risis and spredis within this realme, sawand dampnable opinionis
incontrar the fayth and lawis of Haly Kirk, actis and constitutionis of
this realm"; and exhorted all prelates and ordinaries "to inquir upon
all sic maner of personis and proceid aganis thame according to the
lawis of Haly Kirk"; promising to be ready himself to do therein at all
times what belonged to his office.[53] This promise he was soon obliged
cruelly to fulfil.

[Sidenote: The Perth Martyrs.]

On the 20th January 1543-44 he set out in company of the cardinal, the
Lord Justice and his deputy, with a band of armed men and artillery, to
Perth, where a great assize was held. Several were convicted of heresy,
and their goods forfeited. Several were condemned to die. The governor
himself was inclined to spare their lives, but the cardinal and the
nobles who were with him threatened to leave him if he did this. So on
St Paul's day (25th January) 1543-44, Robert Lamb, James Hunter, William
Anderson, and James Ranaldson were hanged; and the wife of this last,
who had refused when in labour to pray to the Virgin Mary, was denied
the consolation of being suspended from the same beam with her husband,
and put to death by drowning, after she had consigned to the care of a
neighbour the infant she carried in her arms. Dundee was next visited,
but it was found that the suspected citizens--who in the previous autumn
had sacked and destroyed the Grey Friars and the Dominican
monasteries--had taken the alarm and fled from their homes.

[Sidenote: The Balance of Parties.]

The weak and inconstant man continued to be regent in name, but from
that hour he was dominated by the imperious cardinal almost as
completely as King James had been. He wrote to the pope that the
cardinal's devotion to the holy see and to the interests of his native
country was so great that he deserved the praise, or at least no small
part of the praise, of preserving its liberty and extinguishing
heresy.[54] That last work, however, was by no means so nearly
accomplished as the regent in his letter to the pope had boasted. In
fact, within two months after we find the cardinal himself confessing in
a letter to the pope that he was still in the thick of the fight, and
all but worn out--"_vigiliis, laboribus, atque sumptibus_"--not only in
contending with foes without, but also with traitors within, the
camp.[55] The regent himself was obliged to confess, in a subsequent
letter, that they were then in a miserable plight; and that, unless
material assistance came to them from abroad,--and in particular from
his holiness, when almost all their other friends were growing cold,--it
would be hard for them to maintain the struggle against the English
king. The balance of parties at this critical juncture was more nearly
equal than is generally supposed. "An active minority of the nobles and
gentry saw in the government of Beaton not only their own personal ruin,
but the giving away of the country to a power more dangerous to its
liberties than England itself.... With those who favoured England were
naturally associated those who desired a reformation of religion,--a
body now so numerous in the opinion of a papal legate [Grimani] who
visited the country in 1543, that, but for the interposition of God,
Scotland would soon be in as bad a case as England itself."[56] These
appeals for foreign help, and the hopes raised by them, intensified the
struggle, and retarded for years the triumph of a really national party
resolved to set the interests of Scotland above those of France and Rome
as well as of England.

FOOTNOTES:

[27] _Supra_, p. 18, n.

[28] [The saying in slightly different forms may be found in Laing's
Knox, i. 42; Calderwood's History, i. 86; Spottiswoode's History, i.
130.]

[29] [Various dates, ranging between 1529 and 1533, have been assigned
for Forrest's martyrdom.]

[30] [William Arth.]

[31] [It was probably in 1530 that he left Scotland.]

[32] [Howard and Barlo, in writing from Edinburgh on the 13th of May
1536, say, that to the Scots the reading of God's Word "in theyr vulgare
tonge is lately prohybitede by open proclamation" (Lemon's State Papers,
v. 48). Norfolk, writing to Crumwell from Berwick on the 29th of March
1539, says: "Dayly commeth unto me some gentlemen and some clerkes,
wiche do flee owte of Scotland as they saie for redyng of Scripture in
Inglishe; saying; that, if they were taken, they sholde be put to
execution" (Ibid. v. 154). In the Epistle to James VI. prefixed to the
Bassandyne Bible, it is said: "The false namit clergie of this realme,
abusing the gentle nature of your Hienes maist noble gudschir of worthie
memorie, made it an cappital crime to be punishit with the fyre to have
or rede the New Testament in the vulgare language." One of the charges
on which Sir John Borthwick was condemned, on the 28th of May 1540, was
that he possessed a copy of the New Testament in the vernacular
('Register of St Andrews Kirk Session,' Scot. Hist. Soc., i. 98).]

[33] Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 15.

[34] Laing's Knox, i. 58.

[35] [Foxe alleges that Gourlay and Stratoun were condemned and burned,
"because, after great solicitation made by the king, they refused to
abjure and recant" (Cattley's Foxe, iv. 579); but, on the other hand,
the writer of the Diurnal of Occurrents (p. 18) and Bishop Lesley
(History, 1830, p. 149) assert that Gourlay did abjure.]

[36] Such was the punishment meted out to him for endeavouring to do in
a scriptural way what rulers of the church were doing in disregard of
the laws of Scripture as well as the laws of their church. Pitscottie
knew no other cause why he was burned save that "he was in the
East-land, and came home, and married a wife contrary to the form of the
pope's institution because he was a priest; for they would thole no
priest to marry, but they would punish and burn him to the dead; but if
he had used ten thousand whores he had not been burnt" (Pitscottie's
History, 1778, p. 236).

[37] [In the letter, dated 29th December 1537, granting his escheat to
his father, he is described as "_umquhill_ Walter Stewart" (M'Crie's
Knox, 1855, p. 316). Calderwood places his recantation and accidental
death in 1533 (History, Wodrow Society, i. 104).]

[38] [Gavin Logie is usually spoken of as Principal of St Leonard's
(Laing's Knox, i. 36, n.).]

[39] Lorimer's Scottish Reformation, 1860, p. 51.

[40] D'Aubigné's Reformation in the Time of Calvin, vi. 131.--Like his
predecessor Archbishop Forman, who--thirty years before, in the
interests of France, which had richly rewarded him with the
Archbishopric of Bourges--had so cruelly embroiled Scotland with England
and almost courted the disaster of Flodden, Betoun never ceased either
during the life or after the death of James V. to sow the seeds of
discord between the two realms, and so to court reverses to the Scottish
arms, and destruction to the Scottish monasteries near the southern
border. He shunned no risk, shrank from no cruelty, to remove out of the
way those who thwarted his schemes or favoured the better policy which
in the end was to carry the day.

[41] Theiner's Vetera Monumenta Hibernorum et Scotorum, 1864, pp.
608-612.

[42] [Betoun's Commission as Legate is dated 30th January 1543-44
(Lemon's State Papers, v. 443; Thorpe's Calendar, i. 46).]

[43] [There is such a reference to him in Theiner's Vetera Monumenta, p.
608.]

[44] Robertson's Concilia Scotiæ, vol. i. p. cxxxvi, n.

[45] See Appendix C.

[46] D'Aubigné's Reformation in the Time of Calvin, vi. 132.

[47] Concilia Scotiæ, vol. i. pp. cxxxix, cxl.

[48] [14th Dec. 1542.]

[49] [His letter to the Pope is dated 10th May 1543 (Theiner's Monumenta
Hibernorum et Scotorum, pp. 614, 615).]

[50] [On the 8th of September "he was enjoyned to passe to the Freres in
Stirling, ... and there received open pennance and a solempne othe, in
the presence and hereing of all men that was there, that he shulde never
doo the same againe, but supporte and defende the professon and habit of
mounkes, freres, and such other; and therupon, being absolved by the
Cardinall and the Busshoppes, herde masse and received the sacramente"
(Hamilton Papers, ii. 38).]

[51] D'Aubigné's Reformation in the Time of Calvin, vi, 206.

[52] Concilia Scotiæ, ii. 294.

[53] Acts of Parliament, ii. 443. [This was on the 15th of December
1543.]

[54] [This letter is dated 20th May 1545 (Theiner's Monumenta, p. 616).]

[55] Theiner's Monumenta, p. 617. [This letter is dated 6th July 1545.]

[56] Hume Brown's Knox, i. 64, 65. Grimani's opinion, as sent from
Stirling, is thus summarised by Father Stevenson: "The realm is in such
confusion, so divided, so full of heresy that, but for the interposition
of God, it will soon become as bad as England. The queen and the
cardinal have spent all their money in the common cause; and the clergy
are unable to assist, for the fruits of their benefices have been seized
by the Lutherans" (Mary Stuart, 1886, p. 51).



CHAPTER IV.

GEORGE WISHART.


It was about this time that a new evangelist arrived in the country,
singularly fitted to impress on the hearts of men the lessons of the
Holy Book to which they had now access in their native tongue. This was
George Wishart, a younger son or nephew of Sir James Wishart, laird of
Pittarrow in the Mearns. He appears to have been born about 1512-13, and
to have received his university training in King's College, Aberdeen,
then presided over by a distinguished humanist skilled both in Latin and
Greek. He acquired a knowledge of Greek--at that time a very rare
accomplishment in Scotland--either from the Principal of King's College,
or from a Frenchman teaching languages in Montrose. From his early years
he seems to have been intimate with John Erskine, laird of Dun, and at
that time also provost of the neighbouring burgh of Montrose. The
earliest notice we have of him is as attesting a charter granted in
favour of Erskine.[57] This lends confirmation to the tradition which
Petrie, himself a native of the town, says he had heard from ancient men
(who in their youth had seen and known the reformer) that then, or soon
after, he was employed as assistant or successor of Marsillier, the
Frenchman Erskine had brought from France to teach the languages, and
that, like him, he read the Greek New Testament with some of his pupils.
John Hepburn, then Bishop of Brechin, would not naturally have been
quick-scented to detect heresy in one who stood so high with his good
friend Erskine of Dun; but David Betoun, Abbot of Arbroath, often
resided at the mansion-house of Ethie, half-way between Arbroath and
Montrose, and he was both more lynx-eyed and more anxious to stamp out
any approach to heresy, and he urged the bishop on.

[Sidenote: Summoned for Heresy.]

Wishart in consequence was summoned by Hepburn, but instead of appearing
in answer to the summons, he, like many others in that year of grievous
persecution, sought safety in England, and it is said that he was
forthwith excommunicated and outlawed. He found shelter under Bishop
Latimer, whose diocese comprehended Gloucester and Bristol, as well as
Worcester; but in the following year he fell into fresh trouble at
Bristol--not, as was at one time supposed, by denying the merits of the
Virgin Mary, but by denying the merits of Christ Himself. For this he
was duly convented before Archbishop Cranmer, and, after conference with
him, was persuaded to recant and bear his faggot. Soon after the
enactment of the bloody statute of the six articles, he, like most of
the Scottish refugees, left England and sought shelter among the
reformed churches on the Continent, especially those of Zürich, Basle,
and Strassburg, and brought home with him, and ultimately translated
into English, the First Helvetic Confession,[58] composed and agreed on
by the chief theologians of these churches.

[Sidenote: His Appearance and Habits.]

He returned to England about the close of 1542, and soon after entered
into residence in Corpus Christi or Benet College, Cambridge, with the
view of studying and teaching there. In one of the windows of the
common-room in that college, above the arms of archbishops and nobles,
distinguished _alumni_ of the college, stands the name of George
Wishart, with the martyr's crown over it; and it is to Emery Tilney,
his pupil during the year he was in residence there, that we are
indebted for our fullest description of his appearance and habits. He
was, he tells us, "a man of tall stature, polled-headed, and on the same
a round French cap of the best; judged to be of melancholy complexion by
his physiognomy; black haired, long bearded, comely of personage, well
spoken after his country of Scotland, courteous, lowly, lovely, glad to
teach, desirous to learn, and was well travelled; having on him for his
habit or clothing never but a mantle or frieze gown to the shoes, a
black Millian [_i.e._ Milan] fustian doublet, and plain black hosen,
coarse new canvas for his shirts, and white falling bands and cuffs at
his hands,--all the which apparel he gave to the poor, some weekly, some
monthly, some quarterly, as he liked, saving his French cap, which he
kept the whole year of my being with him.... His charity had never end,
night, noon, nor day, ... infinitely studying how to do good unto all,
and hurt to none."[59]

Such, according to his pupil, was the evangelist who--in 1543 according
to some, in 1544 according to others--returned to his native land, and
for two years testified of the gospel of the grace of God throughout
Angus and Mearns, Ayrshire and the Lothians, but whose favourite fields
of labour were to be central Angus and Mearns, the towns of Montrose
and Dundee. A portrait of him, as well as one of his great opponent, has
been preserved in the Roman Catholic College of Blairs, and the
expression of the face harmonises well with the description his pupil
gives of him. Another portrait, deemed by Dr Laing not unworthy of
Holbein, is in possession of a descendant of the Wisharts.[60]

[Sidenote: A Protestant Pasquil.]

It is supposed that for a short time after his return to Scotland he
lived quietly at Pittarrow, in the parish of Fordoun, where the shrine
of St Palladius was preserved; and being an accomplished artist,
occupied himself with adorning the ancestral mansion with several
beautiful fresco paintings, which, after being long covered over by the
wainscot, were again brought to light in the present century, but
unfortunately were destroyed before their value was perceived. Dr Leslie
of Fordoun, who saw them, has thus described the most remarkable of
them: "Above the largest fireplace in the great hall was a painting of
the city of Rome, and a grand procession going to St Peter's.... The
Pope, adorned with the tiara, and mounted on horseback, was attended by
a large company of cardinals on foot, richly dressed, but all uncovered.
At a little distance, directly in front of the procession, stood a
beautiful white palfrey, finely caparisoned, held by some persons who
were well dressed, but uncovered. Beyond them was the Cathedral of St
Peter, the doors of which appeared to be open. Below the picture were
written the following lines:--

                  "IN PAPAM.

    "Laus tua, non tua fraus, virtus non gloria rerum
    Scandere te fecit hoc decus eximium;
    Pauperibus dat sua gratis nec munera curat
    Curia Papalis, quod more percipimus.
    Haec carmina potius legenda, cancros imitando."[61]

Wishart began his work as a preacher in Montrose, the scene of his early
scholastic labours, expounding the rudiments of the Christian faith and
practice as set forth in the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and
the Apostles' Creed. At that time Montrose was frequented by many of the
landed gentry in the surrounding districts who were favourable to the
Reformation and the English alliance, and their hearts could not fail to
be cheered and their courage raised by the exhortations of the
evangelist. Dundee, however, was the chief and favourite scene of his
ministrations; and it was from the great success attending them that it
gained the name of the Scottish Geneva. It was even more decidedly
attached to the new opinions and the English alliance than Montrose;
and a reformation, as it was called--including the sacking of the
monasteries in the town and neighbourhood--had taken place in the autumn
of 1543. The governor confessed, when put to penance, that this had been
done with his permission.[62] The martyr cannot with any certainty be
connected with it, much less made to bear the blame of it; though
another George Wishart, a citizen and bailie of Dundee, with whom the
martyr has been recklessly confounded, was afterwards put on his trial
for having taken a leading part in it.[63] If the martyr could, his
enemies would hardly have failed to have brought it against him at his
trial.

[Sidenote: Preaches at Dundee.]

He preached for a time in Dundee with great acceptance, expounding
systematically that Epistle to the Romans, the full significance of
which the recently published Commentary of Calvin had deeply impressed
on the minds of his co-religionists in various lands where Wishart had
been. At length he was charged by one of the magistrates in the queen's
name and the governor's to desist from preaching, to depart from the
town, and trouble it no more. This was intimated to him when he was in
the pulpit, surrounded by a great congregation, and with a significant
reminder that he had already been put to the horn, and that there was
no intention to relax the law in his favour. Thereupon he called God to
witness that he intended not their trouble but their comfort, and felt
sure that to reject the Word of God, and drive away His messenger, was
not the way to save themselves from trouble; adding, "God shall send
unto yow messengeris who will not be effrayed of hornyng nor yitt for
banishment."[64] He left the town forthwith, and with all "possible
expeditioun passed to the west-land."[65] There he pursued his labours
in the same kindly spirit, refusing to allow his followers to dispute
possession of the churches by force of arms with the authorities, and
choosing rather to preach in the open air wherever he found a convenient
place and audience fit to listen to him.

[Sidenote: Succours the Plague-stricken.]

Soon after he left Dundee, the plague, which that year was raging in
several of the towns of Scotland, extended its ravages to that place.
This naturally led the citizens to bethink themselves of the treatment
they had allowed the evangelist, who had laboured so devotedly among
them, to suffer at the hands of his enemies, as the news of what they
were suffering led him to think compassionately of his friends who were
now in trouble, and stood in need of comfort. He returned to the
afflicted town, and its inhabitants received him with joy. He announced
without delay that he would preach to them; but it was impossible he
could do so in a church. Numbers were sick of the plague; others in
attendance on them were regarded as infected, and must not be brought
into contact with those who were free from infection. The sick were
crowded in and about the lazar-houses near St Roque's Chapel, outside
the East or Cowgate Port of the town. Wishart chose as his pulpit the
top of that port, which, in memory of the martyr-preacher, has been, it
is said, carefully preserved, though--like Temple Bar, so long tolerated
in London--it is now in the heart of the town, and an obstruction to its
traffic.[66] The sick and suspected were assembled outside the port, and
the healthy inside. The preacher took for the text of his first sermon
the words of Psalm cvii. 20: "He sent His word and healed them;" and,
starting on the key-note that it was neither herb nor plaster, but God's
Word which healeth all, "He maist comfortablie did intreat [_i.e._ treat
of] the dignitie and utilitie of Goddis Woord; the punishment that cumis
for the contempt of the same; the promptitude of Goddis mercy to such as
trewlye turne to Him; yea, the great happynes of thame whome God tackis
from this miserie evin in His awin gentill visitatioun, which the malice
of man cane neyther eak nor paire."[67] By this sermon, Knox tells us,
he so raised up the hearts of all who heard him, that they regarded not
death, but judged those more happy that should depart than those that
should remain behind, considering that they knew not whether they should
have such a comforter with them at all times.

No doubt John Wedderburn, as well as the others who had been suspected
of heresy and had fled from the town in the persecution of 1539, had
before this time returned, and were co-operating with Wishart in his
work; and then, in all probability, was prepared that beautiful funeral
hymn which passed from the Bohemians to the Germans, and from the
Germans to the Scotch; and which, in addition to the original stanzas,
contains in the Scottish version certain new verses having unmistakable
reference to the circumstances in which they originated--in a
plague-stricken town which had just before been occupied by the soldiers
of the cardinal and the regent, and might well dread a similar
visitation for its determined adherence to the new evangelist.

    "Thocht _pest or sword_ wald vs preuene,
    Befoir our hour, to slay vs clene,
    Thay can nocht pluk ane lytill hair
    Furth of our heid, nor do vs deir.

    Quhen fra this warld to Christ we wend,
    Our wratchit schort lyfe man haif end
    Changeit fra paine, and miserie,
    To lestand gloir Eternallie.

    End sall our dayis schort, and vaine,
    And sin, quhilk we culd nocht refraine,
    Endit salbe our pilgremage,
    And brocht hame to our heritage."[68]

[Sidenote: His Fearless Devotedness.]

Wishart concerned himself not only about the souls but also about the
bodies of his hearers in that sad time, fearlessly, like Luther on a
similar occasion, exposing himself to the risk of infection, that he
might minister to the diseased and the dying, and taking care that the
public funds for the relief of the destitute should be properly
administered. He forgot himself only too much, and the terrible risks to
which, as an excommunicated and outlawed man, he was exposed in so near
proximity to the cardinal, who was so eager to get him out of the way.

One day as the people were departing from the sermon, utterly
unconscious of the peril menacing their favourite preacher, Knox tells
us that a priest, bribed by the cardinal, stood waiting--with his
whinger drawn in his hand under his gown--at the foot of the steps by
which the preacher was descending from the top of the port. Wishart,
most sharp of eye and swift of judgment, at once noticed him, and, as he
came near, said, "My friend, what wald ye do?" and at the same moment
seized the hand in which he held the dagger, and took it from him. The
priest fell down at his feet and confessed the whole truth. Immediately
the rumour spread that a priest had attempted to assassinate their
favourite preacher, the sick outside burst open the gate, crying,
"Deliver the tratour to us, or ellis we will tack him by forse." But the
preacher put his arms around his would-be assassin, exclaiming,
"Whosoevir trubles him shall truble me, for he has hurte me in nothing,
bot ... hes lattin us understand what we may feare in tymes to come";
and so, says Knox, he saved the life of him that sought his.[69]

[Sidenote: His Innocence.]

Like Drs Laing, Lorimer, and Weir, I cannot persuade myself that the man
who spoke and acted thus is the same as "a Scottish man called
Wysshert," who is mentioned in a letter of the Earl of Hertford in April
1544, as privy to a conspiracy to apprehend or assassinate Cardinal
Betoun, and as employed to carry letters between the conspirators and
the English court.[70] There were other Wisharts in Scotland. Yea, as Dr
Laing has shown, another George Wishart in Dundee, who was a zealous
friend of the English alliance--not only after the conspirators got
possession of St Andrews castle, but from the earlier date when the
monasteries in Dundee were destroyed and sacked.[71] There was probably
another about St Andrews who, while the martyr was yet a boy, was called
in to attest a charter by the notorious friar Campbell in 1526. I will
not venture to affirm that, with all his gentleness, Wishart might not
have been tempted to maintain that violence and murderous intent--such
as Betoun had twice shown to get rid of him privately--might be lawfully
met and restrained by force, though even that is hardly in keeping with
all we know of his gentle ways; but we may be sure that had such
thoughts been cherished by him, he, like Knox, would have said this
openly, and not have engaged in any secret reprisals. As an outlawed man
he came down to Scotland under protection, and never seems to have
travelled in it save under protection; and so he was one of the last men
likely to be chosen for a secret mission to England. If anything more
than the able essay of the late Professor Weir in the 'North British
Review' for 1868 were needed to prove that the "pure lustre of the
martyr's fame is still unsullied," it seems to me to be supplied by
himself in his affecting address at the stake. "I beseech Thee, Father
of heaven! to forgive them that have of any ignorance, or else have of
any evil mind, _forged any lies_ upon me. I forgive them with all my
heart."[72] The cardinal was not ignorant of the volcano on which he was
sitting or of the plots that had been hatched against him; and he may
have suspected Wishart of being in the conspiracy. That may have been
the reason why he sent two friars to him to get his last confession,
and, when they failed to do so, allowed Wynram to go, as the reformer
had requested. Wynram, after hearing it, returned to the cardinal and
his abettors, and assured them that Wishart was innocent. This can only
refer to such a suspicion of conspiracy, not to the charge of heresy
which was confessed and acknowledged; and Mr Andrew Lang has failed as
completely as the cardinal in his laboured attempt to produce a tittle
of evidence against him.

[Sidenote: His Constancy.]

From the time of Wighton's attempt the reformer had a clearer view of
the perils which beset him, and a mournful conviction of the issue which
awaited him if he would not flinch or flee. By his success in Dundee the
rage of his adversaries was lashed into a fury which appalled his
friends in various districts; but none of these things moved him that he
might finish his course with joy, and make full proof of his ministry.
As soon as the plague abated in the city, heedless of the new proofs he
then had of the cardinal's relentless determination to capture or trepan
him, and the earnest warnings of his northern friends that they could
not be answerable for his safety, he took his last farewell of his kirks
in Montrose and Dundee. At all hazards he was determined to fulfil his
engagement to meet his western friends in Edinburgh, to prosecute his
work there under their promised protection, and to seek a public
disputation with some of the popish clergy who about that time were to
meet in Synod in the capital. Disappointed of the presence and
protection of the western men, he laboured for a brief season in Leith,
Inveresk, and East Lothian without much success. At last, forsaken by
many of those who should have stood by him, he was seized at Ormiston,
under cover of night and promise of safe keeping, by the Earl of
Bothwell, Sheriff Principal of the county. The Earl pledged his honour
not to give him up to his enemies, but was soon persuaded to deliver him
to the governor, as was the governor to hand him over to the cardinal,
though he finally protested against his being tried or condemned by the
churchmen in his own absence. A full account of his labours during these
days of despondency has been given by Knox, who got from him, it is
said, the first rudiments of Greek, and who--having rendered his first
service to the cause of the Reformation by bearing the two-handed sword
for his protection--was dismissed on the night of his betrayal with the
significant words, "One is sufficient for one sacrifice," showing what
fate he now anticipated for himself.

[Sidenote: His Martyrdom.]

I cannot enlarge on these things, nor on the sad scenes which took place
at St Andrews on the last day of February and 1st of March 1545-46, when
the cardinal, regardless of the remonstrances of the regent and the
murmurs of the people, but with the assent of the Council which he had
adjourned from Edinburgh to St Andrews, condemned him to the stake.
Throughout all these trying scenes he comported himself as nobly as
Patrick Hamilton had done; and not less plentifully did his blood prove
the seed of the church, verifying his words, that few would suffer after
him before the glory of God evidently appeared. No doubt his cruel
martyrdom hastened the removal of that tyrant who set himself above all
restraint of civil law, and breathed forth threatenings against the
saints of God,--though that removal had not been plotted by him, nor
would have been approved by him. The words attributed to him at the
stake by Buchanan and Lindsay of Pitscottie, foreshadowing his
persecutor's approaching fate, are not generally regarded as authentic.
Knox says nothing of them, nor Foxe, nor Spottiswoode; nor does Sir
David Lindsay, in his 'Tragedy of the Cardinal,' make any reference to
them. It seems better authenticated that he made the following general
statement: "I beseech you, brethren and sisters, to exhort your prelates
to the learning of the Word of God, that they at the last may be ashamed
to do evil and learn to do good, and if they will not convert themselves
from their wicked error, there shall hastily come upon them the wrath of
God, which they shall not eschew."[73] It is easy to see--especially
after the events which so speedily occurred--how a statement which
referred to the prelates generally should come to be applied
specifically to their imperious chief, just as the example of Eli had,
in a well-known ballad, been similarly used for warning by the
Reformation poet to the aged James Betoun for his weak indulgence to his
nephew and the younger Prior Hepburn, notwithstanding their scandalous
excesses.[74]

Such was the end of the life and ministry of George Wishart, one of the
most zealous and winning evangelists, and one of the most heroic and
steadfast confessors, that our country has ever produced. The
remembrance of him was fondly cherished, especially in that district
where he chiefly laboured, and where he wrought a work not less
memorable than that which M'Cheyne and Burns were honoured to do in our
own day. His influence was but deepened by his cruel fate, and he "lived
again," as Dr Lorimer has eloquently said, "in John Knox.... The zealous
disciple, who had counted it an honour to be allowed to carry a sword
before his master, stood forth immediately to wield the spiritual sword
which had fallen from the master's grasp, and to wield it with a vigour
and trenchant execution superior even to his."[75]

[Sidenote: Church Organisation.]

It may not be inappropriate to state how far the organisation of the
Reformed Church had by this time advanced in Scotland. Patrick Hamilton
seems to me to have laboured to the last for the revival of Scriptural
teaching and Christian living within the old church rather than apart
from her. Alesius, and some others of his disciples, were for a time
reluctant to separate from her, if her rulers could have been persuaded
seriously to set about repairing acknowledged evils and defects. But
Wishart, and those who came under his influence, seem to have abandoned
this struggle, and to have striven for the formation of a new
organisation apart from the old one. He formed kirks or
congregations--at least in Montrose and Dundee; the former consisting
probably mainly of the lesser gentry in the adjacent districts of Angus
and Mearns, and the latter chiefly of the substantial burghers of the
town of Dundee. I suppose that some forms of discipline began to be put
in practice in the Dundee congregation, and that it was on that account,
as well as from the remarkable revival which had taken place under his
ministrations, that the town came to be spoken of as "the Scottish
Geneva." The New Testament of Tyndale's translation had been introduced
both there and in Montrose as early as 1526; and by this time the
subsequent editions had been largely imported, and since 1543 might be
openly read.[76] John Wedderburn was then in his native city, and I
suppose by that date had published, in its most rudimentary form, his
'Psalms and Spiritual Songs,' largely translated from the German. John
Scott, the printer, was also there, and under suspicion of the
authorities in Edinburgh. Of the psalms and hymns, one, as I have
already mentioned, bears unmistakable reference to the _pest_ then
infesting the town of Dundee; another was sung by Wishart that evening
on which he was apprehended in East Lothian; a third is certainly
referred to in the 'Complaynt of Scotland,' which, being published as
early as 1549, is a guarantee for the earlier existence of the hymn.[77]
This rudimentary collection of 'Psalms and Spiritual Songs' was the book
of praise in family and social gatherings of the reformed until the
'Genevan Psalter' came into use.[78] The earliest editions of it have
perished. A nearly complete copy of the edition of 1567 has, however,
been preserved, and now at last reprinted.[79]

[Sidenote: Helvetic Confession and Communion Office.]

The translation of the First Helvetic Confession, which Wishart made,
was no doubt meant as the Confession of the churches he formed, though
it may only have been extant then in manuscript, and not published till
1548. That fragment of the Communion Office which was used by Knox in
the administration of the Lord's Supper at Berwick in 1550, and perhaps
had been used by him at St Andrews in 1547--and which was recently
brought to light again by Dr Lorimer from among the MSS. in Dr Williams'
library in London[80]--was almost certainly derived from Wishart, for
part of it is translated from the Office of the Church of Zürich, with
which he could not fail to have become acquainted during his residence
there, and part from other German Offices, which were more likely to
have fallen in his way (who had been a traveller on the Continent) than
in Knox's. It may even have been used by Wishart in 1545, when he
dispensed the communion in both kinds at Dun. The same may be said of
that interesting burial-service which purports to have been used in the
kirk at Montrose, and has been reprinted in the Miscellany of the Wodrow
Society;[81] though probably this, as we now have it, may not be the
original form, but a recension of it, made later, under the auspices of
Erskine of Dun, superintendent of Angus and Mearns. The foundations of
the superstructure that was to be were thus laid by Wishart. It was
reserved to his successor to raise it, as the martyr had predicted it
would be raised, even to the copestone.

FOOTNOTES:

[57] [The charter is dated at Montrose on the 20th of March 1534-35. The
Martyr's signature, as "M. Geo. Wischert," proves that he had already
taken his degree (Register of Great Seal, iii., No. 1462).]

[58] [His translation is reprinted in the Wodrow Miscellany, pp. 7-23.]

[59] Cattley's Foxe, v. 626.

[60] [This is now in the National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh.]

[61] [Cook's History of the Reformation, 1811, i. 272, 273; 1819, i.
273. Dr Cook says that Dr Leslie, minister of Fordoun, "got a short view
of them," and favoured him with the account which he wrote. In a very
similar notice of the paintings by Dr Leslie, it is stated that they
were discovered when the old house of Pittarrow was being pulled down in
1802 ('New Statistical Account of Kincardineshire,' p. 81).] As Dr Cook
long ago surmised, the lines of covert sarcasm on the pope are not
original. One evening as I returned to Guildford Street after a long day
in the British Museum, I had occasion to pass through Red Lion Square
and the alley to the east of it, where I saw exposed in a pawnbroker's
window a little antique volume, in a very dilapidated state, opened at
the page which contained these lines almost _verbatim_. I at once
purchased it, and on further examination I found it had been published
at Basle in 1537--_i.e._, a few years before Wishart was there. [The
little collection which Dr Mitchell thus refers to bears the title:
"Pasqvilli de Concilio Mantuano Iudicium. Qverimonia Papistarum ad
Legatum Pontificium in comicijs Schmalcaldianis. Mantua uæ miseris
nimium uicina Papistis. MDXXXVII."

The colophon runs thus: "Impressum Romae in porta Angelorum.
M.D.XXXVII."

Wishart evidently found his lines in the following:--

"Lavs Romani Pontificis. Scripta ad placitum Romanae curiae per
uenerabilem dominum Doctorem Ioannem Cochleum, Theutonicae Doctor
Rotzloffel, et Georgium VVicelium cognomento, Meister Lugenmaul, Romanae
Ecclesiae propugnatores egregios.

    "Pauperibus sua dat gratis nec munera curat
      Curia Papalis quod modo percipimus
    Laus tua non tua fraus, Virtus non copia rerum
      Scandere te fecit, hoc Decus eximium
    Conditio tua sit stabilis nec tempore paruo
      Viuere te faciat hic Deus omnipotens.

"Quos uersiculos pessimus quidam haereticus, Lutheranus, iuuenilis
fortasis Poeta VVittembergensis, ita de uerbo ad uerbum inuertit.

    "Percipimus modo quod Papalis curia curat
      Munera, nec gratis dat sua pauperibus
    Eximium decus hoc fecit te scandere rerum
      Copia, non uirtus, fraus tua, non tua laus.
    Omnipotens Deus hic faciat te uiuere paruo
      Tempore, nec stabilis sit tua conditio."]

[62] Hamilton Papers, ii. 38.

[63] Maxwell's Old Dundee prior to the Reformation, 1891, pp. 92, 395.

[64] Laing's Knox, i. 126. [Calderwood (i. 186) and Spottiswoode (i.
150) have _burning_ for _hornyng_.]

[65] Laing's Knox, i. 126.

[66] [Knox calls it "the East Porte of the Toune" (Laing's Knox, i.
129). Maxwell says that the Port which stood in the Seagate would alone
correspond to that described by Knox; and he adds: "The Port yet
standing in the Cowgate--which, because of its association with the
honoured name of George Wishart, only was left when some of the others
were demolished--really cannot be identified as his preaching-place, and
should not carry the inscription which has been recently put over its
archway" ('History of Old Dundee,' 1884, pp. 220-222).]

[67] Laing's Knox, i. 130.

[68] Gude and Godlie Ballatis, 1897, p. 165.

[69] Laing's Knox, i. 130, 131. The name of this priest is given as Sir
_John_ Wightone, or Weighton, by Knox, Calderwood, and Spottiswoode.
Maxwell cannot find a priest of this name among those ministering in
Dundee in 1550 ('Old Dundee prior to the Reformation,' 1891, p. 87, n.)
The _James_ Wichtand who was reader at Inchture and Kinnaird in 1574
(Wodrow Miscellany, p. 353) is said to have held a chaplaincy in Dundee
before the Reformation. But Dr Laing holds that there was a Sir _John_
Wighton, a chaplain in Dundee, who obtained the vicarage pensionary in
the parish church of Ballumby in 1538, and who appears to have been
incarcerated in St Andrews Castle in the cardinal's absence in 1543
(Laing's Knox, vi. 670).

[70] Lemon's State Papers, v. 377.

[71] Laing's Knox, i. 536. [Maxwell gives a detailed account of this
other George Wishart in his 'Old Dundee prior to the Reformation,' 1891,
pp. 91-95.]

[72] Cattley's Foxe, v. 635.

[73] Cattley's Foxe, v. 635. [Foxe is here quoting the account in the
black-letter tract printed in or about 1547, which Knox deemed important
enough to copy from Foxe into his own pages.]

[74] Gude and Godlie Ballatis, 1897, p. 180.

[75] Lorimer's Scottish Reformation, 1860, pp. 153, 154.

[76] Wedderburn and Wishart seem also to have been acquainted with
Coverdale's Bible of 1535.

[77] See my Introduction to 'The Gude and Godlie Ballatis,' 1897, p.
xxxviii, n.

[78] No doubt the initial Catechism was in use also. It has been
conjectured that the Catechism may even have been printed separately,
and that the first part of the following entry may refer to it: "The
catechisme in two partes; the first in Scotch poetry, having a kalender
before it. The second part in Latin and Scotis prose, entituled
Catechismus ecclesiae Geneuensis.... Edinburgh: Imprinted by John Ross
for Henrie Charteris, 1574" (Dickson and Edmond's Annals of Scottish
Printing, 1890, p. 334).

[79] [Reprinted under the editorial care of Dr Mitchell in 1897 for the
Scottish Text Society.]

[80] Lorimer's Knox and the Church of England, 1875, pp. 290-292.

[81] Wodrow Miscellany, pp. 295-300.



CHAPTER V.

KNOX AS LEADER OF OUR REFORMATION.


As stated towards the close of my last lecture, the sword-bearer of
Wishart stood forth at once "to wield the spiritual sword which had
fallen from the master's grasp, and to wield it with a vigour and
trenchant execution superior even to his."

At this time Knox was full forty years of age, having been born at
Giffordgate, in Haddington, in 1505. He probably received the rudiments
of his education there, and matriculated at the University of Glasgow in
1522. Some suppose that he may have followed Major to St Andrews in
1523, or may have come there later, to study theology or to act as a
private tutor to some young men studying at that university. But there
is no reference to him in the university books, nor mention of his
presence by any one then resident. From 1522 up to 1545-46, when he
appears as sword-bearer to Wishart, his life is to us almost a blank.
But as Minerva was said to have come full armed from the brain of
Jupiter, so did Knox then start up as leader of our Reformation, fully
equipped and singularly matured. Whatever his early training may have
been, he had by that time thoroughly mastered the subjects in
controversy between the two churches, and possibly, as Bayle supposes,
had made himself aquainted in his retirement with the writings of that
great doctor of the western church to whom Luther, Calvin, and Alesius
were largely indebted. I believe no man in recent times has in brief
space sketched his character, both on its brighter and darker sides,
with less partisan feeling than Dr Merle D'Aubigné, when he says: "The
blood of warriors ran in the veins of the man who was to become one of
the most intrepid champions of Christ's army.... He was active, bold,
thoroughly upright and perfectly honest, diligent in his duties, and
full of heartiness for his comrades. But he had in him also a firmness
which came near to obstinacy, an independence which was very much like
pride, a melancholy which bordered on prostration, a sternness which
some took for insensibility, and a passionate force sometimes mistakenly
attributed to a vindictive temper."[82] According to Calderwood, he
received his first "taste of the truthe" from the preaching of his
fellow-countryman, Thomas Guilliame or Williams, a black friar, who in
1543 became one of the chaplains of the regent, and shortly after,
being inhibited to preach, retired into England.[83] The good seed sown
by him was watered by Wishart, and grew up apace, "first the blade, then
the ear, after that the full corn in the ear."

[Sidenote: Tragedy of the Cardinal.]

On 29th May 1546, while the applause of priests and friars was still
ringing in his ears, and he was proudly congratulating himself on the
progress of his new fortifications, and the success of all his measures
to secure the triumph of his party and his own complete personal
ascendancy, the cardinal was suddenly surprised by conspirators in his
stronghold, and cut off by "a fate as tragical and ignominious" as
almost "any that has ever been recorded in the long catalogue of human
crimes."[84] Only the deep feeling of relief thus given from merciless
oppression could prompt or excuse the lines of Sir David Lindsay--

    "As for the Cardinal, I grant
    He was a man we weill culd want,
      And we'll forget him sune;
    But yet I think the sooth to say,
    Although the loon is weill away,
      The deed was foully dune."[85]

When it became known that the conspirators who assassinated Betoun
meant to hold the castle of St Andrews, they were joined by a
considerable number of their friends from among the reforming gentry of
Fife, and gradually by others from a greater distance who were friendly
to the Reformation and the English alliance, and in consequence were
then being subjected to many annoyances at the hands of the regent and
his new following. Among these last, about Pasche 1547--in charge of his
pupils, the sons of certain lairds in East Lothian--came John Knox,
whose life, ever since he had cast in his lot with Wishart, had been
made so miserable to him by the regent's bastard brother[86]--the
aspirant to the vacant archbishopric--that, but for this refuge
unexpectedly opened to him, he would have found it necessary to leave
his native land and follow Alesius, Fyfe, and others to Germany or
Switzerland. At the time when he arrived in St Andrews there was a truce
between the regent and the occupants of the castle, and with the latter
the inhabitants of the city had pretty free intercourse. The reforming
citizens resorted at times to the services in the chapel of the castle;
and John Rough, the chaplain of the garrison, under the powerful
protection he enjoyed, occasionally forced his way into the parish
church and preached there to the assembled citizens.

[Sidenote: His Call to the Ministry.]

Knox was no sooner settled in St Andrews than he resumed the system he
had followed with good effect in East Lothian, causing his pupils to
give account of their catechism in public to all who chose to come, and
opening up in a plain and colloquial manner the Gospel of St John. His
great ability and success as a teacher, and his wonderful gift of
persuasive speech, thus became generally known. After private but
unsuccessful efforts had been made by Balnaves and others to induce him
to become colleague to John Rough, a formal call to the ministry was,
with the counsel of Sir David Lindsay,[87] publicly addressed to him
from the pulpit by Rough, in the name of the rest, and he was solemnly
adjured not to despise the voice of God speaking to him. Thus honourably
called to assume the office of a public preacher in that reformed
congregation, he at last entered on the work with all his heart, and
made full proof of his ministry before the assembled citizens in their
parish church, as well as before the rude garrison in the castle
chapel. He administered the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper in the simple
form he always used, and continued the public catechising of his pupils,
which the people of the town heard repeated till they had the substance
of his teaching by heart, and thus was spread a knowledge of Gospel
truth even among those who could not read. A very graphic account is
given in his History of the sermons, catechisings, and disputations he
held with the popish champions, by means of which the new doctrines
gained a hold on the minds of the citizens of St Andrews which they
never wholly lost. But times of trial were to come ere the cause should
finally triumph in that city, or in his native land; and the earnest
preacher, whose mouth God had opened in that old parish church, was to
be taught by sad experience how hard it is to leave all and simply
follow Christ, ere he was to be privileged to see the full fruit of his
labours.

[Sidenote: A Galley-slave.]

Those who had presumed to take into their hands "the sword of God" as
they called it, and to mete out to the tyrant cardinal the punishment
which human justice was too weak to award, were made to feel that they
who take the sword must expect to suffer from the sword. They had been
able to withstand the power of the regent and the attacks of his
unskilful captains; but help and skill at last came to the aid of these
from their co-religionists abroad--chief among them being a militant
ecclesiastic entitled Prior of Capua--and the succour promised to the
garrison by England having been again and again delayed, they were
obliged to surrender the castle to the representative of the French
king.[88] The occupants of the castle--those who had come to it for
shelter, as well as those who were really guilty of the murder--were
deprived of liberty, and dealt with as criminals of the worst class. For
nineteen months[89] our reformer had to work as a chained slave on board
the French galleys, generally at Rouen or Dieppe, though sometimes a
cruise was taken to more distant waters. Once, at least, he was brought
within sight of the towers of the city where he had begun his ministry;
and then he solemnly affirmed that he believed God would once more allow
him to proclaim His word there. Even then he maintained unshaken faith
in God, and at times indulged in sallies of pleasantry against his
popish custodiers; but he would have been more than human if the iron
had not entered into his soul, and if traces of the sternness thence
arising had not long been visible in his character.

[Sidenote: His Work in England.]

Early in 1549 he was, by English influence, released from his captivity
in the French galleys, and from his exile.[90] He proceeded first to
London, and thereafter to Berwick, with the approval of the English
Privy Council. There he was as near to his persecuted fellow-countrymen
as it was safe for him to go, and there many of them might resort to
him; and in fact so many did so, that the president of the English
Northern Council became anxious for his transference farther south.
There also, through the appointment of the Privy Council, a wide field
of usefulness was opened to him among the English. Into this he entered
with his whole soul, preaching the Gospel with great boldness and
success not only to the garrison and citizens of Berwick, but also in
the surrounding districts; and proving himself a true successor of those
early Scottish missionaries who had originally won over to the Christian
faith the heathen Saxons of Northumbria. At Newcastle, in 1550, he
discussed, before Tonstal, Bishop of Durham, his doctors, and the
Northern Council, the idolatry of the mass; and in the spring of 1551 he
removed his headquarters to that more central and influential town,
extending his labours at times, no doubt, into Yorkshire, as well as
into Northumberland and Cumberland.

