W^\'' '111'., 'fi'li "' i"i. 1 1 * I • ^ I. , ¥ I I'-A ,ii, « if *' I 1 i.'" 'I' ¦ ' ^v. ,. - ' I If ' I * I lift [ P1 1 1L SS. ' '. "" * if* J,t rr* 1 " ^S"*" - ' '' ^ ."¦ i '' , Jl ' • ,6 r I ,-I S ijlk/.ultih, r,. („,r, , ..,,. YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY LECTURES HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND LECTURES HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE REVOLUTION SETTLEMENT BY THE LATE VERY REV. JOHN LEE, D.D. LL.D. PRINCIPAL OF THK UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH WITH NOTES AND APPENDICES FROM THE AUTHOR'S PAPERS EDITED BY HIS SON THE REV. WILLIAM LEE IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. II. WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBUEGH AND LONDON MDCCCLX CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME. LECTUKE XIIL I'.VtJE Episcopacy introduced by the convention at Leith — John Doughis ap pointed Archbishop of St Andrews — Knox's disapproval of the appoint ment — Dissatisfaction of the Church — Death of Knox — Regency of the Earl of Morton — His relations to the Church — Resolution to frame a con stant policy. — Arrival of Andrew Melville in Scotland — His speech on Episcopal Church Government in 1575 — Conclusions agreed upon by the Assembly — Visitors appointed — Functions of these office-bearers — Adam son, Archbishop-elect of St Andrews — Refuses to be tried by the Assembly — Progress of the Second Book of Discipline — James assumes the govern ment — Struggles between the Court and the Church — Episcopal office abolished by the Assembly — Firat edition of the Bible printed in Scotland — The National Covenant, ... .1 LECTUEE XIV. Object of the King's Confession — Scheme for the erection of Presby teries, tho redistribution of parishes, and provision for the Ministry — Second Book of Discipline engrossed in the Begister — Exposition of its general principles — First erection of Presby teries— Reformation of the University of St Andrews — General Assembly of October 1581, . 34 LECTUEE XV. Foundation of the University of Edinburgh^ Appointment of Robert RoUock as first master — The method of teaching adopted in Edinburgh — Raid of Ruthven Influence of that event on the Church — Acts of the current Parliament of May 1584 — Protested against by the Church — Petition for their repeal — Archbishop Adamson excommunicated — The ministers' alleged refusal to pray for Queen Mary, . . .67 LECTUEE XVI, General Assembly, June 1587 — Proceedings of the Parliament in that year — Corruption of manners among the poor at this period — Complaint of the Assembly relative to the disposal of patronages— The King's professions of 93 VI CONTENTS. PAGE attachment to Presbytery— Archbishop Adamson-Assemblies, 1591 and 1592— Meeting of Parliament— Act establishing Presbyterian government in Scotland— Importance of this Act— Prosperity of the Church from 1592 to 1596— Ootavians- End ofthe sincere General Assemblies ofthe Church of Scotland, . • • • LECTUEE XVII. Case of David Black— Declinature by the ministers of the King's jurisdiction in matters spiritual— Tumult in Edinbui-gh— Convention at Perth- General Assembly at Dundee, 1597— Progress of the King's measures for altering the constitution of the Church— Arrogant proceedings of the general commissioners appointed by the Assembly— Act for giving the Ministry a vote in Parliament — Gowrie conspiracy, 125 LECTUEE XVIII. Succession of James to the English crown — Severe measures against the Presbyterian ministers in Scotland — The millenary petition— The confer ence at Hampton Court — Dr Barlow's account of the conference — Book of canons of 1604 — Persecution of the English Pmitans a presage of the King's subsequent proceedings in Scotland — Act of the Parliament of Perth regarding the restitution of the estate of bishops, . . 150 LECTUEE XIX. Protestation against the Act restoring the estate of bishops — The reasons of the protest — Assembly at Linlithgow, 1606 — Appointment of permanent moderators for presbyteries and synods — erection of the High Commission Court — The right of ordination and other powers conferred on bishops by the Assembly — The oath of canonical obedience — Consecra,tion of the bishops— Visit of the King to Scotland- Parliament of June 1617— Pro testation against further innovations, . . 173 LECTUEE XX. Perth Assembly, 1618— Order of procedure— Interference with the freedom of debate in the Assembly— The vote— Articles of Perth— Accuracy of Calderwood's account of the proceedings— Refusal of the people, and many ministers, to conform to the new ceremonies— The Articles ratified by Par liament— Severities against Nonconformists— Death of James VI., . 197 LECTUEE XXI. Character of Charles I.-His resolution to enforce the Articles of Perth— Re presentation fi-om the ministers to the King on the decrease of communi cants-Archbishop Laud-Further innovations in Scotland contemplated -Seventies agamst Nonconformists- Sufferings of Dr Alexander Leighton -The Scottish bishops at this period-The King's visit to Scotland-In troduction of the English liturgy into the Chapel-royal 220 CONTENTS. Vll LECTUEE XXII. PAGE Laud's influence over the Scottish bishops — Introduction of the Book of Canons aud the Scottish Liturgy — Tumult in Edinburgh— The Tables — Renewal of the National Covenant — Mission of tho Marquess of Hamilton — General Assembly of 1638 — The King has recourse to arms, 212 LECTUEE XXIII. First campaign of the Covenanters — Proceedings of the General Assembly of 1639 — Proposal for a uniformity of worship and discipline in England and Scotland — Westminster Assembly of Divines — Commissioners from Scot land to the Westminster Assembly — Solemn League and Covenant — Scottish Covenanters, . ... 268 LECTUEE XXIV. Protest of the Church of Scotland against the King's trial — Controversies between the Presbyterians and the Sectaries — Disputes in the Westminster Assembly respecting Church government — Conclusions of the English Parliament — Papers between Charles I. and Alexander Henderson — The Engagement — ^Resolutioners and Protesters — New mode of preaching intro duced by Robert Leighton and Hugh Binning — Restoration of Charles II. — .Tames Sharp — Episcopacy restored in Scotland, . 296 LECTUEE XXV. Re-establishment of Episcopacy — The new bishops — Burnet's character of the sUenoed ministers, and of their successors — Penal laws against English Nonconformists — Court of high commission in Scotland — Military violence — Proposals for an accommodation — The Indulgence — Laws against con venticles — Sufferings of the Covenanters — The Cameronians — The Test Aet The Revolution Settlement, . . . 319 APPENDIX. Xn. X. George Buchanan, . . . 345 XI. The Views of the Church of Scotland relative to Forbidden Degrees in Marriage, — Marriage with tbe Sister of a Deceased Wife, 355 XII. Demand for Books in Scotland after the Reformation, 361 XIII. Claims ofthe Church of Scotland to an Independent and Co-ordinate Jurisdiction with the State, 365 XIV. Notes on Church Patronage, . 378 XV. Early Records of the General Assemblies, . . 387 ^'111 CONTENTS. ISTo. PAGE XVI. Provision for the Poor, and Expenditure of Kirk-Session Funds in Scotland, ..... . . 392 XVII. Extracts from Proceedings of Church Courts, showing how the laws against Sabbath-breaking were administered in Scotland, . 406 XVIII. Extracts and Notes relating to the Second Book of Discipline, . 416 XIX. Forms relating to the Settlement of Ministers, from the Book of the Presbytery of Haddington, 1590, &c., .... 422 XX. Notices of Parochial Schools in the Church Records of the 16th and 17th centuries, . ..... 428 XXI. State of the Church from the year 1648 to the year 1661, . . 442 LECTUEES ON THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. LECTUEE XIII. EPISCOPACY INTRODUCED BY THE CONVENTION AT LEITH JOHN DOUGLAS APPOINTED ARCHBISHOP OP ST ANDREWS KNOx's DISAPPROVAL OF THE APPOINTMENT DISSATISFACTION OP THB CHURCH DEATH OF KNOX REGENCY OP THE BAEL OF MORTON HIS RELATIONS TO THB CHURCH RESOLUTION TO FRAME A CONSTANT POLICY ARRIVAL OF ANDREW MELVILLB IN SCOTLAND HIS SPEECH ON EPISCOPAL CHURCH GOVERNMENT IN 1575 CONCLUSIONS AGREED UPON BT THE ASSEMBLY VISITORS APPOINTED FUNCTIONS OF THESE OFFICE-BEARERS ADAMSON, ARCHBISHOP-ELECT OF ST ANDREWS REFUSES TO BE TRIED BY THE ASSEMBLY^— PROGRESS OP THE SECOND BOOK OP DISCIPLINE JAMES ASSUMES THE GOVERNMENT STRUGGLES BETWEEN THE COURT AND THE CHURCH EPISCOPAL OPPIOE ABOLISHED BY THE ASSEMBLY FIRST EDI TION OP THE BIBLE PRINTED IN SCOTLAND THE NATIONAL COVENANT. The convention of the Church which was held at Leith lect. XIII. m January 1571 (or 15/2, according to our mode ol cal culation), authorised, as we have seen, a form of policy very different from that which had been traced in the First Book of Discipline. Who was the original con triver of this scheme is not known with any certainty ; VOL. II. A 1571-(2.) HISTORY OF THE LECT. but as the Commissioners for the Church and for the ¦ ¦ Privy Council met only a very short time, it is to be '^ "*^'^ presumed that all the articles were preconcerted. It was resolved that archbishops and bishops should be appointed to the same dioceses as before the Reforma tion, but that their jurisdiction should not be more extensive than that of the superintendents. The superintendents were not to be superseded by the bishops, but the bounds of their provinces were abridged. The mode of electing bishops is particu larly described. Twenty-one persons were nominated to be the chapter of the. Archbishop of St Andrews, after the death of the then convent of the abbey, consisting of the same number. So many of the old chapter as were still alive and were ministers, were to continue in the chapter during their lives — namely, the dean, Eobert Stuart, bishop of Caithness, com mendator of the priory (afterwards Earl of March), John Wynram, prior of Portmoak, and eight or nine more. Douglas ^^^* ^^ *^^^ arrangement was intended to prepare appomted the Way for the regular admission of John Douglas, bishop of provost of the New College, to the dignity of Arch bishop of St Andrews, who is said to have given proof of his gift by preaching in the church of St Andrews. He had been previously nominated to that station, and had been required to vote in the parha ment which sat at Stirling the former year. The super intendent of Fife prohibited him to vote, and threat ened him with excommunication. Morton charged him to do his duty as a peer of Parliament, under pam of treason. Douglas appears to have been a man whose mmd was never strong, but who, by accom modating himself easily to the opinion of others, drews. LECT. XIII. CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 3 had been allowed, in times of the greatest discord and commotion, to occupy stations of eminence and authority without giving offence to the great, or "''i-'^-) exciting the envy of his inferiors. He was now ad vanced in life ; and after having long enjoyed the quiet of an academical retreat, in which, though he could not possibly be idle, he had comparatively few opportunities of mingling with the Avorld, he can scarcely be conceived to have formed the requisite qualifications for holding the exalted rank of primate of Scotland. But this method of judging is exces sively vague and uncertain. 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. He had maintained his influence under a succession of different governments both in the Church and in the State. He had been indebted for his -preferment in the university to the partiality of James Stuart, commendator of the priory (after wards Earl of Murray), who, with the brethren of his convent, possessed the patronage of the college during the vacancy of the archiepiscopal see which succeed ed the murder of Cardinal Beaton. He had been continued in his ofiice when Archbishop Hamilton altered and extended the foundation, for the very crawford-s purpose (as Crawfurd allows in his Lives of the officers of State, Officers of State) of keeping up the spirit of Popery 377. ' r- LECT. XIIL 4 HISTORY OF THE in the nation ; and indeed, almost immediately after Hamilton succeeded to the see, he had been advanced ^^^'-<^-' to the office of rector, which office, in opposition to the ancient statutes, he held without interruption not only for ten years preceding the Eeformation, but for thirteen years after it. I do not imagine that he would have been continued in office after the Re formation, if his character had been understood, or if it had been easy to get rid of him. I have no doubt that it was in concert with him that the Earl of Morton prepared those articles which were submitted to the convention of Leith, and by them hastily approved. And it is believed on very strong grounds,. that the superintendent of Angus, Erskine of Dun, though at first adverse to the introduction of epis copacy, was induced by regard to the head of his family, the Earl of Mar, at that time regent, to com ply with a measure which he is understood to have inwardly disapproved. It was thus that the ties of relationship combined with the love of pre-eminence and the desire of augmenting the power of the Church, to obtain the consent of some of the leading men to a scheme of ecclesiastical discipline completely at variance with the views of the original Eeformers. Knox's dis- Douglas was inaugurated as Archbishop of St thTap^oint- Andrews on the 1 Oth of February. The order ob served was the same which was foUowed iu the admission of superintendents. Knox refused to take any part in the ceremony, and was so much dis satisfied with the whole transaction, that he denounced anathema to the giver, and anathema to the receiver. It has been alleged, however, that the opposition of Knox did not result from disapprobation of Episcopacy itself as being hostile to the doctrine of Scripture, but CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 5 from his apprehension that the election of Douglas lect. would only be a veil to conceal the robbery of the ^"^- Church, and from a suspicion which he derived from "^^•<^-> his respected friend Theodore Beza, that the readmis- tf^ff sion of bishops might open a door to the restoration Svtef of Popery. As Wynram, who had generally been on J'fy^"' habits of friendship with Knox, officiated at the f„'J,'''^'f[f4'- consecration of Douglas, it has been also concluded ^^'"[^^^^ that this could not have been done if Knox had been '• ^^^-^ ' clearly convinced that the proceeding was altogether unwarrantable. It seems to me inconceivable that an upright man could approve of that conduct in a friend to which he had insuperable objections himself. Douglas, along with his archbishopric, retained for two or three years the principality of the New College and the office of rector. When Knox heard that this multiplicity of functions was permitted by the General Assembly to be united in a person of whose abilities he was a competent judge, he lamented that an old man should be burdened with offices which twenty men of the best gifts were not able to bear ; and he added emphatically, " He will be disgraced and wrecked." Douglas by this time (Calderwood says), [Caider- " as he was unable of his body to travel, so was he 57.] ' ^' more unable of his tongue to teach ; yet little respect had the Court to the abilities of the person, so that commodity could be reaped by virtue of his title." It was insinuated by John Eutherford, principal of St Salvator's College, that Knox's disapprobation arose from envy^, and that he would not have repined if the preferment had been granted to himself. On the following Sunday, Knox, in the course of his sermon, took notice of this injurious surmise, and said with that animation which never forsook him even in the XIII. 1572. HISTORY OE THE LECT. languor of sickness and the decay of his natural strength, " I have refused a greater bishopric than ever this was, which I might have had by the favour of greater men. It is true that I did repine for the discharge of my conscience, and I do still repine." It is understood that Knox might have been Bishop of Durham ; and if he really thought so favourably of Episcopacy as some writers have pretended, it is very unaccountable that he should have declined an offer, the acceptance of which would have enabled him to exert his influence equally to the advantage of England and of his native country. Soon after Douglas was promoted to the primacy, James Boyd was made Archbishop of Glasgow, John Paton was advanced to the bishopric of Dunkeld, and Andrew Graham to that of Dunblane. Dissatisfac. That the ministers were in general dissatisfied with Church. these arrangements, is abundantly evident. In the the^univ. Assembly which met at St Andrews about six weeks 245.]' ' after the convention at Leith, twenty of them were appointed to meet in Knox's house, to take into consideration the heads of the agreement entered into with the commissioners of the Privy Council ; but it does not appear that any report was made by this committee to the Assembly. Another Assembly met at Perth in the month of August following, in which a smaller committee was selected for the same [Fund. purpose. It has sometimes been said that no objec- Pr|^!','p'. tion was made to the essential parts of the system, and that, though a wish was expressed to change some of the titles as savouring of Popery, Episcopacy was in fact confirmed in this Assembly. How far this account is consistent with the protestation presented to the Assembly, does not require to be particularly 246.] CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. Stated to those who have ever looked into this part of lect. the records of our Church. The brethren appointed "^"^^ to revise the scheme protested that " the heads and moofrof articles agreed upon at Leith be only received as an 2401' ^"''' interim till more perfect order may be obtained at the hand of the King's majesty's Eegent and nobility, for ' which they will press as occasion shall serve." They also protested that, by using the names archbishop, dean, archdeacon, chancellor, chapter (and so on), which were " found slanderous and offensive to many of the brethren," they " did not mean to agree to any kind of papistry or superstition, wishing rather the names to be changed into other names that are not scandalous and offensive." To this protestation the whole Assembly in one voice adhered. The same brethren were continued for further revising of the conclusions tiU further opportunity. It is obvious, in deed, that the Church had this constitution forced upon it ; and its acquiescence cannot fairly be construed into a voluntary acceptance of the scheme, which the Government had determined to impose. The new bishops had little power and little honour among their brethren. Their conduct was vigUantly marked, and several of them were accused for neglect of duty. The Bishop of Dunkeld even suffered deposition for dilapi dation of benefices. It is a singular indication of the feelings of the Church generally towards the order, that, with the exception of Boyd, no bishop was ever chosen to be moderator of the General Assembly. While the Church was thus in commotion, the strict Death of . . John Knox, presbyterians were thrown into deep despondency by 24th Nov. the death of John Knox. His uncommon exertions had wasted his strength ; and an attack of apoplexy which he had suffered some years before, though it XIII. 1572. HISTORY OF THE LECT. did not impair the vigour of his faculties, rendered it imprudent for him either to expose himsell to bodily fatigue, or to undertake intellectual labour. The death of the Eegent Murray, and the massacre in France on St Bartholomew's day, depressed his manly spirit ; but he never lost sight of his public duties, and when he found that his departure was rapidly approaching, he used all possible diligence to obtain a successor in his ministerial charge. The person on whom he fixed as being best qualified for the station was James Lawson, sub-principal and professor of philosophy at Aberdeen, — a man of no ordinary acquirements as a lecturer in the university, but stUl more eminent as a preacher of the gospel. The magistrates and the kirk- session of Edinburgh, guided by Knox's recommenda tion, gave an invitation to Mr Lawson, who arrived in time to be admitted to the charge by the extraor dinary person whom he was chosen to succeed. This was the last act of his pubhc life." I forbear to de scribe the concluding scene of his earthly existence, or to attempt a delineation of his character : I thiuk it sufficient to refer you to the excellent account of his life published by Dr M'Crie, who has done much to illustrate the principles of the Eeformers, and to whose a For a few weeks before Lawson's it able to satisfie the auditower, seeing admission, Knox had been obliged by that he was so waik, and his voice so his increasing infirmity to transfer his far spent. Therefore he desyrit them public ministrations from St Giles' to that some other place might be ap- the smaller church of the Tolbooth. pointed for him, where his voice " Aug. 31, 1572. — Because his voice might be hard, gif it were but unto was feeble and waik, and therefore ane hundr-et persons,— which after- culd not be hard of the whole multi- wards was done." tude that convened, he desired them "Sept. 21.— Mr Knox began and to provide for that place, for he con- preached in the Tolbuith, whair he tessed that his voice was never able contineweth to preach every Sonday rthe best time that ever he was) to so lang aa God gave him strenth." extend to all that come together in -[Bannatyne's Menm-ials, p. 263; St Geiles kirk, and mekle less now was Banu. ed.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 9 labours it is'' to be hoped that our Scottish literature lect. will soon incur still greater obligations. The short '— funeral oration pronounced on Knox by the Earl of ¦^'^''^' Morton has been often quoted, — " There lieth a man, who in his life never feared the face of man, who hath often been threatened with dag and dagger, but yet hath ended his days in peace and honour." The Earl of Morton, who was raised to the import- Eari of ant office of Eegent on the day of Knox's death, soon appointed succeeded in reducing to submission the partisans of the Queen. For the purpose of more effectually crush ing her adherents, an act of Parliament was passed, or- Jan. 26, daining that none should henceforth be reputed loyal s^^^^_ p^j.,_ and faithful subjects to the King or his authority, but ^|j' '"• be punished as rebels, who did not give their confes sion in favour of the true religion, — and that those who had made defection from the obedience due to their sovereign should, before being restored to his Majesty's favour, make the profession of their faith anew, and promise to continue in the true religion in time coming, and to the utmost of their power main tain and assist the true preachers of the Word against all their enemies.^ The Eegent never got the credit of having intended His reia- this or any other measure for the benefit of the Church, chrach. On the contrary, he took every opportunity of abridg- » [Feb. 10, 1817.] bruikinganybenefice, use ofthe fruits, /3 [This was the first time when stipend, pension, or portion furth of the subscription of the Confession of benefice, and not already under the Faith was required by law. In the discipline of the true kirk, shall give same Parliament another Act was his assent, and subscribe the articles passed ordaining " that the adver- of religion contained in the acts of saries of Christ's evangel shall not en- our sovereign Lord's Parliament, and joy the patrimony of the kirk." This give his oath for acknowledging and act peremptorily required that not recognising our sovereign Lord his only "every minister of the Word and authority, and shall bring a testimo- sacraments, but every one having or nial in writing thereupon."] 10 HISTORY OF THE LECT. ing its power and diminishing its resources. He craftily •^"^' withdrew from the ministers the thirds of benefices, on ^^'^^- the pretence that he would provide a more convenient mode of supporting them by allocating a stipend to every" one of them out of the teinds of the parish of which he had the charge. He promised that if this method were not found satisfactory, he would restore them to the possession of the thirds. But after he had laid his hands on this property, he evinced a determination to apply it to other purposes than the maintenance of the religious teachers. His plan was to require one minister to do the duty of two, three, or four churches, and to assign to him a very moderate income. As the minister preached in these different churches in rotation, a reader was appointed to each church, with a salary of from twenty to forty pounds Scots, to read prayers on those days when the minister was absent. The ministers could not obtain payment of their little allowances without continually importuning the Court — a most humiliating and irksome task, and very often unsuccessful. When the superintendents applied for their stipends, they were told disdainfully that their office was now unnecessary, as bishops were restored, with the jurisdiction of the dioceses. The course thus followed by the Regent tended to prevent the increase of labourers ; and one of his devices for diminishing their number and their influence was the appointment of additional bishops to exercise a jurisdiction inde pendent of the General Assembly. The General Assembly, however, determined to re sist this encroachment on its privileges. It refused to accept the resignation of any of the superintendents, and prohibited the bishops to interfere with the super intendents in their visitations without their conseDt CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 11 and approbation. Thus, though Perthshire and Lo- lect. thian and Angus were in the see of St Andrews, the ^^^^' bishop was required to visit in Fife onlv. Wvnrani ^^''^¦ ... •' •' [Booke of was appointed to visit Strathern, Spotswood to visit *i'? Univ. Lothian, and Erskine to visit Angus. Bishops, too, were bound to the same rules with superintendents in the collation of benefices ; they were never to give collation without the consent of three qualified minis ters within their province. The Assembly also or dained that " howbeit sundry kirks be appointed to one man, yet shall the minister make his residence at one kirk, which shall be properly appointed to his charge, and he shall be called principally the minister of that kirk ; and as pertaining to the rest of the kirks to which he is nominated, he shall have the oversight thereof, and help them in such sort as the superinten dent or commissioner shall think expedient, as occasion shall serve, from his own principal charge, which on no Avays he may neglect, and this order is only to remain till God of his mercy shall send out more labourers to his harvest." In the Assembly which met at Edinburgh 6th Second March 1573-4, it was resolved to take means to estab- Discipline. lish a constant policy for the Church. This was a work which occupied the attention of the ministers several years, and the result of their labours was the Second Book of Discipline. The age or incapacity of the bishops of this period prevented any strong opposition to the proposal. Douglas and Boyd, the archbishops of St Andrews and Glasgow, were both pronounced by the General Assembly unfit for their duty; and a few weeks afterwards, Douglas, having gone to the pulpit with the intention of preaching,- dropped down dead. 12 HISTORY OF THE LECT. In the year 1574, while the disputes concerning episcopalian power were warmly agitated among some ^^^*^- of the ministers, Andrew Melville, a man distinguished Andrew equally by his great erudition and his ardent temper, Scotland, arrivcd from Geneva. He had been partly educated at "St Andrews during the commotions attending the Reformation, and had gone to the Continent in early life to pursue those studies to which he was enthusi astically devoted. At Geneva he had become a favour ite of Beza, who, when he expressed a desire to return to his native country, parted from him with the greatest reluctance, considering his departure as one of the greatest losses which the Swiss Church could suffer, though it promised, in his judgment, to be the greatest benefit to the Church of Scotland. [Fund. ch. Episcopalian writers represent the arrival of Melville of PrssD 254, 287.'] as the date of the first attachment of this Church to presbyterian government ; and they say it was by giving a high character to the discipline of Geneva that he persuaded most of the ministers to adopt the same sentiments with himself. One would conclude from their account that Knox had been a zealous ad mirer and promoter of prelacy, and that such a thing as parity of power had never been thought of till the influence of the first Reformers declined. The office of superintendents had in fact been rendered necessary in consequence of the paucity of ministers, and the distance of their abodes from one another. It was not possible for them to hold frequent presbyteries for the exercise of discipline, and the superintendents did the duty which afterwards devolved on the presbyteries. The experiment of governing the Church by bishops gave no satisfaction ; but though the Church was continually censuring them for negligence and irregu- CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 13 larity, the Regent's support kept them in countenance, lect. and prevented any attempts to reform the system. XIIL The Church had therefore no alternative, except either ¦^^''*- to acquiesce iu those abuses which they had not the power to remedy, or to declare that they would no longer sanction a state of things which appeared to be inseparably connected with the grossest corruptions. In the Assembly which met in 1574, it was ordained that bishops should be considered as pastors only of one parish. In the following year, according to the common account, John Dury, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, at the instigation of Andrew Melville, pro posed a doubt with respect to the lawfulness of the episcopal function, and the authority of chapters in their election. After the business was thus opened. His speech Melville, who was a member of the Assembly, being OenCTai now appointed principal of the college of Glasgow, on e^mo- rose up and delivered a long speech, in which he government. affirmed that none should bear office in the Church except those whose designations are found in the Scriptures, and that though the title of bishop does occur in the New Testament, it does not denote an order of men superior to ministers. He concluded by saying, that so great were the corruptions in the state of bishops, that unless they were removed, religion - could not be maintained in its purity. This opinion, supported by many powerful arguments, produced a deep impression on the Assembly, and six members were appointed to confer and reason upon the question. John Row, minister of Perth, George Hay, and David Lindsay, minister of Leith, were named to defend the lawfulness of Episcopacy. James Lawson, Knox's suc cessor, John Craig, another minister of Edinburgh, and Andrew Melville, were chosen to support the con- 11 HISTORY OF THE LECT. trary opinion. After long and frequent discussions, they reported their conclusions to the Assembly in ¦^^''^- writine; to the following purpose : — They thought it Conclusions ° ,. in 1-1 agreed upon not fit to auswcT the questiou whether bishops, as Assembly, thcv are now in Scotland, have their function from the [Booke of'' T n -I • ^ the Univ. Word of God ; but if any bishop was chosen who had not qualities required by the Word of God, he should be tried by the General Assembly. They judged the name of a bishop to be common to all ministers that have the charge of a particular flock ; and that, by the Word of God, his chief function consisted in the preaching of the Word, the ministration of the sacra ments, and exercise of ecclesiastical discipline with consent of his elders. They judged further, that out of the number of ministers some one might be chosen to oversee and visit such reasonable bounds, besides his own flock, as the General Assembly should appoint, and that the ministers so elected might in those bounds appoint preachers, with advice of the ministers of the province, and the consent ofthe flock to whichthey were to be appointed, — as also, that he might appoint elders and deacons with the consent ofthe people. They found, lastly, that such a minister might, upon reasonable causes, and with consent ofthe ministers ofthe bounds, suspend ministers from the exercise of their office. These answers are less peremptory than we may conceive Melville desired : but they were such as must have been much less gratifying to the episcopalian party. Yet there were in this Assembly six bishops, [Spotswood, besides two superintendents ; and it is owned by ^' ¦ Spotswood that they do not seem even to have opened their mouths in defence of their office. He supposes it possible that they expected the Regent to discon cert any scheme hostile to their interest, or that they CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 15 affected the praise of humility ; but it is rather more lect. likely that, as the highest talents were enlisted on the -^"^^ opposite side, they might be afraid of the disgrace of ^s''"- sustaining a public defeat. The General Assembly about this time also resolved pooke of to change the commissioners of provinces from year to 337.]' year, lest by continuing longer they should take a pas sion for pre-eminence, and fancy themselves entitled to permanent authority. All civil offices and avocations [ib. S02.] were condemned as being inconsistent with the cha racter of ministers, and particularly the employment of collector or chamberlain under bishops, as being a distraction from their proper vocation. There might be another reason for discharging this occupation. It would have made a considerable number of the minis ters in a great measure dependent on the bishops, and would thus have furnished them with a temptation to support the hierarchy. IntheAssembly whichmetin Aprill576,it was repre- visitors sented that the bounds assigned to bishops, superinten- PetriT, ssV. dents, and commissioners, were so great as to render [BooL ot ' the due exercise of discipline in every parish impracti- 357.]' ' ' cable ; and it was determined to appoint from time to time a more numerous class of ministers, to whom should be committed the charge of inspecting districts more moderate in their extent. These persons were denominated visitors. Their duty was nearly the same as that of commissioners. Every one of them was em powered to hold synodal assemblies, in which he was to sit as moderator ; he was to try ministers, and to have the oversight of schools ; in the bounds of his visitation he was to appoint ministers, with advice of the minis ters of the province — at least of six of the most learned men in his bounds, or in the adjoining district. 1576. 16 HISTORY OF THE LECT. and with the consent of the people thus to be supplied with pastoral care. He was to take notice of the regular attendance on the weekly exercise and the reparation of churches, with such matters as pertained ad decorum ecclesice. The appointment of the visitors Origin of was the first step to the erection of presbyteries. As teries.'^ the Superintendents and commissioners presided in the provincial assemblies, which corresponded nearly to our synods, so three or four visitors within the bounds of a diocese, or synodal province, were the moderators of the smaller judicatories, to which, though the name of presbyteries was not then applied, nearly the same description of business was intrusted as is now com mitted to the presbyteries. Patrick One of the first great struggles between the Court Arc'hbishop- and the General Assembly on the subject of church Andrews, govcmment arose out of the nomination of Patrick be tried by Adamsou, who had lately been minister of Paisley, to bly. ^^' succeed Douglas, archbishop of St Andrews. {Booke of Adamson was a man of acknowledged talents and 3677385'.'^''' learning. It was iio slight tribute to his merit to Spotswood, jjg^.^g i^ggjj selected by Buchanan to succeed him in the principality of St Leonard's College ; and although the office was bestowed upon another, it must not be forgotten that the Privy Council of Scotland approved the nomination. He occupied a prominent, but, as we shall find, not always very creditable position, in the history of the Church for several years. It was proposed that, as bishop-elect, Adamson should be tried by the Assembly (according to the rule lately pre scribed) before he was inaugurated or admitted by the chapter. He was asked if he would submit to the exami nation, and receive his office according to the injunc tions and conditions registered in their books. He CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 17 answered that he could not; and when he was further lect. pressed, he admitted that the Regent had discharged ^"^' him to yield to any terms of accommodation. At the ^^''^' same time, the chapter received orders to elect him without regarding the mandates of the General As sembly. The Assembly required the Superintendent of Fife, with Robert Pont, James Lawson, and David Ferguson, as a special commission, to summon Adam son before them, to take cognisance of his usurpation of the episcopal office, and his desertion of his ordi nary calling as a minister, and to report to the next General Assembly, — in the mean time prohibiting him to exercise the jurisdiction of a bishop. The preparation of the Book of Discipline had not. Progress of meanwhile, been lost sight of. About this time more Book^of" than twenty brethren were nominated by the As.sembly '""'' ""'' to meet in different parts of the country, to prepare an overture on the policy and jurisdiction of the Church. They were repeatedly called to give an ac count of their progress, and it appeared that they had distributed the labour into different heads, assigning a particular portion of the work to every member of the committee. Liberty was given to all the ministers, whether on the committee or not, to communicate then- views, and to reason either publicly or privately with those to whom the Avork had been intrusted, that every doubt might be removed before they digested the heads into a system. While these discussions were proceeding, the Regent xbe King was daily losing his infiuence over the nobility ; and government. in March 1577 he was compelled to resign his autho- antipathy rity into the hands of the King, who was now in his teriLnpnn- twelfth year. The change brought little advantage to the Church. The King had no sooner accepted VOL. II. B 18 HISTORY OF THE LECT. the eovernment, than he manifested that decided — antipathy to the General Assembly and the presby- ^^'''^' terian ministers which never forsook him. Morton, who soon regained a great ascendancy at Court, was believed to be secretly employed in fomenting and strengthening these prejudices of the youthful prince. The prospect of a succession to the English crown, and the desire of ingratiating himself with the churchmen of that nation, were probably the considerations which, if not already, at all events in more mature hfe, most powerfully swayed the King to aim at the supremacy over his native Church, and the establishment of uni formity of worship throughout the British dominions. Episcopal The Assembly, however, proceeded as if they were de- lished by termined to resist being dictated to by the Court. They sembiy. employed themselves in collecting and maturing the [Booke of different heads of the policy, and also in carrying out pp. 397 and their opposition to the encroachments of Episcopacy. In October 1577 the scheme of church government was completed, with the exception of a few articles of minor importance, was solemnly approved by the As sembly, and ordered to be laid before the King. A few months afterwards they suppressed the titles of the bishops, and required every one of them to be called by their own names only. And when, in spite of the fair promises of James, who gave them to understand that he would not only concur with the Church in all things that might advance the true religion, but would ever be their protector and friend, nothing determinate could, after many conferences, be obtained from him or his Council, they resolved to act upon the Book of Discipline, and to proceed against all the bishops who opposed it. It is needless to enter in detail upon the discussions which took place. During their pro- CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 19 gress, a letter was sent to the General Assembly by lect. the King, dated at Stirhng 6th July 1579, requiring ^"^" them to stay proceedings, and to refer all the matters ^^^^¦ still undetermined to the decision of the next Parlia ment. The concessions, however, which the Church had formerly made to the Court, were now found to have been used as weapons against themselves, and they perceived that the Court was only meditating greater encroachments on their privileges. In reply to the King's letter, they prayed for a further confer ence (to be conducted on his behalf by " persons un spotted with such corruptions as were desired to be reformed") ; but they showed their determination at the same time to persevere in the steps which they had taken for the abolition of the episcopal order. The Assembly that met in Dundee in July 1580, unanimously found that the authority claimed by bishops was an antichristian usurpation, having no warrant in the Word of God, and that all who held the episcopal office should be charged to resign it on pain of excommunication. Most of the bishops complied with the order ; but the minutes containing their sub mission were afterwards torn out of the register by the Archbishop of St Andrews. [A number of the entries in the register about this First edition time relate to the " Bassandyne Bible," the first edition printed in " of the holy Scriptures ever printed in Scotland, either in English or any other language." For a long period the inhabitants of Scotland had no means of obtaining copies of the Scriptures, other- » [This account of the Bible of 1579 Scottish editions of the holy Scrip- is supplied, in an abridged form, from tures, as well as for a number of iu- the author's Metnorial for tke Bible cidental notices relating to the history Societies, to which work the reader ia ofScottishliteratureduringthe period referred for full information on early embraced in these Lectures. — Ed.] xm 1579. 20 HISTORY OF THE LECT. wise than by importing them either from England or from the Continent. It is a well-known fact, that many copies of the translation by William Tyndale, first printed at Antwerp or Hamburg, about the year 1526, were introduced into Scotland, and were circulated and read with great avidity. Till it was remodelled in some degree by Cranmer, this version never obtained the approbation of the English government. Its author, through the influence of Henry VIIL, was seized, im prisoned, and executed in the neighbourhood of Brus sels ; and the work, which had been repeatedly con demned in England during his life, was, in the year 1542, ordered by Parliament to be " forthwith abohshed and forbidden to be used and kept." In the year sub sequent to this enactment, an application was made to the Parliament of Scotland by part of the nobility and the commissioners of burghs, that it might be en acted " that it should be leasom (lawful) to every man to use the benefit of the translation which then they had of the Bible and Testament." The clergy generally resisted the proposal, and alleged that the translation referred to was not true ; but according [Knox, to the account of Knox, the only objection which 34.] ' they were able to produce was that the word love was substituted for charity. At last, as we have already seen, they were compelled to yield to the general voice ; " and so, by Act of Parliament," says Knox, " it was made free to aU men and women to read the Scriptures in their own tongue, or in the English tongue." It is somewhat difficult to decide what translations were used by some of our Scottish writers after the Act authorising the use of the English Bible. In the Complaynt of Scotland, written in 1548, the Scrip- CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 21 ture is frequently quoted from the Latin, which is in- lect. serted on the margin ; and the words introduced into ^™' the text bear little resemblance to any of the printed ^^^^• versions. Thus, Deut. xxviii. 22, &c., " He sal persecut thee quhil he hef gart the perise, thou sal thole iniu- ries and spulze ; thou sal spouse ane wyfe, bot ane uthir sal tak hyr fra the be forse ; thou sal big ane house, bot thou sal nevyr dwel in it ; thy ox sal be slane befor thy eene, and thou sal get nane of hym tyl eyt — the oncoutht ande straynge pepil sal eyt the frute of the eyrd that thou hes laborit," &c. " The Confes sion of Faith, compiled by M. Henry Balnaves of Hal- hill, one of the Lords of Session and Counsell of Scot land,'' in the year 1548 (printed at Edinburgh in 1584), contains many passages of Scripture, apparently trans lated, or sometimes paraphrased, by the author him self. Thus, John iii. : " God send not his Sonne into the world ; that he shold accuse, condemne, or judge the world ; but that the world should be made safe by him." At the time these books were written, great difficidties must have been experienced in ob taining copies of the Bible from England, as the two kingdoms had been several years at war. When the Reformation was established in Scotland, there was no English translation of the Bible, except that which had been originally executed by Tyndale and Coverdale, and which, having undergone several modifications, was successively published under the names either of Taverner, or Matthews, or Archbishop Cranmer, whose editions are generally denominated the Great Bible. The English refugees at Geneva, Discourse perceiving that " most of the English Bibles were ill- ti-ouWes translated and falsely printed," undertook a new prankfet version, which was completed about the time when "d^issT.^' 1-1 HISTORY OF THE LECT. XIII. 1579. the first General Assembly met, in the year 1560; and it appears, from the early productions of Scottish divines, that this version was generally adopted ua this country, as it was also to a very great extent in England." It was not till five or six years after the Reforma tion in Scotland that any printer obtained a direct title to publish any part of the Scriptures in the lan guage of the natives of the country, nor until the year 1575 that effectual means were employed for the » I may mention a few instances. (1.) John Knox seldom follows any of the printed translations very closely ; but it is evident that he had some times in his eye Tyndale's, and some times the Geneva version. His earli est publications appeared before the Geneva Bible existed. " The coppie of the ressoning betwix the Abbot of Crossraguell and John Knox in May- boill, concerning the Masse in 1562," contains a quotation from the Geneva version on the title-page, and more frequently paraphrases than expressly transcribes the passages of Scripture employed in the argument. In a small work, written in 1568, and printed at St Andrews by Lekpre vik in 1572, a few months before the Reformer's death, entitled, " An An swer to a Letter of a Jesuit named Tyrie, by Johne Knoxe," the Geneva Bible is almost uniformly quoted. (2.) David Fergusson, minister of Dun- fermUne, in his Answer to Renat Bene dict, written in 1562, and printed in 1563; and also in his " Sermon preachit befoir the Regent and Nobilitie, in the kirk of Leith, at the time of the General Assemblie, on Sonday the 13 of Januarii, Anno Do. 1571," has made use of the Geneva translation in the former tract, almost verbatim ; and in the Sermon, with the slight variations necessary to accommodate the language to the Scottish pronun. ciation and idiom ; substituting gif for if, quhilk for which, behauld for behold, teindis for tithes, &c. (3.) A simUar remark applies to the two volumes of Sermons by M. Robert Bruce, "printed be Robert Walde grave, Printer to the King's Majestie. 1591, Cam Privilegio Regali." (4.) " The Sermons of Mr Robert RoUok, printed at Edinburgh by Henrie Char teris, 1599, Cum Privilegio Regali" have all the quotations from Scripture according to the Geneva version, al- tered nearly in the same manner as iu the cases of Fergusson and Bruce, only the Scottish expression is some what broader. (5.) "An Exposition upon some Select Psalms of David, written by M. Robert RoUok, and translated out of Latine into English, by C. L. (Charles Lumisden), Minis ter of the Gospel of Christ at Dud- duigstone. Edinburgh, printed by Robert Waldegrave, Printer to the King's Majestie. 1 600. Cum Privi legio Begio." This work exhibits ad mirable specimens of translations of fifteen psalms, probably from the ori ginal (for Lumisden, who was son-in- law to the famous Robert Pont, was a superior scholar); but when other parts of the Scripture are quoted, the translator generally adheres to the Geneva Bible. CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 23 attainment of this object. In that year an edition of lect, the Old and New Testament, according to the Geneva XUL version," was undertaken by two printers in Edin- ^^'^^' burgh, Alexander Arbuthnot and Thomas Bassandyne. The work was completed in 1759. As this first Scottish edition of the Bible was brought out under the sanction and by the direct encourage ment of the Church, it may be proper to give a short account of it. Its importance certainly in relation to the religious history of the country is not very great. If the people of Scotland had been dependent for copies of the Scriptures upon the operation of their own press, the comparatively late period of the publi cation of the first Scottish Bible, with the additional fact, which may here be also noticed, that no other edition was published in Scotland for the next thirty years, would have implied an indifference to religious knowledge, and a destitution of the means of religious » [It has been stated, on the autho- Assembly began on the 7th of March rity of Mr Robert Wodrow, that the 1574 (5). The Kirk promised to " de- Bible undertaken to be printed by liver the authentic copy which they Arbuthnot and Bassandyne was not (the printers) shall follow, betwixt the Geneva version, but a new trans- and the last day of April." This is an lation, executed under the auspices of, interval of only six weeks ; and it ia and authorised by, the General As- to be remarked that the Assembly sembiy. The Bible printed by Ar- named only six persons, or any three buthnot and Bassandyne is, however, of them, to oversee every book before verbatim a Bible of the Geneva trans- it be printed, and likewise to oversee lation, with all the Geneva notes, the labours of others that have tra- Even the wood-cuts introduced into veiled therein, betwixt and the last of several parts of the Old Testament April. In the Assembly's Dedication, are fac-similes of the cuts in the however, they expressly ascribed the Geneva Bible; and in the maps, the translation to "the godlie men (of French words orient, accident, aquihii, the nation of England for the maist midi, ka., are all retained. If the part) banished from their country for translation had been a new one, the the Gospel's cause, and convenit at rapidity of its execution would have Geneva, quha did faithfullie and learu- been miraculous. The application edly translate this booke out of the was given in to the Assembly at the pure fountaine of the Hebrew, Chal- eleventh session. The day of the daic, and Greek tongues."] mouth is not mentioned; but the 24 HISTORY OF THE LECT. instruction, which we know were in fact very far from characterising this country in early times. How ex- '°''^- tensively the Scriptures were read in Scotland before any edition of them was printed in this country, we are assured on the most direct and unimpeachable authority. Referring to the period which followed [Knox, Hist, the passing of the Act of 1542, Knox says, "Then ^' ' " mycht have been seen the Bybill lying upon maist every gentlemannis table. The New Testament was born about in mony menis hands ;" and in the de dication to the edition of 1579 itself, the General Assembly speaks of the Bible as already being found " almaist in every private house." The truth is, that while the passion for reading in Scotland was greater in proportion to the population than it was in Eng land, the facilities for importing Bibles as well as other books from that country and from the Con tinent, and the extent to which this traffic was carried, though they did not by any means supersede the operations of the Scottish press, abundantly sup plied its deficiencies. Not only was the importation of books an established and privileged trade in Scotland," but books were printed in other countries, a [On the 25th of June 1591, John scripts, an application from the Re- Norton, an Englishman, with his fac- gent of Scotland to the Lord Burghley tors and servitors, received full power, for a license to one Hooper to carry liberty, and license from the King books into Scotland, June 12, 1573. to continue to exercise and use his It appears also that Andrew Hart, in " tred and trafSque of inbringing and conjunction with John Norton," had selling of all sortis of buikis in all been several years engaged in the langeageis and provin soienceis within speculation of importing books. Hart this realme." — Reg. Sec. Sig. Ixxii. 88. presented a petition to the Privy Before this time I find that liberty Council, Sth February 1589, repre- to import books from England had senting the hurt sustained by the been occasionally solicited by the gov- lieges through the scarcity of books, ernment of Scotland. Thus we find and to what exorbitant prices books among the Burleigh State Papers, in had risen, which were brought from the collection of Lan.s^downe manu- England, and sold in this realm at the CHUKCH OF SCOTLAND. for the express purpose of supplying the Scottish market." Although, therefore, we cannot ascertain the extent of the demand for copies of the Scriptures in Scotland at this time, or the degree in which it was met, neither can, at all events, be estimated by means of any considerations connected with the date or number of editions printed in the country itself: both were probably very great. Ireland was far be hind Scotland in point of religious instruction, as well as in attachment to the principles of the Reforma tion ; yet, even in that country (as we are informed by Ware in his Annals of Elizabeth), so great was the desire of reading the Bible, that in the year 1566, John Dale, a bookseller, imported 7000 copies from London, and sold the whole within two years. The following is the account preserved by Cal- LECT. XIII. 1579. third hand, in consideration of which he and Norton enterprised two years before (in 1587) to bring books from Germany, whence England was chief ly supplied with the best books, and whence this town is furnished now with better books than heretofore, as cheap as they are sold in London. They asked to have their books cus tom free, as in all other States. The Lords ordained the customers of Edin burgh, and the other burghs and ports, to desist from asking custom for any books or volumes brought and sold by them within this realm, &c., a privilege confirmed by the Lords of Exchequer in 1597. On the subject of the demand for books in Scotland at tbe period referred to, the reader is referred to Appendix, No. XII.] a [E. g. On the rolls ot June 1589, a gift was confirmed by the King to John Gibson, for " printing within tho realm, or causing to be printed with in ar tcithout the same, the Bible in our vulgar tongue, with the Psalm Book, the double and single Cate chise," and generally, all books tend ing to the glory of God and the good ofthe commonwealth. That he availed himself of his right to print without the realm appears from the preamble to another licence granted him in July 1 599, in which it is stated that " John Gibson has, on his awin gi'it chargeis, aud be his privat mean and devyse, causit imprent within Middlehurgh i-n Flanders ane new psalme bulk in littil volume, containing baith the psalmes iu verse, as likewise the same in prose upon the margin, in ane forme never practisit nor devisit in any heirtofor, and tending gritly to the furtherance of the trew religion." He therefore received " free and only licence and liberty to bring hame and sell the said impression, at convenient prices, for seven years." — Reg. Sec. Sig. Ixxi. (See also Supra, vol. i. p. 34, nate, and Memorial for Bible Societies, passim.)] 2G HISTORY OF THE LECT. derwood of the proposals for printing Bassandyne's ^™' Bible, as laid before the General Assembly in March 1579. jg^g ^^^ jj^ substance assented to by the Assem- Calder wood's MS. Hist. bly:- " Anent the godly proposition made to the bi shops, superintendents, visitors, and commissioners, in this General Assembly, by Alexander Arbuth not, merchant burgess of Edinburgh, and Thomas Bassanden, printer and burgess of the said burgh, for printing and setting forward of the Bible in the English tongue, conforme to the proof given and subscribed with their hands ; it is agreed betwixt this present Assembly and the said Alexander and Thomas, that every Bible which they shall receive advancement for, shall be sold in albis for £4, 13s. 4 pennies Scottis, keeping the volume and character of the saids proof delivered to the clerk of the Assembly. " Item, For advancement of the godly and necessary work, and furtherance thereof, and home-bringing of men, and other provisions for the same, the bishops, superintendents, and commissioners, bearing charge within this realm under written — viz., James, Arch bishop of Glasgow, &c. — have, in presence of the Assembly, faithfully bound them, .... that they shall do their utter and exact diligence for purchas ing of such advancement as may be obtained within every one of their respective jurisdictions, at the hands of the lords, barons, and gentlemen of every parish, as also with the whole burghs within the same, and shall try how many of them will be con tent to buy one of the volumes, and will advance voluntarily the price, whole, or half at the least, in part of payment, and the rest at the receipt of their CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 27 books, and we shall try what every burgh will con- lect. tribute to the said work, to be recompensed again in ^™' the books 1579. " Item, That every person that is provided of old as well as of new, be compelled to buy a Bible to their parish kirk, and to advance therefore the price . . . ." And because the said act appertains and is expedient to be ratified by my Lord Regent's Grace, and the Lords of the Secret Council, and an Act of Council to be made thereupon, the Assembly ordains Mr David Lindsay, minister of Leith, Mr James Lawson, minister of Edinburgh, and Alexander Hay, Clerk of Council, to travel with his Grace and their Lordships for the obtaining the same, together with the privilege of the said Alexander and Thomas for imprinting of the said work. The Kirk ordains the said Mr James and JMr David to travel with Mr Andrew Polwart and Mr George Young, or any of them, for correcting of the said Bible, and to appoint a reasonable gratitude therefore at the cost of the said Alexander and Thomas. " Item, The Kirk hath promised to deliver the authentick copy, which they shall follow, to them be twixt and the last day of April " It was also stipulated that the work should be completed before the end of March 1576 ; but the printing was retarded by various causes.^ The New a [A similar injunction with regard was concludit that every brother sail to Hart's Bible (1610) was imposed by urge his parochiners to buy ane of the the provincial assemblies. Thus, in Bybles laitlie printed be Andro Hart, the Records of the Diocesan Synod of and the brother failzing either to St Andrews, which sat down on the caus buy ane as said is, or ellis to gif 2d of April 1611, we find the follow- in his exact diligens, sail pay at the ing miuute : " Forasmeikle as it was next synod 6 lib. money" {i. e. 10 thought expedient that there be in shillings sterling.] every kirk ane commoune Bible, it 0 [One of these causes may be XIII 1579. 28 HISTORY OP THE LECT. Testament, however, was printed in 1576 ; the Psalms of David in metre, with the Book of Common Order and Calvin's Catechism, in 1578, and, in the following year, the Old Testament, when the whole volume was published, with an epistle dedicatory (to the King) prefixed by the General Assembly, and dated the 10th of July 1579. A number of other particulars relating to the work might be added. Although the measure of printing this edition of the Bible did not originate with the Government, it was thought expe dient to apply for a licence from the Privy Council, as in the case of all other books. Accordingly, letters of privilege were obtained (June 30, 1576), authorising Arbuthnot and Bassandyne " to prent, or cause be im- prentit, set furth, and sauld, and sauld within this realm, or outwith the samen. Bibles in the vulgar toung, in haill or in partes, &c." It appears farther, from the " Obligation for Prenting of the Bybill," inserted in the Register of the Privy Seal, 18th July 1576, that the Regent Morton, who granted this licence, also caused to be advanced to the printers a great proportion of the sum requisite for the further ing of the work : not, however, out of the public purse, but by contribution of the parishioners of the parish kirks, collected by the diligence of the bishops, superintendents, and visitors ofthe dioceses, "accord- learned from the Records of the Privy werk of the bybill ellis prentit with Council (Jan. 11, 1676), when we find the prenting hous and necessaris ap- a "complaint maid to my Lord Re- pertening thereto meit for setting genti's grace and Lordis of Secreit furthwart of the said werk, as the said Counsall be Alexander Arbuthnott, contract at mair lenth beris. Nothwith- burges of Edinburgh, makand men- standing he on nawayis will do the tioun that q\ihair thair is ane contract samyn without he be compellit, quhair m.aid betwix him and Thomas Bassin- throw the said werk lyis ydill iu den buke binder, contenand in effect the meintyme, to the greit hurt of that he sould deliver to the said Alex- the commoun weill of this realme," ander with all possible diligence the &c.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 29 ing to the agreement allowed and authorised by the lect. Regent's Grace." A more singular means of promot- '- ing this undertaking, and extending generally the ^^^^' circulation of the Scriptures, was also adopted by the Government. In the General Assembly's preface (a valuable historical document throughout, which has been already frequently quoted), his Majesty is most earnestly exhorted " to remember diligently how the setting forth and authorising of this book chiefly pertains to his charge." The meaning of this expres sion may probably be inferred from an Act of Parlia ment passed in the course of that year, ordaining every householder worth 300 merks of yearly rent, and every yeoman or burgess worth £500 stock, to have a Bible and Psalm-Book, in vulgar language, in their houses, under the pain of ten pounds.]" In the next Lecture I shall request your attention The Na- to the principles embodied in the Second Book ofvenant. DiscijDline. In the mean time, it must be mentioned a [A searcher was appointed to visit to hafe their names writtin aud sub- every householder described in the serivit be the clerk ; and thereafter Act ; and it appears from the Records the bulks deliverit to them." On the of the Privy Council that he was not 16th of November there was an order idle. In the year 1580, the Magis- to pursue all persons " that has incur- trates and Town Council of Edinburgh rit the payne of the Act for not having issued a proclamation commanding all ane bybill or psalme bulk." — Andro the householders to have Bibles, " un- Sclater and Thomas Aikinheid, masters der the pains contained in the Act of of the hospitals, were appointed " Col- Parliament, aud advertising them that lectors of the paynes." — Edinburgh the Bibles are to be sauld in the mer- Council Record, vol. vi. fol. 90, 95, &c. chant buith of Andrew Williamson, on Two yeai-s afterwards, John William- the north side of this burgh, besyde son, " general searcheour throughout the Meill Mercat." On the 11th of the haill boundis of this his hienes Nov. 1580, "Alex. Clerk of Balberry, realm," obtained decreet in the Privy provost, &c., ordahis the haill ny'bo" Council against Andro Ballingall and of this bur' to be callit in before the John Weland, sheriffs-depute of Fife, bailies be their quarters for not keep- for not concurring, fortifying, defend ing of the said Act to be adjudgeit in ing, and assisting him in the execu- the unlaw therin contenit, and for tion of his duty. — Reg. Sec. Council, IS eschewing of all fraud, ordanis sic as Apr. 1582.] sail bring their bybills aud psalm bulks 30 HISTORY OP THE LECT. that, to counteract the secret devices of Jesuits and XIII. 1581. other papists, who were plotting in every part of the kingdom to overthrow the Protestant religion, John Craig, the King's minister, drew up a short Confes sion of Faith, commonly known by the name of the National Covenant, which was solemnly sworn to by the King and theCouncil on the 28th January 1580-(l), and afterwards required to be subscribed by all the subjects. It was signed by all corporate bodies, and by all the masters and students of universities. That you may know precisely what this Covenant was in its original form, I shall conclude this Lecture by reading to you the greater part of it. [Duniop's " [AVe all and every ane of us underwritten believe ii. 103.] ' with our heartis, confesse with our mouthis, subscrive with our handis, and constantlie affirme before God and the haill warld, that this only is the trew reli gioun, pleasing God and bringing salvation to man, quhilk is now, be the mercie of God, revealed to the warld be the preaching of the blessed Evangell ; and is received by mony and sundrie notabil kirkis and realmes, but chiefly be the Kirke of Scotland, the King's Majestie, and three Estatis of this Realme, ... as mair particularly is expressed in the Confes sion of our Faith, established and publicly confirmed by sundrie Acts of Parliaments, and now of a lang tyme hath been openlie professed by the King's Ma jesty and haill body of this realme, both in brugh and land. To the quhilk Confession and forme of reli gion we willingly agree in our consciences, in all pointis, as unto Godis undoubted trewthe and veritie, grounded only upon His written Word. And their- foir we abhorre and detest all contrare religion and doctrine; but chiefly all kynde of Papistrie in general!. XIIL 1581. CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. .31 and particular headis, even as they ar now damned lect, and confuted by the Word of God and the Kirk of Scot land. Bat in special we detest and refuse the usurped authoritie of that Romane Anti-Christ upon the Scrip tures of God, upon the Kirk, the civili magistrate, and consciences of men ; all his tyranous lawes made upon indifferent thingis againis our Christian libertie ; his erroneous doctrine againis the sufficiencie of the writ ten Word, the perfection of the law, the office of Christ, and his blessed evangell ; his corrupted doc trine concerning originall sinne, our natural inhabilitie and rebellion to Godis law, our justification by faith onlie, our unperfect sanctification and obedience to the law ; the nature, number, and use of the holy Sacraments ; his five bastard Sacraments, with all his ritis, ceremonies, and false doctrine, added to the ministration of the trew Sacraments without the Word of God ; his cruell judgement againis infants departing without the Sacrament ; his absolute neces sitie of baptisme ; his blasphemous opinion of tran substantiation, or reall presence of Christis body in the elements, and receiving of the same by the workers, or bodies of men ; his dispensations with solemnit aithis, perjuries, and degrees of marriage forbidden in the Word ; his crueltie againis the innosent divorcit ; his divilish masse ; his blasphemous priesthood ; his prophane sacrifice for the sinnis of the deade and the quicke ; his canonization of men ; calling upon angelis or Sanctis depairtet ; worshipping of imagerie, reliques, and crocis ; dedicating of kirkis, altares, dayes; vowes to creatures ; his purgatory, prayers for the deade ; praying or speaking in a strange language ; his pro cessions and blasphemous letany ; his multitude of advocates or mediatours, with his manifold orders, and 32 HISTORY OP THE LECT. auricular confessions ; his despered and uncertain re- XIII. pentance ; his general and doutsum faith ; his satis- '^^1- factionis of men for their sinnis ; his justification by workis opus operatum, workis of supererogation, merites, pardons, peregrinations, and stations ; his holie water, baptising of babbis, conjuring of spreits, crocitig, saining, anointing, conjuring, hallowing of Godis gude creatures, with the superstitious opinion joined therewith ; his wardlie, monarchic, and wicked hierarchic ; his three solemnit vows, with all his sha velings of sundrie sortes ; his erroneous and bloodie decreets made at Trente, with all the subseryvars and appliances of that cruell bloodie band, conjured against the Kirk of God ; and finallie, we detest all his vain allegories, rites, signes, and traditions brought in the Kirk, without or againis the Word of God and doctrine of this trew reformed Kirk ; to the quhilk we joyn ourselves willinglie in doctrine, faith, religion, discipline, and use of the holy Sacraments, as livelie members of the same, in Christ our head : Pro mising and swearing be the great name of the Lord our God, that we sail contino w in the obedience of the doctrine and discipline of this Kirk, and sail defend the same, according to our vocation and power, all the dayes of our lyves, under the pains conteined in the law, and danger baith of bodie and saul in the day of Godis fearfull judgement And because we perceve that the quyetness and stabi- litie of our religion and Kirk doth depend upon the safety and good behaviour of the Kingis Majestie as upon ane comfortable instrument of Godis mercie granted to this countrey for the meinteining of his Kirk and ministration of justice amongst us, we pro test and promise solemnetlie with our heartis, under CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. S3 the same aith, handwreit, and paines, that we sail lect. . XTTT defend his personne and authorotie with our geare, ~ bodies, and lyves, in the defence of Christis Evangell, ^^^^' libertie of our country, ministration of justice, and punishment of iniquity againis all enemies within this realme or without, as we desire our God to be a strong and merciful defendar to us in the day of our death, and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom, with the Father and the Holy Spreit, be all honour and glorie eternallie. Amen."] VOL. II. 34 HISTORY OP THE 1581. LECTURE XIV. OBJECT OP THB KING S COXPESSION SCHEME FOB THE EEECTION OP PEESBYTEHIES, THE EEDISTRIBUTION OP PARISHES, AND PEG- VISION FOE THE MINISTRY ¦ SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE ES- GEOSSED IN THE EEGISTEE EXPOSITION OF ITS GENEEAL PEINCIPLES FIEST EEECTION OF PEESBYTERIBS EEFOEMATION OP THB UNIYEESITY OF ST ANDEEWS GENEEAL ASSEMBLY OF OCTOBEE 1815. LECT. In the conclusion of my last Lecture, I mentioned that XIV. "^ ¦ in the year 1580 the General Assembly declared the authority claimed by bishops to be unlawful, as having no warrant in the Word of God. Of the proceedings of the Church at this period you wdl find ample in formation 'in many books which are easily procured, particularly in the Histories of Calderwood and Petrie, compared with Spotswood, who, by including in his narrative a full detaU of civil affairs, is generally more interesting, though much less correct, than either of the former writers. The same facts are related in a very agreeable form in Dr Cook's History of the Church of Scotland, the first volume of which is more especially valuable. As all these writers are well known, I shall pass more rapidly than I would other wise do over this part of the account of our Church. Before the negative Confession (or the King's Con fession, as it is sometimes called) w^as subscribed, and CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 35 while the Second Book of Discipline was in preparation, lect. Patrick Adamson, Archbishop of St Andrews, sub- ^^^' scribed a number of propositions favourable to pres- ^^^'^' byterian church government, acknowledging that the power of all pastors is equal ; that the name of bishop is relative to the flock, and not to the eldership ; that the pre-eminence of one pastor over others is the invention of men ; that to the presbytery belongeth all ordinary power of judgment in matters ecclesiastical, removing of slander, electing worthy persons, depos ing the unworthy, expounding the constitutions of the Church, rooting out of heresies, and the interpretation of the Word ; that every bishop or pastor should be stow his labours at one church ; and that even the office of visitor approached too nearly to an assertion of supremacy. These, and many other articles deli berately subscribed by Adamson, were conformable to the views of the Presbyterians, but, nevertheless, he thought fit to vote in opposition to them as a peer of Parhament. The short Confession of Faith, in condemning the object of wicked hierarchy of the Roman antichrist, was under- Confession. stood afterwards by all the Presbyterians to condemn the episcopalian distinctions of bishops, presbyters, and deacons. But I cannot help owning that the supposi tion that this was the meaning in which it was under stood by all who subscribed it, is quite at variance with the account which every writer of those times has given of the cause for which the negative Confession was composed. It is known that the dissensions be tween the King and the Church encouraged many Jesuits and other Papists to avow their tenets openly. Nicol Burn, one of the masters of St Leonard's College, apostatised to Popery, as Archibald and John Hamil- 36 HISTORY OF THE LECT. ton, members of the New College, had done some years ^^^' before. Ninian Dalzel, an- eminent schoolmaster in 1581. Dumfries, instilled into the minds of the youth the principles of the Roman Church ; and though he after wards recanted, yet in other parts of the country the greatest diligence was still exerted to bring over proselytes. With this view, dispensations from Rome were obtained by the priests, giving full permission to the Catholics to swear and subscribe to any obliga tion which might be required of them, provided that in mind they continued firm, and secretly used their dUisence to advance the Roman faith. Some of these dispensations, having been intercepted, were shown to the King, who required his minister, John Craig, to write an abjuration of Popery, in which not only all the doctrines and rites as well as corruptions in dis cipline which had so long prevailed under the Romish hierarchy, were solemnly renounced, but a protesta tion was added, in which the subscribers called God to witness that they were not moved by any worldly respect, but were persuaded only in their con sciences to defend the purity of the gospel and liberty of the realm against all enemies within the realm or without. This, then, was the avowed object of the short Confession; but so long as any credit was given to the Pope's dispensations, the security thus granted to the principles of the Reformation was no better than . before, as the declaration that there was no double- dealing or hypocrisy would never startle those who conceived themselves to be authorised to swear to whatever was dictated, if they mentally determined to be true only to the Pope. Scheme for lu the General Assembly which met at Glasgow on orVre'sby"" the 24th of April 1581, Wm. Cunningham of Capring- CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 37 ton, who appeared as commissioner for the King, lect. presented a letter containing certain demands from ^^'^' his Majesty, which were referred, in the first instance, terief the to the consideration of several members from every "^''^'f/'"" different province. S pr'ovi- These articles proposed that a form should be drawn m'iuiste'y'''^ for the constitution of elderships or presbyteries out 'unTy'^Khk, of a number of adjacent parishes, for the union of' ^^"'^ small parishes and the division of large ones, for the better sustentation of the ministers, and the more commodious resort of the people to their churches. His Majesty also communicated the substance of a letter to the principal nobility and gentry, and certain ministers in the bounds of every eldership, requiring them to consult for the better provision of ministers, and the completion of the plan of ecclesiastical dis cipline, and particularly to determine what causes should be submitted to the judgment of presbyteries, what should be referred to synods, and what to General Assemblies. The Assembly were also required to declare how many sufficient and well-qualified ministers were at that time in Scotland, and in what place it was thought most expedient that they should serve, and likewise to advise how other churches should be supphed till a greater number of ministers could be procured, and till the old possessors of the benefices were extinct. The Assembly's advice was farther asked with respect to the method of paying the taxes of spiritual persons, with respect to the persons who should in future represent the temporal estate in Parhament, with respect to the form of presentations to benefices to be given in time coming by the King, as also the order of trial, and admission or collation, and with respect to the establishment of a rule of judg- 38 HISTORY OF THE LECT. ment for depriving ministers on account of neglect of XIV. duty, and meddling with secular business. ¦'•^^^- In answer to these demands, the Assembly suggested the foUowing outline as the groundwork of a perma nent scheme : — That besides the dioceses of Argyle and the Isles (of which no rentals had ever been given in) there were in Scotland about 924 parishes, some very small, some having the churches demolished, and some so large that the inhabitants could not conveniently resort to their parish churches. It was thought meet that the 924 churches should be reduced to 600, every one of which was to have a minister of its own, their stipends to be in four degrees — 100 of them at 500 merks each ; 200 at 300 merks ; 200 at 100 pounds or 150 merks; and 100 at 100 merks each, or somewhat more or less according to the ex tent of the rent paid in the place. "\^Tierever the parsonage and vicarage at any church were separate benefices, it was proposed to unite them for the better sustaining of the minister. These 600 churches were to be divided into 50 presbyteries, each containing 12 parishes, at an average, — and three of them in com mon cases, in others two, and in others four, to form a synod or provincial assembly, so that there might be 18 synods in all. It was intended that the General Assembly should consist of persons directed from the synod. Young men newly come from their education were only to be provided to benefices of the lowest degree, and the eldest, of greatest learning, judgment, and experience, were to be advanced to the highest rank, to which they were to ascend gradually, as they should be judged worthy upon trial, from three years to three years, for the better avoiding of ambition and avarice. The charge of the greatest congregations was CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 39 never to be committed to the youngest ministers at lect. the first, nor they preferred to the eldest of gravity ^^^' and judgment. The state of prebendaries was to be con- ^^*^- sidered, that it might be ascertained which of them were founded on temporal lands, and which on the tithes of parish kirks, and that such as were founded on tithes might be added to the provision ofthe minister serving the cure, and such as were founded on the rents of temporal lands might be granted for the support of schools. The lay patronages were to remain entire, and undivided without the consent of the patrons. Certain brethren were named to see presbyteries con stituted in different towns, and every presbytery or eldership was to choose a moderator out of its own number, to continue till the next General Assembly. In this Assembly other important affairs were con- raooke of sidered. All abbots, commendators, priors, prioresses, p. "is.] "^ ' and bishops enjoying the revenues of the Church, without exercising any spiritual function, or acknow ledging the true Church, devouring and daily dimin ishing the rents of their benefices, were ordered to be summoned by the presbyteries to appearbeforethe next General Assembly, to answer for their conduct. The office of reader, which was concluded in former As semblies to be no ordinary office in the Church, was ordered henceforth to be discontinued, or, at least, it was resolved that no new admissions to the office should take place. The office, however, continued to be exercised for more than half a century afterwards, under the various changes in the ecclesiastical consti tution. The Assembly also unanimously approved the late Confession of Faith set forth by the King's proclamation ; and it resolved to register the book of policy agreed to in former Assemblies, that it might 40 HISTORY OP THE LBGT. remain engrossed among the Acts, ad perpetuam rde- •'^"'' moriam, and that copies might be taken by every 1581. presbytery. Book of Correct copies of the Second Book of Discipline [Calder- ' are to be found in Calderwood's History, Pardovan's Duni'op, ii. CoUections, and Duniop's CoUection of Confessions. Pardovan, Spotswood has also given a copy of it, not in the Spotswood, precise words which were finally adopted, but in the Coiiier, ii. form in which it was submitted to the Assembly two Heyiin, or thrcc vears before. From his account, it might na- Hist. of -^ ° the Presby- turaUy bc inferred that the greater part of the book p. 214.'] was left undetermined ; and Collier, who has given an imperfect abstract of the book (not a copy, as some writers say), has left us as much in the dark as Spots- wood, on whose authority he implicitly depends. Dr Heyiin, another violent Episcopalian writer, has given a still more defective representation of the scheme of church polity. Second I think it unnecessary to comment upon it in de- Dis°cipHne, tail ; but the general principles which it maintains ^''^' ' deserve to be kept in view as the fundamental and constitutional laws of our national Church. It de clares all ecclesiastical power to be derived from God, grounded in the Scriptures, and exercised by the mem bers appointed by the Word for that particular end, either in their individual or conjunct capacities. This ecclesiastical policy, otherwise denominated the power of the keys, is stated to be distinct in its nature, in its object, and in its application, from all civil rule or the power of the sword — being in its nature spiritual, having no temporal head on earth, aiming at the im provement of the hearts and consciences of men, and applying only spiritual means for the attainment of its ends. But while the supremacy of any civil gov- CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 41 ernor over the Church is renounced as an antichristian lect. usurpation, the magistrate is admitted to have no in considerable power in matters of religion." It is said ^^^^' that the magistrate ought neither to preach, to minis ter the sacraments, nor execute the censures of the Church, nor yet prescribe any rule how it should be done ; but he ought to command the ministers to ob serve the rule commanded in the Word, and to punish the transgressors by civil means. He ought also to assist, maintain, and fortify the jurisdictions of the Church. On the other hand, the spiritual rulers should require the Christian magistrate to minister justice and punish vice, and to maintain the liberty and quietness of the Church. And finally, as ministers are subject to the judgment and punishment of the magistrate in external things, if they offend, so ought the magistrates to submit themselves to the discipline of the Church, if they transgress in matters of con science and religion. A few of the articles in this first chapter are said [Spotswood, by Spotswood to have been referred — particularly some which were conceived to be essentially incon sistent with the exercise of Episcopalian authority; one of which was that the exercise both of civil and ecclesiastical rule cannot ordinarily be vested in one person ; and another, that the minister must not exer cise the civil jurisdiction, but teach the magistrate how it should be used, according to the Word. Notwithstanding all the anxiety of the Presbyte rians to define the bounds between the power of the Church and the commonwealth, it must be owned that they had always a great tendency to interfere in questions of State policy, and even to discuss them « Appendix, No. XIII. 42 HISTORY OF THE LECT. from the pulpit, when they conceived them to be ia any degree interwoven with the interests of religion. 