His fame as an eloquent preacher, and able and ready defender of the
doctrines of the Reformation, spread southwards; and at the close of
1551, or early in 1552, he was appointed one of the royal chaplains of
Edward VI. In the autumn of 1552 he was summoned to the south, and
preached with great power and faithfulness before the king and his
court. He persistently advocated, along with the other royal chaplains,
those thoroughgoing Protestant doctrines which, in the north, he had
previously held and taught and carried out in practice. In conjunction
with the other five royal chaplains, he was called to give his opinion
of the Articles then proposed to be adopted as the creed of the English
Church, and of the revised Communion Office then prepared to take the
place of that of 1549. His objections to the act of kneeling in
receiving the elements in the Lord's Supper helped to procure the
insertion of that rubric which high-churchmen term "the black rubric."
He refused both an English bishopric and a London rectory, and continued
to labour on, faithfully and devotedly, as a preacher unattached. He
had a presentiment that the time he would have to do so would be brief,
and he improved it to the uttermost. The Reformation in England at that
date had been forced on by its courtly patrons and their earnest
preachers beyond what was warranted by the hold it had as yet gained on
the mass of the people. When the good King Edward[91] was succeeded by
the bigoted Mary, nothing remained for the Protestant bishops and
preachers but either to prove the sincerity of their convictions in
prison and at the stake, or to leave the country and reserve themselves
in exile for happier times. Knox, as a foreigner, was especially
warranted to choose the latter course; and at the urgent request of his
friends in the north he did so, when it was only not yet too late to
escape.

[Sidenote: Visits Scotland.]

The five years of the reformer's life which followed were not less
eventful for himself nor for those of whom he now became the chosen
leader. After an unsuccessful attempt to set up a substantially Puritan
church among the English exiles at Frankfort, Whittingham and he
obtained at Geneva, through the favour of Calvin, an asylum for
themselves and their like-minded fellow-exiles, where they might be
allowed peacefully to carry out their own forms of worship and
discipline. But he had not been long there till, at the earnest
invitation of the reforming party, he paid a visit to his native land--a
visit which was memorable for its immediate, and still more for its
ultimate, results. For several years the cause of the Reformation had
been making quiet progress. Those who could read the Scriptures had been
drinking the waters of life from the fountain-head. Those who could not,
drank from the streams opened by the Reformation poets, whose verses
were carefully committed to memory. Then came the voice of the living
preacher, accompanied, as it had never yet been in Scotland, with the
demonstration of the Spirit and with power from on high. The reformer
wrote that he would be content to sing his _nunc dimittis_ after forty
such days as he had had three of in Edinburgh. He prolonged for six
months a visit which he had intended to complete in as many weeks; and,
when he was at last recalled to Geneva by the urgent letters of the
congregation there, he promised to his friends in Scotland that he would
return whenever they saw meet to summon him and to assure him of
protection from persecution.

The few quiet years which Knox and his fellow-exiles passed at Geneva
were to be richly blessed to themselves and to their fatherland. He, at
least, had not gone there to have his views of Christian doctrine or
church order formed or materially changed. He went to see the pure
reformed faith (which he and Calvin in common believed, and
independently had drawn from the Holy Scriptures and from the writings
of the great doctor of the ancient church) exhibiting its benign
influence in quickening to higher life, and moulding into a united
community the volatile citizens of Geneva. He came to have his wearied
spirit revived and refreshed by communion with devoted Christian
brethren; and, by witnessing the success of their labours, to be nerved
for further achievements in the service of their common Lord and for the
good of his native land.

[Sidenote: Genevan Benefits.]

It was there that Puritanism was organised as a distinct school, if not
also as a distinct party, in the church. If it had done nothing more
than what it was honoured to do in the few peaceful years our fathers
were permitted to spend in that much loved city by the bright blue
waters of the Leman Lake, it would have done not a little for which the
church and the world would have had cause to be grateful to it still.
There were first clearly proclaimed in our native language those
principles of constitutional government, and the limited authority of
the "upper powers," which are now universally accepted by the
Anglo-Saxon race. There was first deliberately adopted and resolutely
put in practice among British Christians a form of church constitution
which eliminated sacerdotalism, and taught the members of the church
their true dignity and responsibility as priests to God and witnesses
for Christ in the world. There was first used that Book of Common Order
which was long to be the directory for public worship in the fully
reformed Church of Scotland, and whose simple rites Bishop Grindal was
forced to own, in his controversy with the English Puritans, he could
not reprove. There was nearly completed, after the model of the French
version, the English Metrical Psalter. There was planned and executed a
translation of the Scriptures into our mother tongue, which for nearly
half a century continued to hold its place alongside of others executed
at greater leisure and more favoured by authority.[92] That was how our
reformer and his tireless associates occupied themselves when left
freely to follow their own bent. That was how he was ultimately prepared
for the great work he was to accomplish in his native country when
finally invited to return to it.

Immediately after the accession of Elizabeth to the English throne in
the autumn of 1558,[93] the English exiles on the Continent began to
break up their congregations and return to their native land. Those at
Geneva were among the first who commenced to do so; but those of them
who had been occupying themselves in that translation of the Bible into
English which was to prove such a blessing to their countrymen decided
to remain where they were until they had finished that work.[94] Those
who returned were at first favourably received by the queen and her
advisers, and taken into service in the reconstituted church; but when
it was found that they were generally averse to comply fully with the
ceremonies which she fostered, a change took place.

[Sidenote: Returns to Scotland.]

Knox, who does not seem to have been one of the translators, appears to
have left Geneva among the earliest. In February 1558-59 we find that he
had gone to Dieppe, whence, while assisting in the French Protestant
services, he sent a request to Cecil for leave to pass through England
on his way to Scotland, and to converse with him on some matters which
deeply concerned the welfare of the Protestants in both realms.[95] But
his 'First Blast of the Trumpet' was an insult which Elizabeth could not
brook, and so, after waiting in vain for the desired permission for a
reasonable time, he set sail from Dieppe for Scotland, and arrived in
Edinburgh on the 2nd of May 1559, much to the consternation of the
popish council then assembled in the city. It dissolved forthwith; but
care was taken to get Knox's name, as that of an already condemned
heretic, added to the list of Protestant preachers then under summons to
appear before the queen regent and her council to answer for their
persistence in preaching.[96] Knox at once resolved to throw in his lot
with his brethren, and went north to Dundee where the zealous
Protestants of Fife, Angus, and Mearns were already assembling,
determined to make common cause with their preachers, and to go forward
in peaceful form to Stirling in order that they might do so, and leave
the queen and her council in no doubt as to the position which they were
henceforth to occupy towards her and them. They accordingly marched
forward from Dundee to Perth, and sent on Erskine of Dun to Stirling to
apprise the queen and council of their attitude and intentions. It is
said that she promised Erskine that the prosecution of the preachers
would be abandoned, but they were condemned in absence and outlawed, and
the breach between the two parties thus became irrevocable. Nothing
remained for the queen, from her point of view, but to prosecute the
matter to the bitter end, if thereby she might succeed in silencing and
repressing the Protestants.

[Sidenote: Preaches in St Andrews.]

After the regent's falsehood to Erskine and persistence in her fatal
policy, the reformers proceeded at once to set about such reform as they
desired, and commenced rather roughly at Perth, where they had the
majority of the population in their favour. Knox, along with Moray,
went to Fife as soon after as it became apparent that forcible measures
must be taken to secure toleration for the Protestants. After a few
brief visits to other towns he presented himself at the public
preaching-place in St Andrews. Modern historians will not allow us to
say that it was in that city that he had received his university
training, or had first listened to the preaching of the reformed
doctrines, or been brought to a personal knowledge of the truth; but
they leave untouched, as previously stated, the more important facts
that it was there, when in charge of his pupils at the university, that
he had first ventured at the hazard of his life openly to make known to
others that which had been blessed of God to the quickening of his own
soul, and publicly to exert in the cause of the Reformation those rare
gifts of telling argument and persuasive speech which were destined so
signally to contribute to its ultimate and permanent triumph throughout
the land. It was there, probably in the old parish church, that he had
been first solemnly called to the ministry of the Word in the reformed
church; and there, in the chapel of the old and now ruined castle, that
he had first celebrated the Lord's Supper with the same purity and
simplicity with which it was afterwards observed in the fully reformed
Church of Scotland.[97] Even in exile and working as a slave in the
galleys his heart had turned with special pleasure to the scene of his
first labours, and he had cherished the confident expectation that God
would again bring him to the place where he had first opened his mouth,
and permit him again to preach from its pulpit the precious truths of
His Holy Word.[98]

[Sidenote: The Victory.]

This expectation he believed that God had then fulfilled, and neither
the threats of adversaries could make him quail from his purpose, nor
the counsels of timid friends move him to let slip the opportunity which
he believed God had then given him of bearing full and faithful
testimony to the truth of God in that important city.[99] He therefore
boldly proclaimed before the dignitaries of the church, the doctors of
the university,[100] and the magistrates of the burgh, as well as
before more humble citizens, that doctrine of the grace of God which had
long been his own solace and support, and was then being more generally
recognised and embraced by his countrymen. Having thus seized the
opportunity and improved it to the utmost, his efforts were so
abundantly blessed by God that the cause of truth and right finally
triumphed there. The reformed worship was by general consent peaceably
set up, and the authority of the archbishop was virtually ended in the
very stronghold of his power. That which, with the divine blessing, the
reformer's preaching then accomplished in St Andrews, was by the same or
similar means effected in the chief cities of the kingdom, and
throughout the greater part of the lowlands, almost within the compass
of a single year. In fact, four months after his arrival, he could write
to his friends: "Nothwithstanding the fevers have vexed me, ... yitt
have I travelled through the most part of this realme where (all praise
be to His blessed Majestie) men of all sorts and conditiouns embrace the
Truthe.... We doe nothing but goe about Jericho, blowing with trumpets
as God giveth strenth, hoping [for the] victorie by His power
alone."[101] The reformer's expectation of victory, and of victory by
the persuasive means which Bishop Hooper affirmed were alone legitimate
and in accord with Christ's will, was neither disappointed nor long
deferred. The great body of the nation, with unexampled rapidity and
unanimity, embraced the truth, and submitted to the discipline of their
teacher, and under its salutary influence, as Stähelin in his 'Johannes
Calvin' affirms, from being one of the rudest, most ignorant, indigent,
and turbulent peoples, grew to be one of the most civilised, educated,
prosperous, and upright which our family of nations can show.

Believing that we have no cause to be ashamed of the great revolution
which was thus effected, or of aught which has legitimately followed
from it, but that we need to have our pure minds stirred up by way of
remembrance of the great things the Lord has done for us, I proceed to
direct attention to the distinctive characteristics of the Scottish
Reformation in respect of doctrine, worship, government, discipline, and
church life, and the lessons which such a review should tend to rivet on
the hearts of those who still hold fast its principles and long to see
them more fully carried out.

FOOTNOTES:

[82] D'Aubigné's Reformation in the Time of Calvin, vi. 17.

[83] Calderwood's History, i. 155, 156, 160; Laing's Knox, i. 95, 96,
105. [Calderwood says that Williams was born "beside Elstonefurde, in
East Lothiane."]

[84] Lorimer's Scottish Reformation, pp. 155, 156.

[85] [Though these lines are continually attributed to Lindsay, I do not
remember to have ever seen them in any edition of his works, or quoted
as his by any earlier writer than Wodrow.]

[86] [According to Knox, though "called bastard brother to the
governour," many deemed him to be a son of "the old Bischope of
Dunkelden, called Crychtoun" (Laing's Knox, i. 105). Buchanan says he
was "first callid _Cuningham_, estemit _Cowane_, and at last Abbot
_Hamiltoun_" (Admonition to the trew Lordis). In a transcript used by
Ruddiman, _Givane_ occurs instead of _Cowane_.]

[87] [Laing's Knox, i. 186. Though the Lyon King was then in St Andrews,
he was not one of those who were sheltering in the castle (Laing's
Lindsay's Poetical Works, 1879, vol. i. pp. xxxix, xli).]

[88] [Knox says that the castle was rendered "upone Setterday, the last
of Julij" (Laing's Knox, i. 205); Bishop Lesley says "the xxix of Julij"
(Lesley's History, 1830, p. 195). In 1547, the last of July fell not on
Saturday but on Sabbath.]

[89] Laing's Knox, vi. 104.

[90] [The negotiations for the release of the captives seem to have
dragged their weary length along very slowly. So early as the 29th of
March 1548, Huntly wrote thus to Somerset: "The governor has agreed to
exchange the men in the castle of St Andrews with Scots prisoners
conform to your desire, and has sent me commission therein, as I shall
show you at my coming to London: or if you send your mind to my Lord
Warden, I shall appoint with him. The governor has written to the king
of France to send the men taken in St Andrews to Rouen, to be ready for
the exchange" (Bain's Calendar, 1543-67, p. 104).]

[91] [Edward died July 6, 1553.]

[92] [The first edition of the Genevan version was printed at Geneva by
Rouland Hall in 1560. "The changes made in the Geneva Bible were the
adoption of Roman type instead of the black letter, in which all English
Bibles had previously been printed, and the division of the chapters
into verses. These changes were the principal cause of the wonderful
popularity of this version, of which about 200 editions are known. From
1560 to 1616 no year passed without one or more editions issuing from
the press, in folio, quarto, or octavo. In 1599 no less than ten
distinct editions were printed, each of which consisted of a large
number of copies. The last quarto printed in England is dated 1615, and
the last folio 1616. After this time a great many editions were printed
at Amsterdam by Joost Broerss and other Dutch printers; the last folio
bears the imprint of Thomas Stafford, and the date 1644.... 150,000
copies were imported from Holland after this version had ceased to be
printed in England.... Owing to the vast number of copies in circulation
during the three-quarters of a century that this version was the
household Bible of England, it is now the most common of all early
printed Bibles.... The singular rendering of the 7th verse of the third
chapter of Genesis in every edition of the Genevan version has caused it
to be commonly known as the 'Breeches' Bible" (Dore's Old Bibles, 1888,
pp. 203, 204).]

[93] [Mary Tudor died on the 17th of November 1558.]

[94] Troubles at Frankfort, Petheram's reprint, pp. cxci, cxcii.

[95] [After making two requests by messengers, Knox wrote to Cecil from
Dieppe on the 10th of April 1559, and on the 22nd sent from the same
town a duplicate of that letter with a postscript added (Laing's Knox,
ii. 15-22, vi. 15-21).]

[96] [The Provincial Council is said to have closed on the 10th of April
(Robertson's Concilia Scotiæ, ii. 151, 176; Lesley's History, p. 271);
but Knox says that it sat until he arrived in Scotland (Laing's Knox, i.
291); and that the date of his arrival was the 2nd of May (Ibid., i.
318, vi. 21); and an anonymous writer alleges that the council broke up
when assured that Knox had come (Wodrow Miscellany, pp. 56, 57). M'Crie
suggests that, although the Acts were concluded on the 10th of April,
the council may not have then closed (Life of Knox, 1855, p. 126, n.).]

[97] [While it is apparent from Knox's own narrative that his first
public sermon was delivered in the parish church of St Andrews (Laing's
Knox, i. 189), it is not quite so clear whether Rough addressed the call
to him in that church or in the chapel of the castle, though it rather
appears to have been in the former (Ibid., i. 186-188); and the precise
building in St Andrews in which he first celebrated the Lord's Supper
seems to me to be also uncertain (Ibid., i. 201).]

[98] Laing's Knox, i. 228.

[99] Ibid., i. 348, 349; vi. 25.

[100] [Many members of the university became Protestants. The twenty-one
men in St Andrews, whom the first General Assembly deemed qualified "for
ministreing and teaching," were with few exceptions professors, or
regents. For the number of the ecclesiastics who joined the congregation
at St Andrews in the early months of the Reformation, see _supra_, p.
13. In September, 1566, St Andrews was emphatically declared to be "the
most flourishing city as to divine and human learning in all Scotland"
(Laing's Knox, vi. 546).]

[101] Laing's Knox, vi. 78.



CHAPTER VI.

THE OLD SCOTTISH CONFESSION OF 1560.


[Sidenote: Alleged Omission of a Chapter.]

Knox, in his 'History of the Reformation,' has stated that the
preparation of this Confession was entrusted to the same six ministers
who were commissioned to draw up the Book of Discipline--viz., Wynram,
Spottiswoode, Willock, Douglas, Row, and himself.[102] It has been
frequently taken for granted that the Confession was prepared and
revised within four days after the formal charge to frame it was issued
by the Parliament, and that the Book of Discipline was not ordered to be
prepared till after the Parliament of 1560 was adjourned. It is evident,
however, from the dates specified in the Introduction, and at the
conclusion of the copy of the Book of Discipline engrossed by Knox,[103]
that the original charge to frame it had been granted on the 29th April
1560, or just two days after the nobles and barons signed one of those
"godly bands" or covenants[104] by which they pledged themselves to
stand by each other in setting forward the Reformation of religion
according to God's Word; and it can hardly be supposed that that book
should have been taken in hand some months before the Parliament met,
and that no attempt should have been made in this interval to prepare
materials for the 'Confession of Faith.' Besides, Knox has not stated
that within four days after the charge was formally issued the
Confession was _prepared_, but only that it was _presented_, so that we
may hold with Dr M'Crie that "the ministers were not unprepared for this
task," which was then formally devolved on them by the Parliament. Knox
has further stated that the Confession was accepted by the Parliament in
the form in which it was laid before them _without change of a single
sentence_.[105] Others supplement his statement by explaining that
before it was publicly presented it was submitted privately to certain
lords of Parliament, and by their direction was handed for revision to
the rather time-serving Wynram and the anon time-serving and
vacillating Laird of Lethington, who softened many harsh expressions in
it, and even recommended the omission of a chapter or part of a chapter
from it. This they say was a chapter bearing the title, "Of the
obedience and disobedience due from subjects to magistrates."[106] But
the chapter on the "Civil Magistrate" still found in the Confession
treats so fully and expressly of the obedience due to magistrates, that
it is difficult to see how place could ever have been sought for an
additional chapter on the same subject. There may possibly at first have
stood in the chapter still retained some such clause or sentence
regarding the _limits_ of obedience as we find in the corresponding
chapter of some of the Genevan symbolical books,[107] and this may have
been the matter deemed unfit to be "entreated of" at that time, and
recommended by the revisers to be omitted; or it may be that, after all,
their recommendation and the suggestions of the English ambassador on
the subject were not followed in this instance, and that we have the
chapter still as it was originally framed by Knox and his
associates.[108]

In endeavouring to form an estimate of the real merits of this
Confession, we must make due allowance for the circumstances in which it
was composed. Even though we suppose that the materials of it had been
collected beforehand, only four days seem to have been allowed to the
committee to put them into final shape.

[Sidenote: Character of the Confession.]

We must not look either on the one hand for an exhaustive and logical
elaboration of the several doctrines of the system and nicely balanced
statement of complementary truths, or on the other for a careful
avoidance of incidental expressions which seem dogmatically to determine
points not fully or directly handled in the places where we should have
expected them to be so. Yet, if we make such due allowance, look at it
from the proper point of view, and peruse the work not only in the now
obsolete Scotch, but also in the neat Latin version which often
accompanies it, and is said to have been the work of Archbishop
Adamson,[109] we shall not hesitate to own that it holds a
distinguished place among the Confessions of that age, and is a credit
to our reformer and his associates. Coinciding not infrequently in
expression and agreeing generally in its definitions of doctrine with
the other Reformed or Calvinistic Confessions (an agreement which its
framers explicitly testified by inserting among the subordinate
standards of their church, first Calvin's Catechism, and a few years
after the Later Helvetic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism), the
Scottish Confession of 1560 had characteristics of its own,--a framework
rather historical than dogmatic, and a liberal and manly, yet reverent
and cautious spirit. It probably contributed to mould the early Scottish
theology into a form somewhat less minute and rigid than the Swiss, yet
considerably less vague and indefinite than the earlier English.

The first topic deserving of notice, from the place it holds both in the
preface and in the body of this treatise, is the distinct and hearty
acknowledgment of the supreme authority of the written Word of God, or
"the buiks of the Auld and New Testamentis," which books are briefly but
sufficiently defined as those "quhilk of the ancient have been reputed
canonicall."[110] In these they affirm "that all thingis necessary to
be beleeved for the salvation of mankinde is sufficiently expressed,"
and to these they desire in all things to conform, protesting that, if
any man should note any article or sentence in their Confession contrary
to the Scriptures, and should "of his gentleness" admonish them of the
same, they "do promise unto him satisfactioun fra the mouth of God, that
is, fra His Haly Scriptures, or else reformation of that quhilk he sal
prove to be amisse."[111]

[Sidenote: The Fall and the Remedy.]

In the opening chapter the unity and attributes of God, and the trinity
of persons in the Godhead, are briefly but definitely treated of.[112]
In subsequent chapters the divinity of our blessed Lord is fully
asserted, and the "heresies of Arius, Marcion, Eutyches, Nestorius, and
sik uthers as either did denie the eternitie of His Godhead, or the
veritie of His humaine nature, or confounded them or zit devided them,"
are specifically rejected.[113] The second chapter treats of the
creation and fall of our first parents, while the third treats of the
effects of the fall in language no less explicit than that of the other
Protestant Confessions, Lutheran and Reformed; and as it not only
clearly embodies the teaching of our reformers on this subject, but
gives a brief summary of their views regarding the application of the
Gospel remedy, it may be as well I should quote it at length. It is as
follows: "Be quhilk transgressioun, commonlie called original sinne,
_wes the image of God utterlie defaced in man_, and he and his
posteritie of nature become enimies to God, slaves to Sathan, and
servandis unto sin.[114] In samekle that deith everlasting hes had and
sall have power and dominioun over all that have not been, ar not, or
sall not be, regenerate from above: quhilk regeneratioun is wrocht be
the power of the Holie Gost, working in the hartes of the elect of God
ane assured faith in the promise of God reveiled to us in His Word, be
quhilk faith we apprehend Christ Jesus with the graces and benefites
promised in Him."[115]

[Sidenote: The Eternal Decree.]

[Sidenote: Alasco's Influence.]

After this follow several chapters on the history of the promises of
redemption, the preparation for the coming of the promised Redeemer,
the dignity and constitution of His person, His incarnation,
sufferings, and death, His resurrection and ascension, and the blessed
effects resulting from them to His people. In another of these chapters
distinct reference is made to "the eternall and immutable decree" from
which the appointment of the God-man as our Redeemer, and "al our
salvatioun springs and depends";[116] and in another all that is good in
us is traced up to that decree of the eternal God who of mere grace
elected us in Christ Jesus His Son before the foundation of the world
was laid. The same mysterious subject is again referred to in the
sixteenth chapter, which treats of the church, and, like the earlier
Confession used by Knox's congregation at Geneva and our later
Confession, identifies that invisible but real church, which is "the
bodie and spouse" of Christ Jesus, with the elect of all ages, nations,
and tongues, so that "as without Christ Jesus there is nouther life nor
salvation, so sal there nane be participant therof bot sic as the Father
hes given unto His Sonne," and who in time come unto Him.[117] Many
individual expressions occurring in these chapters can be clearly traced
to one or other of Calvin's Confessions, or to the earliest edition of
his Institutes;[118] but the only Confession I can remember in which a
similar, though shorter, history of the preparation for the coming
Redeemer is given, is the 'Summa Doctrinæ' of John Alasco,[119] which
may be regarded as the Confession of Faith, not only of the ministers
but also of the members of the church of the foreigners in London. Knox
was brought into contact with them both in London and in Frankfort,
agreed with them generally in opinion, and largely adopted their forms
and arrangements in matters of worship and discipline.

[Sidenote: Justification.]

A group of chapters[120] treats of the nature and work of the Holy
Spirit, the cause of good works, the works which are reputed good, the
perfection of the Law of God, and the imperfection of man. Those who
have overlooked the explicit statement in the third chapter concerning
the depravity of man have generally overlooked or failed to perceive the
full significance of the emphatic statements in the twelfth chapter
regarding our entire dependence for spiritual renovation, and all good,
on the Holy Spirit. The words are: "Of nature we are so dead, so blind,
and so perverse, that nether can we feill when we ar pricked, see the
licht when it shines, nor assent to the will of God when it is reveiled,
unles the Spirit of the Lord Jesus quicken that quhilk is dead, remove
the darknesse from our myndes, and bowe our stubburne hearts to the
obedience of His blessed will;"[121] and again, "As we willingly spoyle
ourselves of all honour and gloir of our awin creation and redemption,
so do we also of our regeneration and sanctification."[122] These
statements, however they may be viewed by others, seem to me no less
explicit than those of the later Confession, which have been sometimes
contrasted with them. "This effectual call is of God's free and special
Grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man, who is
altogether passive therein _until_, being quickened and renewed by the
Holy Spirit, he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace
the Grace offered and conveyed in it."[123] The last of this group of
chapters contains the fullest and most direct exposition the Confession
embodies of the views of its framers in the article of Justification. It
is as follows: "It behovis us to apprehend Christ Jesus with His justice
and satisfaction, quha is the end and accomplishment of the Law, be
quhome we ar set at this liberty that the curse and malediction of God
fall not upon us, albeit we fulfill not the same in al pointes. For God
the Father, beholding us in the body of His Sonne Christ Jesus, acceptis
our imperfite obedience as it were perfite, and covers our warks, quhilk
ar defyled with mony spots, with the justice of His Sonne."[124] To the
same effect it is said in chapter xxv. that "albeit sinne remaine and
continuallie abyde in thir our mortall bodies, zit it is not imputed
unto us, bot is remitted and covered with Christ's justice."[125] It has
been questioned, however, whether we have in these statements the
doctrine taught generally in the reformed churches regarding the
_articulus stantis vel cadentis ecclesiæ_. This can be a question only
with those who forget that the church which received this Confession,
and required her adult members to assent to the heads of it, appointed
for the instruction of her youth the Catechism in which this doctrine of
Calvin is stated in his own words; and that the very men[126] who in
1560 drew it up, in 1566, along with their brethren of the General
Assembly, declared of the _Later Helvetic Confession_--which is
admitted to contain what has been termed "the Lutherano-Calvinian view"
of justification--that therein was "most faithfully, holily, piously,
and indeed divinely explained" what they themselves had for eight years
been constantly teaching, and still by the grace of God continued to
teach, and that in consequence they felt constrained not only to express
their approval, but their "exceeding commendation of every chapter and
of every sentence," save the one relating to holidays.[127] It may be
taken for granted that they knew their own meaning, and that of their
Swiss brethren;[128] the more especially as in our day Stähelin, whose
impartiality and historical reputation will not be challenged, has
adduced the statement in chapter xv. as one of his proofs that Calvin
himself could not have framed the Scotch Confession otherwise than Knox
has done.[129]

[Sidenote: Notes of the True Church.]

The nature of the church, and the notes by which the true church is to
be discerned, are explained in chapters xvi. and xviii. As in most of
the other Reformed or Calvinistic Confessions, greater prominence is
assigned to the Invisible Church, consisting of the elect of all times
and nations, than to the general visible church subsisting at any
particular time in the world and embracing all who profess faith in
Christ and submit to the godly discipline He has prescribed. The notes
by which it may be discerned whether any branch of the professing church
is indeed part of the true Kirk of Christ are stated _negatively_--not
to be "antiquitie, title usurpit, lineal descente, place appointed, nor
multitude of men approving," as Roman Catholics were wont to allege; and
_positively_ to be "the trew preaching of the Worde of God," "the right
administration of the Sacraments," and "ecclesiastical discipline
uprightlie ministred as Goddis Worde prescribes."[130] "These articles,"
as Principal Lee has so pithily expressed it, "have been almost as
disagreeable to some Episcopalian writers as they were to the most
servile adherents of the pope. It is thought a most dangerous omission
to make no mention of uninterrupted succession and conveyance of
authority from the apostles. This omission has been somewhat incorrectly
charged against the reformers of our church. They do certainly mention
_lineal succession_, but they mention it only to disown it. They say
that though the Jewish priests in our Saviour's time 'lineally descended
from Aaron,' yet no 'man of sound judgment will grant that they were the
Church of God.'"[131] They further assert that wherever the three notes
given above are found and continue for any time (be the number never so
few above two or three), there without all doubt is the true Kirk of
Christ, who according to His promise is in the midst of them; and in
this they are borne out not only by Calvin but by Luther, who boldly
affirmed: "Were I the only man on earth that held by the Word, _I alone
would be the church_, and I would be justified in pronouncing of all the
rest of the world that it was not the church."

[Sidenote: Two Sacraments only.]

The only other parts of the Confession I deem it necessary to refer to
in this review of it are the chapters relating to the sacraments and the
right use of them. It was asserted some years ago by a leader of modern
thought in Scotland that Knox did not go beyond the Zwinglian doctrine
regarding the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper; and that his Order for the
administration of it was a bold protest against the "mystical jargon"
which Luther employed, and from which Calvin was not free. When he made
this assertion he seems to have forgot that the address in Knox's Order
for the administration of the Lord's Supper was little else than a
translation of that in Calvin's Liturgy, and teaches exactly the same
mystical doctrine. This doctrine is no less explicitly taught in the
Confession; and Stähelin, whose competence to judge in the matter cannot
be questioned, maintains that the Zwinglian doctrine is as explicitly
rejected as the Romano-Lutheran; and that the language as well as the
doctrine closely resembles Calvin's. The text of the common editions of
the Confession speaks of two _chief_ sacraments only as being appointed
under the New Testament as well as under the Old. From this expression,
some, who are more familiar with Anglican than with Calvinistic
formularies, have concluded that Knox, like several of the earlier
English reformers, attributed a _quasi_-sacramental character to some of
the other rites regarded as sacraments by the Romanists. But in the
copy of the Confession reprinted in Dr Laing's edition of Knox's History
the word _chief_ is omitted in the second instance, and the clause runs
_two sacraments only_.[132] Perhaps it will be accepted as some
confirmation of the correctness of this reading that it is identical
with that found in Alasco's 'Epitome Doctrinæ Ecclesiarum Frisiæ
Orientalis,' from which treatise the opening sentence of chapter xxi. of
the Scottish Confession may possibly have been taken,[133] though the
verbal coincidence with the early edition of Calvin's Institutes is in
some respects more marked.

[Sidenote: Type of Scottish Theology.]

Such are the main contents and general bearing of this ancient Scottish
Confession. Notwithstanding the confident assertions to the contrary
made of late both within and without the Presbyterian churches, I
venture to think that no one who, with a good conscience and honest
intent, could sign that Confession, and answer in the affirmative the
questions regarding election put to candidates for the ministry at their
ordination, need hesitate to put his name to that which in 1647 was
received as "in nothing contrary" to the former, and held its place
alongside of it even after the restoration of Charles II., and under the
episcopal _régime_.[134] Most assuredly at least no one need hesitate to
do so who would have put his name to that Confession which was drawn up
in the time of the first episcopacy,[135] and which is quite as
distinctively Calvinistic as the Westminster Confession, while it
ventures incidentally to determine some points the Westminster divines
have wisely left undetermined.[136] The old Confession can advance no
claim to the terse English style, the logical accuracy, the judicial
calmness, and intimate acquaintance with early patristic theology which
characterise that mature product of the faith and thought of the more
learned Puritans of the south. I am not ashamed to avow that it has long
appeared to me that there is somewhat to be said in favour of the
opinion that Scottish presbyterianism gained quite as much as, nay, more
than, it lost, by being brought into contact with the broader, richer,
and decidedly more catholic spirit of the south, and adding to its
earlier symbolical books those which it still holds in common with
almost all the orthodox presbyterians of the Anglo-Saxon race. No one
who will take the trouble to read the report of the discussion on
Arminianism in the Scottish General Assembly of 1638[137] will, I am
sure, be so bold as to affirm that the type of theology then prevalent
among Scottish ministers was in any material respect different from that
which was set forth in the Confession of 1647, and which has never
since, either under episcopal or presbyterian _régime_, been set aside
in the National Church. The teaching of the latest of our symbolical
books imposes nothing in regard to the doctrines known as
Calvinistic[138] but what is explicitly contained in or fairly deducible
from the earliest Confession drawn up for the English church at Geneva,
of which Knox was pastor, and adopted (along with the larger one on
which I have been commenting) at the beginning of the Reformation in
Scotland, and printed in Scotch psalm-books[139] as late as 1638, in
which it is asserted "which church is not seene to man's eye but only
knowne to God, who of the lost sonnes of Adam hath ordained some as
vessels of wrath to damnation, and hath chosen others as vessels of His
mercy to bee saved, the which also in due time He calleth to integritie
of life and godly conversation to make them a glorious church to
Himselfe."[140]

[Sidenote: Unmeasured Language.]

Probably, however, the main argument against recurring to the old
Scottish Confession of 1560 is that derived from the unmeasured language
of vituperation in which it, as well as the contemporary forms of
recantation[141] required of priests at that date, indulges when
referring to the teaching of the members of the pre-Reformation church.
No doubt it might be deemed sufficient proof of this to subjoin the
examples furnished in chapter xviii. on the "Notis" or marks by which
"the trewe Kirk is decernit fra the false," where the old church is
designated the "pestilent synagoge," "the filthie synagogue," and "the
horrible harlot, the kirk malignant"[142]--the last words no doubt meant
as a translation of the Vulgate rendering of Psalm xxvi. 5, _ecclesiam
malignantium_,[143] translated "the congregation of evil doers" in our
authorised English version. But I may add, in corroboration, that in
chapter xxi. on the true uses of the sacraments, the papists are charged
with having "perniciouslie taucht and damnablie beleeved" the
transubstantiation of the bread into Christ's natural body and of wine
into his natural blood,[144] and that in the last chapter the language
of Rev. xiv. 11 ("the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and
ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his
image") is adduced in proof of the ultimate fate of those who delight in
superstition or idolatry.[145]

The same unrestrained spirit is shown in some contemporary Confessions,
notably in the earliest Danish one, the framers of which seem to have
kept closer to Luther than to the more gentle Melanchthon: but however
excusable it may have been in the fierce battle then forced on them,
there can be no doubt that the calmer and more measured language of the
later Confession is a decided improvement on the statements of the
earlier one; and I do not hesitate to say that, with the simpler formula
of 1693-94 recently restored, and the explanatory act which accompanies
it--emphasising the distinction between matters of minor importance and
the great doctrines of the faith--the position of the ministers of our
church in these respects is as nearly what it should be as is that of
the ministers in any of the allied Presbyterian churches.

FOOTNOTES:

[102] Laing's Knox, ii. 128.

[103] Ibid., ii. 183, 257.

[104] [For this band, see Laing's Knox, ii. 61-64.]

[105] ["Quhilk thay willinglie acceptit and within foure dayis presentit
this Confessioun as it followis, without alteratioun of any ane
sentence." (Laing's Knox, ii. 92).]

[106] [These statements are based on the information which Randolph sent
to Cecil on 7th September 1560 (Laing's Knox, vi. 120, 121).]

[107] "At vero in praefectorum obedientia unum semper excipiendum ne ab
ejus obedientia nos deducat, cujus decretis regum omnium jussa cedere
par est.... Adversus ipsum si quid imperent nullo sit nec loco nec
numero, sed illa potius sententia locum habeat, obediendum Deo magis
quam hominibus."

[108] This seems to be the opinion of Dr Laing (Knox's Works, vi. 121,
n.) Indeed one can hardly read chapter xviii. without having a suspicion
induced that Knox may have proved too strong for them in regard to some
of what they termed the more harsh expressions in the treatise, as well
as in regard to the particular chapter in question.

[109] [The Scotch and Latin versions are printed in parallel columns in
Dunlop's 'Collection of Confessions' ii. 13-98.]

[110] "Libros, qui ab infantia usque ecclesiae semper habiti sunt
canonici" (Latin version, Dunlop, ii. 70).

[111] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 17, 18; Laing's Knox, ii. 96. A similar
protestation is made in the Preface to the First Book of Discipline
(Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 518; Laing's Knox, ii. 184).

[112] The sources from which this chapter was taken can still be pretty
clearly traced. I place in parallel columns its statements and those of
the two Confessions from which it was probably taken:--

"We confesse and acknawledge           "Je confesse qu'il y a un seul
ane only God, to whom only we          Dieu auquel il nous faut tenir,
must cleave, whom onelie we must       pour le servir, adorer, et y avoir
serve, whom onelie we must worship,    notre fiance et refuge."--Confession
and in whom onelie we must             subscribed by students
put our trust.                         in Academy in Geneva.

"Who is eternall, infinit,             "I beleve and confesse my
unmeasurable, incomprehensible,        Lorde God eternal, infinite,
omnipotent, invisible: ane in          unmeasurable, incomprehensible,
substance, and zit distinct in         and invisible, one in substance,
thre personnis, the Father, the        and three in persone, Father,
Sone, and the Holie Gost."--Old        Sonne, and Holy Ghoste."--Confession
Scottish Confession, in Dunlop's       of English Congregation
Confessions, ii. 21, 22.               at Geneva, in Laing's Knox, iv.
                                       169; Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 3.

[113] This also comes from a Genevan source:--

"We condemne the damnable              "Ideirco detestor omnes haereses
and pestilent heresies of Arius,       huic principio contrarias
Marcion, Eutyches, Nestorius,          puta Marcionis, Manetis, Nestorii,
and sik uthers."--Old Scottish         Eutychetis, et similium."--Genevan
Confession, as above, ii. 31.          Confession.

[114] Extraneum ab omni benedictione Dei, Satanae mancipium, sub peccati
jugo captivum, horribili denique exitio destinatum et jam
implicitum.--Calvin.

[115] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 24, 25; Laing's Knox, ii. 98. It has
been questioned if this description of faith is one which Calvin and his
stricter followers would have used. But nothing is more common, even in
the earliest edition of his Institutes, than to find him describing
faith as the apprehension of Christ with His gifts, or graces, as well
as with His righteousness: "Apprehendimus ac obtinemus et ... Christi
_dona_ amplectimur, quod ipsum est habere veram, ut decet fidem." "Haec
omnia nobis a Deo offeruntur ac dantur in Christo Domino nostro nempe
remissio peccatorum gratuita, ... _dona et gratiae_ Spiritus Sancti si
certâ fide ea amplectimur." In one of these chapters [of the Scottish
Confession] relating to the incarnation of Christ Jesus, He is spoken of
not only, as in most of the Protestant Confessions, as the promised
Messiah, the just seed of David, the Immanuel, or God in our nature--God
and man in one person--but also as the _Angel of the great counsel of
God_ [Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 31; Laing's Knox, ii. 99]. This
expression is no doubt a translation of the μεγαλης βουλης
αγγελος of the Septuagint, and is the more remarkable, not only as
showing familiarity on the part of some of the framers of the Confession
with a somewhat unusual rendering of one of the most explicit Messianic
prophecies of Isaiah, but also as showing that they had perceived the
true significance of an expression which last century gave rise to no
little discussion and misconception. So far as I can remember, this
remarkable expression does not appear in any other of the Protestant
Confessions of that age.

[116] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 32; Laing's Knox, ii. 100.

[117] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 60, 61; Laing's Knox, ii. 108.

[118] The following are a few specimens of close verbal coincidence
between the Scottish Confession and the first edition of Calvin's
Institutes:--

1. "It behooved that the               Filii Dei sumus quod naturalis
Sonne of God suld descend unto         Dei Filius sibi corpus ex corpore
us, and tak himself a bodie of         nostro, carnem ex carne nostra
our bodie, flesh of our flesh, and     ossa ex ossibus nostris composuit
bone of our bones, and so become       ut idem nobiscum esset.
the Mediator betwixt God
and man, giving power to so
many as beleeve in Him to be
the sonnes of God."--Dunlop,
ii. 33, 34.

2. "Quhatsaever wee have               Ut quod in Adamo perdidimus
tynt in Adam is restored unto us       Christus restitueret.
agayne."--Dunlop, ii. 34.

3. "It behooved farther the            Praeterea sic nostra referebat,
Messias and Redemer to be very         verum esse Deum et hominem
God and very man, because He           qui Redemptor noster futurus
was to underlie the punischment        esset.... Prodiit ergo verus
due for our transgressiouns, and       homo, Dominus noster, Adae
to present himselfe in the presence    personam induit ... ut Patri
of His Father's judgment               se obedientem pro eo exhiberet
as in our persone to suffer for our    ut carnem nostram in satisfactionem
transgression and inobedience,         justo Dei judicio statueret
be death to overcome him that          ac sisteret, ut in eâdem carne
was author of death. Bot because       peccati poenam persolveret.
the onely Godhead culd                 Quum denique mortem nec solus
not suffer death, neither zit culd     Deus sentire, nec solus homo
the onlie manhead overcome the         superare posset, humanitatem
samin, He joyned both togither         cum divinitate sociavit ut alterius
in one persone that the imbecillitie   imbecillitatem morti in poenam
of the ane suld suffer and             persolveret, alterius virtute
be subject to death quhilk we          adversus mortem in victoriam
had deserved: and the infinit          luctaretur.
and invincible power of the
uther, to wit, of the God-head,
suld triumph and purchesse to us
life, libertie, and perpetuall
victory."--Dunlop, ii. 35, 36.

4. "That Hee being the                 Judicis scilicet sententia damnatus
cleane, innocent Lambe of God,         pro nocente et malefico ut
was damned in the presence of          apud summi judicis _tribunal_ ejus
an earthlie judge, that we suld        damnatione absolveremur.
be absolved befoir the _tribunal_
seat of our God."--Dunlop, ii.
37, 38.

5. "Suffered ... the cruell            Crucifixus in cruce quae Dei
death of the Crosse, quhilk was        lege maledicta fuerat.
accursed be the sentence of
God."--Dunlop, ii. 38.

6. "Suffered for a season the          Divini judicii horrorem et
wrath of His Father quhilk sinners     severitatem sensisse ... luens
had deserved. Bot zit we               poenas non suae ... sed nostrae
avow that He remained the only         iniquitati. Neque tamen
wel-beloved and blessed Sonne          intelligendum est patrem illi
of His Father, even in the middest     unquam iratum fuisse. Quomodo
of His anguish and                     enim dilecto filio, in quo illi
torment."--Dunlop, ii. 38.             complacitum est, irasceretur.

[119] Alasco's Works, ii. 296, 298.

[120] Chapters xii.-xv.

[121] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 46. "Sunt autem dona Spiritus Sancti,
per quem regeneramur, e diaboli potestate et vinculis explicamur, in
filios Dei gratuito adoptamur, ad omne opus bonum sanctificamur."--Calvin.

[122] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 47.

[123] Westminster Confession, chap. x.

[124] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 58. There is hardly one of these
expressions that may not be found in Calvin's Institutes:--

It behoves us to apprehend             Confiteor nos justificari per
Christ Jesus with His justice and      fidem quâtenus per eam apprehendimus
satisfaction.                          Jesum Christum.

We are set at this liberty             Omni execratione quae nobis
that the curse and malediction         incumbebat eximeremur dum in
of the law fall not upon us.           eum traduceret. Fides, in Christi
                                       damnatione absolutionem,
                                       benedictionem in maledictione,
                                       apprehendit.

God the Father, beholding              Ubi nos in filii sui communionem
us in the body of His Son Christ       semel recepit, opera
Jesus, accepts our imperfect           nostra grata acceptaque habet,
obedience as it were perfect.          non quod ita promereantur sed
                                       quia condonatâ eorum imperfectione,
                                       nil in illis intuetur, nisi
                                       quod a Spiritu suo profectum,
                                       purum ac sanctum est.

_Covers_ our works, which are          Nullae nostrae sordes aut
defiled with many spots, with          immunditiae imperfectionis
the justice of His Son.                imputantur, sed illa puritate
                                       Christi ac perfectione velut
                                       sepultae _conteguntur_.
                                       Cujus perfectione tegatur
                                       nostra imperfectio. See also
                                       Calvin's Catechism in Dunlop's
                                       Confessions, ii. 175.

[125] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 95; Laing's Knox, ii. 119.

[126] [Of the six, all save Willock sign the letter to Beza on 4th
September 1566 (Laing's Knox, vi. 548-550).]

[127] Laing's Knox, vi. 546-548.

[128] Considerable ingenuity has been expended in the attempt to show
that the words "who is the end and accomplishment of the law" are to be
understood in some other than their most obvious and commonly received
meaning. Without questioning the competency of such ingenious rather
than ingenuous exposition, were a case raised before the judicial
committee of a modern privy council to have the expounder tried and
condemned as a heretic, I venture to think that when the matter to be
determined is rather what, in point of fact, did Knox and his associates
hold and teach, the following brief quotation from the "godly and
perfect" treatise of Balnaves on Justification must go pretty near to
settle it: "Christ is the end of the law (unto righteousnes) to all that
beleeve--that is, Christ is the consummation and fulfilling of the lawe,
and that justice whiche the lawe requireth; and all they which beleeve
in Him are just by imputation through faith, and for His sake are repute
and accepted as just" (Laing's Knox, iii. 492). If more than this has
been taught in recent times, I should be greatly inclined with Principal
Lee to trace it to Jonathan Edwards, or perhaps even to the great
Independent, Dr Owen, rather than to the Westminster divines, or the
earlier Scottish.

[129] Stähelin's Johannes Calvin, ii. 88.

[130] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 66-68; Laing's Knox, ii. 110.

[131] Lee's Lectures on the History of the Church of Scotland, i. 124,
125.

[132] Laing's Knox, ii. 113. [In the Confession, as printed in the Acts
of the Parliaments of 1560 and 1567 ratifying it, the word _chief_ is
retained (Acts of Parliament, ii. 532; iii. 20). The Confession of 1616
bears that: "We believe that there be only two sacraments appointed by
Christ under the New Testament, Baptisme and the Lord's Supper" ('Booke
of the Universall Kirk,' iii. 1137). Concerning the sacraments the First
Book of Discipline says: "They be two, to wit, Baptism and the Holy
Supper of the Lord Jesus" (Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 520; Laing's Knox,
ii. 186).]

[133] Hujus generis _duo praecipua_ in vetere ecclesiâ fuerunt
circumcisio et agnus paschalis. Nos illorum loco _duo_ etiam habemus
baptismum et caenam domini.

[134] "The Confession of Faith made by Mr Knox, and ratified in
Parliament by King James VI., together with the Westminster Confession
(both agreed on by the General Assembly of Presbyters), are owned next
to the Word of God, by both parties, as the Standard of the doctrine of
our Church" (Case of Suffering Church of Scotland).

[135] It is printed at length in Calderwood's History, vii. 233-242; and
also in the 'Booke of the Universall Kirk,' iii. 1132-1139; and is
supposed to have been mainly the work of Howie, Melville's successor at
St Andrews.

[136] [In speaking of this Confession of 1616, Dr Grub says that it
"agrees with the old one in all important points, the chief difference
being in its more marked enunciation of the doctrine of Calvin in regard
to election and predestination" (Grub's History, ii. 306).]

[137] Printed in Peterkin's Records of the Kirk, pp. 155-160.

[138] Generally so designated, but really as old as the days of Paul and
Augustine.

[139] [After 1564-65, the Book of Common Order was usually printed with
a complete metrical version of the Psalms (Laing's Knox, vi. 279, 280,
284); and was comprehended under the name 'Psalm Book' (_infra_, p.
128). Mr Cowan, of 47 Braid Avenue, Edinburgh, informs me that the
Confession, drawn up for the English congregation at Geneva, appears in
every edition of the Book of Common Order which he has examined, from
the Geneva edition of 1556 down to the edition printed by Evan Tyler in
1644.]

[140] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 8; Laing's Knox, iv. 171, 172.

[141] [These forms of recantation may be seen in the Maitland
Miscellany, iii. 215-221; and in the Register of St Andrews
Kirk-session, Scot. Hist. Soc., i. 11-18.]

[142] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 65, 66; Laing's Knox, ii. 109, 110.

[143] The designation is undoubtedly Knoxian, as it occurs in his
dispute with Friar Arbuckill in 1547. To the reformer's assertion "that
the spous of Christ had nether power nor authoritie against the Word of
God," the Friar replied, "Yf so be, ye will leave us na kirk;" and to
that the reformer rejoined, "In David I read that thare is a church of
the malignantis, for he sayis, _Odi ecclesiam malignantium_. That church
ye may have without the Word, ... of that church yf ye wilbe, I can not
impead yow" (Laing's Knox, i. 200).

[144] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 80; Laing's Knox, ii. 114.

[145] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 96, 97.



CHAPTER VII.

THE BOOK OF COMMON ORDER.


[Sidenote: At Frankfort.]

This, though in point of time the first composed of the symbolical books
of the Scottish Reformation, was the last to be formally assigned its
honoured place. The title it commonly bore in that age was the Book of
Common Order. In the First Book of Discipline it is called "the Order of
Geneva" and "the Book of our Common Order."[146] In recent times it has
been more generally designated as Knox's Liturgy. It has usually been
deemed sufficient to say that it was drawn up and first privately and
then publicly printed at Geneva, and was directly taken from the liturgy
then used there, as well as approved by Calvin. But this is only
partially true. The first English congregation on the Continent which
invited Knox to be one of its pastors was that formed at Frankfort in
1554, and admitted to hold its services in the same church as the
congregation of French-speaking exiles on condition of using the same
ceremonies and Confession of Faith as the French.[147] The minister and
other office-bearers accordingly signed the Confession of Faith along
with those of the French congregation, and it was ultimately
incorporated into the Book of Common Order as the exposition of the
Apostles' Creed in the baptismal service. The first draft of the Book of
Common Order was drawn up before the end of 1554, and privately
printed,[148] to implement the stipulation for conformity with the
French in ceremonies as well as in Confession of Faith, and it seems to
have been mainly owing to Knox that it was not adopted at once, but that
time was given for circulating and examining it. Unfortunately the
ambitious plan was taken of inviting the English exiles at Strassburg
and Zurich to join with them in their proposed action, which led to
those unfortunate disputes, chronicled at length in the 'Troubles at
Frankfort,' and to the departure of a large number of the English exiles
to Geneva, where through the kindness of Calvin a hospitable reception
was promised them, and the Church of Marie la Neuve was assigned for
their services and those of the Italian exiles, but without any
hampering clause about identity of ceremonies or Confession of Faith.
The congregation which shared with the English exiles the church of "the
white ladies," or Cistercian nuns, at Frankfort, consisted chiefly of
the company of French-speaking exiles which had been originally gathered
at Strassburg by Farel, tended for several years by Calvin, and then by
Poullain, or Pollanus, under whom, when the Interim was imposed on the
city, they had to seek a new home. This they ultimately found in
England, to which Bucer and Martyr from the same city had already been
invited and had gone. Glastonbury Abbey was assigned for their residence
by the king and council, and there they lived in peace and quiet till
the close of the reign of Edward VI. In 1551 Pollanus published the
first edition of his 'Liturgia Sacra seu Ritus ministerii in ecclesia
peregrinorum profugorum propter Evangelium Christi Argentinæ.' No doubt
he had heard that the favour shown to Alasco and his congregations of
French and Flemings in London was intended to help on further
reformation in the Church of England also, and so in a lengthy
dedication to the king he bespeaks his favour not only to his
congregation but also to their book, affirming "ut in cultu Dei externo
ita etiam in disciplina morum nullam esse puriorem aut quæ propius
accedat ad illam quæ fuit temporibus Apostolorum." No doubt it was in a
similar spirit and in similar terms that he pressed the forms of his
book on the acceptance of the English exiles at Frankfort, and to a
great extent with success. Their Book of Common Order is founded on
Farel's and Calvin's services, but is so after these services have
passed through the alembic of Pollanus and been modified and
supplemented by him. This will appear from several of the notes
subjoined, and will be more fully shown in the Appendix.[149]

[Sidenote: Its Authority.]

The exclusive authority of this book--previously drafted but first used
in Knox's congregation at Geneva--was not asserted by the General
Assembly till 1564: nevertheless, even in 1560, the Book of Discipline
indicated a very marked preference for its regulations, speaking not
only of it as the book of _our_ Common Order, already used in some
churches, but specially commended its form for administration of the
Lord's Supper; and in giving directions for the celebration of the
sacraments and marriage, and for the burial of the dead, it followed
closely the regulations of this book. In 1561 Quintine Kennedy, Abbot of
Crossraguel, in his oration against the Protestants, alluded to it in
such a way as implied that it was already well known and in general use
in Scotland.[150] In 1562 the General Assembly enjoined the observance
of a uniform Order in the administration of the sacraments and the
celebration of marriage according to the "Booke of Geneva"--_i.e._, the
Order used by Knox's congregation there;[151] and in 1564 it further
ordained that "everie minister, exhorter, and reader sall have one of
the Psalme Bookes latelie printed in Edinburgh, and use the Order
contained therein [that is, the Order in Knox's Book] in prayers,
marriage, and ministration of the sacraments."[152]

[Sidenote: Early Practice in Scotland.]

There seems sufficient reason to believe that for some years before the
establishment of the Reformed Church, the morning and evening prayers,
along with the lessons from Holy Scripture, as contained in the Second
Prayer Book of Edward VI., were used at least in part of the assemblies
held by the reformed for worship and mutual edification;[153] and
perhaps they may have continued to be so used for a year or two
afterwards, though no formal sanction was ever given by the General
Assembly even to those parts of that book, still less to the other parts
to which Knox's party had always objected. But it is now ascertained
that as early as 1556, or at least 1557, Knox had recommended, and that
soon after some of the more fully organised congregations adopted, a
form of service more simple, and more nearly resembling the Genevan than
the Anglican.[154] It is known that when the treaty of peace between
France, England, and Scotland was being negotiated in July 1560, the
ministers and congregation of Scotland, thinking their own profession
after the order and discipline of Geneva to be more pure than the
Anglican, as containing no other ceremonies than are expressly mentioned
in the Scriptures, "wald not ressave or admitt any uther."[155]

[Sidenote: Knox and the English Liturgy.]

Randolph, the English ambassador, in his letters to his Government, not
only admits that they were "lothe to remytte anie thing of that that
thei _have receaved_,"[156] but also leads us to conclude that the
practice of their leading ministers in public worship at this early date
was not very dissimilar to that of their successors in the next
century. "The Byshop of Athens," he says, "preacheth earnestly, and
prayethe hartely for the Queene's Majestie our Soveraigne, and greatly
extollethe her benefyttes; Mr Wyllocke specially by name prayethe both
for France and Englande; Mr Knox, universally for all Prynces lyvinge in
the feare of God, desyring Him to turne the hartes of other, and to
sende them in the rycht way."[157] About the same period, in one of his
letters to Mrs Lock, Knox links together "Mr Parson's _pattering of his_
CONSTRAINED _prayers_" and "the masse-munging of Mr Vicar and of his
wicked companions," in such a way as shows that he was no great admirer
of the one or the other.[158] In tolerating for a little the use of the
morning and evening services of the Prayer Book of Edward VI., our
reformers can be judged inconsistent only by those who do not know that
in the time of the good King Edward considerably greater latitude was
allowed in the celebration of those services than has ever since been
suffered in the sister church. The minister, for instance, was expressly
permitted to shorten them _according_ to his _discretion_ when a sermon
or other divine ordinance was to follow. He had a sort of sanction for
any neglect of minuter directions as to kneeling, crossing, &c., from a
general rubric which intimated that these things were to be left free
"as every man's devotion serveth." He had also a pretty full indulgence
practically conceded for deviating from the strict injunctions of the
book in regard to surplices and other ecclesiastical vestments,[159]
which were never adopted or tolerated by Knox and his associates, the
rigid enforcement of which in the days of Queen Elizabeth produced great
misery and discontent at the time, and paved the way for more and
greater in the days of James and Charles, her successors. It is by no
means so clear as some have recently asserted it to be, that Knox used
this liturgy habitually when he was in England, acting as one of the
court chaplains and special preachers in the time of Edward VI. The
observance of the liturgy was not enforced in the northern part of the
kingdom when Knox began his labours there. And even at the time when he
removed to the southern province it was not necessary that he should use
the liturgy in the office he held, as the special preachers of that day,
and even the lecturers for long after, often delivered their discourses
in the open air, and used before them only free prayer or a short prayer
similar to that which is still employed by the university preachers at
Oxford and Cambridge. It was not till a considerably later period that
"to gall tender consciences" it was required of all _lecturers_ and
_special preachers_ that they should also personally read the liturgy so
many times every year. Dr Lorimer has proved that Knox used at Berwick a
simpler form of communion service, moulded so far as yet traced on Swiss
and German offices.[160] And it can be established on the best of all
authority--Knox's own testimony--that he neither approved of nor was
willing to conform to the communion office. Then no sooner was he beyond
the restraint of English law than he proposed for adoption in his
congregation, first at Frankfort and then at Geneva, the form ultimately
adopted in Scotland after his return thither.

[Sidenote: A Guide or Moael.]

As has been already mentioned, the exclusive authority of the Book of
Common Order, as a guide and aid to ministers in conducting public
worship and administering the sacraments, was asserted by the General
Assembly in 1564. It continued to hold the place thus given to it down
to 1637, when it was superseded, in so far as the king and his council
were concerned, first, by what is known as Archbishop Laud's Liturgy,
and then by an injunction of the disappointed prelates, which required
that, till further order should be taken, neither the new nor the old
liturgy should be used in the public services, in Edinburgh, but only
those prayers which the ministers had been accustomed to make before and
after their sermons.[161] Thus the bishops themselves were the unwitting
instruments of first setting aside a partially liturgic, and introducing
instead a wholly extemporary, form of worship into Scotland. There is no
reason, however, for maintaining that the Book of Common Order, while it
continued in authority, was regarded as more than a guide or model, at
least to the ordained ministers, or can be so regarded by any one who
studies with care its rubrics and general contents, far less was
observed as a rigid liturgy, every word of which must be repeated
unvaryingly by the officiating minister. It has indeed been maintained,
even in recent times, and by ministers of the National Church, that "the
idea of extemporaneous prayer as an appropriate vehicle of public
devotion was one quite unknown to the Reformation." But this cannot be
made good with respect to any of the Reformed or Calvinistic churches,
and certainly least of all with respect to the National Church of
Scotland at any period of its history. Our reformers laid it down in
their First Book of Discipline as a fixed principle that "it is neither
the clipping of their crownes, the greasing of their fingers,[162] nor
the blowing of the dumb dogges called the bishops, neither the laying on
of their hands, that maketh true ministers of Christ Jesus. But the
Spirit of God, inwardly first moving the heart to seeke to enter in the
holy calling for Christ's glory and the profite of His Kirk, and
thereafter the nomination of the people, the examination of the learned,
and publick admission, ... make men lawfull ministers."[163] They
distinctly taught that no one was to be regarded as a lawful minister of
Christ into whose mouth Christ had not put _some word of exhortation_
or vouchsafed some gift of expounding and preaching the Word of
God,[164] and they expressly encouraged their ministers to look for
their Master's aid and guidance in praying as well as in preaching.
Hence throughout their Book of Common Order they carefully abstained
from imposing the _ipsissima verba_ of particular forms as rigidly
binding, or even from encouraging their ministers to rest contented with
the stated repetition of them.

[Sidenote: Its tolerant Rubrics.]

[Sidenote: Calderwood's Testimony.]

[Sidenote: Row's Opinion.]

"When the congregation is assembled," run its tolerant rubrics, "the
minister useth one of these two confessions, or _like in effect_."[165]
"This done, the people sing a psalme altogether in a plain tune, which
ended, the minister prayeth for the assistance of God's Holie Spirit _as
the same shall move his heart_, and so proceedeth to the sermon. The
minister, after the sermon, useth this prayer following, or _such
like_."[166] "Then the people sing a psalme, which ended, the minister
pronounceth one of these blessings, and so the congregation
departeth."[167] Such are its few and simple directions for the ordinary
form of public worship; and as if even these might fail to beget in the
minds of some of the old priests a sense of their freedom from minute
restrictions and a burdensome ritual, it is added: "It shall not be
necessarie for the minister daylie to repeat all these things before
mentioned; but, beginning with _some maner of confession_, to proceede
to the sermon, which ended, he either useth the prayer for all estates
before mentioned, or else _prayeth as the Spirit of God shall move his
heart_, framing the same according to the time and matter which he hath
entreated of."[168] To the same effect, in the First Book of Discipline,
after recommending that in all the large towns there should every day be
either sermon or common prayers with reading of Scriptures, it is said:
"What day[169] the publick sermon is, we can neither require _nor
greatly approve_ that the common prayers be publickly used, lest that we
should either foster the people in superstition, who come to the prayers
as they come to the masse; or else give them occasion, that they think
them no prayers which be made before and after sermons."[170] Even in
the most solemn of its special services and in the most solemn part of
it, the prayer of thanksgiving and consecration in the communion, the
rubric is: "The minister ... giveth thanks either in these words
following _or like in effect_."[171] The same thing is confirmed by many
of the rubrics of the other occasional services in the Book of Common
Order,[172] and by the express testimony of Calderwood, Row, and others
who officiated as ministers of the church while the book was in use. The
first named of these, though entertaining so strong a regard for its
venerable forms that even on the approval of the Westminster Directory
in 1645 he is said to have opposed the adoption of any Act expressly
abrogating the Book of Common Order, had not hesitated when contrasting
it with the English Liturgy thus to speak of the nature and extent of
the submission expected to be given to it: "Habemus quidem nos etiam in
Ecclesiâ nostra Agendas, et ordinem in sacris celebrandis servandum,
_sed nemo alligatur precibus aut exhortationibus liturgiae nostrae_,
proponuntur tantum ut peradigmata, quibus precum aut exhortationum
materia et forma quoad substantialia indicantur, non ut eisdem verbis
adstringantur ministri. Totos ego tredecim annos, quibus functus sum
ministerio, sive in sacramentis, sive in aliis sacris celebrandis,
exhortationibus aut precibus quae extant in Agendâ nostrâ, _nunquam usus
sum_. Sic etiam alii complures; et omnibus etiam liberum est idem
facere."[173] While in regard to the Liturgy by which it was attempted
in 1637 to supplant the Book of Common Order, Row thus expresses
himself: "Though they amend all those errours, and that in all the
Service Book there were no materiall errour at all, neither masse nor
popish ceremonie; and though they should read nothing but Canonicall
Scripture, yea say that all their prayers and exhortations were merelie
words of Holie Scripture, yit it is not lawfull to introduce a reading
ministrie, and to stint men (gifted of God, who has the spirit of their
calling, able ministers of the gospell who hes the Spirit of adoption
teaching them to pray, Gal. iv. 6; Rom. viii. 26; and to whom God hes
opened a doore of utterance, to speak the gospell with boldness, haveing
touched their lips with a coall from His awin altar) to such a Liturgie
as is to be made the onlie forme of God's publict worship. For though I
confess good use may be made of a formed Liturgie and publict service,
to serve for a rule to other kirks to fall on the like way, finding it
warranted by the Word, and to be as a monument to the posteritie, who
thence may learn what forms have been, are, and ought to be used; and
that it may lead the way, and be a directorie to those that are
beginning in the ministrie; yit certainlie reading of prayers and
exhortations is not the way whereby the Lord in His Word has appoynted
His servants of the ministrie to worship Him, or to convert, edifie, and
comfort, or strengthen soulls; but seing they have receaved gifts for
praying and preaching, they ought to stirre up the gift of God, and putt
the talent to use; and though in their privat studies they may borrow
some help from other men's gifts and labours, yit _neither is it lawfull
for a man to tye himself, or for bishops to tye all ministers, to a
prescript and stinted forme of words in prayer and exhortation_."[174]
Henderson says that while they had their Directory and prescribed Order,
they were "not tyed to set formes and words."[175]

[Sidenote: Practice in other Reformed Churches.]

It is plain, therefore, that the General Assembly, by the sanction it
gave to the Book of Common Order, did not mean to restrict its ordained
ministers to the use of a certain unvarying form of words, but to
provide such a Directory or model as would guide them in "the substance
and right ordering of all the parts of divine worship," as well as guide
the readers and others not fully admitted to the ministry of the Word,
through whose special aid alone they were able, in a time of so great
dearth of qualified ministers, to supply in part the spiritual
destitution of their countrymen. Nor in granting such an amount of
liberty, at least to their ordained ministers, did they follow a course
which was, as has been so confidently asserted, altogether novel, but
rather, as in several other things, carried out more thoroughly and
consistently[176] what others of the Reformed churches had adopted at
least partially. In almost all the Reformed or Calvinistic liturgies the
prayers are left partly free, and in several of them no form is
furnished even as a guide or model for the prayer immediately preceding
the sermon (and the same might be said of some of the earlier Lutheran
_Agend-bücher_). In the churches of Basle, which probably in this
respect only followed the general practice of the churches of East
Switzerland, Hagenbach informs us that there was for fifty years after
the Reformation no form of prayer, before or after sermon, imposed by
public authority, and for fifty years longer only the prayer after
sermon for all estates and conditions of men.[177] What, therefore,
distinguished our reformers from their successors, and from the English
Puritans of the seventeenth century, was not that the former disapproved
of or curtailed free prayer while the latter advocated and encouraged
it, but that the former retained in their Book of Common Order a variety
of forms, not only as models, but also as aids to the officiating
minister, while the latter put their Directory into such a shape that
even the "help and furniture" it provided required the exercise of
thought and care on the part of the minister to adapt it for use. This
certainly was no great divergence, considering how thoroughly both
parties were agreed, on the one hand, as to the liberty which should be
left to ordained ministers, and, on the other, as to the limitations
within which it should be confined.

[Sidenote: Prayers of the Readers.]

From the notices given in his 'Order and Government of the Church of
Scotland,' and from the specimens of Henderson's prayers which accompany
his printed discourses, it is further evident that he, like Calderwood,
habitually used free prayer both before and after sermon. There seems
reason to suppose that in not a few cases the readers also before 1638
took the liberty of varying from the forms in Knox's Book and exercising
their own gifts. The charges made against the character of their
prayers, in what is called the King's Declaration, but what was in
reality the declaration of some of his prelates, is only intelligible on
this supposition.[178] And the Assembly, as I read their deliverance,
rather deny that the prayers of the readers were of the particular
character charged than affirm they were the identical prayers contained
in Knox's Book.[179]

FOOTNOTES:

[146] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 520, 583; Laing's Knox, ii. 186, 239.
[In another passage it is spoken of as "the Booke of the Common Order,
called the Order of Geneva" (Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 548; Laing's
Knox, ii. 210).] The Book of Common Order, which has been frequently
reprinted, is included in vols. iv. and vi. of Dr Laing's edition of
Knox's Works.

[147] The extract from the minutes of the city council embodying these
conditions, which I found in Withof's 'Vertheidigung' and communicated
to Dr Hume Brown, was printed by him in the Appendix to his 'John Knox,'
and is also reprinted here in Appendix D.

[148] "At lenght it was agreed that the Order of Geneua (whiche then was
alreadie printed in Englishe and some copies there amonge them) shulde
take place as an Order moste godly and fardeste off from superstition.
But Maister Knox beinge spoken unto, aswell to put that Order in
practise, as to minister the communion, refused to do ether the one or
the other, affirminge, that for manie considerations he coulde not
consente that the same Order shulde be practised, till the lerned men
off Strausbrough, Zurik, Emden, &c., were made privy" (Brief Discourse
of the Troubles begun at Frankfort in the year 1554, Petheram's reprint,
p. xxvii). We have the following additional entry: "After longe
debatinge to and fro, it was concluded that Maister Knox, Maister
Whittingham, Maister Gilby, Maister Fox and Maister T. Cole shulde drawe
forthe some Order meete for their state and time: whiche thinge was by
them accomplished and offred to the congregation (beinge the same Order
off Geneua whiche is nowe in print). This Order was verie well liked off
many, but suche as were bent to the Booke of Englande coulde not abide
it" (Ibid., pp. xxxvi, xxxvii).

[149] [It is greatly to be regretted that Dr Mitchell does not seem to
have been able to prepare the Appendix to which he here refers; but
after this lecture had left his hands he expressed his "strong
conviction that the words and matter of Knox's Latin Prayer Book of 1556
were derived directly from the Liturgia Sacra of Pollanus." On this
point he entertained "no doubt whatever."]

[150] Laing's Knox, vi. 162.

[151] Booke of the Universall Kirk, i. 30.

[152] Ibid., i. 54.

[153] [The grounds on which this opinion is usually based are given in
Laing's Knox, vi. 277, 278. To these may be added the terms of the
summons raised by Sir James Archebald, Vicar of Lintrathin, against his
parishioners, on the 27th of May 1560, for payment of his teinds, &c.,
on the plea that he "is lauchfullie providit be the lawis and practik of
oure realme, observit in tymes past, of the said vicarage, and hes bene
in possessioun of the samyn thir divers yeris bigane, and hes causit
_the commone prayeris and homilies_ be red owlklie to the parrochinaris
of the said parrochin, and uther wyiss is content to abyde sik
reformatioun as the Lordis of our Secreit Counsale plesis mak
thairintill, and als is adjonit to Goddis congregatioun, and takis part
with the saidis Lordis in setting fordwart the commone caus, to the
gloir of God and commone weill of our realme" (Spalding Miscellany, iv.
120).]

[154] Laing's Knox, iv. 137-139. [Laing gives the 7th of July 1556 as
the correct date of this letter, and says that it is by some oversight
that M'Crie in the later editions of his 'Life of Knox' has dated it 7th
July 1557 (Ibid., iv. 140).]

[155] Lesley's History, p. 292.

[156] Laing's Knox, vi. 119.

[157] Laing's Knox, vi. 118. This evidently shows that they used not the
_ipsissima verba_ of the prayer for all estates, but variant words,
"like in effect." [Randolph's letter is dated 25th August 1560.
Alexander Gordon, Bishop of Galloway, was titular Archbishop of Athens.]

[158] Laing's Knox, vi. 13. [This letter is dated 6th April 1559.]

[159] Liturgies of Edward VI., Parker Society, pp. 157, 158. [The
"certain notes" thus referred to pertain to Edward's First Liturgy.]

[160] Lorimer's Knox and the Church of England, 1875, pp. 29-32.

[161] [On the 29th of July 1637--six days after the riot in St Giles--it
was reported to the Privy Council by Archbishop Spottiswoode, for
himself and in name of the remanent bishops, that it seemed expedient to
them "that there should be a surcease of the service-booke" till the
king signified his pleasure as to the punishment of "that disorderlie
tumult"; and "that a course be sett down for the peaceable exercise
thereof." He also reported that "the saids bishops had appointed and
given order that, in the whole churches of this citie [_i.e._,
Edinburgh], sermon sall be made at the accustomed times, by regular and
obedient ministers, and that a prayer sall be made before and after
sermon, and that neither the old service nor the new established service
be used in this interim." The Council remitted to the bishops "to doe
therein according to the power incumbent unto thame in the dewtie of
thair office" (Peterkin's Records of the Kirk, p. 52).]

[162] [In Knox's version--"the crossing of thair fingaris" (Laing's
Knox, ii. 255).]

[163] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 603.

[164] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 526, 530, 532, 536, 603; Laing's Knox,
ii. 191, 194, 196, 199, 255.

[165] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 417; Laing's Knox, iv. 179; vi. 294.

[166] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 421; Laing's Knox, iv. 182; vi. 297.

[167] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 425; Laing's Knox, iv. 185; vi. 298.

[168] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 426. There is a similar rubric in the
Liturgy of Pollanus: "Minister, nomine Domini invocato, ut Spiritu
Sancto adjutus, possit digna Deo atque salutaria ecclesiae eloqui
recitat textum."

[169] The Liturgy of Pollanus appoints sermons to be preached on the
mornings of Tuesday and Thursday. The service is to begin with a psalm,
which being sung, the minister having invoked the Holy Spirit recites
his text and proceeds with his sermon. He concludes with some shorter
prayer "prout animus tulerit."

[170] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 583; Laing's Knox, ii. 238.

[171] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 450; Laing's Knox, iv. 194.

[172] In the Order of the General Fast it is stated: "The exhortation
and prayers of everie several exercise we have remitted to be gathered
by the discrete ministers, for time preased us so that we culd not frame
them in such order as wes convenient, nether yit thought we it so
expedient to pen prayers unto men, as to teach them with what hart and
affection and for what causes we shuld pray, in this great calamitie"
(Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 695; Laing's Knox, vi. 421). See also
Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 698; Laing's Knox, vi. 470. Even the Order of
Excommunication might be "enlarged or contracted as the wisedome of the
discreit minister shall thinke expedient" (Dunlop's Confessions, ii.
746; Laing's Knox, vi. 470).

[173] Calderwood's Altare Damascenum, 1623, p. 613. In this and the
preceding pages I have made use of materials contributed by me to a
Report anent Innovations in Public Worship, presented to the General
Assembly in 1864. [Elsewhere, Calderwood says: "None are tyed to the
prayers of that book; but the prayers are set down as samplers"
(Calderwood's History, 1678 ed., p. 25). Principal Baillie's evidence is
to the same effect: "The Warner is here also mistaken in his beliefe
that ever the Church of Scotland had any liturgy; they had and have
still some formes for helpe and direction but no tie ever in any of them
by law or practise" (Review of Bramhall's Faire Warning against the
Scots Discipline, 1649, p. 57).]

[174] Row's History, Wodrow Society, pp. 403, 404.

[175] Order and Government of the Church of Scotland, 1641: Address to
the reader.

[176] Certainly not more consistently than Pollanus in the following
rubric: "Hae sunt precationum in liturgiis certae formulae, _quae tamen
sequitur minister_ SUO ARBITRIO ut tempus fert et res postulat. Neque
enim ullâ praescriptione formularum alligandus est Spiritus Dei ad eum
verborum numerum, cui non liceat subjicere vel supponere si meliora
suggerat.... Hae formulae _serviunt tantum rudioribus. Nullius libertati
praescribitur_, tantum ne ab eâ ratione discedatur quam nobis Jesus
Christus praescripsit.... Cumque is (_scilicet_ Spiritus Sanctus) apud
tribunalia subministret quae dicenda sint, non deerit nobis [si] cum
vera fide coram Deo nos sistemus sensu orationis excitati."

[177] "Von vorgeschriebenen Kirchengebeten vor und nach der Predigt
finden wir keine Spur, vielmehr das sichere Gegentheil.... Ums Jahr 1589
finden wir zuerst das sogenannte Lob und Dankopfer und die daran
gehängten Fürbitten für die Obrigkeit, und die übrigen christlichen
Stände.... Erst nach der Mitte des siebzehnten Jahrhunderts ... suchte
man auch im Liturgischen die Willkür der einzelnen in engere Schränken
zuruckzuführen" (Geschichte der ersten Basler-konfession, S. 249-251).

[178] [The charges are in the alleged causes which led James VI.,
immediately after his accession to the English throne, to endeavour to
bring about uniformity in the services of the church throughout the
whole kingdom, and run thus: "That diversitie, nay deformitie, which was
used in Scotland, where no set or publike forme of prayer was used, but
preachers or leaders and ignorant schoolmasters prayed in the church,
sometimes so ignorantly as it was a shame to all religion to have the
Majestie of God so barbarously spoken unto, sometimes so seditiously
that their prayers were plaine libels, girding at soveraigntie and
authoritie; or lyes, being stuffed with all the false reports in the
kingdome" (Large Declaration, 1639, p. 16).]

[179] [The committee appointed by the General Assembly to examine the
Large Declaration describe it as dishonourable to God, to the king, and
to the kirk; and as "stuffed full of lies and calumnies." Concerning
this part in particular they say: "To the great dishonour of this kirk
[it] is affirmed in this Declaration that there is a great deformitie in
our service--no forme of publict prayer, but preachers, readers, and
ignorant schoollemasters, praying in the church, sometymes so
ignorantlie," &c. (Peterkin's Records of the Kirk, pp. 265, 266).]



CHAPTER VIII.

THE FIRST BOOK OF DISCIPLINE; OR, THE BOOKE OF THE POLICIE OF THE
CHURCH.


[Sidenote: Knox's part in its preparation.]

I regard the First Book of Discipline as, in several respects, the most
thoughtful, judicious, practical, and comprehensive of the documents
connected with the organisation of the Reformed Church of Scotland. It
was drawn up by the same six men[180] who were subsequently entrusted
with the preparation of the Confession of Faith; and it has been said
that they first settled the titles of the several chapters, and then
apportioned the preparation of so many of them to each. But this is
matter of pure conjecture. The portion on the universities, from the
multitude of its practical details, we cannot but assign mainly to
Douglas, the Principal of St Mary's College, and Wynram, the sub-prior
of the Augustinian Monastery at St Andrews. One can hardly doubt that
the rest, if not actually drafted by Knox, was carefully remoulded by
him; and it bears evidence of acquaintance with books which were far
more likely to have been known to him than to any of the others--as
Herman of Cologne's Book of the Reformation, Latin versions of some of
the earlier Kirchenbücher or Kirchenordnungen of the German Protestants,
and probably of the famous Ordonnances of Calvin, as drafted at Geneva
after his return from exile.


I. _The Government of the Church._

[Sidenote: Permanent Office-bearers.]

The opinions of our reformer and his associates respecting the
government and discipline of the church are gathered partly from the
opening chapters of the Book of Common Order, but mainly from the
treatise ultimately entitled the First Book of Discipline. I believe
that a careful study of these will lead to a pretty definite conclusion
as to what these opinions actually were, and to a pretty decided
conviction that, like their opinions respecting matters of doctrine and
ritual, they were substantially in harmony with those to which the
Scottish nation has been so long and firmly attached. It may be admitted
that there were some of Knox's associates who, whatever may have been
their own private sentiments, would, on grounds of expediency, have been
contented to retain the former hierarchical government of the church;
and if on such a point any weight is to be allowed to the assertions of
Spottiswoode,[181] the popish Archbishop of St Andrews might possibly in
that case not have refused to follow the course taken for a time by his
relatives in St Mary's College, and to remain at his post at the head of
the reformed church. But from the disastrous issue of the compromise in
their case, as well as from what is known and indisputable of his own
history and character, there is no reason to suppose that anything was
lost, but on the contrary that incalculable gain accrued to the reformed
church from this temptation not being put in his way. It was long
maintained by the leaders of the Scottish episcopalians that Knox
himself, to a certain extent, yielded to the wishes of his less
thoroughgoing associates, and was implicated with them in certain
attempts to continue or restore the semblance of a hierarchy in the new
church. In fact, some of them went so far as to assert that it was not
till after his death that controversy arose as to whether the episcopal
or presbyterian form of government was the more primitive and
scriptural. These views, if I understand rightly, are now abandoned by
their ablest men; and it was full time that they should be so. The works
of Whitgift, which have been republished in our own day and made more
generally accessible, clearly show that the controversy about the
presbyterian government of the church had been formally raised even in
England at least as early as 1568; while the Later Helvetic Confession,
approved by the Church of Scotland in 1566 at the request of Knox
himself,[182] as clearly shows that the principles on which the
controversy fell to be decided had been generally adopted by the
followers of Calvin even at an earlier date. These principles were:
First, that the names of bishop and presbyter are in Scripture used
indiscriminately to denote the holder of the same office; second, that
the only office-bearers of permanent divine appointment in the church
are the pastor, the doctor, the elder, and the deacon. In fact, at the
head of Calvin's Ordonnances Ecclesiastiques, drawn up, if not printed,
as early as 1541, we find the following: "Il y a quatre ordres d'offices
que notre Seigneur a institue pour le gouvernment de son eglise,
premierement les pasteurs, puis les docteurs, apres les ancients,
quatrement les diacres," which passed substantially into the Book of
Common Order in 1556. This being the case, we are not guilty of any
anachronism in attributing substantially presbyterian opinions to our
reformer, even if we have to grant that the particular church court
first known as the greater eldership or presbytery, and now exclusively
enjoying the title of presbytery, existed at that time only in a
rudimentary form.

[Sidenote: Superintendents temporary.]

The Book of Common Order of 1556 is the earliest authentic document
casting light on the opinions of our reformers respecting the government
and discipline of the church. The introductory part of the book treats
at length of the permanent office-bearers of the church, the manner of
their election, the duties of their respective offices, and the
assemblies they were to hold in common for government and discipline.
The enumeration of the office-bearers and the description of their
duties is quite in harmony with what the Books of Discipline
subsequently laid down. The office-bearers recognised are the minister,
the elder, the deacon, and the doctor; and the duties assigned to each
are such as have generally been allotted to these functionaries in the
presbyterian churches. The terms in which the last-named of them is
referred to are specially deserving of notice. They effectually close a
loophole, that might otherwise have been imagined to be left, for the
introduction of either bishop or superintendent as an essential and
ordinary office-bearer in the church on the pretext that, even if he
were so, he could be of little use in the single English congregation at
Geneva.[183] "Wee are not ignorant," it is said, "that the Scriptures
make mention of a fourth kind of ministers left to the church of Christ,
which also are verie profitable where time and place doth permit; but
for lack of opportunity in this our dispersion and exile we cannot well
have the use thereof, and would to God it were not neglected where
better occasion serveth. These ministers are called teachers or doctors,
whose office is to instruct and teach the faithfull in sounde doctrine,
providing with all diligence that the puritie of the Gospel be not
corrupt either through ignorance or evill opinions."[184] Now, can it be
supposed that Knox would have said all this of the doctor and not a word
of the superintendent, if he had deemed both to be of like permanence
and necessity in the church of Christ; or that he would have devoted
several pages to explain the duties of the office-bearers, and their
assemblies for the interpretation of the Scriptures and the
administration of discipline, and not have uttered one word about the
bishop, had he believed that that official was the chief or even an
essential minister of the church? Can it be supposed likely that he
would have been so silent, even if there had been no bishop, as
confessedly there was no doctor, among the English in Geneva; or
possible that he could have been so with Miles Coverdale,[185] a
regularly consecrated bishop attending on his ministrations and acting
as an elder in his congregation, unless he had regarded (and wished it
to be known that he regarded) the simple presbyter as _jure divino_ on a
level with the diocesan bishop, to say nothing of the fact that his
party at Frankfort had refused to have a bishop or superintendent over
their congregation?

[Sidenote: Necessity of Preaching.]

This examination of the introductory chapters of the Book of Common
Order will enable us the better to understand and explain the parts of
the Book of Discipline drawn up in 1560 respecting the ministers and
office-bearers of the church. Even the ordinary ministers of the church
must all be well qualified to preach the gospel of salvation, as many of
the common people were unable to read,[186] and could only be saturated
with its teaching by the living voice of the preacher who, by sermons
and catechising on the Lord's day, and in the towns also by the sermon
during the week, was to his utmost to carry home the truth to their
hearts. Our reformers judged it necessary "that His Gospell be truely
and openly preached in every church and assembly of this realme";[187]
that no one "unable to edifie the church by wholesome doctrine" should
be promoted to or retained in ecclesiastic administration;[188] and held
that the sacraments cannot be "rightlie ministred by him in whose mouth
God hath put no sermon of exhortation."[189] Instead of entrusting
parishes, as was so often done in England, to men able only to read
homilies prepared by others, they affirmed that it was alike to have no
minister at all and to have an idol in place of a true minister, yea, in
some cases it was worse.[190] Men of best knowledge of God's Word and
cleanest life were to be nominated annually for election as elders and
deacons.[191] The former were to assist the minister in all affairs of
the kirk, to hold meetings with him for judging of causes, admonishing
evil livers, yea, to take heed to the life, manners, diligence, and
study of the ministers, as well as of the flock.[192] The deacons were
to assist in judgment, but chiefly to collect and distribute what was
provided for the poor. They might also, as in the French Church, be
admitted to read the Scriptures and common prayers in the congregation
if required and qualified to do so.[193] Besides ministers, elders, and
deacons, generally recognised in the reformed churches as holding
offices of divine institution, and being of "the ministry" or consistory
of the church, certain other functionaries are mentioned in this Book of
Discipline, to whom special duties are assigned, at least for a time.
These are the readers, or exhorters, and the superintendents, and both
classes appear to be spoken of in such a way as to make it clear that
they were not to be permanently retained as orders of office-bearers in
the church distinct from those above named.

[Sidenote: Readers.]

Readers, or exhorters, were to be provided for those churches which
could not presently be supplied with ministers. These readers were to be
men judged most apt distinctly to read the common prayers and the
Scriptures, but they were to be encouraged and urged so to exercise
their gifts that they might grow in knowledge and utterance, and in time
might come to be entrusted with the power of preaching the Word,
administering the sacraments, and discharging all the functions of the
ordinary pastor.[194] Special provision was made for the spiritual
improvement of these readers or exhorters in those weekly meetings for
the interpretation of Scripture which, originally introduced among the
exiles at Frankfort and Geneva, were after their return set up by them
in England under the name of prophesying, and in Scotland under the name
of the exercise.[195]

The portion of the book relating to the superintendents opens with a
statement of the reasons which had led its framers "to make difference
betwixt preachers _at this time_."[196] These last words, as has often
been remarked, would have been unmeaning had they regarded the
superintendent's office as by divine institution permanent in the church
and superior to that of the ordinary minister. Accordingly, when they
proceed to state in detail the reasons which induced them to sanction
such a difference, these are found to be--not, as in the Anglican
Ordinal, that there have always been in the church of Christ distinct
orders of bishops and presbyters,[197] nor even as in Alasco's book that
such offices were in some sort necessary, though, save in matters
executive, in no way superior to their brethren the ordinary ministers
of the church, but--that the dearth of qualified preachers or ministers
at that time in Scotland was so great, that if each were to be settled
in a single town or parish, and allowed to make continual residence
therein, the larger part of the realm would be left altogether destitute
of that efficient spiritual instruction, oversight, and training which
the people themselves eagerly longed for, and the reformed leaders
earnestly desired to provide for them. To meet this emergency, without
being obliged to avail themselves so generally and unrestrictedly
as the English had done of the former popish incumbents, they deemed it
most expedient that these should, for a time at least, be restricted to
the humbler duties of readers; and that from the whole number of godly
and learned men then in the realm ten or twelve should be selected, and
one of them assigned to each of the proposed provinces, which he should
visit annually through its whole extent, preaching from time to time in
every parish not provided with an ordained and preaching minister,
seeing to the administration of the sacraments and of church discipline
in such parishes, and presiding at the meetings of the provincial synod,
and at the examination and admission of ministers and readers appointed
to serve at the churches.

[Sidenote: Superintendent and Bishop compared.]

It used to be maintained by Scottish episcopalians, and has been
reiterated even in our own day, that there is hardly any difference to
be discerned between these superintendents and the old bishops save the
substitution of a name which is bad Latin for one which is good Greek.
This is more smart than true. The following very material differences
will at once occur to any one acquainted with the First Book of
Discipline, and with the constitution and practice of episcopal
churches. (1) The bishop in the latter must be consecrated to his office
by three, or at least two, bishops who have derived their office in the
like lineal succession from their predecessors; while the
superintendent, according to the practice of the Church of Scotland, and
the constitution of the Church of the Foreigners in London, might be set
apart to his office by a simple presbyter or ordinary minister of the
church. (2) The distinctive duties of the bishop are such as, according
to the practice of the churches recognising the necessity of his office,
cannot be delegated save to one of his own order, while there was no
duty entrusted to the superintendent in the Church of Scotland which
might not be devolved on a mere presbyter; and it was the custom of the
General Assembly to delegate to ordinary ministers the whole functions
of visitation and superintendence in provinces not provided with a
permanent superintendent, and to do so at times even in the case where
the former popish bishop of the diocese had joined himself to the
Reformed Church. (3) It is not generally recognised in episcopal
churches as a duty specially incumbent on the bishop to preach regularly
in the several churches of his diocese (certainly it was not expected of
the English bishops who were contemporary with the Scottish
superintendents);[198] but it was one of the main duties expected of
these superintendents, and one of the chief reasons assigned for the
institution of their office, that the Gospel might be preached from time
to time in all those parishes not provided with a more stated ministry,
and that thus men in every corner of the land might attain some
knowledge of the truths of our holy religion, as well as some feeling of
godliness. (4) Finally, the bishop in all episcopal churches, so far as
my knowledge extends, is allowed to claim a negative voice in synods of
his clergy, and can in no case be taken under discipline and judged by
them, but only by a synod of his own order; while the superintendent in
the Scottish Church was merely the permanent Moderator of Synod, and was
bound to give effect to the decision of the majority, or to carry it by
appeal before a higher court; and he was not only liable to be judged
and punished for neglect of duty and for personal misconduct by the
General Assembly, but was also liable to be charged with such offences
before his own synod, and to be judged and punished by it. On these
grounds I am so far from admitting that the superintendent was in all
respects identical with the bishop, that I am inclined to hold that it
was just because he was so completely stripped of all real episcopal
power that, when the hierarchy was revived, even the most moderate of
the bishops found they could not contain themselves within the limits
prescribed to the superintendents in the First Book of Discipline; and
that one of the main obstacles in the way of their success in the
struggle with their refractory presbyters was occasioned by their own
hasty promise to observe the caveats founded on the previous practice in
the case of superintendents, and especially by their promise to be
subject to the judgment and censure of the General Assembly.

[Sidenote: Gradation of Church Courts.]