1581. They had many provocations to introduce animadver sions on the conduct of public affairs. Their privi leges were often invaded, their hopes were deluded, their liberty endangered, their persons insulted, their motives misrepresented, and their most blameless actions calumniated. They thought it their impera tive duty to speak their minds boldly and freely when ever opportunity offered, whether to the sovereign or to the subjects ; and in taking this hberty they occa sionally indulged in personahties too acrimonious, and in conclusions which appear to us to have been almost as uncharitable as they were unceremonious ; but though they were thus severe and impartial in speak ing to the consciences of aU ranks, adnlonishing and reproving them as much with regard to their pubhc as to their private transactions, they were anxious to guard, with the utmost vigilance, against all inter mixture of civH offices with sacred functions ; and it cannot be said of them that they attempted to intrude themselves into stations of secular trust or magiste rial power. Second The second chapter enumerates the different orders Di's'dpiine, of office-bearers to whom the administration of the Chap. IL cjjurch is committed, and the different constituents of Church policy. The whole policy is said to consist in three things — in doctrine, discipline, and distribu tion. Corresponding to this division, there is a three fold distinction of officers, ministers to preach the Word and administer the sacraments, elders to govern or to assist in the exercise of discipline, and deacons to take charge of the distribution of the alms of the faithful — all of whom, in a general sense, may be LECT. XIV. CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 43 denominated ministers, and all of whom should rule with equality of power and with mutual consent. Some of the ecclesiastical functions are declared to be ^^^'' ordinarj-, and others extraordinary. The apostles, the evangelists, and the prophets were of the second de scription ; and the ordinary, or perpetual functions, suited to all varieties of times and circumstances, are said to be — (1) The pastor, minister, or bishop, which three terms are synonymous ; (2) The doctor or teach er ; (3) The presbyter, elder, or senior ; and, (4) The deacon — all of which are necessary for the government of the Church, whereas all others are superfluous and inadmissible ; for which reason, all ambitious titles, withtheoffices dependingon them, which were invented in the kingdom of antichrist, and in his usurped hier archy, ought to be utterly abolished and rejected. The third chapter prescribes the method of admit- Second ting the several ecclesiastical functionaries to their Discipline, offices. Without lawful and regular calling, no person (whatever his qualifications may be understood to be) ought to bear any ecclesiastical office. The extraor dinary calling immediately by God himself, as that of prophets and apostles, has no place in established churches already well reformed. Ordinary calling is the lawful approbation of men, and their outward judgment expressed according to the Word of God, in addition to the inward testimony of a good con science. This outward calling has two parts — ^election and ordination. The first is the choosing of a qualified person by the judgment of the eldership — that is, the presbytery — and the consent of the congregation. The general qualifications are soundness of religion and godliness of life. No person ought to be intruded into an office contrary to the will of the congregation, or 44 HISTORY OF THE LECT. without the voice of the eldership. Ordination is the XIV. separation and sanctifying of the person appointed, ^^^^' after due and satisfactory trial. The outward cere monies accompanying ordination are fasting, earnest prayer, and imposition of hands of the eldership— i.e., the presbytery. (Imposition of hands, in the First Book of Discipline, had not been acknow ledged as an essential ceremony, even in the admis sion of ministers to the pastoral office ; but here it seems to be extended to all office-bearers whatsoever, to ruling elders and deacons, as well as to ministers and doctors.) AU office-bearers should have their particidar flocks ; aU should make residence with them, and take the oversight, every one in his vocation, — taking those names and titles only which the Scrip ture allows, aU of which import service and labour, and not idleness, dignity, or worldly pre-eminence. Second The fourth chapter begins the account of the par- Di'sdpHne, tlcular office-bcarers by describing the duties of min- "^^ ¦ isters. These are called sometimes pastors, because they feed the particular congregation to which they are appointed ; sometimes bishops, or episcopi, because they watch over their flock ; sometimes ministers, by reason of their service ; and sometimes presbyters, or seniors, for the gravity of manner which they ought to have in taking care of the spiritual government. No man should be elected to the ministry without some particular flock being assigned to him. This article proves not only that our Church has from the earliest times disaUowed the ministerium vagum, but also that the term election signified rather an appoint ment by the presbytery than a nomination by the people. If it signified a nomination by the people, it would not have been possible for any man to be CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 45 elected otherwise than by a certain flock. No man lect. ought to usurp this office ; and after being caUed of — II. God, and duly elected by man, they who accepted the ^^^^¦ charge of the ministry might not leave their functions. It was considered unlawful and dishonourable, in any case, to abandon the profession ; but, in perfect con sistency with this principle, it was declared by the General Assembly (October 20, 1580), that, upon [Book of T ,., . .. ... Univ. Kirk, grave and good considerations, a minister might leave p- 469.] his charge in the pastoral office, and exercise the office of a doctor in a college or university, at the command of the General Assembly. Deserters of their charges were to be admonished, and, in case of obstinacy, to be excommunicated. The duty of the pastors was stated to be — to teach the Word of God, publicly and privately ; to administer the sacraments ; to pray for the people, and bless them in the name of the Lord ; to watch over the manners of the flock ; to pronounce the sentence of binding and loosing, after lawful pro ceeding by the presbytery ; to solemnise marriage ; and to make all public denunciations concerning the ecclesiastical affairs. The fifth chapter, of Doctors and their office, re- second ... , T Book of quires more particular notice, as it seems to be less Discipline, 1 11 n 1 ^ Chap. V. understood than some ol the others. This is affirmed to be one of the ordinary and per petual functions in the Church. The doctor may be designed also "prophet, bishop, elder, catechiser, or teacher of the rudiments of religion." His office is to open the Scriptures simply, without such appli cations as the ministers use, that the purity of the gospel may not be corrupted through ignorance or evU opinions. He differs from the pastor in name, and in diversity of gifts. To him is given the word XIV 1581 46 HISTORY OP THE LECT. of knowledge, to open up the mysteries of the faith by simple teaching ; to the pastor the gift of wisdom, to apply the word by exhortation. Under the office of doctors is comprehended the order in schools, colleges, and universities, which has been maintained from time to time, as well among Jews and Christians as profane nations. The doctor, being an elder, should assist the pastor in the government of the Church, and concur with the elders, his brethren, in all as semblies, by reason the interpretation of the Word, Avhich is the only judge in ecclesiastical matters, is committed to his charge. But to preach to the people, to minister the sacraments, and to celebrate marriages, pertain not to the doctor, unless he be otherwise called ordinarily. The pastor, however, may teach in the schools, as he who has the gift of knowledge often times meet for that end, as the examples of Polycarpus and others testify. AU the old copies end with "&c.," from which it may be inferred that something more was intended to be supplied. There were afterwards several Acts of the General Assembly regulating this office, concerning which we have much fuller information than might have been obtained, if it had not been one of the great subjects of dispute with the Episcopalians, Avho, while they attempted otherwise to multiply the distinctions of churchmen, denied that there was any such office authorised in the Word of God as that of the doctor. They were fond of the dignified title of Doctor of Divinity, which they could not pretend that they found in the Scriptures ; but such a distinct office as a teacher of rehgious knowledge, they would no more admit to sit in Church judicatories than ruling elders. 15SL CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 47 Their bishops and other dignitaries were almost uni- lect. versally raised to the highest degree in theology ; and ^^^' as they thought it no part of their business to instruct the people, it is to be supposed that (on the same principle as lucus, a shady grove, is said to be de rived a non lucendo) they were designed doctors for no other reason than that they did not condescend to teach. We shall find enough of this, if we have leisure to attend to it ; but we have not yet done with the teaching doctors. On a very remarkable occasion, Adamson, the Arch bishop of St Andrews, objected to the moderator ofthe synod of Fife that he was a layman and a master of a school, having no ordinary function in the Church ; but the synod found that to maintain that the office of a doctor is no ordinary ecclesiastical function, is heresy. Archbishop Adamson still insisted that doctors were but masters of schools, and laickmen. In James Mel ville's answer to the Archbishop's appellation, he stated that Mr Robert Wilkie, the moderator of the synod, was appointed by the Act of Reformation of the Colleges to teach theology and expone the Scrip tures, as Origen had done in the church of Alexan dria, being but ludi magister, and yet approved by the best bishops in Palestine, before whom he taught in 'divinity. Robert Wilkie had been upon the exercise sixteen years before (that is, from the year 1570), and at the first erection of the presbytery of St Andrews, he was, by common vote of the brethren, elected and ordained an elder of the same, and had from that time unremittingly laboured in word and doctrine. As for those whom the Archbishop caUed schoolmasters (so he termed the professors of theology), they are, by their office, members of the presbytery, and to XIV. 1581, 48 HISTORY OF THE LECT. their office it pertains to interpret the Scriptures, and to resolve all questions and doubtful matters. In a very useful tract, printed at Edinburgh 1641, entitled The Government and Order of the Churdi of Scotland (which Pardovan wishes to be in the hands of every minister in this national Church), it is said that our Church has had " no other doctors but masters and professors of divinity in universities and colleges, and the teachers of more private schools. They used to be examined and tried, both in their learning and life, by the presbytery ; and their charge is not only to bring up their scholars in human hter ature and Uberal arts, but also in civU conversation and good manners, but especiaUy in the grounds of Christian reUgion, by way of catechism. As the doctors of colleges keep the meetings of the Presbytery, and by course do prophesy, or make the exercise with the ministers, so also do the masters of private schools for the greater part of them, who therefore are a part of the seminary of the public ministry, are numbered among the expectants how soon they are enabled to enter upon the exercise, and sometimes are employed by the ministers to help them in teaching and catechising of the people." Universities were visited by commissioners from the national Assembly, in the same manner as the more private schools were by the presbyteries. In the form of church govemment proposed by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, and ratified by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland 1 Oth Feb. 1645, the title of teacher or doctor is continued among the ordinary officers of the Church. The doctor is said to be a minister of the Word as weU as the pastor, and to have power of administration of the CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 49 sacraments, — and it is asserted that the different gifts lect. of the pastor and the teacher may be exercised by one '^^^' and the same minister, who may be able, by sound ¦^^*^- doctrine, both to exhort and to convince the gain- sayers. The article, however, which maintains that the doctor hath power of administration of the sacra ments, was allowed to be farther discussed and exa mined in future Assemblies ; but it was not disputed that, if the doctor was ordinarily called to the minis try, he might minister the sacraments as well as preach, or that the pastor might teach in the schools. There is considerable inaccuracy and confusion in [Pardovan Pardovan's account of this matter ; and, indeed, the p." 32?]'™^ principles originally entertained by the Church con cerning it have been almost entirely lost sight of. It is long since the country ceased to prefer the expect ants for the ministry as the fittest persons for exer cising the offices of regents and professors in univer sities, and it seems now to be generaUy considered as a disqualification for the obscure, but most useful and honourable occupation of a parochial schoolmaster, that a man has any views of the Church as his pro fession. This is a most senseless idea, which every minister ought to discourage and oppose. The race of schoolmasters was never so respectable or so useful as when a great proportion of them were preachers of the gospel, or students of divinity ; and the youth were never so well instructed in this country as when their teachers considered themselves not as being perma nently doomed to a severe and uninteresting drudgery, but as being entitled to look up to the first prefer ments in the Church." I could mention some of the a [At the commencement of last sons who were licensed as preachers century, the parish schools in Scot- of the gospel. In the year 1690, the land were generally taught by per- schoolmasters capable of teaching VOL. II. I) 50 HISTORY OP THE LECT. XIV. 1581. greatest of our divines who rose from this station to the chief places in the Church and the universities ; and it would be better both for religion and for leam ing if these times were to recur, so that every minister might consider the schoolmaster of his parish rather in the light of a younger brother, who might soon, by the dUigent exertion of his talents, ascend to an equa lity with himself, than as an inferior, whose faculties must be cramped, and whose spirit must be depressed, by the mortifying necessity of resigning himself to a situation which almost precludes the hope of advance ment. Of all the employments in an enlightened Latin were reported to the Parlia mentary Visitation. In Edinburgh and the suburbs there were twenty, including flve in the High School. In fourteen of the country parishes in Mid-Lothian there were twenty-three such teachers — two in Duddingston, two in Liberton, three in Inveresk, four in Dalkeith, two in Newton, two in Lasswade, aud in the parishes of Corstorphine, Currie, Midcalder, West- Calder, Newbattle, Pennycuik, Cockpen, and Heriot, one each ; and of these the whole appear to have been Masters of Arts. In the county of Haddington there were at least twenty schoolmasters at that time capable of teaching Latin. I have seen, in some parish records, the names of very distinguished persons, who acted as schoolmasters before the year- 1700, and I know that families of high rank sometimes sent their sons to parochial schools. Thus, I learn from the journal of Mr Adam Ferguson, father of the late Professor Ferguson of Edinburgh, that in the year 1687, Lord George Murray, son of the Mar quis of Athole, learned Latin along with him at the parish school of Moulin. In that Highland parish, more than one teacher at that period had the advantage of a college edu cation; and the parish school was taught by a succession of persons who became ministers of the Church. The same remark applies to the neigh bouring parish of Logierait, the re cords of which, from 1610 to 1680, I have lately examined ; and I can state, very confidently, that in many of the lowland parishes the school masters were Masters of Arts, and preachers licensed by the Established Church. ... Of the eminent men of the last century who were educated at parish schools, I may mention Principal Robertson, educat ed at Dalkeith ; Principal Leechman, at Dolphinton ; Dr Reid, at Kincar dine; Dr Macknight, at Irvine, — all respectable scholars, and particularly Dr Leechman, who was educated at a very obscure country school, but who was himself, in very early life, the tutor of several of the most ele gant scholai-s in this country, and among the rest Mr Geddes, author of a learned Essay on the Composition of the Ancients. Dr Beattie, a man of classical taste, was educated at the school of Laurencekirk, as Ruddiman, the grammarian, had been before him. — (Evid. before Univ. Com. Scotland.)] CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 51 country, the most important is that of the teachers of lect. youth, — and perhaps in a much greater degree than ^^^' any of the rest, that of those who, being stationed in ^^^^¦ rural districts, not only instruct the labouring classes of the community, but generally have the merit of bringing to light those young men of genius and in dustry to whom the greatest improvements in Utera ture owe their birth, and from whom the higher ranks are in most cases content to receive the principal part of their tuition. That such men receive so little en couragement is a reproach to the present age, and an unfavourable omen to the progress of civilisation. The sixth chapter treats of elders and their office, second They are said to be those whom the apostles call pre- Discipline, sidents or governors. Their function is said to be spiritual, as is the ministrv- Dr Cook holds that rcooVs ^ . . -^ . Hist, of the Book of Discipline draws a line between the church of . , ... Scotland, Clergy and laity ; but the truth is, that the distinction i- 234.] of the clergy and laity was regarded as popish and antichristian, and as one of the grounds whence the mystery of iniquity had its origin. The name "lay- elders" was not admitted by our Church, and the name of clergy was considered as being full of pharisaical pride and vainglory. Elders once lawfully called to the office, and having gifts meet to exercise it, might not leave it again, — but such a number might be chosen in certain congregations, that part might re lieve the others for a reasonable time." It was not thought necessary that all elders should be teachers of the Word, but the chief elders ought to be such, and so to be counted worthy of double honour. Their a, In the General Assembly, Oct. sit as a ruling elder in a church court, 1580, it was decided that a man who but should be censured for deserting had once been a minister, and left his his flock. office, ought not to be permitted to 52 HISTOEY OP THE LECT. office is, as weU severally as conjunctly, to watch over 1- the flock, both publicly and privately, to assist the 1581. pastor in examination and in visiting the sick, to cause the acts of synods and Assemblies to be put in execution, to admonish all men of their duty, and to hold assemblies with the pastor and doctors, who are also of their number. It is very much to be suspected that the office of elders, as described in the Second Book of Discipline, is still more completely out of fashion than the office of doctor. The best treatise that I know on the sub ject of ruling elders, is entitled An Assertion ofthe Government of the Church of Scotland, by George GiUespie, an eminent minister, who died in the year 1647. The book to which I refer was published in 1641. Another useful work on the same subject was published in 1646, by Robert BaiUie, minister of Glas gow (afterwards principal of the coUege there). It is An Historical Vindication of the Government of the Church of Scotland from the Manifold Calumnies of the Prelates, — particularly from a Pamphlet en titled " Lssachar's Burden," published by Jo. MaxiveU, a Scottish prelate, and a Declaration made by King James in Scotland, written by Patrich Adamson, pre tended Archbishop of St Andrews. BaUlie was one of the commissioners from the Church of Scotland to the Assembly of Divines at Westminster,- and one of the most minute and faithful accounts of the proceedings of that Assembly is to be found in his Letters, of which a selection was published in two volumes in 1775." a The other tracts by which he is Time, 1646. (4.) Sermons before th bestknownare {\ .) The Canterburians' House af Com-mons. (5.) Anabaptim,, Self-Canvictian, 16i\. (2.) The Ana- the true Fountain of Independancy, tomie of the Service Booh, 16iS. (3.) 1617. {&.) Review of Dr Bramble, his A Dissuasive from the Errours of the Fair Warni-ng, 1649. CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 53 The seventh chapter treats of the Elderships, As- lect. semblies, and Discipline. It is much too long to be •^^^" introduced here, and the chief heads of it will come ^^^^" under our notice hereafter. The eighth chapter concerns Deacons and their second office, the last ordinary function in the Church. This Discipline, order of persons, properly speaking, included those *^' only to whom belonged the collection and distribution of the alms of the faithful, and ecclesiastical goods. The office is stated to be an ordinary and perpetual function, to which it was necessary to be called and elected in the same manner as the rest of the spiritual offices were. The deacons were to exercise their office according to the judgment and appointment of the presbyteries or elderships, of which the deacons were not to be members. In this last particular, the Second differs from the First Book of Discipline, in which it is said that the deacons may assist in judgment with the ministers and elders. The ninth chapter is entitled " Of the Patrimony of the Church, and the Distribution thereof." In this chapter the province of the deacons is still more par ticularly described than in the former. The tenth chapter is an important one, treating of Second the office of a Christian magistrate in the Church. It Discipline, pertains to the magistrate to see that the Church be ^^' not invaded or beset by false teachers, and that suffi cient provision be made for the ministry, the schools, and the poor ; to assist the discipline, and punish them civUly who will not obey the Church censures ; to make laws for advancement of the policy of the Church, without usurping anything that belongs to ecclesiastical offices ; to defend both the persons of the ministers and their possessions from injury and 54 HISTORY OP THE LFX'T; open violence, and to restore the true service of God, when the Church is greatly corrupted and out XIV. ¦ of order. Second FoUowing out this last idea, the eleventh chapter Book of ^., . , ., ' . . . ¦^., Discipline, exprcsscs a desire that the abuses remaining m the Church may be reformed by the magistrate. The flrst abuse is the " admission of men to papistical titles of benefices," as abbots, commendators, and priors. Another is the continuation of chapters and convents, of abbeys and cathedrals, which served no purpose but to " set feus and tacks " in prejudice of the kirk-lands and teinds. The titles of deans, arch deacons, chanters, treasurers, and chancellors, were required to be abolished. Churches united together, and joined by annexation to their benefices, ought to be separated, and given to qualified ministers. Abusers of the patrimony of the Church ought not to have vote in Parhament, or to sit in CouncU under the name of churchmen, to the hurt of the liberty of the Church. " Much less is it lawful that any person among these men should have five, six, ten, twenty, or more churches, all craving the cure of souls, and enjoy the patrimony, either by admission of the prince or of the Church." " For it is but a mockery to crave reformation where such practices are aUowed." From this paragraph we may have an idea of the shocking extent to which pluralities of benefices were jiermitted, and permitted too by those very men who represented it as a most dangerous irregularity to give leave to those whom they called schoolmasters to preach in churches, or to vote in ecclesiastical courts. [Spotswood, Spotswood says that this article was answered by the Act of Dissolution. Which Act of Dissolution he means is not quite certain ; but if it was an Act CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 55 favourable to the interests of the resident ministers, lect. Spotswood knew very well that it was rescinded a few -1 — 1- years afterwards, for the purpose of restoring the ^^^i- bishops in some degree to their ancient consequence. It is next insisted that bishops should addict them selves to a particular flock, and not usurp lordship over their brethren ; that they should not be pastors of pastors, or of many flocks, that they should not be exempted from the correction of their brethren ; and that they ought not to have criminal jurisdiction, or seats in Council or Parliament, in name of the Church. It is allowed, however, that ministers may and should assist their princes when required in CouncU or ParUa ment, or otherwise, providing always that they nei ther neglect their own charges, nor hurt the public state of the Church. The holding of chapters in cathedral churches, abbeys, colleges, and other con ventual places, is said to be a corruption which ought to be discharged ; and the dependences of papistical jurisdiction ought to be abolished, of which sort is the mixed jurisdiction of the commissaries, in so far as they meddle with ecclesiastical matters. In conclusion, it is declared that those who, under the popish titles, possessed two-thirds of their ecclesi astical rents, ought not to have farther liberty, but to enjoy the portion allotted to them during their life times, and on no account to set feus, and otherwise dispone the rents at their pleasure, to the great in jury of the Church. In the twelfth chapter certain special heads of re formation are pointed out as " craved." The following is a summary of the principal objects thus contem plated by the Church as desirable : — In every considerable parish should be placed one XIV. 1581. 56 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. or more pastors. No minister should be burdened with the particular charge of more flocks than one. Parishes in landward or small vUlages may be joined, two or three, or more — the principal kirks being al lowed to stand, and qualified ministers placed at them — but the others may be suffered to decay. In other places a large parish may be divided into two or more. Doctors should be appointed in universities, coUeges, and other places needful, and sufficiently pro vided for, to open up the meaning of the Scriptures, and have the charge of the schools, and teach the rudi ments of religion. In every congregation there should be one or more elders for censuring the manners of the people, but an assembly of elders only in principal towns, where men of judgment may be had, and where the elders of the particular kirks convening may have a common eldership, to treat of all things concerning the congregations of which they have the oversight. • (These elderships corresponded to the presbyteries." Such a court as a kirk-session is not expressly men tioned, but there was likewise an assembly of that nature in the principal towns.) The national Assem blies ought to be retained in their liberty. None » [A misapprehension was early eu- pie), I find that the author under- tertained by some of the leaders of stood the word to signify the kirk-ses- the Covenanters with respect to the sion. Calderwood, on the other hand, precise meaning of the word elder- who ought to have understood the ship. No person who reads the Se- subject better, perhaps, than almost cond Book of Discipline can have the any one else of that period, because he shghtest doubt that eldership, where- had been born in the pure time of ever it occurs, means presbytery. But Presbytery, and from his laborious re in a book (and this is not a single case) searches had a complete knowledge which has been regarded of some au- of the forms of that Church, always thority, entitled The Govemment and maintained that the kirk-session was Order af the Church of Scotland, yfhich to be looked upon as little else than is said to have been written by Mr as a committee of the Presbytery.— Alexander Henderson (it is indeed {Evidence before Committee on Church, sometimes ascribed to George Gilles- Patro-nage.)'\ CHUECH OP SCOTLAND. 57 should be intruded as ministers without lawful elec tion and the assent of the people, as the practice of the apostolical and primitive Church and good order required. As patronages and presentations to bene fices had flowed from the Pope, and corruption of the canon law, without warrant in the AVord of God, they ought not to have place in the light of reforma tion ;" but patronages to chaplainries, and prebendaries founded on temporal lands, might be reserved to the ancient patrons, to be disposed of to scholars and bur sars, "as they ar requtrit be the Act of Parliament."^ LECT. XIV. 1581. « See Appendix, No. XIV. j3 [An Act was passed, Dec. 20, 1567, " Anent the disposition of pro- vostries, prebendareis, aud chaplan- reis, to bursaris to be fundit in col- legeis," ordaining that " all patrounis havand provostreis or prebandereis of collegis, altarageis, or chaplanereis at their giftis and dispositioun, may in all tymes eumming at their plesour pre sent the samin to ane bursar quhome they pleis to name, &c." — {Act. Pari. Scot. iii. 25.) Before the Book of Discipline had been completed, an other Act of Parliament, of date 25th July 1578, ratified and extended to all the universities letters of gift by the King and his Counoil on the 27th of Jan\rary of that year, in favour of St Salvator's College, St Andrews, providing that " albeit be ye lawes, custome, and ordour ressavit within our realme, all benefices of befoir at ye donatioun and presentatioun of prela- tis ar now cum in use, and ar ordinit be Parliament to be at" the King's "patronage, nevertheles it hes bene alwayis meanit and espresshe pro vidit that ye universities .... sail still bruik the privilegeis of the kirkis, chaplanreis, and prebendareis annext to their coUegeis, presentand qualefeit personis to ye kirkis and bursouris within their awin coUegeis to the chaplanreis, Therefoir . . . it sal be lesum and permittit to ye saidis provest and maisteris to dis pone quhatsumever provostries, cha planreis, prebendareis, and utheris benefices erectit aud given to their said college queir and cheplour thair- off to qualefeit personis, hable to travell in schuiUis, kirk of God, and common weill of the same." — (Act. Pari. Scot., iii. 106.) Previously to this time such appropriations had to some extent been made. Thus, in Feb. 20, 1564, John Rutherfurd, pro vost of St Salvator's College, made a presentation in favour of David Spens " de Bursa sive Capellania divse Vir ginis in claustro diet. coll. per Mram Hug. Spens fundat." In 1570 (Oct. 9), the prebendary of Rungay and Dura, founded within the College Kirk-heugh, situate beside the city of St Andrews, was gifted by James VI. to WiUiam RusseU, on condition that after his decease it should be united to St Leonard's College, for sustaining a bursar. It was annexed 30th and 31st Oct., 1579. In the University papers of St Andrews are found a great many documents on this sub ject, including an account of the pre bendaries, chaplainries, and bursaries in St Salvator's College at the time of the Reformation, which seems to have HISTOEY OP THE LECT. I find that this regulation was put in practice to a — considerable extent. Several prebendaries and cha- ^5^1- plainries were held by the students in this university. Some of them, indeed, were disposed of among the regents or teachers ; but it must be remembered that the ordinary provision of these teachers was httle better than some of the bursaries, and that it was not uncommon to begin to act as regents before they ceased to be students. In these circumstances it was not dishonest to retain these slight additions to their income tUl the usual time of holding them expired, especially as the patrons were not always very careful to substitute more deserving persons in place of those who resigned. The remainder of the chapter relates chiefly to the application of ecclesiastical property. The last chapter points out the benefits which might' be expected from this reformation. It has been said that the authors of this book pretend that the whole scheme is not merely agreeable to the Word of God, but expressly authorised and enjoined by divine authority, and that from this radical error much evil afterwards arose. I have not been able to been presented to the archbishop as of ye put bursars to be alsua aug- Chancellor of the University. (The mentit. For augmenting of ye num- list includes fourteen prebendaries, ber of bursars, it is to be cravit of his eleven chaplainries, and three bur- Majestie that aU the monkis portiones saries.) In one paper without date, gevine, or to be gevine, be doht to ye but after 1579, entitled the Articles to New College, or at least quhan they be proponit to the Parliament, are the saU happen to be vaccand ; and felze- following clauses : — " Concerning ye ing yrof, annuatis of grit benefices, or collegis of philosophie. . . . (4) the fii-st zerlie dewties to be given Item y' ye prebendaries, bursares, for that effect. Or felzing hirof, let alterages, chapalanres, and commonis ane Act of Parliament be maid that be applyit for the sustentation of bur- everie presbyterie w'hin this cuntrie, saris. Concerning ye New College, or at least ewerie provias, sail sus- . . . (3) The number of students tene ane bursar or twa." — Notes from being verie few, the number of bui-- papiers of University of St Andrews, sars to be augmentit, and y e provisione abi-idged.^ CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 59 discover any authority for this assertion. The Gen- lect. eral Assembly, in approving this book, and in passing ^^'^' other Acts conformable to it, often declare that the ^^^^¦ practices which they disapprove are not warranted by the Word of God, or are expressly repugnant to it ; but when they introduce other regulations in place of those which they abolished, they seem iu general to have been satisfied with the assurance that they were acting in consistency with the written Word, though they could not find in it rules adapted to all the par ticular circumstances in which they were placed. They were convinced, in general, that the substance of their plan might justly claim a divine warrant ; and where there was any doubt, they did not disdain to appeal to the practices sanctioned by the immediate succes sors of the apostles, and even to the ancient canons. Thus they quote the example of Polycarp and others [Chap. v. in support of the assertion that the pastor may teach *" in the schools ; and in treating of the office of deacons, as exercised in primitive times, they say that the [Chap. ix. canons make mention of a fourfold distribution of the andchap.' patrimony of the Church — one part applied to the pastor or bishop, for his support and hospitality ; one to the elders and deacons ; the third for the poor, the sick, and the strangers ; and the fourth to the extraordinary affairs of the Church. Our Eeformers added the schools and schoolmasters, who, they say, ought to be sustained of the same goods, and to be com prehended under the name of those who are commonly called clergy. For this purpose, and for tlie allow ances of the clerks of Assemblies, synods, and presby- [Chap. ix. teries, as well as other necessary officers, they pretend ^ no other warrant except the dictates of expediency and prudence. In other cases they profess to be guided 60 HISTORY OF THE LECT. by common and municipal laws, and universal custom ; — and in speaking of general councils of the Church, ^^*'- they express their approbation of the principle on xi'. §'§ 16, ¦ which some of them were caUed by godly emperors, for [ciiap. vii. settling controversies and putting an end to schisms. „. ' About the time when this Book of Discipline -was b irst erec- _ ^ tionof Pres- registered, presbvteries were first erected. The pres byteries. O ' X ./ ^ X bytery of Edinburgh was the first (being erected on the 30th of May 1581). It consisted of fifteen or sixteen ministers of the churches within four or five Scots miles. The chief business of the presbyteries at first was the censuiing of vice, the confutation of error, and the confirmation of sound doctrine. Reforma- I Qught to havc meutioncd that, about five months tion of the ° University bcforc this time, the celebrated Andrew MelvUle, of St An- ' . drews. through whosc exertions the Book of Discipline was matured, was removed from the principality of Glas gow CoUege to be provost or principal over the New College of St Andrews. Two other masters were appointed to co-operate with him, namely, Mr James MelviUe, and Mr John Eobertson, " a man of no great literature." At this time there were no doctors within the realm, except such as were aUowed for a time to leave their pastoral charges and to exercise that office. Melville's translation took place in consequence ofthe Act of Parliament, passed 11th November 1579, com monly caUed Buchanan's Reformation, in which the foundations of all the colleges were new modelled; and this college, which Archbishop HamUton had intended to be the chief bulwark of Popery, was ordered in all time coming to be a school for teach ing divinity. That part of the Act which relates to the teaching in this college, is supposed to have been suggested by CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 61 MelviUe himself. It provided that five masters daily lect. teaching were in four years to complete the whole course. The first master was to read the common- ^^^-^^ places (as they were called), or, in other words, the principal topics • of systematic divinity, which were then arranged under the four following heads : De Deo Creatore, De Deo Eedemptore, De Deo Sanctifac- tore, and De Ecclesia ; the second master was to teach the New Testament out of the Greek tongue, con ferring with the Syriac ; the third was to explain the Prophets ; the fourth was to explain the Law of Moses and the history of the Old Testament ; and the fifth was to teach the Hebrew, Chaldaic, and Syriac tongues. In this account of the departments assigned to each professor, I have enumerated the masters ac cording to the rank which they held, and not accord ing to the order in which they were required to teach. It was provided that the ifirst and second professors should lecture to the students during a course of four years ; that the fifth professor should teach the stu dents of the first year only during a period of nearly twelve months ; that the fourth professor should lecture during the second year, and the first half of the third year ; and the third professor, the last half of the third year and the whole of the fourth year. In this manner it was intended to complete the education of the candidates for the Cliurch ; and it was expected that thus " heiring daylie thrie lessonis the space of foure yeires," they should, " with meane diligence, be- cum perfite theologians ; " to which end, however, it was likewise prescribed there should be " daily repeti- tiones ; anys in the oulk [week], publict disputa- tionis ; everie moneth, declamationis ; thrie solemne examinationis in the cours." 1581. 62 HISTOEY OF THB LECT. With reference especiallv to the class which corres- XIV ponded to that of Ecclesiastical History of more recent times, I may add, that as, from the deficiency of funds, there never were more than four teachers since this institution became a divinity college, it was necessary to alter the original arrangements in some degree. And, accordingly, it was required by some acts of visitation that the duties which had at first been allotted to the third and fourth professors, should be performed by the third. The original object, there fore, which was meant to be fulfiUed by the person holding my office, was to unfold and iUustrate the rules to be followed in explaining the historical and pro phetical books of the Jewish Scriptures, and particularly in elucidating the obscurities of the Mosaic economy, and the peculiarities of the government, the laws, and the ritual observances of the Hebrew commonwealth. [28th April It was not till the new erection of this office that it became a part of the prescribed course of sacred litera ture to study the antiquities of the Christian Church, and the progressive state of religious knowledge and practice in modern as well as in ancient times. The mode in which the teaching was at first carried on, is known with sufficient correctness to enable us to form an estimate of its advantages and defects. The pro fessor read through the books on which it was his busi ness to comment, and after giving a critical analysis, and- examining his students on the meaning of the phrases in the original Hebrew, he dictated such notes as he thought might be most useful to direct them in the interpretation of the inspired volume. This method had the effect of compelling the learners to treasure up all that their teacher thought it necessary to com municate. But it was not altogether favourable to CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 63 intellectual exertion. The dictates of the professor lect. were generaUy so copious as to render it superfluous '^¦'^' for the students to think for themselves. They oc- ^^^^• casioned much unnecessary repetition, and they pro duced a sameness in the manner of going about the exposition of Scripture which did not offer the best pledge for the advancement of biblical knowledge. But the chief disadvantage was that it precluded syste matic arrangement, and instead of disposing the know ledge to be acquired under distinct heads, it loaded and encumbered the mind with a vast mass of materials, the value of which could not always be apprehended by those who were required to store them up. Much time was also wasted unnecessarily in dictating and writing, and indeed the whole process was rather mechanical than intellectual. The same thing hap pened, however, in teaching every other branch. No body taught without a text-book ; and all that the professor did was either to expand or to Ulustrate the doctrines contained in the author whom he was re quired to select as his guide. The choice of the text book was not left to himself, any more than the doc trines which he was to found upon it. In those days freedom of discussion was never permitted, be the subject what it would. The General Assembly which met at Edinburgh in General ^-^ ^ ..,.., . Assembly, October 1581, was occupied with some serious matters Oct. issi. of which you will find a full account in Calderwood wood, lis. and Petrie, particularly the latter. The King's com- &c,] ' missioners inquired if the Church condemn the office of bishops, whereto is annexed a temporal jurisdiction and the right of voting in Parliament, and assisting in his Majesty's Councils, how will the Church supply the loss of this estate 'i After a long conference, it 1581. 64 HISTOEY OP THE LECT. was answered that, for voting in Parliament and as- - sisting in CouncU, commissioners from the General Assembly should supply the place of bishops ; and for exercising civil or criminal jurisdiction the heritable bailies should act. A complaint was sent from the King against Walter Balcanquel and John Durie, two ministers of Edin burgh, who had given offence to the Duke of Lennox, the King's favourite, the former of them having said in a sermon that Popery had entered not only into the country, but into the Court, under the protection of a great champion called His Grace, and if His Grace wUl oppose himself to God's Word, he would have little grace. Balcanquel said that he would neither deny his words, nor express any sorrow for them ; but that though he was readj^ to lay down his life in defence of the truth, he insisted that he should not be judged unless the charge were proved by two or three witnesses. The elders of the church beins; examined, declared that they had heard nothing scandalous or offensive in the sermon, but good and sound doctrine. The Assembly, without any discussion, pronounced their brother to be cleared of the accusation ; and, of course, the King was not much gratified by then sentence. The case of Eobert J\Iontgomery, minister of Stir ling, who, upon a simoniacal agreement with the Duke of Lennox, had recently been preferred to the archbishopric of Glasgow after the death of Boyd, engaged much of the attention of this General As sembly. Montgomery would have been tried by the Assembly for accepting the office of a bishop contrary to their acts ; but the King required them to stay proceedings upon this ground, as he had ratified the CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 65 agreement made at Leith (1571), and would not lect. approve any other policy till he was of perfect age. ^^''' The Assembly therefore resolved to consider certain ^^*^' charges against the life and doctrine of Montgomery as a minister. He seems to have been a giddy, wrong- headed man, and his folly and obstinacy, being en couraged by his superiors, gave the Church an immense deal of trouble. He had agitated some ir reverent questions in the church of Stirling on the subject of circumcision. He spoke contemptuously of discipline, saying it was a thing indifferent. He tried to depreciate the original languages of the Scripture, and asked with as little gravity as wit, " In what school were Peter and Paul graduated 1" About a dozen of other accusations against him are mentioned in the register, all of them bespeakino; a character [Booke of i> 11- 'i .-,-,,¦ -, Univ. Kirk, ot such levity as little entitled him to occupy the p. 533.] most ordinary ministerial charge, much less the ele vated rank of a bishop claiming jurisdiction over other ministers. It has been said that some of the charges display liberal views of church government ; but it would be more correct to say that he attempted to ridicule his Presbyterian brethren, whom he had only lately deserted, and to propagate from the pulpit the libels with which they were assailed by the courtiers. The charges against Montgomery were proved by eight witnesses ; but the General Assembly would not proceed against him in his absence, and remitted to the presbytery of Stirling to examine the case more fully, and to report to the next synod of Lothian, which had power to carry on the process. In the mean time he was ordered to remain minister at Stirling, and not to aspire to the archbishopric of Glasgow. The presbytery suspended him, and the vol,. IL E XIV, 1582 66 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. synod were about to depose and excommunicate him, when the King interposed, summoning the members of synod before the Privy Council. The synod ap peared, but declared that they decUned the jurisdic tion of the Council in a case so purely ecclesiastical. The General Assembly, to whom the case was again referred, disregarded a similar attempt to interfere with their spiritual functions ; and after some delay, in consequence of overtures of submission from Mont gomery, by which he did not abide, they proceeded to excommunication, which was pronounced by Mr John Davidson, in Liberton Church, on the 10th of June. The affair occupied several successive Assemblies, and was one of the great causes of the dissensions between the Court and the Church. CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. G7 LECTUEE XV. FOUNDATION OF THE UNIVBBSITT OF EDINBUEGH APPOINTMENT OP EOBERT EOLLOCK AS FIRST MASTEE THE METHOD OF TEACHING ADOPTED IN EDINBURGH RAID OP RUTHVEN INFLUENCE OF THAT EVENT ON THE CHUECH ACTS OP THE CURRENT PARLIA MENT OF MAT 1584 PROTESTED AGAINST BT THE CHUECH PETITION FOR THEIR REPEAL ARCHBISHOP ADAMSON EXCOM MUNICATED THE ministers' ALLEGED EEFUSAL TO PEAT FOR QUEEN MART. It was at this period that the Scottish metropolis lect. legally obtained the distinction of being the seat of a "^^' university. ^^^^¦ [The first movement towards the erecting of a Foundation college in Edinburgh was made by a most learned versity of and amiable prelate of the communion of the Church of Eome, who died in the year 1558, a few months before the Protestant faith obtained the ascendancy in Scotland. This was Eobert Eeid, bishop of Orkney, and for ten years President of the Court of Session, whose literary taste was equalled only by his political sagacity and princely munificence. Both while he was abbot of Kinloss and after his elevation to the see of Orkney, his contributions to the advancement of letters had been so hberal as to excite the admira tion of the most eminent of his contemporaries ; and his testamentary bequest of 8000 merks for founding a college in Edinburgh, might at that period have 1582. 68 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. been sufficient for providing very ample buildings. As Bishop Eeid confided the administration of this endowment to the magistrates and council of the city, who in general openly espoused the cause of the Lords of the Congregation, it has been inferred that the bishop himself was not unfriendly to the change in the profession of religion. But whatever might be the fact in this respect, it is certain that little dili gence was exercised in securing the amount of the intended benefaction (8000 pounds Scots) ; for twenty years afterwards, when the sum should have more than doubled, according to the high rate of interest in those days, the patrons consented (in 1580) to accept one half, or 4000 pounds Scots, and this also appears to have been greatly misapplied. The limits of these Lectures do not admit of any detaUed account of the proceedings connected with the foundation of the University of Edinburgh. On the 14th of April 1582, James granted the charter of erection, constituting the Lord Provost, Magistrates, and Council of the burgh of Edinburgh, with the advice of the ministers, electors of all the professors, with the power of removal as well as of appointment, and prohibiting all persons not admitted by the pat rons from professing or teaching any of the sciences within the liberties of the burgh. « The King, who was ambitious of being commemor ated as the founder and greatest benefactor of this literary establishment, inserted in the charter an im- a [The wonder is, that the King did oipal body, which, if it had been per- not himself retain the patronage of manently secured, would have enabled all the offices ; but his disinterested- him to possess unlimited power over ness in this matter is very question- the College, as well as every other able, for at that time he asserted and establishment in the metropolis of exercised an influence over the muni- his kingdom.] CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 69 1582. posing list of lands, rents, buildings, churches, chapels, lect. and other properties, formerly belonging to the Black "^^' and Gray Friars, and other religious orders, which had formerly yielded a large revenue, but which, though apparently secured to the community of Edin burgh for the sustentation of the ministers, schools, and hospitals, by a previous charter of Queen Mary, granted in 1566, had been so much dilapidated and alienated by a variety of discreditable transactions, common in that period of national confusion, as to retain little more than a nominal value. The very ground on which the college was allowed to be built (in the extensive space called the Kirk-of-Field, the site of an old provostry) could not be obtained other wise than by purchase from a menial servant of the King, who had acquired a title to it ;" and in the a [The house of the provost of St Mary's Church in the fields, the scene of Darnley's murder, with the other grounds of that collegiate estab lishment (called the Kirk-of-Field), are described in the charter as if they had extended over a vast space — " Vasta et spatiosa loca quEe prse- posito, prEebendariis, sacerdotibus et fi-atribus tempore praeterito pertinue- runt, maxime apta et commoda pro constructione domorum et sediflcio- rum, ubi Professores bonarum scieu- tiarum et literamm, ac studentes earundem, remanere, et suam diutur- nam exeroitationem habere poterint — volumus quod licebit — sedificare et reparare sufficientes domos pro recep- tione, habitatione et tractatione Pro- fessorum, soholarum grammaticalium, humanitatis, et linguarum, philoso phise, theologise, medicinae, et jurium, aut quarumcunque aliarum liberalium scientiarum, quod declaramus nuUam fore raptijram prsediotse mortifioa- tionis." " Licebit" indeed! "Con- cedimus et volumus quod licebit sedi ficare !" The fact is, that, twenty years before (in 1563), the provost of the Kirk-of-Field had conveyed to the Town-Council of Edinburgh the whole building of the Kirk-of-Field, with the churchyard (a considerable space near the Eoyal Infirmary), in consideration of the payment of 1000 pounds Scots. Some of the preben daries had also resigned their accom modations, and other appointments, on receiving equivalents. But without any regard to these arrangements, the Government again filled up the office of provost in 1566, by confer ring it on a layman, with the power of appointing prebendaries; and it is remarkable that the person nomi nated to this office, a brother of the most corrupt man of his age. Sir James Balfour, President of the Court of Session, who is now generally un derstood to have been the original deviser of the murder of Darnley, appears to have been selected for the express purpose of furnishing that in sidious accommodation which ended 70 HISTOEY OP THE LECT. same manner other benefactions, which had a sem- XV. 1582. blance of munificence, if they did not prove altogether delusive, dwindled into extreme meanness. Maitland's It has bccn thought a strange anomaly that, as Edinburgh, appears from a public deed, executed in May 1583, a copy of which is inserted in Maitland's History of Edinburgh, thirteen of the thirty-three persons to whom the patronage and government of the University had been committed only twelve months before, were unable to write their names. But the majority of the Council were men of good education, some of them Masters of Arts, and even some of those of the num ber who could not write were possessed of more than ordinary intelligence. It is a circumstance worthy of notice that, after the Eeformation, the trades of Edin burgh gave many proofs of their value for learning. Several of them educated their sons for learned profes sions. John Preston of Fenton, an eminent lawyer at this period, and afterwards Lord President of the Court of Session, was the son of a baker in Edinburgh. Another man, distinguished for more elegant learn ing. Sir Adam Newton, tutor and secretary to Henry, prince of Wales, after having held a professorship both here and on the Continent, was also the son of a so fatally for the unsuspecting victim, the dignified place of Provost of the and which has loaded the fairest and Kirk-of-Field, while the chief peo- most accomplished of the queens of pie in the community were making the earth with the suspicion of blood- every effort to prevail ou the King guiltiness. This lay president of a to consent to the erection of a religious house did not omit any college on the spot which they had opportunity of making gain of his purchased long before. It was ne- ¦ appointment. But about two years cessary for them again to purchase before the date of King James's char- from the domestic servant of the ter to the college, a new grant of the King, and another equally mean de- office was recorded in the books of pendant of the Court, the ground the Privy Seal, his majesty having which they considered themselves been pleased to nominate John Gib, as having already secured at a high one of the menials of his household, to price.] CHUECH OP SCOTLAND. 71 baker in Edinburgh — one of the thirteen councillors lect. ° XV. who could not write. William Cowper, afterwards Bishop of Galloway, one of the most eloquent writers ^^^^" of the age, was also the son of a tradesman, who, though illiterate himself, was one of the first that founded a bursary. The foundation of the library was also formed by a liberal donation of books by Clement Little, a learned citizen, whose brother hon ourably succeeded the Earl of Arran as Lord Provost in 1586. In reality, almost all the most valuable grants which were made to the college during the first fifty or sixty years of its existence, were spontaneously conferred by persons in very humble condition, and scarcely any were ever obtained from persons of rank. The deficient resources of the new institution did not Appoint- prevent the first promoters of the scheme from enter- Robert roI- ing on the difficult enterprise within a year after the Master. "" charter had been obtained. Some temporary accom modation was found in the town residence which had formerly belonged to the Duke of Chatelherault, and it was considered to be an unspeakable advantage that the patrons were able from the first to secure the ser vices of an eminent individual, then in his 28th year, Mr Eobert EoUock, who had for several years been a regent " in St Salvator's College, St Andrews, and had *» [It may not be unnecessary here ferent universities, and it would be a to explain the meaning of the term waste of time to enter into the mean- regent. In the older universities, ing of the distinctions of magistri re- every student, when he attained the gentes and non-regentcs, regentes -neces- dignity of Master of Arts, acquired sarii and regentes ad placitum. The the faculty of teaching the branches regents in Edinburgh and other uni- of leaming which were known by the versities in Scotland were the teachers title of the Liberal Arts. But though who conducted the academical youth all were understood to be qualified to through the entire course of philoso- teach, and, in certain circumstances, phical study which it was necessary to might claim the privilege, all could complete before they could become not be selected to take charge of Masters of Arts. In Edinburgh, for classes. The practice varied in dif- instance, there were four regents, 72 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. acquired a high reputation for his proficiency in let- L_ ters, and his skill and success in teaching aU the 1582. branches of liberal study. He was a man of strong intellect, indefatigable industry, deep erudition, and a most Christian spirit. Some of the most zealous clergy thought him, in certain instances, too accommodating to the Court ; but though more attached to monarchi cal government than some of his contemporaries, he was a man of independent mind, and, instead of wast ing his high faculties in the bustle and warfare of politics, he wore out his constitution in the assiduous discharge of professional duties, and in the com position of numerous pious and practical writings, which obtained the highest character from the most learned of his contemporaries in foreign countries, and which were often reprinted on the Continent. He died in the beginning of the year 1599, at the age of forty- three, leaving behind him a much larger number of valuable works than the most celebrated of his succes sors. His commentaries on the Scriptures, and other theological works, some of them of great length, ex tend to more than twenty volumes ; and as a speci men of the estimation in which they were held by foreign divines, it is sufficient to refer to the recorded opinion of Beza, who characterises some of the earliest of these works, the Commentary on the Epistles to the Ephesians (printed at Edinburgh in 1590), and to the Eomans (printed in 1594), as "a rich treasure every one of whom had charge of a nected with these branches of leai'n- class from the period of its first enrol- ing. This system had long been ap- ment till the termination of the fourth proved, and continued to be followed session, and it was his duty to teach in one university of Scotland till with in succession the several branches of in the last fifty years. It had its ad- Logic, Rhetoric, Moral Philosophy, vantages and its disadvantages ; but, Natural Philosophy, and such kindred on the whole, it was conceived to Buc- Btudies as were most intimately con- ceed well.] CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 73 sent from God to his people," than which, he de- lect. clares (disclaiming all flattery), that he had never '^^' read any similar works more eloquent and more ^^^^• judicious, so that he could not refrain from render ing thanks to God for bestowing such a blessing on the churches. During the first session, Rollock had the sole charge of all who were matriculated or enrolled, and con tinued to conduct them onward till they were pre pared for laureation — that is, being raised to the degree of Master of Arts. The second year an additional regent was required; but the third year (1585) a visitation of the plague prevented the formation of a class. The third class, which was opened in 1586, and the fourth in 1587, had the benefit of instructors amply qualified for the task, and by this time all the essential departments of study were simultaneously conducted by the usual complement of masters, every one of whom continued in charge of the division of the students who had been originally placed under his authority. The method of tuition pursued at Edinburgh, though The method -...- 1 1 f 1 ... of teaching keeping m view the model ol other universities, was pursued in .-...„ . . . Edinburgh. not a servile imitation of any pre-existing practice. During the first year, aboat six months were spent chiefly in the study of the Greek and Roman classics, accompanied by frequent exercises in translation, ver sification, and original composition. The remainder of the session was occupied in the study of the dialectics of Eamus, without, however, discontinuing the read ing of Greek and Latin authors, and committing to memory and reciting large portions of the ancient poets and orators. In the second year, besides being exercised in Greek themes and versions, the students XV 1582, 74 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. proceeded in the study of logic, rhetoric, and some part of mathematics. The philosophical works of Aristotle were not neglected, and in the later months of the session the practice of oratory was encouraged by public declamations. The third session, carrying forward the philosophical studies and classical learn ing, introduced the youth to the knowledge of some branches of natural history and philosophy, and gave every one an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the elements of the Hebrew tongue. In the fourth session, ethics, physics, and metaphysics formed the principal object of study ; but great part of the time was occupied in the practice of disputation. The regent prescribed the subject, and every candidate was matched with an antagonist, with whom it was neces sary for him to carry on a debate in presence of his teacher. The regents were required to exercise a habitual inspection of their charge, both in the public class and in the hours of recreation in the fields. The principal was bound to maintain a daily superintend ence, presiding in the public devotions, and keeping a watchful eye over all the regents, students, and officers of the establishment. Every Lord's Day was partly employed in the religious instruction of the students in their private classes, and chiefly in the public solem nities of divine worship. The stinted finances of the coUege, or rather the entire want of any certain endowment, prevented the fulfilment of one part of the original design, which was that all the masters and students, without exception, should here, as in other colleges at that period, hve day and night within the walls, and that the pupils were never to go beyond the precincts for rural recrea tion, or any other purpose, without being accompanied CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 75 by one of the regents, appointed in weekly succession lect XV. to take this charge. Means were taken at first, on a limited scale, to provide rooms for the students, and ^^^^• it was regulated that the rent of a chamber to a stranger was to be four pounds Scots in the year (6s. 8d. sterling), for which sum every room was to be furnished with a table, a bed, shelves for books and other purposes, and sufficient seating. The sons of burgesses were to pay no rent, but they were to furnish the rooms at their own expense, and this could scarcely be done on a more economical scale. This part of the plan may seem strange to us, and I must confess that I was at one time impressed with what appeared to be an intuitive perception of its inutility. But many wise men, possessing the advantage of long experience, have deliberately entertained an opposite opinion. If, first of all, it is considered how limited, in those times, was the accommodation of almost every family below the rank of the nobility, and how perpetual was the noise and bustle in the humbler habitations of in dustrious burgesses, who rarely could afibrd more than two, or, at the utmost, three apartments for domestic purposes, as well as for business, very few indeed being able to surrender a separate chamber, of the smaUest dimensions, for the quiet prosecution of study and the preparation of literary tasks, especially in the evening, the only period of absence from the college, — and if, with these and other obvious disadvantages familiar to those who now have access to observe the internal economy of the dwelUngs of many of the working classes, especiaUy in times of sickness, and when struggling with difficulties, we contrast the situation of those youths who, under the eye, and having the benefit of the counsel, of an intelligent, faithful, and 76 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. kind-hearted regent, ever ready to commend the dili- L_ gent, to cheer the dejected, and restrain and overawe i^S2- the disorderly and slothful, we may be struck with many reflections on the probable benefit arising from good discipline and good example in promoting habits of order and assiduous application, and, at least, securing a relief from the vulgarity, the clamour, and the pernicious and provoking interruptions to be en countered in not a few of these houses. One object, it is to be remembered, which was then thought of vast consequence, was to famUiarise the use of the Latm tongue, even in ordinary conversation, — an attain ment essential to the maintenance of intercourse with the learned in foreign countries, to which many re sorted. But, moreover, it appears from the universal and emphatic concurrence of many of our countrymen who, having been educated under this system during the 16th and 17th centuries, have left written me morials of their own lives, that they ascribed the most salutary efficacy to the oversight and care of the regents who superintended their conduct in the col lege rooms. It is most touching to read those tes timonies to the vigUance, assiduity, and tenderness manifested in the daily communications of the teachers with the taught : for instance, the bland and paternal counsels and encouragements addressed to the orphan Andrew Melville by the venerable head of his college, " My poor fatherless and motherless chUd, who knows for what good and gracious purposes Providence is reserving youl" and the not less moving account which James Melville has preserved of the uniform painfulness, urbanity, and what he calls " lovingness" of that learned gentleman, Mr WilUam CoUace, on whose face he never saw a frown, except when his CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 77 father pressed on him the acceptance of a valuable lect. acknowledgment for his unwearied and considerate ^^' care. Many other testimonies to the same effect have ^^^^¦ been borne in favour of a system" which, even after the middle of the last century, such men as Dr Reid not only approved, but insisted on maintaining in its primitive simplicity.^ Between the date of the royal charter and the open ing of the college, an event occurred which was not without important influences on the progress of the Church.] At this time the King was entirely under the in- The Raid of fluence of two favourites, — the one, the young Duke of Lennox, a native of France, a man rather frivolous, imprudent, rash, and self-sufficient, than deliberately flagitious or unprincipled ; the other James Stewart, created Earl of Arran, an audacious profligate, who committed the vilest immoralities without shame or compunction, and who was not restrained, either by humanity or religion, from trampling on the rights of his country, and outraging the peace of the Church. Through their pernicious counsels, James, who, by an unhappy fatality, was during his whole reign guided ot It is a curious circumstance con- towards which the Association pro- nected with this topic, that, after the posed to secure the payment of at Union with England, a number of the least £2000 a-year, to assist those most wealthy and influential of the whose means were not sufiiciently Non-Conformists in England commu- ample. This scheme proved abortive, nicated to the authorities in Edin- because it was not countenanced so burgh a well-digested proposal, in promptly as had been anticipated, and which they held out the prospect some of the funds, which had been of sending at least 200 students an- provided to a very considerable a- nually to that university, provided mount, were afterwards applied to a they could be allowed to erect a destination which has proved not un building in the precincts or vicinity profltable to another university. For of the college, in which the whole of the details of this plan, see Life of Dr these pupOs might have suitable lodg- Daniel Williams, -p. 35-44. ing and board, expected to be gene- /3 [Supplied from the author's se- rally paid for by their parents, but parate MSS. — Ed.] XV 1582. 78 HISTOEY OP THE LECT. by unworthy favourites, rendered himself odious to the nation by insulting the feelings of the Presbyterian ministers, and despising the complaints and the wishes of the most virtuous part of his subjects. Ungrateful to those who had raised him to the throne, and lavish ing honours and rewards on those who courted him only for their own selfish or sinister purposes, he oppressed the small proprietors of lands, and by ex tortion and violence rendered his government pecu liarly odious to the freemen of the royal burghs, and other citizens of the most humble professions. The grievances of the people, though disregarded by the throne, were known and pitied by the men of rank, who, whatever might be their own conduct to their dependants and inferiors, were indignant at the in solence with which the upstart leaders of the King were impelling their master to the most obnoxious and intolerable measures. About a year after the Earl of Morton had been sacrificed to the vindictive passions of Lennox and Arran, several noblemen determined to rescue thek sovereign from the mischievous management of these worthless minions. This scheme was executed hy seizing his person as he returned from a hunting ex cursion into Perthshire, on the 20th of August 1582. As he was at first confined for some days in the castle of Ruthven, belonging to the Earl of Gowrie, one of the confederates, the enterprise is known in history by the designation of " the Raid of Euthvcn." The nobles demanded the expulsion of the two favourites, whom they represented as the authors of all the calamities of the kingdom, and all the injuries sufi'ered by the Church ; and James was reluctantly compelled to sign an order requiring Lennox to retire from Scot- CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 79 land. He returned to France, and died soon afterwards, lect. professing an inflexible attachment to the Protestant ^- religion, which he had been suspected of plotting ^^^'^' to subvert. Arran was permitted to remain in the country, shut up in one of his rural mansions, where he watched the first favourable opportunity of being reinstated in the good graces of the prince ; and as he had artfully pretended to be a zealous Presbyterian, less danger was apprehended from his intrigues than from those of Lennox, who, with all his faults, bore a much less exceptionable character. After a confine- June 27, ment of more than ten months, James escaped from the relaxed vigilance of his keepers, and, having re stored the worthless Arran to his confidence, disre garded aU the promises which he had made to the conspirators, ordered the Act of Oblivion to be ex punged from the records of Parliament, and, with the consent of the Convention of Estates, declared that aU who had been engaged in the Raid of Ruthven were guilty of high treason. The ministers did not view these proceedings with its influence indifference. The General Assembly, meeting a few chuich. months after the King was detained, expressed their approbation of the proceedings of the associated lords, as having been begun and carried on for the purpose of defending the true religion and guarding the King's person ; and they required all ministers throughout the realm to declare the peril to which the Church as well as the State were exposed, if the cause undertaken by these noblemen were not supported. While his majesty was under restraint, the Assembly proceeded with great alacrity in erecting new presbyteries, em powering them to try bishops and other opposers of the Reformation, and submitting grievances to the XV, 1584. 80 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. Convention of Estates for redress. After the King received Arran again to his favour, the vengeance of the Court was directed chiefly against the ministers. John Dury, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, having preached in vindication of the violence used against the King, was summoned before the CouncU, and was ordered to confine himself in Montrose, where he afterwards became minister. About the same time, Andrew MelviUe, in a sermon at St Andrews, said that, as Daniel proposed to Belshazzar the example of his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar, it was the duty of ministers to lay before both princes and people the example of their ancestors, — but in our time (he added), if any would speak before the Court what evil happened to James V. by familiarity of flatterers, that so the King might be on his guard against them, they will say that preacher leaves his text, and possibly he shall be accused of treason. For these words he was called before the CouncU, and he made his appear ance accordingly ; but he protested against theu jurisdiction, saying that his doctrine as a minister ought to be j udged by the presbytery, and that, as a master of a college, his conduct and principles were liable to be judged, in the first instance, by the rector of the university. You wiU find a long account of [Calder- thls matter in Calderwood. As MelvUle appealed &c.]' ' to the judgment of the Church, and was thought to demean himself irreverently in presence of the King and Council, he was ordered to be shut up in the castle of Blackness within twenty-four hours ; but his friends apprehending that his life would be attempted, he fled to Berwick, where he was under the protection of the Queen of England. Many others of the Presby terian ministers, who had excited the King's displea- CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 81 sure, by having uttered expressions favourable to the lect. late conspiracy, or adverse to his administration, also XV. deemed it prudent to consult their safety by taking ^^^*' refuge in England. While the King and his counsellors were irritated Proceedings by the conduct of the ministers, a Parliament was rent p.u- liament, suddenly called to meet on the 19th of May 1584. isth May As it sat down without previous proclamation, it has been called a current Parliament. Those who were apprised of it were aU of Arran's party, or persons who durst not oppose any of the measures of the Court. The Lords of the Articles were sworn to secresy. Five sessions were held in the short space of three days ; and, lest the ministers should have access, the doors of the Parliament House were shut against all strangers. Adamson and Montgomery sat in this Parliament, along with three other bishops and eleven abbots, as representatives of the spiritual estate. In a future Parliament, which confirmed and explained some of the Acts, five bishops and thirteen abbots sat and voted in name of the clergy. The whole of the proceedings had been preconcerted, and it may be easily conceived how far the acts of such a Parliament would be favourable to Episcopacy. An Act was passed confirming the royal authority over [Act. Pari. aU estates, and all causes spiritual as well as temporal, 292.]' and it was declared that those who decUned the King or his CouncU as judges in any matter, must be held as incurring the crime and pains of treason. This Act, according to Sir George M'Kenzie, was occasioned by MelviUe's declining the judgment of the King and Council. Another Act declared it to be treason to ibid., 293. attempt the diminution of the power of any of the three estates of ParUament, or to procure any innova- VOL. II. ^' 82 HISTOEY OF THE LF.CT. tion in the constitution of that supreme court. This " also was levelled against the Presbyterians, who had '^^^^' declared the episcopal order to be abolished, as un founded in the Word of God and pernicious to the [Act. Pari. Church. A third Act discharged all jurisdictions and 293.'] ' judicatures, spiritual and temporal, not approved by the King and Parliament. This was intended to pre vent synods and presbyteries from holding their meet ings, and from going on with such processes as they had latterly instituted against the bishops. The pre tence on which this Act was passed, was, that the book of policy had not received the approbation of the King or the Parliament. Another Act, with a plausible [Ibid. 294.] title," and founded on specious reasons, prohibited ministers to act as judges in any kind of causes. The authors of this enactment were not ashamed of the inconsistency of allowing bishops to be both legisla tors and judges in temporal matters, as if they were under no obligation to attend to any spiritual function. Another Act was intended to secure the silence of the ministers with regard to all public matters, — ordaining that " none should presume, in sermons, declamations, or familiar conferences, to utter any false or slanderous [Ibid. 29fi.] speeches to the reproach of his Majesty, his Council, and proceedings, or to the dishonour of his Majesty's parents and progenitors, or to meddle with the afi'airs of his Highness and estates, under the pains contained in the Acts of Parliament against the makers and re- [ibid. 303.] porters of lies." Another Act gave commission to the " I" That ministeris sail not be as well as civil matters, and because it juggis, nor exerce ony uther ordinare took away the liberty of judgment ofiice that may abstract thame fra their from the Church, and conferred too ofiice." This Act was objected to by much power on the bishops. See the Commissioners of the Kirk, parti- their Animadversions in Calderwood, eularly because itgave au undue juris- p. 190.] diction to his Majesty in ecclesiastical CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. Archbishop of St Andrews, and certain commissioners, lect. to judge in all eccesiastical causes, to receive presenta- XV. tions to benefices, and to give coUation upon them. ^^^*' An Act, apparently much better than any of the [Act. Puri. others, and indeed containing several provisions which 293.] had been formerly suggested by the General Assembly, was perhaps the most insidious of the whole of them. It is entitled, " An Act establishing the form of judg ment anent the deposition and deprivation of ministers and other beneficed persons from their benefices for worthy causes." It ordained that all ministers or readers provided to benefices since the King's corona tion, not ha\Ting vote in Parliament, suspected cul pable of heresy, papistry, false doctrine, blasphemy, fornication, drunkenness, non-residence, plurality of benefices, having cure, simony and dilapidation of benefices, being lawfully tried, and judged culpable in any of the vices above Avritten, shall be deprived by the bishop, as well from their function in the mi nistry as from their benefices. This Act was in many respects most odious. The Church, two years before, had insisted on a law being made to determine the causes of deprivation, applying equaUy to bishops and to other ministers ; and the crimes which they speci fied were such as could be charged against many of the Episcopal order ; but their representation was dis regarded, both because they seemed to aim at the bishops, and because they required that the depriva tion of bishops should be in the power of the Church. Now, however, it was thought proper to put it in the power of bishops to deprive all ministers, who, being called before them on suspicion, might by them be judged culpable of false doctrine, or any other aUeged error or immorality. The bishops were not always 1584. 81 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. the best judges of these matters ; but the ministers ' - were thus subjected to their capricious will, and it was not to be expected that the bishops would be so for ward to summon or to condemn their own particular friends and supporters as those who differed from them in opinion. There was a considerable proportion, too, of privileged persons, who by this Act were exempted from trial on any such accounts. An indemnity was in fact proclaimed to all beneficiaries who had vote in his Highness's Parliament. A bishop might be a blas phemer or a drunkard, he might be guilty of simony and dilapidation of benefices (in fact, these were at this particular time the chief grounds of the prefer ment of some of them), he might be habitually non resident (he was necessarily so a great part of the year, when he attended the Court and the Parliament), and he might hold in his own hands twenty or fifty benefices, and yet no man could punish him, unless the King chose to do it ; and the King was generally too anxious to be on good terms with the spiritual estate to restrain their enormities. The Church there fore regarded this Act as making exception of persons altogether inconsistent with the laws both of God and man. Protest by AU thesc Acts indeed, and several others, to the against'rtJe uumbor of uiue or ten, were subversive of the liberty current aud authority of the Church. They were considered ar lamen . ^^ ^j^^ King aud his party as having confirmed the prelacy (as is expressly declared in the large Declara tion by Charles I. in the year 1639) ; and the Church at that time represented them as having been made in what they called the hour of darkness, whUe the nation was subject to the tyranny of the Earl of Arran. Though great pains had been taken to con- 1584. CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 85 eeal the Acts from the Church tUl thev were ready for lect. . . XV. being proposed, the ministers received information of them, and sent David Lindsay, one of their number, to crave a delay, that the Assembly might be allowed to be heard by the Parliament before anything was done to their prejudice. Before he had an oppor tunity of approaching the King, he was arrested by order of Arran and sent to Blackness, Avhere he was detained nearly twelve months. Robert Pont, minis ter of the West Church, and Walter Balcanquel, a minister of Edinburgh, attended at the cross whUe the Acts were proclaimed by the heralds, and in name of the Church protested against them. Pont, for this bold act, lost his office as a Lord of Session, and it was no longer safe for him to remain in Scotland. Lawson and Balcanquel, who had co-operated with him, fled at the same time to England ; and as Durie was previously banished to Montrose, Edinburgh was now left without a Presbyterian preacher. It was now reputed that the King had become a Persecution Papist, and that he had made laws to prevent the free ters. progress of the gospel, and to abolish all good order and policy in the Church : he therefore thought it necessary to publish a declaration of his intention in passing the Acts. Among the reasons which were assigned in this declaration, were the approbation of the Raid of Ruthven by the General Assembly, An drew Melville's declinature of the King and Council, the usurping of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction by a number of ministers and gentlemen, the appointing of fasts without his majesty's knowledge, and several others. The declaration in the King's name is known to have been written by Archbishop Adamson, and about seven years afterwards he signed a recantation 86 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. of it. In the mean time it was answered by various XV. . . pamphlets ; but the ablest of the ministers were now [Baiiiie's ^^^^^^ out of the couutry, or removed by death. Prin- vindT'""' ''^P^-^ Baillie says that Thomas Smeaton, Principal of the Church ^¦'^® University of Glasgow, and Alexander Arbuthnot, ae^t''""^ Principal of the Old College of Aberdeen, died that ^^•3 year, " as it seems of mere grief." They died, how ever, several months before the passing of these Acts. Arbuthnot, a man of genius and learning, had experi enced injury from the King ; and Smeaton could not fail to be affected by the aspect of public affairs. Law- son, the successor of Knox, was, through Adamson's influence, treated with great indignity by the Enghsh prelates, and died soon afterwards at London. The ministers who remained in the country were not more secure from oppressive usage. The Parliament sat [Act. Pari, again on the 20th of August 1584, and passed an Act 347.]' ' enjoining all ecclesiastic persons to appear in forty days, and engage to observe the Acts of the last Par liament, and submit to their diocesan, on pain of losing their stipend. Some submitted without reserve. Many submitted with a salvo, it is said ; and others, for refusing, were deprived, and otherwise persecuted. Several fled to England, where they continued to take shelter till the return of the lords exiled on account of the affair of Ruthven. Return of This happened in the autumn of 1585. About mid- lords. ' summer that year, at a meeting of the wardens of the Borders, an unexpected contest arose, in which Lord Russell, and several other Englishmen of family, were slain by Ker of Ferniherst, one of Arran's friends. Queen EUzabeth, enraged at this outrage, and deter mining to avenge it, incited the Scottish nobles to return to their own country, promising to give them CHUECH OP SCOTLAND. 87 assistance in the recovery of their liberty. They gladly lect. seized the occasion, and about the beginning of Oc- — '- — ^ tober found themselves, at the head of 10,000 men, on ^^^^' the banks of the Teviot. Marching with these troops, they advanced towards Stirling, where the liing and the Earl of Arran were residing at that time, supported by a small force. Arran and the Archbishop of St Andrews fled, and the King, being unable to resist, affected to receive the banished lords with great kind ness. He acknowledged that he had been hitherto misled by deceitful councUlors, and pretending to be grateful to Heaven for restoring his faithful friends without violence or bloodshed, he promised to be guided in future by their advice, and to secure them from all injury. Episcopacy was now for a short season depressed. Petition A Parliament was summoned to meet, and before it church for sat down, the General Assemblv, which had not had of the Acts r -I c 11 11 1 • "fl584. Ireedom tor nearly three years, was called to meet in Dunfermline, as most of the principal towns were at that time visited by the plague. When the ministers attempted to meet at Dunfermline, they found the gates shut against them, and they therefore removed to Linlithgow. They agreed to apply for a repeal of the offensive Acts passed in the Parliament the pre ceding year ; and a deputation was sent to the King, with a representation of the grievances to which these Acts subjected them. Their reception was very un gracious. The King stormed and raged, calling them seditious knaves, and applying to them other epithets as uncourtly as they were opprobrious. The commit tee next endeavoured to prevail upon their old friends the lords who had newly returned from exile, to make intercession for their interest. But the noblemen had 88 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. other objects more deeply at heart than the welfare of ^^' the Church. They were all trying to establish them- 1585. selves in their sovereign's favour, and as he had cajoled them with promises, and encouraged them by some preferments, they were afraid to interfere in any mat ter which was not perfectly agreeable to him. They therefore said that it was not expedient to urge the King at that time ; and they declared it to be their opinion, that when they were once firmly re-estabhshed in their estates, their recommendation would have greater weight with his majesty. The ministers, however, were not disposed to be diverted from their purpose by any evasions. They continued to impor tune the King tUl he required them to lay before him in writing their objections to the Acts. They accord ingly presented to him a memorial, entitled " Animad versions of offences conceived upon the Acts of Par liament made in the year 1584, in the month of May, presented by the commissioners of the Kirk to the King's Majesty, at the Parliament holden in Linlith gow in December 1585." You may see it at length in [Calder- Caldcrwood, the only author who has preserved it, so wood, Hist., "' ^ p. 188-192.] far as I recoUect. The King having received their representation, wrote a Declaration and Interpretation of the Acts, which he said would be as good and sufficient as an Act of Parliament. His declaration was intended to justify and partly to mitigate the Acts. He pro fessed it to be his wish that the Word of God should be preached as sincerely as before ; that all processes of excommunication should proceed as heretofore ; that the General Assembly should be called only by the King's letters; that the ministers should not proclaim a fast till they made the causes known to the King ; that CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 89 all bishops nominated by his majesty should be tried lect. and admitted by the General Assembly ; that all sects ^^' and heresies should be tried by the Church, and that ¦^^^^• as the Church should decide the King would execute justice. This declaration was not satisfactory to the Church ; but the ministers had no opportunity of pre senting their reasons against it. They petitioned, however, that, till the next Parliament, they might be allowed to hold their Assemblies with the same free dom as before the Acts were passed. The Church determined to assert their privileges to Archbishop J.1 r 1 • mi 1 p T-\' r i • i Adamson the utmost oi their power, ihe synod of Fife, which excommuni- had been discontinued by order of the Council for April i586. having proceeded against the Archbishop of St An drews, now revived the process, and having judged him guUty not only of all that had been formerly laid to his charge, but likewise of obstinacy and con tempt, they excommunicated him, and required An drew Hunter, minister of Carnbee, to pronounce the sentence. There was in this part of the proceeding a deviation from the usual form, which has never been very satisfactorily explained ; but the moderator, it is said, though he approved of the sentence, did not think it expedient at that time to pass it, and therefore he declined acting as the organ of the presbytery. Adamson published an appeal from the sentence of the synod. This appeal was answered by James Melville at considerable length. The arch bishop retaliated upon the synod by excommunicat ing Andrew and James Melville, and some other of the leading brethren. Patrick Adamson, one of the most ingenious and learned of the Reformers, was ruined by his ambi tion and instability. I am disposed to think that. 90 HISTOEY OP the lect. though his intriguing spirit lost him the respect of ¦^^' the Church (without ever obtaining any substantial 1586. advantages to himself), he was a man of much better principles than liis adversaries seemed ever to admit. Indeed, I cannot conceive what else restrained him from acting a much more decided part than he ever took, except it was his regard to rectitude. He was too scrupulous and too timid to be a successful poli tician ; and he appears to have lost the favour of the King because his nerves were too weak, or his con science too tender. He was always oppressed with debt, and at last, when the King withdrew his coun tenance, he found himself reduced to penury, and made the most humble submissions that the sentence [Booke of of excommunication might be recalled. Before, how- Kfrk,"^' ever, he had ceased to have influence at Court, the King obtained from the General Assembly a condi tional absolution from the sentence. Against this de liverance of the General Assembly, Hunter entered his protest ; and as the ministers of the synod of Fife m general adhered to the protest, they continued to con sider him as an excommunicated person. At this Assembly, which met in May 1586, the in fluence of the Court was successfuUy exerted upon a [Ibid., p. great number of the ministers. They consented to hold 65 ' ^"-i a conference on the policy of the Church, and agreed to the use of the name of bishops, on condition that the person enjoying it took the charge of a particular flock, and submitted himself to the General Assembly. [Ibid., p. At the same time, the King agreed to certain articles with respect to the jurisdiction of the different Church courts, which formed the basis of an Act of Parlia ment passed six years afterwards, of which I shall speak in the next Lecture. 664.] CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 91 In the course of the following year, the ministers lect. of Edinburgh were committed prisoners to the castle ^^' of Blackness, for refusing to pray for Queen Mary's ^^^'^\ deliverance when she was under sentence of death, ters' aiiogcd It has been falsely said that all the ministers, with the pray 'for exception of the King's own ministers, and Lindesay Mary. at Leith, refused most unchristianly to offer up in- 354. r 1 r\ Tl 1 PI Arnot's tercessions lor the Queen. I know that some of the Hist, of . . -, , 1 TT- • J Edin. ministers, the most adverse to the King s party, com- ueyiin's plied with the injunction. Those historians who re- p_r«i., p. probate the conduct of the ministers so strongly for refusing to comply with a royal injunction, dictated by filial affection, and supported equally by the dic tates of humanity and the merciful spirit of our reli gion, are unnecessarily tender to the King's memory on this occasion. They knew that the trial of Mary took place on the 11th of October, and that sentence was pronounced against her fourteen days afterwards, namely, on the 25th of that month. Now, when did James, after his feeble interposition in his mother's behalf, communicate the order to pray for his mother's deliverance from danger 1 Not for more than three months. The ministers of Edinburgh were required to perform this duty on the 3d of February, and in i586-(7). St Andrews the order was given on the 8th of Febru ary ; on the morning of which day the barbarous sen tence had been executed."' On this sad occasion, so a ["8Peb. 1586-(7). — Comperit, Mr sche is now, y' she may hereafter be Patrik Adamson, bish-op of St An- ane profitabil member in Christes Kirk. drews, allegiand him to half verball The session pntlie assemblit being suf- directioun of ye King's Majestie to ficientlie resolvit heirw', hes concludit desyi'e ye minister and redar to pray y' ye minister at ilk sermone, and ye publiclie for his Hienes mother, for redar at ilk tyme quhen he sayes ye her conversion and amendment of prayers, pray publiche for ye King's lyfe, aud y' it be Godis plesor to pre- G. mother, as is desyrit." — Kirk Sess. serve her from yis put danger q''in Records of St A ndrews.] XV 1587. 92 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. insulting to this nation, James did not act either as a son or as a man, much less as the sovereign of an in dependent kingdom ; and there is something pitiful in the attempt to divert the current of indignation from him to those who perceived the hoUowness of his pro fessions, and the cold-hearted meanness with which a prince, in his twenty -first year, contented himself with employing supplications and remonstrances to avert his mother's unmerited fate, when, if he had had one drop of honest blood in his body, he would have marched into the heart of England, and either succeeded, or perished in the attempt, to rescue her from her stern oppres sors, or at least to revenge her unjust and dishonour able murder. There was but too much reason to say that his lamentation for his mother's death was such as hers had been for his father. In many a bad cause he showed himself to be inflexible ; but in this case he was easUy soothed by flattery, and withdrawn from almost the only brave design which he ever avowed. CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 93 LECTURE XVL GENERAL ASSEMBLY, JUNE 1587 PROCEEDINGS OP THB PARLIAMENT IN THAT TEAR CORRUPTION OF MANNERS AMONG THE POOR AT THIS PERIOD — COMPLAINT OP THB ASSEMBLY RELATIVE TO THE DISPOSAL OF PATRONAGES THE KING's PROFESSIONS OF ATTACH MENT TO PRESBYTERY ARCHBISHOP ADAMSON ASSEMBLIES, 1591 AND 1592 MEETING OF PARLIAMENT ACT ESTABLISHING PRES BYTERIAN GOVERNMENT IN SCOTLAND IMPORTANCE OP THIS ACT PROSPERITY OF THE CHURCH PROM 1592 TO 1596 OCTAVIANS END OF THB SINCERE GENERAL ASSEMBLIES OF THB CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. Oue last Lecture was concluded with an account of lect. the alleged refusal of the ministers to pray for the de liverance of the King's mother, the unfortunate Mary, whose sufferings, at least, might have claimed their commiseration, even if the evidence of her guilt had been much more decisive than it was. Of their mo tives I did not think it was becoming to judge ; but the fact I disputed, and I ventured to say that the King's own conduct, upon this melancholy occasion, was dastardly and contemptible. The vindication offered by the ministers of Edinburgh for declining to pray for the Queen was, that as they had sufficient proof that, for the purpose of ruining the Protestant religion, the Papists were plotting the destruction of Queen Elizabeth, and as Mary could not clear herself from a participation in these treasonable schemes, they 1587. 91 HISTOEY OP THE LECT. XVI. 1587. General Assembly,June 1587. [Booke of Univ. Kirk, p. 70L] were not warranted to supplicate that the punishment of a criminal should be averted, if by its infliction the Church might be freed from the danger which threatened to overwhelm it ; but they said they were willing to pray for the salvation of her soul." That the refusal, on the part of the ministers, was not nearly so general as is commonly represented, ap pears evident from what occurred in the following General Assembly (in June 1587). The King having a [In spite of aU the declamation of party writers, and their doleful sym pathies with the filial sorrow of King James, as if he had meant anything more than to manifest his natural affection by empty words, instead of defending her life and her honour, as became a son and sovereign, I hap pen to know for certain, that the story, when fairly told, dwindles al most to nothing. Mr Arnot and others inform us that, with the ex ception of the King's chaplains and another clergyman, all the ministers refused to offer up intercessions for the King's mother. What would they say if it should turn out that James never issued any proclamation on the subject? — that he gave no general order to pray for his mother ? — that the only order which he gave was merely verbal ? — that it was given to the ministers of Edinburgh only five days before Mary's execution, though her doom had been pro nounced three months before (dur ing which interval her tender-hearted son was not observed to abstain from his usual merriment) "i — that in ano ther city [St Andrews : see supra, p. 91, note], scarcely a day's journey from Edinburgh, the royal injunction was verbally communicated only on the Sth of February, the very day of the execution ? aud that so compliant were the ministers with the King's desire, that they continued to pray for her Majesty several days after she was dead ? It was impossible for Spotswood to be ignorant of the precise state of the facts. Calder wood tells us that the ministers "re fused to pray in the manner the Kiug would have it to be done — that is, ty condemning directly or indirectly the proceedings of the Queen of Eug- land and the Estates against her, or as for one innocent of the crime laid to her charge." On Friday the 3d of February, the King caused Mr John Couper, minister, to come down from the pulpit of the High Church, be cause he would not recite the form of words dictated by his Majesty ; but ou the Wednesday following, his Ma jesty stood up in the church, and made an apology to the people " for that which had fallen fonh some few days before, touching the discharging of their preacher, protesting he did it of no evil mind, and that he would always favour the ministry and the religion presently professed," &c. fe. " The people were satisfied with this excuse." — Calde-rwood's MS. Histonj, vol. iv. pp. 7, 8. If there be anytmth in this part of the account, James must have been conscious that the ministers of Edinburgh who scrupled at the terms of his command, were not so very much to blame as cer tain historians aud commentators seem to he\ie-ve.— {Article in Chris tian Instructor, 1817.)] XVI. 1687. CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 95 conceived offence against John Couper, a young min- lect, ister who preoccupied the pulpit in the High Church of Edinburgh, when Adamson, archbishop of St An drews, was to pray for the Queen on the 3d of Feb ruary, and also against James Gibson, another min ister, whose offence was different, required that they should confess their public offence, and make satisfac tion, or otherwise be deprived of all function in the Church. The Assembly expressed their willingness to bring the matter to such a conclusion as might best agree with the honour of the ministry, and might be satisfactory both to the Church and to the consciences of the brethren, with whom his majesty was dis pleased ; but on being asked by John Couper if they saw any cause why his mouth should be closed, they owned that they saw none, and they referred the busi ness to certain commissioners. It is evident that if all the ministers had refused to comply with the royal mandate, these would not have been the only indivi duals whom the King would have wished to punish ; and he would never have applied to the Assembly to censure them, if all the members of that court had been equally implicated." Another of the King's re quisitions at this time was, that Robert Montgomery, bishop of Glasgow, might be restored to the fellowship of the Church without any more ceremony. The Assem bly answered that they would dispense with some of the ceremonies commonly used in repentance, if they found his Majesty willing to remit somewhat of the rigour of his satisfaction craved of the two brethren. At the next meeting of the General Assembly, it a Skinner says, " This common in like circumstances, they absolutely office, which, in manner proposed, no refused to the mother of their Prince" Christian could well deny to a heathen — (as if they had all refused). 96 HISTOEY OP THE LECT. was agreed that John Couper should be removed from '— Edinburgh to Glasgow, and that James Gibson should FBTOkl ^® suspended during the pleasure of the Assembly, Univ Kirk, Hc had in his public discourses used most imprudent 712.] and intemperate expressions concerning the King, saying that he was a persecutor, and, like Jeroboam, guilty of erecting and permitting idolatry, and if he went on, it was to be feared that he would be the last of his race. About this time it was that the city of Edinburgh gained, as was thought, an inesti mable accession, in obtaining, as one of its ministers, Mr Eobert Bruce, the most popular preacher, perhaps, who ever appeared in Scotland. The registers of the Church having formerly been [Ibid., p. taken forcible possession of by the Archbishop of St flRfi fij f i •/ J. Petrie, iii. Audrcws, the Asscmbly presented a petition to the Privy Council that he might be charged to deliver See Appen- thc books witMu thrcc days, and also to appear per sonally to answer to other accusations. About ten days afterwards, George Young, the secretary, pro duced five volumes ; but as great part of them was torn, the Assembly begged leave to express to his majesty their deep regret on account of the mutila tion of their records, and to request that they might now remain with the Church as its own register. His majesty chose to have the inspection of them as he might have occasion, undertaking that he would presently deliver them back. After this period the Assembly thought it necessary to have a duphcate of their register." As the King was now of age, and the Parhament was to sit the following month, the Assembly thought it expedient that all Acts made for the liberty of the a. Appendix, No. XV. CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 97 true Church, and for repressing idolatr)^ might be lect. collected and craved to be confirmed ; and that all laws made to the derogation of this liberty, or to the ^^^''' prejudice of the gospel, might be collected, in order to be abrogated. They appointed eighteen commis sioners to the Parliament, who were instructed to re quire that nothing should be admitted hurtful to the discipline of the Church, as it was concluded in the General Assemblies preceding the year 1584, but, if possible, they were to procure its ratification as it had stopd before that period. Petrie at this part of his History introduces a long [Petrie, digression concerning Episcopacy, which contains some curious matter, taken chiefly from rare books, and on that account much more valuable than if it had been the offspring of his own judgment. Although Petrie is a mere compiler, often indistinct and always heavy, we have no other book touching on this period of the Church which is nearly so useful. The book in itself does not give a complete view of any transaction, and in many places it is more defective than the printed History of Calderwood, which is a very bad abridg ment ; but when it is compared with other works, it will be found to supply many of their defects, and particularly to give an enlarged account of the deli berations of the General Assembly. The commissioners appointed by the Church at- Proceedings tended the meeting of the Parliament, and exerted liament,*"^ themselves as much as possible to obtain an extension of their privileges. Robert Pont, who had not long [E.g. Sage, before declined the bishopric of Caithness (though ta"ch™tTr" some authors erroneously say that he accepted the p. imj'' offer), was the principal speaker upon this occasion. He and his brethren petitioned, in the name of the VOL. II. c. 98 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. Church, that the prelates might be removed from the . ^^^' House, as having no authority from the Assembly, ^^^^' and most of them having no ecclesiastical charge. The Abbot of Kinross, Edward Bruce, made a vehe ment speech in opposition to this request, and Pont was provoked to a reply, which was thought some what acrimonious. The King directed the commis sioners to lay this claim, with their other petitions, before the Lords of the Articles, and, as might have been foreseen, it was rejected. All that the commis sioners could obtain was the confirmation of all laws made in favour of the liberty of the Church in the time of his minority, and an abrogation of all statutes, canon, civil, and municipal, made in any former time to the prejudice of the true religion. The repeal of the Acts made in the year 1584 was not to be looked for from a Parliament containing so great a propor tion of bishops and abbots. Great as the number of prelates had been who sat in the current Parliament in May 1584, the number in this Parliament was nearly double ; and the proposal of the commissioners from the Church to exclude them from voting, how ever reasonable in itself, as they were in no proper sense the representatives of the established ecclesias tical community, was not the most likely method to put them in good temper. Some Acts were passed in this Parliament, however, which are sometimes understood to have had a favour able effect upon the Presbyterian interests — particu larly the Act annexing the temporalities of benefices [Act. Pari, to thc Ctowu. It UO doubt tended to impoverish and 43i!] "'¦ to reduce the Episcopal order, but it did not therefore exalt the other party. The only persons who derived advantage from it were such temporal peers as re- CHUECH OP SCOTLAND. 99 1587. ceived gifts of the temporalities. The King had ex- lect. pected an accession of revenue from this source, and the ministers were privately given to understand that it would also redound to their benefit, as they might be assured of being put in possession of the tithes ; but the hopes of the King and the Church were equally frustrated. This Act was repealed about nine- [Act. Pari. teen years afterwards, when James thought fit top. 481.]' restore the estate of bishops to their ancient honours and privileges. Another Act, supposed to be favourable to liberty, [ibid., p. was the admission of the smaller barons to a voice in ParUament with the other Estates. I am not sure that the consequences of this Act were any better than the former. The influence of the nobles con tinued to be predominant ; and it was only in appear ance that the constitution of the legislature had become more popular. One of the Acts made in this Parliament was par- [iwd., p, . 429.] ticularly called for by the circumstances of the times. It ratified all laws made against the adversaries of the true religion and those who seduced others to depart from it, and declared that any professed Papist or seminary priest, found more than a month after the act was published, should incur the pains of death and forfeiture. Penalties were likewise ordained against sellers and dispersers of erroneous books. At this period the country was infested with Jesuits, chiefly in the interest of Philip of Spain, all of them aim ing at purposes equaUy treasonable and dangerous to religion. The General Assembly which met in February Proceedings 1587-(8), directed its views to the same subject, and General addressed the King, with the advice of the nobles *°'^™'^' 100 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. and others, entreating his majesty to put in execution XVI. .1588. the laws against Jesuits and maintainers of idolatry The noblemen, gentlemen, ministers, and all members of the Assembly, without exception, resolved to go in a body to present their petition to the King. James ^o.oi'y.f was offended at what he represented as an attempt to p. 704.] overawe him by numbers ; but he acknowledged their apprehensions to be just, and promised to adopt measures for punishing offenders according to justice. The Church had little confidence in his sincerity or steadfastness. His own danger, however, was as great as theirs, and if he was not in earnest, he was en dangering his throne as well the liberties of his people. Corruption AuotheT Asscmbly was held six months afterwards, among the from the rcpoi't of whose proceedings it appears that period. thc prospccts of thc couutry were exceedingly gloomy. The alarm arising from the reported approach of the Spanish Armada, though far from visionary, was more calmly contemplated by the Church than some of the internal dangers which seemed to threaten the extinc tion of all good principle and the overthrow of social order. A fast was appointed to be held for a week The causes of it were the perils of the Church and kingdom from the intended invasion of the Spaniards, and also the decay of religion by the rarity and poverty of ministers. The Church had been estab lished about thirty years, it had been constantly engaged in strenuous efforts to improve the minds and to better the condition of the people ; but penury was still the lot of the ministers, and whoever devoted himself to the sacred profession was well aware that he must struggle with want and hardships. The in fluence of the Presbyterian ministers at this period is CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. ]01 sometimes spoken of as if it were almost unlimited ; lect. they had not influence enough to keep themselves ^^^' from starving. It may be supposed that their self-denial ¦'^*®' was compensated by the delight of scattering blessings around them, and that when they saw the ignorant enlightened, the slaves of vice reformed, the votaries of superstition elevated from the degradation into which they had long been plunged, and enjoying hberty, dignity, and purity of mind, they might gratify themselves with the assurance that, while their benefactions were widely scattered, multitudes would rise up and call them blessed. This lofty and holy gratification was dealt out to them only in a most sparing measure. Their labour was not lost, but the season of reaping its fruits had not yet come. In one of the Acts of this Assembly, such a dismal and [Booke of horrible picture is drawn of the profligacy, misery, and p."?!!.]"^ ' irrehgion of the lower orders, that the mind turns away from it with unutterable repugnance. I shall abridge it. " Because universally throughout this realm there is no religion nor discipline among the poor, but many live in filthy adultery or incest, and their children are not baptised, nor do they resort unto the preaching of the Word, — therefore, ministers shall make intimation to all the poor in their parishes, if they have women and children, that they show testi monial of their marriage, or else shaU be refused of alms by all godly persons ; and that they exhort their parishioners to extend their liberality rather to those that are of the household of faith, and judge discreetly in giving alms unto others who have not such evi dences." It seems probable that by the poor are here meant Appendix, chiefly mendicants, whose great number — itself a 102 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. melancholy indication of the state of the times — and XVI 1588. lawless lives, had frequently before been lamented by the Church. In the preceding Assembly, among " the grievances of the Kirk," drawn up for presentation to the King, they are described as "vaiging in great troops and companies through the country without either law or religion," so that no " heart touched with a spark of natural humanity or godly charity can un- bleeding behold their miserable state." But the same corruption prevailed among all classes. About this [Booke of time we find the Church deploring " the great dis- 72L]' " ' soluteness of life and manners," and the " ugly heap of all kinds of sin lying in every part of the land ;" " for what part of the land," they say, " is there that is not with a spait (flood) overwhelmed, with abusing the blessed name of God, with swearing, perjury, and lies ; with profaning of the Sabbath-day with mercats, gluttonie, drukness, fighting, playmen, dancing, &c. ; with rebeUing against magistrates and the lawes of the country; with blood touching blood; with incest, fornication, adulteries, and sacriledge, theft and oppres sion ; with false witness ; and finallie, with ah kinds of impietie and wrong : and albeit there be some good laws for repressing hereof, yet none of them are put in execution, or take any effect." Complaint Auothcr complaiut made in this Assembly (which General IS takcu noticc 01 by nouc of our historians who are relative to either avowed Episcopalians or have a leaning to that of Church form of church government) admitted of an easier ffiooke^of ¦ remedy, if the King and the Three Estates would have 733.] " ' applied it. " Since the late Act of Annexation, his Majesty hath transferred the right of patronage of sundry benefices from himself unto lords and others, and hath annexed them to their lands, of whom some CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 103 have gotten confirmation in Parliament, others have lect. obtained them since the Parliament, and a third sort '^^^' have gotten gift of the naked patronage, to the evi- isss. dent hurt of the Church ; wherefore it is thought ex pedient to entreat his Majesty, by earnest suit, that the said dispositions may be annulled in the next Parliament, and in the mean time that it may please his Majesty to deny the disposing of patronages which remain as yet undisposed ; inhibiting in the mean time all commissioners and presbyteries, that they give not coUation nor admission to any person pre sented by these new patrons tiU the next General Assembly." I purposely take notice of all enactments of this .'i.ppendix, kind, because 1 am anxious that every possible light should be thrown upon a subject which is now generally cast into the shade, but which at different periods has been a ground of violent contentions, and the abuses of which have occasioned the very worst evils which the Church ever suffered : among minis ters, avarice, ambition, servility to the great, and the decay of piety ; and among the people, disaffection and lukewarmness, and a want of confidence in their spiritual guides. When I say that such consequences have proceeded from the abuse of this institution, I am aware that some of them may be considered as inseparable from its very nature, so long, at least, as men in general continue to be actuated by motives of interest and private partiality, rather than by the elevated desire of consulting in all cases the honour of God and the extensive benefit of mankind. I may add one remark. At the time when the Church complained so bitterly of this evil, they gave no definite view of the mode in which they proposed 104 HISTOEY OF THB LECT. to remedy or to diminish it. They did not mean, ._ ^^^' surely, that ministers were to be appointed by uni- 1588. ygj.gai snffrao;e. It would have been difiicult then to find a parish in all Scotland in which it would have been safe to trust to the majority of votes. The nobles were in the habit of making simoniacal bargains with those whom they raised to great preferments ; the poor were wallowing in the grossest uncleanness. That class of men which was engaged in husbandry was not more religious than the rest of the community. It was scarcely possible to restrain them from the habi- See Appen- tual and open violation of the fourth commandment. dix. No. XVII. Two years after this we find the " manifold profana tions" of the Sabbath by going of mills and salt-pans, reaping and leading of corn, and carriage of victual to burgh towns on that day, engaging the anxious attention of the Assembly. In those days, what we now consider as the strength and the pride of the country, the intelligent, industrious, and independ ent class which occupiies the middle station between poverty and greatness, scarcely existed at all. The fact is that the Church wished to have all the appoint ments to ministerial charges vested in itself ; and at that time they could not have been committed to any hands so faithful and so able. It has not, however, been so always ; and perhaps one of the greatest sources of the corruptions of the Roman Church was the power which its ministers possessed of nominating, one another. While the Assembly was lamenting the impiety and vice which prevailed so extensively throughout the whole country, the friends of Popery were watching an opportunity to regain their consequence, and to take the government into their own hands. An insurrec- CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. lOo tion both in the south and north under the Earls of lect. XVL BothweU, Huntly, Crawford, and Errol, was, however, — checked without much bloodshed, and the country re- ¦^^"" turned to a state of comparative tranquillity. In the General Assembly which met iu August The King's , „ -p^ professious 1590, the Kins having recently returned Irom JJen- of attach- O o *' ment to mark after his marriage, attended personaUy the eighth I'lxsbytery. ., , . . -. [Calder- session as a mark of his regard to the ministers, whose wood, Hi»t., p. 2S(>. loyalty, prudence, and firmness had been of the utmost uooke of . Cniv. Kirk, service in preserving good order m the kingdom p. 771.] during his absence. He made a speech, most artfully contrived, to cajole his reverend hearers, who had less of the wisdom of the serpent than might have been acquired by their long experience of the craft and de ceit of the world. Uncovering his head, and standing up with his eyes and hands raised to heaven, he praised God because he was " King of a country where there is such a Church — the sincerest on earth, that of Geneva not excepted, which keeps Christmas and Easter, for which they have no institution. As for our neighbours in England, their service is an Ul-mumbled mass in English ; they want little of the mass but the liftings. Now I charge you, my good people, ministers, doctors, elders, nobles, gentlemen, and barons, that ye all stand to your purity, and exhort the people to do the same, and so long as I have life and crown, I shall maintain the same against all deadly." In the simpUcity of their hearts, the ministers in general believed that all this was said in good earnest, and they were so over joyed at hearing a declaration so unexpected, that for about a quarter of an hour nothing was heard but praising God, and praying for the King. Encouraged by his expressions of attachment to Presbytery, the Assembly craved from the King a ratification of the XVI. 1590. 106 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. liberties of the Church, the expulsion of priests and Papists from the country, and the provision of every church with a minister, and due maintenance to him. The King gave favourable answers to these requests, and recommended to the Assembly to send commis sioners to confer with the Privy Council on the best means of accomplishing their wishes. [Booke of At a subsequent session, the Assembly passed a p. 773. ' resolution requiring all ministers in every presbytery Hist.,'^.'' ' to subscribe the Book of Discipline, under pain of See Appen- excommuuication. It has been remarked that Arch- xvuL bishop Spotswood, in his account of this Assembly (of which he was a member), suppresses the most material parts of the King's speech, and omits all that was de termined concerning the discipline of the Church — so anxious was he to keep out of view all the fair pro mises which the King had broken, as weU as the solemn engagements under which he and nine or ten other ministers, who afterwards accepted bishoprics, had come to defend and maintain the Presbyterian church government. Some of these persons were pro bably sincere at the time ; and there are circumstances which favour the supposition that the King himself was not so very unfaithful as his future conduct leads us to suspect. This very year he wrote to Queen Elizabeth in favour of some of the persecuted Puritans, particularly Udal and Cartwright ; and it is even be lieved that he invited Cartwright, the most zealous of all the opponents of Episcopacy, to occupy one of the chairs in the Divinity College of St Andrews. Death of At this time the unhappy Patrick Adamson, arch- Archbishop ... (>nA X J. J Adamson. bishop of St Aiidrews, being deeply involved in debt, was so beset by his creditors that the King became quite ashamed of him, and granted the liferent of the CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 107 bishopric to the Duke of Lennox. Thus deserted by i,ect. his sovereign, for whose favour he had abandoned his — ^ — principles, he fell into extreme bad health, aggravated ^^"''' by distress of mind ; and so destitute was his condi tion that he was reduced to the mortification of accept ing (and even asking) assistance from Andrew Mel viUe, whom he had done all that he could to ruin. He begged in the most piteous manner to be absolved from the excommunication under which he lay. The brethren, on the report of James MelvUle and An drew Moncreiff, consented to absolve him, and they obtained from him a recantation of his opinions in favour of Episcopacy, and also a declaration in answer to a book formerly written by him, which had passed under the name of the King's Declaration. Soon after wards he died in a state of deplorable insensibility. He was the author of several books, a poetical version of Job and the Lamentations, and commentaries on the First Epistle to Timothy and on the Apocalypse. The General Assembly which met at Edinburgh in General July 1591, took many important matters into con- Juiy^isyi. sideration. One of their resolutions was as follows : — " Seeing sacrilege is an universal sin reigning through the country, and is esteemed commonly to he no sin, nor is known unto many, it is thought good that Ro bert Pont take pains upon that subject, and that others give him their judgment upon it, that the, same being perfected, may be presented again to the Assembly." Robert Pout's sermons on sacrilege, written on this See Appen- occasion, have been highly praised ; and they deserve vii. °' to be consulted not merely on account of the excel lences of the style and matter, but as being a valuable contribution to the history of the Church at that period. Another book — namely, a form of examination XVI. 1592. 108 HISTOEY OP THE LECT. before the Communion — having been written by John Craig, was approved, and ordered to be printed. Com missioners were appointed to present to the King and Council the petitions of the Assembly — viz., that the Acts of Parliament that are made against Jesuits, pro faners of sacraments, idolators, pUgrimages, Popish magistrates, sayers and hearers of mass, apostates, pub lic markets on the Lord's day, violent invaders of mi nisters, profaning of the Lord's day by plays (of Robin Hood), and murderers, which overfiow the land, might be put in execution. Also, that the ministers already planted might be provided with sufiicient stipends ; also, that the Act of Annexation might be dissolved, the new erections and patronages discharged, and the Act cf dissolution of prelacies ratified and established. General Tlic foUowiug Asscmbly, which met in May 1592, Asseir^^-- of Ma 1592. of May entered on the same subjects, and earnestly petitioned the repeal of the Acts of Parliament made in 1584 against the discipline and liberty of the Church, and the ratification of the new discipline. They again prayed that the patrimony of the Church might be restored; that abbots, priors, and others pretending the title of the Church, may not be admitted to vote in name of the Church, neither in Parliament nor other convention ; and that the country may be purged of fearful idolatry and bloodshed. Certain brethren were also sent to the King to represent the daUy decay of religion, the disorder and injustice prevailing in the realm, and to admonish him gravely to take measures for the remedy of these evUs, and likewise to admonish him, in the name of the Eternal, to have respect in time to the estate of true religion perishing, and to the manifold murders, oppressions, and enormities, daily multiplied through impunity ; and that his XVI. 1592. CHUECH OP SCOTLAND. 109 majesty might be better informed, they were ordered lect, to declare the particulars. James had no firmness, and the most flagrant trans gressors of the laws were allowed often to escape without so much as the form of a trial. The case of the Earl of Huntly, who had lately barbarously murdered the Earl of Murray, and who, notwithstanding, was suffered to go at large, had at this time excited uni versal indignation. AVhether there be any foundation for the suspicions which were entertained, that either the King's jealousy or the resentment of Maitland the Chancellor had secretly prompted this atrocious deed, it is evident that the forbearance to punish the ruffian, who had perpetrated the crime with circumstances of most savage cruelty, was not the most likely means of silencing such conjectures. But even before this shocking instance of unjust lenity to a daring criminal had occurred, the remissness of the King in enforcing the execution of the laws had become intolerable. When the Earl of Bothwell with some accomplices attempted to break open the doors of the palace of Holyrood House, with the intention of seizing the King and Maitland the Chancellor, seven or eight who were apprehended were indeed executed, as the King was seldom slack in avenging any insult or violence offered to his own person. After this outrage, which was one of the most nefarious ever attempted against a sovereign, the most loyal of the Presbyterian minis ters thought it necessary to remind their royal master of his offences, and they represented his danger as a warning from Heaven. John Craig, the chaplain to the royal household, preaching before his majesty two days afterwards, said that as the King had slightly regarded the many bloody shirts presented to him by 1592. 110 HISTOEY OP THE LECT. his subjects imploring justice, so God in his providence had made a noise of crying and hammers to come to his own doors. The King called to the people to remain after sermon, "that he might vindicate himself, and said if he had thought his hired servant (meaning the chaplain) would have spoken so, he would not have suffered him so long in his house." Mr John Craig, either not hearing or affecting not to hear what the King said, walked quietly out of the pulpit, quite satisfied that he had delivered a most dutiful and loyal address, though it had not the good fortune to be received in the most gracious manner. Parliament The Parliament which met at Edinburgh immedi- 1592.''''' ately after the rising of the General Assembly in -May 1592, was more favourable to the wishes of the Presby terians than any former ParUament had ever been. It is said that they owed this kindness to Maitland the Chancellor, who was most solicitous to propitiate the good-will of the Church, which he had forfeited by instigating Huntly to assassinate the Earl of Murray. Whatever ground there may be for this surmise, the Parliament took into consideration the four petitions of the Assembly, and absolutely refused two of them, which were certainly very material, — the one that the Act of Annexation might be abolished and the patri mony ofthe Church restored (the granting of this obli gation might be thought too expensive), and the other, that abbots and priors should not be admitted to vote in Parliament or in any other convention in name of the Church. With regard to the first petition, that the discipline might be ratified and the Acts of 1584 annulled,— all the former Acts for liberty of the true Church were ratified ; the General Assemblies were approved, as also synodal assemblies, presbyteries, CHUECH OP SCOTLAND. Ill and particular sessions ; the Acts in favour of Popery lect. were abrogated; and the most offensive of the Acts ^ made in 1584 were annuUed, in such a manner that the repeal of the others seemed to be implied. The substance of this Act had been submitted to the Presby- King and Parliament six years before. As it is to be government regarded as the constitutional charter of the Pres- fn Scotland. byterian Church government in Scotland, solemnly sanctioned by the legislature, and as it defines the powers of the different church judicatories, I shall make no apology for reading it at length. I read it from Stevenson's Collection of Laws in favour of the Reformation : — " [act foe abolishing of the actis conteaie the teew eeligioun. ^^ At Ed'inhurgh, Junii. 15, 1592. " OvE Soueraine Lord, and Estaites of this present [Stevenson's Parliament, following the lovabil and gude exemple of (1749), p.' their predecessoures, hes ratified and appreeved, and Acta Pari. be the tenour of this present Act ratifies and apprevis, 541.']' all liberties, priviledges, immunities, and freedomes quhatsumeuer, given and granted be his Hienesse, his Regentes in his name, or onie of his predecessoures, to the trew and halie Kirk presentlie established within this realme, and declared in the first Acte of his Hienesse Parliament, the 20 day of October, the zeir of God 1579 zeires : And aU and quhatsumeuer Actes of Parliament, and Statutes maid of before, be his Hienesse and his Regentes, anent the Ubertie and freedome of the said Kirk : And speciallie, the first Acte of Parliament, halden at Edinburgh the 24 daie of October, the zeir of God 1581 zeires, with the haill parti- 112 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. cular Actes there mentioned : Quhilk sal be als suffi- _ cient, as gif the samin were here expressed : And all ^^^^' uther Actes of Parliament made sensine in favour of the trew Kirk : And sik like, ratifies and appreiuis the General Assemblies appoynted be the said Kirk: And deelaris, that it sal be lauchfuU to the Kirk and Minis ters, euerie zeir at the least, and oftener pro re nata, as occasion and necessitie sal require, to bald and kepe General Assemblies, providing that the Kings Majestie, or his Commissioners, with them to be appointed be his Hienesse, be present at ilk General Assemblie, before the dissoluing thereof, nominate and appoynt time and place, quhen and quhair the next General Assemblie sal be halden : And in case naither his Majestie nor his said Commissioners beis present for the time in that toun quhair the said General Assemblie beis halden, then, and in that case, it sal be lesum to the said General Assemblie be themselues to nominate and appoynt time and place quhair the nixt General As semblie of the Kirk sal be keiped and halden, as they haue bene in vse to do thir times by-past. And als rati fies and appreuis the Synodall and Prouinciall Assem blies, to be halden be the said Kirk and Ministers twise ilk zeir, as the haue bene, and are presentlie m vse to do, within everie province of this realme : And ratifies and appreevis the presbyteries, and particular sessiones appointed be the said Kirk, with the haill jurisdiction and discipline of the same Kirk, agried vpon be his Majestie in conference, had, be his Hie nesse, with certaine of the ministers, conveened to that effect : Of the quhilks artickles, the tenour follows. Maters to be intreated in provincial assemblies : Thir assemblies are constitute for weichtie matters, necessar to be intreated be mutual consent and assistance of 1592. CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 11.5 brethren, within the province, as' need'e requiris. This lect. assemblie has power to handle, ordour and redresse all . ' things omitted or done amisse in the particular assem blies. It has power to depose the office-beareres of that province, for gude and just cause, deserving depriva tion : And generallie, thir assemblies hes the hail power of the particular elderschips quhairof they are collected. Maters to be intreated in the presbyteries. The power of the presbyteries is to giue dihgent laboures in the boundes committed to their charge ; that the kirkes be keeped in gude ordour ; to inquire diligentlie of naughtie and ungodlie persons ; and to travel to bring them in the way again be admonition or threatning of God's judgments, or be correction. It appertaines to the elderschippe to take heede that the word of God be purelie preached within their boundes, •the sacramentes richtlie ministred, the discipline in terteined, and ecclesiastical gudes vncorruptlie dis tributed. It belangis to this kind of assemblies to cause the ordinances maid by the assemblies, provinci- aUes, nationalles, and generaUes, to be keeped and put in execution, to make constitutions, quhilk concernis to TrpcTTov in the kirk, for decent ordour, in the particular kirk quhair they governe : providing that they alter na rules maid be the prouinciall or generall assemblies ; and that they make the provinciall assemblies foresaid privie of the rules that they saU make ; and to abolish constitutiones tending to the hurt of the same. It hes power to excommunicate the obstinate, formal process being led, and dew intervall of times obserued. Anent particular kirks, gif they be lauchfulUe ruled be sufficient ministerie and session, they have power and jurisdiction in their owen congregation, in maters ecclesiasticall. And decernis and deelaris the saides VOL. IL H 111. HISTOEY OF THE LECT. assemblies, presbyteries and sessiounes, jurisdiction XVI and discipline thereof foresaid, to be in all times cum- 1592. ming maist just, gude, and godlie in the self, notwith standing of quhatsumever statutes, actes, canone, civili or municipall lawes, made in the contrare. To the quhUkis, and everie ane of them, thir presentes sail make expresse derogation. And, because there ar diners actes of Parliament maid in fauour of the papisticaU kirk, tending to the prejudice of the liber tie of the trew kirk of God, presentlie professed within this realme, jurisdiction and discipline thereof, quhilk stands zit in the buikes of the actes of Parliament, nocht abrogated nor annulled ; therefore his Hieness and Estaites foresaides hes abrogated, cassed, and annulled ; and be the tenour hereof, abrogatis, cassis and annullis all actes of Parliament maid be onie of his Hienesse predecessoures, for maintenance of super stition and idolatrie, with aU and quhatsumeuer actes, lawes, and statutes, maid at onie time, before the daie and dait hereof, against the libertie of the trew ' kirk, jurisdiction and discipline theirof, as the samin is vsed and exercised within this realme. " And in special, that part of the Act of Parliament, halden at Striviling the 4 day of Nouember the zeir of God 1443 zeirs, commaunding obedience to he given to Eugenius the Paipe for the time ; the acte | maid be King James the Third, in his parliament i halden at Edinburgh, the 24 day of Februar, the zeir of God 1480 zeires ; and all vtheris actes, quhairby the Paipis authoritie is established. The acte of King James the Thrid, in his parliament halden at Edin burgh the 20 daie of November, the zeir of God 1469 zeires, anent the Satterday, and vther vigiles to be bailie dales, from euen-sang to euen-sang. " Item, That pairt of the act, maid be the Queene CHUECH OP SCOTLAND. 115 liegent, in the parliament halden at Edinburgh, the .lect. first day of Februar, the zeir of God 1551 zeires, ._^i^ gluing speciall Ucence for balding of Pasche and Zule. •^^^^• Item, the Kingis Majestie and Estaites foresaidis, de elaris, that the 129 Acte of the Parliament halden at Edinburgh the 22 day of Maij, the zeir of God 1584 zeirs, saU na wise be prejudiciall, nor derogate onie thing to the priuiledge that God hes giuen to the spiritual office-bearers in the kirk, concerning heads of religion, maters of heresie, excommunication, collation, •or depriuation of ministers, or ony siklike essential censours, speciallie grounded and hauand warrand of the word of God. Item, Our Soveraine Lord, and Estaites of Parliament foresaidis, abrogatis, cassis and annuUis, the act of the same parliament halden at Edinburgh, the said zeir 1584 zeires, granting commis sion to bischopps, and vtheris iudges, constitute in ecclesiastical causes, to receiue his Hienesse presenta- tiones to benefices, to giue coUation thereupon ; and to put ordour in al causes ecclesiastical, quhilk his Majestie and estaites foresaidis deelaris to be expired in the self, and to be null in time eumming, and of nane availl, force nor effect. And therefore ordainis Appendix, aU presentations to benefices, to be direct to the par- and'xix. ' ticular presbyteries in aU time eumming : with full power to giue collation thereupon ; and to put ordour to aU matters and causes ecclesiasticall within their boundes, according to the discipline of the kirk : PrO' viding the foresaid presbyteries be bound and astricted to receive and admit quhatsumeuer qualified minister, presented be his Majestie, or laick patrones."] Thus was Presbyterian govemment established in importance 01 tills aCIi Scotland. The steps hitherto taken by the court and the nobles had been uniformly at variance with the 116 . HISTORY OF THE LECT. wishes of the Church. Twenty years before 'they had XVI begun to introduce Protestant bishops into every ^^^^' diocese which became vacant by the death ofthe Popish incumbents, aU of whom retained their digni ties and the greater part of their revenues as long as they Uved ; but as the fraits of the benefices were reaped by the nobles, who aUowed only a scanty gleaning to the newly appointed dignitaries, the Church was perfectly aware that this expedient was only a veU to cover the sacrUegious rapine which was committed all over the country, although the present tees to these lordly titles with beggarly endowments were in general persons whose talents and whose cha racters commanded so little respect that it might almost have been imagined that the scheme had been devised for the purpose of bringing episcopacy into utter contempt. The great body of the Church always resisted their authority, and took every occasion to humble them. The Assembly again and again der clared their office to be inconsistent with the gospel, and in 1580 solemnly pronounced an ordinance for abolishing it finally. But this effort proved abortive^ lor reasons too obvious to require Ulustration, The parliament would not gratify the Church, because they knew that, if the diocesan offices were declared vacant they could have no: longer a pretext for allowing the benefices to be appropriated to other uses than those of the Church ; and besides, those persons whom the Assembly wished to be deposed, and in whose names the rents of the bishoprics were drawn, had a voice in every parliament, while the other ministers had none. More than twenty prelates (including abbots) sat in some of these parliaments ; and as the sessions were not weU attended by all ranks, such a number must XVI. 1592. CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 117 have thrown a great weight into the scale of the lect court. The Act of 1592 was passed with an ill grace. The unpopularity of the court, occasioned by the murder of Huntly, made it necessary for the King to soUcit the support of the Church, which was daily gaining fresh influence from the accessions of talent and learn ing which were every year coming forth from the theological school of Andrew MelvUle. Now, for the first time, however, were the Uberties and the powers of an ecclesiastical establishment, constructed on the principles of the Books of Discipline, fuUy recognised. Now, for the first time, did the people feel that an offence against the discipline of the Church was a violation of the laws of the country. One of the ad vantages thus secured is especially worthy of notice. The established teachers of religion in a great kingdom admitted into all their judicative as weU as legislative assemblies, an intermixture of members chosen from among the people, who had thus the same power as themselves, both in making and executing laws. That such a provision should have been legalised was, in the existing state of the country, of incalculable im portance. No regulation could have been better de vised for securing the confidence and maintaining the submission of those of whom they had the charge. The people knew that their feelings and their interest would be studiously consulted by the elders, chosen with their own approbation. They knew also that these men, solemnly set apart to their function, under a sacred engagement to act with fidelity, would not faU to represent, to the judicatories of the Church, offences against reUgion or good morals ; and thus, whUe they were kept in awe by the vigilance of the 118 , HISTOEY OP THE LECT. ruling elders, they could not doubt that those whos^ XVI o ' J '— habits and manner of life were congenial with their own ^^^^' would be anxious to temper justice with tenderness, and to administer reproof and correction in the spirit of meekness. A number of the elders seems to have been selected from every class of the people, that the rights and the duties of all might be equaUy kept in view ; and it was thought desirable to have the co operation of some men invested with civil power, who thus, while members of the kirk-session and other church courts, might be able by their authority to re^ strain and overawe the contumacious." The minis ters, too, having all equal power, now felt the dignity of independence, without being tempted to assume the arrogance of greatness. They displayed no ambition to rise from obscurity to pre-eminence, and, satisfied with a moderate provision, which could scarcely be ¦called a competency, they proved that in thek esti mation no distinction was so honourable as the disin^ terested pursuit of the people's best interest, and the ostentatious discharge of a most laborious duty. It was not to be expected that this state of things, introduced as it was in opposition to the secret wishes of the monarch and the sateUites of the court, would be permitted long to remain undisturbed. James bitterly hated the principles and the form, as well as the pro moters, of the presbyterian scheme of church govern ment. His temper was arbitrary, and in spite of the « [Siipra, vol. i., p. 259. The follow- eldaris to coneure with brethren of ing curious extract, in further illustra- the ministrie, it ia thocht good that tion of the general statements in the the baronis and gentilmen quha wer text is from the Eecords of the Pres- chosen to be eldaris at the first erect- bytery of Edinburgh r—" Oct. 17, ing of the presbyterie, saU be desyrit 1587. — Anent the greit necessitie that be the brethren ofthe ministrie to thair is of the baronis and gentlemen be present the last of this instant td quha wer -anes nominate and chosin the effect forsaid."] , . , .... • CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 119 instructions of his elegant tutor, the strong-minded lect. and elegant Buchanan, he had acquired from the evil ^^^' councillors who beset him from his earliest years, ^^^^' an immoderate desire of supremacy. He claimed a divine right to dictate equally to the Church and the State ; and as presbyterianism had obtained its estab lishment in consequence of its persevering efforts to make itself independent of the civil power, he could not regard it with complacency. He was enraged and disgusted at the ascendancy of the ministers over the people, and stiU more at the just severity with which his own conduct and that of his favourites were stigmatised in public sermons and in resolutions of the Church courts. He disliked the simplicity of worship, which was Ul-suited to a taste like his, ena moured of pomp and tinsel magnificence. In oppo sition to his promises, therefore, James was inwardly resolved to seize the first favourable occasion to estab lish in Scotland the Episcopalian forms of worship, and to restore the hierarchy, not indeed to all its for mer powers and emoluments, but to all the consequence which it was capable of enjoying after being re trenched in its revenues and dependent on the tempo ral head of the government. After the Act of Parliament was passed in 1592 Prosperity , ., - of the (accompanied as it was with several other statutes church from favourable to the same cause), the Church exerted 1596. itself to the uttermost to improve its advantages. The provincial Synod of Fife, which met the following year, represented to the King its disapprobation of the favour which he showed to papists, and his negligence in suppressing idolatry and injustice, — concluding with a resolution to yield up their lives rather than suffer this violation of the laws to continue. The •1592. 