The form of church government in Scotland was still further connected
with that of the Calvinistic churches on the Continent (particularly
that of France) by the establishment and gradation of church courts--the
General Assembly having jurisdiction over the whole church, the
provincial synod over the ministers and congregations within a
particular province, and the session or lesser eldership or consistory
over one or more neighbouring congregations.[199] What afterwards came
to be known as the greater eldership, or presbytery, or classical
consistory,[200] does not appear at first under that distinctive name;
but even the germ of this was implanted in that weekly meeting of
ministers and elders for the interpretation of Scripture termed the
exercise, which was authorised both by the Book of Common Order and the
First Book of Discipline.[201] It was soon established in all the
considerable towns in Scotland where there was a fully constituted
reformed church, and though at first it may possibly have confined
itself to the object it was immediately intended to serve, and may have
intervened only by advice in matters of discipline, yet it was not in
the nature of things that such a gathering of ministers and elders from
neighbouring churches should take place from week to week without such
cases as occupied the attention of parochial consistories being
discussed and advised on, as well as the doctrinal and critical
questions arising out of their exercises, which they were expressly
empowered to dispose of. The tendencies of the institution were so
manifest, and the powers it speedily assumed so undisguised, that Queen
Elizabeth became alarmed, and insisted on the suppression of it
throughout the province of Canterbury, notwithstanding the
remonstrances and entreaties of the good Archbishop Grindal, and his
repeated and urgent petitions that she would rather endeavour to confine
it to the original purpose, in which it had been of great service, than
suppress it altogether. In the province of York, where the institution
had taken firmer root, and where the contentions between Papists and
Protestants had gained more prominence than those between Puritans and
anti-Puritans, it was tolerated for a considerably longer period. When
in 1581 Scotland was regularly divided into presbyteries, the exercises
previously existing in particular towns were merged in, and their work
devolved on, these; and in the beginning of the seventeenth century,
when episcopacy was restored, the name of presbytery was again
frequently exchanged for that of exercise.

[Sidenote: The General Assembly.]

Of these several church courts perhaps the most distinctive as well as
the most important was the General Assembly, which was originally held
to represent the whole church; and which may still, after the lapse of
ages, be held substantially to do so--having representatives not only
from each of the presbyteries but also from each of the universities and
royal burghs in the kingdom. It has been wont to meet not (as such
national synods have generally done elsewhere) occasionally and chiefly
for legislative purposes, that is, authoritatively to explain the
church's creed and enact canons to regulate the administration of
discipline, but frequently and at short stated intervals to review the
proceedings of the inferior judicatories of the church, as well as to
legislate regarding matters of doctrine and discipline. Whether its
peculiar vitality in the Scottish Church is to be ascribed to its
popular constitution, or to the fact that it has in general faithfully
represented the national sentiments in those controversies which in
successive generations have been agitated in our country; or whether the
groundwork of it had not been laid long before in those national
councils of the church which the popish ecclesiastics had, under the
bull of Pope Honorius III.,[202] deemed themselves warranted to hold
every year, and at which the king and his nobles appear often to have
been present, and whether, therefore, in the maintenance of this
quasi-Gallican liberty, as well as in some minor matters enumerated by
Lord Hailes, there may not have been a closer and more real connection
between the pre- and post-Reformation church in Scotland than has been
commonly admitted, it would now, perhaps, be very difficult to
determine. But it will be allowed on all hands that this venerable
court--which was so early established and has subsisted almost
uninterruptedly since the Reformation, and has exercised such extensive
legislative and judicial powers--is the most distinctive characteristic
of the Scottish Church, and has had great influence in the development
of Scottish opinion and religious life.


II. _The Discipline of the Church._

The opinions of our reformer and his associates regarding the discipline
and practical organisation of the church have hardly ever been made a
subject of serious controversy, even by those who have so long called in
question the generally received ideas regarding his opinions on the
government of the church. That which marked out the early Reformed
Church of Scotland most distinctively among the churches of the
Reformation was the fact that she advocated, and resolutely carried into
practical operation, that "godly discipline" which they all admitted had
been used in the primitive church in her best and purest days, and the
restoration of which, they perhaps ventured to hint, was much to be
desired, but which yet they had not the courage to demand from the civil
power as of essential concern to the wellbeing of their churches. Even
Luther, who began so well, hesitated and quailed before the claims of
the civil powers, and left it to Calvin to carry out his own earlier
conceptions, and those of the Hessian Synod of 1528.[203] Our reformers,
however, boldly laid down the absolute necessity of it in their Book of
Common Order, and named in their Confession as one of the three
distinctive marks of a true church of Christ, "ecclesiastical discipline
uprightlie ministred as Goddis Worde prescribes, whereby vice is
repressed and vertew nurished."[204] Not content to exercise such a
discipline merely under this clause of their State-ratified Confession,
they sought and obtained an explicit acknowledgment of the church's
privileges in special Acts of Parliament, which continue in force at the
present day, and have enabled the Church of Scotland to maintain a
stricter and more efficient discipline than any other established church
has ventured to aim at.

[Sidenote: Nature and Ends of Discipline.]

The nature and ends of this discipline are pretty fully explained in the
introductory chapters of the Book of Common Order, in the Book of
Discipline, and the Order of Excommunication and Public Repentance. "As
no citie, towne, house, or family," it is affirmed in the first of
these treatises, "can maintaine their estate and prosper without policy
and governance, even so the Church of God, which requireth more purely
to be governed than any citie or family, cannot without spirituall
policy and ecclesiastical discipline continue, increase, and
flourish;[205] and as the Word of God is the life and soule of this
church, so this godly order and discipline is, as it were, sinews in the
body, which knit and joine the members together with decent order and
comelinesse; it is a bridle to stay the wicked from their mischiefs, it
is a spurre to pricke forward such as be slow and negligent; yea, and
for all men it is the father's rod, ever in a readiness to chastise
gently the faults committed, and to cause them afterward to live in more
godly feare and reverence."[206] Three causes are assigned why such
discipline should be retained and practised in the church--viz., that
evil men may not be numbered among God's children, that the good may not
be infected by association with the ungodly, and that the individual
taken under discipline may be made ashamed of his fault, and so may be
induced to repent and amend. This is said to be the object even of
excommunication--the highest censure the church can inflict on an
offending brother--that he, being brought to a due sense of his sin and
misery, may be saved in the day of the Lord. It is expressly provided
that, in regard to this last and highest censure, nothing is to be
attempted without the determination of the whole church--_i.e._, of the
ordinary members of the church--and they are affectionately reminded
that it is their duty to take good heed "that they seeme not more ready
to expell from the congregation than to receave againe those, in whom
they perceave worthy fruits of repentance to appeare," and "that all
punishments, corrections, censures, and admonitions stretch no farther
than God's Word with mercy may lawfully beare."[207]

[Sidenote: Order of Excommunication.]

The Order of Excommunication and Public Repentance, sanctioned by the
General Assembly in 1569, long continued to be used as a directory in
the administration of discipline. It was compiled by Knox, or rather
abridged by him from Alasco's 'Modus ac Ritus Excommunicationis' and his
'Forma ac Ratio Publicæ Penitentiæ,' used with the approbation of
Edward VI. in the Church of the Foreigners in London. It breathes
throughout a spirit of tender regard for erring brethren and earnest
longing for their recovery, quite as strongly as it manifests a spirit
of holy zeal for the glory of God and the purity of His church. In all
save the most notorious and urgent cases, the offender was to be dealt
with repeatedly both in private and in public to confess his aggravated
offence before the extreme penalty was inflicted on him. If these
dealings and admonitions proved ineffectual, the minister was once more
to explain the nature of his offence, and the frequency of the public
and private admonitions addressed to him, was then to appeal to the
elders and deacons to confirm the truth of what he said, and finally was
to ask of the whole church if they thought such a contempt should be
suffered amongst them, and only in the event of no man making further
intercession for the erring and obstinate was the minister to proceed to
pronounce the fearful sentence.[208]

[Sidenote: Discipline under Prelacy.]

In the times of declension which arose after James VI. took the
government into his own hands, the strict exercise of such discipline
became specially odious to the king and his gay courtiers, and incessant
efforts were made to relax its rigour. These, however, were in general
directed to effect this object rather by means of than in spite of the
church, by securing that cases involving the sentence of excommunication
should be reserved for the determination of the higher courts of the
church, on which the king and his friends could bring their influence to
bear with most effect. Even during the domination of the Second
Episcopacy it is well known, from records still extant, that
kirk-sessions and presbyteries were continued, and were allowed, with
the sanction of the bishop, to maintain a discipline which in the
present day would not be generally accounted lax. The grotesque penances
so often resorted to in the times immediately succeeding the
Reformation, and for the use of which our forefathers have been
subjected to so much abuse and ridicule, were by no means confined to
them, and probably had been suggested by similar grotesque ones in use
before, and were employed by the Court of High Commission, by the Church
of England, and by other churches too, in so far as they ever ventured
to exercise discipline on notorious offenders. Even those melancholy
trials of witches, for which they have been so severely blamed, were
not originated by them, and were countenanced quite as much by their
opponents, and by no one more than by the pope and his entourage, as
well as by James VI., the great patron of the bishops, and for long were
clamoured for by the people.

[Sidenote: The People remoulded.]

To us, living in the light and glorying in the toleration of the
nineteenth century, some of these disciplinary provisions may seem
harsh, several of the details frivolous, others inquisitorial; and the
very principle of such a close identification of the ecclesiastical and
civil, as that all offences against morality and church discipline were
to be also dealt with and punished by the state, more than questionable.
But to men living in the sixteenth century and just emerging out of the
ignorance and licence which the old church had tolerated, and longing to
be moulded into a community really holy and self-denying and quickened
to a higher life--enthused with a longing to reach loftier heights in
it--the iron discipline of Calvin and Knox was welcome as requiring only
what they felt to be their duty and their true interest. We may extend
to the disciple what the historian of French Protestantism has said of
the master, and so far varying the words of Haag affirm: "The
institutions of Calvin [and Knox] accomplished what was proposed. In
less than three generations the Genevese [and Lowland Scots] were
entirely remoulded. To frivolity and licentiousness succeeded that
somewhat austere strictness of morals which in earlier days
distinguished the disciples of the reformer[s]. History tells of only
two [three] men who have been able permanently to impress their stamp on
an entire people--Lycurgus and Calvin [and Knox], whose characters in
fact have much in common."[209] The Athenians made merry over the black
broth of the Spartans; but Sparta conquered Athens. How many accusations
and witticisms have been launched against the Calvinistic spirit, and
yet Calvinistic countries led the way in Christian activity and civil
freedom, and to them even those who abuse them are largely indebted for
their blessings.


III. _The Prerogatives and Duties of Church Members._

[Sidenote: The Exercise.]

The thorough agreement of our reformers' ideas respecting the nature of
the church with those of the apostles and primitive Christians comes out
even more emphatically in the statements they make in the First Book of
Discipline and the Book of Common Order about the ordinary members of
the congregation, and the arrangements there recommended for promoting
their spiritual welfare, and calling forth all their gifts. Not only are
they to be allowed a voice in the choice of their ministers, elders, and
deacons, in the exclusion of members from the church and their
readmission into it, and through their representatives in the government
of the church generally; not only are they to have week-day and Sabbath
services, and frequent communions for their edification and growth in
grace,--but in the principal congregations there are to be weekly
meetings for the study and interpretation of the Scriptures. At these
meetings every man was to be allowed to speak his mind and propose his
doubts, to exercise his gifts for the edification of the brethren, or to
"inquire as God shall move his heart and the text minister
occasion."[210] The opening paragraph of chapter xii. of the First Book
of Discipline shows us whence this remarkable institution was derived,
and proves clearly that Neander was not the first in post-Reformation
times who discovered the full significance of certain well-known
passages in St Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, but only a
restorer of the long-forgotten teaching of Calvin, Alasco, and Knox.
The paragraph is as follows: "To the end that the kirk of God may have a
tryall of men's knowledge, judgements, graces, and utterances; as also,
such that have somewhat profited in God's Word may from time to time
grow in more full perfection to serve the kirk as necessity shall
require; it is most expedient that in every towne where schooles and
repaire of learned men are, there be a time in one certain day every
week appointed to that exercise which S. Paul calls prophecying; the
order whereof is expressed by him in thir words: 'Let the prophets speak
two or three and let the other judge, but if anything be revealed to
another that sitteth by, let the former keep silence; for ye may one by
one all prophesie that all may learne, and all may receive consolation.'
... By which words of the apostle, it is evident that in the Kirk of
Corinth when they did assemble for that purpose, some place of Scripture
was read, upon the which one first gave his judgement to the instruction
and consolation of the auditors; after whom did another either confirme
what the former had said, or added what he had omitted, or did gently
correct or explaine more properly where the whole verity was not
revealled to the former; and in case things were hid from the one and
from the other, liberty was given for a third to speak his judgement to
the edification of the kirk." The exercise or practice here authorised
by the apostle, it is next affirmed, is a thing most necessary for the
kirk of God this day in Scotland, "for thereby, as said is, shall the
kirk have judgement and knowledge of the graces, gifts, and utterances
of _every man within their bodie_, the simple and such as have somewhat
profited shall be encouraged daily to studie and to proceed in
knowledge, and the whole kirk shall be edified; for this exercise must
be patent to such as list to hear and learne, and _every man shall have
liberty to utter and declare his minde and knowledge to the comfort and
consolation of the Kirk_."[211] Then after appointing some prudent
regulations to prevent this liberty of prophesying from encroaching on
the province of the regular ministry of the church, or degenerating into
a school for the encouragement of rash speculation instead of
ministering to the comfort and godly edifying of the brethren,
directions are given that the ministers of the landward parishes
adjacent to every important town, together with the readers within six
miles, should assist those that prophesy within the towns, that they
themselves may learn or others may learn from them. "And moreover," it
is again repeated, "men in whom is supposed to be any gifts which might
edifie the church if they were well imployed must be charged ... to
joyn themselves with the session and company of interpreters.... For no
man _may be permitted as best pleaseth him to live within the kirk of
God_, but every man must be constrained by fraternall admonition and
correction to bestow his labours, when of the kirk he is required, to
the edification of others."[212] Such was the remarkable provision made
by our reformers, that every adult member of the church should enjoy
such means of grace as were fitted to promote his growth in Christian
knowledge as well as in spiritual life, and should have reasonable
opportunity of using for the glory of God and the good of his brethren
the gifts with which the Spirit of God had furnished him. It may be
questioned whether some such institution is not as much needed in the
present day, if the members of the church are to be preserved from the
temptations to doubt with which they are surrounded, and if they are to
be encouraged to supplement the labours of their ministers and elders in
winning back those who have been seduced into the paths of error or sin;
and whether its influence, if it were only set about with earnestness,
would be less powerful to preserve and reclaim than it was in those
earlier times.



IV. _Education of the Young and University Reform._

[Sidenote: Schools.]

The care and anxiety of our reformers were not confined to the adult
members of the church. They were extended in a special manner to the
young, and were manifested towards them, if possible, with more intense
earnestness and loving tenderness. Though parish schools, in the later
sense, were not yet devised, detailed arrangements were made that the
readers at the several kirks should impart religious knowledge and the
elements of primary education to the young of the flock, and that those
who showed an aptitude for learning and capability of being trained to
be of service to kirk or common-weal should have access at various
centres to higher training. "Seeing," they say in their importunate
pleading with the nobles on their behalf, "that God hath determined that
His kirke here in earth shall be taught not by angels but by men, and
seeing that men are borne ignorant of God and of all godlinesse, ... of
necessity it is that your honours be most careful for the vertuous
education and godly upbringing of the youth of this realm, if either ye
now thirst unfainedly [for] the advancement of Christ's glorie or yet
desire the continuance of His benefits to the generation following; for
as the youth must succeed to us, so we ought to be carefull that they
have knowledge and erudition to profit and comfort that which ought to
be most deare to us, to wit, the kirk and spouse of our Lord
Jesus."[213] To secure this noble end it was deemed necessary that,
besides the readers' schools, every considerable town should have at
least one schoolmaster appointed who was competent to teach grammar and
the Latin tongue; and that in the more notable towns, especially the old
cathedral cities, where the revenues of the prebendaries or of the monks
might be made available, there should be a college in which at least
logic, rhetoric, and the languages--_i.e._, Latin and Greek--should be
taught by competent masters, for whom and for the poorer scholars
attending them suitable stipends and bursaries should be provided out of
the aforesaid revenues. The fruit of such an organisation, it is
affirmed, would soon appear. "For first, the youthhead and tender
children shall be nourished and brought up in vertue _in presence of
their friends_, by whose good attendance many inconveniences may be
avoyded in which the youth commonly fall either by overmuch libertie
which they have in strange and unknowne places while they cannot rule
themselves, or else for lack of good attendance and of such necessaries
as their tender age requires. Secondly, the exercise of children in
every kirke shall be great instruction to the aged and unlearned," who
had never been taught to read, and in whose presence in the Sunday
afternoon service they were examined. Lastly, "the great Schooles called
the Universities shall be replenished with these that shall be apt to
learning; for this must be carefully provided that no father, of what
estate or condition that ever he be, use his children at his own
fantasie especially in their youthhead; but _all must be compelled_ to
bring up their children in learning and vertue." Thus boldly did our
reformers lay down the principle of compulsory education, which men in
our own day have only hesitatingly adopted, but with greater consistency
or daring than our contemporaries have yet evinced, for they proposed to
apply the principle to the children of the rich and potent, as well as
to those of the poor and vicious. Those higher classes, they say, "may
not be permitted to suffer their children to spend their youth in vaine
idleness as heretofore they have done, but they must be exhorted, and by
the censure of the kirk compelled, to dedicate their sonnes by training
them up in good exercises to the profite of the kirk and commonwealth."
This they expect the rich to do at their own expense, while they desire
the children of the poor to be supported at the charge of the kirk. The
sons neither of rich nor poor are to be permitted to reject learning if
they develop any aptitude for it, but are to be "charged to continue
their studie that the commonwealth may have some comfort by them." To
secure this object, discreet and learned men are to visit the schools
every quarter, and examine what proficiency the pupils have
attained.[214]

[Sidenote: Value of Learning.]

To these suggestions regarding primary and secondary schools succeeds a
very detailed statement of the changes desired in the universities to
adapt them to the new order of things. And then they conclude as
follows: "All other things touching the books to be read in ilk classe,
and all such like particular affaires, we referre to the discretion of
the masters, principals, and regents, with their well-advised counsel;
not doubting but if God shall grant quietnesse, and give your wisedomes
grace to set forward letters in the sort prescribed, ye shall leave
wisdome and learning to your posterity--a treasure more to be esteemed
than any earthly treasure ye are able to amasse for them, which without
wisdome are more able to be their ruin and confusion than their help and
comfort. And as this is most true, so we leave it with the rest of the
commodities to be weighed by your honours' wisedome, and set forwards
by your authority to the most high advancement of this commonwealth
committed to your charge."[215]

These touching appeals were not made altogether in vain. Though neither
quietness nor a large measure of grace was granted to the rough barons
so earnestly and tenderly addressed, yet the goodly fabric of our church
and commonwealth was reared up in those troublous times. The full and
liberal adoption of the plan of national education sketched by our
reformer and his associates still remains in part to be desiderated, and
is worthy to be striven for by the churches which claim to represent
them. The partial carrying out of their views, more than any other
influence that can be named, has conduced to elevate our people and
raise Scotland to the rank it now holds among the nations; and we can
hardly doubt that the more complete realisation of them in the careful
Christian training of the young and the adult members of the church, and
the extension of the blessings of education and religion to the masses
so long left to grow up in ignorance and vice, would tend greatly to
bring back the disaffected to the paths of peace and life, to raise the
members of the church in the scale of intelligence and virtue, to make
the nobles more than ever heretofore the _decus et tutamen patriæ_, and
to bind all, both classes and masses, closely together in the bonds of
mutual Christian affection and true patriotism.


V. _Care of the Poor._

[Sidenote: Oppression of the Poor.]

I must still add that the same enlightened principles which guided them
to make careful provision for these important objects, led them also to
take a kindly interest in the humbler poor and aged, and to urge both on
the state and on the members of the church the duty they owed to this
long despised and neglected class of the population. First, for the poor
peasantry who were not paupers, but who, they allege, had been
grievously oppressed by the exactions of the clergy in the times
immediately preceding, they present the following earnest plea: "With
the griefe of our hearts we heare that some gentlemen are now as cruell
over their tenants as ever were the Papists, requiring of them (the
tiends and) whatsoever they afore payed to the kirk, so that the
Papistical tyrannie shall onely be changed into the tyrannie of the lord
and laird. We dare not flatter your honours, neither yet is it
profitable for you that we so doe: (for neither shall we,) if we permit
cruelty to be used; neither shall ye, who by your authoritie ought to
gaine-stand such oppression, nor yet they that use the same, escape
God's heavie and fearfull judgements. The gentlemen, barones, earles,
lords, and others must be content to live upon their just rents, and
suffer the kirk to be restored to her _(right and) liberty_; that by her
restitution, the poore, who heretofore, by the cruell Papists, have been
spoiled and oppressed, may now receive some comfort and relaxation, and
their tiends and other exactions _be cleane discharged_ and no more
taken in time comming. The uppermost claith, corps-present, clerk-maile,
the pasche-offering, tiend-ale, and all handlings[216] upaland can
neither be required nor recieved of good conscience."[217]

[Sidenote: Exactions of the Medieval Church.]

[Sidenote: The Oppressors relentless.]

The history of the world, the history of the Christian church, has few
passages more noble than this, where these poor ministers, not yet
assured of decent provision for their own maintenance, boldly undertake
the patronage of the peasantry, and say they would rather suffer
themselves than ask that teinds should be exacted from those who had
been so long ground down, not only by the exaction of these from their
crofts and even from their gardens, but also by a multitude of other
imposts, which, although their very names are now almost forgotten in
Scotland, had been long felt to be a grievous oppression. Was it any
wonder that those crushed and down-trodden classes should rally round
their protectors, and under their kindly and godly training should grow
up to be a strength to the church and a power in the state? Charming
fancy pictures are still sometimes drawn of the stately monastery--with
its handsome church and kindly and cultured monks--as a centre of
civilising and Christianising influences to the district in which it was
erected. These influences no doubt had a certain reality in the early
ages of the church, and even in the days of the good Queen Margaret; but
in Scotland, at least, these days had long passed away before the
sixteenth century; and the monasteries, as a whole, had become a source
of weakness and scandal, rather than of strength and honour to the
dominant church. In fact, their wealth, being to a large extent derived
from the teinds of parishes, should have been devoted to the spiritual
interests of these parishes, whereas the vicars appointed by them being
generally put off with a miserable pittance and left largely dependent
on these hated and oppressive exactions--corpse presents, uppermost
cloth, Pasche-offerings--could not fail to alienate the peasantry from
the monasteries and their rural representatives. Such charges of
oppression could never have been so publicly made against them had they
not been notoriously true. And if further evidence were needed, it may
be found in abundance in the poems of Sir David Lindsay and the
Wedderburns. The picture the former has drawn of the poor peasant driven
out of house and holding[218] by these oppressive exactions is known to
be true to the life; and contributed greatly to the overthrow of the
merciless oppressors who, until the very eve of the triumph of the
Reformation, could not be persuaded either to abolish or abate their
dues.[219]

FOOTNOTES:

[180] [The six were John Wynram, John Spottiswoode, John Willock, John
Douglas, John Row, and John Knox (_supra_, p. 99).]

[181] Spottiswoode's History, Spot. Soc. ed., i. 371, 372.

[182] _Supra_, pp. 112, 113.

[183] The appointment of such an official as chief minister of the
English congregation of Frankfort had, however, been urged by Knox's
opponents there, but was refused by his party (Discourse of Troubles at
Frankfort, pp. xiv, xlvii, cxvii, cxxxv-cxxxviii, cxlvi, cxlvii).

[184] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 409, 410; Laing's Knox, iv. 177.

[185] The great services Coverdale had rendered to the cause of
Protestantism by his translation of the Scriptures did not suffice to
blot out from the minds of Elizabeth and her ministers the remembrance
of his connection with Knox and Goodman. He was welcomed at the
consecration of Archbishop Parker, though he came in his black gown, for
they could not well do that without him; but all Grindal's efforts
failed to secure for him a Welsh bishopric, or even to get him left
unmolested in the parochial benefice he conferred on him.

[186] Even in St Andrews, with all its equipment of schools and
colleges, the common people are represented in 1547 as welcoming Knox's
offer of a public disputation, because though they could not all read
his papers they could understand what he addressed to them _vivâ voce_
(Laing's Knox, i. 189).

[187] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 518; Laing's Knox, ii. 185.

[188] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 526; Laing's Knox, ii. 191.

[189] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 530; Laing's Knox, ii. 194.

[190] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 530; Laing's Knox, ii. 194.

[191] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 577; Laing's Knox, ii. 233.

[192] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 578; Laing's Knox, ii. 234, 235.

[193] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 581; Laing's Knox, ii. 236, 237.

[194] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 532; Laing's Knox, ii. 195, 196.
[Readers who were able to _exhort_ and explain the Scriptures were to
have their stipends augmented until they attained the honour of a
minister (Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 536, 537; Laing's Knox, ii. 199,
200).]

[195] [The readers who had "any gift of interpretation" were to take
part in these meetings (Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 590; Laing's Knox, ii.
244).]

[196] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 539; Laing's Knox, ii. 202.

[197] ["It is evident unto all men, diligently reading Holy Scripture
and ancient authors, that from the apostles' time there hath been these
orders of ministers in Christ's church: bishops, priests, and deacons"
(Liturgies of Edward VI., Parker Society, p. 331).]

[198] The jest attributed to Queen Elizabeth that she had _made_ a
bishop but _marred_ a good preacher shows this.

[199] In the chief towns, just as in Geneva, there seems from early
times to have been a common or "general session," although there were
several congregations in each, as in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, and
Perth.

[200] Even the Second Book of Discipline does not sharply distinguish
between the lesser and greater eldership or presbytery; and Gillespie
admits they were not distinguished in the primitive church, though he
holds that both were needed in Scotland to do the work which the one
presbytery did in the primitive church (_infra_, pp. 230-233).

[201] [The Book of Common Order distinguishes between the weekly meeting
of the ministers and elders in their assembly or consistory, and the
weekly meeting of the congregation for the interpretation of the
Scriptures (Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 411-413; Laing's Knox, iv.
177-179). For the nature and object of the exercise see _infra_, pp.
170-173.]

[202] [The bull, which is printed in Concilia Scotiæ, ii. 3, is dated
"xiiij kalendas Junij pontificatus nostri anno nono," _i.e._, the 19th
of May 1225.]

[203] See Schenkel's article, "Kirche," in Herzog's Real-Encyklopädie.

[204] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 68; Laing's Knox, ii. 110.

[205] See Calvin's Institutes, book iv. chap. ii.--"As no city or
village can exist without a magistrate and government, so the Church of
God stands in need of a spiritual polity of its own. This is altogether
distinct from the civil government, and is so far from hindering or
impairing it, that it rather does much to aid and promote it."

[206] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 413; Laing's Knox, iv. 203.

[207] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 414-417; Laing's Knox, iv. 204-206. If
this humanity is not observed in private as well as in public, there is
danger lest instead of discipline we fall into a kind of Gehenna, and
instead of correctors and educators become executioners of the brethren
(Calvin).

[208] The form of absolution then appointed to be used was, with consent
of Henderson, modified by the Westminster divines into the shape in
which it appears in their Directory for Church Government and
Excommunication, and as modified was afterwards inserted in our Form of
Process of 1707.

[209] La France protestant, deuxième édition, iii. 530.

[210] Book of Common Order, in Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 412; Laing's
Knox, iv. 179.

[211] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 587-589; Laing's Knox, ii. 242, 243.

[212] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 590, 591; Laing's Knox, ii. 244, 245.

[213] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 547; Laing's Knox, ii. 209.

[214] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 548-550; Laing's Knox, ii. 209-211.

[215] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 561; Laing's Knox, ii. 220, 221.

[216] [Dr Mitchell seems to have thought that _handlings_ should be read
_haldings_.]

[217] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 562, 563. [The words which in this
quotation are enclosed in parentheses are not in the copy of the Book of
Discipline preserved by Knox (Laing's Knox, ii. 221, 222). Instead of
the words, "if _we_ permit cruelty to be used," that copy reads, "if
_you_ permit suche creualtie to be used"; and after the words, "comfort
and relaxation," is the clause, "Concludit be the Lordis."]

[218] The pauper comes on the stage with the words--

    "Of your almis, gude folks, for God's luife of heavin,
    For I have motherles bairns either sax or seavin;"

and proceeds in piteous strain--

    "Gude man, will ye gif me of your charitie,
    And I sall declair yow the black veritie.
    My father was ane auld man, and a hoir,
    And was of age four scoir of yeirs and moir.
    And Mald, my mother, was four scoir and fyfteine,
    And with my labour I did thame baith susteine.
    Wee had are meir, that caryit salt and coill,
    And everie ilk yeir scho brocht us hame ane foill.
    Wee had thrie ky, that was baith fat and fair,
    Nane tydier into the toun of Air.
    My father was sa waik of blude, and bane,
    That he deit, quhairfoir my mother maid gret maine:
    Then scho deit, within ane day or two;
    And thair began my povertie and wo.
    Our gude gray meir was baittand on the feild,
    And our Land's laird tuik hir for his hyreild,
    The vickar tuik the best cow be the heid,
    Incontinent, quhen my father was deid.
    And quhen the vickar hard tel how that my mother
    Was deid, fra hand he tuke to him ane uther:
    Then Meg, my wife, did murne baith evin and morow,
    Till at the last scho deit for verie sorow:
    And quhen the vickar hard tell my wyfe was dead,
    The thrid cow he cleikit be the heid.
    Thair umest clayis, that was of rapploch gray,
    The vickar gart his clark bear them away.
    Quhen all was gane, I micht mak na debeat,
    Bot with my bairns past for till beg my meat.
        Now, haif I tald yow the blak veritie,
        How I am brocht into this miserie."

--Laing's Lindsay's Poetical Works, 1879, ii. 99, 102, 103.

[219] [In the Articles addressed by some of the temporal lords and
barons to the queen regent, and sent by her to the Provincial Council
convened in Edinburgh a few weeks before the Reformation burst like a
tempest upon the country, it was requested that "the corps presentes,
kow, and [um]est claith, and the silvir commonlie callit the kirk
richts, and Pasch offrands quhilk is takin at Pasch fra men and women
for distribution of the sacrament of the blessit body and blood of Jesus
Christ," should no longer be extorted under pain of excommunication or
debarring from the sacraments, but left to the free will of the givers
(Concilia Scotiæ, ii. 148, 149). The Council met this demand for
reformation by enacting that in future the poor should be freed from
mortuary dues, while those not quite so poor were only to pay them in a
modified form; and the small tithes and oblations were to be taken up
before Lent so as to avoid the appearance of selling the sacrament
(Ibid., ii. 167, 168, 174). When, on the 27th of May 1560, the reforming
vicar of Lintrathin raised a summons against his parishioners for
payment of his teinds, "the cors present and umest clayth of all yeris
and termes bigane restand unpayit" were specially excepted from his
claim (Spalding Miscellany, iv. 121).]



CHAPTER IX.

THE LAST DAYS OF JOHN KNOX.


[Sidenote: Assassination of the Good Regent.]

The eighth decade of the sixteenth century was memorable in the history
of Protestantism in its Presbyterian or Calvinistic form, and the year
1572 has been termed its _annus mirabilis_. It marked a crisis in the
long and bloody struggle of the Protestants in the Netherlands with
their Spanish oppressors,--a struggle which issued in securing the
independence of the Dutch people, and settling on a Calvinistic basis
the Reformed Church of Holland. It formed the turning-point in the
tragic fortunes of the Reformed Church of France, at which, from being
able to claim as adherents a majority of the landed gentry and a large
minority of the more intelligent and wealthy _bourgeois_ in the
provincial towns, and being only weak among the citizens of the capital
and the peasantry of northern and central France, she was, by an act of
base treachery and fiendish cruelty, hurled from her promising
position, sadly crippled in numbers and influence, permanently weakened
and cast down, though not crushed or driven to despair.[220] This decade
was especially memorable in the history of the Reformed Church of
Scotland as having witnessed the removal of the ablest and best of the
lay defenders of the Reformation, the death of our great reformer
himself, and the return to Scotland of the intrepid and devoted man who
was to take up and complete the work, from which failing health and a
grieved spirit had obliged Knox to withdraw. The assassination of the
Good Regent (as the Earl of Moray was deservedly surnamed) was
unquestionably the most disgraceful of all the murders perpetrated in
Scotland in the interests of faction during those years of confusion and
strife.[221] It brought no permanent advantage to the party of reaction.
It wrought much woe to the country, which under his firm yet kindly rule
had begun to settle into order and to recover its prosperity.

[Sidenote: He leaves Edinburgh.]

This great national calamity preyed on the spirit and broke the already
waning strength of Knox. In the month of October in that year[222] he
had a stroke of paralysis or of apoplexy, which for a time laid him
aside altogether from work, and permanently enfeebled his constitution.
As in the case of Wycliffe in the fourteenth century, his opponents
exulted over his misfortune, and circulated maliciously exaggerated
accounts of his condition, on which probably their more malicious and
notoriously fictitious accounts of his last illness were founded. But
this first seizure was not so severe as to put a final arrest on his
activities. Before many weeks were over he had so far recovered as to be
able, in part at least, to resume his labours. He was able in a measure
to continue them through the anxious and unquiet months of the
succeeding winter and spring--bearing faithful testimony to the
principles, religious and political, which he had long professed;
standing up resolutely in defence of the authority of the young prince,
when many, who had formerly sworn allegiance to him, led by the
intriguing laird of Lethington and the "fause" house of Hamilton, went
over to the party of his popish mother. He exposed their sophistries,
and fearlessly rebuked their defection, even after they had gained for
the time the supremacy in Edinburgh. Others might truckle to them or
quail before them, but that palsied old man, with all his former
plainness and much of his former fire, persevered in denouncing their
treachery and discrediting their proposals. Threatenings were uttered
against his life if he persisted in his course; protection seems to have
been refused him by the party against the violence of their lawless
followers; and one evening (as had often happened to Calvin in his years
of conflict) a musket-ball was fired in at the window of his house, and
lodged in the roof of the apartment in which he was sitting. Again and
again faithful citizens, an attached kirk-session, and John Craig, then
his colleague in the ministry, entreated him to remove for a time to
some place where his life would be safe from violence, and whence he
could return to his loving and beloved flock as soon as the prevailing
faction should be put down, or should vacate the city. But he heard them
all unmoved, until at last they were constrained to tell him plainly
that if he was attacked they had made up their minds to peril their
lives in his defence, and if they were compelled to shed blood in the
contest it must lie on his head. Thus "sore against his will,"[223] as
one of the earliest historians of his declining years tells us, and
"almost thrust out by the authority of the church court,"[224] as
another of them has it, he, on the 5th May 1571, took farewell of
Edinburgh for a time, and crossing the Firth of Forth at Leith moved on
by short and easy stages through Fife to the city in which "God had
first opened his mouth" to proclaim His truth, and for which to the last
he, as well as the Good Regent, cherished a special affection. As Mr
John Davidson, then a teacher in one of the colleges, has expressed it
in homely Scotch:--

    "Thou knawis he lude the by the lave,
    For _first_ in the he gave the rout
    Till Antechrist that Romische slave,
    Preicheing that Christ did only save.
    Bot _last_ of Edinburgh exprest,
    Quhen he was not far fra his grave
    He came to the by all the rest."[225]

[Sidenote: His preaching in St Andrews.]

In St Andrews the reformer was sure to be free from personal danger, and
on the whole to have the sympathy of the citizens; though it was not to
be supposed that--in the city and university where the late Archbishop
Hamilton had been long supreme, and had recently been claiming to
exercise the authority of Chancellor of the University, and new founder
of St Mary's College,[226] and where he had left behind several
relations and dependents more compliant with the new order of things
than himself--there were not to be found in this crisis several
influential persons who had more sympathy with their late chief and
with the selfish and crooked policy of the Hamiltons than with the
straightforward course and steadfast fidelity of the dauntless reformer,
and who would have little relish for his earnest warnings and stern
reproofs. The notices preserved to us regarding this last and, so far as
is yet known, longest visit of Knox to St Andrews are both detailed and
interesting. From the simple and loving Memorials of his attendant,
Richard Bannatyne, we learn that all the time he was there--_i.e._, from
the beginning of July 1571 to the 17th of August 1572--he preached every
Sunday, and expounded the prophecies of Daniel to the middle of the
ninth chapter, applying the words of the prophet to the circumstances of
Scotland at the time, and inveighing in the strongest terms against "the
bloody house of Hamilton" and its abettors for their deceit, treachery,
and turbulence, their base murder of the Good Regent, and cunning plot
to restore a popish queen.[227] These themes, to which in the
applications of his sermons he ever and anon returned, woke up all the
fire and fervour of the old man eloquent; and if it might not be said,
as in earlier days, that every sermon was of more value to the cause he
defended than five hundred armed men, yet the report of his untiring
zeal and unswerving fidelity would still contribute greatly to animate
and cheer the adherents of the young prince and of the new regent in all
parts of the land.

As I have hinted, there were some in the city to whom such discourses
could not fail to be distasteful--some who refused to attend on his
ministry, and were perhaps so stung by what was reported of his sharp
but not undeserved reproofs that they were compelled to throw off the
mask they had hitherto worn, and soon after openly to apostatise from
the faith which for several years they had professed and taught. But the
effect on many of the young men in attendance on the university, or
acting as regents in its colleges, was salutary and enduring; and
perhaps it was not without special intention that, when the door was
shut against him in Edinburgh and the ears of the men in power there
were closed against his counsels, he betook himself to what was still
the principal university in the realm, and made his last appeals to the
rising hopes of the church and country there. Such discourses as he then
delivered, coming from one they had already learned to venerate, could
not fail to form or foster in their ingenuous minds that fidelity to the
reformed faith, that jealousy of popery, and that hatred of its cruelty
and tyranny, which distinguished them to the last.

[Sidenote: Melville's sketch of Knox.]

James Melville, whose plastic nature and gentle spirit retained through
life the impressions then made, supplements in his Diary the notices in
Bannatyne's Memorials, and, in a passage which has been often quoted,
gives a very fresh and vivid sketch of the old reformer. "Bot of all the
benefites I haid that yeir"--the first year he was a student in St
Andrews, and had "drunk of St Leonard's well"--"the greatest," he tells
us, "was the coming of that maist notable profet and apostle of our
nation, Mr Jhone Knox, to St Androis; wha be the faction of the Quein
occupeing the castell and town of Edinbruche was compellit to remove
thairfra with a number of the best, and chusit to com to St Androis. I
hard him teatche ther the prophecie of Daniel that simmer and the wintar
following. I haid my pen and my litle book, and tuk away sic things as I
could comprehend. In the opening upe of his text he was moderat the
space of an halff houre; bot when he enterit to application he maid me
sa to grew and tremble that I could nocht hald a pen to wryt. I hard him
oftymes utter these thretenings [against the faction then] in the hicht
of their pryde, quhilk the eis [_i.e._, eyes] of monie saw cleirlie
brought to pass within few yeirs upon the captean of that castle, the
Hamiltones, and the Quein hirselff. He ludgit down in the Abbay besyde
our Collage."[228] So far was it from being true, as is commonly
asserted, that he had caused the destruction of the abbey and of the
abbey church or cathedral in 1559, that in 1571 he found a habitable
building there, in which he, a frail old man, with his wife and
children, could pass the winter in comfort. It, we know from a letter of
his antagonist, Archibald Hamilton, was "the new ludgene of the
abbey,"[229] or _novum hospitium_, built for the reception of Mary of
Guise, the queen of James V.[230] It was in the immediate vicinity of St
Leonard's College, and our diarist further tells us: "Our regents, Mr
Nicol Dalgleise, Mr Wilyeam Colace, and Mr Jhone Davidsone, went in
ordinarilie to his grace [or devotional exercises] efter denner and
soupper.... Mr Knox wald sum tymes com in and repose him in our Collage
yeard [that is the gardens immediately to the west of the _novum
hospitium_, adjoining St Leonard's College], and call us schollars unto
him and bless us, and exhort us to knaw God and His wark in our contrey,
and stand be the guid cause, to use our tyme weill, and lern the guid
instructiones, and follow the guid exemple of our maisters."[231] No
wonder, in these circumstances, that he is able to add, "Our haill
collage, maisters and schollars, war sound and zelus for the guid
cause," or that we can now still further add that thence proceeded
several of the men who were to uphold it most resolutely in the evil
days which followed.

[Sidenote: Opposition in St Andrews.]

In the New College we are told, "whowbeit Mr Jhone Dowglass, then Rector
[and Principal] was guid aneuche," yet the "uther maisters and sum of
the regentes war evill-myndit," and "hated Mr Knox and the guid
cause";[232] and two of them, Archibald and John Hamilton, soon after
apostatised, betook themselves to the Continent, and rose to high office
in the Universities of Louvain and Paris, where the one in not inelegant
Latin, and the other in courtly Scotch, sought to vindicate their
conduct, and to traduce and refute their former co-religionists. Some
of the masters of the Old College also, as Bannatyne has recorded, hated
the plain-speaking reformer, though "be outward gesture and befoir his
face thei wald seime and apeir to favore and love him above the
rest."[233] The Hamiltons especially seem to have given him considerable
occasion to complain of their bitter and unguarded criticisms, and one
of them, stung by his denunciations, challenged him to defend his
doctrine in the schools of the university. This he at first refused,
maintaining that the pulpit was not to be controlled by the university
schools, nor the church put into subjection to the academy.

[Sidenote: Patrick Adamson.]

St Andrews at that time was the _rendezvous_ of others of the adherents
of the young prince, who did not feel themselves safe under the faction
then in possession of the castle and city of Edinburgh. One of these, Mr
John Durie of Leith, was "for stoutness and zeall in the guid cause
mikle renouned and talked of." He was an enthusiastic leader of the
volunteers of his day. "The gown was na sooner af and the Byble out of
hand fra the kirk, when on ged the corslet, and fangit was the hagbot,
and to the fields."[234] Another was Robert Leckprevick, the famous
printer, who brought his types and printing-press with him, and so did
notable service to the cause. "He haid then in hand," Melville tells
us, "Mr Patrik Constant's [or Adamson's[235]] Catechisme of Calvin,
converted in Latin heroic vers, quhilk with the author was mikle estimed
of";[236] and deservedly so, for Adamson was an accomplished scholar,
was using his scholarship for the church's good, was eulogised by
Lawson, Knox's colleague and successor, and had not yet developed that
spirit of subserviency to the powers that be which afterwards proved his
ruin.

The printer had also the honour of publishing in St Andrews the last
work which engaged the thoughts of the reformer. This was his 'Answer to
a letter of a Jesuit named Tyrie.' It had been drawn up some years
before, but was now carefully revised and enlarged, and exhibited his
matured views respecting several of the most notable subjects of
controversy between the reformed and unreformed churches. Possibly it
may have been because he had detected through all their disguises the
secret leaning of the two Hamiltons to Romanist or semi-Romanist views
regarding the apostolical succession, the nature of the sacraments, and
the unfailing visibility and perpetuity of the church, that he now so
fully entered into a controversy which previously he had been inclined
to shun. Perhaps this is what is hinted at in the preface, in which he
says: "Wonder not, gentill reidar, that sic ane argument suld proceid
fra me in thir dolorous days after that I have taken gude-night at the
warld and at all the fasherie of the same.... There ar sevin yeares past
sen a scrole send from a Jesuite to his brother was presented unto me be
a faithfull brother requyring sum answer to be maid to the same....
Amongs my other caires I scriblit that which followis, and that in few
dayis; which being finished I repented of my laubour, and purposed
fullie to have suppressed it. Which, na dout I had done, if that the
devil had not steirit up the Jesuites of purpois to trouble godlie
harts, with the same argumentis which Tyrie usis, amplifyed and set
furth with all the dog eloquence that Sathan can devyse for suppressing
of the free progres of the Evangell of Jesus Christ." Then, after a
touching reference to the hard lot of his dispersed flock "suffering
lytill les calamitie than did the faithfull efter the persecutioun of
Steaphen," and an earnest petition that God would grant them one day to
meet in glory, he entreats the brethren to pray for _him_, that God "in
His mercy will pleis to put end to my long and panefull battell," as he
was unable to fight as erewhile he had done, and longed for release,
though still resigned to bear patiently whatsoever God saw meet to lay
upon this, his "wicked carkase."[237]

[Sidenote: The St Andrews Assembly.]