120 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. synod also excommunicated the papist noblemen, Huntly, Angus, Errol, and others, though they were openly countenanced and favoured by the King.. The General Assembly approved these proceedings, and required their commissioners to admonish the King to discharge his office faithfully in punishing the Oppres sions and murders which were multiplying to an alarming extent through the want of justice. But these exhortations served only to irritate the King, and to excite thp enemies of religion to devise plans for overthrowing the new establishment. Some of the ministers spoke too intemperately on these sub jects ; and the General Assembly thought it necessary to make an Act, ordaining that no ministers within the realm utter from the pulpit any rash or irreverent speech against his Majesty or his council, but that all their public admonitions proceed upon*just and necessary causes, and sufficient warrant, in aU fear, love, and reverence, under pain of deposition for the offen ders. While they thus respected the laws and autho rity of the State, the ministers of the Church proceeded to exercise discipUne among the inembers of their own body with strict impartiality. The King continued to receive and protect the excommunicated lords; but a convention of ministers, and barons, and commis sioners of burghs met, and represented the dangers of the country so strongly and successfully, that the King and parliament were at last reduced to the necessity of pronouncing the forfeiture of the popish lords, as having been guilty of high treason. They now rose in arms against the King's authority, but were defeated with great loss by the King's army, under the command of Archibald, Earl of Argyle, a young man of. eighteen years of age. TUl the year CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 121 1596, the prosperity and influence of the Church con- lect. tinned undiminished. To this period, all true Presby- — 1_ terians look back as the era of the greatest purity which this National Church ever attained. It is a period of only four years ; and whoever wishes to study the true genius of the presbyterian system of discipline, ought to attend particularly to this interval of its ascendancy, from 1592 to 1596. In the beginning of the year 1596 the King and octavians. councU chose eight commissioners of exchequer, who received the charge and administration of the King's rents, properties, and casualties. From their num ber, they were named by the people Octavians. Their names were Alexander Seton, Lord President of Session, Walter Stewart, prior of Blantyre, John Lindsey of Balcarres, John Skene, clerk register, Peter Young, al moner, Sft David Carnegie, James Elphinstone, a sena tor of the CoUege of Justice, and Thomas Hamilton, King's advocate. These persons were all members of the privy councU, and having the entire management of the treasury, they had likewise the chief direction of all public affairs. Some of them were suspected of popery, and it is not, therefore, to be wondered that the Church viewed their nomination as a measure most disastrous to rehgion. A General Assembly, which met in March 1596, resolved to reform aU the abuses which could be de tected in its own constituent members. It was re markable for three things — 1. For making regulations to correct the corruption of ministers ; 2. For a repre sentation to the King of his own sins, and those of his famUy, his counsellors, and his nobles ; 3. For renewing the national covenant. Robert Pont was the moderar 122 HISTOEY OF THE lect. tor of this Assembly. The King was present in the XVI fourth session, and was told that two important objects ^^^''' had been under consideration of the Church, — the one, the most .efficacious means of resisting the enemies of religion and of the country, both foreign and domestic, — the other, the purification of the Church from enormities. On the first point, the ministers insisted that the rents of the forfeited rebels should be seized and employed for the subsistence of the troops levied for the defence of the country. They recommended several other prudent measures, to which the King -paid little attention. They then informed his Majesty that it was their duty faithfully to try and to reprove his offences, as well as those of inferior men. The King said that he was wiUing to be judged by the Assembly, provided it were done privately ; but a private rebuke for open sin was not in their estimation consistent with the Word of God. In the thirteenth session, three ministers, James MelvUle, Patrick Gal loway, and James Nicolson, were sent to confer with the King concerning his own sins, and those of his household. The articles of complaint are as follows : 1. Strangers and good subjects repairing to court are troubled when they see the exercise of reading the Word at table, and reverent saying of grace before and after meat, omitted ; 2. On week-days, repairing to hear the sermon is more rare than before, and his Majesty is admonished to forbear to speak with others in time of sermon ; 3. Private meditation with God and with conscience is recommended to his Majesty ; 4. His Majesty is blotted with swearing, and the courtiers are moved to it by his Ul example ; 5. His Majesty would be pleased to have good company about 1596. CHUECH OP SCOTLAND. 123 him, to remove murderers, papists, and profane per- lect. sons ; 6. The Queen's Majesty is to be informed, espe cially concerning her company, her not repairing to preaching and sacraments, her night waking and balls, and such other things. How these counsels were received at Holyrood house is not expressly told ; but the King was never in good humour with any of the ministers afterwards, though this was not the only ground of quarrel. The corruptions which the As sembly enumerates as being common to all estates, not excepting the judges and the ministers, are of the deepest dye, ancl, unless they are aggravated far beyond the truth, they prove that the country was sunk into the lowest abyss of depravity. Calderwood's History contains a very full account [Caider- of all the proceedings of this Assembly. No other pp. 312- book, not even Petrie, is nearly so minute in the de tails of all the occurrences affecting the interest of the Church at this period. The ministers and other com missioners assembled in the little church of Edinburgh, and, after prayer and exhortation by John Davidson, minister of Prestonpans (at one time a master in this college), all the members, and some other distinguished persons, four hundred in number, holding up their hands, solemnly entered into a new league and cove nant with God. The scene is said to have been pecu liarly impressive, and the religious service which pre ceded it was perhaps the longest which had before that time been known in this country. The members convened at nine in the morning, and the prayer, confession, and sermon, lasted till near one in the afternoon. This was a small matter, indeed, compared with what was common in future times. Calderwood, I2i ' "HISTORY OF THE LECT. after giving an account of all the proceedings of this '-^ Assembly, adds — " Here end the sincere general ^^^^- assemblies of the Kirk of Scotland." Before it dis solved, it gave directions to all the synods to renew the covenant in Uke manner, and many presbyteries and parishes foUowed the example. CHURCH X)F SCOTLAND. 125 XVII. 1596. LECTURE XVIL CASE OP D.VVID BLACK DECLINATURE BT THB MINISTERS OF THB king's jurisdiction in matters spiritual TUMULT IN EDIN BURGH CONVENTION AT PERTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY AT DUNDElJ, 1597 PROGRESS OP THE KING's MEASURES FOR ALTERING THB CONSTITUTION OP THE CHURCH — ARROGANT PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL COMMISSIONERS APPOINTED BY THE ASSEMBLY ACT FOR GIVING THE MINISTRY A VOTE IN PARLIAMENT GOWRIB CON SPIRACY. I AM not much accustomed to take notice of passing lect occurrences ; but I cannot refuse myself the high satisfaction of adverting to a circumstance on which I am confident none of us can entertain any difference of sentiment. One of our meetings in this place has ¦been recently graced by the presence of an individual," -educated in this seminary not many years ago, who has attained a degree of distinction unprecedented perhaps in the annals of our Church, and who, to the envied advantages of original genius, and the acknow ledged superiority of scientific acquirements, has added the far nobler eminence of Christian zeal and apostoli cal eloquence, — for what has there ever been which could more impressively bring home to our recollec tion the lofty energy of truth and principle with which the utterance of Paul was roused, when he who in bodily iiresence was weak, and in speech contemptible, stood in the Areopagus, publishing in the ears of Epi- [Dr Thomas Chalmers.] 1596. 126 ¦history OP THE LECT. cureans and Stoics the doctrines of the cross, and XVII fighting the good fight of faith with the scornful votaries of false philosophy, than the spirit-stirring fervour and vehemence with which our ears have lately heard the words of eternal life proclaimed 1 It reminds us at least of the earliest and purest times of our Church, when the dangers and difficulties of its friends required from them exertions of courage and nerve, of which it is difficult for us to form an adequate con ception, when under the commanding eye of Bruce the gay and the careless were made to tremble at the Word, when the fire of Melville's reproof struck terror into the royal heart, and when the dying strength of Knox was spent in the pulpit of St Andrews. The electrifying effect of the reformer's eloquence may be faintly conceived from the description of it given by James Melville, who, while a student at this university, had an opportunity of being benefited by some of the latest ministrations of that wonderful man. Though the expression is somewhat homely, I may take this opportunity of quoting a short extract from his Diary. [MelviUe's " Of aU the benefits I had that year (1571) [the great- Diar 23, 28. est! was the comme; of that maist notable prophet and SeeM'Crie-s -¦ , » ? .^ ., ^^ o, a 1 > T Life of apostle ot our nation, J ohn Knox, to St Andrew s. 1 330.]' ' -heard him teach there the prophecies of Daniel that simmer and the winter following. I had my pen and •my little book, and took away sic things as I could comprehend. In the opening up of his text he was moderate, the space of an half hour, — but when he entered to application, he made me so to grew (thrill) and tremble that I could not hold a pen to write. He was very weak. I saw him every day of his doctrine go hulie and fear, with a furring of masticks about his neck, a staff in the ane hand, and gud godlie Richart 1596. CHUECH OP SCOTLAND. 127 BaUenden, his servand, haldin up the uther oxter, from lect. . XVII the abbey to the parish kirk, and be the said Richart . and another servant, lifted up to the pulpit, whar he behovit to lean at his first entrie ; but ere he had done with his sermon, he was sa active and vigorous that he was Uk to ding the pulpit in blads and flie out of it." On the many great qualities which distinguish the deservedly applauded preacher, to whom we have so lately listened, it is superfluous to dwell : and I have introduced the subject chiefly for the sake of telling you how highly gratified he has been hj revisiting the scene of his theological education, and by observing that among you the ardour of study has suffered no decline. It is still more incumbent on me to encour age you to bestow your most strenuous efforts to fol low an example so peculiarly calculated to rouse and to animate young men, — an example, however, which, let me say, is not to be followed by imitating either the manner or the diction of this extraordinary and truly original speaker, — for all such imitation is un worthy, and is almost sure to be unsuccessful ; but by imbibing the devotion to truth and to benevolent enterprise by which he is so signally characterised, — by emulating the fervour of his spirit and the alacrity of his labours, — by studying every subject with a desire to bring to it all the iUustrations which acute ness of intellect, or extent of learning, or the researches of science can supply, — by laying deeply to heart the incalculable worth of immortal souls, and by exercising with discrimination and with earnestness the peculiar capacities which every one possesses in greater or less degree, so as to promote the glory of that kingdom which is not in word, but in power. We now proceed with our usual occupation. 128 . HISTOEY OP THE LECT. While the ministers were proceeding zealously in L, their endeavours to reform not only their own order, 1596. 1^^^ g^jj other classes of men, the courtiers and others who had a tendency to popery, being aware that if the strict discipline proposed by the General Assembly were carried into effect, their irregularities could no longer be tolerated, resolved that they would not sub mit to a yoke so grievous, and that they would avail themselves of all the means in their power to subvert that spiritual government which only four years be fore had been ratified by the parliament. In spite of the remonstrances of the Church, the King received the popish lords again under his protection, and his Majesty's common talk (which though abundantly foolish, was not so unwise as many of his actions) consisted almost entirely in traducing the preachers and ridiculing their doctrines. Certain brethren were sent to his Majesty to repre sent that there was a most dangerous jealousy between him and the Church, and to desire him to declare plainly what offended him in the ministry either in general or particular, that he might be satisfied ; and on the other hand, to declare that they were grieved at the favour which he showed to the forfeited lords. The King answered that there could be no agreement be tween him and the ministers till the bounds of their jurisdictions were defined, — and that, in the following points particularly, he claimed redress. 1. That in preaching they should not speak of the affairs of state and council 2. That the General Assembly should •not be convened but by his authority and special com mand. 3. That nothing done in the Assembly should be established till it was ratified by him or his com missioners. 4, That synods, presbyteries, and particular CHUECH OP SCOTLAND. 129 sessions intermeddle with no causes to which his laws lect. were applicable, and with none, indeed, except common '- scandals. As to the grievances, he said that he had -^^^^^ granted nothing to the excommunicated earls but what the CouncU and Estates thought needful for the peace of the realm, and always under condition that they should first satisfy the Church. The ministers, he said, gave him occasion to speak of them, as they never ceased in their sermons to provoke him, and to disgrace him before the people. The ministers replied that the free preaching of the Word and rebuke of sin, without respect of persons, were established after many conferences, upon evident grounds of the Word, by his Majesty's laws and Acts of Parliament, and that the ministers had always spoken reverently of his Majesty, but could not spare the enemies of the truth. After the King's answer was reported to the Church, it was suspected that the overthrow of the Presby terian discipline was intended. It was therefore re commended to all the ministers to study the Acts of CouncU and Parliament passed in favour of the Kirk, and to listen to his Majesty's articles without enter ing into any reasoning upon them till their commis sioners to the Council were fully apprised of all that passed. In a future conference with the King, some of the ministers were instructed to ask what his doubts were respecting the limits of the calUng of the ministry, and to state the hardship which they suffered in being vexatiously charged with trifling offences, when the adversaries of the truth were not merely overlooked but taken into favour. To this representation the King returned an unkind answer. Patrick Galloway, his own minister, had said to him privately, that the Church got fair words and promises, VOL. II. I 1596. 130 HISTOEY OP THE LECT, and that their enemies got all the good deeds. His XVII. . Majesty seems, therefore, to have resolved that they should not have so much even as good words any more. Case of Further evidence of the designs against the Church David ~^ . Black. -wsis afforded by the course taken with David Black, minister of St Andrews, who, in November of this year, was summoned before the Privy Council, for certain expressions used by him in the pulpit, and particularly for having, as was alleged, in some of his sermons reflected on the religious character of Queen Elizabeth. The ministers of Edinburgh and others, who had been commissioned to act as a councU repre senting the different provinces of the Church, per ceived that the case of Black was laid hold of by the King as a preparative for bringing the doctrine of ministers generaUy under the review and control of the Court ; and therefore they resolved to concur with Black in giving in a written declinature of the juris diction of the King and Council in spiritual matters. This declinature was signed not only by Black him self, but by all the ministers then in Edinburgh, and two days afterwards a copy of it was sent to all the presbyteries for their approbation. In a very short time it was subscribed by above 300 ministers, and if the commissioners had been allowed to remain longer in Edinburgh," a greater number of signatures might a [On the 23d November, the Privy Mr Andro Melville, Mr George Eam- Counoil discharged " convocationis at say, Mr James La-w, David Ferguson, the desire of the Ministeris," appoint- Mr James Nicolson, Mr Peter Black ing " letters to be direct, charging the burn, Mr Patrick Sharpe, Mr David persons of the ministers under -writ- Lindsay.Mr JamesMelville — todepart ten — Mr John Davidson, Mr Adam home to their several fiocks and con- Johnston, Mr Nicol Dalgleish, Mr gregations within 24 hom's next after Tho. Buchanan, Mr Patrick Simson, they be charget thereto, aud to await Mr John Knox, John Clapperton, upon the faithfull discharge of thair XVII. 1596. CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 131 have been obtained. It is said that Spotswood, arch- lect bishop of St Andrews, was very active in procuring subscriptions, but that even then he revealed to the King all their counsels and proceedings, either per sonally or through one of the courtiers. Petrie here [Petrie, p. takes occasion to say — " He was the only suspected ^^^'^ Judas among the ministers at that time. Others were like Hazael, who understood not their own hol low hearts till time discovered them." I shall read an abridgment of this document from Stevenson's History : — " [Unto your Majesty, and Lords of Secret Council, Declinature with aU reverence in Christ, humbly meaneth, I, JiL^oUhe Mr David Black, minister of the Evangel at St diSnC" Andrews, That where I am charged to answer for ^triulai. certain irreverent, infamous, and indecent speeches, son^nis- alleged uttered by me in some of my sermons, in the p'!'^2'i6.']''' Kirk of St Andrews, in October last : wherein albeit the consciousness of my innocence upholdeth me suf ficiently, and that I am ready to give a confession and to stand to the defence of the truth of God, uttered by me in the said sermons, before your Majesty or CouncU, so far as shall be requisite for clearing and defending of the truth and my ministry, and may be done without prejudice of that liberty which the Lord Jesus hath given to the spiritual office-bearers in his kingdom ; yet, seeing I am brought to stand before his Majesty and CouncU, as judges of my doctrine, calling, &c." It is stated in the preamble vocations were discharged, and that it that they usurped a power over their never •was his Majesty's intention to brethren — " na tine" being taken in "prejugethe lauchful assemblies of the the mean time of their several flocks Kirk, established be the laws and Acts and congregations committed to their of Parliament, but onlie to discharge charge.— (JJ«gr. Sec. Consilii, Nov. 23, tho unlauchful convocations of barons 1596.) It was afterwards explained and other lieges in arms, be desire of {Ibid. Dec. 9) that only unlawful con- the saids ecclesiastical persons."] XVIL 1596. 132 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. and lest to the manifest prejudice of the liberties of the Kirk, my answering to the said accusation might im port an acknowledgment of your Majesty's jurisdiction in matters merely spiritual, and move your Majesty to attempt further in the government of the house of God, and in end prove either a plain subverting or confounding of the spiritual judicature with the civil, Therefore I am constrained in all humility to use a declinature of this judgment, in prima instantia, for the reasons following : — " 1 . Because the Lord Jesus, the God of order, of whom only I have the grace of my caUing, as his am bassador, hath given me his Word, as the only in structions whereby I should regulate my caUing in preaching of the Word, &c., I cannot, in the discharge thereof, be subjected to any civil law, but in so far as I shall be found to pass the bounds of my instruc tions, which, according to the order established by God, must be judged by the prophets, whose lips should preserve knowledge, and to whom He hath subjected the spirits of the prophets. " 2. Because the liberty and discipline of the Kirk have been confirmed by divers Acts of Parliament, and peaceably enjoyed by the office-bearers ofthe Kirk in aU points, particularly the judgment upon the preach ing of the Word in p>rima instantia. " 3. Because there are two jurisdictions established and exercised •within this realm — the one spiritual the other civil ; the one respecting the conscience, the other external things ; the one directly procuring obe dience unto God, the other obedience to civil laws J the one persuading by the Word, the other compelling by the sword ; the one spiritually procuring the edifi cation of the Church, the other procuring the peace CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 133 and quietness of the commonwealth, Avhich, having lkct. ground in the light of nature, proceeds from God as '^^"' He is the Creator, and so termed by the apostle, ^''^''• humana creatura (l Pet. ii.), varying according to the constitution of men — the other above nature, grounded upon the grace of redemption, proceeding immedi ately from Jesus Christ, only Head and King over his Church (Eph. i., Col. ii.), which is his spiritual body ; from whose Spirit flow all spiritual gifts and graces ; by whom are appointed all spiritual offices and func tions (1 Cor. xii.) ; by whom are given to the Church, and effectuaUy called, all office-bearers (Eph. iv.) ; to whom He hath intrusted the preaching of the gospel (1 Cor. ix.) ; whom He reproves and punishes, and of whom He craveth an account of reckoning of the trans gressions ofthe people (Ezek. xxxiv., Ex. xxxii.) ; whom He has planted in their spiritual ministry over kings and kingdoms, to plant and pluck up by the roots, to edify and demolish (Jer. i.) ; to cast down strongholds, and whatsoever lifteth itself up against the knowledge of God ; unto these He hath given spiritual armour for that effect, and to take revenge of all stubborn disobedients (2 Cor. x.) ; whom He has commanded not only to preach the Word, and to be instant in season and out of season (2 Tim. iv.), but also to divide the Word anght (Matt, xxiv., 2 Tim. v.) ; to admonish, re buke, convince, and threaten (2 Tim. iv.) ; to deUver unto Satan (1 Cor. v., 1 Tim. i.) ; to bind the impieni- tent in their sins, to lock out and debar from the king dom of heaven (Matt, x., John xx.) ; to whom He has given the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matt, xvi.), and power to assemble themselves to this effect (Matt. xviii.. Acts XV., 1 Cor. xv.), promising his presence and assistance (Mat. xxviii.) ; and, in short, the spiritual 131* HISTOEY OP THE LECT. administration as He has put it in their hands, making XVII 1596. them judges to try and cognosce in spiritual matters (1 Cor. xiv.) ; even so He chargeth them, with vehement attestations by the great God and glorious coming of the Prince of Pastors (1 Pet. v.), to do those things without respect of persons, with aU attention (1 Tim. v., vi., 2 Tim. iv., 1 Pet. v.. Tit. U.) " And therefore, in so far as I am one of the spiritual office-bearers, and have discharged my spiritual caUing in some measure of sincerity, should not, nor cannot, be lawfully judged for preaching and applying of the Word of God by any civil judge, I being an ambas sador of the Lord Jesus (Mal. ii.), having my commis sion from the King of kings, and all my instruction set down in the Book of God, that cannot be extended, abridged, or altered by any mortal (2 Tim. iii., Deut. iv., Pro. XXX., Rev. xxii.) And seeing I am sent to all sorts of men, to lay open their hid sins, to preach the law and repentance, the evangel and forgiveness of sins, and to be a savour of life unto life to those that are appointed for life, aud a savour of death unto death unto those that are appointed for death (2 Cor. ii.), my commission, the form and delivery thereof, cannot be lawfuUy judged by them to whom I am sent — they being as both judge and party, sheep and not pas tors, to be judged by this Word, and not to be judges thereof."] Sentence The CouucU, disregarding this declaration, to which against - ni oo David almost all the ministers of the Church were ready to Black. express their adherence, found themselves competent judges of all the particulars charged against Black, with the exception of one which related to the Church of England. The ministers resolved that the doctrine of all the preachers should be directed against the 1596. CHUECH OP SCOTLAND. 135 interlocutor, as a stronghold set up to destroy the free- lect. dom of the gospel. The King seemed to be alarmed '"^^ "' by the effect of the sermons delivered on this subject, and promised that if the ministers would desist from their public animadversions, he would willingly re tract some of bis proclamations, and satisfy the pires- byteries concerning the interlocutor of the CouncU. His pacific overture, on the basis of which some articles of agreement were framed, was afterwards withdrawn by the King, who insisted that Black should at least confess an ofience committed against the Queen. He had previously offered that if the members of the Church would not adhere to Black's dechnature, or would declare that it applied solely to his cause, as being a case of slander, pertaining by right to the Church, he would discharge the summons, and proceed no farther against Black. But the Church would not recede from the ground they had taken, and Black would make no apology, because in so doing, he said, he would approve the proceedings of the CouncU who had summoned him, and admitted ignorant and partially affected persons, lying under the censure of the Church, to be witnesses, although he had ample testimonies from the provost, magistrates, and council, from the kirk-session, and from the rec tor, dean of faculty, principals of colleges, regents, and whole members of the university, his daUy hearers. He said he was wUling to confess the whole truth to the ecclesiastical court, and to undergo censure if found guilty. The CouncU again met on the 2d of December. Black did not appear when caUed. The depositions of the witnesses were read, and the whole points con tained in the accusation were declared to be proved. The punishment was referred to the King, and the 136 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. XVIL 1596. whole process was registered. Various proposals were still made by the King, which seemed to hold out the proposal of an amicable accommodation ; but after much waste of time in fruitless conferences, all the hopes of the ministers were frustrated. On the 10th of December, David Black was charged in the King's name to remove within six days to the north of the Tay, there to remain, under pain of being treated as a rebel and an outlaw." Whatever might, in this case, be the merits or de- merits of David Black, his labours were most accept able in St Andrews, in which he had been settled about three and a half years. It was not by complying with their weaknesses and overlooking their faults that he ingratiated himself with the people, for he was one «["18 Nov. 1596.— Maister David Blak, . . . tuching certain words and unsemlie speiches utterit be him in divers his sermones maid in St An drews, . . . Comperaud personaliter declarit . . . alleging that nane should be judges to materis deliverit in pul pit, but the preichers and ministeris of the Worde, and therefore desirit to be remittit to his juge ordinar, the pres byterie where the doctrine was teichit, quhair his Majestie suld be a com- pleiner in the first instance, as a Chris tian and member of tbe kirk, and not as a king. . . . AUegit be his Majestie that the matter is altogedder civile, aud not spirituall. . . . Being inquirit quedder giff his Majestie micht be juge iu matteris of tresson, as the kirk is juge in matteris of heresie, grantis, yet allegit that the wordis deUverit in pulpit, albeit allegeit to be tresaonabil, sould be tryit in prima instantia be the kirk, as onlie juge competent : to the contraj-ie qrof the Act of Parliament, maid in the Ixxxiiij zeir of God, was allegit ; to the derogatioun of the quhilk Act Mr David producit another Act in the Parliament halden in the Ixxxxii zeir of God. . . . Being inquirit quiat warrand thai had out of the Word of God for matteris spoken against a Christian magistrate, allegeit q'ever is spokin to be spiritual, and therefoir mon be reulit be the Worde of God, and for this purpose allegeit the fct of Timothie. Continewit to the last of November inst." " Ult Nov. 1596. Interloqueter against Mr David Black. (Thirty-two members present with the King.) All in ane voce findis them- selfis to be juges competent in the haill causes, points, crymes, and accu sations speoifiet." "Deo. 2, 1596. De- Crete against Mr David Black." After deposition of " certain famous wit nesses sworne and examinat," he is " ordanit to pas and enter his peraon in warde iu ony part benorth the north water, &o." — Reg. Sec. Consilii. See also ibid., Deo. 17, a very long declaration anent the proceedings against Mr David Black.] CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 137 of the strictest disciplinarians ever known. Before his time the parish was exceedingly disorderly ; but very soon after his admission, he established such excellent regulations, and carried them so completely into exe cution, that no person was ever seen to beg or to pro fane the Sabbath during the remainder of his ministry. He has been spoken of disrespectfully by late authors ; but his congregation and their descendants cherished his memory with the utmost fondness, as that of a man whose prudence was as remarkable as his piety. The most earnest solicitations were sent to the King, and the General Assembly, holden at Dundee, was entreated to intercede with his Majesty for license to their minister to return to his affectionate flock." But the King was inexorable. LECT. xvii. 1596. a [Spotswood says that, in July 1597, at the visitation of St Andrews, mentioned afterwards, "the eldera and deacons of the Chm-ch upon oath deponed that Blake had spoken aU that whereof he was couvicted before the Council, and being asked touching the behaviour [of Black and his colleague, Mr R. WaUace] other wise, they declared that both the one and the other were given to factions, and that they did not carry themselves with that indifferency which became preachei-s."— (fi'jsi., p. 4i7.) That the kirk-session gave any such evi dence is not very probable. Black's settlement as minister of St Andrews had been most harmonious ; " the maist speciall of the haill parochin alsweill to land as to bru'. being con venit, after eai-nest incaUing upon ye haly name of God, electit and chusit all w' ane voce, w'out discrepance or variance, Mr David Blak, quha was speciallie reoommendit to yame be ye general kirk." — [Session Min-wtes, 11 Nov. 1590.) So late as May 2, 1596, at the Privy Censures, the session, while they made some objection to his colleague, "objectit nathing aganis him, bot aU tbe brethren praises God of him." — (See supra, vol. i. p. 168). On the 9th of January ]596-(7), after his conviction by the Privy Council, they sent a deputation of their number to " ye counsall of ye toun, and desyre ane supplication to his Maj. for relief of Mr David Blak, our pastour." On the 19th of March we find them order ing their clerk to write " ane bill and missive in their names to Mr D. Black, y'' minister, to give him thanks for his last letter, and to schaw to the sd Mr David y' q' lyes in y' power to further his hame-cuming they sail do the samyne w' his awin advyss, &c. ; " and on the Sth of May we again find them sending " a supplication to the General Assembly at Dundee, to in tercede to his Ma. to grant licens to Mr Dav. Blak to be restorit and ad- mittit to cum hame in yis citie, to use his function of ye ministrie as he wes wont to do." — Extracts from St Andrews Session Records.'] 138 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. On the 1 7th of December (exactly a week after the ^^^^' King ordered Black to remove to the north) a tumult T, ^^f ¦. arose in the town of Edinburgh, which was made the Tumult m ° Edinburgh, pretext for the alterations in the government of the Church afterwards introduced by the King. How the tumult originated is not known. It seemed to have been excited by some foolish individuals to whom it was a sport to do mischief, or else who intended to bring the ministers into discredit. A report was circulated through the town that the ministers were attacked and slain, and about the same time a cry of uproar was heard, inviting the people to arm. Some called out to seize the Octavians, but the whole affair evaporated in clamour. The people, on being commanded by the magistrates, went quietly to their homes. There was no violence or bloodshed, and the ministers had co-operated with the magistrates in quelling the commotion. The King, however, either was, or pretended to be, mortally offended, and removed next day to Linlithgow. The judges were commanded to be ready to remove whithersoever the King might direct ; the magistrates were required to apprehend, the authors of the outrage ; some of the citizens accused of violations of the peace were committed to prison, and the ministers of Edinburgh were ordered to be shut up in the castle." The whole measures « [For a time the city was left of our pastouris, quha wer compellit without ministers : — 21 Deo. 1596. to remove be reasone of the injitrie " The ministrie of Edinburgh were of tyme." — Register of Marriayes, absent upon occasion of the late Edinburgh. In the Records of the trouble that fell upon the 17th inst. Town-Council, vol. 10, ff. 104, &c., are Also absent Mr D. Lindsay, Mr R. various entries on the steps taken by Pont, and Jo. Brand." 28 Dec. Edin- the magistrates, both to propitiate the burgh "destitute of pastors." — Re- King and to provide for " teaching on cords of the Presbytery of Edinburgh. Sabbath-days," and the " ministration " 1596, Wed. 22 Deo. — Here we stayed of baptism and marriages, in the min- from marriage because of the absence ister's absence." See also the Jffff- CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 139 adopted by the Court proceeded upon the assumption lect. that treason had been committed, and that the minis- 1 ters were the prime movers. By the advice of their ^^^^' friends, therefore, Bruce, Balcanquel, James Balfour, and WiUiam Watson, four of the most eminent minis ters, retired to England, where Bruce published an apology for their flight. Twenty-four of the citizens, who had signalised themselves by their zeal in defend ing the ministers, were also compelled to foUow them. This affair was most unjustly ascribed to the ser mons preached by the ministers, and the King resolved, it is said, for this reason, to change the discipUne of the Church ; but it is certain that he had planned the alteration before this time. Among other steps now adopted, one of the most grievous to the Church was the injunction to all the ministers to subscribe a bond acknowledging the King as their judge, not only in all cases of sedition and treason, but in all complaints of their speeches which may import these crimes, though uttered in the pulpit or in any other place. The ministers in general refused to subscribe this bond, because they regarded it as a snare devised to entrap them into a recognition of the King's supre macy in all manner of causes. Immediately after wards a proclamation was made by authority of the CouncU, requiring all magistrates and gentlemen to interrupt ministers if they should utter any speeches in reproach, contempt, or disdain of the King, his parents or progenitors, his Council and their proceed- Sec. Consilii, Dec. 21,1596, &,c. One rallie " (or in separate parts of the of the Acts of the Privy Council is town), and not, as before, " togidder entitled, "Act anent the minesteris be thameselfis and their families, within houssis of Edinburgh," and supplies a tlie circuit of ane dais," which gave curious fact as to the arrangements at them facilities for " treasonis, convoca- that period for their residence. Its tionis, and conspiraceis." R&j. Sec. purpose was to make them live "seve- Consilii, Jan. 6, 1596-(7).] I'lO HISTOEY OP THE LECT. ings, and to imprison them till further orders were . L given, or at least to hinder them from preaching ^^^^' within their jurisdiction. Convention Thc Court HOW prepared fifty-five queries concern- 1596^-17!) ing church government, to be submitted to a conven tion of ministers, summoned by the King to meet at Perth on the 28th of February. Great pains had. been taken by the Court to secure the attendance of obsequious ministers from the northern counties. They flattered them by saying that the ministers of the north were men of better temper and greater prudence than those of the south, who were repre sented as being severe, arrogant, and ambitious of power. The ministers of the south, including those of Fife, were, however, in general, men of unimpeach able honesty, and much less covetous of preferment or of gain than their accusers. Two days were spent in debating whether they should hold the Assembly or not. The commissioners of eight presbyteries voted in the negative, and eleven voted in the affirmative. The others protested that this meeting of the ministry, called by the King's letters, should not be considered as a General Assembly. The majority, however, went on boldly with the business proposed by the King ; and the questions having been reduced to thirteen, were hastily answered, in such a manner as to gratify the King. An ample commission was also given to the northern brethren, authorising them to proceed to the absolution of the banished lords, upon conditions not very grievous. The chief of the articles agreed to were as follows : — 1, That it is lawful for the King, or for the pastors, to move doubts or crave reformation in any points of the external policy that are not es sential to salvation, or are not answered either affir- CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 141 matively or negatively by any express passage of lect. Scripture. 2, That no minister meddle with matters — — of State in the pulpit, but if he thinks any laws hurt- ^^^'^' ful to religion, he may complain privately. 3, That pastors shall not name persons in the pulpit, or describe them so as to be equivalent to naming. 4, That in application, every minister shall have respect to the edification of his own flock, without expatiat ing on subjects not pertinent to the congregation. 5, That every presbytery shaU take care that pastors, in their doctrine, keep themselves within the bounds of the Word. 9, That no conventions be among pastors without the King's consent, except their ordinary meet ings of sessions, presbyteries, and synods. 10, That in all principal towns, ministers shall not be chosen without consent of his Majesty. 11, That aU mat ters concerning the rest of his Majesty's questions be suspended, unmeddled with, either in pulpit or any other judicatory, till first all the questions be fully decided. The Assembly of the Church which had been ap pointed by the last regular meeting, to be held at St Andrews on the 27th of AprU, was attended by a very small number. The moderator of the former Assem bly, Robert Pont, constituted the meeting, and after making protestation for the liberty of the Church, referred aU business (except the appointment of a fast) to tbe next General Assembly. This meeting was disowned by the King, who called General another Assembly, to meet at Dundee on the 1st of ft'nSe, May. It M^as regularly opened by Robert Pont, the mookerf last moderator regularly chosen. Robt. Rollock, , prin- gis.]' ^"^' cipal of the College of Edinburgh, was chosen to pre side, in conformity with his Majesty's wishes, Rob 1597. 142 HISTORY OF THE LECT. lock, as we have seen, was a man of the most distin guished learning and piety, one of the best preachers in the Church, and certainly the fittest person, for presiding over a great academical institution, who ever filled the principal's chair in that university, which has since become the most important in the kingdom. [Spotswood, Archbishop Spotswood, with his usual inaccuracy, Petrie, 573.] says that Rollock was chosen moderator, " though he was not as yet in orders, in so great esteem he was with all good men for his learning, holiness, and modera tion." Now, first of all, he was not chosen either for his holiness or his learning, or for any other reason than that the King wished him to be moderator, and the King wished him to be moderator merely because he was an unsuspecting, peaceable man, void of all guile or artifice, and easily led by such of his friends as he confided in, — some of whom were secretly in the King's interest. But as to Rollock not being in orders, Spotswood must only mean that he was not episcopally ordained. He had been not only a pro fessor of divinity, but an officiating minister in Edin burgh for ten years ; and at least seven years before, one of his printed works, the Commentary on the Ephesians, designed him minister of Edinburgh on the title-page. (Petrie here takes the liberty of say ing that the book which Spotswood " calleth the His tory of the Church of Scotland, may rather be called the Calumnies and Railino;s against the Church of Scotland, whereof he was an enemy, and by which he was justly and solemnly excommunicated in the year 1638. What is in that book of the faith, doctrine, or piety of the churches 1 ") But farther, even the readiness of the Assembly to elect RoUock may be CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 143 questioned, as no less than three sessions were occu- lect. pied with the choice of the moderator and the clerks. '— At this Assembly the proceedings of the Conven- „ '^^^'^' , .' X o ^ Progi^css of tion at Perth were confirmed, and answers were piven ""= K'ng'^ *^ moasures for to several of the King's questions, which had been ""^ng the *-^ •*• constitution referred. It was ordained that there should be anjfthe, Church. uniformity in the ordination of ministers throughout all the country, by imposition of hands ; that they be admitted to certain flocks ; and that " none who is not admitted to the ministry be permitted to teach in public and great places, except, upon very urgent ne cessity in defect of actual ministers, they be ordained to supply such wants by the general or provincial assemblies, or by the presbyteries, who shaU take dili gent order that they keep themselves within the bounds of their gift, and especially in application." This statute was made chiefly, or rather entirely, for the purpose of stopping the mouths of professors of theology, particularly Andrew Melville, whose powerful preaching was somewhat too formidable to the King. By the original constitution of the ofiice, a doctor, if not also ordinarily called to the ministry of the Word in a particular congregation, was restricted to the duty of expounding the Scriptures, without making such applications as the ministers use ; and this provision was now turned, by the King's sugges tion, against the chief leader of the Presbyterian body. For this reason it might be that, when the form of church government was renewed, it was determined that the doctor should in all cases be considered as a minister of the Word. Several of the other constitu tions of this Assembly had the same tendency to abridge the power of presbyteries, and to restrain the liberty of preaching. But the most effectual step XVIL 1597. 144 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. taken for altering the constitution of the Church was another device of the King. On the ninth session, his Majesty, being present, said, that as the shortness of time hindered many things of moment from being duly discussed, it deserved to be considered whether it were not expedient to grant commission to certain brethren to convene with his Majesty for executing the business which could not now be overtaken. On this hint, fourteen ministers were named (seven to be a quorum) to meet the King to give advice concerning a constant plat or modification of stipends, and generaUy to give their advice to his Majesty in aU affairs concern ing the weal of the Church, and entertainment of peace and obedience to his Majesty, with express power to propound to his Majesty the petitions and grievances of the Church in general, and of every member of it. Arrogant The commissioncrs thus appointed were aU eminent proceedings ^ ^ of the gene- mou, aud ono or two of them were named from the ral commis sioners ap- party adverse to the King-'s measures. All of them, pointed by 7 t i i- • the Assem- howcvcr, I bclieve, were gained over except James MelviUe. They had access to the King when they chose ; they sat and consulted with him, preparing matters for the consideration of the Assembhes, and concerting the methods by which their proposals were to be carried. Their appointment, I have already said, is understood to have been a device of the Court for with drawing the ablest of the ministers from the main body, and thus to pave the way for the introduction of Episcopacy. These men conducted themselves with great arrogance, and treated the presbyteries with contempt. Some ministers deposed for deser tion of duty they chose to restore ; others they removed in opposition to the views of the presbyteries. They CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 145 visited the colleges of St Andrews, where they were lect. • XVII most anxious to discover blemishes in the conduct of '- Andrew Melville, then rector, and in the other masters ^^^^' of the New College. Spotswood has given an unfair representation of the state of the colleges before this visitation, and has given the King the credit of those regulations with respect to the mode of teaching which were really the work of George Buchanan and of Andrew Melville himself. Other ordinances made by the commission of visitation were violations of the original laws of the university, and the most impor tant of them were innovations in the law of the Church. Thus, in pursuance of a decision of the late Assembly at Dundee, aU doctors, professors, and re gents, not being pastors of any congregation, were exempted from attendance on sessions, presbyteries, synods, or General Assemblies, as from all teaching in churches and congregations, exercises excepted ; and they were discharged from accepting any com mission prejudicial to the said exemption, under the pain of deprivation and rebellion. The commis sioners also suspended and removed Robert WaUace, minister of St Andrews, who had been David Black's colleague, and placed in his room one of themselves, George Gladstanes, afterwards Archbishop of St An drews. All these steps were taken to undermine the Presbyterian government, by weakening or supplant ing its chief supporters. . The next measure was still more evidently in- Act for tended for the same purpose. The Commissioners lilni'sV" presented to the Parliament which met in December Padiament. 1597, a petition in name of the Church, that ministers might have a vote in Parliament. The matter had often been, under . the consideration. . of Assemblies, VOL. II. K XVII 1598. 146 HISTORY OP THE LECT. but they had never resolved to apply for such a pri vilege. It was not without difficulty that the nobles were brought to agree to the petition ; and probably it would not have been granted if the King had not privately used aU his infiuence. He prevaUed on them to consent that " such ministers as his Majesty shall at any time please to provide to the office, dignity, and title of bishop, abbot, or other prelate, shall have vote in Parliament." It is believed that the Estates of Parliament were convinced that the ministers would not accept of these prelacies, and that they were thus led to yield to the petition under a condition which they conceived would be rejected. The Synod of Lothian opposed this scheme as an insidious attempt to introduce the tyranny of bishops, and many of the members of the Synod of Fife were decidedly hostUe to it. But their great leader, Mel ville, was not now permitted to speak or vote in church courts ; and though he did attend this meeting, and begin to deUver his opinion, he was rudely interrupted by one of the commissioners, as being no longer a constituent member. Resistance in the inferior courts was vain. The members of the General Assembly were now so obsequious to the King that they were ready to pass any law which he proposed. The members were not duly elected, but nominated through the King's influence, and they readily approved whatever the commissioners had [Booke of previously done. The Assembly, which met at Dun- Univ. Kirk, -i • -ii«- i w. / \ p. 946.] dee in March 1597-(8), concluded that it was "neces sary and expedient for the weal of the Church, that the ministry, as the third estate, have vote in Parhament, in name of the Church," and that the number should be the same as in the time of the Popish Church, CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 147 namely, 51, in place of the bishops, abbots, and priors, lect. They were to be elected partly by the King and L partly by the Church ; but many of the regulations ^^98. concerning the form of election, and other circum stances, were referred to the consideration of presby teries and synods, who were directed to consult with the doctors of the universities, namely, Andrew Mel ville, John Johnston, Robert Howie, Robert WUkie, and James Martin of St Andrews; Robert Rollock, of Edin burgh; and Patrick Sharp, of Glasgow. John Davidson, minister of Prestonpans, was the only member who had the boldness to protest against the hasty proceedings of this Assembly, which, he said, was not free, and which, in his judgment, was altogether disorderly. This was the man whose saying in the Synod of Fife is well known, when the proposal to give votes in Parliament to the ministers was first made : " Dress him up as gaily as ye can, bring him in as softly as ye will, we see him well enough, we see the horns of his mitre ; observe, brethren, how slily the bishop begins to creep in among us, novus palliatus episcopus." A loud horse laugh from his Majesty and his minions interrupted the old man while he was making some similar ob servations in the Assembly. Many of the members thought as he did, but, when the question was put, not one had the manliness to adhere to his protest ation ; it was therefore not allowed to be inserted in the register. About seventy or eighty members, however, followed him to the south side of the Tay, and added their names ; but when he came to St Andrews, on his way homeward, he did not think it safe to allow them to stand, and he therefore tore away the subscriptions and threw them into the fire. 148 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. Another Assembly met at Aberdeen, in July 1599, _ which proceeded farther in the business, and in March 1600. jgQQ .j.j^g work was completed by the Assembly at Montrose. It was not carried without opposition on the part of the ministers, but the ablest and most faithful of them were excluded. Those who remained in the Assembly could not be brought to vote that the commissioners to the Parliament should be con tinued for life. Fifty-one voted that the election should be made annuaUy by presbyteries; forty-eight (many of whom were not ministers) voted that the commissioner should every year lay down his commis sion at the feet of the Assembly, to be either with drawn or continued, as the Assembly, with the King's consent, should think fit. The King was somewhat disappointed at this conclusion, but he did not de spair of succeeding ultimately in his views. The "cautions" which were introduced into the Act to ob tain more easy compliance were soon suppressed, and articles favouring bishops were substituted in their place. Gowrie About this time, the alleged conspiracy of the Earl onspiracy. Qq.^j.^q agalust the Klug's life (a most mysterious transaction which has never yet been cleared up) gave occasion to some oppressive measures against the Church, Robert Bruce, and other ministers of Edin burgh, were banished, because they would not publicly give thanks for the King's deliverance" in the precise o [The following entry in the Records pepiU ane ordinance set down be his of the Kirk-Session of St Andrews Ma's Commissioners of the Kirk and refers to a curious commemoration of Secret Counsell, that in respect of his this event, which, by command of the Ma's late delyver'^" fra ye gry' & enii- King, was appointed to be observed nent treason intended ag' his Ma. upon throughout the country :— ane Tuesday, it was tho' meit, in all " Aug. 24, 1600. — Mr George Glaid- tyme cuming, the preichiiig on the stanes intimat out of ye pulpit to ye weik dayes suld be upon Tuesday XVIL 1600. CHUECH OP SCOTLAND. 149 terms which he conveyed to them. They were ready, lect they said, to give thanks for his safety, and even to report the whole matter in his own words, abstaining from any observations which might diminish his Majesty's credit and estimation with his people ; but they would not require the people to believe as an undoubted truth a matter on which they wished far ther light to be thrown. They were discharged to preach in the King's dominions under pain of death. These men were some of the most steady opponents of the form of government which the King was labour ing to introduce, and he rejoiced in the opportunity of getting rid of them. Before his purpose was fuUy accomplished, all the greatest ornaments of our na tional literature had been sent into exile, and the persons advanced to the chief dignities were all time serving politicians. and Thursday, and nocht upon Wed- halden ilk Tuesday, at twa hours, at nesday and Friday, as of befoir. . . and ye ringing of ye gryt bell, as wes als that ye Session is appointit to be of befoir upon ilk Wednesday."] 150 HISTOEY OP THE XVIII, 1603. LECTURE XVIIL 'succession op jambs to THB ENGLISH CROWN — SEVERE MEASURES AGAINST THB PRESBYTERIAN MINISTERS IN SCOTLAND — THE MILLENARY PETITION THE CONFERENCE AT HAMPTON COURT — DR barlow's ACCOUNT OP THE CONPERENCE BOOK OP CANONS OF 1604 PERSECUTION OP THE ENGLISH PURITANS A PRESAGE OP THE king's subsequent PROCEEDINGS IN SCOTLAND — ACT OP THB PARLIAMENT OF PERTH REGARDING THB RESTITUTION OF THE ESTATE OP BISHOPS. LECT. At the conclusion of the sixteenth century, James VI. had succeeded in his great aim of bringing over a majority of the ministers who frequented the General Assembly to his own views on the subject of Church government. The great body of the Church was still attached to Presbytery, and would have been happy to see it established permanently ; but their voice was not heard, and the persons who appeared as their representatives in the Supreme Ecclesiastical Court were in general selected by the King as being the fittest instruments for his purposes. His principles — if principles they could be called — had a strong ten dency to Popery. Perhaps there was some sinister policy in the partiality which he evinced to the Catho lics, as it was believed that he was apprehensive of being opposed in his views of succeeding to the crown of England by the Popish faction in that country, and for this reason, it is said, he gave them private XVIII. 1603;. CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 151 assurances that they might expect from him every lect. indulgence. His letter to the Pope, which was after wards published, exhibits his character in a still more suspicious light. Lord Balmerino, the Secretary of State, took the blame of it, and said that the King- signed it among a number of other papers, with out being acquainted with its contents. This story gained scarcely any credit in the country, as the Secretary, though condemned to death for the offence, was immediately pardoned and restored to liberty. The desire of making himself generally acceptable to the English nation, might be one of the chief reasons why James took so much pains to prepare his Scot tish subjects to submit to his favourite scheme of establishing uniformity of worship throughout his whole dominions ; but no doubt the motive which weighed more with him than any other was the desire of gratifying his own arbitrary disposition. « On the last day of March 1603, Sir Robert Cary Accession arrived in Edinburgh with the long-expected accounts the English of the death of Queen Elizabeth, and in a day or two "°™' afterwards James received a letter from the Court and nobUity of England, informing him that he had been proclaimed King, with aU the requisite solemnities, in the cities of London and Westminster. He imme diately prepared to commence his journey to the capi tal of his newly-acquired kingdom. On the Sunday before his departure he attended divine service in St Giles's Church, where he made a pompous speech to ointheyear 1600, the King thought pointed to the Bishopric of Aber- fit to promote three of the commis- deen ; and Gladstanes, minister of St sioners for managing the affairs of Andrews, was made Bishop of Caith- the Church to the dignity of bishops, ness. This was done, by a stretch of David Lindsay, minister at Leith, was the royal prerogative, before the Par- made Bishop of Eoss; Peter Black- liament had restored the temporali- buru, minister of Aberdeen, was ap- ties of the dioceses. 152 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. the people, assuring them that he would maintain the ¦ same parental regard for their interest as if he were ¦^^°^" stUl to reside among them, and that he would take care that justice should be faithfully administered in his absence. Among the companions of his journey he selected seven of the ministers, two of whom were the Bishops of Ross and Dunkeld, and all the others soon reached equal preferment. Severe ^ Thc Klug was at first so much occupied with the measures against the affalrs of England that he had not leisure to attend Presby- ° . „ , . . terian min- to the ecclcsiastical proceedings of his native land ; isters in Scotland, and it is probable that this temporary forbearance had the effect of lulling the jealousy of the Presbyte rians, and preventing them from taking measures to counteract his aggressions. He had not been two years in England when he began to interfere with the Church's privilege of holding General Assemblies annually, or oftener pro re nata. The General As sembly, which was appointed to meet at Aberdeen in July 1604, was adjourned by the royal mandate to July 1605, and at length postponed to an uncertain day. The effect of this prorogation was most injurious to the due exercise of discipline. Many of those who became subject to church censures, appealed from the decision of presbyteries and synods to the General Assembly, in the expectation that the King would not allow any General Assemblies to sit. The ministers, too, were convinced that the King would be influenced entirely by the views of the Episcopahan faction, and that no Assembly would be permitted to meet tUl it was previously ascertained that they would be sub missive to the dictates of that party. To guard against these consequences, some of the commissioners from 1603. CHUECH OP SCOTLAND. 153 presbyteries met at Aberdeen on the day to which the lect. Assembly had been prorogued, — but the numbers were inconsiderable, and they thought it sufiicient to consti tute and appoint a subsequent meeting in the month of September. But that meeting was prohibited, and ordered to disperse under pain of rebeUion. On this occasion, fourteen ministers, the most learned and most eminent in the country, were imprisoned, some in the castle of Dumbarton, others in Blackness, others in Doune, and three or four in Stirling. Six of them were tried before the Court of Justiciary, for having convened after the King had discharged the diet. They declined the jurisdiction of the Court, but it was not to be expected that such a plea should avail them. They were found guilty of high treason, a crime which exposed them to capital punishment in the most hor rible form ; but the Government durst not risk the odium of carrying it into execution, and the sentence was commuted into banishment for life. To this punishment they submitted with exemplary fortitude ; and, severe as it was, it might almost be said to be merciful in comparison with the infliction to which the other eight were exposed, who were condemned, during the King's pleasure, to the most inhospitable retreats in the northern and western islands. A pro clamation was soon afterwards issued, prohibiting all ministers to pray for any of these persecuted brethren, or to speak favourably of them in sermons, or in any other public or private speeches. While these severities were practised upon the The Miiien- strict Presbyterians in Scotland, the most decisive raears'''""' steps were being taken in England to crush the same Puriia^,s principles. As the King passed through England, in m.f' '' his progress to London, the Puritans presented a peti- 154 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. tion said to be subscribed by one thousand ministers, '^^"^' and hence caUed the Millenary Petition. The pre- ¦^^°^" amble represents that, neither as factious men affect ing a popular parity in the Church, nor as schismatics aiming at the dissolution of the ecclesiastical estate, but as faithful ministers of Christ, and loyal subjects, they were humbly desirous of obtaining reformation of certain abuses ; and although several of them had subscribed the Service Book, either with some con dition or exposition, or upon protestation, yet now more than one thousand ministers were oppressed by the imposition of human ceremonies, from the burden of which they craved to be relieved. They begged, " 1. That in the church service the sign of the cross in baptism, the interrogatories to infants, baptism by women (allowed in cases of apparent danger), and confirmation, might be taken away ; that the cap and surplice might not be urged ; that examination might precede communion ; that the ring in marriage might be dispensed with ; that the service might be abridged ; that church songs and music might be moderated, so as to be more edifying; that the Lord's day might not be profaned, nor the observation of other holy days strictly enjoined ; that ministers might not be required to insist on the people bowing at the name of Jesus ; and that none but canonical Scriptures should be read in the Church. 2. That, in respect to ministers, none might be admitted but men able and apt to teach ; that the unqualified should he removed, or obUged to maintain preachers ; that non residents might not be permitted ; and that ministers might not be obliged to subscribe, but according to law, to the Articles of Religion, and the King's supremacy. 3. In reference to church livings, that XVIIL 1603. CHUECH OP SCOTLAND. 155 bishops leave their commendams ; that impropriations lect. annexed to bishoprics and colleges be given to preach ers and incumbents only ; and that lay impropriations be charged with one-sixth or one-seventh part for mauitaining a preacher. 4. In the matter of church discipline, that excommunication and church cen sures be not in the name of lay chancellors, &c. ; that men may not be excommunicated without consent of their pastors ; that Popish canons be reversed ; that the length of suits in ecclesiastical courts may be restrained ; that the oath ex offi,cio may be more sparingly used, and licenses for marriages without proclamation of banns more sparingly granted. These things," added they, " we are able to show not to be agreeable with the Word of God, if it shall please your Majesty to hear us, or by writing to be resolved, or by conference among the learned to be resolved." This was not the only petition which the King received on the same subject ; but against this in particular the heads of the two EngUsh universities took offence, because it asked that the impropriations annexed to bishoprics and colleges might be with drawn. An answer published by the University of Oxford passes many harsh censures on the ministers for subscribing the articles and then complaining : it describes them as factious men, who wished to limit the prerogatives of the monarchy, and to lead a party in the Church ; it reprobates the conduct of the Scots reformers, and in fact arraigns those very principles which the King had pubUcly applauded before he left this country; and after justifying all those particulars of which the Puritans complained as grievances, and commending the Established Church government as the great support of the royal power, it entreats his 156 HISTOEY OP THE LECT. Maiesty not to allow the peace of the State to be dis- XVIIT o J L -— turbed by those who wished to alter the ecclesiastical '^^'^^^ poUty. The arrogance of the conclusion is unparab leled. " In this one kingdom," say the Oxonians, " there are at this day a greater number of learned men than among all the ministers of rehgion in France, Flanders, Germany, Poland, Denmark, Ge neva, or (to speak in a word) in all Europe besides." The divines of Cambridge thanked their brethren of Oxford for their masterly answer to the puritanical petition, and expressed their determination to over power their pitiful antagonists by force of numbers, and by a multitude of books, of which there was no end. " Let them answer," said they, " the thousand books (or nearly a thousand) written in defence of the hierarchy before they pretend to dispute before so great a King." The Confer- His Majcsty lUdng the parade of public disputa- Hampton tious, lu whlch hc had an opportunity of showing his learning, and probably wishing to preserve the appear ance of candour and fairness, thought proper to issue a proclamation requiring a meeting or conference, to be holden at Hampton Court on the 24th October 1603, for hearing and determining things pretended to be amiss in the Church. He declared in this pro clamation that he was persuaded that the constitu tion of the Church of England was agreeable to God's Word, and very near the condition of the primitive Church ; and he prohibited his subjects either to pub lish or to petition against it, as he was determined to preserve the ecclesiastical state in such a form as he found it established by law, being wiUing to reform only such abuses as should be clearly proved to exist. The English clergy in general were confident of the CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 157 victory they were to gain by this conference, and yet lect. the great adversary of the Pmitans, Archbishop Whit- '- gift, was not free of apprehension. The disputants were named by the King. On the side of the Episco pahans he named nine bishops, and eight other digni taries (deans and archdeacons). Only four ministers were named to plead the cause of the Puritans, — Dr Reynolds and Dr Sparks, Mr Chadderton and Mr Knewstubs. All the Episcopalian divines were dressed in the habits peculiar to their respective professions, — "the Puritans in gowns trimmed with fur, like [History of o ^ Funtans, Turkey merchants," says Neal, "or like the professors in ™i- '¦ p- foreign universities." When the King spoke with the bishops, he put on an air of great softness, courteous- ness, and respect ; but when the Puritan ministers uttered their opinions, he answered them harshly with frowns and threatenings. Dr Barlow, Dean of Chester, one of the speakers, published an account of the con ference, and, as Fuller says, " he being a party, set a sharp edge on his own, and a blunt one on his adver saries' weapons." Another account was written by Patrick Galloway, who had been minister of Perth, [Caider- i*i' !• rr • r -1 a k ^^od. Hist. which gives a very difierent view of the matter. As 474. [a It has been said that " Mr Patrick ecclesiastical constitution established GaUoway, minister of Perth, was pre- at the Eeformation. It was impos- sent at the Conference as representing sible that he should have had any the Church of Scotland." Mr Patrick commission to represent the Church GaUoway, however, had ceased to be of Scotland iu the Conference, as the minister of Perth fourteen years be- last General Assembly, which sat in fore the time now refeiTcd to, hav- November 1602 (before Queen Eliza- ing been one of the King's domestic beth's death), could not have foreseen chaplains from 1589 to 1607 ; and so that any conference was to take place. effectuaUy did he ingratiate himself The Assembly had, however, recom- that his son was created a peer by the mended to presbyteries to advertise title of Lord Duukeld. Galloway, his Majesty's ministers (chaplains) of instead of representing the Church of " such as misliked the govemment, or Scotland, was one of tbe instruments were inclined to novations;" and it einployed by the King for the very was also "thought expedient, and purpose of subverting the original concludit that his Majesty's ministers, 158 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. XVIII. W03. [Barlow's Sum and Substance I happen to have lately obtained -Dr Barlow's book (which is very seldom to be met with), I shaU read a few passages from it. It shows in a strong light the manner in which the English dignitaries truckled to his Majesty. [Thus in the first day's conference, from which the Puritan ministers were excluded, " that if anything should be found meet to be redressed, it might be done without any visible alteration," every point excepted against by the King was conceded by the bishops : — not, it must be added, without, at the same time, the exhibition of some disingenuousness on the part of more than one of them in their expositions of the existing principles and practice of the Church of England. Among the "special points" on which James requested information was private baptism, " his high ness growing somewhat earnest against the baptising by women and laicks." The foUowing extracts from the discussion on this topic need no comment : — " The lord archbishop proceeded to speak of private baptism, showing his Majesty that the administration and sic utheris of the ministrie as sail have occasion to be in any charge about his Majesty, inform the presby teries of the state of things so far as it is needful for theweiU of the cause." In this way it was that Galloway wrote to the Presbytery of Edinburgh. His account of the Hampton Court Con ference is far more worthy of credit than Barlow's ; for GaUoway's account was corrected by the King's own hand before it was sent to the presbytery. The letter may be seen in the printed Calderwood, p. 475, &c., and in the fifth volume of his MS. History, p. 693, &o. It is said by Calderwood that when the letter of Mr P. Galloway was read in the Presbytery of Edinburgli, " Mr James Melville was present. AU others keeping silent, he craved two things : First, that they would be grieved with sorrow with many godly and learned brethren in our neighbour country, who, having expected reformation, are disappointed and heavily grieved; and that if no other way could be found for help, that they would at least help them by their prayers to God for their comfort and relief. 2. That as the Presbytery of Edinburgh had ever been as the lion and watch- tower of our Kirk, and the ministers thereof the chief watchmen, that they would watch and take heed that no peril come from our neighbour Kirk. — {Additional Memorial on Printing Bibles).] CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 159 of baptism by women and lay persons was not allowed lect. in the practice of the Church, but inquired of by '- bishops in their visitation, and censured; neither do ^^ ^J^^°^'^^ the words in the book infer any such meaning." f-Ji-ence held •^ J--* at Hampton Whereunto the King excepted, ' urging and pressing [^J^^^ the words of the book, that they could not but intend p- 146.] ' a permission and suffering of women and private per sons to baptise.' Here the Bishop of Worcester said, that indeed the words were doubtful, and might be pressed for that meaning, but yet it seemed, by the contrary practice of our Church (censuring women in this case), that the compilers of the book did not so intend them, and yet propounded them ambiguously, because otherwise, perhaps, the book would not have then passed in the ParUament. The Bishop of Lon don replied that those leamed and reverend men who framed the Book of Common Prayer, intended not by ambiguous terms to deceive any, but did indeed by those words intend a permission of private persons to baptise in case of necessity, whereof their letters were witnesses ; some parts whereof he then read, and withal declared that the same was agreeable to the practice of the ancient Church. . . . The Bishop of Winchester spake very learnedly and earnestly in that point, affirming that the denying of private per- o [ " It had been customary till this the name of the Father, the Son, and time for bishops to Ucense midwives the Holy Ghost," and none other pro to their office, and to allow their right fane words ; and that in baptising any to baptise in cases of necessity, under infant bom, and pouring water on the the foUowing oath : — ' I, , admit- head of the said infant, I will use ted to the office and occupation of a pure and clean water, and not any rose midwife ... in the ministration or damask water, or water made of of the sacrament of baptism, in the any confection or mixture ; and that time of necessity, will use the accus- I will certify the curate of the parish tomed words of the same sacrament ; church of every such baptising.'" — ¦ that is to say, these words following, Neal's Hist, of the Puritans,!, il3.} or the like effect : " I christen thee in 160 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. sons, in cases of necessity, to baptise, were to cross all ''^^"^' antiquity, seeing that it had been the ancient and 1603. common practice of the Church, when ministers at such times could not be got ; and that it was also a rule agreed upon among divines, that the minister is not of the essence of the sacrament. . . . The issue was a consideration, whether into the rubrick of private baptism, which leaves it indifferently to all laicks or clergy, the words curate or lauful minister might not be inserted, which was not so much stuck at by the bishops." The adulation, often not free from profanity, which James receives from " the lords " and their reporter, must have been all the more grateful to him from its striking contrast with the plain speaking to which he had hitherto been accustomed. The archbishop did not enter on the debate until " after that, on his knee, he had signified how much this whole land was bound to God for setting over us a King so wise, learned, and [Barlow's judiclous." Dt Barlow, in his account of the first day, iutetance coucludcs by saying that " the three hours and more ferracfheid speut wcTC soou gouc, — SO admirably, both for under- coSt™^'™ standing, speech, and judgment did his Majesty handle p. 148.] ^Y[ those points, sending us away, not with content ment only, but astonishment ; and which is pitiful, you wiU say, with shame to us all, that a King brought up among Puritans, not the learnedst men in the world, and schooled by them, swaying a kingdom full of business and troubles, naturally given to much ex ercise and repast, should in points of divinity show himself so expedite and perfect, that the greatest scholars and most industrious students there present might not outstrip him. But this one thing I might not omit that his Majesty should profess, howsoever he CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. IGl lived among Puritans, and was kept for the most part lect. as a ward under them, yet since he was of the age of ^"^^^ ' his son, ten years old, he ever disliked their opinions ; ^'''*''- as the SavioiLT of the world said, ' though he lived amongst them, he was not of them.'" The impression produced by the next day's confer- [Bariow, p. ence was still more remarkable. " It raised such an admiration in the lords, in respect of the King's sin gular readiness and exact knowledge, that one of them said he was fully persuaded his IMajesty spake by the instinct of the Spirit of God. ]\Iy Lord Cecil acknow ledged that very much we are bound to God, who had given us a King of an understanding heart. My Lord ChanceUor, passing out of the privy chamber, said unto the Dean of Chester, standing by the door, I have often heard and read, that Rex est mixta persona cum sacerdote ; but I never saw the truth thereof till this day. Surely whosoever heard his Majesty might justly think that title did more properly fit him which Unapius gave to that famous rhetorician, in saying that he was /StySXio^Tj/cij rts l/ti'/'v^os, /cat TrepLTTaTovv liovadov, a living library and a walking study." In the third day's conference " his Majesty so [ibid,, p. soundly described the oath ex officio . . . that all the lords, and the rest of the present auditors, stood amazed at it. The Archbishop of Canterbury said that undoubtedly ' his Majesty spake by the special assist ance of God's Spirit ;' the Bishop of London, upon^his knee, protested ' that his heart melted within him (as so, he doubted not, did the hearts of the whole com pany) with joy, and made haste to acknowledge unto Almighty God the singular mercy we have received at his hands, in giving us such a King, as, since Christ's time, the like, he thought, had not been ; ' whereunto VOL. II. L XVIII 1603. 162 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. the lords with one voice did yield a very affectionate acclamation. The civilians present confessed that they could not, in many hours' warning, have so judiciaUy, plainly, and accurately, and in such a brief, described it." [Barlow, p. Thc accouut of the discussion as to a new version of 157 1 the Scriptures is worth quoting, though not less inaccu rate than the rest of the book : — " Dr Reynolds moved his Majesty ' that there might be a new translation of the Bible, because those which were aUowed in the reign of King Henry VIII. and Edward VI. were corrupt, and not answerable to the truth of the original.' To which motion there was at the present no gainsaying, the objections being trivial and old, and already in print, often answered ; only my lord of London weU added, that if every man's humour should be foUowed, there would be no end of translating. Whereupon ' his Highness wished that some especial pains should be taken in that behalf for one uniform translation (professing that he could never yet see a Bible well translated into English ; but the worst of aU his Majesty thought the Geneva to be), and this to be done by the best learned in both universities ; after them to be reviewed by the bishops, and the chief learned of the Church ; from them to be presented to the Privy CouncU ; and, lastly, to be ratified by his royal authority ; and so this whole Church to be bound unto it, and none other.' Marry, withal he gave this caveat (upon a word cast out by my lord of London), that no marginal notes should be added, having found in them which are annexed to the Ge neva translation (which he saw in a Bible given him by an English lady) some notes very partial, untrue, seditious, and favouring too much of dangerous and CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 163 traitorous conceits. As for example, the first chapter of lect. Exodus, and the 19th verse, where the marginal note 1693. alloweth disobedience unto kings. And 2 Chron. xv. 16, the note taxeth Asa for deposing his mother only, and not kUUng her.' And so concludeth this point as all the rest, with a grave and judicious advice."" There are several allusions by the King to his Scottish experiences. Mr Knewstubs, referring to the use of the cross in baptism, having said he had con scientious doubts how far such an ordinance of the Church could be made to bind the Puritans without impeaching their Christian liberty, " the King, as it seemed, was much moved, and told him ' he would not argue that point with him, but answer therein, as ff?''°^' p- Kings are wont to speak in Parliament, Le Roy s'avisera;' adding withal, that it smelled very rankly a [If there were no other reason for disputing Dr Barlow's accuracy, this single passage contains intemal evi dence sufficient to throw discredit on his whole narrative. First, it is in conceivable that King James should never have seen a Geneva Bible till he had one given him by an English lady. The only Bible which had ever been printed in Scotland was of the Geneva translation, and contained the offensive notes. Secondly, it is not very probable that the King would speak so disrespectfully of a transla tion which he had authorised for the instruction of his subjects ; and it is incredible that, after this opinion was pronounced, he should have never, during the remaining twenty -two years of his reign, authorised the printing of any other version in Scot land. Thirdly, we cannot believe that his Majesty could be guilty of the in consistency of complaining of annota tions expressed in the very words of a book set forth by his own authority a few years before his accession to the English throne — namely, in the " Pro positions and Principles of Divinitie, printed at Edinburgh by Robert Wal degrave, printer to the King's Majes tie, Anno Dom. 1591. Cum privilegio regali." Fourthly, it is almost incre dible that King James should not have leamed that the Geneva transla tion was so highly esteemed by many of the most leamed divines in the Church of England, as to be used in preference to what has been called the Bishops' Bible. Thus Dr Abbot, Pro fessor of Divinity, and Master of Uni versity CoUege, Oxford, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, one of the translators selected by Eling James in his " Exposition of Jonah," contained in thirty sermons preached in St Mary's Church, Oxford, in 1599, has always used the Geneva version. In the same manner, Dr Gervase Bab ington, successively Bishop of Lan- daff, Exeter, and Worcester, one of the members of the Hampton Court con- 164 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. XVIIL 1603. of Anabaptism ; comparing it to the usage of a beard less boy (one Mr John Black), who the last conference had with the ministers of Scotland, in December 1602, told him that he would hold conformity with his Majesty's ordinances for matters of doctrine ; but for matters of ceremony, they were to be left in Christian liberty to every man, as he received more and more light from the illumination of God's Spirit : ' Even tih they go mad,' quoth the King, ' with their own hght. But I will none of that ; I will have one doctrine, and one discipline, one religion in substance and in cere mony ; and therefore I charge you to speak no more to that point.' The cornered cap having been ap proved by the Puritan ministers, — ' Well then,' said his Majesty, turning himself to the bishops, ' you may now safely wear your caps ; but I shall teU you ference, had been accustomed to use that version in his sermons preached at Court, as well as in his expository works on the Creed, thc Command ments, and the Lord's Prayer, and in his Comfortable Notes on tlie Five Books af Moses. The same observa tion applies to Dillingham, one of the translators, and many others, whom it is unnecessary to name. We can not, however, pass by Bishop Over all, whose Convocation Book was first printed iu 1689, with the imprimatur of the Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr Sancroft). The acts and canons con tained in this book were passed by the convocation, which was summoned by James I. in the year of the Hampton Court conference, and which continued by adjournments and prorogations to 1610. They were read three times iu the Lower House of Convocation, and ap proved by unanimous consent. They were afterwards approved by the Up per House of Convocation, and passed with a few amendments, as appears from the attestation of Archbishop Bancroft, who presided. In a very few instances the quotations of Scrip ture are taken from the Bishops' Bible ; but in general they are taken from the Geneva version . . We find also Dr Richard Montagu (the best Puritanical pei-son of his age, and one of the greatest favourites of King James), who died Bishop of Norwich in 1641, using the Geneva version frequently in his Acts and Monuments of the Church before Christ, printed at London by Miles Flesher and Robert Young, in 1642. Lastly, it is truly wonderful that nei ther his Majesty nor Barlow should have known that the very notes which were so much reprobated, had been adopted into the Bishops' Bible, pub lished in 1568 by Archbishop Parker, whose respect for the Geneva version was very strongly expressed in his let ter to Sir William Cecil, 9th Mai-ch 1565-6, applying for leave to John Bodleigh to print it.— {Add. Mem.) CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 165 if you should walk in one street iu Scotland with lect. . XVIII such a cap on your head, if I were not with you, you '- should be stoned to death with your cap.' Again, at ^'''^^' a suggestion of Dr Reynolds relative to periodical meetings of the clergy, his Majesty was somewhat stirred, yet, which is admirable in him, without passion or show thereof ; thinking that they aimed at a Scotch Presbytery, which, saith he, as ' well agreeth with a monarchy as God and the devil. Then Jack, and Tom, and WUl, and Dick, shall meet, and at their pleasures censure me and my Council, and all our pro ceedings. Then Will shall stand up and say. It must be thus ; then Dick shall reply, and say, Nay, marry, but we must have it thus. And, therefore, here I must once reiterate my former speech, Le Roy s'avis- era. Stay, I pray you, for one seven years, before you demand that of me, and if then you find me pursy and fat, and my windpipes stuffed, I will per haps hearken to you. For let that government be once up, I am sure I shall be kept in breath ; then shall we aU of us have work enough, both our hands fuU. But, Dr Reynolds, till you find that I grow lazy, let that alone.' "] I refer you to Neal for a more complete and [Ncai, uis- accurate narrative of the proceedings. The truth seems PuritVs.l to be that the conference at Hampton Court was a ^" piece of theatrical mockery. Everything was previ ously arranged between the King and the bishops ; and the Puritans were confounded by the unexpected part which the King took in the disputes. The whole matter ended in a few slight alterations in the Book of Common Prayer; and though the anti-Episcopahan speakers were induced to acquiesce, their followers refused to be guided by the conclusion of the Con- 166 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. XVIII. 1603. ference." The bishops might easily have been gained over by the King, if he had been firmly attached to the cause of reformation ; but his arbitrary temper, his instability of purpose, his love of flattery, and the rooted antipathy which he had conceived against the Puritans, prevented him from fulfilling the expecta tions of his subjects by embracing the opportunity of healing the divisions in the Church. Soon afterwards James published a proclamation, in which he says that, after hearing the objections of the Nonconformists to the doctrine and discipline established in England, which proved to be very a [The four clergymen who nomin aUy represented the Puritans did not by any means possess the entire con fidence of their party. It may be ne cessary to state that they were all members of the Church of England, and of the English universities. Dr Heyiin, in his Quinquarticular His tory, mentions Dr Reynolds and Dr Sparks as being of Oxford (the former was president of Corpus Christi Col lege, and the latter, FeUow of Magda len College, aud a professor of divin ity), and Mr Knewstubs and Mr Chatterton as of Cambridge. The last mentioned was Master of Emman uel College. The same author men tions Drs Sparks and Eeynolds as hav ing stood firm to the Church of Eng land {Quinquart. Hist. c. 21, Sect. 7.) Calderwood says of the conference, (voL V. pp. 586, 587, MS.) : " The good professors of England were put in hopes of good beginning of reform ation, and so much was pretended when the conference was appointed. But nothing less meant, yea, rather under colour of conference to procure further confirmation to the abuses and corruptions. What sincerity was there meant, when /or i/tc sincere party were nominate two that were very cor rupt appearandly t They were nominat only to be spies and to prevaricate." The same account of their characters is given by Mr WiUiam Scott, in his MS. Account of the Govemment of the Church. Galloway says that when the King craved to know of them what they desired to be reformed, " it was very loosely and coldly answered." Anthony Wood speaks of both Eey nolds aud Sparks as having written iu favour of conformity. Fuller (in his Church History, cent. 17, b. 10, p. 48), says of Reynolds that "his dis affection to the discipline established iu England was not so great as some bishops did su^ect, or as mere non conformists did believe. No doubt he desired the abolishing of some cere monies for the ease of the conscience of others, to which in his own practice he did willingly submit, constantly wearing hood and surplice, and kneel ing at the sacrament." Neal, in his History of the Puritans (vol. ii. p. 22), says that "Dr Reynolds fell below himself, and lost some part of his esiteem with the Puritans, being over awed by the place and company and his sovereign opponent." — {Add. Mem.)'] CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 167 slender, he had yielded to a few explanations of pass- lect. ages, and now he enjoined all his subjects to conform '- to it as the only public form established in the realm, ^^'^^' and required them to expect no further alterations, for his resolutions were absolutely settled. This pro clamation was considered as a stretch of prerogative. The sovereign owned, that by his own act, without consent of Parliament or convocation, he had altered articles in the Liturgy ; and as the validity of every royal proclamation terminates with the King's life, it was argued, in the subsequent reign, that the liturgy, in the state in which it then existed, was not what had been established by law, and was not, therefore, binding on the clergy. The King also published another proclamation Book of against Puritans, requiring them all to conform, or else to suffer the utmost extremity of the law. About the same time a convocation of the Church sat, and prepared a Book of Canons, which was ratified by the King's letters under the Great Seal. I shall read a few of them which related particularly to the Puritans. [The following are the canons now referred to, as [Hist, of the . -KT 1 Puritans, given by Neal : — vol. i. p. ° '' 428.] "Canon III. — Whosoever shall affirm that the Church of England, by law established, is not a true and Apostolical Church, let him be excommunicated ipso facto, and not restored, but only by the arch bishop after his repentance and public revocation of his wicked error. " Canon IV. — Whosoever shall affirm the form of God's worship in the Church of England, established by law, and contained in the Book of Common Prayer XVIII, 1604. 168 HISTOEY OP THE LECT. and administration of sacraments, is a corrupt, super stitious, and unlawful worship, or contains anything repugnant to Scripture, let him be excommuni cated. . . . " Canon V. — Whosoever shall affirm that any of the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church, agreed upon in the year 1562, for avoiding diversity of opinions, and for establishing consent touching true religion, are in any part superstitious or erroneous, or such as he may not with a good conscience subscribe to, let him be ex communicated. " Canon VI. — Whosoever shall affirm that the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England, by law established, are wicked, antichristian, superstitious, or such as, being commanded by lawful authority, good men may not with a good conscience approve, use, or, as occasion requires, subscribe, let him be excommunicated. " Canon VII. — Whosoever shall affirm the gov ernment of the Church of England by archbishops, bishops, deans, and archdeacons, and the rest that bear office in the same, is antichristian, or repugnant to the Word of God, let him be excommunicated, "Canon VIII. — Whosoever shall affirm that the form and manner of making and consecrating bishops, priests, or deacons, contains anything repugnant to the Word of God, or that persons so made and con secrated are not lawfully made, or need any other calling or ordination to their divine offices, let him be excommunicated. " Canon IX. — Whosoever shall separate from the communion of the Church of England, as it is ap proved by the Apostles' rules, and combine together iu a new brotherhood, accounting those who conform to 1604. CHUECH OP SCOTLAND. 169 the doctrines, rites, and ceremonies of the Church, un- lect. , . .... 1 . XVIII. meet for their communions, let him be excommuni- - cated. " Canon X. — Whosoever shall affirm that such mini sters as refuse to subscribe to the form and manner of God's worship in the Church of England, and their adherents, may truly take to themselves the name of another church not established by law, and shall pub lish that their pretended church has groaned under the burden of certain grievances, imposed on them by the Church of England, let him be excommuni cated. " Canon XI. — Whosover shall affirm that there are within this realm other meetings, assemblies, or con gregations of the King's born subjects than such as are established by law, which may rightly challenge to themselves the name of true and lawful churches, let him be excommunicated. " Canon XII. — Whosoever shall affirm that it is lawful for any sort of ministers or lay persons to make rules, orders, and constitutions in causes ecclesi astical, without the King's authority, and shall submit to be ruled and governed by them, let him be excom municated. " Canon XCVIII. — We decree and appoint, that after any judge ecclesiastical hath proceeded judi ciously against obstinate and factious persons, for not observing the rites and ceremonies of the Church, or for contempt of public prayer, no judge, ad quem, shall admit or allow of an appeal, unless he having first seen the original appeal, the party appellant do first personally promise and vow that he will faith fully keep and observe aU the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England, as also the prescript form of 170 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. common prayer, and do likewise subscribe the three XVIII 1604. articles formerly by us specified and declared."] Persecution Aftcp the ratification of these canons, suspension bsh Puri°^ and deprivation from their livings were not thought ' sufficient punishments for Nonconformists, but aU Puritans must be considered as unfit to have a place in the congregation of God's worshippers. They were declared incapable of suing for lawful debts ; unless they made satisfaction to the Church, they might be imprisoned for life ; and when they died, they were to be refused Christian burial. The Puritans were now persecuted with such rigour, that many of them left the kingdom and retired to the Low Countries. The greater part of them were extremely unwiUing to separate from the Church ; and if there had been any sincere desire on the part of the bishops to hsten to their complaints, the schism might have been easily healed. But the detestable court of the Star Cham ber was not satisfied with merely depriving the mmis ters who refused to conform implicitly. It declared that " the King, without Parliament, might make orders and constitutions for the government of the clergy, and might deprive them if they obeyed not," and that framing petitions to the King in a public cause, and obtaining subscriptions, as the Puritans had done, was " an offence finable at discretion, and very near to treason and felony in the punishment, as it tended to the raising sedition, rebellion, and dis content among the people." By this determination the clergy were excluded from the benefit of the statute law, and his Majesty's commissioners were authorised to proceed without the forms of law, while it was declared almost to amount to rebeUion to lay CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 171 a petition for relief at the feet of the monarch ; as if lect. , . . XVllI. the conscientious scruples of the Puritans had ren- -^ '- 1604. dered them unworthy of the protection of the laws, and placed them even beyond the pale of common charity. The pretended friends of Government thought fit to brand them with every conceivable injurious imputation, and even to charge them with the guilt of the Gunpowder Treason, though the conspirators who were convicted never attempted to insinuate that any share of the criminality was imputable to them. The proceedings in England against the Noncon- 16O6. formists were the presages of the storm which was IJ^l^^i ti,o soon to burst on the Presbyterians in Scotland, sequlnt'pro- Eight of the most distinguished ministers were re- gcoUand.'" moved from their charges, and ordered to go to Lon don, where they were detained," under false pretences, tUl Episcopacy was established in Scotland. Two of these ministers were Andrew and James Melville, neither of whom was ever suffered to return. Their influence in the Church courts had been found to be too great, and the King was resolved to put an effec tual stop to it. In July the Parliament met at Perth, and ac- [Act. Pari. knowledged the King's sovereign authority and royal 281.]' "' a [In the month of September they " teaching upon the Tenth of Num- were summoned to several confer- bers, discoursed upon the two trum- ences with the King. One of the pets, and proved, aa he could, the questions proposed to them related to convening and discharging of oouu- the power of his Majesty to convoke, oils and assemblies to belong to Chris- prorogue, and dissolve ecclesiastical tian kings and emperors." Calder- assembUes. This they all refused wood, p. 542. (See M'Crie's Life of to acknowledge, notwithstanding the Melville, vol. ii. ; Melville's Declining eloquent and leamed sermons deli- Age ; Scott's Historical Narration ; vered on the subject in their hearing, Report of the Conference, 1606, MS., by four dignified clergymen of the Advocates' Library ; Heylin's History Church of England, namely, Bishop- of Presbyterians, page 379.) — {Add. Barlow, Dr Buckeridge, Dr King, and Mem.)'\ Bishop Andrews ; the last of whom, XVIII. 1606. 172 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. prerogative over all estates, persons, and causes. It rescinded all the laws formerly made which had been subversive of the dignity and privileges of bishops. It restored the estate of bishops to their an cient and accustomed honour, dignities, prerogatives, privileges, livings, lands, teinds, rents, thirds and estate, as the same was before th6 Act of Parliament 1587, annexing the temporalities of benefices to the Crown. Thus the bishops were advanced to all their civil power, and to their votes in ParUament, This was one of the first of a series of steps for securing their tyranny over the Church. CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. ]73 LECTURE XIX. PROTESTATION AG.\IXST THB ACT RESTORING THB ESTATE OF BISHOPS — THB REASONS OF THB PROTEST ASSEMBLY AT LINLITHGOW, 1606 APPOINTMENT OF PERMANENT MODERATORS FOR PRBSBT- TERIES AND SYNODS ERECTION OP THE HIGH COMMISSION COURT THE RIGHT OF ORDINATION AND OTHER POWERS CON FERRED ON BISHOPS BY THE ASSEMBLY THE OATH OP CANONICAL OBEDIENCE CONSECRATION OP THE BISHOPS VISIT OP THB KING TO SCOTLAND PARLIAMENT OP JUNE 1617 PROTESTATION AGAINST FURTHER INNOVATIONS. At the conclusion of the last Lecture I was mention- lect. XIX ing the proceedings of the Parliament at Perth, in _ which the annexation of benefices to the Crown was „ ^^°^- Protest dissolved, and the power and dimity of the bishops against the -*- o ./ I Act restoring restored, with that portion of their revenues which the estate of ¦¦- _ Bishops. had not been alienated. This measure was not suf fered to pass without opposition, and probably could not have been carried into effect, if it had not been for the artful management of George Hume, Earl of Dunbar. Ministers commissioned from different pres byteries used their utmost dUigence to prevail on the Parliament to oppose the restitution of the bishop rics ; and not expecting that aU argument would be useless, they prepared a protestation, in which they undertook to prove that " the office of bishops, as proposed to be erected, is against the Word of God, the ancient canons and fathers of the Church, the 174 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. modern most learned and godly divines, the doctrine XIX — and constitution of the Church of Scotland since the 1606. first Reformation, the laws of the realm ratifying the government of the Church by General and Provincial Assemblies, Presbyteries, and Sessions ; also against the weal and honour of the King's Majesty, the honour and peace of the kingdom, the established estate and weal of the Church, in its doctrine, discipline, and patrimony, the weal and honour of Parliament and all the subjects." Reasons of I shall Hot take up any of your time with read- [Caider- ing the Protestation itself, which is engrossed in ¦•' Calderwood's printed History; but the reasons which were prepared against the admitting of bishops to a vote in Parliament, having been the composition of James MelvUle, one of the most eminent ministers of the Church, deserve a little attention. These reasons are distributed into thirteen heads, a few extracts from which T shall read to you from a rare tract entitled The Course of Conformity, as a specimen of the man ner in which the controversies of those times were conducted. From this period, the internal state of our Church must be gathered rather from the detached treatises concerning ecclesiastical affairs, which were pubUshed in quick succession, than from any pro fessed historical book, or even from the manuscripts which have been preserved. In fact, there are very few authentic records of these times. The proceedings of the Church were altogether irregular, and scarcely any of the registers, such as they were, are now in existence. [Course of [Thc fourth chapter of the paper referred to is en- (1662)™.^ titled, " That such a bishopric (Episcopacy) is against the doctrine of the Kirk of Scotland preached these CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 175 forty-six years ; " and contains an appeal to the teaching lect. XIX. 1606. of some of the early Reformers, whose sentiments have been so differently represented by such writers as Mr Sage : — " Let the auditors yet living of these notable preachers of the Kirk of Scotland, glorifie God in this matter, and cease not, as they love the honour of Christ and weale of his Kirk, so long as they are able to speak, to give an evident and full testimonie, what they have heard of Mr Knoxe, Mr Craig, Mr Willockes, Mr Goodman, Mr Lawson, Mr Row, Mr Fergusone, Mr Arbuthnot, Mr Rollock, Mr Durie, Mr Daviesone, Mr Pont, and others most godly, sincere, and learned men, who all joined with their continuall powerfuU doctrine from pulpit, their travels, yea and sufferings, in dinging (contending) against that Popish corrup tion of bishops, till it was all utterly purged and expelled forth of the Kirk ; and who now, resting from their labours, yea, triumphing in the heavens, have left the true discipline and government of the Kirk and Kingdome of Jesus Christ well and firmly estab lished and settled within our Kirk : the comfortable effect whereof hath been vively and sincerely enjoyed unto these late days." — " Praised be the name of our God in Christ," Melville adds, " there wants not yet succession, both to their place and doctrine, able both by preaching and hearing, to maintaine, yea, by His grace, not only by imprisonment, povertie, contempt, and traducing of the world, but by their blood, to seal up the truth of the same . . . ; and the very mouths of those now named bishops have been seen and heard preach and profess this veritie." The probable infiuence of the proposed restoration rcourse of of bishops to their temporal power and dignities on p™!"™"^' the honour and privUeges of the Estates of ParUa- XIX. 1606, 176 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. ment, is largely insisted on in the " Reasons : " — " Set me up these bishops once (called long since the Prince's led-horse), things, if they were never so uiUawful, unjust, ungodly, and pernitious to kirk and realme, if they shall be borne forth by the counte nance, authoritie, care, and endeavour of the King (supposing such a one, as God forbid, come in the roome of our most renowned sovereign, for to the best hath often times succeeded the worst), they shall be carried through by his bishops, set up and entertained by him for that effect ; and the rest of the estates not only be ciphers, but also beare the blame thereof to their great evU and dishonour. If one will aske, ' How shall these bishops be more sub ject to be carried after the appetite of an evU prince than the rest of the states'?' the answer and reason is, Because they have their lordship and living, their honour, estimation, profit, and commoditie of the King. The King may set them up and cast them doune, give them and take from them, put them in and out at his pleasure ; and, therefore, they must be at his direction to doe what liketh him ; and in a word, he may doe with them by (without) law, because they are set up against law. But with other estates hee cannot doe so, they having either heritable standing in their roomes by the fundamentall lawes, or then but a commission from the estate that send them, as from the burgesses or barons. Deprave me once the ecclesiastical estate, which have the gift of knowledge and learning beyond others, and are supposed (because they should bee) of best conscience, the rest will easily be miscarried. And that so much the more, that the officers of estate, lords of session, judges, lawyers, that have their offices of the King, are commonly framed after the Courts XIX. 1606. CHUECH OP SCOTLAND. 177 affection. Yea, let chancellor, secretary, treasurer, lect president, controller, and others that now are, take heed that these new prelates of the Kirk (as covetous and ambitious as ever they were of old), insinuating themselves by flatterie and obsequence into the Prince's favour, attaine not to the bearing of all these offices of estate and croune, and to the exercising thereof, as craftily, avaritiously, proudly, and cruelly, as ever the papisticaU prelates did. For as the holiest, best, and wisest angels of light, being depraved, became most wicked, craftie, and cruell divells, so the learnedst and best pastor, perverted and poysoned by that old serpent with avarice and ambition, becomes the falsest, worst, and most cruell man, as experience in aU ages hath proved." One other passage may be quoted as an example ofthe writer's more declamatory style : " Wherein hath stood thy honor and weale, 0 Scotland, these forty-six yeares and aboue ? Was it not in the judgment of all that judgeth rightly, in the sincerity of the gospel and free dom of Jesus Christ's kingdom, established so notably within thee, with so small blond and trouble ? Since that gospel of peace came within thee, thou hast had no forraine wars, and all commotions within thy selfe have been easily setled, God being in the midst of thee, and bringing evident judgments upon all that lifted their head or moued their tongue against his Kirk. And shalt thou become so foohsh and bewitched as not to hold fast that verity, having had Christ so cleerly painted forth before thy eyes, as if thou withe the same had seen Him crucified 1 Shalt thou with those fooUsh Galatians begin in the spirit and end in the flesh 1 WUt thou foUow them, of whom the Apostle weeping doth write, that they are enemies to the crosse, VOL. II. M 1606. 178 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. whose end is destruction or damnation, whose God is XIX their belly, whose glorie is shame ; earthly-minded men, who seeke not the glory of Christ, nor safety of the soules of thy people, but to be thy guiders, and misguid thee, to be thy conductors and seduce thee, to make thee to sinne against God after the manner of the golden calues at Dan and Bethel, that so the Lord may be incensed, and cast thee away from His facel They seek glorie amongst men and one of another, and so neither can beleeve and trust in Christ themselves, nor make thee doe it and be safe. Surely for wealth and honour worldly thou was never comparable to other nations, but the evangell so planted in thee was that crown of thy glorie that decored thy head, and set it above all realmes and kingdomes upon the face of the earth. Was not papistrie thy Egypt, 0 Scotland 1 And did not the Lord deliver thee out of it, and safeing thee from that tyrannie and thraldome, brought thee unto a pleasant Canaan of His Gospel, to serve Him in spirit and truth, and that in such a manner and forme as the like was never heard or seene 1 And no less mi raculously hath He made thee to dwel therein so long, so safely, so freely; and shalt thou then goe and make to thee other captaines by Moses and Aaron, yea, con temning them thy lawfuU priests and Levites, to lead thee back again to Egypt 1 God forbid ; but so it is (deere native country), your seers see, and your watch man giues you a faithfull warning, crying to you, that the EpiscopaU hierarchic is verie papistrie and spiritual Egypt. Howbeit, by the polUcie of men, otherwise buskit, attired, and dressed to take the foolish and simple withall, it is no other thing in the substance thereof, making the kingdom of Christ to be of this world, turning the spirituall worshipping of God in CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 179 outward toyes and ceremonies, bringing the peojsle of lect. XIX. the world into the simple and humble Kirk : yea, cor rupting the fountaines of the waters of life, and em- ^"*'^' poysoning the food of the soule to work dangerous sicknesses and deadly diseases amongst thy sonnes and daughters. The whole pulpits hath sounded unto you so many years, and yet continues to sound where they are not emptied or terrified by their tyrannie. Ad mitting that bishopric againe, lost is your honour, wracked is your welfare, and gone is your grace and garland of heavenly and spirituall glorie for ever."] After the Act restoring the power, dignity, and General revenue of the bishops was passed, it was not difficult at Liniith- to secure their spiritual authority. An Assembly, con- Dec vened by the King's direction, was held at Linlithgow, univ. Kirk, consisting of noblemen, statesmen, and such ministers Appoint- as were ready to barter their votes for gain. Some of OT™tant the presbyteries did not receive notice of this Assembly, ^ preTby-^ and those who were advertised of it, without being synods."'* left to their own choice, were required to send com missioners who were named in his Majesty's letter. This Assembly was called for the purpose of making an Act to appoint perpetual moderators in all the pres byteries. It was not understood that anything was fixed with respect to the moderators of synods, — but when the Act was sent from the Court with the King's approbation, it was found to enjoin that wherever a bishop resided, he, or his vicar, should be the constant moderator both of the synod and of the presbytery ; and that every synod and presbytery should receive the constant moderator, under pain of being prosecuted for rebeUion. Nothing moved by this threatened penalty, many synods and presbyteries refused to admit the moder- '•] 180 HISTOEY OP THE LECT. ators attempted to be imposed upon them ; and Cal- — derwood says that the only synod which submitted taJdev' ^^^ *^^* ^^ Angus, — not, however, without a struggle. 5691' ^' ^<5™6 presbyteries yielded through compulsion, and even then they required that the matter should be subject to revision in a lawful General Assembly. Others being obstinate in their refusal, were imprisoned, or banished, or otherwise severely treated. The Synod of Perth behaved with great spirit at their spring meeting in 1607. Lord Scone, coming with a royal commission, threatened them with the pains of law if they refused to acknowledge the perpetual moderator. But Mr Row, the last moderator, holding the roll of the synod in his hand, in spite of his Lordship's at tempts to tear it from him, called over the names of all the members, and after hearing their votes, declared that Mr Henry Livingston was duly elected to the moderator's chair. Livingston opened the meeting with prayer, notwithstanding the indecent interrup tion of the King's commissioner, who threw down the table, and committed other acts of violence. When the members returned to the second session they found the doors of the church locked, — but they concluded their business in the open air, and resolved that every presbytery, at its first meeting after the synod, should, according to the usual custom, choose its own moderator. Ultimately, however, most of the presbyteries did acquiesce in the new arrangements ; and it is said that the Earl of Dunbar distributed 40,000 merks among the members, to gain them over to a scheme which so many of them disapproved. Though the provincial synods still protested against the innovation, and in general obstinately refused to accede to it, the XIX. 1609. CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 181 bishops considered it as a great point gained, that they lect. had so far established their authority in the presby teries as to be able to appoint permanent moderators and clerks, all of whom were declared to be official members of every Assembly, and all of whom, having their salaries paid by the bishops, were in a great measure dependent on their wUl. The provincial synods were suspended by the bishops, because they would not yield to their dictates, — -but in the mean time other measures were in progress for effecting the entire subversion of the liberties of the Church. An Assembly, which met at Linlithgow in 1608, was re quired to take into consideration the divisions of the Church, and it was proposed to send commissioners to reason in the King's presence concerning all the con troversies then agitated ; and though this conference did not actuaUy take place in the King's presence, a meeting for the same purpose was kept at Falkland on the 4th of May 1609; but the diversity of opinion was such, that the commissioners separated without coming to any conclusion. A more decisive step was now taken to strengthen Erection of the hierarchy. The bishops obtained from the King Commission a jurisdiction over their co-presbyters in a new tri bunal, known by the name of the High Commission Court. Two courts of this kind were instituted in February, the one at St Andrews and the other at Glasgow, both invested with power to suspend and depose ministers, and to excommunicate the impeni tent, — to outlaw the contumacious, and to imprison, fine, or otherwise punish, all who were judged ob noxious. The archbishop of the see and four other commissioners formed a quorum, and their sentence was not subject to revision or appeal. Schools and coUeges XIX.1610. 182 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. were subjected to their visitation, and the clergy who refused to pronounce or to publish their sentences, were liable to the severe punishments of imprisonment or deprivation. The power of the Courts of High Commission in Scotland was as great in spiritual matters as the power of the Privy Council in civil proceedings, and the mode in which it was exercised was as oppressive and arbitrary as the constitution of these courts themselves was inconsistent with the established laws of the kingdom. When Spotswood, archbishop of Glasgow, was trans lated to the metropolitan see, the two courts were incorporated into one, which was equally inconsistent with the liberties of the nation and with the privi leges of the Church. General The authority of the bishops over the inferior clergy Junei6i6, was HOW absolute and unlimited, as, besides being bishops judges of this inquisitorial court, they were lords of ordinltion Parliament and members of the Privy Council. Still, powers. however, they were anxious to obtain the concurrence of the General Assembly in their measures. A meet ing of that judicatory was summoned to Glasgow in June 1610. The bishops themselves, with the other pensioned moderators and clerks, were all members ex officio. Lay-elders were nominated by the King, who also suggested the election of such clerical members of every presbytery as were expected to be most obse quious. The Earl of Dunbar appeared as the King's commissioner, attended by his Majesty's life-guards; and the prelates, armed with the two-edged sword of the high commission, were still more formidable to the ministers than the household troops. Some zealous ministers coming from the west with the intention of protesting, were overawed, and immediately returned CHUECH OP SCOTLAND. 18-3 to their homes ; others basely received the wages of lect. XIX. 1610. corruption. This Assembly formally confirmed the ecclesiastical power of the bishops, declaring them to be the moderators of every diocesan assembly, and of the presbyterial or weekly meetings for the exercise. It declared also that the bishops had the power of ordaming and depriving ministers, of visiting churches, of excommunicating the guUty, and of absolving the penitent. It declared that the summoning of Assem bhes was a prerogative of the Crown, and it assigned to the bishop aU the powers which had formerly been exercised by presbyteries. It requhed every minister at his admission to swear obedience to his ordinary, and prohibited every minister to speak or write against any of the acts and decisions of this Assembly. It also ordered that the question of parity or imparity of pastors should never be introduced in the pulpit, under the pain of deprivation. The oath of canonical obedience imposed by this The oath of Assembly was in the foUowing terms : — " I (being obeSce. nominated to the church of ) utterly testify and declare in my conscience, that the right excel lent, right high, and mighty Prince James the Sixth, by the grace of God, King of Scots, is the only supreme governor of this realm, as weU in matters spiritual and ecclesiastical as in the temporal ; and that no foreign prince, prelate, state, nor potentate, have or ought to have any jurisdiction, power, supe riority, pre-eminence or authority, ecclesiastical and spiritual, within this realm. And, therefore, I utterly renounce and forsake all foreign jurisdictions, powers, superiorities, and authorities, and promise that, from this time forth, I shaU and will bear faith and true allegiance to his Highness, his heirs, and lawful sue- 1610. 181 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. cessors, and to my power shall assist and defend all jurisdictions, privileges, pre-eminences, and authorities, granted and belonging to his Highness, his heirs and lawful successors, or united and annexed to his royal crown. And further, I confess to have and hold the said church, and possession of the same, under God, only of his Majesty and crown-royal of this realm; and for the said possessions I do homage presently to his Highness in your presence, and to his Majesty, his heirs, and lawful successors, shall be faithful and true. So help me God." It is said that out of 1 40 members present in this As sembly at Glasgow, only three expressed any dissent. The power granted to bishops in this Assembly, though really unlimited, was not considered in that light by the majority of the members. They were led to believe that bishops were not to exercise any jurisdiction independent of the presbyteries, but that they were to act in conjunction with these Assembhes, and, at the utmost, that their control was not to amount to more than a negative. A clause to this effect, however, was afterwards suppressed, and in place of the word presbytery, which was said to be disliked by his Majesty, the expression, " meeting of ministers of the bounds, " was introduced ; in conse quence of which change of name, the bishops, disre garding the jurisdiction, and dispensing even with the presence of a presbytery, conducted all their im portant affairs (such as ordination and trial of minis ters) in meetings of a few of the neighbouring clergy, whom they selected as being most subservient to their wishes. [Act. Pari. AU the powers assumed by the bishops, with the 469.' "^" consent of this obsequious General Assembly, were CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 185 afterwards (in 1612) confirmed by the Parliament, lect. It is confessed, however, even by such writers as Dr XIX. Heyiin, that the measures of the Court were not car- ^^'^^• •^ , . IL'Vlm s ried into execution without great opposition. Hi»t ofthe Among the many objections to the change of the iiana/sss.] government of the Church, it was said that the King, uonrf the whose authority was merely secular, took upon him Bi°i'ops'. to exercise the power of conferring the spiritual office of bishopric ; and to silence this objection, as well as to impress the people with deeper reverence for the newly-erected order, the King wrote letters to Spots- wood, archbishop of Glasgow, Gavin Hamilton, bishop of Galloway, and Andrew Lamb, bishop of Brechin, requiring them immediately to repair to London, that they might there be consecrated in due form, and that thus they might be qualified, on their return to Scot land, to give consecration to their brethren. The ne cessity of this ceremony had never occurred to any of those who, after the Reformation, had been allowed to assume the episcopal office. But the King had now formed all his views of Church law upon the model of the English hierarchy. Consecration, or even ordi nation, was not considered valid, unless it was be stowed by the hands of bishops, pretending to have derived their sacred character in uninterrupted suc cession from the apostles themselves. The virtues of the rite were not supposed to be the less genuine though they had been transmitted through the con taminated channel of the Roman prelacy, which had been less distinguished for its sanctity than for its vices and its usurpations. The King issued a commission to four English bishops, requiring them to proceed to the consecration of Spotswood, Lamb, and HamUton. The Bishop of Ely suggested a scruple concerning XIX. 1614. 186 HISTOEY OF THE lect. their previous qualification. They had not been epis copally ordained either priests or deacons. The arch bishop (Dr Bancroft) solved this difficulty by refer ring to some cases in which the episcopal character had been conferred by a single consecration, which was understood to involve the inferior orders. The Scottish prelates had also a scruple. They were afraid lest, by receiving consecration from the English bishops, they might give occasion to revive the claim of superiority which had in former times been urged by the primates of England. This apprehension was quieted by the King, who assured them that he had taken care to provide against this difficulty by omit ting the names of the archbishops of Canterbury and York in his commission, and that as they alone had ever pretended to any superiority over the Scottish bishops, it was not possible that the performance ofthe solem nity by the bishops of London, Ely, Rochester, and Worcester, could furnish any ground for the renewal of the claim. After all the difficulties were thus set aside, the ceremony was completed according to the canons and constitutions of the English Church. The three bishops returned to this country, and consecrated George Gladstanes archbishop of St Andrews, a man who is represented by all Presbyterian writers as con temptible for his indolence, his voluptuousness, and his irrehgion." Soon afterwards, all the other bishops a [It is very evident that the me- and generally with commendation; but mory of Archbishop Gladstanes -was of Gladstanes he gives only this sim- not much revered, even by some of pie notice: "Tandem successitgratiaet those who had been indebted to his autoritate regia Georgius GladstonuB, patronage. In an oration delivered in qui anno 1615, 20 Mail, obiit ;" and 1617 by Dr Robert Howie, who had then he proceeds to a most extravar been brought from Aberdeen to St gant panegyric of Spotswood, who had Andrews, in 1607, as successor to been Archbishop of St Andrews and Andrew Melville, all the chancel- chancellor of the imiversity about a lors of the university are enumerated, year and a half.] CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 187 of Scotland were consecrated, some at St Andrews lect. and others at Leith, without any consultation of 1_ presbyteries, or synods, or any other ecclesiastical ^^^^• assemblies. Episcopalian writers say that Archbishop Bancroft, having seen this great work accomplished for the glory of God, the honour of his Majesty, and the good of both kingdoms, besought God to permit him to depart in peace, that with his eyes he might behold that sal vation which was ordained to be a light to the Gen tiles, and the glory of the people of Israel. The people of Scotland saw this matter with very different eyes. To them it appeared that the glory was departed from the Church. On the 4th of March 1614, all the ministers in Scotland were required, by a royal proclamation, to prepare the people for the celebration of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and to administer it to them on Easter-day, the 24th of AprU. The people were also charged to communicate at their own parish churches, and they were now so generaUy subdued to the King's will that most of them obeyed the mandate. The pretence under which this charge was given, was the trial of popish recusants ; but it was believed rather to be an experiment made for the purpose of ascer taining how far the subjects would comply with the prescribed innovations. On the death of Gladstanes, archbishop of St An drews, James Spotswood, archbishop of Glasgow, was promoted to the primacy of all Scotland. Two days after his admission, in August 1615, he held a Court of High Commission. John Malcolm, minister of Perth, a man of great learning and sound judgment, now far advanced in life, was summoned before this XIX, 1615. 188 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. tribunal to answer for some expressions in the dedica tion prefixed to his Commentary on the Acts ofthe Apostles, which expressions were said to have given offence to the King. In one sentence he had entreated his Majesty to recall the banished ministers, as being more faithful subjects than those who had received rich livings from him ; and in another he lamented the corruption introduced into the Church by unlearned and unsanctified men. Malcolm, accompanied by a great number of his parishioners, explained his mean ing, which was taken down in writing, and which he was required to sign for the King's satisfaction. There is reason to suspect that the old man was some what timid on this occasion. In December following, the two courts of commission were formed into one, which comprehended not only all the bishops and the principal officers of state, but several inferior judges and eleven ministers. Though the whole number of commissioners was above forty, five might be a quorum, provided that the Archbishop either of St Andrews or of Glasgow was included. In the year 1616, an Assembly was summoned by royal proclamation to meet at Aberdeen in the month of August. The Archbishop of St Andrews took upon him to preside. The Assembly continued five days, dur ing which time eight sermons were delivered in its pre sence — but it is said that all the other business did not occupy eight hours. All matters were concluded in the privy conference, of which the bishops, privy counsellors, and about fifteen other lords, with twenty ministers, were members. During the first four days nothing was done at all, except preaching, renewing old Acts, and making some new ones against Papists, CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 189 as if these had been the chief objects in view. The lect. XIX ministers from the south, whose opposition was in ' ' ' . some degree apprehended, being tired of this vain ^*^^''" show, began to withdraw ; and then in the last session everything was carried as the bishops had intended. Commission was given to frame a new liturgy, a new catechism, and a new book of canons for church dis cipline, and to revise a new Confession of Faith sub mitted to this Assembly, the purpose of which was to supersede the former confession to which the King and all the estates in the land had sworn. This con fession, which was composed by John Hall, Edinburgh, and John Adamson, minister of Liberton, is inserted at length in Calderwood's printed History. In the month of May 1617, the King, for the first visit of time after his accession, visited Scotland. He had Scotimi ° promised to pay a visit to his ancient kingdom every third year, but he had now been absent fourteen years when he thus first accomplished his purpose. In his progress through the country he was received at every town by some of the learned inhabitants, who wel comed his arrival in orations abounding with the most extravagant adulation, or encomiastic poems in Latin or in Greek, some of them as long as one of the books of the Iliad. Public disputations were held in the universities, in which the pedantic monarch never failed to take a part. The solemn fooleries enacted up on this occasion have been commemorated in a folio volume, entitled. The Muse's Welcome to James VI." _ « [Its fuU title is, "Ta.ro,v movao,v tive Kingdom of Scotland, after xiv E„ra,S«. The Muse's Welcome to the yeirs absence, in anno 1617. 6 Bc;".'- J ' ^ ^ ^ laud at this of the most eminent, such as Blair, Welsh, and Liv- period. ingstone, went to Ireland, where they preached with great success. Those who had succeeded the faith ful and able men now referred to, were for the most part little worthy on any account to occupy the chief places in the Church. It is not necessary to enter into any details as to their proceedings. In a convention of the clergy, held in 1631, it was pro posed by the bishops to require the Psalms trans lated by King James to be used in the churches ; but it is said that they were so much ashamed of some of the fantastical expressions that they quietly with drew the motion. This, however, was not the case in aU the dioceses. At St Andrews the translation was recommended by the archbishop, and approved with out hesitation by the whole sjniod. I believe scarcely one of them could have read the book Avhen they expressed their satisfaction with it. Of the character of their discourses a single specimen may be given. MaxweU, the Bishop of Ross (a writer of no mean name among his own party), preached a sermon at Edinburgh, in which he said that our Saviour went down to hell to rescue the souls of the virtuous pagans who have been most renowned for their genius, their mUitary talents, their legislative saga city, and their political prudence ; and he had the goodness to communicate to his audience the names of many of these distinguished personages, such as Her cules and Theseus, Homer and Pythagoras, Plato and Aristotle, Cyrus and Theogenes, Solon and Lycurgus, 234 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. Aristides and Cicero. Probably he passed over De mosthenes, because some of his orations impeached 1630. the doctrine of the divine right of kings. " For my own part," he said, " I so love those wights for their virtues' sake" (no doubt the virtues of Hercules were very eminent), " that I had rather admit twenty opinions, such as limbus patru/in, than damn eternally the soul of one Cicero or one Socrates." LuckUy for Socrates and Cicero, they had no very insuperable antipathy to superstitious ceremonies, — the one hav ing been a sacrificer of chickens, and the other a consulter of their entrails ; but if either of them had been tinctured with the leaven of nonconformity, he might have remained in limbo as long as it lasted for anything that Bishop Maxwell would have done to help him out. Several of the bishops and chief divines not only preached openly in favour of doctrines which the people considered as most antichristian, but also outraged their feelings by habitually profaning the Christian Sabbath. Spotswood was in the habit of generally selecting Sunday as the fittest day for tra velling. Some of the clergy thought it fit to hold out an example of UberaUty, by spending the even ings after divine service in taverns, and others are said to have insisted on their servants performing the usual occupations of husbandry on that day. Visit of the In the year 1633, Charles I. made a journey to Sootknd. Scotland, partly for the purpose of being crowned, partly to obtain money from the Parliament, and partly to accomplish the purpose to which he was instigated by Laud, of reducing tbe Church of Scot land to complete conformity with that of England. He Avas crowned at Edinburgh on the 18th of June by Spotswood, the Archbishop of St Andrews, with such CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 235 rites as were dictated by Laud, who behaved with lect. XXI sreat arrogance to such of the prelates as scrupled to -1 — — 1633 wear the canonical vestments. When the Parhament met, tAvo days afterwards. Parliament ¦, . 1 of 1633. Charles proposed two acts, one concerning his royal [Act. Pari. . , -, Scot. V. 211, prerogative and the apparel of kirkmen, judges, and 21.] magistrates — the other, entitled the "Ratification of the Acts touching Religion." When the question was put, the King took a paper from his pocket, and said, " Gentlemen, I have all your names here, and I'U know who will do me service, and who will not, this day." The clerk declared that the vote carried in the affirmative. This was denied by some of the members ; but the King, who had himself marked aU the votes, said that the clerk's declaration must be received, unless those who accused him could convict him of falsifying the records of Parliament, — in which, if they failed, they must suffer the punishment of death. The Presbyterians were now secretly gaining ground, Pepresenia- particularly in Fife, Lothian, and in the west of Scot- p'rTsb/- land, where they were kept in countenance by the tors of their interest of several powerful peers, — the Earls of Rothes, anccsT Lothian, Cassilis, Eglinton, and Lords Lindsay, Bal merino, and Loudon. Some of the Presbyterian minis ters attempted to present a petition for redress of grievances to the Parliament ; but as the clerk-register was hostile to them, they found it impossible to accomplish their object. They found means, however, to lay the petition before the King, who, after reading it, drily observed, that he wished they had chosen another place than his house for presenting their sup plication. This paper throws some light on the state P^enson, of the Church at this time, and deserves to be read. [It is entitled " Grievances and Petitions concern- XXI1633, 236 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. ing the disordered state of the Reformed Kirk within the realm of Scotland, presented upon the 29 May 1633, by me, Mr Thomas Hog, minister of the gospel, in my own name, and in the name of others of the ministry, likewise grieved." The foUowing are the most important passages : — ". . . Notwithstanding the General Assembhes have been holden, from the time of reformation till the year 1603, at least once in the year, and oftener, p-o re nata, provincial synods twice in the year, weekly meetings for exercises, and Presbyteries every week, for matters to be treated in them respective, and their liberties were ratified in Parliament anno 1592, and by that, as a most powerful mean, blessed be God, peace and purity of religion were maintained ; . . . . nevertheless, . the wonted liberty of holding General Assemblies is suppressed, the order of the provincial synods is confounded, presbyteries in a great part dis ordered and neglected, whereby divisions have entered into the KUk : ministers are become negligent in their callings, and scandalous in their lives ; the godly are heavily grieved ; the weak are scandalised ; erro neous doctrine is delivered in kirks and schools, with out controulment ; the commissioners, voters in Parha ment, lie untried and uncensured, and atheism and Popery increase. . . . Pastors and people adhering to their former profession and practice are nicknamed Puritans, and threatened, not only without any good warrant, but beside the tenor of the act of Perth Assembly, which containeth no such injunction, and contrary to the meaning of the voters, and to the proceedings of that Assembly, Avhere it was professed that none should be pressed with obedience to that act. . . . Albeit it be determined by the General CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 237 Assembly of this our reformed Kirk what oaths min- lect. . XXI isters should take at the time of their admission or ordination, yet there is a new form of oath devised ^^^^' and urged by the admitters or ordainers upon en trants to the ministry, together with subscription to certain articles devised by them, without direction or warrant from any Assembly of the Kirk, yea, or act of Parliament, whereby the entry to the ministry, is shut upon the best quahfied, and others less able are ob truded upon the people, to their great grief and hazard of their souls. . . . Notwithstanding there be con stitutions of the Kirk, and laws of the country, for censuring of ministers before the ordinary judicatures ecclesiastical, yet, contrary to that order, ministers are suspended, silenced, and deprived, and that for matters merely ecclesiastical, before other judicatories, which are not established by the authority or order of the country and Kirk." . . .J King Charles, after remaining a month in Scotland, returned to London, not much 'satisfied with his re ception in his ancient hereditary dominions. Still less were the people satisfied with him. The whole conduct of his counsellor Laud, whom he now pro moted to the see of Canterbury, was offensive in the extreme. Immediately after the King returned to London, introduo- articles were sent down, framed by the new archbishop. Engulf ' for the reformation of his chapel-royal, but also in- afS;!" tended to serve as a model for all cathedrals, parish ^^""^' churches, and chapels in the kingdom. The articles were : " That prayers should be read twice a-day, ac cording to the English liturgy ; that the dean of the chapel should come to church in white, and should preach in this dress; that the copes consecrated to 1633. 238 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. our use be carefully kept and used at the celebration of the sacrament ; that all his Majesty's officers and ministers of state be obliged to receive the sacrament at the royal-chapel kneeling, at least once a-year, for an example to the rest of the people." The consequences of these proceedings will occupy us in our next Lecture. In the mean time, a few ex tracts from the correspondence on the subject ofthe introduction of the liturgy into the chapel - royal, [Hailes' printed by Lord Hailes in his Memorials and Letters {ChlThsi!), relative to the Reign of Charles L., may be read [as '''"' " showing the nature of some of the means resorted to for the accomplishment of that design. The following letters are all addressed by Laud to the same correspondent, BeUenden, bishop of Dun blane : — " . . Concerning your preferment, untU any better place falls, I can promise nothing ; but I assure you his Majesty hath a very good opinion both of you and your serAdce, and therefore I cannot doubt but that he wUl take you and your estate into his consideration. At this time you have given his Majesty good content, and he expects that you wUl continue in that course; and let him stiU receive a note who they be that con form, and who not ; for I see his Majesty is resolved to go constantly on, and therefore you must not fail. . . " Lambeth, January 14, 1633-4." " I am right sorry for the death of the Bishop of Edinburgh, the loss being very great both to the King and the Church. I acquainted his Majesty how need ful it was to fill that place with an able successor ; and when mention was made of divers men to succeed, I did, as you desire, show his Majesty what your desires xxi. 1633. CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 239 were, and what necessities lay upon you. After much lect, consideration of the business, his Majesty resolved to give the bishoprick of Edinburgh to my Lord of Brechin ; and for yourself, he commanded me to write expressly to you, that he did not take it weU, that, contrary to his express commands, you had omitted prayer in his chapel-royal according to the English htiirgy, with some other omissions there, which please him not ; besides, his Majesty hath heard that there have been lately some differences in Edinburgh about the sufferings of Christ, &c., and that your lordship was some cause of them ; or, at least, such an occasion as might have bred much disturbance, if the late Bishop of Edinburgh his care and temper had not moderated it ; and this his IMajesty is not well pleased Avith neither : and this hath been the cause, as I conceive, why his Majesty hath passed you over in this remove ; and you shall do very weU to apply yourself better, both to his Majesty's service and the Avell ordering of the Church, lest you give just occasion to the King to pass you by when any other remove faUs. I am very sorry that I must write this unto you, but the only way of help lies in yourself and your own carriage ; and therefore, if you wUl not be careful of that, I do not see what any friend can be liable to do for you. Therefore, not doubting but you wUl take these things into serious consideration, for your OAvn good, I leave you to the grace of God, and rest, &c. " Lambeth, Ma-y 6, 1634." "My haste at this time forces me to write very briefly. And these are to let you know that I writ nothing in my former letter but as the King was in formed, and myself by him commanded. I have now 1633. 240 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. read your lordship's letters to his Majesty, which hath in some part satisfied him, but not altogether. . . " You have done very well to acquaint the Lords of Council and Session, &c., with his Majesty's resolution concerning the communion in the chapel-royal ; and I doubt not, if you continue to do that which his Majesty looks for in the course of your Church, and which is most just and fit to be done, but that you will easUy recover his Majesty's favour, and find the good of it. So, in haste, I leaA^e you to the grace of God. "Lambeth, July I, 1634." " I have a second time moved his Majesty concern ing them that obeyed or disobeyed his commands in receiving the communion in the chapel at Holyrood House, and you shall not fail to receive his Majesty's answer by my Lord of Ross ; so that I shaU not need to be further troublesome to you in that particular. " Ceoydon, October 4, 1634." " I am very glad to hear your resolutions for the ordering of his Majesty's chapel-royal, and that you are resolved to wear your whites notwithstanding the maliciousness of foolish men. I know his Majesty will take your obedience and care very well ; and being fully satisfied both concerning your sermon and all things else committed to your trust, you may, as opportunity serves, expect from his Majesty all reason able things ; and J shall not be wanting to give you all the assistance that I can upon all occasions ; of which I heartUy pray you not to doubt. . . , "Lambeth, January 12, 1634-35." " The King has been acquainted with your care of XXL 1633. CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 211 the chapel-royal, and is A^ery well pleased Avith the lect, conformity which hath been there at the last reception of the blessed sacrament ; and, for my part, I am heartily glad to see in what fair way the Church busi ness now is in those parts. I hope, if the bishops be pleased to continue their good example and theU care, all things will settle beyond expectation. "The King hath declared his pleasure concerning your bishoprics now void, and hath giA^en you the bishopric of Aberdeen, as you AviU leaxn more at large by my Lord of Ross ; but, being an uniA'ersity, and a place of consequence, he AviU have you reside there, and reUes much upon you for your weU order ing that place. I am very glad the King hath been so mindful of you, and given you so good a testimony upon this occasion of your remove. So I leave you to the grace of God, &c. " Lajubeth, May 9, 1635."] VOL. II. 242 HISTOEY OP THE LECTURE XXIL laud's DTFLLE^'CE OATER the SCOTTISH BISHOPS INTRODUCTION OF THE BOOK OP CANOXS AXD THE SCOTTISH LITURGY TUMULT IN EDINBURGH THE TABLES RENEWAL OF THE NATIONAL COVENANT JIISSION OF THE MARQUESS OF HAMILTON GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF 1638 THE KING HAS RECOURSE TO ARMS. LECT. I HAVE abeady mentioned that the acts of the XXII — Scottish ParUament in 1633, relating to religion, were Trial of rejected by the majority of the house. The fact is ^Ai^"' notorious, and is acknowledged by every historian entitled to any credit : yet the King and the Clerk- Register falsely declared that the majority of votes had approved the articles, which accordingly were passed into laws. The noblemen and others who had op posed the measure in ParUament were calumniated hy the bishops as promoters of sedition and schism, and were reported to tiie King as enemies to his person and government. In their OAvn vindication, they re solved to present a petition explaining the grounds of their opposition ; and they employed WiUiam Haig, ad vocate, his ^Majesty's solicitor, to prepare the document to which they intended to attach their names. The design of petitioning the King was abandoned ; but a copy of the paper remained in the possession of Lord Bahnerino, and having been communicated by him to a confidential agent, passed into the hands of the Archbishop of St Andrews. This crafty prelate im- CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 243 mediately Avent to Court, and falsely represented to the lect. King that the petition was industriously circulated '^^^ ' for the purpose of confirming the ministers in their ^^^^' opposition to the introduction of the surplice, and that Balmerino had thus been guilty of a capital crime in alienating the affections and encouraging the dis obedience of his Majesty's subjects. For this pre tended crime Balmerino was tried, and found guilty by a narrow majority of a packed jury. After a wearisome imprisonment, aggravated by ill usage, the prisoner was set at liberty ; but as the whole nation was convinced of the injustice of the sentence, the King got no credit for remitting it. The consequences of the trial were ruinous to his Majesty's interest. The nobility, as well as the people of inferior station, were now universally sensible that, if they incurred the dis pleasure either of the sovereign or of the bishops, their destruction might easily be accomplished under the colour of law, and that the simple expression of their opinions on the measures of administration might be construed into treason. About the time of the King's departure from Scot- Archbishop ° -"^ . Laud. land, an episcopal see was erected at Edinburgh, com posed of that part of the bishopric of St Andrews which extended from the southern shore of the Forth to BerAvdck-upon-Tweed. The first bishop was Wil liam Forbes, a man of monastic habits, who sur- Adved his appointment little more than two months, and who died suspected of Popery. This bishop, notArith standing hia retired disposition and his taci turnity in company, was the most verbose of all preachers. " He had a strange faculty," says Bur- Bumet-s net, " of preaching five or six hours at a time." It of his own . ^ ° T . Time, 131. IS a little curious that when a clergyman who owed XXII. 1633. 