In March 1572 the General Assembly was held at St Andrews in the schools
of St Leonard's College.[238] This place was no doubt chosen in part at
least for the convenience of the aged reformer, whose counsel in that
time of trouble was specially needed. It was the last Assembly at which
he was able to be present, and probably the first witnessed by Davidson
and Melville. "Thair," the latter narrates, "was motioned the making of
bischopes, to the quhilk Mr Knox opponit himselff directlie and
zealuslie";[239] and thus probably were implanted in the youthful
student's mind the germs of those presbyterian principles which were
nurtured by intercourse with his uncle Andrew Melville, and were
retained by him to the last with heroic tenacity.

[Sidenote: Three Kinds of Bishops.]

Two months before this a convention at Leith had given its sanction to
a sort of mongrel episcopacy, nominally to secure the tithes more
completely to the church, but really to secure the bulk of them by a
more regular title to certain covetous noblemen who sought in this way
to reimburse themselves for their services in the cause of the
Reformation.[240] Chief among these noblemen was the Earl of Morton,
then one of the chief supporters of the young prince, and soon after
regent of the kingdom. Having secured a presentation to the
Archbishopric of St Andrews for Mr John Douglas before mentioned, he
came over to the city, had him elected by the chapter in terms of the
convention, and on the 10th of February inaugurated into his office.
This function was performed by Wynram, Superintendent of Fife, according
to the Order followed in the admission of Superintendents, save that the
Bishop of Caithness, the Superintendent of Lothian, and Mr David
Lindsay, who sat beside Douglas, laid their hands on his head. Knox had
preached that day as usual; but, as Bannatyne is careful to tell us, had
"refuised to inaugurat the said bischope";[241] and as others add had
"denounced anathema to the giver, anathema to the receaver,"[242] who
as rector and principal had already far more to do than such an aged man
could hope to overtake.[243] It was in reference to the same appointment
that Adamson, as yet uncorrupted by Court influences, had a few days
before in a sermon from the same pulpit given utterance to his famous
distinction of three kinds of bishops, my lord bishop, my lord's bishop,
and the Lord's bishop, the first of whom had been in time of popery, the
second was now brought in merely to enable my lord to draw the kirk
rents, and the third was the evangelical pastor as he should be in times
of thorough reformation.[244]

One more brief sketch from the Diary of the quaint but graphic
chronicler on whom I have repeatedly drawn may conclude our notice of
these last labours of the reformer, and bring us to his last illness and
death. "The town of Edinbruche recovered againe [out of the hands of the
queen's faction] and the guid and honest men therof retourned to thair
housses,[245] Mr Knox with his familie past hame to Edinbruche." During
the time of his residence in St Andrews he was very weak. "I saw him
everie day of his doctrine," says Melville, "go hulie and fear with a
furring of martriks about his neck, a staff in the an hand, and guid
godlie Richart Ballanden, his servand, halding upe the uther oxtar, from
the abbey to the paroche kirk; and be the said Richart and another
servant lifted upe to the pulpit, whar he behovit to lean at his first
entrie; bot or he haid done with his sermont he was sa active and
vigorus that he was lyk to ding that pulpit in blads, and fly out of
it."[246]

[Sidenote: His Message to Charles IX.]

Soon after his return to Edinburgh he found himself quite unable to
preach in the large church which he had formerly occupied, and a smaller
one was fitted up for him in the western part of the nave of St
Giles.[247] But not even so were his services to be long available. On
one occasion only after his return may it be said that the old fire
burst out with all its former fierceness and brilliancy. This was in
September, when tidings reached him of the bloody massacre of St
Bartholomew's day in France. "Being conveyed to the pulpit," Dr M'Crie
tells us, "and summoning up his remaining strength, he thundered the
vengeance of God against 'that cruel murderer and false traitor, the
King of France,' and [borrowing the language of the Old Testament
prophets] desired Le Croc, the French ambassador, to tell his master
that sentence was pronounced against him in Scotland, that the divine
vengeance would never depart from him nor from his house, if repentance
did not ensue; but his name would remain an execration to posterity, and
none proceeding from his loins should enjoy his kingdom in peace."[248]
The only further notice of his work is by Melville, who simply informs
us that after "instituting in his roum, be the ordinar calling of the
kirk and congregation, Mr James Lawsone, a man of singular learning,
zeal, and eloquence, ... he tuk him to his chamber and most happelie and
comfortablie departed this lyff."[249]

With this kindly notice by his youthful admirer this lecture would have
ended, had I not promised to the late Dean Stanley several years ago
that, when a suitable opportunity occurred, I would not fail publicly to
advert to a shameless misrepresentation of the closing scene to which he
had directed my attention. This originated with Archibald Hamilton,
already referred to as one of the two masters of the New College, who
apostatised from the Protestant faith, and after his flight to the
Continent published the most barefaced lies of his old antagonist and
the noble men who were associated with him in his hard battle and
well-earned triumph. These lies were exposed and refuted at the time by
Principal Smeton of Glasgow, himself a convert from that Society of
Jesus which Hamilton ultimately joined. But as they have been revived in
our own day, and distributed in the form of a tract by Popish emissaries
at the doors of Protestant churches in London, and as one of a series
bearing the sensational title of "Death-bed Scenes," I shall, in
fulfilment of my promise, subjoin a brief account of the reformer's last
illness and death, taken almost exclusively from the contemporary
narratives of Bannatyne and Smeton, the former of whom was an
eye-witness, and the latter of whom had full information from
Lawson,[250] who also was an eye-witness of all. This, I feel assured,
is all that is required to set matters in their true light.

[Sidenote: Popish Calumny.]

The vague charges of immorality brought against the reformer by those
calumniators, ancient and modern, may be dismissed at once as nothing
more than the stock-in-trade of hard-pressed controversialists in the
sixteenth century. Had there been the slightest foundation for them,
some of Knox's many opponents in Scotland--Ninian Winzet, or the Abbot
of Crossraguel, or Tyrie the Jesuit, or Hamilton himself before he left
the country--would not have scrupled openly to upbraid him with them.
Neither would the culprits among the Protestant clergy and laity, whom
at various times he subjected to so rigorous a discipline, have borne
this patiently at his hands had he himself been a known offender. It was
his character which gave him his influence both at home and abroad, both
with friends and with foes, and could it have been successfully
assailed, it would not have been left to two Jesuits in a foreign land
to lead the assault after he was silenced in death.

Such, however, I hardly need to assure you was not the end of the
restorer of a really holy church in Scotland, if aught of credit is to
be given to the unanimous testimony of those who attended him during his
last illness and witnessed its closing scene, though it may have been
the end which Popish controversialists in the sixteenth century deemed
meet for him--as well as for Luther and Calvin and many more of whom the
world was not worthy--as it is in one of the foulest legends with which
their successors in the nineteenth century think it fair to supplement
the legends of their predecessors in the sixteenth. According to them
Luther was the child of a demon, not figuratively but literally; Calvin
was eaten up of worms, like Herod who slew the children of Bethlehem and
was smitten by the judgment of God, because (though apparently in this
they confound him with a later Herod) he affected divine honours. To
mention such slanders, as the sceptical Bayle has said with special
reference to the case of Knox, is all that is needed to refute them.
They are the product of malignity so evident that it defeats itself. I
know but one parallel to them in our literature, and it has the excuse
that it has come down to us from the dark ages.[251] Some would
persuade us that the time has come when we might afford to forget old
controversies and to shake hands with our former antagonists, but such
occurrences as these tend to show that such forgetfulness and
affectation of cordiality is likely to be all on one side.

And now let me simply set over against these fables, in as abridged form
as I can, the unvarnished statements of Bannatyne and Smeton, the latter
of which was published in reply to Hamilton who first gave shape to
these charges, and which hitherto has been deemed a conclusive
refutation of them.[252]

[Sidenote: His last Illness.]

[Sidenote: His Dying Exhortations.]

On the 10th of November, the day after he inducted Lawson as his
colleague, he was seized with a violent cough and began to breathe with
difficulty. Many, who desired ardently, if it were possible, to detain
him a little longer here, advised him to call in the assistance of
skilful physicians. He readily complied with their advice, though he
felt that the end of his warfare was now nigh at hand. Next day he
caused the wages of all his servants to be paid, and earnestly exhorted
them all to be careful to lead holy and Christian lives. On the 13th,
being obliged by the increase of his malady to leave off his ordinary
course of reading in the Scriptures (for every day he had been wont to
read some chapters of the Old and New Testaments, especially some of the
Psalms and Gospels), he directed his wife and servant to read to him
each day the 17th chapter of St John's Gospel, one or other of the
chapters of St Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, and the 53rd chapter of
Isaiah. On the 14th he rose early, apparently supposing it had been the
Lord's day, and being asked why he did so when he was so ill, he replied
that he had been meditating all night on the resurrection of the Lord
(the subject which would have fallen to be treated next in order by him
in his ministry), and that he was now prepared to ascend the pulpit to
communicate to his brethren the consolation he had enjoyed in his own
soul. Next day, though very sick, he prevailed on Durie, already
mentioned, and another friend, Steward by name, to remain to dinner with
him, ordered a hogshead of wine in his cellar to be pierced for them,
and desired Steward to send for some of it as long as it lasted, for he
should not tarry till it was done. Little is recorded of him for several
days after this, but it was probably in this interval that he was
visited by many of the chief of the nobility, including the Earl of
Morton, so soon to be created regent,[253] and by many members of his
congregation. All of these he "solidly exhorted" and comforted. On the
20th or 21st he gave orders that his coffin should be prepared. On the
22nd he sent for the ministers, elders, and deacons of the church, that
he might give them his last counsels and take final farewell of them. In
the brief but solemn address which he delivered to them he called God to
witness, whom he served in the Gospel of His Son, that he had taught
nothing but the pure and solid doctrine of the Gospel of the Son of God,
and had never indulged his own private passions, or spoken from any
hatred of the persons of those against whom he had denounced the heavy
judgments of God. He exhorted them to persevere in the truth of the
Gospel and in their allegiance to their young sovereign, and dismissed
them with his solemn blessing. To Lawson and Lindsay, whom he asked to
remain behind, he gave a last earnest message for his old friend
Kirkaldy of Grange, the commandant of the castle, who had gone over to
the party of the queen,[254] and whose soul, notwithstanding, he said,
was dear to him--as being one of his congregation in the castle of St
Andrews, and a sharer in his hard lot in France--so that he would not
have it perish if by any means he could save it. "Go and tell him," he
said, "that neither the craggy rock in which he miserably trusts, nor
the carnal prudence of that man whom he regards as a demigod, nor the
assistance of foreigners, as he falsely flatters himself, shall deliver
them, but he shall be disgracefully dragged from his nest to punishment
and hung on a gallows in the face of the sun, unless he speedily amend
his life and betake himself to the mercy of God."

[Sidenote: His Consolation.]

On the 23rd the difficulty of his breathing had greatly increased, and
he seems to have thought that his end was near at hand. To one of his
most intimate friends who asked him if he felt great pain, he replied
that that was not reckoned as pain by him which would be the end of many
miseries and the beginning of perpetual joy. And soon after, apparently
supposing his end was come, he repeated the Lord's Prayer and the
Apostles' Creed, adding certain paraphrases of his own on each petition
of the prayer and article of the creed to the great comfort of those who
stood by; and then lifting up his hands to heaven he once more said,
"Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit." During the succeeding night
he caused the 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians to be read and re-read to
him, and repeatedly said to himself, "O! how sweet and salutary
consolation does the Lord provide for me in this chapter." The following
day, about noon, he once more sat up in bed, but owing to his extreme
weakness was not able to remain long in that posture. About three in the
afternoon one of his eyes failed, and his tongue performed its office
less readily than before. About six in the evening he again said to his
wife, "Go, read where I cast my first anchor," referring to the
instructions he had given on the 13th.[255]

When this had been done, he continued for some hours in troubled
slumber. It is in this occurrence alone that there can be got the
slightest foundation for the slanders which his traducers have
circulated. And it is only necessary to quote the account given of it by
those who witnessed it to show that it was as honourable to the dying
confessor as the gross misrepresentation of it was dishonourable to his
opponents. During these hours he uttered frequent sighs and groans, so
that those who stood by could not doubt that he was contending with some
grievous temptation. When he awoke they asked him what was the cause of
his distress. He answered that in the course of his life he had had many
contests with his spiritual adversary. Often he had been tempted to
despair of God's mercy because of the greatness of his sins, often also
tempted by the allurements of the world to forget his calling to endure
hardness as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. But now the cunning
adversary had assailed him in another form, and endeavoured to persuade
him that he had merited heaven itself and a blessed immortality by the
faithful discharge of the duties of his high office. "But blessed be
God," exclaimed the dying reformer, "who hath brought seasonably to my
mind those passages of Scripture by which I was enabled to quench the
fiery dart, 'What hast thou, that thou hast not received?' 'By the grace
of God I am what I am,' and 'Not I, but the grace of God in me' ...
wherefore I give thanks to my God by Jesus Christ who has been pleased
to grant me the victory. And I am firmly persuaded that ... in a short
time, without any great bodily pain, and without any distress of mind, I
shall exchange this mortal and miserable life for an immortal and
blessed life through Jesus Christ."

[Sidenote: His Peaceful Death.]

This persuasion of his speedy and happy departure was soon to be
justified by the event. After evening prayers Dr Preston, his physician,
asked him whether he had heard them, when he replied, "I would to God
that ye and all men heard them as I have heard them, and I praise God
for that heavenly sound." Shortly after the signs of immediate
dissolution appeared, his friends gathered round his bed, and his
faithful servant addressed him: "Now, sir, the time that you have long
called to God for, to wit an end of your battle, is come. And seeing all
natural power now fails, remember those comfortable promises, which
often times ye have shown to us, of our Saviour Jesus Christ. And that
we may understand and know that ye hear us, make us some sign." And so
he lifted up one of his hands, and incontinent thereafter rendered up
his spirit apparently without pain or movement, so that he seemed rather
to fall asleep than to die.

Such was the account of his last illness and death transmitted by those
who attended on him and witnessed it, a death worthy of his noble life,
and fully justifying the brief comment of Smeton, "Surely, whatever
opprobrious things profane men may utter, God hath in him given us an
example of the right way as well of dying as of living." It is true, as
his heartless traducer takes care to remind us, no dirge was chanted
over his remains, no mass of requiem was celebrated for his soul. He and
his countrymen had long ceased to believe in the worth of such priestly
ceremonies, or to imagine that their eternal state could be affected by
them, or by aught save Christ's finished work and their own faith and
repentance while God's day of grace was prolonged to them here. The
brief eulogy pronounced over his grave by the stern and reserved
regent[256] was a truer and more impressive testimony to his worth than
the most gorgeous celebration of Romish rites which he could but have
shared with a Borgia or a Betoun. The stern simplicity of his grave,
which, like his master Calvin's, was till lately preserved in the memory
of men without stone or bronze to mark it out, tells a tale very
different from that his traducer hints at; and if his bitter taunts
shall lead the reformer's countrymen now to erect a material monument to
him in some measure corresponding to the benefits he has been honoured
to confer on them, this attack on his fair fame will have been overruled
for good.

[Sidenote: The Scottish Nation his Monument.]

But his real monument will never be one graven by art or man's device.
It is one more noble, more lasting far. It is to be found in the life
God enabled him to live, and the work God honoured him to do. It is to
be seen in the plans he devised, in the institutions he founded, in the
people he moulded anew, when the old church had confessedly failed in
its mission. And while the Scottish nation continues to retain these
institutions, and to bear this impress, it will continue the grandest,
as it is the most telling, monument to the memory of its noble-hearted
and single-minded reformer.

FOOTNOTES:

[220] Dr Lorimer in British and Foreign Evangelical Review for 1872, p.
758.

[221] [The Good Regent was assassinated on the 23rd of January 1569-70.]

[222] [1570.]

[223] Bannatyne's Memoriales, Ban. Club, p. 118.

[224] See Laing's Knox, vi. 651.

[225] M'Crie's Knox, 1855, p. 459; Rogers' Three Scottish Reformers, p.
97.

[226] [Archbishop Hamilton was hanged at the market cross of Stirling on
the 7th of April 1571.]

[227] Bannatyne's Memoriales, Ban. Club, p. 255.

[228] Melville's Diary, Wodrow Society, p. 26.

[229] [Archibald Hamilton's letter or protestation is in Bannatyne's
Memoriales, pp. 262, 263.]

[230] [According to Martine, it was built, not for the reception of Mary
of Guise, but when James V. was married to Magdalene, the fair daughter
of Francis I., in 1537, the tradition being that the physicians chose
this place as peculiarly suitable for such a delicate creature; and that
"so many artificers were conveened and employed, and the materials so
quicklie prepared, that the house was begun and finished in a month"
(Reliquiæ Divi Andreæ, p. 190). There is better evidence to show that
Mary of Guise spent her honeymoon within its substantial walls in the
summer of 1538 (Lesley's History, pp. 155, 156; Pitscottie's History,
1778, pp. 250, 251).]

[231] Melville's Diary, p. 26.

[232] Ibid.

[233] Bannatyne's Memoriales, p. 256.

[234] Melville's Diary, p. 32.

[235] [In the rather scurrilous Legend of the Bischop of St Androis, it
is said:--

    "Ane baxters sone, are beggar borne,
    That twyse his surnaime hes mensworne;
    To be called Constene he thocht shame,
    He tuke up Constantine to name.

           *       *       *       *       *

    Thinking that poore professione vaine,
    He changed his surname ower agane;
    Now Doctor Adamsone at last,
    Whairthrow he ower to Paris past."

--Dalyell's Scotish Poems, 1801, ii. 309, 310.

He inherited both names from his ancestors, who were called Constantine
or Adamson (M'Crie's Melville, 1856, p. 461).]

[236] Melville's Diary, p. 32.

[237] Laing's Knox, vi. 481, 482.

[238] [This Assembly met on the 6th of March 1571-72.]

[239] Melville's Diary, p. 31.

[240] [This convention was held in January 1571-72. See Booke of the
Universall Kirk, i. 203-236; Calderwood's History, iii. 168-196.]

[241] Bannatyne's Memorials, p. 223.

[242] Calderwood's History, iii. 206.

[243] [Dr Laing has not only indicated that there has long been much
uncertainty and speculation as to the parentage and social status of
John Douglas, but has stated that he "was descended from the Douglasses
of Pettendreich" (Laing's Knox, i. 286 n.) Principal Lee has said: "All
the accounts of Douglas which I have ever seen in modern books abound
with errors. He is represented as having been an obscure Carmelite friar
whom the Earl of Argyle chose to employ as his chaplain, and for whom
the Archbishop of St Andrews expressed the strongest aversion. He was
quite a different man--a man of family undoubtedly, and most probably
related to James Douglas the Earl of Morton, son of Sir George Douglas
of Pinky, and, like him, a branch of the great family of Angus" (Lee's
Lectures, ii. 3). When working in the Register House, I found
unimpeachable evidence concerning his parentage. On the 2nd of January
1563-64, letters of legitimation were granted in favour of Mr John
Douglas, Rector of the University of St Andrews, bastard son natural of
quondam Robert Douglas in Langnewtoune (Register of Privy Seal, xxxii.
23).]

[244] Melville's Diary, p. 32; Calderwood's History, iii. 206.

[245] These honest men earnestly implored their pastor to return also to
Edinburgh, if he could do so without serious injury to his health.

[246] Melville's Diary, p. 33.

[247] [Dr Cameron Lees says that the Tolbooth, in which Knox preached
for some little time and where he delivered his last sermon, was "the
portion of St Giles which had been cut off the western part of the nave,
and was used for meetings of the Council" (St Giles', 1889, p. 157).]

[248] M'Crie's Knox, 1855, p. 269.

[249] Melville's Diary, p. 33.

[250] [In the opinion of Dr David Laing, Lawson was the author of the
Vera Historia extremae vitae et obitus eximii viri Joannis Knoxii,
appended to Smeton's Responsio ad Hamiltonii Dialogum, in 1579 (Laing's
Knox, vi. 646).]

[251] Walsingham's abuse of Wycliffe. [Thomae Walsingham, Historia
Anglicana, ii. 119, 120; and Ypodigma Neustriae a Thoma Walsingham, p.
340; Rolls series. Translations will be found in Vaughan's John de
Wycliffe, 1853, pp. 468, 469; and in Lechler's Wycliffe, Relig. Tract
Soc., p. 423.]

[252] [For the substance of Archibald Hamilton's account, see M'Crie's
Knox, 1855, p. 405. Bannatyne's account is in both editions of his work
(Journal of Transactions, 1806, and Memoriales of Transactions, 1836).
It is likewise in Laing's Knox, vi. 634-645; and there (pp. 649-660) is
also given a translation of Smeton's (or Lawson's) account. The accounts
of Bannatyne and Smeton do not always agree as to the exact day on which
certain events happened.]

[253] [Morton was elected regent on the 24th of November 1572, the day
on which Knox died (Acts of Parliament, iii. 78; Bannatyne's Memoriales,
p. 280). Bannatyne places Morton's visit on the 19th; Smeton leaves the
day uncertain.]

[254] For a defence of Kirkaldy see Barbé's Kirkaldy of Grange, Famous
Scots Series, pp. 108-124.

[255] For a different interpretation see Taylor Innes's John Knox,
Famous Scots Series, pp. 30, 31.

[256] [Morton's testimony to Knox, as recorded by Melville, was: "That
he nather fearit nor flatterit anie fleche" (Diary, p. 60). As recorded
by Calderwood: "Here lyeth a man who in his life never feared the face
of man; who hath beene often threatned with dag and dager, but yitt hath
ended his dayes in peace and honour. For he had God's providence
watching over him in a speciall maner, when his verie life was sought"
(History, iii. 242).]



CHAPTER X.

THE SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE.


In a previous lecture I have endeavoured to give a pretty full account
of the First Book of Discipline. It remains yet to say a few words about
the Second Book of Discipline.

[Sidenote: The Two Books Compared.]

Principal John Cunningham has said: "The First Book exhibited a system
of polity sagaciously suited to the circumstances of the country and the
church: it seemed to grow out of the times."[257] I will add that it was
not only suited to the times, but to many of the practical needs of the
church of all times. I therefore hold that even yet it is worthy of a
higher place than to be deemed merely a "collection of parchments and
coins deposited beneath it [_i.e._, the Second Book] by which future
generations may read the story of the times in which the building was
begun."[258] The Second Book is more a book of constitutional law; and
aims, as the Principal says, at elaborating a system from the New
Testament without reference to circumstances, and bears far more
resemblance to the Ordonnances of Calvin than to the less ambitious and
more comprehensive Church Order Books of Germany. But the Second Book of
Discipline has even fewer practical details than the ordinances of
Geneva. Of course, so far as it actually abolished or modified the
regulations of the First Book, these fell to be disused; but in so far
as it did not actually do so, they still had a certain validity: and
even in the Covenanting times it is generally the Books, not the Book of
Discipline, to which reference is made in Acts of Assembly.

No one in our times, perhaps, has shown a more thorough appreciation of
the real merits of the First Book than the Duke of Argyll in his
well-known essay on "Presbytery." Mr Hill Burton, who depreciates it in
comparison with the Second, makes far more than is warranted of the
strong language in which it occasionally indulges against the old
church, with which he contrasts the more restrained and balanced
utterances of the Second Book.[259] I do not yield to many in my
admiration of the courage and calmness of Melville; but I could no more
think of placing him, scholarly and bold, yet calm, as he generally was,
nor the Book attributed to him, more logical and unimpassionately
didactic though it be, before the eager, impetuous, yet sagacious Knox,
with his wealth of rude eloquence and thrilling tenderness, and his Book
in which these qualities of head and heart are so clearly mirrored, than
I would think of placing Calvin, highly as I honour him, before Luther,
or his Catechism before the Wittenberg hymn-books.

I do not believe that the principles of the two Books are so widely
different as they have sometimes been represented to be, or that the
grand ideas of Knox concerning the place of the laity in the church, the
education of the young, and the support and kindly treatment of the aged
poor, were meant to be rejected or ignored by his great successor; but I
do think these matters fall considerably into the background. Some of
the noblest conceptions of the earlier Book are narrowed, and the whole
system stiffened; and in the contests in which the church had then to
engage with the young monarch, in vindication of her independence in her
own province, positions were laid down which were soon pressed to
consequences from which Knox and his associates would have shrunk.

[Sidenote: The Supreme Power.]

They, who had been obliged long to contend with a corrupt and obstinate
clergy which would grant no real reform in doctrine, no substantial
concessions for the alleviation of practical grievances, boldly laid
down the principle that "to kings, princes, rulers, and magistrates ...
chieflie and most principallie the conservation and purgation of the
religioun apperteinis; so that not onlie they are appointed for civill
policie, but also for maintenance of the trew religioun, and for
suppressing of idolatrie and superstitioun whatsoever.... And therefore
wee confesse and avow that sik as resist the supreme power doing that
thing quhilk appertains to his charge, do resist Goddis ordinance, and
therefore cannot be guiltles."[260] Melville, who was called to contend
with a king bent on securing autocratic power in the church as well as
in the state, laid down, with the utmost precision, the principle in
chapter x., "Although kings and princes that be godlie, sumtymes be
their awin authority whan the kirk is corruptit and all things out of
ordor, place ministers and restore the trew service of the Lord efter
the examples of sum godly kings of Juda and divers godly emperours and
kings also in the light of the New Testament; yit quhair the ministrie
of the kirk is anes lawfullie constitute and they that are placeit do
thair office faithfullie, all godlie princes and magistratis aucht to
heir and obey thair voice, and reverence the majestie of the Son of God
speiking be them";[261] or, as in chapter i., where it is laid down, "As
ministeris are subject to the judgement and punishment of the magistrat
in externall things if they offend, so aucht the magistratis to submit
themselfis to the discipline of the kirk gif they transgresse in
matteris of conscience and religioun."[262]

[Sidenote: Limits of Ecclesiastical Power.]

Hill Burton sarcastically remarks that "if we grant that those who
prepared it were what they called themselves--the Church of God,
presided over by the Lord Jesus Christ as the representative of the
Godhead on earth--it would be difficult to refuse assent to what
follows. Nothing can be more perfect than the analysis by which the two
ruling powers are separated from each other, and the ecclesiastical set
above the secular."[263] If this is not quite borne out, one can hardly
help feeling that more care should have been taken to mark out the
limits of ecclesiastical authority, and to show that the power of
ministers and elders was as distinctly limited by the laws of Christ as
that of kings and magistrates ought to be by the laws of the land; or,
in other words, that ministers and elders may err in interpreting the
laws of Christ, just as civil rulers may err in interpreting the laws of
the land. No doubt the limitation contended for is in words admitted,
"the magistrat neither aucht to preich, minister the sacraments, nor
execute the censuris of the kirk, nor yit prescrive any rewll how it
sould be done; bot command the ministeris to observe the rewll commandit
in the Word, and punish the transgressours be civill means. The
ministeris exerce not the civill jurisdictioun, bot teich the magistrat
how it sould be exercit according to the Word."[264] "It is proper to
kings, princes, and magistrates to be callit lordis and dominators over
their subjectis, whom they govern civilly; bot it is proper to Christ
onlie to be callit Lord and Master in the spirituall government of the
kirk, and all utheris that beiris office therein aucht not to usurp
dominion therein, nor be callit lordis, bot onlie ministeris, disciples,
and servantis. For it is Christis proper office to command and rewll His
kirk universall, and every particular kirk, throw His Spirit and Word,
be the ministrie of men."[265] But it is not made sufficiently prominent
anywhere in the Book that these men are only entitled to unreserved
obedience when they truly speak Christ's mind and truly follow His Word.
Those who have made most of the Book have neither clearly perceived this
nor have they realised the full meaning of the lucid and explicit
statement made by Rutherfurd when he was contending against the
Erastians and Independents of England. Had they done so, I cannot but
think that the bitter divisions among Scottish Presbyterians would have
been fewer, and that there would have been far less occasion for the
reproach often cast on them, that new presbyter is but old priest writ
large.

[Sidenote: Rutherfurd's Opinion.]

"That the magistrate is not obliged," Rutherfurd affirms, "to execute
the decrees of the church without further examination, whether they be
right or wrong, as Papists teach that the magistrate is to execute the
decrees of their Popish councels with blind obedience, and submit his
faith to them, because he is a layman and may not dare to examine
whether the church doth erre or not, is clear. 1. Because, if in hearing
the Word all should follow the example of the men of Berea, not relying
on the testimony of Paul or any preacher, [and] try whether that which
concerneth their conscience and faith be agreeable to the Scriptures or
no, and accordingly receive or reject; so in all things of discipline
the magistrate is to try by the Word whether he ought to adde his
sanction to these decrees which the church gives out for edification,
and whether he should draw the sword against such a one as a heretick
and a perverter of souls. But the former is true; the magistrate's
practise in adding his civill sanction and in punishing hereticks
concerneth his conscience, knowing that he must do it in faith as he
doth all his moral actions; _ergo_, the magistrate must examine what he
practiseth in his office according to the Word, and must not take it
upon the meer authority of the church, else his faith in these moral
acts of his office should be resolved _ultimate_ on the authority of the
church, not on the Word of God, which, no doubt, is Popery, for so the
warrant of the magistrate's conscience should not be 'thus saith the
Lord,' but 'thus saith the church in their decrees.' 2. The magistrate
and all men have a command to try all things, _ergo_, to try the decrees
of the church, and to retain what is good (1 Thes. v. 21); to try the
spirits even of the church in their decrees (1 John iii. 1). 3. We
behooved [in that case] to lay down this Popish ground that ... the
church cannot erre in their decrees.... Its against Scripture and reason
that magistrates, and by the like reason all others, should obey the
decrees of the church with a blinde faith, without inquiring in the
warrants and grounds of their decrees, which is as good Popery as,
Magistrates and all men are to beleeve as the church beleeveth, with an
implicite faith, so ignorance shall be the mother of devotion. Whoever
impute this to us--who have suffered for nonconformity, and upon this
ground, that synods can erre, refused the ceremonies--are to consult
with their own conscience whether this be not to make us appear
disloyall and odious to magistracy in that which we never thought, far
lesse [presumed] to teache and professe it to the world."[266]

[Sidenote: Gillespie's Opinion.]

Even more notable are the utterances of George Gillespie, when
vindicating against the Erastians of the south that more free government
of the church by its own courts from which they feared so many evils.
"I dare confidently say," he affirms, "that, if comparisons be rightly
made, presbyterial government is the most limited and the least
arbitrary government of any other in the world."[267] And, after
entering into details to make good this affirmation in regard to the
papal and prelatical forms of government, he proceeds to maintain that
Independents "must needs be supposed to exercise a much more unlimited
or arbitrary power than the presbyterial churches do," because they
exempt individual congregations from all control and correction by
superior courts, and because it is "one of their three grand principles
which disclaimeth the binding of themselves for the future unto their
present judgement and practice, and avoucheth the keeping of this
reserve to alter and retract."[268] Some who think that, after all
recent changes, they more truly hold the opinions of Gillespie than we
do, have laid it down very dogmatically that even although the
constitution of a national church were in all other respects scriptural,
yet if it did not reserve this power to alter and retract without let or
hindrance, it would still be at variance with the tenets of the
Covenanting times; but you see here that Gillespie affirms that that was
a principle of the Independents, not of the Presbyterians, and
claims[269] it as a special merit of the latter that they were willing
to explain their doctrine and discipline to the civil authorities, and,
getting these sanctioned, to abide by them till they were again altered
by consent of church and state. He denies that in claiming a distinct
government for the church the Presbyterians meant to deprive the
Christian magistrate of that power and authority in matters of religion
which the Word of God and the earlier Confessions of the Reformed
churches recognised as belonging to his office. On the contrary, he
maintains that not only in extraordinary cases when church government
doth degenerate into tyranny, or those who manage it make defection from
the truth, "the Christian magistrate may and ought to do diverse things
in and for religion, and interpose his authority diverse wayes so as
doth not properly belong to his cognisance, decision and administration
ordinarily, and in a reformed and well constituted church";[270] but
also that, in ordinary cases, he is free to act as his own conscience
directs in giving or refusing his sanction to the government and
discipline of the church; and that if he is offended with any sentence
of its courts, "they ought to be ready, in all humility and respect, to
give him an account and reason of such their proceedings, and by all
means to endeavour the satisfaction of the magistrate his conscience, or
otherwise to be warned and rectified if themselves have erred."[271]

[Sidenote: Its Influence not unmixed.]

Had the principles thus laid down been more clearly kept in view by
the framers of the Second Book of Discipline, its influence for good on
Scottish Christianity would have been more unmixed than it has been. Had
they been more consistently acted on by Rutherfurd and his associates,
who consented to their formal insertion in our later standards, many sad
troubles which then and afterwards befel the church, for which they
lived and laboured, would have been altogether avoided, or more easily
provided against; but as it is, great misunderstandings have certainly
arisen. The two Books of Discipline have been too much read apart,
instead of being regarded as complementary each of the other; and while
all that is liberal and progressive tends, I think, more and more to
rally round the one, I believe that much that is narrower, but still
earnest and resolutely Christian, will continue to draw its inspiration
from the other.

[Sidenote: Its Theory of the Church.]

The Second Book of Discipline, as well as the First, failed to commend
itself to the ruling powers, and to obtain a place in its full form on
the statute book. Those of its clauses relating to the functions of the
several church courts were inserted almost word for word in the Act of
the Scottish Parliament of 1592, reckoned the charter of the
presbyterian church. It was, however, several times ratified by the
General Assembly, and was partially carried out by its authority from
the time of its ratification; and to this extent it, as well as the
First Book of Discipline, appears to have been fully recognised. The
question of its authority was very fully argued in the famous
Auchterarder case. The counsel for the presbytery and the minority of
the judges did not venture to argue, however, that as a whole the Second
Book of Discipline had received the sanction of the state save in
irregular times; but they contended that the notes, contained in
Spottiswoode's History, of the clauses respecting which the king and the
commissioners of Parliament had come to agreement with the ministers,
should be accepted as determining the extent to which it was law. It was
affirmed, however, by the majority of the judges that only the clauses
actually inserted in the Act of Parliament could be so regarded, and it
has since been maintained by Mr Peterkin that the alleged notes of
agreement between the king and the church's commissioners are not
actually found in the manuscript copy of the History which is preserved
in the Advocate's Library.[272] The general theory of the church,
however, which may be said to underlie the most important statement of
the Second Book of Discipline, is not materially different from that
which finds expression in the First. "The kirk of God," it is said, "is
sumtymes largelie takin for all them that professe the Evangill of Jesus
Christ, and so it is a company and fellowship, not onely of the godly,
but also of hypocrites professing alwayis outwardly ane true religion.
Uther tymes it is takin for the godlie and elect onlie, and sumtymes for
them that exercise spiritual function amongis the congregation of them
that professe the truth."[273] These last, ministers, doctors, elders,
and deacons, are taken to represent the church in its wider sense, and
must have a lawful calling from it. This lawful calling is said to
consist of two parts--viz., election and ordination. Election is defined
to be the choosing out of a person or persons most able for the office
that is vacant, by the judgment of the eldership and consent of the
congregation to which the person or persons are appointed. Ordination is
defined as the separation and sanctifying of the person appointed of God
and His kirk after he be well tried and found qualified. The ceremonies
of ordination are declared to be fasting, earnest prayer, and imposition
of the hands of the eldership. Then follow two of the most important
paragraphs in the Book, which come nearest to supplying that which I
deem defective in it, a clear and distinct admission that human rulers
in the church as well as in the state have but limited powers. "All thir
[_i.e._, those various kinds of office-bearers], as they must be raisit
up be God and be Him made able for the wark quhairto they ar callit, so
aught they [to] knaw their message to be limitit within God's Word,
without the quhilk bounds they aught not to passe. All thir sould tak
these titils and names onlie ... quhilk the Scriptures gevis unto them,
as these quhilks import labour, travell and wark; and ar names of
offices and service, and not of idlenes, dignitie, warldlie honour or
preheminence, quhilk be Christ our Maister is expresslie reprovit and
forbidden.... And generallie thir twa things aught they all to respect,
the glorie of God, and edifieing of His kirk, in discharging their
dewties in their callings."[274]

[Sidenote: Institution of the Presbytery.]

[Sidenote: Eldership or Presbytery.]

It is generally supposed that it is in this Second Book of Discipline
that we have the first clear institution of that church court which we
now call the presbytery, and it admits of no dispute that it was in the
year 1581, after the final adoption of the Book by the Assembly, that an
attempt was made, with consent of the crown, regularly to divide the
country into presbyteries. These, however, though marked out on paper in
that year, were in point of fact only gradually set up, and in general
they arose out of, and absorbed into themselves, the previously existing
_exercise_, which the First Book of Discipline had sanctioned and
recommended to meet weekly for the study and interpretation of the
Scriptures.[275] The introduction of what are called, but erroneously,
lay elders[276] to the place they have so long worthily filled in the
presbyteries was a still more gradual process. The presbytery of St
Andrews, even down to the close of the sixteenth century, appears to
have contained no elders save the _doctors_, under which name were
comprehended the masters of the university, both professors of divinity
and professors of philosophy, and even the doctor or master of the
grammar-school. The question, however, has been raised whether it is
really the presbytery or the kirk-session which is meant by the word
_eldership_, which is generally applied in the Second Book of Discipline
to that court to which it asserts that it belongs to see that the Word
of God is purely preached within its bounds, the sacraments rightly
administered, the discipline maintained, and the ecclesiastical goods
rightly distributed; to take care that the ordinances made by
provincial, national, and general assemblies are duly executed; and also
to make constitutions which concern τὸ πρéπον in the
kirk,[277]--all which duties by the Act of Parliament are expressly
assigned to the presbytery.[278] This question has been keenly debated
down to our own day. The weight of authority is certainly very decidedly
in favour of the opinion which identifies this eldership with the
presbytery. Among recent authorities we have Dr David Laing and Dr Cook
of Haddington on this side, in opposition to the late Principal
Cunningham of St Andrews; and among those of a somewhat earlier time we
have Principal Lee, Dr M'Crie, and the late Dr George Cook of St Andrews
pronouncing in favour of the same view. If we go to older authorities
again, we have Spottiswoode, the episcopal historian, and Calderwood,
the presbyterian, at one in supporting it. I know of no considerable
authority in the seventeenth century which has been adduced on the other
side, save that of Henderson, whose statement, however, is rather
inferential than direct. In fact, the eldership is used in the Second
Book of Discipline itself as a convertible term with presbytery, and is
often so used in the acts of contemporary assemblies. When presbyteries
came to be set up, they are sometimes designated by the name of
eldership, and sometimes by that of presbytery; and where our present
authorised version of Scripture reads "with the laying on of the hands
of the presbytery," the Genevan version reads, "with the laying on of
the hands of the companie of the eldership."[279]

[Sidenote: The Kirk-Session.]

The only other alternative is that suggested by the late Procurator
Cook, that in the Second Book of Discipline the functions of the two
courts were as yet undistributed; and that when they came to be legally
distributed by the Act of Parliament of 1592, those which the framers of
the Second Book assigned to the eldership were in nearly its very words
appropriated to the presbytery, and a much more limited province
assigned to the kirk-session--the court called by the Puritans of the
south by the name of the Lesser Presbytery. Perhaps it may be regarded
as a rather curious confirmation of this theory of Procurator Cook's,
that what he supposes to have been first intended by the framers of the
Book as a common court is asserted by Gillespie, the ablest of their
successors in the following century, to have been really characteristic
of the presbytery of the primitive church. Whatever may be thought of
his argument in vindication of what he calls the two presbyteries, the
fact remains that he explicitly admits there was but one in the
primitive church;[280] and this will be all the more remarkable if,
with Mr Cook, we hold that what the framers of the Second Book of
Discipline really designed was one presbytery or eldership governing a
larger or smaller number of churches in common; and that we owe the
distribution of the power between the two courts rather to the Act of
Parliament than to the Second Book of Discipline. I agree with
Gillespie, however, that in the circumstances of the church in a
thoroughly Christianised country it would have been a matter to be
regretted if every congregation had not had its session or lesser
presbytery, with such definitely limited powers as by the Act of
Parliament, and by the later acts of the church, are entrusted to it;
and I am not sure that we do not owe this arrangement to the episcopal
rather than to the presbyterian party, and that it was a concession made
by them as the only presbytery they could well acknowledge, if they were
to leave any function for the bishop at all in this court. At least the
rough draft of the clause of the subsequent Act of Parliament in regard
to the kirk-session appears first in the conference held between the two
parties, and is then noted as having had the express approval of the
king and commissioners of Parliament,[281] which was not at that time,
nor till considerably later, secured to the clauses in the Act affirming
the powers of the larger presbytery.

[Sidenote: Westminster Theory of the Church.]

I have said elsewhere that in chapters xxv. and xxvi. of the Westminster
Confession of Faith we have a doctrine affirmed as to the church and the
communion of saints which seems to me to be more thoroughly catholic
than that which is set forth in the Articles of the Irish Episcopal
Church, of the teaching of which the compilers of our Confession have so
largely availed themselves. In addition to one invisible church to which
all the true elect of God are affirmed to belong, and particular visible
churches composed of _professing_ Christians in particular nations (both
of which are expressly owned in both formularies), the Westminster
Confession recognises one visible church to which all throughout the
world who profess faith in Christ are to feel that they belong, and
with the members of which they are bound, as God gives them opportunity,
to cultivate union and communion. "The catholic or universal church,
which is invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect that have
been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the head thereof;
and is the spouse, the body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.
The visible church, which is also catholic or universal under the Gospel
(not confined to one nation as before under the law), consists of all
those throughout the world that profess the true religion, and of their
children, and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and
family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of
salvation. Unto this catholic visible church Christ hath given the
ministry, oracles, and ordinances of God for the gathering and
perfecting of the saints in this life to the end of the world; and doth
by His own presence and Spirit, according to His promise, make them
effectual thereunto. This catholic church hath been sometimes more,
sometimes less, visible; and particular churches which are members
thereof are more or less pure, according as the doctrine of the Gospel
is taught and embraced, ordinances administered, and public worship
performed more or less purely in them.... All saints that are united to
Jesus Christ their head, by His Spirit and by faith, have fellowship
with Him in His graces, sufferings, death, resurrection, and glory. And,
being united to one another in love, they have communion in each other's
gifts and graces, and are obliged to the performance of such duties,
public and private, as do conduce to their mutual good." In other words,
every true member of the church, be he hearer or office-bearer, holds
his place in the body for the good of all, and is bound to use his gifts
and opportunities to promote, as far as he can, the spiritual and
temporal good of all. A single sentence from the Westminster Directory
for Church Government is all I need to give, in supplement of this
statement of the Confession, to put you in full possession of their
authors' views and aspirations. "When their number [_i.e._, the
membership of a congregation] is so great that they cannot conveniently
meet in one place, it is expedient that they be divided according to the
respective bounds of their dwellings into distinct and fixed
congregations for the better administration of such ordinances as belong
unto them, and the discharge of mutual duties; wherein all, according to
their several places and callings, are to labour to promote whatever
appertains to the power of godliness and credit of religion, that the
whole land, in the full extent of it, may become the kingdom of our Lord
and of His Christ."

[Sidenote: Ideal Presbytery.]

The sum of all this may be given in the words of Henderson, in the
conclusion of his treatise on 'The Government and Order of the Church of
Scotland,' the only other treatise which has any right to be set
alongside of the Books of Discipline. "In the authoritie of these
assemblies, parochial, presbyteriall, provinciall, and nationall, and in
the subordination of the lesser unto the greater, or of more particular
elderships to the larger and generall eldership, doth consist the
externall order, strength, and steadfastnesse of the Church of
Scotland.... Here there is a superiority without tyrannie, for no
minister hath a papall or monarchicall jurisdiction over his own flock,
far lesse over other pastors and over all the congregations of a large
dioces. Here there is paritie without confusion and disorder, for the
pastors are in order before the elders, and the elders before the
deacons; the church [_i.e._, each congregation] is subordinate to the
presbyterie, the presbyterie to the synod, and the synod to the
nationall assembly. One pastor also hath priority [of esteem] before
another, for age, for zeale, for gifts, for his good deservings of the
church, each one honouring him whom God hath honoured, and as he beareth
the image of God which was to bee seen among the apostles themselves.
But none hath power or jurisdiction above others: even as in nature one
eye hath not power over another, only the head hath power over all, even
as Christ over His church.... And lastly, here there is a subjection
without slaverie, for the people are subject to the pastors and
assemblies, yet there is no assemblie wherein everie particular church
hath not interest and power; nor is there anything done but they are, if
not actually, yet virtually called to consent unto it."[282] This is
presbytery in theory, and there is no reason why we should not
approximate to the ideal in practice more closely than some recent
representations imply, save that we come short of what we ought to be as
men and as Christians, and that would suffice to mar any form of
government that could be devised by the wit of men.

FOOTNOTES:

[257] Cunningham's Church History of Scotland, 1859, i. 444.

[258] Ibid., i. 445.

[259] Hill Burton's History of Scotland, 1876, v. 203.

[260] Confession of 1560, in Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 92, 93. [In
Laing's Knox, ii. 118, it is _reformatioun and purgatioun_ instead of
_conservation and purgation_.]

[261] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 788, 789. [The Second Book of Discipline
has been frequently printed. It is in Calderwood's History, Wodrow
Society ed., iii. 529-555; Spottiswoode's History, 1655, pp. 289-302;
Spottiswoode Society ed., ii. 233-256; Booke of the Universall Kirk,
Bannatyne Club ed., ii. 488-512; Peterkin's ed., pp. 537-563; Dunlop's
Confessions, ii. 757-805. The quotations in the text are from Dunlop.]

[262] Ibid., ii. 764. Melville afterwards more pithily expressed the
same principle in his sovereign's presence: "Thair is twa kings and twa
kingdomes in Scotland. Thair is Chryst Jesus the King, and His kingdome
the kirk, whase subject King James the Saxt is, and of whase kingdome
nocht a king, nor a lord, nor a heid, bot a member! And they whome
Chryst hes callit and commandit to watch over His kirk, and governe His
spirituall kingdome, hes sufficient powar of Him and authoritie sa to
do, bathe togidder and severalie; the quhilk na Christian king nor
prince sould controll and discharge, but fortifie and assist, utherwayes
nocht fathfull subjects nor members of Chryst" (Melville's Diary, p.
370).

[263] Hill Burton's History of Scotland, v. 203.

[264] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 763.

[265] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 762.

[266] Rutherfurd's Divine Right of Church Government, 1646, pp. 596,
597. [1 John iii. 1 is a misprint in the original for 1 John iv. 1.]

[267] Aaron's Rod Blossoming, 1646, p. 177.

[268] Ibid., pp. 180, 181.

[269] [Dr Mitchell may have found such a claim elsewhere in Gillespie's
works; but it is not distinctly made in that chapter of 'Aaron's Rod
Blossoming' from which the quotations in this paragraph are taken,
although perhaps it may be held to be implied in the words: "By which it
appeareth that their [_i.e._, the Independents'] way will not suffer
them to be so far moulded into an uniformity, or bounded within certain
particular rules (I say not with others, but even among themselves) as
the Presbyterian way will admit of" (Aaron's Rod Blossoming, p. 181).]

[270] Aaron's Rod Blossoming, p, 182.

[271] Aaron's Rod Blossoming, p. 183.

[272] Peterkin's Booke of the Universall Kirk, 1839, p. 549 n. [The late
Bishop Russell, after examining the four MS. copies of Spottiswoode's
History, came to the conclusion that the one in the Advocates' Library
is only the first and incompleted draft of the work, and that the one in
Trinity College, Dublin, is the one which Spottiswoode himself prepared
for the press. Bishop Russell accordingly followed the Dublin MS. in his
edition of the History printed for the Spottiswoode Society, and that
edition (as well as the old folio edition) contains the notes of
agreement and disagreement. Peterkin has printed the Second Book of
Discipline, from an attested copy publicly read on the 29th of September
1591 "in the elderschip of Haddingtoun," and "subscryvit be the brethren
thairof." Of the ten subscribers, nine write _minister_ after their
names; the other simply signs, "Mr L. Hay, Bass."]

[273] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 759, 760.

[274] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 769.

[275] _Supra_, pp. 170-173.

[276] ["Some reproachfully and others ignorantly call them _lay elders_.
But the distinction of the clergie and laity is popish and
anti-christian; and they who have narrowly considered the records of
ancient times have noted this distinction as one of the grounds whence
the mystery of iniquity had the beginning of it. The name of _clergie_
appropriate to ministers is full of pride and vaine-glory, and hath made
the holy people of God to be despised, as if they were prophane and
uncleane in comparison of their ministers" (Gillespie's Assertion of the
Government, 1641, p. 3).]

[277] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 779, 780.

[278] Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, iii. 542.

[279] [In some editions of the Genevan version the word "eldership" is
thus explained in the margin: "Under this name he containeth the whole
ministerie of the church which was at Ephesus."]

[280] Assertion of the Government of the Church of Scotland, 1641, pp.
128-130, 136-147.

[281] [It is not quite clear which conference Dr Mitchell is here
referring to. In the conference held at Stirling in December 1578, the
Second Book of Discipline was discussed section by section. The results
are preserved not only by Spottiswoode, as mentioned above (p. 227 n.),
but also by Calderwood (iii. 433-442), neither of whom, however, says
that these results were then noted as having been expressly approved by
the king. The heads agreed upon at the Holyrood conference on 17th
February 1585-86 do not include anything which can be regarded as the
draft of the clause of the Act of 1592 concerning the power and
jurisdiction of "particulare kirkis" (Calderwood's History, iv.
491-494). The articles defining the jurisdiction of provincial
assemblies, presbyteries, and particular kirks, agreed on by the king in
conference with some of the brethren sent to him by the General Assembly
in May 1586, are transferred almost _verbatim_ to the Act of Parliament
of 1592 (Booke of the Universall Kirk, Bannatyne Club edit., ii. 665,
666; Calderwood's History, iv. 567, 568; Acts of Parliament, iii. 541,
542).]

[282] The Government and Order of the Church of Scotland, 1641, pp. 60,
64, 65.



CHAPTER XI.

ALESIUS.


We owe it to the Rev. Christopher Anderson, the author of the 'Annals of
the English Bible,' that attention has been once more turned to the
deeply interesting story of Alexander Alane, or Alesius. Principal
Lorimer, in his 'Scottish Reformation,' has thrown further light on him.
And Dr Merle D'Aubigné, who appears to have minutely examined most of
his tracts and commentaries, has wrought into his graphic but
imaginative narrative much of the information which they have been the
chief means of handing down to us. It was after his expatriation that he
received from Melanchthon the name of Alesius, or the wanderer.

[Sidenote: His miraculous Escape.]

This highly distinguished but long forgotten _alumnus_ of St Andrews
University was born in Edinburgh on the 23rd of April 1500, of honest
parents, and received the first rudiments of his education in his
native city. It was probably while he was still there that he had
vouchsafed on his behalf those wonderful interpositions of Providence,
which remained through life engraven on his heart, and which he thus
relates in his preface to his Commentary on the Second Epistle of Paul
to Timothy, published at Leipzig in 1551. "Certe ab infantia [Diabolus]
me saepe incautum opprimere voluit, et perdere non tam insidiis et
crudelitate hostium, quam praecipitio in ignem et aquam. Verum ille, qui
servavit me inter omnia pericula et infantem de gradibus patris mei
cadentem in acervum lapidum advectorum ad extruendum supremum tabulatum
in aedibus, et reptantem manibus in cacumine altissimi montis, ex cujus
declivi vel praerupto, divinitus in alterum latus in quo facilis erat
descensus, subito perveni."[283] With even more than his usual licence,
Dr D'Aubigné thus recounts this adventure: He "was fond of going with
other boys of his own age to the heights which environ Edinburgh. The
great rock on the summit of which the castle stands, the beautiful
Calton Hill, and the picturesque hill called Arthur's Seat, in turn
attracted them. One day, it was in 1512, Alexander and his friends,
having betaken themselves to the last-named hill, amused themselves by
rolling over and over down a slope which terminated in a precipice.
Suddenly the lad found himself on the brink; terror deprived him of his
senses; some hand grasped him and placed him in safety, but he never
knew by whom or by what means he had been rescued. The priests gave the
credit of this escape to the paper with which they had provided him, but
Alexander himself attributed it to God and his father's prayers."[284]

[Sidenote: Discussions with Patrick Hamilton.]

Alesius, or Alane as he was still called, being of good abilities, was
early sent to the university, and seems to have been one of the first
set of students who entered St Leonard's College (the college founded by
Prior John Hepburn, with the consent of Archbishop Alexander Stuart)
after its opening in 1512. His studies appear to have been prosecuted
there in the usual way, and in 1515 he became a determinant, or took the
degree of B.A.;[285] and, probably after acting for a few years as a
regent in the college, he was drafted as a novice into the priory, and
ultimately became one of its canons. When John Major came to St Andrews
in 1523 as principal of the Pædagogium, he, like Hamilton and some
others who ultimately shared the same opinions, studied theology under
him, and made great progress, especially in the study of the schoolmen
and the fathers of the Christian church. He was, like most of the young
scholastics of his time, fond of disputation; and if he listened to
those lectures on the gospels which Major gave to the press some years
after, he probably imbibed from his teacher that combative attitude
towards the new opinions which at this period of his life he showed.
D'Aubigné says: "His keenest desire was to break a lance with Luther....
As he could not measure himself personally with the man whom he named
_arch-heretic_, Alesius had refuted his doctrine in a public discussion
held at the university. The theologians of St Andrews had covered him
with applause.[286] ... Alesius, alive to these praises and a sincere
catholic, thought that it would be an easy task for him to convince
young Hamilton of his errors.... Armed cap-a-pie, crammed with
scholastic learning, and with all the formulæ 'quo modo sit, quo modo
nonsit,'" he had various discussions with him. "Hamilton had before him
nothing but the Gospel, and he replied to all the reasonings of his
antagonist with the clear, living, and profound word of the
Scriptures.... Alesius, struck and embarrassed, was silenced, and felt
as if 'the morning star were rising in his heart. It was not merely his
understanding that was convinced, the breath of a new life penetrated
his soul."[287] He continued from time to time to visit the reformer
while he lived, and to cherish his memory after he had been so cruelly
put to death.

When the opinions and martyrdom of Hamilton were the subject of
conversation among the canons, several of the younger of whom were
attached to him, Alesius refused to condemn him. He was not yet by any
means, as Dr Lorimer would have it, a Lutheran; he was not yet prepared
to separate himself from the old church; but he saw and mourned over her
corruptions, and longed, and in a quiet way laboured, for the removal of
them, and also yearned for the revival of a more earnest Christian
spirit, and more correct moral conduct among those over whom his
influence extended. From that day no one could induce him to express
approval of the proceedings which had been taken against Hamilton, or to
pronounce an unfavourable judgment on the articles for which he had been
condemned to death.

[Sidenote: Patrick Hepburn.]

This silence brought him under the suspicion of his more bigoted
associates, and gave special offence to his superior, Prior Patrick
Hepburn (the nephew of Prior John, who had founded St Leonard's
College), a violent, coarse, immoral young noble, emulous of the
debaucheries and vices, as well as of the cultured _hauteur_, of the
young French ecclesiastics of rank among whom his youth had been passed.
Knox has given a graphic if rather coarse account of the revelries of
this young man and his gay associates, more in keeping with what we
should have expected from the sons of Tarquin in heathen Rome than from
the _élite_ of the young ecclesiastics of a primatial Christian city,
and under the eye of an aged archbishop.[288] The representation of
Alesius is only the more credible because it is the more restrained, and
the one representation corroborates the other, and proves to what a low
ebb morality had sunk among the ministers of the old church in Scotland
before it was swept away. Not only did this bold bad man set at nought
the laws of God and the canons of his church, and make a boast of doing
so among his boon companions, but even when the archbishop sought to
separate him from his unlawful connection, the prior collected his armed
retainers, and would have fought with him had not the Earl of Rothes and
the Abbot of Arbroath, the primate's hopeful nephew, come between the
two bands and patched up a sort of truce between their leaders.

The Christian lives and healthful influence of the younger canons could
not but be felt to be a standing rebuke by their superior, and doubtless
were one main cause why he bore them so deep a grudge and gave way to
such savage outbursts of temper in his intercourse with them. He is
said to have denounced them, and especially Alesius, to the aged
primate, and probably with the view of entrapping him into some
unguarded expression of approval of the new opinions, he got him
appointed to preach the sermon at the opening of a synod of bishops and
priests which was held at St Andrews probably in the Lent of the year
1529. Alesius, while carefully avoiding everything which might give
needless offence to his hearers, thought, to use his own words, that in
such presence, and speaking in the Latin language, he would not
discharge his duty unless he earnestly exhorted those set in authority
over the churches to the practice of piety, the observance of good
morals, the study of Christian doctrine, and the pious teaching and
governing of their churches. He confesses that he earnestly inveighed
against immoral priests, but he adds that as he had said nothing in a
disloyal spirit, or more harshly than the facts warranted, and had
attacked no one by name, the sermon gave no offence to good men. But his
irate and domineering prior imagined that the sermon was specially aimed
at him, and was intended to hold him up to the ridicule of the assembled
prelates and clergy. Having already defied the archbishop, Hepburn could
not brook such a liberty on the part of one of his own subordinates. An
opportunity soon occurred to him of paying back with interest the insult
which he imagined had been done to him.

[Sidenote: Assaulted and Imprisoned.]

It so happened that the whole college of canons resolved, for many and
grave reasons, to lodge a complaint with the king respecting the
harshness and cruelty of their superior. When this came to Hepburn's
ears, he rushed with a band of armed attendants into the sacred
chapter-house where the canons were assembled, and when admonished by
Alesius, who probably presided in the meeting, not in the heat of
passion to be guilty of any foolish prank, he ordered the speaker to be
seized by his armed attendants, and drawing his sword would have run it
through him had not two of the canons forcibly dragged him back and
turned aside his weapon. The affrighted and timid canon cast himself at
his superior's feet and entreated him to spare his life, but in return
only received a kick in the breast which nearly proved fatal to him.
When he had partially recovered from this, and was being hurried off to
prison, another dastardly attack was made on him, but that was parried
by the prior's own retainers, who saw that he was beside himself with
rage and fury. After this all the other canons were seized and
imprisoned, but on the remonstrance of certain noble friends they were
ordered to be released by the king, who was then in St Andrews and was
informed of what had taken place.

[Sidenote: His Prison changed.]

The king's order was speedily carried out in regard to all save Alesius;
but he, notwithstanding all remonstrances of friends, was not only
detained in custody, but was even thrust into a more filthy dungeon,
called by the sufferer, in one of his treatises, _teterrimo specu subtus
terram inter bufones et serpentes_,[289] and in another a
_latrinâ_,[290] or sink, to which I know nothing at all corresponding in
St Andrews save the underground chamber near the college hall,[291] and
the roughly-hewn cavern still subsisting in the rock to the north of the
house at the end of Castle Street, going down by the southern entrance
by thirty or more somewhat irregular steps through the rock, and
terminating in a small chamber of rounded or oval form, having an
opening in its roof originally little more than a foot in diameter, but
now considerably enlarged, and to which on the other side a covered
passage from the castle leads down. They might well abandon hope who
entered there, and possibly one at least of its uses was for literally
immuring those who were never again to have further intercourse with
their fellow-men. In this or some other equally horrible place the poor
canon was confined for eighteen or twenty days; and when, after repeated
remonstrances on the part of the king and the magistrates of the city,
the prior was obliged to produce his victim, he enjoined him strictly on
no account to utter one word about the shameful maltreatment to which he
had been subjected. Alesius, however, had suffered too horribly in this
place to let slip the opportunity so unexpectedly presented to him of
telling the worst to the friendly magistrates, and entreating them to
save him from all further risk of a repetition of this barbarous
cruelty. But the magistrates, though friendly, were easily persuaded
that all was now to go right. As soon, however, as they were got out of
the way under this persuasion, the prior upbraided the poor canon for
having divulged the whole disgusting truth which he had enjoined him to
conceal, and ordered him to be again placed in confinement, in which he
was left to languish for nearly a year. But this confinement was in a
less objectionable place, and apparently within the precincts of the
priory; and when the prior was absent the canons occasionally had the
prisoner brought out from his ward, and even permitted him, as in former
times, to take a leading part in the services at the altar. On one
occasion the prior, coming back unexpectedly, and seeing what occurred
in his absence, ordered Alesius at once into confinement, threatening on
the morrow to have him off to the old filthy place where his life had
been so nearly sacrificed before, and where he was to be entrusted to
the care of a more remorseless jailer.

[Sidenote: He escapes by Night.]

As soon as their superior left them for the night the canons, satisfied
that all hope of preserving the life of their comrade in St Andrews was
at an end, and that if he did not seek safety by instant flight horrible
torments and certain death awaited him, gathered round him and urged him
to escape. On his expressing a wish to consult with other friends before
taking a step so serious, they pressed him only the more urgently to
flee and leave the country at once, as he would certainly be pursued,
and, if overtaken, brought back for condign punishment. The sequel I
give in his own unvarnished statement, which is to me more touching from
its very simplicity than the highly embellished _rechauffées_ of
D'Aubigné: "Etsi maximo dolore afficiebar cum cogitarem mihi è patria,
qua nihil dulcius est bene institutis naturis, discedendum esse, tamen,
et necessitati, et tot bonorum virorum consiliis parendum duxi."[292]
And then follows a parting scene only less affecting than that of St
Paul from the disciples on the seashore at Tyre, and proving that even
yet all good was not extinguished from the hearts of those under the
rule of this vicious prior, and encouraging the hope, which was
afterwards fully realised, that the best of them would ultimately find a
more congenial home in a new and purified church. Only the apostle,
though in a heathen land, could kneel down in open day on the seashore
to pray with his friends, and they without challenge could accompany him
to the ship which waited to receive him; while these men, though living
in a professedly Christian land, had secretly to bring out their friend
from the place of confinement and comfort him, and then send him away
alone into the thick darkness to pursue his weary journey under cover of
night to that broad firth which bounds Fifeshire on the north, if haply
he might find on its shores some boat to ferry him across, or on its
bosom some friendly craft to convey him without loss of time beyond the
reach of his implacable persecutor. "Clam igitur educunt me domo,
instruunt et viatico. Ita cum lachrymantes inter nos vale dixissemus, et
illi suavissima commemoratione illustrium virorum et sanctorum qui
similiter è patria tyrannidi cesserunt, maesticiam meam non nihil
levassent, media jam nocte in densissimis tenebris solus iter
ingredior."[293] Sadly he plodded on his way through the darkness,
oppressed with forebodings, for he knew of no hospitable retreat in
other lands; he had neither friend nor acquaintance among foreigners; he
could speak no language but his native tongue and Latin; and he had some
reason to fear that he might be classed with those vagabonds who had
been driven out from various Continental states because of their
fanatical opinions, and were justly suspected even by Protestants in
Germany. But in the multitude of distracting thoughts within him he
encouraged himself in the Lord his God and in Christ his Saviour. Ere
morning had well dawned his journey was completed, and he got safely on
shipboard, where, according to his own account, _quidam homo
germanus_[294]--that is, according to some, a certain man a German;
according to others, a certain man a kinsman--received him very
affectionately, and afterwards nursed him with great kindness during the
sea-sickness from which he suffered throughout the stormy voyage.

[Sidenote: His Dundee Friends.]

On the day following his escape, when the vessel which sheltered him had
already sailed, there came horsemen to the shore, sent by the prior from
St Andrews, to make search for the fugitive. When they returned without
success to their master, he is reported to have summoned before him a
certain citizen of Dundee, whom he suspected to have aided in providing
a ship for the canon. This merchant citizen[295] took with him another
true-hearted favourer of the Reformation, James Scrymgeour, provost of
the town; and on the former denying that he had given the assistance
which he was accused of doing to Alesius, and which probably he could
deny with a good conscience, his sons in St Andrews and Dundee having
been too prudent to involve him in their little plot, the provost spoke
out boldly to the haughty prior, and said: Why make a work about this?
I, myself, if I had known that Alexander was preparing to go away, would
with the greatest pleasure have furnished him both with a ship and with
provisions for his voyage, that he might be put in safety beyond the
reach of your cruelty. Assuredly, had he been my brother I would long
ago have rescued him from those perils and miseries in which you have
involved him.

Thus Alexander Alesius was driven from his much-loved native land,
destined never to return to it more, or again to see the friends and
relations to whom he was so warmly attached. "Could any one then have
whispered in the ear of the disconsolate exile that he was on the road
to far more extensive usefulness" and freedom; that he would gain many
friends in foreign lands, and would not only be spared to labour there
for more than thirty years, but would also be honoured to be the first
to plead by his writings for the free circulation of the Scriptures in
his native Scotland, and one of the first to help on Cranmer in England,
and Hermann von Wied, the reforming Archbishop of Cologne, in Germany;
that he would be privileged to attend, as one of the Protestant
representatives, many of the most important colloquies of the leaders of
the old and the new church on the Continent, to be the intimate friend
of Luther and Melanchthon, to labour as a professor of theology in two
German universities, and to live and die in the greatest honour and
respect among those with whom he laboured,--"how incredible would it all
have seemed to him!" Yet it was thus God meant it, and thus He brought
it to pass; and if there was one among the Scottish exiles of those
times who was less embittered towards his persecutors than another, or
more ready to yield to them in things indifferent or of minor
importance, if only he could gain their hearts for Christ and His cause
in matters of highest moment, it was he.

[Sidenote: Driven by the Tempest to Malmö.]

[Sidenote: Hermann von Wied's Apologue.]

The ship in which Alesius sailed was bound for France, probably for
Dieppe or Rouen, with which towns the trade of Scotland was carried on,
and where many Scottish merchants resided or had factors; but she had
not gone far on her way from port when a violent westerly gale carried
her across the German Ocean, drove her into the Sound, and made it
necessary to get her into the harbour at Malmö in Scania, in order to
refit her. There, as well as at the French ports named, there was a
community of Scottish merchants, probably by this time enjoying the
ministrations of John Gaw or Gall, another St Andrews _alumnus_, early
won over to the cause of the Reformation. The community of Malmö, a year
or two before, had given its adhesion to the same cause, and its leading
ministers, as well as the Scottish chaplain, were, therefore, prepared
to welcome and treat with all kindness their exiled co-religionist, as
he himself, twenty-five years after, feelingly narrates.[296] After
being refitted at Malmö, the vessel proceeded on her voyage to France,
where Alesius left, and plodding his way along the northern coast,
visited Belgium, where he would meet with friendly Scots at Bruges, and
probably also at Antwerp. He then passed up the Rhine to Cologne,
where, as already suggested, he was favourably received by the
Archbishop, Hermann von Wied, who afterwards became a friend of the
Reformation, though at this time, like Alesius himself, not yet decided
altogether to break with the old church. It is no doubt to this visit he
refers in the following passage of the treatise from which I have
repeatedly quoted: "When lately at Cologne I conversed familiarly with
a certain man of the highest learning and authority, and perceived how
deeply he was grieved by the disturbed state of the church in Germany. I
began to exhort him to interpose his judgment in certain matters of
dispute, because I hoped that milder views might gain the ascendancy if
princes and people only had such monitors excelling in learning and
authority. When I had argued long in support of my opinion, heaving a
sigh, but making no formal reply to my arguments, he bade me listen to
an apologue: When the lion, worn out with old age, could no longer
obtain his prey by hunting, he fell on the device of inviting the beasts
to visit him in his den. There came to him a bear, a wolf, and a fox.
The bear entered first, and being affably received by the lion, and
conducted round the den, he was asked how he was pleased with the
amenity of the place. Being no courtier, the bear answered bluntly that
he could never stay in such a filthy hole, among heaps of decaying
carcasses. The lion, enraged, chid the bear for finding fault with the
amenity of the royal den, and tearing him up, cast away his carcass
among the others. The wolf, who had been standing by, seeing in what
danger he was, thought by artifice to soothe the haughty mind of the
lion. He accordingly approached, was led round the den, and was asked
whether the smell of the heap of carcasses was unpleasant to him. The
wolf replied, in a carefully considered speech, that he had never seen
anything more pleasant. This artifice, however, was of no avail to the
wolf. The lion meted out the same treatment to him as to the bear,
tearing him up for his impudent flattery. The fox, who had witnessed all
this, and how both the simplicity of the bear and the flattery of the
wolf had given equal offence to the lion, was in great perplexity what
to answer when it came to his turn. He went forward, however, and being
interrogated as the others had been whether the smell of the den was
disagreeable, he replied modestly that he could not express any opinion
on the point, as he was labouring under a cold in the head." Alesius
waited to hear from his host the moral or application of the apologue,
but this was not given by him. He preferred to leave it to his own good
sense, merely counselling him to be cautious of engaging in such
discussions for the present. Ultimately, however, both came to see that
there is a time to speak as well as a time to keep silence; and it is
interesting to note that to the last both observed similar moderation in
their statements of doctrine, both evinced the same desire, by
conciliation to gain opponents, rather than to provoke them,
notwithstanding all the hard usage they both met with from their secular
and ecclesiastical superiors.

[Sidenote: Befriended by Melanchthon.]

Soon after this Alesius appears to have passed on from Cologne to
Wittenberg, and there for a time to have resumed the study of theology,
as well as of Greek and Hebrew, under Melanchthon and the other gifted
teachers in that university. Luther he does not seem to have met for a
time, or to have been acquainted with his writings when he published his
_first_[297] treatises. Melanchthon cherished a special affection for
Alesius and the Scottish exiles who soon after followed him to
Wittenberg, believing that they were the descendants of those Scoti who
had sent the early Christian missionaries to Germany, and that it became
him to repay to them the great kindness the heathen Germans had received
from their forefathers in the distant past.[298]

It was while he was thus occupied that Alesius heard of the cruel edict
of the Scottish bishops, and it hardly admits of doubt that he submitted
to Melanchthon, and got corrected by him, his little treatise against
their decree, forbidding the New Testament Scriptures to be used by the
laity in the vernacular. It is a very pithy and forcible bit of
pleading for the right of the Christian laity to possess and study the
Scriptures in their own tongue. This remarkable treatise struck the true
key-note in the contest it ushered in, and helped it on to victory--a
victory which was substantially to be gained ere Knox had taken his
place among the combatants on the side of the Reformation at all.[299]

To this epistle Cochlaeus replied without loss of time,[300] and ere the
year was out Alesius rejoined in that Responsio ad Cochlei
calumnias,[301] in which he has given so touching an account of his own
maltreatment, so interesting a statement of his own opinions in matters
of faith and church polity, and so trenchant a reply to the sophistries
and slanders of his opponent.[302]

[Sidenote: Cochlaeus.]

This able and, for the age, singularly temperate reply made a deep
impression in England as well as in Scotland, and doubtless prepared the
way for that offer of employment there which two years subsequently was
made him by Cranmer, whom, in his moderation and earnest desire to avoid
a total rupture between the old church and the new life, he then so much
resembled. But whatever its merits, the disputatious Cochlaeus--"der
gewaffnete mann," as Luther sneeringly terms him--was determined that
his opponent should not have the last word in the dispute, and
accordingly in August 1534 he published at Leipsic his Apologia pro
Scotiae Regno adversus personatum Alexandrum Alesium Scotum.[303] In
this treatise he repeats the assertion in his previous one that
Melanchthon, not Alesius, was the author of these epistles. He charges
Alesius with putting lies into the mouth of a foreigner to the discredit
of his native country, and tells him that if he had the power he would
gladly send him away to Scotland with his hands tied behind his back to
be ignominiously punished as a traitor and a public slanderer. His
opponent's minute and temperate narrative of facts appears to have made
no impression on him. He is content magisterially to pronounce it absurd
and incredible, and inconsistent with itself as well as with
probability. He appears in his ire to forget that the king of Scots and
his subjects were better able to judge of its truthfulness than he, a
foreigner, could be; and that after saying all he could for the bishops
and superior clergy in his former reply, he had been obliged to conclude
with the damaging admission that possibly there were "bishops and
prelates who, neither in sanctity of life nor in acquaintance with
sacred learning, responded to or satisfied their dignity and office."

[Sidenote: Effect of his Treatises.]

The epistles of Cochlaeus, if abusive and less cogent in reasoning, as
well as less relieved by any sparkle of wit or racy anecdote than those
of Alesius, are certainly written in a more easy and flowing Latin
style, and, in that respect at least, the Scottish prelates had no
reason to be ashamed of the champion who had volunteered his services in
their cause. Nor were they wanting in those more substantial expressions
of their satisfaction which Cochlaeus, like most of the
controversialists of his time, evidently coveted. The Archbishops of St
Andrews and Glasgow testified their gratitude for his services by
sending him liberal presents. The king wrote him a letter, a
contemporary transcript of which is still extant, and also, as is stated
by Cochlaeus himself in a letter to a Polish archbishop, sent him some
more material tokens of his regard.[304] And even the messenger who had
brought over the copies of his first epistle received, as it now
appears, a present of fifty pounds Scots.[305] Alesius, though in quite
another way, did not lack his reward, and it came in the way which he
valued most--the treatises he had written, to a certain extent at least,
got into circulation both in Scotland and in England. They cheered the
hearts of the faithful under all the terrible trials to which they were
subjected in the later years of James's reign, when he seems to have
abandoned his former kindliness, and surrendered himself in a great
measure to the priests and to vicious indulgences. They carried
conviction to the minds of many, and gradually ripened opinion to
demand the right to do publicly what many had learned to do secretly--to
study the Word of God, and especially the New Testament, in their native
tongue. This right was authorised by an Act of the Scottish Parliament
passed in 1543,[306] when Cardinal Betoun was in disgrace, and the
Archbishop of Glasgow was left alone to protest against it. This Act was
the first real victory of the reformed party in Scotland, and it was
mainly due to the able and temperate pleading of Alesius that this great
boon, or indeed I may say this indefeasible right of Christian laymen,
was granted. The same subject had been reverted to by him in his more
elaborate treatise, De authoritate Verbi Dei, which was published in
1542 in Latin, and some time after was translated into English.[307]

[Sidenote: Erasmus intervenes.]

One other episode in this controversy remains still to be adverted to.
This is the intervention of the great humanist, Erasmus,--an incident in
his history on which his biographers with one consent have observed a
judicious silence. Nevertheless, the fact is as undoubted as melancholy
that he--who had done so much to promote the freer circulation and
profounder study of the Greek original of the New Testament, and had
even ventured, under the patronage of Pope Leo X., to bring out a Latin
version of the New Testament more true to the original than the Vulgate
version, that those who knew only Latin might understand more fully the
meaning of the original--in his old age, when irritated by the course of
events, and by his controversies with Luther, consented to recommend
this scurrilous pamphleteer to his friends in Scotland. His own letter
is not now extant, or, if extant, is not at present accessible; but the
answer sent to him by the Scottish king has been preserved, like his
letter to Cochlaeus, among the MSS. in the British Museum. It is
sufficient to prove the fact that Erasmus did intervene, and commend to
his Scottish friends a writer who represents Luther's translation of the
New Testament, which more than any other book has made Germany what it
is, as the "pabulum mortis, fomes peccati, velamen malitiae, praetextus
falsae libertatis, inobedientiae praesidium, disciplinae corruptio,
morum depravatio, concordiae dissipatio ... vitiorum scaturigo ...
rebellionis incendium ... charitatis peremptio ... veritatis
perduellio."

[Sidenote: At Cambridge and London.]

In 1535 Alesius, having received encouragement from the agents of the
English king then negotiating an alliance with the Protestant princes of
Germany, came over to England with a letter of recommendation from
Melanchthon.[308] He was favourably received by Archbishop Cranmer, by
Crumwell the Vicar-General, and by the king himself, who appointed him
king's scholar, and instructed Crumwell, as Chancellor of the University
of Cambridge, to give him a place as a reader in divinity there. He
accordingly went into residence in Queen's College, the same college
which shortly before had been the home of Erasmus while lecturing in the
university on Greek, and towards the end of the year he began a course
of lectures on the Hebrew Psalter. He is supposed to have been the first
who delivered lectures in Cambridge on the Hebrew Scriptures, but he was
not suffered to do it long in peace. It could not be concealed that he
was a favourer of the new opinions and a friend of Melanchthon, and that
he had, in fact, been recommended by him to the king and the chancellor
of the university. By the time he had entered on the exposition of Psalm
viii. he was challenged by one of the champions of the old learning to a
public disputation, and courageously accepted the challenge; but when
the day appointed for the discussion arrived, his opponent did not
venture to meet him in open fight. He preferred to plot against him in
secret, and to foment tumult among the scholars, till Alesius, finding
that his life was in danger, and that he could not count on the
protection of the university authorities, deemed it his duty to leave
Cambridge and return to London.[309]

[Sidenote: Returns to the Continent.]

For the next three years he remained there, supporting himself chiefly
by the practice of medicine, which he studied under a London physician
of note. He occasionally, however, gave assistance to his reforming
friends in the varying fortunes of these unquiet times. He did so
notably in a convocation or a meeting of the superior clergy in 1536 or
1537,[310] being put forward by Cranmer and Crumwell as the chief
spokesman on the reforming side, the opinions of which he defended with
considerable force and ability, so far as the notes of the debates
preserved by Foxe in his 'Acts and Monuments' enable us to judge.[311]
His appearance on this occasion brought him into sharp collision with
Stokesley, Bishop of London. On the other hand, it secured for him the
warm friendship of Cranmer and Latimer, towards both of whom he
continued to the last to cherish a deep affection, and of whose
martyrdom he spoke with so much grief when he published his Commentary
on the First Book of Psalms. While in England, as Thomasius tells us, he
married an English lady, by name Catherine de Mayn; and when Henry VIII.
once more veered round to his former moorings, and passed the bloody
statute of the six articles, insisting _inter alia_ on the doctrine of
Transubstantiation and the celibacy of the clergy, Alesius, like several
other married priests, had to consult his safety and that of his family
by a hurried retreat to the Continent.[312]

Among those who had to leave England about the same time were John
M'Alpine[313] and John Fyffe--or, as they were henceforth to be surnamed
by Melanchthon, Joannes Macchabaeus and Joannes Fidelis--both, like
Alesius himself, Scotsmen, the former having been prior of the Dominican
monastery at Perth, and the latter an _alumnus_ and teacher in St
Leonard's College. They had, along with several other known favourers of
the Reformation, been obliged to leave Scotland at an earlier period,
and after finding a temporary shelter in England, apparently at
Salisbury, under the protection of Bishop Shaxton, who was then a
favourer of the reformed opinions, were, like Alesius himself, to find
their ultimate home and special work on the Continent--the one in the
University of Copenhagen, the other in the University of Frankfort on
the Oder. They seem to have gone first to Wittenberg, and while the
others for a time resumed their studies there, Alesius almost
immediately on his return was selected by Melanchthon to accompany him
to the colloquy at Worms, and then to that at Regensburg, which were
attended not only by the Lutheran and the Catholic theologians, but also
by Bucer, Calvin, and other reforming divines of Strassburg. So it came
about that Alesius, who had suffered exile in the cause of the
Reformation in Scotland, and still had striven to promote it, was
probably the first of our countrymen to be brought into contact with
Calvin, who was ultimately to exercise so marked an influence on the
form and mode of that Reformation, and who too was then an exile both
from his native land and from the scene of his earlier labours. To the
last Alesius seems to have been the one of his pupils to whom the gentle
and timid Melanchthon most closely clung, and it was by his
recommendation that in the very year of his return to the Continent he
was promoted to be Professor of Divinity in the University of Frankfort
on the Oder. And it is something of which a Scotchman and a St Andrean
may be proud, that the university of that little principality of
Brandenburg, which has since expanded into the great kingdom of Prussia,
was indebted for two of its first Protestant professors of divinity to
Scotland and to St Andrews.

[Sidenote: Leaves Frankfort for Leipsic.]

His stay at Frankfort, however, was but short, a controversy having
arisen between him and one of his colleagues about the propriety of
attaching civil punishments to adultery and other offences against the
seventh commandment. In 1542, or early in 1543, he resigned his
professorship, and transferred his family to Leipsic. Melanchthon, who,
though concurring in his opinions, blamed his hasty resignation, yet
exerted himself to procure an appointment for him in the great Saxon
university; so also did Ludovicus Fachsius, at once the Burgomaster and
the head of the Faculty of Law, of whose kindness he makes special
mention in the dedication to his sons of his edition of Melanchthon's
Catechism, which he had used when superintending their religious
instruction.[314]

[Sidenote: The Perth Martyrs.]

The remaining twenty-one years of his life were spent busily and
usefully in this famous university, though he suffered somewhat
severely during the Schmalkaldic war and the seige of Leipsic. It was
there that most of his theological treatises were elaborated and
published. He was twice at least chosen Rector of the university--viz.,
in 1555 and in 1561.[315] In 1542, as already stated, he published in
Latin the arguments he had used in his disputation with Stokesley,
Bishop of London, on the authority of the Word of God, and against the
doctrine of the seven sacraments, both confirming his former arguments
as to the rights of the Christian laity, and maintaining the supremacy
of Scripture over tradition. He had previously published his inaugural
dissertation in the University of Frankfort, 'De restituendis scholis,'
in which he advocated at length the great need for university training
for the ministers of the protestant churches, and gave a detailed
account of his own opinions, which he affirmed were then in full accord
with those of the Lutheran churches. In 1543, probably before he was
fully settled at Leipsic, it is said that on hearing the news of the
favourable change which had taken place in Scotland on the death of
James V. and the accession of Arran to the regency, he, like many other
Scottish exiles, had serious thoughts of returning home, and availing
himself to the uttermost of this unexpected opportunity which seemed to
be opening for carrying forward the work of the Reformation in the land
which was still dear to him. But before he had fully made up his mind to
follow this course, he fortunately heard that the fickle regent had
already begun to change his policy, and that though the privilege of
freely reading the Scriptures in the vernacular, for which he had so
earnestly contended, was legally secured, the triumph of the Reformation
was by no means so near at hand as at first he had been led to suppose.
Shortly after this, roused by the tidings of fresh persecutions which
had reached him from Scotland, and especially by the account of the
cruel executions of the humble martyrs of Perth by the cardinal and his
party on St Paul's day, 1543-44, Alesius on 23rd April wrote to
Melanchthon in the following terms:--

"Three days ago there were here several countrymen of mine, who declare
that the cardinal rules all things at his pleasure in Scotland, and
governs the governor himself. In the town of St Johnston he hung up
four respectable citizens, for no other cause than because they had
requested a monk, in the middle of his sermon, not to depart in his
doctrine from the sacred text, and not to mix up notions of his own with
the words of Christ. Along with these a most respectable matron,
carrying a sucking child in her arms, was haled before the tribunal and
condemned to death by drowning. They report that the constancy of the
woman was such that, when her husband was led to the scaffold and
mounted the ladder, she followed and mounted along with him, and
entreated to be allowed to hang from the same beam. She encouraged him
to be of good cheer, for in a few hours, said she, I shall be with
Christ along with you. They declare also that the governor was inclined
to liberate them, but that the cardinal suborned the nobles to threaten
that they would leave him if the condemned were not put to death. When
the cardinal arrived with his army at Dundee, from which the monks had
been expelled, all the citizens took to flight; and when he saw the town
quite deserted he laughed, and remarked that he had expected to find it
full of Lutherans."[316]

[Sidenote: He pleads for National Union.]

[Sidenote: He repels the Cry of Innovation.]

Before the expiry of that year Alesius addressed to the chief nobles,
prelates, barons, and to the whole people of Scotland, his Cohortatio ad
concordiam pietatis ac doctrinæ Christianæ defensionem. This piece, Dr
Lorimer tells us, "is instinct throughout with the spirit of true
Christian patriotism, as well as with genuine evangelical earnestness
and fervour. Lamenting the distractions of the kingdom by opposing
political factions--the French faction and the English--he [like the
author of the Complaynt of Scotland a few years later] implores his
countrymen to lay aside these divisions, and demonstrates by many
examples from classical history the dangers of national disunion, and
the duty of patriotic concord in defence of the safety and honour of
their common country. His expostulations against the oppression and
cruelty of the bishops, and his allusions to the martyrs who had
suffered in the cause of truth, are full of interest; and his
digression, in particular, upon the character and martyrdom of Patrick
Hamilton, is a noble burst of eloquence and pathos. When he exhorts to
national union he means union in the truth--union in the one great work
of purifying religion and reforming the corruptions of the church of
God. What urgent need there was of such a work he demonstrates at much
length, and with great freedom and faithfulness. Unless the church of
Christ be reformed it must perish from the earth, and those are its
worst enemies, not its real friends, who oppose such indispensable
reform."[317] "Everywhere," he says, "we see the church driven forward
to such reform. Ask even those who are most solicitous for its welfare,
and they will tell you that the church can no longer be safe or free
from troubles unless it be strengthened by the removal of abuses. If
this, then, is a measure of absolute necessity unless we would see the
whole church go to ruin; if all men confess that this should be done, if
facts themselves call with a loud voice that some care should be taken
to relieve the labouring [bark of the] church, to purify her depraved
doctrine, and to reform her whole administration,--why, I demand, are
those maligned and vilified who discover and point out the church's
faults and failings? The proper remedies could not possibly have been
applied till the disease was known; and yet the men who point it out,
warn of its virulence and danger, and wish to alleviate or entirely
remove it, are hated and persecuted as much as if they had been
themselves the cause of all." With equal vigour he repels the cry of
innovation raised against the reformers and their teaching. Their work
was rather an honest attempt at restoration. What they sought, he said,
"was just such a change as would take place in the manners of an age if
the gravity, modesty, and frugality of ancient times were to take the
place of levity, lewdness, luxury, and other vices. Such a change might
be termed the introduction of what was novel, but in fact it was only
the reintroduction of what was old and primitive. Let us," he exclaims,
"have innovation everywhere if only we can get the true for the false,
seriousness for levity, and solid realities for empty dreams." "It is no
new doctrine we bring, but the most ancient, nay rather the eternal
truth, for it proclaims that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the
world to save sinners, and that we are saved by faith in Him. Of Him
even Moses wrote, and to Him give all the prophets witness, that
whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins. This is the
old doctrine which runs through all the ages. Those which are really new
are the doctrines which have obscured or contaminated it, brought in by
those entrusted with the care of the vineyard of the Lord, and who, like
the keepers of the vineyard in the Gospel parable, have maltreated and
slain many of the Lord's messengers."

This was the last service, so far as we know, which Alesius was able to
render to the cause of the Reformation in his native land, and it did
not fail in due time to produce abundant and lasting fruit. As Major
before him, so Knox after him, strenuously contended for union of
Scotsmen among themselves; and after that, but only after that, for a
league with England rather than with France. They laboured, and others
entered into their labours, and, proceeding on the same lines on which
they had worked, at last brought the conflict to a triumphant issue.
Tidings of their success filled Alesius with joy in the land of his
exile. Even these, however, failed in his old age to tempt him back to
the home of his youth, or the scene of those early struggles which were
so deeply engraven on his memory and heart. And, so far as we know, he
received no call to return from those who were then at the head of
affairs in Scotland, though unquestionably he was more deeply read in
theology than any one of them, and though, as unquestionably, the
faculty of divinity was for several years but poorly supplied in the
universities of Scotland, and preachers of ability, culture, and
learning were very rare in the land.

[Sidenote: Appreciation of his Services.]