244 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. his preferment in Scotland to Laud, was distinguished so much by the length of his discourses, a minister in the county of Middlesex was suspended by him for preaching a sermon above an hour long on Sun day afternoon. A much surer way of gaining his favour was to recommend the revelry, the dances, and other amusements which the King's declaration authorised, or rather required to be substituted for the devout exercises in which the people of England had been taught since the Reformation to employ themselves on the evening of the Lord's day. Dr Heyiin (Archbishop Laud's chaplain), and several other English divines of no inconsiderable name (as Dr Pocklington," author of a work entitled Sun day no Sabbath, and Dr White, bishop of Ely) wrote large books to prove that there is no moral obligation to keep any part of the Lord's day f that its observance u. [There may be also mentioned restored to the poasession of his bene- the names of Dr John Prideaux, fice. He became a member of the professor of divinity at Oxford, au- Assembly of Divines ; and though he thor of a Defence of the Orthodoxical had suffered most severely under the Doctrine of the Church of England authority of Charles I., he was one of against Sabbatarian Novelty ; and those London divines who protested Gilbert Ironside, B.D., author of solemnly against the execution of that ¦ Seven (Questions af ike Sabbath, Dis- unhappy monarch. Another treatise, puted after the Manner of the Schools, on tbe same side, replete with learn- Some excellent treatises were written ing and good sense, is entitled A on the other side, which, however, Brief Censure to a late Treatise of the could not be suffered to be printed in Sabbath - day, digested Dialogue-wise this country — particularly one in La- between two Divines.] tin by Thomas Young, and another P [In the time of Charles I. the by the Eev. George Walker, B.D., en- Court divines in general maintained titled The Doctrine of the Sabbath, that the whole regulation of the times delivered in divers Sermons (printed and places, as well as the substance of at Amsterdam in 1638). Por this public devotion, depended on ecclesi- work the writer was prosecuted in the astical authority ; but in the practice Star-Chamber. He was fined £1000 ; of the Church of England this might his living was sequestered ; and he be considered as the same thing with was committed to prison, whence, the exercise of royal power. The after more than two years' confine- monarch might command the omis- ment, he was liberated by order of sion of many of the usages which were the House of Commons in 1641, and most hallowed in the estimation of 1633. CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 245 depends on the authority of the Church ; that it is lect enough to observe the few hours of pubhc service; and that, in the interval, masks, balls, interiudes, plays, as weU as rural pastimes, are laAvful and expedient. It is beUeved that the chief reason Avhy Laud pressed the publication of the King's declaration on this sub ject was, that he might distress the Puritans and root them out of the Church. For seven years aU ministers who would not read the Bool of Sports to their con gregations on Sunday were persecuted with great severity. Many hundreds of conscientious and pious men were suspended, excommunicated, depriA'-ed of their hvings, and compelled to leave the kingdom, for no other reason but because they declined reading the royal declaration on this subject, — though the declara tion itself did not require the minister to read it, and gave no authority to the bishops to punish those who refused. While Archbishop Laud was thus presuming to dispense with the divine ordinance enjoining the religious observation of one day in seven, he was zealously introducing alterations into the forms of the people, and might introduce others erally introduced, but masks, operas, which had hitherto been regarded as and other theatrical performances, profane. The Book of Sports, autho- were ostentatiously carried on in the rised by royal proclamation, not cer- most extravagant form, so as to obli- tainly without the approbation bf the terate all serious impressions, and to bishops, abridged the time devoted to familiarise the mind to the indulgence the public service of God. This book, of worldly and voluptuous passions which was enjoi.aed by the bishops to which war against the purity and be read in churches by the clergy, un- peace of the soul. Scarcely anything derthe penalty of deprivation for dis- can be more disgusting to a well-or- obedience, prohibited the exercise of dered mind than the unembellished preaching oftener than once in the day, narrative of the evening exercise at and declared it to be lawful and salu- AVhitehall,onthe Sunday afterTwelfth tary to engage in almost all varieties Night, 1637-(8), when, atthecommand ot amusements and revelry. In the of Charles I., a mask was performed King's palaces, and in the mansions of entitled " Britannia Triumpha," under the nobility, not only was dancing gen- the mmagement of Inigo Jones.] XXII. 1633. 246 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. worship, altogether unauthorised in the Scriptures, but approaching to the superstitious practices of the Church of Rome. Besides various changes in the Book of Common Prayer, he enforced bowing at the name of Jesus ; he turned the communion-tables into altars j he required the clergy and people to bow to wards the altars ; he furnished the cathedral of Can terbury, and consecrated the furniture, according to the Catholic model. Laud's influ- Thc bishops of Scotlaud, or at least all the younger ence over the Scottish ones, were devoted to Laud. If they did not imbibe bishops. all his principles, they at least supported them. They spoke favourably of Popery, and inveighed against the Reformers ; they were active and dUigent in pro pagating the doctrines of Arminius ; they recom mended sports on the Sunday, and highly applauded the English Liturgy, though they knew that the people considered it to be little better than the mass. As a reward for this obsequiousness to the King and to the primate, they were almost all made pri\y coun cillors : the Archbishop of St Andrews was made Lord Chancellor ; Maxwell, bishop of Ross, had the promise of being Lord High Treasurer ; and several others were enriched with great preferments, which dis obliged and disgusted many of the most ancient and noble families in the kingdom. The prelates, know ing that they were hated by the nobility as well as by the commons, advised the King to introduce the con templated innovations rather by his royal authority than by acts of Parliament or of the General Assembly. These innovations were now at length to be carried into effect. As it was conceived by the King and the Archbishop of Canterbury to be a great defect in the Church of Scotland that it had no liturgy or book of CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 247 canons, the new bishops were required to prepare lect. draughts of both, that they might be submitted to the '^^^^' revision of the English prelates. It Avould have grati- ^^^^' fied both Charles and Laud if they would have adopted the English Liturgy without any alteration ; but they represented that, as the Scots were jealous of their independence, it would be much easier to reconcile them to a set of forms composed by their own bishops than to the imposition of foreign ceremonies. The Book of Canons was first completed, and was introduc- ratified by his Majesty's letters under the Great Seal, — Book of '° all the clergy being required to subscribe it. It excom municated aU who denied the prerogative of the King to be as absolute and unlimited as that of the Jewish kings, and all who afl&rmed the government of the Church by bishops, or the worship contained in the Book of Common Prayer (then in preparation), to be corrupt, superstitious, or unlawful. It thus un reasonably sanctioned the liturgy before that form was published, or even composed. It obliged all the clergy to read diAdne service according to the form of this liturgy, in all its offices, parts, and rubrics. It suppressed presbyteries and kirk -sessions under the name of irregular conventicles, and it prohibited aU assemblies of the clergy which were not caUed by the King. It enjoined many superstitious observ ances ; being, indeed, considered by the Presbyterians as a nearer approximation to the popish forms than even the worship of the Church of England. One of the regulations contained in it, prohibiting presbyters to rcA^eal anything which they learned from the con fessions of penitents, was regarded as a preliminary to the practice of auricular confession ; and the collation of orders at particular seasons of the year seemed to 248 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. be an acknowledgment that ordination was a sacra- xxii. , ¦ ° . ment. 1637. qij^ Scottish Liturgy, or Service-Book, was not The Scottish . °-^ ' i t. i j. /-, Liturgy, printed tUl nearly a year after the Book of Canons. It was in a great measure transcribed from the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England, and is generally represented to have been the work of Arch bishop Laud. But though it was framed under his direction, its execution was chiefiy intrusted to Max well, bishop of Ross ; Wedderburn, bishop of Dun blane (formerly a professor of divinity in St Andrews); Sydserf, bishop of Galloway ; and BeUenden, bishop of Aberdeen. Wherever it varied from the Enghsh service, it was thought to approach to the missal of the Romish Church. Some passages in the commu nion service, particularly the consecration prayer, were altered so as to favour the real presence of Christ in the elements. When the book was sent down from England with the alterations, the bishops were ordered to retain in the calendar aU the Catholic saints which are in the English, and to have par ticular regard to saints of the blood-royal and re nowned bishops, on no account omitting St George and St Patrick ; they were required to insert several lessons out of the Apocrypha ; the water in the bap tismal font was to be consecrated ; the sign of the cross was prescribed in the administration of bap tism ; and in the prayer for the Catholic Church there was a thanksgiving or benediction for departed saints. All its deviations from the English forms, in stead of diminishing, were of a nature to increase the dishke of the nation for the new ritual, which was reported to be nothing but a translation of the mass. The book was introduced into Scotland by a royal CHUECH OP SCOTLAND. 249 proclamation, requiring all his Majesty's loving sub jects to receive it reverently, as the only form Avhich the sovereign thought fit to be used in God's public worship in that kingdom, commanding all churchmen to take care that it be duly observed, and the con traveners condignly censured and punished." Every parish was required to procure at least two copies before Easter ; but it is said by Principal Baillie that the book was not by that time quite ready for publica tion. Some of the younger and more violent bishops, however, made use of it at Easter ; and being anxious for its immediate adoption, gave a commission to the Earl of Traquair to represent to the Archbishop of Canterbury that no danger was to be apprehended LECT. XXIL 1637. t Baiiiie'siCtters (jNIr Laing's edi tion), i. i.] a [It would have required much more clear and express authority than any that has ever been produced to justify the extreme rigour with which liturgies have often been imposed, not only by a church claiming the chai*ac- ter of infallibility, but by churches professing to be reformed from the errors and superstitions of Popery. It is very well known that the first Liturgy of Edward A'L, constructed, or at least promulgated, in the year 1548, was formed by comparing the old Romish missals, according to the use of Sarum (or Salisbury), of York, of Bangor, Lincoln, and Hereford. This work coincided with these old superstitious formularies in many objectionable particulars, and it de manded a more rigid uniformity than any of them had found it practicable to attain ; for diiferent countries, and different provinces of the same coun try, had admitted considerable varie ties. The cross was used in almost every solemnity. The communion was ordered to be celebrated in both kinds, but in other respects was not altered. Exorcism was practised in the sacrament of baptism. The sick were anointed with oil, accompanied by the sign of the cross ; and in the burial service the soul of the deceased was recommended to the mercy of God, and petitions were offered for the forgiveness of sins committed during life. Uniformity of vestments and ceremonies was required as strictly as exact uniformity of phrase ology. Ministers of the gospel, who were not at once sufficiently flexible to yield to the new enactments, were to be punished with the utmost seve rity. The first failure to observe the new rules in eveiy particular was visited with imprisonment for six months, and the forfeiture of the emoluments of the benefice for a year. The second conviction was punished by forfeiture of all church preferments, and imprisonment for a year ; and the penalty imposed for the third ofience was impr-isonment for life. The severity of these punish ments must appear the more intoler able, when it is remembered that those who made the law were far from being unanimous in the changes which were 250 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. XXIL 1637. [Guthrie'sMemoirs, p. 17.] from the attempt to enforce it. At the suggestion of Traquair (who is said by Bishop Guthrie to have only desired the ruin of the bishops), a warrant was signed by the King, commanding the bishops to pro ceed, without farther delay, to order the service-book to be used in their dioceses, under the pain of being deprived in case of disobedience. Opposition was to be expected from the ministers. Even before they knew the contents of the book, they argued against the mode of imposing it. They repre sented it as a great hardship to have a matter of this importance obtruded without being previously con sidered and approved by a General Assembly. The bishops, perceiving that many of the clergy were hostile to the measure, obtained an act of the Privy BO hastily made, and none of them could prove that any liturgies had existed in the Church till about the close of the fourth century. About four years afterwards {iu 1552), a new and revised service-book was framed. In a number of parts it was altered, and the moment the changes were agreed upon, it was or dained that it should be observed under the same heavy penalties by which the former liturgy was enforced. In the year 1559, a new revision was ordered by Queen Elizabeth, and though some particulars were amend ed, the general character of the book continued the same ; and so well was the Pope satisfied with it, that he ofiered to confirm it, if the Queen and her people would return to their alle giance to the papal authority ; but Elizabeth was determined to retain hei" own supremacy. The effect of the strictness with which the liturgy was imposed, was entirely to detach from the Church of England the most pious and zealous of the population. After various suspensions, depriva tions, sequestrations, imprisonments, and other severities, the separation of the Nonconformists, or Puritans, as they were generally called, took place in the year 1566. They did not dis pute the lawfulness of set forms of prayer, if the ministers had liberty to use prayers of their own composition before and after sermon ; but they disapproved the frequent repetition of the Lord's Prayer, the frequency of the responses, the reading of the Apo cryphal books, the cathedral service, including singing of prayers, the sign of the cross in baptism, the use of godfathers and godmothers, to the exclusion of parents, as sponsors or sureties, kneeling at the communion, bowing at the name of Jesus, several particulars in the office of marriage and of burial, and especially the wear ing of the surplice and other vest ments in divine service — (this, indeed, was one of the most formidable of the stumbling-blocks, but it was in con nection with the use of the liturgy that it was so peculiarly ofiensive.)] CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 251 Councih on the 13th June 1637, authorising them to lect. . . XXII raise letters of horning against the ministers to pro- '- vide themselves with copies within a fortnight ; with ^^'^''^ certification, that all who Avere disobedient to this order would be proceeded against as rebels. In the mean time, the nobUity and gentry, as well as the ministers and most of the common people, were becoming daily more and more displeased with the substance of the Uturgy." Even the archbishops of St Andrews and Glasgow were supposed to disap prove it ; but though they had long been fearful ofthe consequences, they Avere now stimulated by motives of private interest to ingratiate themselves with the King by attempting to compel the Church to receive the liturgy. The ministers of Edinburgh were ordered to intimate Tumult in r T 1 1 -r> 1 Edinburgh. from their pulpits on the 16th of July, that the Book of Common Prayer Avas to be read next Lord's day. Through the whole intervening week, the town was a [The most able and ample exposi- by a Reverend Divine to his Chris- tion of the principles of the Presby- tian Friend, discussing the exceptions terians in regard to this matter is to and arguments against the imposition be found in the work of Mr George and use of the Service-Book in the GiUespie, entitled A Dispute against English churches ; and another pam- the English- Popish Ceremonies at- phlet, consisting only of two leaves, to be obti-uded upon the ascribed also to Mr George Gillespie, Ohv/rch af Scotland, a small quarto entitled Reasons for which the Service volume, extending to about 360 pages, Booke, urged upon Scotland, ought to which produced a most marvellous be refused. This little treatise enters impression. This tract by Mr Gilles- briefly and very decidedly into the pie does not enter so much into the consideration of the principle of consideration of the liturgy itself, as prescribed forms of prayer, and on the general lawfulness of the ceremo- this account is deserving of atten- nies. Another work followed soon tion, as exhibiting the views which afterwards, entitled A Parallel of were entertained and avowed at this the Liturgy -with the Mass Book, by period by a man who, for more than Mr Robert Baillie. In the year 1637 ten years afterwards, possessed almost there had also been published a tract, the highest influence in his native entitled The Triall of the English Church, and for several years also Liturgie, or a Copy of a Letter written in the Assembly of Divines.] 252 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. inundated with pamphlets and declamations, all disap- - proving of conformity, and not a word was heard in its favour. The Bishop of Edinburgh, however, and Hanna the Dean, in the presence and with the coun tenance of the Archbishop of St Andrews and two other bishops, resolved to read the prayers in the High Church, and the Bishop of Argyle undertook the same service in the Greyfriars. The moment the prayers began in St Giles, a loud clamour arose among the women, chiefly servant-maids, who threw sticks and stones, and other formidable missUes, at the pulpit and the reading-desk, so that it was not without difficulty that the bishop and the dean escaped from their ven geance. Outrages of the same kind took place in other churches. The city was in consequence exposed to an episcopal interdict, at the same time that all the ministers who had not read the service Avere dis placed. The bishops, however, were not less unsuc cessful in their attempts to urge the service all over Scotland, except at St Andrews, and in the cathedrals of Ross, Brechin, and Dunblane. iGuthrie's It is Said by Bishop Guthrie that the tumult was Memoirs, ./ x p. 23.] instigated by Alexander Henderson, minister of Leu chars, and David Dickson, minister of Irvine ; but the Privy Council acknowledged that, after all inquiry had been made, it could not be discovered that any but the meanest of the rabble had been accessory to it. An express was sent from Edinburgh to London, giving an account of the violence Avith which the Service-Book had been opposed. Hundreds of petitions meanwhile were sent to the Privy Council against the book. The Council was so far favourable to these representations as to declare that nothing more had been required by the charge to the ministers than that every one of them CHUECH OP SCOTLAND. 253 should purchase two copies ; and they also informed his lect. Majesty that a general and increasing aversion to the ^^^^' liturgy, even among those who had been hitherto ^^^'^' reputed the least disaffected, could no longer be concealed. The representations ofthe Council were treated with contempt, and their lenity to the authors of the com motions was blamed by the King. No answer to any of the petitions came from the Court ; and proclama tions Avere issued for the purpose of preventing any further consultation among representatives of different parishes, who had flocked to Edinburgh for the purpose of uniting iu these petitions, but who did not sepa rate tiU they had prepared an accusation against the prelates as being the authors of a liturgy in which the seeds of. idolatry and superstition were sown, and as having been the chief causes of the discord between the King and the people. This accusation was sub scribed by the nobility and gentry, and by almost every corporation in the kingdom. There being no redress, the tumults in Edinburgh The Tables. stUl continued; and now instead of the lowest of the people, the principal inhabitants were the most forward in threatening both the magistrates and the PriAT- CouncU. In the month of November, the petitioners from all parts of the country reassembled in Edinburgh, greatly increased in numbers ; and as they were told by the Privy Council that it was dis orderly and iUegal to convene so frequently and in •such force, they took occasion to make choice of a few •as commissioners for the rest, and the Council approved of the resolution. In pursuance of this arrangement, the Reformers were distributed into four classes, called the Tables,, the first including all the nobility who chose XXII. 1637. 254 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. to attend; the second, two gentlemen from every county; the third, one minister from every presbytery ; and the fourth, one or two representatives from every burgh. The commissioners of each rank sat by themselves and consulted separately ; but as it was thought expedient that the whole number should only assemble on extra ordinary occasions, they chose four deputies out of every class, to form what was caUed a General Table, to reside in Edinburgh, and to act in the name of the whole body. At last an answer from the Court arrived. The King declared that, though he had not yet thought fit to satisfy their demands, his abhorrence of popish super stition was such as to secure him against tolerating or requiring anything, unless conducive to the advance ment of the true religion as professed at present. The petitioners, however, would not listen to the representa tion of Lord Traquair, that as the service was in fact superseded by this declaration, the whole object of their petition was accompUshed. They would not desist from their exertions upon this vague assurance. They insisted that the canons should be recalled, that the High Commission Court should be abolished, and that the liturgy should be revoked with the same for maUties which had accompanied its introduction. As these requests were not Ustened to, they increased in their demands, and required that the power of the pre lates should be restrained, and that the injuries which they had done should be remedied. The Earl of Tra quair, the treasurer, advised his Majesty to recall the Uturgy ; but his advice was counteracted by the repre sentations of Spotswood and the bigotry of Laud. The King now pubUshed a proclamation approAong the prayer-book, reprobating the petitions as deroga- CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 255 tory to his authority, and finally prohibiting the peti- lect. tioners to assemble again under pain of high treason. '^^^^' This document was intended to be kept secret till it was ¦"'^^" regularly published, but a copy of it was communicated to the Tables through some private channel connected with the Court. When the proclamation Avas read at the market-cross of Stirling, Lords Home and Lindsay took a protest against it, and affixed a copy of their protest upon the cross by the side of the royal procla mation ; and the same formality was repeated in all the towns where the proclamation was made. The protest Avas to the foUowing purpose : — 1. That the seeds of superstition and idolatry are contained in the Book of Canons, and the liturgy. 2. That they are full of novelties, which could not be admitted without violation of their liberty, laws, and received religion, especiaUy when they are obtruded without any previous judgment of the supreme eccle siastical assembly. 3. That it is unjust to refuse hberty to accuse the bishops, whom they could prove guilty of many crimes. 4. That the High Commis sion is a court supported by no foundation in justice, and constituted by no municipal law, serAdng no pur pose but to establish the tyranny of bishops, and being nothing else than a branch of the Spanish Inquisition. 5. That the Tables reject the bishops as unjust judges. 6. That as all their meetings had been intended to defend the purity of worship and the liberty of the Church against the obtrusion of innovations, they could not desist from such meetings, unless they would be esteemed betrayers of the glory of God, the honour of the King, and the Uberty both of Church and State. The principal nobUity of Scotland, to the number Renewal of of thirty, took part in this combination in the defence covenant!" 1638. 256 HISTOEY OP THE lect. of religious and civil liberty ; and the monarch was - ill prepared for contending with a confederacy so powerful. Various stratagems were tried by the cour tiers and the prelates to divide the members of the Tables, and to delude them with the fallacious expecta tion of obtaining all their requests if they would only quietly disperse. To confirm one another in resisting these attempts to dissolve their union, they proposed to renew the National Covenant to which their an cestors had repeatedly sworn. The Tables at Edinburgh summoned the supplicants from all parts of the country to come to a solemn meeting. A fast was kept, and the preachers exhorted the people to concur in the renovation of the Covenant. Alexander Henderson, now the chief leader of the clergy, and Archibald Johnstone, advocate, afterwards Lord Warriston, were the authors of the composition Avhich bears the name of the Covenant, and which, after copying the Negative Confession, enumerates many statutes adverse to the Romish Church, and subjoins a bond of union, renouncing the liturgy and canons, and resolving to resist all innovations in reli gion ; to defend each other, and to assist the King in the preservation of religion, liberty, and law. That you may know exactly what was the object of the Covenant, I shaU read a short extract from the conclusion of this celebrated paper. It concludes in these words : — " We, Noblemen, Barons, Gentlemen, Burgesses, Ministers, and Commons underscribing, considering divers times before, and especially at this time, the .danger of the true reformed religion, of the King's honour, and of the publick peace of the kingdom, by the manifold innovations and evils generally contained 1638, CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 257 and particularly mentioned in our late supplications, lect. complaints, and protestations, do hereby profess, and . before God, his angels, and the world, solemnly de clare, That with our whole heart we agree and resolve, aU the days of our life, constantly to adhere unto and to defend the foresaid true religion, and (forbearing the practice of all noA'-ations already introduced in the matters of the Avorship of God, or approbation of the corruptions of the publick government of the Kirk, or civU places and power of kirkmen, till they be tried and aUoAved in free Assemblies and in Parliament) to labour, by aU means laAvful, to recover the purity and liberty of the gospel, as it was established and pro fessed before the aforesaid novations And in like manner, with the same heart, Ave declare before God and men, That we have no intention nor desire to attempt anything that may turn to the dis honour of God, or to the diminution of the King's greatness and authority ; but, on the contrary, we promise and swear. That we shall, to the uttermost of our power, with our means and Uves, stand to the defence of our dread Sovereign the King's Majesty, his person and authority, in the defence and preser vation of the foresaid true religion, liberties, and laws of the kingdom ; as also to the mutual defence and assistance every one of us of another, in the same cause of maintaining the true religion, and his Majesty's authority, with our best counsel, our bodies, means, and whole power, against all sorts of persons whatsoever Neither do we fear the foul aspersions of rebellion, combination, or what else our adversaries, from their craft and maUce, would put upon us ; seeing what we do is so well warranted, and ariseth from an unfeigned desire to maintain the VOL. II. E XXII. 1638, 258 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. true worship of God, the majesty of our King, and the peace of the kingdom, for the common happiness of ourselves and our posterity. . . ..... And because we cannot look for a blessing from God upon our proceedings, except with our profession and sub scription we join such a life and conversation as be- seemeth Cihristians who have renewed their covenant with God ; we therefore faithfully promise ourselves, our followers, and all others under us, both in publick and in our particular families and personal carriage, to endeavour to keep ourselves within the bounds of Christian liberty, and to be good examples to others of aU godliness, soberness, and righteousness, and of every duty we OAve to God and man : And that this our union and conjunction may be observed with out violation, we call the living God, the Searcher of our Hearts, to witness, who knoweth this to be our sincere desire and unfeigned resolution, as we shaU answer to Jesus Christ in the great day, and under the pain of God's everlasting wrath, and of infamy and loss of all honour and respect in this world ; most humbly beseeching the Lord to strengthen us by His Holy Spirit for this end, and to bless our desires and proceedings with a happy success, that religion and righteousness may flourish in the land, to the glory of God and the honour of our King, and peace and comfort of us all."] This Covenant was sworn with uplifted hands" in Greyfriars' Church, by the noblemen, gentlemen, minis- a [Many scruples have existed in sidered a grievance that, in some this country with regard to the mode courts, laying the hand on the Gos- of administering oaths. In Scotland, pels has been required. In the year the lifting up of the hand has been re- 1783, a bill was brought into Parlia- garded as the most Scriptural way of ment for the purpose of having it taking an oath ; and it has been con- declared that Protestants of the com- CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 259 ters, burgesses, and thousands of individuals of every lect. rank. Copies were dispersed all over the country, ''^^'^' and in two months it was subscribed almost uni- "'^^' versally. The only place of any consequence Avhere it was refused was Aberdeen. From this period the kingdom was divided into two parties, the Covenant ers, and the Non-covenanters ; which latter denomi nation included only the Papists, the courtiers, the Episcopalians, and a few who questioned the legality of, this bond. Many of the most orthodox ministers at first had some scruples on the subject ; and none of them would have ventured to enter into such an engagement, if it had not been from the conviction that the King had violated, and, as far as in him lay, subverted their legal church establishment, by assuming the supremacy, by erecting the High Com mission, and by imposing on them a Book of Canons and liturgy without consent of Parliament or General Assembly. When Spotswood, archbishop of St Andrews, on his arrival in Edinburgh, heard that the Covenant had been taken, he exclaimed, " Now is all our labour dur ing the last thirty years destroyed at once," — and he and all the other bishops, except four, fled to England for safety. The Privy CouncU informed the King of all that had Mission of happened ; but for some time nothing was done to (jiess of' Hamilton. munion of the Church of Scotland it was unnecessary, as all judges were might be sworn in all courts in Eng- entitled and bound to administer oaths land according to the usage of their according to the form most agreeable own law, but the Parliament was dis- to the conscience of the person to solved after it had passed through whom the oath was administered. both Houses, and before there was This was so far satisfactory ; but, in time for receiving the royal assent, point of fact, it proved afterwards It was again brought in, and would that this privilege was not invariably have passed in all probability, if the granted.] Lord ChanceUor had not declared that 1638. i. 83.] 260 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. soothe the minds of the subiects. At last he sent the XXII Marquess of Hamilton (the son of that Hamilton who had established the Articles of Perth) as his High Commissioner in Scotland, with instructions to suspend the use of the Service-Book, but at the same time to dissolve the Tables, and to require the surrender of the Covenant within six weeks. MeanwhUe an attempt Avas made to send supplies to the castle of Edinburgh, which was frustrated by the Covenanters ; but the Marquess was not admitted into the city tiU the alarm arising from this circumstance had been removed. raaiiiie, Hamilton was received at Leith by the Covenanters Letters and . i • i i n i Journals, Ul a mauuer which they are supposed to have con trived as a display of their strength. " Huge multi tudes," says Baillie, " as ever was gathered on that field, sett themselves in this way : nobles, gentry of all shyres, women a world, the town of Edinburgh, all at the Watergate ; but we (the ministers) were most conspicuous in our black cloakes, above fyve hundred on a braeside in the Links." They appointed one of their number, WUliam Livingstone, " the strongest in voice and austerest in countenance," to make him a short welcome. The Marquess said that harangues in the field were for princes, and above his station ; but he would gladly hear in private whatever they had to say ; and accordingly Livingstone, after advising with his brethren, went into the commissioner's chamber and deUvered word for word the speech which had been previously prepared for him. It was conceived in the following terms : — " We, the servants of the Son of God, and preachers of the peace which passeth all understanding, being sensible of the fearful wrath of God, which justly pursues the land for our sins, and the sins of the people, where- 1638. CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 261 throuah our Kirk is rent by schism and division, lect. XXII which is like to consume all if it be not suddenly - quenched, having for remedy of these evils humbled ourselves before God, renewed our covenant with Him, and made our supplications to the King's Majesty, do give your grace a hearty welcome as his Majesty's Commissioner, and the messenger of the God of heaven, by whose blessing your grace may be an happy instrument for doing one of the best works which can be done in the earth for the honour of God, contentment of the King, good of our Kirk, peace of our kingdom, and joy of all the reformed churches, as having power in your hands from his Majesty to quench this fire, cut away the occasions of division, purge the house of God, minister justice, and give satisfaction to grieved souls, according to their supplication, whereby your grace would show a worthy proof of a worthy patriot, a faithful counsellor, a good Christian, and a compassionate member of our mother Church, mourning after manifold miseries, and would reap the fruit of a sweet remembrance in after ages, and of a marvellous peace and strong consolation when it comes to the breaking of the eye-strings, and giving the last gasp (for who lives, and shall not see death 1), when all the pleasures and honours of the world will stand in no stead. And this we and our people expect at your grace's hand, and humbly and heartily crave in his name who Avill judge the quick and the dead." Hamilton's manner was exceedingly prepossessing, and for some days the ministers expected that he would give them satisfaction ; but they soon found that he had no power but to publish a proclamation which demanded concessions from them, instead of 1638. 262 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. promising to remedy their grievances. Indeed, all the aim of Charles, in the mission of HamUton, was to dissolve the Covenant, and to delude its supporters by plausible pretences tiU he had coUected a force sufficient for their destruction. His temporising po licy only bound the Covenanters more strongly toge ther. They caUed out for a free Parliament and an independent Assembly ; and they signified that if the King did not consent to an Assembly, they would hold it by the power inherent in the Church itself The commissioner was wUling to summon an Assem bly on certain conditions, which would have destroyed its freedom : as, that the permanent moderators of presbyteries, who were removed by the Tables, should be reinstated, and declared to be constituent members of the Assembly, or at least that the members should be chosen only by the clergy. These conditions Avere rejected by the Tables. Their measures were now in some degree disconcerted by the unexpected gxant of aU their original de mands : the Canons, the Liturgy, and the High Com mission were recalled ; an Assembly and a Parha ment were appointed, in which the usurpations of the prelates might be checked. It was, however, too late to satisfy the Covenanters by such concessions. They were determined to restore the Presbyterian govern ment, as the only security for the enjoyment of their religious privUeges. They had no confidence in the King's promises ; and they knew that if the hierarchy were continued, however much it might be at first restrained in its powers, it had a natural tendency to make encroachments on the liberty of the Church. The King professed to sign the Covenant — that is, the Negative Confession of Faith, and the Bond subscribed CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 263 by his father in the year 1581, together with his own lect. concessions ; but the terms of the obligation to which '- he affixed his name were equivocal and deceitful. He -^°^^- swore to maintain religion as professed at present, — by which expression he understood the Episcopalian wor ship, while he knew that his subjects understood by it the Presbyterian. The Covenanters were not so short sighted as to be imposed upon by this snare, aud therefore they protested against the King's covenant. When Charles resolved to call a General Assembly, General TIT' Assembly he was advised by some of his counsellors to hold it of less. at Aberdeen, where the covenanting party Avas not nearly so strong as the adherents of Episcopacy. But it was ultimately resolved to prefer Glasgow, where the influence of the Marquess of HamUton was power ful. The Tables were afraid that, if the election of members was left to the ministers, as was proposed by the King, the Assembly might be composed chiefly of men who had not thrown off the yoke of the bishops, — and they therefore directed that an elder from every parish should attend the presbyteries, and have a voice in the election of commissioners. As those who were put in nomination were not suffered to vote, the elders thus outnumbered the ministers, and accordingly, as was expected, the most orthodox and rigid Presbyterian ministers were chosen to repre sent the presbyteries, in conjunction with Covenanters of approved zeal as elders. The introduction of elders gave the bishops a pretext for declining the juris diction of an Assembly in which it was intended to examine the accusations preferred against them for many private and public enormities. Most of them were charged Avith heresy, profanation of the Sabbath, falsehood, gaming, habitual swearing, drunkenness, 264 HISTOEY OF THE w XXII 1638. LECT. adultery, and other infamous offences. Though the trial of the bishops was admitted in the royal decla ration to be one of the grounds for calling the Assem bly, their decUnature, or protestation, was approved by the King and his commissioner as one of the grounds for dissolving it. Charles directed his commissioner to foment divisions between the clergy and laity conceming the legality of their elections, and by all possible means to discoA'^er nullities in their proceedings. When the Assembly was considering the right of sitting in judgment on the prelates, HamUton hastUy dissolved it as a con vention irregularly chosen by laymen, and prohibited the members to continue their sessions upon pain of high treason. The Assembly, however, refused to separate, and next day pubUshed a protestation in justification of their conduct. They declared that ruling elders had always sat in their Assemblies before the times of corrup tion; that his Majesty's presence was not for voting, but merely for countenancing their meetings and preserv ing external order ; that it was unlawful for the King to break up an Assembly of the Church, for if this were admitted, reUgion and church government Avould depend on the pleasure of the prince ; that there was no precedent or authority in any Act of Parliament for the dissolution of the Assembly without their con sent ; and that to dissolve the General Assembly before their grievances were redressed, would throw back the Avhole nation into confusion. They therefore declared that this shall be obeyed by all the subjects as a most lawful and free General Assembly of the kingdom. Their resolution to continue sitting was approved by a great proportion of the Privy Council, and their pro- 1638. *€ 6hUECH of SCOTLAND. 265 ceedings were countenanced by the support of the lect Earl of Argyle, the most powerful of the Scottish noblemen, whose zeal in the cause is supposed to have been quickened by liis discovery ofa scheme formed by the Court to partition his great estates as a reward to the Earl of Antrim, who had undertaken to invade the west of Scotland. The General Assembly continued to sit several weeks, and passed a large number of acts of great importance. They annulled the six preceding Assem bhes as corrupt — namely, those which had met in the years 1606, 1608, 1610, 1616, 1617, and 1618. They abolished Episcopacy ; they condemned the Articles of Perth, the Service-Book," the Book of Canons and Ordi nation, and the High Commission. They restored pres byteries, provincial synods, and national Assemblies to their constitution, power, and jurisdiction, as con tained in the Book of Policy. Of the fourteen Scottish a [The Assembly (6th December) of the Westminster Assembly, as far unanimously rejected and condemned as they were approved by the national both the Book of Canons and the Church. The Directory for the Pub- Book of Common Prayer, "not only as lie Worship of God was unanimously illegally introduced, without direction agreed to by the General Assembly in from the Kirk, but also as repugnant all its heads, together with the preface to the doctrine, discipline, and order set before it ; and according to its of this reformed Kirk, to the Confes- plain meaning, and the intent of the sion of Faith, constitution of General preface, it was required to be carefully Assemblies, and Acts of Parliament es- and uniformly observed and practised. tabUshing the true religion," the book In Scotland, in 1661, after Charles II. itself containing, " besides the popish was seated on the British throne, the frame and forms, many popish errors, government, arbitrary and overbear- and the seeds of manifold and gross su- ing as it was in almost every particu- perstition and idolatry." For five years Iar, did not venture either to restore after this period, the old liturgy (now the Scottish Liturgy of 1637, or to generally bearing the name of Knox, substitute any other. And half a but taken chiefly from the form used century afterwards, when an Act of in the English Church of Geneva) con- the Parliament of Great Britain was tinned to be printed at Edinburgh, passed, allowing Episcopalians in Scot- though not at full length. Soon after land to assemble for public worship, this time, all such works were super- the Act authorises only the Liturgy seded in Scotland by the proceedings of the Church of England.] 1638. 266 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. bishops, eight were excommunicated, four were de posed, and the other two, though suspended from their functions, were declared to be capable of officiating as ministers, because they submitted to the jurisdiction of the General Assembly, and renounced their Episco palian orders. Tlie King Charlcs was rather gratified than disappointed by has recom-se - ., i-j to arms, thc conduct of this Assembly. He longed for a pre text to reduce the Scots to submission by force of arms, and the favourable opportunity seemed now to have opened. On the 26 th of January he published his resolution to march against them in person at the head of his army. The Archbishop of Canterbury obtained from his clergy a contribution to assist in d-cfraying the expense of the war for supporting Epis copacy. The Queen and her friends undertook to obtain assistance from the Papists for the same purpose. The King, trusting to the exertions of his English subjects, prepared a fleet of sixteen men-of-war, and raised an army of 23,000 cavalry and infantry. The Scots were not dismayed when they heard of these preparations. From the moment when the report first reached them, their merchants had been em ployed in purchasing and importing arms from the Continent. General Alexander Lesley and many other officers in the Swedish service were invited to come home. A committee for military affairs was estabUshed at Edinburgh. Officers who had served in foreign armies were dispersed in every county to train the people to the use of arms. The castle of Edinburgh was taken by assault, that of Dumbarton was sur prised. Leith was fortified so as to protect the metro polis against an attack from the fleet which arrived Avith the Marquess of Hamilton. CHUECH OP SCOTLAND, 267 As the King advanced to Berwick, he was met by lkct. an army of Scots superior in numbers and discipline, ''^^"' and having the advantage of being led by experienced ^'''^^• officers. Charles, afraid of the consequences of a de feat, was glad to enter into terms of pacification, which on his part was insincere, but which was, no doubt, of the greatest service to his adversaries, as they could not long have maintained a defensive position, and as they were not yet prepared for the desperate hazard of offensive Avar. I have no intention of entering into the details of their military operations. Enough of these will be found in Burnet's Memorials of the Hamilton's, and in his History of his Own Times; in BaiUie's ie^^ers ; in Stevenson's History of the Church ; and in Laing's History of Scotland. I may also mention Bishop Guthrie's Memoirs, and Spalding's History of the Troubles i^i Scotland from 1624 to 1645, though very inferior books to the others. I consider Bailhe's Letters and Stevenson's History as the most useful works in throwing light upon this period. 268 HISTOEY OF THE LECTURE XXm. FIRST CAMPAIGN OF THE COVEXA^TTERS PEOCEEDWGS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF 1639 PROPOSAL FOR A UXIFORMITY OF WORSHIP AXD DISCIPLIXE IX EXGLAXD AXD SCOTLAXD WESTMINSTER AS SEMBLY OF DIVIXES COMMISSIONERS FROM SCOTLAXD TO THE •ffESTMIXSTEE ASSEMBLY SOLEMX LEAGUE AND COVEXANT — SCOT TISH COVEXAXTERS. LECT. The first short campaign of the Covenanters im- xxtii. ^ pressed the English vrith a high idea of their courage 1639. J J. . T „. and discipline. b irst cam- -t c^v^n^*^ The Scottish army, amounting to at least 23,000 ters. men, presented a spectacle such as had never before been witnessed in any of the wars between Scot land and England. They encamped on Dunse Law, a hUl about a mile and a half in circumference at the base, and gently sloping upward tUl it terminates in a flat surface a quarter of a mUe in length, and nearly the same in breadth, affording space sufficient for an army 40,000 strong. Forty field-pieces were planted on the summit of this eminence. The common soldiers were almost aU selected from the youngest, the most robust, resolute, and active of the peasantry, the husbandmen and shepherds of Fife, Ayrshire, GaUoway, and Teviotdale. Many of them were armed Avith pikes, but the greater part of them with muskets and broadswords, in the use of which weapons they chuech of SCOTLAND. 269 soon became expert. Their dresses were as variegated lect.XXIII as their arms and accoutrements, but they were '- united in affection to that cause whichthey accounted ^^^9. sacred. At the door of every captain of 200 men waved a splendid banner with the arms of Scotland emblazoned on it, and this motto inscribed in letters of gold, "For Christ's CroAvn and CoA'cnant." One Presbyterian minister, at least, was attached to every regiment, armed with a sword, and with a pair of Dutch pistols at his saddle ; but though harnessed hke the other cavaliers, none of them considered it to be his business to use his weapons otherwise than in self-defence. Yet this part of the complement of the army was not the least useful, or the least employed. Morning and evening the pastors offered up prayers and delivered sermons in the presence of the regiments to which they were attached. To these devout exer cises the soldiers were summoned by the drum, and after they retired from the exhortations in which their confidence in Providence, and their conviction of the goodness of their cause, were confirmed, the air re sounded with the voice of praise and prayer rising from every tent. " For myself," says BaiUie, " I never [Baiiiic-s found my mind in a better temper — I was as a man ^"f"' '' who had taken leave of the world, and was resolved to die in that service." The commanding officers of the different troops were the most ancient nobility of the land, all of whom, however emulous of distinction, were kept in subjection by the skUl and address of Lesley, their general, who is described by BaUUe as an old, little, crooked soldier, whose wisdom and authority were such that all from the beginning to the end gave themselves over to be guided by him, as if he had been the great Solyman. Of aU this host the most terrible 270 HISTOEY OF THE xxin' ^^ ^^^ Enghsh were the men of Argyle, on whom they — ^ — - looked with a mixture of amazement and horror. The King was very little disposed to face this army of highland and lowland devotees ; and after proposmg a negotiation, he concluded a treaty with his subjects, in which, though he would not acknowledge the late General Assembly, he agreed to refer aU ecclesiastical affairs to another Assembly, and all civil matters to a Parliament. The pacification was hasty, and not hkely to be permanent. The King was insincere in the promises by which he prevaUed on the Scots to dis perse, and to deUver up the fortifications which they occupied. He never intended to abolish the Liturgy, the Canons, and Episcopacy, or to repeal the articles which were so offensive to the Presbyterians. He determined to revive the order of bishops as soon as an opportunity offered; and he directed a protestation, to be secretly given to his commissioner in name of the bishops, against the legality of the Assembly. Proceeriings The General Assembly met at Edinburgh on the ral Assem- 12th of August, aud was opened by Alexander Hender son, the moderator of the former, whom the Earl of Traquair, the King's commissioner, A\Tshed to be con tinued in office, without seeming to advert to the indirect sanction which this step would have given to the proceedings of that Assembly which the King was so anxious to disown. The proposal seemed to be too nearly allied to the plan of having constant modera tors ; and David Dickson, minister of Irvine, was elected to the chair by a great majority of voices. In this Assembly it was agreed to hold two sessions every day, as the time was Umited to the interval before the sitting down of the Parliament. The public business of this Assembly, which was CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 271 intended to confirm all that had been done by the lect. XXIII Assembly at Glasgow, Avas directed to four principal objects. 1. The condemnation of the corruptions ^'^^^' which had prevailed in the Church ; 2. The censures of ministers for errors, immoralities, or contempt of the authority of the Church ; 3. The condemnation of a book entitled The large Declaration ; and, 4. The renovation of the National Covenant. The com missioners obtained a private engagement from the leading members, that they should make no mention of the Assembly at Glasgow, to which his Majesty had an insuperable antipathy ; but they gave him to understand that their purpose was to substitute in place of the former acts Avhat would be virtually the same, and they insisted that their conclusions should be ratified by the Parliament. When the Assembly enumerated the evils under [Acts of the Avhich the Church had long groaned, and proceeded AremWy to propose the , remedies, the commissioner per- ' ^' ceived that Episcopacy was condemned in terms so strong as could not faU to offend the King, and he therefore required them to give the reasons why they beheved that Presbytery is the constitution of this Church, and that Episcopacy is a corruption. After the acts of the Assembly relating to this subject, prior to the year 1580, had been read by the clerk, the com missioner declared that as his difficulty applied only to the period preceding that date, he was now com pletely satisfied. The Assembly then passed an act declaring that the most material causes of the past evUs of the Church were— 1. The pressing of the Church by prelates Avith a Service-Book, a Book of Canons, a Book of Consecration, and the High Com mission, aU Avithout the consent of the Church, all 272 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. tending to subvert its constitution, and to maintain XXIII error, superstition, and idolatry ; 2. The Articles of 1639, Perth contrary to the Confession of Faith ; 3. The change of the government of the Church from General Assemblies of the Church to the persons of some churchmen, usurping priority and power over their brethren, under the name of episcopal government, against the Confession of Faith ; 4. The civU places and powers of churchmen ; 5. The keeping of cor rupt Assemblies, contrary to the constitution of the Church ; and, 6. The want of lawful and free Assem bUes, " rightly constitute of pastors, doctors, and elders, yearly, or oftener pro re nata, according to the Book of Policy and Act of Parliament 1592." The act pro vided that the evUs should be remedied by removing the causes. Committees were formed to inquire into the labours [Acts of the of the commissions named by the last Assembly, to Ass;.mbiy roport upou the cases of ministers meriting deposition. " ' ^' ^ The reports were unanimously approved by the As sembly, and about twenty ministers were deposed, some for errors in doctrine, some for declining the Assembly, some for insufficiency, and most of them for gross immoralities, habitual drunkenness, sacri lege, bribery, profanation of the Sabbath, and deser tion of their fiocks. One of them had been non-resi dent three years, and had neglected his charge even Avhen he lived in the parish. Those who had merely dechned the Assembly, and read the Service-Book, Avere recommended to the synods to be restored, if they gave evidence of repentance, and promised sub mission to the constitutions of the Church ; and the Assembly, in proof of its desire to act leniently to- CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 273 wards such persons, absolved seven ministers from lect. then censures, and restored them to their functions. 1- — '- The next subject of debate in the Assembly was ¦^'^^^¦ the Large Declaration concerning the late Tumults in Scotland, a folio volume of 430 pages, published in name of the King, but well knovA-n to have been the production of Dr Walter Balcanquel, dean of Durham. The commissioner urged the Assembly to " give evi dence," in their decision, " that they regarded his Ma jesty's honour as the apple of their eye ;" and they accordingly resolved that they would think and speak tenderly of whatever the King himself had heard or seen, but that in so far as he was only informed, or rather misinformed, they would clear up all mistakes to the full. A committee was appointed, which, after three days, brought in a long report, condescend ing on eight articles in the book dishonourable to God, thirteen articles dishonourable to the Church, thirteen dishonourable to the kingdom, twenty-six asseverations which are gross falsehoods, and four instances in which the intentions, words, and actions of the Church had been wrested. The Assembly not [Acts of the only condemned the book, but presented a supplication AssTmUy to the King, praying for an exemplary punishment to ^''•^^'P-'^-] be inflicted on the authors, particularly Dr Balcan quel. The commissioner undertook to present the petition ; but the King continued to be as partial to the Declaration which bears his name, as before it was denounced ; and it is to be regretted that that work has been, and still is, very often quoted as an autho rity for historical information. The last important business before the Assembly was the renewal of the National Covenant. The commissioner agreed to this measure more cheerfully VOL. II. s 274 HISTOEY OF THE xxm *^^^ ^^^ expected ; and the Privy Council also passed an act, obliging all the subjects to subscribe the Covenant with "the Assembly's Declaration." The commissioner not only himself signed this confession, but promised to obtain its ratification in Parliament along with the other acts of that Assembly. Renewal of Xho Parliament sat doAvn on the 31st of August: hostilities. o ' and the members were prepared to confirm the acts of the late Assembly, as well as to repeal every sta tute favourable to Episcopacy ; but when the com missioner perceived that they were inclined to dero gate from the royal prerogative, he protracted the sittings till the middle of November ; and at last, finding that nothing was gained by delay, he pro rogued the Parliament to the 2d of June 1640, with out having accomplished any of the objects for which it had been called. Commissioners were sent to Lon don to remonstrate against the prorogation, and to vindicate the proceedings, but before their arrival it was determined by the English Council to rencAv the war. To provide supplies, the King summoned a Parlia ment to meet at London, after an interval of twelve years. The Commons of England, however, instead of voting money for the expedition against the Scots, entered upon the consideration of grievances under which they themselves groaned. Finch, the Lord- Keeper, addressed the Parliament in a most elaborate speech, for the purpose of persuading them to co operate in the patriotic design of furnishing the means for subjugating the Scots. But the audience whom he tried to wield to his purposes did not relish bombast, and many of them stoutly maintained that, in their apprehension, the chief purpose now to be CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 275 aimed at was the security of their Uberties, and the lect. XXIII redress of their wrongs. Charles, incensed at these 1640. unpalatable doctrines, suddenly dissolved tbe Parlia ment, and ordered several of the members to be ar rested. The King also found it necessary to resort to other means of raising money. Lord Strafford, the Lieutenant-General, subscribed £20,000, the Dukes of Lennox and Richmond an equal sum, and many others of the nobility contributed liberally to defray the expense of the armament. Strafford obtained from the Irish Parliament five subsidies, amounting to £240,000, and the Catholics gave so much that the King's troops were called the popish army. The Eng lish Convocation granted a subsidy of £20,000 a-year for six years. The principal merchants were com pelled to advance considerable sums, and various iUegal exactions were continued under the names of ship-money and militar}' charges, against which the whole nation felt the greatest repugnance. When Charles had burnt the Articles of Pacifica- Meeting of tion, and declared his Scottish subjects to be in a ment of '"^ state of rebellion, the Tables betrayed no symptoms of iith June surprise or consternation. They had taken the pre caution of keeping the officers in pay, and they knew well where to find both arms and men at the shortest notice. But they resolved to make no open prepara tions tUl they obtained the sanction of their national Parliament, which they expected to meet on the day to which it had been prorogued. The membere con vened, and as the form of farther prorogation was not duly observed, they declared themselves a lawful parhament, and chose Lord Burley for their president, in absence of his Majesty's commissioner. They then proceeded to pass a number of important acts, Avhich 276 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. had been prepared the former year by the Lords of the Articles. One of these acts declared that all subse- [Act.Pari. i-N 1 1 Inipeach- tions against the Archbishop of Canterbury and the ment of Earl of Strafford were brought before the English and the Parliament. The charges against ArchbisJiop Laud Strafford. were his imposition of numerous alterations upon the Church of Scotland, Avithout order and against law ; his obtruding a book of canons and constitutions, de vised for the establishment of a tyrannical power of bishops over the consciences, the liberty, and property of the people, and particularly his instrumentality in bringing in the Book of Common Prayer, contain ing many popish errors and superstitions. On the report of these articles, the Archbishop of Canter bury Avas impeached by the House of Commons ; but his trial did not take place for a considerable time afterwards. The prosecution against the Earl of Strafford, of[Ensh- which a very circumstantial account is to be found in lection, iii. RushAvorth's Collections and many other works, was Baiiiie's'' conducted Avith great solemnity. The chief articles of i. 3i3, '&c.] accusation against him were that his government in Ireland had been arbitrary ; that he had encouraged the Romish religion ; that he had imposed an unlawful oath on the Scots in Ireland ; that he had endeavoured to create feuds between England and Scotland ; that he had laboured to render tbe Parliament odious to the King ; and that he had advised the King, since the Parliament had refused him supplies, to raise them by such means as he thought fit. His attainder passed the House of Commons on the 19 th of April 1641; but it Avas supposed that it would haA^e been rejected by the Lords, if a plot had not been detected, which 280 HISTOEY OF THE lect. XXIII. 1641. had been undertaken under the auspices of the King, for the purpose of bringing the army" to London to overawe the two houses of Parliament, and to defend the royal prerogative. In consequence of this dis covery, the Court lost aU its character and influence, and the House of Commons was regarded as the only bulwark of the people's freedom. The attainder of Strafford passed the House of Lords, and the King, not venturing to refuse it the royal assent, surrendered his minister to the vengeance of the laws against high treason. o [It must be confessed that some of the very men "who at this time acted as commissioners from Scot land, -when afterwards members of the Assembly of Divines, do not appear to have scrupled at the adoption of [the] very [same] questionable means for obtaining a majority in that As sembly favourable to their views, [which they on this occasion repro bated so severely iu the case of the King.] AVho would suppose that the spiritually-minded, and truly honest and devout Eobert Baillie, would have allowed himself, in his correspond ence, to refer, as in many letters he does not hesitate to do, to the great weight which might be expected to be produced by the presence of an army from Scotland, in hastening the consent of the Westminster Assembly to the propositions relating to the Church which he and other Scottish commissioners wished to be adopted ? Thus, in a letter ¦written Nov. 17, 1643, to his cousin, Mr William Spang, speaking of the Assembly of Divines having permission " to faU ou the question of Church government," he says : " What here they will doe, we cannot say ; Mr Henderson's hopes are not great of their conformitie to us, before our armie be in England." — {^Letters, ii. 104). But he speaks much more explicitly and decidedly to the same effect in subsequent let ters, e.g. -writing three weeks after wards (Dec. 7) to the same friend, he says : " If God send not in our armie quicklie, and give it not some notable success, this people are HkeUe to faint. . . . Till our armie appear i-n England, little hope af helping their languishing and distracted proceed ings : all things are expected from God and the Scotts."— (/ftt'rf. ii. 113, 114). In another letter: "If God bring in the army quickly, and be pleased to be with it, all here at once will be well ; if otherwise, all here will quickly ruin." Many other pas sages are to the same effect. In July 1644 he says : " We bless God, who is beginning to shine on aur army, and make it a fountain of joy and hope to those that love the welfare of religion. IVe hope things in the Assembly and Parliament may go more after our mind: Our .armie oft signified to us, they conceived their want of success flowed most from God's anger at the Parliament and Assemblie for their neglect of the establishment of reli gion. We oft told them that we had no hope of any progress till God gave them victories, and then we doubted not all -would nin both iu ParUament and Assembly."] CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 281 The King Avas now convinced that the strength and lect. spirit of the House of Commons arose chiefly from ^^^"" their connection with the Scots. He therefore at-,, ^''"¦ tempted to withdraw the Scots from the cause, and siguci with - , , . . - . T , . . tliu Scottish he began by practising on the avarice and ambition army. of some of the commissioners. He gained OA^er the Earl of Rothes to his interest ; but it was vain to hope that he would gain the Scottish army otherAvise than by acceding to their demands. A treaty was at length hastUy concluded, with the approbation of both Houses of Parliament, and on the same day the King set out for Scotland. At this time the defection of the Marquess of Mon trose from the cause of the Covenanters might have proved ruinous to their interests, if his correspondence with the King had not been intercepted. Charles, on his arriA^al in Scotland, professed his The King's willingness to accomplish all that he had promised, laud. — and among other proofs of his sincerity, offered to ratify the acts of the former session of Parlia ment. But the Estates maintained that these acts were already valid, and they declined to accept from their sovereign that confirmation of their proceedings which would have implied that till then their authority was incomplete. WhUe the Kiog was in Scotland, he regularly attended public worship, apparently with great satisfaction, and had famUy worship performed by his Scots chaplains, who were convinced at the time, that if he had not been influenced by evU coun sel, he would have been easily persuaded to relinquish his partiality for the English service. Before his arrival in Scotland, a General Assembly Proposal for had sat down at St Andrews, and adjourned to Edin- of worship burgh. In addition to the pubhc acts, with which all pUne in 282 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. of you have opportunities of becoming acquainted, '- there was now for the first time proposed a model of EnMand" Church government which was intended to be appli- Cd^™*" cable to England as well as to Scotland, that so there j^semMy J^igb* Uc Uniformity of discipline and worship all over 29^33 f' ^^^ island. It was also moved to appoint members to prepare a confession of faith, a catechism, and a directory, for all the parts of public worship, in con currence with the Presbyterians of England. The Assembly, Avhich met the following year at St An drews, had a communication from many English ministers on this subject, expressing their strong desire for presbyterian government, and a complete union Avith the Church of Scotland. Letters from the King and the Parliament were at the same time re ceived, all of them favourable to reformation in the Church ; and the Assembly, in their reply, pressed the matter Avith all that fervour and earnestness which flowed from a firm persuasion of the excellence of the principles to which they were devoted, and from an ardent desire to promote the spiritual advantage of their brethren. Westmin- About this time the Commission of the General btyof d1™ Assembly, which before that period had never ven tured on much business, began to act as a constant judicatory, and to assume very high powers. It was to this court that Lord Maitland, who had formerly been appointed to negotiate with the Parliament of England on the subject, gave in an answer, bearing that the Parliament was willing to grant all the desires of the Scots in abolishing Episcopacy, and requiring some of the ministers to assist at the Assembly, which was to meet at Westminster on the 5th of November. Many of the ministers Avere sufficiently anxious to CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 283 be employed on this occasion ; but the Marquess of lect. Argyle artfully contrived to defeat their desires, by XXIII. 1643. putting them on the committee of nomination. This ^^^^.^^ committee named Alexander Henderson, Robert ^i™^;;;f™J" Douglas, Samuel Rutherford, George GiUespie, and '•- Wo«'- Eobert BaUlie, as ministers, and Lords Cassilis, INIait- Assembly. land, and Warriston, as elders ; and this appoint ment was approved by the Commission, and by the foUowing Assembly. As these ministers took an active part in the compilation of the Confession of Faith, the Catechisms, the Form of Presbyterian Church Government, and the Directory for Worship, it might be proper to give some account of them, if our limits would admit it. I can only, however, refer to some of them, and in very general terms. Alexander Henderson, or Henryson, Avas a man of Alexander . __ , , Henderson. uncommon powers oi mmd. He appears to nave been a native of the parish of Creich, in Fife. He was edu cated in Sfc Salvator's College about the year 1600, when the prosperity of this university was at its height. He became one of the regents of philosophy ten years afterwards, when the abettors of Presbytery were banished, and the tyranny of the bishops had begun to engross the patronage of the universities, as well as the government of the Church. After acting in the capacity of regent several years, he was, by the Arch bishop of St Andrews, appointed minister of Leuchars ; but the people were so adverse to his admission, that it was necessary to enter the church through a window on the day of his ordination. He became afterwards, however, a most diligent and useful pastor, and paid uncommon attention to the education of the young, in which cause he Avas so zealous that he founded a school in his native parish, and another in 284 HISTOEY OP THE LECT. the parish of Leuchars, destining to the support of each a very considerable fund, as weU as houses and land." He was one of the first who refused to use the Book of Canons, or the Service-book imposed by the King. From this period he may be considered as the leader of the Covenanters tUl the time of his death, in the year 1646. He was, during the last seven years of his life, one of the ministers of Edinburgh ; but almost his whole time was occupied Avith the charge of public affairs, and with the composition of the public papers, which were during that turbulent period issued in name of the Church, as well as in giving his assistance to the Assembly of Divines at Westminster. His death was justly attributed to the unremitted fatigue and anxiety which he endured in conducting the presbyterian controversy Avith the King ; but there is certainly no reason for the episcopalian assertion, that he died of grief at being unable to answer the controversial papers which were issued in name of his Majesty. Robert Robert Douglas, another most powerful preacher, Douglas, ^^g gg^-^ ^Q j^g descended from the royal family. He also was a strenuous defender of the presbyterian interest ; and when he was afterwards pressed to accept a bishopric, he magnanimously refused it, although the alternative was want, neglect, and persecution. He was the person who first proposed the restoration of Charles IL, and through whose influence chiefly it was carried into effect. His sermon, preached at the coronation of Charles, is weU known. Samuel Rutherford is a name which has been treated Samuel Rutherford, -with much iguoraut and unmerited contempt by per sons infinitely his inferiors. He was a man of honour- o Appendix, No. XX. CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 285 able birth and superior education, and at a very early lect. age was elected professor of humanity in the uni- •^¦'^'"' versity of Edinburgh, in the year 1623. Having re- ^''*^- signed the office two years afterwards, he was appointed minister of Anwoth in Galloway, through the interest of Lord Kenmure, without having taken the oath of obedience to the bishops. His activity and diligence, while he held this charge, was almost unparalleled : from three in the morning till a late hour at night he habitually spent his time in reading, writing, visiting, and examining his parishioners and performing the other duties of his office. He was one of the first persons in Scotland who took a share in the Arminian controA^ersy. For his learned treatise entitled Exerci tationes ApologeticcB pro Divina Gratia, published in 1630, he was summoned before the High Commission ; but in the absence of the Archbishop of St Andrews, the diet was deserted, and for that time he was dis charged. Six years afterwards he was prosecuted be fore the same court for writing this book, for preaching against the Articles of Perth, and for nonconformity ; and he was then deprived of his ministry, and ordered to be confined in the city of Aberdeen during the King's pleasure. While he remained in this confine ment, he was not afraid to utter his sentiments ; and his disputations with the doctors of Aberdeen, aU of whom, with scarcely an exception, were attached to Episcopacy, and among whom might certainly be num bered the ablest and most expert wranglers in Scot land (particularly Robert Bacon, the metaphysician, who had once been a professor in the University of St Andrews), would probably have exposed him to fresh severities, if the events of 1638 had not restored the Church to its freedom. On the restoration of 286 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. Presbytery he was appointed by the General Assembly -^ '- professor of divinity in the New CoUege of St Andrews ; but he could not accept the office unless he was likewise appointed to a ministerial charge; and in com pliance with his suggestion, the General Assembly ordained him to be admitted colleague with Robert Blair, minister of St Andrews. While Rutherford re sided in London (from the year 1643 to 1647) he published a great number of works, most of them con troversial, being written chiefly against the Antino- mians and Independents, schismatics whom he con ceived to be at least equally dangerous to the peace of the Church as the Episcopalians. As the interest of the subject has now expired, few of these books are much known by the present age ; but all of them are fraught with great learning, and in many passages they exhibit traces of a bold and masculine judgment, as Avell as of a rich imagination. His book entitled Lex Rex, or a Plea for the P eople s Rights, containing " the causes of the most necessary defensiA^e Avars of Scotland, and of their exj)edition for aiding their brethren in England," was afterwards condemned and burnt ; and if the author had not died opportunely a few months after the restoration of Charles IL, he might probably have shared the same fate with his book. As a writer, we cannot ascribe much merit to his style, and in the indulgence of an exuberant fancy he often expressed his meaning in terms which now excite the ridicule of the profane ; but if his situation be duly considered, it will be difficult to name any person who ever filled the same situations, of whom it can be truly said, that in extensive learning, as well as in native strength of talent, he has approached to Samuel Rutherford. In the age of MUton, this man's elor CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 287 quence and judgment Avere admired by the English ; lect. and however fantastical his expressions may often ap- ''^^"^' pear to us, they are not more extravagant than many ^''*^- which are to be found in the productions of the most celebrated episcopalian divines. It is unnecessary to describe the character of Robert Robert Baillie. Some of his works are well known ; others, it is to be regretted, have been long knoAvn only in an imperfect state ; but his adA^ersaries proved in Avhat respect they held his abilities, Avhen they afterwards urged him to accept a bishopric. He was a man of profound and universal learning. Of George GUlespie, the other commissioner to the George Westminster Assembly, I would Avillingly speak at ' "''"" some length, because his character has been unhand somely and untruly described. He has been derisiA^ely characterised as a mere fanatic, Avho had no pretensions to notice except the violence of his disposition. He was the youngest of all the commissioners sent by the General Assembly to assist the English divines, being not yet thirty years of age ; but five years before, he had distinguished himself by a most learned treatise, a Dispute against the English Popish Ceremonies obtruded on the Church of Scotland ; and since that time he had been engaged in other works which still remain as monuments of his uncommon genius and erudition. He was admitted by a very competent judge (Principal BaiUie ") to be at least equal to the « [" Verie learned and acute Mr om- Kirk had, of a clear judgment ; Gillespie, a singular ornament to our that which some mislyked in him Church, than whom not oue in the wald easely have been bettered by whole Assemblie speaks to better experience and years."