His life, especially after the close of the Schmalkaldic war, seems to
have passed tranquilly and happily at the great Lutheran University of
Leipsic. He was loved and honoured by his colleagues and by his prince,
and, as I have already hinted, he was the bosom friend and unremitting
correspondent of Melanchthon. As his services had been called into
requisition by the Preceptor Germaniæ at the colloquies of Worms and
Regensburg, so were they sought and got at the colloquy of Saxon
theologians for the preparation of the Leipsic Interim in 1548, at that
of Naumburg in 1554, at that of Nuremberg in 1555, and that of Dresden
in 1561. "In all these"--the Leipsic professor, who on the occasion of
the first centenary of his second rectorship pronounced an oration on
him, affirms that--"he so conducted himself that no one could charge him
with want of perseverance in building up the truth, or of judiciousness
in examining the errors of others, or of faithfulness and dexterity in
the counsels he gave." M'Kenzie, who has inserted a sketch of his career
in his 'Lives of Eminent Scotsmen,' assures us that in the conference of
Naumburg he acquitted himself to the admiration of the whole assembly,
for which he is highly commended by Camerarius in his 'Life of
Melanchthon'; and further, that in the year 1555 the disciples of Andrew
Osiander having raised great dissensions in the city of Nuremberg
respecting the doctrine of justification, Melanchthon made choice of
Alesius as the fittest person to appease them by his wisdom and
learning, and that his management answered Melanchthon's expectations,
though Alesius himself had previously taken a side in the controversy.
In the Majoristic controversy, Alesius, like Melanchthon, so far sided
with Major as to maintain against the extreme Lutherans the necessity of
good works, not to justification, but to final salvation; and in 1560 he
seems to have discussed this question in one of his so-called
_disputationes_.

With respect to his private life, we are told by Thomasius that he had
by his English wife one son, whose name was Caspar, and who died while
still a youth, and had a monument erected by his father to his memory,
bearing the simple inscription, "Caspari. Filiolo. Alexander. Alesius.
Doctor. Lugens. Posuit." He had at least two daughters. One named
Christina, Thomasius tells us, was married to a German bearing the
classical name Marcus Scipio: she outlived her husband, and died in
1604, in the fifty-ninth year of her age. The name of the other daughter
does not seem to have been known to Thomasius, but as he states that she
was given in marriage in 1557, we can have no doubt that she is the same
Anna whose wedding is referred to in a letter of Alesius to
Melanchthon, recently unearthed, and inviting him and other friends in
Wittenberg to the wedding.[318]

[Sidenote: His Death.]

[Sidenote: Deserves a Memorial.]

Alesius himself died on the 17th March 1565, and was buried at Leipsic;
but no stone was raised, or, if raised, now remains, to tell where his
ashes repose. In all probability it was in his son's grave, in the
church of St Paul, in the city of Leipsic, that his ashes were laid to
rest. The only monuments to his memory reared at the time and still
existing are those furnished by our own John Johnston--second master of
St Mary's College, and colleague of Andrew Melville--in his Latin poems
on the Scottish martyrs and confessors, and entitled Περι Στεφανων and
by Beza in his 'Icones.' Johnston, joining together Macchabaeus and
Alesius, says:--

    "Sors eadem exilii nobis, vitaeque laborumque,
      Ex quo nos Christi conciliavit amor.
    Una salus amborum, unum et commune periclum;
      Pertulimus pariter praestite cuncta Deo.
    Dania te coluit. Me Lipsia culta docentem.
      Audiit, et sacros hausit ab ore sonus."[319]

Beza says, "He was a man dear to all the learned, who would have been a
distinguished ornament of Scotland if that country had recovered the
light of the Gospel at an earlier period; and who, when rejected by
both Scotland and England, was most eagerly embraced by the evangelical
church of Saxony, and continued to be warmly cherished and esteemed by
her to the day of his death." The man who was held in such high esteem
by the reforming Archbishops of Cologne and Canterbury; who was the
bosom friend of Melanchthon; who was highly thought of by Luther, and
warmly eulogised by Beza and Johnston, was certainly not one whose
memory his countrymen should willingly let die. He was unquestionably
the most cultured, probably also the most liberal and conciliatory, of
the Scottish theologians of the sixteenth century. He was the first to
plead publicly before the authorities of the nation for the right of
every household and every individual to have access to the Word of God
in the vernacular tongue, and to impress on parents the sacred duty of
sedulously inculcating its teaching on their children, and therefore, as
Christopher Anderson has said, "the man who struck the first note in
giving a tone to that character," for which his native country has since
been known, and often since commended, as Bible-loving Scotland. Had his
countrymen not so long lost sight of him, perhaps some stone of
remembrance might have been found to his memory in Germany; but surely,
though he was so long an exile, the chief memorial of his birth and
death ought to be in Edinburgh or St Andrews. "There, in reference to
the cause he advocated, no inappropriate emblem" would be "a father and
his child reading the same sacred volume; and, for a motto, in
remembrance of his position at the moment, perhaps his own memorable
quotation of the Athenian, 'Strike, but hear me.'"[320]

FOOTNOTES:

[283] [Alesius thus proceeds: "Et in mari inter tempestates et 18 diebus
subtus terram in teterrimo specu inter bufones et serpentes custodivit
(oportet enim me haec alicubi commemorare pro gratitudine erga Deum).
Hic igitur Salvator omnium, maxime fidelium, perficiet id quod per me
facere instituit" (In Alteram ad Timotheum expositio. Autore Alexandro
Alesio. D. Lipsiae, 1551, sign. A 2).]

[284] D'Aubigné's Reformation in the Time of Calvin, vi. 13, 14.
[D'Aubigné is here following, or rather embellishing, the account which
Alesius thus gives in another of his works: "Pueri, me adhuc puero,
quasdam sententias excerptas ex Joanne, scriptas in membrana, ut illam,
in principio erat verbum, Ecce agnus Dei, &c., Sic Deus dilexit mundum,
Ego sum resurrectio et vita, &c., ac similes, vel auro et argento
inclusas circa collum gestabant, non tam ornamenti causa, quàm quod
magnam vim et virtutem in his collocarent contra incantationes et
pericula, in quae diabolus saepe pueros incautos solet conjicere. Memini
frequenter, et quoties reminiscor, toto corpore cohorresco, me in
praerupto altissimi montis manibus et pedibus reptantem, ac proximum
praecipitio, subito translatum nescio à quo aut quomodo, in alium locum:
et alia vice ex eminentiori deambulacro aedium patris cadentem inter
acervum lapidum poliendorum ad aedificium, servatum esse divinitus.

"Non tribuo hanc salutem sententiis ex Joanne, quas forsan aliorum
puerorum more circumferebam: sed fidei parentum, qui harum sententiam
mente circumferebant, et pro me orabant. Sed tamen, ut mihi videtur,
magis deceret nobilitatem Christianam, has et similes sententias in auro
et lapidibus preciosis insculptas à collo dependentes circumferre, quàm
ethnicorum Regum ac Caesarum imagines" (Commentarius in Evangelium
Joannis. Basileae, 1553. Epistola Dedicatoria, pp. 14-16).]

[285] [In a list of names without a heading, he appears as "Alexr.
Allane na. Lau.," which shows that of the nations into which the members
of the university were then classified, he belonged to Lothian. In the
list of determinants he appears as "Allexr. Alan." Opposite his name and
the names of his class-fellows is the word "pauperes," which shows that
they paid no fees.]

[286] He himself at a later period ingenuously acknowledges that his
arguments in great part were borrowed from the treatise of an English
bishop, namely Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, who at the request of Henry
VIII. had replied to Luther's attack on that monarch.

[287] D'Aubigné's Reformation in the Time of Calvin, vi. 59, 60.

[288] Laing's Knox, i. 40, 41.

[289] [See it so described in the passage quoted, _supra_, p. 240 n.]

[290] [He calls it a _latrinâ_ in his 'Responsio ad Cochlei Calumnias,'
sign. A v.]

[291] [Now known as Bishop's Hall.]

[292] Responsio ad Cochlei Calumnias, sign. A vj.

[293] Responsio ad Cochlei Calumnias, sign. A vj.

[294] Ibid.

[295] No doubt James Wedderburn, merchant at the West Kirk Style of
Dundee, who carried on a large trade with the Continent, and was known
to be friendly to those holding the reformed opinions. One of his sons
was then studying at St Andrews, and probably had been the means of
communication between the canons and Dundee to secure beforehand a
speedy departure for their fugitive friend. [For many interesting
details concerning the sons of this Dundee merchant, see Dr Mitchell's
Wedderburns and their Work, 1867; and also his edition of The Gude and
Godlie Ballatis, 1897, pp. xvii-xxxii, lxxxiii-civ.]

[296] [In his Introduction (pp. xviii-xx) to Gau's 'Richt Vay to the
Kingdom of Heuine,' Dr Mitchell says: "The treatise 'De Apostolicis
Traditionibus,' in which he [_i.e._, Alesius] has given an account of
his visit, and of the manner in which he was received by his countrymen
and the reforming preachers of Malmö, is one of the rarest of his minor
treatises, and is not to be found in any of our Scottish libraries, nor
in the British Museum, nor even in the library of the University of
Leipsic, in which he was so long an honoured professor.... Neither the
name of Gau nor that of any other of his countrymen then in the city is
given by Alesius.... Principal Lorimer has ingeniously conjectured that
Gau may have come out to act as chaplain to his countrymen at Malmö. And
I am inclined to accept the conjecture to a modified extent.... At any
rate, we find that before the close of 1533 he was in Denmark, and had
got such an accurate knowledge of the Danish language that he had
translated and published a treatise of considerable length from Danish
into his native Scotch." In the Appendix to the same Introduction (p.
xlv) Dr Mitchell explains that "modern Danish scholars express doubts
whether, in the early part of the 16th century, any nation, save the
German as represented by the Hanseatic League, was organised as a
distinct community at Malmö."]

[297] [This sentence is interlined, and the word which seems to be
_first_ is rather indistinct.]

[298] In the preceding narrative I have availed myself of the details
which Alesius has given us of his labours and sufferings in his
commentaries and lesser treatises, and especially in two of the smallest
of them, both published in 1533, the one bearing the title--"Alexandri
Alesii Epistola contra decretum quoddam Episcoporū in Scotia, quod
prohibet legere Noui Testamenti libros lingua vernacula"; the other
"Alexandri Alesii Scotti Responsio ad Cochlei Calvmnias."

[299] [The nature of the arguments used by Alesius in this epistle may
be learned from the lengthy extracts quoted in Christopher Anderson's
Annals of the English Bible, 1845, ii. 430-437.]

[300] [This reply by Cochlaeus, which is dated 6th June 1533, is
entitled: "An Expediat Laicis, legere Noui Testamenti libros lingua
Vernacula? Ad Serenissimvm Scotiæ Regem Iacobum V. Disputatio inter
Alexandrum Alesium Scotum, & Iohannem Cochlæum Germanum. Anno dn̄i
M.D. XXXIII." A beautiful copy of this very rare work was secured at the
Laing sale for the library of the Church of Scotland. There is also a
copy in the Signet Library. A few extracts may be found in Anderson's
Annals, ii. 439-441.]

[301] [A beautiful copy of this excessively rare tract was also secured
for the Church library at the Laing sale.]

[302] [For a translation by Dr Mitchell of that part of the Responsio
which relates to the opinions of Alesius, see Appendix E.]

[303] [Dr Mitchell possessed copies of several of the other tracts of
Cochlaeus, as well as of this: "Pro Scotiae Regno Apologia Iohannis
Cochlei, adversvs personatum Alexandrum Alesium Scotum. Ad Sereniss.
Scotorū regē. M.D.XXXIIII." It ends: "Excusum Lipsiae apud
Michaelem Blum."]

[304] [Alesius says: "I was at Antwerp whan a contryman of myne, whose
name was John Foster, did send a somme of mony unto Cochleus by a
marchant from the Bisshop of S. Andrews, which geveth him yerely so long
as he liveth a certen stipend. And it chanced by the goodnes of God,
wherby He discloseth the wickednes of these hipocytes (_sic_), that a
pistle of Cochleus which he sent unto a certen bisshop of Pole came unto
my handes, wherin he complayneth that he hath gret losse and evel
fortune in setting forth of bokes, for as moch as no man wil wetesaue to
rede his bokes. And he beggeth a yerely stipend of the bisshops of Pole,
saing that he hath bene nobly rewarded of the King of Scottys and of the
Archbisshop of S. Andrews and of the Bisshop of Glasguo" ('Of the
Auctorite of the Word of God').]

[305] [From the Treasurer's Accounts, as quoted by M'Crie, it appears
that the servant who brought over his book received £10 (M'Crie's Knox,
1855, p. 321 n.).]

[306] [15th March 1542-43 (Acts of Parliament, ii. 415).]

[307] [The title is: "De Avthoritate Verbi Dei Liber Alexandri Alesij,
contra Episcopum Lundensem. An. M.D.XLII." The preface is dated:
"Francfordiae ad Oderam. Calend. Maijs. an. Domini M.D.XL." The colophon
is: "Argentorati apvd Cratonem Mylivm an. M.D.XLII. mense Septembri."
The translation, which is in black-letter, bears no date, place, or
printer's name. For a copy of its title, see _infra_, p. 268 n.]

[308] [Alesius says that he was the bearer of the Loci Theologici, which
he had persuaded Melanchthon to dedicate to Henry VIII. (Foreign
Calendar, Elizabeth, i. 525).]

[309] [He was in London during the time of the trial and execution of
Anne Boleyn. He sent Elizabeth an account of a dream or vision which he
then had. See Appendix F.]

[310] [There is "great uncertainty" as to whether this meeting took
place in 1536 or 1537 (Hardwick's Reformation, 1883, p. 182 n.). The
year 1537 is given by Alesius in his 'De Avthoritate Verbi Dei' (p. 18),
and is repeated in the translation. In the latter it is said: "Contrary
to all my expectacion I chanced to fall agayn into such a disputacyon as
I was in before, and in maner with like adversarys.... Unto this
disputacion I came sodenly unprepared, for as I did mete bi chance in
the streate the right excellent Lord Crumwel going unto the Parlament
Howse in the yeare 1537, he whan he sawe me called me unto him, and toke
me with him to the Parlament House to Westmyster (_sic_), where we fownd
all the bisshops gathered together."]

[311] Cattley's Foxe, v. 381-384. [The whole of this account, as Cattley
points out, is taken by Foxe almost _verbatim_ from a statement made by
Alesius himself in his rare tract entitled, _Of the Auctorite of the
Word of God agaynst the Bisshop of London, wherein are conteyned certen
disputacyons had in the Parlament Howse betwene the Bisshops, abowt the
nomber of the Sacraments, and other things very necessary to be known:
made by Alexander Alane Scot and sent to the Duke of Saxon_. Christopher
Anderson says that this translation of the tract De Authoritate Verbi
Dei Liber was made by Edmund _Allen_. So completely had the original
name of Alesius dropped out of knowledge that Anderson actually charges
the printer with committing "a strange blunder in the title." Believing
that _Ales_ was the real name of Alesius, he thought that the printer
had divided the name of the author between the author and the translator
('Annals of the English Bible,' ii. 479 n.).]

[312] [For the circumstances of his departure, see Appendix G.]

[313] [For M'Alpine, see Gau's Richt Vay, Introd., p. xii.]

[314] "I owe much," he says, "to your father, who received me most
hospitably at my first coming hither, and, in name of Duke Maurice (now
Elector of Saxony), invited me to give my services to this famous
university, and retained me here some years after, when I was called
elsewhere" (_i.e._, probably Königsberg), "promising me the favour and
grace of the most illustrious prince elector. Finally, after the war, he
encouraged me, then hesitating, to write to the elector to beg the
restitution of my books and other effects, which I had lost at the time
of the siege of this city, kindly offering his best services in
rendering my supplicatory letter to the prince, by which, however, he
only succeeded in securing that the elector, when departing from his own
dominions to attend the imperial diet, should give instructions on the
matter to his counsellors whom he had left at home, and should deliver
to be sent on to me a letter full of kindness through Damianus
Sybothendorff, secretary to his highness."

[315] On the former of which occasions he inscribed the following
paragraph in the matriculation book of the university: "Anno MDLV, die
23 Aprilis, qui Divo Georgio sacer est, et quo existimo me natum esse,
supputatis retro LV annis, ego Alexander Alesius, gente Scotus, Patriâ
Edinburgensis, atavis consulibus, qui duobus regibus, Jacobo Quinto, et
Henrico Octavo, et quatuor electoribus, Johanni Friderico, Mauricio et
Augusto, Ducibus Saxoniae, et Joachimo Electori Brandeburgensi
inservivi, invitus suscepi officium rectoris universitatis scholae in
inclytâ urbe Lipsiâ."

[316] Lorimer's Scottish Reformation, 1860, pp. 112, 113. [The Perth
martyrs are noticed above, pp. 53, 54. See also Laing's Knox, i. 117,
118, 523-526.]

[317] Lorimer's Scottish Reformation, 1860, pp. 115, 116. [The
quotations from the Cohortatio which follow agree substantially with
those given by Dr Lorimer, but many of the variations in the phraseology
show that Dr Mitchell had the original as well as Lorimer's translation
before him when he wrote.]

[318] See Appendix H.

[319] M'Crie's Knox, 1855, p. 462.

[320] Anderson's Annals of the English Bible, 1845, ii. 485. For a list
of the published writings of Alesius see Appendix I.



APPENDIX A (p. 19).

THE PÆDAGOGIUM, OR ST MARY'S COLLEGE, ST ANDREWS.[321]


St Mary's College, if in one sense the youngest, is in another sense the
oldest, college within the University. It occupies the earliest site of
the University, and gathers up into itself not only the old
_Pædagogium_, but also a still older college. In January 1418 ... a
certain _Robertus de Monte Rosarum_ mortified a site on the south side
of South Street, with the buildings thereon, as a college for the study
of theology and arts. This was the strip of ground on which the eastern
portion of the Library, as well as the new south wing, now stands, but
on which, in the oldest bird's-eye view of the city, a sort of
collegiate building is represented as standing. That was undoubtedly the
College, or Hall, or "Inns" of St John, to which repeated reference is
made in the oldest manuscript records of the University. It had probably
a lecture-room, rooms for the students to lodge in, and a chapel also,
dedicated to St John the Evangelist, in which daily service was
maintained, but, so far as we now know, it was very poorly endowed.

In 1430 Bishop Wardlaw, the illustrious founder of the University,
mortified as a site for a _Pædagogium_ or common school for the faculty
of arts the strip of land and buildings thereon immediately to the west
of St John's College--the frontage now covered by the western portion of
the Library, the porch of St Mary's College, and the Principal's house.
After the erection and endowment of St Salvator's College by Bishop
Kennedy, and of St Leonard's College by Prior Hepburn, the attendance on
the _Pædagogium_, which was but slenderly endowed, seems to have fallen
off, and the number of its regents to have been curtailed. Archbishop
Alexander Stewart, the favourite pupil of Erasmus, and one of the most
accomplished of our long line of chancellors, was the first who formed
the purpose of enlarging and endowing Bishop Wardlaw's foundation, but
his life was prematurely brought to a close on the fatal field of
Flodden. His successor, Andrew Forman, appears to have taken no interest
in the work on which Stewart had set his heart. But James Betoun, who
came next in succession, acted a nobler part. He brought with him from
Glasgow John Major--the one great schoolman of whom Scotland in the
sixteenth century could boast, who had upheld the reputation of his
country in the University of Paris as an able and successful teacher of
the philosophy and theology of the day. Major and Patrick Hamilton--the
one the representative of the old, the other of the new learning--were
incorporated into the University of St Andrews on the same day (9th June
1523); and, for at least two years, the former presided over the
_Pædagogium_, and probably lectured both on philosophy and theology. In
1525-26 he returned to Paris, partly that he might publish there his
commentaries on the Gospels, and partly that he might act again as a
teacher in that wider sphere; but a few years later, on a vacancy
occurring in the principality of St Salvator's College, he returned to
St Andrews, and continued in that more lucrative charge till his death.

It was mainly in his last years, however, that James Betoun set himself
in right earnest to complete the work which Archbishop Stewart had
begun. At his solicitation Pope Paul III., on 12th February 1537, issued
a bull annexing the teinds of the church of Tannadice, in Forfarshire,
and of the wealthier church of Tyninghame, in East Lothian, to the old
foundation, and erecting it into a privileged college under the title of
the Blessed Mary of the Assumption. In this college, medicine, law, and
theology, as well as arts, were henceforth to be taught, and the
privilege was granted to it of conferring degrees in all lawful
faculties, and of conferring them on those who had gained their
knowledge elsewhere as well as on those who had studied within the
college--in fact, making it almost a university within the University,
and conceding to it more extensive powers than were conceded to many
universities. His first work was to replace the decaying buildings of
the _Pædagogium_ by others more massive and commodious. That work was
far from finished at the time of his death, and having been intermitted
by his successor [the cardinal], was only completed by Archbishop
Hamilton, who, with papal sanction, reconstituted the college and added
to its endowments.

Early, however, in 1538, the first staff of teachers entered on their
work as a college organised and equipped "_ut militans Dei ecclesia
indies abundet viris litterarum scientiâ præditis_," and few
institutions through a long and eventful history have more illustriously
fulfilled this object, though in another sense than its founders meant,
and handed on the torch of sacred learning from generation to
generation. Bannerman, who succeeded Major, had the honour of
reorganising the old institution and starting it on its new career.
Archibald Hay, who came next, was the child of the Renaissance, and more
in earnest about religion than many of that school; and, had his life
been spared, and the cardinal given heed to his counsels, the old Church
might have been able to make a better fight for privilege or for life in
the struggle which ensued. John Douglas, his successor, bridged the
passage from the old to the new without any violent break, probably
taking part with Wynram in the composition of Archbishop Hamilton's
Catechism, as he did afterwards in the preparation of the Reformed
Confession of Faith and the First Book of Discipline. He was a man of
the ancient academic type, content to live in single blessedness, to
treat his pupils, who also lived in college, with the familiarity and
affection of a father. He had the honour of training the youthful Andrew
Melville, and perhaps it was with some presentiment of his future
eminence that, as he held the precocious youth between his knees at the
college fire, he fondly said, "My sillie fatherless and motherless
chyld, it is ill to wit what God may mak of thee yit."

God watched over that weakly youth, and prospered his studies at Paris,
Poictiers, and Geneva, so that with a mind stored with all the learning
of his time, he returned to his native land to complete the reformation
of its universities, and to delight successive generations of students
by his stores of learning and wit, and by his accessibility and
generosity. It was to meet his ideas of what a theological school should
be that the college was set apart "allenarly" for the study of theology,
and furnished with professors of the Old and the New Testament, who were
to "expone" the various books of Scripture as well as to read them in
the original, comparing the Hebrew of the Old Testament with the
Septuagint and the Chaldee paraphrases, and the Greek of the New
Testament with the old Syriac translation, while the principal was to
teach the _loci communes_ or the systematic theology of the age. The
first assistants in the "wark of theology" were Mr John Robertson, who
acted as _professor Novi Testamenti_, and his own nephew, James
Melville, who taught Hebrew and the Old Testament, and to whom we owe
that graphic diary which gives us several interesting glimpses of
college life in those early days. To John Robertson succeeded Mr John
Johnston, author of Latin poems in praise of our reformers and martyrs,
and of Latin verses descriptive of the line of our Scottish kings.

Melville was by no means an illiberal theologian, and he and Johnston
wrote to the Protestant churches of France urging moderation on them in
controversies which were then being discussed with great bitterness.
Both lived with and for their pupils, and secured in an unusual degree
their reverence and affection. Both ultimately lost the favour of the
king; and Melville, after being cruelly used in London, had to spend his
declining years in the French Protestant University of Sedan.

FOOTNOTES:

[321] [This is taken from a paper on "St Mary's College," contributed by
Dr Mitchell to the "Student's Handbook to the University of St Andrews,"
1895, pp. 12-15.]



APPENDIX B (p. 30).

CITATIO PATRICII HAMILTON

E FORMULARI VETERE ANDREANO.

_Citatio super suspecto de heresi ad faciendum purgationem alias ad
videndum [ipsum] hereticum declarari._


Jacobus etc., Decano Christianitatis nostre de L[audonia] Universisque
et singulis aliis Dominis rectoribus, vicariis perpetuis, capellanis
curatis et non curatis per provinciam nostram S[ti Andree] ubilibet
constitutis, Illique vel illis ad quem vel ad quos presentes litere
pervenerint, Salutem cum benedictione divina: Quia per fidelem
inquisitionem aliter de mandato nostro legitime receptam compertum
extitit quendam Magistrum P[atricium] H[amilton] de heresi multiplici
suspectum, quem citandum et desuper accusandum antea decrevimus, sed
medio tempore relictâ patriâ ad alia et extera se transtulit loca, nuper
autem vagante fama ad aures nostras clamorosa insinuatione pervenit
Ipsum nuperrime in patriam reversum et quod primo statim adventu non
debite missus nec prerogativis aut privilegiis debitis munitus, sed
propriâ auctoritate et temerariâ presumptione, predicationis officium de
heresi ei designata acceptare ausus est, et suas hereticas pravitates et
perversas Martini Lutheri heretici alias ab ecclesia damnati et suorum
fautorum ac sequacium opiniones promulgare, docens seminansve et
pertinaciter affirmans, ac populum Christianum de eisdem instruere non
erubescit, indeque simplices et illiteratos hujus regni Christi fideles
qui in se et progenitoribus per tanta temporis curricula, spatio viz.
mille et trecentorum annorum et ultra in ecclesiâ Dei constantissime
militaverunt, a verâ nostrâ orthodoxâ fide et catholica ecclesia
seducere, et quantum in eo est pervertere nititur et proponit, dicendo
predicando et temerario ausu inter alia palam et publice affirmando:--

Legibus, canonibus, patrum sanctionibus et decretis, humanis quoque
constitutionibus non esse obtemperandum; Claves et censuras ecclesie
contempnendas, nec sacramentis ejusdem fidendum, Templa non esse
frequentanda, nec ymagines adorandas, pro defunctorum animabus non esse
exorandum; nec decimas Deo et ecclesie solvendas; pro bonis operibus
nullum fore salutis premium nec pro malis cruciatum; Nostros
progenitores in ecclesia Dei et ejusdem sacramentis fidentes in malâ et
iniquâ fide esse mortuos et in inferno sepultos:--

Aliaque dictu et recitatu saltem inter Christianos et fideles horrenda
et nephanda predicat docet et affirmat in Dei viventis claviumque
ecclesie ac nostre fidei orthodoxe contemptum, regni et reipublice
ejusdem damnum scandalum et, digna Dei ultione, si premissis favere
incipiat, sperandam ruinam, animabusque perpetrantium gravissimum
periculum nisi remedio succurratur oportuno: In quibus omnibus et
singulis idem Magister P. communi voce et famâ ex publicâ et notoria
ejusdem predicatione orta de heresi suspectus reputatur, habetur et
divulgatur. Consilio igitur desuper recepto ipsum citandum et de
premissis experiendum decrevimus: Quare vobis et vestrum cuilibet nos
precipimus et mandamus, quatenus citetis legitime dictum Magistrum P. H.
primo, secundo, tertio et peremptorie etc. quod compareat personaliter
coram [nobis] nostrisque consulibus Dn̄is Episcopis, Abbatibus,
Prioribus, sacrarum literarum Professoribus, et Religiosis, aliisque
nobis pro tempore assistentibus, in ecclesiâ nostrâ Metropolitanâ S[ti
Andree] regni Scotie primatiali, die _N_ mensis _N_ proxime futuris,
horâ decimâ antemeridiana vel eo circa, ad respondendum nobis ex officio
de et super suis pertinaciter dictis, affirmatis, predicatis,
divulgatis, tentis et disputatis contra nostram orthodoxam fidem et
sanctam ecclesiam catholicam; et propterea ad videndum et audiendum
ipsum hereticum declarari, et penâ condignâ a canonibus propterea latâ
et imperatâ puniendum fore et puniri debere; superque adherentiâ et
favoribus prestitis peregrinis opinionibus et pravitatibus dicti Martini
Lutheri, heretici ab ecclesiâ damnati, et suorum sequacium; ac aliis
interrogandis similiter reddendis, et tanquam heretice pravitatis
fautorem et male de fide sentientem accusandum fore et accusari ac
condempnari debere. Testimonia quoque et probationes, si necesse fuerit,
desuper recipi, jurari, et admitti; ac in premissis omnibus et singulis
summarie et de plano sine strepitu et figurâ judicii prout juris fuerit
procedendum fore et procedi debere; Vel ad allegandum causam
rationabilem quare premissa fieri non deberent; Cum intimatione debita,
ut moris est, intimamus eidem quod sive dictis die et loco comparere
curaverit sive non comparuerit Nos nihilominus in premissis omnibus et
singulis procedere volumus et intendimus justitiâ mediante; Imprimis
absentiâ seu contumaciâ in aliquo non obstante; et ne periculum sit in
mora, et ut interim hujus hereses in hoc regno hucusque ab omni tali
labe et hereticâ peste per tanta temporis spatia sano, et post Christi
Salvatoris susceptam fidem inviolabiliter preservato, non oriantur nec
per Christi fideles audiantur, vobis omnibus et singulis supradictis,
modo et forma premissis precipimus et mandamus, quatenus auctoritate
nostra inhibentes omnibus et singulis Christi fidelibus cujuscunque
dignitatis, status, gradus, ordinis aut conditionis existant, ne dicto
Magistro P. sic ut premittitur, de heresi suspecto, favorem,
assistentiam, societatem, colloquium seu gratam audientiam praebeant;
nec in suis temerariis et insolentibus predicationibus disputationibus
seu conventiclis publice vel occulte quovis quesito colore vel ingenio
conveniant seu presentiam exhibeant; sed sibi et suis saltem de
premissis fautoribus resistere studeant, resistentiamque faciant et
procurent; ab illo quoque edendo, bibendo aut communicando in premissis
abstineant, donec de heresi et infamia desuper ortâ purgetur, et eundem
vitent sub penâ excommunicationis majoris; Quam contrarium facientes
incurrere volumus et decernimus ipso facto. Et quos vos, etc. Datum,
etc.



APPENDIX C (p. 46).

CARDINAL BETOUN'S INCONTINENCE.


"While ... he was possessed," Mr M'Bain tells us, "of eminent qualities,
he led, in many respects, anything but a moral life. His favourite
mistress was Marion Ogilvie, daughter of Sir James, afterwards Lord,
Ogilvie of Airlie, to whom [as Abbot of Arbroath] he granted a liferent
lease of the lands of Burnton of Ethie, and other lands near the place,
for a small sum of money _and other causes_. This was on the 22nd of May
1528. On the 20th of July 1530, he granted her a liferent lease of the
Kirkton of St Vigeans, with the muir-fauld and the toft of St Vigeans,
and a piece of common land lying to the south of the church. On 17th
February 1533-34, she obtained a nineteen years' lease of the eighth
part of the lands of Auchmithie [lying to the north-east of Ethie], with
the brew-house there, and the lands belonging to it, and on 10th March
1534[-35] there is the record of a feu to her of a piece of land in the
'Sandpots,' for the construction of a toral or ustrina lying 'beyond and
near the red wall of the monastery commonly so called'" (Eminent
Arbroathians, 1897, pp. 37, 38). For these facts Mr M'Bain has the
authority of the 'Registrum de Aberbrothoc,' Bannatyne Club, ii. 482,
500, 519, 521. On p. 482 are the words: "Pro certa summa pecunie et
aliis causis assedat pro toto tempore vite Mariote Ogylwy subtenentibus
coadjutoribus et assignatis," &c. Mr M'Bain adds: "It is not known by
whom Ethie House was built, but it was [one of the mansions belonging to
the abbey and] a favourite residence of David Beaton and Marion Ogilvie,
his mistress.... After Beaton's death a natural daughter of his by
Marion Ogilvie laid claim to the furniture in Ethie House, if not to the
house itself.... But Ethie was not the only place in the neighbourhood
occupied by David Beaton and Marion Ogilvie. In 1542 he acquired the
barony of Melgund, and erected the castle in which he and his mistress
and their children resided. The Beaton and the Ogilvie arms are still to
be seen in one of the rooms. The initials 'D.B.' are over one window,
and 'M.O.' over the other; while on the corbal of the stair leading to
this room are the Ogilvie arms, and the initials 'M.O.' ... David Beaton
settled the property of Melgund on his mistress in liferent, and on his
eldest son David in fee" (Eminent Arbroathians, pp. 38, 39).

[According to Dr Joseph Robertson, "Cardinal Beaton had five bastards"
('Concilia Scotiæ,' ii. 302). There is record evidence, however, to show
that he had at least seven. On the 4th of November 1539, three of his
sons were legitimated in the following terms: "Rex dedit literas
legitimationis Jacobo Betoun, Alexandro Betoun et Johanni Betoun,
bastardis, filiis naturalibus Davidis archiepiscopis S. Andree, &c."
(Register of Great Seal, iii. No. 2037). He had also a son David (Ibid.,
No. 1931), and three daughters, Elizabeth (Ibid., Nos. 1274, 2330),
Margaret, and Agnes (Ibid., iv. Nos. 1353, 2740; 'Liber Officialis
Sancti Andree,' Abbotsford Club, p. 158).]



APPENDIX D (p. 124).

CONDITIONS ON WHICH THE USE OF THE CHURCH OF THE WHITE LADIES AT
FRANKFORT WAS GRANTED TO THE ENGLISH EXILES.


"Nun war bey Ankunft der Engelländer eine Kirche in Frankfurt, die
einigen französischen Protestanten zum Gebrauch eingeräumt war, welche
nun auch zum Behuf der Engelländer in Vorschlag gebracht, und am 14
Julii ihnen wirklich angewiesen wurde. Doch machte der Rath gewisse
Ordnungen, und suchte die Sache also einzurichten, das allerlei
Disputen, die etwa entstehen mögten, der Weg verlaget wurde. Die
vornehmsten waren diese: (_a_) dass die Engelländer und Franzosen
einerley Lehre und Ceremonien führen sollten; Daher sollten jene (_b_)
der Franzosen Glaubensbekäntniss, das diese N.B. dem Rath überreichet
hatten, unterschreiben. (_c_) Liessen sich die Engelländer gefallen,
dass das Volk bey dem gemeinen Gebet das Amen nicht mehr laut sagen
sollte, wie sonst in der Kirche von Engelland üblich ist. (_d_) Dass die
Prediger das weisse Chorhemde, nebst vielen andern in Engelland
eingeführten Ceremonien abschaffen sollten, als welche den Einwohnern,
die solcher Dinge ungewohnt wären, einstossig seyn könnten. Und was der
gleichen Umstände mehr waren, welche die Engelländer, um desto eher zum
Stande zu kommen, freiwillig eingiengen."--J. Hildebrand Withof,
'Vertheidigung der.... Nachricht wie es mit V. Pollane erstem
Reformirten Prediger zu Frankfurt-am-Mayn ... zugegangen,' 1753, folio.



APPENDIX E (p. 260).

THE THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL OPINIONS OF ALESIUS.

(_From the 'Responsio ad Cochlei Calvmnias.'_)


"With all his scribbling, he [_i.e._, Cochlaeus] has never yet, so far
as I know, disclosed what are his own opinions about Christian doctrine;
and therefore his empty and scurrilous treatises miss their mark, and
are justly held in derision by learned men.... But I, renowned monarch,
that you may know that my alliance is with the Church of Christ and not
with any other factions, do not refuse before you and other good men to
give a simple and clear account of my faith as I formerly wrote to you,
for I believe the prophetical and apostolical Scriptures, and embrace
the consensus of the holy fathers whom the Church approves. I also
reverence the ecclesiastical authority, being one who, especially in
doubtful matters, will obey and follow its decisions. Does Cochlaeus ask
anything further? I myself will add, I approve of nothing seditious.
With my whole heart and soul I abhor the ravings of the Anabaptists. No
new doctrine, unsupported by the testimony of the ancient Church, is
acceptable to me. Further still, as I do not undertake the defence of
Luther, so, on the other hand, I do not approve of all the dreams of the
monks which have been received, not only contrary to the decision of the
Scripture, but also to the authority of the ancient church. Moreover, I
cannot approve of the cruelty which is everywhere being practised
against those who, following the judgment of Scripture and of the
fathers, reject or censure any manifest abuse or error that in the
course of time may have crept into the Church. Such is my faith, O
Cochlaeus, use it if you are pleased with it; if not, show me a better.
If the unjust punishments inflicted on the truly pious afford you
pleasure, you are not only a miserable, but a contemptible wretch. I
neither can nor will ever knowingly burden or pollute my conscience by
approving of these parricides. I saw in my own country the punishment of
one, born in a most honourable station, and innocent of any serious
crime, Patrick [Hamilton]. I saw burned at Cologne two men of pious and
orthodox sentiments, and most averse to the fanatical opinions of the
Anabaptists. Nor can I express in words how deeply I was grieved by
these mournful spectacles. And I did not grieve only over the fate of
those who were punished, in whom because, as the poet says, 'grace shone
through their very anguish,' their singular bravery and constancy
brought some alleviation to my grief; but much more did I grieve over
the fate of the Church, which is disordered in many ways, and likely yet
to be more so, by the practice of such cruelty. Finally, there is no
doubt that the State will, in God's appointed time, have to suffer
heaviest punishment for its guilt in permitting such parricides; yet I
do not impugn the laws as to the punishment of heretics, if only there
is due cognition of each case, and care is taken that those who are
really innocent of perverting the true Christian faith may not be
punished."

Then follows a paragraph of great importance in itself, and of almost as
much from the light it casts on its author's state of mind, and,
perhaps, also on Melanchthon's, at that particular time:--

"I myself also desire moderation in certain things on the part of the
Lutherans, and reasonableness. To this they may be recalled if the
matters in dispute are duly examined into. It is the duty of the bishops
to do their utmost that learned men of either side should lovingly
confer together on Christian doctrine, that some one certain form of
doctrine, founded only upon the Word of God and the teaching of the
primitive fathers, should be framed; and if this were done, the Church
might easily be brought to coalesce again into one body. Nor do I doubt
that good men on both sides are so disposed that they would not only
willingly proffer their opinions, but also yield their individual
convictions if they should hear more weighty reasons from the other
side. For it is tyrannical, and specially unbecoming in a theologian, to
do that which the son reproves in the tyrant, his father, in the
tragedy. He wishes, the son says, to speak but to hear nothing in reply.
At present the good men who are most desirous to provide some remedy for
public evils keep silence, and secretly bewail the fate of the Church,
not only alarmed by fear of those in power, but crushed by a sort of
despair in this so great madness of slanderers, who have become so
domineering that they would suffer no one but themselves to gain a
hearing."



[APPENDIX F (p. 267).

THE DREAM OR VISION OF ALESIUS CONCERNING THE DECAPITATION OF ANNE
BOLEYN.


I take to witness Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead, that I
am about to speak the truth. On the day upon which the Queen was
beheaded, at sunrise between two and three o'clock, there was revealed
to me (whether I was asleep or awake I know not) the Queen's neck after
her head had been cut off, and this so plainly that I could count the
nerves, the veins, and the arteries.

Terrified by this dream, or vision, I immediately arose, and, crossing
the river Thames, I came to Lambeth (this is the name of the Archbishop
of Canterbury's palace), and I entered the garden in which he was
walking.

When the archbishop saw me, he inquired why I had come so early, for the
clock had not yet struck four. I answered that I had been horrified in
my sleep, and I told him the whole occurrence. He continued in silent
wonder for a while, and at length broke out into these words, "Do not
you know what is to happen to-day?" and when I answered that I had
remained at home since the date of the Queen's imprisonment, and knew
nothing of what was going on, the archbishop then raised his eyes to
heaven and said, "She who has been the Queen of England upon earth will
to-day become a queen in heaven." So great was his grief that he could
say nothing more, and then he burst into tears.

Terrified at this announcement, I return[ed] to London sorrowing.
Although my lodging was not far distant from the place of execution, yet
I could not become an eye-witness to the butchery of such an illustrious
lady, and of the exalted personages who were beheaded along with
her.--(Foreign Calendar, Elizabeth, i. 528).]



[APPENDIX G (p. 269).

THE DEPARTURE OF ALESIUS FROM ENGLAND.


As soon as the king [_i.e._, Henry VIII.] began to hate her [_i.e._,
Anne Boleyn], laws hostile to the purer doctrine of the Gospel appeared.
When I could not bear these with a good conscience, nor could my
profession allow me to dissemble them (for I was filling the office of
the ordinary reader in the celebrated University of Cambridge by the
king's orders), I came to the Court, and asked for my dismissal by means
of Crumwell. But he retained me for about three years with empty hopes,
until it was decreed and confirmed by law that married priests should be
separated from their wives and punished at the king's pleasure. But
before this law was published, the Bishop of Canterbury sent Lord
Pachet [_i.e._ Paget] from Lambeth to me at London.... He directed me to
call upon the archbishop early in the morning. When I called upon him,
"Happy man that you are," said he, "you can escape! I wish that I might
do the same; truly my see would be no hindrance to me. You must make
haste to escape before the island is blocked up, unless you are willing
to sign the decree, as I have, compelled by fear. I repent of what I
have done. And if I had known that my only punishment would have been
deposition from the archbishopric (as I hear that my Lord Latimer is
deposed), of a truth I would not have subscribed. I am grieved, however,
that you have been deprived of your salary for three years by
Crumwell;[322] that you have no funds for your travelling expenses, and
that I have no ready money. Nor dare I mention this to my friends, lest
the king should become aware that warning had been given by me for you
to escape, and that I have provided you with the means of travelling. I
give you, however, this ring as a token of my friendship. It once
belonged to Thomas Wolsey, and it was presented to me by the king when
he gave me the archbishopric."

When I heard what the bishop had to say, I immediately caused my
property to be sold, and I concealed myself in the house of a German
sailor until the ship was ready, in which I embarked, dressed as a
soldier, along with other German troops, that I might not be detected.
When I had escaped a company of searchers, I wrote to Crumwell (although
he had not behaved well towards me) and warned him of the danger in
which he stood at that time, and about certain other matters. For this I
can vouch the testimony of John Ales, Gregory, and the Secretary, and
Pachet himself. But Christopher Mount said that Crumwell did not dare
to speak to me when I was going away and soliciting my dismissal, nor
could he venture to give me anything, lest he should be accused to the
king, but that he would send the sum that he owed me into Germany.[323]

The next intelligence, however, which I heard of him was that he had
undergone capital punishment by order of the king; to whom he had
written, when in prison, saying that he was punished by the just
judgment of God, because he had loved the king more than God; and that
out of deference to his sovereign he had caused many innocent persons to
be put to death, not sparing your [_i.e._, Elizabeth's] most holy
mother, nor had he obeyed her directions in promoting the doctrine of
the Gospel.--(Foreign Calendar, Elizabeth, i. 532-534).]

FOOTNOTES:

[322] [In Crumwell's accounts there are payments of £5 to Alesius on
each of the following dates: 4th January 1536-37, 28th March, 28th May,
and 24th October 1537; of 10 merks, on 19th February 1537-38; and of £5,
on 13th October 1538, to Ric. Morison, which he gave "by my lord's
command" to Alesius (Letters and State Papers, Henry VIII., vol. xiv.
part ii. 328-338).]

[323] [Alesius arrived at Wittenberg on the 9th of July 1539, and from
thence informed Crumwell that he was encouraged to hope that he would
receive a post in the University there (Letters and State Papers, Henry
VIII., vol. xiv. part i. 583, 584). Melanchthon wrote to the Elector's
chancellor, on the 1st of December 1539, recommending him for the
University of Frankfort (Corpus Reformatorum, iii. 842-844).]



APPENDIX H (p. 281).

ALESIUS' INVITATION OF MELANCHTHON TO HIS DAUGHTER'S WEDDING.


Nockau, 11 _August_ 1557.

ALEXANDER ALESIUS AU MELANCHTHON.

S.D. Quod fœlix faustumque sit. Dilectissima filia mea Anna, cui
nomen in baptismo indidit bonæ memoriæ primogenita vestra, desponsata
est honesto iuveni Martino Luxsolario (nam solem etiam pro insigni
habet), doctoris Martini filio, petente id sua matre per cognatos et
affines, et suadentibus communibus amicis nostris. Dictus est autem
dies nuptiarum ultimus Augusti, circa quod tempus vos ad colloquium
profecturum (_sic_) spero. Peto igitur reverenter et amanter, ut una cum
honestissima coniuge vestra, genero, filia ac nepte nuptias vestra
praesentia ornare velitis. Existimo autem magistrum Paulum, amanuensem
vestrum, una venturum, sed tamen ut eum cum uxore invitetis meis verbis
ad nuptias oro. Scitis autem summum sacerdotem et pontificem nostrum
filium Dei, qui primos parentes in paradyso copulavit, et non minore
magnificentia quam sapientia et potencia suam ordinationem contra
sophistica et tyrannidem diaboli et multiplicem ingratitudinem nostram
defendit, ut totam actionem, ita etiam invitacionem hospitum et communia
officia sua presentia et primo miraculo comprobasse[t] ac monstrasse[t],
quantum dilectetur (_sic_) istis congressibus. Nos autem parentes et
amici, sponsi et sponsae, una cum eis, pro hoc officio et molestia
profectionis gratitudinem pollicemur per omnem occasionem.

Ex pago Nockau postridie Laurentii 1557.

ALEXANDER ALESIUS.

_Adresse:_ Clarissimo et ornatissimo viro d. Philippo Melanchthoni, suo
præceptori carissimo.



APPENDIX I (p. 283).

THE WORKS OF ALESIUS.


The following is a list of the published writings of Alesius, so far as
I have been able to trace them:--

1. Epistola contra decretum quoddam Episcoporum in Scotia, 1533. [For a
full copy of the title see p. 259 n. No place, date, or printer's name
is given on the title-page. This small 8vo consists of only 14 leaves.
It begins: "Inclyto Regis Scotorum D. Iacobo Quinto Duci Albaniæ,
Principi Hiberniæ & Orchadum Domino suo clementissimo Allexander Alesius
S. D." At the end there is the date, "Anno. M.D.XXXIII." In Cooper's
'Athenae Cantabrigienses' (i. 239), 1542 and 1543 are given as the dates
of other two editions.]

2. Responsio ad Cochlei Calumnias, 1533. [The full title is: "Alexandri
Alesii Scotti Responsio ad Cochlei Calvmnias." No place, date, or
printer's name is given.]

3. Oratio de Gratitudine et Restituendis Scholis. Lipsiæ (?), 1541. [In
the 'Athenae Cantabrigienses,' the 'Oratio de Gratitudine' and the 'De
Restituendis Scholis' are entered as separate works published in Leipsic
in 1541. They may, however, have been also issued as one. In the 'Corpus
Reformatorum,' xi. 251-257, is printed the "Oratio de Gratitudine M.
Alexandri Alesii Scoti, Decani, in promotione Magistrorum anno
M.D.XXXIV." The full title of the other is: "De Restitvendis Scholis
Oratio habita ab Alexdro (_sic_) Alesio, in celebri Academia
Frācofordiana ad Oderam. An. M.D.XL. Mense Iunio. Francofordiæ apud
Ioannem Hanaw." The dedication ends: "Francofordiæ ad Oderam calēdis
Iunij. An. M.D.XL." There are only 19 leaves in this small tract.]

4. De Auctore et Utilitate Psalmorum. 1542.

5. De Auctoritate Verbi Dei contra Episcopum Lundensem. 1542. [See p.
264 n.]

6. Of the Auctorite of the Word of God agaynst the Bisshop of London.
[For a full copy of the title, see p. 268 n. This small 8vo black-letter
tract of 46 leaves bears no place, date, or printer's name. In the
British Museum Catal., _Leipsic_ is given as the probable place of
printing, and 1537 as the supposed date. Perhaps the date has been
inferred from the opening sentence of the tract: "Abowt V yere agone I
wrote to the noble king of Scottys the father of my contry complanning
of a certen proclamacyon wherin the bisshops had forbidden the Holy
Scripture to be redd in the mother tong." It is rather curious that in
the Latin version this sentence runs thus; "Ante _biennium_ scripsi
inclyto regi Scotorum patri meæ patriæ, et questus sum de edicto quodam,
quo episcopi prohibebant lectionem sacrorum librorum lingua patria."]

7. Cohortatio ad concordiam pietatis ac doctrinæ Christianæ defensionem.
Lipsiæ, 1544.

8. [De Argvmento Epistolae ad Romanos Dispvtatio prima, pvblice
proposita in celebri Academia Lipsensi, et in ordinaria dispvtatione
defensa, praesidente Alexandro Alesio, sacrae theologiae doctore.
Lipsiae in officina Valenttini Papae. anno M.D.XLVII. This small 8vo
tract of 8 leaves is printed in italics.]

9. Ordo Distributionis Sacramenti Altaris in Regno Angliæ. 1548. [This
is a translation of 'The Order of the Communion,' which has been
re-printed for the Parker Society in 'The Two Liturgies of Edward VI.'
In the British Museum Catal., it is mentioned that the translator's
address to the reader is signed: 'A. A. S. D. Th.'--_i.e._, "Alexander
Alesius, Scotus, Doctor Theologiæ." See also Coverdale's Remains, Parker
Society, p. 525 n.]

10. Epitome Catechismi D. P. Melanchthonis cui addita est expositio
symboli et Orationis Dominicæ. 1550.

11. Commentarius in Epistolam Primam Si Pauli ad Timotheum. Lipsiæ,
1550.

12. Commentarius in Epistolam Secundam Si Pauli ad Timotheum. Lipsiæ,
1551. [The exact title of this is: "In Alteram ad Timotheum Expositio.
Avtore Alexandro Alesio. D. Lipsiæ, excvdebat Georgivs Hantzsch anno
M.D.LI."]

13. Ordinatio Ecclesiæ in Regno Angliæ. 1551. [This is a translation of
the 'First Liturgy of Edward VI.' As a translation it is somewhat
adversely criticised in the 'Liturgical Services of Queen Elizabeth,'
Parker Society, pp. xxiv-xxvii. The full title is: "Ordinatio Ecclesiae,
sev Ministerii Ecclesiastici, in Florentissimo Regno Angliæ, conscripta
sermone patrio, & in Latinam linguam bona fide conuersa, & ad
consolationem ecclesiarum Christi, ubicunque locorum ac gentium, his
tristissimis temporibus, edita, ab Alexandro Alesio Scoto sacrae
theologiae doctore. Lipsiae in officina VVolfgangi Gvnteri. Anno
M.D.LI." The copy of this 4to in the Edinburgh University Library
belonged to Drummond of Hawthornden. In the 'Athenae Cantabrigienses,'
1619 and 1690 are given as the dates of two 8vo editions.]

14. Commentarius in Epistolam S. Pauli ad Titum. Lipsiæ, 1552. [The full
title of this is: "Epistolae ad Titvm Expositio, in qva pleraque
tractantur per quæstiones, ut à pueris facilius percipi, & retineri
possint. Nulla est autem sententia in tota Epistola praetermissa, quae
non sit explicata: Et de Syntaxi, & Figura sermonis, ac genuina
significatione dictionū passim disputatur. Praelecta Lipsiae, ab
Alexandra Alesio. D. Lipsiae, in officina typographica Georgii Hantzsch.
M.D.LII."]

15. Refutatio errorum Andreæ Osiandri de Justificatione. Wittembergæ,
1552. [The full title is: "Alexandri Alesii Doctoris Theologiae diligens
refutatio errorum, quos sparsit nuper Andreas Osiander in libro, cui
titulum fecit: De Vnico Mediatore Christo. Edita VVitebergæ ex officina
Ioannis Lufftij anno 1552." In the 'Athenae Cantabrigienses' it is
stated that an edition was also printed at Leipsic in 1553.]

16. Commentarius in Evangelium Joannis. Lipsiæ, 1552. Basilii, 1553.
[The full title is: "Commentarivs in Euangelium Ioannis, praelectvs in
celebri Academia Lipsensi, ab Alexandro Alesio D. Theologo, anno Domini
1552. Cum locuplete rerum & uerborum memorabilium indice. Basileae, per
Ioannem Oporinum." The colophon is: "Basileae, ex officina Ioannis
Oporini, anno salutis humanae M.D.LIII. Mense Martio." This volume
contains over 600 pages.]

17. Disputatio in XIIII. cap. Rom. Disputt. et Orr. aliquot Francoforti
habitæ 1540 et 1541. [The full title is: "In Capvt XIIII. Epistolae
Pavli ad Romanos, Dispvtatio Alexandri Alesii Theologiae D. Lipsiae,
M.D.XLVI." This tract of 6 leaves, with the exception of the title-page
and the heading, is printed in italics.]

18. Omnes Disputationes Alexandri Alesii in Epistolam Si Pauli ad
Romanos. Lipsiæ, 1553. [The full title is: "Omnes Dispvtationes D.
Alexandri Alesii de tota Epistola ad Romanos diversis temporibvs
propositae ab ipso in celebri Academia Lipsensi, et a mvltis doctis
viris expetitae, iam tandem collectae per Georgivm Hantsch, et editae in
gratiam stvdiosorvm. Cvm praefatione Philippi Melanchthonis. M.D.LIII."
In the British Museum Catal. Wittenberg is entered as the supposed place
of publication. In the sale catal. of the Makellar Library there is the
item: "Alesius (Alex. Scotus) De Paulina Argumentatione, capiti secundo
ad Romanos, Ideo inexcusabilis es, o Homo quis-quis es qui Judicus
(_sic_), Disputatio Sexta, ... s. l. anno 1549." See also _supra_, Nos.
8 and 17.]

19. Primus Liber Psalmorum Davidis. Lipsiæ, 1550, 1554.

20. Disputationes Tres De Mediatore et Justificatione hominis. Lipsiæ,
1554.

21. Responsio ad Tapperum de Missâ et Cœna Domini. Lipsiæ. [In the
'Athenae Cantabrigienses,' 1565 is given as the date of publication.]

22. Contra horrendas Serveti Blasphemias Disputationes Tres. Lipsiæ,
1554. [These disputations were probably issued separately and were
supplemented by a fourth. In the 'Athenae Cantabrigienses' there is the
entry: "Contra Michaelem Servetum ejusque blasphemias disp. iii.
Leipsic, 8vo. 1554"; and also this other: "Contra horrendas Serveti
blasphemias disputatio quarta. Leipsic, 8^{vo.} 1555."]

23. Disputatio de Perpetuo Consensu Ecclesiæ. Lipsiæ, 1553(?), 1556.

24. Ad libellum Ludovici Nogarolæ comitis De Traditionibus Apostolicis
et earum necessitate Responsio Alexandri Alesii D. Lip. 1556. [For the
rarity of this tract see _supra_, p. 255 n. In his Introduction to Gau,
Dr Mitchell gives as the alternate title: "Apostolicæ institutiones a
Ludovico Nogarola Com. in parvum libellum collectæ et ab Alexandro
Alesio in Disputationem propositæ in celebri Academia Lipsiensi. Lipsiæ,
Excudebat Georgius Hantzsch, 1556." 8vo.]

25. Responsio ad Duos et triginta Articulos Theologorum Lovaniensium.
Lipsiæ, 1559. [In the sale catalogue of the Makellar Library 1545 is
given as the year of publication. In the 'Athenae Cantabrigienses' 1549
is given.]

26. Assertio Doctrinæ Ecclesiæ Catholicæ de Sancta Trinitate, cum
confutatione erroris Valentini Gentilis. 1564 (?). [British Museum
Catalogue gives Geneva, 1567.]

27. Edinburgi Regiæ Scotorum Urbis Descriptio. Bannatyne Club
Miscellany, vol. i. [This description of Edinburgh was sent by Alesius
to Sebastian Munster for his "Cosmography," printed at Basle in 1550,
and republished in 1572. There are translations of it in Mackenzie's
Lives and Characters of Scots Writers, ii. 400, 401; and in Chambers'
Minor Antiquities of Edinburgh; and in Hume Brown's Scotland before
1700.]

28. [Congratulatory letter to Queen Elizabeth, dated at Leipsic, 1st
September 1559. The original holograph of twenty pages and a slip is
still preserved. A translation of most of it is given in the Calendar of
Foreign State Papers, Reign of Elizabeth, i. 524-534.]

[There are copies of Nos. 5, 12, 14, 15, 16 (1553), and 18 in St Andrews
University Library; of No. 2 in the Church of Scotland Library,
Edinburgh; of No. 16 (1553) in the Signet Library; of No. 8 in the
Advocates'; of Nos. 2, 3 (De Restituendis Scholis), 5, 13, 16 (1553),
and 17 in the Edinburgh University Library; and of Nos. 1, 6, 7, 9, 10,
12, 13, 15, 16 (1553), 18, 19 (1554), 23 (1556), and 26 in the British
Museum. Nos. 27 and 28 are in all important public libraries. At Laing's
sale, No. 1 brought £6, 5s.; No. 2, £17, 17s.; No. 5, £6; No. 6, £4; No.
13, £10; No. 15, £5, 17s. 6d.; No. 16, £5, 10s.; and No. 18 (with which
was bound up "Sarcerius de Scholasticae Theologiae Vanitate"), £6. In
the 'Athenae Cantabrigienses,' the following six items, which are not in
the above list, are mentioned: "Disputatio de Justitia Dei et Justitia
hominis coram Deo. Leipsic, 1553." "De utriusque naturae officiis in
Christo." "De distincta Christi hypostasi." "Preface to Gardiner upon
obedience. Translated from English to Latin." "De Balaei Vocatione.
Translated from English." "Ordinationes Anglorum Ecclesiae per Bucerum.
Translated from English to Latin." In connection with the last, see
'Liturgical Services of Queen Elizabeth,' Parker Society, p. xxv, n. 3.]



[ADDENDA.


Page 20. _Patrick Hamilton's admission to the Faculty of Arts in St
Andrews University._--The entry in the 'Acta Facultatis Artium' runs
thus: "Congregatione artium facultatis, in Nouis Scolis eiusdem tenta
tercio die mensis Octobris, anno Domini millesimo quingentesimo vigesimo
quarto, Magister Johannes Ba[l]four regentium senior Collegij Sancti
Saluatoris in quodlibetarium est electus; et Magister Patricius
Hamiltone, abbas de Ferne, Rossensis diocesis, in facultatem est
receptus."

Page 117. _Two sacraments only._--In the Preface to the Book of Common
Order it is said that "for the ministration of the two sacraments, our
Booke giveth sufficient proofe" (Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 395; Laing's
Knox, iv. 164). In the Confession used in the English congregation at
Geneva only two are referred to (Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 9; Laing's
Knox, iv. 172); in "the Maner to Examine Children" their number is said
to be two (Laing's Knox, vi. 344); and in Calvin's Catechism, printed
with the Book of Common Order, it is emphatically declared that there
are two only (Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 233).

Page 121. _The language of Rev. xiv. 11._--In the text of the Confession
the passage runs thus: "For sik as now delyte in vanity, cruelty,
filthynes, superstition or idolatry, sal be adjudged to the fire
unquencheable: in quhilk they sall be tormented for ever, asweill in
their awin bodyes, as in their saules, quhilk now they give to serve
the devill in all abhomination" (Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 96, 97). As
printed in Laing's Knox (ii. 120) the word "inextinguishable," and in
the Acts of Parliament (ii. 534; iii. 22) the word "unstancheabill," is
used instead of "unquencheable." In Dunlop, however, there is in
addition, at the bottom of the page, in smaller type: "Rev. 14. 10. The
same shall drynke the wyne of the wrath of God, which is poured in the
cuppe of hys wrath. And he shall be punyshed in fyre and brymstone
before the holy angells, and before the Lambe. And the smooke of theyr
torment ascendeth up evermore, and they have no rest daye nor nyght,
whyche worshyppe the beast and hys ymage."

Page 153. _Readers or exhorters._--The name _exhorter_ does not occur in
the First Book of Discipline; but that "sort of readers" therein
mentioned as having "some gift of exhortation" (Dunlop's Confessions,
ii. 537; Laing's Knox, ii. 200) soon came to be known as exhorters, and
are so named in various Acts of Assembly; see, for example, the Act of
1564 quoted on p. 128. They are distinguished from readers in the
'Register of Ministers, Exhorters, and Readers,' printed for the
Maitland Club; but, as David Laing has pointed out, the title of
exhorter as indicating an advanced class seems to have been soon and
silently dropped. "On comparing the list of the persons so styled in
1567 with that of 1574, we find some of them had become ministers, but
the greater number are entered simply as readers" (Wodrow Miscellany, p.
323).

Page 233. _Conference between the two parties._--Besides the three
conferences mentioned in the footnote, there was another held in the
early summer of 1578. The results, as recorded in the Booke of the
Universall Kirk (ii. 414, 415) and in Calderwood's History (iii. 412,
413), embrace nothing about the kirk-session, beyond the perpetuity of
the persons of the elders.

Page 259. _Alesius at Wittenberg._--Through the influence of Luther and
Melanchthon, the Elector of Saxony had conferred on Alesius the prebend
of Aldenburgh. Being in greats straits for money, and having been
disappointed of help otherwise, he was constrained to write from
Wittenberg, on the 12th of December 1533, to Spalatinus, requesting him
to obtain payment of the moiety of the prebend (Corpus Reformatorum, ii.
690, 691).

Page 261. _The disputatious Cochlaeus._--On the suggestion of
Melanchthon, an attack in verse was made on Cochlaeus for his injustice
to Alesius; but the timorous author so dreaded Cochlaeus that, instead
of writing in his own name, he personated Alesius (Corpus Reformatorum,
iv. 1025, 1026).

Page 265. _Erasmus and Cochlaeus._--Summaries of the letters which James
V. wrote, on the 1st of July 1534, to Erasmus, to Cochlaeus, and to the
King of the Romans, are in the Letters and State Papers of Henry VIII.,
vol. vii. p. 358.

Page 267. _Alesius as a physician._--"I determined with my self to serve
the tyme and to change the preaching of the crosse with the scyence of
physic wherin I had a litle sight before, and thus I went unto a very
well-lerned phisycian called Doctor Nicolas, which hath practised phisyk
in London thes many yeares with high prayse, whose company I dyd use
certen yeares, wherby I did both see and lern many things, even the
principal poyntes concerning that science. In so moch that at length
certen of my frindes did move me to take in hand to practise, which
thing I did I trust not unluckyly" (Of the Auctorite of the Word of God
agaynst the Bisshop of London).

Page 268. _Latimer and Cranmer._--For the opinion of Alesius on Latimer
and Cranmer, see Dr Mitchell's Westminster Assembly, 1883, p. 14 n., and
p. 23 n.

Page 268 n. _Ales or Alesius._--Christopher Anderson may be excused for
supposing that Ales was the real name of Alesius; but less can be said
for those editors of State Papers and compilers of important Library
Catalogues who have helped to perpetuate the error long after it was
pointed out by Principal Lorimer in his Patrick Hamilton.

Page 269. _John M'Alpine and John Fyffe._--From a correction which Dr
Mitchell has made in his own copy of the 'Gude and Godlie Ballatis,'
1897, p. cv, it seems that he had come to the conclusion that it was
M'Alpine and _Macdowal_, not _Fyffe_, who were protected by Bishop
Shaxton. Cf. Lorimer's Patrick Hamilton, pp. 186, 187.]



CORRIGENDA.

[Transcriber's Note: These corrigenda have been applied to this version
of the text.]


P. 119, line 4 from bottom. _After_ contained _insert_ in.

P. 240, line 14. _For_ oedibus _read_ aedibus.



INDEX.


Acton, Lord, quotation from 'Lecture on the Study of History' by, 2 fn.

Acts of Parliament referred to, 15, 23, 50, 51, 53, 226, 233, 264.

Adamson, Archbishop, 102, 195, 199.

À Kempis, 3.

Alane, Alexander, 36, 239, 242
  --not Ales, 268 fn., 309
  --see Alesius.

Alasco, John, reference to 'Summa Doctrina' by, 109, 117
  --his congregation at London, 126
  --on the office of bishop, 154
  --'Modus ac Ritus Excommunicationis' and 'Forma ac Ratio Public
      Penitentiæ' by, 165.

Ales, John, 299.

Alesius, 10, 11 fn., 17, 22, 32, 33 fn., 36 _et seq._, 51, 75, 80,
      239 _et seq._
  --his treatise against the decree of the Scottish Bishops, 37, 259
  --a miraculous escape, 240
  --at College, 242
  --discussions with Patrick Hamilton, 243
  --his account of Patrick Hepburn, 245
  --assaulted and imprisoned, 247
  --his escape, 251
  --at Malmö, 255
  --at Cologne, 256
  --befriended by Melanchthon at Wittenberg, 259, 308
  --his controversy with Cochlaeus, 260 _et seq._
  --the intervention of Erasmus, 264
  --at Cambridge, 266
  --at London, 267
  --his dispute with Stokesley, _ib._, 268
  --marries Catherine de Mayne, 268
  --returns to the Continent, 269
  --appointed Professor of Divinity in Frankfort University, 270
  --Professor in Leipsic University, 271
  --the Perth Martyrs, 273
  --he pleads for National Union, 275
  --his public and private life, 279
  --his family, 280
  --his death, 281
  --his theological opinions, 295 _et seq._
  --his dream concerning Anne Boleyn, 297
  --his departure from England, 298
  --a letter to Melanchthon, 300
  --his works 301 _et seq._
  --prebend of Aldenburgh conferred on him, 309
  --one writes in his name, _ib._
  --he practises as a physician, _ib._
  --his name not _Ales_, _ib._

Allen, Edmund, 268 fn.

Anderson, Rev. Christopher, reference to 'Annals of the English Bible' by,
  239, 260 fns., 268 fn., 283 fn.

Anderson, William, 53.

Anselm, 3, 17.

Arbuckill, Friar, 121 fn.

Archebald, Sir James, vicar of Lintrathin, 128 fn., 183 fn.

Argyll, the Duke of, 215.

Arminianism, discussion on, 119.

Arran, Earl of, 50 _et seq._, 273.

Arth, William, 35 fn.

Assembly, General, 160-162.

Augustine, 3, 119 fn.


Baillie, Principal, 138 fn.

Bain's Calendar quoted, 86 fn.

Balnaves on Justification quoted, 113 fn.

Bannatyne's Memoriales, 187 fn., 189, 192 fn., 194 fn., 198 fn.,
  205 fn. _et seq._

Bayle, 80, 204.

Benedict XIII., 16.

Betoun, Archbishop James, 22, 24 _et seq._, 30 fn., 34, 42, 74, 245,
  246, 262, 286, 287.

Betoun, Cardinal, 11 fn., 36, 42 _et seq._, 54 _et seq._, 57, 60, 68-74,
      81, 245, 264, 273, 274, 287
  --his seven children, 292.

Beza, 36, 281, 282.

Boleyn, Anne, 267 fn., 297.

'Booke of the Universall Kirk' referred to, 13 fn., 117 fn., 118 fn.,
  128 fn., 198 fn., 218 fn., 227 fn., 233 fn.

Borthwick, Sir John, 38 fn.

Bothwell, Earl of, 72.

Bradwardine, 17.

Brown, Mr Hume, references to 'John Knox' by, 11 fn., 55 fn., 124 fn.

Bucer, 270.

Buchanan, George, 17, 22, 40, 49, 73.

Burton's 'History' referred to, 215, 219.


Caithness, Bishop of, 198.

Calderwood, 137, 142--his 'Altare Damascenum' referred to, 137 _et seq._
  --'History' referred to, 33 fn., _et passim._

Calumnies, Popish, 202 _et seq._

Calvin, 17, 80, 88, 90, 105 fn., 106 fn., 107, 112, 115, 116, 124, 125,
  147, 163, 164 fn., 168, 170, 187, 204, 215, 216, 270.

Cambridge, 58, 266, 298.

Campbell, Friar, 29, 32.

Campbell of Cessnock, 16.

Catechism, Hamilton's, 8 fn., 287
  --Calvin's, 103, 112
  --Heidelberg, 103
  --Melanchthon's, 271.

Cattley's 'Foxe' referred to, 33 fn., 39 fn., 59 fn., 70 fn., 74 fn.,
  268 fn.

Charters, Andrew, 41.

Church, the medieval, corruption and decay of, 7 _et seq._
  --the reforming priests of, 12 _et seq._

Cistercian Nuns, or White Ladies, at Frankfort, 125, 294.

Cochlaeus, 260 _et seq._, 295, 309.

Cocklaw, Thomas, 41.

Colace, William, 192.

Cole, Thos., 125 fn.

Common Order, Book of, its origin, 123 _et seq._
  --its authority, 127
  --early practice in Scotland, 128 _et seq._
  --Knox and the English liturgy, 130 _et seq._
  --a guide or model only, 132 _et seq._
  --testimony of Calderwood, Baillie, Row, and Henderson, 137 _et seq._
  --practice in other Reformed churches, 141
  --its evidence on Church government, 145, 147 _et seq._
  --on discipline, 163 _et seq._
  --on Church members, 170.

Conæus, 11 fn.

Confession, First Helvetic, 58, 77
  --Later Helvetic, 103, 113, 147
  --Westminster, 107, 110, 118, 122, 234
  --of English congregation at Geneva, 107, 120
  --of 1616, 117 fn., 118.

Confession of 1560, the Scottish, its preparation, 99 _et seq._
  --alleged omission of a chapter, 101
  --its character, 102 _et seq._
  --the supreme authority of the Scriptures, 103
  --the fall and the remedy, _ib._, 105
  --the eternal decree, 107
  --influence of John Alasco, 109, 117
  --the effectual call, 110
  --justification, 111 _et seq._
  --notes of the True Church, 114 _et seq._
  --the sacraments, 116 _et seq._
  --compared with later confessions, 118 _et seq._, 122
  --its unmeasured language, 120 _et seq._

Constable's 'Major' referred to, 18 fn.

Cook, Dr George, of St Andrews, 231.

Cook, Dr, of Haddington, 231.

Cook, Procurator, 232.

Cook's 'History of the Reformation' referred to, 61 fn.

Coverdale, Miles, 150.

Craig, John, 187.

Cranmer, Archbishop, 58, 254, 266, 268, 282, 297, 298, 299, 309.

Craw or Crawar, Paul, 15.

Croc, Le, 201.

Crumwell, 37 fn., 266-268, 298-300.

Cunningham, Principal, 231
  --his 'Church History of Scotland' quoted, 214.


D'Ailley, 18.

Dalgleish, Nicol, 192.

Dalrymple's 'Lesley' referred to, 28 fn.

'Dalyell's Scottish Poems' quoted, 195 fn.

D'Aubigné's 'Reformation in the Time of Calvin' referred to, 26 fn.,
  33 fn., 42 _et seq._, 48 fn., 80 fn., 239, 241 fn., 243 fn., 250.

Davidson, John, 188, 192, 197.

Declaration, the Large (or King's), 142, 143.

Discipline, the First Book of, its preparation, 99, 144
  --the government of the Church, 145 _et seq._
  --the discipline of the Church, 162 _et seq._
  --discipline under Prelacy, 167
  --the prerogatives and duties of Church members, 169 _et seq._
  --education of the young and university reform, 174 _et seq._
  --care of the poor, 179 _et seq._

Discipline, the Second Book of, compared with the First Book, 214 _et seq._
  --the authority of the king, 217
  --the limits of ecclesiastical authority, 219 _et seq._
  --influence of the Second Book not unmixed, 225
  --its authority, 226
  --its theory of the Church, 227
  --institution of the presbytery, 229 _et seq._
  --the Westminster doctrine of the Church, 234 _et seq._
  --the ideal presbytery, 237.

'Diurnal of Occurrents' referred to, 38 fn., 39 fn.

Dore's 'Old Bibles' quoted, 91 fn.

Douglas, John, 99, 144, 193
  --is made Archbishop, 198
  --his parentage, 199 fn.
  --Principal of St Mary's College, 287, 288.

Dunbar, Archbishop of Glasgow, 262, 264.

Dundee, 41, 54, 60, 62-65, 71, 75, 76, 94, 158 fn.

Dundrennan, Thomas, Abbot of, 16 fn.

Dunlop's 'Collection of Confessions' referred to, 102 fn. _et passim._

Durie, Mr John, 194, 206.


Ebrard, 14.

Edinburgh, 38, 41, 89, 93, 158 fn., 187, 190, 200, 239-241.

Education, 9, 174 _et seq._

Edward VI., 87, 88, 130, 131.

Erasmus, 21, 24, 264, 309.

Erskine of Dun, 40, 56 _et seq._, 78, 94.

Ethie House, 57, 293.

Eugenius the Fourth, Pope, 17.

Exactions of pre-Reformation Church, 9, 179 _et seq._

Exercise, or Prophesying, 153, 159, 170 _et seq._, 229.

Exhorters, 152, 153, 308.


Fachsius, Ludovicus, 271.

Farel, 125.

Felix the Fifth, 17 fn.

Ferne, 20, 307.

Fisher, Bishop, 243.

Forbes, Bishop, 10.

Fordun, 16.

Forman, Archbishop, 43 fn.

Forrest, Henry, 35.

Forret, Thomas, vicar of Dollar, 41.

Foster, John, 263 fn.

Foxe's 'Acts and Monuments,' see Cattley.

Frankfort on the Oder, 40, 88, 109, 124, 126, 149 fn., 150, 269, 270, 272.

'Frankfort, Troubles at,' 124 fn., 125.

Frith, 26.

Fyffe, John, 40, 269, 310.


Gau, Gaw, or Gall, John, 255
  --his 'Richt Vay to the Kingdom of Heuine' referred to, 33 fn., 255 fn.

Geneva, 89-91, 125, 149, 158 fn., 288.

Gerson, 18.

Gilby, Ant., 125 fn.

Gillespie, George, 158 fn.
  --his 'Aaron's Rod Blossoming' quoted, 222 _et seq._
  --'Assertion of the Government' referred to, 229 fn., 232.

Glasgow martyr, 15.

Gordon, Bishop of Galloway, 130.

Gourlay, Norman, burned for marrying, 39.

Grimani, 55.

Grindal, Archbishop, 91, 150 fn., 160.

Grosteste, 17.

Grub's 'History,' 118 fn.

'Gude and Godlie Ballatis' referred to, 67, 74 fn., 76 fn.

Guise, Mary of, 11 fn., 46, 93, 94, 192.


Haag, quotation from 'La France Protestant' by, 168.

Hailes, Lord, 161.

Hamilton, Archibald, 192, 193, 202, 203, 205.

Hamilton, James, 39.

Hamilton, James, Bishop of Argyle, 20.

Hamilton, John, Abbot of Paisley, Archbishop of St Andrews, 18, 51, 82,
      146, 188, 287
  --his Catechism, 8 fn., 287.

Hamilton, John, apostate, 193.

Hamilton, Patrick, 17, 19 _et seq._
  --birth and early years, 20
  --studies abroad, 21
  --returns to Scotland and is received into St Andrews University, 22
  --preaches the reformed faith, 24
  --summoned to appear before Archbishop Betoun, 25
  --escapes to the Continent, 26
  --his final return to Scotland, 27
  --invited to a friendly conference at St Andrews, 28
  --seized and condemned, 30
  --his martyrdom, 31 _et seq._
  --sources of information, 33 fn.
  --effect of his death, 34 _et seq._, 37, 73, 75, 242, 243, 244, 275,
      286, 289, 296, 307

'Hamilton Papers' quoted, 52 fn.

Hardwick's 'Reformation' referred to, 267 fn.

Harrison, quotation from article on 'Freeman's Method of History' by, 2 fn.

Hay, Mr L., Bass, 227 fn.

Hay, Principal, 11 fn., 287.

Heidelberg Catechism, 103

Henderson, Alexander, 142, 166 fn., 231
  --his 'Government and Order of the Church of Scotland' quoted, 140, 237

Henry VIII., 49, 266 fn., 268, 298.

Hepburn, Bishop, 57.

Hepburn, Prior John, 242, 244, 286.

Hepburn, Prior Patrick, 36, 40, 46, 74, 244-247, 249, 250, 252, 253.

Honorius III., 161.

Hooper, Bishop, 98.

Hunter, James, 53.


Innes, Taylor, reference to 'John Knox' by, 209 fn.

James V., 23, 38, 39, 44, 46 _et seq._, 192, 247-249, 263 fn., 273.

James VI., 131, 143 fn., 166, 168.

Johnston, John, 281, 288.

Johnston, Rev. T. P., reference to 'Patrick Hamilton' by, 33 fn.


Kennedy, Bishop, 9, 17, 286.

Kennedy, Quintine, Abbot of Crossraguel, 127, 203.

Kincavel, 20.

Kirkcaldy of Grange, 208.

Kirk-session, or lesser eldership, 158, 232, 233, 308.

Knox, 6, 10, 11 fn., 13 fn., 18, 33 fn.
  --early life and education, 79
  --leader of the Reformation, 80
  --settles in St Andrews, 82
  --called to the ministry, 83
  --a galley slave, 85
  --obtains release, 86
  --his work among the English, _ib. et seq._
  --five years exile, 88 _et seq._
  --a visit to Scotland, 89
  --returns to Scotland, 93
  --at Dundee, 94
  --preaches at St Andrews, 95 _et seq._
  --the reformed worship established throughout Scotland, 97 _et seq._
  --the old Scottish Confession of 1560, 99 _et seq._
  --Knox's Liturgy, 123 _et seq._
  --the First Book of Discipline, 144 _et seq._
  --his last days, 184 _et seq._
  --leaves Edinburgh, 187
  --preaching in St Andrews, 188 _et seq._
  --James Melville's impression of Knox, 191 _et seq._
  --returns to Edinburgh, 200
  --Popish calumnies, 202 _et seq._
  --his last illness and death, 205 _et seq._, 216, 278.

Knox's Liturgy, _see_ Common Order, Book of.


Laing, Dr David, 10, 22, 102 fn., 231
  --his 'Knox' referred to, 13 fn. _et passim_
  --his 'Lindsay's Poetical Works' referred to, 83 fn.

Lamb, Robert, 53.

Lambert, of Avignon, 26, 27
  --his 'Commentary on the Apocalypse' referred to, 33 fn.

Lang, Mr Andrew, 71.

Latimer, Bishop, 58, 268, 299, 309.

Laud's Liturgy, 133.

Lawsone, Mr James, 195, 201, 203, 205, 207.

Lay-elders, the term, 229.

Leckprevick, Robert, printer, 194, 195.

Lee, Principal, 113 fn., 231
  --quotation from 'Lectures on the History of the Church of Scotland' by,
      115, 199 fn.

Lees, Dr Cameron, reference to 'St Giles' by, 201 fn.

Leipsic, 271, 272, 279, 281.

Lemon's 'State Papers' referred to, 37 fn., 44 fns., 69 fn.

Lesley's 'History' referred to, 24 fn., 39 fn., 85 fn., 129 fn., 192 fn.
  --'De Origine' referred to, 28 fn.

Leslie, Dr, of Fordoun, 60, 61 fn.

Lethington, Laird of, 101, 186.

Lindores, Laurence, Abbot of, 15.

Lindsay, Mr David, 198, 207.

Lindsay, Sir David, 10, 11 fn., 81, 83, 182
  --reference to 'Tragedy of the Cardinal' by, 73.

Liturgy of Edward VI., 77, 128, 130, 131, 154 fn.

Lock, Mrs, 13 fn., 130.

Logie, Gavin, 40.

Logie, Robert, 41.

Lollards, persecution in Scotland of, 15 _et seq._

Lorimer, Principal, his 'Patrick Hamilton, the first Preacher and Martyr
      of the Scottish Reformation,' referred to, 26, 33 fn., 310
  --'Scottish Reformation' referred to, 41 fn., 69, 75 fn., 81 fn., 239,
      244, 274 fn., 275, 276 fn.
  --'Knox and the Church of England' referred to, 77, 132 fn.
  --article in 'British and Foreign Evangelical Review' by, referred to,
      185.

Luther, 6, 19, 21, 26, 28, 38, 67, 80, 115, 116, 163, 204, 216, 243, 254,
  261, 265, 282, 295.

Lyne, John, 41.


M'Alpine, 40, 269, 310.

M'Crie, Dr, 231--'Melville' referred to, 15 fn., 195 fn.
  --'Life of Knox' referred to, 40 fn., 93 fn., 129 fn., 188 fn., 201,
      205 fn., 281 fn.

M'Dowal, 40, 310.

M'Kenzie's 'Lives of Eminent Scotsmen,' 279.

Magdalene, Queen, 192 fn.

'Maitland Miscellany,' 120 fn.

Major, John, 17 _et seq._, 21, 22, 34, 79, 242, 278, 280, 286, 287.

Malmö, 255.

Margaret, Queen, 181.

Marsillier, 57.

Mary, Queen, 11 fn., 189.

Massacre of St Bartholomew, 184, 185, 201.

Maxwell's 'Old Dundee prior to the Reformation' referred to, 63 fn.,
      68 fn., 69 fn.
  --'History of Old Dundee' referred to, 65 fn.

Mayn, Catherine de, 268.

Melanchthon, 17, 22, 26, 36, 239, 254, 259, 261, 266, 270, 271, 279,
  280, 282, 300, 309.

Melville, Andrew, 216 _et seq._, 281, 288, 289.

Melville, James, 191 _et seq._, 288.

Montrose, 24, 57, 60, 62, 71, 75, 78.

Morison, Ric., 299 fn.

Morton, Earl of, 198, 199 fn., 207, 212.

Mount, Christopher, 300.


Neander, 170.


Ogilvie, Lord James, 292.

Ogilvie, Marion, 292, 293.

Order of Excommunication, 165, 166.

Osiander, Andrew, 279.


Paget, Lord, 299.

Parker, Archbishop, consecration of, 150 fn.

'Pasqvilli de Concilio Mantuano Iudicium' quoted, 61 fn.

Paul III., 286.

Perth Martyrs, the, 53, 273.

Peterkin, references to 'Records of the Kirk' by, 119 fn., 133 fn., 143 fn.
  --to 'Booke of the Universal Kirk' by, 218 fn., 227 fn.

Pitscottie, Lindsay of, 73
  --his 'History' referred to, 24 fn., 31 fn., 33 fn., 39 fn., 192 fn.

Plague, or pest, 64, 67, 76.

Pole, Cardinal, 45.

Poor, care of, 179, 180.

Poullain, or Pollanus, 126, 127, 136 fns.

Preaching, necessity of, 151.

Presbytery, ideal, 237, 238.

Presbytery, or greater eldership, 159, 229 _et seq._

Preston, Dr, 211.

Psalm Book, 120, 128.

'Psalms and Spiritual Songs,' 76.


Ranaldson, James, 53.

Randolph, Thomas, 129.

Readers, 152, 153, 172, 308.

Reformation, the, nature and need of, 1 _et seq._
  --decay of the medieval Church, 7 _et seq._
  --the reforming priests, 12 _et seq._
  --precursors of the Reformation, 14 _et seq._
  --Patrick Hamilton, 19 _et seq._
  --Acts of 1525 and 1527 against reformed opinions, 23
  --Tyndale's New Testament brought into Scotland, 24
  --the oppressed and the oppressors, 34 _et seq._
  --George Wishart, 56 _et seq._
  --Knox as leader of the Reformation, 79 _et seq._
  --its triumph, 97
  --the Confession of 1560, 99 _et seq._
  --the Book of Common Order, 123 _et seq._
  --the First Book of Discipline, 144 _et seq._
  --the last days of Knox, 184 _et seq._
  --the Second Book of Discipline, 214 _et seq._
  --Alesius, 239 _et seq._

Regent, the Good, 185, 188, 189

Register of Privy Seal, 199 fn.

'Register of St Andrews Kirk-Session' referred to, 13 fn., 37 fn., 120 fn.

Resby, James, 15.

Richardson, John, 41.

Richardson, Robert, 41.

Robertson, John, 288.

Robertson, Dr Joseph, 10, 11 fn.
  --'Concilia Scotiæ' referred to, 16 fn., 30 fn., 45 fn., 50 fn., 93 fn.,
      161 fn., 183 fn., 293.

Roger's 'Three Scottish Reformers,' 188 fn.

Rolle, Richard, 14.

Rothes, Earl of, 245.

Rough, John, 83.

Row, John, 99, 144 fn.

Row, John, of Carnock, on liturgies, 138.

Rubric, the black, 87.

Russell, Bishop, 227 fn.

Rutherfurd's 'Divine Right of Church Government' quoted, 220 _et seq._


Sacraments, two, only, 116, 117, 307.

Saxony, Elector of, 271 fn.

Scipio, Marcus, 280.

Scott, John, printer, 76.

Scotus, Duns, 17.

Scriptures, reading, in vernacular, 5, 37, 38, 51, 259, 260, 264, 272,
      273, 282
  --Genevan version, 91, 231.

Scrymgeour, James, 253.

Sharp, Archbishop, 35.

Shaxton, Bishop, 269, 310.

Smeton, Principal, 202, 203, 205, 211.

Spalatinus, 309.

'Spalding Miscellany' referred to, 128 fn., 183 fn.

Spottiswoode, Archbishop, 133 fn.
  --his 'History' referred to, 10, 31 fn., 33 fn., 34 fn., 64 fn., 68 fn.,
      73, 146 fn., 218 fn., 227, 231.

Spottiswoode, John, superintendent of Lothian, 99, 144 fn., 198.

St Andrews, reforming priests from Augustinian Priory and College of
      St Leonard, 13
  --University and Colleges of, 15, 19, 20, 22, 95, 96 fn., 239, 242,
      285 _et seq._
  --Major at, 18, 19, 22, 242, 286
  --Patrick Hamilton at, 19, 20, 22 _et seq._, 29 _et seq._, 307
  --Alesius at, 36, 242 _et seq._
  --Wishart at, 72, 73
  --Knox at, 82 _et seq._, 95 _et seq._, 188 _et seq._

St Bernard, 3.

St Giles' Church, 133 fn., 201.

Stähelin's 'Johannes Calvin' referred to, 98, 114 fn.

Stanley, Dean, 202

Stevenson's 'Mary Stuart' quoted, 55 fn.

Steward, Walter, 40.

Stewart, Archbishop, 286.

Stirling martyrs, 41.

Stokesley, Bishop of London, 268, 272.

Stonehouse, 20.

Stratoun, David, 39.

Succession, Apostolic, 115.

Superintendents, 152
  --wherein they differed from bishops, 155 _et seq._

Sybothendorff, Damianus, 271 fn.


Tannadice, 287.

Tauler, 3.

Theiner's 'Vetera Monumenta Hibernorum et Scotorum' referred to, 44 fn.,
  45 fn., 51 fn., 54 fns.

Thorpe's 'Calendar' referred to, 44 fns.

Tilney, Emery, 58.

Tonstal, Bishop of Durham, 86.

Tour, M. de la, 19.

Tudor, Elizabeth, 92, 93, 131, 150 fn., 156 fn., 159, 300.

Tudor, Mary, 88, 92 fn.

Twopenny Faith, the, 8 fn.

Tyndale's translation of the New Testament introduced into Scotland,
  24, 26.

Tyninghame, 287.

Tyrie, the Jesuit, 195, 196, 203.

Tytler, 11 fn.


Walsingham, 205 fn.

Wardlaw, Bishop, 285, 286.

Wedderburn, James, 10, 253 fn.

Wedderburn, John, 10, 18, 22, 66, 76.

Weir, Professor, article on George Wishart in 'North British Review'
  referred to, 70.

Westminster Confession of Faith. See Confession.

Westminster Directory for Church Government, 166 fn., 236.

Westminster Directory for Worship, 137, 142.

Whitgift, 147.

Whittingham, William, 88, 124 fn.

Wichtand, James, 68 fn.

Wied, Hermann von, Archbishop of Cologne, 145, 254, 256, 282.

Wightone, or Weighton, Sir John, 68 fn.

Williams, Thomas, 80.

Willock, John, 40, 99, 112 fn., 130, 144 fn.

Winkworth, Miss, quotation from 'Christian Singers of Germany' by,
  6 _et seq._

Winzet, Ninian, his 'Tractates' referred to, 11 fns., 203.

Wishart, George, 36, 41
  --early education, 56
  --summoned for heresy, 57
  --escapes to England, _ib._
  --converted before Cranmer, 58
  --returns and enters Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, _ib._
  --a pupil's description of him, 59
  --returns to Scotland, _ib._
  --preaches in Montrose and Dundee, 62 _et seq._
  --his labours in Dundee during the plague, 64 _et seq._
  --attempted assassination of, 68
  --innocent of the plot to assassinate Betoun, 69 _et seq._
  --proceeds to Edinburgh, 71
  --seized at Ormiston, 72
  --his martyrdom, 73
  --his work, 74 _et seq._

Wishart, George, bailie of Dundee, 63, 69.

Witches, prosecution of, 168.

Withof's 'Vertheidigung,' 124 fn., 294.

Wittenberg, 26, 259, 269, 300 fn., 308, 309.

'Wodrow Miscellany' referred to, 58 fn., 69 fn., 78 fn., 93 fn., 308.

Wycliffe, 3, 14, 17, 18, 37, 186, 205.

Wycliffites in Scotland, 15.

Wynram, John, 77, 99, 100, 144, 198, 287.


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