— Ibid. iii. 68. purpose, and with better acceptance Ten years before (in 1638), Baillie by all the hearers."— {Letters, ii. 129.) had written to Mr Spang : " Ye have After his death Baillie writes of him : here some reasons against the ser- — ' Certainly he was as able a man as vice in print I took the 288 HISTOEY OP THE LECT. ablest men in the Westminster Assembly ; and it is known that they listened with such deference to his 1643. opinions that he may be said to have had the chief hand in framing the Directory for Worship, the Form of Church Government, and the other productions bound up with the Confession of Faith. He would unques tionably have proved himself to be what aU his col leagues then esteemed him, the chief ornament of our Church, if he had not been cut off by a premature death in the year 1648, in the thirty-sixth year of his age. Incomparably the best account of the constitu tion of our National Church which has ever appeared was written by this able diAdne — An Assertion of the Government and Discipline of the Church of Scotland. He was also the author of a large work, entitled Aaron's Rod Blossoming, and another entitled Mis cellaneous Questions. Tlie Solemn In 1643, commlssiouers from London arrived in Covenant. Ediuburgh, aud represented to the Convention of the Estates of Parliament, and to the General Assembly, that because the prelatical faction was stUl pursuing the design of altering the religion of the whole island, it was necessary to unite the two nations for their mutual defence against them and their adherents, and not to lay down their arms till these implacable foes were defeated. It was agreed that the best method of accomplishing this purpose was to enter into a Cove nant and League between the kingdoms. This league author to be Mr Henderson ; bot I papers and help of the chief of that am informed since that they came syde, yet the very composition would from Mr George Gillespie seem to be farre above such ane age; This same youth is now given out bot if that book be truely of his mak- also, by these that should know, for ing, I admire the man, though I mis- the author of the English Popish like much of his matter ; yea, I think, Ceremonies, whereof we all doe mar- he may prove amongst the best witts veil ; for though he had gotten the of this isle." — {Ibid. i. 90).] CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 289 was immediately prepared and sent to London by four lect. of the commissioners to the Westminster Assembly, —1 1 and was approved both by that Assembly and by the ^''''^' Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament. It was solemnly sworn and subscribed in almost all parts of that nation. An Act of Parliament was passed, con taining instructions for the manner of taking it, and at the same time " an exhortation for satisfying scruples " was published by the Assembly of Divines. In the course of the same year it was sworn by all ranks in Scotland, and thus both nations solemnly abjured prelacy. I may here take occasion to read to you a few re marks on the Covenanters written for another pur pose, at the solicitation of a friend, who inserted them in a periodical publication : — [No tolerable account of the Scottish Covenanters has character of ever been published " in an extended form, and our Cove^nt- National Church ought to feel deeply indebted to any [christian writer of ability who shall supply this vast desideratum (?8i7);' vol. in her history. The task, indeed, is one which very few ""' ^' ^^^'^ o [The description given by a cele- treatment which they experienced, brated novehst of the period of the in violation of the solemn promises Covenanters is not historically cor- which that monarch had repeatedly rect. .... The greater part made to them. But on that subject, of the description applying to the as I believe the authority of the cele- religion and morals of that class of brated writer referred to is often persons in Scotland who are known thought almost the best that can be by the name of Covenanters, must quoted, I think it right to state that have been supplied almost altogether he seems to have been utterly unac- by the imagination of the writer. He quainted both with the observances of seems equally to have forgotten the the Presbyterian Church, and those of state of things before the restoration the Episcopalian Church which suc- of Charles IL, and the state of things ceeded it. He imagines, for instance, which supervened upon that event, that the Liturgy was observed after which was certainly hailed as joyfully the Restoration of Charles II., where by the Presbyterians of Scotland as by as, in point of fact, the only change any other class of his Majesty's sub- that took place in the worship iu the ]ecta, although they had great cause churches consisted in the discontinu- afterwards to complain of the harsh ance of the Directory and the adop- VOL. IL t' 1643. 290 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. men are capable of executing well, and which the best XXIII o ' qualified may be little inclined to undertake It is not enough that the historian of the Covenanters should be entitled to quote the Memoirs of the Bishop of Dunkeld, the Dukes of HamUton, and the Marquess of Montrose, Rushworth's " CoUections" and BaiUie's " Letters," Whitelocke's " Memorials," and Franklyn's "Annals," "Naphtali" and the "Hind let Loose," with the voluminous Histories bearing the names of Clarendon and Collier, Burnet and Wodrow, and a dozen or two of prosing biographical notices to be found in every vU lage and hamlet, such as the " Lives" of Livingstone and Hog, of Robert Blair and Frazer of Brae, of Katherine Ross and Elizabeth West. The man who wishes to form an accurate estimate of the intellectual attain ments and moral characters, as weU as the theological views and political sentiments, of the leading Cove nanters, must have the patience to peruse their nume rous writings ; not a few of which are only to be dis covered in the smoky hovels of the poor, all tattered and defaced, not so much by the tear and wear of tion of three Articles, which had not were afraid would stUl continue to be been tbougbt offensive in the days of exercised, in a manner inconsistent Knox, namely, the use of the Lord's with the full enjoyment of their re- Prayer, the repetition of the Creed by ligious privileges. I refer to these jjarenta when they brought their particulars merely as specimens of children to be baptised, and the use the inaccuracy of the descriptions of a doxology in connection with the which .have probably made an im- singing of psalms. These were the pression not easily effaced, though it only marked deviations from thewor- has done great injustice to the char- ship which had been previously ob- acters of an oppressed and persecuted served ; and the whole objection of race, who, derided as they have been the people of Scotland arose from as feeble-minded fanatics, did more their belief that the hierarchy and than any other body of men both to his Majesty's claim of supremacy iu maintain the interests of religion, and matters ecclesiastical were not divinely to secure for their posterity the enjoy- warranted, and that the power of the ment of civil liberty. — {Author's Evid. Church, patronised by the King, had before Com. of House of Commons on been exercised formerly, and they Sabbath Observance.)] CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 291 actual service, as by being long laid on the shelf lect. amidst the Avreck of baser matter — a sure token of the -^ — '- decaying zeal for the cause which the authors main- '^*^' tained with such vehemence and fervour. Most of these writings present but few attractions to the fastidious readers of this lukewarm and con ceited generation. In general, they are characterised equaUy by the homeliness of their diction, the extent of their erudition, and the cogency of their arguments. They breathe a keen spirit of controversy on points of systematic divinity and ecclesiastical polity ; topics scarcely so interesting to many of our contemporaries, as the literary contests of the Realists and the No minalists of a remoter age. We may be apt to blame the covenanting brethren for devoting themselves so generally to polemical discussions ; but it was not altogether from choice that many of them took this turn. They were constrained to wield these weapons in self-defence ; and there was not a man among their opponents whose dexterity or subtlety in debate was able to perplex them. With scarcely any exception, the Covenanters had been trained to the habit of dis putation from their tenderest years ; and at every stage of their lives they were familiar with scenes of contention. After having completed the usual academical course, many of the ablest of their number acted as regents in coUeges ; and in this capacity they could scarcely faU to acquire a turn for wrangling, and to gain a facUity of utterance, by the practice of teaching the Aristotelian logic, and presiding in the daily examinations of the students. Thus Alexander Henderson, Robert Blair, David Dickson, Samuel Eutherford, James Wood, David Forrest, Hugh Bin ning, James Guthrie, Robert M'Ward, and several 1643. 292 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. others (of whom the small wits of the succeeding generation were accustomed to speak so scornfully), had, at a very early age, signalised themselves as pro fessors of philosophy and the liberal arts, and had been universaUy acknowledged to be men of no ordi nary talents and acquirements. When they were afterwards intrusted with the cure of souls, they were not suffered to divest themselves of their scholastic accoutrements. One of the weekly exercises in which it behoved all members of presbyteries to engage in rotation, was the elucidation of some common head in divinity, or a critical exposition of some passage of Scripture ; and while a certain proportion of the brethren impugned the doctrines delivered, it was necessary for the authors to be ready with their defence. Of the mode in which these combats were con ducted, it is unnecessary to offer any description ; and we have not leisure to discuss the advantages and disadvantages Avhich must have resulted from them. It is sufficiently obvious, that they must baA^e whetted the faculty of argumentation, and imposed on every preacher a necessity of applying, with some degree of earnestness, to the serious studies befitting his profes sion; and that they must, in no small degree, have fostered the disputatious humour, which was never at a loss for subjects on which to exert itself, so long as Papists, Episcopalians, sectaries, and heretics, were allowed to hold out a signal of defiance. The specimens of their reasoning powers which have descended to our times, cannot easily be matched by the most elaborate performances of their adversaries ; and it is only to be regretted that the fugitiA^e and perishable form in which their productions appeared, as well as the tran- CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 293 sient interest of the subjects, have long ago doomed lect. them to neglect, if not to destruction. ^1 1 It deserves also to be noticed that the descendants ^"^^' of some of these champions of Presbytery, having espoused less manly tenets, and moved in a more courtly sphere, have become ashamed of the puritan ical recognisances engraven on the shields of their progenitors, and instead of wishing to perpetuate the trophies of their honourable renown, have rather been solicitous to blot out the memorials of the warfare which they waged against arbitrary power and pre latical usurpation. From this cause, among many others too obvious to require enumeration, it has happened that many valuable written documents are inaccessible, while a considerable number of those which were printed, being now either lost or muti lated, cannot be referred to with any degree of con fidence. In these circumstances, it is not very wonderful that the capacities of the Scottish Covenanters should have lately become a matter of dispute. One class has derided them as persons of weak inteUects and contemptible acquirements. Another party has main tained that the leading men among them were highly respectable, both for their abilities and their informa tion. A distinction, indeed, ought to be made between the earlier Covenanters, whose education had been completed before the constitution of their Church was overturned, and those who did not enter on their vocation till the time of trouble overtook them. But even of those who grew up under the shade of perse cution, and whose minds were nurtured amidst alarms and strifes and perils, which rendered it impossible for them to pursue a regular train of study, it has 1643. 294 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. been affirmed that they were men of no mean endow- XXIII ments, and that, though their stock of learning was but scanty, they acquired an uncommon degree of shrewdness in the discernment of character, and in tracing the connection of events (whence arose the popular belief of their prophetical gifts) ; while at the same time they became masters of a powerful and im passioned eloquence, to which, though it violated many of the established canons of criticism, it was not pos sible to listen without being deeply moved. These extraordinary specimens of oratory, whether extem poraneous or not, appear scarcely ever to have been committed to writing by the authors ; and the printed sermons ascribed to them are in general nothing more than the notes taken by hearers, and afterwards ffiled up by the broken and incoherent shreds of sentences which their recoUection could supply, and which their plebeian taste occasionally translated into more vulgar phraseology. Though we do not altogether admire the style of preaching which has been thus disguised and deformed by the reporters, to whose injudicious zeal we owe a few remnants of discourses, we are not ashamed to acknoAvledge ourselves in the number of those who respect the memory of the Covenanters, not only on account of their integrity and intrepid ity, their love of truth and their hatred of oppression, but on account of their vigorous powers of thought, and their distinguished proficiency in valuable know ledge ] The En- The Kiug's affairs were now in a state of despera- gagemen . ^.^^ _ ^^^ ^^^^^ vaiuly attempting to retrieve them, he surrendered himself to the Scottish army under General Lesley, who before that time had been created Earl, of Leven. The Scots, on obtaining a promise 1648. CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 295 that he would be honourably treated, delivered him lect. up to the English Parliament. '^'^^ '. Two years afterwards, the Duke of HamUton pre vaUed upon the ConA^ention of Estates to raise an army, and to appoint him commander, for the purpose of delivering the King from captivity. This expedi tion, well known in the history of our Church by the name of the Engagement, was the source of the greatest dissensions which had yet been known in this country. The purpose was to oppose the Inde pendents of England, headed by Oliver Cromwell — a party whom the Scottish nation viewed Avith pecuUar abhorrence ; but when it was discovered that the ruin of this party would be the exaltation of the Royahsts and Episcopalians, or, as they now began to be named, the Malignants, the undertaking was regarded by a great proportion of the Church as a presumptuous violation of the Covenant, and all who engaged in it were excommunicated. To distinguish the well affected from the malignants, it was now thought necessary to renew the Covenant in the year 1648, after Avhich period" the Church was torn asunder by various fac tions, tUl its constitution Avas utterly overthrown. a Appendix, No. XXI. 296 HISTOEY OF THE LECTURE XXIV. PROTEST OF THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND AGAINST THE KING's TRIAL — CONTROVERSIES BETWEEN THB PRESBTTBRIAXS AXD THE SEC TARIES DISPUTES IN THE "WESTJIINSTEfi ASSEMBLY RESPECTING CHUBCH GOVEENJIENT CONCLUSIONS OP THE ENGLISH PARLU- MENT^-PAPEES BETWEEN CHARLES L AND ALEXANDER HENDERSON THE ENGAGEIIENT RESOLUTIONERS AND PROTESTERS KEW MODE OF PEEACHDTG INTRODUCED BT ROBERT LEIGHTON AND HUGH BINrNTNG RESTORATION OF CHARLES IL JAMES SHARP — EPISCOPACY RESTORED IN SCOTLAND. LECT. It has been very commonly asserted that the Presby- xxrv. J ./ .J — terians of England, combining with those of Scotland, Protfst^!^ brought Charles I. to the scaffold. This calumny has of sSi^nd been so often and so completely refuted, that it is Kng-s' trial, necessary only to say that, with regard to the Scottish nation, it was no sooner discovered that the sectarian army of England, having modelled the ParUament ac cording to their own views, and erected a High Court of Justice, had resolved to bring the King to trial, than the Parliament of Scotland unanimously directed their commissioners in London to protest against that resolution. The Church of Scotland entertained the same views ; and a meeting of the Commission of the General Assembly having been called, concurred with the Parhament in expressing their detestation of " so horrid a design against his Majesty's person," and hi protesting that they were not responsible for " the CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 297 miseries, confusions, and calamities that might follow." lect. XXIV The Presbyterians in London and the neighbourhood, '- to the number of eight hundred, also published a re- ^^¦*"'"^^''^- presentation of their judgment on this subject, as it had been communicated in a letter to the General and his council of war, in which they remonstrated against the intention of doing violence to the person of the King, or divesting him of his royal authority ; an intention which, they maintained, must have the effect of " subverting the constitution, and intro ducing anarchy and confusion." Again, the presby terian Parliament of Scotland, after having received certain intelligence of the King's murder, immediately proclaimed Charles IL king, and sent to their com missioners at London a copy of the proclamation, with a remonstrance to the House of Commons, which gave so great offence to the regicides that they at first imprisoned the commissioners, and soon afterwards sent them back to Scotland, escorted by a troop of horse. It is probable that the aspersions against the Pres- controver- li' !•! ..TT-r.) sies hetween byterians, as having been accessory to the King s the Presby- death, have arisen tn a great measure from the igno- th" Sm-^" rant supposition that the whole force of presbyterian '*"^'' hostUity was directed against the Episcopahans ; a supposition which some of our ecclesiastical historians have taken pains to confirm by detailing circumstan- tiaUy all the disputes of the Presbyterians with the prelatical party, and omitting altogether, or very slightly mentionUig, the controversies which they car ried on with an innumerable host of sectarians. It is true that our Scottish Covenanters lifted up a testimony against prelacy, a form of Church government which they conceived to be equaUy inconsistent with 298 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. their civU privUeges and religious freedom. In this contest they had a powerful auxiliary in the author ¦ of Paradise Lost, whose fine genius submitted to the drudgery of writing polemical treatises against Epis copacy and monarchy, but who soon became one of the fiercest enemies of the Presbyterians themselves, treat ing them with the utmost disdain, and applying the most virulent epithets to their conduct. It is easy to account for the rancour with which his irritable mind was infected, when we reflect that he was the apolo gist of aU the excesses of the Independents in the army, and the chosen vindicator of the parliamentary rebels who determined on the death of their sovereign before they brought him to his trial. But though the Covenanters contended earnestly against the prelatical hierarchy, which they conceived had been the ruin of the Church in the former age, this was not the oiUy enemy, nor, in their opinion, the most dangerous enemy whom it was necessary for them to oppose. It appeared to them that the Church could never be established in its purity till it main tained unity of doctrine and uniformity of disciphne ; and when the abolition of Episcopacy was obtained, it was natural to expect that the sentiments of men would be divided with respect to the best mode of administering ecclesiastical affairs. Those, accord ingly, who had combined in overthrowing the estab lished order, were unable to agree in constructing a new system, and their different views concerning the eovernment of the Church led them to a diver- sity of opinion on other matters of much deeper importance. Disputes The strife of parties was carried to a great height chS *" in the Assembly of Divines Avhich met at Westminster CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 299 in the year 1643." The episcopalian divines did not lect. XXIV attend at all, and it may therefore be presumed that : 1- their opinions met with no support. At first a majo- i6*3-i66i. *• -I • f 1 1 • govcmment rity of the members appeared to be inclined to admit m tho west- •^ T « . . « . minster the name of bishops, and to define their functions Assembly. according to the supposed practice of the first century. But the Scotch commissioners would agree to no pro positions except those which, disclaiming Episcopacy altogether, established the presbyterian constitution as being expressly authorised and prescribed in the New Testament. The Independents, or congregational brethren, formed indepen- an able though not a numerous party in the Assembly ; and there was scarcely an article proposed concerning Church government which they did not keenly debate for several weeks. This sect had arisen out of the party known by » [Their discussions were not con- verse 20: "But the eyes of the wicked fined to the Assembly itself. Both shall faU, and they shall not escape, the House of Lords and the House of and their hope shall be as the giving Commons were wont to assemble at up of the ghost." In this discourse, least once every month, for the pur- to which he gave the title of " Hopes pose of celebrating pubHc fasts ; and Deferred and Dashed," he took ocoa- the sermons which were preached on sion to introduce his peculiar views those occasions by members of the on church government. " Establish," Assembly of Divines, are generally he said, " as few thiugs,.;itre divi-no, as very interesting memorials, both of the can well be; hold out the practice, talents and thetheologicalattainments but not the ground. This was the of those eminent men, as well as of only thing that hindered union in the the prevailing spirit of the age. Some Assembly. Two parties came biassed : of them, however, assumed a very the one with a national determina- controversial tone, and it might have tion ; the other with a congregational almost been said, in certain cases, that, engagement. The reverend commis- as far as the preaohei-swere concerned, sioners for Scotland were for the jus they seemed to have fasted for strife divinum of the presbyterial ; the In- and debate. Thus, on the 30th of dependents, for the congregational go- July 1645, Mr Thomas Coleman, a vemment." He then insisted that all man of great talents, and oue of the di-vine institutions have clear Scrip- leaders of the Erastian party, preached tures to support them, and recom- a sermon before the House of Com- mended the Parliament to lay no mons on the 11th Chapter of John, more burden of government on the 1643-1661. 800 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. the name of Brownists, and its first distinguished member was a Norfolk divine named John Robinson, who had fied from persecution soon after the accession of James to the English throne, and erected a church of his own persuasion at Leyden. The first congrega tion of Independents in England was established in the year 1616 by Mr Jacob, who borrowed his tenets from Robinson. All their meetings were kept secret till the year 1640, when a number of them ventured to open a place of worship, and were brought to the bar of the House of Lords on the charge of having denied the King's supremacy in ecclesiastical matters. They confessed that they could acknowledge no head of the Church but Christ, that they coiUd not beheve it to be the prerogative of an earthly prince to make laws to bind the conscience, and that they disowned all foreign power and jurisdiction. The House of Lords dismissed them with a slight reprimand ; and shoulders of ministers than Christ has will needs appear upon the stage plainly laid on them, and finally came against it ? This was done in a late to the conclusion that " a Christian sermon, now come abroad, which hath magistrate, as a Christian magistrate, given no small scandal and offence. is a governor iu the Church. Of I am confident every other godly mi- other governors besides magistrates, I nister will say, ' Let my tongue cleave find no institution of them." At the to the roof of my mouth before I do next monthly fast, on the 27th of the like.'" He then added a long August 1645, Mr George Gillespie " brotherly examination " of Mr Cole- preached the sermon before the House man's sermon, by which he said, Cole- of Lords in the Abbey Church at man " endeavoured to strike at the Westminster, and after exhorting his root of all spiritual and ecclesiastical right honourable audience to settle government, contrary to the Word of church government in such a manner God." Hence arose a controversy, that neither ignorant nor scandalous which was carried on with great keen- persons may be admitted to the table ness, in a succession of pamphlets of the Lord, he said ; " I am sorry I characterised by great ability and have occasion to add another applica- learning, and which would probably tion. What will you say if any be have proceeded to a much greater found among the sons of Levi that length, if Mr Coleman had not died will neither be active nor passive in within a few months after the con- the establishing of the Church, refus- troversy began.] ing government of Jesus Christ, but 1643-1661. CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 301 as it was now perceived that they might safely declare lect. themselves, a number of their most distinguished . - preachers returned to England, and speedily brought their peculiar opinions into notice. They held that every particular congregation of Christians has a com plete power of jurisdiction over all its members, to be exercised by the elders Avithin itself Their form of worship was the same with that of the Presby terians, — in their doctrine they agreed with the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England and the confessions of other reformed churches. Their oflicers and public rulers in the Church were pastors, teachers, ruling elders, and deacons. They practised no church censures but admonition, and excommuni cation on impenitent offenders in crimes of the deepest aggravation committed in opposition to the light of conscience. The principle by which they were chiefly distinguished was religious toleration, — a principle which was conceived by the Presbyterians, as weU as by every other denomination of Christians, to be inconsistent with purity of the faith, and which, in that age, far from gaining to the Independents any credit for their hberahty, exposed them to much ob loquy, by extending to the whole sect the odium of indulging and harbouring the outcasts of other religi ous communities. At first the tenets of the Independ ents were embraced chiefly by men of education and rank; but when they found their way into the humbler conditions of life, they were soon associated with enthusiastic and antinomian error. The opinions of the Scots Presbyterians in the controversy Avith the Independents may be found in a work already mentioned, BaiUie's Dissuasive from the Errors of the Time, in Rutherford's Due 302 HISTOEY OF THE lect. Right of Presbyteries, in James Wood's Treatise against Lockier, and various other treatises. The 1643-1661. jjQanner in which the Independents conducted them selves in the Westminster Assembly is well described [BailUe's in BailUc's Letters. BaiUie was a determined enemy 110.] ' ' of their doctrines ; but he admits that of ten or twelve, the whole number of this sect in the Assembly, at least eight were very able men, and that they spoke exceed ingly weU. Many of the party, he says, feU very soon into the heresies of Anabaptism, Antinomianism, and Socinianism ; but this charge does not apply to any of the members of the Westminster Assembly. The Eras- Noxt to the Independents, whose active opposition retarded the progress of the presbyterian principles in England, the Erastians gave the greatest trouble to the Westminster diAdnes. The chiefs of this party in the Assembly were Dr Lightfoot and Mr Coleman, supported by the learned John Selden and Bulstrode Whitelock, members of the House of Commons. They were denominated Erastians, because their views re sembled those of Erastus, a German physician of the sixteenth century, whose peculiar notion was, that the pastoral office was only persuasive, like that of a teacher of science, and that the power of the keys was not annexed to it. The punishment of all offences (whether of a civil or religious nature) ought, in his estimation, to be reserved to the magistrate. This opinion was not very remote from that which had been maintained by many of the English reformers, who denied that tbe Scripture had prescribed any form of church government which ought to be perpetual, — declaring that this ought to be left to the magistrate, and that the government of the Church ought to be conformed to the government of the State. These CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 303 positions, as weU as those of the Independents, were lect. unanimously condemned in the General Assembly of 1- our Church in the year 1647. It was then declared i«''3-i66l that, as " the rights of the civili magistrate are to be maintained according to the Word of God, and the confessions of the faith of the reformed kirks, so it is [Acts of . , . the General no lesse true and certain that Jesus Christ, the onely Assembly Head, and the onely King of the Kirk, hath instituted 32.] ' and appointed a kirk government distinct from the civiU government ; " and that the " ecclesiastical gov ernment " is committed to " assemblies, made up of ministers of the Word and ruling elders." Though the power of the Erastians was inconsider able in the Assembly of Divines, their influence in Parliament was sufficient to obtain an alteration of the fundamental article which the Presbyterians had carried in the Assembly, — namely, that a certain form of Government prescribed in the New Testament is of divine institution, and is binding in all ages of the Church, and that by this divine institution many par ticular congregations may and ought to be under one presbyterial government. In the House of Commons, the Erastians and Independents, both of whom denied the divine right of Presbytery, overturned this con clusion, and required the position of the Assembly to be expressed thus — that it is lawful and agreeable to the Word of God, that the Church be governed by con gregational, classical, and synodical assemblies. On the subject of suspension and excommunication also, Mr Selden and Mr Whitelock prevailed upon the Par hament to limit the power claimed by presbyteries. At last the two Houses of ParUament made an conclusions ordinance, appointing the presbyterian government to iish ParUa- be received as the national establishment. This, how- Meeting 301 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. ever, was done only as an experiment, and some of . '- the modifications which took their rise in the Par- Chui^r^ liament gave offence to aU parties. The presby- vemment. terlau dlvincs were particularly displeased with a clause in the Act, which allowed an appeal from the censures of the Church to a committee of Parlia ment." They were equally anxious to prevent the toleration of sectaries, which in their judgment was opening a door to aU manner of errors. Many were the representations and petitions which they wrote, lamenting the groAvth of schism, and praying that aU persons might be prevented from preaching who had not taken the Covenant, — that aU separate con gregations might be suppressed, — ^that heretics and schismatics might be punished, — and that such as refused to take the Covenant might be disqualified from aU places of profit and trust. The want of such regulations appeared to them the chief causes of the groAvth of error, heresy, and blasphemy. The As sembly of Divines, haAong been disappointed of that support from the houses of Parhament which they soUcited, published a Dissuasive from, the Errors of the Times, the writing of which was intrusted to Mr BaUUe of Glasgow. The work of the leamed and most laborious, as weU as ingenious writer, George Gillespie, entitled Aaron's Rod Blossoming; or, the Divine Ordinance of Church Government Vindicated (against the Erastians), contains one of the ablest expositions of the presbyterian tenets concerning the exclusion of the unworthy from the priAdleges of the Church. j\Ir Edwards, in a book entitled Gangrcena; or, a Catalogue of the Errors, Heresies, and Perni cious Practices ofthe jTme, inveighed with great rage a Appendix, No. XIII. CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 305 against sixteen different forms of heresies, and called lect. . XXIV upon the Parliament to suffer them no longer. Ed- ^ — '- wards is so violent a writer, as to be of very suspicious i''*3-]66i. authority, and even his own friends were quite sick of his intolerant abuse. One of the most remarkable controversies of this Papers bc- period is that which took place between Charles I. and charic- l Alexander Henderson, minister of Edinburgh. W hen ander iicn- 1 T-^* 1 1 -I derson. the army of Scotland insisted that the King should take the Covenant, and establish the presbyterian govern - mentinboth kingdoms, his JMajesty replied, that though he was wUling that the Scots should have their own discipline, he was bound in honour to support Episco pacy in England, which had been established there since the Reformation, and which he had also sworn at his coronation to maintain ; but he said he was wUling to enter into a conference with any person whom they would appoint, and he Avould not be ashamed to alter his purpose if he could be convinced that Episcopacy was not of divine institution, and that the coronation oath did not bind him to support the Church as it Avas then established. For the purpose of convincing the King, Mr Henderson was employed to answer in Avrit- ing whatever difficulties his Majesty might propose. Three elaborate papers passed on each side, and as Mr Henderson died soon afterwards, it was pretended by the King's friends that he had not only vanquished his adversary, but broken his heart. The Episcopalians, not content vrith this unfair and ungenerous triumph over a man who, at the commencement of the contro versy, was sinking into the grave, had the baseness to fabricate a recantation Avhich they falsely declared had been dictated and signed by Henderson immediately before his death. This spurious paper, the disgraceful VOL. II. u 306 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. forgery of which has been traced to a Scotch episcopal XXIV writer, was published as an authentic production by ¦ several of the English writers, but was declared, in [Acts ofthe one of the Acts of the General Assembly in 1 648, to be Assembly " falsc and scandalous," contrived by an author " void ' ' ' of charity and a good conscience, a gross liar and calumniator, led by the spirit of the accuser of the brethren." The Assembly, in passing this Act, were guided by the attestations of several ministers who visited him on his deathbed, and particularly by two who attended him constantly. It has been said that the King was the author of all the papers which were sent in his name to Mr Henderson, and no doubt this circumstance must have had its influence in securing from the English Church that veneration for his memory as a defender of the faith, which has always been associated with their hatred of Presbytery. The principles of which he was most tenacious were the divine right of Diocesan Episcopacy ; the uninterrupted succession of bishops from the time of the Apostles, on which the whole validity of the administration of the sacraments de pends ; the necessity of a judge of controversies, which he lodged in the Fathers of the Christian church ; the independence of the Church from the State ; and the unlawfulness of all reformation which does not arise from the prince or legislature. The King rested his arguments chiefly on the consent of the Fathers, and Mr Henderson refused to admit any other rule than the Scriptures. It is impossible to conjecture how long the controversy might have been protracted had Mr Henderson lived, as the King's great object was to gain time, in the hope of obtaining some ad vantage by his correspondence with France. CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 307 Two years after the death of Henderson, the King, lect. during his residence in the Isle of Wight, concluded a secret treaty with the Scottish commissioners, which, ,J?j^fj^|^^- if it had been made while he remained in the Scottish g^goment." camp, might have secured his preservation. He agreed to confirm the Covenant in ParUament, to establish Presbytery for three years tUl it was revised by the Assembly of Divines, and to concur in the extirpation of sectaries, as avcU as to grant the Scots a large share of every honour and advantage conferred by the Crown. In aU these concessions he was insincere ; but it Avas upon the report of these articles that a considerable proportion of the people of Scotland became parties to that treaty which Avas called the Engagement. The Church was almost unanimous in opposing this mea sure. They objected to the restoration of the King tiU he had sworn to consent to an act of Parliament for settling religion according to the CoA^enant, in all his dominions. But their chief ground of aversion was the introduction of Mahgnants uito the army. All the enemies of the Covenant were proscribed under this denomination, and it was conceived that an aUi ance Avith them Avould be utterly ruinous. It proved so in the event. The Duke of Hamilton's march into England for the purpose of restoring the King to his former power, AAuthout exacting any conditions Avhat- ever, terminated in his surrender to the inferior army of CromweU, and in the total dispersion of his troops. After the execution of Charles I., England continued four years under the government of an oligarchy, which assumed the name of the Commonwealth. But from the very beginning the great body of the Presby terians united with the Scots in attempting to estab hsh Charles IL, on condition of his taking the Cove- 308 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. nant, and instead of acknowledging the ruling powers, characterised them as usurpers. The Parliament, on the ¦ petition of the army, passed a law in favour of tolera tion to the different sects, and immediately afterwards required their Engagement, an oath to be true to the government established without King or House of Peers, to be taken by all ministers, and other subjects, as well as civil and military officers, on pain of losing the benefit of the law. The Presbyterians not only refused this test, but preached against it as an oppressive impo sition ; and for this refusal to recognise the new gov ernment many of them were deprived of their pre ferments, both in the Church and in the universities. Commissioners from Scotland were at this time treating with Charles II. in Holland, and endeavour ing to prevail upon him to subscribe the Covenant, and to establish the Confession of Faith, the Directory, and tbe form of presbj^terian church government in both kingdoms. With great reluctance he at last consented, after he knew that the Marquess of Montrose had perished in the attempt to establish him by force of arms, and that the Duke of Ormond and the Irish Catholics, on whose support he had vainly calculated, were reduced to insignificance by the victorious arms of Cromwell. Charles II. was proclaimed King of Scotland on the 11th of July 1650, and Avas crowned at Scone in the beginning of January in the foUowing year. Before this last event Cromwell had gained a signal victory over the army of the Scots at Dunbar, and had taken possession of the metropolis. The King foolishly rejoiced in this event, which cut off so strong a body of those Avhom he accounted his most danger ous enemies. The Presbyterians were not, however, dispirited by this disaster. They resolved to provide X.XIV. 1643-1661. CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 309 for the national safety by endeavouring to unite all lect. parties in the public service. They prepared two re solutions ; one, that those who had hitherto been ob noxious either for their neutrality or for their share in the Engagement under the Duke of HamUton, should be aUowed and encouraged to make a profession of their repentance ; and another, that, after testifying their repentance, they should be admitted to share in the defence of the kingdom. When these resolutions were adopted by Piirlia- Eesohuion- , ers and Pro- ment, the Malignants and Engagers, eager to be testers. received into the public serAdce, complied Avith the forms required by the Church for the purpose of obtaining absolution. But this step was followed by new dissensions. The same party in the Church which had opposed the Engagement, now protested against the admission of any of the disaffected to serve in the cause, and declared that their pretended repentance was a profanation of the divine ordinances, from which no good could be expected. An association was framed against the sectaries, and a remonstrance against the King, by five western counties, Ayr, Ren frew, Galloway, Wigton, and Dumfries ; and from this period the Church and the nation were divided into Resolutioners, and Remonstrants or Protesters. The Remonstrants considered tbe treaty Anth the King as criminal, and proposed that he should be suspended from the government tUl he gave clear evidences of his repentance ; and they protested that it was unjust to impose on others a prince unworthy to reign in Scot land, or to interfere in the affairs of an independent nation. The Remonstrance was condemned by the Committee of Estates as seditious. They, in the mean time, withheld their levies, to the number of four 1643-1661. 310 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. or five thousand ; and thus, instead of unitina; to XXIV . resist the aggressions of Cromwell, the Covenanters, by their violent divisions, were working out their OAvn destruction. It was the great error of the presbyterian church men of that age, that they interfered too much in the conduct of civil affairs. But they Avere the fittest men of those times for the management of public busi ness, and if they had not been unhappily divided from one another, their counsels might have been produc tive of the most salutary effects. They were far more distinguished for their courage than many of the mUitary leaders ; and when the cowardice or treachery of Dundas, tbe governor of Edinburgh Castle, delivered up that fortress to the English, the ministers of Edin burgh, who had taken refuge in it, protested against its ignominious surrender. The moderate Covenant ers, by far the most numerous party, united with the other royalists to defend the King and the country. But the ill-advised plan of marching into England was ruinous to their cause. The battle of Worcester al most annihilated their army, and compelled the King to abandon his dominions : and while the martial strength of the kingdom was thus wasted on a delui- ous expedition, Scotland, abandoned by its defenders, fell an easy prey to the ferocious General Monk. The Parliament of England appointed commission ers to effect an incorporating union between the two kingdoms, — a pretence under which they attempted to introduce the laws and government of England into a country which they wished to consider as a conquered province. The magnanimity ofthe Marquess of Argyle, who fortified himself in the Highlands, seems to have deterred them from the attempt to overturn the laws XXIV. 1643-1661. CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 311 and the religious establishment. They interfered, lect. however, so much in the affairs of the Cliurch, that throuo-h the support of their emissaries, the Protesters, many of whom openly adhered to Cromwell, they drew aside vast numbers of tlie people from their more moderate pastors, and usurped an immoderate degree of power in the settlement of vacant parishes. Three of the most violent of the Protesters were deposed by the General Assembly, James Guthrie, Patrick GUlespie, and David Bennet. But they denied the legality of this Assembly, and, m concert with a number of others, equally disaffected with themselves, erected a separate presbytery, and, under the auspices of the army of sectaries, planted many of the churches with persons whom the people refused to acknowledge as their ministers. One of the most learned of the adherents of this party was Samuel Rutherford, who, though he did not proceed to the same extremes with some of his brethren, had the imprudence to advance their interest till it was impossible to restrain their extraA^agance. The pulpits now resounded with the unceasing notes of contention. The multitude, dis tracted and confounded by the unaccountable dissen sions of their spuitual guides, were most generally inclined at first to adhere to -the teachers Avho pre served their loyalty to the King. But by degrees vast numbers were gained over by the enthusiasm of the other party, who, when they began to feel their strength, would accept no terms of accommodation except an implicit adoption of all their principles. To ingratiate themselves with CromweU they de chned praying for the King, and framed their churches after the model of the sectarians. They introduced a mode of celebrating the divine ordinances, Avhich till that 312 histSey of the lect. time had been unknown in Scotland, and which came XXIV afterwards to be generally practised by those whose 1643-1661. jneetings were interdicted by the severe enactments of the government after the King's restoration. They preached and prayed at much greater length, and with much greater fervour, than their brethren. At the administration of the communion they collected a great number of ministers, and performed divine ser vice two or three successive days before, and one at least after the solemnity. On such occasions, not fewer than twelve or fifteen sermons were delivered in the course of three or four days to the same audience ; but as the numbers attracted to the spot were often far greater than could hear the voice of one man, it was not uncommon to divide them into two or three separate congregations, to each of which a succession of preachers was assigned, and thus thirty or forty sermons were preached to the differ ent groups of communicants and spectators. Their harangues were generally unpremeditated, and their devotions were supposed by the people, and perhaps by the speakers themselves, to be dictated by a celes- - tial impulse. The great subject of their declamations was the degeneracy of the Church, corrupted in its doctrines, its discipline, and its worship. The state of public affairs was an inexhaustible fund of extem poraneous eloquence. In the fluctuations of political interests, something new was always to be discovered ; and by choosing texts from the historical and pro phetical books of the Old Testament, it was not diffi cult to draw a parallel between some of the circum stances of the Jewish nation and the vicissitudes of a covenanted people, who had abused so many mercies, and burst so many sacred bonds. CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 313 In this style of preaching, and in the performance lect. 164.3-1661. modo of other public exercises of religion, the Protesters Avere imitated by many of the Resolutioners, Avho ^^^^^ still maintained their fidelity to the King ; but as ?f preaching •^ *-^ introduced this party was composed chiefiy of more reasonable ^^.'1^"^''"'' men, they could not alloAv themselves, for the sake ™'i Hugh ' •' Binning. of popularity, to adopt all that vehemence of utter ance and that redundancy of matter, Avith that as sumption of a prophetical character which distin guished some of their rivals. One mode of preach ing, described by Principal BaUlie, was introduced by Robert Leighton, afterwards Bishop of Dunblane, whom the Enghsh commissioners had made principal of the College of Edinburgh, and by Hugh Binning, a young man of uncommon learning, who had been for some years a professor in the College of Glasgow, and who, having joined the Protesters, died minister of Govan in the twenty-sixth year of his age. Both Binnuig and Leighton were men of distinguished abUities, incomparably the best scholars of the Re monstrant party, though this party, Arith aU its foUies, contained far more erudition than is gene rally believed. According to BaUlie, their new way of preaching, which was followed by many of the young men, was first in the ordinary way to ex pound and divide the text, enumerating the doc trines and uses which might be drawn from it ; but instead of adhering to these, to run out on a discourse on some common head, in a high romancing and unscriptural style, tickling the ear for the present, but leaving httle or nothing to the memory or the under standing. The sermons, both of Leighton and of Binning, have been published, and the former at least are weU 314 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. known. With respect to the latter, I have reason to XXIV . believe that he was the most learned preacher in 1643-1661. Scotland at that period. It has been said that as an orator he was superior to all his countrymen, and equal at least to the most eloquent of the English ; that his diction was fiuent and perspicuous, void of all affectation, and abounding in passages equally elegant and profound. In the opinion of Durham, whose popularity was very great, " there was no speaking after Hugh Binning, so great was the im pression produced by all his discourses." While the Church of Scotland was rent by divi sions," it is wonderful that the English sectaries were never able to make any progress in this distracted country at a time when an unlimited toleration was proclaimed by the Government. The Quakers alone, a sect newly established by the fantastical visionary George Fox, a young man who professed to be under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, were able to effect a permanent establishment in any part of this nation. The power of the church courts in Scotland was completely overturned by the commissioner appointed by Cromwell. To his decision the differences between the Resolutioners and Protesters were referred ; but though he was inclined to favour the latter party, he had not the address to bring their disputes to any satisfactory termination. Restoration Meauwhilo Charlcs IL, during his residence in ofCliarles ' ^. . . , .,, IL France, embraced the Roman Catholic religion, but stul publicly pretended to be a Protestant. On the death « [On the period from 1649 to 1661, the General Assembly, and of the consult BaiUie's Letters ; Guthrie's presbyteries of Linlithgow"and Pais- Considcrations,kc.{l&6&); Testimony ley. The reader is also referred to of Ministers in Fife and Pei-th_(l658); the Appendix to this volume,' No. the MS. records of the Commission of 2 1 .)] 1643-1661. CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 315 of Oliver Cromwell, the Scots Resolutioners and the lect. XXIV English Presbyterians were anxious for the restoration of the King, on the footing of the Covenant. Doug las, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, was the first who ventured to propose this scheme to General Monk ; but Monk at that time professed to be averse to the restoration of the King, and evaded the pro posal by saying that it Avas his duty to obey the Par liament. At the time when Monk arrived in London, with the secret intention of raising Charles II. to the throne, a number of ministers of this Church met at Edinburgh, and resolved to send as their commissioner, to attend to the interest of the national religion, a person unhappily too well known afterwards, James Sharp, minister of Crail. This man was very far from being distinguished ¦^^'^^^ either as a divine or as a man of letters ; but he had been repeatedly in England, and being possessed of considerable address, he had formed an exten sive acquaintance with the leading men in that kingdom. His instructions were to use his utmost endeavours that the Church of Scotland might en joy the privUeges of her established judicatures, ratified by the laws of the land ; to use all prudent means for repressing the sinfulness of the late tolera tion, which had opened a door to many gross errors and practices in the Church ; and to obtain the restoration of some of the powers granted by the coA'^enanting parliaments, but taken away from the Church during the usurpation. Instead of following his instructions, he betrayed the cause of the Church. His corres pondence, which is still extant, was understood by his brethren in Scotland to contain the most certain proofs of his dihgence and zeal to promote their 316 HISTOEY OF THB LECT. interests. But he artfully kept them in the dark, and XXIV J 1- — prevented them from sending commissioners to the ¦ English parliament, to represent their utter aver sion to the event which he led them to expect, the establishment of what he called a moderate Episco pacy (by which he probably meant the scheme of Archbishop Usher). The Church of Scotland con ceived that a moderate Episcopacy was only a pre liminary step to the unbounded tyranny of prelates ; and when they were anxious to express this opinion, and to make conditions with the King, Sharp led them to believe that any application to his Majesty at that time would be attended with the most dangerous consequences. How they were so infatu ated as to listen to his counsels, may appear now to be inconceivable. But none of them, except the most violent party, with whom they had little inter course, had ever suspected his honesty. Episcopacy Thc cffcct of his iutrigues was the invitation of the Scotland. King without any terms whatever. He also prevent ed the reconciliation which had nearly taken place be tween the Remonstrants and the Resolutioners, because he had a private hatred against some of the leaders of the former party, particularly Rutherford and Guthrie, who had been his colleagues in the university of St Andrews, and both of whom had a most unfavour able opinion of his character. Some of the Scottish nobility who had approved of the scheme of intro ducing Episcopacy in Scotland, being aware of Sharp's consummate dissimulation, recommended him to the Earl of Clarendon as the only person capable of carry ing this design into execution. He entered with great keenness into the measure, and brought doAvn a letter from the King which flattered the ministers with the XXIV. 1643-1661. CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 317 expectation that the government of the Church of lect. Scotland, as settled by law, should be inviolably pro tected and preserved. At the same time, however, a proclamation was issued against Remonstrants. The Parliament of Scotland met, and instead of taking the CoA^enant, as had been expected, swore an oath of aUegiance which included the King's supremacy. It condemned all leagues and bonds made without the sovereign, and declared the Convention of Estates, which entered into the Solemn League and Covenant in 1644, to be void. It discharged the renewing of the Covenant, or any other public oath concerning the government of the Church or kingdom, without the King's special warrant. The synods of the Church remonstrated ; but those synods which did not submit to the ruling power were dissolved. The most zealous presbyterian ministers were persecuted ; and at last, on the 14th August 1661, Episcopacy was restored by a royal proclamation. The arch-traitor Sharp was elevated to the metropolitan see of St Andrews; soon after, the zealous James Guthrie," whom he abhorred, a [Sir George Mackenzie, in his His- ous and offensive was his conduct to tory, says, that " albeit much pains a vast majority of the Church, that was taken to make him disclaim his [as has been mentioned above] he was opinions, yet he would not desert deposed by the General Assembly ten them;" adding, " really it was to be years before his death. He had only regretted that a more tractable and two adherents in his own presbytery ; quiet person had not the keeping of and in the vast extent of country, in- his great parts and courage, for he eluding Fife, Kinross, Clackmannan- was both the secretary and champion shire, Stirlingshire, and Perthshire, of iiis party." Great as this tribute where his influence and that of his to Guthrie's talents and spirit may principal coadjutor Eutherford was appear, it comes far short of the com- the greatest, it is known that the en- pliment which is said to have been tire number of ministers who joined paid to him by Sir John Nisbet and in their testimony did not exceed the other lawyers engaged in his de- seventeen, or about one-tenth of the fence. Guthrie, however, was not the whole. The person whose ascendancy champion of the presbyterian party was the greatest in these districts, in general. He was a leading man was Mr Wood of St Andrews, whom among the Protesters ; and so obnoxi- Baillie represents as the most service- 318 HISTOEY OF THE LECT.XXIV. was executed as a traitor. The most vicious, idle, and negligent of the clergy were appointed the parochial 1643-1661. j)2inisters, and the whole order of the Church was overturned. able man in the Church. Baillie says of Guthrie : " Though few approved his way, yet many were grieved to see a minister so severely used." Bur net, who saw him suffer, appears to have been astonished at his intrepid and tranquil deportment. He was so far from showing any fear, that he rather expressed a contempt of death. He spoke an hour upon the ladder with the composedness of a man de livering a sermon rather than his last words. He justified all he had done, and exhorted all people to adhere to the Covenant." CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 319 LECTURE XXV. RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF EPISCOPACY THE NEW BISHOPS BUENBT S CHAEAOTER OF THE SILENCED MINISTERS, AND OP THEIR SUC CESSORS PEN.VL LAWS AGAINST ENGLISH NONCONFORMISTS COURT OP HIGH COJIMISSION IN SCOTLAND — MILITARY VIOLENCE — PROPOSALS FOB AN ACCOMMODATION THE INDULGENCE LAWS AGAINST CONVENTICLES SUFFERINGS OF THE COVENANT ERS — THB CAMERONIANS THE TEST ACT^THE REVOLUTION SETTLEMENT. At the commencement of the reign of Charles IL, lect. xxv direction was given to continue the government of the Church of Scotland by synods, presbyteries, and kirk- i^^^^s^o- Re-estab- sessions, till his Maiesty should be pleased to appoint 'i^'™™* "f •J ^f J- i-i- il,piscopacy a new form. In August 1661 he signified to the '¦» Scotland. Privy CouncU his resolution to restore the Church, by his royal authority, to its government by bishops, as it was before the late troubles. In the month of December he gave commission to two English bishops to ordain and consecrate four prelates, who were at that time in London, and who, after undergoing these ceremonies, were to confer the same orders on such of their brethren in Scotland as were to be ele vated to the episcopal dignity. The choice of the bishops (according to Dr Burnet, The new whose histoty of those times is by far the most inter- [BurTt's , . ., PI 1-11 Own Times, esting, and one ot the most correct, which has yet ap- i. 213.] peared) was, with one exception, as bad as possible. 320 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. Sharp, the chief contriver and author of the scheme, XXV '- solicited for himself the archbishopric of St Andrews, 1661-1690. because he pretended to be afraid that if a violent man obtained the primacy, the country might be utterly ruined ; and knoAving the necessity of moder ation, he was anxious to cover good men from a storm which might otherwise burst on them. Fairfoul, arch bishop of Glasgow, was a man of scandalous life, and totally destitute of abilities. He had scarcely CA^er been distinguished at all, except for his jollity and buffoonery; and noAv, seeming to lose even these poor qualifications, he sunk into a state of stupidity ap proaching to idiocy. Hamilton, bishop of Galloway, was another contemptible driveller. He (as well as Sharp and Fairfoul) had pretended great zeal for the Covenant, insomuch that, before dispensing the sacra ment, he had been in the habit of using a form of excommunication borrowed from the example of Nehe- miah. Shaking the lap of his gown he said, " So may God shake out every man from his house that dealeth falsely in this Covenant, even thus be shaken out and emptied." The only bishop who had any char acter at all, was indeed a man of a very superior mind ; but he was the only one whose nomination did not originate from Sharp. This was Dr Leigh ton, principal of the College of Edinburgh, son of the famous Nonconformist of the same name who suffered the inhuman sentence of mutilation and imprisonment for having written the book entitled Zion's Plea against Prelacy. Leighton, with great reluctance, accepted the episcopal dignity, and chose the obscure diocese of Dunblane, the revenue of which was very inconsiderable. He was afterwards almost constrained to accept of the archbishopric of Glasgow ; but, find- CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 321 ing that his moderate and pacific proposals, without lect. gaining any of the Presbyterians, served only to ren- ^^'^' der him odious among his own brethren, he almost ^^ei-ieso. immediately resigned it, ancl passed the remainder of his days in England. The Act of Parliament for settling Episcopacy was framed by Sharp, and conferred on the bishops a greater degree of power than even the most violent of them ever durst assume. This act, and many others which were at that time introduced into the Scottish Parliament, were prepared by Middleton the High Com missioner, and his confederates, in the Privy Council, while they were in a state of brutal intoxication. One of these acts rescinding all that had been done in Parliament for nearly thirty years, was proposed by the Clerk-Register in a frolic, and after the draught of it, which he prepared, had been thrown aside by him self as being too extravagant to deserve a moment's deliberation, it was adopted by the Council without the alteration of a single word, and carried through Parliament by a triumphant majority. The Church took the alarm, but it was now too late. One of the acts declared that all the incumbents who had not been presented by the patrons, since the abo lition of patronage in the year 1649, should within a limited time apply for presentation from the patrons, and should obtain institution from the bishops, other wise their churches would be declared vacant. It was foreseen that this act would exclude all the most de termined Presbyterians, as it would be a renunciation of their principles to take institution from a bishop. The term of Michaelmas was fixed in the act, because those who did not submit before that period, being deprived of their benefices, would lose the whole in- VOL. II. X 322 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. come due for that year. In tbe north of Scotland most XXV of the ministers obeyed the act ; in the west the minis- ¦ ters universally disobeyed. Two hundred churches became vacant in one day, because the incumbents would not accept institution from the bishops ; and one hundred and fifty other ministers were suspended for having disregarded the summons of the bishops to attend the diocesan synods and visitations. Bishop Bur- A general iuAdtation was circulated over the country net s charac- ^ ^ ^ -^ ter of the to iuducc qualified persons to accept the vacant livings. mnistera. Evou by Bishop Burnet's account, a woful change Own Times, now took place in the ministry. The former incum- bents, most of whom in the western counties were Pro testers, had generally been treated with great respect by all ranks. Many of them were related to the first families in the country, and all of them possessed remarkable dignity and decorum of manner. But in addition to the gravity and solemnity of their deport ment, their diligence, their piety, and their kindness to the people, secured for them universal esteem. It is said that few of them were distinguished by their learning ; but it was a much rarer distinction to be illiterate. They were all tolerably weU acquainted with the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages ; they were all instructed in the controversies of the times ; they were all familiar with the system of divinity ; and they had all acquired by constant exercise a habit of expressing their thoughts with ease and readiness. Their sermons were almost all constructed on one plan, enumerating and confirming the various doctrines which might be drawn from every text, and then applying these doctrines in what they called uses of instruction, exhortation, trial, and comfort. If a man were ever so expert at illustrating the doctrines of CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 323 religion, he might be called a teacher ; but he was no lect. preacher at all unless he was likewise powerful in ap- — plication. It was also thought indispensable to preach i^'^^-^'^''"' to the times, to point out the national sins, and to lift up a warning against the corruptions propagated under the influence of public men. In some of these peculi arities they proceeded to an unwarrantable extreme ; but their conduct and their principles ingratiated them Avith all the serious part of the community. The discipline to which their congregations were subject by the laws of the Church, and AA'hich they Avere care ful to execute with impartiality, was exceedingly strict. Meetings of the kirk-sessions Avere held every week, and the minister always demanded of the elders if they knew any scandal or scandalous persons in the parish, as Sabbath-breakers, swearers, blasphemers, fornicators, drunkards, or other offenders. All such persons, on confession or proof of their guilt, Avere not only severely rebuked in presence of the session, and required to pay a penalty to the use of the poor," but hkewise compeUed to make public profession of their repentance in presence of the congregation, and in certain cases they were imprisoned by the magistrates, who in towns were generally elders or deacons. The new incumbents were in all respects the very And of their _ .. .. ... .. . . successors. reverse oi these sober, upright, and conscientious men. Like their patrons who made a mock at sin, they gave ever}'- indulgence to the immorality of the great; and as most of them Avere capable of running to every excess of riot, they could not with a good grace, or with any good effect, rebuke the vices of men of meaner station, mumet's Burnet, who lived among them, and kncAv many of own Times, them well, says that " they were generally very mean o Appendix, No. XVI i. 260.] 324 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. and despicable in aU respects, the worst preachers '— he ever heard, ignorant to a reproach, and many of 1601-1690. .j.^gjjj openly vicious." " They were a disgrace to their order, and were indeed the dregs and refuse of the northern parts. Those of them who were above con tempt or scandal were men of such violent tempers that they were as much hated as the others were de spised. This," he adds, " was the fatal beginning of restoring Episcopacy in Scotland, of which few of the bishops seemed to have any sense." The Non- In Euglaud matters were conducted in a manner conformists " . i-ni ¦ Tt i n< in England, equally opprcssivc to the Presbyterians. Bj the Cor poration Act all persons appointed to the magistracy or any place of trust were required to abjure the Solemn League and Covenant as unlawful, and to take the sacrament according to the rites of the Church of England. A conference between the episcopahan and presbyterian divines was appointed to be held at the Bishop of London's lodgings at the Savoy ; but it terminated without giving the smallest satisfaction, as the bishops had resolved to make no concession. By the Act of Uniformity brought into Parliament about the end of the year 1661, and passed about the middle of May foUowing, it was ordained that all ministers should subscribe the Liturgy, renounce the Solemn League and Covenant, obtain license from the archbishop or bishop, and pubhcly before the congre gation declare their unfeigned assent to all things prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer. AU this was to be done, on pain of deprivation, before the 1 7th of August, the Sunday before St Bartholomew's Day ; and as the Book of Common Prayer Avas then under going alterations, none of which had transpired, the clergy were in fact required to subscribe a book which CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 325 they had never seen. Scarcely any of the copies were lect. ready when the day arrived. Bartholomew's Day was '^ " fixed on for the same reason as Michaelmas Day in i^^i-i^so. Scotland, " because," says Burnet, "if they were then Own Times, deprived, they would lose the profits of the whole year, since the tithes are commonly due at Michaelmas." The Presbyterians, remembering what a Bartholomew's Day had been held at Paris ninety years before, did not scruple to compare the one to the other. The truth is, that not one divine in ten, at a considerable distance from London, could have perused the book before tbe expiration of the period allowed for that purpose ; but the matter, says the same author, was driven on with such precipitancy, that it seems to have been expected that the clergy should subscribe implicitly to a book ph., i- 303.] which they had never seen ; and this was done by too many, according to the account of the bishops them selves. Besides declaring their entire approbation of all the rites of the Church of England, and abjuring the Solemn League, and the lawfulness of bearing defensive arms against the King, those who had not been episcopally ordained were to be re-ordained, and to take the oath of canonical obedience. Not one alteration in the Book of Common Prayer, which had been suggested by the Presbyterians, was adopted, and many of the corrections (as they were caUed) were thought to render it more exceptionable. The pro mises made to the Presbyterians before the King arrived in the country were thus violated — the zealous exertions of Presbyterians to promote the King's re storation were thus rewarded ; and for the purpose of prevailing on Parliament to proscribe this numerous class by the operation of a law almost unexampled in its severitv, the base device of ascribing to them jjlots 326 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. and conspiracies dangerous to the State was put in '— practice by the persons at the head of public affairs. 1661-1690. r^Yie Presbytcrlans in the Church and universities of England, after consulting with one another, resolved to cling together, and to refuse compliance with a law which they could not in conscience obey. Some of the most eminent, for the purpose of making their re solution generally known, resigned their appointments a considerable time before. When the day arrived, 2000 ministers resigned their charges, or refused to accept of any on the terms of the Act of Uniformity. The ministers forcibly ejected were, according to the statement of Mr Locke, learned, pious, and orthodox divines ; and the farewell sermons of many of them left an impression upon the minds of their disconsolate fiocks, which no time was ever able to efface. There was no small diflBculty experienced in filling the vacancies. Many of the persons newdy ordained were quite illiterate, many others were too young, and more than a thousand are said to have been of profligate lives. This new set of men began a new way of preaching, formed upon the speculations of the ancient profane writers, aud upon the flowery descrip tions contained in the modern romances, with scarcely a word of gospel truth. For a while this flimsy oratory caught the fancies of the young ; but it was disgusting to all men of sense and sound principle, and at last it became wearisome and insipid to the frivolous minds which had at first applauded it. One of the pleasantest topics with those who had nothing else to say, was to rail at the schismatics and fanatics, who were now reduced to absolute want. A few of the persecuted ministers practised occasional con formity, and a few of them, Avhose scruples had never CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 327 been so great as those of their brethren, remained in lect. XXV the Church ; but the government was determined '- rather to compel them to obey its dictates than to ^^''^""'^°- aUure them by gentle methods, and enacted a series of penal laws, of A\diicb, for the sake of connection, I shall now briefly take notice. I have already mentioned the Corporation Act Penai laws /• 1 • 1 against the and the Act of Uniformity, the former or which English Noncon- took away from all the Nonconforming people the formists. poAver of serving their country in the lowest offices of trust ; and the second of which silenced and deprived of their support all the Nonconformist ministers throughout England. The Conventicle Act, passed in the year 1664, declared the Act of the 35th of Queen Elizabeth to be in full force, condemn ing to banishment, and in case of return, to death, all persons Avho peremptorily refused to attend the Estab lished Church ; and farther provided that any person above the age of sixteen, AA'ho should be present at a meeting under pretence of any exercise of religion in any other manner than is allowed by the Liturgy, where five or more persons besides the family as sembled, should, for the first offence, be imprisoned for three months, or pay £5 ; for the second, -suffer six months' imprisonment, or pay £10 ; and for the third, be banished to some of the American plantations seven years, or pay £100 ; and, in case of return or escape, be adjudged felons, and suffer death without benefit of clergy. The conviction of such persons was not placed in the hands of a jury, bat in those of a single justice of peace. The act was executed with unmitigated rigour in all parts of the country ; and as if it had not been sufliciently severe, some addi tional clauses were annexed to it seven years after- xxv. 1661-1690, 328 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. wards. In the year 1665 an act was passed, com monly called the Oxford Act, requiring all Noncon formist ministers to take an oath that they would not at any time attempt any alterations either in Church or State, and prohibiting all who did not take this oath to come within &ve miles of any city, town, or borough, or within five miles of any parish or town where they have preached, upon forfeiture, for every such offence, of £40; and any two justices of the peace were empowered to commit the offender against this act to prison for six months, without baU. There were a few of the Nonconformist ministers who took the oath, but the great body of them refused it, and were compelled to sequestrate themselves from their former homes, or to incur the penalty of imprison ment. In the year 1671 an Indulgence was published by the King, suspending the laws against Noncon formists, and allowing persons of this description to attend divine service, performed by teachers approved by his Majesty, and in licensed places, which should be open and free to all persons. Many ministers took out these licenses. The House of Commons, however, declared that penal laws in matters ecclesiastical could not be suspended except by Act of Parliament ; and the King recalled his Declaration when he found that the House of Commons would not pass a money biU unless he complied with their desire. The real object of the Declaration of Indulgence had been to establish the King's absolute and unquestionable pre rogative in matters of religion. The Commons after wards themselves brought in a bill to give relief to the Protestant dissenters, which, after it had been twice read, was defeated by the machinations of the bishops, CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 329 in conjunction with the King and the cabal at the lect. ' XXV head of the government. L In the same year (1673), with the view of ex- i^ei-iego. eluding Papists and Jesuits from places of trust and profit, and from all military commands, the celebrated - Test Act was brought into Parliament, and after con siderable opposition on the part of the ministers of the Crown, was passed into a law. It required all persons bearing any office of trust or profit publicly to take the oaths of supremacy and allegiance, to receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper in some parish church, and to declare that they disowned the doctrine of transubstantiation. This laAV had little effect on the dissenters at that time, as none of them held any places of trust. During the whole reign of Charles II. the English dissenters continued to be treated with the most inhuman cruelty ; they were beset by informers and spies, and their private meetings were punished as if they had been the most seditious and illegal acts. The Presbyterians of Scotland were persecuted with Court of stiU greater barbarity. A Court of High Commission mib^'ion'iu was again established under the auspices of Sharp, consisting of nine prelates and thirty-five other mem bers. But a bishop with four others constituted a quorum, and the times and places of meeting w^ere left entirely to the discretion of the judge. The method of proceeding was altogether arbitrary, dis daining all the usual formalities and maxims of law. The persons brought before it were generally seized without being informed for what cause ; they were often prosecuted without any written indictment, and when a specific accusation was brought against 830 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. them, the judges did not think it necessary to ad- ^^^.' here to it, but admitted new matter at the time 1661-1690. q£ ^]^g ^j,^g^j_ Witnesses were sometimes suborned by the judges ; and in many cases no witnesses were , caUed at all. Ensnaring and captious questions were put, and if these were answered satisfac torily, or if the allegations of their adversaries Avere disproved, the accused might still be condemned for refusing to take the oath of allegiance, or for hesitat ing to acknowledge the spiritual supremacy of the King. In many cases the questions were such as could not be answered to the satisfaction of the judges by any honest man. " What think you of the govern ment ? " was one of these puzzling interrogations. No person was allowed to offer any defence till he took the oath of supremacy, or some other engagement which his conscience disapproved. The consequence of re fusal was either imprisonment or banishment, or a heavy pecuniary fine. Conviction of the offence libel led was invariably followed Avith the utmost severity of punishment, even when the accused was induced to confess by the promise of being dismissed with impunity. Some of the parishioners of Ancrum, after the banishment of their minister, because he declined taking the oath of supremacy, except with an explana tion, remonstrated against the admission of a curate of infamous character, who at the same time enjoyed two other livings. They were brought before the High Commission, and confessed that they had ex pressed their dissatisfaction at the intrusion of a man whom they thought unworthy of the charge. The Commission immediately sentenced them, as con temners of the ordinances, to be scourged through the town, stigmatised (that is, branded with a red- xxv. 1661-1690. CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 331 hot iron), and thereafter imprisoned, and with the first lect ship couA'eyed to Barbadoes. For the same opposition to the entry of the curate of Ancrum, two brothers Av^ere soon afterwards transported to Barbadoes, and their sister barbarously scourged through the town of Jed burgh. This is but a slight instance of their procedure at an early period, during which this Court of High Commission and the Privy Council divided the exer cise of iUegal oppression. At length the lay commis sioners, shocked at the excessive cruelty of the bishops, refused to take any part in the proceedings ; the people, preferring the risk of being outlawed, refused to obey the summons of the judges ; and the Commis sion, in the course of two years, was allowed to expire. The abolition of this court, however, was not the Military /• CI 1 1 violence in dawn of better times. The western part ol Scotland the west of was exposed to all the fury of military violence. Sir James Turner, an Englishman, was sent with a con siderable body of troops into Dumfriesshire, Galloway, and Ayrshire. Wherever the people deserted their parish churches, they were fined, imprisoned, plun dered, beaten, wounded, and hunted through the mountains like wild beasts. The clergy stimulated the soldiers to all these acts of oppression and inhu manity ; and the soldiers were allowed to act both as judges and executioners. Though innumerable families were dispersed and ruined, though the prisons Avere crowded with the victims of clerical jealousy, and though comfort and peace was banished from the whole country. Turner declared afterwards that he was never able to satisfy the bishops that his severi ties were sufiicient. After a time the peasantry, driven to distraction, began to resist, and obtained possession of the person 332 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. of the commander under whose violence the country . L. had groaned for two or three years ; but on discover- 1661-1690. -j^g ^j^g^^^ .^^|.j^ ^Yl his harshness, he had been far from acting up to the full measure of his instructions, they spared his life. They now marched towards Edinburgh, without disorder, under the command of two inexperienced officers, and, increasing in numbers as they advanced, they renewed the CoA^e- nant, and published a declaration that they did not rise in arms against the King, but that they only desired deliverance from the tyranny of the bishops, and the restoration of their own ministers, and the form of Church government established by the Co venant. Their force at one time amounted to two thousand ; but when they arrived at Colinton, two miles from Edinburgh, more than one-half of the num ber had withdrawn, probably in obedience to the pro clamation which required them to lay doAvn their arms within twenty-four hours, though it contained no assurance of indemnity. General Dalziel, who com manded the royal forces at Glasgow, advanced to meet them, and agreed upon a cessation of arms till the following day, that they might have an opportu nity of presenting their petition to the CouncU. In the mean time an attempt was made to surprise them, while they were worn out with fatigue, watching, and hunger. They began to retreat ; but when they found the enemy pressing close upon them, they drew up their diminished line of eight hundred men on the south of Pentland Hills, and in successive attacks repulsed their opponents. The sun had set in a cold frosty evening at the end of November, when the last encounter took place. The insurgents were completely broken and routed, forty were kUled, and CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 333 one hundred and thirty taken prisoners. Almost all lect. the rest escaped unhurt ; but the prisoners were con demned without mercy at the instigation of the ^^^^-^^^o- unmanly prelates. Above twenty were executed in Edinburgh, thirty-five were hanged at their own doors in the country, and many of them were tortured before their death, to compel them to discover the authors of the rebellion ; the other prisoners Avere banished. The numerous and frequent executions at length shocked and alarmed the Court, and an order came down to the Council to proceed no further. This order was withheld by Sharp and the Archbishop of Glasgow till their bloodthirsty vengeance was satiated with the torments and death of a youth named Mac- kail, who had left the insurgents before they reached Colinton, and whose real offence was an expression in a sermon, Avhich was supposed to aUude to the op pressions of the government. He had said that in former times the Church had suffered from a Pharaoh on the throne, a Haman in the State, and a Judas in the Church ; and as Sharp began very early to be knoAvn by the name of Judas, the application was understood to be made to him. The west was now again surrendered to military outrage. The country was burdened with heavy con tributions to support the cavalry, and at the same time the soldiers were permitted to take free quarter, and to demand whatever they chose. Many persons were put to the sword, — others were crowded together in dungeons, so that there was not room for them even to stand, — some were shot or hanged Avithout even the form of a trial, — some were tortured to death because they would not inform where their nearest relations were concealed, — and the brutal agents of 334 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. these horrid atrocities were allowed by their com- XXV — manders to commit every revolting crime which licen- 1661-1690. Piousness, or avarice, or malice could dictate. The judges partook of the iniquitous rigour which dis graced the army. In opposition to the laws of the land, they tried and condemned many gentlemen of property in their absence, and conferred their estates on the mUitary leaders or the officers of state ; and knowing that these proceedings were iUegal, they applied to Parliament for their confirmation. Every prisoner against whom there was no proof, was re quired to abjure the Covenant, and if he refused, he was transported to the English plantations, and con demned to slavery. There was no statute authorising such a penalty ; but the King's instructions Avere at that time equivalent to law. Proposals Ou the fall of Lord Clarendon, amUder government commodl- "was for a season introduced into Scotland. Sharp was ordered to Avithdraw from the management of public affairs. He and the Archbishop of Glasgow had in tended to perpetuate the military government in the western counties, for the double purpose of oppressing the disaffected, and enriching their own adherents Avho were placed in the command of the troops. The new ministry removed the army from the west, and re quired the suspected, instead of abjuring the Covenant, to enter into bonds. In the year 1670, the Bishop of Dunblane proposed an accommodation which was expected to satisfy the more moderate Presbyterians. His plan may have been in a great measure dictated by his humanity; but in spite of all the praise Avhich has sometimes been bestowed upon it, there can be no doubt that its tion, xxv. 1661-1690. CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 335 object was to allure the existing race of Presbyterians lect. to the acknowledgment of Episcopacy, in the expecta tion that the oppcsition to the government of prelates would die away with that generation. The dissenters, on coming to presbyteries and synods, were not to be required to renounce their opinions about church gov ernment. They were to have free votes in the man agement of church affairs ; intrants Avere to be solemnly ordained at the parish churches, and not at the ca thedrals ; and at their admission they were not to be engaged to any canonical oath. If these articles, in which, however, the prelates were by no means agreed, had been acceptable to the Presbyterians, it would not have been difficult to come to an understanding with respect to the mode of worship. The bishops had never so much as attempted to introduce the liturgy, or the cere monies which had been so offensive in the days of Charles I. The communion was administered with out kneeling, the sign of the cross was omitted in baptism. There were no altars nor surplices, and the service was in all respects the same with that of the Presbyterians, except that the Episcopalians used the Lord's Prayer and the doxology, and required the Creed to be recited by parents when their children were baptised. Instead of lecturing in the forenoon, the reading of the Scriptures before sermon was in troduced; but this having been the revival of an ancient practice authorised in the Directory, though in a great measure superseded by the manner of lectur ing generally used, could not be objected to by those who were most tenacious of the presbyterian forms, except in so far as it was provided that this part of the gence, 336 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. public exercises of religion should be performed by '— readers, whose office had been abolished by the Gene- 1661-1690. j.^! Assembly. The terms of accommodation proposed by Leighton were, however, unanimously rejected as being alto gether inconsistent with presbyterian principles. It was objected to the scheme that the presbyteries were to be dependent on the commission of the bishops ; that they had no power of ordination or jurisdiction, Avhich was reserved by the bishops themselves ; that they had no ruling elders ; and that they would pro bably have been led by gradual steps to acquiesce entirely in that government of the Church Avhich all the dissenters now reprobated as sinful. The indui- About the same time, another remedy for the divi sions ofthe Church was proposed and partially adopted. A part of the ejected clergy, who had lived peaceably, were permitted to preach in the parish churches, and to exercise other functions of the ministry, on condi tion that they attended the Presbyterians, and ab stained from speaking of public affairs. On the other hand, as it was said that by this provision all pretence for conventicles was taken away, his Majesty's plea sure was to proceed against aU who held these assem blies as seditious persons. About forty ministers were in this way restored to their churches, and at first they seemed to be exceedingly acceptable to their congregations. But those who rejected the con ditions exclaimed against the Indulgence, as a strata gem devised to establish an Erastian dependence on the civU magistrate. The people soon began to de spise the indulged pastors, who, being restrained from uttering their sentiments freely, were denominated dumb dogs. Conventicles, instead of being suppressed CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 337 by this device, now increased rapidly ; and when Lau- lect. derdale, Avho had hitherto suggested the measures ^ which were generally found most acceptable to the i^^^-^^^"- country, unhappily feU under the influence of the am bitious and unprincipled Countess of Dysart, whom he afterwards married, a series of acts Avas procured from the Parliament, destructive to the safety and liberty of the country. One of these acts declared that the government and Severe law. . . 1 f. against con- regulation of the Church was an inherent right of venticies in the crown, and that whatever his Majesty should enact with respect to ecclesiastical matters, meet ings, or persons, should acquire the force and opera tion of laws. This was intended for the purpose of re commending Lauderdale to the Duke of York, the heir- apparent to the throne, by providing a discretionary power to introduce into the Church whatever religion he chose ; and as the duke was a bigoted Papist, it could scarcely be doubted Avhat his choice would prove. Another act ordained an established militia of 22,000 men, to march wherever the honour and safety of the King might require, or Avherever the Privy Council should direct. The army was intended chiefly for the dispersion of conventicles and the suppression of all tumultuous risings. In the following year, 1670, a most severe statute was made against conventicles. All who performed divine service in any house (except their own, while no other persons were present) were subject to oppressiA'e fines. Field conventicles were interdicted as rebellious. AU who preached, prayed, or expounded the Scriptures at any of these meetings, were to be punished Avith death and confiscation of goods ; and aU who attended were to be severely fined and punished as seditious persons. A reward of five VOL. II. Y 338 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. hundred merks was offered for their persons, or in demnity for their slaughter ; and whoever refused to 1661-1690. inform against them upon oath, might be punished by imprisonment, arbitrary fines, or transportation to the colonies. The King was said to have disapproved of part of this sanguinary law, which declared preaching, praying, and expounding the Scriptures to be treason able ; but he never interposed to procure its repeal, or to prevent its renewal in the following ParUament. Sufferings of The pcoplc HOW frequented the conventicles more nanters^t than cvcr ; and to secure their persons against aggres- is perio . ^.^^ ^j^^_^ ^^^ attended in arms. The fiery rapacity and tyranny of Lauderdale became every day more intolerable. Persecution, violent as it had been in the hands of the prelates, was now much more severe AA'^hen it was made a source of emolument to himself and his friends. When offenders dechned to appear in Council, letters of intercommuning were published to outlaw the absent, and to subject aU who had con versed Avith them as friends, or performed to them any kind office, to the same punishment as was due to the offenders themselves. Seventeen thousand persons in the west were oppressed for absence from Church, or attending the conventicles. Many of those who were outlawed, by being excluded from aU human inter course except with those who were liable to the same punishment, acquired a desperation of character and a ferocity of manner which rendered them truly formid able. The preachers and their attendants were now driven to the inaccessible mountains ; and vast num bers, far from any human dwelling, frequented these meetings, which were guarded by patrols of horse to prevent any sudden alarm from the King's troops. Many bloody encounters took place between them and CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 339 the military, and all who were taken prisoners were lect. either deliA^ered up as recruits for the service of France, or subjected to some more horrid punishment. ^^^^'^ ' In the year 1678, the men of property in the west Avere required to enter into bonds, under severe penal ties, undertaking to prevent not only their families and their domestics, but their tenants, and the famUies and servants of their tenants, from attending field- preachers, and from giving succour to intercommuned persons. Most of the landlords engaged to assist the officers of j ustice in executing the laws ; but they declined the bonds as iUegal, and represented the impossibUity of restraining their tenants and their servants. Upon this refusal, six thousand Highlanders and four thousand troops, chiefiy English and Irish, were introduced into the southern and Avestern counties, and encouraged by a previous indemnity to commit every excess. The whole country was plundered and ravaged ; the people were tortured to discover where their wealth Avas concealed ; they were robbed of their clothes and furniture, which were conveyed on their own horses to the mountains. When they were thus impoverished and oppressed, it was expected and Avished by the Court that they would rise in arms. The Covenanters were indeed driven to distraction Battle of and despair ; but the forbearance which they manifested Bridge. is almost incredible. They were at last goaded to resistance by the measures adopted by the Court, in consequence of the assassination of Archbishop Sharp. The whole body of the fanatics were represented, by the proclamation issued against the murderers, as being implicated in the crime. Field and armed conventicles were declared to be treason, and all who attended them Avere ordered (in terms sufficiently intelligible) to be 1661-1690. 340 HISTOEY OP THE LECT. put to the sword. An accidental insurrection of about eighty individuals, on the anniversary of the Restora tion, burnt the acts in favour of Episcopacy in the streets of Ruglen, and proclaimed their testimony against the corruptions of the times. The commander of the forces at Glasgow was ordered to seize or to extirpate the rebels. Some of the Scottish lords under took to disperse the insurgents without arms, if their oppressors were removed and their sufferings mitigated; but through the villanous intrigues of Lauderdale, the Duke of Monmouth was not even permitted to nego tiate. His instructions were not to treat, but to attack the rebels wherever they Avere to be found. At one time four thousand of them were brought to the field ; but while their OAvn divisions remain unadjusted, they Avere attacked by Monmouth at Bothwell Bridge, where, after an obstinate but unskilful resistance, they were totally routed. Three or four hundred were killed on the field. Twelve hundred surrendered at discretion, some of whom were executed, aud the re mainder confined fiA'^e months in Greyfriars' church yard, without any covering to shelter them from the inclemency of the weather. Several hundreds were shipped for the American plantations, but the vessel was wrecked in the Orkneys ; and though they might all have been saved, the master of the ship closed the hatches upon them, so that more than two hundred perished. This savage, who had contracted to transport them for a certain sum, was afterwards indemnified by the government for the loss of his vessel ; and sus picions were entertained that in devoting his prisoners to death he acted agreeably to his instructions. Confiscations now became general all over the country. The Court of Justiciary made a circuit m CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 341 the west. The curates gave information against their lect. parishioners. All who did not freely surrender were ^^ ' accused of the murder of Sharp, or their share in the isei-iego. insurrection. The innocent, if they did not compound, were committed to prison tiU they gave security ; the absent were attainted ; and the servants of the Crown were enriched by the multiplication of forfeitures. About this time a smaU but violent party arose among The came. the Presbyterians, which renounced allegiance to the King. They Avere called Cameronians, from Richard Cameron, one of their first preachers. He published a declaration, at the market-cross of Sanquhar, that Charles Stewart, by his perjury in breaking the Cove nant, by his tyrannical government and usurpation over the civil and religious liberties of the country, had forfeited his right to the crown. A party of them, not amounting to one hundred, was pursued to Airsmoss, in Kyle, and was there completely discom fited. Cameron was killed on the field, and aU the prisoners Avere executed. The Duke of York now assumed the administration of Scottish affairs, and sanctioned the most bloody and relentless severities. All who Avere brought before the Council were tor tured, and during the intervals were harassed by en snaring questions, such as, " Was the rising at Both- well Bridge rebeUion and a sin against God 1 " " Was the kilUng of the Bishop horrid murder 1" " Is King Charies a king or a tyrant 1 " The Duke of York, it is said, indulged, without any appearance of concern, in contemplating the torture of the prisoners, whUe many of the other councillors, not remarkable for their clemency, recoUed from the spectacle. In the year 1681 the Test was introduced into The Test Scotland, and A^'as violently opposed, even by those 342 HISTOEY OF THE LECT. who had hitherto submitted to the established order XXV of things. It was necessary to take it in its literal '^^^^"^^^''- acceptation. Eighty of the clergy refused it, and resigned their livings. The Earl of Argyle subscribed it Avith an explanation, which was at first received ; but he was next day accused, on the ground of hav ing committed perjury and treason by depraAong the laws ; and, ha\'ing been brought to trial, was con victed and condemned. He escaped from prison, but having been taken prisoner four years afterwards, he was executed in the most barbarous and ignominious manner. A system of extortion was pursued for aug menting the public revenue and enriching the crea tures of the Court ; and by one circuit of the Court of Justiciary, in 1684, 2000 fugitives were prosecuted. During the same year the Council A'oted an absolute massacre of aU who refused to disown an admonitory declaration which had been addressed by the perse cuted outlaws to their oppressors. Military executions had become common in the fields, and it is not pos sible to think Avithout horror of the numberless atro cities which were committed. TheRevoiu- Charlcs II. dlcd suddenly, February 6, 1685, a professed votary of the Church of Rome. On the succession of James, the massacres continued to in crease, with every circumstance of aggravated mahg- nity. -Aji attempt was made to introduce Popery; and if the King's measures had succeeded, the Epis copalian Church would soon have been reduced to the same degradation and ruin to which the Presbyterian was doomed. But after this tyrannical bigot had eX" hausted all his efforts to annihilate the Uberty of the three kingdoms during a dismal period of three years, a confederacy was formed against him ; and his son- CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 343 in-law, the Prince of Oranoe, afterwards William III., lect. . x.w. Avas invited into the country. The kingdom of Scot- land, following the example of England, published a '^^'^-''¦^^^¦ declaration of rights, and offered the croAvn to their majesties William and Mary. In July 1689 an Act of Parliament Avas passed, abolishing prelacy ; and, in the following year, the Act of Supremacy was re scinded, and the presbyterian ministers restored. The Act of the 7th June 1690, ratifying the Confes sion of Faith, and settling presbyterian church gov ernment, rescinded all acts of Parliament in favour of Episcopacy, and revised and confirmed the Act of James VL, passed in 1592, entitled "Ratification of the Liberty of the True Kirk." On the footing of these two Acts, and the Act of Queen Anne for secur ing the Protestant religion and presbyterian church government, our National Establishment now stands ; and from that period, though this Church has not been exempted from dissensions, it has enjoyed a degree of security and tranquillity to which it Avas formerly a stranger. APPENDIX. No. X.— (Volume I., page 260.) George Buchanan. Geoege Buchanan was not, as is commonly imagined, a student in St Salvator's College. In the year 1525, the names Patricius Balquhannan and Georgius Balquhannan both stand in the list Incorporatorum in Pcedagogio ; that is, of those who were matri culated in the seminary, afterwards distinguished by the name of St Mary's, or New College ; Avhich seems to have been for the first time designed Newm 1538, when its foundation was new-modelled by Archbishop James Beaton, its greatest benefactor. John Mair was one of the masters in the Pedagogy when Buchanan entered this college. Mair had become a member of the university only a year or two before, as appears from the following entry in one of the records of the university : " Die nono mensis Junii anno Dni Im. V=xxiii. incorporatus erat venerabilis vir Mg^ nr Mg"' Johannes Major, Doctor Theologus Parisiensis, et Thesaur"^ Capellse Eegise. Eodem die incorporati sunt Mg' Patricius Hamilton et Mg'' Ro'"^ Lauder in nra universitate." This Patricius Hamilton was the Abbot of Fearn, who was burnt as a heretic four years after wards. That Mair was not at this time a member of St Sal vator's College (as has been generally believed), is evident from his appointment, in 1523 and 1524, as one of the deputies who assisted the rector in the annual visitation of that college. The following minute mentions his nomination in 1523 : " Congre gatione Univ*''' Sancti Andr. in eccl'* S" Johannis Evang*^ Pseda- a Notices of George Buchanan, com- University of St Andrews. (Dr Irving's munioated by the Eev. John Lee, M.D., Memoirs of the Life and 'Writings of Professor of Ecolesiastioal History in George Buchanan, 2d edit. ; Appendix, St JIary's College, and Eector of the p. 373 ; Edin., 1817, Svo.) 340 APPENDIX. gogii intra eivitatem Sancti Andr. die xviL Mensis Ja"' anno dni Im.V'=.xxni. in qua congrega. pro electione deputatorum ad visitandum Collegium S"^' Salvatoris, de mandato egregii viri Mg''' Georgii Lockhart, Eectoris dicti Univ*'^ electi fuerunt per Uni- ygj,tem congregatam venerabiles et egregii Ariri Mg''' Mg'' Johannes Mayr, Thesaur'"^ Capellse Eegise Strevilens. venerabilis vir Mg' Georgius Fern, Prsecentor Brechinens. Mg'^ Johannes Lockhart, Eector de Innerkeithe, una cum D"" Eectore Universitatis, pro visitatione antedicta, per nationes Laudoniae, Albanise, Angusise et Britannise, ad visitand. prsefatum collegium hoc anno instante vigesimo tertio, ut moris est." The name of John Mair disappears from the registers of the university in lo25, and does not occur again tiU the year 1532, when he is mentioned as one of the rector's assessors, without any other official designation. An in strument of sasine still extant, of the date 21st January 1532, styles him "Vicarius de Dunloppie Glasg. dioces." In 1533 he became provost of St Salvator's (Ecclesise CoUegiatse Divi Salva toris prsepositus), having succeeded Hugh Spens, who had pos sessed that dignity nearly thirty years. Mair continued to hold his office tiU 1549, about which time he was succeeded by Martin Balfour. While Mair was provost of St Salvator's, the College of St Mary had for its principals Eobert Bannerman, Archibald Hay, and John Douglas, all secular priests ; and St Leonard's CoUege was under the superintendence of a succession of learned men, aU of them regular clergy ; namely, Thomas Cunningham, Alexander Young, John Annan, and John Law. This last was succeeded by John Duncanson, one of the brethren of the Augustinian priory, who became principal of St Leonard's College in 1556 ; and who, having been converted to the reformed religion, retained his office in the coUege, as his share of the rents of the convent. Whether he acted as minister of St Leonard's Church is not certain, but as he was in orders, and as St Leonard's was a parish long before the Re formation, it might be presumed that he did, if it did not appear from the minutes of the kirk-session of St Andrews, that, imme diately after the Eeformation, the inhabitants of St Leonard's were in the habit of attending the Trinity Church of St Andi-ews. When Duncanson retired from the principality in 1566, he gave to the college a great cup or maizer, double gilt, and other articles, to the APPENDIX. 347 value of 30 pounds, also 20 pounds to purchase coals, 100 pounds to the new work of the college, with 50 pounds of his yearly pension for the abbey of St Andrews. In addition to these donations, amounting to 200 pounds, he gave two tin flagons for the use of the coUege, and (what appears to have been much more valuable) all his books, both great and small. The office of principal of St Leonard's College is thus de scribed in the original statutes enacted by the prior John Hep burn, and confirmed in the year 1544 by James, commend ator of the priory, and Alexander (Myln), abbot of Cambus kenneth, administrator, Avith the approbation and consent of John Winram, subprior, John Annand, principal, Thomas Fyft', sacrist, Jo. Lament, provisor, and Jas. Wilkie, David Guild, John Scheill, and David Gardyn, regents. " Volumus ex fratrum nostrorum CoUegio, viz. ex Capitulo Sancti Andrese per priorem ejusdem, perpetuis futuris temporibus, unum aliquem canonicum, virum gravem, prudentem et doctum, in sacris literis doctorem, licentiatum aut bachalarium, seu alium quemvis eruditum ex Capi tulo Sancti Andrese canonicum, eligi et nominari, ac dicto nostro pauperum Collegio praefici, locique magistrum principalem nuncu- pari, cui omnes ahi presbyteri, regentes et discipuli humUiter obediant, ad ejus monita et directiones dihgenter auscultent, correc- tiones pro deUctis ab ipso benigne suscipiant, eumque in ea qu£e decet reverentia semper et ubique tueantur et habeant Singuli etiam loci officiarii sibi quotiescunque voluerit de bonis coUegii rationem reddant. Ipse vero semel in anno domino priori com- putum de rebus ipsis exhibere teneatur Et in festis majoribus vesperas cum missa, et coUectas post salve cantabit, omnibusque feriis quartis et sextis presbyteris, regentibus, et aliis quibuscunque interesse volentibus, lectionem in sacris Uteris aut in speculativa theologia scite et mature docebit Ipse etiam princi- pahs, presbyteri et regentes pro suis laboribus habebunt intra locum cameras et victum quotidianum honeste ut decet. Et prseter victum ac ea quae ei debentur ex monasterio, principalis habebit pro stipendio annuo decem libras, una cum juvene servitore, qui scyphario in magna mensa adjumento sit," &c. The original statutes continued in force after the Eeformation (tiU the year 1579), in so far as they were consistent with the purity of religion. George Buchanan succeeded John Duncanson as principal of S-t 348 APPENDIX. Leonard's in the year 1566. The following is the earUest notice of him which occurs in the rector's books : — " Septimus decimus Eectoratus Magistri Johannis Douglasii, prsepositi Novi CoUegii Mariani, 1556. "Electores hoc anno faerunt viri prseclari, ex Laudonia Ma gister Jacobus VUkie, Eegens CoUegii Leonardini, ex Albania Magister Johannes Lamond, ejusdem CoUegii Provisor, ex Angusia Magister Guilielmus Skein, juris licentiatus, ex Britannia Magister Georgius Buchananus, CoUegii Leonardini Gymnasiarcha, hujus seculi Poetarum facUe princeps. Assessores ex Laudonia Magister Johannes Vinram, superintendens Fyffise, Magister Jacobus VUkie, et Magister Alexander Hammyltoun, junior, Eegentes, ex Alba nia Magister Gulielmus Eamsay," secimdus principalis magister CoUegii Salvatoriani, et Magister Joannes Brown, causarum pro curator, ex -Angusia Mg' Gulielmus Skein, juris licentiatus, Magister David Guild, tertius magister principalis CoUegii Salvatoriani, et Magister Johannes Carnegie, Novi CoUegii regens, ex Britannia Magister (Jeorgius Buchananus, Magister Johannes Eutherford, CoUegii Salvatoriani praepositus, et Blagister Eobertus Hammyl toun, minister verbi Dei, &c. " Deputati per Universitatem designati, qui vicem Eectoris ab- sentis gerant hoc anno, fuerunt viri prsestantissimi Magister Johannes Yinram, superintendens, &c. Mg"^ Georgius Buchananus, gymnasiarcha, &c., Magister Joannes Rethurfurd, prsepositus, &c. et Magister Eobertus Hammyltoun, minister, &c." The minute on occasion of thenext election of the rector in 1567, is exactly the same as in 1566. It is remarkable that no students are enrolled as belonging to St Leonard's College either of those years, though the numbers both in St Mary's and St Salvator's are con siderable. In 1568 more students entered St Leonard's than even St Mary's, which had generally been the most numerously attended of all the coUeges ; and in 1569, the numbers enrolled for the first time in St Leonard's were twenty-four, while those entering St Mary's were only eleven, and those at St Salvator's only eight. Buchanan's name appears in this book for the last time in 1568. a John Eutherford and AVilliam Ram- university books. The one was minis- say, both of whom are named in the first ter of Cults as well as provost of St Sal- edition of the Memoir of Buchanan, p. vator's College, and the other was min- 81, are frequently mentioned in the ister of Kembaoh. APPENDIX. 349 His name is mentioned, as before, among the electors, the assessors, and the deputies of the rector ; and each of these three times he is called "Poetarum nostrte memorise facile princeps." Buchanan's colleagues in St Leonard's College were James Wilkie, eldest regent, and vicar of Egiisgreg, Nicol Dalgliesh, Eobert Wilkie, and WU ham CoUace. The masters in St Mary's College in 1569 were Jo. Douglas, principal; Robert Hamilton, licentiate in divinity, second master ; Archibald Hamilton, bachelor in divinity, third master ; William Skene, professor of law, and commissary of St Andrews (brother of Sir John Skene, the lawyer, who had himself been a regent in 1564-65) ; Alexander Hamilton, John Hamilton, James HamUton, George Gillespie, and John Carnegie. The principal, professors, and regents of St Salvator's were John Rutherford, WiUiam Eamsay, David Guild, James Martyn, John Kerr, Thomas Brown, and John Arthur. In the dean of faculty's register, the name Magister Georgius Buchananus occurs three times, viz., 2d Nov. 1567, 3d Nov. 1568, and 2d Nov. 1569, always as one of the dean's assessors. He was never either rector or dean of the Faculty of Arts. Iu the register of the Faculty qusestor's accounts, from Nov. 1566 to Nov. 1567, he signs the discharge as one of the auditors. Thomas Buchanan," one of the regents of St Salvator's College, had been elected quaestor for that year ; but as he left the college in the course of the year, James Martyn, another regent, and after wards provost of the same college, was appointed to act for him. The other auditors of accounts, besides Buchanan, are John Douglas, rector (afterwards Archbishop of St Andrews) ; John Eutherford, dean of faculty, provost of St Salvator's CoUege ; James WUkie, Buchanan's .successor as principal of St Leonard's ; Robert HamUton, minister of St Andrews, and a professor of divinity, afterwards principal of St Mary's College. The signature a [Two persons of the name of Thomas tary on the Epistles to the Thessalonians, Buchanan were enrolled in St Mary's " Thomte Buchanano, Siresensis ecclesia College in 1556. The one who was pastori," says, •' cum in schola tua edu- George Buchanan's relation, was after- carer, quam tum Sterlini magno reipub- wards a distinguished minister and pro- licse nostrse bono aperuisti, non sine fessor. AVas the other Buchanan of auspiciis Georgii Buchanani patrui tui, Ibbert Keeper of the Privy Seal ? Pol- viri omnium quos tulit hjeo natio liter- lock, in the dedication of his Commen- atissimi."] 350 APPENDIX. of George Buchanan is remarkably neat (more so than in the report of the commissioners of visitation) ; and he does not prefix Mr to his name, as was the general practice at that period. There are more deviations from this mode of subscription before than after Buchanan's time. In 1558 the accounts are signed by Jo. Douglas, Jo. Eutherford, James WUkie, Alexander Arbuthnot, and Thomas Smeton, aU afterwards principals of colleges ; and the only one who writes Magister before his name is Wilkie, the least consider able person of the whole number. From the year 1566 to 1617, when doctors of divinity were again introduced in Scotland by James VL, I have not observed one instance in which any subscriber of the quaestor's accounts omits the Mr before his name, except that of Andrew MelviUe, principal of St Mai-y's CoUege in 1581. I find him, however, conforming to the usual mode in 1 588. But his signature, wherever I have seen it, forms an exception from the rule to which Masters of Arts in this country generally adhered. I have not been able to discover the name of George Buchanan in any of the other records of this city. The books of the kirk- session contain the names of most of the professors and other persons of education, who were generally elected elders every year, at least from October 1569 to October 1597. -All the men of leaming were required by the Fii'st Book of DiscipUne to attend the weekly exercise of expounding the Scriptures, in which all min isters and expectants Avithin six Scottish mUes of every principal town were obliged to take their turn, on pain of subjecting them selves to discipline in case of refusal At this exercise all masters and students in the three coUeges of St Andrews were required to be present by a statute of the university, dated 7th January 1561. George Buchanan's predecessor, as principal, was a minister, as was also his immediate successor, James WUkie, and indeed all his successors have been ministers. It may be presumed, there fore, that Buchanan was as much in orders as any of the other ministers admitted into the Scottish Church about the time of the Reformation, none of whom was set apart by the imposition of hands. On account of the omission of this ceremony. Archbishop Adamson chose to say, in ] 586, that Eobert WUkie, moderator of Synod of Fife, was a layman ; but the Synod said that he had been upon the exercise for sixteen years before, and been ordained by the Presbytery of St Andrews at its first erection in 1581 ; and besides, APPENDIX. 351 they declared that it was heresy to maintain that the office of doctor is no ordinary ecclesiastical function. When Maxwell, bishop of Eoss, in the year 1646, asserted that laymen had sometimes pre sided in presbyteries and General AssembUes, he did not repeat this instance, probably because WUkie had afterwards submitted to Episcopacy, without, however, being re-ordained ; but he referred to the cases of Eobert Yule, Andrew Melville, and George Buchanan. Prmcipal Baillie, in his Historical Vindication, p. 21, after anim adverting on the two assertions, adds, " George Buchanan had sometimes, as I have heard, been a preacher in St Andrews : the eminency of this person Avas so great, that no society of men need be ashamed to have been moderated by his wdsdom.'' Baillie, having been born in 1599, only seventeen years after Buchanan's death, might have enjoyed many opportunities of ascertaining the fact from some of his contemporaries ; but his information con cerning this, and several other topics introduced in that tract, is less satisfactory than might have been expected. Whether George Buchanan was a parochial minister or not, it is certain that he was at least a doctor or professor of divinity, and in this capacity was entitled to a seat in aU church courts as teaching elder or presbyter. The chamber which George Buchanan is said to have occupied as principal of St Leonard's College is now part of a private dweUing-house, and is supposed to have undergone scarcely any transformation. It is about 18 feet long by 16 in breadth, having a window to the south and another to the east, which last com mands a view of the bay of St Andrews and the rocks of KinkeU. It is on the second floor of the building, and was formerly entered by an outer stair, having no communication with any other apart ment. AU the rooms, I believe, were constructed on a simUar principle, being separated from one another by thick stone walls, and each having a door to the front ; but there were no stairs or passages within the walls. As a specimen of the comfort of Uving in coUeges about this period, I shaU insert the inventory of the most splendidly furnished chamber in St Leonard's CoUege in the year 1544— the very cham ber, I beUeve, which was alloted to the principal. " In camera qu« est prima versus orientem proximior templi in parte austraU, fuerunt haec bona communia pertinentia ad locum coUegii. In the first twa standard beds, the foreside of aik, and 352 APPENDIX. the north side and the fuits of fir. Item, ane feather bed, and ane white plaid of four ells, and ane covering woven o'er with images. Item, another auld bed of harden, filled with straws, Avith ane cover ing of green. It. ane cod. Item, an inrower of buckram of five breds, part green, part red to zaUlow. Item, ane flanders counter of the middling kind. It., ane little buird for the studie. It., ane furm of fir, and ane little letterin of aik on the side of the bed, with an image of St Jerome. It., an stool of elm, with an other chair of little price. It., an chimney weighing Item, an chandler weighing " In the year 1599, the furniture of the coUege is as follows : — " Impr. In the hall four fixed boards. The hale beds almaist fixt. In every chamber ane board and ane furme pertainand thereto, w* glassen windows, and the maist part of all the chambers ciellered above, and the floors beneath laid with buirdis. " Compt of Vessels. " 2 SUver pieces, ane maizer av* common cups and stoups. " 3 Doz. silver spoons, ane silver saltfat, a water basin, an iron chimney fixed in the hall. " In the kitchen, an iron chimney, w' sic vessels as is necessar therein, with fixed boards and almeries." With respect to the books which Buchanan is said to have pre sented to the library of St Leonard's College," I have been able to lay my hands only upon nine. 1. Hieronymi Osorii de Gloria Ubri v. Conimbr. a Francisco Correa, a.d. m.d.xlix. This volume has the inscription at the bottom of the title : " Ex libris communis bibliothecae CoUegu Leonardini, ex dono doctissimi Magistri Georgii Buchanani, prin cipalis ejusdem." The inscription is repeated at the end of the volume in the same handwriting — not Buchanan's own, it is almost unnecessary to add. 2 Yiavkov 'ALyLvrjTOv 'larpov apicnov /SiySXta CTTTa. VenetUs, in sedibus Aldi et Andreaj Asulani soceri, m.d.xxviil fol. This is a very beautiful copy of the editio princeps. 3. Homeri Poetarum Supremi Ilias per Laurentium Vallensem a " Est etiam in eo collegio librorum, extant." (Sibbaldi, Comment in 'Vitam eidem a Buchanano donatorum, cata- Buchanani, page 66. Edinburgh, 1702, logus ; qui omnes adhuo in bibliotheca Svo.) APPENDIX. 353 in Latinum Sermonem traducta : accuratissime ac solcrti cura im- pressum ac emendatum hoc opus per venerabUem d. presbyt. Baptistam Farfengum, impensa vero d. Francisci Laurini civis Brixiani, m.cccc.lxxxxat:l With regard to the accuracy of the im pression, the foUoAving specimens, taken from fol. 1, may suffice : Agros for Argos ; gratia for grata, fasta for festa, orgis for rogis, innuet for juvet. These errors are corrected on the margin, in Buchanan's handwriting, I think. I see many others corrected in the handwriting of Professor Francis Pringle. 4. Marci Antonii Sabellici Annotationes veteres et recentes, ex PUnio, Livio, et pluribus Authoribus. PhUippi BeroalcU Anno tationes centum. AngeU PoUtiani Miscellaneorum centuria, &c., (8 other tracts). Impressit volumen hoc Jacobus Pentius de Leuco, Impressorum omnium accuratissimus m.d.ii. — Many marginal notes in this volume seem to be in our poet's handwriting. 5. Augustini Steuchi Eugubini Bibliothecaru contra Laurentium VaUam de falsa Donatione Constantini libri duo. Ejusdem de Restituenda Navigatione T^beris. Ejusdem de Aqua Virgine in Urbem Eevocanda. Lugd. ap. Seb. Gryphium. m.d.xlvii. These three last are in foUo. 6. Arithmetica Integra, authore Michaele Stifelio, cum pr£efa- tione PhiUppi Melanchthonis. Norimbergse, ap Johan. Petreium, anno Christi M.D.XLim. A quarto of 640 pages. 7. Terentiani Mauri venustissimus de Literis, Syllabis, et Metris HoratU Liber. (Johan. Petit) Venundantur Parisus in vico Divi Jacobi sub leone argenteo, apud Joannem Parvum. Bound up with this is Probi Grammatici Instituta Artium. Parisus, L5,].0. 8. Ephemerides Nioolai Simi, Mathematici Bononiensis, ad annos xv. incipientes ab anno Christi m.d.lihl usque ad annum M.D.LXVin. cum meridiano inclytte civitatis Bononiffi diUgentissime coUat£e, &c. VenetUs, ex officina Erasmiana Vincentii Valgrisu, M.D.Lnn. 9.^ Le Epistole FamigUari di Cicerone, tradotte secondo i veri sensi deU' autore, et con figure proprie, deUa Ungua volgare. Con privilegio del sommo Pontifice et deUa Ulustrissima signoria di Venezia M.D.Ln. (8vo.)— AU these books are marked in the same manner as No. 1, both on the first and the last page. There is also a copy of Buchanan's translation of Linacre's VOL. II. Z 354 APPENDIX. Eudiments, printed at Paris in 1540, with a great number of in- terUneations and marginal notes, Avritten in a very smaU hand, whether Buchanan's or not, I am not able to ascertain. I cannot take upon me to say that the above are aU the books presented by Buchanan ; but I have reason to believe that not many more are now in the university library. There is still pre served in some of our registers a catalogue of books, subscribed by Eobert WUkie, principal, and laid before a commission of visita tion in the year 1599. The number of titles is not quite 300 ; but WUlde says that there was not time to take a complete Ust. I have looked carefully at all of them which can now be found, and I perceive that a considerable number had be longed to the Augustinian Convent ; many of them had been given by the Eegent Murray, when a commendator of that priory ; some of the oldest were a legacy from John Hepburn, prior of the convent, and founder of the college ; some had once been the property of WUUam Shivez, archbishop of St Andrews ; many had been given by Thomas Cunningham, prin cipal of the coUege, about the year 1537 ; and several more by John Duncanson, who was principal from 1556 to 1566. Some of the books are classics, and not a few relate to the school divinity. The name of Joannes Major occurs very often in the list, but most of the copies of his works have been lost. The only Scotish authors whose names I have noticed are Hector Boyce, Alexander Aless, John Hamilton, John Mair, and John Winram. The work of this last author, entitled Catechismus D. Joannis Winram supprioris, is not knoAvn to exist. It is possible that all the copies may have been studiously destroyed after the Refor mation. Some of the finest copies of the classics in the Ubrary of St Leonard's CoUege were the gift of Robert Wilkie, by whom the catalogue is subscribed. He w-as principal from 1588 to 1611. APPENDIX. 355 No. XL— (Vol. I, p. 271.) The Views op the Church op Scotland relative to Forbidden Degrees in Marriage. — M.vrriage with the Sister op a Deceased Wife." I have casually seen a long and elaborate Letter from the Eight Honourable J. Stuart Wortley, on the subject ofthe BUl Avhich he has introduced into Parliament for the purpose of legalising the marriage of a Avidower with a deceased wife's daughter or niece : aUow me to offer a few hasty remarks on that part of the Letter which has a special reference to Scotland, and to what the right hon. gentleman caUs the interpretation given in evil times to the ancient statutes against incest, which only proscribe such con nections " as God in His Word has expressly forbidden." These eight words are quoted from the Act 1567, Dec. 15, c. 14 ; but Mr Wortley has not included the explanatory words, " as is con tained in the 18th Chapter of Leviticus." It is material to inquire whether the legislature did or did not, at the time, understand the terms of the Act as they have been interpreted in Scotland ever since. For the solution of tliis question we need scarcely look farther than the next Act (c. 15), which Mr Wortley has only partiaUy quoted, having omitted the important words, "That seconds in degrees of con sanguinity and affinity, and all degrees outwith the samen, con tained in the Word of the Eternal God, and not repugnant to the said Word, might and may lawfully marry at all times sen the 8 of March 1558." These words, according to Stair and aU other old Avriters on our national law, are considered as evi dently assuming that the same degrees are prohibited in affinity as in consanguinity. This view was taken at that time in England hy Archbishop Parker and Lord Coke, and on this principle the a[Thefragments nowprintedonasub- in 1850 at a public meeting held iu ject to which the author had paid great Edinburgh, on the subject of the Mar- attention, and on which he has left a riage Affinity Bill of Mr Stuart Wortley. large collection of materials, are ex- — Ed.] traoted from notes of a speech delivered 356 APPENDIX. table draAvn up by the archbishop was set forth by authority in 1 563. In Scotland, the phrase " seconds in degrees '' was univer saUy understood to signify cousins-german ; and, accordingly, the General Assembly, in December 1560, had desired the Estates to interpose their authority in favour of marriages between parties, being of the second, third, and fourth degrees of affinity or consan guinity, and other " sic as are not prohibited expressly by the Word of God." This, it may be said, does not definitely show what the Church meant by the second degree. But it is clearly settled by the General As.sembly, June 27, 1565, when a question was put, if a man may marry his cousin, his father's brother's daughter, who had borne chUdren to him. The answer was, that the degrees being second of consanguinity, the marriage would not be con trary to the Word of God, and the parties might be joined tn mar riage after pubUc repentance. In the next Assembly, December 26, 1565, "it was voted and found by the Word of God, that none may marry his Avife's brother's daughter, or his Avife's sister's daughter ; and if any such marriage was contracted, the same to be nuU, and ought not to stand.'' It appears from the Minutes of ParUament, 3d December 1567 (see Thomson's Acts, vol. u.. Appendix, p. 37), that several articles were presented in Parliament, after being treated and pro posed by certain barons, commissioners of burghs, and ministers (viz., John Erskine, John Spottiswode, John Knox, John Craig, and David Lindsay) ; and as the laws for the punishment of incest, &c. were included in these articles and approved, Avith a recommendation that they be ratified, it admits of no doubt that they were under stood in the same sense by the legislature and by the Church. Mr Wortley maintains that in no other of the Confessions of the reformed churches of Europe is this marriage forbidden ; and he greatly wonders whence the Avide terms of the Westminster Con fession of Faith were "imported into that solemn document." Now it is no difficult task to show that for nearly one hundred years before the Westminster Confession was framed, and for more than one hundred and thirty years before it was ratified by the ParUa ment in Scotland, the very same rule of interpretation of Scripture had been adopted and acted upon by vast numbers of the most learned divines, and embodied in the symboUcal books of the chief of the reformed churches. APPENDIX. 357 Passing over various other documents, I beg to take notice of the commission granted in 1551 by Edward VI. to Archbishop Cranmer, and various other divines, whose deliberations resulted in the weU-known work entitled Reformatio Legum."- Here it is asserted that the precepts on this subject of forbidden degrees were not confined to the people of Israel, but were addressed to the whole human race. The first rule laid down is, that thesame con ditions are presented for males and females in equal degrees of proportion and propinquity ; and the second, that the degrees of consanguinity applicable to the husband, correspond exactly with the degrees of affinity which bind the wife. And then there is an enumeration of marriages prohibited m the Book of Leviticus, one of which is a marriage ofa man with his wife's sister. As Cranmer's authority in this matter is not much respected in some quarters, I pass from this document, observing merely that it is very ably drawn up. I next quote Martin Bucer, a learned Englishman, who died in 1551. One portion of his works, pubUshed in 1553, relates to un lawful marriages, and declares that with a wife's sister to be illicit, whUe it approves of the marriages of cousins, at that time inter dicted by the pontifical laAV. /3 I next refer to the discipUne which the Synod of the Ee formed Churches of France prescribed in 1559, before the first Scots Confession was framed, or the First Book of DiscipUne referred to by Mr Wortley. The Ninth Canon of this book is in the foUoAving words : — " It is not lawful for any man to marry the sister of his deceased wife, for such marriages are prohibited not only by the laws of the land, but by the Word of God ; and although by the law of Moses it was ordained that when the brother died without chUdren, his brother should raise up seed unto him, yet that law enacted for the chUdren of Israel was temporary— relating only to the pre servation of the tribes of the people. But the marriage of a a See cap. 3, 4, 5, and 6. duoere prohibet, quare conaobrinis et ^ " Sunt autem quas lex Cassarum vetat fratruelibus conuubium inter se con- in conjugium accipere hse tantum. Filia, trahere licet, quicquid contra, leges neptis, proneptis, mater, avia, proavia, Pontificise statuerint." — M. Bucek in amita, malertera, soror, sororis filia, Mat. xix. {Sacra Eoangdia, 1558), page privigna, noverca, nurus, socrus, fratris 1186. uxor et soror uxoris. Has et lex Dei 358 APPENDIX. sister of a betrothed and deceased wife is of another nature, be cause that aUiance was not contracted by a commixture of blood ; therefore such a marriage may be admitted and approved. Yet all possible care shaU be taken that neither the civU magistrate nor weak Christians may be offended." Let me next refer to Calvin on the Pentateuch, published in 1563, before the CouncU of Trent had completed its sittings, and before the Parliament of Scotland had passed the Acts relating to marriage, &c. In this Commentary all the precepts in the eighteenth chapter of Leviticus are included in the seventh commandment of the moral law, and Calvin indignantly repels the suggestion that there is no restriction against the marriage of a man to the surviving sister of a deceased wife ; and he remarks on the sixth verse that, verbaUy, a father's brother or a mother's brother is not in so many words forbidden to marry a niece, but when a nephew is restrained from marrying a mother's sister or a father's sister, the same rule must be applied to the other relatives of equal propinquity. He adds if the shame of a brother is uncovered when another brother marries his widow, not less is the shame of a sister unco vered when her husband, in his widowhood, is married to another sister." This is the case in point. Immanuel Tremellius, a converted Jew, professor of divinity in the university of Heidelberg, who dedicated part of his transla tion of the Bible to Queen Elizabeth in 1568, clearly points out, u, Lev. xviii. 6. — " Vetat Deus rete- pendere deoebat Legislatoris consilium, gere turpitudinem uxoris patris, et pat- ex disertis ejus verbis ; quia non tan- rui,et filii; quum de fratris uxore ean- tumincestus,vel turpitudinis fit mentio, dem sententiam totidem profert verbis, sed zelotypise et rixarum quse inde absurdum est diversos seusus fingere. oriuntur Si retegitur fratris Itaque si fas non est patris, vel filii, turpitude, ubi frater ejus viduam duoit, patrui vel nepotis in matrimonio uxorem non minus retegitur turpitudo sororis, habere : unum et idem de fratris uxore quum ejus marito post viduitatem nubit sentire convenit, de qua similis prorsus altera soror." — Commentarii Jo. Calvini lex uno contexta et tenore perlata est." Quinque Libros Mosis, pp. 406, 407. — Lev. xviii. 18. — " Hoc loco freti qui- In 1630 (Oct. 21) Calvin's judgment dam protervi homines, lioere voluut, was requested on Henry Eight's divorce. siquis uxore privatus sit, germanam ejus He even then, although in opposition to sororem inducere ; quia restrictio addita the view of Erasmus, pronounced against est. Ne viva priore alteram aocipiat. the lawfulness of marriage with a bro- Uude oolUgunt non prohiberi quin sue- ther's widow. — (See Epist. 384, Lau- cedat in demortuKJ locum. Verum ex- sanne edition.) APPENDIX. 359 in his notes on Leviticus xviu., that marriage with a wife's sister is distinctly, though analogically, prohibited in the sixteenth ; and he explains the eighteenth verse in the same Avay as Mr Dwight. He inserts also, in a note, a table of degrees correspond ing to that which we have received. A sinular table was subjoined to the eighteenth chapter of Leviticus in the second edition of Bishop Parker's Bible in 3 569, and from that time the quarto and some of the foUo editions of the Geneva Bible, for the next forty years and more, contained a simUar table. A table of the same description was inserted in the Commentary on the Pentatetich by David Parffius, professor of divinity at Heidelberg, from the year 1 591. Francis Junius, who was conjoined with TremelUus in trans lating the Bible, published an analytical explanation of Leviticus, with a copious appendix, in Avhich principles are maintained exactly coincident Avith the terms of our Confession. He was professor of divinity at Leyden from 1592 to 1602. Beza is equally decided on the same point. His theological treatises were published in 1 573 at Geneva, where, on the recommendation of Calvin, founder of the college, he became the first rector and professor of divinity about the year 1560. His Dissertation on Polygamy and Divorce extends over more than one hundred folio pages, printed in a very smaU type, and it exhibits a most lucid view of aU the principles connected with the degrees of affinity. Passing by Zanchius, professor of divinity at Strasburg at the same period, whose work, De Sponsalihus, contains the identical principles of interpretation maintained in our Confession, and Mark Chemnitius, a divine of the Church of Brunswick, who wrote on this subject in 1565, I shall merely mention, for the present, Bishop Andrews, one of King James's translators of the Pentateuch, who wrote on the Moral Law ; Bishop Babington, the author of Notes on the Five Boohs of Moses; Joseph Hall, Bishop of Exeter ; the Eev. Charles Butler, of Magdalene CoUege, Oxford, who wrote a succinct and able treatise on Propinquity as an Impediment to Matrim,ony, printed in 1 625 ; the Exposition of the Moral Law, by J. Weemse, Prebendary of Durham, in 1632; WiUet's Hexapla, 1631; Ainsworth On the Books of Moses, 1624 ; Perkins On Christian Economy, or Household Government, 1608. 360 APPENDIX. The sense in which the Levitical law on this matter was under stood by the Church of Scotland, may be inferred from the deference paid to the authority of some of the writers now named, and espe cially Calvin, whose Commentary on the Pentateuch appeared in 1563 ; and, as we have seen, nothing can be more explicit than the terms in which his interpretation of the 18th chapter of Levi ticus mUitates against the principle of Mr Wortley's Bill. Farther, the editions of the Geneva Bible, which were in general use in Scotland, contained a table, in which these words occur : " A man may not marry the wife of his brother, or the sister of his wife." Before the Assembly of Divines was caUed to meet at West minster, Selden had published his learned work, De Jure Natu ralis et Gentium juxta disciplinam, Ehrmorum, (Lond. 1640), in which he shows clearly that, according to the best Jewish Avriters, the same degrees are prohibited as are specified in the tables annexed to the Geneva Bible, in English, and the Latin version of Tremellius. It was not without most deUberate consideration, in which Selden, Lightfoot, and other Oriental scholars took a leading part, that the Assembly of Divines arrived at the conclusion, unanimously adopted by the Church of Scotland in 1647, that " the man may not marry any of his vrife's kindred nearer in blood than he may of his own, nor the woman of her husband's kindred nearer in blood than of her OAvn." In arriving at this conclusion, the Assembly proceeded on principles which had been preAriously recog nised by all the most eminent Protestant divines, among whom it may be sufficient for our present purpose to refer again to Paraeus, professor of divinity at Heidelberg, whose writings have long been regarded as among the most judicious of the age in which he lived. Mr Wortley is singularly infelicitous in his attempts to trace the opinions of our Chm-ch to the papal system, or to the " money-net " of Eome. Our Eeformers, from the first, proceeded on the principle of deriving every doctrine directly from the pure fountain of the Word of God ; and in a case like that of the prohibition of the marriage of a man with the widow of his deceased brother, they could not faU to perceive that the same proximity of relationship interdicted the formation of a matrimonial connection of a woman with the widowed husband of a deceased sister. If the voice of reason is to be heard in the matter, the cases are undeniably parallel. APPENDIX. 361 The Church of Scotland has uniformly acted consistently with its first professions in this matter, not only in Presbyterian times, but when Episcopacy has prevaUed. The printed Acts of As sembly for the year 1690 make mention of a " sentence of depo sition by the presbytery of Stirling against Mr James Forsyth, late incumbent at St Ninian's, for celebratmg an incestuous mar riage," as having been ratified by that Assembly. The particulars of this case have been preserved. It was proved by several wit nesses, and it was confessed by Mr Forsyth himself, " that he had married John LiddeU and Helen Adam, who was the said John Liddell's wife's sister's daughter, and that he was warned of their near relation " before he did it. In the printed Historical Relation ofthe General Assembly, 1690, published by an eminent Episco palian clergyman, it is said that Mr Forsyth (who had been an Episcopahan minister, and had been dissuaded from doing it by the Episcopal clergy) desfred the Assembly to pardon and restore him. The historian adds, " This they refused, and confirmed the sentence of his deposition, which was very just, and the only justifiable act of the Assembly from its sitting dovm to its rising." So that the antipathy at such incestuous connections was not in this country regarded as a mere remnant of Presbyterian bigotry. No. XII— (Vol. IL, p. 25.) Demand foe Books in Scotland after the Eeformation." Eeading was not an uncommon accomphshment in that age. There were a good many schools in all the principal toAvns even before the Eeformation, and they increased rapidly afterwards. In fifty-six years (namely, from 1558 to 1614), fourteen complete editions of the works of Sir David Lyndsay were published, includ ing two printed at Paris, and three in England. But there are « [Extracted from the Notes to the Author's Memorial for the Bible Societies.] 362 APPENDIX. many other editions of his separate pieces (see Lyndsay's Works, edited by George Chahners, vol i. p. 90.) There were three editions of Buchanan's History, in 1582, '83, '84; and there were thirty-one editions of Buchanan's Psalms between 1566 and 1610, printed at Paris, London, and Antwerp, but not one in Scotland. The first edition of his History was printed at Edinburgh by Arbuthnot, the printer of the Bible. Of the works of Principal EoUock, who died in 1598, at least sixteen volumes were published before 1605 ; all of which passed rapidly through successive editions. His Commentary on St John's Gospel, a book fuUy as large as a Latin Bible, containing more than 1200 pages (pages containing nearly 300 words each), was printed at Edinburgh in 1599, and again at Geneva in 1599, 1600, and 1608. The Geneva editions are much more easily procured than the Edinburgh edition. CoAvper, minister of Perth, pubUshed many books in London after the accession of King James. One of them, The Triumph of a Christian, passed through seven impressions before 1618, and through three more before 1630, besides being included in the coUected edition of his works. In the same manner, the works of W. GuUd, J. Abernethy, A. Symson, P. Symson, and others, passed through many editions between the year 1610 and 1633 ; during aU which time we know of no complete edition of the Bible printed in Scotland, and of no edition of the New Testament, Psalms, or Catechisms, printed by any king's printer in Scotland. If readers were not numerous, how is it that there were so many printers and so many booksellers in Edinburgh in the time of Queen Mary and James IV. ? Between 1579 and 1599 we can produce books printed by Eobert Lekprevik, Thomas Bassandyne, John Eoss, Henry Char teris, Alexander Arbuthnot, Thomas Vautrollier, Eobert Walde grave. Soon afterwards we find printers at St Andrews and Aberdeen, — and at St Andrews in particular we know of at least two printers, John Scot and Lekprevik, before the year 1579. In the same period the Town CouncU Eecords of Edinburgh mention the following persons as booksellers ; Eobert Smith,'* a The following curious extract from gives an idea of the demand for books the Testament of Eobert Smith, libmr used for the purposes of religion and {i.e. bookseller), who died May 1, 1602, education at that period : — APPENDIX. 363 Henry Charteris, Andrew Hart, John Gibson, Edward Catkin, John Woodliouse, and John Simson (all in 1592), besides John Norton, and others who dealt in importing books. It has been mentioned in the Memorial for the Bible Society, page 73, that, in the year 1616, a book, entitled God and the Kjng, was printed in London by his Majesty's command, /or the use of the kingdom of Scotland. We mention it here merely as an instance of a book which must have been expected to find a vast number of readers. We do not know how many copies were cir- ciUated in Scotland, but we know that thousands were sent to Edinburgh for the use of the citizens. In 1620 (April 7), it appears that "WUliam Dick, auld thesaurare, delyverit to Peter Somervell, thesaurare " of the town, among other articles, " the buikis called God and the King, extending to the number of 1562 buikis (copies), whereof the said Peter Somervell gran tit the ressait." a These appear to have been what remained of a cargo imported the preceding year to the amount of 2500 copies. We find in the Eecords of the Town Council of Edinburgh, 7th April 1619, the following curious entry : " Ordanis WilUam Dick, The saurare, for causes and considerations moveing thame, to pay Mr James Prymrois ane thousand pound, and the sam sail be allowit to him in his comptis ; and als ordanis the said Wm. Dick, The saurare, to ressave from him twa thousand bookis, caUed God and " Item in his buyth the prentit buikis 50 Psalme buikis. following, all unbound, extending in the 55 Sevin Sagis. haill to aucht scoir rymmis of prentit 736 Donettis. paper, price of the rym Is. 377 Catois. „ „ . ,, J. .1 I ¦? ¦ 538 Second Eudiments. roltowis the names of the builas. ,„ n- •,, ^ ,¦ 155 Smgill Uatechismis. 2860 First Partis of Latyn Grammers. gg,, p;^^^ gapientum. 1 820 Second Parts of Grammer. 840 Third and Fourth Pairtis. 933 Sulpicius. 433 Concordances. 1253 CoUoquia Corderii. 223 Latyne Alphabettis. 815 Colloquia Erasmi. „ c ii t i oiat.. ifi>Tr o 1 J. Tl • ¦^¦ n r^. Summa 01 tfio Inveutar, 680i. 1275 Select Epissihs of Cicero. 2000 Prayeris before the Psalmes. In the Inventory of John Wreitton, 300 Callendairs to the Psalmes. Printer, who died Feb. 1640, we find 248 Doubill Catechismes. " 900 little Psalme buikis of David in 1034 Dundie Psalmes. Meitter in Octavo, estimat all to the 1243 Fabilis of Isope. soume of 180 lib." 1134 Winter Nites. (That is, four shillings Scots, or four- 1648 Cressedis. pence sterling for each.) 232 Gray Steillis. o Town Council Register, vol. xiii. 364 APPENDIX. the King in Scotis, and fyve hundreth in Latine, and to disperse the same in the CoUedges and Schools to the nichtbo™ of this brugh, for aught schillings the pece, and to be charget with the price thereof in his comptis." If the book had been distributed gratuitously^ it would be im possible to say what was the ordinary demand of the reading population. But it was sold at a price equal to two days' wages of a labourer," — a very high price surely for a pamphlet of 89 pages small octavo, or 40 pages smaU quarto, containing less letterpress than the Shorter Catechism with the proofs, or the Larger Cate chism Avithout the proofs. Yet in one year the Treasurer of the town of Edinburgh must have sold 938 copies, and it would be strange if the bookseUers had sold none at aU. The book had been authorised and printed in 1616, and therefore the supply of the year 1619 may be supposed to have been very trifling when com pared vrith the original distribution. The fact is, that the book was a catechism, which was required, first by the Privy Council of Scotland in June 1616, and subsequently by the General Assembly at Aberdeen in August 1616, to be taught in all universities, coUeges, grammar and English schools. It was very far from being popular, — but though constraint was necessary to induce people to purchase it, the sale must have been rapid and exten.sive. Concerning the books pubUshed in London between 1610 and 1633, it may not be amiss to remark that the number was not diminished by the Proclamation, June 1615, anent printing of books beyond sea. These works are very numerous ; and it is curious that the persons who were understood to be best afi'ected to the King, generaUy pubUshed their productions in London, although we know that some of them never resided in England.^ a It appears from the accounts of the ;3 A few only are here mentioned. Master of AVorks that the barrowmen Various Treatises by Cowper, Bishop and other labourers employed in the of Galloway, from 1606 to 1629. repairs of the Castle of Edinburgh in Abernethy, Bishop of Caithness, 3 Feb. 1619, received twenty-four shillings editions of one quarto volume, entitled Soots iu the week, or four shillings a- Physicke for the Soul, irom.lQ15io\6Z0. day. It appears from the same accounts Simson (Wil.) de Accentibus Hebra- that a pn!> o/7tens might be bought for icis. Lond. 1617. two shUKngs Scots ; and it is known Symson' s (P.) History of the Church. that a Scots pint of claret at that time Lond. 1624 and 1632. cost ten shUUngs Scots, or five shillings ,'''fJU<'i. I' 1...^ > • . , • "fi's!?!^^